Heroes of Tomorrow: Hidden Potential—Battle supervillains at a superhero academy!

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Originally published at: Heroes of Tomorrow: Hidden Potential—Battle supervillains at a superhero academy! - Choice of Games LLC

Heroes of Tomorrow: Hidden Potential
We’re proud to announce that Heroes of Tomorrow: Hidden Potential, the latest in our popular “Choice of Games” line of multiple-choice interactive-fiction games, is now available for Steam, Android, and on iOS in the “Choice of Games” app.

It’s 40% off until February 26th!

At our superhero academy, you’ll lead a team of teen heroes to battle supervillains! Will you fulfill your heroic legacy or forge your own path?

Heroes of Tomorrow: Hidden Potential is an interactive superpower novel by Eloy Lasanta, where your choices control the story. It’s entirely text-based, 600,000 words and hundreds of choices, without graphics or sound effects, and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination.

Welcome to Evos Academy! As a member of the next generation of superheroes in a world where comic books record the deeds of real-life heroes, you don’t pass your classes by writing the correct answers on a paper; you do it by defeating a swarm of super-science automatons in front of a stadium full of cheering fans.

Develop your powers, practice working as a team with your classmates, and develop your own distinctive style while you learn from the greatest heroes that Earth has ever seen: valiant Gladiator, super-gadgeteer Gearhead…

…and, oh yeah, your mom.

Hardly anyone knows that you grew up as the sidekick to your mother, the famed hero known as The Cloak, keeping your gritty metropolis safe from the world’s worst villains. Some of your classmates are grappling with a legacy of power, too: Paragon’s father is the mighty hero Brilliant, and Red Claw’s mother is the villain Destroya. Each of you must choose what kind of hero you want to be. Do you want to be like your heroic parents, or do you want to blaze your own trail?

The choices just keep getting harder when it becomes clear that there’s more than your average supervillainy going on. Who keeps breaking into Evos Academy’s supposedly ultra-secure campus, and why? Why are your powers acting so strangely? What is the voice that whispers to you in your dreams? Why are all the villains’ plots suddenly focused on you? And what will you do when you discover that some of your idols aren’t so heroic after all?

  • Play as male, female, nonbinary, or genderfluid; gay, straight, bi, or asexual.
  • Choose your superpowers—elemental control, energy manipulation, super-physique, beast powers, or telekinesis—and customize your super-suit!
  • Romance or befriend a demon seeking redemption, a clever thief with a mysterious client, a powerful mage-in-training, or an already-famous heroic icon.
  • Protect the city and become the people’s hero, or let the world burn!
  • Banter with your foes, build super-tech gadgets, or let your fists do the talking!
  • Fight alongside—or against—your classmates and mentors in brutally high-powered action battles!
  • Battle supervillains that teleport, shapeshift, summon lava from volcanos, and turn the world into a videogame!
  • Uncover the secrets that the heroes have been keeping from you about everything—even about yourself!

Can you defeat criminals, cultists, demons, and midterms?

We hope you enjoy playing Heroes of Tomorrow: Hidden Potential. We encourage you to tell your friends about it, and recommend the game on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and other sites. Don’t forget: our initial download rate determines our ranking on the App Store. The more times you download in the first week, the better our games will rank.

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Very excited for this!

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Congrats @Eloythesaint!

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Just finished my first play through! Very solid 9/10 from me and will definitely replay it.

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Congratulations on the launch, hope you get to do something fun to celebrate!

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@Keller Me too! Eek!

@Ty1 Very much appreciated!

@dominarrygel Woot! So glad you enjoyed it! Let me know if you get a different ending the next time around.

@HarrisPS Thank you! I’m having Korean BBQ and chilling with the fam.

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Just finished my first playthrough as well, and I really enjoyed it. Definitely going to be replaying it a couple of times. I maybe have a couple of minor complaints, mostly involving the last few chapters, but everything else was great.

