Anamnesis, of Renascents and Monsters,

A text-based simulation and role playing game of exploration, warfare, intrigue and romance in a low fantasy, early 20th century environment.

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Anamnesis attempts to provide an emerging narrative in a richly detailed world for players to explore in any way they see fit.

There is no right or wrong way to play the game. Defeat is just the end of a journey and the beginning of another.

That said, most players like to know what they're actually doing, so here's a brief guide hopefully explaining the most basic concepts.

 

 

Standard Mode is Meant for First Time Players:

 


Don't be afraid to choose to play Standard Mode the first time you play the game. This mode will provide some guidance in the game's menu during the first turns and introduce game modifiers more gradually, but will not bar any content.

After a few in-game cycles, this mode is virtually identical to Advanced Mode.

 


Starting as an Outcast is an Extra Challenge:

 


The consensus seems to be that Adventurer or Merchant Venturer are the easier starts, giving you some resources without bringing too much of the enemy's attention your way.

You will be able to move up and down these ranks as you play the game, you are not locked to any single one of them and the game is designed to be winnable from any of these ranks except Outcast. 

Outcast mode is supposed to be an extra challenge, giving players the "full experience" of going from rags to riches.

 

 

Most Things Happen for a Reason:


 

The two horizontal bars at the bottom of the screen will show you some of the most relevant information given the context. Among this are your Weariness and Local Tension.

Weariness is the drag and wear in your character's physical and mental state. Higher Weariness will make you perform worst, making you fail even challenges you'd normally be estimated to be able to easily overcome, it can cause afflictions when allowed to increase over 100.

Local Tension determines the likelihood of violence, either directed towards you or others.

Local Tension feeds upon itself. An increase of 10 points is not just a 10% more chance of violence, but of this violence causing another 20% increase, leading to a further 30% increase and so on. Sometimes it's better to lay low for some time than risk a runaway tension spiral.

Local Tension will generally go down on its own unless you control too many territories, hold too many hostages, or under other rarer cycle-specific conditions. 

 


There is no Single Optimal Strategy:


What works in one cycle might not work in the next. In some cycles you might have allies capable to steadily lower Local Tension. Sometimes the active lobbies will lower the colony's Belligerence so much that attacks cause Local Tension to rise too much to be sustainable.

 


There are many variables at work governing the behaviours of the different factions and units. The different information screens located at the lower right side provide data that can allow you to make certain predictions and over time determine the most viable and profitable strategies.

 

 

Some Battles are Impossible to Win:



Every time you see a stalwart or influenced unit, territory or lobby name in orange, a button leading to a description screen with stats and further information will be shown at the lower right of the screen. The descriptions are flavour text, but the different stats will allow you to know how you should deal with certain entities. These are explained in detail when clicking on the question mark symbols at the top.

 


 

Some enemies will be nearly invincible in direct combat, but might be easily driven away through negotiation and guile. Some other times you'll be facing eldritch horrors from which you'll be better off being as far away as possible.

Preparedness when outcast, barrier and ruse construction projects when in a base, and proper Local Tension management are all important factors determining whether you'll become eldritch horror food or not. 

All enemy attacks have a cost. If the Enemy Wealth, shown under the "Colony" information screen is under 0, enemy units will be unable to go on the offensive no matter how high the Local Tension gets.

 

 

Choose Carefully When and How to Fight:

 

 

By design, combat tends to be short, brutal and ignoble.

Fighting in a friendly territory will give your unit the chance to escape to safety in the event of defeat, but a defeat in enemy territory will inevitably end in capture or annihilation.

There are many factors other than stats influencing the outcome of a battle. Diurnal units will fight better during the day and in High visibility territories, the opposite is true of Nocturnal units. Units matching the territory's origin can even use the terrain for their advantage. 

Different territories also offer advantages to different factions that can be seen in the territory's description. Some are relatively safe, some are safer for the units of a faction, and some are simply meat grinders.

 



 Most units will seek to preserve themselves and avoid fighting, even if it means giving up a position, when at a disadvantage or when the enemy's Terror (TE) value is much higher than theirs.

 A higher Intelligence (IN) value will allow a unit to trick their enemies at the beginning of a battle, giving them an extra advantage.

How much damage a unit can take before defeat is determined by their Resistance (RS) value, notice that most individual units have lower Resistance than many damage values of larger units.

Which unit attacks each round is determined by the Mobility (MB) value. A very high difference can result in the less mobile unit being unable to attack during the entire battle.

 Short Range (SR), Middle Range (MR) and Long Range (LR) indicates how much damage a unit can deal in melee, firing range and above respectively. Units try to move to their most comfortable ranges as the battle progresses, but each territory tends to start combat at a different range. If you choose to fight in a cave, it'll usually be a better idea to send a unit with high SR, like a duelist, than one with more LR, like a sniper, which will most often benefit from wide open spaces. Urban environments usually fall in the middle.

 


Choosing to fight offensively or defensively, respectively increasing and reducing the damage multiplier of all units involved, will allow you to make the most of these advantages and disadvantages, if you're willing to put civilian lives at risk.



Violence and Conquest is not Necessary:



 

You don't necessarily need to conquer a single territory to win the game, and in some cases this is even counter productive, so don't worry if some kind of unbeatable abomination is occupying one.

Again, this depends on the cycle in question. As previously mentioned, factors such as a high Societal Development and low Belligerence will often make politics and business more profitable than war.

The main goal of the game, if you want it to have one, is collecting a relic's pieces, for which you'll need either many Merits or a competent team of Renascents. Every cycle will allow you to recruit 2 to 3 additional Renascents through territory exploration and others might become available through contract offers or even capturing and befriending enemy ones.

 

 

Feyfolk are Fickle:

 


Sometimes things seem to happen without reason. Everybody seems to be trying to betray you or Weariness or Local Tension might go up inexplicably. Be sure to check the "Feyfolk" information screen when this happens. This will let you know if at least one feyfolk is causing the world to behave abnormally.

 


Proper research reduces the risk, but you can never be 100% sure about how exactly a feyfolk behaves, so you contact them at your own risk. These entities grant great powers at great risks, and these often carry on to subsequent cycles until you can secure a relic powerful enough to fend that parasitic feyfolk that has become bound to you.

 

 

Don't be Afraid to Ask Questions:

 


 

If you've made it this far, chances are you probably have at least a passing interest in the game. I'd hate to see that fade away only because I haven't explained myself properly.

I have an unfair advantage over other players because I made the different systems, but that also makes it hard for me to guess which things other players will struggle the most with. 

We live in an age in which most games can apparently be described as "A mixture of popular game/genre A with popular game/genre B and elements of popular game/genre C." It's natural to feel confused when some crazy person tries to do something different. Whether they succeed or not is open to debate.

 

Feel free to join the Discord server for any other doubt you might have. This will help me make the game clearer and more accessible for everyone.