Krockman's Potpourrific Grab Bag of Ideas

With hopes of getting published this year, I wanted to share some story ideas that I have in the works. 

Late Night Sorcery 

Genre: LitRPG, urban fantasy 

The story I’m currently working on, Late Night Sorcery is hopefully going to be my first published work. Taking place in a parallel dimension known as “the Wyrd”, the story follows new comer, Roy Baymont, as he traverse the mad world of Ogden City, accompanied by the grimalkin, Poe, and the figurine scrap, Dahlia, after he gets sucked into the Wyrd through a freak portal. What follows is an insane romp through labyrinths, chasing down monsters, and having run-ins with the local crime lords. Late Night Sorcery is a LitRPG adventure with a tongue in cheek sense of humor, incorporating some of my own fantasy races (such as droks, familiars, and scraps), as well as with future plans of turning it into a series (with at least three or four more sequels planned). 

The Manor 

Genre: LitRPG, thriller, mystery, psychological horror 

This particular story actually started off as two separate stories, one being inspired by both Silent Hill 2 and The Amazing Digital Circus, and the other being an old concept for an rpg idea I had, called “The Manor”. After thinking about the two concepts, I realized how similar they were, so instead of writing the same story twice, I decided to combine them into one single story. In the story itself, seven people find themselves trapped inside the titular Manor, their bodies shifted into more monstrous forms and all memory of how they got there wiped from their minds. Soon, the group begins to hear a voice calling out to them, inviting them to play a little game. The rules are simple enough: get to the attic of the Manor, and they’ll have their deepest desires fulfilled. However, as simple as it may appear, the group quickly learns that not only do monsters stand in their path, but the layout of the Manor is beyond deranged, with some doors leading to whole worlds that defy logic. Using newfound powers, the seven strangers must set out on their journey to the attic, while also uncovering the dark truths that led them to the Manor in the first place. Currently, I don’t know whether to make one big story or split it up into seven stories focused on each of the main characters. 

The Star Whale 

Genre: sci-fi comedy, isekai, interdimensional

This particular story (possibly a series) takes inspiration from dimension jumping media, such as shows like Dr. Who and Sliders, as well as the podcast, Midnight Burger (which is a pretty good show, I personally recommend it). Anyway, on to the story itself. Joel Douglas is a regular college student who was minding his own business, when he had a strange encounter in his dorm room. Out from his closet stumbled an odd young man, seemingly confused about how he got there and proceeded to exit the dorm by crawling under Joel’s bed. Obviously freaked out by this, Joel chased after the young man under the bed, only to end up inside a strange room filled with futuristic technology. There, he meets the strange man, who introduces himself as Otto, an interdimensional traveler who jumps from reality to reality in his vessel, the Star Whale. Deeply curious about everything, Otto travels across the multiverse in the Star Whale, aided by his robot companion, Cogito, taking notes and pictures of all the various people and creatures he encounters along the way. Unfortunately for Joel, the Star Whale had just jumped into a new reality when he got on, making him a permanent member of Otto’s crew. Soon, the trio of travelers venture out to strange new worlds, slowly gaining new crew members in the process… as well as making a few enemies along the way. This one, I plan to make into a series.  The Duck at the End of the World (working title)

Genre: LitRPG, post apocalyptic, monster collecting LitRPG

Finally, we have a personal favorite of mine. While there are several stories and webcomics out there that have the premise of “the world comes to an end and is essentially turned into an rpg”, not many of them follow the Pokemon model (I.e. collecting monsters and using them to battle other monsters). So without further ado, here’s a brief synopsis of “The Duck at the End of the World” (it’s still a working title, so if anyone has any suggestions, I’m open to them).

Marceau didn’t expect anything from the day out of the ordinary, get up, go to work as a delivery man, deliver some packages, and grab a beer after work. What he wasn’t expecting was that the world as he knew it would end that day, a large rift opening up on the road from Seattle to Vancouver, causing his delivery truck to topple over. Even stranger, if you can believe it, is what was standing next to him when he regained consciousness: a small, teal duck-like creature with a bony plate on its back (like a turtle shell). While he was confused by this, Marceau soon discovered that the “duck” had not only formed a bond with him, but that it was also a pretty good fighter, which proves to be a godsend because he also discovered that monsters are running rampant throughout the world. Aided by the duck, whom he names Donnie, Marceau proceeds to traverse the dangerous new world, fending off both wild monsters and marauders who possess their own monsters.

Reborn as a Guiding Light

Genre: LitRPG, high fantasy, isekai

This is an idea I’ve recently come up with, my own take on the isekai genre… with a twist.

I’ve been coming up with a lot of game ideas lately, haven’t I? Between Majin Mob (which I’m still working on) and Disney Wonder City (which I’m planning on doing character profiles for), I’ve covered a few of the main types of gacha rpg games. Majin Mob covers the puzzle based gacha rpgs with a minimalist story (like Puzzles and Dragons), and Disney Wonder City covers the fast paced, story driven action gacha rpgs (like Zenless Zone Zero and Genshin Impact). With that being said, I want to take a crack at a third gacha rpg, one with a slightly more serious tone (though, not too serious). This one will be more in the vein of games like Reverse: 1999, Arknights, Chaos Zero Nightmare, and Limbus Company (games that cover a variety of different genres, from classic turn based rpgs to tower defense to rougelike). I’m also taking some inspiration from Persona 5… which isn’t surprising, considering that I have two different tokusatsu series partially inspired by it, those two being Demongo 3 and Carapace: Tales of the Dokkaebi, and even a fan side story set in New York, Persona 5: Another Story (hell, back when I was brainstorming ideas for Power Rangers: Pantheon Quest, Persona 5 was one of the inspirations for it before I pivoted to Dungeons and Dragons). So with all of that out of the way, let’s finally get to: 

Dreams of Pleroma 

In an alternate timeline, a meteor crashed into Earth back in the 80’s. This meteor was formed from a strange element known as gnosium, which has unusual properties. Not only does it grant people bizarre powers, it also opens a portal to a realm known as Pleroma, a realm born from the collective consciousness of humanity. Fast forward to the present day and while the incident has been mostly covered up, an unsettling new phenomena has emerged known as the “Fisher Kingdom Syndrome”. This phenomenon is the result of an individual coming into contact with a chunk of gnosium during a period of heightened emotion, from deep despair to seething anger, even something like grotesque entitlement, the gnosium causing the subject’s mental state to spill over and transform the surrounding area into a twisted world to match, the titular Fisher Kingdom. Not only are these areas overrun by monsters born from these emotions (known as “sarkics”), the Fisher Kingdoms are ruled by the original subject, having been transformed into entities known as “Fisher Kings”. If left unchecked, these Fisher Kingdoms will continue to grow, eventually becoming large enough to engulf entire cities. 

Enter: the Dreams Foundation. 

The Dreams Foundation is an organization that was formed to combat the rise of Fisher Kingdoms. Stationed in Pleroma, the agents of the foundation utilize portals to access any point in the world to hunt down Fisher Kingdoms and to put a stop to their Kings. Unfortunately, thus far, there has been no means of successfully destroying a Fisher Kingdom without causing irreparable brain damage to the human host… or worse. That is, this was the case, until you, the player character, came along. Having been exposed to gnosium at a young age and having a surprisingly resilient will, you became a psychic, an individual who possesses special powers. However, in your case, you have the ability to draw out a person’s inner demons (a monster known as an id), allowing agents to attack the monster and eliminating the root cause of the Fisher King’s corruption without directly hurting them. Now holding the title of “Logos”, you lead your team of agents against the Fisher Kingdoms, as well as mysterious figures working from the shadows. 

Gameplaywise, Dreams of Pleroma is a turn based strategy RPG similar to Reverse: 1999. Each chapter is made up of several stages, some are story stages that exist to progress the story, while others are combat stages. Combat consists of turn-based battles, with a team of four agents fighting for you (plus a fifth agent as a reserve fighter in case one of the current agents falls in battle, as well as providing a buff or debuff from the sidelines). Each stage has a set limit of turns to complete it in, usually twenty turns for normal combat stages, though boss stages usually have a thirty turn limit. During battle, you have a selection of ability cards to choose from during your turn, spending a certain number of points (called “emanations”) to do so, with stronger ability cards requiring more emanations to use them. You can also spend an emanation to move ability cards around in the layout, which can be useful because if two of the same ability card are next to each other, they can merge together to form a higher grade version of that card (you can merge cards up to grade three, but you can only do this with two cards of the same grade). If enough of an agent’s cards are used, it can summon that agent’s super ability card, usually a particularly powerful ability card that can have a variety of abilities depending on the agent (from AoE attacks to mass healing and buffs), and more importantly, they’re completely free to use, costing no emanations. Once you’re satisfied with your line up of attacks (or when you run out of emanations), you can end your turn, causing your agents to use the ability cards you picked, after which, it’ll be the enemy’s turn. When it’s your turn again, your emanations will be restored, granting you five emanations (plus any emanations you didn’t spend during your last turn). 

Outside of combat, there are a few other things you can find on the map of each chapter. Sometimes you’ll come across a strange eye-like icon on the map, sometimes after a story stage or a combat stage. Tapping on this icon will lead you into a conversation with one of a group of enigmatic characters known as the “Aeons”. These characters serve as a Greek chorus of sorts, they provide their own cryptic commentary on the events of the story, often giving details about the past of the chapter’s Fisher King. In the first three chapters (which is what I’ll be covering here for now), you’ll encounter four different Aeons: 

The Sheriff: An older, gruff gentleman who has a bit of a jaded outlook on life. 

The Professor: A deeply analytical man who views the whole ordeal in terms of values and numbers. 

The Teacher: An oddly excitable and optimistic sounding woman who’s fairly friendly, but seems to treat the Logos like a child. 

The General: A bombastic, over the top man who always seems to be on the verge of having a complete, violent breakdown. 

Usually, you’re only talking to one of them at a time, but as the game progresses, you’ll end up in conversations with two of them at once, their clashing personalities often making for some surreal moments. 

You can also find question mark icons on the map, often revealing documents or mysterious objects that offer more exposition or be used in treasure events. Speaking of which, the treasure events are the final type of things you can find on a chapter map, usually appearing as a keyhole-like icon. These usually take the form of a puzzle that needs to be solved or a question that you need to answer (usually based on the lore of the chapter). Completing these events will earn you gnosium, which serves as the ingame special currency used for summoning new agents, buying ingame currency, or instantly restoring your stamina in order to take on more stages. Gnosium can also be obtained by getting all three stars in a stage (usually by completing it within a certain number of turns or having agents of a certain element on your team), completing all events in a chapter, completing an Aeon conversation, receiving them as rewards in special events, or simply buying them in the ingame shop with real money.

Moving on to outside of combat, we head over to the Dream House, the main hub of the game. A building existing between the real world and Pleroma, the Dream House serves as a safe haven for you and your agents. We start our tour in the main lobby. Here, you can set one of your agents as a greeter for you when you open up the game. You can interact with them, which increases your bond with them by a few points. You can also change the style of the lobby with the aesthetic settings, as well as changing the background music with the stereo, utilizing soundtracks that you unlock as you complete levels and special events. You can also access the Dreamail Box, this game’s version of the battle pass, where you complete daily and weekly quests to earn points and unlock rewards (with a premium version available for purchase for better rewards). 

Next, we move over to the dorms, where all of your agents are stored. Here, you can check up on your agents stats, backstories, and their bond percentage. This is also where you level up your agents, utilizing items known as “charisma” to grant them a certain amount of experience points. Once they reach their max level, they can be ranked up (referred to as “enlightenment”), increasing their stats, as well as their level cap. Each agent has five levels of enlightenment, with each level unlocking a new perk for them. The first enlightenment unlocks the agent’s special effect (granting them special in-battle traits), the second enlightenment unlocks a new uniforms and splash art for them, the third enlightenment unlocks the “ousia tree”, and the fourth and fifth enlightenments upgrades the special effects each. You can also change your agents’ uniforms (basically the different cosmetic skins) here, all of which can be unlocked through the premium Dreamail Box, during special events, and in the in-game store. 

Along with enlightenment and leveling up, there are other ways to improve your agents. A surprisingly easy way to do so is by getting duplicates of agents in the DFH (the Dreams Foundation Hotline, which serves as the games gacha system), the duplicates being automatically converted into objects known as “memories”. These memories can be used to upgrade your agents’ ability cards, increasing their efficiency overall (increased damage, increased healing, increased shield health, etc). An agent can be upgraded with memories a total of five times, the first four times upgrading their main two cards twice each total, while the fifth and final time upgrades their super ability card. The other method is the ousia tree, the skill tree of the agents. Utilizing a special resource known as “epiphanies”, you can unlock nodes on their skill tree, gradually increasing their stats bit by bit. You can also unlock minor stat boosts by increasing your bond with agents, as well as unlocking more of their lore.

Next, we move onto the next section of the Dream House, the Heimdal Gate. Here, you can visit several different locations in Pleroma. The first are the Lairs, the resource collection levels. Here, you can fight through ten levels to collect rewards, each level increasing in difficulty but also offering better rewards. Each of the levels also tells pieces of a story, telling the tale of the Lair’s main boss, the Archons, former humans that fell to despair and madness in the depths of Pleroma, transforming into monsters doomed to a cycle of violence, death, and rebirth. These Lairs are the Lair of Blessings (for collecting charisma), the Lair of Prosperity (for collecting money), the Lair of Delight (for collecting ichor, items used for enlightenment, in this case, sanguine ichor), the Lair of Brooding (for collecting melancholic ichor), the Lair of Impulse (for collecting choleric ichor), and the Lair of Patience (for collecting phlegmatic ichor). 

Next is the Sea of Wonders, where the side stories are held. Here, there are several islands home to the figments, the natives of Pleroma. These islands are formed from the fantasies of people. These include islands like Cosmos (an island based on retrofuturistic sci-fi), Camelot (an island of fairytale knights, chivalry, and high fantasy), Tropicos (a tropical island with a mix of Caribbean getaway and high sea adventures), and much more. These islands are released as special events, with special challenges for rewards, an event-exclusive shop featuring event currency for extra rare rewards (such as uniforms), and new agents to collect (who’ll be permanently added to DFH a month after the event ends). After the event ends, you can unlock the Island in the Sea of Wonders using special keys that you can receive when increasing your bond with an agent to a certain point. You won’t have access to the event shop, but you can still play through the levels for rewards like regular chapter levels. 

Next, we have the game’s  rougelike mode, the Labyrinth of Dr. Caligari. For context, one of the recurring characters you’ll come across in the game is a researcher from the Dreams Foundation named (you guessed it) Dr. Caligari. An expert in the field of gnosium based technology and a skilled psychic herself, she’s also something of a mad scientist, running an assortment of questionably ethical experiments. One of the doctor’s most dangerous experiments is what she calls “the Labyrinth”, a sort of “artificial Fisher Kingdom” based on her own brain scans. The result of this is a landscape of twisted brutalist architecture, alleyways patrolled by roving packs of sarkics, and large cabinets that serve as portals to deeper within the labyrinth. What exactly does she do with the Labyrinth, you might ask. Why, she uses it as a training ground for agents, obviously. 

