Heresy versus Oblivion
Venus Blood Gaia is an entry in the Venus Blood series that focuses on base defense. Originally released exclusively in Japan in 2013, a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign
for the international edition was launched in 2022. The game itself released through the JAST website on July 28, 2023, with a Steam release following on September 26, 2023, delayed to implement censorship and fit within the platform's content distribution guidelines.The island continent of Parastra has reached its Twilight Age; once blessed by the Divine Beasts, its natural resources have run dry, the oceans are receding, a plague is spreading, and birthrates are at an all-time low. Desperate to avoid oblivion, Theofrad, the half-demon Archduke of the city of Energeia, taps into the power of Ether: a form of matter-manipulating power not sourced from a person's beliefs or desires, but from the land itself. However, this form of energy has been declared heretical by the Holy Dragon Empire of Granyeld, which declares a Holy War against Theofrad that Parastra's other leaders willingly agree to. Unwilling to stand down and accept the world's decay, Theofrad turns his city into a Labyrinth to ensnare the invading armies, and synthesizes Arcane Avatars with the help of his female subordinates to act as stalwart guardians. A new age is on the horizon, but whether it's Golden or Dark is about to be determined...
Tropes:
- Ascended Extra: Multiple generic "minion" characters from other Venus Blood games, such as the Orcish Rider and Horustaur, make appearances in the main plot with standing portraits. In the Updated Re-release, these "Sub-Heroines" gain new personal episodes, a few of them even getting a dedicated ending. Also, different common units are now capable of being ascended thanks to backers at and above the "Flower of the Battlefield" tier.
- Elaborate Underground Base: One of this game's main features is the Labyrinth, an underground base that the player will need to develop throughout the game, constructing treasure and training rooms as well as traps for invaders from all over Parastra.
- Endless Game: In addition to the "Win Skip" feature, the International version also has a "Horde Mode" that is pure gameplay, and tests how long the player can hold out against an endless horde of invaders.
- Floating Continent: Theofrad's city, Energeia, is capable of levitation through Ether power and is Theofrad's method of travelling to different territories in order to further his research. Belios' territory of Theurgia is similarly-powered.
- Guest Fighter: The -Gaia- International fundraising campaign states that, for every stretch goal reached, two characters from other Venus Blood titles were added to the game as battle-only units. As all seven goals were met once last-minute Backerkit contributions were included, this meant at least fourteen characters that would be chosen by the highest tier of backers, which expanded to twenty guests during development. According to this public, Safe For Work Kickstarter update, these guests are as follows:
- Zirnitra, from Venus Blood -Empire-.
- Freya and Odin, from Venus Blood -Frontier-.
- Anora, Sylvia, Julia, Liese, and Meiko, from Venus Blood -Hollow-.
- Flora and Sigyn, from Venus Blood -Ragnarok-.
- Hain, Achlys, and Youki, from Venus Blood -Brave-.
- Tia, Piasa, and Melusine, from Venus Blood -Lagoon-.
- Ereshkigal, Elisha, Turin, and Rinrin, from Venus Blood -Savior-.
- Last-Second Ending Choice:
- In the Law route, right before the final event, the player chooses one of their allies that has reached maximum affinity in order to obtain their ending.
- In the Chaos route, there is an even simpler binary choice at the end that determines your ending: whether to spare or kill Titie.
- Miko: Although all of the various national leaders are referred to as "Miko" due to their connection with the Divine Beasts, the one that embodies the spirit of this Trope the most is Tomoe, the pure-hearted priestess leader of Takamagahara that's dressed in red and white ceremonial robes, and whose connection with the divine is strong enough to manifest one within her mortal body.
- Multiple Endings: Not only does the game have Law and Chaos story routes, but there are also endings featuring the game's main cast and sub-heroines that are specific to each branch.
- Naughty Tentacles: A Venus Blood series staple, represented in this game as Theofrad manifesting them out of Ether to do his bidding.
- Order Versus Chaos: As with many other Venus Blood titles, Theofrad's decisions will lead to this kind of route split, determining whether he's fighting for justice and equality or to usher in a new dark age under his control.
- Robot Girl: Referred to in this game as "Embryos", there are two notable examples: the Embryo Maiden Lala that acts as Theofrad's guardian ever since he installed an Ether Drive in her, and the Killer Doll Lulu that fights for Belios and feels a sense of rivalry towards Lala.
- Sean Connery Is About to Shoot You: While the original game's cover art emphasized the lewd content by depicting its leading ladies being ravaged by Naughty Tentacles, the all-ages International cover art showcases all of the main characters in dynamic poses, with Theofrad at the bottom pointing an Ether-powered gun at the camera.
- Secret Final Campaign: Obtaining all of the other endings in the game unlocks a special campaign that doubles as a Boss Rush against all five of the major Divine Beasts.
- Self-Censored Release: The International version, as with previous international releases of the Venus Blood series, removes all of the game's original lewd content in the base game and requires external patching to add back in.
- Story Difficulty Setting: Akin to -Hollow- International, the Updated Re-release has a "Win Skip" feature that allows the player to skip all of the Strategy RPG segments entirely and only engage in the Visual Novel segments.
- Tarot Motifs: According to their profiles on the game's official website and in its art book, all of the main characters are associated with a Major Arcana: Theofrad is the Hermit, Esteria and Teria are the Empress, Tomoe and Tamano are the High Priestess, and so on.
- Uncle Sam Wants You: Similar to the -Frontier- and -Hollow- International campaigns, promotional imagery for the Updated Re-release's Kickstarter campaign uses the slogan "Energeia Needs You!"
- Updated Re-release: Like its predecessors -Frontier- International and -Hollow- International, -Gaia- International includes new features such as the grander-scale battles introduced in Hollow and new images and costumes for the female protagonists in addition to translating the game for an international audience.
- Whale Egg: In the uncensored version of the game, it's shown that Theofrad's method of "synthesizing" Arcane Avatars is by sexually infusing his female subordinates with Ether, which leads to them laying eggs that quickly hatch and rapidly mature into various species of combat units.
- Wutai: The nation of Takamagahara is themed after feudal Japan, with its native characters consisting of shrine maidens, samurai, and ninja.
