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.
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FileFront has received a bunch of demos and patches this past week, and for once, it seems like the demos are worth writing about. So, to kick things off, lets start with the patches that hit this week, just in case you were unaware that one was available for your game.

As always, for the full list of patches and games, hit the links.

Patches

• Legacy Interactive has released a patch updating The Lost Cases of Sherlock Holmes to v1.1.
• Codemasters has released a patch for ArchLord to adjust registry entry to point to correct location.
• Crytek has released a patch updating Crysis Wars to v1.2. This patch fixes various problems, but mainly addresses balancing issues.
• Electronic Arts has released a patch updating Spore to v1.03 with 24 new and exclusive exoskeleton limbs for the Creature Creator.

Demos

Strong Bad Episode 4: Dangeresque 3: Move over, James Bond! Strong Bad’s here to show you how it’s done in his hand-crafted cinematic masterpiece. You play Dangeresque, a dirty cop in pursuit of action and big sacks of cash. Can our hero defeat his arch-nemesis and save the world? Looks like he’s gonna have to jump.

7 Wonders: Treasures of Seven: In 7 Wonders, you have to build nine of the most intriguing structures throughout history. You have to match runes to break blocks and uncover the lock and keystone for each round.

Call of Atlantis: Takes players on a fascinating journey around the ancient lands of the Mediterranean to acquire seven mysterious crystals of power able to restore the Altar of Poseidon and save the fabled sunken city of Atlantis.

Ellen Whitaker’s Horse Life: PC demo which allows you to take care of your horse and complete certain tasks.

Murlikin Rescues His Estate: Aliens are threatening to occupy the Earth and the only one who can interfere with this evil plan is… a cat.

Five more demos listed after the jump.

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Arberth Studios is giving gamers the chance to playtest two different levels with demos for Rhiannon: Curse of the Four Branches. The game centers around Rhiannon Sullivan, a troubled teen caught up in an ancient struggle between man and magic in the Celtic fringes of Britain.

In Rhiannon: Curse of the Four Branches Demo 1, players will get the basics down as they explore the remote Welsh farmstead known as Ty Pryderi in Chapter 1. Rhiannon: Curse of the Four Branches Demo 2 takes you further into the mystery that threatens to exact revenge and death. Set in Chapter 5 you’ll search Boswell’s Office, an underground office located beneath Ty Pryderi for clues. Having the chance to demo the game from the middle as long as it reveals no spoilers is definitely a bonus.

Normally, when one hears the name Rhiannon, visions of Stevie Nicks awash in gypsy attire and painfully high-heeled boots dance through their mind as she flips her skirt and shakes her tambourine.

However, if you are more cerebral or lore minded, the name Rhiannon invokes the Welsh horse Goddess – still, if you are an astronomy buff you also know that an asteroid is named Rhiannon. If you are under the age of 12, you might get the name mixed up with the R&B singer Rihanna.

This time, however, Rhiannon is a teenage girl whose very sanity is threatened as an ancient battle for revenge on a remote Welsh farmstead is taking shape. Reports of unexplained noises and strange visions by the girl are seen as merely the figments of an overactive imagination so her parents whisk her off.

However, the history of her family’s new home, Ty Pryderi, holds a terrible connection to a timeless struggle between man and magic – and this is where you, the gamer, come in. Once Rhiannon Sullivan is removed, Ty Pryderi is yours to watch and explore, but their absence can only postpone an ancient inevitability of revenge and death for so long.

Curse of the Four Branches is based on the classic Middle-Welsh prose “Four Branches of the Mabinogi” (MabinOGion) and is set in a mystical place on the Celtic fringes of Britain, a place where myth and magic spill into reality. Welsh, or Celtic mythology and literature in general, as always been of interest to me and I have loads of literature on it and have visited many of these ’sacred’ places of antiquity – so I am curious as to how much of the Mabinogi legends will come into play in the game.

The original prose is a recollection of the births, lives and deaths of a group of interrelated figures from the British Celtic mythological cycle, with all of the historical, magical and the fantastic we have come to expect from such a time and place. So, I am eager to try out anything that would lend a bit of fun and immersement in a game based on mythology as interesting as this.

Rhiannon: Curse of the Four Branches is a first person point and click adventure game with story that promises to blend fact, myth, and horror within a rich atmospheric game world. If you are a fan of the P&C genre, ghost stories, myth, mystery, legends, and puzzle games, this might be right up your alley.

Originally titled Rhiannon: Beyond the Mabinogion, Curse of the Four Branches is the debut title from Welsh team Arberth Studios and is to be published by Got Game Entertainment. It is expected to be released on the PC sometime this October.

Screens can be found here and while you are clicking links, you can visit the developer’s site here which is VERY cool because the menu is in Ogam (Celtic writing) and you can also watch a trailer for the game.