Each session in the Labyrinth starts the same, choosing from your collection of agents to bring with you by utilizing a currency known as “Krauss”, though you have a limited amount of Krauss to begin with, so you can only bring around three or four agents with you in the early sessions. From there, you’ll traverse a branching map through the Labyrinth, choosing a path to follow and facing whatever awaits you in the space you land on. Some spaces lead to battles (of three different difficulties), others serve as safe spots where you can either heal your team, revive fallen agents, or to buy special items that can upgrade your agents’ ability cards with Krauss (usually things like granting single target attacks splash damage, allowing them to afflict certain status effects, etc). Sometimes, you’ll land on a special event space, where you partake in various scenarios, such as helping a passerby, fishing out objects from a gutter, or investigating strange structures. Sometimes, depending on your choices here, you can either receive a boon (like extra Krauss, healing, or a special item) or a hindrance (like losing Krauss or some health). After reaching the end of the map, you’ll face off against a boss, after which, you’ll move to a sort of safe haven where you can heal up, revive agents, select new agents to add to your team, upgrade items, or take on mini-quests for extra Krauss (like beating a certain number of monsters or finding a specific item before the next safe haven). When you’re ready to move on, you need to select a new path in order to progress, each map having both its own buffs and debuffs. This cycle of progression continues for a few more maps until you reach the final section of the Labyrinth, a large, ornate cabinet where you face off against the final boss, a large Archon of Caligari’s creation known as Cesare. Whether you defeat Cesare or lose to it (or are incapable of continuing at any point during the exploration), that brings the session to an end, bringing you to the results menu where your performance is reviewed and you receive a certain number of epiphanies and another point (called insight) based on your results. Insight can be used to unlock three different upgrade paths to improve your next session, including the Path of the Tycoon (with each node in the path increasing your starting Krauss amount, increasing the amount of Krauss you receive in battles and events, and give discounts in safe zones), the Path of the Masochist (with nodes that increase the likelihood of finding items that lower your health or defense while boosting your attack power or increasing your rewards), and the Path of the Sadist (with nodes that increase the likelihood of finding items that will lower enemy defenses or give your ability cards the power to afflict debilitating status effects). You can also receive rewards for completing a certain number of sessions, with the fifth completed session earning you Dr. Caligari herself as a playable agent, every fifth reward afterwards being items that can be used to strengthen her. 

The final area you can visit is something much different than what we’ve seen so far: Dreamland. A small pocket of Pleroma owned by the Dreams Foundation, converted into a small theme park for the average visitor, and placed under your care, Dreamland is your primary source of income outside of battle. Here, you can assign agents to work, working as vendors, entertainers, guides, and maintenance workers, earning a certain amount of money over time. You can also place attractions and land to expand the park, with special theme packs being available as rewards for special events. At the center of the park is the Kenoma Tower, which you can upgrade to increase the amount of land you can place and the number of agents you can assign. Assigning agents and interacting with them in Dreamland is a good way of increasing your bond with them. 

To wrap things up, let’s go over the agents themselves. Besides everything I already covered about uniforms and training, all that’s really left to talk about is some minor details. First is that each agent has three ability cards, two regular ability cards and a super ability card. Second, each agent can be separated into one of four elements: Sanguine (air), Phlegmatic (water, weak against Sanguine), Choleric (fire, weak against Phlegmatic), and Melancholic (earth, weak against Choleric but strong against Sanguine). They can also be grouped into four different types of fighters: Melee (damage dealers), Tanks (agents with high defense and often draw enemy fire from their teammates), Support (healers and buffers), and Control (inflicts debuffs and status effects on enemies). This last bit of information doesn’t really have any gameplay impact but more of a bit of world building, but each of the agents can be grouped into four types: 

Psychics: humans who have successfully awakened their powers after being exposed to gnosium

Hylics: humans who were exposed to gnosium, but failed to awaken actual powers, often requiring gnosium powered weapons to fight in battle 

Figments: the native inhabitants of Pleroma and born from the collective consciousness of humanity, naturally born with powers but can’t physically enter the real world unless they wear special stability cuffs 

Supernaturals: supernatural entities like elves, ghosts, vampires and the like who were drawn out by the whole “gnosium fiasco” 

Finally, I’m going to go over a few of the agents you can collect over the course of the game. This includes some of the early game agents, as well as a few I came up with that I found particularly interesting. I’ll also be covering some details like their uniforms and ability cards (for convenience sake, I’ll be covering the cards’ grade three stats). 

Sofia Braxes 

Element: Melancholic

Role: Support

The granddaughter of the founder of the Dreams Foundation, Monos Braxes, Sofia is the co-captain of the Logos’ squad. Subdued and well educated, she’s a particularly resourceful psychic, doing her best to aid the Logos and the rest of the Foundation. Her psychic powers manifest in the form of music, utilizing a conductor’s baton to channel her powers. 

Basic Uniform: A lithe, pale brunette woman dressed in a pale blue dress and sporting a bobcut hairstyle, wields a conductor’s baton.

Second Enlightenment Uniform: Now dressed in a pale blue marching band uniform, the hat sports a small pair of angel wings, the conductor’s baton is now more ornate. 

Ability Cards 

Adagio: Deals 300% damage and inflicts and boosts the attack stats of teammates by +10% for 2 turns, single target attack. 

Crescendo: Mass buff, grants teammates a +25% boost to both attack and defense. 

Orchestral Refinement: Mass healing, heals team HP by 100% of her attack stat. 

Barbelo 

Element: Sanguine 

Role: Control 

A psychic who appears to be in constant flux, Barbelo is able to use a floating mirror to shift between two different forms, the male “Janus” and the female “Janice”. While this seems to be a case of one person switching between different genders, the truth is far stranger than that. The two forms are actually different versions of the same person from different realities, their powers manifesting as a psychic link between them that transcends time and space, eventually seeing each other as brother and sister. Unfortunately, due to being the only ones who can see each other the two Barbelos were institutionalized later in life due to their parents’ belief that they were suffering from DID. It wasn’t until the Logos and Sofia came along and provided them with a gnosium enhanced mirror that people were finally convinced of the truth, not only showing both Barbelos at the same time, but also allowing them to switch between their respective realities. Afterwards, they join the Foundation and join the Logos’ squad. 

Basic Uniform: A blonde twenty-something standing in front of a large, silver mirror reflecting another blonde twenty-something, one is “Janice”, wearing a pastel green and white striped blouse and a jean skirt, the other is “Janus”, wearing a pastel green and white striped button up shirt and jeans. One will always be inside the mirror while the other stands outside of it, the two occasionally swapping places with each other.

Second Enlightenment Uniform: The pair are now dressed in matching blue military fatigues, the mirror now gold framed and more ornate, sporting and eagle-like design on top. 

Ability Cards 

Blindside: Single target attack, deals 300% damage and inflicts the stun status effect, lasts for 2 turns. 

Tag In: Switches between forms, Janus sports higher defense, while Janice sports higher attack, upon switching, receives an attack and defense buff that lasts for 2 turns. 

Albedo: Mass attack, deals 300% damage to all enemies, applies debuffs to both attack and defense that last for 3 turns.

Conrad 

Element: Choleric 

Role: Melee 

A hylic soldier, Conrad is one of the soldiers assigned to the Logo’s squad. Originally a police officer, he experienced a partial awakening after attempting to move a cache of gnosium. He spent a few years working as Dr. Caligari’s assistant before transferring to the Logos’ squad (something that still haunts him to this day). As a hylic, he utilizes both a handgun and a sword infused with gnosium to fight sarkics. 

Basic Uniform: A young man with short black hair and rugged features dressed in blue military fatigues, wields a large sword with a shimmering orange core in the blade. 

Second Enlightenment Uniform: Now sporting a Kevlar vest, a helmet with a visor, tactical belt, and reinforced gloves, the sword is now larger, more ornate, and glows with an orange light. 

Ability Cards 

Takedown: Single target attack, deals 300% damage. 

Scattershot: Mass attack, deals 200% damage to all enemies, 

Bunker Buster: Single target attack, deals 500% damage to and inflicts a debuff to defense for 1 turn.

Niu 

Element: Melancholic 

Role: Tank 

A figment from the island of Tropicos, Niu is something of an oddball. Fairly laidback, he works as a member of the Foundation’s rescue squad alongside with being a member of the Logo’s squad. A surprisingly friendly fellow despite his intimidating size, Niu proves to be pretty effective on the battlefield, able to produce explosive coconuts to take out sarkics. 

Basic Uniform: Resembles a tall, anthropomorphic coconut palm tree with a long neck, a coconut for a head, palm fronds for hair, and blue swim trunks, has long, relatively skinny arms and stubby legs, and wears a stability cuff on his wrist like a bracelet. 

Second Enlightenment Uniform: He now wears an unbuttoned Hawaiian shirt, multiple puka shell necklaces, and sunglasses, a small palm tree now sprouts from his back, resembling a tail.

Ability Cards 

Coconut Bomber: Single target attack, deals 300% damage, applies the taunt status effect to himself.

Pau hana: Self healing, heals himself by 100% of his attack stat, grants himself a shield for 200% of his attack stat. 

Coco Typhoon: Mass attack and buff, deals 300% damage to all enemies and applies a shield for 100% of his attack stat to the whole team. 

Esther 

Element: Sanguine 

Role: Melee 

An unusual creature, Esther is something of an enigma. While resembling a person in a mascot costume, it’s hard to say what exactly she is, though there are theories. Some think that she might be just a figment or a supernatural, others think she’s a sarkic that somehow gained sentience, while others think she may have been a normal human who was transformed into what she is now as a result of an experiment. In any case, she serves as a bodyguard for one of the head researchers Dreams Foundation, one Dr. Lutwidge, able to fend off attackers with extendable claws (as well as running a few errands in town for him). 

Basic Uniform: Resembles a figure dressed as a pink and purple striped smiling cat mascot, a large zipper running down her torso, her smile consisting of large, square teeth. 

Second Enlightenment Uniform: The mascot suit suit is now slightly tattered, the color palette having changed to an electric blue and grey stripes, the teeth in her smile are now pointed and sharper, her claws are permanently extended from her paws, and she sports a small top hat on her head (modeled after the Mad Hatter’s hat), an eerie, blue light shines from one of her eyes. 

Ability Cards 

The Claws that Scratch: Single target attack, deals 300% damage and inflicts the bleed status effect on the target for 2 turns (causes gradual health loss and lowers the target's attack stat). 

The Jaws that Bite: Single target attack, deals 300% damage and inflicts the poison status effect on the target for 2 turns (causes gradual health loss and lowers the target’s defense stat). 

Schrodinger's Truth: Mass attack, deals 500% damage to all targets, if the targets are afflicted with poison or bleed, removes the status effect but deals damage based on how many turns the effect had before ending. 

Tucson

Element: Choleric 

Role: Control

A figment from the island of Eastwood (Wild West themed island), Tuscon is a particularly skilled bounty hunter. Utilizing a stability cuff that he stole from a supply convoy from the Foundation, he’s often finding work in both the real world and Pleroma, hunting fugitives with both his sixshooters and an enchanted deck of playing cards. 

Basic Uniform: A desperado-like figure with a bull skull for a head with flaming eye sockets, dressed in a brown button up shirt, tan cowboy boots, jeans, and a brown cowboy hat, wields a pair of silver sixshooters, wears a stability cuff around one of his horns. 

Second Enlightenment Uniform: His skull is now decorated in a similar manner to a Dios De Los Muertos skull, his cowboy hat is now black, his horns are now longer, his clothes are bit more patched up, his boots now sport a pair of spurs, and his sixshooters are now golden and more ornate. 

Ability Cards 

Quickdraw: Single target attack, deals 300% damage and removes 1 buff from the target.

High Noon: Multi target attack, deals 200% damage to two random targets. 

Deadman’s Hand: Mass attack, deals 400% damage to all targets, removes all buffs from himself to increase damage by 50% per buff. 

Potters 

Element: Phlegmatic 

Role: Melee 

A ghostly figure, Potters is the collective ghost of an entire graveyard. Originating from a small town in Virginia, they were awakened when a graveyard was being exhumed and relocated for land development, only for the collective remorse and despair to be given new life by a piece of gnosium. While they’re generally soft spoken and keep to themselves, they can be quite terrifying when they want to be, utilizing a piece of what used to be the graveyard’s gate to summon the full wrath of their restless spirits. 

Basic Uniform: An androgynous, pale, ghostly figure dressed in a white smock with a black pageboy bob cut and red, partially melted candle on top of their head, they’re holding a broken piece of wrought iron in the hands (originally part of a larger gate). 

Second Enlightenment Uniform: Their smock is now more tattered and dirty with bits of grass sticking out from the holes, two melted red candles sit on their head, resembling a pair of horns, and the wrought iron glows with a sickly green light. 

Ability Cards 

Haunting: Single target attack, deals 300% damage and inflicts the stun status effect on the target for 1 turn.  

Who’s there?: Self buff, applies the intangible status effect to self for 3 turns (cannot be attacked or targeted until it wears off, can still be damaged by damaging status effects if inflicted before hand). 

Beyond the Grave: Mass attack, deals 300% damage to all targets, deals an extra 20% damage if the target is stunned. 

Kepler 

Element: Sanguine 

Role: Support 

A figment from the island of Cosmos, Kepler works as a field researcher for the Foundation. Condescending and analytical, she secretly has an interest in romance, often studying romantic comedies for information. She’s capable of protecting allies by utilizing a raygun that both blast enemies and project shields around her team. 

Basic Uniform: A retrofuturistic alien girl with green skin, black almond shaped eyes, short pink hair, long antennas, and three fingered hands, wears a form fitting orange retro space suit with red gloves and knee high boots, and carries a silver handheld ray gun, the belt of her suit has a stability cuff built into the buckle. 

Second Enlightenment Uniform: She now wears a purple version of her spacesuit, sporting a miniskirt and a bubble helmet, her ray gun is now noticeably bigger and red and black. 

Ability Cards 

Atomize: Single target attack, deals 200 % damage and removes status effects from one random teammate. 

Optimization: Single healing attack, heals the teammate with the lowest health by 50% of her attack. 

Shields Up: Mass healing attack, heals team by 200% of her attack, if healing exceeds the target’s maximum health, applies a shield worth the excess health points. 

Dr. Caligari

Element: Phlegmatic 

Role: Control 

One of the head researchers at the Dreams Foundation, Dr. Helen Caligari is a particularly nefarious member of the organization, as well as one of its founders. Born in Munich, she worked as a psychiatrist for years until the meteor struck back in the 80’s, being brought on to study gnosium and its effects on the human mind. Eventually, she not only awakened as a psychic, she eventually went on to create the Labyrinth to further her studies (being deeply indifferent to her subjects’ well being). In battle, she’s able to summon the artificial archon, Cesare, to attack enemies (as well as collect samples from them for later experiments). 

Basic Uniform: A tall, imposing, middle aged woman with long, messy black hair streaked with white hair, dark circles under her eyes, thick spectacles, a stained lab coat, a dark green sweater and khaki pants, carries a cabinet key with her to summon Cesare. 

Second Enlightenment Uniform: Now wears a black overcoat and a top hat, Cesare can be seen peering over her shoulder. 

Ability Cards 

Take a Sample: Single target attack, deals 300% damage, applies an attack buff to self and a debuff to the target’s defense. 

Hypnosis: Single target attack, applies the stun status effect that lasts for 3 turns. 

Du mußt Caligari werden!: Mass attack, deals 500% damage to all enemies, deals an extra 100% damage for each debuff the enemies possess. 

Finally, we move onto the setting of the sixth and final season of Disney Wonder City: the Tower of Dreams. Unlike all of the other settings in the game, the Towers of Dreams isn’t based on any of the parks, but rather, on a movie, in this case, Fantasia. This is for a couple of reasons. First, as you know if you’ve read my journal post on the subject, Fantasia is a personal favorite of mine. Second, when Walt Disney was coming up with the idea for the movie, he actually wanted it to be an ongoing project, releasing a new edition every few years that would feature new segments (only to be stopped by a perfect storm of budget restraints, the film’s initial box office flop, and America’s entry into World War II). In a sense, Fantasia was Disney’s most ambitious project before Disneyland itself. It’s only fitting that an area in the game should be based on it. 