The cast especially was phenomenal! Some really fun and interesting characters, and I loved how even the really minor background characters had enough interesting details to make me care about them, and make the world feel lived in. I’ll definitely be replaying it.

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Congratulations, author. I love the story, the characters, the love interests. Amazingly done!

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@Eloythesaint Nice to see you around I will read your game, but know its good. After all, I helped wrote a couple things for you a while back (Fenric Shackles comes to mind)

Small world :slight_smile:

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@Queen_Zelda thank you, thank you, thank you!

@Lys small world indeed. We should catch up one day.

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To be honest, I’m a little bit disappointed. you can’t a badass. you get your as** kicked against strong opponents most of the time no matter how high your stats are or the powers you chose. i haven’t finished it yet and maybe this changes in the later stages but I’m finding it hard to find the excitement to finish it because of the reasons i mentioned above. Hope i don’t sound too critical, just giving my honest opinion.

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I’ll take any feedback, critical or not. :purple_heart: The story and MC evolve throughout the journey, though. I’d be interested to hear your thoughts once you’ve finished the game as well.

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I haven’t finished the game yet (I’m barely past the demo cut off), but tbh I’m finding it quite hard to continue.

In his very first interaction with you, Red Claw attacks you unprovoked, using his powers on you and *drawing blood*. His buddy berates you, blames you for starting it, then intimidates you when you rightfully call them out, and then Red Claw mocks you as he leaves. Other members of the cast are present in this sequence, but they just “take bets” and watch you get beat. Nobody sticks up to meaningfully deescalate and defend you physically or verbally, not even Conjurer, who you are literally talking to (and presumably is a good friend who you share history with). Even if my character is fine with this, as a reader I can’t help but feel a major disconnect between my character and the others present, especially Conjurer, whose inaction lessens his character. How can I feel like these characters got my back in the field if they pull this on day 1?

Besides, why is my character at all fine with this? If I had to guess from the synopsis, Red Claw wants to prove he isn’t like his villainous mother and his demonic appearance make him out to be. BUT HE IS??? Again, as a first impression, he attacks you without caring about deescalation (because he’s jealous that you fit in at UA High). His first scene proves that he is volatile, villainous, infantile, insecure, sadistic, destructive and unsympathetic (in my opinion); my character should want to keep him at arm’s length at minimum, or otherwise treat him as a rival (like Deku-Bakugo).

The narrative doesn’t take this into account at all, nor allow your character to do so. You’re forced to reassure him about his insecurities and defend him against another character who holds a grudge against him for his heritage, because it’s unfair to RC to be judged this way. By making light of Red Claw’s transgressions and not showing any consequence of significance imposed on him by the school, the narrative implies that Red Claw cannot do anything wrong because he is marginalised. However, I rebut that this falls under Fiorenza’s concept of the kyriarchy - which posits that oppressed groups are equally capable of oppressing others they perceive as “less than” - and two wrongs do not make a right. And Red Claw does oppress the player character in his very first scene - by instigating us against our will into a fight we cannot deescalate, before retaliating with overwhelming force, with his buddy in the wings ready to swoop in and gaslight us into accepting the blame, while unconcerned bystanders watch and eat popcorn, while those with the power to do something do nothing at all. In my real-world context as a minority of immigrant heritage living in the West, this maps on uncomfortably as an allegory of police brutality (irrationally or not, that is my opinion), and it makes for an uncomfortable read going forward. The author has mentioned that Red Claw can potentially fly off the handle three more times depending on your dialogue choices, so this trait is apparently not a 1-off. The problem is not the character flaw, the problem is that the narrative endorses it implicitly and shields Red Claw from any resulting consequences.

I hope this isn’t taken as criticism, as I do love the story and the world the author has written. In my opinion (which you all may or may not share), this book, which would have been perfect otherwise, suffers greatly due to the character of Red Claw. Does anyone else think the same way I do about this issue?

