Visual Novel / The Arcana

Title graphic of The Arcana

"I may not have all the answers you seek. But.
The cards do. If you know how to use them.
And you do know how to use them, whether you believe it or not."

—Asra

The Arcana is a mobile fantasy/romance visual novel from Nix Hydra Games.

You, the player, are an apprentice magician with a gift for fortune-telling. Left in possession of an unusually enchanted Tarot deck, you must navigate intrigue, murder, magic… and perhaps a few saucy encounters.

The story takes place in and around the city of Vesuvia, where you are the apprentice of Asra, a wandering magician. When Asra goes away on yet another journey, the Apprentice is abruptly visited by the Countess Nadia. She invites you to join her in the city's palace for an important if mysterious job - to find the culprit behind the late Count Lucio's suspicious death.

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Provides examples of:

• Abandoned Area: The Lazaret and other areas ruined by the plague.
• Adjective Animal Alehouse: The Rowdy Raven.
• All in the Eyes: The Apprentice's first encounter with Lucio in the prologue.
• Always Save the Girl: Both Asra and Julian's Reversed endings hinge on their willingness to abandon the world to the Devil's control as long as the Apprentice will be safe.
• Amazing Technicolor World: The cave, Asra’s gate, and the Magician's realm are all bright, fantastical places.
• And the Adventure Continues: Most of the Upright endings. For example, Julian's ends with Julian, Portia, and the Apprentice sailing off to Nevivion, and Lucio's ends with Lucio and the Apprentice setting off into an enchanted forest to recover artifacts.
• Animal Motifs: Most of the major characters thus far are associated with at least one animal.
  • Lucio's animal is the goat, used to represent him in his paintings, in board games, and in theater plays. His form after death is that of a monstrous goat, resembling that seen on the Devil card in Asra's tarot deck.
  • Asra's animal is both the snake and the fox. His familiar, Faust, is a snake, and during his route Asra finds himself drawn to a carving of a fox. He is linked to the Magician card, represented in his tarot deck as an anthropomorphic fox that shares his purple eye color.
  • Julian's animal is the raven. One in particular follows him around, he frequents a tavern called the Rowdy Raven, and he is linked to the Hanged Man, represented in Asra's tarot deck as an anthropomorphic raven.
  • Other links include Nadia and owls, Portia and cats, Muriel and bears, and the courtiers with red beetles, which bring the red plague.
• Angry Guard Dog: Mercedes and Melchior, a pair of borzoi-like hounds that belonged to Lucio while he was still alive. Portia tells the Apprentice that the dogs were trained to distrust strangers, but they warm up to the Apprentice surprisingly fast.
• The Apprentice: The protagonist, who learns magic and fortune-telling under Asra. They were also apprenticed to Julian at one point.
• Anti-Villain: Aunt Tasya in Portia’s route. Unlike Lucio in Muriel’s route or the Devil in the rest, she isn’t merging the realms for wanton chaos and destruction, she just wants her daughter back. This makes her actually be able to be reasoned with in the upright end.
• Artificial Limbs: Lucio's left arm is missing from just below the shoulder. Word of God states that it was amputated by Julian to save Lucio's life, long before the plague struck. It's gold and very shiny and can have additional Bling of War added to make it even more so.
• Aristocrats Are Evil: Count Lucio and all of the courtiers.
• Asshole Victim: Sure, Lucio was burned to death while lying sick in bed, but no one really seems to mind.
• Aura Vision: In Asra's route, Salim shows the main character a mirror that allows them to see auras.
• Back from the Dead:
  • The Apprentice, who died during the plague. They are alive because Asra deliberately sabotaged the ritual meant to give Lucio a new body, giving it to the Apprentice instead.
  • Julian, who survives a hanging through his magic mark that allows him to heal people by absorbing their pain and immediately recovering. After he resurrects, he loses the mark.
  • Lucio, in various ways depending on the route. In Asra, Nadia, and Julian’s routes, he steals the Apprentice’s body (the Fool’s body) from them. In Muriel’s route, he kills his own mother and uses her heart. In his own route, the Apprentice frees him from his deals earlier in the story. This returns his body, because he was Not Quite Dead to begin with. In Portia’s route the Devil releases him from their deals having found a better pawn in Tasya.
• Baphomet: Due to its tarot influence, the Devil is depicted as Baphomet, and the character most associated with the devil, Lucio, is strongly associated with goats in general.
• Batman Gambit: The plan to banish Vulgora in Muriel's route is to challenge them to a fight and make them swear to leave the human realm forever if they lose. Although the heroes have nothing Vulgora wants, they bet on Vulgora's bloodlust preventing them for backing down from a fight, even with nothing to gain. Unsurprisingly, it works.
