"It's up to you."
Axial Disc 1 is a 2023 Role Playing Game developed by Sawyer Friend and published by Gem Games. The game follows three protagonists, Oli, Sai, and Amara, as they travel across Stardust City and its surrounding continent to battle the oppressive Agency and learn the truth of the magical sword Oli wields. It is the first part in a two-part series, where upon completion the save data can be transferred into Axial Disc 2, carrying over all equipment and party member stats.
Tropes:
- Absurdly High Level Cap: The level cap of the game is 99, but even the final superboss Tekfa can be defeated in the 30s-40s. This level cap becomes much more reasonable and expected in Disc 2.
- All the Worlds Are a Stage: In Tefka's secret dungeon, each room is comprised of glitchy recreations of previous locations the player has visited, with each lending a clue to the location of a summon.
- Artificial Human: While most Axials are created from humans in some degree, Chip is a clone of Sai and Axis is made entirely out of Axis Cells.
- Artistic License – Biology: The concept of "Axis Cells" utilize a lot of scientific jargon but ultimately aren't based in any real science.
- Bag of Sharing: When the party is split up, most notably in Astral Point, they are able to use items acquired by the other team even when they have been separated.
- Battle in the Rain: A large chunk of the game occurs in Stardust City, which is always raining, and as such many of the fights in the game are battles in the rain. In the game's soundtrack, the battle theme for Stardust City is even titled after this trope.
- Beam Spam: Many of Chip's attacks are honing magnetic lasers that he fires multiple times per turn. In his Overflow fight, he uses an extreme version which hits 11 times for 110 damage.
- Body Horror: The Eaters, as well as some of the more extreme Axials, are fleshy, wrinkly monsters covered in cavities and tentacles.
- Bonus Dungeon: Returning to the pyramid after acquiring Skip allows you to access a secret dungeon filled with the strongest enemies.
- Bragging Rights Reward: You get an exclusive summon for defeating Tefka, but with her being the strongest enemy in the game, there is little use for this summon after the fact outside transferring it to Disc 2.
- The Cameo: Each of the summons are cameos from "other worlds", notably including Young from Anodyne.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Flashbacks of Lion can be found long before it becomes apparent what his role in the greater story is.
- Cliffhanger: The game ends with Astral Point falling and the state of the world unknown.
- Crystal Dragon Jesus: While not explicitly confirmed, it's implied that the abandoned cathedral was once used in practice worshipping Tefka.
- Degraded Boss: Several Eater bosses are later reskinned as normal encounters, often with higher stats than they were originally faced with due to Power Creep.
- Disc-One Final Dungeon: Astral Point serves this role in a literal sense as the final dungeon of Disc 1. It fills this purpose in a traditional manner as well, serving as the narrative turning point before the second act.
- Disc-One Nuke: Coincidentally named "First Disc", the late game Multi Command can wipe out most of the enemies in Disc 1 with ease.
- Duel Boss: In the cathedral, Chip leaves the party and fights Sai one-on-one. They later rematch in the climax of the game after Sai has been separated from his friends.
- Egopolis: The optional postgame area Spineland is named after the NPC Spinel's grandfather via an adopt-a-street program. This becomes even more egotistical when noting the creator Sawyer Friend's online pseudonym is also Spinel.
- Evil Tower of Ominousness: Astral Point, the tallest tower in the world, is the setting of the game's climax and home base of the antagonists.
- Government Conspiracy: The Eaters are actually genetic experiments created by the Agency, but this fact has been covered up.
- Guest-Star Party Member: The game features three in Chip, Joshua, and Kwadle, at various points of the game. All three become permanent party members in Disc 2.
- Healer Signs On Early: Oli joins the party first, and has the widest selection of healing skills in the main trio.
- Hopeless Boss Fight: During both of the one-on-one fights with Chip, the fights are stacked dramatically against Sai and he is expected to lose. With enough grinding, Sai can win these encounters.
- Impassable Desert: The Mirror Dunes are hit with a sandstorm and the Agents won't let you pass until the sandstorm subsides, which requires clearing the Shrine of the Elements.
- Last Ditch Move: Roy employs a seemingly suicidal laser burst after being defeated by Oli.
- Mundane Utility: An NPC in Stardust City notes that her Solar Magic comes in handy in the winter.
- Only the Chosen May Wield: Oli's sword Durend refuses to be wielded by any other warrior. This comes to be a curse as well, because it also causes her immense pain if she stops wielding it herself.
- Optional Boss: The game features a couple optional bosses in Rellgiw, Lion, Raye, and Tefka.
- Person of Mass Destruction: Amara, as well as other Axials, are intended to be used as superweapons that can fight crime and preserve peace.
- Point of No Return: Upon entering Astral Point, you cannot leave until defeating the penultimate boss, Overflow Chip.
- Scarf of Asskicking: The first party member and protagonist Oli wears a scarf which she also uses for an Evasion bonus.
- Secret Government Warehouse: Astral Point, the large omni-purpose government building in Stardust City, keeps a giant science lab filled with Eldritch Abomination experiments hidden on its unreachable 13th floor.
- Sequential Boss: Several story encounters fit this bill, most notably the final fight with Swed which occurs in three phases.
- Superboss: Of the optional bosses, Tefka is considered the greatest challenge in Disc 1, and can't be faced at all until Raye is defeated.
- Tree Trunk Tour: The optional Yggdrasil dungeon takes place inside the trunk of a massive tree.
- Two-Part Trilogy: The game is the first of two parts, with the first ending on a cliffhanger and the second ending so conclusively that a follow-up doesn't seem immediately likely, despite the sequel hooks from the superboss in the second game.
- Villain Opening Scene: The game opens on a monologue from Axis, the main antagonist of Disc 2.
- Wake-Up Call Boss: The Guardian boss restores 120 HP each turn, meaning that the player must suddenly exceed that much damage each turn in order to win, forcing them out of defensive strategies that may have gotten them this far in the game.
- Walk on Water: Once Oli acquires the Skip ability, she can skip across water using ice platforms.
