History VideoGame / Gloom

''Gloom'' is a side-scrolling {{Roguelike}} game, developed by Hunchback Studio (which means the developer himself, Aleksi Sirvio, and the composer, Valtteri Hanhijoki), and released on UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} in April 2017.

[[JustForFun/IThoughtThatWas Has nothing to do]] with the [[TabletopGame/{{Gloom}} tabletop game]] nor the UsefulNotes/{{Amiga}}'s [[VideoGame/GloomAmiga Doom clone]] of the same name.

* BladeOnAStick: You can buy a spear weapon. Weirdly, the Dreamer attacks with it by first sliding the blade along the ground a little, before finally raising it for a stab, instead of simply thrusting it straight ahead.
** Quagmire area lets you encounter the spear-wielding Tidal Ones.
** There's also a halberd, which the Dreamer ''again'' uses in the same way as the spear, even though that completely removes the point of the axe blade.

[[JustForFun/IThoughtThatWas Has nothing to do]] with the [[TabletopGame/{{Gloom}} tabletop game]] nor the UsefulNotes/{{Amiga}}'s Franchise/{{Doom}} clone of the same name.

* AnAxeToGrind: You can get a Hand Axe for a melee weapon, and a Tomahawk as a ranged one.

* BackFromTheDead: May happen in the Cosmic Ending:[[spoiler: The epilogue text will be written by Wake, even if he was the Quagmire boss, and presumably died when you defeated him]]

* BossRush: You'll see this in the game [[spoiler: from the Quagmire boss onwards. Immediately after defeating either Wake or Nevan H'mu, you'll have to fight The Abyss Itself, and then you'll ascend, fighting first several waves of The Tidal Ones in the Quagmire, then one of the unfought bosses of The Lightless Forest alongside a few monsters, then the same for Unholy Parish. This culminates in the battle with The First Dreamer (normal ending), The First Dreamer and The Gate (Cosmic ending) or The First Dreamer, Great King Domnhall, Mad King Domnhall and Yellow Monarch for the Royal ending.]]
* BulletHell: [[spoiler: The Gate]] battle has dozens of orbs flying around at any given time. Even [[spoiler: Yellow Monarch]] doesn't get quite as many, though they are more damaging to compensate for that.

* DashinglyDapperDerby: A particularly high one is worn by [[spoiler: Wake]].
* DegradedBoss: When you first finish an area, you'll fight one out of the three bosses it has. [[spoiler: If you manage to defeat Abyss Itself, you'll go through one battle per an earlier level. In the Lightless Forest and Unholy Parish stages, you'll fight one of the two bosses you '''didn't''' fight at first - this time with no names or visible healthbars, but with the regular area enemies backing them up.]]
* DeliberatelyMonochrome: The entire game strictly uses black silhouettes, white attack frames, and shades of grey for the environment. Blood is also white, though specks of it appear only briefly whenever someone gets hit, so you may not notice this. The one horrible exception occurs [[spoiler: during the Cosmic ending, when the Dreamer jumps off MoralEventHorizon and stabs the baby (likely their own child) they rescued from The Abyss Itself, in order to unlock The Gate to the new dimensions and their cosmic truths. The tiny body is immediately splashed in white, and so is the arm he held the dagger with.]]
* DistinguishedGentlemansPipe: [[spoiler: Wake]] smokes one during his battle.
* DoppelgangerAttack: The Unholy Prophet boss creates two doppelgangers, who attack just like how he does, but will fade away after a single attack, without reducing his own health bar. The best way to deal with them is often to fire a bullet as soon as he creates the doppelgangers - its OverPenetration will pass through all three of them, immediately destroying the phantom copies.

* DualBoss: [[spoiler: Nevan H'mu]] possesses two statues at the start of the battle, and thus represents two bosses with a SharedLifeMeter.

* EnergyBall: Many enemies and bosses attack with these. Some notable mentions are the Bishop-looking enemies, who launch one from their staffs high up, and which then splits into four diving down at your location. [[spoiler: Wake]] and [[spoiler: The First Dreamer]] both have a much stronger version of this attack.