• Beta Couple: The Apprentice and the character they're romancing will always be the alpha couple; however, the devs have stated that certain characters will pair up if you aren't romancing them. Asra and Muriel and Nahara and Portia to Nadia/apprentice, in Nadia's upright path. And Nadia and Portia in Julian’s upright path
• Big Brother Instinct: Julian gets upset at the idea of Portia being in danger. It's revealed in a paid option that he also rescued her from a shipwreck when they were children.
• Big Damn Kiss: The Apprentice and Muriel get one in his route. It makes his shackles disappear and seemingly kickstarts the local aurora.
• Big Eater: Volta is obsessed with food, and will eat everything in sight. It's later explained that her deal with the Devil is to blame for this.
• Blood Magic:
  • Asra tries this unsuccessfully with Julian in one of the paid scenes.
  • The ritual that was supposed to get Lucio a new body was supposed to involve mixing his blood into the wine before it was served, but Asra replaced it with pomegranate juice.
• Body Horror: All of the courtiers after their true forms are revealed. This is especially true of Valdemar, who is described as being a pulsing mass of rib bones, eyes, and teeth. Their true form doesn't even get a sprite, leaving it to the player's imagination.
• Bookcase Passage: Valdemar reveals one while before giving the main character a tour of the dungeon.
• Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: After encountering Vlastomil in the White Forest, Lucio repeats the phrase "Worms. Demons. Demon worms." throughout the rest of his route. If you choose to wash up with Lucio later, he calls out for the Apprentice who is afraid that the tub must be full of "worms, or lava, or lava worms."
• Carpet of Virility: Julian and Muriel are both Type 1, but Julian has more of the hypersexuality associated with this trope.
• Cast Full of Gay: All of the romance options want to plow the Apprentice like an untilled field regardless of what gender you pick.
  • Mazelinka casually mentions that her former lover was a woman.
• Claimed by the Supernatural: Asra, Nadia, Julian, and Muriel all have marks that denote they've made deals with the Major Arcana.
• Clear Their Name: Julian's involvement with the death of Lucio.
• Color Motif: "Plot-relevant red".
• Cruel and Unusual Death: Lucio was burned to death in his own bed while already dying of The Plague. On the night of his birthday, no less!
• Cursed with Awesome: Julian's power to heal others by taking on their wounds would be a terrible burden... if he didn't happen to be a huge masochist.
• Deal with the Devil: Asra and Lucio have both made one. The Apprentice is given the option to make one as well, and the terms differ depending on the route. The Devil turns out to have made several with other minor characters.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Nadia is a task-driven woman, and quickly warms up with some kindness and support from the Apprentice.
• Delicious Distraction: Used in various routes with Volta.
• Did You Actually Believe...?: Pulled off in Book XV by Lucio, in a Shout-Out to The Phantom of the Opera.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Asra wasn't orphaned, Lucio threw his parents into the Palace's dungeon because he didn't think the golden arm they made him was unique enough. They ended up getting desperate enough to make a deal with the Devil.
• Driving Question: What is the truth behind the death of Count Lucio?
• Dying Declaration of Love: Julian doesn't confess his love until the fight with the Devil is looking grim.
• Eaten Alive: Lucio is eaten alive by the courtiers in Asra's route.
• Empathic Healer: Julian is able to take the injuries of others after a deal he made with the Hanged Man.
• Energy Donation: Asra and the Apprentice regularly offer their magic to each other. When Julian learns how to use magic, he does this as well.
• Everyone Is Bi: All characters with romance options still want to get in the Apprentice's pants regardless of whether the Apprentice is actually wearing pants or a skirt instead. General queerness seems to be the norm, or at least so unremarkable as to provoke no comment; the only named characters who are not demonstrably queer are characters whose sexuality never emerges as a topic.
• Evil Is Not Well-Lit: The Palace Dungeon and Lucio's wing.
• Exact Words: The Arcana cannot lie... but they can certainly mislead, which the Devil exploits in several of his deals.
  • His deals with each of Asra's parents separately promises to free their spouse from the dungeon and make sure Asra is unharmed by Lucio... which ensures that both of them are taken into his realm, while Asra is left to fend for himself with no one to care for him as a little child.
  • His deal with a starving Volta is that she will be fed... but not that she will be satisfied, turning her into a glutton while retaining the feeling of starvation.
  • His deal with the Apprentice involves this regardless of route. In Asra's route, he promises that Asra and Faust will be reunited... but makes no such promise about you, leaving your body empty for Lucio to take.
