City Shrouded in Shadow is a survival horror RPG game, developed by Granzella and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment for the PlayStation 4. A spin-off of Granzella's Zettai Zetsumei Toshi series, players control one of two powerless citizens attempting to flee from kaiju attacking the city, including strange shadows that take on the form of other monsters. The game was released in Japan on October 19, 2017.
Franchises and characters in the game include
- Godzilla: Heisei Godzilla, King Ghidorah, Mothra, Battra, Kiryu
- Rebuild of Evangelion: Evangelion Unit-01, Evangelion Unit-00, Evangelion Unit-02, Fourth Angel Sachiel, Fifth Angel Shamshel
- Ultra Series:
- Ultraman: Ultraman, Alien Zarab/Fake Ultraman, Dada
- Ultraseven: Ultraseven, Pandon
- Ultraman Taro: Ultraman Taro
- Ultraman Tiga: Ultraman Tiga, Kyrieloid II
- Ultraman Zero: Ultraman Zero, Ultraman Belial
- Gamera Heisei trilogy: Gamera, Gyaos, Legion
- Patlabor: AV-98 Ingram, AV-98 Ingram Unit 2, Type-5G/1C Grau-Bear, CRL-98 Pyro-Buster, J-9 Griffin, M-5 Abraham
The following trailers are available:
- Debut Trailer
- Official 2017 Trailer PV
- Gameplay Preview Trailer
- OP Preview
- TGS Trailer
- Official 2017 Trailer PV 2
Tropes included in the game:
- Action Survivor: Ken Misaki, Miharu Matsuhara, and Yuki Kano are only ordinary humans, but they must make their way through the city as it is being demolished by kaiju.
- Accidental Hero:
- Several kaiju, good and evil, manage to save you from the Yakuza, such as Mothra's passings during her fight with Battra stirring up winds to allow you to escape.
- A Gyaos swoops down and gobbles up a Yakuza member before he can shoot you. It and its flock spend the rest of the stage trying to eat you, making it clear it was just a happy accident.
- Ultra Seven kills Pandon and sends him crashing through the skyscraper you're on and sending the Yakuza falling to their deaths.
- Alien Invasion: The Angels, Alien Zarab, Dada, Ultraman Belial, and Legion are extraterrestrial entities come to conquer or destroy the planet.
- Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Zigzagged. As the protagonists and Yuki take damage, their clothes become torn and dirty, and their appearance becomes disheveled.
- Big Damn Heroes:
- While the heroic giants like the Ultras and Gamera cause just as much damage as their foes, on occasion the chaos caused by their fights helps the protagonists escape danger.
- At the end of Stage 1, you're cornered by Alien Zarab. Cue Ultraman killing him with the Specium Ray.
- Played straight by the Patlabors, who show up just in time to evacuate the protagonists and other civilians from a burning building, and force the yakuza into hiding to boot.
- Stage 10 has you being chased by a Gyaos escaping their nest (in the 'good end' at least). Gamera suddenly arrives and blows it to smithereens.
- Ultraman Zero arrives to back up an outmatched Ultraman and Ultraman Taro, allowing them to destroy Belial.
- Big Bad Ensemble: The various evil monsters and the Yakuza. The Patlabor baddies also seem unaffiliated with either side and just criminals likewise taking advantage of the crisis.
- Book Ends:
- The final confrontation with the yakuza takes place in the same building where the protagonist first encountered them.
- The first giants to appear are from the Ultra series (specifically Ultraman and Fake Ultraman/Alien Zarab) and the last giants are also from the Ultra series (Ultraseven and Pandon).
- Breather Episode: For the most part Stage 6 is this: no monsters and no Yakuza for 90 percent of it. Unfortunately, it doesn't last and ends with Godzilla showing up.
- Character Customization: Ken and Miharu have default appearances, but their names, clothing, and hairstyles can be changed, with the latter two being customizable in-game. You'll also be able to customize Yuki Kano's appearance and what her relationship with the protagonist is.
