Soma Union is an RPG Maker VX Ace game developed by Torch 60 in 2021.
100 years after the true ending of Soma Spirits, a mysterious light appears in the sky and shatters the planet of Soma. While there are many survivors on the fragments of Soma, several are crew members of Starship Virtue, a ship dedicated to finding the pieces of Soma and restoring the planet. The protagonist, Zero, is a spirit with no idea what aspect of life or emotion they're supposed to represent, but maybe doing reconaissance for the Virtue will help them find their purpose.
Teaming up with the perpetually happy Reca, the sour Doctor Lumen, the small Dockington, and a strange light who resides in their dreams, Zero is tasked by Captain Guidance to explore the fragments of Soma and discover a way to put it back together. Along their way, they discover that the key lies in four orbs scattered on each fragment. But collecting them will not be easy, for the mysterious individual known as Professor M does not want Zero to succeed in the mission, and sends his minions to find the orbs for his own sinister purposes. This begins the race to find the orbs and decide the fate of Soma.
The sequel changes things up from the first game — instead of Dual-World Gameplay that determines which abilities each party member can use, now each member can switch between attack and support abilities more-or-less freely. In addition, you also gain access to Star abilities, which need slowly-generated Star Points to be used. Story-wise, there are no longer multiple story paths like in the first game, but instead a single path leading to two endings, with slight variations depending on whether you collect Orbs of Destiny or Orbs of Freedom. This all works to create a very different experience from the first game, essentially blending the gameplay of the original with that of Brave Hero Yuusha.
Can be downloaded from Itch.io
, RPGMaker.net, or Steam.
This game contains examples of:
- Big Bad: Professor M is trying to stop Zero from putting the prices of the planet Soma back together, and sends his three minions to seize the four orbs that hold the key to repairing Soma. He is revealed to be Mason from the previous game, who is trying to stop the return of Absolution and needs Zero to contain the orbs which hold the entity — however, he is superseded by Absolution itself, who shattered Soma in the first place and has been using Captain Guidance/Zeta to manipulate the heroes into restoring it and aims to return the world to nothingness.
- Boss Rush: The final area has several rooms where you can fight powered-up versions of most of the game's normal bosses (excluding the Sol Project creations and Lampy Larry) in exchange for the best weapons, armor, and items if you win.
- Cool Starship: The Starship Virtue is the protagonists' main base of operations and is also star-shaped, with a dome in the middle containing an artificial garden.
- Difficulty Levels: There are four difficulty levels: Story, Easy, Normal, and Hard. However, the difficulty level is ignored for the final Optional Boss, the Copier.
- Earth-Shattering Kaboom: Unlike the previous game, where Soma and its people were simply split into Joy and Sorrow halves, this game has Soma being blown to pieces. Strangely, each piece is still capable of sustaining life. This is because Bright took control of Zero's body to interrupt Zeta and Absolution's attempt to destroy Soma. If he didn't try to stop them, Zeta and Absolution would have completely destroyed all life on Soma in addition to destroying the planet itself.
- Endgame+: Unlike the predecessor which had New Game Plus, this game drops you back at just before the final boss and unlocks several extra bosses. However, beating the final boss on a clear save will simply send the player back to the title screen, since there is nothing to be gained from winning again.
- Foreshadowing:
- In the flashback, Bright is friends with Rozen, a cheerful boy who tends not to think of the consequences, and Silvio, a snarky boy who prioritizes rationality. This gives Rozen and Silvio a similar dynamic to Heart and Soul from Soma Spirits. They turn out to be the original human incarnations of Heart and Soul.
- In the Lurid Laboratory, one of the screens shows all the spirits of the Virtue, except for Captain Guidance, all numbered Epsilon 1 to 4. When Zero finds the stasis tubes used by the spirit replicas, the ones labeled Epsilon also only go up to 4. This is an indication that Guidance is one of the prototypes for containing Absolution.
- Happy Ending Override: Despite all of Heart and Soul's efforts to save Soma in the previous game, this game has Soma destroyed and scattered across space. It's revealed that while they defeated Form and Dissonance's Absolution form, that was only a portion of the real Absolution, whose completion caused the current crisis. And the ending stays overridden no matter which ending you pick, as either Soma is repaired but Absolution will still be out there, ready to strike again, or Absolution is permanently destroyed but so is any chance of repairing Soma.
- Harder Than Hard: Vicious Mode not only increases enemy stats beyond Hard Mode, it also gives enemies new skills and ailments.
