My body, it was shadow. My mind was shadow. There was only shadow in my blood.
This place is the tragic reminder of what once was called Home by many, a world ruled by the just and the kind, reduced to the ruins of a long lost feeling of hope. To the few who still resisted the violence of their oppressors, despair became the only option. Tainted by the vile intentions of the ones in power, this land craves my help.
I'm the only inhabitant of this world capable of defeating all the Corrupted Lords and bring back the good that once ruled it all, Ego is what they call me, but for a long time I was lost, dormant, nowhere to be found. I finnaly was brought back, the last surviving spawn of light found their way to me, and with the help of those who guarded my powers, once again the hope finds it's way back.
A brief explanation:
Shadow in My Blood is a 2D platform shooter with a tense atmosphere and a story full of dark elements. It revolves around the human psyche and how you can defeat your inner demons to cure your mind and body. The battles are difficult and the enemies many, you'll need to find your gear and upgrade it to advance in the world. Explore the world and it's lore, battle bloodthirsty creatures, acquire and upgrade new equipment, improve your abilities and save your home world.
Available content and what we plan:
We'd like to remember the game isn't finished and since our team is very limited it's important to reinforce we're doing our best to deliver the game we all want it to be. Bug reports and suggestions are very much encouraged and the one of the main reasons we wanted to publish it right now, so if you play the game, please use the Steam Forums to share your mind with the community and the development team.
Weapons and Equipment: At first, during our first stages of public access they're easier to get, but we can guarantee some things will be more difficult than others. Since this is one of the main elements we want to improve, we're always thinking of things to implement to make it more balanced so we can give more options for the player to discover their favorite combinations in game-style. Right now there are only 4 weapons (pistol, shotgun, submachine-gun and sword) and 1 special equipment (grappling hook), but we plan for the final game to have much more. About each of them:
Pistol: Your most reliable gun (at first) is your pistol, with an unlimited amount of bullets, when all your guns are empty and you can't approach your enemies by sword, this one will surely be your only hope.
Shotgun: Slow but powerful, this is the alternative you seek when you want to inflict REAL damage to your opponents. The shots spread a lot and the distance affects the damage so take care when you use it to maximize efficiency.
Submachine-gun: If your approach is a little more "chaotic" and you want rapid fire this gun will do it for you, but make sure to always keep your ammo stocks high as the clips will be dry in instants if you don't control your finger around the trigger.
Sword: (Alpha) The sword has a simple use to deal with enemies who swarm on you.
Grappling Hook: Not only you can use this to get to places you wouldn't normally reach just by jumping or climbing, but you can also repel and even pull some enemies.
Open World: The map is very limited compared to what we expect, but still gives an idea of what is coming. The world map is "unfinished" while we decide the progression order of some things, but the player can freely explore everything already in. One of the maps (The Cemetery) is an early work in progress, but we made it partially available to show the diversity of enemies and structures.
Enemies and Bosses: There's a fair variety of enemies, not necessarily finished or present in the maps they'll actually correspond to, but will present some of the different patterns each enemy can have sometimes forcing the player to adapt to new strategies. Although not fully balanced yet, some boss battles available paint a little of the path we're planning to follow with this very crucial element to progression.
The lore: This is probably the element that started it all. The whole game was born because of a desire to share something visual and interactive of a dark but profound idea. Some of the narrative elements are hidden to avoid too much spoilers in such an early stage of public access, but we'll be releasing as much as we can during important updates planned. We made sure to include enough to leave the players wanting to know a little more.
Replayability: Death isn't permanent, but it surely is punitive. You'll go back to the last checkpoint (Called Safe Havens) you were and will lose a considerable amount of progress like currency and usable items, it's good to always make sure you prepared before you go out and explore to make sure in the worst case you can at least make it back.
Languages: Although we plan to add a variety of languages, right now the game is only available in English to reach as many people as possible around the world that could be interested in our idea and want to join our journey. The immediate planned languages are Portuguese and Spanish, but we're trying to gather resources to include many more.
