To finish this year's @tamlinweek the High Lord of Spring cordially invites you to celebrate the Calanmai at his Court! Enjoy the festivities and spend the night with some of Prythian's most famous faces~
Get to know and flirt with them as you discover the many hidden surprises that await you in CalanMine - a free and fully playable ACOTAR Dating Simulator Game.
All you need is a PC or Mac (sorry, it is not available for mobile).
Music & Sound Effects: freesound and pixabay (full list available in the in-game credits)
This is a non-profit fan game made out of pure love for the source material. No money was involved in any part of its creation. The original characters and plot are the property of Sarah J. Maas and Bloomsbury.
Tamlin Week 2025 may be over, but it's never too late for a good review, right??
@calanmine
Just in case you haven't already played this fantastic game (and if you haven't, what are you waiting for???), I'll discuss any spoilers below the cut. But for now, here are my thoughts!
First off, you should know I am not much of a gamer. So, this was my first official "dating game" experience! From the start, the music lured me in and set the mood. @thrumbolt, your taste is immaculate. It was so perfect. I was never once distracted by the songs, although I did check the credits to find out where they came from! I appreciated the direct links, by the way, because this type of music is exactly the sort of thing that I enjoy listening to when I want to be transported into a mystical, magical world. <3
Then, we get to the gameplay. Screencaps don't do the experience justice. There are sound effects and little bits of animation that really draw you in and make the game a lot of fun. @copypastus, you outdid yourself. You did sexy moments as well as silly ones, and I loved each and every one!
And speaking of sexy and silly... @highlordofkrypton, you have a way with words, I swear. I found myself grinning, giggling, *and* blushing as I clicked through the options. I need to take sexy-writing lessons from you. Whew!
Now, before I get to my favorite scenes, I wanted to take a moment to appreciate the fact that you can keep track of your progress through the image gallery. Like I said, I'm not much of a gamer, so I liked being able to see what I had completed, and hints of what was left. (Also, can we all just take a moment to appreciate that we get to revisit some of our favorite scenes in detail?? Whew. Yes. Thank you. <3
On to the game itself! Spoilers below the cut:
Because Book 1 is my favorite and I wanted to see what would happen, I went into my first playthrough as "Feyre", and look who I met at the bonfire:
Bahaha. Best. Easter Egg. EVER. XD
This was delightful. And, sorry Tamlin my love, but I Feyre said "yes" when Lucien asked me to stay. Just look at him... How could I not?
Oh, the sound I made when I saw this!! It was the perfect first ending. And, hey, what can I say? It made my Feycien-loving heart sigh with happiness.
I played the next round as Feyre again. (I wasn't done having fun! Not by a long shot.) There's a bit of familiar dialogue when she meets Rhysand, in case anyone wants to check it out, *wink wink*, but Eris was completely unimpressed. XD Not gonna lie, Eris was not my favorite in this game. That's not to say that he isn't a fun character! He's just not my type. My type is more like...
This guy.
Of course, we get all kinds of sexy Tamlin in this (there are three-ways AND four-ways!!), but sweet shy Tamlin is my favorite. <3
I know there's no special dialogue for Briar, the former Daughter of the Blessed that Tamlin helped rescue in ACOWAR, but I wanted to play as her for a short while, anyway. As it turned out, sweet and shy Tamlin made an appearance when I played as her! (Okay, it happened because I went to the cave first, but I like to think the story *needed* to happen with her that way. Hey, I'm a romantic! And isn't that what the game is for??)
Anyway, it makes me so happy that we got to see shy, goofy Tamlin as well as sexy Tamlin here.
My Feylin-shipping self was oh so satisfied. Mm-hmmm. Oh, and did I mention we get to see Tamcien? As in, we could be the throuple that never was?? The FeyTamCien?? <3<3<3 Yup. No kidding. Wow.
And, hey, speaking of ships that should have sailed... If you like to picture pre-canon Tamlin and Rhysand as messy, bitter exes, there's a fantastic make-up scene featuring them that pretty much healed my soul, actually.
Play it. You won't regret it.
Also, for the love of the Cauldron, you *have* to play as Amarantha at least once! Everyone's reactions (including Amarantha's!!) are absolutely hilarious. They really make the game.
And, hint hint, there are even more Easter Eggs if you play as the following characters:
Elain
Nesta
Cassian
Azriel
I think there are more, but these are the ones I played (including Feyre). I had so much fun playing with canon characters, I nearly forgot to play as an OC! So I guess I'll have to do that on my next playthrough. ;)
I can't thank everyone involved enough for making such an amazing game. You're all phenomenal, and it blows me away at how passionate and talented you are. I'm so glad I've gotten to know you! Thanks for making all our days - and nights - a little brighter! Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to play a little more Calanmine. <3
MUAHAHAHAHAH I UNLOCKED ALL THE ENDINGS IN @calanmine, trust that wont stop me from playing over and over again BECAUSE GODDAMN THIS GAME IS AMAZING AAAAAAAA
Started playing the wonderful dating sim game made by many lovely members of the Tamlin and ACOTAR community. All I have to say is thank you! Everything is so wonderful! @copypastus your characters are beautiful and I love getting to interact with them! @thrumugnyr your background work is gorgeous! Absolutely stunning! @highlordofkrypton your writing is so perfect and all the guys are swoon-worthy heartthrobs. You’ve truly made my heart race with this game and I thank you and everyone else who worked on this project! It’s the best gift you could have given us for the end of Tamlin Week! With all my love, I hope you had a wonderful week and continue to do so! 💖🫶💖🫶💖
How did all of you come up with the idea for Calamine? Apologies if this has been asked before.
It has not! Not that I know of!
I don't know if I'm the best person to ask because @copypastus was the one who approached me with the idea kind of like 'you know what would be fun to do?'. She has the art and the coding powers, and the game needed a writer ☺️
(cOPY FEEL FREE TO JUMP IN WITH WHERE IT BEGAN IF I'M WRONG.)
Copy and @thrumbolt had an idea of what they wanted, and which characters they were going to focus on so I drew up some paths and possible storylines that could be interesting for players. When I say drew up some paths, this is what I mean:
I would say the idea started with her, but the final product has bits and pieces of everyone which makes it such a lovely project. (If there is a lot of Tamsand, that is unapologetically my fault!!!!!)
v the @calanmine team combining our abilities to make this passion project!!
Last night I went to an ACOTEN event where I SHIT YOU NOT the organiser/hosts spent a full ten minutes just moaning about Tamlin. It was actually hosted by a UK indie bookstore and I will...not be frequenting there again because I was made so uncomfortable.
So tonight I played @calanmine and I had the best fucking time ever! AND THE GAME IS FUCKING FREE AND HAS SO MANY ENDINGS HOLY SHIT-
To all of the creators...you are amazing, wonderful, gorgeous and I hope you find five quid on the street tomorrow.
