The Pretenders Guild
A downloadable Visual Novel for Windows, macOS, and Linux
Update July 5 2023:
Fixed some errors in the voice files.
Paris and Ash have been forced to close their restaurants and sail to New Trinity after their hometown becomes little more than a rundown hunk of grass floating in the sea, thanks to the king and his taxes. They need money quick, and find an advertisement for a job requiring a guild to escort someone to the capital city. Join the adventure as two best friends fake their way through a get rich quick scheme and end up loving the consequences. Literally?
Become Ash and customize their gender, pronoun, look, voice, and background.
Different backgrounds means you can play all 3 romantic routes 2 different ways.
An emotion-based choice system, with hints you can turn on and off.
30 CGs.
A full original soundtrack, which is available on soundcloud.
An immersive, 98,000 word adventure about friendship and honesty (or lack there of)
8 endings, and other unlockable scenes and content
Make the game yours by choosing the main menu screen!
Full voice acting!
Accessibility: You can change the font from the main menu.
Language
Descriptions of intimacy
Brief nudity
Minor drug and alcohol content
Violence
Meet the voices who bring these characters to life
(Full list available in end credits)
Minh Ton (@minhyva)
Current version: 4.5
Update July 5 2023:
The Pretenders Guild is now fully voiced! There are some minor audio issues that will be taken care of in the upcoming weeks.
Follow The Pretenders Guild tumblr for updates on voice acting and CGs.
Story, Art, Music, Programming: Harlevin Studios
Note: None of Paris's lines are voice acted in chapter 5.
Guide Start
#Intro
##Rafael
Choose the shika emblem for your guild (the one with horns)
Name your guild "Guild"
Chocolate cake
##Paris
Choose the cubi emblem for your guild (the one with bunny ears)
Carrot bread
##Braums
Choose the reaver emblem for your guild (the one with three points)
Don't read the letter
#Chapter 1
##Rafael
I hate rats - Gentle [Well, I wasn't expecting that...]
What are you doing out here? - Flirty [Anyway, I was looking for you / I was looking for you of course!]
##Paris
I need the room for a little while - Angry [Yeay, yeah, I got it.]
Who are you? - Flirty [Who am I?]
##Braums
Bring me something to drink - Logical [Ah...]
Do I look feminine to you? - Yes [ I do]
I need a distraction - Angry [Okay, stop!]
Nevermind... - Gentle [It doesn't take a genius to know he wants to ask me something]
#Chapter 2
##Rafael
Where is he going? - Gentle [Eh...]
##Paris
We'll just have to share - Flirty [Ooh, looks like I might have some sweet dreams after all!]
##Braums
It's your job to protect me, so... - Logical [It's all right, I have to go, too.]
Should we go right? - No [Uhhhh]
#Chapter 3
##Rafael
What should I say - Funny [I clap for him, letting out a few cheers]
Did I say something funny? - Gentle [I shake my head, unwrapping the necklace and freeing it]
Let's make a play - Flirty [I look over at Rafael, sliding closer to him]
##Paris
What should I say? - Flirty [...You know...I think your scars are hot]
Let's make a play - Funny [Ooh, Paris and I can be the leads! We'll be furious rivals in a race against time!
##Braums
Forget this ever happened - Gentle [There's no way I'm going to just let Braums cry in his room alone.]
Do you...like plays? - Flirty [Why Lord Braums, are you inviting me out?]
Let's make a play - Logical [I'll be the writer and director!]
#Chapter 4
##Rafael
... - Logical [Difficult
Was I incorrect? - Gentle [I-I mean, um...I wasn't...I didn't...]
##Paris
Does the fact that you were paying attention mean you're interested? - Flirty [I make a valiant effort to wipe the look of terror off my face, covering it up with a smirk]
How to proceed... - Logical [Welp, there's bound to be tons of berries and mushrooms around nearby. That'll do!]
##Braums
I should say something to cheer him up - Logical [Look, I would happily vouch for you.]
I don't want to let you all down - Gentle [Braums, you're going to be a great king]
#Chapter 5
##Braums
Then Braums comes to me - Gentle [Despite how queasy this whole thing is making me feel, I'm really glad he's okay. I'm glad we all are.]
Braums is kissing me - Flirty [The complicated thoughts that had been swirling around in my head are immediately gone in favor of thoughts exclusively for the Reaver sharing my blanket.]
##Paris
Paris kissed me - Flirty [No...]
I feel - Logical [You know Paris...I feel like a terrible person, but I keep thinking.]
Download
Install instructions
If you find any typos or bugs, please don't hesitate to e-mail me at aferalcircus@gmail.com!
