Freedom Planet

Freedom Planet a side-scrolling action platformer developed and published by GalaxyTrail, as well as the first game published by the studio. The player can control four anthropomorphic animals: Lilac, Carol, Milla, and Torque; as they attempt to defeat Lord Brevon and prevent him from taking their planet's Kingdom Stone and conquering the galaxy.
The game began development on October 3rd, 2011 as a Sonic the Hedgehog fangame, but Sabrina DiDuro, the founder of GalaxyTrail, reworked the project into its own universe. For instance, Lilac was originally planned to be a hedgehog rather than a dragon.
The game was given a demo on Kickstarter that was created on January 13th, 2013, and after a successful campaign, the full game was released on July 21st, 2014. Downloadable content for the game that would incorporate a full Torque campaign and Spade as a playable character was promised, but has been put on hold indefinitely.
On December 25th, 2015, a sequel game, Freedom Planet 2, was announced, but it has not yet been released.
== Characters ==
=== Main Heroes ===
Sash Lilac: A fast-paced and heroic hearted half-dragon, Lilac is determined to help anybody in need. She refuses to give up whatever task she puts her mind to, even when others around her doubt her ability.
Carol Tea: A playful and tomboyish wildcat who is always right behind her best friend Lilac, Carol acts as a helping hand to those around her. She can be quick to anger and somewhat lazy, but is ultimately very loyal to her friends. 
Milla Basset: A caring young basset hound, Milla lived alone in the woods before being found by Lilac and Carol. Although initially shy, she grows to like her new friends and chooses to help them on their quest. 
Torque: An alien from across the galaxy with a tragic past, Torque is on a mission to stop Brevon from taking over the galaxy. He reluctantly allows Lilac, Carol, and Milla to tag along with him to stop Brevon.
=== Main Villains ===
Arktivus Brevon: An intergalactic warlord who wants to capture the Kingdom Stone in order to power his army. His goal is to conquer the galaxy.
General Serpentine: A snake with robotic arms who serves as Brevon's top general. He is constantly carrying out his master's orders. 
Prince Dial: The brainwashed prince of Shuigang who is bound to carry out Brevon's will.
Syntax: Brevon's robot AI assistant and defense drone.
=== Other Characters ===
Spade: The leader of a gang called the Red Scarves and the brother of Prince Dail. He has a rocky relationship with Lilac and Carol.
King of Shuigang: The ruler of Shuigang and father of Dail and Spade who meets his death at the hands of Brevon in the intro cutscene.
Mayor Zao: The corrupt and power-hungry mayor of Shang Mu, Zao rules his kingdom with an iron fist.
Royal Magister: The ruler of Shang Tu and a dragon like Lilac. He attempts to find a peaceful solution to the growing tensions between the three kingdoms, but his goal is clouded by his stubbornness.
Neera Li: A stone-cold panda who serves as the Magister's top advisor.
General Gong: The thick-headed top general of the Magister.
Bird Guard: A royal gaurd for Shang Tu who only says "Weh."
Pangu: A robot AI discovered by Lilac that informs her of the origins of the Kingdom Stone.
Dragon Scientist: A deceased dragon scientist who built Pangu and informs Lilac of the origins of dragons and the Kingdom Stone via recording.
Mr. Stumpy: A tree stump with a face on it who is Milla's imaginary friend.
== Plot ==
On the planet of Avalice, there exists three kingdoms: Shang Mu, Shang Tu, and Shuigang. These kingdoms have always coexisted peacefully, but lately there have been tensions over their shared use of a powerful orb known as the Kingdom Stone as their sole source of energy. Shuigang's old monarch has been murdered, so Prince Dail has become the new ruler of the kingdom. Immediately upon coming to power, he orders the Shuigang army to mobilize for war. Unbeknownst to the other two kingdoms and even to the people of Shuigang, Prince Dail is not acting on his own accord, but was brainwashed by a maniacal intergalactic conqueror named Brevon, who wants to steal the Kingdom Stone for himself to power his army.
