Bride of Shadows
Bride of Shadows is a female-protagonist dark fantasy erotic romance intended for readers 18+. It contains violence, crude language, and sexual content. It is a work-in-progress, currently playable up to the end of Night III. Night IV coming February 14th.
Step into the tragic and fleeting existence of a Vestal of Dawn—a priestess bound by sacred vows of purity and an unwavering devotion to scripture. But when the sun goddess abandons you, your faith shatters. In your darkest moment, a tempting offer arises. A new covenant. A second chance at life... but at a cost.
You have until winter's end to seduce a dangerous immortal and bear his child—or risk losing everything, including your immortal soul.
Your journey takes place in Nazralt, the arctic continent of the high fantasy world of Elovyr. Travel on foot and by sled, trading in port cities and rural villages, clashing with raider clans, and hunting monsters.
When night falls, the cold isn’t the only thing that bites. Warm your soul by unraveling the secrets of your companions through deep, dynamic conversations—or surrender to the heat of interactive, physical intimacy.
Bride of Shadows is an M/M/F romance that plunges you into a world of desire, danger, and blood. Caught between two darksingers—immortals who wield devastating magic fueled by blood—you'll navigate their tangled passions and uncover the secrets that bind them to you... and to each other.
- Shape Your Destiny ✧ Craft a personality profile that grows with you. Are you bold and opinionated, or calculating and adaptable? Do you take control of your fate, or is the deck always stacked against you? No choice is wrong—each trait unlocks unique dialogue and opportunities.
- Why choose? ✧ Can't decide between Serax and Valdricht? They don’t mind sharing. Dive into a dangerously passionate romance with both and explore their tangled, fiery bond.
- Eat or Be Eaten ✧ Play as a fledgling darksinger. Drink blood to grow your dark powers, or feed your lovers and let them protect you.
- Explore Nazralt ✧ Journey through a vast Scandinavian-inspired dark fantasy region. Discover a rich, immersive world brimming with hidden lore, moral dilemmas, and centuries-old rivalries. Danger and desire await at every turn.
Follow the game development on [my blog.]
Support the story on [Ko-Fi.]
Credits
Lovingly spun & woven by Mortish.
Graphics by Mr. Mortish.
Template by nyehilism.
Music by Hanna Lindgren.
Lap warming by Piaget, Aslan, & Artax, the goodest dogs.
Development log
- Bride of Shadows - Night IV15 days ago
- Bride of Shadows - Night IV (Heretic Only)19 days ago
- Three Nights - Patch35 days ago
- Three Nights Update37 days ago
- Bride of Shadows - First Nights Patch I51 days ago
- First Nights / Bride of Shadows Test Build52 days ago
Comments
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I read the both tow routes in one sitting before realizing it was now five in the morning lol. Absolutely amazing text, I love the way you describe the emotional dynamics of these characters, all the details, all of it very tugging at the heartstrings. Really sad I can't use patron but I'll be looking forward to any upcoming stories! (Sorry for my bad English)
I did not realize this was a purely text-based game without any pictures.
I notice the entety offering you a deal, but somehow refusing it isn't a choice.
How can it be any form of deal if you never get the choice to say no?
I don't understand the purpose of the two names....
Is one just for the intro part?
Or will they have some sort of real impact later on?
The story itself is intriguing and draws you in.
It's well-written as well.
But I DO wish there was more choices to rebel.
Even if doing so would lead to a bad end.
And you get NO choice whether or not to romance them.
The ONLY choice is WHO you choose to romance.
And that may be decided by a single choice.
(Which you could not choose to avoid.)
The whole game is incredibly restrictive.
I could be wrong of course, but as far as the demo goes, this is what it feels like when I play it.
I can't say how it turns out in the end.
Is there any chance this game will show up on Steam or Choice of Games?
And CAN you defy the deity?
(I don't mind the romance partners, they have their moments.
But I DO mind just giving into people's demands.
Come hell or high waters, and damn the consequences, it's ALWAYS better to refuse demands than to give in.
That's my view on things anyway.)
I get why the choices are restricted in the intro part.
