"You don't look like the next Firestar."
—Badgerpaw
"Make your own choices. Live the consequences."
Warriors: The Road to Immortality is an upcoming Warrior Cats fan game created in RPG Maker by Faithful monk
/Leonard.
Generations have passed since the time of Firestar, and while many things have changed for the Clans around the lake, just as many have stayed the same. The game follows a young cat who joins ThunderClan hoping to become strong enough to defeat a group of cats that have been terrorizing them and their friends in the Twolegplace. However, not all is right in the Clans. Tensions are high, and mysterious cats are conspiring to bring a dark fate to the cats around the lake.
The game is based around choice, with the player's choices having an impact on their relationships with the other characters and how the story unfolds. In the end, the young cat may become a legend, or might be forgotten by all.
The official website can be found here. The demo can be downloaded here. (Mirror here.)
This game contains examples of:
- Big Bad: The main villain, at least initially, appears to be Splashstar, a RiverClan leader who has decided to purge the Clans of any cat she deems impure. However, there's foreshadowing that she's only a Disc-One Final Boss, and the real villain is the "Starry Guard" seen talking with Finchstar in the opening scene.
- Big Damn Heroes: During the storm, when the protagonist is outnumbered by the rogues, Kestrelpaw, Duskpaw, and Badgerpaw suddenly appear out of nowhere to provide backup.
- Character Customization: As of the Act 1 release, the player can choose between a variety of pelts, eye colors, additional accessories, etc. They can select any prefix they like, and certain prefixes will even unlock bonus dialogue. (For example, choosing "Lion" will make other characters wonder if you are the lion from the prophecy, "Dawn" will Duskpaw and Willowstep talk about Dawnkit, as well as others.
- The player is able to select which moves the protagonist learns. As well, more options open up based on your choices. (For example, training enough with Blackheart will let you learn a move that restores HP.)
- Character Name Limits: 12 characters are the limit.
- Guide Dang It!: Becoming Blackheart's apprentice is extremely difficult, and almost impossible to do by accident. You need to take lessons from him on herbs in all your free time, be on good terms with multiple cats, be an industrious worker, have good morals, pass a hard and randomized test, and to top it off, not complete a quest ("Legends Comes to Life") or he'll take Badgerpaw instead of you.
- Heroic Second Wind: During the thicket scene, if Duskpaw is knocked out in the battle with the fox, he'll get back up and declare that he's not going down before it. He can only do it once, though. If you deny Duskpaw's dream and fulfill other criteria then he'll get a move that resurrects everybody, taking it up to eleven.
- Legend Fades to Myth: The Clans have completed jumbled up the stories of Firestar's time, as you can find out by listening to the Elders' Tales about Firestar, the Great Journey, and the Three. Here's a little taste of their rendition of events: Tigerstar was named Maplefrost, Tawnypelt was the daughter of Scourge and Bramblestar's mate, and Jayfeather had the power to control animals, which he used to end the drought.
- Multiple Endings: There are multiple ways to play the game, each which slightly changes the story.
- When fighting the fox near the thicket there are three distinct endings. If you send your protagonist back to camp, you get the bad ending and Kestrelpaw dies, Badgerpaw goes into shock, and Nettlepaw hates your guts. If you fight the fox and manage to escape, you get the good ending and no one dies. If you fight the fox and win somehow, then you get the great ending and Nettlepaw gets her warrior name early.
- Likewise, when returning from your first patrol across the territory, Nightkit asks you what your favorite spot in all the territory was. Depending on your answer, Nightkit has a chance of dying, especially if you say the Cave is the best spot in the territory. Eaglekit as well if you flee the rogues or don't find her in time.
- Break the rules and disrespect the Clan enough, and you'll get a Non-Standard Game Over where Briarstar kicks you out of ThunderClan. That has separate sub-endings as well, cats will say different things about you depending on your relationships with them.
- You can also unlock an endings where you or Badgerpaw become a medicine cat instead of a warrior. Badgerpaw won't be happy with you if you become a medicine cat, though.
- ShadowClan's aggression also has different endings-ranging from peace to outright war.
- Non-Standard Game Over: If the protagonist breaks the warrior code and disrespects the Clan enough, then Briarstar will toss him/her out of the Clan, ending the game.
- Optional Boss:
- During the storm, you can skip fighting the rogues who have Eaglekit, by letting the timer run out, or by going back and giving up the search. However, this results in Eaglekit being taken away.
- During the thicket meeting, you can skip fighting the fox by sending the protagonist back to camp. However, if you do this, Kestrelpaw is killed by it, Badgerpaw becomes disillusioned with Clan life and Nettlepaw hates you.
- Schmuck Bait: If you want, you can try to fight the Brute, or an entire ShadowClan patrol, or a WindClan one. Go ahead, try it. See where it gets you.
- Run, Don't Walk: The player's movement is set to "run" by default, and you have to press SHIFT to walk.
- Video Game Cruelty Potential: In the demo, you can insult your denmates, break promises you made to your friends, and beat up a sickly cat. You can also steal herbs from ShadowClan, although that isn't "cruelty" so much as it is "likely to start a war" though they aren't likely to notice early on because they are already trying to start a war over Spidershade's death.
- Videogame Cruelty Punishment: Disrespect the Clan enough and Briarstar will throw you out. Also, if you're unkind to Kestrelpaw, Nettlepaw will despise you.
- Wake-Up Call Boss: The battle during the storm, against the rogues who abducted Eaglekit is where the game starts requiring players to figure out their own strategies in order to win.
