Seven heroes, seven fighting styles. Dive into the Abyss and explore their silent world.
Once upon a time, a terrible calamity struck a peaceful kingdom. In the ensuing chaos, people began to turn upon each other. Their King used his magic to seal away all of the world's words and flung himself into the Abyss. His daughter, the Princess, cried an endless flood of tears over this until they encased her inside of a giant, crystal teardrop.
More than a century has passed and the events have faded into memories, until seven rainbow-colored lights flew out from the Abyss. These rays of hope appeared before the Princess in the form of seven heroes, ready to answer the Princess' call for help.
Why did the King abandon his daughter and his people? And why did he steal their ability to speak?
Silent Hope is a game by X Seed Games and released on October 3rd, 2023 for the Nintendo Switch and PC (via Steam).
Tropes found in the game
- Body to Jewel: The Princess' tears became a crystallized teardrop encasement for her, and these can also be found in the Abyss to switch between characters or return to base camp.
- Boss Rush:
- There are five back-to-back enemy rushes that hit you with enemies from the five levels of the Abyss near the end of the Dying Castle, followed by the Mecha Sergeant and the King of Malice.
- The Nadir in its entirety has a remix of the first five bosses separated by three floors, four Light-elemental spirits on the eighteenth floor, and Primitivus at the very bottom.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Each hero has a designated color to them.
- Wanderer is yellow.
- Warrior is orange.
- Rogue is purple.
- Archer is blue.
- Farmer is pink.
- Fighter is red.
- Caster is green.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Because nobody can talk, the subtitles name the characters based on their classes and roles instead. We only get to learn the Princess' name right before she passes on: Frederica.
- Exposition Fairy: The Princess fulfills this role as the only one that can remotely speak, explaining the basics about the Abyss to the heroes and otherwise talking about what the kingdom was like before the calamity.
- Flat Character: All the heroes in the beginning, as there is nothing revealed about them beyond their fighting styles and what their main role during their stay in base camp will be. Justified, as they can't speak and therefore can't tell anything about themselves, and the Princess doesn't know them beyond what she sees. Once the King and Princess have passed on, this trope ends, and the cast can be quite chatty.
- Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: Inverted. The Archer and the Caster — the only two dedicated ranged-attack jobs — are both played by male characters. The melee jobs are held by girls or the Wanderer.
- Hard Mode Perks: Once you beat the game once, you unlock Hard and Master difficulties, which yield much more potent equipment for their respective layers of the Abyss.
- Heroic Mime: All of the playable characters, and justified because their ability to speak has been sealed away by the King. They do still perform battle cries and grunts. The postgame ends this trope.
- Humans Are Bastards: Not only do people blame the King en masse for the multiple crises that destroyed their kingdom (a volcanic eruption did so literally, and he called as many civilians into the castle as he could because his magic could protect only it at its most potent), some of the townsfolk lied about needing more food and sold their surplus for money in the middle of a famine. With several jackasses running around making things worse, is it a wonder the King snapped?
- Mirror Match: The final boss of the Abyssal Forest is a shadow of the character you are currently playing, in the form of the character's final class; defeating it for the first time unlocks that class for your use.
- Rule of Seven: Seven heroes with a total of seven different fighting styles.
- Suddenly Voiced: Once the King and Princess are gone, everyone starts talking again... including a new voice that has nothing to do with the seven heroes.
- Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: The postgame. The King and Princess have moved on and everyone has their voices back, but a dark voice beckons you into the Abyss should you investigate it hence. Be prepared for anything going in.
