Talon's End
Latest major update: 12/31/23 | Blog link
Talon's End is a fantasy interactive fiction game about transformation, growth, duty, and love in its many forms. It is written with an adult audience in mind and contains some darker themes, but the demo does not contain any explicit content and should be appropriate for ages 16+. The age rating may change for the full version. Please check CWs when starting the game!
You were never destined to marry for love.
As the third child of the Earl of Eastthorn, your purpose is to marry to your family's advantage, but after one failed engagement already, your prospects are less than promising. So when the Crown calls upon you to infiltrate the lair of an Elven sorcerer in search of a powerful magical weapon, the offer is too good for your family to refuse.
But leaving your respectable home to marry an immortal being of immense power quickly puts you in uncharted territory. Between your secretive, disagreeable spouse and their labyrinthine spire infested with strange creatures, your mission to uncover their secrets is risky from the start. But as you come to know both your partner and your new home at Talon's End, you discover terrors and wonders unlike anything you've known–and the true price of your mission.
Hawk (gender-selectable m/f/nb)
Ancient, inscrutable, and ornery, Hawk is your immortal Elven spouse. They are a being of few words, and those words are often less than friendly. You're taking your life into your hands coming to live in their tower and spy on them. But are they perhaps kinder than they let on? Or are they just as dangerous as they first appear?
Shea (gender-selectable m/f/nb)
Shea is the outgoing and kindhearted owner of the general store in town. Through their regular deliveries to Hawk's tower, they've gotten to know Hawk- -and now, you. They seem eager to make you feel welcome in your new home. But do they have other motives? Or is their compassion genuine?
Current demo features:
- Player character with customizable gender, pronouns, romantic/physical attraction, etc.
- Relationships with Hawk and Shea can be romantic, platonic, physical, or a combination; plus, a poly triad option!
- Options to explore the player character's gender and attraction beyond initial choices
- Choice-heavy (not stat-heavy) story with narration that adapts to your MC's personality
- Achievements for doing silly (and cool) things
Upcoming features:
- Option to bypass mentions of societal bigotry
- Additional codex and story journal entries
- More detailed character profiles
Development log
- Talon's End - Demo Update 1Dec 31, 2023
- Talon's End Extras & Progress UpdateOct 18, 2023
- Demo v0.1.1 Update & Blog LinkJul 01, 2023
- Demo v0.1.0!Jun 30, 2023
Comments
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this is by far the most invested I’ve ever been in a itch game! It’s really the one I love the most, maybe because I can play my MC so close to my actual personality. (And by that I mean talking as little as possible and being generally introverted.) I took the survey, can’t wait for the next update. Keep up the great work!
Hey, I just want to ask. Will the final version of the game be paid for ?
Sorry for my english, it is not my first language
PS: I really love the DEMO
I’m glad you’re enjoying it, and no need to apologize for your English! I’m planning on the final version of the game being free to play! :)
Thank you because I really enjoy the game and I don't really have money actually
Love your writting, I was totally immersed ! 👍
LITERALLY AMAZING. Thank you for making this game I cannot WAIT for the next update. Everything clearly has so much care and detail put into it, and as a trans person the extra moments added if the MC is trans literally made me cry. I feel so seen and it feels so good to be able to play a game like this.
Shea and Hawk are fascinating and genuinely likeable and I'm hungry for more of their storylines!! so excited
I've only just started playing the demo. I dunno if this is a bug? I selected MC is attracted to men, but Hawk is female?Nevermind loli've been lurking on itch.io and playing IFs and VNs for years now, but the absolute NEED to comment on this IF made me create an account. absolutely enamoured by Hawk, i am so excited to see where this goes!!!
That means a ton, thank you so much! I’m glad you’re enjoying it so far! <3 Depending on how busy real life keeps me, I’m hoping to have the next small-ish update posted sometime in the spring (northern hemisphere time)!
How do you explore your gender in game and how quick is it? i want a trans character but it's going to be so painful to start as a dude.
If you want your MC to start the game already knowing they’re trans, you can do that! Their siblings and ROs will address them correctly from the start. If they start out questioning or having not thought about it before, it will be a longer process.
Binged this last night and I adore it so far! I love the amount of customization and altho it's frustrating my optimization brain I do appreciate the hidden stats 😭 keeps me from checking every option
The way Hawk and Shea are so lovable (the moment between a trans!MC and Shea was so damn cute)
What a great new years gift! I really love the premise of thid game and thid was quite an update. Thank you so much!
I love this story, and the update was amazing! Look forward to future updates! 😊
Welp, I'm absolutely smitten by my spouse. Obsessed with this game, in love with Hawk, and also adoring the geckos! Loving this story, thanks so much for sharing it with us and keep up the great work!
just replayed this game, had to restart, but i enjoyed it so much. the writing is so lovely and i cannot wait for future updates to learn more about the world and characters <3
I read a fair amount of IF and have recently been checking a lot of demos I've had saved for a while, and this is the only one where I immediately wanted to reread the demo as soon as I finished it. I found it very well written with an interesting premise and setting; I particularly liked the way that the transness of the characters is actually addressed within the story, which is not something I've seen much of (or at least not handled so well). Definitely following and hyped to read more as soon as it's posted.
