Video Game / Urbano - Legends' Debut

Urbano - Legends' Debut is an upcoming indie rhythm-based RPG video game developed by barosa^note Yes that is how it is officially spelled.. The game demo is currently available on Steam and the game is currently running a Kickstarter, with the current release window set for June 2025.

The game is set on the titular ecumenopolis of Urbano, where immortal entities rule over the mortal citizens. Vailo, the player character, has just moved to the Karma District in hopes of tracking down new urban legends. However, Vailo finds himself stopped by Honor, an entity taking the form of a young woman who forbids him from hunting any more urban legends… unless it’s under her supervision.

Previews: Kickstarter Trailer

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Urbano - Legends' Debut includes examples of the following:

• Antagonist Title: Vailo reveals he's after URBANO, the one offering contracts to people who turn into Urban Legends.
• Anthropomorphic Personification: The Entities are immortal beings who each represent a concept and are powerful enough that Vailo would rather avoid them. For example, Honor is a Living Lie Detector who Cannot Tell a Lie and effortlessly destroys Half-Dead with her strength.
• Attention Whore: Retaliator is quite flashy which draws comments in-universe over his attention-seeking behavior.
  • During the news report on Half-Dead's defeat, Valio spends the entire time criticizing his own handiwork and thinking he should leak a new photo of Retaliator for the news to use.
  • When James is first interviewed, he spends the last bit of it psychoanalyzing Retaliator over his appearance.
    James: He's like a little boy trying to create a nickname for himself and look cool to his dumb kindergarten friends—
  • Honor questions the practical use of the glowing mask, the weapon choice of a belt, and his decision to wear perfume during the investigation which leads her to initially dismiss it as Retaliator hunting Urban Legends for attention.
  • Lofi calls him out for targeting her father as an easy kill to make the news… however Vailo claims he targeted him because he was putting lives at risk making this instance a subversion.
• Big Eater: Some of Honor's food-related Hang Out topics imply Entities eat more like saying that they need more energy or that it's been half an hour since her last meal so they should hurry their conversation.
• Bystander Syndrome: When Vailo sees Pride shaking down Lofi, he tries to pretend he didn't see anything since Pride is an Entity until Lofi calls attention to him.
• Calling Card: Retaliator leaves behind a Chalk Outline of the Urban Legend he takes down and a spray painted message.
• Cannot Tell a Lie: Honor is an Anthropomorphic Personification and unable to lie, though she admits she is capable of hiding things.
• Caps Lock: Honor's speech bubbles are in all caps. It appears indicative of her Entity status as Pride's speech bubbles are all bold.
• Chalk Outline: Retaliator draws a chalk outline of the Urban Legends he takes down as a Calling Card for the news.
• Charge Meter: As Retaliator dodges and counters attacks, he builds up meter that can be used to activate his loop skill once filled.
• Clothing Combat: Retaliator uses normal belts that he purchases to lay the beatdown on Urban Legends.
• Cool, but Inefficient: Honor points out that Retaliator is more focused on looking good than the practicality of what he uses.
  Honor: Do you use perfume while hunting? Why? Also, I always meant to ask... why the lights on your mask? Wouldn't it be better to just conceal your presence? And why a belt? There are many stronger weapons. In fact, a belt isn't even a weapon.
  Retaliator: Everything you say to me takes me one step closer to the edge, and I'm about to break.
  Honor: All this just to appeal to the masses? You're the worst. Tell me, why do you even hunt? Is it all for fame?
• Cool Mask: Vailo wears a black mask with neon eyes in the trailer and demo.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Honor defeats Half-Dead with a simple Finger Poke of Doom which understandably leads to Retaliator agreeing to work with her instead of trying to face her.
• Deal with the Devil: Urban Legends are made after URBANO offers a contract of power. Vailo calls it worse than a contract with the devil and says the price is above what any person can pay.