- Clothing Damage: Both the protagonist's and Yuki's clothes can get torn up as they take damage, and switching costumes does not repair damage to the clothes. You need to find NPC's who can actually patch up the outfits.
- Cross Through: The game features Ultraman, Godzilla, Gamera, Neon Genesis Evangelion and Franchise/Patlabor in the same world. However, it's not a true crossover in that monsters from different franchise do not interact with each other; the only thing tying all the franchises together is is that they cross paths with the original characters' plot.
- Curbstomp Battle: The majority of the monster fights seem fairly even, but Belial vs Ultraman and Ultraman Taro is this, in Belial's favor until Ultraman Zero shows up.
- Death from Above: Played with in the case of giants like Sachiel or Alien Zarab, who can rain death down on the fleeing civilians at their feet. Played straight with actual flying kaiju like Mothra and Battra.
- Despair Event Horizon: By the final chapter, you'll encounter people who've crossed this. One notable example is a policewoman who directs an evacuation in the first stage, who has seen so much death in the past few hours she's emotionally shattered and unable to bring herself to go with a fellow officer to respond to a scream.
- Destructive Savior: The Evangelions, the Ultras, Gamera and the Ingrams are fighting on the side of good, but that won't prevent them from trashing the city just as badly as their respective enemy kaiju. Though it varies depending on each: the Ingrams and Ultras make efforts to try to avoid causing damage, such as Tiga taking his fight to the sky and several of them intentionally jumping over buildings rather than going through them. Gamera is far more destructive but doesn't intentionally cause damage. Godzilla, on the other hand, even when trying to defeat King Ghidorah doesn't care about property damage and is a neutral force at best.
- Disney Villain Death: The Yakuza are sent falling to their doom when Ultra Seven kills Pandon and sends the kaiju's corpse crashing through the skyscraper you're on. You can save Risa from the same fate.
- Escort Mission: The goal of the game is to escort Yuki Kano - a kind-hearted woman whose relationship with the player character can range from just friends to lovers - through the ruined city while avoiding the giant monsters destroying it.
- Far East Asian Terrorists:
- The non-Ingram labors are used by unknown individuals during the kaiju attack.
- The yakuza are trying to upgrade themselves into this, becoming interested in selling arms to various countries and organisations.
- Fooled by the Sound: In one sequence, the protagonists are hiding in an office building from the yakuza pursuing them when one of the latter hears something and begins to investigate. A number of options pop up to throw them off the scent, ranging from the plausible (meowing like a cat or barking like a dog) to the ridiculous (howling like a wolf). During her playthrough, Mio Ookami (being a wolf-girl) decided to try the "howling like a wolf" option to see what would happen, and was bemused that it worked: by that point the yakuza had already seen giant alien monsters and kaiju randomly appearing, and as a result simply accepted that random animals appearing in an office building was equally plausible.
- Gameplay and Story Segregation: The Ultras 'three minute rule' is absent and all of them can be active for far more than three minutes, as stages can last for considerably longer than that. This is most noticeable in the first level, where you can just stand and watch Ultraman and Fake Ultraman/Alien Zarab fighting for ages, and Ultraman's colour timer never changes.
- It should be mentioned that Ultraseven doesn't have a time limit like the others, and Ultraman Zero shows up right at the end of his level so there's every possibility he'll take down his opponent within three minutes depending on how quickly you trigger the event.
- He Knows Too Much: The reason the yakuza are after you. At the very start of the game you happen to catch sight of one of their deals, and they're afraid you'll be able to identify them to the cops. The idea that you have bigger concerns than their illegal activities doesn't seem to register.
- Hell Is That Noise:
- The Legion soldiers make a chattering sound as they move.
- Dada is not very quiet when it pursues the protagonists.
- Heroic RRoD: In his appearance battling Pandon, Ultraseven is suffering from this (which is directly lifted from the final episodes of his series). His attempt to use his Emirum Beam causes him to collapse to his knees, and the beam itself dissipates before it even reaches Pandon.
- Heroic Second Wind:
- Eva-01 is getting pounded by Sachiel...then gets up, roars and proceeds to beat him to death.