Development log
- Jul 5 UpdateJul 06, 2023
- Celestial Crowns Kickstarter LiveMay 02, 2023
- Celestial Crowns Kickstarter pre-launch page live!Feb 21, 2023
- 3 New CGs! Plus some bug fixesAug 08, 2021
- TPG Full Voice Is HereAug 02, 2021
- TPG Full Voice Release End of JulyJul 09, 2021
- TPG Voiced up to CH 3Jun 03, 2021
- TPG now voiced up to chapter 2!Oct 02, 2020
Comments
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hello! is there a walkthrough in this game??
hi! There is a walkthrough in the description, but you can also turn on hints that will tell you when you picked the best choice for the route.
i love this game sm that i made fanart so.. here you go, lovely creators! my reaver!ash x paris... 😁 (the next picture contains something of a spoiler idrk)
omg I love it!! Thank you so much 🥰🥰 Do you mind if I put this on the The Pretenders Guild tumblr?
SORRY FOR THE LATE REPLY WAS BUSY FINISHING THIS GAME HAJHDJSBX BUT I DON'T MIND GO AHEAD!! you can @ me my user is ghostlylicious 😁 also i didnt know there was a pretenders guild tumblr oml
also so glad you liked it youre welcome 👉👈✨️✨️✨️ more fanart is to come from my tumblr btw so 😭‼️
i havent finished playing but i've gotten so far and i just want to say i hate you guys for how you wrote the paris route (with affection). in fact it affected me so much that i'm thinking of writing fanfiction <333 angst AND fluff
the only thing that sort of broke me out of immersion is that there are a lot of lines that don't have voice acting </3 definitely isn't stopping me from playing it though. outside of the romance i really like the overall story too. very enganging. love it!!
(spoilers)
Oh god, this game got me so hooked! I laughed so much, got so attached to each one of them (which is rare for me) that I’m actually sad it’s over. I was so obsessed with Paris even though he’s such a womanizer, and it annoyed me, but the ending where I was taking care of one of his babies was really cute, and it was kind of expected that with how he is, this would happen eventually LOL. But Rafael is the real goal, my god this man will be my downfall, he’s so SWEET and so DIRECT at the same time, it’s almost comical, that mysterious air about him, how skilled and strong he was, and the way he treated us... I just love our baby killer <3 Braums, for me, is more of a comic relief and friend rather than a real love route, but I loved his route too. Ahhh I miss them already :(
hi.
im a blind player.i am facing a small issue.
the new game option dosen't read with self-voicing or clipboard-voicing.
Hello, I'm so sorry about this! I think I know what the problem is. The new game button is actually an image. I will try to get an update posted here soon with the button as text so it can be read properly!
hello!! i just started the game and im having so much fun already plus the voice acting is so good ^^ but i have a q when the selection panel for picking the routes first appears it shows me that rafael is not an option? idk what im doing wrong i tried following the walkthrough but it still shows me that i cant choose him. maybe i should just accept the rejection lol T-T
hello! Thanks so much for playing! You can only romance Rafael if you are a shika or cubi, reaver ash does not have a Rafael route.
Everything past chapter 3 has no sound, anyone else having that issue?
the dialogue flowed so nicely, the characters were all so lovable, and the overall storyline was so fun!!! this was really really good, i adore rafael fr ...
this is amazing, i actually love this soo much!!! i never ever comment on anything but this is just too good. the voice acting is amazing, i'm obsessed, everyone is so talented. honestly, the art style i am not fond of but i grew to like it and i absolutely love paris' character!!! thank you for making this
Hello people! I would like to ask a question, what platforms is this game available for? because I have an Android phone and the download button does not appear (For any platform, there is simply no button) thank you very much ♡
hello! It was an error on my part, the button should be visible now. The game is available on Mac, windows, and Linux.
Thank you so much!♡
The download button for pretenders guild is not popping up anymore for windows.
thank you for letting me know! It should be fixed now.
hii !! love this game, but with braums i dont get the option to read the letter is that just me? <3
hi! Thanks so much for playing ^^ can you please elaborate on your issue? You can send screenshots to harlevinvns@gmail.com and I’ll figure out what’s going on 😊
it worked when i tried again later so its okay <33 tho i have another question, theres one cg that i havent gotten and its the 8th one on the 2nd page, how do i get that one? <33
I’ll look into this!
