Note: Game provided by GTP Media and Sever/101XP. Also, this is a re-upload from March 19, 2021.

The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante is a narrative-driven choose-your-own-adventure game about a man growing up in a world divided by class and ruled by gods. The entire game takes the form of a book where each chapter covers a portion of Brante’s life and each choice plays into his fate. I’ve so far been enjoying this game’s interesting world and tough choices, but I don’t have a lot of experience with games like this, so I didn’t want to do a review of it. Instead, I thought up of what you see here, which I would best describe as a mash-up between a walkthrough and Mad Libs. I still don’t even know if this is a good idea (feedback is greatly appreciated), so I decided to put this out earlier than intended to test the waters.

So, what is it exactly? This blog is going through two separate runs of the game: my own, and others. The first part is my own run, which I played privately and chose options based on what I personally would’ve done in each situation (though the statistical outcome of each option may have had a tiny sway on certain choices). The second run represents the other person’s/people’s run. These others are friends and/or strangers watching my Twitch stream on the game, and they make all of the decisions while I merely act as the vehicle. Their reasoning for choosing each choice is unknown to me. Seriously, jokingly, based on personal choice, based on balancing statistics, having full context of the situation or having no context, a single person making the choices or multiple people making it; it doesn’t matter to me so long as I’m not the one choosing. The only choice I enforced is not allowing an Iron Man run, but I was and will be hands-off outside of that. The original plan was to get through all of my run first then through all of the other’s run before even writing part one so then nobody’s choices would be influenced by the other’s, but like I said earlier I needed to see if this even works as a blog, let alone a series.

Once I collected both of our choices and outcomes, I turned all of it into a Cliff Notes of the chapter, swapping in and out details and even whole segments based on choices. There are a few things to keep in mind while reading these two stories. For starters, think of this as Mad Libs where our choices fill in the blanks, so if you see repeat sentences and paragraphs (which you will), that simply means we made the same choices and lived through the same events. Secondly, while this blog goes over the events of the first chapter, there are a lot of things I purposefully left out such as greater detail and context, the choices we made, locked choices, and the statistics of each choice (though I try to blend a few of these things into the story). I didn’t want to get too detailed with it because I didn’t want to disincentive people from checking out the game by just presenting the entire experience word-for-word, so just know this isn’t one-to-one with the game. Finally, this game is said to have over two hundred outcomes, so think of this (possible) series as simply two of those outcomes instead of definitive walkthroughs of the game. With all of that said, here is chapter one of The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante.

Name: Sir Benjamin Brante

Chapter Restart: Enabled (The one option I forced to be enabled in both of our runs. It allows restarts if Brante dies)

Consequences: Open (I get to see how each choice will affect my stats before I choose)

I sit down in front of my table and pick up the quill, ready to write. The blank pages in front of me are asking for my life story, and I plan on giving it to them. Something stops me though. Before I touch quill to paper, I ponder life’s ultimate question. Through all of my life experiences, both good and bad, why did I do the things I did? After pondering this question for awhile, I determined that my destiny was ultimately decided by the world around me, as it was the Blessed Arknian Empire that pushed me to do the actions I did and created my fate. With that question out of the way, I finally let my quill touch paper, ready to tell my life story. And what better place to start than at the very beginning with my birth?

The year was 1118 and I, Sir Benjamin Brante, was born. As a newborn baby boy, the first thing I did was reach out to a palm, and through what I believe to be Mother’s touch I first began to sense the world I now live in.

Fast forward a year, but I was still a baby. By this point, I was pretty well acquainted with my family. Robert and Lydia are my mom and dad, and Stephan and Gloria are my brother and sister. One day, Stephan and Gloria decided to play hide-and-seek. I was too young to even comprehend the game, so Gloria hid me somewhere and left. I was left out there for a long time, but I decided to continue sitting and waiting, and that extra alone time with the bugs on the ground helped me observe the outdoor world in greater detail. After a long time of sitting there, Mother eventually found me, picked me up, hugged me, and took me home, and through her I felt safe.