- Ultraseven slowly loses his fight against Pandon as the level featuring him continues (just as it happened during the finale of his series), but rallies at the last moment to bring Pandon down. He unknowingly saves the protagonists to boot, as Pandon's defeat also causes the yakuza to fall to their deaths allowing the protagonists to escape to safety.
- Impersonating an Officer: At some point in the game, you can steal an unused set of clothes belonging to a uniformed police officer. If actual officers spot you, they'll go to you and ask which station are you from.
- Kaiju: The game features good and evil kaiju and mechs from the Heisei Godzilla, Rebuild of Evangelion, Ultraman, Heisei Gamera, and Patlabor series, destroying Ichi City while fighting each other.
- Kidnapping Bird of Prey: The Gyaos begin doing this when they show up, which includes the protagonists leading to them having to make a daring escape from their nest.
- Laser-Guided Karma: In one chapter the protagonists encounter a group of civilians angry at their train being attacked by Kyrieloid. A woman who was in the same carriage as the protagonists says she saw Kyrieloid staring at them, and this causes the crowd to begin pelting them. After the situation is dealt with the mob walks away... only for Ultraman Tiga to get knocked onto the bridge they're walking on. If they weren't crushed to death or killed by the fall, they most assuredly drowned in the river below.
- Left Hanging: A number of the kaiju fights have no resolution and we don't see how they end. Justified, as the protagonists are just trying to survive and have no reason to stick around to see who wins the fight.
- Kiryuu just kind of... wanders off after it goes berserk following its encounter with Godzilla.
- Light Is Not Good: The skies glow gold when Sachiel appears in stage 5.
- Logo Joke: The Score Screen will take the form of a newspaper frontpage called Kyoei Times.
- Market-Based Title: The game is officially known as Kyoei Toshi or City of Giant Shadows when the former is translated into English.
- Mid-Battle Tea Break: During Stage 5, the party takes a break at a restaurant to get something to eat and have a conversation while Eva-01 and Sachiel are battling it out outside. Partially justified with the proprietor sheltering people inside since it's way too dangerous to try to run out. Some people take the risk and make it out safely, leading the protagonists to take the chance too.
- Mythology Gag: DLC clothes will include "Masayuki Sudo & Mari Aizawa” costumes from Zettai Zetsumei Toshi/Disaster Report and “Kazuya Shinohara & Haruka Fujimiya” costumes from Zettai Zetsumei Toshi 2/Raw Danger.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Kiryu is deployed to try and stop Godzilla...and goes berserk when its Godzilla memories are triggered and starts rampaging itself.
- Not the Fall That Kills You…: There are several sequences where you suffer instant death from falling great heights. For example, the floor might collapse from under you or you might get blown off your feet (and off a ledge) by strong winds.
- Police Are Useless:
- Zigzagged in the case of the police themselves. They're not equipped to take on rampaging kaiju attacking Ichi City, but they do their job in helping civilians evacuate from the city. During Stage 2, several anti-riot officers sacrifice themselves to save you from the Legion.
- Further averted with the presence of the Ingrams, which are operating with the Ichi City Police. However, their actions cause unfortunate damage to the city and endanger civilians. Other rescue Labours like fire brigade Labours are less destructive, instead focusing on fighting fires.
- Other rescue services like firefighters also make multiple appearances trying to rescue and evacuate civilians.
- Power Glows: At a few points, the protagonist's hands glow. The first time it happens, it actually causes Alien Zarab to fall back and abandon its pursuit.
- Press X to Not Die: This is used during combat with human enemies or from incoming trouble such as exploding vehicles or falling debris. That said, no amount of button-mashing will help if, say, Sachiel smashes a VTOL and it crashes on you, or Ultraman accidentally steps on you while dodging a blow from Alien Zarab.
- Product Placement: The curry restaurant chain Go! Go! Curry makes an appearance in the game as a potential safe spot when the protagonist/s and Yuki take refuge there and eat their curry plates. Justified that Granzella is based in Kanazawa and the chain is from the same city.