It has already happened, and all you decide is how.
But after that part, I think more choices would have improved the game.
The story itself is actually very good, so it kinda suck that you feel so forced into things, and can't even TRY to refuse it.
(I don't get how horrible the result is, you -should- be able to refuse to comply.)
I mean, the whole premise of the game is working with a deity and getting pregnant, it wouldnt make sense to refuse the deity and both the LIs. there would be no game. if you dont like that then this may just not be the game for you
Before I started playing is there a route that you can date both?
As you can see in the features part of the page here, you can!
Played Zealot's Night IV and I really do love the differences between routes and how natural they seem for both MCs and the bois. Can't wait to see the reactions in Night V!
Wow, just WOW! I'm so looking forward to night V. And I've played both Heretic and Zealot routes thinking I'll prefer the Heretic (cuz of the smut lol) but I am thoroughly enjoying Zealot more. Great work!
So i super confused rn lol. Like it says to enter the true name, i put in the name fore my MC, "that is not your true name" pops up. I get onfused and go back to see if a name is mentioned, i may be blind, but i find nothing I go back, i type in life, erin, and leave the space blank, they all work and proceed to the next page, but the name erika for my MC is not a true nam. I am just confused lol
You are supposed to have 2 different names from what I understand. It will tell you "this is not your true name" if you type the same name twice so basically type in any different name from the one you typed first and it is fine.
OOOOO
So like an alias and then "true" name?
Not sure I'd call it an alias as it is the name the MC use and thinks as theirs, but yeah "true name" is different :) sorry if it sounds a bit vague but trying not to spoiler how the "true name" is used later vs the name you want to be called(the first you type in)
hope you have nice day!
Thansk so much for taking the time to help me understand! I super appreciate it!
One given by the cult and one chosen by you, if I understand the setup correctly.
the 4th night got me screaming bcoz damnnm that was HOT 🤭 i want valdricht even more now oh lord i didn't expect him to be that passionate during it and i was pleasantly surprised 😳 also the plot is getting even more interesting with every chapter, cant wait to find out more! thanks for the update 🙏
You're an amazing writer, literally loving all the characters.
oh my god I already need more😭
Wow. That 4th night really delivered. I'm sweating.
This is soo fun, thanks for writing this!
I cannot believe how romantic this sex-heavy game is, like, I'm taken aback. You have such a fun and immersive writing style! I'd love to know more about how you came to hone your craft.
Additionally, I'm dying over the warlord joke and the later mention in the heretic route. As of the most recent update (like an hour ago, so hell yeah), there are a few repetitive passages during the last available night. I also believe I saw a stray "her" when referring to V very early on in the story; perhaps a mistyped reference to MC's gender?
A master of cliffhangers truly, and well worth sitting in front of my computer all day (and decided to ruin my sleep schedule cause now its almost midnight haha RIP worth it). It was my first time playing the Heretic route (hello Daddy Valdy) and I love how different it is from Zealot. Really makes it feel more in depth with faith vs doubting MC! Zealot is so far my fav but I'll def be doing both routes because they're so well written and fun and I look forward to anything else you'll be adding :)
This is sooo well-written and I love the world, lore, characters, and immersiveness... Truly an amazing read!
AAAAAA, FINISHED READING 30 MINUTES AGO AND JUST DISCOVERED THAT THE 4TH NIGHT IS COMING OUT TOMORROW, CAN'T WAIT! <3
(serax ftw)
Omggg I need more!! I love them both!!! (Valdricht is my fav shhhh) this is so well written I’m so so excited for the next update thank you for all the hard work 💕
Wow, that's real good, I feel for the MC and all the shit she's been through, hope she can get some revenge on those inquisition fuckers, although I guess there are more pressing concerns and the people that hurt her are far far away. Anyway, as the meme goes - "we will be watching your career with great interest!", I'm hooked.
Weird question but how big are the willowy MCs breasts cause I assumed by picking that option they would be small to average no? MC describes them as absurdly large or something like that haha
Wow, that is so funny! I’ll adjust that in the next update for more clarity 🤭
ooooh i'm absolutely hooked, this is so so so so freaking good!!! i'm so excited to see what happens next! i'm also enthralled by the worldbuilding and eager to reread everything and see if i can gleam more of what valdricht and serax are saying!
