History VideoGame / RaptorCallOfTheShadows

* InfinityPlusOneSword: The Twin Laser. The game fittingly describes it as "the first, and last, weapon every pilot needs".

* DeadlyTrainingArea: Training Mode limits your playthrough of each episode to only the first 4 waves on Rookie difficulty, and upon completing Wave 4 of any episode, you start over on Rookie difficulty with only the starting equipment. However, you can still HaveANiceDeath in Training Mode, implying that the enemies you face on that difficulty are shooting you with the intent to kill.

* HaveANiceDeath: When you run out of shields, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYa2g9_5Ss4&t=06m32s you are treated to a two-clip cutscene, with the first showing your ship crashing and the second showing you slumped forward in the wreck.]]

* OnlyInItForTheMoney: The top of the trope page explicitly refers that you are working for [=MegaCorps=] in dreams of wealth and you answer [[WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer the only way you know how]]. [[spoiler: Even the epilogue of the Outer Regions episode states that you have taken solace in the fact that you have finally pursued your dreams of getting rich that have eluded you for so long and that no other competitor can lay a claim of triumph that is greater than yours.]] This could be both an In and Out-Of-Universe justification of why the game forgoes the [[ScoringPoints scoring system]].

* VendorTrash: {{Downplayed|Trope}} with weapon pickups obtained during a level, especially during a first playthrough, where they can really prove their salt against enemy targets on the same level. However, once the player has their own preferred weapon loadout, these weapon pickups often serve no purpose beyond being sold for credits in the supply room after completing a level.

* AlwaysAccurateAttack: The laser turret, but only on {{Airborne Mook}}s. The autogun works on both ground and air targets, but its bullet spray isn't 100% accurate.

* BeamSpam: The Twin [[EnergyWeapon Laser]]. Via ZergRush, many of the enemies near the end of the game also use this on you.

** The machine gun, the Plasma Cannon and the Micro Missiles may not seem all that impressive, but the fact that they're always equipped make them highly useful.
** The Auto-Track Mini-Gun is not visually impressive, looking like a smaller version of your basic machine gun, and it isn't as powerful as more expensive weapons like the Pulse Cannon, but its ability to track and fire at off-center air and ground targets makes it a highly effective weapon regardless of the wave you're playing through.

* CoresAndTurretsBoss: Most of the end-of-level bosses in Outer Regions, including the FinalBoss, as well as a [[SkippableBoss skippable mid-boss]] in wave 7 of Outer Regions.
* CriticalExistenceFailure: Averted. When your ship's hull integrity is less than 15%, every hit you take will cause you to [[BreakableWeapons lose one of your weapons]]. Boss ships and components start bursting into small explosions once they are almost destroyed.

* DeadlyTrainingArea: Training Mode limits your playthrough of each episode to only the first 4 waves on Rookie difficulty, and upon completing Wave 4 of any episode, you start over on Rookie difficulty with only the starting equipment. However, you can still HaveANiceDeath in Training Mode, implying that the enemies you face on that difficulty are still shooting you with the intent to kill.

* DeathOfAThousandCuts: The most basic weapon in the game (the machine guns that you start off with) is capable of destroying everything in the game given enough time and shields. This might not really apply to mooks since they only remain on screen for a set amount of time, but against bosses, the damage can really add up. This technique is made even easier when you have either the Auto-Tracking Minigun or the Laser Turret, as it lets you inflict your DeathOfAThousandCuts ''without'' suffering one yourself.

** Aborting a mission after picking up equipment in a level, such as the Air/Air Missile in Bravo Sector Wave 1, the Dumbfire missile in Bravo Wave 6, the Phase Shield in Tango Sector Wave 4, and the Air/Ground Missile in Outer Regions Wave 1. You lose any credits you gain and any damage you take is carried over, but any weapons, shields or Megabombs you pick up will remain on your ship and you can sell them in the Supply Room for half of what they cost there. Doing this repeatedly will eventually allow you to accumulate enough credits to purchase more powerful weapons.
** If you want to play fairly, you can get the Auto-Tracking Minigun as early as completing the third wave of the first episode. Specifically, you'll at this point have earned about $200,000 in revenue and you can sell off both your air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles (the former which you've most likely picked up during the very first wave and the latter during the third) in exchange for the aforementioned Minigun. Then, you'll be breezing for the next several waves until you've earned enough dough to upgrade to better equipment.
* DualBoss: The fifth level boss in Tango Sector is this, consisting of two laser cannons hidden underground.

%%* NGOSuperpower: The Mega-Corps appear to be one.

%%* OneHitPointWonder: Averted, see the MadeOfIron example.
%%* [[OneManArmy One Person Air Force]]

* {{Unobtainium}}: Two of the cash pickups are "Thaelite" and "Raw Freylium Ore". Thaelite is used to power some enemy ships and can also be picked up from the remnants of certain destroyed enemy ships, but Freylium's purpose is completely unknown.

