History VideoGame / HROT

* EatTheDog: The starting room of "[=E3M5=]: Incinerator" features a grill over a burning fire. If the player completed the previous level accompanied by one or more of the Prague Ratters, the grill will be populated by small spits of roasted meat that the player can eat for health, the number of which corresponds with the number of Ratters the player rescued prior. [[spoiler:[[BaitAndSwitch Averted]] by the end of "[=E3M8=]: Epilogue"; opening the door to the level's exit button reveals all the Ratters you've rescued to be alive & well.]]

* ShoutOut: To the famous Soviet cartoon ''Animation/NuPogodi'' & the Elektronika ''UsefulNotes/GameAndWatch'' clone based on the show, which is a GameWithinAGame in [=E1M3=].

* AWinnerIsYou: Clearing each of the game's episodes nets you [[spoiler: a meal recipe]]; [[spoiler: Beef Stroganoff]] for clearing Kiss Me Gustav, [[spoiler: Cauliflower brain]] for Degustation and [[spoiler: Eggs in Aspic]] for The Gastroscopy.

* EatTheDog: The starting room of "[=E3M5=]: Incinerator" features a grill over a burning fire. If the player completed the previous level accompanied by one or more of the Prague Ratters, the grill will be populated by small spits of roasted meat that the player can eat for health, the number of which corresponds with the number of Ratters the player rescued prior. [[spoiler: [[BaitAndSwitch Averted]] by the end of "[=E3M8=]: Epilogue"; opening the door to the level's exit button reveals all the Ratters you've rescued to be alive & well.]]

* ExcusePlot: In keeping with games of the 90s, there's no real explanation as to why any of this is happening or what's going on. From the context, you can determine that your character is slamming [=AZ-5=] buttons to prevent nuclear explosions ([[spoiler: as shown at the end of [=E3M1=] where your character fails to reach the button in time & a nuclear missile gets launched]]), & the ending may imply that [[spoiler: all this is happening because a time-travelling Vladimir Putin ate one of the gears from the Prague Orlaj (astronomical clock tower), which according to local legend would lead to the nation's doom unless a hero born on New Year's night shows up to save it.]]

** The FinalBoss of Episode 1, [[spoiler: "Gottwald", particularly his new spiderlike legs]], looks very similar to the Vores.

* JumpScare: Episode 2 has few such moments, most notably [[spoiler: when picking up that one key in [=E2M7=]:The Granny's Valley]].

* PreciousPuppy: "[=E3M4=]: George of Podiebrad" features the Prague Ratters: Doberman pups that the player can rescue from cages found in the level. [[spoiler:Their presence proves indispensable when the player finds themselves stripped of their weapons upon entering the catacombs, killing the rats infesting the area]]. The player can find three Ratters in [=E3M4=][[spoiler:, with a fourth found in "[=E3MS=]: Rathaus]].

** Phase 4 sees [[spoiler: the [=SCiC=] split into three clones of himself]].

** The [[spoiler: JumpScare after picking up a certain key]] in "[=E2M7=]: The Granny's Valley" [[spoiler: may have been inspired by the infamous VanityPlate of the Russian TV Studio VID]].

** The final level's TrickBoss, Igor is a bipedal mech that's ImmuneToBullets [[spoiler: but becomes helpless if he tries to walk downstairs, much like [[Franchise/RoboCop ED-209]].]] The fight after that one happens in a Stadium, like in the final level of ''VideoGame/DukeNukem3D's'' third episode.

** The Newts are only encountered in the level "[=E3M1=]: War With the Newts". [[spoiler: Given the level in question is implied to be [[AllJustADream a fever dream]], their absence from that point in the campaign forward makes sense]].

** Regardless of the blank slate setting, [[spoiler:[=E3M2=]:Hospital starts has the player start out ''[[NoGearLevel completely stripped out of their weapons except for their kick]]'' - having just awoken in a hospital after a dream - and they have to either slip or fight through a Pathologic to get their pistol, and unlock a gate leading to a sickle through a room with an Infested Rider. [=E3M4=]:George of Podiebrad also has the player lose all of their weapons after they fall onto the catacombs, though' they eventually get their lost weapons back.]]
* BearsAreBadNews: "[=E2M1=]: Točník Castle" has the player attacked by a couple of hostile bears towards the end of the level. They are quite tough, requiring several full shotgun blasts to kill. [[spoiler: The FinalBoss, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, starts off ''riding a bear'', with his next phase having dismount the bear & fight you on foot, while his former mount continues to chase you.]]

* CameBackWrong: The FinalBoss of Episode 1 is [[spoiler: "Gottwald" - the former President of Communist Czechoslovakia, Klement Gottwald, back from the dead & with the lower half of his body replaced by spider legs.]]

* LivingStatue: In [=E2M7=], [[spoiler:the Granny statue will come alive and attack you after the aluminum key is picked up.]]

* LookBothWays: The second arena fight in [=E3M6=]: Bubny takes place within the train station with trains passing by every now and then. The player can use the trains for their advantadge but also have to be mindful to not get run over all the same.

* DenserAndWackier: Despite its depressingly bleak aesthetic, the game gets progressively sillier as it goes on. From episode one where you have to inexplicably fight [[AnimateInanimateObject living objects as minibosses]], to episode two in which you face off against [[KillerRabbit killer chickens]] and a waddling statue, to episode three where you fight mansized newts and {{Mooks}} riding bumper cars as dance club music plays.

* DenserAndWackier: Despite its depressingly bleak setting, the game gets progressively sillier as it goes on. From episode one where you have to inexplicably fight [[AnimateInanimateObject living objects as minibosses]], to episode two in which you face off against [[KillerRabbit killer chickens]] and a waddling statue, to episode three where you fight mansized newts and bumper cars as a boss fight.

* DenserAndWackier: The game gets progressively sillier as it goes on. From episode one where you have to inexplicably fight [[AnimateInanimateObject living objects as minibosses]], to episode two in which you face off against [[KillerRabbit killer chickens]] and a waddling statue, to episode three where you fight mansized newts and bumper cars as a boss fight.