Scarlet Shadow

**Scarlet Shadow** is a role-playing video game developed by Proto Co. It was released on July 7, 2020 on Itch.io and Gamejolt for Microsoft Windows. A porting for Linux was released on September 30, 2020. The game is still under development, and its current version is 0.8.2(June 6th, 2022).

The game narrates the journey of Lux, a young man recruited by the Keruby Irid to destroy the evil organization Ether Animus. During his journey he'll meet new friends with the same objective, like the young cryomancer Lumi or the android Andrew. There are 7 playable characters, but three of them leave the party for story-related reasons.

## Synopsis

### Setting

The last one who tried was Aghailt, he had become so powerful to
make a crack between universes, that allowed him to travel
from a universe to another without any help.
While subjecting universes, he had to fight with the forces
that had been created as a conseguence of the division: Tera, the incarnation of the division.
After a long battle, assisted by mortal allies,
Tera managed to defeat Aghailt, and imprisoned him in his universe. This story is narrated as a legend.
However, even today there are people that worship this obscure personage and plan to make him come back...
 —Introduction of Scarlet Shadow (until 0.8)

The world of Scarlet Shadow is actually just one of the 21 worlds that make up the universe. It's almost impossible to travel from one world to another without going to the Multiversum, Luka's cafe.

The 14th world (or Earth) is where our protagonists live. This world is populated by four different races: Humans, Elves, Kerubies and Wolf-Kind. Humans and Elves are the ones who almost completely dominate this world, and often fight each other to obtain control. However, the most powerful race is actually the Keruby one. They hide from Humans and Elves and ensure that the order of the world remains that way.

### Characters

* **Lux** is the main character of Scarlet Shadow. A lone swordsman who wants his revenge against Darkrius and Ether Animus.
* **Irid**: A misterious Keruby who offered Lux a chance to pursue his revenge. She trained Lux and made him strong, but her true objective is unknown.
* **Lumi**: A young and cheerful cryomancer from the snowy lands of Avalkya who befriends Lux and decides to follow him to fight the Ether Animus.
* **Andrew**: A strong android created by an Elphian governative organization, the IRCAE. He's a lover of quizzes and riddles.
* **Jean Komen**: The leader of Ether Animus, who wants to awaken Aghailt.

## Gameplay

The gameplay is very similar to games like Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest: the player takes control of a party of heroes and has to move in a fictional world, where he advances the story by completing tasks and fighting enemies.

When the player is on the map, they can perform various activities: they can continue in the main quest, but they can also stop to explore the area they're in. Optional treasures and even side-quests can often be found by exploring.

There are two kinds of maps: Towns, where there aren't random encounters with enemies and the player can speak to various NPCs who will often say fun facts about the world of Scarlet Shadow, recover HPs by spending a night in the INNs and shop various items by using the currency of Kaeli (simbol K); and Dungeons, where the party can be attacked by various enemies, due to randomly triggered encounters. No shops and inns can be found in dungeons, and even NPCs are much rarer. Inside dungeons, the player must prove their intelligence and cunning by solving various puzzles, which sometimes even lead to optional prizes. At the end of the dungeon there is always a boss, who is usually much stronger than random enemies.

### Battle System

*Scarlet Shadow* uses the Standard Turn Battle System, one of the battle systems offered by Yanfly Engine. Action orders are determined by the battlers' AGI values and they go from highest to lowest. Each battler is only allowed one action per battle turn, meaning a single fighter cannot have twice the number of turns as another battler even if the battler's AGI value is double that of the other.

There are actions common to all characters such as Attack, Guard, Item. However, each person has their own unique skill set - for example, Lumi and Edith have Swordplay, while Lumi and Irid have Magic.

## Story

**SPOILER WARNING: *Spoiler details may follow.***
### Prologue

In the prologue, four heroes with unknown names face the leader of the Ether Animus, Caius Komen, with the aim of sealing off the evil Aghailt, who wants to dominate the world. The heroes succeed in their intent, but the Ether Animus will continue to exist for many years, until the present, in which they have devised a plan to awaken Aghailt.

### Scarlet Shadow

Hundreds of years later, a boy named Lux enters an Ether Structure in order to deactivate it and prevent the Ether Animus from gathering the energy necessary to awaken Aghailt. During his stay in the Ether Structure, a mysterious entity communicates with him telepathically. Moreover, in a flashback, he remembers the day he met his old friend, Gelya. Once inside the central hall, he meets Jean Komen, the new head of the Ether Animus, who, however, limits himself by sending a machine against him. Eventually Lux manages to defeat the machine and deactivate the Ether Structure.