Sash Lilac and Carol Tea, two inhabitants of Avalice who live in a secret treehouse in a forest away from the three kingdoms, rescue a shell-duck creature named Torque after his spacecraft crashes in Dragon Valley. They allow Torque to stay at their treehouse to repair his spaceship, and he informs them that Mayor Zao and the Shang Mu army are going to steal the Kingdom Stone, and that he has to stop them. Lilac and Carol volunteer to tell the soldiers guarding the Kingdom Stone about Zao plans while Torque gets settled in. When the two of them arrive at the Stone's temple they meet Neera Li and General Gong, two guards from Shang Tu, and they are dismissive of the idea that the Stone will be stolen. When Shang Mu's army shows up, the guards are completely overwhelmed by the surprise attack, so Carol and Lilac go in to find the Stone before the army gets there first. They end up being too late, however, and it is taken by Spade, the leader of the Red Scarves and the person who taught Lilac and Carol how to fight when they were young. While leaving, there is a cave-in that almost results in Carol's death, but she is saved at the last minute by Milla Basset, an orphan who had been following them through the cave because she was fascinated with Lilac. Lilac and Carol decide to take Milla with them to the treehouse as thanks.
Later that night, Carol wakes up Lilac to tell her about how she saw Torque turn into an alien. Lilac initially claims it was probably a bad dream, but Carol insists that she's telling the truth, so Lilac follows her into Torque's tent. They find that Torque has completely changed in appearance to something far more alien-like. Torque confesses that he is from another planet, and that he a member of a galactic coalition, and that his mission was to stop a warlord named Brevon from taking the Kingdom Stone. His goal was to convince the leaders of the three kingdoms to band together against him. He also reveals that if they can't stop Brevon, then he will have to destroy the Kingdom Stone, destroying Avalice's only source of energy. Lilac, Carol, and Milla tell Torque that they want to help him stop Brevon, and Torque accepts their request as long as they keep his mission a secret.
The next day, the four get a call from General Gong about meeting him in a field away from the kingdoms. At the meeting, he tells the team that he wants them to mediate negotiations between Shang Mu and Shung Tu as a neutral party so that both kingdoms can have access to the Kingdom Stone's energy. The team flies to Shang Mu and runs into Spade, who tells them that he helped Shang Mu steal the stone because Zao promised him that he could find out who murdered his father, the original King of Shuigang. Lilac tries to tell him that Brevon was the one who murdered his father, but they are interrupted when Shuigang's forces, under the command of Serpentine, launch a surprise attack on Shang Mu and take the Kingdom Stone. When the attack is over, the team loses sight of Spade, but they run into Zao, who is heartbroken over the loss of the Kingdom Stone. Zao invites them to dinner at his palace and explains that Shang Mu was on the brink of an energy crisis, and that if they took the Stone, then it would've been solved overnight. He tells the four to meet with the Magister and come to an agreement about what to do regarding the Stone and Shuigang's recent militaristic behavior, and sends them to Shang Tu on a luxury airship.
The next morning, the airship is attacked by Shuigang's forces, this time commanded by the brainwashed Prince Dail, with the goal of capturing them. The four are successfully able to stop Dail from taking them prisoner, but their airship crashes into a nearby river that flows to Shang Tu. When they arrive at Shang Tu, Torque informs the Magister that Brevon has taken control of Shuigang and that he has been manipulating the kingdoms into going to war with each other in order to nab the Stone, and Torque hands him a piece of one of Brevon's machines for the Magister to analysis as proof of his claim. Neera Li then speaks up about how she believes the four are lying. She accuses the team of trying to save face for Zao stealing the Kingdom Stone, and informs the Magister that Lilac and Carol were previously members of the Red Scarves. Hearing this, the Magister then orders that the four of them be locked up.