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I haven’t written or posted on here in years, and honestly I haven’t been really drawn to reading an HG or COG in that same amount of time, with new titles not really interesting me. This one… wow. Felt just like the glory days and took me back to the feeling I had when I first discovered the medium. I couldn’t put this one down and just had to finish it. A truly fantastic, original superhero universe with a grounded setting that doesn’t take itself too seriously but then again doesn’t play things as a joke either. Perfect length to where I really felt like I got my money’s worth and the story was nice and long, but not too long. Also it really felt like my choices had an impact, and like the story moulded to my decisions. The stats were just challenging enough that I had to pay attention to them as a mechanic, but not difficult to the point that I ever felt overwhelmed or like I unfairly couldn’t pass a stat check.

I didn’t get quite the ending I wanted, but again I really feel like that was a result of my choices and so not a bad thing at all, and my ending overall was good, I just didn’t defeat Brilliant and The Dark Star and they blinked out of existence, but again, satisfying enough and a result of my actions so I can’t wait to replay to do better. My only nitpick would be that there were a few times that I felt like the story kind of forgot what I had done previously, or it was just worded kinda weird to me, but honestly I just kept reading and it didn’t break flow at all and was just brief small stuff. All the characters were great and felt like unique real people. And the Paragon romance was just perfect. Apologies for the long review but I just really wanted to send out all my support! Original yet classic, really awesome. Thank you for writing this, I hope you write many more Choicescript games. 11/10 from me.

Oh and I did have a question! I got 40 out of 50 of the achievements in my runthrough, and I can see 7 more (mostly romance ones) but there are 3 hidden ones so I was just wondering what the hidden achievements were? I’m a completionist with the stuff I like so I’d love to know haha.

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RC’s buddy berated RC and apologized to me in my playthrough, so I missed that part of your experience.

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Let’s break down the issue clearly.

When Germ steps in, he does apologise to you for RC. This is the sequence you refer to. Do note that in the background, RC is still making it clear that he is completely unapologetic:

NOTE (I can’t believe I have to say this): YOU ARE NOT JUSTIFIED TO HURT/MAIM/KILL SOMEONE JUST BECAUSE THEY ARE MORE PRIVILEGED THAN YOU!!! ESPECIALLY IF THEY HAVE DONE NOTHING TO YOU, NOT EVEN INDIRECTLY!!!

At this point, you have three dialogue options: a) “It was just getting good, but we should call it.” b) “I understand. We all have our moments.” c) “Keep your dog on a tighter leash next time.”

The narrative clearly wants you to pick either choice a) and b), which are unreserved acceptances of Germ’s apology, in which he is apologising on behalf of a hooligan who isn’t even trying to show the remotest sign of contrition. If you pick choice c) (which is a plausible choice in-character for a brave plucky underdog squaring up against a superior bully, or more realistically, a smarting, angry, humiliated teenager reacting in shock to an unjustified attack) Germ will humiliate your character and RC will slip in a little taunt at your expense. The text condemns your choice to stand up for yourself by making Germ out to be the good guy for standing up for his poor victimised friend, and you to be the bad guy for even daring to retort against the aggressor who nearly just killed you unprovoked. The reply:

The excerpt above is what I mean. Germ swoops in to intimidate your character, tell them they’re wrong, and shield Red Claw from any consequences. Red Claw is an unlikeable goon for this and Germ is his enabler. Whatever sympathy I had for him at the fact no one cheered for his hero trial is utterly lost when he decided to take his grievances out on my PC, who didn’t even know of his existence. After his introduction, RC has proved the negative rumours surrounding him completely 100% justified in my PC’s eyes and he would want nothing more to do with him.

Also, is Red Claw unpopular and hated by polite society, or are we? During the fight, the crowd doesn’t even panic, grab faculty to break this fight up, or even shout uselessly “MONSTER MONSTER STOP IT YOU MONSTER” while Red Claw savages us. Perhaps the crowd could even whisper “I always knew he was a monster / just like his mother” which would go a long way toward organically establishing RC’s character, flaw, and underlying motivation toward the reader BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY showing that the book isn’t implying his actions are in any way justified. Instead, they are completely invested in panem et circenses, treating it like spectating a cool pvp 1v1, complete with sports betting. In a later scene, the lizard girl even taunts you that she made bank betting over you getting beaten up by Red Claw, as though you were the small-time jobber everyone was excited to see manhandled.