• Death Faked for You: If Lofi gives up on revenge as the Creepy Fashionista, Vailo draws his usual Chalk Outline to make it look like he killed her so that Honor won't continue hunting her.
• Deducing the Secret Identity: Lofi made up the Creepy Fashionista to lure Retaliator in and figured out he was Vailo at first sight from his appearance and interests.
  Lofi Beats: When you first visited the shop, all the pieces fit. Similar height, fascinated by urban legends, interested in the dangerous-looking buckles and loops that I made... There was no doubt about it.
• Dialogue Reversal: Honor sums up Retaliator's stakeout of Kitties' Kit as him "peeking into a shop and waiting for someone to kiss a dummy" which she calls creepy and Retaliator asks her not to ignore the whole context because it hurts his image. At the end of the scene, Honor says she'll be keeping an eye on him which has Retaliator saying he's flattered and Honor repeating the same line about not ignoring the whole context.
• Disappeared Dad: One of Lofi's Hang Out topics is mentioning that her dad left for cigarettes and never came back. Her dad actually snapped and disappeared after suddenly getting fired which led to him becoming Half-Dead.
• Event Flag: In the demo, the ending is determined by whether Lofi's friendship level is raised to 1 before the end of Day 4 as that triggers her sleepover event and subsequent survival.
• Evil Is Petty:
  • Pride shakes down Lofi just for staring at him and he's appalled when Vailo tries handing over his money... only to take it anyways.
    Vailo: Okay, okay, got it. How much do you want to let us go?
    Pride: What do you think I am, a filthy pickpocket? I am an Entity and we reign all over Urbano. I already have more cash than every human in this district will ever have in their insignificant lives. This isn't about money. This is about pride. I came here for an important reunion and while all other humans kneeled before my presence, this pipsqueak was deadass staring at my face!
    Pride: ...
    Pride: ...Just out of curiosity, how much ya got in that wallet?
    Vailo: I should have a hundred or so.
    Pride: Humph, gimme that. I'm late for the reunion, so that should do for now. Now shoo! Get lost! If I see you again, y'all gonna get barbecued!
  • Honor admits in her post-Level 1 friendship talk that Pride calls her names and gets other Entities to laugh at her.
• Evil Overlooker: James is overlooking the rest of the cast in the key art and his Kickstarter profile calls attention to him having secret motives and questioning whose side he's on. In the demo, he's a jerk who loathes Retaliator and for better or worse, did his part in making sure Honor wouldn't join the fight against the Creepy Fashionista.
• Exhausted Eyebags: Vailo has constant eyebags from roaming the night as Retaliator and being glued to a computer monitor when he wakes up for news and Urban Legend sightings. The start of the day for him when he leaves home is 15:00.
• Fight Woosh: Inverted. As Retaliator ends the fight and delivers the finishing beatdown, the screen starts cracking until it completely shatters.
• Finger Poke of Doom: Honor obliterates Half-Dead with an effortless finger flick.
• Foreshadowing: For the Creepy Fashionista arc:
  • Retaliator is on stakeout during Night 1 until he gets distracted by cat pictures that Lofi sent to Vailo's phone number to give her time to swap out the mannequins, some foreshadowing that she knows his Secret Identity and is the culprit. For extra foreshadowing, Honor unintentionally does the same thing the day after where she sends Retaliator a message through Vailo's number.
  • Whenever Vailo buys belt parts from Kitties' Kit, Lofi will ask if he wants to equip it before correcting herself and asking if he wants to wear it. It initially looks like some Lampshade Hanging of Urban Fantasy RPG equipment, but it's another hint that she knows he's Retaliator.
  • The investigation leads to the deduction that there's a hidden entrance in Kitties' Kit which would put Lofi as a suspect seeing as she works there, and she admits during the sleepover that she normally sleeps at the store on days she misses the last bus home.
• Heal Thyself: Retaliator's starting loop skill is a self-heal.
• Hunter of His Own Kind: Of a sort - in the demo, Vailo’s alter-ego, Retaliator, is described as an Urban Legend that hunts other Urban Legends.