Thank you so much, that means a lot! I definitely wanted to spend a little extra time on MCs who are trans or still questioning their gender both because it’s something I appreciate as a trans person and because it ties into the larger themes of the story. So it was a win-win! I’m hoping to have the next demo update posted before the end of the year–just needs a little more editing and bug testing!
I've had Hawk for about 6 minutes but if anything ever happened to them, I would kill everyone in this comment section and then myself.
AHHHH I LOVE IT SO MUCHHHHG
So interesting so far! I'm so curious about what this story will bring. Cannot wait for future updates!
oh I love this. I LOVE this! Hawk rules so much, he’s so much cooler and nicer than I… expected, I guess? He’s also hilarious, I love his brass responses, they kill me every time. He’s so heckin nice. I’m really hyped for this, I can’t wait to get to know hawk more
Very good game! I enjoyed it a lot and can't wait to see what comes next. The worldbuilding is pretty interesting and the atmosphere throughout the demo is fantastic.
One thing I really like is the option to (apparently) make up with the mother. Most of these stories tend to just have this type of character as an antagonist, so seeing the possibility of repairing the relationship is rather unique.
Oooh very good ! I can't wait to see more.
I need mooreee!!! This is really good.
Ooh I like. Was worried that MC was going to be forced to marry a guy but glad you worked around that. Brilliant, can't wait for more.
the best interactive fiction game i ever played!, interesting storyline, sad and romantic at the same time! I hope that future updates will be more interesting and also released soon!
You forgot to end a div
Should be all fixed! Thanks for letting me know!
the story so far is amazing, and i love how you incorporated societal expectation into the choices ( such as gender norms and sexuality).
i just found a small problem where this appears when you choose the option "we are surprisingly close in height(6'5-6'11)" when meaning hawk
I’m glad you’re enjoying it so far, and thanks for the bug report! Should be all fixed now!
After the wedding, the game is repeatedly looping through asking Hawk questions and explaining the MC's pronouns. If other people haven't seen this loop, it's probably related to gender choice... so, if it's relevant, my MC is male but isn't sure that's quite right, and Hawk is male.
Should be all fixed now–thanks for letting me know! It shouldn’t break your saves, but if you’re still stuck in a loop after refreshing, try using an older save or restarting. If that doesn’t do it, please let me know!
You don't know how excited I am for this OH MY GOD.<3
This is amazing so far ! Beautifully written and all the characters have this unique and catching personality. I love Hawk, even if they are blunt they seem nice.
im so excited for this!!
I... think the betrothed gender selection is bugged. I've gotten an F!betrothed every single time regardless of which option I select. I know it just says it's affected by my choice of preference, not determined by it, but... it doesn't appear to be affected by that choice at all.
Thanks for letting me know about this! Is the issue still popping up after the wedding ceremony is done? Before the ceremony, the MC’s family may make an incorrect assumption about the gender of the MC’s betrothed. I can add a note in-game to make that clearer!
But after the ceremony, their actual gender should reflect your earlier choices. If their gender is still showing incorrectly after their post-wedding chat, could you let me know what choices you made while picking your MC’s romantic/physical attraction so I can try and track down the bug? I haven’t been able to replicate it.
Ohh I see. I was just confused by the family's assumptions. I kept restarting to try to fix it and never got past that point.
I totally see where the confusion came from–sorry about that! I made a quick update to the text to help anyone else who might be confused about the same thing!
I really loved it so far, Hawk seems like a decent person and he didn't harm or did anything bad to us xD and what was the creature on our closed door? werewolf? did it want to eat us? o.o I'm looking forward to read more of your story :D
I love the plot and how well-written the story is. Also, the smart-ass dialogue options for the MC are fun. I certainly chose them just for the sake of contrasting with Hawk's abrasive personality. The cliffhanger ending left me wanting for more.
I'm looking forward to how the story will progress.
This is really well-written and intriguing! I am so looking forward to any updates, as I very much enjoy the characters and story so far <3 If I can ask, would it be possible in the future for you to add a third option when asked if you feel physical attraction? Something like 'not usually, but maybe with the right person'? Or if I choose not to can I decide to change that later, but only specifically for Hawk? If not I totally understand and will enjoy it no less!
You’ll be able to make an exception for Hawk down the line, but adding a third option like that is definitely something I can do! Thanks for the suggestion!
That's good to know, thank you so much! I really like how inclusive the game is, whilst still being set it it's own universe with some societal 'rules' in place.
I’m glad you’re enjoying it so far! The new update includes a new option that should hopefully be a little more comfortable for grey/demi/other aspec MCs!
I can't seem to scroll at all and couldn't get off of the warnings page.
It should be updated to let you scroll now. Give the game a quick force refresh (ctrl+F5 on Windows) and see if that helps.
All good now 👍
Thank you for the reply!
Just started it - very intrigued so far! But at the point in the story where the player gets the box with the letter it only shows you one option with how you can react but I suspect there should be more? Idk, the text on that page is pretty long and I can't scroll down either.
Thanks for letting me know! You should be able to scroll and see the rest of the options now!