ASHES TO ASHES

A visual novel about warfare, disease, and the interrelationship between faith and technology during a time of crisis. Set in a fictional steampunk world dominated by warring imperial powers, the player controls Dr John Mortimer, a former army surgeon dispatched to the besieged port city of Embermire, where a deadly pathogen has begun to spread among its trapped people.

Fearing the spread of disease, authorities place the city under strict quarantine and refuse to evacuate the sick population. Caught between religious fanatics and oppressive technocrats, the player must attempt to find a cure for the disease and lift the quarantine before the city is breached by besieging armies.

The narrative was primarily inspired by the plague of Athens, a historical epidemic that devastated the city and caused a widespread breakdown in social norms and religious beliefs. My goal was to have the player consider how best to respond to a similar crisis – does religion act as a source of strength or drive people towards irrational acts of extremism? Is technology just as likely to bring about our destruction as our salvation?