Pseudoregalia is a 3D Metroidvania Platform Game made by Indie Game developer rittzler, initially made for the Metroidvania Month 19 game jam (which it won), before being made into a full game that released on July 28, 2023.
In the world of dreams, Sybil, an anthropomorphic goat-bunny-cat lady, emerges from a mirror to find herself in the dungeons of the desolate Castle Sansa. With no other company besides various obstacles, enemies, and small goat butlers, she must find the princess of this castle if she has any hope of freeing those trapped within this dream.
The game jam demo version is available on Itch.io here
, while the full game is available on both Itch.io and Steam. The game's OST is also available on both Bandcamp and Steam.
This game contains examples of:
- Added Alliterative Appeal: A few locations have this, such as the Dilapidated Dungeon, the Listless Library, and the Twilight Theatre.
- Anti-Frustration Features:
- For those who may get distracted by Sybil's large exposed backside or simply don't want to see it, there's an accessibility option to "Give Sybil Pants", which adds Big Pants to the list of available attire for Sybil, which cover up her lower half.
- The Map Update added a map in the form of Memento, an upgrade found after leaving the Dilapidated Dungeon that lets you view a minimap of your current area at any time, helping to ease the struggle of losing one's way around the massive Castle Sansa.
- Also in the Map Update, the "Professional" Attire is now the reward for achieving a bronze time in the Castle Sansa time trial. If you already found it prior to the update, the attire remains unlocked and won't have to be reacquired.
- Messed up doing a time trial? You can head back to the crystal you started at and hit it again to stop and restart if you wish.
- If you happen to have lost your Dream Breaker throwing it around or having it knocked out of reach by an enemy, you can press the heal button when next to a crystal to recover it. Also, if you happen to throw it into a pit or a smoke floor, the Dream Breaker will reappear on nearby solid ground so you don't have to hurt yourself to get it.
- Ascended Glitch: Bunny-hopping after a slide-jump, an unintentional technique which lets Sybil keep the speed from the slide-jump, was later given a unique animation in the Map Update.
- Big Ol' Eyebrows: Sybil has an impressively thick pair of dark grey eyebrows.
- Blackout Basement: Some areas, such as the Underbelly and some sections of the Dilapidated Dungeon, are fairly dark and hard to see in. Fortunately, the Ascendant Light upgrade helps to brighten the place up.
- Carry a Big Stick: The Dream Breaker is a large cross-shaped club that's almost as big as Sybil herself, which she carries and swings like an oversized tonfa, and she can also throw it at enemies and use some of her magic energy to heal herself with it.
- Cartoon Creature: Sybil has traits from goats, cats, and rabbits that make her look extremely unique, compared to all the Butlers who look like tiny goat people.
- Charge Attack: The Strikebreak move lets Sybil stand in place to charge a stronger attack that can break down tougher walls. The Soul Cutter upgrade further enhances this attack with a long-range projectile in exchange for some magic energy.
- Color Motif: Sybil's outfit has a black/white/gold color motif, with most of her other attire not straying far from those three colors. Some moves also cause her to trail gold afterimages.
- Costume Evolution: Sybil starts the game wearing the Basic Vest attire, but finding the Sun Greaves and the Cling Gem automatically equips their respective attire, though the Cling Sleeve attire is treated as a variant of the Sun Greaves attire; there currently is no version with just the black sleeve and gem.
- Critical Existence Failure: Played straight nearly everywhere... except for one instance. Sybil can sit in chairs to steadily regain health without having to spend magic. The way she sits in chairs matches her health state - if she's got at least 3 health segments, she leans back and crosses one leg over the other in a relaxed fashion. Any lower, and she'll have both feet on the ground while she leans forward in an exhausted slouch.
- Developer's Foresight: The Sun Greaves are meant to be acquired before the Cling Gem (as the latter upgrade's corresponding attire is a variant of the former's), and both upgrades' attire are normally equipped automatically. If you somehow manage to obtain the Cling Gem before the Sun Greaves, its attire won't be automatically equipped, so that Sybil isn't wearing greaves she hasn't found yet.
- Double Jump: The Ascendant Light upgrade, besides letting the Dream Breaker light up dark areas, also lets Sybil perform a variant of this, letting her bounce off enemies or objects she hits for as many times as there's something to smack.
- Dream Land: Castle Sansa is one according to the game's description, though it's hard to tell in the game itself, and appears to be collapsing. Sybil's job here seems to be causing a Dream Apocalypse, but it's also hard to tell.