Once finished the work, Lux is teleported in the Arktys by Irid, a Keruby who trained him to destroy the Ether Animus. After a night of sleep, Irid assigns Lux a new mission: to find a woman of Ether Animus in the Elphian city of Dryadalis. The woman entered the Clock Tower, the most ancient building of the city, but the entrance is blocked by an Elphian Guard. The guard is worried about her collegue who entered the Clock Tower, but can't trust Lux; so, he decides to give Lux the mission of finding an illegal firework traffic. Lux completes the mission by discovering that the fireworks traffic was commanded from the knockoff shop basement. Once entered in the Clock Tower, Lux finds a woman, called Edith, unable to get up after being beaten by the member of the Ether Animus. Thanks to Irid's help, who casts an healing spell on her, Edith can now join Lux's party. After many battles against Igiuls, ghosts who live in the Clock Tower, they finally manage to reach the last room, where they find Camille, the member of Ether Animus, threaten the president in order to help the evil organisation. After a long battle (Camille can summon Igiuls to help her in battle), Lux and Edith finally manage to defeat her. The president wants to give a prize to Lux and Edith: being Edith a member of the Elphian Guard, he promises to give her a promotion, instead, Lux asks to receive the stronger weapon that Elphia has ever seen.

After teleporting away from the Clock Tower, Lux finds himself in an unknown place, where two mysterious man are waiting for him. One of them is Darkrius, the one who ruined Lux life two years before. He wants to warn Irid not to fight a battle she cannot win, which is interpreted as an attempt to sidetrack Lux from his goal.

After coming in the Arktys, Irid entrusts Lux with a new mission. He has to go to the city of Avalkya and find the Ether Structure located in that place. As soon as he arrived, he met a girl. After an exchange of glances, she runs away. Now Lux has to look for a guide to reach the Snowy Plain, access to which is restricted due to unfavorable weather conditions. After some research, the girl from before proposes to help him, since she has a permission to go in the Snowy Plain. She reveals her name, Lumi, and invites Lux at home, since she has to change her clothes. However, when they are ready to go, Lumi's Father come back home, and scolds the girl, who runs away. Once Lux finds her and revealing the his father was very strict with him as well, they are ready to go in the Snowy Plain.

Upon arriving at the Ether Structure, Lux tries to convince Lumi to return home, as the journey could have become dangerous. After Lumi insists on staying, Irid telepathically contacts Lux to tell him not to let her go, as help could always come in handy. In fact, this time the facility is guarded by 3 agents of the Ether Animus, the Veren brothers: Eerste, Dara and Drett. The 3 initially face the party alone, and are defeated. However, in the final room of the dungeon they reveal their ace in the hole, the fusion, which allows them to become one. The Veren Fusion seems to be very strong, especially physically, however, thanks to the discrepancies between the 3 personalities that make up the fusion, Lux manages to weaken the fusion, and then defeat it. After exiting the dungeon, Lumi returns home and tells her father that she wants to leave.

In the Arktys, Lumi makes the acquaintance of Irid, marveling at the fact that she is a Keruby. Irid assigns the new mission to Lux, which is to go to IRCAE to be given the sword that was promised to him by the president of Elphia. Arriving at IRCAE, Lux is subjected to tests: the first test is to face Andrew, an android created by the IRCAE with a passion for quizzes. After solving another test, Lux receives the Hopite Sword. However, the members of Ether Animus attack the IRCAE, and Lux and Lumi team up with Andrew to defeat them. After defeating them all, a communication arrives to Lux that a man is waiting for him on the ground floor of the IRCAE. Lux thinks it's Jean Komen, but, with a surprise, he finds his father. After a fight, Lux and the others manage to defeat him and trap him. The father is arrested and Andrew joins Lux and Lumi's group.

When Lux wants to be teleported to the Arktys, Irid teleports to him, telling him there is no time to explain, and teleports him away. They find themselves in front of the entrance to the Soul Temple. Irid explains to Lux, Lumi and Andrew that the Ether Animus managed to get to the Arktys and for this she had to flee. Now thanks to 3 special gold coins, they can access the Soul Temple, where they can get stronger, however a girl comes out of nowhere and steals the gold coins. Then Lumi and Irid set off in pursuit of the girl. During the chase, Lumi and Irid encounter Dummy, a strange being who doesn't seem to want to live. After dealing with him, they reach Kena, who is with her brother Nya. The two do not seem very cooperative at first, but when Lux arrives, they explain to him why they did it: in fact, an ogre lives in a cave who demands a tribute. Then Lux, Lumi and Irid go to defeat him. After killing him, Lux wonders if it was okay to kill that being, but Irid points out that he would never change. Later, the group returns to the Soul Temple. Each of them has a dream: