Vael - blood of the eclipse

VÆL — BLOOD OF THE ECLIPSE

 

Nhar lies still under an eclipse that never ends. Vael wakes inside a cocoon of bone and crosses six worlds

to reach the Heart of the Sun and find out who put the light out.

 

This is a PLAYABLE DEMO: seven levels out of twelve, finished and playable end to end.

 

THE BEAT

The whole world pulses in time with the music. A blow landed on the beat is a HEART STRIKE: double damage,

it breaks shields and armour, and it rings a note in tune with the track. A run of on-beat hits builds the

music layer by layer — drums, then choir, then fury — and one hit off the beat empties it again. Enemies and

Guardians attack on the beat too: you can hear a fight coming as much as see it.

 

WHAT IS IN THE DEMO

· The Ossuary and the Choir of Vertebrae — an organ of bone three screens tall, with the Organist on top.

· The Crimson Plains — a herd of colossi crossing the plain: run between their legs, climb on their backs,

  until the herd panics. At the far end, the Red Predator and the nest of Spine Maw.

· The Glass Desert — a black sandstorm that comes and goes on the beat, the Blind Oracle who sees where you

  are about to be, and the Third Eye: the world turns to negative and reveals hidden platforms and passages.

· The Prism — inside the glass tower, where the hidden world overlaps the real one and the Refractor splits

  into three reflections, only one of them real.

· The Descent — a sinking city: climb down floor by floor as the black water rises on the beat, hold your

  breath, and once you have the Gills, swim free in any direction.

 

Three Guardians, three Bearers, five mutations, six layered soundtracks, and every pixel drawn for this game.

No microtransactions, no account, no installer: one file, open it and play.

 

WHAT IS MISSING

The bottom of the Drowned Realm, the Walking City, the Skull and the Heart of the Sun: four Guardians and the

three endings. They exist on paper. I will build them if this is worth finishing.

 

TELL ME

The last screen of the demo asks exactly this. Answer in the comments below, one line is enough:

1. Does the Beat work? Did you notice you were striking in time, or did it pass you by?

2. Which level would you replay, and which one did you suffer through?

3. Do you want it finished? Yes or no.

 

CONTROLS

Arrows/WASD move · Z or Space jump · X strike · C heavy strike · Shift dodge · hold E for the Third Eye ·

Enter pause · F11 window/fullscreen. Gamepad supported (Xbox and compatible).

 

REQUIREMENTS

Windows 10/11 64-bit or Linux 64-bit, OpenGL 3.3. About 350 MB on disk. It runs on old machines: it was built

to hold 60 frames per second on very little.