Pillars of the Earth: Rise from the Ashes

Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth is an episodic story-based choose-your-own adventure game that most people know as a book that's all about building cathedrals, but was adapted in 2017 by Daedalic Entertainment in 2017. On the surface it seems like your standard Telltale-like game, except with only 3 'books' (episodes) instead of the usual 6. However, this is a little deceptive, as this game is a very lengthy one, especially compared to telltale games, with an epic story that spans thirty years or so (that does indeed involve the building of a cathedral). I hadn't heard much of this game prior to playing it, but afterward I was mystified, as from what I could see through my play through that this game did a far better job than Telltale at their own game.

Perhaps it's a metaphor for the story itself, the sun will rise again tomorrow, rain or shine.

Story-wise, this game has a well-crafted story in spades, though admittedly most of the credit probably could go to the original author for writing it. As far as I can tell from comparing my playthrough with her reading of the book, the game covers the main beats of the story, but your choices seem to change many details of varying sizes and even hypothetically (my theory) the overarching theme of the game. Compared to what she called a story of "the big sad" and "loss and nobody winning anything", I managed to find a story of overcoming adversity, forgiveness, and inspiring others. However, I should note that I don't have a mean bone in my body when I play these games, lawful good/neutral to the core and all. The story itself isn't just about building a cathedral, it's filled with intrigue, growing up, strife, and even a dash of The Alchemist thrown in for good measure. The characters are all multilayered, and feel very real, especially as they grow up through the years. Great effort was put into making you empathize with the plight of the character you're currently controlling, and there's a lot of heartbreaking stuff here, so bring the tissues. You can feel the raw enthusiasm and passion for masonry that radiates from Tom Builder every time he talks about it, you can feel the despair radiate from Father Philip as he desperately tries and is thwarted in his efforts to bring peace to the region. As such, this is a very emotional game, you'll feel a truly wide range of emotions as you experience it, from utter despair to the highest highs. It's notable that Ken Follett was able to make events and concepts that are utterly alien today feel very real, which was something that I especially loved. There are some historical inaccuracies throughout, but the bottom line is that the author 'gets' history, and can relate it to modern audiences.

Me and the boy about to make our way in the world in the most British Isles way possible.

The gameplay and mechanics are more or less a carbon copy of the telltale formula, though it is closer to a traditional point-and-click in that regard. It's very much harder than I expected, as the clues and solutions to predicaments are frequently hidden in plain view with the added modifier of the spaces being either positively enormous or absolutely tiny. While this can be frustrating occasionally (looking at you jail), it does go a long way to encouraging you to keep your eyes peeled and think creatively. There was a time when a character I was talking to told me how he snuck into a place, and only five minutes later the same structural weakness he mentioned showed up. There's a good deal of clues given, but again, stay sharp. Occasionally you'll have to interact with the environment/characters with either 'clues' (which are basically special conversations/your objectives) or items in your inventory, which adds another layer of critical thinking. The minigames are very straightforward, thankfully not very frequent, and thank god, there's no button-mashing-type prompts.  some of your choices have to be made very quickly, just be warned. It plays like a dream on laptops, and runs well too. The only two areas of concern I have are the fact that there's no autosave system, you have to manually save or finish a book to save your progress and conversations couple strangely with animations. This was only a problem once when I started Book Three and I got a CTD ten minutes in. I had to click through all the sequences I did in the last ten minutes, and watching the conversation stop for a hand wave wasn't very thrilling. All I can really say in summary is that the game certainly keeps you on your toes, which in a game with such a rich story I'd say is pretty important.

Cutting right to the heart of the conflict within the feudal system that comes up time and time again in the Middle Ages.

In particular the art of this game is very pretty. There's a feeling that you're walking around reality as you play this game, which is interesting considering the somewhat cartoonish character models (well within the realm of reason though). Pastel colors are used throughout, and each season is very distinct from each other just from the use of color. Weather, especially fog, looks awesome, and the same can be said for the handful of religious visions throughout the story which are pretty terrifying. I can guarantee you that you will take a lot of screenshots in this game, it was a bit difficult to select a few for this review to be honest, and that's a good thing.

"Look into the flames Clegane, what do you see?"

Compared to the other choose-your-own adventure games I've played over the years, Pillars of the Earth is now the top of my list, beating the devil out of my previous favorite, The Wolf Among Us. It's a mature story, and is definitely not what I would recommend to kids, but for adults or historians looking for an engrossing book-caliber story or something different, this is what I would recommend. This was a lot of fun to play, and though the road was long and hard, we did finally see the sun rise on our beautiful cathedral of Kingsbridge...eventually.

In the midst of all the turmoil, it's the little moments that make this game a joy to experience