Rising Dusk is an "anti-coin collection" Puzzle Platformer created by Studio Stobie. After a successful Kickstarter campaign
, it released on July 26th, 2018.
When the sun sets, the mysterious realm of the Yōkai appears. A young girl, Tamako, accidentally wanders into this world and must make her way to the mysterious mountain peak that wasn't there before to return.
The main feature of the game is its focus on "anti-coin collecting." Depending on how many coins you have, numbered blocks and other parts of the environment change, either breaking when Tamako touches them, becoming solid, or something else. Complicating things are all the yokai creatures that you need to either avoid or manipulate in order to reach each stage's goal.
The game is available on Steam and Itch.io.
Tropes:
- Advancing Wall of Doom: The Funa Yurei in Ryuto Pier function as one for the stage, although they only show up at certain points rather than following Tamako through the whole level.
- Always Night: Variation. The realm of the yokai always has a twilit sky.
- And Your Reward Is Clothes: Reaching the end of the Kin-Neko-Ji Temple changes Tamako into a Miko outfit.
- Auto-Scrolling Level: Sukui Falls is one of the upwards variety, with Tamako riding on the enormous hands of a Tearai Oni to ascend to the top of the falls and take on the giant yokai.
- Bottomless Pits: Many stages have these, such as Chochin Cave, Giri Giri Pass, and Daitengu Mountain.
- Checkpoint: These appear as small statues that gain a red cape and hat when touched. Reaching them will save the number of coins Tamako is carrying with her and allow her to restart her progress in a stage.
- Collection Sidequest:
- Each normal stage features three Maneki Neko statues and one cassette tape. The former unlock secret levels (though you only need 50 out of 60 total), while the latter unlock the soundtrack at Club Futakuchi.
- Yokai Remains, obtained when defeating a boss.
- Death Is a Slap on the Wrist: Dying at any point in a stage has no serious consequences on Tamako and simply forces the player to start from the beginning or the last checkpoint they activated. If Tamako collected a Maneki Neko or a cassette tape before dying, the player doesn't need to try and collect it again. However, dying does reset the number of coins Tamako is carrying to what she had when she reached her last checkpoint.
- Dem Bones: Odokuro, the final boss.
- Fetch Quest: Getting the Maneki Neko and tape in Hyakki Yagyo Square requires finding special items throughout the game and returning them to the NPCs living there.
- Giant Foot of Stomping: The Ashiarai Yashiki boss at Ashigawa Sento and Haikyo House.
- Joke Item: The Neko Pepper in Tesso's shop changes the sound effect for collecting a Maneki Neko from a stately gong to a masculine sounding meow.
- Lethal Lava Land: Kotengu Mountain is full of lava geysers with stone platforms on them that can rocket Tamako through the air, as well as fatal pools of lava she has to jump over.
- Living Shadow: In Kage Village, Tamako's shadow comes to life and has its own ongoing stage behind her as she progresses through the stage, with the shadow's stage impacting Tamako's stage.
- The Lost Woods: Several stages, such as Kappa Bashi Forest, Kasa Kasa Grove, and Jinmenju Woods.
- Maneki Neko: Tamako can collect these in every stage as part of the game's Collection Sidequests. Most stages have about three of them.
- Miko: Bakeneko-chan, who oversees the Kin-Neko-Ji Temple. Also Tamako gets Miko robes if she completes all the temple challenges.
- Rain of Something Unusual: In Kasa Kasa Grove, coins rain down from the sky, which makes keeping Tamako's coin count down trickier. Fortunately, a friendly Karakasa can help make things easier.
- Retraux: The game has 16-bit visuals that look like they came straight out of the 1990s.
- Secret Level: The ten stages of Kin-Neko-Ji Temple, unlocked by collecting Maneki Neko statues.
- Shout-Out: Gaijin Goombah can be seen wandering around Hyakki Yagyo Square.
- Temporary Platform: Jinmenju fruits are of the crumbling variety.
- Trapped in Another World: The game's Excuse Plot is that Tamako has become trapped in the realm of the yokai after wandering into their world by accident.
- Yōkai: The inhabitants of the world Tamako is stuck in.
- Bakeneko and Nekomata: Bakeneko-chan, the Miko who runs Kin-Neko-Ji Temple is one of these.
- Futakuchi-onna: She runs Club Futakuchi, where you can just hang out and listen to the game's soundtracks from collected cassettes.
- Gashadokuro: The final boss is one.
- Kappa: They're capable of pushing anything pushable they come across. Tamako can also jump on their heads to change which direction they're facing.
- Karakasa: He'll follow you around Kasa Kasa Grove, protecting you from raining coins.
- Nuppeppō: You can steal his map of Haikyo House from him if you need help with navigating the level's numerous rooms.
- Nurikabe: They take the form of numbered Nurikabe blocks. If you have the number of coins printed on them, they start to worry... because another yokai touching them will cause them to disappear. Tamako can touch them with no effect regardless of how many coins she has.
- Nyuudo: They serve as the game's basic foes. Come in two types - ones in blue that push Tamako when she walks up to them, and ones in black that send her flying with a single punch.
- Oni: Find them and hop on their foot to reveal secret pathways in the game's map.
- Rokurokubi: Yuu, the farmer living in Hyakki Yagyo Square, is one of these. He asks Tamako to retrieve his farming equipment after you get his head unstuck from the ceiling.
- Tanuki: They'll shy away if you're broke, but if you have at least one coin, they'll take chase and try to steal it from you.
- Tengu: None physically appear, but the giant switches that serve as obstacles in some levels are built in their image. Additionally, two stages are Kotengu and Daitengu Mountain (after the two types of Tengu).
- Umibozu: At Nori Nori Beach, Tamako rides on their heads to traverse the level.
- Wanyuudou: The boss at Kubinashi Station is one.