After being put in a jail cell in the Magister's palace, Lilac, Carol, and Milla come up with several plans to quietly escape Shang Tu. Milla is briefly able to sneak out of the cell, but is promptly caught by Neera. Seeing no other option for escape, Lilac tells Neera and the Magister a false confession of being Zao's puppet. The Magister then says that Torque will be freed, but that the others will still be imprisoned. After Torque leaves Shang Tu, Lilac, Carol, and Milla are able to escape by blowing through a wall in the building, and Neera promptly chases after them. They defeat Neera in a fight and meet up with Torque, only to find him knocked unconscious and being taken by Serpentine to Brevon's underwater hideout. Carol tells Lilac that she thinks they should all just give up, and Lilac refuses, so the two of them get into an heated argument that ends with Carol running off. Lilac goes to Brevon's base to rescue Torque and tells Milla to stay with Carol so that neither of them will be put in any more danger.
Milla runs to go find Carol and tells her about where Lilac was going to go. Carol says that she's over the argument, and that she'll help out Lilac and Torque by taking her old supplies back from the Red Scarves. Carol and Milla head off to the Red Scarves' base to find Carol's equipment, but they end up fighting Spade. Carol is finally able to tell Spade that Brevon is the person who killed his father, and Spade decides to help her out by raiding the base alongside them. Meanwhile, Lilac is able to make her way through the hideout, but is stopped by Serpentine and Brevon, the latter of whom cuts off her hair tendrils so she can no longer fight with them.
Brevon hooks Lilac up to an electrocution table in front of a now conscious Torque and threatens to shock her if he doesn't respond to his questions about Torque's mission. Torque does not comply, and Brevon pulls the lever, leaving Lilac completely drained of power. Carol and Milla bust into the facility where Lilac and Torque are, and Brevon appears and attempts to kill them. Just as they are about to meet their end, Syntax alerts Brevon that the base is about to blow up, likely because of something Spade did. All five make it out alive, but Lilac is separated from the others and still drained of energy. Shang Tu forces under Neera find her and capture her to be taken back to the Magister.
When Lilac arrives back at Shang Tu, the Magister apologizes to her for not believing her, explaining that he analyzed the machine part that Torque gave him, and now knows that they were telling the truth. The Magister also tells her that the machine part was made of a specific material that is also present in an unexplored area of Avalice (called Pangu Lagoon), and says if she accepted the offer to explore Pangu Lagoon for Shang Tu, then he would restore her to her strength. Lilac accepts the offer and heads to the location. After exploring Pangu Lagoon, Lilac discovers a robot with a recording done by a dragon scientist from an ancient civilization. In the recording, it is revealed that alien dragons first came the Avalice from outer space on via a crash-landing. The dragons were stranded on the planet, and tried for years to find a way home, but to no avail. Eventually, they decided that it would be a better use of their time and technology to help the native species of Avalice to survive and prosper by condensing all their energy into an a single orb, the Kingdom Stone. When Lilac returns and tells the Magister of what she discovered, he tells her that her friends are with the Shang Tu army right outside of Shuigang to act as a defensive wall against Shang Mu, which has launched an invasion of Shuigang. Lilac heads towards them, riding on top of the robot she found in Pangu.
Meanwhile Carol, Milla, and Torque are trying to stop the Shang Mu and Shang Tu armies from fighting each other. Just as they're about to open fire, Lilac arrives and convinces the two armies to unite against Brevon. Lilac, Carol, Milla, Torque, Gong, and Zao set up camp in the area and formulate a plan. Lilac, Carol, Milla, and Torque will distract Brevon, while the armies of Shung Mu and Shang Tu fight Shuigang's forces. The plan works, with the team defeating Dail in front of the ship, but when they reach the center of the city, Brevon announces that he is ready to launch his dreadnought off the planet. Torque tells the others that he'll go in alone, and they refuse to let him go with out their help. Torque then shouts that he can't lose them all just like he did with his last crew, but Lilac says that they promised that she would help him with his mission, and the possibility of death won't stop that. Torque decides to let them come with him, and the four board the dreadnought together as it takes off.
While on the ship, the team makes their way to where the Kingdom Stone is located, defeating an upgraded Syntax and battling against a mutated Serpentine. In an act of desperation, Brevon captures and mutates Milla into a bio-machanical monster, forcing the others to fight her. Milla is defeated and turned back to normal, but she's severely injured and unconscious. Enraged, Lilac and Carol run off to face Brevon in a final confrontation. After a fierce battle between them, Bevon is defeated and the dreadnought explodes. Lilac, Carol, Milla, and Torque make it out safely, but so does Brevon. The Kingdom Stone is destroyed in the explosion.
