Pokémon Azure is an episodically released Pokémon fangame made with RPG Maker XP. It takes place in the region of Zakos, currently on the brink of a civil war with a monarch that could not care less about the coming conflict. You and your friend set out from home as tensions between factions swell to an all-time high, and as things go on, it becomes more and more apparent that you're connected somehow to the source of the problems plaguing the region...
Azure takes inspiration from Pokémon Reborn and Pokémon Rejuvenation. There are sixteen "Keyholders" (this game's equivalent of gym leaders), level caps, a Darker and Edgier storyline (though not as much as the aforementioned games) than the usual Pokémon games, and a field effect system, where battles are affected by the immediate environment. And of course, it's very hard. Unlike Reborn and more like Rejuvenation, there are variants exclusive to the game called "Mystic forms", an alternate take on regional forms of certain Pokémon with new typings, stats, abilities and possibly evolutions.
The game is divided into Acts, with Act 1 and 2 being the bulk of the current release of the game, covering the events up to the fight with the 3rd Keyholder and some optional content available afterwards. The game was released in December 2020 and can be downloaded on the game's Relic Castle page
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Tropes used in Pokémon Azure:
- Abandoned Laboratory: The setting of a good chunk of Act 2, doubling as Big Boo's Haunt. It belonged to a previous member of the Doctrine before his death, and holds the True Spooky Plate. You end up having to fight said member's Vengeful Spirit.
- Anti-Frustration Features:
- The game will automatically ask if you want to turn debug mode on at the start of the game, in case you wish to use it to skip any grinding and in case you want to skip past manually altering the game's scripts to access it.
- There is a tent in Logium Town B where you can freely alter the difficulty of the game, check your Pokémon's happiness and their Hidden Power type.
- The Pokémon Centers are also combined with Help Request centers, Pokemarts, and the Name Rater.
- Right before you face Minerva, you can fight a breeder using a team of Pokémon that give lots of experience as much as you like with a healing station nearby. She also gives you Exp Candies on victory.
- Applied Phlebotinum: Magic as a concept isn't really in the normal games beyond the typical Psychic Powers or Reality Warper Pokemon. In this game, magic is seemingly central to the major plot, with Mystic Pokemon being products of magical research and Professor Oleander calling herself a mage.
- Atlantis: The Drowned City, a massive ancient temple city that sunk beneath the waves with even knowledge of it almost completely lost to time.
- Balance Buff:
- Hail, traditionally a fairly useless weather, has now been buffed to increase the physical defense of Ice-types while active.
- A few Pokémon have obtained new typings, and some underused Pokémon that are met as static encounters (Pokémon obtained from sidequests rather than in the wild) have Egg Moves to encourage more use.
- Canon Immigrant: The Ultra Recon Squad.
- Cap: The levels of your Pokémon are capped at around the level of the Pokémon the next Keyholder uses until they're defeated. The Keys themselves are what increases your cap, but enemies don't follow that limitation.
- Character Customization: You have 3 choices of main character, Troy (male), Ellis (female) and Key (nonbinary).
- Church Militant: The major conflict in the game stems from a religious war between two groups, one that worships Arceus and the other Giratina.
- Cosmic Keystone: The game centers around the "True" versions of the 18 Plates of Arceus, which both the Church and Doctrine are after. Each of the Plates is guarded by a Heroic Pokemon, which serve as boss battles.
- Cult: The Doctrine of Giratina, opposing the Church of Arceus.
- Darker and Edgier: The game is centered around a holy civil war, so it comes off as this compared to the mainline Pokémon games. That said, see Lighter and Softer below.
- Difficulty Levels: The game can be played on Easy, Normal, or Intense difficulty. In practice, however, it plays more like 'mildly difficult', 'hard', and 'Harder Than Hard'.
- Field Power Effect: The fields in the game buff the power of certain types, such as the Psychic Terrain strengthening the power of Psychic moves.
