In Gilded Shadows, a GxB visual novel, players guide Morgan Leone, a queen-ranked Esper exposed during a fateful encounter, as she flees factions like Endgame, Crimson, and the Host on the divided planet Arcalis. Choices in the common route unlock faction paths and storylines, while personality traits shape interactions and responses across 30-40 hours of content. Customize the MC's appearance and personality to pursue one of six love interests in standalone routes, each with unique plots, over 100,000 words, and at least three endings.
Flowcharts help track progress through this expansive world blending solarpunk and cyberpunk aesthetics, where bio-domes shelter life amid eternal day and frigid night. Players navigate grey morals, sci-fi violence, suggestive content, and dystopian oppression of Espers and Biosynths. This indie simulation suits fans of choice-driven narratives and character-focused adventures on PC.
Description
Gilded Shadows is a GxB visual novel that explores a whimsical, yet dangerous world which blends the solarpunk and cyberpunk aesthetics into a unique adventure. The player can explore different factions and story lines based on their choices in the common route. The game has 30-40 hours of content where your personality traits lock or unlock various interactions and responses to situations. As you follow the MC on her journey, pursue one of six love interests in a stand-alone story unique to that route.
Story
Arcalis is a planet with a complex history.
Centuries ago, when humans arrived, they found it abandoned. The only remnants of its previous society were massive bio-domes dotted on the surface and designed as protection from the hostile climate.
With one side of the world bathed in eternal day and the other cloaked in frigid night, the bio-domes are oases where people live sheltered from the scorching winds and storms. But whether in the bright, clean cities of the day side of the planet, or the poor and crime-ridden cities of the night side, life is never simple nor peace easy to come by.
When a fateful encounter exposes Morgan Leone, a young woman who has long hid her ESP, as a queen ranked Esper, she finds herself on the run from multiple factions eager to attain her abilities. Endgame, the planetary defence organisation; Crimson, a notorious crime syndicate from Delphine; and even the shadowy group only known as "the Host" - each group sends operatives to retrieve her.
Now, with several paths open to her, she must choose her allies carefully. Between light and shadow lies grey twilight where the lines between good and evil are blurred. And in a world where the only constants are the endless day and night that divide the planet, Morgan learns those who can't adapt...also can't survive.
Features (in finished game)
6 love interests to pursue in initial release
9 Love interests to pursue (to be released)
Customise the MC's appearance and personality
100,000+ words per route with at least 3 endings each
Stand-alone character routes with unique plots
Expansive and gorgeous setting, world, and lore
Flowcharts to track progress through the story
Official Soundtrack by composer Tobi Weiss
Brief Content List:
Sci-fi violence
Cursing
Suggestive content
Sexual situations
Social upheaval and dystopian situations
Oppression of certain groups (specifically of Espers and "Biosynths" (androids/cyborgs))
Mild blood and injuries
Mental illness and trauma
Occasional (single) flashes
Some loud sound effects
Characters with messy or grey moral compasses