Anyway, the Tower of Dreams is the home base of the great dreamer, Elias. Located far from the mainland away from all the other cities and from Meraqua, it is a place of mystery and wonder, where the great dreamer practices his magic and incantations, as well as store his research and studies. After the events on Meraqua, the Coordinator is given a chance to venture into the tower with their crew, hoping to find a way back home, and also discover the truth behind the world of Wonder City. However, the Phantom Blot has followed after them in secret, having finally found the tower and eager to finally complete his master plan. 

Unlike all the other locations, the Tower of Dreams doesn’t have districts, but rather, it’s separated into different floors, each one based on the different segments from the original movie. These floors serve as both districts and phantom zones, a sign that you’re no longer in the relative safety of the outside world. You’re in the endgame now. These floors are: 

Abstract Floor: The first floor of the tower, the Abstract Floor is based on Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. Initially the entrance of the tower, it soon transforms into an abstract landscape, the layout twisting and reforming in a display of shapes and colors as you progress through it.

Floor of Whimsy: The second floor of the tower, the Floor of Whimsy is based on The Nutcracker Suite. A strange, overgrown garden-like area, it’s filled with various mesmerizing plant life and fairies. 

Elias’ Chambers: The third floor of the tower and Elias’ main living area, Elias’ Chambers is based on The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. An eerie series of chambers, this is where the great dreamer practices his magic and conjurations. 

Primeval Floor: A strange primordial wetland and the fourth floor of the tower, the Primeval Floor is based on The Rite of Spring. A snippet of an ancient time, this floor is home to several dinosaur-like creatures (closer to the old, outdated interpretations of how dinosaurs looked than the more recent versions). 

Pastoral Floor: The fifth floor of the tower, the Pastoral Floor is based on The Pastoral Symphony. An oddly serene Greco-Roman paradise, it’s filled with lush gardens, lakes, and a few ruins. 

Floor of the Hours: The sixth floor of the tower, the Floor of the Hours is based on Dance of the Hours. Resembling the interior of a grand palace, the floor cycles through the various times of day, from dawn to noon to evening and to night. 

Walpurgis Peak: A distant peak just across from the tower, Walpurgis Peak is based on Night on Bald Mountain. Accessed from a sky gondola on the topmost floor of the tower, it’s where the final fight with the Phantom Blot takes place.

Also unlike the other areas, there are no new recurring phantoms. Instead, you face off against not only all of the recurring phantoms that you’ve faced off in the previous areas, but also against every phantom that was exclusive to specific phantom zones (again, things are getting serious). 

Likewise, there aren’t any new playable dreamers in the Tower of Dreams. There are, however, three key dreamers here: Elias himself, being the Dreamer of Yen Sid, his apprentice, Astrid, the Dreamer of Aurora, and the Phantom Blot himself (more on that later).

The main goal of the tower is to venture into the depths of each of the floors to activate generators that will restart the sky gondola to reach Walpurgis Peak. As you activate more generators, Elias becomes more and more grim. Eventually, when the second to last generator has been activated, Elias asks the Coordinator to come with him into his private studies alone. He has something important to tell them. Doing as the great dreamer tells them, the Coordinator enters the private studies without their crew, where Elias proceeds to tell them the dark truth of the world. 

Long before the world of Wonder City existed, there was another world. A world of wonder, magic, and delight. However, a great calamity struck this world, spelling its ultimate doom. Before the world ended, a great sorcerer living in that world, Yen Sid, cast a spell that would save the people of this fallen world in some shape or form, creating the world of Wonder City as a result of that spell. Elias knew all of this because he was Yen Sid, or at least he was in another life, the sorcerer’s magic allowing his memories to spill over into his reincarnation, making him the only person to know the truth. In fact, all the dreamers are reincarnations of the former residents of the old world, the souls of every person who lived there given a second chance at life. Even the Coordinator is a dreamer, or at least an unawakened one, though who they’re the dreamer of is unknown. In this new world, people were free to live their lives in peace and pursue their dreams. However, one day, the Phantom Blot appeared in the world, and with him, the phantoms and phantom zones, causing chaos and disarray for the residents of the new world. If there was a way to curb the advances of the phantoms, taking out the Phantom Blot would surely do it. 

When the last of the generators was activated and the sky gondola was up and running, the Phantom Blot immediately launched his attack, causing Walpurgis Peak to become enshrouded in shadows as he achieved his fullest power. Arriving on the peak, we’re treated to a scene that seems to be a full on recreation of the Night on Bald Mountain segment of Fantasia, darkness being drawn to the mountain and the phantoms writhing in a hellish dance. At the top of the peak was the Phantom Blot, having discarded his suit and taken on his true form, Lucifuge, the Dreamer of Chernabog. Seeing the Coordinator and their crew, Lucifuge congratulated them on a job well done, explaining that he brought the Coordinator to this world, knowing that sooner or later, they would lead him to the Tower of Dreams, and in turn, lead him to Walpurgis Peak. Now that he is here, he’ll finally have the power to transform the entire world into a giant phantom zone to rule over. This leads into the final boss fight of the game. 

Once the fight is over, Lucifuge manages one last trick, sending the crew flying before encasing the Coordinator in shadows, hoping to crush his enemy once and for all. However, at that moment, the Coordinator finally awakens as a dreamer, not a dreamer of a person, but a dreamer of an object: the Dreamer of the Wishing Star (explaining why they’ve been able to help so many people). With their newfound powers, the Coordinator is able to fire a blast of light that pierces through the shadows and strikes Lucifuge, turning him to stone. With their leader gone, the phantoms become a lot less coordinated, now existing only in the phantom zones. Having fully awakened as a dreamer, the Coordinator decides to stay on at Wonder City, helping out those in need across the world. 

You ever have something from your childhood just lodge itself in your brain and just sit there and stew until you write it out. For me, that’s Disney’s Fantasia and its sequel, Fantasia 2000. I’ve always loved these movies (especially the first one, as it was where I first heard Igor Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring). Of course, they aren’t exactly perfect, especially 2000 and what they did to Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals (more on that later). Now, I don’t think I have enough to create a full sequel per say, but I do have 5 different ideas for potential segments for a possible future movie. 

Bolero (by Maurice Ravel)

Starting things off, we have Bolero, one of the more famous pieces in the world of classical music, featured in the movie 10, several Olympic torch lightings, and most famously, the potential opening theme for the original Legend of Zelda game (only to replaced with its current theme due to copyright issues). Interestingly enough, the piece itself is actually composed of a handful of notes being played over and over again by different parts of the orchestra, growing more intense with each repetition (mainly done on Ravel’s part to show off what a good orchestra can really do). That being said, I’d imagine Bolero would make an excellent opening segment for the movie, accompanied by a more abstract short, similar to the other two movies (Toccata and Fugue in D Minor for the first movie, and Symphony No. 5 for the sequel). For Bolero, it starts with a simple black dot pulsing in time with the music as it stretches out into a curling line that steadily forms a variety of abstract landscapes as the song grows in intensity, ultimately collapsing into an enormous heap at the climax. 

The Planets (by Gustav Holst) 

Next, we take a look at Gustav Holst’s The Planets, a seven movement suite based on the astrological interpretation of the planets. Inspired by a discussion about astrology he had with his friends while on vacation in Spain, Holst created the suite with each movement being named things like “Mars, the Bringer of War” and “Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity” (though Earth and Pluto are excluded due to Earth not having any astrological significance and Pluto not even being discovered until years later, or course, that hasn’t stopped people from retroactively adding new movements for them). With that in mind, I have a very interesting idea for the segment, where we visit the planets and meet not only various aliens of these planets but also the constellations that are said to be ruled by these planets (yeah, astrology is weird sometimes). 

Starting off, we find ourselves in space, focusing on the constellation Aries (here represented by a sheep with star studded wool) as it slowly approaches the planet Mars. Zooming in on the red planet, we’re greeted by a vast, scorched battlefield filled with war machines, led by a towering armored figure called “the Bringer of War”. As the piece continues, Aries does his best to avoid the assault, tanks and spaceships firing explosive rounds at each other as the fight goes on. However, at the climax, the Bringer of War steps out of his war machine and makes a horrible realization that he was the last remaining martian on the planet, surrounded by the wrecked remains of both armies. 

After the chaos of Mars, we pan over to Venus, following after Libra (represented here by a set of living scales that wouldn’t look out of place in Beauty and the Beast) as he ventures down to the planet. Here, we see pastoral gardens and peaceful springs being toured by the Bringer of Peace, an almost angelic being that cares for the gardens. As they go about their business, they soon encounter Libra and together, they tour the planet and take in the sights and sounds. The piece ends with the Bringer of Peace settling down in a grotto for a nap as Libra returns to space. 

Next, we move on to Mercury, where Gemini (presented as a pair of starry eyed twin brothers) and Virgo (represented by what could arguably be Fantasia’s very own Disney Princess) notice some frantic movement on the planet below. Investigating the ruckus, they’re soon met with a winged messenger resembling a large bumblebee flitting from home to home, delivering mail and packages. While the messenger goes about his business and tries to keep his schedule, he’s constantly hounded by the trio, more curious about him than anything. Unfortunately, as he tried to keep up his beat and dodge the persistent constellations, he accidentally trips, sending his mailbag flying off an overpass. Fortunately for him, Virgo was able to catch it in time, returning it to the grateful messenger before returning to space with the Gemini brothers. 

Things become bombastic when we move over to Jupiter, where Sagittarius (represented as a brawny centaur wielding a bow and arrow) hears loud fanfares echo into space. Coming down to the surface, he sees a large crowd gather around a castle, the doors of which open to reveal the Bringer of Jollity, a rotund, grey bearded alien who seems to be a respected figure on Jupiter. Surprisingly spry and energetic for his age, he bounds through the crowd, filling them with joy and happiness to everyone present, even spying Sagittarius and bringing him along for the revelries. As they go about their business, the Bringer of Jollity spies a young, impoverished girl, far removed from the crowd and quite morose. Pitying the poor girl, he brings her along for the festivities, the trio enjoying themselves as they participate in a large festival, with Sagittarius even bringing them all into space to skate along Jupiter’s rings. When the festival is done, Sagittarius returns the Jupiterians back home, where the Bringer of Jollity performs one final act, taking his crown off and placing it on the girl’s head, making her the new Bringer of Jollity. 

Moving from the festivities of Jupiter, we’re met with a much more somber sight on Saturn. Joining Capricorn (represented as the traditional mer-goat), we see that Saturn is covered in abandoned ruins, all being cared for by a lone android, the Bringer of Old Age. Following after the android as he quietly performed his duties, Capricorn learned about the humble rise of the former residents, and their ultimate fall from grace, leaving nothing but the ruins we see now (we never actually learn what happened to them, leaving us to wonder what caused all of this). The piece ends with the android returning to his charging station as Capricorn quietly leaves the dead planet, returning to space. 

We cut Aquarius (represented by a man gathering water with a large amphora) going about his business, only to realize that he was being spied on by someone from Uranus using a comically large telescope. Going down to the planet, he follows the telescope down to an observatory owned by a magician, who gladly insists on performing a magic show for him (much to Aquarius’ annoyance). This segment is actually an homage to the Sorcerer's Apprentice from the original movie, mostly because “Uranus the Magician” was heavily inspired by Dukas’ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. However, while the Sorcerer, Yen Sid, is a stern, wise old mentor, the Magician (let’s call him “Nam Kcork” for fun) is a big, blue, goofy weirdo who’s more interested in showing off than anything. While he wasn’t able to impress Aquarius with his various parlor tricks, he was able to pique his interest when he summoned a bobbing pink blob creature that oozed and bounced in time with the music. However, things immediately went out of hand when more blobs were summoned and the Magician couldn’t stop them. Soon, the planet’s surface was covered by an army of pink blobs, bouncing merrily along and forcing the pair to climb to the top level of the observatory to avoid being trampled by the march. When all seemed lost, however, the Magician remembered the right spell, casting it and causing all the blobs to disappear. While the Magician was congratulating himself on a job well done, Aquarius shot him a dirty look, reminding him that this mess was his fault. With that, he picked up his amphora and returned to space, leaving the Magician feeling sheepish. 

Finally, we move to Neptune, where Pisces (represented as a large fish with a starry pattern across her body) spies an odd ritual being performed. Making her way to the surface, she sees an old mystic gazing into a large cauldron, tossing various ingredients into a murky broth. Curious as to what he was doing, Pisces slowly approaches the mystic, who presents the cauldron to her to view. Peering inside, we’re treated to an incredible sight of the solar system, only to slowly pan out to reveal the Milky Way galaxy, only to pan out even further to show a sea of galaxies, ending with the segment with the awe inspiring sight of the universe and all of its vastness. 

In the Hall of the Mountain King (by Edvard Grieg) 

Following The Planets, we have one of the single most famous classical pieces in history, In the Hall of the Mountain King. Created as part of the play, Peer Gynt, I’m pretty certain that everyone has heard this one in some shape or form. Along with that, it’s relatively short, making it perfect for a short segment (so much so, that I wished they had actually used that for Fantasia 2000 instead of Carnival of the Animals, for reasons I’ll explain soon). As for the segment, I have something in mind. 

The piece opens with a mischievous young boy being sent to his room after a long day of causing trouble. As night falls, the boy sneaks out of his house, only to be snatched away by a group of trolls and brought to the mountain and to the eponymous hall. There he is presented to the Mountain King himself, portrayed by Pete in his most menacing role since he portrayed the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come in a Christmas Carol. Towering over the boy, the Mountain King sneers down at the boy and proceeds to torment him in various ways, from sicking giant spiders on him, blowing smoke at him, and sticking him in a bowl and trying to drown with a giant pitcher of water. However, the boy managed to escape from the bowl and began running for his life back to his home, with the Mountain King in hot pursuit. Fortunately for the boy, the King chases him over a narrow bridge, only to lose his balance and plummet into the valley below. The piece ends with the boy running back home and running up to his room, hiding under his covers.

The Carnival of the Animals (by Camille Saint-Saëns) 

Now here’s one I feel needs a do over. While Fantasia 2000 already featured the piece and was where I first heard it, it wasn’t until years later that I found out that what I heard was only the finale. Like, seriously, there’s so much missed potential here (especially weird considering that part of it was used in Beauty and the Beast). Now, of course, I could go the obvious route and just have the segment be “ah yes, the animals are at their carnival”, but this is Fantasia we’re talking about. This wouldn’t be the first time they went off the chain with their ideas: the Nutcracker Suite being a nighttime garden ballet, the Rite of Spring being a trip from the formation of earth to the extinction of the dinosaurs, and Pines of Rome being about flying whales. Now… where do we begin. 

The segment opens up on a toy store, the owner leaving as he closes up for the night. As the owner walks away, the toy store comes to life as the various toys wake up, with the main focus being on a rag doll boy. However, the store is soon beset by an unusual arrival: a royal procession of fairies striding in, carrying their king into the store on a palanquin (Introduction and the Royal March of the Lion). We transition to several different scenes based on the various movements of the suite, from weebles arguing amongst themselves (Hens and Roosters), fairies chasing each other through the store and causing a ruckus (Wild Asses), old wind up toys rattling to life as they perform a slow dance (Tortoises), a pair of large teddy bears performing a ballet (The Elephant), a clown doll teetering about while being harassed by a pair of fairies (Kangaroos), a group of fairies being mesmerized by a kite dancing through the air (Aquarium), and a jack-in-the-box lurching out and scaring off a fairy girl with his advances (Characters with Long Ears). 

