[Completed] Pokémon: Perish Song - Challenging, Non-Linear, and Just Released!

[dan_felder]

Are you ready for a new challenge?

Defy the perils of Cradle Island in Poké'mon: Perish Song. Explore a vast, interconnected world with dozens of possible paths to the end. Be warned, the challenges ahead are unfair and some may seem truly impossible.

1. Summon the Legends
The legendary Poké'mon abandoned the world to ruin. Only offerings from those with the will to defy fate can bring them back. Catch specific sets of Poké'mon to perform the summoning rituals, then call the legends to fight by your side.

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2. No Grinding. Ever.
Poké'mon cannot be trained. They cannot gain XP from battle. The treachery of the former Champion ensured this. Players will have to use strategy to defeat powerful opponents in double battles with the Poké'mon they have, making their way to higher level areas where they can catch a more powerful team.

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3. Just 13 Days Remain
Each time you rest to heal your fainted Poké'mon, time advances one day. There are only 13 days left until the end of the world. Players will have to use their items, minimize damage, and make strategic sacrifices to get the most out of every day.

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4. Non-Linear World
Powerful trainers guard late-game areas, the moment you can defeat them you can go through. Even the Champion's throne room sits just above the starting area.

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5. Unravel the Secrets of Cradle Isle
Item descriptions and scattered journals slowly reveal the truth of the island's past. They also hint at hidden areas, secret objectives, and more.

Spoiler:

Warning: We made this game for a certain type of player. This is not a game where you get to make friends with your Pokémon and develop lasting friendships. This is a game of strategic sacrifices, where players catch new Pokémon of higher level to replace the allies that fainted along the way. Revives are limited, but the wild is an endless source of potential replacements. This is a game about exploring, backtracking, and using every tool you can gather to overcome the gatekeepers blocking your way through Cradle Isle.

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How to Download
You can Download Pokemon: Perish Song here.
1. Click the link above. Accept the well-intentioned warning from Discord.
2. The PerishSong.zip file should download automatically. If it doesn't, press "Download" in the upper left.
3. Once the PerishSong.zip file has been downloaded, open it and press the Extract All button. (You can also open your Downloads folder, right click it, and click Extract All...) It will extract the game files into the location of your choice.
4. In the location you chose (default is Downloads/PerishSong), run Game.exe. If Windows SmartScreen tries to stop you, you may need to press "More Info" and then "Run anyway".

Developer Discord Server
Want to ask questions, leave feedback, or just chat with the devs? We'd love to have you. You can join the Perish Song discord server here.

Who the heck are you guys?
Three friends that decided to do a weekend game jam about "Pokémon meets Dark Souls" and it turned into a year-long project. We've had so much fun working on it, testing out all the various routes and finding new ways to overcome the game's many challenges. Each time we did, we made things a little harder.

 

[floodryan123]

very interesting seems really cool! Do you think the game is nuzlockable?

 

[dan_felder]

very interesting seems really cool! Do you think the game is nuzlockable?

Thanks! It might be possible to complete the game as a nuzlocke if you have already played it before and go in with a careful plan, but only because we give the players an extraordinary number of routes, options, tools, and progression choices as the game progresses to reward their exploration. For example, even the first playtest build 1 year ago had a lot of trainers crash the game the moment you fought them (fixed this about 11 months ago, don't worry) and early testers still kept playing, exploring other routes, finding other ways to progress that didn't run into bugs. There's just that many paths available and nearly all of them interconnect eventually.

However, I would not recommend that players try a nuzlocke with Perish Song. The game is designed to scratch the nuzlocke itch already because healing and revives are limited, so it matters when your pokemon takes damage and faints. The game is heavily based on catching pokemon in order to progress though, and on finding the right pokemon to solve your problems or complete catching "quests" like the summoning statues or total species rewards.

Instead I'd suggest the 1-Day Challenge: Try to beat the game without ever resting in a bed or losing a battle. Don't savescum either, saving the game is fine but if something goes wrong accept it and keep going. There are a limited number of revives to recover key pokemon from fainting, and the game includes a way to run from trainer battles if things start going south (with a few exceptions that receive advance warning). This also lets you scout out battles in the world before committing to them, as many high level trainers guard shortcuts to lategame areas or optional rewards.

This will feel very similar to a Nuzlocke, except you also get to catch a lot of pokemon and fully engage with Perish Song's unique progression. :)

 

[orangechak]

I've been looking for celebi in the deepwood for 4 hours now. please tell me i'm just unlucky and haven't run into one or is getting a celebi a one time thing?

 

[dan_felder]

I've been looking for celebi in the deepwood for 4 hours now. please tell me i'm just unlucky and haven't run into one or is getting a celebi a one time thing?

