A terrible curse is ravaging the realm, and its only hope of survival is a small-time shoebill thief named Volepain, who gains the power to see potential futures (and potential destruction) after a heist gone awry. It's up to him and his potential allies to discover the schemes of sinister cultists and those blessed by a higher power, either putting an end to their machinations... or embracing the Maelstrom.
Tropes:
- Arbitrary Headcount Limit: Upon finishing your first mission and getting access to the map of your potential quests, trying to start a new one shows that Volepain's party is capped at three members.
- Artifact of Doom: The moment that protagonist Volepain touches the Lyre he was hired to steal from a noblewoman's manor, it grants him the power of a Seer... and the knowledge that everything he cares about is destined to be destroyed if he doesn't intervene quickly. It's later established that the Lyre was created by a god known as the Weaver, and the combined power of "instruments" like it can call forth a Malestrom with the potential to destroy all possible futures.
- Choice-and-Consequence System: The missions Volepain takes, and his actions in said missions, tend to have long-term consequences. For example, rescuing Leo in a potential early mission by blowing up his cell door with a firebomb will attract attention and lead to a boss fight with the jail's warden and numerous guards during your escape, while encountering the warden early and pickpocketing the cell key will lead to a stealthy escape. And in either event, completing that mission removes an unidentified mission much later on in the map. And then there's the Graveyard cards...
- Continuing is Painful: Originally, if you failed a mission, or simply changed your mind and decide to leave the one you selected in favor of a different one, all of the timers counting down tragic events would progress by one tick. This was removed in a later patch.
- Doomed Hometown: After clearing your second mission (either rescuing Leo, warning the miners, or trying to negotiate with the lady who both owns the mine and owned the Lyre you stole), Volepain has a third vision of doom: the destruction of his hometown. Its location on the mission board is impossible to reach in time, even if you take missions trying to reach it as soon as possible, and the town's destruction marks the end of the game's first major arc.
- Forest Ranger: Leo's unique skillset shows that he's one, with abilities such as foraging, locating hidden paths, and precise archery.
- Gone Horribly Wrong: After picking up the Lyre at the end of the first mission, Volepain is knocked out from the surge of power. He then learns through his new Seer powers that his best friend Leo was arrested for the theft before they could get paid, and the lady they stole the Lyre from is also the owner of the mines Volepain's father works at, and has put a hit out on said father in retribution, leading Volepain to Race Against the Clock in order to save them.
- Insistent Terminology: In the first mission, Leo's contract is eager to see he brought a crafty raven along, only for protagonist Volepain to insist that he's actually a shoebill.
- Karma Meter: If a conflict results in an opponent's death rather than forcing them to surrender through bribes, blackmail, or talk of your Fame, their card will be sent to the unique Graveyard pile, which persists across missions and can effect whether later events go peacefully or with even more bloodshed.
- Large and in Charge: Should Volepain head to the mines in order to warn them of the upcoming revolt he foresaw, he learns that the mine's overseer is a gigantic white gorilla named Karst. Should the mission be successful, he'll end up accompanying Volepain as The Big Guy, being far more boisterous in comparison to another large potential party member, the elephant Isabeau.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Missions will occasionally have optional objectives involving helping out a stranger that, if completed, will reward a character with a permanent new unique skill card; for example, in the mission to break Leo out of jail, also breaking out a poor snake thief will have him teach Volepain how to gain better rewards from pickpocketing, while crafting a Healing Balm for some sick miners while warning them of impending doom will have them teach Leo how to set up a proper ambush.
- Lemony Narrator: The game's narrator (voiced by Travis Willingham) will comment on every action with some snark, such as saying it's "no wonder" Volepain's always poor if he spends his money on a wishing well or giving to charity in exchange for a boost to Fame, or insinuating that you were probably ripped off if you buy food with money (or sell food for money).
- Lovable Rogue: Main protagonist Volepain is a small-time thief who has character skills that primarily focus on pickpocketing, smokescreens, and convincing the poor to rally to his cause.
- Multiple Endings: Ultimately, there are three ways the game can end, each of which is tied to a Steam achievement: "The Bad Place" for purposely enacting the Maelstrom, "The Good Place" for doing as much good as possible, and "The Medium Place" for doing some good and some evil.
- One Last Job: The game begins with Leo convincing Volepain to take a contract that'll pay well enough to help Volepain's father and his fellow miners settle a strike, which will result in a steady income that'll prevent Volepain from ever having to steal to make ends meet again. It, of course, goes horribly wrong.
- Pirate Parrot: One of the potential party members, Pattenbois
, is both a pirate captain and a parrot. - Plague Zombie: The major motivation behind the miners' strike is an unearthed disease that has turned some of the miners into violent shadows of their former selves, making their current working conditions far too dangerous.
- Race Against the Clock: After gaining the power of a Seer, Volepain sees that two horrible events are destined to occur after specific points in time: Leo being transferred from a local jail to The Alcatraz will occur after two missions, whereas a riot from the miners' strike that will take his father's life will occur in three. Even more timed events pop up throughout the game, and if the player does not reach a mission in time, the fates of those involved are sealed.
- Resting Recovery: There are Rest cards that can be freely drawn at any point in a mission, which restore some of each character's unique ability cards and occasionally offers other benefits like health recovery. However, each one has a price, such as choosing between paying a fee or adding more enemy cards, and there's a limit on how many Rest cards can be drawn in each segment of a mission.
- Sadistic Choice: Due to how the player has to constantly Race Against the Clock, there will occasionally be missions of seemingly equal importance that will both expire at the same time, forcing the player to choose which to pursue and which to abandon.
- Seers: Upon touching the Lyre, Volepain is gifted with the ability to see into his future. Unfortunately, said future is quite grim due to recent circumstances.
- Street Urchin: One of the potential events in the first mission and the quest to free Leo from prison is an encounter with a pair of these; by paying them with Food or Coin, spending some Fame, threatening them with Grimness, or using one of Volepain's unique conversation skills, the player gets one as a follower that can be spent to pickpocket enemies or to distract an enemy and remove them from the draw pile.
- Video Game Cruelty Potential: There's plenty of cruel card combinations that tend to earn the player Grim cards and attract guards that get added to the Enemy deck; in the Demo alone, it was possible to pickpocket from the Street Urchin, shoot a harmless apple merchant with an arrow to steal their gold and food, or rile up a crowd with Volepain's pepper smokescreen to turn it into a mob and then pickpocket a firebomb from them that can be thrown at the next crowd of innocent townsfolk you encounter.
- World of Funny Animals: Every single character is a humanoid animal, from Volepain the shoebill to Leo the tiger.
