Chronoscript: The Endless End, developed by DeskWorks Inc. and published by SHUEISHA GAMES, dropped its “free demo” on Steam and demo trailer on YouTube earlier today. Chronoscript: The Endless End follows an “editor trapped within a manuscript” authored by a “Vampire Mistress” who lives in a “Manor.” To free himself, the editor “must unravel a thousand-year story that writes itself beyond its end—across 2D pages and a 3D manor,” according to the game’s Steam page.
The Demo Trailer shows exactly that, as the editor is transformed into a fighter character with a sword, who runs on ancient pathways and halls covered in books. As he leaps from pathway to pathway and page to page, there are monsters to be fought. As he moves forward, more pages are added to his path, and each page has different kinds of monsters, page layouts, and levels. The game seems to transcend the page, as there are actual books above the pages, which can be seen, as the editor is moving and jumping through the game, giving reminders of the outside world. While the editor has to avoid traps, and double jump to get to particularly difficult pathway locations.
He jumps all the way towards the mistress, and it seems that the last page in front of her gives the opportunity of a “bird’s eye view” that literally shows the full scope of the room, including the Vampress, her rough drafts, ink blots, and the new pages magically arranging themselves out of thin air. Additionally, there’s a shadow of a pet crow. There are multiple paragraphs, with “Ch. 0, Paragraph 970” serving as an example in the trailer, and each paragraph presumably has their own storylines etc. It also seems that pages can drift from book to book, split on different sides, and create surprises. However, the demo is just the “prologue” which the developers note in the game’s Steam news page, additionally there’s an “”Extra: Boss Challenge Battle” as a surprise that players can take a crack at. There are some considerations to take in before playing the full demo, which can be found here, however the full game will be available on Steam and PS5 as established in the trailer.