* HardLight: [[spoiler:Wake]] can wall off himself from harm by creating a temporary pillar of impenetrable light. He usually does this right after a Tidal One appreciates his defence of them and decides to help out.

* TheLostWoods: The second area, The Lightless Forest is this. Nearly all its inhabitants are ugly and dangerous beasts, from giant spiders to skull-headed dogs and flying headcrab things.

** Cosmic ending. [[spoiler:Obtained by choosing to purchase the Invitation with the tokens dropped by the defeated bosses. Then, you'll go to the Amphitheatre in between Lightless Forest and Quagmire stages, and fight Maestro there, who'll drop the Silver Key upon death. Once you possess it, defeating The First Dreamer causes a dark moon to rise. In response, the Dreamer places the baby on the ground and stabs it. This causes the moon to transform into The Gate boss. Once defeated, Dreamer climbs inside, and we are shown an epilogue text by Wake, speculating on whether Dreamer will even bother to return to his body, now that he's seen truths far beyond what any human can imagine.]]

* OneWingedAngel: Downplayed with [[spoiler:The First Dreamer]], whose second form is actually much less disturbing then his first one.

* RPGElements: The player has Vigor [[note]]increases maximum health[[/note]], Endurance [[note]]increases maximum stamina[[/note]], Strength [[note]]more attack damage[[/note]] Finesse [[note]]same as Strength, but for different weapon types[[/note]] and Luck [[note]]affects enemy drops and other random events[[/note]] stats, which can be improved through obtaining stat-increasing items.

** The final battle of the true Royal ending is sad because [[spoiler:you confront King Domnhall, who was once a great king and did so much for his people. However, he did so at the price of carrying the Yellow Monarch eldritch being within him, and it eventually drove him mad, to the point he ordered a complete genocide of the rival kingdom they defeated in battle, and eventually decided to escape Renegade God's plague through putting all his subjects into the Common Dream, where so many went mad and became the enemies you fought in the Unholy Parish. Thus, you are doing something difficult but necessary, and it's reflected in the battle itself going through three stages: Great King Domnhall, Mad King Domnhall, and, finally, the Yellow Monarch bursting out of his dead body and challenging you on its own]].

* ShopliftAndDie: It is impossible to ''just'' shoplift. However, you '''can''' fight and kill the shopkeeper, getting all of his items… if you'll manage it. Once in combat, shopkeepers can fly around, shoot their pistol, create a travelling shockwave and throw two Molotovs at once. The blacksmith can also be fought, [[spoiler:but he transforms into a wendigo once you try]].

* ShoutOut: [[Literature/TheKingInYellow The Yellow Monarch]] is one of the items you can get. [[spoiler:And the Yellow Monarch is the TrueFinalBoss]].

* DreamWorld: Where the entire game takes place.

[[JustForFun/IThoughtThatWas Has nothing to do]] with the [[TabletopGame/{{Gloom}} tabletop game]] of the same name.

** [[spoiler: The Gate]] battle has dozens of these orbs at any given time.

* FishPeople / FrogMen: The Tidal Ones fit somewhere in here. Technically, they look like humanoid ''porcupines'', but they also live in the swamp area and dive down in the water with no problems, yet still seem to spend most of their time above-ground, like frogs.

* FlunkyBoss: [[spoiler: Wake]] can summon Tidal Ones to back him up during his battle.

* GroundPound: Sickle-wielding enemies teleport high in the air, then drop down in order to land like this. This is also done by [[spoiler: First Dreamer's]] second form.

* GuiltFreeExterminationWar: Discussed and averted in the description for an Ivory Tusk item. It states that one of Domnhall's Kingdom main antagonists was The Ivory Kingdom, which was eventually exterminated under his command once his army became fully equipped with firearms. The last sentence simply calls it "a surprising act that was considered to be inhuman and unjustified by many."

* HandBlast: [[spoiler: First Dreamer]] fires a beam of dark energy from his palm.
* HardLight: [[spoiler: Wake]] can wall off himself from harm by creating a temporary pillar of impenetrable light. He usually does this right after a Tidal One appreciates his defence of them and decides to help out.
* HeartContainer: Vigor-increasing items. These include a wide variety of things - from Hound Meat to Ancient Fossils and Domnhall's Crown.

