Ramon (video game)

Ramon (also known in Europe and some other countries as Rayman IV: Last Hope) is an action-adventure game developed and published by Fable Interactive. It is both a spin-off and a reboot of the Rayman series and the sixth main installment, following 2013's Rayman Legends. The release date has not yet been confirmed, but it has been confirmed that the game will be released for PCs running Microsoft Windows. The developers behind the game, Fable Interactive, have also expressed interest in porting the game to home consoles such as PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, but still showed doubt about it.

Set in the year 2006 in the fictional retrofuturistic dystopian state of Wasteland, loosely based on Nevada, the single-player story follows four playable protagonists - Ramon, Globox, a female partner (either Jenny or Penny), and a random partner (by the player's choice), whom all partake in a group composed of revolutionary rebels to overthrow the totalitarian regime of the Eden dictatorship, while making choices that affect the course and outcome of each of the characters and their stories.

The game is played from either a third-person or first-person view and its open world can be navigated on foot or by vehicle. Players can fight enemies using a variety of firearms and other tools, and call in non-playable gang members to help them. Outside of the main story, players can freely explore the state of Wasteland and participate in various side activities.

The director of Ramon intends for the game to have a more serious, dramatic, darker and mature-themed vibe, rather than the light-hearted, family-friendly vibe of the previous games from the series.

The game is currently in development with Unreal Engine 5 being used to develop the game.

Gameplay
Unlike previous installments in the series, where the gameplay generally contains elements of a platformer, Ramon is an open-world action game with both third-person and first-person shooter elements where players complete missions – linear scenarios with defined objectives – to progress in the main story. Outside of missions, players can freely roam the game world and perform optional side activities. The game's setting, the fictional state of Wasteland, is divided into one metropolitan city (known as Mega City, which is loosely based on Las Vegas) and three rural counties, where players will have to work to conquer all counties in the name of New America, a country that the United Rebellion Alliance is trying to establish.

The city includes more areas with tools that the player can use to take advantage of this. Driving gameplay is also implemented in the game to allow the driver to either drive a car to freely explore the state or encourage the use of vehicles as weapons alongside guns in missions containing vehicular combat sequences.

Ramon can also be considered an "interactive film" since the story will branch out depending on the choices you make through quick-time events and dialogue decisions. They can be viewed in a flowchart during and immediately after a given mission; the player can rewind to certain points in the story to reformulate decisions in case of regret. There are hundreds of different endings, dozens of multiple outcomes for each mission, and over thousands of decisions to make throughout the entire game.

There are two types of combat throughout the game:
 * Common combat, the most default combat. A type of combat that is composed of melee and/or firearm combat, if your character ever dies during a common combat fight, you can always go back to the checkpoint and try again.
 * Critical combat, the most risky combat in the game. A type of combat that is entirely composed of quick-time events/QTEs. If your character fails most of the QTEs of the fight, your characters dies with a permanent death result.

Even though you can play up to only four characters, there are actually 25 playable characters in total (4 main characters, 15 "random partners", and 6 secret characters), who can also all die as the story continues without them; as a result, there is no "game over" message following a character's death in a "critical combat" fight. Certain scenes feature countdowns, which force fast action.

Main characters

 * Ramon / Rayman / Scott Raymond / Evan Conroe / Agent Ghost: A former media personality who, after learning that Eden was using him, takes it upon himself to free the population from all the manipulation and propaganda of the totalitarian superstate.
 * Globox / Trevor Wilson: A middle-aged alcoholic who is Ramon's first long-lost best friend ever since before Ramon dropped out of college. He is also in desperate need for a surrogate daughter after his ex-wife, Barbara Wilson banned him from him seeing his biological daughter, Marina Wilson, ever again, while also expelling him from her home after an argument with him while he was drunk, so throughout the game, there are over five girls who can eventually become his surrogate daughter figure dependent on his choices: Penny Fitzgerald, Jenny Wakeman, Britanny Johnston, Pacifica Northwest, and/or Ruby Gillman.
 * Penny Fitzgerald: A yellow humanoid anthropomorphic deer-fairy hybrid who is both a fashion model and the host of a children's program aired on the Eden Network, "Eden Kidz". She also possesses the ability to heal others by warming up her hands and putting it in the injury, in order to heal it.
 * Jenny Wakeman / XJ-9: A robot who develops artificial consciousness and becomes responsible for the protection and safety for what she calls "Eden's victims", she is also armed with highly-advanced weaponry and devices at her disposal, but at the same time, she has the desire to live the life of a normal teenage girl.

