Attack the Light

"Four heroes, teaming up for a magic adventure. This is like the greatest RPG ever!"

Attack The Light is a Steven Universe video game for Android, iOS, and Kindle devices. It was first announced at MAGfest in 2014 and released on April 2, 2015.

Synopsis
Steven is playing a video game on his tablet when the Crystal Gems return from a mission with a Light Prism. Despite Pearl fearing that the prism's lights can be released, Steven assures her that he's not powerful enough to let any escape. Nevertheless, 7 lights break free from the prism and it's up to the Crystal Gems to find them.

Gameplay
The gameplay draws mainly inspiration from Paper Mario. It has a group turn based fighting system in a dungeon crawler-like environment, in which the group must navigate through an area and battle various monsters along the way, all the while each character of opposing groups take turns in doing actions. Your actions to the game are tethered to a power gauge, where every time you make an attack a small amount of power is removed until you can no longer fight, forcing you to end your turn. You can increase the power gauge by pre-maturely ending turns, using specific items, or using badges that can grant extra power.

All moves are executed in a quick-time style combat system similar to Paper Mario. You have a small window of time when defending or attacking that allows you to maximize damage or defense while specific moves have different ways to deliver damage rather it be rapid taping or sliding across the screen. Each gem has a unique fighting style using moves displayed in the TV show. Pearl has far and close range attacks that can strike multiple times with a varying degree of damage, Garnet uses strength to lower the defense of enemies and deliver heavy damage, and Amethyst uses weaker attacks that can damage entire parties, lower their attack status, or even knock them out of the battle. Steven on the other hand is full support, using powers that assist by healing lost harmony, clearing their status effects, or assist them in delivering and blocking powerful attacks.

Every gem has a "harmony" level that serves as their HP. If a gem loses all of their "harmony", they retreat to their gem for the remainder of the battle unless you have a "Rose's Tear" or "Bottle of Rose's Tears" that can specifically bring them back. If a gem's harmony is fully depleted in battle, once the battle is over they receive no XP from the battle and lose over half of their HP. XP allows the party to level up, once a character levels up you are given a menu of different abilities or stats to upgrade and unlock, but you can only select one skill at a time. The character levels currently cap at 30 for the Gems starting at level 9001 and 22 for Steven as of the 1.0.2 update.

The game now has a feature known as "Diamond Mode" where the enemies are more challenging and bonus tap-stars are hidden, as revealed on January 6, 2016.

Plot
Steven, playing an RPG on his tablet, exclaims that he is going to play it until he beats the game. However, he throws it away after the Crystal Gems arrive back on the warp pad. Steven asks what Garnet is holding, to which Pearl explains that Garnet is holding an ancient Gem weapon which, when in the hands of a powerful Gem, can command an entire army of light. Steven then asks if he can see it. Pearl disapproves at first for it is far too dangerous but agrees because it is only dangerous in the hands of a powerful Gem, to which Amethyst supports. As Steven grabs hold of the prism, it starts to emit light which releases the White Light. Pearl tells Steven to stay back as they fight the monster. As Garnet deals the first blow, the White Light erupts into light through the roof of the house and scatters seven colored lights throughout the world. The Gems and Steven must work together and put the scattered lights back into the prism and save the world. Steven and the Crystal Gems first travel to recapture the Indigo Light, which has escaped into Indigo Cave. The Gems battle light creatures that have taken the form of cave dwelling creatures such as scorpions and bats before the final battle with the boss of the area, a giant three-tailed indigo scorpion.

The second light the Gems search brings them into the Gem Battlefield. The monsters take the form of bugs and plants as they fight the Crystal Gems. During the mission, Steven and the Gems encounter and recapture the Violet Light, which did not put up a fight. They face off against the boss of the stage, a giant green plant creature accompanied by light constructs it has made in the form of the three Crystal Gems.

The search for fourth light brings the group to The Desert and battles through orange light creatures that have assumed the forms of dragonflies, tortoises, and snakes. The final battle takes place between the Crystal Gems and a giant crystal-covered orange turtle. After apparently beating the boss, it delivers a devastating blow that leaves the Gems weak. But with Steven's encouragement the trio fuse to become Alexandrite and finally defeat the boss.

