The Tribulations of Chulu: Shelter from Foul Realities

The Tribulations of Chulu: Shelter from Foul Realities is an upcoming 2.5D Platforming-Action Game for the Nintendo Switch, it is the second game in the Tribulations of Chulu series and follows on from the events of The Tribulations of Chulu: Book of Untold Horrors. The game differs from its predecessor by having a level-based structure and multiple playable characters.
==Plot==
===Synopsis===
Picking up 1 year after the events of the previous game, the game reintroduces Chulu giving a short re-cap of the previous game and noting her journey to collect the pages of the Arg'Noktra, a powerful ancient tome capable of unseen power. Chulu has followed a trail and found a new set of pages for the book located on a space station known as The Gauntlet, a prison colony that was constructed to hold prisoners for various crimes and have them commit to hard labour to pay back their debt. Although Chulu had been following the advice given to her by King Dahlmer before he departed, she is not the only one attracted to the prison, many strange individuals find themselves drawn towards the prison colony as its strange aura pulls in new prisoners.
==Gameplay==
Gameplay is a 2.5D Action-Platformer, the player controls Chulu or any of the numerous other characters while progressing through levels, battling enemies, mini-bosses and bosses alike. Levels are fairly long with segments where the player can rest and save their progress at checkpoints. As the player progresses through the game, the story splits between the characters as Chulu meets various characters throughout the game, some antagonistic while others are friendly. The story progresses along whichever route of levels the player decides to take however the player can go back and play alternate levels to see how the other characters progressed through the game.
The game also denotes levels by difficulty with a series of locks beneath the level's number, 1 lock meaning easy up to 5 locks meaning very hard. Boss Levels do not feature the difficulty scale though as they're mandatory. When entering a level the player can choose up to three characters to play as, the player can freely swap between characters allowing the player to use their different abilities, some needed to access side areas while others have bolstered combat potential.
All Characters share a general control scheme, being able to; move, run, walk, jump, slide, dash and dodge.
==Characters==
The game features a total of 24 Playable Characters although only 16 are available during the initial playthrough while the remaining 8 are unlockable.
Character 	Description
Chulu 	a Snail Dragon-Human hybrid, Chulu is the main protagonist of Shelter from Foul Realities, drawn to the Prison Colony in hopes of finding more pages for the powerful Arg'Noktra. Since her last appearance she has become more skilled with the Arg'Noktra, able to use its powers more consistently. Her drive to find the pages often has her leading the other characters and has an unnatural degree of determination being viewed by some as a bit of a freight train when it comes to seeking the pages as she sometimes just completely fails to think plans through and charges head on.
Monu 	A human imbued with the Spirit of Combat, Monu is normally considered to be extremely powerful in her home existence however her powers have become dampened due to travelling far. Often quite friendly she's more laid back than most and seems to simply be exploring the Prison Colony out of rampant curiosity. It is hinted at however that Monu has an underlying hunger for combat, often eager to join others in fighting and can even sometimes try to provoke others into fighting her.
Stiltana 	A young researcher who came to the Prison Colony to study the minerals being mined by the colony and their long term effects on the prisoners. She is an avid explorer and often wants to go off and explore off-shoot areas away from the group's main target. She possesses rudimentary water magic abilities to help protect herself which also allow for her to create healing pools of water.
Brynyn 	An Elemental of Ice, Brynyn arrived on the Prison Colony as an escort for Stiltana, the two have a close kinship with Brynyn often being rather protective of Stiltana and dubious of others until they can prove themselves. As an Elemental, he is innately attuned to the powers of Ice although limits himself as to avoid hurting those he cares about. He has a generally reserved personality that even those that break past his protective exterior tend to get a poor grip on his interests.
Smix 	The Warden of the main prison facility on the Prison Colony, Smix is a bit of an oddball, his kind demeanour covers an underlying brutality not often seen. Smix has a strong belief in minimizing unnecessary pain so during his time as warden was able to identify the ring leaders of the prisoners and break them mentally creating a cascade effect among the rest of the prisoners making them subordinate. Being a Telepath, Smix admits that he actually finds the entire ability rather dreary as he often hears thoughts he either doesn't want to or doesn't care about, noting that it's like a constant white noise, as such he wears a small earpiece which helps block others thoughts although does prevent him from using his telepathy properly.
