Guardian Angel

***Guardian Angel*** is a platforming and role-playing game developed and produced by Illusion Works for release on the Pacifico on January 8, 2016. It follows the story of Arcantha as she goes on a journey to figure out the true fate to her family after they all mysteriously passed away when she was young. It is rated "T" by ESRB and "12" by PEGI for violent scenes, strong themes, and explicit language throughout.

## Plot

The game takes place in the year 1034, deep in the past. The story follows two people, who are twins, called Arcantha and Avery. They were raised in an orphanage in their home village, as their mother died presumably whilst giving birth to them, and the father presumably died prior to the birth. The pair were inseparable and always went everywhere with each other. Avery was always very kind to Arcantha and acted as the support unit for her during all the tough times, he even gave her his only possession which made her feel happier, a little stuffed doll which she cherished with every being in her body. However, one day, on the eve of their joint sixth birthday party, the orphanage suddenly caught on fire. One of the support logs for the building collapses, and swings straight for Arcantha, however Avery pushes her out of way and takes the hit for her. Arcantha watches as the rest of the orphanage and her last family member perish right before her eyes.

At an older age of 15, Arcantha decided that she needed to find answers to everything surrounding her family's mysterious fate, to finally lock up and throw away the key to her past. That's how the beginning of the revelations would take place.

After rigurous exploration in her home village, she manages to find a book that her mother wrote by herself. In the book she explains her life story, which intrigues Arcantha. She then goes on to explain how she was a victim of domestic abuse by her husband, and after she became pregnant she decided she needed to take some control. She kicked him out the house and they were legally separated. She then went to go live with her mother until the twins were born, and that's how the tale ended, as she died during childbirth. The ghost of Celeste then starts to follow Arcantha around for the duration.

After realizing this, Arcantha starts to do more research into her father, with minor belief that he may still be alive. She then manages to find a book about her father's family tree, and locates her grandmother on her dads side of the family. She then visits her as she still resides in a village close by, and the grandmother explains to Arcantha that after her mother left her father, he was struck with deep depression. After trying to consult him about it for months, he committed suicide because he thought he would never have any chance with Celeste again. The ghost of her father, Victor, then proceeds to follow Arcantha around for the duration.

After learning all this news in such a short space of time, Arcantha decides to finish the trio, and visits the orphanage she was raised in as a child. The building is still a ruin from the fire that destroyed it years ago, leading Arcantha to search the ruins for more clues about her brother. She finds some records of the orphanage's expenditures, and it turns out that the orphanage was burnt down purposely, as the owner, Ashleigh, couldn't afford to pay for the costs of it anymore. Arcantha feels literally sick to her stomach, and she decides to leave the premises before she really does get mad, however she accidentally kicks a piece of the rubble, and finds the stuffed toy that Avery gave her as a child, she then falls to her knees and cries whilst hugging the doll.

The game cuts to the future, where Arcantha is an elder in the village. She appears to be visiting the local church in the village. She walks around to the back of the church, and looks at three gravestones with tears welling in her eyes. She bends down and places the stuffed doll on Avery's gravestone, and continues to weep. Hours later, in the dark of night, she returns to her home, which is cold and empty. She sits in her rocking chair, and continues to cry softly, as the ghost of Avery appears behind her and kisses her softly on the forehead. Avery's ghost then proceeds to hug her, and a faint smile emerges onto Arcantha's face, and she then passes away peacefully in her sleep.

## Gameplay

The game works similarly to that of *Child of Light*, where you play in an open platforming world but also have a combat element where you fight against enemies.

### Combat

Combat is where the role-playing element comes into play. You fight against many different species of beasts, which range from super easy to extremely difficult. The enemies have a level which indicates to the player the difficulty of enemy they're facing at that precise moment in time. The levels range from 1 to 50, with the final boss of the game being level X, which implies they're somewhere over level 50.

Once you defeat an enemy beast you will receive experience points and money, the experience points help build Arcantha's levels and the money helps you buy new equipment for her to boost her stats. When you gain a level you can add 5 extra points onto any attribute you wish.

### Statistics

Stats are the name for the different techniques you can increase upon levelling up. Like most other role-playing games, you can increase HP (hit points), ATK (attack), DEF (defense), MGC (magic), RES (resistance), SKL (skill), LCK (luck), SPD (speed), IMN (immunity). Here is a run-down of all the stats available in the current build of the game.

