Elsaverse

The Elsaverse is an adult fictional universe created by Tora Productions, a team formed by American writer Tlaero and Portuguese graphical artist Mortze, where a number of "story based erotic adventure games" are set. It is named after Elsa, the main love interest in the first title set in this universe, Dreaming with Elsa, released in July 3, 2015. Most of the stories told in the Elsaverse take place in Sangrive, a fictional city most likely located in the United States (although the actual country is never mentioned), and apparently in the current-day world. Plots, however, incorporate fantasy elements such as superpowers.

The focus on characters' development and emotional nuances, perfectly depicted in Mortze's renders, as well as Tlaero's magisterial worldbuilding and storytelling, set the Elsaverse apart from other western indie video games for adults, where sex is the main goal and driving force and story-related aspects tend to be forgotten. Usually, Elsaverse's main characters deal with some inner problem while facing an external threat from an evil source, and they must trust and rely on their partners and friends to overcome these difficulties and grow; that way, despite the fantasy elements of the setting, human relationships end up taking centre stage. This human perspective is reinforced by the fact that the graphic sexual content is subordinated to the narrative logic in a context of consensual and respectful affective relationships between full grown adults.

The Elsaverse is still in development; as of January 2022, 6 visual novels (counting Darkness Falls as one single and completed title, although it was released in episodic format and divided in two seasons, the second one remaining unfinished), 11 non-interactive short stories and 1 novella have been published so far. Originally written in English, all titles include in-build translations into French and Spanish, and some of them also include translations into other languages such as German and/or Italian. All the Elsaverse content is available for free on Tora Production's Patreon page.

Visual novels
Main article: Category:Elsaverse Visual novels

In each visual novel set in the Elsaverse, the player takes the role of a different male character who, except in Darkness Falls, tries to start, resume or strengthen a love relationship with a non-playable female character (NPC). It can be argued that these female NPC's are the actual main characters in each game, while the player's PC adopts a supporting role, sometimes acting as plot catalyst. Except for small interludes, the action is narrated in first person from the player's point of view; however, due to the heavy focus on the development of the plot and characters' personalities, the player's agency is limited, as his actions must drive the story towards the expected ending. Each title offers slightly different gameplay features, mostly based on dialogue trees, and tend to reward mature and understanding behaviors, and penalize selfish choices or actions that go against the limits set by women.

Like superhero movies, all titles incorporate a post-credits scene in which some aspects of future plots are hinted. They also include an achievement system: when player gets all achievements, a bonus scene is unlocked. This bonus scene is usually a sex scene, although sometimes it can also explain some storylines.

All the visual novels originally created in HTML format (from Dreaming with Elsa to Darkness Falls) were officially ported to Ren'Py during 2021, and then put together in a bundle called Elsaverse Omnibus Vol.1, publicly released on August 5, 2021. This bundle also includes Ren'Py ports of all the visual short stories in HTML, as well as all the text-based stories still in that format.

Short stories
Main article: Category:Elsaverse Short stories

Elsaverse's short stories offer more complex narratives, and contribute greatly to the expansion of the fictional universe. Usually written in the third person, they tend to focus on several characters, shifting from one to another and showing events from their respective point of view, expanding some events and other details seen in the visual novels, and explaining what was actually going on in those situations, as well as foreshadowing some aspects of future titles.

Some short stories could be labeled as non-interactive visual stories (DwE: Learning to Fly, DwE: Dreaming with the Dead, DwE: Multiplicity, Royal Guard, FM: Alpha, Elsa's Nightmares and Elsaverse: Transitions), as they follow the same aesthethic pattern of the interactive visual novels, with a slideshow of pics illustrating the scenes narrated in them. The rest of short stories are either fully text-based (Demon Guard) or include some scarce pics (Beginnings, Dream Master and Won: Darkness Within). All but Elsa's Nightmares and Elsaverse: Transitions are available in the Elsaverse Omnibus Vol.1 (2021) bundle.

Novella
Main article: Category:Elsaverse Novellas AAA (2018) is a special case within the Elsaverse, as it's an actual novella that contains more than 28,000 words, with no pics at all, and just a couple of sex scenes are described in it. Divided in 10 chapters, it serves as a link between the events narrated in Redemption for Jessika (2016) and the first season of Darkness Falls (2018). AAA is included in the Elsaverse Omnibus Vol.1 (2021) bundle.

Abandoned projects
In April 19th, 2019, Tlaero unexpectedly announced her immediate retirement from erotic gaming creation. That left Darkness Falls Season II, as well as the text story Demon Guard (2019) that was becoming a new novella, unfinished after just 2 chapters. Eventually, Tlaero came back some months later to keep expanding the universe, and those projects were put officially on hold. However, it's highly unlikely that they will be ever resumed: Demon Guard can work as it is as a short story with an open ending, and Darkness Falls characters and stories are being incorporated in a natural way into the new titles. Moreover, Tlaero already wrote Won: Dakness Within (2019) while being officially retired in order to tell Detective Won's background, something that was originally planned to be a key part of that unfinished Season II, thus limiting from a narrative point of view the actual interest of carrying on that episodic format.<br Shortly after Tlaero's sudden retirement, Mortze paired up with writer Iksanabot and began to work on a different visual novel set in the Elsaverse, titled The Science of Lust. However, Iksanabot also departed due to real-life professional reasons after releasing the first beta in June, 2019, and the project was abandoned.

