Follow TV Tropes

Following

Video Game / July Anarchy

Go To

July Anarchy is the name of the project of a series of independant Urban Fantasy-themed video games. They are set in the "Dyarodian Era", a future of our world, where magic has become a reality several centuries ago and in which "mythans" ("Mythical Animals", legendary creatures like dragons, orcs, gnolls, etc.) are fighting against humanity and other humanoid sentient species (elves, florekins, waterkins). Both games are set during "the Crisis" (during the 26th century), when Mythans started their war against sentient species.

The first game has already been released under the title July Anarchy Prologue as a Neverwinter Nights Game Mod. It is a solo-only short (a bit more than two hours long) linear campaign in which the player fights as Alex Meda, a young British "Nomad" (member of an unofficial group of wandering warriors who fight against Mythans), who finds himself stuck in the Tier-Anoch Texan military camp (near San Antonio) while mythans attack the area.

A planned sequel is currently being developed under the working title July Anarchy: Incursion Namibia (also named Dyarodian Era: The Namibia Incident in a hidden dialog taken from Prologue), also planned to be created as a Neverwinter Nights game mod. It is planned to be a solo or multiplayer Wide-Open Sandbox set in Africa, in which the player plays as a custom character which can be either a Nomad or a UN Peacekeeper. The game will be focused on the "Namibia Incident", the first contact ever with the Mythans, which is the start of the Crisis ten years before Prologue. Unfortunatly, Incursion Namibia seems to be stuck in Development Hell.

According to a dialog hiddent in Prologue, the first part of the core of the July Anarchy project is titled July Anarchy: Chapter 1. It would be a module set five centuries after Prologue and focused in a open-world recreating Boston. It would be focused on a player character named Eric Osme, who is the guy who dreamed the whole Prologue story.

July Anarchy Prologue can be downloaded there and there. To run it, you need Neverwinter Nights, both expansions, the latest version of the Community Expansion Pack, and d20 Modern Neverwinter Nights.


July Anarchy provides examples of:

