History VideoGame / Aground

* AllPlanetsAreEarthLike: The planet you originally crash-land on is surprisingly Earth-like... aside from the magic, of course.

* BoringButPractical: The Ancient Axe. You can get it before even leaving the starting island, it is fairly powerful for a melee weapon, guaranteed to land a critical hit and will likely remain in your inventory for the ability to chop down any tree in the game with 4 hits tops. It can be 'repaired' with a spell book and has 1000 uses before degrading into the standard rusty axe.

* ElementalRockPaperScissors: Some magical equipment along with magical enemies are linked to five elements: Fire, Water, Ice, Earth and Plant. Elemental armor and magical enemies are strong against their own element and two others while vulnerable to the remaining two elements.

* LivingWeapon: The Alter Gems found on the Eastern Island can be used to transform Wyrms and dragons into highly effective tools, armor and weapons. They stop working when the creatures they were made from run out of health points.

** The power plant on Sunset Haven can be powered by conventional fuels (coal, refined oil) or an Adult Dragon's fire-breath.
* {{Magitek}}: Some of the most reliable vehicles in the game are this. The Mecha Dragon is a powerful flying mount that runs of batteries, which are much easier to maintain than steak, and the Mecha Dragon Ship can be outfitted with either a piercing or homing main weapon, and late game a sub weapon that breaks shields. Some equipment in each side is just plain better per tier when they combine elements of these. The greatest weapon of them all? The Battery-Powered Staff, which uses batteries at a fast rate, but can bind spell books of the highest level to it, effectively allowing quick screen clearing attacks in an instant.

* NonCombatEXP: The main source of experience points for the player is not combat but ''mining'', which gives experience based on how tough the tile the player has mined. Other sources for experience include crafting, modifying and smelting items, building, harvesting, farming, chopping trees, fishing, pumping water and finishing quests.

* PointBuildSystem: The only thing level ups give (other than a LevelUpFillUp) are more skill points, with what areas your character gets stronger in linked purely to where you invested your skill points.

* StoryBranching: {{Downplayed}}. There are clear two paths in the game, the Science Path and the Magic Path; however, nothing is stopping you progressing down the two paths on the same save file.

* WorldWarIII: The Farmer mentions it off-hand during one of the cutscene events. [[spoiler:It was fueled by disagreements on planetary colonisation and the small amount of [[AppliedPhlebotinum Exotic Matter]] that allows faster than light travel. Soon after the war ended, [[FromBadToWorse aliens invaded Earth]].]]

* YouOweMe: You and the other human [=NPCs=] only survived the crash of the Colony Ship because the Mirrows reinforced one sector of the ship at the last minute. This is also the only reason why the residents of Sunset Haven put up with the Mirrows' extorting dues from them and kidnapping their citizens for experimentation.

* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: They can be found on the Unnature Sanctuary planet. [[spoiler: Both you and the Ranger get turned into werewolves by Splicer. It is never revealed what [[BonusBoss Dice's]] origins are though.]]

* EatDirtCheap: On the first night after you encounter the Miner, she tells you she had been eating dirt before you arrived.

* RedEyesTakeWarning: The Mirrows' red-lensed goggles imitate this when they player first encounter them.

* ForcedTransformation: [[spoiler:The werewolf form at first, being that Splicer is the one who forcably tranformed both the player character and Ranger into werewolves.]]

* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: They can found be on the Unnature Sanctuary planet. [[spoiler: Both you and the Ranger get turned into werewolves by Splicer. It is never revealed what [[BonusBoss Dice's]] origins are though.]]

* BalefulPolymorph: [[spoiler:The werewolf form at first, as it locks the player out of their equipment with the natural abilities provided being quite weak. After a few quests from the Ranger, this trope gets subverted and the werewolf form's natural abilities are enhanced to rival end game equipment.]]

* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: They can be on the Unnature Sanctuary planet. [[spoiler: Both you and the Ranger get turned into werewolves by Splicer. It is never revealed what [[BonusBoss Dice's]] origins are though.]]

* BodyHorror: In a room in the Colony Ship, there are several artificial womb tanks. Most of them are broken, but misshapen creatures can be seen growing in the intact ones.

** The Mirrows, along with the human and canine cyborgs (Diode Wolves) that guard the ship.

* EliteMook: The [[MechaMook Steel Wyrms]] found near the crashed spaceship are upgraded versions of the Wyrms found on the Starting Island, and the Eastern Island has Leeches that steal health from you when they attack.

* FullBoarAction: Boars are some of the first enemies found on the Starting Island. A fire-elemental version can be found in one of the caves on the Starting Island and on the Eastern Island.

** The game offers two distinct paths to victory: the Magic Path and the Science Path, each with representative teammates (the Mirrows and the Alchemist, respectively).

** The Colony Planet originally was a desert planet, although an installed Terraformer has allowed one island to be more lush.

* PortalPool: Played with. In the middle of the ocean to the west of the Starting Island is a whirlpool. If you stay on it long enough, it sucks your boat down and transports you to a magical alternate ocean.

* SchizoTech: The highest technological level your starting island can reach is early medieval while the survivors on Sunset Haven have a hotel, a power plant, firearms, chainsaws, and batteries. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] because the main Colony ship crashed on that island.

* YouOweMe: You and the other human [=NPCs=] only survived the crash of the Colony Ship because the Mirrows reinforced one sector of the ship at the last minute. This is also the only reason why they put up with the Mirrows' extorting dues from them and kidnapping their citizens for experimentation.