Terceris

***Terceris*** is an upcoming run-and-gun platformer/role-playing adventure game developed for PC. Developed by ILMXStudios, it is a heavily story/lore-centric game that focuses on its deep, expansive story. It is currently unreleased, but is currently actively developed and is slated to be released in 2020.

The game, set in the year 2050, revolves around the dystopian world that is under the rule of The Eternal Ascendancy, a powerful imperial regime that had taken control over every world government. A company known as Redsite Laboratories, located within what remains of the United States, had made a goal to revolutionize the broken world that they live in through innovation and discovery. Dr. Terceris, a military weapons researcher within Redsite, is tasked by the facility's AI supervisor, Ceithun, to defend Redsite against the Eternal Ascendancy and help secure the future of Earth. Its plot, while few details have been released, has been described as "dark", "heavy", and "emotion-filled" by its community and beta testers, along with the developer.

Terceris is slated to be fully released at the end of 2020 or within 2021 on *Steam*. Ports to other platforms have been discussed, but remain unconfirmed for the future.

## Story

The game opens up within Imperial City, the capital city of The Eternal Ascendancy. Within an alleyway, a representative of an unnamed resistance group speaks with a mysterious informant about an upcoming plot of a revolt against the Ascendancy's rule. The plan was revealed to originate from Redsite Laboratories, who are secretly building a militia to battle the Ascendancy's massive military. The plans, stored on an encrypted handheld terminal, provide little details about the upcoming revolt, but give reassurance to both the representative and the informant that change will be coming. However, both individuals are discovered by Eternal Ascendancy forces, and are arrested under suspicion of conspiring against the empire. The handheld terminal is also confiscated by the soldiers, and is soon given to Emperor Tairous, who sends Lord Krono, his disciple and executioner, in response.

Elsewhere, the facility of Redsite Laboratories is attacked by the Krono Arms, who had also stolen various projects and kidnapped all personnel. Dr. Eric Terceris, a military specialist, awakes within the R-40 battlesuit (which he was testing prior to the attack), alone and in the dark. Searching for answers, the armored scientist continues forward, traversing through the darkened halls of Redsite Laboratories.

### **Chapter 1: Awakening**

Details about Chapter 1 have not been fully released, but it revolves around combating the Krono Arms and recovering Redsite's personnel.

### **Chapter 2: Order**

Details about Chapter 2 have not been fully released, but it revolves around executing Redsite's plan to revolt against the Ascendancy, led on the field by Dr. Terceris.

### **Chapter 3: Prey**

Details about Chapter 3 have not been fully released, but it revolves around uncovering the hidden past of Redsite Laboratories and Dr. Terceris, all while facing the wrath of the mysterious Hellstorm.

Details about the overall plot of the game have been minimally released in order to avoid spoiling the game itself, though minor details are occasionally released at random points in time.

## Gameplay

The gameplay of Terceris, at least from what has been seen/revealed, is rather simple and is not overly complicated. The player controls Dr. Terceris, an armored scientist who possesses three main attacks (a carbine rifle, grenades, and melee combat), through a dystopian world that is mainly controlled and populated by the Ascendancy's forces.

The main levels of the game are built like a platformer, where the player encounters numerous enemies and interactable objects and characters, many of which help build the lore of the game. Enemies can be defeated using any combination of Dr. Terceris' attacks, which can be modified or strengthened through items and equipment. Some enemies can have different resistances towards different attacks and different abilities that can further harm the player, which requires the player to use their Codex to understand their opponents to better combat them. In addition to combating enemies, the player must traverse through the platform-based levels by using Dr. Terceris' jump, double (rocket) jump, dash, and grappling hook abilities.

Side-levels of the game, for the most part, are not platformer-based and revolve around discovery, story, and item-hunting. Most of these side-levels revolve around interacting with objects and NPCs, discovering further lore about the game, finding items or information to better advance through the main story, or advancing through side-quests. While most side-levels are required to be visited at least once to advance through the main story, some are completely optional to visit.

Throughout the game, the player can encounter numerous NPCs and side-characters who can be interacted with to provide the player with information, lore, and even items to buy/sell. Some can even offer aid to the player in various ways, some being combat. Through the use of items, leveling, and exploration, the player can upgrade Dr. Terceris' abilities to better him in combat, up his stats, or change how his main attacks function or perform. Experience, which is used for leveling, can be gained by discovering lore pieces, killing enemies, and progressing through the main story and side-quests.

While the game has numerous areas to explore, the home/"hub" location is Dr. Terceris' personal ship, which is granted by Ceithun after Chapter 1 - Level 5, where the player can traverse to other areas. The ship, nicknamed "Shakedown", is also where the player can interact with Dr. Terceris' companions and learn information regarding them, even unlock side-quests. The Shakedown is also where the player spawns upon loading the game and where they can recover.

The game does not require the player to uncover all lore pieces, explore every area, or complete every side-quest to finish the game, but how much the player does prior to the ending of the game impacts what ending they get. Terceris has numerous endings, only one of which is considered the "good" ending, which are all decided by side-quest completion, lore collected, and interactions the player had.

## Bosses

At the end of each level, and sometimes during a level, the player fights a boss. Bosses are typically involved in the lore, and serve a purpose to bar the player's way. Bosses must be defeated in order to progress any further.

Bosses typically have a much more advanced AI that learns based on player patterns and numerous attacks that can make their encounters much more challenging. Boss AI can also pick up on where the player typically resides in the arena and what attacks cause the most damage, and will cause the boss to focus more on where the player typically stands while using attacks that will more likely harm the player. The player must not only understand and fight against the boss itself, but they must also learn how to combat and outsmart the adapting AI.

## Development

The game first began development in 2014 has a hobby project that was initially made as a practice game by ILMXStudios. It had gone through numerous iterations and changes throughout 2014-2015, and eventually adopted a much more complicated story. The current iteration, which is geared to be the final one, began main development in 2017, using the story that initially started in 2014 onward. It was initially announced on *IndieDB*, where it garnered some attention, though it was introduced more within a few *Discord* communities, which is where most of its growing community originates from.

Terceris is still currently in development, and is planned to be open to testing around the end of 2020. It is slated to be released on Steam around the same time frame, most likely within 2021. Details about the game are released slowly and minimally, in effort to better conceal spoilers and better the experience of its story, along with artwork and in-game screenshots.

## Trivia

* The game's name, and therefore the name of Dr. Terceris, was originally created from a severe typo that was eventually adopted to be the name of the character and the game itself.
* The game was heavily inspired by other platformer/adventure games, mainly Hollow Knight and Mega Man.