However, the next scene shows the rag doll noticing a somber fairy girl being held captive by the fairy king, weeping gently at her circumstances (The Cuckoo in the Depths of the Woods). Hoping to free the girl, the rag doll tries to rescue her, only to be distracted by the King’s ladies in waiting, confounding him with their quick movements and fluttering about (Aviary). Escaping from the ladies, he soon catches up with the king and the girl and attempted to save her from the monarch’s clutches, only for the fairy king to send him flying with a strike with his scepter (Pianists). However, seeing what the rag doll was doing, the other toys decided to help him out, putting on a performance for the king and distracting him long enough for the rag doll to free the fairy girl (Fossils). Alone at last, the rag doll proceeded to serenade the fairy girl, ultimately winning her heart and partaking in a gentle slow dance with her (The Swan). Suddenly, the fairy king noticed the two lovers and was enraged by the deception, sending his guards to retrieve the girl (though the toys and even some of the other fairies actually stopped them, tired of the king). Fed up with these failures, the king attempted to snatch the girl back himself, only for the pair to trip him up with some thread and send him flying out of the toy store, bringing peace between the toys and the fairies once and for all. 

Pictures at an Exhibition (by Modest Mussorgsky) 

Finally, we have Pictures at an Exhibition by Modest Mussorgsky (you may know him by his more famous work, “Night on Bald Mountain”). Created as a tribute to a friend of Mussorgsky’s, a painter named Viktor Hartmann, the piece was originally intended as a piano suite in 1874, though it wasn’t until 1922 that it was adapted into an orchestral suite by, none other than, Maurice Ravel (talk about coming full circle). Inspired by Mussorgsky’s tour through a memorial gallery set up for Hartmann’s paintings after he died, it’s easy to see why he was such a huge fan of his work, as both were influenced by Russian folktales (though it’s kind of funny looking at the titles of the movements without context, titles like “The Gnome”, “Ballet of Unhatched Chicks”, and “Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle”). So, without further ado, here’s the segment for Pictures at an Exhibition interpreted as a classic Russian folktale. 

We open with a royal procession into a forest clearing, a prince and his entourage are heading out on a picnic. While he’s enjoying himself, though, the prince accidentally wanders deeper into the woods and gets separated from the rest of the group (Promenade). In the woods, the prince soon finds himself being stalked by an eerie gnome, hobbling about on stumpy legs and frightening him, eventually causing him to run into a tree branch and knock himself out (The Gnome). We see a brief flash of the Prince dreaming about his life in his palace before waking back up (Promenade 2nd). Waking up, the prince finds himself in the ruins of an old castle, the gnome gently treating his injuries. While he was surprised by the creature’s presence, the gnome reassured the prince that he meant him no harm, even showing him around the sorry ruins (The Old Castle, Promenade 3rd). As the pair walk through the ruins, the gnome explains the history of the castle (through flashbacks), how the castle was once home to a beautiful princess who was snatched away by a witch, leaving the castle in ruins. Seeing the teary eyed dwarf, the prince vowed to help him rescue the princess from the witch (Tuileries (Children’s Quarrel After Games)). After leaving the ruins, the prince and the gnome found an old plow horse and decided to use it as their steed. With a bit of encouragement, the pair managed to get the horse on the move, setting off on their adventure (Cattle, Promenade 4th). 

Soon, the pair make their way deeper into the woods, where they stumble across a group of fairies and young gnomes at play in a clearing, blissfully unaware of the two travelers and their horse (Ballet of Unhatched Chicks). However, the festivities are cut short when an enormous ogre lurches out from the woods, attacking everyone present, the prince, the gnome, and their horse barely managing to escape (Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuÿle). Things seem fine for a while for the two as they continue their trek, only for the ogre to rear its ugly head again and continue its assault (Promenade 5th). Running through the woods, the ogre continued to chase after the pair, until, finally, they were able to lose him after jumping a ravine (Limoges: The Market (the Great News)). However, things hardly get better, as now, they find themselves in a darker and more foreboding part of the woods, alerting them that they were now in the witch’s territory. Making their way through the woods, they soon find an old hut, where a young woman was busy weeding a garden, with the gnome recognizing her as the princess (Catacombs (Roman Tomb)- With the Dead in a Dead Language). However, when the prince rescued her, the door to the hut flew open, revealing the witch, furious at the pair for trying to free her servant. With a wave of her staff, the witch’s hut sprung up from the ground on a pair of chicken legs and began to pursue the trio, the prince, the gnome, and the princess eventually escaping her clutches and exiting the woods (The Hut on Hen’s Legs (Baba Yaga)). As the little group makes their way down the road, they soon see the prince’s castle, a huge crowd gathering for their triumphant return. With that, the prince and the princess entered through the palace gates, with the prince even welcoming the gnome as a guest of honor and giving the plow horse a home in the royal stables (The Bogatyr Gates (In the Capital in Kiev)). 

Moving on from Natura, we enter the setting for the fifth season of Disney Wonder City: Meraqua. Unlike the other cities we’ve seen so far, Meraqua isn’t based on Disneyland or any of the Disney World parks, but rather, it’s based on Tokyo DisneySea. This was because most of the other Disney parks just seemed like copy pastes of Disneyland with a little flair, with the only other exception being Disney California Adventure. Between those two, Tokyo DisneySea felt like it had a lot more to work with when coming up with a location for the game (maybe California Adventure could appear as a special event area, I’m not sure). 

Anyway, getting back to the game, Meraqua isn’t so much a city as it is an archipelago, each island wildly different in nature. Along with being a hotbed for adventurers and scientists, it is also the home of the seafolk. It’s also stated that this place is the closest place to where the great dreamer, Elias, lives, and as such, it is a definite destination for the Coordinator and their crew. However, it seems that the Phantom Blot is heading here as well, planning something particularly nefarious. 

Unlike the other areas, Meraqua is separated into islands rather than districts, necessitating the use of boats to traverse across the archipelago. These islands are: 

Porto Paradiso: An island that serves as the primary port for Meraqua, Porto Paradiso is based on the Mediterranean Harbor. An Italian styled village, it’s divided into several sections by rivers, requiring the use of gondolas to navigate.

Vulcania Island: The main island of Meraqua, Vulcania Island is based on the Mysterious Island. Home to the volcanic mountain, Mt. Hephaestus, it’s also the home base of Captain Argo.

Nereus Lagoon: A vast lagoon surrounded by a large barrier reef, Nereus Lagoon is based on Mermaid Lagoon. The home of the seafolk, it is filled with vibrant cities crafted from seashells, coral reefs, and shipwrecks. 

Scheherazade: An Arabian style island town, Scheherazade is based on the Arabian Coast. A bustling marketplace, it’s home to several shops and restaurants, as well as several genies.  

Azteca: A lush, jungle island, Azteca is based on the Lost River Delta. Home to several ancient ruins, it’s seen as a hotbed for archaeological research. 

Discovery Bay: A high tech artificial island, Discovery Bay is based on Port Discovery. Created as a research center, it is a place of various studies and experiments, from weather phenomena to the sea itself. 

Bigtown Harbor: The main residential area of Meraqua, Bigtown Harbor is based on the American Waterfront. A place of fun, recreation, and scenic sights, it’s home to the world famous Explorers Rest Hotel. 

Mystica Island: An enchanted island, Mystica Island is based on Fantasy Springs. The epicenter of magic in Meraqua, the island is home to the fairies, as well as some incredibly capable dreamers. 

Phantom zones also exist here as well, including: 

Lone Fortress: An abandoned, labyrinthine fortress, the Lone Fortress is accessed through Porto Paradiso. It’s partially based on Fortress Explorations. 

Subterra Caverns: A series of winding caverns littered gemstone formations and lava flows, the Subterra Caverns is accessed through Vulcania Island. It’s partially based on the Journey to the Center of the Earth ride.

Twilight Abyss: An undersea, abyssal trench riddled with bioluminescent sponges, kelp, and jellyfish, the Twilight Abyss is accessed through Vulcania Island. It’s partially based on the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ride (the Tokyo DisneySea version). 

Riptide Reef: An enormous stretch of coral reefs and whirlpools, the Riptide Reef is accessed through Nereus Lagoon. It’s partially based on Flounder’s Flying Fish Coaster. 

Seven Storms Seas: A series of islands on perpetually stormy seas, the Seven Storms Seas is accessed through Scheherazade. It’s partially based on Sinbad’s Storybook Voyage. 

Spirit Ruins: A series of ruins infested with restless spirits, the Spirit Ruins is accessed through Azteca. It’s partially based on both Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Crystal Skull and Raging Spirits. 

Maelstrom Skies: An enormous fleet of planes and blimps gliding through a perpetually stormy sky, Maelstrom Skies is accessed through Discovery Bay. It’s partially based on StormRider. 

Hightower Suites: An abandoned hotel twisted by dangerous magic, as well as serving as a parallel to the Explorers Rest Hotel, the Hightower Suites is accessed through Bigtown Harbor. It’s partially based on the Tower of Terror (the Tokyo DisneySea version). 

Glacier Front: A frigid wasteland, Glacier Front is accessed through Mystica Island. It’s partially based on Anna and Elsa’s Frozen Journey. 

Fairy Meadow: An overgrown field polluted with magic, causing those who enter to shrink down to the size of a fairy, Fairy Meadow is accessed through Mystica Island. It’s partially based on Fairy Tinkerbell’s Busy Buggies. 

Isle of the Lost: A small, abandoned island floating in the sky and navigated with flying ships, the Isle of the Lost is accessed through Mystica Island. It’s partially based on Peter Pan’s Never Land Adventure. 

Wonder Volcano: A volcanic hellscape and a dark parallel of Mt. Hephaestus, Wonder Volcano is accessed through Vulcania Island. It’s partially based on Mount Prometheus. 

As usual, new recurring phantoms join the roster too, including: 

Grim Creepers: Ghostly phantoms shrouded in all concealing robes, they can easily float out of range from attacks, as well as become intangible to further avoid attacks. 

Tiki Marcher: Tribal warrior-like phantoms, Tiki Marchers can shift between two forms, a defensive tiki-like form that can launch magic blasts while tanking hits, and a tribal warrior form armed with a spear and a shield for melee attacks, though destroying the shield can lock it in its melee form. 

Blotopus: An octopus-like phantom that’s fairly slow, though not only can it strike with its tentacles and toss smaller phantoms as projectiles, it can also spray sticky ink to slow down enemies.

Finally, we have the roster of new dreamers, including: 

Argo: (Dreamer of Captain Nemo) An old explorer and the captain of his own submarine, the Cachalot, he’s the one that ferries the Coordinator and their crew to Meraqua. 

Porcelina: (Dreamer of Pinocchio) A living porcelain doll living in Porto Paradiso, dreams of becoming a real girl one day, aided by a small spectral cricket in battle. 

Vixen: (Dreamer of Honest John) A conniving fox woman, was originally a gold digger before she blew through her late husband’s inheritance, now roams the streets of Port Paradiso as a conwoman. Transforms into the Phantom Pantalone.

Molly: (Dreamer of Gideon) Vixen’s assistant and former maid, still serves her mistress even after she lost her fortune, armed with a large hammer, rarely speaks and is a bit dim. Transforms into the Phantom Pulcinella. 

Chiron: (Dreamer of Philoctetes) Heracles’ mentor, an older centaur who possesses a few skills of his own, mostly acts as a coach. 

Alecto: (Dreamer of Megara) A resident of Vulcania Island, somewhat cynical but has a soft spot for Heracles. 

Jupiter: (Dreamer of Zeus)  Heracles’ father and an old friend of Argos’, acts as the overseer of Vulcania Island, capable of conjuring lightning bolts. 

Tarpon: (Dreamer of Marlin) An older seafolk, a bit neurotic and overprotective of his son, Nino, learns to loosen up a bit while searching for Nino in Riptide Reef and seeing him being capable of fending for himself. 

Nino: (Dreamer of Nemo from Finding Nemo) A young seafolk, born missing an arm, a bit resentful about his overprotective father, Tarpon, ends up getting lost in Riptide Reef while trying to prove himself, 

Daria: (Dreamer of Dory) A friendly seafolk woman, suffers from memory issues (which translates in battle as a special ability that causes her to instantly cancel a status effect with every third attack), an honorary aunt to Nino and a close friend of Tarpon’s.

Skipjack: (Dreamer of Flounder) A young seafolk and a friend of Marina’s, a bit of a coward, but extremely loyal to his friend. 

Jean Claude: (Dreamer of Sebastian) A seafolk working as Poseidon’s assistant, fairly strict, but has a flair for music.

Lavender: (Dreamer of Jasmine) The daughter of the sultana of Scheherazade, yearns for a life outside of her island, ends up in a relationship with Olly, can summon a spectral tiger to aid her in battle. 

Djinn: (Dreamer of Genie) A genie of incredible power, ends up being bound to Olly when the group found his lamp, gains his freedom after Shahryar was defeated, but stuck with Olly out of a sense of friendship. 

Rukh: (Dreamer of Iago) A lesser genie and Shahryar’s assistant, a bit of a snarker. Transforms into the Phantom Roc. 

Shahryar: (Dreamer of Jafar) The advisor to the sultana of Scheherazade, completely resents his boss (mainly because she’s a bit of a twit obsessed with gadgets and toys), tries to take control of Djinn, but fails, escapes to Azteca after Rukh is defeated. Transforms into the Phantom Cobra.

Boris: (Dreamer of Bernard) A former janitor at the Explorers Rest Hotel turned assistant manager, a bit of a timid guy, ends up in a relationship with Bella.

Bella: (Dreamer of Bianca) The owner of the Explorers Rest Hotel, a sophisticated adventurer, ends up in a relationship with Boris. 

Hubble: (Dreamer of Pluto) A stray dog that somehow awakened into a dreamer, living around Bigtown Harbor, ends up being adopted by Max as a pet. 

Raddichio: (Dreamer of Rapunzel) A young man who possesses both incredible dreamer powers and incredibly long hair, somewhat of a himbo. 

Grace Nightingale: (Dreamer of Flynn Rider) A self proclaimed bandit, overly cocky, her attempts at being impressive ends up making her look like a doofus. 

Alva: (Dreamer of Anna) The current leader of Mystica Island, younger sister of Sigrid, free spirited romantic. 

Donar: (Dreamer of Kristoff) A reindeer herder, Alva’s boyfriend, incredibly strong, can summon spectral reindeer to aid him in battle. 

Starshine: (Dreamer of Tinkerbell) A fairy who can grow to human size at will, moody and easily jealous, becomes an older sister figure to Fawn. 

Beldam: (Dreamer of Mother Gothel) A particularly skilled witch, Raddichio’s “mother”, actually his kidnapper. Transforms into the Phantom Tower. 

Rhedd: (Dreamer of Captain Barbossa) A former smuggling partner of Robin’s, became a privateer after she had a falling out with her, became undead as a result of her awakening, hunting down Robin throughout the season for revenge. Transforms into the Phantom Captain. 

Poseidon: (Dreamer of King Triton) The king of the seafolk and Marina’s father, a fair ruler but a bit overbearing and has a deep distrust of surface dwellers. Transforms into the Phantom Tempest. 

After the Phantom Tempest is defeated in the Wonder Volcano, it’s soon discovered that the fight has caused Mt. Hephaestus to become unstable, causing an eruption. While the Coordinator and their crew try to evacuate Vulcania Island, they were surprised to see a figure cast a spell on the volcano, instantly calming it. Surprised by this, the Coordinator attempted to thank the figure, only to realize who it was: Elias, the great dreamer of Yen Sid. 

Moving on to the last of the Disney World lands, we now enter the setting of the fourth season of Disney Wonder City: Natura. Based on Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Natura is more of a nature reserve than a city, hosting small communities in various biomes surrounding the mystical Tree of Life. These biomes range from temperate woodlands to tropical jungles to arid deserts and savannahs, all inexplicably maintained by the Tree of Life’s magical properties. However, even in this idyllic paradise, the Phantom Blot schemes and plots in the shadows. 

Natura is separated into different districts like the other cities (or more accurately, different biomes), including: 

Genesis Gardens: The entrance to Natura, the Genesis Gardens is based on the Oasis. A thick, lush jungle filled with exotic animals, it’s accessed from Wonder City by jeep.