Anarchopacifists

 * Daniel Mulligan / Kid Cosmic: The superhuman leader of the anarchopacifist rebellion group who possesses the ability of telekinesis.
 * Jesse Lawrence: An aging retired hero who holds the name “Hero of Ireland” in his homeland, which is of course Ireland, and by choosing him as his partner, sets out for one last mission before full retirement. He is also Finn's mentor by training him how to fight with swords.
 * Finn Mertens: A swordsman who is being mentored by Jesse and is the twin brother of psychotherapist Fionna Mertens.
 * Fionna Mertens: The psychotherapist of the group who uses talk therapy to treat both random people and the rebels of the group for emotional problems and mental illnesses, for example: Ramon, Viktor and/or Globox.
 * Phoebe Ember / Flame Princess: The former princess of the Fire Kingdom before her father, Helios, killed Phoebe's uncle, who previously ruled the kingdom, before it went under Helios' power.

Future Ancestors

 * Zach Watterson: An anthropomorphic hybrid blue cat humanoid who is the leader of the Future Ancestors, who also possesses the ability of laser vision, but only through his left cybernetic eye since his other right eye is organic. He is Darwin's older adoptive brother.
 * Darwin Watterson: An anthropomorphic hybrid goldfish humanoid who is a "mechanic doctor", meaning he does unathorized cybernetic surguries by installing cyberware in people by replacing a failing organic part of the body by a upgraded cybernetic version of the same part.
 * Ronalda Santiago: A woman of Mexican descent who is the younger sister of Roberto Santiago, who is the leader of a Mexican libertarian socialist party named "El Sindicato". She suffers from PTSD over the tragic death of her extended family, the Casagrandes, that occured back when she was 13 in 1991. The death of the Casagrandes is later revealed that it was a incident of arson, caused by Adam Rutkoski, whom was Eden's previous dictator.
 * Lincoln Loud: A white-haired man of Scottish descent who possesses a cybernetic arm that Darwin created for him, and has the ability to shoot huge laser beams with the cybernetic arm.
 * Trent Hamilton: An anthropomorphic hybrid golden trophy who is an arrogant and aggressive atlethic jock who always wants to do violent riots for the sake of the revolutions.

Night Gems

 * Pacifica Northwest: The leader of the Night Gems and the richest woman in the world, it is later revealed that she was the daughter of a crime-ridden couple who dealt drugs before the couple were murdered by Ramon on New Year's Eve 2000 when he was in his hitman career as "Agent Ghost". She is also the girlfriend of Dipper Pines.
 * Dipper Pines: A conspiracy theorist who tries to learn more about Eden's religious ideology upon a religious figure by the name of "Scarab Man". He is also the boyfriend of Pacifica Northwest.
 * Hilda Brennan: A fearless adventurer and possible future member of an ominous society by the name of "The Messiahs".
 * Star Butterfly / Stella Butler: A fugitive Mewman who has changed her identity and became a rebel due to Eden's invasion towards her home-dimension, Mewni, when she was 14 years old in 1988.
 * Marco Diaz: A Hispanic man who shelters the fugitive Star Butterfly, preventing her from being killed by Eden's military forces.

Secret playable characters

 * Ruby Gillman: A teenage humanoid kraken hybrid who keeps her kraken powers a secret from humans. She can be one of Jenny's best friends throughout the whole game. This character can only be unlocked if Penny and Jenny are both dead by the consequences of failing QTEs in "critical combat" sequences.
 * Britanny Johnston: An anthropomorphic hybrid pink hair bow who is a fashion model just like Penny. She can be one of Penny's best friends throughout the whole game. This character can only be unlocked if Ramon killed Jenny in the secret mission "Truth or Dare?", which is a mission where Ramon is obliged to choose to either kill Penny or Jenny if you unlock both of them at the same time.
 * Nathalie Messier: A famous fashion model who does a more "elegant" approach than either Penny or Britanny. She can eventually become Globox's surrogate wife and adopt both Penny and Britanny in the canon ending. This character can only be unlocked if she is found in the mission "The Glamorous Party", has a good romantic relationship with Globox, and escape Wasteland to go to North Dakota to live alongside Globox's possible surrogate daughter figures.
 * Viktor Soares: A computer hacker who has "cyber-psychosis" due to his corrupted cybernetic spine bone. This character can only be unlocked if Penny accepts to date him, and Globox allows him to come along with Penny, Britanny and Nathalie in their journey to North Dakota.
 * Bullfrog: An anthropomorphic hybrid frog of French descent who is a member of the "Assassin Brotherhood". This character can only be unlocked if Ramon accepts Bullfrog's request for him to participate into the Assassin Brotherhood in the mission "Taking a Day Off", and dies as an Assassin at some point of the game's storyline, replacing Ramon with Bullfrog.
 * Plum: An alien refugee who is a member of the "Assassin Brotherhood", she came from the dimension of Mirvahda, one of the three dimensions that have been invaded and taken over by Eden's military forces. This character can only be unlocked if Ramon accepts Bullfrog's request for him to participate into the Assassin Brotherhood in the mission "Taking a Day Off", kills Penny in the secret mission "Truth or Dare?", which is a mission where Ramon is obliged to choose to either kill Jenny or Penny if you unlock both of them at the same time, and both Ramon and Bullfrog die at some point of the game, replacing the two with Plum.

