Long Knives places its story in a low-fantasy wuxia world where a dynasty is crumbling and the land is fracturing. The player is one of many orphans raised by distant kin; on reaching adulthood, they become a constable, a role framed as a matter of either survival or ambition. Its second-person narration centers the experience on that character’s choices rather than presenting the story at a distance.
The adventure uses tabletop-inspired character building and checks. Players customize attributes, choose a pre-orphan background and allocate points, while proficiencies affect skill checks. Those checks use an 18-sided die rather than a D20, and some are visible while others are hidden. Dialogue choices and hidden variables shape the branching narrative, giving the game’s text-based format a focus on personal decisions and story consequences.
Steam lists Long Knives as single-player, so its play format is a solo narrative adventure rather than a shared session.
