I’ve been watching a lot of Hades playthroughs while working on my Depths armor embroidery and at some point decided to play with combining the two, plus a sprinkling of The Locked Tomb. The result has been ~four days straight of creating a pretend (because it’s never gonna happen 😌) video game about someone traveling through the afterlife to the source of the Styx.
More stuff blah blah cut
The “full” story as I have it figured out:
You play as Moira (she/they), a dead soul who has gained sanity and corporality in the afterlife and is a keeper of the Grand Mausoleum at the end of the River Styx. Many years ago a fellow mausoleum keeper, Xanthe (she/her), left for Life, and Moira had mixed feelings about it. Now, something strange has come down the river and Moira must venture forth into the wider lands of Death to investigate. Along the way you can explore ruins, collect magic trinkets, and meet other ghosts. And at the source of the river … you will find Xanthe!! Dun dun dun!!!
Rough genre? Isometric action-adventure RPG. I love labels.
Gameplay/interactions with the world? You’ll mostly be traveling along the river, occasionally accosted by both friendly and malicious spirits, occasionally coming across ruins-puzzles to play in. If you die, your soul will return to the river and wash back down to either the nearest checkpoint or all the way to the start.
PC stats? Your mana and health are connected; your mana can be consumed for magic and also acts as temporary health. Your main weapon is a spear because I wanted it to be a spear. Magic items you find can boost your mana, stealth, attack damage, etc.
RP idea I had? My initial idea was for Moira and Xanthe to be rivals, but I got the idea that, through dialogue choices, you can unconsciously determine what your relationship with her is like and how she reacts to your reunion.
Miscellaneous things I’m pulling from? Most of them are listed in the pictures, but to have them here— Hades for the underworld layers; The Locked Tomb for Harrow Nova and Reverend Daughter Gideon (Moira is Harrow and Xanthe is Gideon); the Depths from LoZ:TotK for the spirits; the concept of Asphodel; a character from one of my stories named Moreta, who is a wandering and wise undead; weird old dream stuff; pretty pictures and pretty objects; will also throw in Elden Ring because I watched a bunch of that too.
Will this actually become something? Unlikely, but I’m still having fun with it 🤗
happy pride month to all you pencil-eaters, cannibal twins, haunted swords, terrible teens, chilly weirdos in a coffin, demented souls of five hundred into fifty, self-lobotomising bone nuns, saints of qualities you distinctly lack, golden eyed daughters of god, damn good sword hands with big hair and big boobs, post-grads who start cults, ex-cops inhabiting the body of their dead best friend, truly horrendous soup makers, enjoyers of the little outfits nurses wear, friendship bracelet makers, blue haired nepo babies who suck at their jobs, and line cutting sluts out there ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🖤
One of my hyperfixations right now is planning a Xie Lian cosplay. Part of that process is finding a pattern/pattern drafting instructions for his style of clothing. Thus, I have been looking at different historical hanfu styles and lamenting the fact that they are all beautiful but only one fits his outfit. Maybe I will take some creative liberties. We’ll have to see.
Some evening gothic architecture studies ft. a vague Locked Tomb illustration idea and a hanahaki skull. I was drawing with a green colored pencil for some reason and I quite like how it looks (the picture is probably too dark to see it well).
Some evening gothic architecture studies ft. a vague Locked Tomb illustration idea and a hanahaki skull. I was drawing with a green colored pencil for some reason and I quite like how it looks (the picture is probably too dark to see it well).