Ako: A Test of Loyalty

Imagine you're a young samurai in Japan in 1701. You have to make an excruciating choice between family and honor – either go into impoverished exile with your mother and sister who will need your help to survive, or join your fellow masterless samurai in a quixotic quest to avenge the death of your dishonored lord. Which do you choose? Ako: A Test of Loyalty takes you into the story of the 47 ronin, one of the  most famous and still controversial episodes in Japanese history.

Ako: A Test of Loyalty was developed by the Epoch 2020 team of Alex Aragon, Ashley Gelato, Michael Rader and Izellah Wang with the help of Dr Adam Clulow at the University of Texas at Austin.

It is part of Epoch: History Games Initiative, which aims to generate a pipeline of historically accurate, freely available games for use in the classroom.  By developing innovative games, Epoch aims to find new ways of bringing the past to life.

Ako: A Test of Loyalty is a visual novel game that gives you many opportunities to influence the fate of the protagonist, Hashimoto Kanpei and those around him. By making decisions, you have the potential to unlock 5 alternate endings that trace out what might have happened.  There are no right or wrong answers.  You must weigh the potential consequence of your actions on Kanpei and those he cares for.  But if you're unhappy with your choices, you can come back and play again as there are several different ways to experience the tale of the 47 ronin.

We acknowledge the generous support of the History department at the University of Texas at Austin.  

Technical note:  This game cannot be played on iPads. If you’re using a Mac or Windows make sure you have correctly unzipped the file. You may need to override your computer’s antivirus software's natural response to a digital download. If you’re using Windows, you can use winrar or 7zip and Mac users should be able to just right-click and unzip the file. If you unzip the file but are unable to open the application, you just need to right-click on the application and do the following: 1) Windows - Click Open -> More Info -> Run Anyway  2) Mac -> Click Open -> Run Anyway