• A Form You Are Comfortable With: Valdemar has sapped so much of Death's power that Death instead takes the form of Pepi or Malak, depending on your choice of venue.
• For Science!: Valdemar's justification for the "experiments" on living plague victims.
• Funny Background Event: A lot of the extras' lines allude to very bizarre or funny situations, even once the main storyline starts going to hell. For example, after Lucio crashes the masquerade in Nadia's route:
  Partygoer 2: HELP, I AM ON FIRE, AND I CANNOT SEEM TO STOP BEING ON FIRE!
• Good All Along: Julian is innocent. He did intend to murder Lucio, but this was only after realizing that Lucio was the source of the Red Plague and that killing him was the only way to end it.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Subverted. Lucio, the only blond in the main storyline, is an all-around awful guy and has no qualms about using violence.
• Healing Hands:
  • Asra can heal with a touch, which he does with the Apprentice and Julian at various points in the story.
  • Julian can transfer the wounds of others to himself, at least until he uses up the last of this power in order to return from the dead.
• Hellfire: The fire that killed Lucio was magical, burning only his body but not anything else in his room. Julian cannot do magic.
• Hell Hotel: Julian, Asra, and Nadia visit one in the second token scene.
• Hello, [Insert Name Here]: The Apprentice's name and gender are both customizable.
• Humanlike Hand Anatomy: Despite having animal faces, the Major Arcana all have humanlike hands.
• I Need a Freaking Drink: Nadia's reaction to finding out that her husband is back from the dead (as a goat) during Muriel's route is to close her eyes in silence in for a few moments and ask Portia to go get her a glass of wine.
• Interclass Friendship: Nadia's relationships with Asra and Julian before killing Lucio the first time, as well as her relationship with Portia after her coma.
• Iron Lady: Nadia, a countess deeply revered by all in Vesuvia.
• Irony: Despite taking place in Vesuvia, almost none of the main characters are Vesuvian: Nadia is from Prakra, Julian and Portia are from Nevivon, Muriel is from the Kokhuri tribe that lived on the Shining Steppe in the south, and Lucio is from a tribe known as the scourge of the south.
• It Only Works Once: The Devil's chains on the Apprentice. Because of this, the Apprentice is the only one who can free Chimes and Flamel.
• It's All About Me: Lucio's hubris is well-known and often mocked by the other characters. His palace is littered with portraits of himself.
• It's All My Fault: Julian and Asra both blame themselves (at least in part) for the Apprentice's death, though this is especially true for Julian.
• Just Testing You: One of the paid options in Lucio's route ends with him getting stuck in a hedge and asking the apprentice to pull him out. If you point out that he's a ghost and can walk out on his own, he look momentarily stunned before clarifying that of course he thought of that—he just wanted to make sure that you'd thought of it, too.
• Kangaroo Court: Vlastomil and Valerius try to run Julian's trial like this regardless of route. How successful they are depends on how effective Nadia and the Apprentice are in challenging their underhanded tactics.
• Kill It with Fire: Lucio died by being burned alive.
• The Lady's Favor: The Apprentice gives Asra a favor before his Trial by Combat in the Colisseum.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia:
  • The Apprentice remembers nothing prior to meeting Asra, three years ago. It turns out this is because they died three years ago, and they lost all their pre-death memories upon being revived.
  • Asra has inflicted this on the Apprentice on multiple occasions, even doing so once in the prologue depending on which choice is taken. He has to do so because the Apprentice kept going catatonic after being told too much about their life before they died.
  • Asra, Julian, and Nadia have forgotten what happened during the previous Masquerade three years ago. Nadia, in particular, fell into a deep sleep from which she only awoke three months ago, and when she awoke she could not remember anything since arriving in the city nine years prior. Julian remembers more but it’s still patchy to the point where he admits to the Apprentice he doesn’t know whether he killed Lucio or not. Of the other love interests, Muriel was on the sidelines during the party and only didn't come forward to clear Julian because he hated interacting with people, Lucio was involved with the reason for the memory loss, and Portia only came to Vesuvia afterwards.
• "Last Supper" Steal: Lucio's painting in the palace's dining room.
• Let's Split Up, Gang!: Morga splits off from the Apprentice and Muriel in his route. You can object to her plan, but it doesn't make any difference.
• LOL, 69: Julian's number tag is... well... #069.
• Lovecraft Lite: The setting is a magical world overseen and manipulated by the Arcana, who are essentially human concepts given physical form and magical abilities pertaining to the nature of their tarot card, and thus themselves. However, most of them are fairly helpful or friendly towards humanity- albeit in their own special way- and even those that aren't friendly are still willing to help if it is needed (with the only truly antagonistic example shown so far being the Devil).
