Get to the top of the box office while avoiding New York’s criminal underworld. You’ll be in charge of running a theater in this high-stakes business and romance game set in New York City in the nineteenth century. As you take on a city full of envious rivals, creative artists, and dependable politicians, you’ll face riots, fires, and political spies. “Broadway: 1849” by Robert Davis is a 150k-word interactive historical adventure story. It is text-based, with no images or sound effects, and relies solely on your massive, irrepressible imagination.
If you want to thrive in business, you can use your judgment to outwit your competitors or enlist the services of the city’s gangs. Is your ego strong enough to handle your actors’ diva behavior? Is it feasible that your theater has a ghost? So you’re a flamboyant producer who puts up circus shows to attract crowds. Do you try to sway the mayor and the city council with high-quality artwork? Is it possible for you to get the media to publish glowing reports of your work? When you play, you can pick to be a man, a woman, a homosexual, a straight, a bisexual, or an asexual.
Participate in the action by competing with other players to put on the best concerts and draw the most attendees. You have access to the top performers and actresses in town. Discover what’s happening behind your theater’s scenes and act quickly to prevent a bomb from detonating and wreaking mayhem in the city. Encourage new talent or satisfy your desire for recognition. Face off against the city’s most known criminals, or expose their wrongdoing. You must assist a close friend in escaping from an unethical businessman. Choose between siding with the bad guys and supporting the mayor’s efforts to restore peace and order to the city. There will come a time when you will have to choose between fighting for peace and allowing the city to burn.