The fifth light leads the group to the sunken Lunar Sea Spire. Blue light Jellyfish, pufferfish, and starfish creatures attack the Gems as they journey into the Spire ruins. During the mission they encounter the Yellow Light, which does not fight back, tries to communicate with Steven before being captured. The final battle takes place between the Crystal Gems and the blue light whale boss. The final light left to be captured is the Red Light that leads the group deep within Gem ruins. The area is filled with machinery and Gem murals depicting battles. They battle through red light creatures in the form of the creatures they previously fought before. The groups meets the final light monster, a three-headed red centipeetle-like creature. But before the battle starts, the prism is taken by the red light boss.

The Prism combines all the light into one fearsome White Light. Using the abilities of all previous bosses, the Crystal Gems face a rough fight with the monster. However, as the boss weakens, it tries to communicate with Steven. Finally weak and on the verge of defeat, Steven successfully communicates with the Light creature and understand it's plight.

Steven deduces that the light monsters that escaped the prism weren't fighting him but were fighting for him. Unfortunately, their battles with the light monsters only confused them, as they thought they were being tested by their master, Steven. The White Light creature asks forgiveness from Steven as it thought it had failed Steven's test by being defeated but Steven reassures the creature. The light creature asks what Steven wants it to be, to which Steven tells it to be whatever it wants itself to be. The light turns into dozens of Steven constructs before fading away. The Crystal Gems return home, their mission completed.

Characters

 * Steven
 * Garnet
 * Pearl
 * Amethyst
 * Alexandrite
 * Rose Quartz (mentioned)
 * Greg Universe (mentioned)
 * Light Army

Locations

 * Beach House
 * Indigo Caves
 * Strawberry Battlefield
 * The Desert
 * Sunken Lunar Sea Spire
 * Red Temple

Description On The App Store

 * Blurb: Team up as Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, and Steven to stop a powerful Gem weapon in Attack the Light!
 * Seller: Turner Broadcasting System/Cartoon Network
 * Developer: Grumpyface Studios
 * Price: $2.99
 * Size: 172-190 MB (Varies on platform, 190 MB for iOS devices)
 * Rating: 9+ for Frequent/Mild Violence and Fantasy Violence
 * Compatibility: iOS 7 or higher on Apple devices. Android 2.3.3 or higher on Android devices.

Diamond Mode
An optional difficulty mode presented at the beginning of the game. It is recommended for advanced players only. This mode makes the game more difficult increasing enemy health, increasing the chance of large monsters appearing, and disabling the star prompt for blocks and counter attacks. This mode can be turned on or off on the main menu.

Steven's Items
Steven can either buy or find items in chests that aid the Gems during battle. Some of these items include:
 * Star Fruit - Adds three star points
 * Super Star Fruit - Adds six star points
 * White Star Fruit - Next move doesn't use star points
 * Cookie Cat - Restores some harmony (10 harmony)
 * Mint Cookie Cat - Restores a lot of harmony (50 harmony)
 * Feelgood Tea - Removes a Gem's status effects
 * Feelgreat Tea - Removes the whole team's status effect
 * Feelawesome Tea - Grants immunity for 5 turns against all effects
 * Fire Salt - Attacks and blocks burn enemies for 5 turns
 * Bagel Sandwich - Distracts an enemy
 * Bicycle Helmet - Increases a Gem's defense for five turns
 * Rose's Tears - Revives a Gem and gives some harmony
 * Together Breakfast - Fully restores team's harmony (Doesn't apply to defeated Gems)
 * Lucky Crown - 2x chance for lucky hits for five turns
 * Beefy Sweatband - Increases a Gem's attack for five turns
 * Cookie Cat Bites -  Gives harmony over next three turns
 * Bottle of Rose's Tears - Revives a defeated Gem with full harmony
 * Level Up Charm - Level up a Gem
 * Gemstones - Can unlock certain doors, but must be colored the same.

Badges
Gems can be given badges that have various status effects on them or their enemies. There are a total of 35 badges in the game.

To see the list of badges, click here.

Achievements
By doing certain things within the game, the player can gain achievements.
 * Steven's RPG: Leveled up one of the Crystal Gems


 * Let's Warp: Discover a secret Warp Pad


 * This is Gonna Be Intense: Unlock a Gauntlet Stage


 * One Down, A Bunch To Go!: Defeat Indigo Prism Boss


 * Boss Beater-Uppers: Defeat the Green Prism Boss without any Gems falling in battle


 * Attacking the Light: Defeat 100 Prism creatures


 * A Serious Mission: Complete a Gauntlet stage


 * Really Really Giant Woman: Fused into Alexandrite!