Back at the base camp, Milla regains consciousness and begins to recover from her wounds. Lilac is greatly upset over Brevon's escape, and tells Torque that she doesn't think Avalice will survive without the Kingdom Stone's energy. As all hope seems lost, Carol tells everyone to look up, and they see a swirling vortex of crystal energy. Everyone realizes that this is the new form that the kingdom Stone has taken, and know that they will have to share it's energy once again. Back in the treehouse, Torque says his goodbyes to Lilac, Carol, and Milla now that his mission is over. The three watch from the top of the treehouse as Torque's spaceship leaves Avalice, holding out hope that one day he'll return.
=== Milla Ending ===
If the player selects Milla as their starting character, the ending will play out differently from the main story. Rather than being captured and turned into a monster by Brevon, Milla enters the room with the Kingdom Stone and finds Torque looking over an unconscious Carol. He explains to her that Carol was ambushed by Brevon and that he must take her back to the surface before she dies. he also informs her that Lilac went ahead of them in order to take on Brevon. When Milla reaches Brevon, he tells her that he has killed Lilac and tells Milla to leave. A fight ensues between Milla and Brevon that results in Brevon getting a stranglehold of her. Before he can kill her, however, Lilac appears out of nowhere and attacks Brevon. The two defeat him and leave the ship with Torque and Carol, and Carol later recovers from her injuries. The remainder of the story plays out how it did in the canon ending.
== Gameplay ==
=== Game Modes ===
There are several game modes to play in Freedom Planet:
* Adventure Mode: One of the main game modes, in which the selected character goes through all their stages in order. There are fully voiced and animated cutscenes that tell the story of the game. The player can select the difficulty level (casual, easy, normal, hard) for the stages at the beginning of the mode.
* Classic Mode: The other main game mode. It is almost the same as Adventure Mode, but without the cutscenes.
* Time Attack: The selected character can play through a single stage with the main goal of getting the fastest completion time possible.
* Shang Mu Academy: The selected character goes through a series of very short stages in which they break all the targets in each stage. (Accessed through Time Attack.)
* Mahjong: The player can play a game of mahjong. This mini-game is unlocked by beating all the Shang Mu Academy stages as a character. (Accessed through Time Attack.)
* Gallery: The player can look at the achievements they've unlocked and view the content they've unlocked through finding the cards in each stage in the game.
=== Playable Characters ===
There are five characters that the player can control in Freedom Planet, though only three have full story campaigns:
Character	Description
 	Lilac overall is the fastest naturally out of all the playable characters. She has a variety of close range physical attacks, including a double jump that can damage enemies. Her special attack is a quick boost that turns her temporarily invincible and can launch her any direction other than straight up or down, but the boost has a delay before she can use it again. She can also hold her breath underwater for a longer amount of time, twice as long as the other playable characters.
 	Carol has a wider range of physical attacks than Lilac; her attacks are often weaker than Lilac's, but she can attack faster. She can wall jump to climb vertically, and roll up into a ball for increased speed. She can also make use of red jump pads when the player comes across one in a stage. She can mount her motorcycle whenever she finds a red fuel tank, which lets her perform a quick boost horizontally.
 	Milla can perform a midair jump to reach higher places. She can also dig into the dirt below her (if there is any) and potentially find an item such as extra life points of a shield. Her main attack is summoning a cube that she can carry around and then throw. She can generate a small shield that reflect projectiles back at her enemies, and letting go of the shield creates a short range laser. If she uses the shield while holding a cube, then she can form a giant shield and fire off a powerful shot when letting go of it. Milla is not available to the player from the start, and the player needs to beat Relic Maze as Lilac or Carol in order to unlock her.
 	Torque has boots that allow him to reach top speed instantly, and the boots also allow him to move in any direction when activated from midair. He has a gun that rotates between four different types of projectiles. The first projectile is a regular shot that is weaker compared to the other weapons, but never runs out of ammo. His other weapons are a bomb shot, upward shot, and downward shot, all of which can be customized to the player's liking. These other shots can run out of ammo, and have to be refilled by killing enemies and collecting their keystone orbs.
