For those who are unfamiliar with my projects, The Isle of Beasts (TIOB) is a story-based game I created.

The game follows a fleet called the 21 fleet in the year 2045.

One day, a powerful satellite used to map the Earth accidentally finds an island near Point Nemo, the most isolated part of the ocean.

A group of soldiers and mercenaries are sent to the island to map it out, only to then get shipwrecked. Now, it is up to them to try to survive and make it home.

Now, to the inspiration, many writers have at least heard of the Odyssey, correct?

The Odyssey is the story of Odysseus, the king of a Greek kingdom named Ithaca, and his fleet of 600 men on a journey to make it home after a multi-year-long war.

The Odyssey is a famous story with many projects based on it. Some include the first Spongebob movie and EPIC: The Musical.

Like those projects, TIOB also takes inspiration from the famous epic.

But how does it take inspiration exactly?

Today, I will explain.

Location:

Both stories follow a trip around the Earth. However, in the case of TIOB, it is severely shortened as it is only one island they explore, rather than the entire world.

However, both stories share parallels in their locations.

The most basic of examples is that both stories take place on an island, or in the case of the Odyssey, many islands.

A less specific example is in the fact that both stories have a forest that's inhabited by natives on the island who are surprisingly willing to help outsiders.

In the Odyssey, it's the lotus-eaters, and in TIOB, it's the Warrians.

If you want to stretch it a bit, you could also consider the interconnected cave systems under the island to parallel the underworld. Both are parts of the world shielded from the surface.

If you want to stretch it even further, you could consider the small "island" with the Royal-Spore, a major collectible in the game, as a parallel to the island Aeolus inhabited. Which would imply the chief of the island is supposed to be Aeolus.

(This would be a chase of a character having two parallels, as he is also supposed to be a lotus-eater.)

Characters:

To keep this segment brief, I'll name characters in the story, and their counterparts in the Odyssey. Alongside that, I'll give a short description.

• Markus = Polites. Markus is one of the main characters in the story. He is a young private, and extremely close to Vladmir. While Polites is a friend to Odysseus, Markus is like a son to Vladmir.

• Vladmir's crew = Odysseus's crew. The connection is that they are both crews. Some members also end up dying in important events. This is a weak connection.

• Ralf = Eurylochus. Ralf is a German mercenary leader and also the right-hand man to Vladmir. Similar to Eurylochus, he forms a mutiny.

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Even things they encounter could be considered similar.

• Hellshark = Scylla. Although a stretch, both are sea-wandering man-eating monsters.

• Warrians = Lotus-eaters. Both are natives of an island who eat a special type of plant that grants something. Lotus-eaters eat the lotus, a narcotic-like fruit, and the Warrians eat the Royal-Spore, a flower that extends your lifespan due to its nutrients.

• Dreadmaw = Polyphemus. Both are large, brutish, man-eating monsters that live in caves. Both are taken down with man-made objects. In fact, the Dreadmaw in a cut version of the ending was supposed to have a large, sharpened stump stab it. Similar to the spear used to defeat Polyphemus.

Vladmir:

If each character has a parallel, Odysseus must have one as well. This parallel is Vladmir. To list the similarities, I'll put it into a list.

• Both are men in high places of power with fleets under their command.

• Both feel personally responsible for the deaths of their men.

• Both form bonds with the natives of a certain island.

• Both suffer a mutiny because of their right-hand men.

• Both have a close friend who died. Alexei for Vladmir, Polites for Odysseus.

• Both have the same number of letters in their name (when spelled correctly, instead of spelling it wrong like an idiot.)

• Both meet a king or another man in a high place of power. The chief of the island for Vladmir, and Aeolus for Odysseus.

• Both even kill a large beast with the help of their men. The Dreadmaw for Vladmir, and Polyphemus for Odysseus.

In a way, Vladmir is Odysseus.

Both are men who just want to get home.

Both are men who have to make big choices with dire consequences.

And both, at the end of the day, are just men.