Another year went by, and I grew a little bit older. This was the first time I celebrated the Great Descent, which is a celebration of the day the Twin Gods descended onto Earth. I remember sitting in the attic with Gloria, and she was explaining to me how the Twin Gods broke society up into different Lots when they descended, and that following the ways of the Lot I’m assigned to will result in a better life after death. She told me I was part of the Commoner Lot, destined to work hard and suffer. There’s also the Noble Lot destined to fight and rule and the Priest Lot, though she wasn’t quite sure of that one. She sang a song about the Twin Gods and the Lots multiple times, but on the last time, I noticed two ghostly figures appeared behind her, compelling me to say…something. She got to the end of the song, and I decided to sing the last line. The ghostly figures disappeared, and Gloria smiled at me for remembering the line. More importantly, her song helped me better understand the Lots and the Twin Gods.

Fast forward another year, and I was already three years old. I remember trying to play with Stephan in the yard, but he got angry and hit me with a stick, so I took the stick and hit him with it. We both got in trouble, and Mother wasn’t happy about it. Even though I explained that Stephan hit me first, Mom targeted me for the blame, saying how I as a Commoner cannot hit him because he’s a Noble, and that I have to be punished. I decided to accept the punishment, and though Mom was grateful that I accepted my role in all of it, I was still flogged in front of the family. I could also tell my relations with Stephan grew from this event, though I also felt less willing to do things out of fear of another flogging.

Another memory of mine during this time was of Gloria. She always loved to sing and write poems even though she said she shouldn’t considering only Nobles are allowed do that sort of thing. Still, she wrote them and shared them with me, just in secret. One day, she was supposed to take me to a pond, but she went missing. After a few of the house servants and I went searching for her, we found her writing poems by herself. Mother got angry at her for the poetry and not spending time with me, and she burned all of her work. I felt bad for Gloria though, so after her punishment, I offered to write poems with her at the library, which brightened her mood. Through this experience, I learned how to cheat the system on certain things I wasn’t allowed to do outside of my Lot.

When I was four years old, I first learned about the Sacrament. I didn’t have to do it at that time, but Stephan and Gloria did. I remember Mother explaining to Stephan and Gloria what they had to do. Something about kissing the sword or being whipped to receive your Lot or something like that. I remember them leaving and returning from the temple to do this Sacrament. Gloria was bloody and sad while Stephan was happy. I knew at some point I would have to do this, so I just hoped I would end up like Stephan and not Gloria, though I did recall Stephan treating me with a little less kindness after the ordeal, so I wasn’t exactly confident about that option either. Come to think of it, the Sacrament made our family a little tense, so I started to have doubts about it as a whole.

Shortly thereafter, Mother had a new child, which she and Father decided to name Nathan. I promised to be the best brother ever, but that was put to the test a little bit by his constant crying. It annoyed everyone, but it was nothing compared to Mother who was with Nathan at all times. I remember walking into Mother’s room one day and found her with Nathan, but something wasn’t right. She was agitated, and I was scared she was going to do something violent to Nathan. So, I ran to mother and hugged her. This bothered her at first, but it soon comforted her, and Nathan stopped crying shortly after. Both Mother and I grew closer from this, and the crying being put on hold certainly made the rest of the family a little less annoyed.

One of the greatest gifts I remember getting from Mother was at five years old, when she got me an ant farm. It was fun to watch each ant work different jobs to keep the farm alive. One time, I was playing around with the ants with Mother when I tried to get some of the ants to work different tasks. Mother told me they will only do what they were born to do, but I didn’t like the sound of that, so I went to play with the ants by myself. After playing around with the ants for a while, I realized that we as a society were like those ants: destined to do the things we were born to do. Pushing my Mother away like that wasn’t the best call for the family, but the insight I gained on how society worked based on these ants was valuable.