• Imagine Spot: Half-Dead imagines the epic battle that he'll have with Honor when she faces him. Reality ends with an instant defeat for him.
• Join or Die: Since hunting Urban Legends is illegal, Honor gives Retaliator the choice of doing so under her supervision or dying by her hand. He wisely picks the former.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Vailo is rude, antisocial and slightly selfish … however he also has a kind caring side, showing concern to Honor when she reveals that she’s being bullied by the other entities during one of her hangout events, and him being willing to form a genuine friendship with Lofi despite knowing she’s the creepy fashionista, and trying to get her to stop fighting him so he doesn’t have to kill her showing that if an urban legend isn’t too far gone he will try to save them, his motivation for hunting urban legends is also genuinely heroic as well.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Honor tries to stand in the middle of the street so people will talk with her. It serves to show her lack of common sense, but doubles as a reference to how NPCs will just stand in place until the player talks to them.
  Honor: Don't you feel tempted?
  Vailo: ...What?
  Honor: I'm mysteriously standing right here. Dont you feel tempted to just... start a conversation with me?
  Vailo: Uhh... No. I don't feel tempted at all. [Thinking] Is this a new kind of sting operation?
  Honor: Darnation! I must be doing something wrong. Commoners come and go, but none of them stop to converse with me.
• Limited Wardrobe: During her Day 4 sleepover, Lofi tells Vailo that she has several copies of her favorite outfit and assumes the same of him. Then he reveals that he's been wearing the same hoodie the entire time.
• Living Lie Detector: Honor is an Anthropomorphic Personification and can tell when someone is lying from shifts in their honor.
• Luminescent Blush: Honor has a very blue blush whenever she's embarrassed.
• Mickey Mousing: The demo shows this off in the combat, which involves attacking and dodging in time with the music.
• Near Victory Fanfare: Once Retaliator reduces an Urban Legend's HP to zero, his own theme cuts in as he deals the finishing blow.
• No Social Skills: Honor doesn't know how to strike up conversations with humans which is why she picks out Vailo to teach her after he accidentally makes eye contact with her in his civilian guise.
• Only in It for the Money: Vailo thinks Queen Nightcore is pulling some sort of scam by calling him the Dancing Chosen One, but she offers to pay him to dance with her so he accepts the gig. His facial expressions while dancing are completely disinterested in stark contrast to Nightcore's joy.
• Our Zombies Are Different: The demo opens with Vailo facing off against Half-Dead, a zombie who haunts places of leisure and yells at people to get back to work for the district’s prosperity.
• Player Nudge: The demo has two nudges when Vailo thinks about what to do in his free time:
  • Vailo wonders if hanging out with Lofi will lead to more clues towards the Creepy Fashionista. Raising her friendship level is how she lives past the Creepy Fashionista arc.
  • Vailo thinks about finding a quick job for belt money. Entering the nightclub has Queen Nightcore pay him for completing the Dancing minigame along with raising the Smoothness social stat; increasing it boosts the amount of points earned when hanging out and it's the social stat that Lofi likes which allows her friendship level to be raised further.
• Pointless Band-Aid: Vailo wears a bandage on his nose for unstated reasons.
• Press-Ganged: Since Retaliator is a vigilante, Honor gives him the choice of either working with her or dying. He picks the former.
• Refuse to Rescue the Disliked: Retaliator is immediately relieved and unconcerned when the Creepy Fashionista's victim turns out to be an unconscious James, though Honor halts the investigation until he's secured in an ambulance.
• Relationship Values: Vailo's contacts have friendship levels that can change the story depending on how much they're raised. The demo caps it to 2 levels, but the contacts page shows up to 5 stars.
• Say It with Hearts: Lofi's speech bubbles have all the dots replaced with hearts to match her Genki Girl nature.
• Secret Level: On Night 3, walking to the right of the map will lead to a lengthy Reach the End sequence that rewards 100 Urbs and does not use up time.