* VendorTrash: {{Subverted|Trope}} with weapon pickups obtained during a level, especially during a first playthrough, where they can really prove their salt against enemy targets on the same level; once the player has their own preferred weapon loadout, these weapons serve little purpose beyond being sold for credits in the supply room after completing a level.

* ArtisticLicensePhysics: While some of the enemy aircraft [[note]]([[https://gamicus.fandom.com/wiki/Raptor:_Call_of_the_Shadows/Enemy_Ships_%26_Bosses here is a webpage]] with images of most of the enemies)[[/note]] are recognisably aeroplanes or rotorcraft and can believably be flying based on ordinary aerodynamic principles, others just aren't, especially the bosses. Also, many of the Outer Regions stages are very clearly meant to look like the surfaces of solar system bodies which either do not have atmospheres at all or have atmospheres too thin to sustain flight (and the Final Wave is explicitly on the outside of some kind of spaceship). Also, [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality almost certainly for the sake of gameplay]], the aircraft move very slowly.

* {{Unobtainium}}: Among the VendorTrash items are "Thaelite" and "Raw Freylium Ore". Thaelite is used to power certain aircraft and spacecraft (whose remains are themselves vendor trash collectibles), but Freylium is wholly unexplained.

* VendorTrash: Certain power-up sheds/ships have items which give you money when you collect them, justified in the in-game manual as a bounty for collecting them, and have no other significance to the player than to bestow a reward for collecting them and to take up cargo space that could have been used for useful items.

** The auto-track mini-gun is not visually impressive, looking like a smaller version of your basic machine gun, and it isn't as powerful as more expensive weapons like the Pulse Cannon, but the fact that it can hit targets without you needing to fly under them makes it an extremely effective option.

* MiniBoss: In the latter half of each sector, you will often face a previously encountered boss as an enemy midway through the level. You have a short window of opportunity to destroy said boss before the enemies start coming again.

* TheParalyzer: The Power Disruptor. Sort of. It can stop ''some'' enemies from firing, including some bosses, and it can also kill enemies over a fairly lengthy period of time.

* SkippableBoss: The MiniBoss of Outer Regions Wave 7 is a stationary CoresAndTurretsBoss, which can easily be avoided. In fact, it's very difficult to destroy it before it scrolls off the screen, even with the Twin Laser.

* BoringButPractical: The machine gun, the Plasma Cannon and the Micro Missiles may not seem all that impressive, but the fact that they're always equipped make them highly useful.

* DenialOfDiagonalAttack: All other equipment except for the auto-aiming turrets can only fire straight, with minimal spread. Yet another good reason for you to equip the auto-aim turrets at certain times. Among enemy equipment, only the aimed flak balls have a diagonal pattern since they are shot towards your plane.

** From Outer Regions Wave 7 to 9, many red-coloured ships will start to appear. They have ''tons'' of armour and firepower.

* CoresAndTurretsBoss: One end-of-level boss each in Bravo and Tango Sector (wave 5 in both cases) and most of the end-of-level bosses in Outer Regions, including the FinalBoss, as well as a [[SkippableBoss skippable mid-boss]] in wave 7 of Outer Regions.

* VendorTrash: Certain power-up sheds/ships have items which give you money when you collect them, justified in the in-game manual as a bounty for collecting them, and have no other utility to the player than to earn a reward for collecting them.

* {{Unobtainium}}: Among the VendorTrash items are "Thaelite" and "Raw Freylium Ore". Thaelite is used to power certain aircraft and spacecraft (whose remains are themselves vendor trash collectibles), but Freylium is a MacGuffin.

* ArtisticLicensePhysics: While some of the enemy aircraft [[note]]([[https://gamicus.fandom.com/wiki/Raptor:_Call_of_the_Shadows/Enemy_Ships_%26_Bosses here is a webpage]] with images of most of the enemies)[[/note]] are recognisably aeroplanes or rotorcraft and can believably be flying based on ordinary aerodynamic principles, others just aren't, especially the bosses. Also, many of the Outer Regions stages are very clearly meant to look like the surfaces of solar system bodies which either do not have atmospheres at all or have atmospheres too thin to sustain flight. Also, [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality almost certainly for the sake of gameplay]], the aircraft move very slowly.

* VendorTrash: Certain power-up sheds/ships have items which are automatically sold when you collect them, and have no other utility to the player than to be sold for money.

* AlwaysNight: Both Tango Sector and Outer Regions have one level that takes place entirely at night and has a correspondingly chilling music track to accompany it. In this level, it is harder to predict attacks from enemies, whose presence is usually announced by shadows near the top of the screen; this can turn into quite a nasty surprise if a mook suddenly appears into the screen and fires its WaveMotionGun on you as you won't be able to tell it apart from the other enemies until it is too late.