Another important event at this age was the start of my schooling. My Father wanted me to do well, so as a motivational tool, he took me to town and let me pick out a toy. We entered a shop, and he allowed me to pick out anything I wanted. In the end, I chose a set of tin soldiers based on the land’s best fighters. I went to pick up the toy set, but a Noble kid elbowed me aside and took it for himself. In retaliation, I pushed him and he fell to the ground. It didn’t take long for my father and the boy’s father to come running to our aid. When my father asked what happened, I tried to tell him the truth on how he hit me first, but the other father wouldn’t let me speak. It wouldn’t have mattered anyway, as I would be punished for being a Commoner no matter what. As punishment, the kid slapped me around a bit, but I still managed to walk out of the store with the toy set and a new sense of determination.

One of the most unforgettable moments in my childhood was when I was six years old and Gregor Brante, my grandfather, moved in. In preparation of his arrival, we all had to keep the house and our act spotless. None of that mattered though, as Gregor Brante was a cruel man. He greatly disagreed with Father’s choice of marrying Mother and made constant negative remarks about the house, about us, about everything really. Within minutes of moving in, he sent Stephan off to go to the capital city for Nobleman’s school. Gregor lived and bled his Nobleman’s Lot to the point where when he went to inspect my room, he grew angry from the tin soldiers I got from Father, as he believed that I as a Commoner shouldn’t care about battles. He took my tin soldiers and threw them in the fire pit. I was tempted to go in and rescue my toys, but I was too scared to do so, so I just helplessly watched them melt. I may have lost those toys, but at least I learned what made grandfather tick, and maybe next time I would be more willing and able to take action.

It didn’t take long for Grandfather to be calling the shots. Shortly after moving in, he arranged a meeting Father and a Noble woman named Lady El Lodar in the hopes that the Brantes could be proper Nobles. The night before her arrival, Father spoke to me in private and wanted me to be on my best behavior, as this was the only way he could convince Grandfather to allow him to see Stephan. When the next day arrived, I decided to greet her politely at the door and stick to the niceties throughout dinner despite the sadness in Mother’s eyes and the back-handed remarks from Grandfather. Father and Grandfather were proud of me for it, and the Brante name became a little more reputable as a result, but it also saddened Mother to be treated this way, and it certainly made for awkward dinner conversation for the days to come.

The days Grandfather left for work were the days we could breathe freely. I remember one day when I was seven years old, I decided to do my homework somewhere else other than my room. I sat in the living room to do work when Gloria joined me with a kaleidoscope in her hand. She handed it to me to play around with, and I remember that thing being dangerously addicting. Time would go by like water in a river while I had that thing pressed up to my eye, as I found its strange patterns fascinating. At some point though, I managed to catch my composure and got back to work. Father walked in on me working, which made him proud, and seeing him easily allured by the beauties of the kaleidoscope made me a little more proud of myself for resisting its temptations and more determined to finish my work, though it did take some willpower to put the darn thing down.

Over time, Grandfather’s presence was something we all got more used to. One day, I walked in on Gloria spying on Grandfather, who was reading a book and eating candied fruit, a delicacy only for Nobles. When he left, we decided to sneak in and try some of the fruit for ourselves. It was utterly delicious, but we heard him walking back into the room before we could get away with the crime. I managed to hide, but Gloria stood frozen out of fear in the middle of the room, bowl of fruit in her hand. Grandfather caught her and started yelling at and hitting Gloria for her actions, but soon noticed me in the corner hiding. To protect me, Gloria lied and said I was trying to stop her. I really wanted to tell the truth, but I didn’t have it in me for another beating, so I decided to play into Gloria’s lie. I ultimately got away with the crime, and this moment helped me build inner strength for when something like this happens again, but I think Gloria was hoping for me to object to her lie, as she didn’t want to talk to me for a few days after.