This looks like a Braums CG, you will get this one just by playing his route!
ahh thats weird cuz i did his route first and also played it again with another "species"(?) to see how it would change some points in the story, is it perhaps a "bad" ending gc or something? <3
Hmm it should be just in the route! Can you please post a screenshot, so I can make sure I'm checking the right one? Also, what version are you playing? It should be in the name of the download.
genuinely one of the best otome games I've played (and ive played probably too many)
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much! Thank you for playing 😊
I really had fun playing this game but Paris and Rafael voices would randomly decrease.
only in ch 1 so far, & i'm loving the humor. i adore paris but i had to pick rafeal cause he's so dang hot.
though looking at the comments, i'm a little concerned: if there's nothing in this that's nsfw, why did it come up in an nsfw search? i also saw a comment saying that there was nsfw stuff in celestial crowns, which i also found in this search & played, but i saw nothing in that which was nsfw either. i've barely found anything on the entire search page that is nsfw at all... it's making me doubt the trustworthiness of itch.io's search function, & possibly the tags on any of these games
hello! Thanks for playing. Celestial crowns is rated nsfw for content that will be in future chapters. I thought it best to add the tags now even though there is no nsfw content in the demo. The pretenders guild has a tag for adult content due to some romantic scenes later in chapter five. They’re not explicit but I wanted to be safe.
Hello Harlevin,
I'm writing to let you know "Harlevin" and "The Pretenders Guild" isn't showing up in the itch.io search function. For "Harlevin", it says "No results found" whereas it simply does not list "The Pretenders Guild" at all. It does show up using a search engine under "The Pretenders Guild" + "site: itch.io". Thought I should let you know.
I just checked all your titles and "Celestial Crowns" doesn't show up in the search lists either. The rest do (Arena Circus, Lilith Hall, Mnemonic Devices).
Edited to add: "The Pretenders Guild" doesn't show-up in the game tag lists either. So checking "otome", "character customization", etc, it isn't listed in any of them.
Hello, thanks for bringing this to my attention! I checked and it does come up when I search, but only if I'm logged in. I'm going to contact itch.io support and see if I can find the issue.
You're quite welcome. :)
I was logged-in when I searched. I just searched again now while logged-in and it's still not showing up for me. Not your creator name "Harlevin" nor "The Pretenders Guild" nor is "Celestial Crowns". I tried searching while logged-out too to make certain, no dice. I don't know if you can find them through the search function because you're the creator or if perhaps something is going wrong on my end. Maybe having someone else check too would be useful.
Good luck!
:C
sadly not, if you want NSFW, get Lust doll. It's a great game, but only has two named male characters.
ty
no problem!
Hah! Not this time, BUT in my next game, you can expect some spicy nsfw scene. you can follow it here: https://harlevin.itch.io/celestial-crowns
I have a question. I really like Rafael and was wondering how to do the romance path for him. I'm already playing as the shika race (and have ash saying that he's hot) and have done the scene on the boat where you help him catch rats, but beyond that, I have no idea what to do.
In this game, it's not always the direct flirty or romance options that will get you on their route. Each character has a specific type of personality trait that they respond well to, and you will know based on the sparkles that show when picking the right one
Okay, thanks for the info. As I'm blind, I probably won't be able to figure out the personality traits thing very easily. That's why I was asking for a guide or something. If you don't mind that is. If not, that's alright. I still enjoy the game, so I'll keep playing regardless. And thanks for getting back to me so quickly.
oh you are blind? I'm sorry for not reading your previous comment first. unfortunately there isn't an official guide. I'm sorry I don't think the developer made this fully considering possible issues with sight impaired people, since they purposely, added those visual effects to make it obvious you are choosing the right answers. So simply put Rafael tends to respond well towards smart personality and only can romance in shika or cubi races. Paris tends to respond well towards flirty personality and only can romance in cubi or reaver races. Lastly Braums (aka the rich guy) tends to respond well towards nice personality and only can be romance in shika and reaver races.
Unfortunately I don't have the time to give you the specific personality trait that works for each situation, but in my summary when I say "tends", that suggests that those specific personality traits work most the time, you may have to just experiment a bit to get the right choice for certain situations. My advice in those situations is think what would truly work best when listening to the dialogue while also considering the personality of the character. I hope this helps and maybe someone will right you a guide on here.
That actually might help a bit (personality traits I can definitely experiment with). So far, I've gotten the Broms route (I think I spelled that right). Thanks for the help.
Hello, I'm so sorry I didn't see this post sooner! Let me know if you are still interested in a guide, and I will happily put one together for you.
I am having lots of fun with this game. I've gotten to chapter 3 and am really enjoying how the story changes depending on which race you have Ash as. As a blind player, I'd like to say that accessibility with blind-user programs does work in case someone asks about that. There are a few buttons that give me trouble sometimes, but there's ways around that (saving a lot and trying out options). I really love the story and a lot of the interactions are very funny and keep the story interesting. So glad it's voice acted too cause that definitely enhances the experience.
love this game sm !!!! the writing is great and funny and kept making me smile :] and i rlly rlly like how ash feels like their own fleshed out character while also having customizable traits ash is suuuuuuch a good mc. ive only gotten one of the endings (spoiler: it was the bad ending w/ paris getting stabbed and i honestly have NO idea what i did wrong LOLLLL so if anyone has any insight thatd be appreciated) but i cant wait to check out the other endings :]
Hi! Thanks so much for playing. I've just updated this page with a guide to the good endings. :)
I should take the time to write down a proper review at some point, but for now-- I just need to say that I lose my shit in Ch. 1 when Rafael says "I'm sorry about your tough childhood, Paris," every. single. time.
