[PC] [2010] Educational adventure game about the boston massacre

Mission US: For Crown or Colony?

Platform: PC. It was web-based, i'm pretty sure it was a flash game.

Estimated year of release: Some time around 2010, give or take a couple of years. I played it sometime in 2009-2011.

Graphics/art style: Flat 2D style if I remember right. Was set up as a sort of visual novel, all scenes had a static background with a character overlay and a speech box.

Notable characters: Don't remember any by name, but I know there were both several major and minor ones. Here's all I can remember:

-Player: Young (12ish years old?) boy living in boston right before the boston massacre. He works in (I think) a candle shop but gets involved with several patriots and does some odd jobs for them: hanging up posters, arranging meetings, making deliveries and a few other things I can't remember. Don't remember what he looks like (since the game is in first person I actually can't remember if he's ever even shown).

-A girl about the same age as the player character: Don't remember a thing about what she looks like, but she was baisically the friend of the player and helped out with random things.

-Older patriot guy: White, a little fat. Think he had a white beard. Friend of the player, organizes meetings with the patriots and is really involved with the politics of the era.

-Sailor/merchant guy: You buy some stuff from him and he's a little rough around the edges but sorta nice. I think he was darker skinned.

-Mean kid: Just an asshole. Same age as player. I think he was the kid of one of the competing candle stores? I don't know, he wasn't in the game much.

Notable gameplay characteristics: Game is a point and click visual novel. You go around and just do various tasks by clicking things. Multiple locations throughout the boston city, including the town square where the massacre eventually happens, your house, your shop, the docks (where you meet the sailor guy), and a few others. No minigames as far as I remember, game can be played with just a mouse. The real "gameplay" is in the dialogue: you have multiple options to reply to characters speaking to you. Choices do affect story. Multiple endings, apparently quite a lot but I only know of two: in one you move to america with the girl friend, establish yourself and eventually get married. In the other ending (which is the one I got and I'm still pissed about it) the sailor guy offers you a job working with him at sea as a sailor or something. You go with him but the crew plans a mutiny. You snitch to the captain, the mutiny happens anyway and you end up getting killed by the crew for being a snitch.

Other details: Game was part of some educational website, can't remember the name. I played it in school as part of class, I think I was in 2nd or 3rd grade. About 6-8 hours long. Some story elements I remember is that the game starts before the boston massacre, you put up some flyers and make some deliveries while learning of the politics of the time period, some guy gets shot outside of your house (and you see a super mild but large bloodstain against your door for the rest of the game every time you go to that area), then the massacre happens (yes you do see it), then the newspaper (or police?) interview you about what you saw. Something along the lines of "you can't stay here it's too dangerous" happens and you choose one character to go with, which triggers one of the endings.

Posted Jul 24, 2024, 8:54 PM UTC

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