Yggdrasil: A small town and one of the few areas of civilization in Natura, Yggdrasil is based on Discovery Island. Serving as the main hub of Natura, it’s home to several marketplaces, as well as being settled around the Tree of Life, the source of the mystical power that maintains the various biomes of Natura. 

Harambe: An outpost in the savanna biome, Harambe is based on the Africa section of Animal Kingdom. It’s home to a few marketplaces, as well as a few safari trails. 

Louis N. Clark Memorial Camp Grounds: A camp ground in the woodlands biome, the Louise N. Clark Memorial Camp Grounds are based on Camp Minnie-Mickey. Something of a scenic vacation spot in Natura, it features several campsites and hiking trails, as well as a few ponds for fishing and canoeing. 

Anandapur: The ruins of a once great kingdom in the mountain biome, Anandapur is based on the Asia section of Animal Kingdom. While it’s mostly home to a great mountain and an archaeological site, it’s also home to several jungle trails, as well as a small trading outpost.

Pueblo Esperanza: A vibrant jungle outpost in the jungle biome, Pueblo Esperanza is based on the upcoming Tropical Americas section of Animal Kingdom. While this area is mostly tropical jungle, it’s also home to some ancient ruins (perhaps a rival kingdom to Anandapur). 

Diggs Institute Fossil Site: A lab and dig site in the desert biome, the Diggs Institute Fossil Site is based on DinoLand U.S.A.. A hotbed for archaeological discoveries, it’s home to the Diggs Institute, the world’s foremost center of fossil research. It’s also home to an old roadside amusement park, Diggs County Dino-Rama.

While there are phantom zones in Natura, there’s actually fewer here than the other cities, though they are far larger than the other phantom zones. These phantom zones include: 

Savanna Trek: A stretch of savanna dotted with sparse jungle, the Savanna Trek is accessed through Harambe. It’s based on both the Kilimanjaro Safaris and the Gorillas Falls Exploration Trail.

Twilight River: An eerie river running through a forest of bioluminescent plant life, Twilight River is accessed through the Louis N. Clark Memorial Camp Grounds. It’s partially based on the Na’ vi River Journey. 

Dread Mountain: A towering, snow covered mountain dotted with abandoned campsites and an old minecart system, Dread Mountain is accessed through Anandapur. It’s partially based on Expedition Everest. 

Maharajah Trek: An untamed jungle with a river that leads to a series of rapids, the Maharajah Trek is accessed through Anandapur. It’s partially based on both the Kali River Rapids and the Maharajah Jungle Trek. 

Lost Ruins: A series of ruins overtaken by jungle life, the Lost Ruins is accessed through Pueblo Esperanza. It’s partially based on the upcoming ride, Indiana Jones: Temple of the Foliated Cross. 

Cretaceous Trek: A primeval jungle dotted with volcanic areas and populated by dinosaurs, the Cretaceous Trek is accessed through Diggs Institute Fossil Site. It’s partially based on Dinosaur: Countdown to Extinction. 

Tree of Strife: A dark, bug infested parallel to the Tree of Life, the Tree of Strife is accessed through Yggdrasil. It’s partially based on both the Tree of Life and the old show, It’s Tough to Be a Bug! 

Of course, there’s a couple of additions to the recurring phantoms, including: 

Mankies: Monkey-like phantoms that can deliver strong, acrobatic blows on their targets, as well as tossing banana peels to trip up enemies.

Brute Stumps: Tree stump-like phantoms that crawl around on root-like legs and attack foes with a swift spin attack, they can also dig their roots into the ground and grow into a Bute Tree. In this form, they are stationary, but can lob explosive fruit at targets. 

Chimeras: Unstable, beastly phantoms, chimeras are capable of switching between three different forms during battle, a flying, bird-like ranged fighter form, a bulky gorilla/rhino-like tank fighter form, and a swift, aggressive lion-like melee form. 

Finally, we have the new dreamers of Natura, who include: 

Rudyard: (Dreamer of Baloo) A former pilot who lives in a bungalow in Genesis Gardens, acts as a guide for the Coordinator and their crew. 

Mariposa: (Dreamer of Mirabel Madrigal) A teenager living in Yggdrasil, comes from an entire family of dreamers, though she doesn’t have any obvious abilities when she awakened as a dreamer herself.

Ai: (Dreamer of Mei Lee) Friend of Mariposa’s, an oddly confident nerd turned red panda girl after awakening as a dreamer, capable of turning into a giant red panda when attacking phantoms. 

Maple: (Dreamer of Mable Tanaka) Friend of Mariposa’s, environmentalist, able to control a mechanical beaver to aid in her battles. 

Imani: (Dreamer of Nala) An old friend of Mkuu’s, something of a noble warrior and a survivalist.

Sadiki: (Dreamer of Timon) An old friend of Mkuuu’s, a bit of a freeloading wise guy, can summon a bug swarm to aid him in battle.

Mjinga: (Dreamer of Pumbaa) An old friend of Mkuu’s, a bit simple but fiercely loyal. 

Taka: (Dreamer of Scar) Mkuu’s uncle and the current overseer of Harambe, gained his title after leading Mkuu’s father to his death and gaslighting Mkuu into thinking it was his fault. Transforms into the Phantom Lion. 

Gary: (Dreamer of King George) A park ranger at the Louis N. Clark Memorial Camp Grounds, can summon spectral beavers to aid him in fights against the phantoms. 

Yue: (Dreamer of Mulan) A former soldier working as a mountain climber, can summon a spectral dragon to aid her in battle. 

Kira: (Dreamer of Bagheera) A survivalist living in the ruins of Anandapur, acts as a surrogate mother to Advik. 

Advik: (Dreamer of Mowgli) A young orphan boy who lives in the ruins of Anandapur with Kira, forms a friendship with Rudyard. 

Armstrong: (Dreamer of King Louie) An old pilot friend of Rudyard’s, owns a cantina in Anandapur. 

Lungri: (Dreamer of Shere Khan) The overseer of the archaeological site in Anandapur, cold and calculating, has aims of converting the area into a mining site. Transforms into the Phantom Tiger. 

Cacho: (Dreamer of Pacha) A llama farmer living in Pueblo Esperanza, serves as the spokesman of his village. 

Munay: (Dreamer of Kuzco) The overseer of Pueblo Esperanza, initially a selfish woman intending to have Cacho’s village bulldozed to make room for her summerhouse, only to end up transformed into a llama by Zamy, gets partially cured by Mariposa, leaving her as llama-like faun. 

Tunko: (Dreamer of Kronk) Zamy’s assistant, big, beefy fella, surprisingly friendly and a skilled chef. 

Beatriz: (Dreamer of Bruno) Mariposa’s aunt, something of a black sheep of the family, exiled herself in the ruins outside of Pueblo Esperanza, originally believed to have been the one who turned Munay into a llama, but is relatively harmless (if a bit eccentric), can summon spectral rats to aid her in battle. 

Zamy: (Dreamer of Yzma) Munay’s assistant and caretaker after her parents died, absolutely despises his charge and transformed her into a llama in hopes of getting rid of her. Transforms into the Phantom Tiki. 

Jack Leps: (Dreamer of Judy Hopps) A rabbit man who works as a security guard at the Diggs Institute, has a rivalry with Nina. 

Nina Feral: (Dreamer of Nick Wilde) A fox woman who works at the Diggs County Dino-Rama, often steals fossils from the dig site to use as attractions for the park, has a rivalry with Jack. 

Typhon: (Dreamer of Titus) An arrogant businessman, seemingly a clueless jerk, but is actually working with the Phantom Blot in hopes of gaining control of Natura, especially the Tree of Life. Transforms into the Phantom Moth. 

After the technological mayhem of Paradigm, we move on to the location of Season Three of Disney Wonder City: Tinsel Town. Based on Disney Hollywood Studios at Disney World, Tinsel Town is the movie capital of the world, home to many celebrities, movie stars, and even a few superheroes to boot. There’s even tv shows where fights with phantoms are filmed and presented to the public for entertainment. However, there’s also a shadier underbelly to the city, where nefarious dealings are happening, and the machinations of a certain Blot are underway. 

Like the other cities, Tinsel Town separated into districts, each one based on the lands (or in some cases, former lands) of Disney Hollywood Studios. These districts are: 

Star Street: The Main Street of Tinsel Town, Star Street is based off of Hollywood Boulevard. Similar to Main Street over in Wonder City, it serves as the main hub for Tinsel Town, filled with various restaurants and stores (albeit, flashier and more upscale). It also features a bus station that you can use to travel between cities. 

Golden Park: The recreational district, Golden Park is based on Echo Lake. Originally the grounds for an old studio warehouse, it has since been renovated and converted into a public park, featuring a large pond in the center and decorated with props from the old warehouse.

Studio 89: The main studio of Tinsel Town, Studio 89 is based on both the Walt Disney Studio Lots and the Animation Courtyard. As the hub of the cities film production, it also holds the strange honor of being the only district that doesn’t have any phantom zones (also, as a side note, the “89” is a reference to 1989, the year Disney Hollywood Studios opened up back when it was called “Disney-MGM Studios”). 

Twilight Boulevard: The entertainment district, Twilight Boulevard is based on Sunset Boulevard. Not only is it home to the Twilight Amphitheater and the Mayhem Records recording studio, it’s also home to several luxury hotels. 

Americana: The residential district, Americana is based on the old Streets of America land. While it’s home to many apartments and small businesses, it’s also home to a couple of old studio warehouses, as well as pathways leading to two avenues: Thriller Avenue and Midway Avenue. 

Thriller Avenue: An extension of Americana focused on theatrics, Thriller Avenue is based on Grand Avenue, Muppets Avenue, and the upcoming Monstropolis land. Home to a few small businesses and a pizzeria, it’s also home to the world famous Henson Globe Theatre. 

Midway Avenue: An extension of Americana focused on entertainment and carnival games, Midway Avenue is based on Toy Story Land. While it's mostly a residential area, it’s primarily a permanent carnival. 

Just as before, the districts also feature their own phantom zones (however, considering that Hollywood Studios doesn’t really have as many rides as the other parks, I’m going to pull from many of the rides and a few of the shows that were in the park over the years for inspiration). Also, in case it wasn’t apparent I’m only including elements from Disney and their similar subsidiaries like Pixar and the Muppets, so franchises like Star Wars and Marvel are out (with a few exceptions where they’re needed). These include: 

Sinister Cinema: An old multiplex that features multiple theaters that each serve as their own little pocket dimensions, Sinister Cinema is accessed through Star Street. It’s partially based on The Great Movie Ride. 

Runamuck Railway: An old railway system that stretches into a strange liminal space, Runamuck Railway is accessed through Star Street. It’s partially based on Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway. 

Raiders’ Tomb: An old studio warehouse that had grown into a dilapidated jungle temple, Raiders’ Tomb is accessed through Golden Park. It’s partially based on Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular! 

The Twilight Tower Hotel: An abandoned hotel that seems to house restless spirits, the Twilight Tower Hotel is accessed through Twilight Boulevard. It’s partially based on the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. 

Rock ‘n’ Roll Freeway: A dark parallel of the Mayhem Records recording studio, now resembling an enormous freeway formed from musical instruments and sound equipment, the Rock ‘n’ Roll Freeway is accessed through Twilight Boulevard. It’s partially inspired by the Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster. 

Cosmic Warzone: An old studio warehouse that was once used for an old sci-fi tv series that’s transformed into an intergalactic battlefield, the Cosmic Warzone is accessed through Americana. It’s partially based on Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. 

Backlot Labyrinth: A winding series of back alleys littered with old movie props, broken down vehicles, and a river system and waterfall created from a series of busted pipes, the Backlot Labyrinth is accessed through Americana. It’s partially based on Studio Backlot Tours. 

Dread Theater: A dark parallel to the Henson Globe Theater, resembling a run down theater, the Dread Theater is accessed through Thriller Avenue. It’s partially based on Muppet*Vision 3D. 

Carnival of Terror: An abandoned carnival filled with worn down circus props and target activated gates, the Carnival of Terror is accessed through Midway Avenue. It’s partially based on Toy Story Midway Mania!

Dark Dream Isle: An eerie island filled with surreal, dream-like illusions, Dark Dream Isle is accessed through Twilight Boulevard. It’s partially based on both Fantasmic! and Nomanisan Island from The Incredibles. 

There’s also a few new additions to the roster of recurring phantoms, just like with Paradigm. These include: 

Gloparazzi: Strange camera-like phantoms that run around on two stubby legs, gloparazzi often run around and flash opponents, temporarily stunning them. 

Delirium Diva: Effeminate phantoms that resemble Hollywood starlets, delirium divas can teleport across the battlefield, either putting distance between themselves and their targets to fire a powerful scream at them or to come right up close to them and slash them with their claws. 

Directator: Phantoms modeled after old timey film directors, directators pull double duty as range fighters by firing sound blasts from their megaphones, and as support units, directing other phantoms, buffing them while also debuffing dreamers. 

And of course, we have a new cast of dreamers to add to our roster, including: 

Jet: (Dreamer of Launchpad McQuack) Nezzar’s chauffeur, drove the Coordinator and their crew to Tinsel Town in a limo on Nezzar’s behalf, an incredibly bad driver.

Bobbie Parker/Miss Wonder: (Dreamer of Mr. Incredible) A mechanic who runs her own garage on Star Street, Bobbie is actually a retired superhero named Miss Wonder, though she moonlights as a mercenary. 

Lucy Goodman/Glacier: (Dreamer of Frozone) Bobbie’s friend, Lucy is also a retired superhero known as Glacier, moonlights as a mercenary, mostly to keep an eye on her friend. 

Charlie: (Dreamer of Chip) An operator of an ice cream stand in Golden Park, Charlie used to live in Tuner Town back in Wonder City with his twin brother, Doug, the more serious of the two. 

Doug: (Dreamer of Dale) An operator of an ice cream stand in Golden Park, Doug used to live in Tuner Town back in Wonder City with his twin brother, Charlie, the more carefree of the two. 

Ace Storm: (Dreamer of Bolt) A former child actor who found a second chance as a mercenary, became a dog man upon awakening as a dreamer. 

Louis Cypher Heinous: (Dreamer of Cruella de Ville) An infamous fashion designer who moonlights as a cat burglar. Transforms into the Phantom Barong. 

Ryu-chan: (Dreamer of Baymax) A helper robot working at Studio 89, normally resembles a bulky, cute dragon robot, can transform into a tokusatsu style, dragon-themed battle form when entering phantom zones (taking some inspiration from the old tokusatsu series, B-Robo Kabutack).

Haruto: (Dreamer of Hiro Hamada) A young inventor who works as an intern at Studio 89 and the creator of Ryu-chan, capable of controlling a small swarm of nanobots to aid him in battle. 

Drew Canard/The Nightowl: (Dreamer of Darkwing Duck) A bumbling janitor at Studio 89, moonlights as the vigilante, Nightowl, a bit full of himself, forms an odd friendship with Jet.

Finster Crackerjack/Robodreamer: (Dreamer of Gizmoduck) Nezzar’s accountant, a bit clueless but surprisingly good at his job, is in possession of a device that transforms him into the cybernetic vigilante, Robodreamer. 

Golem: (Dreamer of Goliath from Gargoyles) A gargoyle who resides in Twilight Boulevard, serves as a guardian of the various buildings and hotels of the district. 

Doc Molar: (Dreamer of Dr. Teeth) The leader of the band, Muskrat Love, plays the keyboard in the band, she gave the Coordinator an invite to the Hendon Globe Theater. 

Flicker: (Dreamer of Animal) The drummer for Muskrat Love, the adopted son of the band’s guitarist, Red Chilies, wild spirit. 