There are moments when you know you have entered a new stage in life, and this was one of those moments. Much like how Stephan and Gloria took their Sacraments, it was now Nathan and my turn to accept our Lots. Just like how it was told to Stephan and Gloria, Nathan and I entered the church, kneeled onto the jagged floor, and waited our turn. I felt bad for Nathan, as when it was his turn, he pleaded to me for help and tried to run. Ultimately, he was forced to take his Sacrament, and a whip to each shoulder left him broken and bloodied. Then it was my turn. The priest read his passage and asked if I accepted my Lot. I was almost tempted to kiss the sword and accept the Noble’s lot instead, but I fought that inner urge and accepted the Commoner’s Lot. Two whips to the back later, and all of it was over. I accepted my Lot. I was a Commoner.

Name: Sir Jack Brante

Chapter Restart: Enabled

Consequences: Hidden (Stat changes are only shown after the choice is made)

I sit down in front of my table and pick up the quill, ready to write. The blank pages in front of me are asking for my life story, and I plan on giving it to them. Something stops me though. Before I touch quill to paper, I ponder life’s ultimate question. Through all of my life experiences, both good and bad, why did I do the things I did? After pondering this question for awhile, I determined that my destiny was ultimately decided by me, as no matter what anyone or anything tried to make me do, it was I who ultimately made all of my life’s choices. With that question out of the way, I finally let my quill touch paper, ready to tell my life story. And what better place to start than at the very beginning with my birth?

The year was 1118 and I, Sir Jack Brante, was born. As a newborn baby boy, the first thing I did was smile at the shadow behind the two figures in front of me, which gave me a will to live.

Fast forward a year, but I was still a baby. By this point, I was pretty well acquainted with my family. Robert and Lydia are my mom and dad, and Stephan and Gloria are my brother and sister. One day, Stephan and Gloria decided to play hide-and-seek. I was too young to even comprehend the game, so Gloria hid me somewhere and left. After a long time of just sitting there, I decided to crawl my way home, determined to find someone. I eventually found Mother, who picked me up and hugged me, and through her I felt safe.

Another year went by, and I grew a little bit older. This was the first time I celebrated the Great Descent, which is a celebration of the day the Twin Gods descended onto Earth. I remember sitting in the attic with Gloria, and she was explaining to me how the Twin Gods broke society up into different Lots when they descended, and that following the ways of the Lot I’m assigned to will result in a better life after death. She told me I was part of the Commoner Lot, destined to work hard and suffer. There’s also the Noble Lot destined to fight and rule and the Priest Lot, though she wasn’t quite sure of that one. She sang a song about the Twin Gods and the Lots multiple times, but on the last time, I noticed two ghostly figures appeared behind her, compelling me to say…something. She got to the end of the song, and I decided to sing the last line wrong on purpose. The ghostly figures disappeared, and Gloria stared a at me with disappointment. It’s fine though, as I thought it was funny at the time, and I was more determined to make that joke than anything else.

Fast forward another year, and I was already three years old. I remember trying to play with Stephan in the yard, but he got angry and hit me with a stick, so I took the stick and hit him with it. We both got in trouble, and Mother wasn’t happy about it. Even though I explained that Stephan hit me first, Mom targeted me for the blame, saying how I as a Commoner cannot hit him because he’s a Noble, and that I have to be punished. I decided to accept the punishment, and though Mom was grateful that I accepted my role in all of it, I was still flogged in front of the family. I could also tell my relations with Stephan grew from this event, though I also felt less willing to do things out of fear of another flogging.

Another memory of mine during this time was of Gloria. She always loved to sing and write poems even though she said she shouldn’t considering only Nobles are allowed do that sort of thing. Still, she wrote them and shared them with me, just in secret. One day, she was supposed to take me to a pond, but she went missing. After a few of the house servants and I went searching for her, we found her writing poems by herself. Mother got angry at her for the poetry and not spending time with me, and she burned all of her work. I felt bad for Gloria though, so after her punishment, I comforted her. It wasn’t easy for me, but I believe she was grateful for my brotherly love, and I believe our relationship grew as a result.

