Hello everyone. Aaron / Lead Dev here.
I’m quite happy to finally share the first blog update for Robot Rhapsody, which we've been cooking for about half a year now!
If you played Beloved Rapture, our first title, you may notice some familiar DNA in the presentation style — but I wanted to note this is a completely original, stand-alone story.
It’s a script I believe could even surpass the work we did in the past, so it’s been a joy to develop so far. :D
I'd like to share some additional info and imagery people may not have seen yet.
👉🔥Follow the Kickstarter!
🎮✨ Rapturous Studio - Join Discord Server!
The game is a futurist fairytale dealing with some modern themes, yet inspired by 90s RPG style.
Story elements related to AI, VR/simulations, freedom/authenticity, humanity’s return to nature, and 'rebellion' are all focused on.
The player follows Selva, a crude, cynical mercenary who once hunted “rogue” robots for a living.
Now she lives off-the-grid in Zoxxo City, a former metropolis decayed into an urban jungle.
There, she indulges a life of simpler pleasures in an effort to forget her past.
But some new political upheaval—and the death of her former boss—force her back into the spiritual battle that she thought she’d left behind.
Her closest ally becomes Jiro, a boy raised inside the Aethar Hives—underground nuclear bunkers, transformed into AI-run “utopias.”
Life inside the Hives means a Neura-Stone implanted at birth, binding each human to rigid AI control and oversight.
Robots feed, teach, and guide their human subjects. Freedom and emotion are surrendered in exchange for supposed safety.
Eventually, his first "organic dream" prompts a spiral of disillusionment.
Eventually, Selva shows Jiro the chaos and beauty of real life, while he forces her to confront her hatred of technology and AI. Their unexpected meeting ultimately sparks other events that grow to a mass rebellion.
🌌 Inspired by futurism, retro-sci-fi stories, 90s JRPGs, and cyberpunk/solarpunk art.
✨ Pixel Art drawn in the style of SNES / PlayStation 1 era.
🎮 Turn-Based-Battles, similar to the classics.
🛠️ Robots are a central theme of both story + gameplay. The party can inflict machine-specific status effects:
⚡ Short-Circuit → Paralyze/Stun the enemy
🦠 VIRUS → Elicit Confused / Berserk behaviors
💻 HACK → Reprogram certain robotic enemies (non-bosses) to fight alongside the party!
Find Gears and other machine parts in order to upgrade your acquired bots.
Once you bring any machines to your side - they're yours forever - unless destroyed in combat.
Main Dev Team
I’m grateful to be working again with some of the same collaborators as last time around.
🎨 Fabian, the artist who drew the painterly environments and sprites for Beloved Rapture, will return to help me envision this story's more apocalyptic world. Solar-punk jungle cities, labyrinthine bunkers, robot junkyards, toxic wastes, and surreal VR will be among the many locations.
🎵 Andreas, who composed 95% of BR's soundtrack, is also returning.
Specifically in Robot Rhapsody, we will lean into the classic 90s synths and Playstation 1 soundfonts. I have no doubt that his unique touch will provoke a mix of wonder, nostalgia, atmosphere, and melancholy.
Aaron / 'Blind' - That's me! I'll be writing/directing and creating the level designs for Robot Rhapsody, just as I did with BR.
🔥Upcoming! 🔥
👉Follow the Kickstarter - Launching soon!
We’ll be running a crowdfunding campaign at some point quite soon - most likely November - January!. The Kickstarter will set the stage for expanded art, music, and eventually console porting and such.
If you want to help this game, you can help us spread the word about the campaign, Wishlist it here, and stay tuned for more dev logs, music/videos in coming weeks.
Your support truly means so much to me, at this early stage of production. So I thank you all - whoever's reading this!