Heileen is a conversate-em-up interactive novel that tells the tale of a young 17th century girl, Heileen, setting off on a voyage with her Uncle Otto to visit the new world, the Americas. Accompanied by her best friend Marie, she immediately catches the eye of sailor, John (Hello Sailor!), before the journey even starts. So, interactive or visual novels are the next big thing (so I have read), though they are still fairly new territory outside of Japan, where the genre is thriving.

Heileen has led a quiet and secluded life without too many real problems. Then one day her uncle Otto, a famous merchant, decides that it is time for change, and she follows him on a journey to the New World. During the voyage, she is accompanied by Marie, an old childhood acquaintance and her Uncle’s mistress, Lora.  Heileen renews old friendships, makes new friends, discover lots of secrets and ultimately finds what she really wants for herself.

The novel is split over 8 chapters of dialogue with each choice that you make having its own consequences in Heileen’s relationship with the other crew members and will determine which one of the three different finales you’ll see. There are over 4500 screens of dialogues, 3 different endings and a point-based quest system with final rating.  Inside each chapter there are small ’quests’ that you are set to complete and as you go along and complete them they all go towards your eventual points rating and outcome of the novel.