  • A.K.A.-47: Prologue is a very weird example of this trope. The firearms are actual modern guns with real names and actual characteristics (damages, number of rounds), but the models aren’t linked to the correct name. For example, the weapon named "Desert Eagle" looks like a suppressed Glock 17, the "Glock 17" using itlself a Colt M1911A1 model.
  • Badass Family: The Meda. The young Alex seems to be very promising as a Nomad, but his father, Vincent, is said to be one of the best Nomads ever.
  • Bond One-Liner: In Prologue, Alex is scripted to say random one-liners triggered by killing enemies. They include (there are several dozen more in the game’s files):
    Alex Meda wins. Fatality.
    I'm tired, my hair is green and I have a gunsword. Do NOT fuck with me.
    See that, army boys? That's how it's done.
    Who's next?
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall: Occasionally done in Prologue.
    • One of Alex Bond One-Liner is "They ought to make a video game out of me... "
    • This conversation with a NPC after the mythans attacked the camp:
    Alex Meda: Never know when I might come up against heavy armor. Give me the GEP gun.
    Rhino Gleeson: Ehh... Alex... What the hell is a GEP gun?
    Alex Meda: Wha... oh sorry, wrong game. What were you saying?.
    • Inside the Developer's Room, the player character can chat with a cow which explains what is this place. In a surreal way not at all written like In-Universe lines from the mod, but rather like a hypothetical discussion between the (physical) player and the creator of the mod.
  • The Cassandra: We learn in Prologue ending cutscene that nobody believed Alex when he told that Senator Leo Nodin organized the Tier-Anoch attack.
  • Child Soldiers:
    • Alex is a borderline example. He is 17 years old.
    • An African warlord using child soldiers is planned for Incursion Namibia.
  • Crapsack World: The world is torn by a general war opposing mankind and supernatural creatures. And there are strong hints that the governments are manipulating their populations.
  • Death Is a Slap on the Wrist: Subverted in Prologue. When Alex dies, he doesn’t suffer from experience malus or item loss, he just reappears somewhere in the starting area (the most eastern part of Tier-Anoch)… but loses 30 minutes to the countdown (see Timed Mission below).
    • Repairing the force field in the western part of the base removes the time limit but makes Alex unrescuable.
  • Developer's Room: Trying to play Prologue without playing as Alex Meda stucks the player in a cross-shaped room which floor, walls, and ceiling are covered of lava like a cheap symbolic Hell. The room is occupied by special NPC representing characters that were deleted from the current version of the mod, with a description explaining their in-development history and why they don’t appear in the mod.
  • Drinking on Duty: The explosive specialist Chief Paolo is suspected by Alex to be very drunk during the mythan attack..
  • Eagleland: Prologue NPC Dustin Chase is a Texan militiaman speaking like a stereotypical redneck. The player can even call him out about it:
    Wow, you certainly have no qualms adhering to sterotype [sic], do you?
  • Fantastic Racism: Humans and the other sentient races doesn't have very kind relations.
  • False Flag Operation: The explaination behind the whole Prologue events. The mythan assault on Tier-Anoch and San Antonia have been staged by a American senator who needed more support to be able to build more fortifications in USA. Sacrificing a town would give the proof that those fortifications are really needed.
  • Exploding Barrels: All over Tier-Anoch oustide areas. This is lampshaded during the dialog with Chief Paolo (when he and Alex are discussing about how clean a cave’s entrance from rocks blocking it):
    Alex Meda: I'll just drag over a few of those explosive barrels that inexplicably seem to be everywhere.
  • Fatal Family Photo: Prologue features a version of this trope without an actual photo. Alex can chat a bit with a militiaman who eventually talk about his fiancée. The NPC is latter killed during a cutscene when the mythans attack the camp.
  • Fictional Document: Appears in Prologue, with Alex Meda's diary, the news computer in the rations tent, and the exhibit terminals in the Tier-Anoch museum.
  • Framing Device: According to the opening and ending cutscenes, the whole Prologue plot is actually a Nomad’s dream about historical events who happened several centuries ago.
  • Government Conspiracy: Hinted in Prologue manual, with the parodic opening disclaimer (see This Is a Work of Fiction below), and with occasional random lines appear in the middle of the text in a different font, like "YOU ARE BEING WATCHED THIS VERY MOMENT" or "HOW CAN YOU CALL YOURSELF FREE WHEN EVERY CHOICE YOU MAKE IS MADE BASED ON THE MEDIA THAT THEY CONTROL".
  • Guns Are Worthless: Mythans suffer a lot less from bullets than from mêlée damage and arrows. This is why Nomads fight with medieval bows and mêlée weapon.
  • Heroic Comedic Sociopath: Alex sometimes sounds like one thanks to his Bond One Liners.
  • I Call It "Vera": In the beginning of Prologue, when chatting with a stereotypical Texan militiaman volonteering on the base:
    Dustin Chase: Howdy there, partner! Name's Dustin! Dustin Chase, San Antonio Militia. And this here's my pistol, Lucille. Stay on both our good sides, and you'll do fine.
    Alex Meda: I'm Alex Meda, Valor Legion. And this is my sword... eh.... Well I haven't given it a name yet.
  • I Die Free: Near the end of Prologue, Alex meets a courteous Rakshasa named Noblen who explains most of the situation, what is happening, and that both sides are totally manipulated. He then forces Alex to kill him, as choosing to die this way is total freedom from what is mastering the mythans.
  • Improperly Placed Firearms: In Prologue, 26th century’s US Army is still equiped with late 20th / early 21st century firearms.
  • Interspecies Romance:
    • Attemted in Prologue. According to Alex diary, he unsuccessfully tried to seduce a female Nomad named Naza during the previous months (before meeting Serene), who is hinted to be a waterkin (an humanoid looking like a blue-skinned elf).
    • Being able to romance a mythan NPC is one of the Incursion Namibia planned features.