Intended Order of Play
Each visual novel and non-interactive story can be played and enjoyed as a standalone title. However, in order to avoid spoilers and get a full grasp of the whole universe, it's highly recommendable to play and read the full Elsaverse in the order listed below.

Every title ever published from Dreaming with Elsa to Won: Darkness Within is currently accessible from the Elsaverse Omnibus Vol.1 bundle. In the future, a second bundle will contain the newer titles originally made in Ren'Py, since different image ratio aspects advise against creating a single and universal bundle for all the existing content.

Fictional timeline
According to the events and time references included in them, Elsaverse's titles follow this timeline (visual novels are framed in red in the figure):

Origins
Assuming that the Elsaverse's historical evolution is similar to that of real world, Dream Master can be placed around the 17th Century. Events and stories surrounding Dreaming with Elsa occur in modern day, but no time references are actually mentioned beyond that DwE: Dreaming with the Dead is set on Halloween, and is followed by DwE: Multiplicity. This detail could place the events of what can be called the Elsaverse's Dark Week at early December, since Redemption for Jessika is said to be happening during "late fall" (although it also could be taking place the year after, depending on how much of a fast learner Elsa actually is).

Dark Week
Things start to get complicated on a certain Wednesday, when Finding Miranda prologue takes place and the AAA novella begins its own course. About five weeks later, Redemption for Jessika starts; both visual novels are then intertwined during one frenetic week with the first season of Darkness Falls and several chapters of AAA, ending on a Thursday. 'WARNING! Spoiler alert!' Going into detail, Xara's meeting with Miranda in Finding Miranda prologue precedes the riot at Mayhem concert, an event that is covered in AAA first 2 chapters. Then, during the next 10 days, chapters 3, 4, 5, and 6 follow; AAA Chapter 7 comes exactly two weeks after Chapter 6. One more week passes, and then AAA Chapter 8 begins. On that very same Thursday, Finding Miranda actually starts, with Redemption for Jessika doing the same that Friday (that's also the day of FM: Alpha incident). On Saturday it's time to enter in Darkness Falls territory, and the next week everything literally explodes, with the three visual novels converging with the novella's chapters 8 and 9 at the Mayoral rally on Thursday, one exact week after Lucas first date with Miranda. Two weeks later, both Darkness Falls first season and AAA reach their own, shared climax.

End of the First Story Arc
After the last incident covered in Darkness Falls Season I, there's a small break, with the last part of AAA's Chapter 10 taking place sometime during those 2 quiet weeks. Then Saving Chloe begins on a Friday and it's over on Sunday, immediately followed by Demon Guard. That's how the first story arc ends, with Darkness Falls Season II starting a couple of days later.

Transition Period
While sorting her personal issues, Tlaero still found time to start writing new stories in the Elsaverse, wrapping up Michelle Won's personal story with Won: Darkness Within, and then creating Elsa's Nightmares and Elsaverse: Transitions, that pave the road for Chasing Beth. None of those titles has established a precise timeline for their stories except them happening in that order, the only explicit time reference being a vague comment from Jason that situates Elsaverse: Transitions "some months" after Elsa's Nightmares. From the state of other love relationships depicted in Chasing Beth, it seems that many months have passed since Saving Chloe's events, but, again, there's no exact timing yet for this new story arc, aside from Chasing Beth covering 5 days and happening immediately after Elsaverse: Transitions (or even colliding with its last couple of episodes).

Characters
For a complete list of characters, see Category: Elsaverse characters

As the Elsaverse keeps expanding, the main characters appear in different games and stories, sharing the limelight and weaving a web that allows the player to witness the same events from different points of view, which enhances the understanding of said events and the universe as a whole, as well as the characters' real motivations and personal evolution, challenges and desires. Love, friendship, trust, honesty, empathy and respect are the core values of the protagonists, as well as braveness not only to face evil, but also to support their loved ones when needed, and even to seek help for themselves. Female characters, while broken, are depicted as intelligent and independent women; males, at least on canon routes, are emotionally mature, supportive and caring.

Visuals
Visuals quality is on par with the narrative. The Elsaverse uses pre-rendered 3D still pictures created with tools like Daz3D, Blender, IRay and Photoshop. Although the older titles are obviously a bit dated if we judge them with current day standards, the human-looking realism in character's physical features, their uniqueness and facial expressiveness are the most outstanding aspects of the art, together with the care for the lighting and the almost cinematographical composition of the scenes. Depth of field is broadly used to emphasize character's actions and emotions, and models and backgrounds look organic, without that "plastic-shining" effect often seen in this kind of games. In addition, the image compression ratio is remarkable, as any full visual novel in the Elsaverse has a considerably lower filesize than other similar adult games, without any noticeable quality loss on screen. Some basic animations can be found, mostly in sex scenes; although they were totally dropped in most recent titles.

Engine
The first titles set in the Elsaverse were created with 'Adventure Creator', a software designed by Tlaero herself, and were originally released in HTML format. However, all visual novels and short stories published in that format (from Dreaming with Elsa to Won: Darkness Within) were officially ported to Ren'Py in 2021 and released in a bundle named Elsaverse Omnibus Vol.1, publicly released on August 5, 2021. Starting with Elsa's Nightmares (2019-2020), visual novels and visual short stories are originally made with Ren'Py game engine.