Death opens doors.
Perhaps some should stay closed.
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Resurrection Gate is an in-development interactive novella about loss, liches, and what lingers at the edge of existence. Gameplay is choice-based, with robust state tracking, and a narrative which follows multiple protagonists. It is being developed in Twine®. Resurrection Gate explores:
… and other such tribulations. Screenshots on this page represent a work-in-progress build subject to change. ✦ Use the navigation buttons along the right side of the screen to skip to different sections of the page.
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FACT SHEET
DEVELOPER: G.C. "Grim" Baccaris BASED IN: New York, USA (GMT-5) CONTACT: gcbaccaris @ gmail SOCIAL: @gcbaccaris - #ResurrectionGate RELEASE DATE: TBA DEVELOPER: Web; PC; Mac LANGUAGE: English |
CREDITS
@ G.C. BACCARIS lead developer, writer, UI designer, programmer @ JAY SCHRIBER story illustrations @ ROWAN OATS character portraits @ MEAGAN TROTT mirror illustrations @ RUUNE composer & musician ❤ SPECIAL THANKS to my incredible patrons, Josh Grams, James, Anna Webster, Zaire Lanier, Nessa Cannon, J.J. Guest, Greg Buchanan, & more |
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STORY
Death comes for all, but it most assiduously pursues men who bear titles. The Marquis of Mir and his entire House have been wiped out, leaving scant few survivors. The Duke of Wratun has fallen on his own blade, only to be replaced by the Reckoner Laurence, now Duke-Regent in place of the Queen's five-year-old nephew.
Gameplay is choice-based, revolving around dialogue and actions that govern specific variables. Resurrection Gate has multiple protagonists: point-of-view will initially switch between Yasha, a shellshocked hussar burdened by his past, and Sully, an outcast monk exploring their first taste of independence. After reaching a conclusion in their intertwined route, an NPC will become playable: the Duke of Wratun, a man determined to thrive in spite of his recent murder. Every character has been shaped by their past, whether they are in the prime of their life or have lived undead for years. What the future holds for them remains to be seen — but in the present, their fates are all connected. MORE INFO
Currently in development! GENRES: dark fantasy; gothic; horror; new weird; visual novel; choice-based LENGTH: >2 hours; >20,000 words ADVISORY: Contains body horror, violence, and other varieties of unpleasantness; a more specific advisory with optional spoilers will be available in-game. 
DEVLOGS
#1: RESURRECTION GATE; About the Game |
SCREENSHOTS
This game is a work-in-progress; screenshots are not final.
FEATURES
👁️ View the world through different eyes: multiple playable characters whose points of view cycle from scene to scene, providing unique context and perspective throughout each chapter.
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🩸 PLAYABLE CHARACTERS
Each character has a distinct background and personality which will inform how they behave — and how the other PCs may react to them when encountered as NPCs. During the course of the game, you'll make decisions and perhaps mistakes for each of these three characters. Initially, the point-of-view will cycle between Yasha and Sully, but after a certain point later in the narrative, the Duke will become the primary POV character.
Rowan Oats is responsible for the game's charismatic character portraits. 
🪞 MIRRORS
Each character's narrative POV is represented by shifts in UI color and by a different mirror graphic in the upper-left corner of the screen. In-game, clicking on the MIRROR button in the lower-right corner of the screen brings up a menu that allows the player to reflect on the current POV character's status.
All of the mirrors in Resurrection Gate are designed and illustrated by Meagan Trott. 
🫀 MEMORIES
The MEMORY button opens each character's journal, where fleeting thoughts on various characters and events are recorded from time to time as the narrative progresses.
🦴 NPCs & OTHERS
NPCs are non-playable-characters - with one exception: Laurence, who becomes the singular playable character in Part II of the game. Other NPCs include Rheya, Nazaret, and Besarion, in addition to various others who do not have portraits.
Although these characters are not defined as love interests and romance will not be a main feature of the narrative, certain playable characters are able to deepen their relationships with certain NPCs. Whether that is a platonic bond, a professional agreement, or a romantic relationship will depend on the characters that are interacting. All of the game's characters come pre-loaded with up to centuries of emotional baggage. Jay Schriber illustrates scenes from the game featuring a variety of characters. 
