Line #4 VideoGame/ThatWhichSleeps


1	''That Which Sleeps'' was a DarkFantasy CosmicHorror TurnBasedStrategy game under development by two-person indie studio King Dinosaur Games.
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3	The player takes on the role of an "Ancient Evil" (selected from an array of eldritch "Old Ones", demonic "Primal Entities", and even formerly mortal heroes turned villainous gods) who was [[SealedEvilInACan sealed away]] in the distant past and has recently begun to awaken in a world that has long forgotten them. While the Ancient Evil is gathering its strength, it must manipulate the world from the shadows by recruiting a cult of loyal Agents to corrupt countries, spread terror and chaos, and undertake rituals to ensure conditions are ideal for its return, all while various heroes scramble to figure out what is happening and turn the tide. The player must balance aggression with caution, as causing too much disruption to the world will draw the heroes' attention to Agents and clues about the Ancient Evil's identity and weakness. When the Ancient Evil fully awakens, then its existence becomes known to the Chosen One, a unique hero ordained by Fate to defeat it and a major threat to the player's strategy. Victory is achieved once the entire world has fallen to the Ancient Evil's influence.
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5	The game's [[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kingdinosaurgames/that-which-sleeps Kickstarter campaign]] was fully funded in October 2014. According to the developer, work on the game's proprietary engine and gameplay systems was mostly completed before the campaign and the largest remaining hurdle for release was hiring an artist to create quality art assets to replace the placeholder ones. Unfortunately, the project appears to have been abandoned, as the developer's last progress message was posted in November 2017 and the game's Steam page has been removed.
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7	A fan of ''That Which Sleeps'' was inspired to produce his own version of the game: ''VideoGame/ShadowsOfForbiddenGods'', which released in July 2023.
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9	!!The game provides examples of:
10	* AngelsDevilsAndSquid: The five Middle Planes include two types of hell (the [[BloodyBowelsOfHell Wyld]], a chaotic realm of change and mutation, and the [[FireAndBrimstoneHell Abyssal Crag]], ruled by demons defined by their ambitions), and two types of Heaven (the Valhalla-like [[WarriorHeaven Halls of Glory]] and Olympus-based [[PhysicalHeaven Eternal Mount]]). The "squid" are the Outsiders, who traveled across the Void from elsewhere, and the Old Ones, none of whom are associated with any of the Middle Planes save Limos, who created them.
11	* AnimalEyeSpy: Belial can infest a place with ravens to spy on it.
12	* ApocalypseHow: The goal is Planetary, with the level of destruction ranging from Societal Collapse to Total Extinction depending on the Old One in question.
13	* BreakingSpeech: Sisyphus' main power, along with his {{Deadly Upgrade}}s, is interacting with the Chosen One, especially in the form of taunts built from phrases that home in on whatever it is will hurt the Chosen One most.
14	--> ''[[ProphecyTwist False prophet]] / [[DoomedHometown you walk a trail of ashes]] / [[DwindlingParty filled with betrayal and tears]] / [[DentedIron with bent back and broken spirit]] / [[HeroWithBadPublicity to save the unwashed and ungrateful]].''
15	* TheCorrupter: Highly encouraged; a corrupt hero is a SleeperAgent that can be activated at any time if you need a spare true Agent.
16	* TheChosenOne: Your main antagonist, as the forces of Fate try to stop you from destroying or utterly reshaping the world.
17	* TheDragon: The Prophet, your first [[QuirkyMinibossSquad Agent]], who has unique powers based on who you're playing as.
18	* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: Every Old One will bring this about, to a greater or lesser extent, in victory.
19	* EldritchAbomination: Basically all of the Old Ones have at least some shades of this, but Azlan, who exists in the Dreamlands, causes insanity, and whose awakening is an InstantWinCondition, is the most clearly Lovecraftian.
20	* EvenEvilHasStandards: Since the player is the ultimate BigBad of the setting, there's plenty of other evils who will react to them this way.
21	** Agents will eventually abandon Limos when they realize he plans [[SuicidalCosmicTemperTantrum to destroy the world utterly]], unless they have been turned into vampires and thus had their free will compromised.
22	** The demons of [[{{Hell}} the Abyssal Crag]] will refuse to work with Old Ones whose goals are too destructive -- again, Limos being the most obvious example.
23	* EvilIsDeathlyCold: Inatha, who seeks to freeze the world over.
24	* EvilVersusOblivion: A ChosenOne doesn't ''have'' to [[HeroAntagonist be good-aligned]]. Fate would sooner empower a mortal tyrant or psychopath than let the Old One's schemes succeed. They can even be more dangerous to the Old One than a heroic foe because of how willing they are to ShootTheDog.
25	* FallenHero: You can create them. If you're especially quick and successful, you can even corrupt ''the Chosen One.''
26	* ForeverWar: Endless simulation can end up looking like one, since your defeat will only mean getting sealed, and that may last ''very little''. Of course, several options will end the game, such as causing the [[ApocalypseHow complete extermination of all life, or even destroying forever the world]].
27	* GodKing: The Elven Emperor is an elf so ancient and powerful he's considered [[HumanoidAbomination a rival Old One in his own right]].