• Love Makes You Dumb: Asra's decision to sacrifice half of his heart to resurrect the Apprentice, having no idea of what the consequences might be, is arguably an example.
• Magic Compass: Asra's compass points to whatever the person holding it desires the most.
• The Man They Couldn't Hang: Julian survives his public execution thanks to the deal he made with the Hanged Man.
• Mark of Shame: Julian's branding on his left hand marks him as a murderer.
• Masquerade Ball: Before his death, Lucio would throw an extravagant Masquerade party every year for his own birthday, which any citizen in Vesuvia was permitted to attend. It was on the night of one such party, three years ago, that Lucio was killed.
• Miscarriage of Justice: Julian is inevitably sentenced to death, but although he intended to kill Lucio, he never got the chance. The fire had already started by the time he got there. He is completely innocent.
• Mood Whiplash: In Portia's route, she discovers her powers and delivers a righteous beatdown to one of Tasya's monsters... right before she is mortally wounded and says a tearful goodbye to her brother and the apprentice... and then abruptly opens her eyes to ask why she isn't dead yet. This sends the mood bouncing from triumphant to tragic to bizarrely funny over the course of about two minutes.
• Multiple Endings: Each route culminates in either an upright or reversed ending depending on the player's previous choices.
• My Greatest Failure: Julian is shown to be guilt-ridden from failing to find a cure to the plague.
  • The Lazaret is this for all three of the original love interests. For Asra, it is the place where the Apprentice died from the Red Plague and their body was burned to ash. For Nadia it represented the citizens she failed when Lucio refused to listen to her advice on combating the Red Plague before it reached Vesuvia. And for Julian, it is a reminder of the lives he'd failed.
• Mystical White Hair: Asra is a powerful magician with pearly-white hair, which he inherited from his mother Aisha, who is also a powerful magician.
• Nearly Normal Animal: Chandra, Faust, Inanna, and Malak have all displayed above-average intelligence and can communicate with their owners. Malak and Faust have been shown to communicate with each other as well.
• Noble Wolf: Inanna, Muriel's wolf.
• Nothing To See Here: The Apprentice can say this to a startled servant in Lucio's route while chasing after a partially-corporeal Lucio who's being dragged by a masquerade streamer by Mercedes and Melchior.
  Apprentice: Uh... nothing to see! This is completely fine and under control!
• Not Quite Dead: Lucio didn't exactly die, he simply lost his body in a failed ritual. He ends up stuck in a place between life and death. The Apprentice also ends up in the same state when Lucio steals their body back.
  Lucio: (still a ghost) No one killed me, all right?! I'm not DEAD, it was just a little oopsie.
• The Plague: It's called the Red Plague because it turns the sclera of one's eyes scarlet. It wiped out much of Vesuvia's population, including the Apprentice. Lucio is its source, because he made a deal with the Wyrm of Pestilence and the plague literally follows him wherever he goes.
• Plague Doctor: Valdemar and Julian both worked on curing the Red Plague during its height. As did the Apprentice.
• Plague Master:
  • Lucio is the source of the Red Plague.
  • Played with in regards to Valdemar. They're not the source of the plague, but they absolutely delight in it and are excited at the prospect of it returning. This is because they have all but replaced one of the Arcana, Death .
• Public Execution: Nadia plans to open this year's Masquerade with the hanging of Julian Devorak, Count Lucio's supposed murderer. And indeed, Julian is hanged for all to see, although the situation has changed significantly by then, and he gets better.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: On Julian’s route, if you try to comfort Inanna:
  Muriel: Don’t. Touch. Her.
• Obviously Evil: All of the courtiers, but especially Valdemar. They have sharp teeth, red eyes, and are really excited about dissections.
• Ominous Opera Cape: Julian wears one despite being more drama queen than villain.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Julian and Asra, respectively.
• Resurrection Gambit: Julian intentionally lets himself be hanged in order to ask one of the Major Arcana, the Hanged Man, for the cure to the plague. Then, according to his plan, he comes back to life due to his Healing Factor.
• Romantic Runner-Up: Julian and Asra had a sexual relationship at some point, but ultimately, Julian was runner-up to the Apprentice for Asra's affections.
• Sadistic Choice: When Valdemar captures you and Lucio in his route, they force you to choose which one of you will be dissected.
• Scary Teeth: Valdemar's smile isn't even the creepiest thing about them.
