Welcome to the first part of Fallen Hero: Revelations!
Due to the many ending states, there will be several opening demos, each following a particular path until things start to fuse. This demo follows one of those paths; even if it isn’t your personal Sidestep’s ending, I encourage you to explore and have fun and see what might have happened. Other demos will come later, until they finally merge into a huge one, and we will finally have a proper alpha.
Structure
So, let’s have an overview of the structure of Fallen Hero: Retribution endings and what demos you might expect. I first needed to catalog the main ending variants of Retribution. And by main, I mean the ones that will lead to different starting positions in Revelations. There will, of course, be a lot of variables within them, but that will be dealt with later. There are four major paths where you can end up. They are:
1: Crashed as Sidestep, stuck in Sidestep.
2: Crashed as Sidestep, stuck in Puppet.
3: Crashed as Puppet, stuck in Puppet.
4: Crashed as Puppet, Stuck in Sidestep.
A fun fact, a little less than 30% of you ended up being stuck in the puppet. Good to know! Now, let’s go through them one at a time.
Path One
This crash path splits in two parts, innocent and guilty depending on whether you are revealed as a villain. So, let’s call them 1.1 (innocent) and 1.2 (guilty). And not only that, this is the most widely split path where you end up. Unless I have missed something (which is possible) these should be the major branches:
1.1.1 (innocent, staying with Ortega)
1.1.2 (innocent, staying with Daniel)
1.1.3 (innocent, staying with Chen)
1.1.4 (innocent, staying at the Ranch)
1.2.1 (guilty, Sky-Raider rescue, Mortum end)
1.2.2 (guilty, stuck with the Rangers)
1.2.3 (guilty, Ortega breakout)
1.2.4 (guilty, Daniel breakout)
1.2.5 (guilty, Argent breakout)
1.2.6 (guilty, Chen breakout)
In addition, it is important to remember varying poly situations, especially for the innocent variables. It is also important to remember your possible HG variables.
I can guess that the innocent paths will fuse rather soon, as will the guilty with Ranger breakout ones, or stuck at the rangers. The Sky-Raider rescue will be the odd one out here.
Path Two
In this one, Sidestep still crashed, but you are caught in the Puppet and is desperately trying to get your body back. The paths with the Hench and/or Mob Boss Team are similar in all but numbers and will be abbreviated as H/T.
2.1 (saved Sidestep with H/T and escaped afterwards. Blissfully unaware of the Impostor.)
2.2 (saved Sidestep with H/T and escaped afterwards. Knows of Impostor and ran.)
2.3 (saved Sidestep with H/T successfully but was arrested)
2.4 (saved Sidestep with Mortum/Sky-Raider )
As you can see, there’s only four variables here, a much easier time. However, they all lead to very different paths, so no quick mergers or similarities other than possibly between 2 and 3.
Path Three
Crashed in puppet and stuck in puppet is a painful path.
3.1 (saved by Mortum/Sky-Raider )
3.2 (stuck in the hospital, innocent or protected)
3.3 (stuck in the hospital, under arrest)
There are a lot of general variables of importance here. Who did you ask to check on Sidestep if any? Is Sidestep coming to read your mind? How guilty does Ortega think you are? How loyal is your Hench or Team? There are not many different situations, but a lot of different ways it can play out.
Path Four
Crashed in puppet and jumped to Sidestep is the closest thing to an easy path. Still free, still in control. Well, in most cases.
4.1 (saved Puppet with Mortum and was betrayed)
4.2 (ignored puppet, still free and whole)
Again, there are a lot of variables here that open up new paths at the start. However, the important thing here is that apart from the captured by Mortum path, this will be all player choice. Did you go into Chen’s mind? Did you learn where Hollow Ground lives? Did you get any Sentinel clues? In this one, the plot can start immediately.
Please remember that:
- Not all variables are there yet!
- You cannot build your perfect Sidestep in the character creator (which only covers what is needed for the demo)
- Stat shifts are not all there yet, and in some cases not added at all.
- Grammar is… meh, spelling is variable, and pronouns are wild. They keep popping up.
- Please note any proper bugs you find!
- Expect to be confused.
- For anybody who was around during the writing of Rebirth and Retribution, you know how much things can change as we go. This is literally a first draft, no polish, only a single bug hunting pass.
With that being said… have fun!
November 1 2023 stats:
Demo covering endings 1.2.2-1.2.6
This covers a Sidestep revealed as the villain with broken legs, who either is left rotting at the Rangers, or is broken out by someone late one night.
15 800 words in an average playthrough.
91 047 words without code
107 660 words with code (some not used yet, so longer than it should be).
December 22 stats: Path 1.2
So what is on this one? It is the full demo of the start of path 1.2, with Dr. Mortum’s path added, continuing from the Sky-Raider rescue.
What is new?
- New Thief Sidestep and Dove content.
- You can now pick which impostor comes visiting (or randomize).
- Dr. Mortum content after Sky-Raider rescue
- Bugs and grammar fixed.
- All impostors interacting in the Dr. Mortum path, including the ones that stayed away before.
- As before, there are few stat changes put in, so don’t worry about that.
- You only pick the stats used in the demo, and your character won’t be perfectly canon.
Length
136 694 words with code
118 210 words without code
15 000 - 15 500 words in an average playthrough.
March 21:
Updated with cover, the next demo is coming soon.
April 7: Path 4.2
Well, we are here now, and it is time for the open demo for Fallen Hero: Revelations, path 4.2.
This demo follows a Sidestep who is still in their own body, with a puppet stuck in the hospital. They are free and healthy, not revealed and with no broken legs. Living their best life, in fact. And out to pay Hollow Ground back for what they did…
Length: 87 700 words long with code, 70 000 without code. An average playthrough is 19 000 words.
Link: https://dashingdon.com/go/16053
November 12 Path 3.1-3.3 and 2.3
Alright, better late than never. For people not already in the know, life has thrown a few curveballs in the real world, including a month and a half lost to sickness, both me and my immediate family among many other things. Slowly getting back on track now though. The puppet one was taking longer than I expected, there were a lot of rewrites and rethinks to try to fuse things together better and make it work. Thank you for your patience, I’ve got a lot of bits and pieces written that are not here, but this is what makes a workable demo.
So, without further ado it’s time to get stuck in your puppet and try to deal.
Length: 86 500 words long with code, 68 000 without code. An average playthrough is 19 200 words.
The link: https://dashingdon.com/go/17502
FEEDBACK INFO
At this point in time, I am looking mainly for this:
- Bugs and rogue pronouns.
- Pathing, did it flow weirdly, or did you end up where you did not expect?
- Long passages that need breaking up.
- A place where you REALLY wanted another choice.
- Bad confusion. You will be a little confused, but when it becomes so much you truly don’t get it.
But honestly, mostly, I wanted to share this with people. This is for you and for your support. Have fun with it! That’s the most important task here.
Now go explore!
CURRENT LINK:
Path 1.2
https://dashingdon.com/go/15235
If you want a playlist to go with this demo: Here you go
Path 4.2
https://dashingdon.com/go/16053
If you want a playlist to go with this demo: Here you go
Path 3.1-3.3 & 2.3
https://dashingdon.com/go/17502
(no playlist yet, working on it)
… but interesting.
