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In 17th century New England, a man named Sebastian hunts for a wolf that has ravaged his farm and killed his animals for a month. In the vast woodlands beside his family's homestead, he follows a trail of blood towards a weird, otherworldly totem surrounded by the festering corpses of his long gone farm animals. He takes the totem home.


In the weeks that follow, Sebastian grows restless as his wife falls ill and he is plagued with dreams of a far off island in the Atlantic named the Slumbering Isle. His wife soon gives birth to their firstborn child and dies in her weakened state. Some days after he names his son Elijah, and after another night of bizarre dreams, Sebastian wakes to find his son missing. His only choice is to travel across the sea to the Slumbering Isle, the one place where his son could be.


Ascendancy is a Lovecraftian-inspired RPG, with artistic nods towards games like Superbrothers and Hyper Light Drifter. In terms of gameplay, the closest thing it'll resemble would be Darkest Dungeon and the Soulsborne series. Expect a difficult though simplistic turn based combat system, coupled with atmospheric locales and art direction. Gameplay will focus on tough individual battles, crafting resources to survive and solving environmental puzzles, all the while solving the mystery of finding your son and the secrets of the island.








Sebastian - A former preacher of a small plantation in New England. After marrying his wife Emily, the couple decided to live off the land on a small farm outside of the plantation. This proved difficult for Sebastian, as his history as a priest in England had not prepared him for the tough life overseas in the new world. Fiercely devout to God and providing for his family regardless of his ability to do so, his faith is almost all that holds him together in his journey to and throughout the Slumbering Isle.


Emily - Sebastian's wife. Died in childbirth to their son, though Sebastian is continuously visited by her in dreams and visions. She was the daughter of a rich family in England, and although accustomed to a certain way of life, decided to marry Sebastian anyway and move to the colonies in New England. Sharing a similar faith with with her husband, they married and lived a simple life preaching in the plantation's church and eventually moving away to focus on themselves and God on their farm.


Rupert - A historian and world traveler, currently residing by the coast of New England in Fortune's Landing. His ship, Victorious has seen many far lands and exotic locales. Often in his laboratory expanding his knowledge of the sciences or curating his collection of antiques, Rupert is the best person for the job of navigating the Atlantic and finding the Slumbering Isle.


The Red Woman - A mysterious woman who floats between dreams and reality. A guiding voice and a source of comfort in times of hardship and strife. Her origins and goals are unknown, but her presence soothes and guides.


The Cultist - Another inhabitant of the Slumbering Isle, the Cultist belongs to the bloody history of the island itself and worships some unknown, cosmic deities. Skilled in runic transcribing and magical arts, he is an important ally to have on the island.


Nashira - An enigmatic figure leading a disbanded group of people named The Seekers, far away on the Slumbering Isle. By all accounts, Nashira should be long dead, but the residents of the island and the creatures that stalk the shadows shuffle towards her will, alive or not. She is nowhere to be found, but possibly the one person that can tell Sebastian where his son is.










- A game centered around tough battles and tense turn based combat. Battles will be similar to Darkest Dungeon or Eternal Darkness in that sanity will be a present stat affecting every move you make, and your resistances and buffs. Not too much so that it becomes an artificial challenge, but enough to provide a real-time level of stress management in battle that'll change how you take your turns. Sebastian will be the only person you control, and has both a long range and close range abilities, and combining these skills and upgrading your rifle and sword will be paramount to survival.


- Exploration of large, detailed areas and oppressive atmospheres. Scavenge ruins for parts, hunt the local flora for food. There will be a survival aspect to the game, not so much where it becomes a 'survival game', but like the sanity system will slowly change the way battles unfold and Sebastian's status. It won't be 'eat food or game over', it'll be 'eat food or face a creeping amount of consequences'.


- Fully custom artwork and music.












- Although I'm aiming for the character sprites to be fully custom, my relatively slow paced learning of pixel art makes it a little difficult to crank out something consistently good. To that end, right now I'm using the open sourced resources from The Last Door as templates for sprites.


- No scripts just yet, but I'll update as I go on. I'm working on the backgrounds and other graphics for the demo first, then when I build everything up I'll add the scripting credits here.