Ty! I'll be sharing where to find translations in the next update. Some of them are quite spicy. You'll notice Valdricht making more of an effort to teach her in the next update, especially if her bond with him is higher than with Serax.
same LOL I’m so ready to figure out what’s going on when mc can’t understand what they’re saying 😭🤭
Really glad I stumbled upon this. Looking forward to more. It's so well-written and I just know it's gonna get juicy...
It's getting there!
This is a very promising start with only minor bugs. Serax and Valdricht ,are written so naturally and leave me wanting to see more of them and the Weaver's ploy has me intrigued on what will be asked of the MC in future nights. Looking forward to the next update!
Thank you <3
so yummy *.*
(>^_^)>—<3
Ngl i love my mc with how proper she is. It makes me want to hug her myself and steal her away from Serax and Valdricht. She is so cute that I want to protect her myself haha. It is fascinating how well you are able to write different types of MCs
Me, too. I think the market is saturated with badass, dagger-wielding, always-has-something-witty-to-say heroines. Personally, I love playing an awkward dork or a prim/proper lady thrust into a world designed to push all of her buttons. I have so much fun writing her.
I love this!
🫶
I think I am looking forward to seeing where this goes. I am intrigued by the worldbuilding, even if these vampires are rather less monstrous than I usually prefer. I didn't expect to like them so much (just a preference pattern, absolutely no slight to you) but am curious about them. And I am very curious about how the relationships within the trio develop.
Thank you for giving it a try! Physically monstrous, they are not. But I assure you, they're on their best behaviors during the first few nights. You might be pleasantly surprised as the story progresses.
Looking forward to continuing playing this bcoz it's absolutely amazing 😍🫶 The world-building is interesting, the plot got me invested, the characters are all well-written and the ROs are really charming. Can't wait for update 🙏 I'm so excited to see what will happen next
Thank you! I'm so excited, too! I've been planning this story for a few years and it's amazing to see it finally taking shape.
100% this needs a Kickstarter. Is there one and I just missed it? 😭 Take my money please. This is so amazing, my poor heart.
Thanks! I don’t see myself doing a Kickstarter for this, but I’ll likely do a Patreon once I’ve put out a couple more updates and readers have a better understanding of my publishing speed and the story direction.
That said, if the IF becomes popular I won’t rule out making a visual novel version. I’m a huge VN junkie, but it’s really hard to find VNs that seem written for adult women and I think there’s a huge market for it as all of us who grew up on VNs/shojo beat/K-Dramas grow up and mature in our tastes.
Once the IF version is finished I’ll probably self-fund a demo VN and see if there’s enough interest for crowdfunding a full visual novel.
Exactly this!! There needs to be more because there's a market of women who crave the spice. It's also the reason why I wanna make my own IF or VN too 😭💕 (but I dont know coding 🙃)
i am so incredibly excited for this IF. not sure if there's anything quite like it out there, and it fills a dark fantasy niche with such loving, interesting, flavorful writing. the world building has me inching closer to my screen with every passing word. this feels very mature and elevated, and already it feels even the darker elements will be handled thoughtfully and creatively. i can't wait for more!! ❤️
Thank you! I’m so glad to hear it’s resonating with readers even with so little content thus far. I think you guys will really enjoy where it’s headed.
i see the vision!! 🤌 thank you for blessing us with this. absolutely ravenous for more (but also in a no-pressure kind of way). ❤️
I'm really looking forward to the rest of the story.
Is the url for the blog wrong? When I clicked on it, it took me to an error page.
I think I had it routing to my Tumblr dashboard. Doh! Should be fixed now.
The story is amazing, I’m so excited for the next part! Thank you for this masterpiece.
Thank you! ❤️
Omg, this looks so pretty and the story, characters and poly relationship is a top notch! Female protagonist quality mature/adult relationship with 18+ content are lacking, so It's like your answered our prayers(we prayed for more erotica aimed at women). Thank you and I wish you luck!
