Elsinore: After Hamlet by Lapin Lunaire Games


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Story

The year is 2021—or maybe 1602? Hamlet the Younger has just tragically died and Fortinbras the Younger, King of Norway and newly-conquered Denmark, has a lot of cleaning up to do. Elsinore: After Hamlet is an interactive fiction exploration of William Shakespeare's Hamlet as a plague text and a reckoning of Asian American identity during these trying times. Also contains bad puns and glowing text.

Rated T for mild language and depictions of blood & violence.

Features

Play as an Asian American university student juggling society, schoolwork, and mental health under the pressure of a global pandemic and mounting anti-Asian violence.

  • Create a customizable character, selecting:
    • Gender and pronouns (male, female, and nonbinary options)
    • Name
  • Explore the world of Elsinore and make branching choices that directly influence gameplay and how the story unfolds
  • Navigate one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays from an unique perspective and experience the spring of 2021 through someone else’s eyes
  • Befriend or antagonize your favorite characters from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and earn new allies or make new enemies
  • Discover hidden story content and collect lore about the strange, suspended state of Elsinore
  • Unlock 7 unique endings, some good, some bad, and some...secret
  • Enjoy over 15,000 words of gameplay that offer replayable experiences and story

Credits & Contact

Written and coded by Jinx.  You can follow my future projects (and find more info about the making of this game) on my development blog. 

Special thanks to Philip Lorenz for four years of his expert guidance through Shakespeare's hand and, as one Danish prince put it so well, the power of words, words, words, and to Elisha Cohn for her tireless support and brilliant advising, as well as the original opportunity that led to the development of this game.

Thank you for playing! Elsinore: After Hamlet is an independent passion project and my first foray into interactive fiction. Your feedback and support means the world to me, and helps me continue working on this game and more to come!