PILGRIM - Video Game

I'm putting this out there into the aether so anyone can see it. I have some very interesting things in the works, but I'll have further updates on those if and when they progress.

In the document below, I've imagined what Pilgrim would be like as a video game. For anyone that has played games ranging from Nioh to Witcher to the linked pictures of Ghost of Tsushima/Sekiro - there is a legion of players out there who would really dig this game. It would kick so much ass and yes, I'm high on my own supply, but for real, imagine with me here.

So, here is the pitch, and hopefully, we can get a Pilgrim video game in order this decade.

I really want to play it, and can only imagine what it would be like going around fighting yokai, assassins and demons in an open world as Danzen Ravja.

Attached is the PDF of the pitch below. It's a long shot, but if you or someone you know has some connects in the gaming industry with IP development.... send them this! 

writer.harmoncooper@gmail.com

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Brief Concept

Recent, similar video games based upon feudal Japan have been huge sellers. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice produced by Activision and released in 2018, has sold well over five million copies and has won several Game of the Year awards. Ghost of Tsushima, developed by Sucker Punch/Sony sold 2.4 million units in the first three days upon release in 2020, and has since sold over 5 million copies, and has already won some awards and is up for several more. Pilgrim would appeal to players of these games, as well as players of the Witcher games (28 million copies sold), with its monster-hunting missions and crafting.

As a video game, Pilgrim could fall into a linear video game style, such as Final Fantasy XII or The Last of Us, or something that is open world, such as Witcher, or Ghost of Tsushima. I believe it would work best as a hybrid, at least at the start, with a linear prologue that teaches the player how to play the game before launching into an open world game akin to Red Dead Redemption 2 or the Assassin’s Creed games.

The main character, Danzen Ravja, would have a skill tree that he could level up through combat learning new skills, plus there could be crafting, base-building through the monastery he lives in, and benefits related to ‘bending his echo,’ which is the form of cultivation used in the books. Because his Achilles’ heel has to do with what happens when Danzen is cut (if he is cut he grows super strong and demons start to appear from portals - a boon and a curse), this would create a frenzy mode of sorts in which a player would also have to kill the demons that have emerged if Danzen takes too much damage.

Enemies would consist of assassins, yokai (Japanese mythological creatures), demons, and others like militias and mercenaries. Danzen can control people through his Demon Speak ability (which allows him to control humans via his voice), which would also be utilized but only sparingly. He lives in a very torn world based on feudal Japan and Mongolia, one in which heaven, known as Sunyata, has fallen, scattering ‘Sunyata remnants’ across the kingdom. Diyu (hell), is all powerful, and Danzen’s father, little to his knowledge at the start of the book, happens to be the ruler of Diyu, which explains Danzen’s half-demon blood. The world is ripe for creativity when it comes to opening the IP to interpretations/new ideas.

What a Pilgrim video game would play like

(Prologue) Starts with Danzen in a cave outside the estate of a rich man named Mipham Palmo whom he is supposed to kill as part of his contract. Light backstory. Danzen has decided it is the last contract he’ll take with the Diyu Brotherhood (the assassin’s guild that raised him), and he plans to disappear after he finishes the job. The tutorial that follows shows how to stalk, how to make instant death blows against Mipham’s men, and how to use Danzen’s boomerang sword, which is named Astra.

After the player gets used to the combat system, Danzen confronts Mipham in the courtyard. A fight ensues and once enough damage is done, an assassin named Norwin Dawa appears via a cutscene at the same time as Mipham’s teenage daughter, Sumi. Norwin Dawa has long strips of fabric hanging from his arms that can grow and shrink. He reveals that the Diyu Brotherhood sent him to kill Danzen, that Danzen has been betrayed. He begins to engage Danzen with his blades of fabric and eventually cuts him.

His demons unleashed, and crawling out of portals, Danzen makes the split second decision to save Sumi, which becomes a fast-paced scene in which he actively has to protect the teenager from death. Norwin Dawa leaves. He gets Sumi to safety and the reader is introduced to Danzen’s Demon Speak power, which he uses to make her stay in place. She later becomes an enemy to him.

Back to the manor, Danzen must clean up his own mess, which he does, stalking his demons through the hallways and trying to save some of Mipham’s servants (potential for a time limit here). He manages to do so and then leaps high into the air, toward the cliffs surrounding the manor, where he escapes back to the cave. He gathers his things and disappears, hoping to be done with the human world for good.

Thus ends the tutorial, and the next part would then start two years later as Danzen approaches Suja Village, and a greater world known as Genshin Valley opens up to him, which is full of mythological creatures known as yokai. His first assignment gets him his monastery, which acts as a base going forward and which the player can quick travel to and upgrade. From there, it is open world.

Basic mechanics

Danzen has a health bar that grows as he learns to bend his echo. There could be an additional bar that serves as his posture, meaning his ability to absorb attacks, and another that relates to special moves he’ll learn as he levels up. A skill tree system, allowing the player to select which skills to level, would be accessible, as would some crafting including armor (to protect himself from getting cut), herbs and remedies, and items to use on his weapons. An open world would present the opportunity for a player to do a number of things, from raiding abandoned shrines to collect Sunyata remnants to taking on smaller missions from locals in an effort to gain skill points to grow stronger. It would also allow for random encounters that can net rare items, more points, and open up storylines.

Weapons

Danzen would start with his boomerang sword, which is named Astra. This is a sword he can throw and which will return to his grip automatically, which means the system would use a reticle to accomplish this task. Astra could also be enhanced through blacksmiths familiar in using Sunyata remnants. There would be quests for additional weapons, and each would have their own unique moves that a player can earn.

Other playable characters

Danzen later joins with three distinct characters. One is a pudgy smarmy anthropomorphized cat known as Jelmay, who can shapeshift. He is a yokai known as a bakeneko, and provides comic relief. The second is Kudzu, a yokai/white fox who can morph into a woman who acts as a potential love interest. The third is Yato, a twenty-year old female assassin who fights with gauntleted blades. She is a student of a former teacher/assassin that Danzen kills in the second book. Similar to Nier Automata, the game’s AI would command one of these characters to fight alongside Danzen. They would be interchangeable and would have their own fighting patterns. They’d interact in cut scenes as well as a whole. A player could also switch in combat to these characters rather than play as Danzen, letting the AI play Danzen.