Dark Deception: Unchecked Limitations

Dark Deception: Unchecked Limitations is an remake/expansion pack to the original Dark Deception universe that is essentially an expert mode for all previous levels by adding new enemies and buffing old ones in all previous nightmares. This game is developed by XXxMegalodonPrimexXx under the collaboration of the assistant writer/editor Dr. H.W. Richardson and published by Glowstick Entertainment.

Plot
The storyline closely mirrors the original Dark Deception, albiet with some noticeable changes here and there. You play as Doug Houser, a criminal defense attorney who faces an untimely demise. Instead of moving on to the afterlife, Doug encounters Bierce, a mysterious woman, who presents him with a chance to regain his life in exchange for completing a series of tasks. These tasks involve navigating through eerie portals and collecting Soul Shards, the remnants of human souls. While this may sound straightforward, the challenges are far from simple, as these portals lead to nightmarish realms teeming with nightmarish-looking creatures ready to tear Doug apart. Bierce provides occasional assistance, but for the most part, Doug must rely on his own ingenuity to survive. Additionally, doubts arise about Bierce's true intentions, raising the question of whether she is entirely trustworthy.

Mechanics
Unlike in the original Dark Deception, instead of being instantly killed by just about everything and losing one of their lives, the player will instead take damage to their health when in contact with most enemy attacks and traps. The player's amount of health will regenerate constantly albeit at a very slow pace. The player can collect a special type of soul shards that will heal most of their remaining lost health. The player will also start with 1800 HP and can be upgradeable through the use of Moon Charms to reach a maximum of 30.000 HP in total. Unlike other instances of the health bar, the health mechanic behaves more realistically, where the less health you have, the slower you move, the weaker your abilities are, and the more vulnerable you are to enemies as in being physically crippled and unwell. Sprinting or using a weapon will also drain the player's stamina. The stamina will deplete completely after 4 seconds of uninterrupted sprint and will fill up just as quickly. Both the action of drawing and releasing the weapon drains stamina. Starting from Mascot Mayhem onwards, the player will be granted unlimited stamina removes the sprint function entirely but allows the player to run considerably fast without the use of a Speed Boost, and is considered to be a "gift" by Bierce. Additionally, there's also an option to play the game in a third-person mode, if you want to.
 * Moon Charms
 * Sun Jades
 * Difficulty Modes
 * Hidden Nightmares
 * Achievements
 * Monster Bestiary

The Telekinesis ability has been nerfed, it does not work on soul shards through solid walls, this is to prevent cheesing the levels. The telekinesis ability will still have its quick cooldown time, bigger collection radius, and still be very useful in open spaces. The Telepathy ability has been changed back to its original version, and the red mist will only be shown for cloaked Reaper Nurses.

Beginning with Elementary Evil and continuing through subsequent levels, collecting a ring piece triggers a frantic rush back to the level's starting point. A timer, its duration varying by level, initiates a countdown, signifying the player's urgent need to escape swiftly. Additionally, barriers will change states, with certain hallways obstructed by purple barriers in some levels, and new enemies will spawn throughout the level. The activation of the escape sequence allows players to collect hourglass pickups. While in the midst of the escape sequence, the player's point total steadily diminishes at a rate of 5 points per second, encouraging them to reach the exit promptly in pursuit of a higher rank. Time machines, if unlocked, can be entered during the escape sequence to initiate a loop, teleporting the player back to the location of the ring altar without resetting the timer or requiring the replay of a boss fight (note that clock and bell pickups and the enemies faced by John do reset). Initiating the loop is required for the P-Rank.

Should the timer reach zero, Malak swiftly seizes the player's soul, resulting in instant death. Each time the timer reaches a new quadrant of the bar, a bell chimes, indicating the impending collapse drawing nearer. This mechanic is reintroduced in Dark Deception: Journey of the Girl in Red, functioning in the same manner. It's also worth noting that the timer does not count down during boss fights, but it continues to do so during cutscenes, causing a minor loss of time.

Additionally, the tablet also has another new mechanic added to it, which is the Tablet Battery. The Tablet Battery shows the remaining power supply and the amount of power that is currently being consumed by displaying the rate at which power runs out. It begins with 200% power (see the difficulty modifiers). It will gradually deplete as the player uses their abilities or has the tablet turned on. The remaining battery capacity decreases at a rate determined by how much power is used at any given time. For example, having both powers on and the tablet up will cause the power to drain at an alarming rate. Use your abilities sparingly and only in specific situations to conserve power. A usage graphic with two green bars, a yellow bar, and a red bar appears beneath the percentage indicator. When only one or two green bars are illuminated, the power consumption is minimal. The yellow bar indicates medium power usage, while the red bar indicates critical or maximum power usage.

The player can recharge their tablet by collecting batteries that are scattered throughout most of the levels or by charging them up at specific locations, as well as by picking up most power-ups such as reveal shards and stun orbs. The battery percentage and consumption speed will also be affected by which difficulty mode the player is currently at.

Trivia

 * The title 'Unchecked Limitations' comes from Trevor Henderson's explanation of Cartoon Cat's powers.
 * The entire UL and JOTGIR verse shares the same Uchu No Yume multiverse with other projects of XXxMegalodonPrimexXx, including Touhou Project: Stars in Many Dimensions, Wadanohara and the Outer Waves, and Genshin Impact: Multiversal Cataclysm
 * The expansion was made WITHOUT the player's sanity in mind, it is meant to be difficult for the sake of being difficult since it's an Expert Mode
 * Chuckles the Clown, Drixot-2000, Destruction Ducky and Doom Ducky are the only bosses so far that the player can rematch outside their debut levels.
 * Chuckles is the only boss so far whose rematch is entirely optional.
 * Doom Ducky is the only boss from the original Dark Deception so far who has a rematch
 * The creator considers Unchecked Limitations as the Dark Deception equivalent to Terraria's Calamity Mod