321 lines
5.6 KiB
Markdown
321 lines
5.6 KiB
Markdown
## Title: **Ash Below the Lake**
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### Premise
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A quiet town sits beside a black lake that never reflects the sky.
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Every year, one person disappears into the water.
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Nobody talks about it.
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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:
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> “Don’t let the lake remember your name.”
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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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---
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# Core Themes
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* Memory vs identity
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* Grief and denial
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* The fear of being forgotten
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* Whether pain should be erased or accepted
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Like *Undertale*, the game balances:
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* humor
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* emotional character writing
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* eerie atmosphere
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* choices that genuinely matter
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---
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# The World
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## Morrow’s End
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A sleepy lakeside town with:
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* crooked houses
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* underground tunnels
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* abandoned train stations
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* old flood barriers
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* glowing flowers near the shore
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The town is split into districts:
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1. **Harbor Row** – fishermen, markets, friendly NPCs
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2. **The Red Streets** – entertainment district with unsettling performers
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3. **The Roots** – underground caverns beneath the town
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4. **The Drowned Chapel** – sunken cathedral inside the lake
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5. **The Hollow Shore** – final area where reality begins collapsing
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---
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# Main Gameplay Twist
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The lake “remembers” people.
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If someone is forgotten by everybody, they slowly become erased from reality.
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Not dead.
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Erased.
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Photos change.
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Dialogue changes.
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Rooms disappear.
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Music distorts.
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As the player progresses, NPCs begin forgetting characters the player met earlier.
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Eventually the player questions:
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* Is the town cursed?
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* Or is the lake protecting people from painful memories?
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---
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# Main Characters
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## Ilyas (Player)
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Quiet protagonist searching for their sibling.
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The player can shape Ilyas:
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* compassionate
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* detached
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* manipulative
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* fearful
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Choices affect dialogue, endings, and combat resolution.
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---
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## Mira
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A sarcastic runaway girl who joins you early.
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She uses humor to hide panic and becomes emotionally attached to the player.
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She remembers things others forget.
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That should be impossible.
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---
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## The Ferryman
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A masked boatman who appears throughout the game.
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He speaks in riddles and always knows where the player has been.
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Sometimes he appears before important choices.
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He may not be human.
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---
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## Brother Cinder
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Leader of the Drowned Chapel.
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Believes forgetting pain is mercy.
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Wants to feed memories to the lake so humanity can become “peaceful.”
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Not purely evil — deeply tragic.
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---
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## Your Sibling
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You spend the whole game searching for them.
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Late-game reveal:
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They willingly entered the lake.
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And they may no longer fully exist.
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---
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# Combat System
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Similar vibe to *Undertale*:
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* turn-based encounters
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* bullet-hell dodging
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* dialogue options during fights
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But instead of MERCY/FIGHT:
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## Three Main Actions
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* **Confront** — direct resistance
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* **Listen** — understand enemies emotionally
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* **Forget** — erase enemies from memory
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Using “Forget” makes encounters easier…
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…but causes side effects in the world.
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NPCs disappear.
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Music tracks vanish.
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Areas become inaccessible.
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The player slowly realizes:
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They are becoming part of the lake.
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---
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# Major Story Beats
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## Act 1 — Strange Town
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* Meet Mira
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* Discover townsfolk avoid speaking certain names
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* Encounter first erased person
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* Learn your sibling stayed at the old chapel
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Tone:
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cozy + unsettling
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---
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## Act 2 — The Roots
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You descend beneath the town.
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Find:
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* memory archives
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* abandoned homes nobody remembers
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* creatures made from forgotten people
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The player discovers:
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The lake feeds on emotional suffering.
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---
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## Act 3 — The Drowned Chapel
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Brother Cinder reveals the truth:
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The lake was created long ago to contain humanity’s collective grief.
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Without it:
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people would drown in their pain.
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But now it has grown hungry.
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---
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## Final Act — The Hollow Shore
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Reality breaks down:
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* menus glitch
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* save points speak
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* NPC dialogue rewrites itself
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* your own name occasionally changes
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The player must choose:
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### Ending 1 — “Silence”
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Join the lake.
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All pain disappears.
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The town becomes peaceful… empty.
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---
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### Ending 2 — “Carry”
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Destroy the lake.
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Everyone regains painful memories.
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The town survives but suffers.
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Hopeful but bittersweet.
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---
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### Ending 3 — “Forgotten”
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Use “Forget” too often.
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Eventually:
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the protagonist themselves is erased.
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The final scene shows the game continuing without you.
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No one remembers the player existed.
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---
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# Tone & Style
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Visual Style:
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* pixel art
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* heavy shadows
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* warm interiors vs cold outdoor areas
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* subtle environmental animations
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Music:
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* soft piano
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* detuned music-box melodies
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* distorted ambient tracks late-game
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Humor:
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* weird NPC dialogue
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* absurd side quests
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* fake advertisements
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* awkward interactions
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The humor makes the emotional moments hit harder.
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---
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# Extra Mechanics
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## Memory Journal
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Instead of a quest log, the player keeps memories.
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Entries can:
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* change
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* disappear
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* rewrite themselves
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The player cannot always trust it.
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---
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## Name System
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NPCs react differently depending on whether you tell them your real name.
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Some characters literally gain power if they know it.
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---
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# Optional Secret Route
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If the player never uses “Forget” and resolves conflicts peacefully:
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* hidden areas appear
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* erased characters return temporarily
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* Mira reveals she died years ago and is only remembered because of you
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This leads to the true ending:
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The lake is not destroyed.
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It is forgiven.
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And finally allowed to rest.
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