Howard Parker/Rubber Man: (Dreamer of Elastigirl) Bobbie’s husband, a retired superhero known as Rubber Man, fairly nice guy, but insists on Bobbie keeping a low profile in hopes of keeping their family safe. 

Booster Parker: (Dreamer of Dash Parr) Bobbie’s teenage son, jock, a bit full of himself, possesses super speed and can fire shockwaves at targets 

Whisper Parker: (Dreamer of Violet Parr) Bobbie’s young daughter, a bit shy, is able to turn invisible and create force fields 

Cosmo: (Dreamer of Kermit the Frog) The owner and manager of the Henson Globe Theater, friendly if a bit stressed. 

Peggy: (Dreamer of Miss Piggy) Cosmo’s overbearing girlfriend and a performer at the Henson Globe Theater, snobbish diva, surprisingly skilled at karate. 

Foster: (Dreamer of Fozzie Bear) The resident comedian of the Henson Globe Theater, close friend of Cosmo, fairly lousy at comedy. 

Gonzalez: (Dreamer of Gonzo) The resident stuntman of the Henson Globe Theater, close friend of Cosmo. 

Ronnie: (Dreamer of Rodger Rabbit) A visiting comedian, former resident of Tuner Town, fairly bad at her job. 

Jayce: (Dreamer of Jessica Rabbit) Ronnie’s husband, a famous lounge singer, usually rather stoic, the only person who genuinely finds Ronnie funny. 

Morty: (Dreamer of Mike Wazowski) A stagehand at the Henson Globe Theater, straddles the line between being an optimist and being delusional, close friend of Solomon. 

Solomon: (Dreamer of Sulley) A stagehand and the comanager of the Henson Globe Theater, close friend of Morty. 

Rodney: (Dreamer of Randall Boggs) A former actor turned producer, and a rival of Solomon from his acting days. Transforms into the Phantom Chameleon.

Annie: (Dreamer of Jessie) The local sheriff of Midway Avenue, wild and fun loving, gets into a relationship with Betty Nova. 

Rocko: (Dreamer of Rex) A man who runs several carnival stands, dresses up in a dinosaur costume. 

Agnes: (Dreamer of Bo Peep) A woman who runs several carnival stands, gets into a relationship with Oakley, can summon spectral sheep to aid her in battle. 

Grizz: (Dreamer of Lotso) The city councilman in charge of Midway Avenue, seems friendly, but is actually working for the Phantom Blot. Transforms into the Phantom Bear. 

Brandy Elmer/Complex: (Dreamer of Syndrome) The owner of Studio 89, presents herself as friendly figure, but in reality, is not only working for the Phantom Blot, but is also the infamous villain, Complex, used to be a big fan of Miss Wonder before she was ultimately snubbed by her, causing her to devote her life to trying to prove that she’s better than her former hero. Transforms into the Phantom Sentinel. 

With most of Wonder City itself covered, I think it’s time we cover some of the other cities in the game. These other cities will be the locations of future seasons, each based on one of the Disney parks. So, without any further delay, here’s the setting for Season 2 of Disney Wonder City: Paradigm. 

Based on EPCOT at Disney World, Paradigm is one of the top scientific centers of the world. Originally just a research center focusing on physics and space exploration, it has long since expanded into various other studies, such as environmental science, cultural science, and science of the mind, eventually growing into a full blown city. However, after arriving in Paradigm with your crew of dreamers (having heard rumors that the great dreamer, Elias, was last seen here), you soon discover that the city is suffering from its own phantom attacks and phantom zones. 

Like Wonder City, Paradigm is split up into districts, in this case, five different districts based on the lands of EPCOT. These districts are: 

Beacon Plaza: The heart of Paradigm and the main hub of the city, Beacon Plaza is partially based on World Celebration (more specifically, the area around Spaceship Earth). This is the entry and exit to and from Paradigm, accessed from the other cities through a metro system, its most striking feature being the enormous high tech satellite receiver/lighthouse known as the Beacon (based on Spaceship Earth). 

Oddyssey: The district devoted to researching the mind, Oddyssey is partially based on the Imagination! Pavilion. This district is home several strange experiments related to imagination, creativity, emotions, and dreams. 

Ecos: The district devoted to researching environmentalism, Ecos is partially based on World Nature. This district is actually further split into two subdistricts: the Agricenter, dedicated to research on land preservation and agriculture, and the Aquacenter, dedicated to ocean preservation. 

Innovation: The district devoted to scientific research and technology, Innovation is partially based on World Discovery. The oldest district in Paradigm, it’s home to several technological developments, as well as robots and progs (sentient computer programs capable of manifesting in the real world). 

Pangea: The district devoted to cultural sciences, Pangea is partially based on the World Showcase. Dedicated towards the study of various cultures, it is split up into several subdistricts modeled after several countries. 

Each of these districts also features their own phantom zones, each based on a ride or an attraction from EPCOT. These phantom zones include: 

Subcon Gallery: A strange, liminal space featuring broken equipment and illusions that trick the mind, Subcon Gallery is accessed through Oddyssey. It’s partially based on Journey Into Imagination With Figment. 

Terrorarium: An overgrown greenhouse that stretches out to infinite proportions and filled with dangerous plants from multiple biomes, the Terrorarium is accessed through Ecos from the Agricenter. It’s partially based on Living with the Land.

Skyfields: A cloudy expanse in the sky, the Skyfields are accessed through Ecos. It’s partially based on Soarin’. 

Submarine Graveyard: An underwater phantom zone made up of sunken submarines overtaken by coral reefs, the Submarine Graveyard is accessed through Ecos from the Aquacenter. It’s partially based off of The Seas with Nemo and Friends. 

Craterscape: An eerie Martian landscape, the Craterscape is accessed through Innovation. It’s partially based on Mission: Space. 

Cyber Highway: A digital highway that stretches and turns into infinity, the Cyber Highway is accessed through Innovation. It’s partially based on Test Track. 

Ominoso Ruins: A vast stretch of Aztec ruins choked by overgrown jungle, the Ominoso Ruins is accessed through Pangea. It’s partially based on Gran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros.

Trollwood: A wintery pine forest trapped in eternal night, Trollwood is accessed through Pangea. It’s partially based on both Frozen Ever After and Maelstrom.

Goliath Kitchen: An enormous kitchen, the Goliath Kitchen is accessed through Pangea. It’s partially based on Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure. 

Wonder Sphere: A dark parallel to the Beacon featuring ominous images of the past, present, and the future, the Wonder Sphere is accessed through the Beacon Plaza. It’s partially based on Spaceship Earth. 

Along with the usual recurring phantoms, we find some new recurring phantoms have been added. These include: 

Roblots: Mechanical versions of the blottle bosses capable of remotely controlling swarms of smaller robotic phantoms. 

Mad Drones: Flying mechanical phantoms that dart around the battlefield and firing a barrage of energy bullets at their targets. 

Wheelers: Lanky mechanical phantoms with limbs ending in wheels. They can speed around the battlefield and launch missiles at their targets. 

(As a side note, blottles and blottle bosses wear costumes based on which phantom zone you fight them in, pirate suits in Smuggler’s Cove, pinstripe suits in Spatter Alley, etc. It’s mainly a callback to the spatters from Epic Mickey.) 

Last but not least, Paradigm features a new cast of dreamers, not only opening up new adventures and side quests, but also opening new quests for previous dreamers. These new dreamers include: 

Byte: (Dreamer of Tron) A security prog who helps direct visitors to Paradigm. 

Ruby: (Dreamer of Reuben) An alien girl who runs a diner in Beacon Plaza, Ruby was originally a super soldier created by Gigan (his 625th attempt) and Skyler’s older sister. Normally appearing as a bear girl with yellow hair, she can transform into a more beastly, bulky yellow furred space creature. 

Sparky: (Dreamer of Figment) An avid graffiti artist who often frequents Oddyssey, he’s capable of bringing his tags to life to aid him in battle. 

Alegria: (Dreamer of Joy) A spritely creature, Alegria is part of a group of creatures born from the emotions of a girl named Rita after an experiment (in her case, being born from Rita’s happiness). Acts as a fun big sister to Rita. 

Triste: (Dreamer of Sadness) A gloomy creature born from Rita’s sadness, Triste acts as a comforting big sister to her, giving her comfort whenever she’s upset. 

Ira: (Dreamer of Anger) A hotheaded creature born from Rita’s anger, Ira acts as a tomboyish big sister to her, often motivating her to do her best at sports. 

Ekel: (Dreamer of Disgust) A critical creature born from Rita’s disgust, Ekel acts as a fashionista older sister, often giving her fashion advice. 

Paura: (Dreamer of Fear) A nervous creature born from Rita’s fear, Paura acts as an overprotective older sister, often protecting her from things and generally being paranoid about things (though she does seem unfazed by horror movies). 

Eden: (Dreamer of EVE) A security robot charged with protecting the Agricenter, she and Widget eventually get into a relationship with each other. 

Observer: (Dreamer of AUTO) An monitor robot in charge of overseeing the Agricenter. Is eventually hit with a virus, causing him to haywire and overly controlling of the center. Transforms into the Phantom Beholder. 

Vaiana: (Dreamer of Moana) A scientist working at the Aquacenter, she’s capable of summoning living waves and spectral manta ray to aid her battle. 

Mango: (Dreamer of Maui) A cocky sea spirit who’s capable of shape shifting into different forms. 

Patch-Up Patty: (Dreamer of Fix-It Felix) A maintenance prog capable of fixing any structure, has a shaky relationship with Betsy. 

Bust-Up Betsy: (Dreamer of Wreck-It Ralph) A demolition prog who’s often looked down on by others, really wants to prove herself as a real hero. 

Kandy: (Dreamer of Vanellope von Schweetz) A prog who once worked at the Cyber Highway before it was turned into a phantom zone. Ends up becoming friends with Betsy. 

Rev: (Dreamer of Turbo) A virus who disguised himself as a prog in order to live off the benefits. Transforms into the Phantom Speedster. 

Juan: (Dreamer of Jose Carioca) A charismatic malandro, ends up forming an odd friendship with Donnie. 

Paco: (Dreamer of Panchito Gonzales) A lively mariachi performer who moonlights as a mercenary, ends up forming an odd friendship with Donnie. 

Mateo: (Dreamer of Miguel Rivera) A young boy with a passion for music and the ability to summon alebrije to aid him in battle.

Hernan: (Dreamer of Hector) A ghostly figure who was barred from the afterlife after losing his memories of his mortal life, seems to remember Esteban though.

Esteban: (Dreamer of Ernesto de la Cruz) A famous musician so obsessed with the spotlight, he returned to the world of the living as a ghost to continue performing. Narcisstic and incredibly condescending. Transforms into the Phantom Calaca.

Maeve: (Dreamer of Merida) A mercenary who hangs out in Pangea, is incredibly skilled with a bow and arrow and can summon a spectacle bear to aid her in battle.

Lumi: (Dreamer of Olaf) A snow fairy created by Sigrid, has a very childlike personality and can be rather naive.

Sigrid: (Dreamer of Elsa) A woman with incredible ice powers, but little control over them. Chose to hide away in Trollwood to keep others safe in case she loses control of her powers (especially her younger sister, Alva). 

Renault: (Dreamer of Remy) The owner of a local bistro in Pangea, Renault is a skilled chef and a mentor to Ashly, having been the one who encouraged her to open the Dreaming Castle in the first place.

Charles Tailleur: (Dreamer of Lady Tremaine) Ashly’s stepfather, a cold and domineering man. Holds his investment in the Dreaming Castle over her head and is quick to remind her of it every time. Able to summon a spectral cat to aid him in battle. Transforms into the Phantom Tabby.

Gambit: (Dreamer of MCP) The leader of the progs, Gambit is the one in charge of overseeing the technology and systems of Paradigm. Eventually revealed to be working with the Phantom Blot, using her control over Paradigm to further his agenda. Transforms into the Phantom Motherboard. 

Along with the main storyline, Disney Wonder City also features several side quests, each featuring a cast of dreamers and some unlocking new phantom zones. These side quests are usually unlocked after completing the main quest of a district. Some will require you to meet certain dreamers, have them at a certain level, or raise their friendship level to a certain level. Side quests also take place at certain points of the day, something you can speed up by accessing your pause menu and choosing from one of four time periods: morning, evening, afternoon, and night. The following are the dreamers and new phantom zones encountered through the side quests. 

Nezzar: (Dreamer of Scrooge McDuck) Donnie’s wealthy uncle and an avid adventurer, surprisingly spry for an older man. 

Oscar: (Dreamer of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit) Max’s half-brother, a bit stuck up, but fairly friendly. 

Highcap Mountain: A towering, frigid mountain, Highcap Mountain is accessed through Tuner Town. It’s partially based on the Matterhorn Bobsleds. 

Beau: (Dreamer of Belle) An inquisitive young man and an avid reader, as well as a regular at the Dreaming Castle.

Rose: (Dreamer of the Beast) A young heiress who was cursed after offending a fairy. Usually appears as a cute monster girl, she can transform into a full blown beast at will. 

Flambeau: (Dreamer of Lumiere) Rose’s flamboyant head butler, he’s been affected by the curse as well, transforming into a kitsune/candelabra-like creature. 

Benjamin: (Dreamer of Cogsworth) Rose’s strict tutor, he’s been affected by the curse as well, transforming into a tengu/grandfather clock-like creature.

Chamomile: (Dreamer of Mrs. Potts) Rose’s housekeeper and mother figure, she’s been affected by the curse as well, transforming into a kappa/teapot-like creature. Often accompanied by a flock of small duckling/teacup-like creatures that aid her in her housekeeping and battle. 

Orion: (Dreamer of Gaston) A boorish, pompous mercenary, Orion is Beau’s “friend”, often attempting to make him into a “real man”. Transforms into the Phantom Hunter. 

Wonder Castle: An imposing castle and a dark parallel to Rose’s castle, Wonder Castle is accessed through Marches Town. It’s partially based on Sleeping Beauty’s Castle. 

Lacie: (Dreamer of Alice) A curious young explorer, she ends up in the depths of the Dark Wood after following Blanc. 

Blanc: (Dreamer of the White Rabbit) A rabbit eared albino, he’s the personal attendant of Regina. 

Treasure: (Dreamer of the Cheshire Cat) An odd catgirl and a frequent visitor of the Dark Wood. 

Hetty: (Dreamer of the Mad Hatter) A bizarre woman who often goes on picnics in the Dark Wood. 

Regina: (Dreamer of the Queen of Hearts) An infamous influencer with an incredibly short temper. Transforms into the Phantom Rosebush. 

Fawn: (Dreamer of Peter Pan) An adventurous young girl often hanging out in Port Venture, often aided by fairies. 

Pierce: (Dreamer of Captain Hook) A particularly infamous smuggler feared by everyone. Transforms into the Phantom Crocodile. 

Lost Canopy: A maze of treehouses and rope bridges crisscrossing a dense jungle canopy, the Lost Canopy is accessed through Port Venture. It’s partially based on the Swiss Family Treehouse. 

Gigan: (Dreamer of Jumba) An alien scientist who worked for the Galactic Federation, he was the one that created Skyler (his 626th attempt), was sent down to aid Manta in tracking her down.

Pikko: (Dreamer of Pleakley) A member of the Galactic Federation and an “expert on interplanetary culture”, he’s sent down to aid Manta in tracking down Skyler. 

Zornac: (Dreamer of Zurg) A fairly incompetent invader, believes Betty Nova to be an actual space ranger. Transforms into the Phantom Invader. 

Madam Legba: (Dreamer of Dr. Facilier) A local witch doctor and a regular at Heebie Jeebie’s casino. Transforms into the Phantom Summoner. 

Selene: (Dreamer of the Caretaker from the Haunted Mansion) The cowardly older woman, Selene is the caretaker of the Hein Family Manor. Able to summon a spectral dog to aid her in her work, as well as in battle. 

