Scarred By Heaven is an upcoming beat-em-up/visual novel aiming to combine fast-paced 2D brawling with a compelling otherworldly murder mystery and a character-focused narrative.

The game is still relatively early in development, and is being created solo as a passion project by me. I would appreciate any feedback. :)

You can check the website for more info, or play the demo below.

For the past year, the coastal city of Jadewater has been plagued by a string of grisly murders, with the bodies of five unrelated victims left lying lifeless in the city streets, completely drained of blood.

Sakiko, a young delinquent recently kicked out of her childhood home following her eighteenth birthday, arrives in town one night by pure happenstance. However, she soon finds herself at the center of the city's paranormal mystery.

After a seemingly ordinary street fight takes a bizarre twist, Saki awakens to a strange supernatural power that's connected to a new, discolored scar over her eye. It isn't long after this that she also discovers an alternate dimension containing a fog-covered, hollow replica of the town, and realizes that the cause of the murders may not be entirely of this world.

However, Saki also soon realizes that she's not the only person to have obtained one of these 'marks', and that many others, both friend and foe, have their own unique powers, as well as their own agendas...

Follow Saki's journey as she fights her way to the truth, all while struggling to come to terms with her identity and the newfound independence granted to her by adulthood.

Read more about the characters here...

Scarred By Heaven aims to feature a modern and unique 2D beat-em-up combat system, focused on aggressive, fast-paced brawling and racking up brutal and stylish combos--inspired by action games like Guilty Gear and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.

Use an ever-growing moveset of light attacks, heavy attacks, and grabs to unleash powerful combos on your enemies. Beat down on airborne enemies freely by 'juggling' them, and deal extra damage by launching them into objects, or even other enemies. All the while, build up a high damage multiplier by combining a wide variety of different attacks and maneuvers into your fighting style--you can even use weapons you find in the environment!

Perfect Blocks are your primary form of defense. Performed by guarding right before an enemy attack hits, Saki's power allows her to rob enemy attacks of all their momentum and repel blades and blows with only her hands! By timing your blocks correctly, you can get through any attack unscathed and stay on the offense at all times!

By attacking your foes and perfect blocking their attacks, you also build up Spirit (SP) which you can spend to unleash powerful attacks and perform special abilities, such as an evasive dodge that can preemptively cancel your attacks. Not spending it is also an option, as a full bar of SP will allow your attacks to 'leech' HP from your opponents to restore your own!

Scarred By Heaven aims to provide a wide variety of enemies. Go to hand-to-hand with gangs of local thugs in the real city, and monstrous 'phantoms' in the Otherworld. Between it all, have 1-on-1 battles with battles with others who've been granted powers in unique boss fights that pitch your abilities against theirs. Memorize their attacks and get a feel for how they fight to come out on top!

The game will also feature a robust set of difficulty modifiers, allowing you to pick from a selection of setting presets, as well as customize and fine tune details about the game like enemy damage, enemy health, the leniency of parry timing, and more.

 

The strongest warriors know what they're fighting to protect.

Outside of combat, Saki can explore the city of Jadewater--a small but content rich sandbox inspired by games like the Like A Dragon series. You can go shopping, help the locals out in unique side-stories, go fishing at the beach, practice fighting games at the arcade, or catch a movie with a friend--there's no shortage of distractions!

You'll earn small amounts of XP from exploring (as you also do from combat) that you can use to upgrade your combat abilities. There's also various other small rewards to discover that can help you become a better fighter, and further enrich Saki's life outside of combat.

Demo

Right now, the only playable version of the game is the short combat demo below, which contains the game's first six fights (including the first two bosses) devoid of any story context, instead featuring a silly non-canon scenario that vaguely connects them. The demo also features a 'post-game' where you can freely fight the early game enemies.

At the moment I consider this demo to be an accurate demonstration of how combat will look, feel and function in the final game. Though, you'll notice some placeholders and unfinished things in places, mostly in the battle backgrounds, some menu UI and music.

Please report any bugs or strange behavior encountered, and record the error message if the game happens to crash. Thank you for checking the game out!