Elemancia
Elemancia is an action-adventure game developed by Rareware for the Nintendo X. It takes inspiration from a variety of games, such as
The Legend of Zelda,
Ico, and
Banjo-Kazooie, with the former inspiring the world and level design of the game, while the latter two influenced the game "two characters in one" mechanic. It is developed by many from the same team that worked on titles like
Donkey Kong Country and
Banjo-Kazooie, and as such, it has a more cartoonish look than games like
Killer Instinct or
Perfect Dark, though its artstyle is more comparable to things like the
Monkey Island series or OTL's
Kameo: Elements of Power than towards
Banjo-Kazooie or
Conker's Bad Fur Day.
The setting is Elemancia, an island that is home to the Diamond of Life, a large gemstone that grants its wielder power over all of the elements of the island. However, Ancient, a Lovecraft-inspired cosmic entity who tried to absorb the Diamond of Life, but was sent into a slumber while trying to do so, with the Diamond rebelling against Ancient and harnessing all of the elements to defeat it. The Diamond, then weakened by the ordeal with Ancient, separated itself in six separate shards that were scattered across the island, which then created six unique biomes that corresponded to each of the six elements; fire, wind, earth, lightning, ice, and water. The six regions can be traversed in any order, and can be travelled to at any time with the help of Regional Gates (portal-like structures that transport the player to different regions instantaneously). Their names are:
- Aquilie - The water region, a lush and tropical area and the place in which the game begins.
- Electrille - The lightning region, a mountainous region caught in the midst of an eternal thunderstorm.
- Frostevis - The ice region, a cold and harsh glacier-filled terrain with lots of blizzards and ice storms.
- Gustlade - The wind region, which is a large valley with lots of plains and fields.
- Infernia - The fire region, covered in volcanoes and molten rock.
- Subterrus - The earth region, a desert area home to many mining colonies.
The player controls two characters, an amnesiac boy named Edan, and a fairy companion named Kameo. Kameo can either be controlled as a duo, or separately without the other. Controlling the two separately is essential for the game, as the world and levels are designed in a way that the player must utilize both Edan and Kameo to solve puzzles and complete objectives, with each of them having separate skillsets and abilities. Edan can fight and move/destroy objects, while Kameo can fly (allowing her to access high areas unreachable to Edan or cross gaps that Edan can't jump over) and become transparent in order to pass through indestructible/immovable objects. Throughout the game, both also gain access to elemental powers that can enhance their skills; Edan can use fire abilities to melt ice, Kameo can use water to pass through cracks in stone, etc. As for combat, the game has Edan fighting with a sword, but rather than having combos or weapon swapping like in games such as
Devil May Cry, Edan has some fairly basic moves, but they can be enhanced with elemental powers in order to make his moves more powerful. Additionally, Kameo can also fire projectiles (in place of Edan having a bow and arrow or some other kind of projectile-based weapon), which can also be enhanced by elemental powers. The elements that Edan has access to over the course of the game are fire, earth, and lightning, while Kameo's elements are water, wind, and ice.
The story begins with Edan washing ashore on Aquilie. Kameo finds him and takes him to her shelter, where she heals him and restores him to health. However, aside from his name, Edan has no memories of his past life. Kameo offers to take him to Azernath, the oracle of Elemancia, in order to figure out his identity. However, when they arrive at Azernath's temple, they find it under attack from the Leviathans, cephalopod-like creatures that resemble the Shoggoth from the works of H.P. Lovecraft. Initially, Edan and Kameo are unable to overwhelm them, and are nearly killed then and there. However, Azernath appears and shaves them from the Leviathans, banishing them to the Umbral World. Azernath explains that the Leviathans are servants of Ancient, the being who battled the Diamond of Life eons before and was defeated by it. Currently, Ancient is supposed to be slumbering in the Umbral Realm, but the reappearance of the Leviathans suggests that he is beginning to reawaken. In order to defeat him and send him back to sleep, the six shards of the Diamond of Life must be retrieved from each region of Elemancia and be reassembled, so that Ancient can be kept asleep or destroyed for good. Azernath then tasks Edan and Kameo with finding the six shards, and gives Edan a sword to fight with.
As they collect the various shards, they begin to wield control over the elements themselves, and the two slowly become more capable of fighting the Leviathans and other monsters. But they face other obstacles aside from the forces of Ancient as well, such as the Relurim and the Oselas, two warring factions of fairies who reside on Elemancia. Kameo, as it turns out, had a Relurian father and Oselian mother, and has been ostracized by both factions since her birth. Both of them desire to reassemble the six shards to annihilate the other, but fail to keep them from Edan and Kameo. Throughout their journey, Edan and Kameo also encounter a group of undead warriors named "The Pitch"; they reanimated corpses controlled by the consciousness of Ancient, and like with the Leviathans, have appeared because of Ancient stirring in his slumber. However, after assembling the sixth shard, Azernath betrays Edan and Kameo, and takes the six shards of the Diamond for himself. Ancient, whose real name is Sorodus, is the brother of Azernath, and the two of them had fought over control of the Diamond of Life centuries ago. However, the Diamond sent Ancient into a slumber and reduced Azernath into a human, and Azernath desires to absorb the power of the diamond in order to do battle with Ancient again.
Edan and Kameo are then rescued by Relurim and Oselas, who agree to a temporary truce in order to defeat both Azernath and Sorodus. To do this, they have Edan and Kameo open a portal in the center of the island that leads to the Void, a realm that exists between Elemancia and the Umbral World, and to trap Azernath and Sorodus inside of that. However, as they do so, the shards of the Diamond surround Edan, drawn to him, and it is here that Edan regains his memories; Edan is the Diamond of Life reborn. When he had initially fought Azernath and Sorodus, he separated himself into seven fragments; the six shards containing the Diamond of Life's elemental powers, and his soul, which would be reawakened the moment Sorodus' slumber began coming to an end. Using his power, Edan fights Azernath and Sorodus, defeating and weakening both of them, but allows himself to be drawn into the portal with them as well. The three of them are then trapped in the Void between worlds, permanently.
Kameo returns to the Relurim and the Oselas, who wish to crown her their queen and unite under her, now worshipping her as a hero. However, Kameo is uninterested, and disappears off of the face of Elemancia, seemingly for good. Centuries later, the legend of the Diamond of Life, Azernath, Sorodus, Edan, and Kameo is being told to a group of younger fairies that exhibit traits of both the Relurim and the Oselas. However, we then see that Elemancia has now become a modern-day city, but powered by magitek and populated by fantastical creatures. As we see a distant view of the city's skyline, a silhouette of Kameo is shown watching over it, with the game ending there.
Elemancia is released on August 10th, 2005. It receives positive reviews for the gameplay and puzzle-solving, but the story isn't considered to be anything special, and a popular opinion voiced in the months to come would be that most players would've preferred a whole game revolving around Kameo, rather than both her and Edan. While
Elemancia does have its admirers, it only translates to lukewarm sales, measuring up at around 700,000 copies, though Nintendo and Rareware do manage to make back the money spent on the game's development, so it isn't a bomb by any means. Ultimately, while it's enjoyable, it's not the start of a franchise for Nintendo or Rare, but at some of the creatives at Rare would say years later, it didn't really need to be a franchise, and it was just a fun game that they worked on for a bit.
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