When I was four years old, I first learned about the Sacrament. I didn’t have to do it at that time, but Stephan and Gloria did. I remember Mother explaining to Stephan and Gloria what they had to do. Something about kissing the sword or being whipped to receive your Lot or something like that. I remember them leaving and returning from the temple to do this Sacrament. Gloria was bloody and sad while Stephan was happy. I knew at some point I would have to do this, so I just hoped I would end up like Stephan and not Gloria, though I did recall Stephan treating me with a little less kindness after the ordeal, so I wasn’t exactly confident about that option either. Come to think of it, the Sacrament made our family a little tense, so I started to have doubts about it as a whole.

Shortly thereafter, Mother had a new child, which she and Father decided to name Nathan. I promised to be the best brother ever, but that was put to the test a little bit by his constant crying. It annoyed everyone, but it was nothing compared to Mother who was with Nathan at all times. I remember walking into Mother’s room one day and found her with Nathan, but something wasn’t right. She was agitated, and I was scared she was going to do something violent to Nathan. So, I ran to mother and hugged her. This bothered her at first, but it soon comforted her, and Nathan stopped crying shortly after. Both Mother and I grew closer from this, and the crying being put on hold certainly made the rest of the family a little less annoyed.

The most important moment in my life at age 5 was the start of my schooling. My Father wanted me to do well, so as a motivational tool, he took me to town and let me pick out a toy. We entered a shop, and he allowed me to pick out anything I wanted. In the end, I chose a set of tin soldiers based on the land’s best fighters. I went to pick up the toy set, but a Noble kid elbowed me aside and took it for himself. In retaliation, I pushed him and he fell to the ground. It didn’t take long for my father and the boy’s father to come running to our aid. When my father asked what happened, I tried to tell him the truth on how he hit me first, but the other father wouldn’t let me speak. It wouldn’t have mattered anyway, as I would be punished for being a Commoner no matter what. As punishment, the kid slapped me around a bit, but I still managed to walk out of the store with the toy set and a new sense of determination.

One of the most unforgettable moments in my childhood was when I was six years old and Gregor Brante, my grandfather, moved in. In preparation of his arrival, we all had to keep the house and our act spotless. None of that mattered though, as Gregor Brante was a cruel man. He greatly disagreed with Father’s choice of marrying Mother and made constant negative remarks about the house, about us, about everything really. Within minutes of moving in, he sent Stephan off to go to the capital city for Nobleman’s school. Gregor lived and bled his Nobleman’s Lot to the point where when he went to inspect my room, he grew angry from the tin soldiers I got from Father, as he believed that I as a Commoner shouldn’t care about battles. He took my tin soldiers and threw them in the fire pit. I loved those soldiers because they were a gift from Father, so watching them melt made me burst into tears. I felt weak at that time, and Grandfather used that weakness to further dislike me.

It didn’t take long for Grandfather to be calling the shots. Shortly after moving in, he arranged a meeting Father and a Noble woman named Lady El Lodar in the hopes that the Brantes could be proper Nobles. The night before her arrival, Father spoke to me in private and wanted me to be on my best behavior, as this was the only way he could convince Grandfather to allow him to see Stephan. When the next day arrived, I decided to greet her politely at the door and stick to the niceties throughout dinner despite the sadness in Mother’s eyes and the back-handed remarks from Grandfather. Father and Grandfather were proud of me for it, and the Brante name became a little more reputable as a result, but it also saddened Mother to be treated this way, and it certainly made for awkward dinner conversation for the days to come.

The days Grandfather left for work were the days we could breathe freely. I remember one day when I was seven years old, I decided to do my homework somewhere else other than my room. I sat in the living room to do work when Gloria joined me with a kaleidoscope in her hand. She handed it to me to play around with, and I remember that thing being dangerously addicting. Time would go by like water in a river while I had that thing pressed up to my eye, as I found its strange patterns fascinating. I didn’t quite have the willpower to peel myself away from that distraction, and when Father finally managed to pull me out of my day dream, the day was gone and evening took its place. Father wasn’t too pleased with me being distracted from work all day, so I made sure to have enough willpower to break out of these trances in the future so I wouldn’t disappoint father again.