Topper (Dreamer of the Hatbox Ghost) An odd ghost who’s something of a guide. 

Cindy Lopper: (Dreamer of Constance Hatchaway) A ghostly, condescending woman who had been married several times in life (all of whom died mysteriously). Transforms into the Phantom Bride. 

The main enemies of Disney Wonder City, the phantoms are an ever present threat to the citizens of Wonder City. Coming in a wide variety forms, they are the physical manifestation of anger, despair, mania, disgust, disgust, and apathy. Originating from places known as phantom zones, phantoms are constantly threatening to break out into the city to go on rampages, requiring dreamers to enter the phantom zones to exterminate them. 

There are various types of phantoms to face in the game, usually possessing one of the five elements (blaze, wave, spark, gale, and stone). Along with a few varieties exclusive to certain phantom zones, there are several recurring types, including: 

Blottles: The most common variety of phantom, resembling round, blobby goblin-like creatures with big pompadour-like horns, usually attack with clubs.

Blottle bosses: A larger, stronger variant of blottle sporting two horns, blottle bosses attack with larger clubs, as well as leading packs of blottles. Whenever they appear, blottles attack in groups, directed by the bosses to use pack tactics.

Skeeters: Flying, mosquito-like phantoms with oversized heads and sharp, pointed beaks, skeeters attack by divebombing targets and skewering them with their beaks. Fast and speedy, though their health is fairly low and can easily be taken out in one or two hits. 

Bookworms: Wizard/caterpillar-like phantoms riding around on flying spellbooks, bookworms flit around the battlefield and firing magical projectiles at targets.

Rumblers: Large, ogre-like phantoms, rumblers attack with heavy punches and create shockwaves by slamming the ground with their fists. Incredibly tough, but fairly slow and easily flankable. 

Blothounds: Wolf-like phantoms, blothounds attack in packs, being fairly fast and using hit and run tactics on their prey. 

Woofers: Stereo-like phantoms that run around on two, stubby legs, wooofers are primarily support units. While they’re capable of firing blasts of sounds at targets, they primarily boost the stats of nearby phantoms. 

Waddle bombs: Small bomb-like phantoms, waddle bombs usually waddle around the battlefield aimlessly until they’re hit with an attack, after which, they’ll immediately begin sprinting towards the player and explode if they reach them before being defeated.

Blot Knights: Particularly tough, knight-like phantoms that wield halberds and shields in battle. They’re easily able to attack from a distance while blocking frontal attacks, forcing the player to dodge and hit them in the back.

Visually, the phantoms take inspiration from a mix of Kingdom Hearts enemies (heartless, nobodies, and unverse), as well as the blotlings from Epic Mickey, possessing slick, rubbery bodies that seem to be made from some kind of slime, as well as having eyes and mouths that shine with a light the color of their element (red for blaze, blue for wave, yellow for spark, green for gale, and orange for stone). 

The phantom zones are dark parallel worlds to the various districts of Wonder City. Much like the districts, they take some inspiration from the lands of Disneyland and Magic Kingdom from Disneyworld, as well as some of the rides in those lands. The phantom zones can be accessed through breaches hidden within districts, with some districts housing up to two breaches, with more opening up when partaking in sidequests. These phantom zones are: 

Spatter Alley: A rundown urban area accessed through Tuner Town, partially based on both “Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin” and “Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway”. 

The Clocktower: A large, ornate clock tower filled with various figurines, the Clocktower can be accessed through Marchen Town. It’s partially based on “It’s a Small World”. 

The Dark Wood: An eerie forest filled with unsettling trees, and oversized flowers and mushrooms, the Dark Wood can be accessed through Marchen Town. It’s partially based on both “Alice in Wonderland” and “Snow White’s Enchanted Wish”. 

Rumbling Jungle: A large, dark jungle with a large river running through it, Rumbling Jungle is accessed through Port Venture. It’s partially based on the “Jungle Cruise”. 

Smuggler’s Cove: An ruined island town used as a hiding place for smugglers and their hoards, Smuggler’s Cove is accessed through Port Venture. It’s partially based on “Pirates of the Caribbean”. 

Horizon Observatory: A towering abandoned observatory, the Horizon Observatory is accessed through Progress. It’s partially based on “Space Mountain”. 

Star Factory: An abandoned tech factory filled with half finished robots, the Star Factory is accessed through Progress. It’s partially based on “Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters”. 

Rainbow Ridge: A large towering mountain housing several abandoned mineshafts, Rainbow Ridge is accessed through Wonder Gulch. It’s partially based on “Big Thunder Mountain Railroad”.

Miracle Swamp: A large swamp filled with briar patches, Miracle Swamp is accessed through Wonder Gulch. It’s partially based on both “Splash Mountain” and “Tiana’s Bayou Adventure”.

The Dark Mansion: An even darker, more dilapidated version of the Hein Family Manor, the Dark Mansion is accessed through Colonial Square. It’s partially based on “The Haunted Mansion”. 

With all of these different phantom zones, you’re probably wondering something by now, something that you might have noticed from the first Disney Wonder City post: where are the Disney Villains? Well, they also have dreamer counterparts as well. However, unlike most of the other dreamers, these guys aren’t playable… at first. Initially serving as the antagonist of each district, the villain dreamers serve as recurring obstacles, eventually ending up in one of the phantom zones and transforming into a boss phantom, serving as the main boss of that chapter after being overtaken by their powers. After being defeated, the boss phantom returns to their normal self, after which, they become playable and added to the gacha pool. These dreamers include: 

Brutus: (Dreamer of Peg Leg Pete) A large, burly mercenary, he’s a rival of the Three Musketeers. Transforms into the Phantom Brute. 

Grim: (Dreamer of the Evil Queen) An incredibly beautiful and vain male model, he’s actually Winter’s older halfbrother, as well as being incredibly jealous of his looks. Transforms into the Phantom Crone. 

Don Krake: (Dreamer of Ursula) The leader of a seafolk mafia, he’s an infamous wheeler and dealer, always making offers to those in need… for a price. Transforms into the Phantom Kraken.

Manta: (Dreamer of Gantu) An alien officer sent down to Wonder City by the Galactic Federation to retrieve Skyler, though she’s become disillusioned with the Federation after they signed off on creating the super soldier in the first place. Transforms into the Phantom Soldier.

Plutarch: (Dreamer of Hades) A manipulative conman and Heracles’ uncle, he’s one of the big movers in Wonder Gulch, making several land claims through trickery. Transforms into the Phantom Volcano. 

Heebie Jeebies: (Dreamer of Oogie Boogie) A haunted scarecrow, Heebie Jeebies (or “HJ” for short, being embarrassed of his full name) was Sam Hein’s right hand man once, enjoying jokes just as much as Sam until one day he took a prank too far. Now he runs a casino in Colonial Square. Transforms into the Phantom Scarecrow. 

Odessa: (Dreamer of Maleficent) A fairy who aids the mastermind of the phantom attacks. Transforms into the Phantom Dragon. 

Again, these aren’t all the dreamers in the game, as there are some more included in sidestories, as well as more included with future locations. However, there is one individual who’s running the show. One person who’s essentially egging on the other villain dreamers into going to the lengths they do, and that person is the Phantom Blot. 

Originally appearing in the Mickey Mouse comic strips, the Phantom Blot is something of an oddball compared to other Disney Villains. For one thing, while he only appears in Mickey Mouse settings and similar settings, he has an air dread about him, even in the tamer Mickey Mouse media (and especially in the European comics). Compared to the other villains Mickey faces (who are mostly just bullies), the Blot feels like a legitimate threat, even if it is more cartoony, like stealing a special credit card that lets him rob any bank he wants or stealing all the collar in the world to make himself more vibrant and colorful. The Ducktales reboot makes him even more intimidating, by turning him into a witch hunter determined to destroy all magic in the world as revenge against the witch, Magica De Spell. And of course, no discussion of the Phantom Blot is complete without talking about Epic Mickey, which topped all other depictions by turning him into a terrifying eldritch abomination that Mickey accidentally created from paint and thinner, ultimately bringing ruin to the world of the Cartoon Wasteland before being sealed up in a bottle (and even that isn’t enough to fully contain him, with all the enemies and the creature you “thought” was the Phantom Blot being his drippings). Hell, even Twisted Wonderland gets in on this, with the main bosses being people who underwent a process known as “overblotting”, where certain characters are overwhelmed by negative emotions and their own magic and transformed into monsters. If there’s anything you can take from all this, it’s that whenever the Phantom Blot shows up, things start to get serious. 

With all of that being said, the version of the Phantom Blot that appears in Disney Wonder City is something of a devil figure. He’s often seen chatting with the villain dreamers, often egging them on to act on their worst impulses. He also seems to recognize the coordinator, implied to have been the one who brought them to Wonder City in the first place. Designwise, the Phantom Blot has a tokusatsu-esque appearance, his burly figure covered completely in monochromatic armor, save for a pair of green lights on his helmet where his eyes are.

Name: Pattie Gardner 

Codename: Sparrow 

Arcana: The Chariot 

Initial Persona: Nancy 

Ultimate Persona: Nezha 

Weapons: baseball bats and airsoft rifles 

A high schooler, Pattie is something of a tomboy. Heading to Hoosegow University on a sports scholarship, she actually comes from a long line of athletes, while her older sister, Minnie, has become a pretty successful Esports player. While John Doe and the others have had run-ins with her throughout the story, it isn’t until a week after Dean Fortunato’s death that he’s personally introduced to Pattie by the former Dean’s secretary, tasked with showing her around the campus and getting her acquainted with the layout. After spending the day with John, she offers him and his friends tickets to her sister’s next match at Madison Square Garden as thanks. However, things take a dark turn when they arrive at the arena and find that it’s disappeared, revealing that it’s become the latest Crime Scene. With Pattie in tow, worried about her sister, the Detectives of Hearts had no choice but to take her with them into the Arena of Greed. 

Investigating the Crime Scene, the team meets strange, robotic cognitions of Minnie and her teammates, resembling a mix of cocktail waitresses and ATM machines (something that genuinely freaked out Pattie). It soon becomes apparent that the team was being exploited by their manager, Ms. Carol Shaftman, for profit (among her crimes are pimping them out and blackmailing them into compliance). When the team confronts the manager on this, she doesn’t even hide her actions, revealing herself as Shadow Carol, the Culprit of Arena of Greed. Absolutely infuriated at what she was doing to her sister and the rest of her team, Pattie confronts Carol on this, only to be slapped across the face by the manager for “stepping out of line”. Pinning the high schooler under her foot, Shadow Carol proceeds to sic the shadow, Thrymr, on the Detectives of Hearts, all the while mocking Pattie for not being able to protect anyone and how she planned on giving her a “place on the team” (as she put it, a lot of “sloppy sickos” would pay top dollar for a night with someone as “fresh” as her). While this was happening, Pattie remained defiant the whole time, telling Carol to shut up and that she wasn’t going to get away with this. At that moment, Pattie felt a surge of energy course through her body, unleashing a shockwave powerful enough to send Shadow Carol flying off her feet. Getting back to her feet, with her resolve to bring the manager to justice steeled, Pattie awakened her persona, Nancy (something Merlot later comments that only a person with a particularly strong sense of self could do without confronting their shadow self). With her newfound powers, Pattie soon joins the fight, helping the Detectives defeat the shadow and sending Shadow Carol running for her life, cursing all the way as she fled deeper into her Crime Scene. After returning to the real world, Pattie joins the Detectives of Hearts, not only to free her sister and her teammates, but also to make Carol pay for everything she’s done. 

Appearance 

Real World: A slightly muscular sixteen year old girl with tan skin and short, blonde hair, wearing a baseball cap, red letterman jacket, and blue jeans.

Metaverse: Wears a brown and black speckled leotard and jean jacket, a pair of roller skates, and a sparrow themed mask. 

Personas 

Nancy: The Youthful Detective of River Heights 

The main character of Edward Stratemeyer’s Nancy Drew Mystery novels, Nancy is Pattie’s initial persona. Resembles a young girl in a brown Peter Pan collar dress, a sparrow themed mask, small wings on her back, roller blades, and a staff topped with a magnifying glass. 

Nezha: The Third Lotus Prince 

You ever had one of those moments when you’re minding your own business and inspiration just jumps out of nowhere and sucker punches you in the face? Welp, I had one of those moments recently, and good god, was it a trip. I was spending some time playing putt putt with my niece and family. It was a pirate-themed putt putt place, so they were playing several pirate and ocean themed songs over the intercoms (and Don McLean’s American Pie for some reason). Among the songs they were playing were songs from The Little Mermaid, Part of Your World, Kiss the Girl, Poor Unfortunate Souls, those sorts of songs. Anyway, as I was busy sinking a putt, my mind began to wander, thinking about the various RPGs based on Disney properties. 

The first that comes to mind is the Kingdom Hearts series, which is sort of the definitive “Disney RPG” (despite how utterly, fucking baffling the timeline of events in the series gets as the series goes on). Next is the sadly defunct Disney Mirrorverse mobile game, which featured battle hardened versions of classic Disney and Pixar characters in an alternate universe on the other side of mirrors, where they have become supercharged by magic shards and face off against the forces of evil. The weirdest one is Twisted Wonderland, which is a jrpg/gacha/rhythm game hybrid set in a magic academy (which is honestly bizarre, seeing that the initial teasers made it look like a dating sim). The weirdest part of it is that the main cast is made up of attractive young men who are based on the classic Disney Villains (or “twisted from them” as the game puts it, whatever that implies, though it is a rather interesting concept). 

So with all of that said, it got me thinking about another genre of RPG, the action RPG… more specifically, the likes of Genshin Impact, Honkai Star Rail, Zenless Zone Zero, and most recently, NTE: Neverness to Everness. With a vast world to explore, vibrant casts of characters, and fast paced battles, these games have a huge following, and honestly, it wouldn’t surprise me if Disney wanted to get on top of this with a game of their own. However, I’d doubt they would just slap Mickey Mouse on Genshin Impact and call it a day (even Kingdom Hearts has fully original characters alongside the Disney characters). With that being said, I think I have an idea that’ll work perfectly for an action RPG. So without further ado, let me introduce you to: 

Disney Wonder City 

Taking place in the eponymous Wonder City, set in an alternate reality, you play as the nameless protagonist (after choosing your gender and name), having woken up in this strange world with no memory of how you got there (yep, it’s that trope). Luckily, you're soon found by a trio freelancers named Max, Donnie, and Geof, and brought back to their base of operations on Main Street. Waking up in the trio’s business, the Three Musketeers, you learn that this world is under attack from monsters known as phantoms, the only real defense against them being the dreamers, people who are capable of using magic by drawing on the energy of people from outside of reality (the Disney characters). With no way of getting back to your own world on your own, the Musketeers make you a proposition: act as their coordinator while they’re on missions, and they’ll help you find a way back to your reality. This serves as the crux of the gameplay for the game, where you collect dreamers, fight off phantoms, earn money, and explore Wonder City, with rumors of a particularly powerful dreamer named Elias who might be able to help you get home.

Gameplay is split between two different segments. The first part is the city exploration, where you travel through the various districts of Wonder City. The city itself is partially inspired by both Disneyland and Magic Kingdom from Disney World, with the various districts being based on the various lands of the parks. These districts are: 

Main Street: The main hub of the game, Main Street is primarily based on (obviously) Main Street USA. This area is mainly home to various shops, as well as the home of the Three Musketeers, your base of operations, where you can level up your dreamers and gear. 

Tuner Town: A residential district, Tuner Town is based on Mickey’s Toontown. This district is the home of the Three Musketeers and their neighbors, as well as several local businesses and shops. 

Marchen Town: The leisure district, Marchen Town is based on Fantasyland. An oddly elegant district, it’s filled with several high end boutiques and cafes, as well as the incredibly popular cafe, the Dreaming Castle. 

