The Smoke Room (Visual Novel)

*This article is about the visual novel. You may be looking for the bar of the same name seen in Echo.*

 **Main Page**
Gallery

## The Smoke Room

The main menu, featuring Samuel watching the sun set over Echo.

## Credits

### Writer(s):

GeorgeSquares
Redd (Parts of Cliff's route)
Howly (Pre-route split)

### Artists:

0rang3 (Sprites)
Stauf (Sprites)
Shtar (Sprites and CGs)
TELBAT (Sprites and CGs)
Solomon (CGs)
9KLIPSE (Sprites)
Rulerofnone (Sprites)
Robin (Sprites)
WereWhisky (Sprites)
Kardamon (Additional assets)
Horrorbuns (Summer AU Outfits)

### Composers:

Anthemics
Various Artists (royalty free)

### Other:

Cyril (Advanced Programming)
Seagull (Translations)

## Related Work

Echo
Arches

**The Smoke Room** is the third visual novel published by the Echo Project. It serves as a prequel to Echo, but acts as a standalone story that can be experienced independently. The first demo was released on Patreon on November 1st, 2019. The first public build was released on December 27th, 2019.

The game features writing by GeorgeSquares, Redd and Howly, with CGs and assets provided by 0rang3, Shtar, Kardamon, TELBAT, and Solomon and music by Anthemics. The game consists of four routes—William, Murdoch, Cliff and Nik—each about halfway through development. Development is currently prioritizing the completion of Nik's route, and will then move on to Murdoch's, Cliff's, and Will's in that order.

## Premise

Taking place a full century before the events of Echo, The Smoke Room follows a gay sex worker named Samuel after his attempt to create a better life for himself leads to disastrous results. Murders and a miners' strike soon rock the small town, and its inhabitants' lives begin to break down as something is unleashed and latches onto a guilty party.

The answers to what exactly haunted a group of friends in 2015 may just lie in the year 1915.

## Characters

#### Samuel Ayers

An albino mountain lion prostitute forced to confront an unfortunate situation.

#### **William Adler**

A no-nonsense coyote detective on the hunt for a murderer.

#### **Murdoch Byrnes**

A salesman fox with an eye for photography and a sly demeanor.

#### **Clifford Tibbits**

A perky stoat research student from out of town, seeking a fresh new experience.

#### **Nikolai Krol**

A burly but affectionate badger, miner, and a regular client of Samuel's.

## "Alternate Universe" Builds

In addition to the main story, an AU was created that reimagines the characters in the modern world. In this AU, the main cast is in a polyamorous relationship.

### Christmas Special

The group get together and take a trip to William's house to celebrate Christmas together. Released and set in 2021.

### Summer Special

The group, along with Todd, get together to head to the beach. Sam helps everyone pick out the perfect beach outfit. These outfits were designed by Horrorbuns. Released and set in 2022.

### Fall Special

The main cast, along with Yao, Cynthia and Ralph, head to a corn maze to celebrate Halloween. Sam helps everyone pick out their costumes. Released and set in 2023.

## Trivia

* The title for "The Smoke Room" was originally "1915"
* In the AU Summer Special, the player is able to dress Sam in select outfits. According to Horrorbuns, the only outfit that was outright rejected was one consisting of a blue t-shirt, tan khaki shorts, and a goatee, in reference to Echo's protagonist, Chase Hunter.

### Build Title Allusions

* Many updates to The Smoke Room are released with titles drawn from other works, mostly poems or songs. These references often hint at the themes explored in each new part of the story. The build titles and their corresponding allusions are as follows:

	+ Build 5 (William) **Luke 6:21**: "Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh" (KJV)
	+ Build 8 (Murdoch and Cliff) **Strange is your Voice**: "The Portrait" by Siegfried Sassoon
	+ Build 9 (Nikolai) **In What Distant Deeps or Skies**: "The Tyger" by William Blake
	+ Build 10 (William) **The Hell Where Youth and Laughter Go**: "Suicide in the Trenches" by Siegfried Sassoon
	+ Build 11 (Cliff) **Witness to the Danger we Court**: "What Danger We Court" by Luci Tapahonso
	+ Build 12 (Murdoch) **Goodbye, Astronomer**: the song of the same name from video game Night in the Woods
	+ Build 13 (Nikolai) **In All the Walks where Men are Pining**: from a poem or song attributed to the *Woodcarvers' Journal* that was published in a 1903 edition of the *American Federationist*, the magazine of the American Federation of Labor
	+ Build 14 (William) **And deck thee with the holly's sheen**: "Love and Friendship" by Emily Brontë
	+ Build 15 (Cliff) **Shady Grove**: a traditional Appalachian folk song that likely originated in the early 20th century
	+ Build 16 (Murdoch) **Sparkles Bleared and Black and Blind**: "The Convergence of the Twain" by Thomas Hardy
	+ Build 17 (Nikolai) **I See Thee Better in the Dark**: "I see thee better - in the Dark" by Emily Dickinson
	+ Build 18 (William) **And They Tell Me You are Brutal**: "Chicago" by Carl Sandburg
	+ Build 19 (Cliff) **Rocks of Sombre Hue**: "A Picture" by Olivia Ward Bush-Banks
	+ Build 20 (Murdoch) **Ghosts of Melodious Prophesyings Rave**: "Endymion" by John Keats
	+ Build 21 (Nikolai) **O'erlooking a superior spectre**: "One need not be a Chamber - to be Haunted" by Emily Dickinson
	+ Build 22 (William): **The Early Lilacs Became Part of this Child**: "There Was a Child Went Forth" by Walt Whitman
	+ Build 23 (Cliff): **Let me live out my years in heat of blood!**: "Let Me Live Out My Years" by John Neihardt
	+ Build 24 (Murdoch): **The Truth in Masquerade**: From "Canto 11" of *Don Juan* by Lord Byron
	+ Build 25 (Nikolai): **God if you Had but the Moon**: "Caliban in the Coal Mines" by Louis Untermeyer
	+ Build 26 (William): **Even More than Bravery Will**: From "Book I. The Coming of Pan" in the novel *The Crock of Gold* by James Stephens
	+ Build 27 (Cliff): **Help Us Lay to Waste Their Humble Homes**: From "The War Prayer" by Mark Twain
	+ Build 28 (Murdoch): **Will You Come Travel With Me**: "Song of the Open Road" by Walt Whitman
	+ Build 29 (Nikolai): **Solidarity Forever**: a 1915 trade unionist anthem written by Ralph Chaplin
	+ Build 30 (William): **Does the Tide Hurry**: "Not Heat Flames Up and Consumes" by Walt Whitman
	+ Build 31 (Nikolai): **And points and beckons with its hands**: "The Old Clock on the Stairs" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

 External Links

* Download links on itch.io
* Echo Project Official Patreon

## References

1. ↑ Echo Project Patreon
2. ↑ Echo Project Patreon
3. ↑ GeorgeSquares' Twitter
4. ↑ Horrorbuns' Twitter