Zera: Myths Awaken

[brilokuloj]

Index

tba

Links

Zera: Myths Awaken on itch.io

[brilokuloj]

Prologue

You might happen to know that I have an intense fixation on the beloved PlayStation mascot trilogy Spyro the Dragon.

So much so that I’ve marathoned it multiple times. And that I’ve been working on a fangame since 2012. And that I listen to the music every day and… OK, you get the idea.

I used to really be into the Spyro fangame scene, too. I’ve watched dozens of videos of mediocre Unreal Engine hubworld recreations. One of my favorites was Spyro: Myths Awaken, a wonderful take on a ‘Spyro 4’ with design sensibilities that mirrored Spyro 2, my favorite game in the series.

Or… it was my favorite until Activision sent a Cease & Desist.

BUT THEN IT GOT COOLER!

The excitement I felt over this hot pink bitch named Zera was unreal. I drew fanart only two days after the announcement – I may have been one of the first to draw fanart, for all I know. The game was changed. No longer would this be a Spyro fangame held under the lens of Spyro-ness, it would be its own wonderful self. It really didn’t help my manic enthusiasm that the protagonist is a weird-looking girl. AND my own Spyro fangame project also stars a bat hybrid (I guess I’ll just have to hope that people will take my word for it that I’ve had my character for longer, and not accuse me of stealing or something mean).

Zera: Myths Awaken is now 5 years old, and I have loved it every step of the way. Even now, as Cyreides moves on to other projects and makes it clear that Zera is on a “when I feel like it” basis, I adore it. And now I’m finally playing it!

(You may wonder: wait, it’s had published demos for years, why the hell haven’t I played it yet? Well, you see, depression

[brilokuloj]

Cosmic Core

Welcome to our hubworld, “Cosmic Core”. From what I’ve read, this will be the only hubworld, but it will expand outwards the further you get in the game. I wish I could remember where I read that! As it is, I’m just talking out my ass!

And here’s Zera. She’s come pretty far since that first video, huh? She now comes with a cute little companion, Kiwi the Wingray. And she isn’t quite as… um, marshmallow-y.

In the middle of the platform we’ve started on, we can meet our first friend!

How curious... I was not aware we were to be expecting guests. The timing of this can't possibly be a coincidence however. Gaia, the mother of all life, has recently been captured and locked away in Mystic Towers. She must have sent you to help. I'm surprised she was able to conjour up a new Guardian. We thought she'd
used up all of her Essence, but clearly that’s not the case.

I suppose a welcome is in order. This is Cosmic Core, one of many links to the worlds across the stars, and it is home to us Wingrays, as well as... Dolus. He's been conveniently absent since Gaia's disappearance. I suspect he might have something to do with it all...

Anyway, I'm not sure what you can do at this point, or what anyone can. I suppose all we can do is wait.

So there’s our lore! Who the hell is Dolus, anyway?

Well, I’m not gonna go into any levels just yet. I’m gonna do some exploring and get a feel for the game.

You miiight find the collectibles to be familiar. There’s shiny things, vases full of shiny things…

There’s also a new variety of vase, where you have to interact with a sequence of them before they’ll all break open.

Here’s some critters. I don’t know what they are. You can punt them around the map and they won’t die, so I guess they don’t heal you. They’re really fun to play with.

Oh yeah, and Zera can scream. You know, instead of breathing fire.

Our next NPC leaves just as many perplexing clues as to the nature of our reality:

My my. what an adorable little Axobat you are! Haven't seen a creature like you in a long time, and it seems that my dearest Kiwi has taken a liking to you as well! If I had to guess, I'd say Gaia must've had something to do with your arrival. Her missing and you suddenly showing up? She must've sent you to help!

Unfortunately. not long before you got here, our world itself started to drift apart, making it impossible to reach the Gateways that connect us to the other worlds!

But now something feels different with your arrival. I feel a change in the Aether, as if some part of Gaia is here through your presence! I think something is about to happen!

I guess Kiwi… belongs to this guy, or something? Man I wish I hadn’t lost the manual to this game in between the couch cushions

Gliding across the gap to the next platform, we meet some sort of tapir man.

I can't believe they've done this! It's preposterous! Asbolutely too far!
Unacceptable! Someone must deal with these tyrants at once! How dare they storm into
our homeland like this! The nerve of them! If I wasn't already incredibly busy with another important matter I would take care of this myself!

Very helpful, dude! And that’s our first level. I’m not going in right now, though, because Zera need shinies to live.

Some other people in need of help…

Something terrible is happening back home, I just know it...

But I'm too scared to go and check. Can you?

(Hey, I wonder if the Crystal guy named Fissure is a reference to Spyro YouTuber CrystalFissure?)

Levels are locked behind, um, sparkly atom whatsits. At some point in the hubworld I managed to pick up two of these, though I only remember picking up one. Oh, maybe the sequence vases had the other one?

Finally! I've been waiting ages for someone to arrive, we need help! If you travel through this Gateway to our left, you'll reach my homeland, Mystic Towers. Once you're there, can you please give my friends a hand? Something's gone wrong!

Sucks to be you but I need to eat crystals off of the floor

Things are going absolutely bonkers around here. We need help immediately

If you’re wondering how all my photos are so bangin’, this game has a freecam mode that actually pauses the action too. SO GOOD.

The controls take some getting used to. I probably felt that way about Spyro when I first played it, and a bunch of other games, but Zera is very parkour-oriented – a plus for me, it’s something I’ve always wanted out of a Spyro+ experience, but you kind of have to learn button combos. Like, if you try to flip twice, you’ll go into the rolling pose and you can’t glide anymore, so you have to flip once and then jump and THEN glide… well, I swear it’s not quite as bad as I’m making it sound.

While taking the previous picture I accidentally found out about this little blind jump hidden behind the last platform. So I climbed up to the top and found this:

Good enough place to leave off!

[skinstealer]

really cool read, this'll actually be my first screencap LP thread i've read in years aside from some dwarf fortress stuff last year. i love the dialogue recording and i think that it's really cool somebody out there is paying such loving homage to spyro (even if it's a game we've never played)