- Dream Walker: Sybil seems to be one of these, and the voice at the end implies this isn't the first or last time she's done this sort of thing.
- Furry Reminder: One goat butler near a save crystal remarks that he has the urge to lick it for any minerals it may contain, referencing how mountain goats lick up salt found in cliff faces.
- Gainax Ending: After defeating the Princess, the screen fades to white before an unidentified voice begins talking to Sybil, commenting on how the Princess had changed since they knew her, and musing about finding a purpose in the real world, before thanking Sybil for her efforts and promising not to forget her. Cue credits.
- Ground Pound: The Sunsetter technique lets Sybil do this by plunging her Dream Breaker down into the ground. She can jump upon hitting the ground for more height than what side-flips and backflips give, and also cancel out of the plunge with a backflip, which is useful for getting onto ledges after wall-jumping off the wall underneath.
- Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Sybil wears a vest and bracelets, but by default she only has anklets which end up leaving her legs, backside, and pelvis bare. There is an option to enable pants for her if you'd prefer her to be covered up, and most of the unlockable outfits also add pants to her outfit.
- Hartman Hips: Sybil has an incredibly broad set of hips that exceed her shoulders, and long stout legs that are larger than the rest of her body.
- Heart Container: Life-up pieces, which look like yellow encircled down-chevrons, can be found around the castle to increase Sybil's maximum health by one unit for every three found. There are also three Clear Mind aspects that do the same for her maximum magic after finding all three.
- Heroic Mime: The only dialogue of Sybil's that the player is privy to comes when you examine the mirror she arrived through, remarking that she hopes she isn't too late. Meanwhile, some goats will respond as if she were speaking to them, and the voice in the ending appears to be actively conversing with her, wherein she at least provides her name. The narration when examining certain objects and reading books in the Listless Library does give some insight into her personality, though.
- Hidden Mechanic: There are a few moves Sybil can perform that the game doesn't tell you about, such as:
- Although Sybil will automatically target the nearest enemy when attacking, there's also a Camera Lock-On (activated by holding RB/Right Click) that can further assist in fighting foes, especially the tougher ones. The Map Update added a optional toggle that lets it re-center the camera if no valid targets are nearby.
- Sybil can throw the Dream Breaker in front of her with LB/Tab. If you then use the Sun Greaves to kick it in midair, it'll home in on the nearest enemy and deal much more damage.
- After obtaining the Solar Wind upgrade, if you side-flip right when you land from a slide-jump, Sybil will perform an extra-high jump that eclipses any of the other leaps she can otherwise perform in verticality (successful execution of which is indicated by gold afterimages and an audio cue). Bunny-hopping after a slide-jump also lets you retain your gained speed.
- Jump Physics: Sybil can jump higher than her own body height as a matter of course. She can also long jump after sliding barely an inch, slam herself into the ground to do a high jump, stop her momentum midair to do a Ground Pound, and jump after kicking off of a wall. Also, suddenly turning around and leaping gives her an impressive jump height even without any powers, and she can also backflip in midair.
- Knockback Evasion: The Aerial Finesse aspect lets Sybil regain her footing after being knocked down by pressing the jump button while in the animation.
- Le Parkour: As the game is relatively light on combat, most of it centers around Sybil's platforming athletics as she traverses the castle.
- Minimalist Cast: The only characters of note are Sybil herself, the various butlers found around the world, and the final boss, as well as the voice in the game's ending. Even then, Sybil is a Heroic Mime, making the cast feel a bit smaller.
- Missing Secret: There are a total of ten abilities to find in the game, but the pause menu has enough space to fit twelve. An eleventh ability for checking the map was later added in an update, but it is not included within the menu.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: Sybil is seemingly this, as while she seems to look like a standard anthro goat of some kind thanks to her horns, closer inspection reveals she has a decidedly un-goat-like long tail behind her, and her eyes have normal pupils. She also has rabbit-like ears on her head, further muddling what she is exactly. Although her rabbit-like ears and antler-like horns could lead to the possibility she might be a jackalope. Even the voice at the end of the game isn't quite sure what she is.
- Ominous Visual Glitch: The name of Distorted Memory is stylized in game as "D S T RT ED M M O Y" as if even the title itself is decaying.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: One of the goat butlers in the Dilapidated Dungeon mentions that Sybil has disguised herself—badly, but enough to fool other goats who aren't as smart as he is. It's unclear if he's talking about her outfit (which is visually similar to the ones worn by the other goats) or her goat-like appearance.