Palzuroa 	An inhabitant of the Asteroid that the Prison Colony had acquired, Palzuroa is a bit of a quirky individual. As an Asteroid Dweller, Palzuroa doesn't often deal with the standard practices of intergalactic affairs and as such can come off a bit scatter-brained as he has a strong affinity to the asteroid and mentions hiding from the prisoners as they mined it, fearing that they'd come to steal his stuff. Palzuroa's main goal is to free the asteroid from the Prison Colony although helps the others out when he realizes the locking mechanism can't be broken by force.
Ronnic 	One of the Prisoners of the station, Ronnic is a Terranaut, a being made from inorganic materials. Ronnic often objects to his origins however and is often one to get rather emotional about the matter, becoming irate when suggested that he was simply created for a single purpose. According to the prison records, Ronnic was committed on several counts of destruction of property and assault although Ronnic professes that it was justified noting that the judicial system which convicted him doesn't recognize Terranauts as people.
Shrumbaga 	Shrumbaga is a Fungilike, a large and varied group of fungi who take many forms, Shrumbaga being a humanoid-Fungilike is considered to be one of the more cultured of his kind. Shrumbaga is quite friendly although a bit ditzy, seemingly drawn to the Prison Colony under the false pretense that one of his kind had become trapped there. Shrumbaga's intelligence is rather limited and as such he often relies on his instincts and innate abilities more than most resulting in him easily being swayed, he is however quite capable in combat and is able to use the vast network of Spores spread throughout the galaxy to help him navigate and deal with enemies handily.
Bakkera 	A strange creature that serves as a sort of scout for the Prison Colony, Bakkera is a being of limited intelligence although not for lack of trying. Bakkera's species, the Noctarians are highly adapted to deep space life although are also easily persuaded as their existence is often lonely with it being rare that Noctarians meet one another, as such when Bakkera was discovered by the Prison Colony their leaders convinced him to serve as a scout for them, searching for suitable candidates for their various prison operations. Bakkera has a deep-running respect for the prison's leaders and always seems to seek their approval, even looking up at the security cameras during his fight to see if his superiors are watching.
Helluva Bodacious	No one's really sure where Helluva came from, there are no reports that he was a prisoner nor any signals that detected him arriving on a ship, he just, kinda turned up. Regardless, he's here to help according to the man himself he's actually a time traveller from the late 20th Century although he has no evidence to back this up. He is surprisingly proficient in using electricity, able to channel it and fire what Helluva has dubbed Lightning Bullets from his fingertips.
Reverb 	This strange robotic fellow is Reverb, one of many of the Musically-Inclined Lineage of Robots he specializes in vocalisation being able to serve as both a singer and an amplifier of other's voices where need be. Reverb interestingly doesn't have a voice of his own, although normally one is set for his line when they're activated, this was not done so for Reverb as such he adopts many different voices which are in fact derived from those of the people who he's known.
Fennegaul 	Originally caught by the Prison Colony itself, Fennegaul had served as a makeshift guard of sorts, although he was never corrupted like the others, it's unknown why. Among one of the youngest on the Prison Colony Fennegaul is a bit of a clutz, his armour being considerably oversized. It is noted however that the armour Fennegaul wears actually arrived with him and no one really knows what Fennegaul is or where he originated from.
Alos 	The main technician of the Energy production on the Prison Colony, Alos is a rather proud individual often expressing just how important his role is in maintaining the facility. Alos seems to have an air of disdain about him, referring often to the prisoners and lowly creatures and even considers many of the other workers in the prison colony to hardly be worth his time. As a result records show that he's mostly ignored by the rest of the workforce on the Prison Colony with only a cursory glance being given by the higher ups from time to time to make sure Alos is still doing his job properly.
Biscuit 	A rather meek individual, Biscuit had come come to the Prison Colony under the gross misconception that he could become stronger there, according to Biscuit himself he views himself as quite weak although his strange abilities revolving around confectionaries can often make him unpredictable for many foes as his magic lacks the usual elemental affinity that most magic has meaning it is tougher to block. Biscuit seems unaware of this trait and is somewhat self-destructive to himself often beating himself up over his lack of physical strength.
Alassa 	A Slime-Human hybrid, Alassa is a rather coy character, often playing cute to gain affinity, she hitched a ride on one of the Prison Transports although had stowed herself away attempting to damage the Prison Colony from within. She shows a great disdain towards the Prison's guards and seems to hold a grudge that some attribute to them holding someone she knows under arrest although Alassa refuses to talk about the matter.