• Sealed Good in a Can: This is what happened to Asra's parents. After Lucio locked them up and prevented them from seeing Asra or each other, they became so desperate that they made a deal with the Devil for the other's freedom. Of course, they didn't know that their spouse had made the same agreement, leaving them both trapped in the magician's realm.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: The Upright endings involve binding the Devil and turning him into a goat statue, with the understanding that he will eventually escape and need to be bound again.
• Seriously Scruffy: Muriel.
• Sexy Discretion Shot: In the paid option in Julian's book XIX, there's a Fade to Black when the Apprentice and Julian are in bed together on the boat. Whether they had sex or just fell to sleep is deliberately left unclear.
• Shipper on Deck: Portia and Mazelinka wholeheartedly ship Julian/Apprentice. The baker and Nadia seem to ship Asra/Apprentice. Asra, Inanna, and Natiqa ship Muriel/Apprentice. Nadia's sisters and Asra ship Nadia/Apprentice.
• "Shut Up" Kiss: The Apprentice gives one to Julian in the paid scene in “Halcyon Nights,” to prevent him from going on another melodramatic self-deprecating rant.
• Speech-Impaired Animal: While Faust can communicate with Asra, she is never depicted saying more than a few words at a time.
• Snakes Are Sinister: Subverted. Faust, Chimes, and Flamel are all portrayed as friendly.
• Story Branching: After the prologue, the direction that the story takes depends on which of the characters player chooses to romance. There are six routes: Asra's, Nadia's, Julian's, Portia's, Muriel's, and Lucio's. Each route has two endings, a good ending and a bad ending.
• Street Urchin: Muriel and Asra before the events of the main story.
• Taking the Bullet: In Muriel's route, Khamgalai steps in front of the Apprentice as Lucio is about to rip their heart from their chest, leading to him tearing her heart out in their place.
• Tarot Motifs: Each chapter is named after one of the major arcana - though beginning with the Magician rather than the Fool. Each major character is also associated with one card of the Major Arcana:
  • The Fool: The Apprentice
  • The Magician: Asra
  • The High Priestess: Nadia
  • The Hierophant: Valerius
  • The Empress: Nasrin, Nadia's mother.
  • The Emperor: Namar, Nadia's father.
  • The Lovers: Aisha and Salim, Asra's parents
  • The Chariot: Morga
  • Strength: Nasmira, Nadia's sister.
  • The Hermit: Muriel
  • The Wheel of Fortune: Natiqa, Nadia's sister.
  • Justice: Vlastomil
  • The Hanged Man: Julian
  • Death: Valdemar
  • Temperance: Volta
  • The Devil: Lucio
  • The Tower: Vulgora
  • The Star: Portia
  • The Moon: Navra, Nadia's sister.
  • The Sun: Nahara, Nadia's sister.
  • Judgement: Nazali, Nadia's sister.
  • The World: Nafiza, Nadia's eldest sister.
• There Is Only One Bed: At the inn the Apprentice and Muriel stay at in his route. Muriel insists on taking the floor.
• Trapped on the Astral Plane: From the book 'The Devil' in Asra, Julian, and Nadia's routes, the protagonist has their body used as a ritual to summon Count Lucio from the dead and finds themselves trapped between the worlds of living and dead, able to see the other characters but not touch them, and capable of only the faintest possible interaction.
• Trial by Combat: Asra and Julian opt for this over the Kangaroo Court run by Vlastomil in Asra's route. Of course, Julian throws the fight so that he can be executed and meet the Hanged Man.
• Uncanny Valley: Except for Valerius, the courtiers all look very... off, somehow. This is later justified by the reveal that they are Demons Of Human Origin. Valerius is not nearly as far along the path of losing his humanity as his colleagues, so he has not become as physically grotesque as they are, though he would have come so eventually.
• We Used to Be Friends: Nadia, Julian, and Asra were friends during the Red Plague: Nadia forgot all about it, Julian forgot about being friends with Nadia, and Julian and Asra’s sexual relationship ended on such a sour note it embittered them towards each other. Only Asra appears to remember the entire friendship.
• Wham Line: Usually accentuated by a sound effect.
  • In Book XII of Julian's route, "Because the plague is coming back.”
  • In Portia’s, “It was to kill Count Lucio.”
  • In all routes, The Reveal that the Apprentice died and came back to life.
• Who Murdered the Asshole: It's quickly revealed Lucio was loathed by everyone he knew, making the investigation even more complex. None of the suspects did, as it turns out, though Julian came close - and even then it was to stop the Plague.
• You Can't Thwart Stage One: Despite your best efforts in Asra, Julian, and Nadia's routes, Lucio comes back to life and robs the Apprentice of a body at the same time.