Subverse

A crowdfunded tactical Role Playing Game Shoot 'em Up H-game created by StudioFow (under the name of FOW Interactive). Subverse is the debut commercial video game of FOW Interactive and their first major original work. The game is described by the creators to be similar to Mass Effect, but Hotter and Sexier and Denser and Wackier.

The story focuses on the crew of the Mary Celeste as they travel the Prodigium Galaxy and work together to defeat the Imperium Empire. The mysterious Prodigium Galaxy is described as an undiscovered expanse of deep space that is dotted with various nebulae resembling fierce mythological creatures. Each nebula contains dozens of planets that are inhabited by various strange alien lifeforms. The Protagonist, known as "The Captain", was sent to this galaxy after being on a prison convoy of humans en route from Earth to Centauri Correctional Facility that was swallowed up by a black hole. The convoy was teleported right in the middle of the Prodigium Galaxy. With no way to return to Earth, the stranded survivors of the convoy decide to build a new life for themselves. Eventually, the Captain discovered an abandoned space ship, known as the Mary Celeste, and customizes it to be a smuggling vessel. The Captain uses the ship to travel the Prodigium Galaxy, all the while assembling a rogue squad of warriors, infiltrators and tech-wizards to join his crew.

StudioFow has done several collaborative doujinshi/manga works with Yokohama Junky, R-Wade, Sakula, and Butcha-U, to help promote the game. The doujinshi include Subverse: Trojan Horse, Subverse: A Mother's Love, Subverse: What's in the Box?, and Subverse: The Hatchery.

Early access to the first act of the game was released on March 26, 2021. The other acts of the games is scheduled to be released throughout the year. The official website for Subverse can be found here.

This is not to be confused with Subverted Trope, which regards a trope being set up in a story, but then doesn't occur.

Tropes used in Subverse include:

• Action Girl: Many of the female crew members of the Mary Celeste are this.
• All Men Are Perverts: Naturally, as this is a H-game, so almost all of the male characters are perverts.
• All Women Are Lustful: Nearly all the female characters, especially the female crew members of the Mary Celeste. What were you expecting from a H-game?
• Alternate Continuity: Although StudioFow has had a hand in creating the doujinshi Subverse: Trojan Horse, Subverse: A Mother's Love, Subverse: What's in the Box?, and Subverse: The Hatchery, currently they are all separate continuities from the main game.
• Anti-Hero: Well the main character is a smuggler that hires an illegal Sex Bot, Space Pirates, a computer hacker, a Mad Scientist, and many others to be a part of his crew.
• Big Bad: Lady Kasidora is shaping up to be this, being the previous tyrannical empress of the Imperium, and now the Evil Chancellor to the current empress, Celestina.
• Big Red Devil: Members of the Vanneran race, like Killision, resemble this.
• Bounty Hunter: "The Huntress", the Prodigium Galaxy's #1 ranked bounty hunter.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: In the cinematic trailer, many of the main characters casually do this. The characters will do this throughout the actual game due to their Medium Awareness.
• Crapsack World: Worse, its a "Crapsack Galaxy" inhabited by a Knight Templar empire, Space Pirates, genocidal supremacist Space Elves, terrorists groups, and Hybrid Monsters. Heck, the main protagonists of the game aren't exactly "paragons of virtue".
• Cat Girl: The nikith race, like Taron Kraask.
• Cool Starship: The Mary Celeste.
• Darker and Edgier: The collaborative manga, Subverse: Trojan Horse and Subverse: The Hatchery are this to the Denser and Wackier main game. The former has a Kill 'Em All ending.
• Denser and Wackier: Compared to many of Studiofow's other projects, like their flagship work the Kunoichi series, the Subverse game is meant to have a sillier tone, and doesn't take itself too seriously.
  • Of the collaborative doujinshi, Subverse: What's in the Box? is the most light-hearted of the four, with a tone that is supposed to match up with the tongue-in-cheek main game.
• The Empire: The Imperium.
• Evil Versus Evil: Several antagonist factions in the game, including the Imperium, the Dread Fleet, the Requital, and the Kloi, are usually trying to kill each other when they are not attacking the Mary Celeste.
• Extreme Omnisexual: The Captain, considering that his possible suitors/Friends with Benefits includes a human woman, a Sex Bot, Green-Skinned Space Babes, etc. Later updates reveal that this also applies to most of the other crew members on the Mary Celeste.
• Five Races: The Prodigium Galaxy is home to name different unique species. Each falling into one of these archetypes:
  • Stout: Vanneran, a race of aliens that resemble Big Red Devils who are known for their statuesque physiques and general debauchery.
  • Fairy: Kloi, who are basically Space Elves.
  • Mundane: Humans, referred to as Solars in this game, are of course this.
  • High Men: The Senu, a race of beings with Psychic Powers that make up the higher echelon of the Imperium. Essentially, they are the ruling class of the Prodigium Galaxy.
  • Cute: Both Teelee and Nikith fit this archetype. Teelee are aliens known for their adorable features, short stature and diplomatic prowess. Nikith are Cat People known for their nomadic hunting traditions.
• Friends with Benefits: Many members of the crew of the Mary Celeste have this relationship with each other.
• Ghost Ship: Initially, the mysteriously-abandoned Mary Celeste, before it was founded by the Captain and repurposed to be a smuggling vessel.
• Green-Skinned Space Babe: Pretty much a good chunk of the characters are this.
• The High Queen: Empress Celestina, the ruler of the Imperium, and by extension, the entire Prodigium Galaxy. Since Celestina is new to the position, her Evil Chancellor is trying to manipulator her to be a Puppet Queen.
• Hot Scientist: Dr. Lillian Margaliss.
• Hybrid Monster: Mantics, hybrid mutants created by Lily.
• Jiggle Physics: Naturally, its a H-game with animations created by StudioFow.
• Mad Scientist: Once again, Dr. Lillian Margaliss. Lily is perfectly fine with breaking the genetic manipulation laws imposed by the Imperium in order to create monstrous mantics. She also regularly engages in sex with her own creations.
  • In several of the collaboration doujinshi, Lily takes it Up to Eleven by forcing her crew-mates to be a part of her "experiments". Some of the doujinshi ends with Lily and female crew mates becoming mantic Baby Factories. Subverse: Trojan Horse in particular has a Kill 'Em All ending all because Lily wanted to experience "the greatest pleasure known to a woman" . Although it has yet to be shown if she is willing to take it that far in the actual game.
• Mars Needs Women: Invoked with the mantics, seeing as Dr. Lillian Margaliss was the one who created them.
• Ms. Fanservice: As expected from a H-game, most of the female cast qualify as this.
• Multiple Endings: As indicated by the cinematic trailer, there will be 3 different endings to the game.
• A Nazi by Any Other Name: The kloi takes the Our Elves Are Better mindset to its logical extreme, resulting in most of the species becoming, as Word of God would put it, "pointy-eared psychos" known for being "genocidal fashion-obsessed maniacs".
• No Fourth Wall: Although they never directly address the player, pretty much every character in the story are fully aware they are in sci-fi porn game.
• Our Elves Are Better: The kloi, who are basically Space Elves, tend to view themselves as better than everybody else, to a point where they are A Nazi by Any Other Name.
• Our Wormholes Are Different: Pretty much the whole plot occurred because a prison convoy got sucked into a worm hole that teleported the convoy to the middle of the Prodigium Galaxy.
• Pirate Girl: Va'raz Killision is a Red-Skinned Space Babe/Space Pirate variation.
• Playful Hacker: Fortune.
• Porn With Plot: Its a H-game, but it does have actual Role Playing Game and Shoot 'em Up game mechanics, and well, a plot.
• The Protagonist: The Captain.
• Psychic Powers: A common trait among the senu race.
• Ragtag Bunches of Misfits: The crew of the Mary Celeste, which includes humans, a Sex Bot, Green-Skinned Space Babes, a Cat Girl, a Space Elf, mutant hybrid aliens, and many more.
• Role Playing Game: The grid combat portions of the game.
• Sex Bot: DEMI.
• Shoot 'em Up: The space combat portions of the game.
• Sissy Villain: Several of the kloi, including General Landervoo, are very campy.
• Space Battle: During the Shoot 'em Up portions of the game.
• Space Clouds: The five nebulae that make up the Prodigium Galaxy. Oddly enough, each nebulae resembles a fierce mythological creature. The five nebulae include The Dragon Nebula, The Hydra Nebula, The Kraken Nebula, The Yeti Nebula, and The Griffin Nebula.
• Space Cossacks: The crew of the Mary Celeste in a nutshell.
• Space Elves: The kloi, like Elaisha Sorn, complete with Our Elves Are Better attitudes.
• Space Pirates: Va'raz Killision and the Dread Fleet. However, Killision would lose her large pirate fleet to a mutiny, resulting in her eventually joining the crew of the Mary Celeste, while the Dread Fleet will serve as an antagonist faction in the game.
• Starship Luxurious: The Mary Celeste is a fairly large spaceship that has 7 main sections: the Bridge, Captain's Quarters, Hanger Bay, Engine Room, Laboratory, Locker Room, and the Bar.
• Unrealistic Black Hole: The black hole that ended up teleporting the prison convoy to the middle of the Prodigium Galaxy.