Setting
The game takes place in an alternate 2006 in the state of Wasteland, more precisely in the city of Mega City and in the three rural counties of the state, and tells the story of four protagonists: Ramon, Globox, a female partner (either Jenny or Penny) and a "random partner" - four uniquely different rebels who begin to participate in a series of revolutions to establish a country called New America, overthrowing the dystopian totalitarian superstate of Eden, which gained power over the United States of America approximately 60 years prior the events of the game's story.

Ramon is set approximately thirteen and a half years after the events of Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix.

Summary
More than thirteen years after Captain Laserhawk's death, former media personality Ramon now lives under the new identity of the name Evan Conroe, living in a basement beneath his friend, Pablo Rogers' bar. However, Ramon's first best friend, Globox, reencounters Ramon after dozens of years. Then they unexpectedly finds themselves participating in a series of revolutions after wise old man Thömaz Von Schmidt invites them into the United Rebellion Alliance. They join forces with other rebels to fulfill the oath given to them: to overthrow the dictatorship of Eden and free everyone from all of Eden's manipulation and propaganda.

Main characters

 * Troy Baker - Ramon / Rayman / Scott Raymond / Evan Conroe / Agent Ghost
 * Mark Calaway - Globox / Trevor Wilson
 * Lizzie Freeman - Penny Fitzgerald
 * Janice Kawaye - Jenny Wakeman / XJ-9

"Random playable partners"

 * Will Poulter - Daniel Mulligan / Kid Cosmic
 * Patton Oswalt - Jesse Lawrence
 * Jeremy Shada - Finn Mertens
 * Madeleine Martin - Fionna Mertens
 * Jessica DiCicco - Phoebe Branton / Flame Princess
 * Nicolas Cantu - Zach Watterson
 * Kwesi Boakye - Darwin Watterson
 * Stephanie Beatriz - Ronalda Santiago
 * Michael Kovach - Lincoln Loud
 * Justin Napolitano - Trent Hamilton
 * Jackie Buscarino - Pacifica Northwest
 * Jason Ritter - Dipper Pines
 * Bella Ramsey - Hilda Brennan
 * Laura Bailey - Star Butterfly / Stella Butler
 * Adam McArthur - Marco Diaz

Secret playable characters

 * Lana Condor - Ruby Gillman
 * Taylor Grodin - Britanny Johnston
 * Léa Seydoux - Nathalie Messier
 * Lino Facioli - Viktor Soares
 * Yves Bigerel - Bullfrog
 * Tara Strong - Plum

Non-playable characters

 * Leonardo DiCaprio - Vincent DeBrando
 * Will Forte - Pablo Rogers
 * Morgan Freeman - Thömaz Von Schmidt
 * Michael Hollick - Isaac Hall
 * Shawn Fonteno - Tyrone Crawford
 * Chad Doreck - Brad Carbunkle
 * Quinton Flynn - Sheldon Lee
 * Brian Posehn - Axel Kilroy
 * Nolan North - Steve Byrne
 * Natasha Loring - Johanna Kelley
 * Jenna Ortega - Rosa Flores
 * Olivia Olson - Marceline Abadeer / The Vampire Queen
 * Hynden Walch - Bonnibel Beckmann / Princess Bubblegum
 * Tom Kenny - Simon Petrikov
 * Roz Ryan - Caroline Campbell / Cake
 * Patrick Fugit - Aiden Branton / DJ Flame
 * Greg Siff - Austin Charron
 * Alejandro Edda - Roberto Santiago
 * Park So-dam - Sid Chang
 * Shameik Moore - Clyde McBride
 * Haley Tju - Stella Zhau / Netghost
 * Shannon Purser - Sarah Lato
 * David Henrie - Tom Lucitor
 * Billie Eilish - Carrie Krueger
 * Ashley Johnson - Anais Watterson
 * Kacie Chapman - Helena Brockhouse
 * Justin Chapman - Kane Sharp
 * Kristen Schaal - Mabel Pines
 * Niki Yang - Candy Chiu
 * James Rallison - Jacob Ralliton
 * Linda Cardellini - Wendy Corduroy
 * Ameerah Falzon-Ojo - Frida Tyson
 * Bryan Dechart - David Burton
 * Jenny Slate - Letisha Lilacia
 * Jon Heder - Oskar Greason
 * Grey Griffin - Jackie Lynn Thomas
 * Zosia Mamet - Lucia Brooke
 * Jesse Williams - Markus Manfred / RK200
 * Jeff Goldblum - Desmond Miles / Master Assassin
 * Winona Ryder - Barbara Wilson

