Secret of Circadia

Secret of Circadia is a unique blend of old school RPGs, Roguelike Deckbuilder mechanics and light City Builder elements where you use the Circadian Rhythm and Time of Day itself to restore a world corrupted by an AI made from humanity's hubris.  

You play as one of nature's elemental avatars: Water, Fire, Earth or Air and their respective Circadian Army - fruit and vegetables brought to life by Nature's Goddess Circadia, locked in a struggle against Syntropy, a rogue AI that's corrupted nature and "removed Humanity from the equation" and put a stop to "that pesky entropy that got in the way of a perfect world."

Take Control Over Time Of Day Itself...

At its core, Secret of Circadia is about controlling Time of Day. 

The gameplay and Deckbuilding all revolves around using the powers of Circadia to control the Circadian Rhythm. There's a day & night cycle and weather, both which influence your Circadian Army cards and enemies alike, and you have to use these to your advantage to succeed. 

...rebuild Circadia's Armies...

Most Circadian Army cards have one function during daytime and another during nighttime, which you'll need to use to your advantage both when building your deck and when fighting Nature's enemies.

You will need to Grow and Fuse cards together to create stronger Circadian Army cards, as well as expand your Hamlet to unlock new powers for your Elementals. 

...and fight against the enemies of Nature...

The enemies you encounter in this corrupted world are both creatures of Nature, corrupted by the evil AI Syntropy to do its bidding, and the AI's own machines and forces: Dark Wisps born from the strange energy the AI needs to survive, and AI constructs that are linked back to Syntropy.

All these enemies have different attacks, strengths and weaknesses during day and night.

…to restore a world corrupted by AI and humanity’s hubris.

As you venture forth to take on Syntropy, you will traverse through four Acts: Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter. Each of these areas have been drained and corrupted by the AI, leaving a barren wasteland in its wake.

However, by pushing back Syntropy's forces you give Circadia the ability to reclaim and restore Nature in the area. This also restores Weather to the area.

Once an area is restored, you are free to explore it, rescue Circadians for your Hamlet to build more buildings to help your Elementals, as well as claim mysterious DRM resources to further fuel Circadia's power as well as your Hamlet. 

Weather

The different weathers provides even more opportunities for exciting synergies and effects, and each Elemental has their own strength and weaknesses against the different weather types. 

When you first enter each Season, it is heavily corrupted by Syntropy, which causes an acid-like rain to fall. This heals Enemies and deals damage to the Elemental each turn. 

Each Act has its own set of weathers that become active once you have cleared it of Syntropy's Corruption. 

Spring: Clear Skies and Rain.

Summer: Heatwaves and Thunderstorms.

Fall: Storms, Mist and Fog. 

Winter: Snowstorms and Hail. 

Some cards even let you control the weather to change it during combat, and eventually you will gain access to buildings that let you further control the weather in each Act. 

Quick-Time-Event Cards & Attacks

Some cards and enemy attacks have what we call QTE mini-games to unlock their full power, where you need to use your reflexes to triumph. 

Disruptor Cards

The corruption that's spread throughout the land has not only infused the enemies to make them stronger, but it's also given them special abilities to disrupt and corrupt the Circadian Armies. These come in form of Disruptor Cards that affect the Circadian Army cards in your hand. 

These typically disrupt adjacent cards with their effects, and the effects can be things like increasing the Mana needed to play the disrupted card, or make you lose the disrupted card for the remainder of combat at the end of the turn, or even freeze the card so you can't play it! 

Quests

Each Circadian in your Hamlet has their own story that will give you a glimpse into what the world used to be like, and what actually happened when Syntropy corrupted Nature, and eventually maybe even provide some answers as to what happened to humanity...

Completing these quests unlock even more upgrades for each Circadian's abode in the Hamlet, and also increase your reputation with the character in question. Become friendly enough and they might give you a momento and tell you more about their lives!

To help you battle a nature corrupted by the rogue AI Syntropy, you have the Hamlet: your place of power. It is here you can spend the resources you find during your adventures to build buildings that unlock new Circadian Army cards and new Totems, build buildings that give you the ability to grow and fuse cards, building that unlock unique Circadian Elite unites - sidekicks - that will help you in combat, buildings that let you further power up each elemental, and some buildings even let you take control of the weather!

Circadia's Boons (the Totems)

Circadia's Boons - the Totems - are objects of immense power that unlock new synergies between Day & Night, Weather and the Elemental's Circadian Army. 

Each Elemental has a range of Totems that synergise with the Elemental's Special Ability, but there are also Totems that work for all Elementals. And some rare Totems you can even find while exploring... 

When an Elemental ventures forth from the Hamlet, Circadia will grant a choice between two Boons. At this point, it's a good idea to review and change the Circadian Army Cards in the Starting Deck to ensure they work well with the chosen Boon. 

When the Elemental levels up during an adventure, Circadia will grant additional Boons in the shape of a Totem.  

Secret of Circadia tells the story of what happens when humanity's hubris finally goes too far. It's a story that will teach players the importance of sustainability as well as the dangers of relying too heavily on technology (and especially the dangers and risks of letting AI control too much of our lives), and finally what can happen if we ignore Nature's cries for help for too long.

Circadia conjured forth the elementals to try and save nature and humanity. By focusing her powers on not only nature's salvation as a goal, but humanity's as well, Circadia entwined her fate to that of humanity's, which caused the Elementals to take on the embodiment of what each element meant for humanity in addition to their natural powers and abilities. 

Additionally, Circadia gifted each Elemental a Circadian Army of fruit and vegetables to help fight against Syntropy. These fruit and veg armies quickly aligned with the Elemental closest to their core features, and surprisingly took on the personalities of each Elemental!

Fruit and vegetables with high water concentrations, such as melons, cucumbers and tomatoes, aligned themselves with the Elemental of Water. Spicy fruit like chillis, radishes, ginger and jalapenos aligned themselves with Fire, and so on. 

In Secret of Circadia, you have control over your starting deck from any Circadian Army cards you've grown or acquired, and before each adventure you get to freely decide this starting deck (your starting build, if you will) before you venture forth. 

Pick your starting Circadian Army before you venture forth. As your adventures progresses you will add more units to your army to help fight your foes

The starting deck consists of 12 cards (no more, no less!) and forms the basis of your Elemental's build.