* HP (*Hit Points or Health*): Health increases how much life you have before you are attacked. The more you have, the more you have the more damage you can take.
* ATK (*Attack*): Attack increases how much damage you do with melee weapons before defense and resistance are taken into consideration.
* DEF (*Defense*): Defense increases how much damage you are able to take from melee weapons before attack and magic are taken into consideration.
* MGC (*Magic*): Magic increases how much damage you deal with magical attacks before defense and resistance are taken into consideration.
* RES (*Resistance*): Resistance increases how much damage you are able to take from magical attacks before attack and magic are taken into consideration.
* SKL (*Skill*): Skill increases how well you are with weapons and magic, and increases your hit rate on other enemies. The lower this is, the lower the chances are of you successfully landing an attack are. Works similar to Accuracy in other games.
* LCK (*Luck*): Luck increases your chances of landing critical hits and one hit kills. It can also increase your luck in completely dodging enemy attacks sometimes but that is often more rare than critical hits themselves.
* IMN (*Immunity*): Immunity increases your ability to withstand conditions such as coldness, poison or bleed. If you have one of these conditions they will do significantly less damage if you have a high investment in IMN points.

### Skills

Skills are special traits that you can unlock for your character after every level up. They work similarly to Perks in *South Park: The Stick of Truth*, where you can gain special abilities to aid you in battle. Once you hit level 40, you can claim one Skill every two levels as opposed to one with every other bracket. A full list of Skills can be found below.

*Levels 1-10*:
Gain 5 Attack Points!
Gain 5 Defense Points!
Gain 5 Magic Points!
Gain 5 Resistance Points!
Gain 5 Skill Points!
Gain 5 Luck Points!
Gain 5 Immunity Points!

*Levels 10-20*:
Gain 15 Attack Points!
Gain 15 Defense Points!
Gain 15 Magic Points!
Gain 15 Resistance Points!
Gain 15 Skill Points!
Gain 15 Luck Points!
Gain 15 Immunity Points!

*Levels 20-30*:
New Attack Move: Arcantha Strike
New Attack Move: Arcantha Blast
New Weapon: Baseball Bat
New Weapon: Scythe
New Equipment: Shield
New Equipment: Poison Ring
New Equipment: Ice Ring
New Equipment: Fire Ring
New Equipment: Electric Ring
New Equipment: Vampire Ring

*Levels 30-40*:
New Ability: Vampire Bite
New Ability: Frost Breath
New Ability: Fire Tornado
New Ability: Lightning Strike
New Ability: Infection
Gain 25 Attack Points!
Gain 25 Defense Points!
New Equipment: Steel Shield
New Equipment: Steel Sword
New Equipment: Disaster Ring

*Levels 40-50*:
New Ability: Natural Disaster
New Ability: Torrential Rain
New Ability: Meteor Descent
New Ability: Shattering Snow
New Ability: Nocturne Nibble
New Ability: Bloody Nightmare
New Ability: Venomous Claw

### Equipment

There are a lot of different types of Equipment in Guardian Angel. There are a variety of weapons available to the player as they journey through the game, and a lot of other things they can equip to Arcantha and the rest of their party. There are also things like shields which can aid her in the game, and there are also Rings. Rings allow Arcantha's attacks to have different type of conditions attached to them, for example if you give Arcantha the Vampire Ring, she will cause the enemy to bleed when she lands a Perfect Attack. Or if she had the Ice Ring equipped, she has a chance to freeze the enemy when she lands a Perfect Attack.

### Character Customization

There are a lot of different ways you can customize how Arcantha looks in the game. You can collect dyes which allow you to change her hair color in the menu, and if you look at posters around the time, you can discover different hairstyles for her which she can then apply to herself. You can also change her clothes and give her different outfits to try on, you can also save 6 outfits as your favourite outfits and select them through the menu instead of having to find the combination again. You can also change the colour of these clothes with the dyes you collect as you travel through the game.

## Game Modes

### Story Mode

Story Mode is the main mode of Guardian Angel. In this mode, you play through the game's story as Arcantha, the main protagonist, as she discovers the truth behind her family's strange disappearance. Once you've completed the story, you are able to replay the levels at your own desire, and you can uncover more secrets and clues in the game that you may have missed the first time when you played through it.

### Free-Play Mode

In Free-Play Mode, you can play through the levels with godly abilities, which allow you to play the game as more of a visual novel than a role-playing game. It is most helpful to collect items you have missed along the way if you're looking to 100% the game, such as dyes and clothing. You can also find out extra clues which may change your end hypothesis on the events which happened in Arcantha's past.

### Mutliplayer

In Multiplayer, you can play through the game with a group of friends through local play or online play. You can play up to four players, and everyone plays through their own Arcantha (which for the sake of confusion, will be renamed to whatever the player decides for her to be called). This can make it easier to defeat enemies in the game, however the amount of enemies in the game will increase to make it somewhat harder for the players. You can also set a difficulty in Multiplayer which can push the boundaries even further.

## Characters

There are five prominent characters in Guardian Angel.

 Victor
 Celeste
 Ashleigh

## Gallery

The official logoThe official Pacifico Application box-art
## Trivia

* This game was originally an abandoned article, and was claimed by IcicleIllusionist (t|c) during the Abandoned Treasure contest.