Daruber 	This strange Beorn arrived on the Prison Colony in search of mysterious artifacts, it's suggested that Daruber is in fact aware of the pages of Arg'Noktra and may be seeking them as well although refuses to talk much about the matter especially after seeing Chulu has the book causing him to pivot his behaviour to be more supportive of her goal. Daruber seems to generally be soft-spoken and kind hearted, although not much for talking he is more passive and calm than the others especially when it comes to engaging the bosses of the game.
Ledavni 	A manifestation of the Computer of the Prison Colony, Ledavni refers to himself as the Son of the Computer and is a highly evolved form of the Cyberspace entities, he possesses a unique intelligence from his brethren having an independent mind form the Computer. Ledavni is also shown to have an insatiable curiosity, less so fighting to protect the Computer or the Prison Colony but more so out of interest in the abilities of others.
Aero 	An Elemental of Wind, Aero is a bounty hunter by trade, originally sent out on an objective to take out a high-ranking officer within the Prison Colony, Aero's mission was somewhat sidelined after the discovery of the pages, believing them to be dangerous to anyone who wields them. Aero is rather assertive and often is one to voice her thoughts on a matter irrespective of others, although she is generally friendly, she has a degree of hubris which can make her difficult to be around.
Vendela Tekker 	A floral creature, Vendela Tekker is an inhabitant of the Biosphere, initially content on living his live within the Biosphere due to the relative peace, Vendela found himself caught in the crossfire of the Prison Colony's collapse. Although he's not much for conflict, he is very protective of the plants that he considers his kin. Ever since the downfall of the Prison Colony he's taken it upon himself to protect as many plants as he can, carrying with him several of his friends. Being a plant by nature, Vendela has some abilities unusual for other species such as being able to hurl leaves around and is able to float from the large petals around his neck.
Keynarcha 	A strange Arachna who came to the Prison Colony seemingly simply searching for a place to stay. Keynarcha is a bit of a cuckoolander in personality, often simply ignoring the issues that would make the Prison Colony dangerous and continuing to venture on through the facility. Given her appearance, some are off-put by her although those that get over this fear find that she is quite friendly and eager to help out those that give her the time of day.
Ilyd 	Ilyd is the gardener of the Biosphere, a quiet and rather stoic individual, he is not particularly geared towards fighting and is reluctant to in the first place as he is more concerned about potentially damaging the plants of the Biosphere. Ilyd also shows a great disdain towards Vendela, referring to him as pest in the Biosphere. Ilyd generally tries to offer a peaceful resolution although due to his position within the Prison Colony he inevitably butts heads with many who mistake his rather unassuming role for one of little importance.
Cheylay 	Known by the locals of the Prison Colony as the Lady of the River, Cheylay is a GE-Humanoid (Genetically Engineered), she serves as the main protector of the Hallowed Keep although she was also one of the first to succumb to the corruption of the mind, turning the Hallowed Keep into a death pit for those trapped inside. Cheylay's true personality appears to be very calm and polite, referring to people with rather extravagant titles and often acting as courteous as possible, this however had become subdued as her personality was twisted, a fact that seems to be mostly unique to her and might be as a result of her origins as an individual, as a result when encountered Cheylay is shown to be hyper-aggressive and elusive, often hiding herself away and setting up traps to prevent others from getting close to her.
Arbiter 	Not much is known about Arbiter, according to records he only came to serve on the Prison Colony very recently and his allegiances through dialogue suggest that he has his own agenda separate from those of the other leaders of the Prison Colony. Arbiter is also deceptively powerful, he seems to be able to tap into powers that many would consider powerful forms of magic although he does so with incredible ease, no one is really sure how and Arbiter himself has never discussed the matter and appears to have even suppressed his magical aura during his time working in the Prison Colony. It's also implied that Arbiter is significantly older than he appears, with no known record of when he was born let alone where he was prior to approximately 140 years ago.
Magnifi 	The head of the Prison Colony, Magnifi was described in reports by her colleagues as a calm and collected individual and while much of that remains true, her personality seems to have become emptied in a sense. The affects of forcefully reading the pages of the Arg'Noktra have broken her mind and left her mind dull and her speech muddled, often her phrasing being jumped and incoherent, only a perfect translator could decipher what she says. It appears however that Magnifi was given the power that she seemed to seek from the pages, the strange cubes encountered throughout the game serve as drones for her and she is capable of completely disassembling her body into these small cubes to move around, in addition it appears the cubes each are able to possess their own innate energy allowing them to rocket around at high speeds or explode from radiant light.
