History VideoGame / PunishingGrayRaven

''Punishing: Gray Raven'' (战双帕弥什) is an online, free-to-play 3D Chinese ActionRPG for {{UsefulNotes/Android|Games}} and [[UsefulNotes/IOSGames iOS]].

''Punishing'' is developed and published by Kuro Game using the Unity Engine and first released in December 2019. It was originally only available in Chinese through an official client, Bilibili and Taptap -- the Taiwanese version was released in August 2020; the Japanese version was released in December 2020; and a Global version released in July 2021.

* MultipleEndings: The main gimmick of ''''Recitativo di Fantasia''. InUniverse, the virtual play of the same name supposedly just has one ending, but as the Commandant repeats the story, they find clues and take actions that unlock more endings hidden away by Selena.

* BreatherEpisode: The intensity of chapters like ''Kowloong Metropolis'', and ''Evernight Beat'' and ''The Survival Lucem'' are followed by relatively lighthearted side-stories like ''Grand Blue'', and ''Wandering Dream with Whale'', respectively.

** [[spoiler:During Part 18, in one simulation Nanami runs, every event that happened up to this point goes is a bad ending compared to the original. As Alternate!Murray explains, the Commandant becomes the [[BigGood leader of humanity]], but despite their efforts they couldn't prevent a DwindlingParty from happening; Hassen, Nikola, and all other superiors are dead, so the reason why the Commandant is in charge is simply because they're the only one left, which in turn left Lee's younger brother, Murray, to become the replacement commandant of Gray Raven. The tragedy doesn't end there: Liv died after failing to convert into the ''Solaeter'' frame at the battle against the humanoid heteromer organisms; Wanshi was the OnlySurvivor from Strike Hawk of the battle at the underground fortress, becoming Liv's replacement in Gray Raven; Bianca became a "witch" when she was infected by the Punishing Virus; Vera falls in battle after saving Murray; Murray had to [[{{Cyborg}} mechanize himself]] to contend with the constant fighting; Ayla died when Babylonia was lost along with the Association of Arts when they tried to save Golden Age relics but lagged behind, thus failing their landing on Earth and turning everyone to ash along with the relics; hell, everyone else from the Arctic, Akdilek, Kowlong, and the Forsaken aren't doing well either. The Commandant lost their hands when only they and Murray survived Bianca's infection, not even getting any prosthetics because resources are so lacking. In short, humanity is destroyed.]]

* TheFuture: The future's future, even. ''Punishing'' is set around 2180-2185, one hundred years after the initial Punishing virus outbreak. It's been long enough that history has even had time to assign two post-apocalyptic periods, the Post-Pandemic Age (2079-2140) and the Reconquista Age (2140 onwards).

* MultipleLifeBars: Having to deplete several lifebars isn’t particularly uncommon in modern action games, but PGR pushes it to the extreme with bosses that can have up to ''30 lifebars''.

* BulletTime: Similar to ''{{VideoGame/Bayonetta}}'', a correctly timed dodges causes enemies to temporarily slow to a crawl, allowing players a chance to land some free hits. Furthermore, any special attacks performed at this time will be at their highest value, as if they were fully combined.

* AttackDrone: ''Untold Naraka'', being a {{Crossover}} with ''VideoGame/NierAutomata'', included Pods from the guest game that assisted during stages. Later, the ''Echo Aria'' update added "CUBs" ("Combat Unit Booster") that can be upgraded separately to give buffs to the characters equipping them, as well as attack on their own.

when you look long into an abyss[[note]]Top: Lucia, Bottom (L-R): Bianca, Liv, Watanabe, Kamui, Nanami, Lee, and Karenina[[/note]]]]

* AttackDrone: ''Untold Naraka'', being a {{Crossover}} with ''VideoGame/NierAutomata'', included Pods from the guest game that assisted during stages. Later, the ''Echo Aria'' update added robot pets that can be upgraded separately to give buffs to the characters equipping them, as well as attack on their own.

* PlotParallel: ''Untold Naraka'' tells a story that intentionally mirrors the premise of ''VideoGame/NierAutomata'': Gray Raven discover a mysterious underground facility created by the "School of Sapiens", which is inhabited by two armies of machines fighting each other so that their interpretation of humanity will succeed. To make the reference explicit, the machines at one point cry out "Glory to Homo Sapiens!", akin to the YoRHa's motto, "Glory to Mankind".

* AllForNothing: ''Untold Naraka'' ends in an incredibly Creator/YokoTaro-esque way. [[spoiler:The machines of Naraka were created by the School of Sapiens, a group of humans who decided to form their own society away from the Punishing outbreak. The machines fight each other for 100 years, and wind up getting defeated by Gray Raven, a group of outsiders who stumbled upon the facility by accident. After fighting their way to the core of the facility and defeating Machiavelli, Naraka's "Final Arbiter", its revealed leader of Sapiens staged Naraka as a test to see whether machines could evolve to the point of abandoning war, supposedly unlike humans. Ultimately, the whole scheme was a fruitless endeavor, and in the end, the few surviving robots wind up being destroyed by the Corrupted in the outside world, proving absolutely everything the School of Sapiens believed in was invalid.]]

* PlayAsABoss: Certain hidden chapters include an opportunity to play from the perspective of bosses like Berserk/Dark Kamui and Roland. The former example eventually became PromotedToPlayable as Camu.

At its core, ''Punishing'' is a high-speed action game in the vein of ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'' or ''{{VideoGame/Bayonetta}}'', with the wrinkle of a MatchThreeGame: As players land hits with default attacks, a queue begins randomly filling with one of three different types of special moves. If two or three prompts get joined together, the attack becomes much more powerful, and opens access to each character's unique passives.