Room Escape Artist

The Archives of Trevosa is a free language translation puzzle game created by Jamwitch.

Format

Style of Play:

• Database game
• Language translation

Who is it For?

• Story seekers
• Puzzle lovers
• Word nerds
• Best for players with some experience

Required Equipment: computer with an internet connection

Recommended Team Size: 1

Play Time: about 2 hours

Price: Free

Booking: play at your leisure

Description

The Archives of Trevosa is a browser-based language deciphering game in which players must complete the family tree by wading through a variety of texts from a fantasy world. Most of the text was translated into English, but certain terms remained in the native language of Trevosa. The objective was to identify the names and epithets (e.g., Alexander the Great) of 30 key figures within this fictional kingdom. The game demanded that players practice close reading, use context clues, and make abstractions. 

Of note, The Archives of Trevosa is the product of a game jam, Ludum Dare 59. The creators are also working on a Steam version of the game, though this is early in production. There is neither an anticipated release date nor a Steam store page yet.

Chuck Kaplan-Smith’s Reaction

Have you ever had a dream that you’re in school and people are speaking your language but it’s also pure nonsense? If so, have you ever tried to do history homework in that dream? If you answered yes to both those questions, The Archives of Trevosa will feel very familiar to you. 

Within this burgeoning genre of game, flagship titles like Chants of Sennaar (review) and Heaven’s Vault interlace language and symbol translation with traditional adventure game mechanics like controlling an avatar and solving object manipulation puzzles. The Archives of Trevosa was unique in its singular focus on the story and lore. The only interactions players made in the game were reading texts, exploring specific keywords, taking notes, and inputting names/ epithets from a dropdown list. As such, the game lives and dies by its writing.

Luckily, the writing is exceptionally strong. The characters’ personalities shined through the varied letters, speeches, and in-world texts. Throughout the couple hours I spent leisurely exploring The Archives of Trevosa, I remained mostly enrapt. The gameplay loop pulled me from confusion to curiosity to surprise to satisfaction repeatedly. The frequent dopamine hits from observing a pattern or understanding a new word intoxicated me. The periods of confusion rarely lasted long, though they elongated and flirted with frustration near the end of the game. Through searching for keywords and clicking on unfamiliar terms in text, I expanded my available texts from 2 to 49. By the end of the game, I read some texts dozens of times, poring over them for a subtle word that may hint at a relationship or personality trait.

Over time, I began to understand the broad swaths of the story, though many of the specifics still elude me after completing the game. Few games demand as much investment in the story as The Archives of Trevosa. The game refused to spoonfeed me information, offer me hints when stuck, or provide a succinct explanation of the story. I respect the ambition and the purity of the game. If you hate reading in games, this is not for you. If you delight in discovery, savor sentences, and relish research, you should save this game in your collection to preserve it for later. Hmm, is there another word for that? Let me look that up.

Jacky Chang’s Reaction

The Archives of Trevosa is a lovely puzzle game that involves exploring the family trees of three intertwined families that have ruled the land of Trevosa through many generations. It is both a genealogical mystery where players must explore a trove of documents using keyword searches to figure out names, relationships, and character traits, and it is a linguistic mystery with documents partially written in the fictional Trevosan language that you learn through context clues. In exploring the archives, you also piece together the history of the realm and the emotional dynamics of the relationships between the characters. As someone who loves history and learning about the lives of ancient peoples through the scraps of writing we’ve managed to uncover (I’ve recently been consuming a lot of media about the Amarna letters), I really loved both the conceit and skilled execution of this game.

The game manages to tell a well-rounded and emotionally engaging story in a surprisingly spare amount of text. The various fragments of letters, records, declarations, and other pieces of textual ephemera manage to give distinct voices and personalities to the characters and create a recognizable fantastical setting for the game without confusing filler that could have created unnecessary frustration. Every time I wondered why some piece of the archive had been included, it would eventually become clear without feeling ham-handed or awkwardly wedged in. The texts manage to cover a diverse range of events and experiences that you could imagine in a real royal archive, creating a well-rounded impression of Trevosa and big and small hardships its people have faced.

The Archives of Trevosa also has a good learning curve/ on-ramp for the length of the game. When I initially read the first document provided in the introduction, I struggled to even complete reading the sentence due to the number of unfamiliar words in a row. Fairly quickly though, I was able to find a foothold into the language (and documents that had less overwhelming use of Trevosan), and began to piece together what the various components might mean. By the end, I had completely forgotten about the notes functionality as I quickly worked my way through the archive. I really did feel like I was learning both the history and culture of the realm and its language, an impressive accomplishment for a 2-hour game that relies solely on piecemeal archival text. All-in-all, The Archives of Trevosa is a wonderful bite-sized game that can serve as a nice break in your day. I played it at the end of a work day to ramp down after a long day, but I could also see it being a great start to a weekend day. It would be a delightful puzzle to work on with a cup of coffee, slowly waking up by sifting through the archival history of a faraway realm on a lazy Sunday morning.

Matthew Stein’s Reaction

I first heard about The Archives of Trevosa from an Instagram post, whose hook — “if you like Chants of Sennaar, here’s another linguistic puzzle game for you” — immediately stopped my scroll. Conveniently, The Archives of Trevosa is free on Itch and playable in-browser. I added it to my “to-play” list, figuring I’d just poke around for a few minutes… and immediately got sucked in for the next 90 minutes.

Indeed, much like the brilliant Chants of Sennaar, the gameplay in The Archives of Trevosa also centered around contextually decoding words from a foreign language. Yet in taking up a much smaller surface area and providing even less hand-holding, Trevosa was supremely elegant in its design. Each decoded word also unlocked new narrative information, particularly focused on genealogy, gender, and relationships. There was a steady sense of discovery and progression, and by the end, I found myself understanding almost all the language without even referencing my notes.

Yet the end was not the end, and the most satisfying revelation emerged just past the game’s formal ending upon being faced with the question: what does this all mean?

The Archives of Trevosa was one of the most impressive creations I’ve seen emerge from a game jam. It reflected an inspirational level of creativity and intentionality on the part of its creators. I wholeheartedly recommend this free version to all puzzle lovers, linguaphiles, and mystery solvers, and I eagerly await any future iterations and new creations from the dynamic duo behind this mini masterpiece.