Pokémon Ethereal Gates is an RPG Maker game by Perihelion Productions. This game exclusively features original fan-made Pokémon and characters.
The game's demo released in August 2015 and is downloadable here
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This game contains examples of:
- Badass in a Nice Suit: Baytwee and its evolution Tuxalon are some well-dressed birds.
- Childhood Friends: The protagonist (Cooper or Sophie) alongside April and August, forming a Power Trio.
- Dumb Jock: Played with. August doesn't have the best grades in school, but has a good head on his shoulders nonetheless. In fact, looking at the computer in his room shows an open Wikipedia page. This indicates he's more inwardly studious than his outward academic disdain would indicate.
- #EngineeredHashtag: #SaveThePolbee!
- The Fair Folk: Jinkai is a Ghost/Fairy-type who abducts a girl from her home.
- Flower Motifs: Apalis Town is filled with sunflowers. The same sunflowers adorn the game's title screen.
- Game-Breaking Bug: The demo's original release had a bugged item in the Auklet Lighthouse that would cause the game to freeze and crash if interacted with. Ironically, said item was a Paralyze Heal.
- Genki Girl: April is very excitable, especially when it comes to Pokémon research or Professor Hawthorne.
- Good-Guy Bar: Longspur City's bar is where you first find Regina after discovering she's not at her Gym. You can buy a drink from the bartender...but he'll only sell you soft drinks, since you're a kid.
- Hell Is That Noise: Auklet Library's theme is filled with creaking wooden floors and distorted whispers.
- Hidden Depths: Both your rivals have them, if the player goes out of their way a little to look.
- Academically-minded April has an artistic side. Looking in the trash can in her room shows discarded drawings that are remarked as quite good.
- August spends most of his time in the game's opening moments lamenting being dragged into being Professor Hawthorne's surveyors by April. He only makes a positive turn when he learns gaining a Pokemon is part of the deal. August's also implied to be a multi-trophy-winning star athlete of his town, and his character description notes he gets bad grades. Yet when you look at the computer screen in his room, you see he left an open Wikipedia page. This shows he's actually more intellectually inclined than he may outwardly indicate.
- Long Song, Short Scene: A rather lovely, relaxing theme plays in the gates between towns and routes...which you probably run straight through.
- Missing Child: A little girl goes missing just before you arrive at Auklet Town.
- Ominous Fog: Auklet Town is filled with fog and, sure enough, something less than pleasant occurs during your visit.
- Permanently Missable Content: You'd better hope you don't accidentally beat that Jinkai...
- Retraux: The official soundtrack has 8-bit versions of "Apalis Town" and "Battle! Gym Leader".
- Schrödinger's Player Character: In true Pokémon fashion, whichever gender protagonist you don't pick doesn't appear in the game.
- Suspiciously Specific Denial: The shortage of Polbee hives and honey is definitely not caused by Hunber, thank you very much. Grizlomb, on the other hand...