Port Venture: The coastal port district, Port Venture is based on Adventureland. An oddly tropical district, it’s home to a few smuggling dens, as well as a large population of seafolk (amphibious merfolk who sport legs, scales, and fins for ears). 

Progress: The technology district, Progress is based on Tomorrowland. A center of technological innovation, it’s also home to several aliens, as well as several inventors and robots. It’s also home to the Technodome, where you can fight simulations of phantoms in order to collect upgrade materials. 

Wonder Gulch: An outlier district, Wonder Gulch is based on a mix of Frontierland and Bayou Country. A district located just outside of the city (more of an outpost than anything), it's home to outlaws, mercenaries, and several frontiersmen. 

Colonial Square: The historical district, Colonial Square is based on a mix of New Orleans Square from Disneyland and Liberty Square from Disneyworld. The oldest part of the city, it’s home to several old shops and restaurants, as well as an actual haunted mansion, the Hein Family Manor. 

Venturing into these various districts, you can accept a variety of quests, as well as take on various odd jobs to earn money, buy items from shops, and interact with various characters. Also, for future seasons and special events, I’d imagine there would be new locations based on the other Disney parks, like Epcot and Animal Kingdom. 

The other half of gameplay involves entering areas known as the phantom zones, dark parallel versions of the districts where the phantoms reside. Entering these phantom zones with a team of three dreamers, you explore the area, facing off against attacking swarms of phantoms while also finding hidden treasure chests containing money and items. Throughout the phantom zones are special safe zones that not only act as places to heal your team and switch out dreamers, but also fast travel points, allowing you to teleport to different parts of the zone (provided that you’ve already reached those parts). 

Finally, we get to the dreamers themselves. Taking a page from Twisted Wonderland, each of the dreamers is based on a different Disney character, drawing their powers from them (as well as design inspiration). Each one possesses a basic attack, a special attack, and an ultimate attack. They also possess one of five different elements (blaze, wave, spark, gale, and stone) and one of five unit types (melee, range, tank, support, and control). During phantom zone exploration, you can have up to three dreamers on a team, as well as switch between those three during combat. You can also get new dreamers through the game’s gacha system, the flyer rally, sending out a burst of flyers to all of Wonder City to every dreamer out there.

Some of these dreamers include: 

Max: (Dreamer of Mickey Mouse) The optimistic leader of the Three Musketeers.

Donnie: (Dreamer of Donald Duck) The short tempered member of the Three Musketeers. 

Geof: (Dreamer of Goofy) The klutzy yet reliable member of the Three Musketeers. 

Millie: (Dreamer of Minnie Mouse) Max’s girlfriend and the owner of a local boutique.

Daphne: (Dreamer of Daisy Duck) Donnie’s overbearing girlfriend. 

Winter: (Dreamer of Snow White) An employee at the Dreaming Castle. Often mistaken for a girl because of his beautiful, feminine looks. 

Ashly: (Dreamer of Cinderella) One of the co-owners of the Dreaming Castle, as well one of the employees. Indebted to her stepfather for his investment in the cafe. Accompanied by a pair of mouse fairies that help her in battle. 

Tanya: (Dreamer of Tiana from the Princess and the Frog) One of the co-owners of the Dreaming Castle, as well as the head chef. 

Olly: (Dreamer of Aladdin) A pickpocket hanging around Port Venture, has a heart of gold. 

Marina: (Dreamer of Ariel) An inquisitive seafolk girl and the youngest daughter of the leader of the seafolk around Port Venture.

Robin: (Dreamer of Jack Sparrow) A seemingly clueless smuggler, though she proves to be surprisingly competent when she needs to be.

Lono: (Dreamer of Lilo) An odd young teenage boy with avid interest in photography. Heads out to Progress to photograph Skyler’s concert. Accompanied by a living straw doll that aids him in battle.

Skyler: (Dreamer of Stitch) An alien girl who was originally a super soldier, but came to Wonder City to become a rockstar. Usually appearing as a catgirl with blue hair, she can transform into a more beastly, blue furred space creature with four arms, antennae, and quills running down her back. 

Widget: (Dreamer of Wall-E) A cleaning robot and an avid collector of knickknacks. 

Betty Nova: (Dreamer of Buzz Lightyear) A deluded young method actress who was preparing for the role of “Betty Nova” for an upcoming movie, only to end up believing that she was the real Betty Nova.

Oakley: (Dreamer of Woody) The local sheriff of Wonder Gulch. 

Mkuu: (Dreamer of Simba) A mercenary living in Wonder Gulch. Seems to have a sketchy past. 

Heracles: (Dreamer of Hercules) A mercenary living in Wonder Gulch. A bit of a showboatter, but a genuinely nice guy. 

Sam Hain: (Dreamer of Jack Skellington) The current owner of the Hain Family Manor. A bit of a narcissist and a prankster, though he never takes the joke too far. 

Carlotta: (Dreamer of Madame Leota from the Haunted Mansion) A ghostly woman possessing a crystal ball, serves as Sam’s right hand woman.

Shelly: (Dreamer of Sally) A patchwork woman, has feelings for Sam. 

(This is by no means all of the dreamers in the game, but I feel like these would be the most prominent in the main storyline). 

Outside of the phantom zones, you can interact with the dreamers and even improve your relationship with them by giving them gifts and spending time with them. This unlocks special rewards such as cosmetics and resources. You can also improve your dreamers by not only leveling them up, but also by giving them special items called wish trinkets that can boost their stats. There even exist special rare wish trinkets that are exclusive to specific dreamers that can upgrade their attacks, increasing their power as well as granting them new special effects. 

Name: Professor Hector Montresor 

Crime Scene: College of Wrath 

Evidence: an old photo of a younger Montresor in a park with a young Japanese woman. 

Shadow Self: Amon 

Appearance 

Real World: A bit disheveled looking older man with a greying beard and hair and dressed in khaki pants and a tweed jacket. 

Shadow Self: Looks almost identical to his real world appearance, save that he’s dressed in a judge’s robes, his hair is white, and his eyes are a piercing yellow. 

The psychology professor at Hoosegow University, Professor Montresor is a recurring figure in the story. First met by John a couple of days after the Hotel of Lust case, he seemed like a genuinely friendly and decent person, if a bit scatterbrained. However, as the series progressed, he slowly became colder and distant, as if his mind was elsewhere. Things eventually came to a head when the whole of Hoosegow University vanished into the Metaverse, becoming the College of Wrath. 

Finding the Professor in the Main Lobby, the team was concerned about his safety, though he seemed more concerned about the safety of the rest of the faculty trapped in the Dormitories (seeming oddly insistent about them being brought back to the lobby). While this was a little weird, the Detectives simply chalked it up to him being a fairly selfless person. However, as they searched the Dormitories and rescued more people, it slowly dawned on them that they hadn’t found a single clue hinting at who might actually be the Culprit, a sign that whoever it was has a particularly strong sense of self (allowing them to have more control over the Crime Scene than normal). After defeating the shadow, Ribesal, they found a clue, an old photo of a young man and a young Japanese woman in a park (which didn’t really shed much light on the situation). 

After the last of the faculty was rescued, however, Montresor seemed to become disturbingly ecstatic, making sure that all the faculty members were present. After getting confirmation, he proceeded to twist the top of a nearby table lamp, causing a cage to rise up from the ground, trapping everyone except for Julie, revealing himself to be Shadow Montresor, the true Culprit of the College of Wrath. With his true identity revealed, he demands his captives to return “it” to him or suffer the consequences, even going so far as to toss Julie aside and screamed at her to stay out of his business (something that deeply unsettled her, seeing that it was completely unusual for him to act like that). However, as he attempted to get answers out of the faculty, Shadow Montresor was caught off guard when Julie awakened her persona, Maltese Falcon, using her newfound powers to free the Detectives and the faculty. Seeing this, he deemed her a traitor and sent two shadows, Gremory and Paimon, to attack the team before heading deeper into the Crime Scene. After returning to the real world with the faculty, the Detectives were shocked to see that the faculty had fallen into a comatose state, a result of Montresor still holding onto their minds, showing just how much control he holds over the Crime Scene. This only incentivized them to return to the College of Wrath.

After the Detectives had prepared themselves, they returned to the Main Lobby of the Crime Scene, where, after a bit of investigation, they discovered a secret door leading to the Torture Chamber. There, they found several cognitions of the faculty members being tortured for information about “it”. The cognition of Dean Fortunato claimed that he took “it” to force the students to be more productive, the cognitive janitor claimed to have stolen “it” to the highest bidder, and several cognitive professors claimed to have taken “it” to claim as their own work for fame. Whatever “it” is, it soon became apparent that it’s something incredibly important to Montresor. 

Eventually, after defeating the three main torture tacticians, the Detectives make it to the Courtroom, where Shadow Montresor was presiding over a court hearing, awaiting the team. Seeing the Detectives had arrived, he proceeded to declare that court was now in session, claiming that this was the trial of the Detectives of Hearts. There, he accused them of being thieves, collaborating with the faculty to steal “it” from him, believing that they had been paid off for their compliance. When Julie tried to talk sense into her uncle, Montresor made his final judgment, finding the team guilty of corruption, theft, and treachery, the sentence being death. At this point, Shadow Montresor transformed into his shadow form, Amon, and proceeded to attack the team, initiating the boss battle. 

After the boss fight, Shadow Montresor reverted back to his more human form, left panting and slumped over in the ruins of the Courtroom. However, even after being beaten down, he still lashes out at the team, claiming that he won’t let anyone take “it” from him, and that he won’t fail “her”. This raised even more questions, as he was apparently doing all of this on someone else’s behalf. Trying a different approach, Julie spoke to the professor, asking who “she” was and why she was so important to him. 

Hearing this and calming down a bit, he explained that “she” was his old friend, a Japanese woman named Wakaba Isshiki, that he met back when he traveled abroad during his college years. She was an odd woman, but also an incredible genius, becoming one of the top scientists in the field of cognition. She and Montresor stayed in touch afterwards, keeping each other updated on each other's lives, with Wakaba revealing that on top of becoming a leading scientist, she also became a single mother, truly caring about her daughter (if he recalled right, she would be in high school by now). One day, however, three years ago during one of their correspondences, Wakaba asked Montresor for a favor. She asked him to hold onto a file containing information pertaining to a research project of hers. She suspected that someone was spying on her, and if the file fell into the wrong hands, it could be disastrous for the whole world. While he wasn’t entirely sure if that was true, he accepted the offer anyway as a favor to an old friend. A few days later, however, he saw a news article on the internet about the death of Wakaba Isshiki, having apparently walked into busy traffic as an act of suicide. This absolutely shocked Montresor, as he knew her better than anyone else and knew for a fact that she would never have done anything like that. Realizing that she may have been onto something about being spied on and her research being of incredible value, he doubled down on his promise, making sure that no one would ever get their hands on the file. Unfortunately, he failed that promise months ago, as when he went to check on the file in his computer, he found that it was gone. Naturally, it had to have been one of the faculty members, seeing as no one else could have had access to his computer. 

Desperate for answers, Montresor snuck around the campus, breaking into the other faculty member’s computers in hopes of finding the thief, eventually leading him to Dean Fortunato’s office. There, he found the Dean’s phone lying on his desk, opened to some strange page filled with odd symbols. Staring into the page, his mind went blank as… something took over. That was all he could remember happening before then. When Julie asked him what the research was about, Montresor explained that it was about the Metaverse itself, the collective consciousness of humanity. 

After the team heard his story, John pointed out that none of the faculty could have been responsible for stealing the file, because none of them had any idea where or that they were in the Metaverse to begin with. Hearing this, the professor admitted that he had made a mistake, imploring the Detectives to help him find the true culprit before things get worse, something the team gladly agreed to. With the Culprits' anger appeased and a new vow made, the College of Wrath transformed back into Hoosegow University and returned to the real world, the faculty members regaining consciousness once more with no real memory of what had happened.

Later that day, while everyone went their separate ways, Dean Fortunato was in his office, making a phone call to a mysterious figure. During the call, he Dean demanded compensation for what had happened, not only revealing that he had retained his memory of the Crime Scene, but also revealing that he was supposed to be the Culprit, hoping to use the app the figure sent him to make the students more productive (and make the school more successful in the process). When asked what had happened, Fortunato explained that one of his idiot professors got to it before he fully activated it, having been distracted by some paperwork he needed to take care of. However, things took a dark turn when the benefactor asked him if he had just left the phone lying around where anyone could’ve seen it, causing the Dean to panic. Realizing what was happening, Fortunato tried to weasel his way out of any responsibility for his actions, only to feel a sharp pain in his chest, like something was actively squeezing his heart. After several agonizing minutes of this pain, he collapsed onto his desk, dead as a doorknob (seemingly from a heart attack). 

Meanwhile, at the NYPD headquarters, Commissioner Aberdeen was reviewing the case files related to the recent string of confessions. While he couldn’t make heads or tails of why these people would suddenly confess to their crimes after spending so long hiding them, he was certain that there had to be a connection between them all. Just then, he received a visitor in the form of an imposing Japanese man. Confused by his presence, the man introduced himself to the Commissioner as Zenkichi Hasegawa, a member of Interpol. When asked why he was here, Zenkichi simply explained that the higher ups had heard about the recent cases and had sent him to investigate them, noting some unusual similarities to a string of cases back in his home country.

Amon 

Stage 1 

Shadow Montresor’s shadow form, Amon resembles an enormous, bipedal owl headed dragon with Montresor’s face stretched across his chest in a permanent scowl, large wings, and an enormous gavel in his hands. His attacks are slow and methodical, smashing his targets with his gavel, inflicting the Dizzy status effect, as well as casting a spell that inflicts the Forget status effect. 

Stage 2 

After being taken down to half health, Amon becomes more enraged, the scowl on his chest becoming more intense as he smashes his gavel hard enough on the ground to break the head off. Now using the broken handle as a lance, his attacks become faster, now inflicting the Bleed status effect with each blow. During this stage, he also becomes more agitated, immediately attacking one of the Detectives if they use the same action twice in the row. 

Stage 3 

Informants (College of Wrath) 

Professor Hector Montresor

Arcana: Justice 

The psychology professor at Hoosegow University, Professor Montresor was the culprit of the College of Wrath. A few weeks after the event of the College of Wrath case, he invited John into his office to formally apologize for his actions in the Metaverse, having not been in his right mind at the time. In order to make up for what he had done, the professor offered to aid the Detectives of Hearts in any way he could, even offering to give John private psychology lessons in order to expand his understanding of the Metaverse. This proves to be incredibly useful, as it teaches John how to craft special items that allow him to explore deeper into the Metaverse (such as revealing hidden passages, uncovering invisible shadows, etc.). 

Matthew Henderson 

Arcana: The Hierophant 

Title: College of Wrath 

True Identity: Hoosegow University 

Suspects: Dean Vincent Fortunato, Marvin Tarr (janitor), Professor Kraft (physics professor), Professor Legrand (biology professor), Professor Montresor (psychology professor) 

Culprit: Professor Montresor/ Amon

Minibosses: Morax (cognition Marvin Tarr), Caim (cognition Kraft), Ribesal, Gremory and Paimon, Ukobach, Buer, Stolas 

Layout 

Main Lobby: The main hub of the College of Wrath, where all the suspects are gradually gathered. Resembles a normal campus lobby at first save for several full length mirrors that act as doorways to the Dormitories. 

The Dormitories: A maze of dorm rooms that seem to be prison cells accessed from the Main Lobby through the mirrors. 

The Torture Chamber: A maze of torture chambers entered through a secret door in the Main Lobby, the college’s logo plastered over every surface. To proceed, the team needs to fight off the three main torture tacticians to reach the Courtroom.