To conclude, there is no character in CoG I hate more than Red Claw. He has even dethroned Darcy from Professor of Magical Studies, and Darcy lies to you, gaslights you, badmouths you to higher-ups, steals your project and tenure, and continues to do so years later despite you potentially being into a relationship with him. And I’m 99% sure Darcy was intentionally written to be hateable and Red Claw likeable, which makes this case even more bizarre for me.

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It is thrilling to hear you enjoyed the book SO much. I’ll take it. :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

To answer your question, though, there are 7 total hidden achievements. Two of them are hidden so as not to spoil the story prematurely just from looking at the achievements list. But the others are:

Summary
  • Pacifist: Don’t throw a punch during your fight with Red Claw
  • Class Cohesion: No students die at Graduation
  • Teacher’s Aid: No teacher dies at Graduation
  • BOOM!: Your game ends early due to the Mogul’s bomb
  • Runaway: You leave the city with Chameleon to start a new life (instead of facing the final chapter)

But yeah, I’d love to hear how your second playthrough goes. There are a bunch of different avenues to defeat Brilliant and the Dark Star, resulting in one of many epilogues.

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I didn’t mean it was justified; only that I didn’t in my playthrough get the feeling that the game was trying to insist me that RC can do no wrong.

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All of the terrible rumors are true about Red Claw…in chapter one. They’re at the academy to try to change (and for other reasons revealed later). It’s not something that will (or should be expected to) change overnight, either, which is why it can also happen a few other times throughout the story. There’s no change if RC starts off good and then also ends good. Red Claw, in their introduction scene, gives in to their urges and attacks the MC unprovoked. It was wrong to do so, as Germ tells them. That’s kind of the point, though.

Everyone is there to learn to be heroes. Unlike you, Paragon, and Conjurer, most of them aren’t already heroes.

I’ll point out that the scene is framed to let you know that, in chapter one, you aren’t in any “real” danger. All the things you pointed out. Faculty isn’t stepping in. Other students aren’t stopping it; they’re either continuing their party or taking bets on the fight. Conjurer doesn’t yell, “Run, we need to get away now!” Instead, they say, “Let’s steer clear of RC.” You’re superpowered beings in a superpowered school. This fight isn’t the real thing. RC is attempting to assert dominance (which is stripped the moment they are chastised by Germ), but isn’t trying to kill you, unlike when Z attacks RC in chapter two, literally sending them to the infirmary.

As for the marginalized comment. Um, none of that is a factor here. RC’s attack was jealousy and even “goonery,” as you put it. Even if you choose option C and further insult RC, the response from Germ is a friend defending their friend, even if their friend is in the wrong. They weren’t “waiting in the wings to gaslight you,” they were in the bathroom and stopped the fight as soon as they came back.

However, the game doesn’t force you to be nice to RC. The game doesn’t want you to make a certain choice. When RC apologizes, you can basically ignore it. When they reveal their past, you can rub salt in their wounds. Even during Z’s attack on RC, you can just tell Gladiator to stop the fight (Sure, you could say it’s forcing you since you can’t just let Z kill RC if you want). There are many other instances that I won’t go into, so as not to spoil anything.

I will say that it’s hard not to take the multiple long posts of criticism as anything other than criticism, but I appreciate you trying to spare my feelings. :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes: But in the end, your opinion is valid. The same scene can be interpreted differently by each reader. Hopefully, I provided context for the narrative choices to clarify why the scene is as it is. If not, then I guess I have successfully written the most unlikeable character in CoG history, and that’s kind of an accomplishment too, huh?

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I feel like youre overthinking it. Hes a bully at a superhero school. Hes actually one of my favorite characters in the narrative with his backstory and how he changes for the better if you help him.

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