Welcome to the world of Gaierra.

It is a world of magic and stories, of friendship and betrayal. Of villains and heroes. When a great evil appears, a hero appears to counter them. The actions of these heroes will resound through history.

You are not the hero.

Your legacy will not endure. No stories written, no songs sung. If they remember you at all, it will be as a footnote in a hero's story. Will it be as a loyal companion? A reviled betrayer? Or nothing at all? Only time will tell.

Side Stories is a piece of interactive fiction about a hero's quest to defeat their nemesis. But you aren't the hero. You're their companion. You don't control the world's fate—you can only hope to influence their decision.

Side Stories was written and programmed in the month of November for NaNoWriMo and the NaNoTwiMo jam here on itch. My apologies to anyone who plays the game—I can't say that my writing is anything approaching quality.

The two characters you can choose have intertwined storylines (with a third one unlocked when you beat one of the first two), and each one has a unique perspective and journeys that you won't see when playing as the other one. So if you didn't hate playing the game one time, it should be fairly different the second.

This game was inspired by the game The Outer Worlds in which I completely disregarded the advice my companions gave me, all other games that have sidekicks that I ignore, and The Adventure Zone's Graduation arc, which made me want to write about being someone's sidekick.