Thanks for letting us know. The map just means that Celebi's summoning statue can be found in Deepwood. There are no wild celebi in the grass there. We'll update the map instruction in a future patch to make this clearer. Since you invested so much time looking for one though:

Spoiler:

there is one other celebi in the game right now - a shiny celebi hidden in Feverthorn Jungle, in the shape of a cut bush. When you talk to it, it will reveal itself.

 

[Corruptedchris]

This was a fun game. The last boss was pretty difficult but Perish Song came through. The lore was pretty cool, But damn
those glitches. figuring out was hell

 

[dan_felder]

Huge updates and expansions since last we posted! Expect to see more and more ongoing development, even though we're released we continue responding to feedback and expanding on the game's content. This new update adds 3+ Hours of optional content to the game.

As always, you can download from the same link and your game saves will be kept automatically! You don't need to restart your playthrough to get the new content.

Some of the many updates:
⭐ There is a new extensive, character-filled sidequest that eventually unlocks access to a new building: "The Poke'r Lounge". It starts just north of Ranger's Rest.
⭐ Frozen Hope has a new hidden area.
⭐ Improved movesets for many different pokemon - including Charmander, Kabutops, Omastar, Gyarados, Mawile, Bulbasaur, Tangela. Buffed the Nightmare Child.
⭐ Added a bunch of TMs to the world and to shops. There's also a way to get access to more level-up moves now.

 

[Didier le patron]

Wow! This game is the best souls like I've ever played. It nailed it like any others, I don't know if it was part of the inspirations (or maybe it's just a metroidvania inspiration), but I just find the gameplay perfectly balanced (except for the beginning when you find stronger trainer and forced you to passed a day). Moreover, the game is so fluid It don't even need a speed up button. Thanks you very much for this amazing game!

 

[EternalLight95]

Hello! I have played this game in another laptop and I want to transfer my save in my laptop. How can I do that? The save isn't saved in the usual folder.

 

[dan_felder]

Wow! This game is the best souls like I've ever played. It nailed it like any others, I don't know if it was part of the inspirations (or maybe it's just a metroidvania inspiration), but I just find the gameplay perfectly balanced (except for the beginning when you find stronger trainer and forced you to passed a day). Moreover, the game is so fluid It don't even need a speed up button. Thanks you very much for this amazing game!

Glad you enjoyed it so much. It's been so satisfying to see everyone playing. Another patch is on the way, adding a proper elite 4 before the champion and some other cool stuff too. :)

Hello! I have played this game in another laptop and I want to transfer my save in my laptop. How can I do that? The save isn't saved in the usual folder.

You should be able to find it in "%appdata%/Pokemon Perish Song"

The save is separate to allow redownloading the game, which lets you get the current version with any bug fixes or similar, not overwrite your save file. Can make porting the save unintuitive though.

 

[http404error]

Perish Song has been updated to version 1.3!

As always, you can download from the same link and your game saves will be kept automatically! You don't need to restart your playthrough to get the new content.

Highlights:
⭐ New foes have entered the Champion's Throne and some of the Duelists have become fiercer foes.
⭐ In the Shadow Cards quest, a certain bone-white item has been buffed to give you better results. Some rewards were changed also. Foes will now wise up about betting against you after a while.

(Full-length patch notes are in the Discord server.)

 

[aphive_05]

First pokemon game that kept my interest in a while. Stayed challenging all the way to the end.

 

[http404error]

Perish Song has been updated to version 1.4.3! (click to download)
As always, you will keep your save game when updating.

Major features:
⭐Puzzle Battles: Enter the memory of a battle that broke another wanderer, the one that made them finally give up hope. You take on the team they had and try to find a way to succeed where they failed. Puzzle Battles are the main source of revive items now, and may do something else in the future.
⭐A new story-focused quest can be found starting in Deepwood. This quest was created by @Special K! It's great!
⭐The Queen has a new private room. There, and elsewhere also, are some new pieces of backstory you can find.
⭐There's now an extra ending bonus if you took a certain path on the first day.

Other changes:
- Added ability to EvoScope to evolve Pokémon which meet their level requirements without having to level them up.
- Fixed inconsistency in whether Pokémon would level up immediately after you caught them if they were the right level. (This can happen in some specific situations later in the game.)
- New powerful Shadow Cards to collect.
- A previously inaccessible door can now be opened.
- Update to boss AI to save their strongest Pokémon for later.
- Some Dreaming Halls polish, and an update to Circe's team.
- Fixed Nameless Shepherd dialogue. He's a bit chattier now.
- A certain quest has had some of the things you need to collect moved around to make it easier / more consistent.
- Nerfed a powerful held item.
- Improved Skyspear Passage visuals a little.
- Tons and tons of minor fixes and movesets and polish, too many to list here.
- Added some unused things for later.