Mardek

The MARDEK series is a highly popular flash game series by Pseudolonewolf in which the player controls Mardek, a young boy/man who is sharing a body with an alien named Rohoph. The series is set in a medieval fantasy world called Belfan. The games have pixelated graphics, a highly developed story and lengthy dialogues, which caused many casual gamers to be deterred.
While the MARDEK series was originally planned to have 8 chapters, Pesudolonewolf later announced that the series was officially cancelled. MARDEK has since been released in a compiled form on Steam for preservation, due to the discontinuation of Flash. Since the cancellation of the series, he has worked on two reimaginations: Taming Dreams (2015) and Divine Dreams (2020).
The following are the games in the MARDEK series in order:
* MARDEK Chapter 1: A Fallen Star
* MARDEK Chapter 2: A New Hero
* MARDEK Chapter 3: Keystones
== Gameplay ==
The MARDEK series has four basic modes of gameplay: an overworld map, location maps, a battle screen, and a menu screen.
The overworld map is a scaled-down version of Belfan, drawn to look like a map. Red 'nodes' are displayed at locations the player can travel to, which can be done by using the arrow keys. Once the player is in a town or dungeon, gameplay is different. The player controls Mardek and his party following behind with the arrow keys and can talk or interact with people or objects on the map using the X key.
With the exception of bosses and a few preset battles, enemies are encountered randomly while walking around in a dungeon, and can be fought, skipped or fled. Battles can be skipped if the enemies' average level is lower than the party's, indicated by a blue '!' icon over Mardek's head when the party is about to encounter a battle. Otherwise, it will be red, and the battle must be fought or fled. Fleeing has a guaranteed success rate; however, non-random battles can't be fled from.
During battle, characters can either attack physically, use a special skill, use an item, or skip their turn. Characters and monsters both have 'Hit Points' and 'Magic Points', or 'HP' and 'MP' respectively. Attacks and offensive skills decrease HP, and when a character's HP reaches zero, they become unconscious and cannot participate in that battle anymore (however, playable characters can be revived). Special skills are often more useful than physical attacks, but usually deplete MP. If the character does not have sufficient MP for a skill, they cannot use that skill. If all characters' HP reaches zero, the game is over and the player must restart from a save file.
The menu screen can be accessed at any point other than battles or cutscenes, and can be used to browse and use items the player has acquired, equip characters with items that increase various statistics, look at the characters' status effects, quests the player currently has accepted, browse characters' skills, look at a map of the area, and browse the Encyclopaedia. Saving can only be done at Save Crystals which are located at certain places around Belfan, usually in towns, at the start of a dungeon or before bosses. In addition to fully healing the active pary, Save Crystals also allow switching party members and swapping equipment and inventory between all characters (including the ones not in the current party).
== Plot ==
The plot centres around the main character, Mardek, and his adventures. At the end of each chapter, there is a cutscene showing a meeting of the Governance de Magi and foreshadowing the plot by saying who they will send after Rohoph next. For detailed plot information please see each chapter's page.
== Music ==
Main article: Soundtrack (MARDEK)
* Collection of MARDEK Musical Pieces
== Reception ==
The MARDEK series has generally been received as very good. It is Pseudolonewolf's highest rated and most well known game. On Steam, it received a general review rating of Very Positive.
== Trivia ==
* Many of the names in the series sound similar to names in Mesopotamian mythology.
Category:RPG