## Title: **Ash Below the Lake**

### Premise

A quiet town sits beside a black lake that never reflects the sky.

Every year, one person disappears into the water.

Nobody talks about it.

You play as a teenager named **Ilyas**, who arrives in the isolated town of **Morrow’s End** after receiving a letter from a sibling who vanished there years ago. The letter contains only one sentence:

> “Don’t let the lake remember your name.”

The game begins normally — odd townsfolk, quirky humor, strange shops — but slowly becomes darker as the player realizes the town itself is alive in a subtle, dreamlike way.

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# Core Themes

* Memory vs identity
* Grief and denial
* The fear of being forgotten
* Whether pain should be erased or accepted

Like *Undertale*, the game balances:

* humor
* emotional character writing
* eerie atmosphere
* choices that genuinely matter

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# The World

## Morrow’s End

A sleepy lakeside town with:

* crooked houses
* underground tunnels
* abandoned train stations
* old flood barriers
* glowing flowers near the shore

The town is split into districts:

1. **Harbor Row** – fishermen, markets, friendly NPCs
2. **The Red Streets** – entertainment district with unsettling performers
3. **The Roots** – underground caverns beneath the town
4. **The Drowned Chapel** – sunken cathedral inside the lake
5. **The Hollow Shore** – final area where reality begins collapsing

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# Main Gameplay Twist

The lake “remembers” people.

If someone is forgotten by everybody, they slowly become erased from reality.

Not dead.

Erased.

Photos change.
Dialogue changes.
Rooms disappear.
Music distorts.

As the player progresses, NPCs begin forgetting characters the player met earlier.

Eventually the player questions:

* Is the town cursed?
* Or is the lake protecting people from painful memories?

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# Main Characters

## Ilyas (Player)

Quiet protagonist searching for their sibling.

The player can shape Ilyas:

* compassionate
* detached
* manipulative
* fearful

Choices affect dialogue, endings, and combat resolution.

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## Mira

A sarcastic runaway girl who joins you early.

She uses humor to hide panic and becomes emotionally attached to the player.

She remembers things others forget.

That should be impossible.

---

## The Ferryman

A masked boatman who appears throughout the game.

He speaks in riddles and always knows where the player has been.

Sometimes he appears before important choices.

He may not be human.

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## Brother Cinder

Leader of the Drowned Chapel.

Believes forgetting pain is mercy.

Wants to feed memories to the lake so humanity can become “peaceful.”

Not purely evil — deeply tragic.

---

## Your Sibling

You spend the whole game searching for them.

Late-game reveal:
They willingly entered the lake.

And they may no longer fully exist.

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# Combat System

Similar vibe to *Undertale*:

* turn-based encounters
* bullet-hell dodging
* dialogue options during fights

But instead of MERCY/FIGHT:

## Three Main Actions

* **Confront** — direct resistance
* **Listen** — understand enemies emotionally
* **Forget** — erase enemies from memory

Using “Forget” makes encounters easier…

…but causes side effects in the world.

NPCs disappear.
Music tracks vanish.
Areas become inaccessible.

The player slowly realizes:
They are becoming part of the lake.

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# Major Story Beats

## Act 1 — Strange Town

* Meet Mira
* Discover townsfolk avoid speaking certain names
* Encounter first erased person
* Learn your sibling stayed at the old chapel

Tone:
cozy + unsettling

---

## Act 2 — The Roots

You descend beneath the town.

Find:

* memory archives
* abandoned homes nobody remembers
* creatures made from forgotten people

The player discovers:
The lake feeds on emotional suffering.

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## Act 3 — The Drowned Chapel

Brother Cinder reveals the truth:
The lake was created long ago to contain humanity’s collective grief.

Without it:
people would drown in their pain.

But now it has grown hungry.

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## Final Act — The Hollow Shore

Reality breaks down:

* menus glitch
* save points speak
* NPC dialogue rewrites itself
* your own name occasionally changes

The player must choose:

### Ending 1 — “Silence”

Join the lake.
All pain disappears.
The town becomes peaceful… empty.

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### Ending 2 — “Carry”

Destroy the lake.
Everyone regains painful memories.
The town survives but suffers.

Hopeful but bittersweet.

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### Ending 3 — “Forgotten”

Use “Forget” too often.

Eventually:
the protagonist themselves is erased.

The final scene shows the game continuing without you.

No one remembers the player existed.

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# Tone & Style

Visual Style:

* pixel art
* heavy shadows
* warm interiors vs cold outdoor areas
* subtle environmental animations

Music:

* soft piano
* detuned music-box melodies
* distorted ambient tracks late-game

Humor:

* weird NPC dialogue
* absurd side quests
* fake advertisements
* awkward interactions

The humor makes the emotional moments hit harder.

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# Extra Mechanics

## Memory Journal

Instead of a quest log, the player keeps memories.

Entries can:

* change
* disappear
* rewrite themselves

The player cannot always trust it.

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## Name System

NPCs react differently depending on whether you tell them your real name.

Some characters literally gain power if they know it.

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# Optional Secret Route

If the player never uses “Forget” and resolves conflicts peacefully:

* hidden areas appear
* erased characters return temporarily
* Mira reveals she died years ago and is only remembered because of you

This leads to the true ending:
The lake is not destroyed.

It is forgiven.

And finally allowed to rest.