* {{Hellhound}}: There are some dog enemies, who are ironically more dangerous than the pistol wielders due to having much faster reaction time.

* InexplicableTreasureChests: You can find large chests, which often house surprisingly little (i.e. 8 gold.) There's no explanation other than AllJustADream one.

** Cosmic ending gives further context that makes it even more ironic. [[spoiler: Silver Key lets you "flee" not just the dream, but essentially the reality itself, as it unlocks the battle with The Gate. Defeating it means you never wake up, instead embracing the "higher cosmic truth" of the other dimensions and powers. Oh, and you need to stab a baby within the dream in order to summon The Gate in the first place. There are several interpretations of what it meant, and none are good.]]

* MirrorBoss: [[spoiler: The Abyss Itself]] can roll and use any of your attacks.

* MothMenace: [[spoiler: This is what the TrueFinalBoss, Yellow Monarch, looks like.]]

** Normal ending. [[spoiler: After defeating The Abyss itself, the Dreamer cradles the baby it tried to drown within the pram. He is then pulled upwards through the dream levels earlier, fighting one last multi-wave fight on each level before ascending to the preceding one. After going past the Unholy Parish, Dreamer reaches the Field of Swords, where he fights The First Dreamer. After defeating him, he simply wakes up in the hospital room shown on the menu screen, and stares out of the window.]]
** Cosmic ending. [[spoiler: Obtained by choosing to purchase the Invitation with the tokens dropped by the defeated bosses. Then, you'll go to the Amphitheatre in between Lightless Forest and Quagmire stages, and fight Maestro there, who'll drop the Silver Key upon death. Once you possess it, defeating The First Dreamer causes a dark moon to rise. In response, the Dreamer places the baby on the ground and stabs it. This causes the moon to transform into The Gate boss. Once defeated, Dreamer climbs inside, and we are shown an epilogue text by Wake, speculating on whether Dreamer will even bother to return to his body, now that he's seen truths far beyond what any human can imagine.]]
** Royal ending. [[spoiler: Obtained after the Cosmic ending, by choosing to purchase the Snow Globe with the tokens dropped by the defeated bosses. The game then allows you to claim the Yellow King pages before transitioning to the next area, but otherwise continues as normal until you defeat The First Dreamer. This victory transitions you to The Royal Throne, where you first fight Great King Domnhall, then Mad King Domnhall, and then just the Yellow Monarch. Prevailing after all this sees the Dreamer walk into the room with the blind Oracle, and hug her. Afterwards, the main menu is still the same hospital room, but now with the Oracle rocking the cradle by the awakened Dreamer's bedside.]]
* OneWingedAngel: Downplayed with [[spoiler: The First Dreamer]], whose second form is actually much less disturbing then his first one.
** Played straight with [[spoiler: Great King Domnhall]] as he becomes the much faster [[spoiler: Mad King Domnhall]]. And that's not even mentioning the transformation into the [[spoiler: Yellow Monarch]].
* OurAngelsAreDifferent: It is strongly implied that the angelic wings simply appear on those blessed by the bird-like god Ziz, who is the closest the setting has to a BigGood. [[spoiler: In the Royal ending, Great King Domnhall has these wings. Mad King Domnhall has much smaller wings, but they do not disappear entirely, and become truly enormous during his ShockwaveStomp attack.]]

* QuintessentialBritishGentleman: [[spoiler: Wake]] is dressed just like this, with a DashinglyDapperDerby and DistinguishedGentlemansPipe. He doesn't even ever get off his high chair!

** Quagmire has a Tidal One equivalent who does the same thing, along with the additional attacks. Lastly, this attack can be used by Quagmire's [[spoiler: Wake]].

