Who's going to make history?
War…
No one knows when or how it started.
In the lands controlled by humans, one fights in the name of peace and justice, one battles for no reason other than to fight, one battles out of greed, to gain more land, and like this, they all faded in the fighting.
The victor edits history to put them in a favorable light, and removes anything that they deem unflattering…
As a result, humanity has lost many things to the wars.
Territory, technology, and their true history…
Now there’s not a single country that’s lasted more than 50 years…
No one knows when or how it started.
In the lands controlled by humans, one fights in the name of peace and justice, one battles for no reason other than to fight, one battles out of greed, to gain more land, and like this, they all faded in the fighting.
The victor edits history to put them in a favorable light, and removes anything that they deem unflattering…
As a result, humanity has lost many things to the wars.
Territory, technology, and their true history…
Now there’s not a single country that’s lasted more than 50 years…
Lost Technology, or in Japanese, Vahrenturga (ヴァーレントゥーガ) is a grand strategy/Real-Time Strategy RPG for PC, developed by Studio 4D and published by AGM PLAYISM. Originally a freeware game in Japanese, the game was released commercially on Steam on 9th August, 2017 to support the developer and its localization, with all stories fully translated as of September 12, 2023. The twelve campaigns are as follows: Álfheim, Makan, the Reinald Empire, the Kingdom of Gug, Castus, the Dragon Knights of Fevnr, and Apotiakara, Lion, Cunitz, Alcatraz, Musket, and Crime.
The game revolves around commanding two types of units: "troops" which are your basic units, and "comrades," which are unique commanders that have special abilities attached to them. Play switches between a turn-based campaign map and real-time battle maps.
This game provides examples of the following tropes:
- Apocalypse How: Due to constant war, Regional Societal Disruption or Collapse is incredibly common, to the point that no society is expected to live past fifty years.
- Army of Thieves and Whores: The backbone of Alcatraz's armies are rogues and pirates, and the Alcatraz Organization itself is a massive crime syndicate.
- Badass Adorable: Some wandering comrades count, and the entire Kingdom of Gug counts, being a militant kingdom full of singing frogs.
- A Child Shall Lead Them:
- Deconstructed with the Reinald Empire's default path. Agnes, the Empress, is only fourteen years old at the start of the story. As a result of her age, she reigns as a puppet. Oddly, even though all of her administration is run by her prime minister, she can make a rather effective battlefield commander.
- Reconstructed in the Reinald Empire's hidden good ending. After the fall of the Empire, she and her bodyguard, Diethard, seek refuge with the Knights of Cunitz, from which after a series of event she got secretly tutored by their Second-In-Command, enrolled into their prestigious academy and even got her name cleared as an evil Empress. She was so skillful and popular with the people, to the point where she reaches top of the class in the Academy and having beat the leader of Cunitz itself in a democratic vote in her early adulthood, a far cry from her days as a bratty puppet within her former corrupt Empire.
- Played straight with Lion, as its Pack Leader Shays is an adolescent, but is still the most-capable leader remaining after the humans on their island massacred all of the adult males.
- Crapsack World: A world so torn apart by war that history doesn't exist, and countries are routinely destroyed in violent insurrections. All of this is implied to be caused by the nearby demons, who have some of the strongest troops in the game and control more territory than any other faction in the beginning.
- Church Militant: Castus, a faction whose religion is founded on protecting the weak and judging the strong, is just as militant and imperialist as everyone else.
- Cultured Warrior: The Kingdom of Gug's army doubles as an orchestra, and every commander is either a singer or a musician.
- Dragon Rider: The signature units of the Dragon Knights of Fevnir.
- Decadent Court: The only uncorrupt part of the Reinald Empire is the military.
- The Empire: The Reinald Empire, naturally enough. Though thanks to how the game works, any faction can step their way to victory on the corpses of their enemies.
- Evil Luddite: The lizardmen are implied to be a big factor in the loss of many different technologies, including guns.
- Fantastic Racism: The lizardfolk of Makara see humans and elves as trash to be eliminated, and the humans and elves reciprocate that feeling. Similarly, the humans of Scandia Island hate the demi-human Therianthropes, to the point of killing all of the adult males and selling their pelts overseas.
- Fantasy Gun Control: Musket is the only faction to use guns, but anyone who manages to recruit their leader Lars after the faction is destroyed can recruit musketeers.
- Funny Animal: The Kingdom of Gug, full of intelligent, cultured and musical frogs.
- Hero Unit: The game's economy and military revolves around comrades: they have powerful abilities in battle, and allow you to purchase certain units depending on the comrade. Often, recruiting a comrade allows you to gain units you otherwise would never obtain.
- Lost Technology: Ubiquitous in-setting. However, the technology tends to be more mundane, such as musical instruments and guns.
- Musical Assassin: The Kingdom of Gug is capable of weaponizing their music in order to damage their foes and shatter walls. There is also a more literal example in the neutral hero McGraw.
- The Order: The Knights of Cunitz, a former branch of the Reinald Empire that was disgusted by its corruption and became an independent entity promoting justice and equality.
- Order Reborn: The Dragon Knights of Fevnir are descended from an order that was wiped out two hundred years ago.
- Our Elves Are Different: They can shape trees by touching them, move quickly through forests, use wind magic, and have advanced pharmacology compared to most of the world.
- Our Dwarves Are All the Same: Apokitara is a society run by craftsmen whose infantry have axes. Subverted in the fact that they also have powerful earth magic, and the dwarven societies in Cerberus Hills are agrarian instead of craft-focused.
- Our Dragons Are Different: Dragons come in different elements, and the ones that Dragon Rider comrades use fire lasers that explode on impact.
- Penal Colony: What Alcatraz started as.
- Schizo Tech: While most of the setting complies to Medieval European Fantasy conventions, the Kingdom of Gug has instruments from the Modern Era such as grand pianos and violins, Musket has guns, and the Neon District in Electris City implies both electricity and neon lighting. And in dungeons, occasionally, you come across fairly advanced robotics.
- The Syndicate: The Alcatraz Organization, which doubles as its own country.
- Wretched Hive: Electris City, which is literally run by criminals and is best known for its wide selection of brothels.
- Written by the Winners: So utterly prevalent that the world as we known it has no history.