🦴 ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK
The OST is composed by RUUNEVERSE. Ruune is a musician, game dev, and performance artist based in Portland, OR.
The soundtrack is currently in production. The finished soundtrack will be available on digital platforms including itch and Bandcamp. 
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YASHA
A SOLDIER IN SEARCH OF PEACEToday, Yasha is a scavenger whose only ambition is to ensure that his small group survives from day to day. What feels like a lifetime ago, he was Lieutenant Holst, a cavalry officer who served the Marquis of Abynor. Now the Marquis, and Abynor with him, are no more — but all of his former servants still bear his sigil writ upon their flesh. Yasha is no exception.
Yasha is one of the few survivors of a catastrophic siege, and he still struggles to parse the grief and guilt he feels in the wake of such violence. Unmoored from their former home, he and his companions must find somewhere else to settle before their luck runs out. Seeking asylum, they head for Wratun. Gruff and hypervigilant, Yasha struggles with his own self-worth, but cares deeply about looking after others. He can be harsh and self-deprecating, yet despite his outward prickliness, a spark of hope may yet kindle somewhere within him. "..."
BESARION
THE BEHOLDERAn ancient lich who cannot feel pain. Using the pseudonym Argyros, they've insinuated themself into Wratun as its new Minister of Intelligence.
"Pleasure is not the absence of pain." |
RHEYA
SEEKING POLITICAL ASYLUMA former political minister and aide to the assassinated Marquis; Yasha and the Duke also served the Marquis in the past, and all three men were familiar with one another for years. A scholar and a sensible, sensitive man, Rheya feels poorly-suited to the mercenary life he and Yasha have been forced into after the destruction of their home. He's in his mid-50s himself and yearns for the lost stability he once aspired to when life was less painful and tumultuous. The events that led to the destruction of his former home weigh heavily on him, and he feels a great deal of survivor's guilt.
"Quote"
NAZARET
THE HARUSPEXPharmacist at the Citadel, she concocts and delivers remedies and vulneraries to the Duke and his ministers. Though most mortals take no interest in her claims to see the future, Nazaret does in fact have the gift of clairvoyance, limited only in that she cannot view the possible futures of her fellow undead without great peril to herself. She is sister-in-death to Seregist and Laurence.
"Don't let your minions ruin your day. Ruin it yourself." |
SULLY
AN OUTCAST ACOLYTEJudged a poor fit for monastic life, Sully is embarking on their adult life elsewhere, cut adrift to experience their first taste of true independence. Uncertain of where to begin, they head for Wratun, where a monk who once lived at their monastery now serves the Duke.
Sully is gregarious and clever, but also precocious, brash, and irreverent. They are the most emotionally mellow of the protagonists, for life has not stricken them with the same traumas — but they are perhaps too bold for their own good, lacking some of the self-preservation instincts of their more world-weary counterparts. They yearn for somewhere to belong, but are growing weary of rejection — and part of them is very comfortable remaining somewhat of an outsider. "If a "falsified" exorcism makes someone feel better, is it really a scam, though?"
CYRUS
THE DEVOURERBesarion's brother-in-death, a belligerent cannibal. Once banished from the realm of the living, the unique supernatural climate of Wratun has allowed him to begin wreaking havoc once more.
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LAURENCE
THE DUKE-REGENT
Determined to thrive in spite of his recent murder, he is a lich who has chosen to resurrect among the living. In life, he was an unfortunate servant of a callous Marquis, and he bore the proof in plain sight: his face and body were covered in the Marquis' iconography. In death, he rejuvenated himself, wringing the ink from his flesh and conjuring a younger-looking incarnation from his own corpse.
These days, most are obliged to call him “Your Grace.” He is now the temporary steward of the Duchy of Wratun. A severe and stately fellow of advancing age, the Duke is prim, cold, and dignified by all outward appearances. Yet within, he suffers in the wake of a terrible death and a life's worth of unfinished business. He revels in cheating mortality, but it is of extreme importance to him that no one discovers that he — or certain members of his court — are actually undead. After enduring a lifetime of servitude, he now desperately seeks control. To spite his former master, he believes that he’ll find comfort in rulership, but he is coming to realize that power alone cannot soothe his wounds. "I want to taste the liberties I never knew in life. I want my dignity back."
SUPPORTING CAST
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