History VideoGame / Arcaea

** Downplayed with the Eternal difficulty introduced in 3.5, which is designed to give songs with easier charts (e.g. Future charts topping out at level 7 or so) more longevity by adding a chart that is more in line with middle-of-the-road Future charts.

* ArcWords: For the side story pack "Binary Enfold": "If you can".

* DuelToTheDeath: The climax of the story consists of a brutal one-on-one deathmatch between Hikari and Tairitsu.

* LateArrivalSpoiler: Originally, the difficulty level of 10 (11 as of version 3.0.0) was a spoiler and was restricted to a couple of hidden "boss" songs, but then the TANO*C collab introduced "SAIKYO STRONGER", which was plainly listed as level 10 on Future even if you hadn't bought the track or unlocked the chart yet.

* DeadToBeginWith: ''Ephemeral Page'', ''Esoteric Order'', and ''Unseeing Eyes'' all have revelations that certain characters are dead. In particular, ''Unseeing Eyes'' starts when Vita was alive, and concludes when she wakes up in Arcaea. Subsequently, ''Final Verdict'' clarifies that [[spoiler: the world of Arcaea is an afterlife-like realm where souls have been copied into, meaning every character (sans Hikari) in the story is dead.]]

* {{Irony}}:
** "A Light" from ''VideoGame/ToneSphere'' gets the Conflict lane skin instead of the Light skin. This is because for the ''Tone Sphere'' collab, songs get lane skins based on what ''Tone Sphere'' folder they're in: Solarsphere songs get Light lanes while Darksphere songs (of which "A Light" is one of) get Conflict lanes.
** Despite its macabre namesake, "World Ender", also titled "魔王" ([[MaouTheDemonKing Demon King]]) in Japanese is a Light side song instead of a Conflict song with Fracture Hikari on the song cover. Also acts as GameplayAndStoryIntegration especially when [[spoiler:Hikari realizes that she went below Tairitsu's level of low by killing her and atones by destroying Arcaea to revive her.]]

* DisguisedHorrorStory: On the surface, ''Arcaea'' is just an extremely difficult smartphone rhythm game with an elegant athestic. Take time to read the story logs however, and a large portion of these are really depressing. For example, the second chapter of the main story has Hikari rendering herself catatonic from bliss, and when Tairitsu shows up in front of her, it goes downhill from there.

** Hikari's first character song is titled "PRAGMATISM". Later on it gets a rearrange named "PRAGMATISM -RESURRECTION-". The former foreshadows that [[spoiler:Hikari's actions are mostly based on a mix of self-preservation and a mindset that hinges on IDidWhatIHadToDo, and the second foreshadows Tairitsu's resurrection in her hands in the "One Last Dream" ending.]] Its charter(s) also use the alias "The Last Dream", which is a word away from [[spoiler:One Last Dream"]].

* AndTheAdventureContinues: After [[spoiler:Hikari destroyed Arcaea and revives Tairitsu, the story shifts focus to the side characters, at which Lethe and Saya are trying to kill each other around the same time when Hikari is still reeling over Tairitsu's death, and Maya was implied to be sent to Arcaea after Hikari destroyed it.]]

* BittersweetEnding: The [[spoiler:"One Last Dream"]] ending. [[spoiler:Hikari uses her god-like powers to destroy Arcaea in exchange for reviving the real Tairitsu within the copy's body, and they become friends for real before departing to places unknown.]] However, the [[spoiler:copy Tairitsu (aka the Tairitsu Hikari ''actually'' wants to befriend) is left for dead, later side stories imply that Arcaea is still not fully destroyed and is still drawing in dead girls (on top of the conflict between Lethe and Saya), and the real Hikari's fate is left unknown, presumably being as sad and depressed as she always is.]]

* AndTheAdventureContinues: After [[spoiler:Hikari destroyed Arcaea and revives Tairitsu, the story shifts focus to the side characters, at which Lethe and Saya are fighting around the same time when Hikari is still reeling over Tairitsu's death, and Maya was implied to be sent to Arcaea after Hikari destroyed it.]]

* BittersweetEnding: The [[spoiler:"One Last Dream"]] ending. [[spoiler:Hikari uses her god-like powers to destroy Arcaea in exchange for reviving the real Tairitsu within the copy's body, and they become friends for real before departing to places unknown.]] However, the [[spoiler:copy Tairitsu (aka the Tairitsu Hikari ''actually'' wants to befriend) is left for dead, it's implied that Arcaea is still not fully destroyed and is still drawing in dead girls, and the real Hikari's fate is left unknown, presumably being as sad and depressed as she always is.]]

* BittersweetEnding: The [[spoiler:"One Last Dream"]] ending. [[spoiler:Hikari uses her god-like powers to destroy Arcaea in exchange for reviving the real Tairitsu within the copy's body, and they become friends for real before departing to places unknown.]] However, the [[spoiler:copy Tairitsu (aka the Tairitsu Hikari ''actually'' wants to befriend) is left for dead, and the real Hikari's fate is left unknown, presumably being as sad and depressed as she always is.]]

** For 2020, the game gave players the ability to delete World Mode by tapping and holding down on the button for it on the home screen. Doing this throws the player into the exclusive song "Singularity VVVIP", a remix of "Singularity" by "Arcaea Sound Team against. ETIA.", with levels of InterfaceScrew and CameraScrew on par with "Ignotus Afterburn".

* For 2023, the game promoted a [=ChatGPT=]-like AI assistant that could suggest songs to play. However, repeatedly ignoring its suggestions causes it to eventually launch the new song "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqqHNrQb_2Q 0xe0e1ccull]]", a remix of "#1f1e33" by nitro and Frums.

* WinsByDoingAbsolutelyNothing: [[VideoGame/{{CHUNITHM}} Toa Kozukata]]'s skill uses a variant of the Hard gauge that triggers a Track Lost after 60 Far or Lost notes. "dropdead" Present is the only chart in the game to have fewer than 60 notes, and as such you can have Toa as your partner and get a Track Complete without hitting any notes at all. However, you still need to hit notes to get points.