** The final battle of the worst Cosmic ending is sad because [[spoiler: win or lose, the dreamer has already cast off any decency or humanity he had in the hunt for cosmic knowledge. After all, the battle is triggered by him literally sacrificing a baby, who may have been his own child: we outright see him stab it with a dagger and get the whole arm splashed in its blood, which is what turns the dark moon of the dream into The Gate to the new realities.]]
** The final battle of the true Royal ending is sad because [[spoiler: you confront King Domnhall, who was once a great king and did so much for his people. However, he did so at the price of carrying the Yellow Monarch eldritch being within him, and it eventually drove him mad, to the point he ordered a complete genocide of the rival kingdom they defeated in battle, and eventually decided to escape Renegade God's plague through putting all his subjects into the Common Dream, where so many went mad and became the enemies you fought in the Unholy Parish. Thus, you are doing something difficult but necessary, and it's reflected in the battle itself going through three stages: Great King Domnhall, Mad King Domnhall, and, finally, the Yellow Monarch bursting out of his dead body and challenging you on its own.]]
* SatanicArchetype: The so-called Satanius, who is worshipped by the Unholy Prophet and his followers. After you defeat the Unholy Prophet, there's even a statue that lets you "make a sacrifice to Satanius", whereas you lose Vigor but obtain other benefits. Sounds [[VideoGame/TheBindingOfIsaac just like a certain other game]]...except that it never reappears since, and so is more of a ShoutOut to it.

** [[spoiler: The First Dreamer]] literally has two stages with a very different set of attacks.
** In the true ending [[spoiler: Domnhall]] has three stages with different names: [[spoiler: Great King Domnhall]], [[spoiler: Mad King Domnhall]] and [[spoiler: Yellow Monarch]].

** [[spoiler: The First Dreamer]] creates enormous waves of energy as tall as the entire screen.
* ShopliftAndDie: It is impossible to ''just'' shoplift. However you '''can''' fight and kill the shopkeeper, getting all of his items...if you'll manage it. Once in combat, shopkeepers can fly around, shoot their pistol, create a travelling shockwave and throw two Molotovs at once. The blacksmith can also be fought [[spoiler: but he transforms into a wendigo once you try]].

* ShoutOut: [[Literature/TheKingInYellow The Yellow Monarch]] is one of the items you can get. [[spoiler: And the Yellow Monarch is the TrueFinalBoss]].
** An item that "reveals the truth" and lets you obtain the true ending? [[spoiler: [[Series/StElsewhere Snow Globe]]. However, most of the game's lore might still be real, rather than imagined by the player, as it's technically possible Domnhall's kingdom had advanced enough outside of the dream to treat people with [=IVs=], and the hospital was in their world, rather than in our reality.]]
* SinisterScythe: One of the melee weapons is a Saint's Skythe, which is swung in a complete arc, hitting anything both ahead and behind the Dreamer. [[spoiler: This makes it really easy to cut down Nevan H'mu, when both of his statues cluster together.]]

** However, the evil part is subverted when [[spoiler: Wake]] says they merely want to be left alone, and berates a "greedy fool" like you for showing up there in the first place, before proceeding to battle you. The fact that he, a human, is supported by the Tidal Ones during his battle lends credence to his words.

** [[spoiler: Mad King Domnhall]] accentuates the "spam" part, teleporting around the battlefield every other second.

** Cosmic Ending: [[spoiler: Stabbing the infant you rescue from The Abyss Itself causes the moon to lower itself and opens its eyes and mouth, and reveals other features. It is The Gate, and it is the only boss that doesn't fade away upon being defeated. Instead, it simply petrifies in place again, and the Dreamer climbs into its open mouth to ascend to the cosmic truth.]]
** A downplayed version in the Royal TrueEnding: [[spoiler: some attacks of the TrueFinalBoss are preceded by a white flash, similar to what the Maestro does before showering the area in explosive orbs. One simply has a single large white disk appear, which looks just like a moon, especially since it always appears in the ceiling-high windows of the room. You may not realize anything is wrong until it starts pulsing and dropping pieces of itself at you with an artillery-style explosion, several times in a row.]]

* TragicVillain: King Domnhall always meant well, and he has done a lot for his kingdom, which is why so many have followed any of his orders. Unfortunately, [[spoiler: much of his power, and his long life, is due to the Yellow Monarch demon living inside him. He was able to control it for a long time, but when it began to slip, he started ordering atrocities like completely wiping out all the people in the rival kingdom which dared to attack them. His madness is also what drove him to lead his people into The Common Dream, where many went insane as well, though the Renegade God's plague also had much to do with that.]]

