Reality Layer Zero

Part-RPG, part-card game, part-Attorney-like Visual Novel, Reality Layer Zero places you at the center of a bizarre murder mystery where the only way to uncover the truth is to convince your adversaries to tell it to you-- by debating!

Wield Logos, Ethos, and Pathos in tandem with your strongest Ideals to unravel a city-spanning conspiracy tinged with occultism, paranoia, and secrets you were never meant to know.

***

Your grandfather has been accused of murder. You've been summoned by the city of Liere to testify in his defense. You must prove his innocence, or he will be executed.

Alas, you are an amateur. Your investigative prowess is nonexistent.

All hope is lost... if not for one small thing.

Shortly after arriving in the city, you acquired a strange ability that allows you to control others' minds by defeating them in a mental debate.

With this... You might be able to uncover the truth.

You have seven days.

***

Features

• Unique card-based debating system!

• From environmental textures to dialog portraits to lush fullscreen illustrations, every 2D asset in the game was created natively dot-by-dot as beautiful, crunchy pixel art!

• Consequential branching dialog! The tools you inherit and the outcomes of interwoven storylines are dependent on your choices!

• Time management, optional/missable clues, many different ways to pursue your investigation, and optional side-stories featuring a large supporting cast.

Command the three rhetorical modes-- Logos, Ethos, and Pathos-- to bring your arguments to resonance and influence the mind of your opponent.

Each argument has an associated cost represented by its premises, or the amount of points from each of the three rhetorical modes required to resonate (score) the argument.

On resonance, the argument's weight will be applied to your resonance meter. Fill this meter to deplete your opponent's willpower and, ultimately, defeat them.

A simple goal; yet not-so-easily met. Your opponent can manipulate the premises you control-- and, likewise, you theirs-- with rhetoric. Rhetoric has its own associated cost, and applies effects ranging from depleting premises directly (via critique), applying status effects to the opponent (via proposals), manipulating the Enthymeme (the unstated premises), and much more.

Striking a balance between resonating your own arguments and preventing your opponent from resonating theirs is the key to being a successful orator.

With use, arguments will ​level-up and become stronger. Leveling up may also unlock hidden effects, or inspire the development of new arguments.

Super-Intuitive Deckbuilding Interface

Customize your battery of arguments with ease. Select the cards that best match your playstyle, consider which resonance effects work well together, balance cost vs. weight, and then build a complementary rhetoric deck to maximize your arguments' potential.

In 7 days, your grandfather's sentence will be carried out, and he will be executed. You have 7 days to put a stop to this and save his life.

Each day is divided into two phases-- morning and afternoon. In each phase, you have a decision to make about how to spend your time. Do you spend it hunting for clues, building relationships with the locals, developing your arguments alone, or doing something else entirely? Each decision you make will impact reality around you and contribute to your grandfather's ultimate fate.

- Inherit New Ideals -

The citizens of Liere are notoriously tight-lipped and secretive-- but if you can find those that open up to you, the information they provide might bring you closer to the truth-- or, otherwise, may inspire the discovery of new arguments and rhetoric. Spend time with the right people, expand your inner world, and something good is bound to happen.

- Gather Evidence During Investigations -

Talk to witnesses and examine places of interest carefully for bits of information that might be rhetorically-significant later on. Be mindful while searching, though-- some evidence can be missed, which will make it difficult to find yourself in a position of advantage in the debates to come.

- Present Evidence In-Debate -

The evidence that you gather during your investigation can be presented to counteract your opponent's attempts to turn the tables.

- Photosensitivity Advisory -

Reality Layer Zero contains brief sequences of bright, flashing lights, up-to but not in excess of 3 Hz under normal circumstances. Please play in a well-lit room.