Torque is not playable in the main story, and can only be accessed in a beta version of Freedom Planet that can only be accessed via the Steam version.
 	Spade is a balance of both power and speed. His gameplay movesets behave a lot like his boss fights. He can perform Flash Jumps that gain him some distance covering ground quickly or for reaching higher ground above. His primary source of weaponry and attacks come from utilizing his signature playing cards. They can be thrown in a singular spread fashion or unleashed as a heavy attack midair. He has an Energy Meter to notify the player when his cards recharge for another strike. There are five different Suits the cards within the meter can display. It is rumored each suit can have a certain power or when a certain 'hand' is displayed, but it is currently unknown if this programming still exists.https://www.deviantart.com/spaceystrife/art/Spade-the-Cavy-264098860
Spade is not playable by regular means; he is only usable by hacking the game. As he is an unfinished character, he can be rather buggy.
=== Stages ===
Freedom Planet has fourteen stages with most having two acts each (though many if not all contain multiple areas to trek through). Of the stages listed, many have a miniboss in the middle and a proper stage boss at the end. Each character gets to visit twelve stages in their story. When the player collects a level's tao stone, they can access a special bonus game in which they can roll a dice for the chance to get extra lives or an elemental shield. 
==== Main Stages ====
Image	Name 	Playable Characters
 	Aqua Tunnel 	
* Milla
 	Dragon Valley 	
* Lilac
* Carol
* Torque
 	Relic Maze 	
* Lilac
* Carol
* Milla
 	Fortune Night 	
* Lilac
* Carol
* Milla
* Torque
 	Sky Battalion 	
* Lilac
* Carol
* Milla
* Torque
 	Jade Creek 	
* Lilac
* Carol
* Milla
 	Trap Hideout 	
* Carol
* Milla
 	Thermal Base 	
* Lilac
* Carol
* Milla
 	Pangu Lagoon 	
* Lilac
 	Battle Glacier 	
* Lilac
* Carol
* Milla
* Torque
 	Final Dreadnought 1	
* Lilac
* Carol
* Milla
* Torque
 	Final Dreadnought 2	
* Lilac
* Carol
* Milla
* Torque
 	Final Dreadnought 3	
* Lilac
* Carol
* Milla
* Torque
 	Final Dreadnought 4	
* Lilac
* Carol
* Milla
==== Bonus Stages ====
There are three (possibly two if the Schmup Stage is counted as part of Battle Galcier) playable special stages in total, which may differ from normal storyline gameplay; Two stages are optional but playable by all playable characters. One special stage is mandatory to advance through the story plot.
Image	Name 	Playable Characters	Description
 	Schmup Stage (Battle Glacier)	
*Holodragon (Lilac only)
*Shang Mu Tank (Carol & Milla only)	A schmup stage taking place before Battle Glacier. It can only be played in Story mode before Battle Glacier and is required to proceed within the characters' stories.
 	Bonus Stage 	
*Lilac
*Carol
*Milla	An optional bonus stage where the player can acquire Extra Lives and Shield Crystals. It can only be accessed in Story Mode
 	Shang Mu Academy 	
* Lilac
* Carol
* Milla
* Torque	A series of short Time Attack stages where the player is required to break a certain amount of targets within each stage.
==== Unused ====
Of the few stages that were planned to be included but ultimately scrapped, data exists for at least four of them within the game's files; two of which (three if schmup stage is included) are rather important to the story plot.
Image	Name 	Playable Characters 	Description
 	Horizon Starport	Torque 	A Torque-exclusive stage meant for his planned campaign. As it was his first stage in the story, much of it is actually complete, except near the end where there is nothing but a drop to a bottomless pit. There is no end boss either so the stage is uncompletable.
Storywise, it would explain him chasing down Brevon around an unnamed planet (possibly Torque's homeworld).