- Justified Save Point: Dockington serves the same purpose as Hickory and Dockery in saving the player's game by asking Zero about the events that transpired. Unlike his predecessors, he only appears in specific maps, meaning the player can't just save anywhere.
- Mercy Mode: If the player fails a stealth room in the Lurid Laboratory too many times, they'll get the option to make that room easier.
- Metal Slime:
- The Prince Oozie is a rare enemy that is tanky and drops a lot of EXP and money. In a twist, it doesn't run away unless the player uses Inspect on it, with the scan message warning the player about this trap.
- The Oozie Lord is another rare enemy with good rewards, but it's more likely to run away than the Prince Oozie, even if the player doesn't use Inspect.
- Multiple Endings: There are two endings, with some variations depending on the types of orbs chosen. This is dependent upon a choice made after the Final Boss.
- In the first choice, the party chooses to use the fragments of Absolution to reassemble Soma, but do so knowing they risk Absolution returning to attempt to destroy the world again.
- In the second choice, the party destroys Absolution permanently, but forgoes their only chance of restoring Soma. As a result, Starship Virtue continues to travel the cosmos looking for a new home.
- New Game Plus: The game was eventually updated to include the ability to restart the game with the party's stats and equipment. However, Sigils won't be included. This also includes the option to start Vicious Mode, which makes the game harder and doesn't allow anything to be carried over.
- Once More, with Clarity: A rare example that shows a flashback from the previous installment. The first game opens with a flashback showing Form and Dissonance about to fight the tyrannical Sun King, who arrogantly declares himself ruler of all Soma and a god, to free Soma from his tyranny. The second game shows what happened up to that point, where we see that the Sun King Bright was actually a Nice Guy in over his head while Form and Dissonance were the aggressors who pit people against each other, and had just killed Bright's two best friends — who were children — so they could steal the power of Absolution for themselves. Bright fought them to stop their evil. When the scene happens again, it becomes clear who the real hero and villains were in that scenario.
- Only Cares About Inheritance: A diary left by the Great Spirit Form explains that she took care of her parents all her life expecting to get the inheritance to their manor in turn, and was enraged when they made her split it with her brother Dissonance, who left the family behind to travel the world, because she wanted it all to herself. This is a major part of what drove her to create a world of happiness where everyone has to rely on her."After months of ridiculous formalities, we have finally settled our parents' estate. It is absolutely despicable that they would try to leave half of the manor to my brother! After he left our family for YEARS to learn the art of swordplay like a rogue! Do they not care for their sweet and perfect princess?! The one who stayed here to take care of them while he traveled the world as if his whole life was an adventure?! It's unfair! COMPLETELY unfair!"
- Our Spirits Are Different: Unlike the previous game, which only has two spirits of emotion, this game has more spirits, and each one represents different concepts. These can be emotions or more mundane things like pointy hats. However, Zero has no idea what emotion or concept they represent. All spirits are actually created by using Absolution's power to infuse life. The Sun King created Heart and Soul from the souls of his deceased friends while Professor M infused life into several robot and cyborg bodies.
- Oxygen Meter: In the Ripple Railway, there are some sections of the subway that are submerged in water. When traveling through these maps, the party has a limited amount of time they can hold their breath. Running into bubbles from pipes will refill the oxygen gauge and allow them to make it to the other side of these maps.
- Sadistic Choice: The ending is determined by a choice at the end of the game, but both outcomes are bittersweet. The party can either use Absolution's power to restore Soma but risk Absolution coming back to destroy them, or they can destroy Absolution permanently but lose their chance to restore Soma.
- Skill Slot System: Spirit abilities are now equipable, but there's only one of each ability, meaning the player has to figure out which ability works best with each character.
- Superboss: The game lets the player save after they beat the game once, allowing them to fight the Sunset Squad, the Cooler Crusader, and the library's copy machine, all of which are rated for a higher level than the Final Boss.
- Stance System: All playable characters can switch between Power and Support roles. The former gives them offensive skills while the latter gives them healing and buffing skills. They can change their role in battle, but if they end the turn in a different role from what they started the turn in, a cooldown will be placed on their role changing command.
- Status Buff: Magic Amp can be applied to a character to give them access to stronger and more MP intensive spells, and this can be stacked twice. Characters can use Amp Charge to convert their Magic Amp into standard offensive buffs. However, enemies can still cast standard buffs without going through these extra steps.
- Turns Red: The Snow Lump enemy starts out weak and predictably weak to fire, but at less than half HP, they'll literally turn red and become much stronger. They also become resistant to fire and weak to ice.