 * Cookie Cat Recall: Complete any stage in Chapter 4 without using items


 * Lion Loot: Find Lion's Badge


 * Magic Moves: Unlock all abilities


 * Over 9000: Fully Leveled up all the Crystal Gems


 * We'll Always Save The Day: Return all 7 colors to the Prism


 * Magic Treasure Junk: Acquired every badge


 * Perfect Porkchop: Get 100% on every stage

Trivia

 * A trailer for the game is shown at MAGfest 2014.


 * It is inspired by the RPG, Paper Mario.
 * The characters are designed in a chibi-like style incorporating elements of in-show background character models.
 * Many items in the show are used as support items in this game, including: Cheeseburger Backpack, Together Breakfast, Cookie Cat, Birthday Crown, Bicycle Helmet, and more.
 * Alexandrite appears in the game, but she doesn't show her weapon. Instead, she smashes the opponents multiple times, dealing massive damage.
 * In this game, using a Warp Pad makes a different sound than it does in the show.
 * At the beginning of every boss battle, Pearl exclaims that they will defeat the monster "in the name of Rose Quartz", which is a reference to the SDCC extended intro.
 * According to Ian Jones-Quartey, Alexandrite's fusion dance was planned to be more detailed, but is simplified due to time restraints.
 * On the world select menu, Garnet's star is mirrored, being on the left side of her outfit rather than the right.
 * Despite being a fusion, Garnet retreats to her gems, instead of splitting into Ruby and Sapphire.
 * This is not unusual, however, as she did so in "The Return" when hit by Jasper's Gem Destabilizer as well.
 * Garnet also splits into two magenta gemstones, instead of red and blue gems.
 * This is later fixed, as of update 1.0.2, Garnet splits into red and blue gems.
 * However, Ruby's Gem is colored as Garnet's (crimson/purple-red), instead of red.
 * On the world select menu, tapping the Super Steven makes a small noise.
 * All the monsters (besides the bosses) are in the red levels as well.
 * The red monsters are more difficult to defeat than the different colored ones.
 * The poison from the green monsters becomes fire instead.

Cultural References

 * Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl's experience levels are at 9001, a reference to the over 9000 meme from Dragonball Z.
 * The highest level the Crystal Gems can reach in this game is 9030. Steven's highest level is 22. Any additional experience gained will not level up the Gems.
 * Steven sometimes says "Item, I Choose You!" when using an item, a reference to the catchphrase "I Choose You!" from Pok émon.
 * The language used by the blocks bears a striking resemblance to the Pok émon "Unown".
 * Steven sometimes says "Do your thing!" when using an item, a potential reference to the RPG Yo-Kai Watch, and the phrase "Yo-Kai Medal, do your thing!".
 * Amethyst's catchphrase when her stats and skills are upgraded is, "Bowacunga!". This is a play on the catchphrase "Cowabunga!" popularized by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
 * The name Attack the Light is most likely a reference to the infamous line "I'm attacking the darkness!" from The Dead Alewives' "Dungeons and Dra gons skit where "Galstaff" uses Magic Missile to "attack the darkness".

Continuity

 * Steven's role of "keeping the harmony", according to Garnet, mirrors the latter's line from the episode "Giant Woman".
 * In addition, many similar lines are cut from/similar to others in the series. For example, when encouraging (healing) Pearl, Steven might exclaim "Pearl, you're strong in the real way!", a reference to their duet in "Coach Steven". Likewise, when encouraging Amethyst, she might say "Aww, you care about me!", a reference to a similar line from "An Indirect Kiss". When Garnet retreats to her gemstones, she says "I wasn't... strong enough", a reference to the episode "Garnet's Universe".
 * Some of the stages Steven and the Gems go through have been visited in the past:
 * Gem Battlefield (Stage 2)
 * The Desert (Stage 3)
 * Lunar Sea Spire (Stage 4)
 * This stage is now sunken after the events of the episode "Cheeseburger Backpack", as mentioned by Amethyst.
 * According to Ian Jones-Quartey, Attack the Light is "level 2 canon", and takes place at an unspecified point after "Fusion Cuisine" and before "The Return".

Music

 * Title
 * Sunken Sea Spire (soundtrack)
 * Strawberry Battlefield (soundtrack)
 * Boss Battle
 * Indigo Caves
 * Level Up!
 * The Desert (soundtrack)
 * Battle Theme