- Plot Coupon: The five gold Major Keys, which are needed to open the way to the Final Boss.
- Retraux: The game has a blocky, low-poly aesthetic with intentionally choppy animation (which can be disabled to make it smoother) that wouldn't look out of place in a Nintendo 64 game. It even emulates that system's distinct 3-point texture filtering, adding to the aesthetic.
- Save Point: Large blue crystals serve this purpose, saving your game and setting a checkpoint that you can return to manually or after dying upon striking it. If you happen to have lost your Dream Breaker throwing it around or having it knocked out of reach by an enemy, you can also press the heal button when next to a crystal to recover it.
- Sequel Hook: Besides the voice in the game's ending remarking that Sybil likely has other people she needs to help, one book on aquatic life in the Listless Library has the narration note that Sybil would like to see the ocean one day, ending with "Maybe next time."
- Statuesque Stunner: Sybil is not only curvy, but also noticeably taller than your average Platform Game protagonist (not to mention how she towers over the goat butlers).
- Theme Naming: Some of the moves and upgrades Sybil obtains throughout the game have a sun/light theme to them.
- Third-Person Seductress: Sybil has a very curvy form with long legs. Other outfits accentuate her form, and only a few cover up her shapely backside (which is emphasized with her Supermodel Strut).
- Time Trial: These were added in the Map Update with one for each area, marked with a magenta crystal hidden somewhere. Hitting it starts a timer and tasks you with collecting blue orbs, either in a certain order or in any order. The rewards for achieving at least a bronze time on these are various new Attire for Sybil to wear.
- Video Game Sliding: The Slide move lets Sybil slide along the ground, gaining a boost of speed and allowing her to squeeze under low walls and dodge attacks. The Solar Wind upgrade gives her the ability to perform a long-distance jump out of the slide.
- Virtual Paper Doll: There is a selection of various Attire that Sybil can change between at any time after unlocking them, with more planned to be added in the future:
- "Basic Vest": A black vest and white capelet, with gold bracelets and white anklets. Sybil starts the game wearing this attire.
- "Big Pants": A variant of the Basic Vest attire that includes baggy black/gold pants. Unlocked by enabling the "Give Sybil Pants" toggle in the accessibility options.
- "Sun Greaves": A variant of the Basic Vest attire that includes golden greaves over Sybil's legs. Unlocked by finding the Sun Greaves upgrade.
- "Cling Sleeve": A variant of the Sun Greaves attire that includes a black sleeve over Sybil's left arm with a blue gem over the back of her hand. Unlocked by finding the Cling Gem upgrade.
- "Sol Sister": A stylized nun's habit. Awarded for achieving a bronze time in the Dilapidated Dungeon time trial.
- "Professional": A black full-body unitard with a Cleavage Window and white bolero jacket with gold cuffs, with black fingerless gloves. Formerly found behind a locked door in Castle Sansa, as of the Map Update it is now awarded for achieving a bronze time in the Castle Sansa time trial.
- "Guardian": A white leotard with a red scarf, black gloves and boots with gold accents, and a gold headdress and pauldrons. Awarded for achieving a bronze time in the Sansa Keep time trial.
- "Sleepytime": A large white sweater with black thigh socks, one scrunched down to the ankle and the other pulled up all the way. Awarded for achieving a bronze time in the Listless Library time trial.
- "Soldier": A gold suit of armor over a white dress. Awarded for achieving a bronze time in the Empty Bailey time trial.
- "XIX": Sybil's game jam design. Awarded for achieving a bronze time in the Underbelly time trial.
- "Classy": A white backless sweater-vest and baggy black pants with gold accents. Awarded for achieving a bronze time in the Twilight Theater time trial.
- "Bleeding Heart": A purple dress with gold accents, purple armwarmers and gold legwarmers over purple thigh-socks, adorned with yellow flowers, and a yellow flower crown. Awarded for achieving a bronze time in the Tower Ruins time trial.
- Visual Pun: The animation that plays after chaining multiple back-to-back slide jumps happens to look a lot like a rabbit jumping around. This movement technique (jumping repeatedly to preserve momentum) is usually called "bunnyhopping" in older games.
- Wall Jump: The Sun Greaves allow Sybil to kick in midair, which slightly extends her air time but is primarily used for this purpose, as kicking into a wall or object will cause Sybil to jump off in the opposite direction, which can be done up to three times in a row (four times with the Heliacal Power aspect).
- Wall Run: The Cling Gem upgrade lets Sybil slide along a wall and around corners up to six times in a row, which she can then wall-jump out of.
