The Mercenary Rise

The Mercenary Rise is a simulated business game about Stephen Gray, who must repay the debts his father left within a limited time and investigate his father's death. Stephen travels through six countries, completes tasks, fights, recruits companions and strengthens his mercenary regiment.

Turn-based battles

Combat uses a turn-based, chess-style system. Each companion has unique skills and a different growth direction. Companions can be recruited by meeting special requirements, such as having a particular teammate or reaching a required level of national prestige. Their attributes grow randomly, and their growth grades range from C, the lowest, to S, the highest.

Trade and the mercenary corps

Trade is conducted through caravans, with cities serving as nodes. You can invest in as many as 100 cities, buy and trade goods, and earn money. Investment can increase a city's prosperity, opening access to more sophisticated goods and relics, and to more advanced mercenaries in cities with unions. You can also strengthen the regiment through national tasks, random guild tasks and side tasks.

Relics and nations

Relics are the game's only equipment. Low-level relics provide attribute bonuses, while high-level relics can grant skills or improve mobility and attack range. Some become available when a city reaches a certain level of development; others come from specific side tasks. The national system is incomplete and currently provides titles only.

The six countries Stephen travels through are:

• NANCY (Republic of Nanxi): Stephen's homeland, a republic ruled by nobles. After the Bailey Empire's civil war forced it to stop fighting Nanxi, Nanxi's 7th King established a national barrier between the countries. Nanxi then entered a period of peace and rapid growth. It is surrounded by sea on three sides, with northern mountains, northwestern forests, fertile central land and mostly plains. Agriculture is its main industry.
• BALLY (Bailey Empire): Once the mainland's strongest empire, Bailey weakened after internal divisions split its territory between two countries. It remains a significant power and is still at war with Bad. Its northern coast is backed by mountains, and its central region is mostly infertile plains. Bailey has a strong military but underdeveloped commerce and agriculture.
• BADDE (Bad Empire): A country that separated from Bailey, with a royal family related by blood to Bailey's. Historical disputes have kept the two empires at war for many years. Much of Bad's land faces the sea; it was formerly an economically developed region, and its strength is comparable to Bailey's. Its land is mostly plains and forests, except for mountains in the northwest.
• HANNAH (Emirates of Hanna): A powerful, wealthy empire built around commerce. Its merchants operate across the mainland, and its diplomatic ties give it a prominent position with few enemies. Hannah faces the sea and consists mostly of plains and forests. Its people are not skilled at farming, so farmland is used for cash crops.
• HOPELAND (Place of Hope): A small, neutral territory established through negotiations between the mainland's countries as a refuge for the Holy See. Its people follow the Holy See, which receives tributes from countries each year. The mostly forested land is suitable for cultivation, and its people live peacefully and prosperously.
• GABBY (Gaby): Named for Gaby, a hero known for helping countries resist the Bailey Empire. After mediation by the Holy See, Gaby and his followers founded the kingdom on a plain below Hope. Its people are kind and warm, and remain committed to resisting power. Mountains shield it from the Tigan Empire to the east. It has close economic, military and agricultural ties with the Republic of Hanna to the south, while the Holy See's protection has kept it from large-scale war with Bailey to the west.

Visual style

The game uses 2D cartoon visuals, Japanese-style character portraits and chibi-style characters in combat scenes.