Over time, Grandfather’s presence was something we all got more used to. One day, I walked in on Gloria spying on Grandfather, who was reading a book and eating candied fruit, a delicacy only for Nobles. When he left, we decided to sneak in and try some of the fruit for ourselves. It was utterly delicious, but we heard him walking back into the room before we could get away with the crime. I managed to hide, but Gloria stood frozen out of fear in the middle of the room, bowl of fruit in her hand. Grandfather caught her and started yelling at and hitting Gloria for her actions, but soon noticed me in the corner hiding. To protect me, Gloria lied and said I was trying to stop her. Instead of telling the truth or lying, I decided to use this opportunity to mock him. I started telling him about how I did eat the fruit, but that it was actually quite disgusting. Gloria caught onto the act, and soon the two of us started to mock Grandfather and Stephan about the fruit. He started to beat us with his walking stick as a result, and while it hurt, making Grandfather mad was worth every hit. Standing up to Grandfather may have strained my relationship with him even further (if that was even possible), but it gave me a new sense of confidence and a great story for Gloria and I to remember.

As a Noble, Father did two thing: work and fencing practice. I wasn’t allowed to touch any of that stuff as a Commoner, but one day while everyone was gone and Father was busy, I found his sword. So, I decided to pick it up and try it for myself, and it didn’t take long for me to cut myself. Father saw this and applied a bandage to my wound, telling me I wasn’t supposed to be playing around with his sword. He then told me he knew how I felt, as he once wanted to wield Grandfather’s sword as a child, but that ultimately I had to wait until I became a Noble to use it. I couldn’t wait, though, and I asked him to teach me the basics. Reluctantly, he agreed, and from then-on he taught me how to sword fight in secret. Pushing Father like that for lessons was a little taxing on my soul, but it made me more determined than ever to fight amongst the Nobles in glorious battle.

There are moments when you know you have entered a new stage in life, and this was one of those moments. Much like how Stephan and Gloria took their Sacraments, it was now Nathan and my turn to accept our Lots. Just like how it was told to Stephan and Gloria, Nathan and I entered the church, kneeled onto the jagged floor, and waited our turn. I felt bad for Nathan, as when it was his turn, he pleaded to me for help and tried to run. Ultimately, he was forced to take his Sacrament, and a whip to each shoulder left him broken and bloodied. Then it was my turn. The priest read his passage and asked if I accepted my Lot. I did, and two whips to the back was confirmation. I accepted my Lot. I was a Commoner.

Here is a final statistical rundown of both of our chapter one playthroughs, for those who are playing the game and want to compare stats or simply see how everything is going.

Destiny: Benjamin = Insight / Jack = The Fencing Lesson

Determination: Benjamin = 1 (Spineless) / Jack = 4 (Resolute)

Perception: Benjamin = 7 (Insightful) / Jack = 1 (Inattentive)

Willpower: Benjamin = 0 (Ready for Action) / Jack = -5 (Exhausted)

Deaths: 0 (Both)

Age: 7 Years Old (Both)

Estate: Lowborn (Both)

Occupation: Growing Up (Both)

Reputation: Both = 4 (Modest Position)

Wealth: Both = 5 (Moderate Means)

Unity: Benjamin = 5 (Disagreements) / Jack = 6 (Disagreements)

Heir: Stephan Brante (Both)

Gregor Brante: Benjamin = 0 (Indifference) (No Status) / Jack = -2 (Distaste) (No Status)

Robert Brante: Both = +3 (Sympathy) (No Status)

Lydia Brante: Both = +2 (Sympathy) (Grateful)

Stephan Brante: Both = +1 (Indifference) (No Status)

Nathan Brante: Both = +1 (Indifference) (No Status)

Gloria Brante: Benjamin = 0 (Indifference) (No Status) / Jack = +3 (Grateful) (Sympathy)

Part two here.