* WouldHurtAChild: The battle with [[spoiler: The Abyss Itself]] begins with it drowning a child's pram underwater, before turning around to face you. [[spoiler: Since the world is a dream, and Abyss Itself is a MirrorBoss, and you were trying to reach it to discover the truth about yourself, it implies that this was what ''your'' Dreamer has done in real life. However, defeating The Abyss Itself leads to the Dreamer taking the baby out of the water and placing it under their coat.]]
** Further followed up on in the Cosmic ending, where [[spoiler: after defeating The First Dreamer, player character again takes out the baby as the dark moon rises, before stabbing them with a dagger, splashing themselves and the surroundings with its blood, before the body sinks into the ground. The moon opens its eyes and mouth, and becomes "The Gate" boss.]]
*** Thankfully, [[spoiler: the true Royal ending features the Oracle rocking that same pram by the player's bedside on the main menu, so it probably represented his anxiety at what he ''could'' do, rather than something that happened in real life.]]

'''Gloom''' is a side-scrolling {{Roguelike}} game, developed by Hunchback Studio (which means the developer himself, Aleksi Sirvio, and the composer, Valtteri Hanhijoki), and released on UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} in April 2017.

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** Enemies also have no "rest" state. If they defeat you, they'll keep spamming their attacks throughout the entire GameOver screen.

* SwampsAreEvil: The Quagmire is exclusively the home of the Tidal Ones, a race of semi-aquatic humanoid porcupines who attack you on sight. They also worship are Cthulhu-looking god, Nevan H'mu.

* LifeDrain: Every attack of the player can do this once you get the Severed Lips item.

* ShopliftAndDie: It is impossible to ''just'' shoplift. However you '''can''' fight and kill the shopkeeper, getting all of his items...if you'll manage it. Once in combat, shopkeepers can fly around, shoot their pistol, create a travelling shockwave and throw two Molotovs at once.

** A downplayed version in the Royal TrueEnding: [[spoiler: some attacks of the TrueFinalBoss are preceded by a white flash, similar to what the Maestro does before showering the area in explosive orbs. One simply has a single large white disk appear, which looks just like a moon, especially since it always appears in the ceiling-high windows of the room. You may not realize anything is wrong until it starts pulsing and dropping pieces of itself at you with an artillery-style explosion, several times in a row.

* DeliberatelyMonochrome: The entire game strictly uses black silhouettes, white attack frames, and shades of grey for the environment.

* OurAngelsAreDifferent: It is strongly implied that the angelic wings simply appear on those blessed by the bird-like god Ziz, who is the closest the setting has to a BigGood. [[spoiler: In the Royal ending, Great King Domnhall has these wings. Mad King Domnhall has much smaller wings, but they do not disappear entirely.]]

* SatanicArchetype: The so-called Satanius, who is worshipped by the Unholy Prophet and his followers. After you defeat him, there's even a statue that lets you "make a sacrifice to Satanius", whereas you lose Vigor but obtain other benefits. Sounds [[VideoGame/TheBindingOfIsaac just like a certain other game]]...except that it never reappears since, and so is more of a ShoutOut to it.
** Moreover, said Sataniel is actually stated to be one of the weaker eldritch beings, because it rewards its loyal followers and punishes those that mock him, whereas the most powerful beings care not what the mortals may think of them.

** A downplayed version in the Royal TrueEnding: [[spoiler: some attacks of the TrueFinalBoss is preceded by a white flash, similar to what the Maestro does before showering the area in explosive orbs. One simply has a single large white disk appear, which looks just like a moon, especially since it always appears in the ceiling-high windows of the room. You may not realize anything is wrong until it starts pulsing and dropping pieces of itself at you with an artillery-style explosion, several times in a row.

* TurnsRed: Downplayed with [[spoiler: The First Dreamer]], whose second form is actually much less disturbing then his first one.
** Played straight with [[spoiler: Great King Domnhall]] as he becomes the much faster [[spoiler: Mad King Domnhall]]. And that's not even mentioning the transformation into the [[spoiler: Yellow Monarch]].

** Further followed up on in the Cosmic ending, where [[spoiler: after defeating The First Dreamer, player character again takes out the baby as the dark moon rises, before stabbing them with a dagger. The moon opens its eyes and mouth, and becomes "The Gate" boss.]]

