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Ambition: A Minuet in Power aims to use romance as a weapon, with players guiding protagonist Yvette through lavish parties and intimate encounters that are meant to grow her power and influence in pre-revolutionary France.
Yvette finds herself abandoned in Paris after arriving there to wed Baron Armand de Marbo, who has mysteriously disappeared. Left with little to her name but stubbornness and a thirst for power, Yvette sets out to gain influence using her looks, charm, and cunning, rising up from the streets to potentially rule the country.
Players will be able to grow their own influence based on who they can get to fall for them throughout Ambition: A Minuet in Power. This work often happens at the many parties that happen throughout the game, where players will have to dress and talk the part to impress the right people. Players will be able to pick out an outfit, with certain pieces and dresses working better to impress certain nobles (provocative dresses may impress the rich, but not the religious). They will also have to gauge which kinds of remarks they make to the people there, as some things will impress some factions and upset others.
Should players sufficiently impress someone enough to have them fall for Yvette, players will gain access to some of that noble’s political power. This increases the more the noble loves them, so players may wish to keep up the charade on one particular noble to gain full access to their power. They can also romance multiple nobles at a time if they’re careful, gaining power from them all, but the consequences can be lethal should the player get caught.
As players grow in stature, they can use their influence, money, and power to crush certain rivals, use spies to learn useful information to seduce another noble, and sell information to newspapers to help bring other opponents to ruin.
Ambition: A Minuet in Power uses random generation to decide which nobles and what events will happen in-game, so players will have to decide their political maneuverings based on a new set of factors each time. The revolution may be a flop or overturn the country, and some people players know how to manipulate may not appear, providing new challenges on how to position Yvette in the court each time.
Ambition: A Minuet in Power is currently raising development funding on Kickstarter, with a projected release in 2018.