  • Last Girl Wins: Cruelly subverted in Prologue. Alex describes in his diary some of his unsuccesful efforts to seduce his fellow Nomad Naza. Then he meets another Nomad named Serene, who becomes his girlfriend… and dies a couple of day later (see below).
  • Lensman Arms Race: The nuclear arm race of the 20th – 21th century is mentioned in Prologue, as a similar event (also about nuclear weapons) which happened between 2170 and 2231.
  • The Lost Lenore: Prologue Posthumous Character Serene. She is another Nomad who died in combat several weeks before the beginning of the mod, a few days after becoming Alex girlfriend.
  • Nonindicative Name: In the series chronology, Prologue is actually set after Incursion Namibia.
    • It is actually a prologue to another project set five centuries after Prologue and focused on the guy who dreamed the whole Prologue story.
  • Nuclear Option: The series backstory mentions that North Korea nuked Hawaii in 2012.
  • Only Six Faces: Averted. The modder put great efforts to give each NPC customized unique appearance and clothes if relevant (US military wear the same clothes, of course, but Texan militiamen are all dressed with different outfits).
  • Our Dragons Are Different: They fit the visual western type and serve as minibosses near the end of the campaign.
  • Our Elves Are D Ifferent: There are not much information about them, except that they are humanoid and fight on the same side that humans.
  • Schizo Tech: Nomads usually fight with medieval mêlée weapons. In a world relying on firearms.
  • Sequel Hook: At the end of Prologue, the responsible of the attack on the base managed to flee while remaining insuspected, as nobody believes Alex. There is also the sudden offer of promoting Alex as the leader of the group, which he hasn’t decided yet to accept of decline during the cutscene.
  • Shoot Out the Lock: Prologue Sidequest of opening tank warehouses have to way to be completing: by finding three one-use items designed to open the doors, or by shooting a magic missile right into the pad controlling the door opening. Note that the later method have fifty percent of definitively locking the warehouse, permanently stucking the tank inside.
  • Shout-Out:
  • Sidequest: Prologue features several, half of them providing reinforcements for the battle.
  • Stuff Blowing Up: Chief Paolo role in US Army. He seems to love his job.
  • Swiss-Army Weapon: The short sword Alex begins Prologue with is an edged weapon which also can shoot magic missiles. Alex nickames it Gunsword.
  • Tank Goodness: One of the Sidequests consists in finding a way to open the warehouses in which are stored three tanks. Completing it gives the US Army three very useful units.
  • Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: The Nomads have very bad relations with the US Army, despite having the common goal of fighting the mythans.
    • It doesn't seems to be proper with the United States of America. Prologue opening cutscene (which is set in a far future of the mod’s plot) shows a wounded Nomad being arrested by soldiers.
  • This Is a Work of Fiction: The Prologue manual begins with a subvertion of this trope:
    [DISCLAIMER]: THE VIEWS AND ACTIONS EXPRESSED IN THIS SERIES OF MODULES ARE SOLELY FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES. THIS IS A WORK OF FICTION AND SHOULD NOT BE TAKEN AS A REPRESENTATION OF THE AUTHOR'S POLITICAL VIEWS. THE MODULE AUTHOR DOES NOT ADVOCATE VIOLENCE AGAINST POLITICIANS, POLICE OFFICERS OR OTHER AUTHORITY FIGURES.
    SUCH WOULD BE A DEATHBLOW TO TO THE SPOKEN TRUTH, WHICH CAN ONLY BE EXPRESSED THROUGH THE VOICE OF AN OPPRESSED SPECIES AND NOT THROUGH THE BARREL OF A GUN. DO YOU NOT REALIZE YOU ARE BEING WATCHED THIS VERY MOMENT AS YOU READ EACH PIXEL OF THIS FILE THEY SUSPECT YOU NOW THERE IS NO LONGER
    ANYPLACEOFREFUGEYOUMUSTAWAKENTOTHETRUTHTHEYCONTROLYOUWAKEUPWAKEUPWAKEUpwakeupwakeup]]]]#————
  • Third-Person Shooter / First-Person Shooter: Prologue is the closest game to those genres that can be possibly built with Neverwinter Nights modding tools. Not only it features gunfights in a modern setting, but the modder strongly advices to play with a TPS-style camera (instead of the three-quarter from top default camera) and to install another unofficial mod which totally unlocks the game camera, even allowing to play in first-person view.
  • Timed Mission: Prologue mainquest. Since the beginning of the mythan assault of the base, Alex has two hours to cross the whole base and find his father.
    • Completing the sidequest of repairing the force field removes the time limit but prevent Alex to be rescued when falling in battle.
  • Too Dumb to Live: Chief Paolo. He stole some of his military explosives in order to use them for a firework show at the birthday party of a young cousin… during a Prologue dialog, he says that he can’t remember where he exactly hid them, because he was too drunk at this moment.
  • Urban Fantasy: It is a variant of our world, in which there are creatures like dragons or orcs. And magic exists, although it is described in a scientific wa
  • Uncanny Valley: In-Universe example. Near the end of Prologue, Alex mentions that the sight of powered on animatronic models stored near him is quite creepy.
  • Universal Ammunition: Prologue has a glitch in the way it uses the ammunitions system from d20 Modern Neverwinter Nights, which means that any ranged weapon can shoot absolutely any ammunition (shooting bullets with a bow, shotgun shells with an AK-47, 9mm bullets with a .44 caliber Desert Eagle, etc), the only limitation being the item type (base item arrow: pistol and bow; base item bolt: any longarm).
  • Yanks with Tanks
  • War Is Hell
  • "Well Done, Son" Guy: Alex Meda is the son of a famous Nomad hero (and leader of the Nomad "pride" in which Alex serves) and former UN Peacekeeper, who was often away because of work. Alex also resent to be usually kept by him far from actual fighting (which is understandable, as Alex is very young). Although Alex seems to love his father enough to break his orders and risk his life in order to search him in the whole Tier-Anoch base (looking for Vincent Meda is the main objective of Prologue).
  • Wide Open Sand Box: Incursion Namibia is planned to be one set in Africa and Chapter 1 would be one set in Boston.

Top