* AirborneMook: There are some flying headcrab-like things that slowly fire projectiles. Since you can't shoot upwards, they'll soon fly off on their own.

* BulletHell: [[spoiler: The Gate]] battle has dozens of orbs flying around at any given time.

* DegradedBoss: When you first finish an area, you'll fight one out of the three bosses it has. [[spoiler: If you manage to defeat Abyss Itself, you'll go through one battle per an earlier level. In the Lightless Forest and Unholy Parish stages, you'll fight one of the two bosses you '''didn't''' fight at first - this time with no names or visible healthbars, but with the rank enemies backing them up.]]

** Giants can have these rain down from the sky with a single hand gesture. So can the Maestro boss.

* FishPeople / FrogMen: The Tidal Ones fit somewhere here. Technically, they look like humanoid ''porcupines'', but they also live in the swamp area and dive down in the water with no problems, yet still seem to spend most of their time above-ground, like frogs.

* GiantMook: There's a giant thrice as tall as you are, who attacks with a ShockwaveStomp and through causing explosive orbs to rain down.

** Cosmic ending. [[spoiler: Obtained by choosing to purchase the Invitation with the tokens dropped by the defeated bosses. Then, you'll go to the Amphitheatre in between Lightless Forest and Quagmire stages, and fight Maestro there, who'll drop the Silver Key upon death. Once you possess it, defeating The First Dreamer causes a dark moon to rise. In response, the Dreamer places the baby on the ground and stabs. This causes the moon to transform into The Gate boss. Once defeated, Dreamer climbs inside, and we are shown an epilogue text by Wake, speculating on whether Dreamer will even bother to return to his body, now that he's seen truths far beyond what any human can imagine.]]

* OurAngelsAreDifferent: It is strongly implied that the angelic wings simply appear on those blessed by the bird-like god Ziz, who is the closest the setting has to a BigGood. [[spoiler: In the Royal ending, Great King Domnhall has these wings. Mad King Domnhall has much smaller wings, but they do disappear entirely.]]

* RecursiveAmmo: There are some enemies who resemble bishops, and who attack by launching an EnergyBall high up, which then splits into four diving down at your location.

* SatanicArchetype: The so-called Sataniel, who is worshipped by the Unholy Prophet and his followers. After you defeat him, there's even a statue that lets you "make a sacrifice to Satanius", whereas you lose Vigor but obtain other benefits. Sounds [[VideoGame/TheBindingOfIsaac just like a certain other game]]...except that it never reappears since, and so is more of a ShoutOut

** Unholy Prophet, Rejected Child of Ziz and such can create a concave arc of what seems like electricity if you get close to him.

* SprintMeter: Present, and is consumed with every attack, jump and roll.
* StoryBreadcrumbs: There are no cutscenes, and little information to be gained from the brief [=NPC=] conversations. The absolute majority of the lore is contained within the item descriptions. These take up whole paragraphs and convey crucial background information about Domnhall's kingdom, its rulers, wars and alliances, as well as the Lovecraftian beings who set out against it.

** However, the evil part is subverted when [[spoiler: Wake]] says they merely want to be left alone, and berates a "greedy fool" like you for showing up there in the first place, before proceeding to battle you. The fact that he, a human, is supported by other Tidal Ones during his battle lends credence to his words.

* TacticalSuicideBoss: Disowned Child of Ziz is a flying bird-like creature that mainly attacks through dropping explosive orbs from its wings. It just seems unable to keep itself hovering near the ceiling, where your character is completely unable to harm.

* WouldHurtAChild: The battle with [[spoiler: The Abyss Itself]] begins with it drowning a child's pram underwater, before turning around to face you. [[spoiler: Since the world is a dream, and Abyss Itself is a MirrorBoss, it implies that this was what ''your'' character has done in real life.]]
** Further followed up on in the Cosmic ending, where [[spoiler: after defeating The First Dreamer, player character again takes out the child as the dark moon rises, before stabbing them with a dagger. The moon opens its eyes and mouth, and becomes "The Gate" boss.]]