- Geo Effects: As like in Reborn or Rejuvenation, the location of the battle will affect moves, abilities, etc. The beach field will increase the defenses of Sandygast thanks to its Water Compaction, for instance.
- Gray-and-Gray Morality: Assuming Lux is to be believed, this is the nature of the Doctrine vs Church fight.
- A good example of this is a sidequest that reveals the Church is holding a Type: Null in captivity, showing that they may not be as pure as they seem.
- Lighter and Softer: Despite the game being a slightly more mature take on Pokémon, it isn't quite as grim as some other fangames like Reborn - other than the overarching plot being more serious in subject matter and tone, nothing here would raise the age rating drastically higher than a normal Pokémon game.
- Lost Woods: The Koneli Demense is this.
- Magical Library: The first 'gym' is one of these. Activating switches will teleport bookshelves around and all battles here are fought on the Psychic Terrain, which distorts reality. The books themselves are normal, though, and when it's not in 'challenger' mode it just functions as a normal library.
- Mysterious Past: Applies to both the main character and Kara. There are important characters who recognize you, but this isn't fully elaborated on, nor is Kara's relationship with Jirachi beyond her sentiment that she needs to prove herself to it. It doesn't help that the town you grew up in was hidden by an illusion for some reason, and you're being hunted by Doctrine cultists almost as soon as your journey begins.
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Nintendo Hard: On Normal and Intense, random and important trainers carry far more and powerful Pokémon than the normal games - just the first Keyholder carries a full team of 6 with strong Pokémon like Kadabra or Sigilyph on a field that boosts her Psychic moves while you're still using mostly unevolved Pokémon. Even Easy mode's major fights come off as considerably rougher than the normal games. - Quest Giver: There is a help center in Logium Town B who will give you a list of sidequests to complete for cash, Pokémon, or other rewards.
- Rank Scales with Asskicking: The monarch of Zakos is at least one of the strongest people in the region, as they need to find and defeat the 16 powerful Keyholders and defeat the previous monarch before they can ascend the throne.
- Retool: The traditional gym, league, and champion system isn't the main focus of the game. Instead, there are Keyholders, 16 type specialists across the region who hold a key to Mt. Olympa's 16 gates, and anyone who is capable of getting all the keys and ascending said mountain challenges the current standing monarch for the throne. That said, there is a sidequest based around helping found a league of 19 gym leaders in Zakos.
- The Rival: Both Percy and Kara are these. Kara moreso, as Percy dislikes fighting (though he does far more on-screen fighting than Kara in Act 1, ironically).
- Saintly Church: As far as the player knows, the Church of Arceus, or at least they seem to be this compared to the Doctrine.
- Seven Deadly Sins: The 7 elders of the Doctrine are named after them.
- Seven Heavenly Virtues: Contrastingly, the 7 paragons of the Church are named after these. One of them, Hyacinth, also serves as the Fairy type Keyholder.
- Slippy-Slidey Ice World: The Koneli Catacombs are this, as well as the arena where you fight the Bug type Keyholder Agrus.
- Space Cold War: What Zakos is currently engaged in. The fighting between the Church of Arceus and the Doctrine is relegated to proxy conflicts and small skirmishes...at least for now.
- Underground Monkey: The Mystic variants. Unlike regional variants formed by natural speciation, these Pokémon were mutated by magic. There are currently 26 Mystic evolution line variants planned, with possibly more to come - as of the current update, the player can only receive a Mystic Hoenn starter (Flying type Treecko, Rock type Torchic, Fighting type Mudkip) and the Psychic type Mystic Voltorb.
- In Act 2, more Mystic variants have become available, such as the Grass/Ghost Mystic Eldegoss and the Fire/Ghost Mystic Poochyena.
- Underground Level: You find a whole forest and temple underneath the starting island that houses the True Meadow Plate.
- Weather-Control Machine: The Abandoned Laboratory has one that's creating a deadly snow over the Koneli Demense, and is powered by a Genesect holding a Chill Drive.