28	* GodzillaThreshold: The Desperation mechanic: as the Old One gets more powerful and dangerous, ordinarily moral foes rapidly become more willing to commit atrocities to stop them.
29	* HeroAntagonist: TheChosenOne will typically fall under this, though it's not strictly necessary. In fact, most of the Old One's opponents will qualify to a certain extent.
30	* HumanoidAbomination: Sisyphus, who was once human himself.
31	* HungryJungle: Moloch is the Fetid Primeval, seeking to bring about an uncivilized world of rampant growth that he can feed on at will.
32	* InstantWinCondition: If Azlan awakens, it's over for the world, even if TheChosenOne and a massive army is just about to enter the seal. And should Limos awaken, the world will be a simple ritual away from complete extermination.
33	* LightIsNotGood: One of the Old Ones, Seraph, has powers focusing around crystals and light. She's just as dangerous as any of her kin.
34	* ManipulativeBastard: Manipulating the weak, cowardly and decadent is a core trait of Belial, along with the power to twist and contort fate. Still, every Old One, even [[WarGod Karth]], will have to engage in some of this to keep the peoples of the world in the dark and at each other's throats until it's too late.
35	* OrcusOnHisThrone: Played straight with some of the Old Ones, initially forced to stay on the seal, and later being much more safer in that particular area. Justified, since your ''don't'' want to draw the kind of attention you can generate, plus the seal region is especially dangerous, and most heroes won't last long nosing around in search of loot.
36	* OurOrcsAreDifferent: Almost purely the bloodthirsty, irredeemably AxCrazy model, created by Karth to wage war and destroy. That said, TheChosenOne can be an orc, which can complicate matters. Also, orcs ''can'' ally with humans and abandon the Shadow, though they can't become more civilized than a tribal government.
37	* PiecesOfGod: Every living creature is made from Limos' essence, and a part of him. Unfortunately, Limos would very much like to be whole again.
38	* PlanetaryParasite: Moloch, who would much prefer to be rid of the pesky civilizations that might interrupt his feast (curiously, he's more a symbiote to most nonsentient life, his powers [[GreenThumb encourage growth]]).
39	* PlotArmor: A game mechanic for TheChosenOne. Until the Old One gets directly involved, they're guaranteed to survive (often barely) quest failures that should have killed them if survival is a possible outcome. (If survival isn't possibly, though, they'll just get an unusually ignominious death.)
40	* PowerAtAPrice: Sisyphus' Agents grow very powerful very quickly, but this costs them in health, as his power doesn't come without sacrifice.
41	* QuirkyMinibossSquad: Agents, the Old One's lieutenants and direct minions.
42	* ScrewDestiny: Fate is working against the Old One every step of the way.
43	* SealedEvilInACan: The Old One, whose starting location is even called just "the Seal".
44	* TheSmurfettePrinciple: Among the Old Ones, only Seraph identifies as female, though [[EldritchAbomination this isn't something you'd be able to tell looking at her]].
45	* SuicidalCosmicTemperTantrum: All the Old Ones invariably bring destruction, but usually as a side-effect of their goals. Limos, the creator of the world, now wants every living thing in creation to ''just die'', and even tolerates the undead only barely and temporarily.
46	* SuperiorSpecies:
47	** Most Elder Races, like dwarves and elves, are just plain better than humans and other lesser races (e.g. gnomes), and harder to corrupt to boot. The Minotaurs, another Elder Race, are a complication to this, being short-lived and enslaved, but even they have powers no human could hope to match if they're allowed to reach their potential. And yes, the Chosen One ''can'' be one of the Elder Races -- this is a bad thing.
48	** In Procedural Generation mode, Elder Races are created with fully-developed cultures ex nihilo, while humans are still mostly tribal. On the other hand, they're also extremely stagnant, without the dynamic development humans are capable of.
49	* StoneWall: Inatha, the Gathering Storm, has an extremely good defensive position if it fortifies itself in snowy mountains. Its main playstyle will be slowly destroying the resources needed by the civilizations, but it can also take advantage of that defensive strength to employ an aggressive, high-speed strategy and quickly cover the world in tundra because it's better than most Old Ones at withstanding the Chosen One and the Alliance.
50	* VillainProtagonist: The Old One, naturally.
51	* VillainsActHeroesReact: The game's dynamic plot will be almost entirely set in motion by, and shaped by, the Old One's actions. Hell, Destiny itself is implied to work like this, only acting to find TheChosenOne as a reaction to an Old One already stirring.
52	** You better ensure this trope is in effect, since even if you don't do ''anything'', heroes will eventually act, with the key difference of the combined force of the alliance and TheChosenOne being too much for you, ensuring your defeat.
53	* WarGod: Karth, the quickest-waking Old One, is a primal god of warfare. He's also the weakest power-wise, but he usually wakes so quickly [[LateToTheParty the nations don't realize he's awake until long after he's out and about]].
54	* WellIntentionedExtremist: While other Old Ones are utterly alien, Sisyphus dreams of building a utopia. As one might guess from [[Myth/ClassicalMythology his name]], even if he wins the game, his attempts to build a better world are doomed.

Context VideoGame / ThatWhichSleeps