The End of an Actress
A downloadable game for Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android
Based on the life (and death) of Marie Antoinette, The End of an Actress is a tragic romance story set in a fantasy universe with close parallels to late 18th century France.
The kingdom of Artoire was once a force to be reckoned with. Governed by a string of beloved kings, the nation was wealthy, its people prosperous. That was in the past, however. Now, Artoire’s fortunes are dwindling as constant wars and food shortages sweep the land. After innumerable hard years, the people of Artoire begin to despair. Fearing for the worst, they search for a messiah who can save them during their time of peril…
And that messiah comes in the form of a fourteen-year-old girl called Liliane.
Liliane is a beautiful, charming, elegant young lady from the foreign land of Charentes, born to the noble Saint-Coeurs. Betrothed to the future king of Artoire, Liliane ascends to the throne upon the death of the old monarch, to public approval and rapturous applause.
With the passing of time, however, the public opinion towards Liliane turns. It soon transpires that the new queen is vain and flighty, and she cares not one jot about the plight of the common people. The death toll continues to rise, new wars loom on the horizon, and despair swells.
Betrayed and helplessly hurt, a young man called Marius becomes a key player in a revolt that will shake the society of Artoire to its very core. Once a street urchin enamoured with the queen, and now a lead revolutionary, Marius is faced with a difficult decision. Can he really bring the queen he once adored to justice… or will his old feelings ruin all he has been working for?
- Story by ebi-hime, author of Sweetest Monster and Blackberry Honey
- A handful of choices and five unique endings
- Around 75,000 words of text (approx 4 hours of reading)
- Detailed background and character art
- A custom OST
- 1080p display
- Misery!
Please note: this VN is not compatible with macOS Catalina. Older mac versions should be fine.
Purchase
In order to download this game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $9.99 USD. Your purchase comes with a Steam key. You will get access to the following files:
Development log
- Small update + Android build addedApr 05, 2024
Comments
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Super, super late comment but..
just so i dont get traumatized- this does have at least a somewhat good ending?
like, there's at least one ending where it actually goes well for the main characters
there's one ending which is better than the others that i'd consider the 'true ending', but there's no ending where the two leads come out unscathed and they have a happily ever after romantic ending.
well damn
ive already been traumatized by electric sheep i dont think i want to go through it again
*i cant handle tragedies at all it's not in my dna
This VN was an instant buy for me (I got the Steam version) when it came out; I love the atmosphere created by the text, art and music. Tragedies in which the characters' flaws play a role are my favorite ever.
I still come back and re-read this one from time to time because the words are so beautiful~
Aaa thank you! That's very kind of you; it means a lot! >_<;;
I was very fond of Actress when I was working on it. For a while, it was one of my favourite VNs I'd ever written. I'm still fond of Marius and Liliane as characters; I had a lot of fun writing their interactions.
It was very satisfying trying to make the writing suitably pretty; I'm glad you enjoyed it!
This says it comes with a Steam key, but it's not showing up for me on the download page
It does indeed come with a key, and I can see that they haven't all been claimed. Maybe it's a glitch on Itch.io's end and you should message them about it?
The issue has been solved after I emailed support. Looks like because I bought a bunch of games at once due to the sale that it looked suspicious to the automated system, so the sales had to be reviewed before releasing the keys
Oh, that's good! I'm glad you were able to get the issue resolved!
Beautiful game! Would you be interested in working with a publisher to release on steam?
It's already on Steam.