\\\\ Clerk! ////

Welcome to
The Black Crown Project

Your role as editor at The Widsith Institute will be to excavate and study the Miasma Eremite's life work. Promotion will come in the form of contracting exotic diseases dispensed from our Wormery.

Climb the shushbaby. Drink a vile soup. Lose a tooth. Relearn yourself. Mysteries abound; how deep will you dig?

Returning Clerks

Questions? Dig Deeper

What is this?

The Miasma Eremite

In the world of Black Crown, reality is in flux, so you never quite know who or what to trust. The Verge

The Black Crown Project is a narrative horror game. You play as an employee of the Widsith Institute, digging through curiously malleable soil to uncover, document, and return artifacts archived from the Eremite's travels.

The game is played by selecting options on event cards. Results of your selection are delivered through thick and surreal prose. You'll simultaneously build and destroy your character through story events, you'll take risks to discover narrative on the fringes of the game, and it will finally culminate to an ending determined by your actions.

Ready for your first day?

Background

Black Crown: Exhumed is a reconstruction of the original Black Crown Project, which went offline on October 31st, 2014. The original game was built in Failbetter Games's StoryNexus game engine, and has been imported into Tinydark's GAM3 engine.

The Black Crown Project was a multimodal narrative horror game and featured interactive elements (known as miasmae) in a pseudo-3D environment. It was written by Dr. Rob Sherman of Bonfire Dog. The text of the original has been preserved in its entirety for Phase 1.

Screenshots

Please note these are from the original game. Their design does not reflect the upcoming iteration.

FAQ

What does Phase 1 mean? Is the game finished?

Black Crown: Exhumed is initially releasing in Phase 1. Phase 2 is expected to release on app stores and Steam in Q3 2024. Phase 1 is the original game and is playable from start to finish, and Phase 2 will bring with it some new features, a fully refreshed interface, and new content written by Tinydark Studio.

Is it free?

The game is free from start to finish; however, play will be metered for free accounts. A copy of the game is a one-time fee of $10 and brings with it some other benefits, as well as supporting the developer and hosting costs.

What elements of horror are there?

Black Crown mostly describes body horror, but other elements include gore and animal death.

How long is the game?

It can vary depending on the choices you make, but you can expect anywhere from 10-12 hours of content, assuming you read everything. Optionally engaging with the Miasma items will additionally take a few more hours. There are a few options that beget a second or third playthrough.

Is there a recommended age to play?

A person of high school reading level should be able to enjoy Black Crown. We don't recommend anyone younger than 16 to play.