Stagnant Gold (DEMO V0.051)

Controller recommended, but not mandatory.

XBOX / PS5 controllers tested and fully compatible.

-- Preface --

Grief, as an emotion, is the heaviest of them all.

Heavy not only for what we have lost, 

but for what  we shall never have again.

Tell me, traveler...

Are you angry?

-- Summary --

"Stagnant Gold" is a narrative RPG about a youth named Aurelio who traveled to find the Darkness Itself and, out of pure anger, fought to defeat it once and for all. 

It's a game about grief, guilt, despair, and hope... but only if you choose to hope. You have the choice to find a reason to live for one more day... or not. 

And it's okay.

It's not always about saving the world. 

Sometimes it's about saving one self.

-- Gameplay --

The game is a narrative turned-based RPG, with light puzzle elements, but that makes no sacrifice to its battle gameplay's depth through "Action Economy" systems!

In battle, you can choose several actions during your turn to come up with a perfect strategy - you can even use several actions during a single turn when you have learned new tactics or gained "instant-use" items! Action economy is extremely important!

Guarding is also extremely useful in Stagnant Gold: Not only does it heal you, guarding also grants you two "stacks" of damage-reducing defense that lasts until they're used! There's also a weapon in the demo empowered by guarding...

-- Story mode + Secret --

There are two difficulty modes in Stagnant Gold: Classic and Story, and you can change AT ANY TIME as long as you have access to your main menu, right from the menu. The story or rewards are not impacted in Story mode, but enemies will deal half damage with most of their actions, and take half as much from your actions!

Also, ifyou enter "Gimmegun" in the name entry, you will be given a weapon that makes the game much, much, MUCH easier in case you want to completely skip parts of the gameplay aspects and just enjoy the narrative and the puzzles.

-- Features --

• A narrative story about grief and guilt.
• Growing, evolving, and engaging gameplay.
• Puzzle fights, with several layers of strategies.
• There is no hidden information from enemies; your status ailments will ALWAYS land when they're supposed to, even on bosses.
• Damage preview in battle to help strategize.
• Instant Actions that allows you to truly setup satisfying turns, without ever feeling punished for healing, guarding or using items.
• Small map puzzles, just to spice every dungeon. 
• The demo includes up to 4 hours of gameplay, with three optional bosses!
• You can pet the cat!
• Accessibility options for screen effects, "story mode" difficulty, keyboard key re-mapping and more!

-- Warnings --

The game and the demo both have HEAVY themes and are fit for an 18+ audience, with trigger warnings of violence, death, and suicide.

Remember to always seek help if you have suicidal thoughts.

-- Credits --

Aurelio's theme & motifs by @pyr_ice

Original & base graphic assets @cwrstudios 

Custom & Modified assets @zwei2x (Me!)

Full plugin credits list pending!

-- Changelog --

V0.05 Features

• Fixed key re-bindings.
•  Add companion system: Sometimes, "companions" will join you temporarily as party members in the story. You  cannot change their battle setup & relics, and they cannot use items in battles. However, they can be controlled in battle in addition to the main character to give you a strong advantage, and more story insights and lore! Companions are also very useful against Ancient Ones!
• Completely removed the timed attack system for simplicity and ease of gameplay with the companion system.
• Tuned all the sounds and music (RPG Maker is known for it's loud sounds, this has now been fixed completely on the engine's side).
• Several balancing changes (game is harder due to companions!).
• Several parts have been slightly rewritten for clarity, or to include the companions currently with you in the part.
• Several items & notes have been re-written to standardize the descriptions.
• Add port maps to make the game more full with places to explore.
• Remove "hard mode" and add Story mode system instead. The new system puts you in "Classic", which is the previous hard mode. You can, at any point when outside of battle, switch between "Classic" and "Story" mode. In "Story Mode", enemies will deal 50% less damage, and take 50% more damage!
• Remove ability to flee from Ancient Ones. (Preventing "steal" exploit. C'mon steal is like, abusively strong enough already! Ahahaha).
• Add a few QoLs for puzzles.

V0.051 Features

• Missing files have been put back in the upload, fixing the error message about missing files. I have no idea where those files went.

Known Bugs

• When in Misery Tunnel, if you don't select a valid item to give to the prisoner, the Merchant will "bug out". This is not game breaking, just goofy.
• A certain companion is supposed to join at level 12, but apparently can join at WILDLY different levels.
• The "Sleeping One" infamous blind-on-repeat bug, yet again not fixed.
• Sliding puzzles shenanigans. This one is hard to fix, I'm still trying to.
• Wolves in the Silver Peak don't have a "Howl/Charge" icon. 
• Golden Tooth doesn't get his "enraged" icon under specific conditions.
• About Target-All abilities: The reason why it shows individual target is so the player can preview damage for each enemy/ally before using it. I'm gonna try to make it clearer.
• Doing a certain part of the game a "bit too quickly" can result in some battle songs not updating properly.