==Levels==
The game's levels are grouped by their area on the Prison Colony with the number of levels varying, levels are unlocked in a network pattern, so all adjacent levels to the levels the player has completed become available, this also allows for levels which take place before a level the player's completed to be played, this is mainly done to show the past for some of the other characters in the game.
Zone 	Levels	Description 	Boss
Prison Yard 	9 	The Prison Yard is the main inhabited section of the Prison Colony, it is a large, interconnected series of chambers where Prisoners are held, many of the enemies in this area are Insane Prisoners as well as Security Forces. The levels gradually progress upwards towards the Warden's Office with the generally cleanliness and quality of life of each floor increasing with the upper levels having a somewhat divine appearance to them. 	Smix
Mineral Asteroid	9 	An asteroid that was captured by the Prison Facility and was being mined up until recently, some who reside within the asteroid itself still mine, blissfully unaware of the state of the station. The Asteroid has low gravity compared to the Prison Colony allowing one to walk on the ceiling as they traverse. 	Bakkera
Sun Catcher Sail	11 	The energy depot that keeps the Prison Colony's energy supplies available, this massive array of advanced solar panels is grouped in large, sail-like formations to maximize catching of energy. The facility surrounding it is heavily electrified, intended to keep the prisoners out however even the guards reported that the area was a bit of a maze in and of itself with dead-ends intended to trap prisoners often simply confusing them. 	Alos
Neo-Sphere 	11 	The Neo-Sphere is the main computer of the Prison Colony, helping to organize the prisoners of the facility and provide assistance to the workers through its intricated network of security checks. The computer is so massive that it takes up a considerable chunk of the Prison Colony's space, as such those who work within the computer have to navigate vast wire highways and small pockets of Cyberspace which have formed over time. 	Ledavni
Biosphere Prime 	13 	The main location where vegetation for the Prison Colony grows, the Biosphere is a massive section of the Prison Colony located on the top side where it can take in radiant solar rays, many plants and animals live within the biosphere and the variety has steadily increased as species periodically arrive on the Prison Colony via the asteroids mined and prisoners. 	Ilyd
Hallowed Keep 	13 	The Hallowed Keep is located in the upper echelons of the Prison Colony, considered effectively a separate area from the rest of the Colony it's where the officers and higher-ups of the Prison resided, the beautiful backdrop of the area is offset by the rather grueling outcome that came from it, the region has fallen into disarray with machines malfunctioning throughout as a result of the people going berserk and breaking everything. A centrepiece of the area is the Blossom River an artificial river that carries genetically engineered flower petals which emit a calming aroma through the air, although this did little to stop the eventual destruction. 	Cheylay
Space Gate 	15 	The Space Gate is the main arrival mechanism by which new prisoners arrive on the Prison Colony, it is both a wormhole generator and a space port and is a remarkably large area and is the primary construct on the west wing of the colony with the other locations of the West Wing being added later. The area also serves as the main storage area for much of the Prison Colony's larger machinery and as such is considered significantly more dangerous as a result of the machines being activated and run amok by prisoners and guards alike. 	Arbiter
Gazing Tower 	15 	The illustrious Gazing Tower is the central command for the Prison Colony, serving as both an archive of information and a base of operations, the area was one of the most well-defended during its operation and although many of the guards had abandoned it, the automatic defense system is still active and primed making it incredibly dangerous. The Archives themselves are somewhat of a marvel to behold, an almost organic looking structure, the archives is a series of libraries connected together via light bundles which act as giant walkways weaving between the various hanging structures. The Central Command itself sits at the top of the archives in a large upside-down dome casting two great beams of light down appearing as eyes when viewed from below.	Magnifi
==Items==
Throughout the game the player can come across a number of items they can collect. Some items serve as temporary upgrades for the player during a level, while others are collectibles able to be sold at the game's shop. There are three major groups of items; Level Specific Items, Collectible Items and Money which can be found in levels. At the game's shop the player can purchase a number of items as well, some of which can be used within levels while others are equipment which can be attached to the characters allowing them to have different abilities or enhancing their innate abilities.
==Trivia==
*While this game is a direct sequel to Book of Untold Horrors it is not part of Fantendoverse τ
Category:Games
Category:Original Games
Category:The Tribulations of Chulu (series)
Category:2.5D Games
Category:Platforming Games
Category:Action Games
Category:TRI Games
Category:Nintendo Switch Games