Falling Dark 2: Relapse - A dark adventure game with RPG elements

[FransisKransis]

Greetings. It's that time of the year again for me to share what I've been up to in AGS, so here goes. As an indirect sequel to my last release, Falling Dark, this game again features heavy RPG elements and combat that have been nicely blended into the usual 'Point and Click' puzzle solving. Also, if it wasn't obvious from the title, this game is not rated by the ESRB, but if it were, it would be a hard M due to a plethora of adult themes.

The box-blurb thing is thus:

"The year is 2000. The tech-driven corporate culture of America is working on never-before seen levels of production and influence. But while the cores of the city burn brighter than ever, threads continue to loosen at the seams.

Busy streets strain under the weight of a strong gubernatorial race, steeped in controversy. Displaced underground communities turn to violent fetishes, soaked in blood. And of all things, the trail of a serial killer hangs in the night air. The coverage of which never seems to leave the mouth of the 24 hour news cycle.

In the midst of all this, is Taylor. An ex-con, an occasional detective, a modern gunfighter, and a parent.

But Taylor is an analog soul, in an increasingly digital world..."


Falling Dark 2: Relapse is a point and click adventure game with RPG elements, featuring:

• Branching narrative paths based on choices and skills.
• A smooth blend of 'Point and Click' puzzle solving and combat.
• Dozens of hidden side-quests and encounters.
• And a rich original soundtrack, fusing metal and jazz.


So, if that sounds interesting to you, please do check it out.

Screenshots straight from the Itch.io page:






A link to the AGS page:
https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/2503-falling-dark-2-relapse/


And a link to the Itch page:
https://thinking-of-cremation.itch.io/falling-dark-2-relapse

Cheers,
Fransis <3

[lanchong]

I loved the first Falling Dark episode so I look forward to playing the sequel when I have a chance.

[FransisKransis]

I loved the first Falling Dark episode so I look forward to playing the sequel when I have a chance.

Awesome, I'm very interested to hear your thoughts. I tried to polish up a lot of the mechanics from the first game.

[Kastchey]

Off to a good start, 2021! I'm so looking forward to playing this.



("...and a parent" O_o unexpected  )

[FransisKransis]

Off to a good start, 2021! I'm so looking forward to playing this.

Haha, thanks Kastchey, cheers to gaming in the new year!

[lanchong]

I enjoy the game so far. I think I found a minor bug:

Spoiler

At the hotel, after I kill Christian and turn on ventilation, if I look at the breaker panel then Christian comes back with his axe.

[close]

[FransisKransis]

I enjoy the game so far. I think I found a minor bug:

Spoiler

At the hotel, after I kill Christian and turn on ventilation, if I look at the breaker panel then Christian comes back with his axe.

[close]

Found it and it's patched now! Thanks lanchong, let me know if you run into any other troubles.

[SCO]

I think there is a bug with cigarettes in this game. Last game, cigarettes were 1 off items and gave a permanent perception point for a permanent -max hp

This game they give temporary +2 perception for a permanent -max hp... but they are not 1 off, the dealer unlocked in chapter 1 has a unlimited supply. The +2 perception doesn't stack either. Even worse the description is the same as the original, which as far as I can tell is just wrong.

If a nerf was desired for unlimited supply, the description being correct and cigarettes giving a temporary -max hp would be more than enough because

1. the toxicity mechanic means you risk death anyway especially with a -hp item like these
2. losing current hp is a punishment in itself in hard levels because the items that can increase it also increase toxicity.

Resuming I think the description is wrong and I'd suggest making the max hp minus effect temporary too.

[SCO]

There is exploit to train toxicity in the 3rd floor first locked room of the brothel mission. The guy Ryker there can be revived with sufficient toxicity level, trouble is, the dialog repeats if you manage that, and that option trains toxicity. It's a training exploit (and you can end it when you're bored by the second option to steal his wallet or just leave with the 3rd.

Also, the "that's amazing" dialog when you exit the door after you cure Ryker starts happening on other doors of the floor when you exit, not sure if caused by exploit (save more than once) or not.

Also the journal doesn't work, shows nothing except chapter 1, but you can't even see anything there.

I'm unsure this is a bug, but the hotel location in chapter 2 never disappeared after completing the mission, might be that the photo roll i didn't develop yet is part of a submission there.

Btw in the brothel again, I read the email about the supposedly secret in the boss cabinet without killing the guys in that room (by taking the companion with me into the room) but when I tried to (lockpick) that cabinet I wasn't able to get the mentioned weapons just a gold ring, (the key is only pickupable from the corpse of the guy in that room I guess, but I do have a good lockpick so I'd think reading the email would be enough, maybe with a double unlock only available after reading the email to get to the "secret compartment".

If I'm not imagining things and the gold ring was the weapon mention (considering the woman is teasing him about his girlfriend maybe I am )

[FransisKransis]

SCO, I put some of my broad responses to your feedback, and my own thoughts on these games, in the Falling Dark 1 thread, so I'll keep this more concise here.

You're right about the effects of the cigarettes and the store description not matching. I just checked the code and the cigarettes in FD2 give you +2 Perception for 120 seconds, and permanent health loss. I suppose the joke there is that smoking is bad for you- but it should, as you point out, use the toxicity system completely to administer only temporary changes. That would be more correct balancing.

Not sure about the cause of the brothel glitches, in the code it looks as though the flags for the dialog should prevent things from repeating- but something could still be off. I'd need to play it myself to see.

The journal thing I do know about, because it was always buggy. However I believe if you click one of the arrows next to 'Chapter 1' in the journal, flipping to another page, it should call correctly and fix itself. Also when you switch pages it doesn't automatically update (like it should) you have to manually select from the drop down list to refresh the list of objectives.

According to the script, the film roll is not used in the haunted hotel, but instead at the

Spoiler

photo store.

[close]

I'm not sure why the hotel would still be there on the map, it should be flagged that once the haunting is sorted out, the map clears it.

As for the brothel computer, I'm more or less stumped. You're right that the computer mentions a weapon, but the cabinet contains pills, and a ring. I have no idea why. Oddly, there are four secret special weapons in FD2

Spoiler

(a bicycle chain, a fire axe, Melinko's shotgun, and an engraved revolver)

[close]

but none of them are tied to that quest. So, if I get around to patching these old games, it would definitely make sense to slap a nice weapon in there!

[SCO]

 I think both the hotel not locking and the email are intended now.

The hotel simply because you can only develop the film that shows the secret stash in the photo store, so you need to go out of the hotel to develop the film before you can interact with it, but as it is optional, you can "end" the hotel storyline before you open that secret door and if it closed, say by exiting the door after, or returning the key you wouldn't be able to. It seems the compromise was waiting until the chapter end.


The email in the brothel is about misleading the player - the email does mention weapons, but the reward is a ring and it mentions a crush, so the "weapon" is a joke about seducing the girl. It's slightly awkward, but nothing friends messing with each other wouldn't do.

I did realize that about the journal eventually.

These are good games, it's rare to see rpg adventure hybrids in ags (outside quite famous cases in ags like heroines quest, qfg2 remake and mage initiation), always happy to see more.

A question about the game, is it possible to pass the check to hug ... Lilian I think it is (the redhead) in the game? There are very few interactions with her before that dialog, only when she's discussing with Crow and that dialog itself (it happens after she slaps crow and Taylor can talk with every ally in a dialog choice), and I never managed. The check is "Relationship level too low" and I think it's the first of that kind (or maybe I just passed the ones that already happened with Crow and Emily from my choices).