Thank you so much for the game! One of the best and my favorite!
<3
Is there no download button on this page or am i just dumb?
I was in the middle of posting an update and had some technical difficulties, should be good now!
Hello! I have played only a few hours and love it so far! One thing is that the voice lines for Paris and Rafael are a bit too quiet for me to hear... I would suspect my hearing issues but I can hear Ash's lines just fine, I am just letting you know for future updates.
Such a super fun game! I'm looking forward to playing all of the routes. I spent a little over three hours enjoying Rafael's, and I adore him so much! The plot of this story is fun, the music is relaxing, the art is beautiful and the twists are delightful. 100/10!
uh hiii, can I ask how to get Rafael's route? I just started and am currently at Braums' route, but it bugs me that I can't choose Rafael's at the part where you'll choose the route at first. I'm about to die in anxiety '-' whasudguswa jk. Should I finish the 2 routes first before getting his? or smthg like that?
edit: oh gosh, I just read the comments on how to get Rafael's route, and sorry for bothering you shuwiefh, man I just realized that I should use my eyes more than my, uh, hands (it'd be much weirder if I typed mouth when I'm only typing using my hands so yeh excuse me '-').
Haha it's okay, Martinez! And thank you L. Boucher!
This game is great! I had a wonderful time playing it. Thank you so much for creating it and making it available. The whole cast was really enjoyable in their scenes together, and I particularly enjoyed Braums and Rafael.
I downloaded the game two days ago, and I am completely O B S E S S E D, I finished two Paris' endings (he's my favorite character) and one for each Braums and Rafael. I've finished endings: 2, 4, 5, and 7 at the moment, but I want to finish all of them!
The characters are amazing and so funny, the romance is really well done, and I loved all the voices!
Honestly, I'm so happy I discovered this, you made such an amazing game! Congrats! And I'll be playing more of your games in the future!
hi! the description mentions 96k words, is that only for the current chapters(1+2) or will that be the count with all chapters combined?
hi! The game is currently complete, that is the total word count. ^^
It’s just that only the first two chapters are voiced. Thanks for your interest!
Just played Paris and Raphael's route, love it. Raphael is best boy and I will ship Ash and him together until I die
Hi I may not understand something but for some reason when I get to choose a route I can't choose Raphael.
Hello, only cubi and shika ash can romance Rafael. If you choose reaver in the beginning, his route is locked.
Oh, thanks for help
Hi I really love the game but I got a quick question. Where do the sparkles to show I have made a good choice appear
Hi! Thanks for playing. The sparkles will appear in the center of the screen, but only if the choice affects the route you’re currently on. There are no sparkles in the intro because you won’t have chosen a route yet.
really enjoyed this visual novel. And, goodness gracious the soundtrack! It blows my mind that you guys created it, it's so whack! (in a good way haha). I'm not very comfortable with, uh, intimate stuff but I'd be lying if I said that the story wasn't good. A great balance between comedy, romance, and all that good chiz. For what it's worth, I give you two thumbs up! (or two happy dudes?) ٩(๑･ิᴗ･ิ)۶٩(･ิᴗ･ิ๑)۶
aaaah i stumbled across this this afternoon and i'm in looooove. thank you so much for this, it was amazing!! and thank you for the many different customisation options for Ash! i'm gonna let my first playthrough settle and then i'll be straight back in there trying a different route <3 <3
- also love the voice acting!! so i'm def looking forward to re-playing it when all the voice acting is done :D
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much! I hope to bring more voiced chapters soon!
omg i've ignored all of my chores to play this game literally all night! my husband is not pleased lol
I've only done rafael's two endings but I'm excited to play more! how many pieces of content can be unlocked? I see that on the main menu there is a little rafael icon that has lit up, but there are still 4 out of 6 scenes locked when I click on it.
I LOVE BRAUMS AND PARIS I LOVVE THEM FOREVER OTP
Thank you so much for this game! Are you planning on any future works? <33
thank YOU for playing! Am I planning future works! Always! There are those six scenes, some early sketches, and a special letter you can unlock. ^^
I always look forward to the voiced chapters, one of my fav dating sims ever. qvq <3
I-think-i-may-die-from-laughing-too-much//myspacebarisnotworkingso...
amazing game but it would be nice if we could rewatch the tutorial or at least something to remember what each symbols for the choices mean
Hello, the tutorial is the first CG in the gallery of the voiced version! I thought it was in the unvoiced as well but I will double check on that.