I'm gonna give a really long response, sorry, but I think this could be helpful for other IF writers who stumble across it because you brought up such a good point.
A bit of lore. I applied to Heart's Choice (Choice of Games romance publisher) during the pandemic and got rejected, but I couldn't shake the idea of doing an IF. Meanwhile, I'd been drafting/worldbuilding Bride of Shadows as a novel series in my spare time for a few years. I'd been planning to take a semester off from teaching and write book #1 this year, but in November I stumbled across Arcadie: Second Born on Steam. Until then, it never occurred to me that I could just make an IF on my own and self-publish it, so I started doing research and learning Twine in December.
My husband was very confused that suddenly I was making a game and I can't blame him because my biggest doubt was that I didn't see other IFs like this. Most of the other popular ones were either smut (which is fun, no shade, I'm just one of those chicks that needs emotional attachment with erotic stories) or open-gender high fantasy aimed at everyone. I probably told my husband like 100 times "this isn't going to go well because you can't play as a guy, there are only two ROs, and they're both guys" but secretly I suspected there'd be at least a small niche for erotic fantasy romance IFs aimed at women because it was exactly what I wanted.
If the response so far has been any indication, there's definitely a big hunger for this sort of thing. Rest assured, I'm thrilled and I have every intention of continuing with the full story, getting new episodes out asap, and ultimately publishing it as a full game. I've purposely structured the story so that it won't become too overwhelming. I think a lot of IF authors get burnt out because they feel like they have to stuff the story with lots of characters, which bogs down the creative process. I also structured the IF so that instead of having to wait 1-2 months for new chapters, I can publish in episodic format, uploading new nights every 1-2 weeks, which imo is amazing for avoiding burnout because you have much smaller goalposts to hit. It's the difference between having a goal of running five kilometers and five-hundred meters. One is a lot less likely to leave you overwhelmed and wanting to throw in the towel.
tl;dr: I love this format for my story, I've taken a lot of preemptive measures to avoid burnout, and I'm in this for the long haul. Also, if anyone reads this and is thinking of doing a female protagonist erotic romance IF, go for it!
This is all I wanted and moree 🫶. I have a question though, are there bad endings? Not that I'd mind I'm just curious :D
Thank you!! If you've played BG3, I have it plotted so that there are a few different core endings, how satisfying they are will depend on choices you've made along the way. There are no objectively bad endings, but there will be a lot of opportunities to die if you make really bad choices. In that case, you can always abuse the "Back" button.
I'm officially obsessed
❤️
Otome game tagged with yaoi?
Wow, it's so surreal to think of this as an otome game but tbh you're not wrong. It started as an MMF interactive novel and then morphed into something approximating an otome as I learned to code and kinda went wild. I'll update the tags so they're more appropriate, thanks!
Thanks for correcting the tag. I saw the tags said Yaoi but the description said mmf without any indication of gender selectable mc so was confused about the tag.
Hey! In my opinion, I suggest you should keep the Otome tag (in combination with the LGBT one) and/or at least add the Female Protagonist tag. Personally, that's the two tags I always add when searching for gender-locked MC.
That's a great idea!
This randomly popped up on my tumblr and so far it's all i ever wanted from an if. I been waitngggg for an if that has some form of pregnancy included in it. That added with the lore and the two lovers this is setting up to be one of the top ifs in rotation.
Spoiler question down below:
What determines the father of the baby? Or with how this story is going is it even that simple? Or is it too early to say?
Thank you! As for the question, explaining it would spoil a few plot points. I'll say that as currently drafted you can go either way, but one way is a lot more complicated.
OMG! The world that you created is so wonderful and the language spoken by both LI??? My dear, you have done such a fantastic job 🫶🏻🫶🏻 I can’t wait for the next update and hope you take plenty of rest after each update ✨
Thank you! I was conflicted about adding a fantasy language, I figured it may annoy people, but I'm such a sucker for that sorta thing, I couldn't resist. I plan on doing a lot more with it once I add the language as a stat and optimize the coding for translations. I'm so grateful for your feedback!