Arberth Studios’ New Adventure ‘Coven’ Now in Production

Why did Megan Jones have to hang? That’s one of the many different questions that will be confronting players of Arberth Studios’ (Rhiannon: Curse of the Four Branches) forthcoming point and click adventure game, Coven. Did she suffer the noose because she really was a witch, as they claimed? And why has the ghost of the black dog haunted the river bridge ever since?

Originally titled Project Rivercastle, Coven’s storyline is described as a “tragedy” that has dogged the many generations of people living in Castle Avon – a small town full of Welsh history. In the present day, the player will arrive in Castle Avon to claim their inheritance from an unknown Aunt. While there, you are there you become inadvertently involved with the history of witch-hunts that happened during the English Civil War which includes the Rebecca Riots, the British Agricultural Revolution and World War II espionage, and the fate falling upon the town after the death of your Aunt. To face these challenges, you must assume your Aunt’s occult responsibilities and confront the truth that has eluded and plagued the town for over four hundred years.

The developers have decided to once again dip into the past with history and legends steeped within Welsh culture, but instead of going with the mythological past, they went historical this time around by incorporating the witch-hunts that occurred during the seventeenth century in England and Scotland. Wales, on the other hand, was both tolerant of other beliefs and were also not quick to judge someone do to the fact that they were “different” or just because someone pointed a gnarled finger at them. Therefore, there are no recorded records of witch-hunts in Wales.

He continues, “As with ‘Rhiannon’, we have dipped into Wales’ past; however this time into history rather than legend. In the seventeenth century, while England and Scotland were hanging and burning hundreds accused of witchcraft, Wales exercised pragmatic tolerance; there are no records of witches being executed there. However, the game adds a twist to the history by having a fictional hanging occur with Megan Jones and you have to find out what made her the exception to the rule.

Release dates and publishing strategies are yet to be finalized but we do know that it will be heading to the PC like most point and click adventures. Check back with us for more detail at a later date.

Photo credit: Not from the game, as screenshots have yet to be released, but from the Haunted American Tours website where the painting posted above is of: “Prince Rupert and his “familiar” dog in a pamphlet titled “The Cruel Practices of Prince Rupert” (1643). During the English Civil War, the Royalist general Prince Rupert was in the habit of taking his large poodle dog, named “Boye”, into battle with him. Throughout the war the dog was greatly feared among the soldiers of Parliament and credited with supernatural powers, evidently considered a kind of familiar (witch companion). At the end of the war the dog was shot, allegedly with a silver bullet”. Thus another victim of unfounded superstitions.