* BulletHell: [[spoiler: The Gate]] battle has dozens of orbs at any given time.

* DegradedBoss: [[spoiler: When you first finish an area, you'll fight one out of the three bosses it has. If you manage to defeat Abyss Itself, you'll go through one battle per an earlier level. In the Lightless Forest and Unholy Parish stages, you'll fight one of the two bosses you '''didn't''' fight at first - this time with no names, visible healthbars, but with the rank enemies backing them up.]]

* CombatAestheticist: Maestro can greet the player with "I blessedyou with an invitation, and you seek to destroy me? The stage shall be more beautiful than ever, painted in your blood."

* MookMaker: The nest of the flying monsters inside the Lightless Forest.
* MolotovCocktail: Some Dreamers only attack through throwing these. They have a small blast range, but do leave a burning pool on the ground for a while. Since they can only throw these in an upwards arc, they are utterly defenceless in close combat.

** Royal ending. [[spoiler: Obtained by choosing to purchase the Snow Globe with the tokens dropped by the defeated bosses. The game then continues as normal until you defeat The First Dreamer. This victory transitions you to The Royal Throne, where you fight first Great King Domnhall, then Mad King Domnhall, and then just the Yellow Monarch. Prevailing after all this sees the Dreamer walk into the room with the blind Oracle, and hug her. Afterwards, the main menu is still the same hospital room, but now with the Oracle rocking the cradle by the awakened Dreamer's bedside.]]

'''Gloom''' is a side-scrolling {{Roguelike}} game, developed by Hunchback Studio (which means the developer himself, Aleksi Sirvio, and the composer, Valtteri Hanhijoki), and released on UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} in April 2017. In it, you are a nameless dreamer, trying to make sense of the mystery that is the Common Dream. You know that deliverance lies within the lost pages of the Necronomicon and in the enigmatic Abyss deep within the Dream. To reach these, however, you must fight through hordes of insane dreamers and eldritch beings, as well as discover your past and the occult history of the Common Dream.

* AllJustADream: Not a spoiler, since the main menu literally shows the player character on his hospital bed.
* AnAxeToGrind: You can get tomahawk weapon.

* BladeOnAStick: You can buy a spear weapon. Weirdly, the Dreamer attacks with it by first sliding the blade along the ground a little, before finally raising it for a stab, instead of simply thrusting it straight-up.
* BFS: The greatsword is taller than you are and about as wide as your head. An attack with it also consumes pretty much the entire stamina bar, but the damage is correspondingly high as well.

* EnergyBall: Bishop-looking enemies launch one from their staffs high up, which then splits into four diving down at your location. Unholy Prophet fires a single one from his staff, and so do his copies. Giants can have these rain down, and so can the Maestro boss.

* GroundPound: Sickle-wielding enemies teleport high in the air, then drop down in order to land like this.
** Skull-headed dogs do an electrified version of this.

* HeartContainer: Vigor-increasing items. These are things like Ancient Fossils.

* MultipleEndings: Three of them: Normal, Cosmic and Royal.

* RecursiveAmmo: There are some enemies who resemble bishops, and attack by launching an EnergyBall high up, which then splits into four diving down at your location.

* RPGElements: The player has Vigor [[note: increases maximum health]], Endurance [[note: increases maximum stamina]], Strength [[note: more attack damage]] Finesse [[note: same as Strength, but for different weapon types]] and Luck [[note: affects enemy drops and other random events]] stats, which can be improved through obtaining stat-increasing items.

* ShockwaveStomp: A giant Dreamer literally stomps to create a large shockwave as its main attack.
** The second enemy type sits on the ground and cannot move besides "teleporting". Instead, it attacks by slamming the ground with its arms to send a shockwave along the ground.
** Unholy Prophet creates a concave arc of what seems like electricity if you get close to him.
* ShoutOut: [[Literature/TheKingInYellow The Yellow Monarch]] is one of the items you can get.

* SprintMeter: Present,
* TeleportSpam: Practically all other enemy dreamers frequently do a minor version of these, fading out at their location and reappear a couple steps away.

* TravelingSalesman: The main way to get items. While you are shown their portraits in the shop window, their stats are a question mark until you get them.