For nearly three years, a mysterious creature has terrorised the region of Gévaudan. Described by survivors as wolf-like and relentless, it kills indiscriminately, taking men, women and children alike, leaving behind only what the strongest could stomach. Many have taken up arms, from simple farmers and hunters to soldiers and even nobles hungry for glory.
None have succeeded.
To this day the mystery remains. Is it a wolf? A hyena? A werewolf? A wizard, or simply a human murderer? Somewhere between folklore and nightmare, between cautionary tale and genuine terror, the Beast of Gévaudan still eludes all.
Only one person knows the truth.
You.
Why?
Because you are the Beast of Gévaudan.
An 18th century interactive fiction set in rural France, while inspired by the real historical legend it is not an accurate historical one.
Play as a werewolf navigating grief, secrets, and survival in a world that would destroy you if it knew what you were. The Church and the Third Estate cast long shadows here, but misogyny, homophobia, racism and transphobia, while rooted in that history, have been deliberately pushed to the back. The fights were fought but the scars remain.
Play as a werewolf who is struggling with control over its form.
Full character customisation: pronouns & gender, hair color and texture, height, skin color, personality (between 4 possible), your job (between Blacksmith and Doctor), and more...
A reverse thriller at its core: you are the killer. You are what everyone is hunting. How long can you keep this up?
Navigate the politics of 18th century France: the Church, the Nobility, the Tiers État, and what it means to survive in a country on a verge of revolution, that was never built for people like you in the first place.
Branching narrative shaped by your choices: what you do, who you trust, what you hide.
Themes of grief, identity, redemption, found family, social and economical class, faith, and the particular terror of being known.
Four romanceable characters all with their own secrets, or, if that’s not your thing, play the friend route
Louisette "Lou" Valet
she/her | the innkeeper
(Lou is a trans woman and a lesbian)
Description: rozy skin often sunburnt, green-blue eyes, red curly hair, and freckles. She has the brightest smile in all the village.
Vibes: Your closest friend, your steadiest constant, the person who stayed when everyone else stopped trying. A friends-to-lovers romance for those who believe that the most terrifying thing in the world is letting someone who already loves you, sees all of you.
Camille Antoine
they/them | the king’s hunter,
(Camille is Non-Binary and Demi)
Description: warm black skin, tall, dark eyes and long eyelashes, with long locs tied in an intricate ponytail, broad shoulders. They're quite strong but in a slender way.
Vibes: they were sent by the king himself to do one thing: kill the Beast of Gévaudan. They don't know they've already met it. Warm, composed, and irritatingly good at everything. They try to hide the weight of expectation on their shoulders. A romance for those who like the workaholic golden one; who wish to see the person behind the veneer.
Alexis Chastel
she/her or he/him | the gamekeeper
(While Alexis gender is selectable, they are more of a "masc" person)
Description: Tall and strong in a heavy way, Tan skin, littered in scars, hazel eyes and a brown buzzcut.
Vibes: more comfortable in the forest than in any room with people in it. Alexis knows this land better than anyone. They know every trail, every creature, every hiding place. Quiet, but not unkind. The kind of person who shows up rather than speaks up. A romance for those who like gentle giants and Strong Silent types.
Hyacinthe
she/her or he/him | the bard
(While Hyacinthe gender is selectable, they are more of a "fem" person)
Description: French-born and Indian-descend, brown skin, dark hair, deep brown eyes, hair tied in a ponytail and a crooked nose. They are on the smaller side of average.
Vibes: Passing through, as always, and armed with a smirk that suggests they know something you don't. Hyacinthe arrives with a song, stays for reasons they won't admit, and leaves before things get complicated. A push-and-pull romance for those who like a reformed rake
[DEMO]
Content warnings: violence, gore, death (including animal and human death), themes of grief and loss, religion and class as sources of conflict, body horror (transformation), strong language.
Free suggestion: what if the guilt stat started very high, and decayed over time? That way, you start feeling very guilty no matter what. But as the killings start to feel more normal, or as you start to intentionally kill those you feel may “deserve” it, you lose guilt because your actions start to make you numb/feel more normal. The beast becomes something you have to actively work to resist, and to do that you have to sacrifice your peace or become numb to it all.
Mmm I like it.
I wasnt sure what i wanted to do with the guilt stat if it was just a boolean (true/false) or a int one that gets higher or lower (numbers) but one that starts high and gets lower is a good idea actually more work but its more organic
Is there gonna be a big political part ? Between the king pov in the prologue and the mention of the 'brewing revolution', i'm curious !
Yes and no!
There will be political threads running through the story, but it's always going to be from the point of view of commoners... because that's what the beast and their friends are. So less court intrigue, more how political decision ripple outward and land on ordinary people.
for example: a lord ordrering more driven hunts might make the area feel safer to the villagers, but means more soldiers disrupting daily life, and more eyes in the forest that our protagonist really doesn't need.
The king's decisions shape Tierce-Lieux whether anyone there asked for it or not.
It's also going to be seen through Information and lack of it, in a time when access to information was incredibly limited for common folk, what people know, and don't know. It's why places like Lou's Inn are going to be incredibly important to the story.
As for the revolution, it's not going to happen for a few more years yet, but as we know, it's always been a long time coming. You'll feel it in the taxation, the Tiers-état and how nobles will treat commoners, in the Church's role, in the gap between what's decided at Versailles and what actually reaches a small village in the Gévaudan.