• Secret Secret-Keeper: Lofi figured out Vailo was Retaliator after he investigated Kitties' Kit, but keeps it a secret since she was planning on killing him anyways. After the first attempt failed, she revealed it to James whose reasons for not revealing it are yet to be shown.
• Shear Menace: Creepy Fashionista throws scissors as projectiles and uses one that's as large as they are as a melee weapon. The big scissor can also be split apart for Dual Wielding the blades.
• Shout-Out:
  • A dev short reveals what Vailo and Queen Nightcore's dance moves are based off of:
    • Down-left and down-right is Hatsune Miku's "PoPiPo" dance.
    • Up and down is Lucky Star's anime opening.
    • Up-left and up-right is the Caramelldansen Vid dance.
    • Left and right is the background dancing cat in "Fukkireta".
  • Vailo's profile picture is the Kaneki Profile Picture meme.
• Story Branching: The game advertises story changes and possible deaths depending on Relationship Values. For the Creepy Fashionista arc, whether Vailo became friends with Lofi is the difference between her no longer wanting to fight or dying after using up all her own energy when demanding more power from URBANO.
• Super Move Portrait Attack: Once Retaliator takes a foe down to 0 HP, he gets a split cut-in of his mask and Vailo's face as the Theme Music Powerup kicks in for the finisher.
• Taking the Bullet: Honor shields Retaliator from Creepy Fashionista's sneak attack and is unfazed after commenting that man-made weapons can't hurt her.
• There Is Only One Bed: Vailo refuses to give up his bed when Lofi crashes his place in the middle of the night and tells her to sleep on the floor. This prompts Lofi to tease him about sleeping in the same bed which has Vailo immediately laying down on the newspaper he set up to her shock.
  Lofi: Well... in that case... I guess we only have one choice, don't we? We're gonna have to sleep in the same— HEY WHY ARE YOU LYING DOWN IN THAT NEWSPAPER?
  Vailo: You made me realize there are worse destinies than sleeping on the floor. I'm grateful for what I have.
  Lofi: That... actually hurts, you know?
• Too Many Belts: Vailo in his civilian outfit has two belts crisscrossing over his shorts. Vailo as Retaliator has two belts hanging off his shorts, a giant belt over his coat, and the belt he uses as a weapon.
• Villain Respect: Half-Dead is excited to face off against Honor because he sees her as a fellow enforcer of discipline. She calls him an unrefined clown after curb-stomping him.
• Waxing Lyrical:
  • Retaliator quotes "One Step Closer" when Honor criticizes his equipment as impractical.
    Retaliator: Everything you say to me takes me one step closer to the edge, and I'm about to break.
  • Lofi calls Vailo creepy while sleeping over so he counters with a riff on "Creep".
    Vailo: Well, if I'm a creep and I'm a weirdo, what the hell are you doing here?
  • When Retaliator is explaining the contract and how Urban Legends end up consumed by their actions, he quotes "Numb".
    Retaliator: I know, I may end up failing too. But I know you were just like me, with someone disappointed in you.
• Weaponized Teleportation:
  • Half-Dead can stick his head through a portal to attack from below.
  • Creepy Fashionista has a similar attack to stab through a portal from below.
• Weird World, Weird Food: Building #1303 gives weird food drops, some with eyes or a bunch of souls, that Vailo can take to OSK to have cooked and served for stat boosts.
• White Hair, Black Heart: James has white hair and is a total ass to Retaliator while his Kickstarter profile highlights his suspiciousness. During the Creepy Fashionista arc, he plays along with Lofi's plan to isolate and kill Retaliator.
• You Killed My Father: Lofi wants to kill Vailo since Half-Dead was her father before he became an Urban Legend and Vailo just treated him as an easy kill for attention. Depending on her Relationship Values, she'll either lose the will to continue fighting him or die demanding more power from URBANO and using up all her own energy.

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