- Rocks Fall Everybody Dies: Like the game's spiritual predecessors in the Zettai Zetsumei Toshi, many of the civilians the protagonists encounter don't make it out alive.
- Sci-Fi Kitchen Sink: This is a world where Angels, kaiju, aliens, and functional Real Robot mecha are all able to coexist. Too bad you're living in it.
- Sinister Subway: The Ichi City metro system becomes one after Legion soldiers swarm them since the city government gave the order to discontinue service due to possible collateral damage after the protagonist and Yuki sought refuge there with other civilians.
-
Spiritual Successor: Can be considered for one to most of the Zettai Zetsumei Toshi series (known in the West as Disaster Report), especially to Zettai Zetsumei Toshi 4: Summer Memories, prior to its original cancellation due to the aftermath of the 2011 Tohoku disaster. It helps that the production crew is from Granzella, the same company currently holding the copyright to the Zettai Zetsumei Toshi series. - Super-Persistent Predator:
- Not any of the kaiju or aliens, but the yakuza. Despite the chaos of giant monsters battling throughout the city, they're determined to silence the protagonists for accidentally stumbling into one of their deals at the start of the game. The fact that the protagonists only happened to catch sight of them because Fake Ultraman blew up part of the building doesn't even register with them.
- For only one level, Dada hunts for the protagonists inside a research lab.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: One of the game's main tropes being explored.
- Just because the Patlabors, Evangelion Units, and the various Ultras are fighting to protect the city and civilians from enemy kaiju and rogue mechs doesn't mean they don't cause massive amounts of collateral damage themselves, including the deaths of the civilians they're trying to protect. This article illustrates how a Patlabor's use of a hand cannon can cause trouble for nearby civilians trying to escape. Of course, this viewpoint was a key part of Patlabor already.
- As the game progresses, there will be increasing numbers of NPC's, both civilian and rescue services, who are unable to cope with the terror brought about by the sudden appearance of the giants. Some will rail against how unfair it is, others will quietly weep and others still will be outright catatonic.
- Just because the Patlabors, Evangelion Units, and the various Ultras are fighting to protect the city and civilians from enemy kaiju and rogue mechs doesn't mean they don't cause massive amounts of collateral damage themselves, including the deaths of the civilians they're trying to protect. This article illustrates how a Patlabor's use of a hand cannon can cause trouble for nearby civilians trying to escape.
- Survival Horror: The game is set in the perspective of Ken Misaki or Miharu Matsuhara, two ordinary humans fleeing while kaiju ravage their city. There is little chance of getting a decent weapon let alone one actually capable of doing anything meaningful to a kaiju, which means sneaking around the kaijus is the only possible thing to do, except for Dada since you can shove it around since it appears in the research lab in human size. Furthermore, the yakuza are also pursuing the main characters, providing human adversaries.
- The Swarm: The Symbiotic Legion soldiers in the Gamera stages are not much bigger than large dogs, but there are hundreds, if not thousands, of them.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight:
- The yakuza that are dead-set on chasing the main character and Yuki down don't seem to care about the numerous kaiju and Humongous Mecha wreaking havoc on the city around them.
- In stage 5, the protagonists take a break in a Go! Go! Curry restaurant and have a meal there, even as Eva-01 and Sachiel are battling outside for the duration of the conversation.
- Where the Hell Is Springfield?: There's no indication as to where in Japan Ichi City is located.
- Weirdness Magnet: Poor Ken Misaki/Miharu Matsubara somehow ends up in the middle of more monster and mecha battles than anyone should ever be in. Justified, as Yuki is the one the bad ones are after.
- You Shall Not Pass!:
- During the escape in stage 2, the protagonists and Yuki will come across an anti-riot officer who tells them to get to the nearest working sedan while he holds off the Legion Soldier swarm trying to chase them. Of course, you have a choice of not listening to him and do something else to get out of the situation.
- Prior to that, as the protagonists and Yuki hurry up the stairs from the subway to flee the Legion Soldiers, another anti-riot officer can be see charging downstairs to hold them back.