So yes to politics but not in the way one might expect with the court. Its always through the lens of common people.
I am sooo ready to play as a guilt riddled werewolf, whose sole purpose is forging a weapon that could kill them (+ reinforcing the town's defenses to protect their remaining loved ones neighbours 🥲)
their plan absolutely won't be foiled by the power of friendship & love 🙂↔️🫸 ❤️🩹
Yes im very excited to write about it! My plan right now is to add the "guilt" stat next chapter. although im not sure if i want it to "evolve" as the story progresses or if it stays relatively the same way.
But yeah; i love the idea of like hey im building this terrible weapons an di want you to use it to defend yourself and kill the thing dont hesitate the angst is going to be SO goooooooooooood
Sorry I died a little, got busy with real life… but I should be free now, and also I'm gonna travel a lot and I'm doing my best "work" while on "commute" so I'm excited for those 5 hours of trains haha
Not much more to say than last time. I'm still working on a "smallish" update with the mute options, I'd love to post it around mid-August, but we'll see. If i follow my theme maybe ill wait till august's fool moon!
About chapter 2: I wrote some more in the small bits of time I managed to carve out for myself. Chapter 2 is around 2000 words so far and I'm not even 15% of the way through it, so it's probably going to be a beast! I did solve a problem I had with the ending of the chapter, because I couldn't figure out how to give it the same sort of oomph chapter 1's ending had, so hopefullyyy it's smooth sailing after that.
The rest of Chapter 3 has been published! It's not very long since it's only half a chapter but I hope you all like it. Unfortunately, you'll need to replay the whole game because I made some changes to the code. For example, now the greying hair makes it so that the hair and fur of your MC is not grey, but greying. As always, I encourage you to play with different MCs to get all the slight variations.
As for chapter 3, feel free to send in any typo/mistake and most of all your feelings about it. Thank you <3
I just wanted to give some feedback on the scene where we decide the MC's sexuality.
Lou says "Do you have any idea how difficult it is to find a woman who likes someone like me?"
So if we are playing as a man I don't think the options make much sense? Like, the option "You're not sure, because you only like men anyway." it would make sense if the MC were a straight woman, but if they are a man shouldn't it be reversed?
Idk if thus made any sense but anyways I just thought that I'd send the feedback.
Good luck with this!
Hello!!
For some reason i was genuinely like "yes this choice makes perfect sense for both lesbians and gay men" when it really doesnt 💀
Thank you for pointing it out! Ill correct it next update :]
i just saw the memes about Camille having anxiety... It's gonna be really fun once they find out that the person they're in love with is the beast of gevaudan, won't it?
Oh yeah they're definitely not gonna have a good time
I've been fascinated by the Beast of Gevaudan ever since it was featured in Anthony Head's True Horror (which everyone should watch) so this was an IMMEDIATE read for me. Can't wait to be a fucked up lil guy 🥰
The way i had never heard of this and i looked up and went
Honestly though what I find deeply fascinating about it is that its real. Well not the werewolf bits but. And its so interesting to see the social economical religious context as well and the huge impact it had, its truly fascinating. And i do get why so many people— me included— make a werewolf tale of it cause its so ideal for it when i was re reading many different books about what happened trying to structure the story its crazy how the "fantastic" beat came naturally
As a note: im doing this just cause its a liiittle bit special but I’ll do em every full moon unless im updating the IF ;)
It's been a week since Bog has been released and I wanted to share how grateful I am ! I got a lot of followers (way, way more than i got in more than 10 years i spend online LOL) lots of questions, lots of attention, and endless kind words. THANK YOU! 💛❤️
This IF has always been very dear to my heart. Writing isn't something I'm super confident with, and even as I poured all my love into this project, there were so many difficult moments where I doubted anyone would like it. But you did! overwhelmingly so! That's still crazy to me.
Life has been particularly difficult for me for the past few years, and as im going through a big career change i went through a lot of self doubt, so i genuinely never expected for my IF to be read by so many people (lowkey i thought maybe 1 or 2 person would like it and i was fine with that LOL)
So anyway from the bottom of my heart thank you <3
As for the plans;
Next update will have:
the Mute Options
that one dialogue option that was empty in the beginning
i’ve been fiddling with saves so now they will have proper names and none of that “turn 6826” bs
I’m busy for the rest of july prepping for my diploma in dev (dont change careers guys, going back to school at 30-ish is rough) but I’m aiming for august.
After that, I'll work properly on chapter 2. I've already made some progress, a few scenes are already done (like the Lou POV)
Cheers, thank you again, and wishing you a cold pillow at night <3
idk if you've gotten this yet, but if not please allow me to hit you with the classic: "What would the RO's want to hear, need to hear and dread to hear?"
Ohhh i love a classic ❤️💛
Alexis
Want: You make me feel at peace.
Need: It’s not your fault.
Dread: You’re just like your father.
Lou
Want: You don’t have to do it alone.
Need: I see you.
Dread: No matter what you do, you will end up alone.
Camille
Want: You’ll get there.
Need: You can rest.
Dread: You will never be enough.
Hyacinthe
Want: You’re fun to be around.
Need: I’m not going anywhere.
Dread: She/He was right