* CoresAndTurretsBoss: One end-of-level boss each in Bravo and Tango Sector (wave 5 in both cases) and most of the end-of-level bosses in Outer Regions, including the FinalBoss, as well as a [[SkippableBoss skippable mid-boss]] in Outer Regions.

* ArtisticLicensePhysics: While some of the enemy aircraft [[note]]([[https://gamicus.fandom.com/wiki/Raptor:_Call_of_the_Shadows/Enemy_Ships_%26_Bosses here is a webpage]] with images of most of the enemies)[[/note]] are recognisably aeroplanes or rotorcraft and can believably be flying based on ordinary aerodynamic principles, others just aren't, especially the bosses. Also, many of the Outer Regions stages are very clearly based on other solar system bodies which either do not have atmospheres at all or have atmospheres too thin to sustain flight. Also, [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality almost certainly for the sake of gameplay]], there is nowhere near a realistic amount of relative velocity between the player ant the enemies.

* CoresAndTurretsBoss: One end-of-level boss each in Bravo and Tango Sector (wave 5 in both cases) and most of the end-of-level bosses in Outer Regions, including the FinalBoss, as well as a [[SkipableBoss skippable mid-boss]] in Outer Regions.

* CoresAndTurretsBoss: Most of the end-of-level bosses in Outer Regions, including the FinalBoss, are this.

%%* AcePilot:

* GiantMook: Some waves in Bravo Sector feature a massive vessel that has two smaller mooks attached to it. This ship can survive one hit from the most powerful weapon in the game and, when rammed into, can deplete a full shield bar before expiring.

** Starting with the fourth wave in Tango Sector until the end of Wave 6, you encounter red-coloured helicopters that fire big salvos of missiles.
** Near the end of the game (Outer Regions), you start encountering many red-coloured units. They have ''tons'' of armour and firepower.

* MadeOfIron: Your ship, which starts out with 75 regular shield points out of a maximum 100. The only weapon strong enough to deplete that amount all at once is a constant laser, which few enemies use, or if you fly into a GiantMook or boss ship. Other shots will only do from 3 (slow, yellow spherical projectiles) to 20 (fast, reddish or blueish teardrop-shaped fireballs like the ones your purchaseable Plasma Cannon fires) shield damage. In addition, you can purchase up to five secondary shields, each of which can take the same amount of damage as your regular shields. And you will need all of them.

* MultipleLifeBars: Applicable to the ''player'' instead of the enemies. Each set of shields effectively gives you an extra life bar.

* NGOSuperpower: The Mega-Corps appear to be one.

* OvershadowedByAwesome: The Deathray may be devastating and all, but why bother buying it when you can wield '''''two''''' at one go?

* RammingAlwaysWorks: You will take severe damage from any ramming attempt, but with enough shields, you can destroy even bosses by ramming them. This does not work on the [[CoresAndTurretsBoss Cores and Turrets Bosses]], however.

Not related to animal raptors, and probably not related to the real-world F-22 Raptor.

* WaveMotionGun: Any laser weapon. Not surprisingly, they hurt ''a lot''.

* BeamSpam: The Twin [[FrickinLaserBeams Laser]]. Via ZergRush, many of the enemies near the end of the game also use this on you.

* FrickinLaserBeams: Averted. The Deathray, Laser Turret and the [[InfinityPlusOneSword Twin Laser]] are [[{{hitscan}} instant-hit]] weapons.

* FrickinLaserBeams: Averted. The Deathray, Laser Turret and the [[InfinityPlusOneSword Twin Laser]] are [[HitScan instant-hit]] weapons.

* AlwaysNight: Both Tango Sector and Outer Regions have one level that takes place entirely at night and has a correspondingly chilling music track to accompany it. In this level, it is harder to predict attacks from enemies; this can turn into quite a nasty surprise if a mook suddenly appears into the screen and fires its WaveMotionGun on you as you won't be able to tell it apart from the other enemies until it is too late.

* DeathCourse: The entire Outer Regions episode is a gauntlet of DemonicSpiders and malevolent ground defenses ready to rip your craft apart. Even on the easiest difficulty, you ''will'' lose much of your shields. On Elite difficulty, it becomes NintendoHard. Thus, it is highly recommended that you are fully stacked on shields and equipped with the [[InfinityPlusOneSword Twin Laser]] in order to play through this episode, and that you must be swimming in credits if you want to progress. Even Tango Sector on Elite difficulty is considered tame against Outer Regions.

** A few levels have buildings taller than the screen. Blow them up, and they will continually explode as new parts scroll in.

* MoneySpider: Some AirborneMooks not only give you money when destroyed but also drop orange orbs [[labelnote:explanation]]these orbs being the remains of their micro-thaelite power cores[[/labelnote]] for you to collect that increase your total credit count by $50 per piece.

* HomingProjectile: The orange flak balls that are shot towards you are a quasi-example.