Accept Defeat

A Curious, Experimental Puzzle / Short Experience / Adventure / Haiku by Unfolding

You've just survived a shipwreck. You need to get home to Fuchsia City by any means possible... but you're no trainer. You're just a fisherman, washed up on a strange island, with only a few items in your pack and a single Pokémon. And now you're trapped on an island crawling with scary-strong trainers, and you have to find your way home.

Hi, I'm Unfolding and this was my first ROMhack; this is where it all started. I think it's aged relatively well - it's a puzzle-y, atmospheric, high-concept experience that explores the mechanics of the Pokémon world. My execution was kinda amateur, but I really hope you enjoy it for what it is!

FEATURES (GOOD!)​

• An unlikely protagonist and a new archipelago to explore!
• A single new Pokémon, with an interesting gimmick!
• A completely unique battle mechanic that rewards creative teambuilding!
• Many small puzzles to solve in battles; larger puzzles to solve in the world!
• A brand new type of hidden item!
• Running Shoes indoors and a Bicycle from the start!
• Wait, three endings?!
• And one of the endings requires you to solve a difficult puzzle based on the core mechanics of the game?!

FEATURES (BAD!)​

• It's my first time creating literally any of the things you will experience!
• A vague sense of melancholy and helplessness despite the cheerful tropical setting!
• Game design that incorporates intentional softlocks! Yep, that's right, I'm one of those weirdos who believes softlocks have a place in game design, especially in short experiences like this. (Don't worry, it's story-relevant and hard to do by accident!)
• One impressively bad dad joke!
• Mostly vanilla Gen III mechanics - no later gen Pokémon, moves, or abilities, no physical / special split, etc.!