Villains

 * Jet Li - Liang Min / Scarab Man
 * Shara Kirby - XJ-10
 * Ptolemy Slocum - Mr. Dark / Dark Ray
 * Hugo Weaving - Adam Rutkoski
 * Keith David - Helios Branton / Flame King

Parental Guide

 * Argentina: +18
 * Australia: R18+
 * Brazil: 18
 * Canada: Mature (M)
 * Chile: 18+
 * China: 16+
 * Europe: PEGI 18
 * Germany: FSK 18
 * Japan: CERO Z
 * Mexico: B15
 * New Zealand: R18
 * Russia: 18+
 * United States: Mature (M)

Sex and Nudity (Moderate)

 * Globox can be seen masturbating, watching an pornographic film while drunk in a flashback on the mission "No More Home". However, it is not shown explicitly since he's clothed. You can only see his hand movements and his climax.
 * Penny and Viktor can be seen having sex with each other if Penny accepts to date Viktor in the mission "Special Visitor". Only Penny's breasts can be seen.
 * Ramon is revealed to be bisexual since there's a pathway where Rayman becomes a member of the Assassin Brotherhood and shows how he develops romantic and sexual attractions to one of the members of the Brotherhood, Bullfrog.

Violence & Gore (Severe)

 * You can kill people as you wish but you will face the consequences for your behavior, which is what happens pretty much in real life, not helped by the fact that the violence is extremely graphic and this game has incredibly realistic and highly detailed graphics that make the violent content look more "in-your-face".
 * Players can use a wide array of weapons ranging from pistols and shotguns to machine guns and grenades to kill people, with a cloud of blood usually splattering on the area. Cars can be used as weapons, too, both purposefully and accidentally, as players race through crowded streets slamming into anyone who gets in the way. A lot of blood will stain the environment if this happens.
 * Players can purchase various types of firearms, stabbing weapons, explosives, and other weapons at gun stores which are commonly found around the map.

Profanity (Severe)

 * Frequent uses of curse words such as "f*ck", "sh*t", "b*tch", "damn", "hell", and "turd".

Alcohol, Drugs and Smoking (Severe)

 * Both Ramon and Globox have drinking problems and both binge drink throughout the game.
 * Ramon smokes frequently.

Frighening & Intense Scenes (Severe)

 * The game can include some really dark and mature content.
 * One of the game's villains, Mr Dark, is quite frightening, being an supernatual entity representing a soul of an unhinged, brutal maniac who is an utterly remorseless and unrelentingly evil serial killer, has plenty of violent mood swings, commits all sorts of heinous crimes for fun, and absolutely revels in the sheer brutality and cruelty of his actions.
 * This game is incredibly somber and depressing, with even the best endings being sad in some ways.
 * The game deals with a variety of sensitive topics such as trauma, mental illness, abuse, politics, etc.

Trivia

 * This is first Rayman game to be rated M for Mature by the ESRB.
 * While the game is still a Rayman fan game, Ramon is also a cautionary tale about politics and decision-making.
 * While the game's cautionary tale criticizes “woke culture”, it also criticizes the problems of a society of people who only show prejudice against different types of people, like LGBTQ+ and people of color.
 * This will be Fable Studios' first video game.

Cultural references

 * The game isn't just a Rayman fan game since it also introduces characters from various other third-party intellectual properties.
 * One of the playable characters, Star Butterfly, carries the fake identity of Stella Butler, which name is a reference to the lead character's name, Stefan Butler, from the Netflix interactive film, "Black Mirror: Bandersnatch".
 * "Bandersnatch" was also one of the influences for the game's branching storyline mechanic, alongside "Detroit: Become Human".