 	Warp Sector 	Torque (inside Chaser spacecraft)	A schmup stage associated with Torque. Takes place after the above Horizon Starport stage. Like the previously mentioned stage this stage cuts off just before it ends past the mid-boss, meaning this stage also is uncompletable. 
Storywise, it shows Torque giving chase to Brevon in his Dreadnought. Their crash landing onto Planet Avalice would have ensued following this pursuit.
 	Rage Ravine 	Unknown 	This would have likely been Stage 3, which would explain why the cutscene transition between Relic Maze and Fortune Night is rather long (if not the longest batch of cutscenes in between stages throughout the entire game).
This stage is shown during the cutscenes within the game and would have explained how Team Lilac reached the General Gong at the meeting point.
 	Shang Tu Dojo 	Unknown 	An unused bonus stage mode meant to battle opponents from within the game. Similar in design to the Shang Mu Academy. This idea later found its way into the sequel game, Freedom Planet 2.
=== Items ===
There are several items littered throughout the stages of Freedom Planet.
Image	Item Name 	Description
 	Crystal Shard 	Collecting 200 shards will grant the player an extra life.
Each shard refills Lilac"s or Carol's energy meter a little.
Clusters give you multiple shards.
 	Life Petal 	Collecting one regains half a petal of health.
Clusters give you multiple petals.
 	Keystone Orbs 	Collecting enough allows the player to roll one dice in the bonus round game.
Treasure chests give you multiple orbs.
Can also be obtained via killing enemies.
Torque can use them to refill his weapons.
 	Fuel Tank 	Carol can use it to access her motorcycle.
Milla can pick it up and throw it.
 	1-Up 	Grants the player an extra life.
 	Tao Stone 	Can be collected to roll one dice in the bonus round game.
There is one is every level.
 	Bomb 	Explodes shortly after the player touches it.
Milla can pick it up and throw it.
 	Star Card 	Collecting one unlocks in-game sketches of characters, audio soundbytes, and music tracks that can be accessed from the gallery.
There are 10 in every stage, except in the Final Dreadnought stages and Horizon Starport.
 	Elemental Shields 	All shields dissipate after taking a certain number of hits based on the difficulty selected.
Earth (yellow) shield attracts crystal shards and blocks all crystal attacks.
Fire (red) shield damages all enemies upon contact and blocks all fire attacks; it is lost upon entering water.
Metal (gray) shield grants immunity from spike damage and electric attacks.
Water (blue) shield grants infinite breath underwater and blocks all bubble attacks.
Wood (green) shield attracts health petals, blocks all poison attacks, and grants regeneration.
 	Invincibility Shield	Provides the player with temporary immunity to all damage other than drowning or being crushed.
=== Achievements ===
Freedom Planet has several achievements that can be completed by doing certain objectives. Some examples include: collecting all cards in a stage, beating a stage below a certain amount of time, a finishing off a boss with a specific move, etc.
== Trivia ==
*On the character select screen, rapidly switching from two character causes the screen to shake and the characters react to it.
* Blooper dialogue can be played during cutscenes by holding the down and special attack button.
* When playing as Torque, on the weapon select screen, holding down up and jump causes and animation of Torque shouting "here we GOOOOOOOO" while his neck extends up.
* Having a total of four save slots of the same character gives the character a unique face for each slot. The final face always looks silly.
*Freedom Planet does not lock players out of any game content if it senses that you have a pirated copy. Instead, the game gives the pirate a fully voiced message in which Lilac and Carol encourage the player to donate to the developers so they can make more content in the future.
*The title of the game sounds very similar to the name of the Sonic the Hedgehog OVA "Planet Freedom", but DiDuro has confirmed that this was unintentional.
*Early on into development, DiDuro considered adding a "super mode" for Lilac that would have granted her infinite energy.
*There were originally plans for a tie-in comic to be released alongside the game, but it was eventually cancelled due to the team underestimating the costs behind that project.
*Milla was originally supposed to die at the end of the game, but this was changed due to the ending already being rather bittersweet, as Brevon was never captured by Torque in the end.
*According to unused sprites, this game may have been originally planned for the OUYA gaming system.
==References==
Category:Games