History VideoGame / Receiver

Let's clarify for a moment. In Receiver, you ''actually'' have a gun. If it has a safety, you can toggle it. If it has an external hammer, you can cock or uncock it. If it has a slide, you can pull, lock, and release it. If it has a magazine, you can remove it, and if it has a cylinder, you can swing it out -- and you will, because it ''doesn't'' have a telepathic link to tell you how many bullets are in it, and reloading is strictly by hand with individual loose bullets.

You, and your gun, have to navigate a [[RandomlyGeneratedLevels procedurally-generated urban maze]] full of killbots to find the cassette tapes and learn what's really going on. [[NintendoHard Good luck.]]

''Note 3:'' The game is available on UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} [[http://store.steampowered.com/app/234190/ here]]; those who purchased it from the developers through their [[HumbleBundle Humble Store]] link can get a Steam key from that site.

* {{Deconstruction}}: Ever thought that since you played a lot of First Person Shooters, you could handle a gun well? As it turns out, guns can be deceptively complicated pieces of machinery. All the things that can go wrong here (failing to properly check the chamber when you reload, shooting yourself as a bullet ricochets off a wall, etc.) can and probably will happen to you the first time you play. Guns require both judicious training and skill to properly use, and even then factors like manually loading clips into your gun can still trip you up.

* {{Deconstruction}}: Ever though that since you played a lot of First Person Shooters, you could handle a gun well? As it turns out, guns can be deceptively complicated pieces of machinery. All the things that can go wrong here (failing to properly check the chamber when you reload, shooting yourself as a bullet ricochets off a wall, etc.) can and probably will happen to you. Guns require both judicious training and skill to properly use, and even then factors like manually loading clips into your gun can still trip you up.

* ShortRangeShotgun: There's a mod that adds, among other things, a Remington 870. While it's not a within-melee-range firearm and is fairly realistic, the pattern of the shots is still unpredictable.

* CoolGuns: [[CoolGuns/{{Handguns}} A Colt M1911, a modified Glock 17]], and a [[CoolGuns/{{Revolvers}} Smith & Wesson Model 10]]. A mod adds in a [=WW2=]-era Tommy gun.

''Note 3:'' The game is available on {{Steam}} [[http://store.steampowered.com/app/234190/ here]]; those who purchased it from the developers through their [[HumbleBundle Humble Store]] link can get a Steam key from that site.

* ShortRangeShotgun: There's a mod that adds, among other things, a Remington 500. While it's not a within-melee-range firearm and is fairly realistic, the pattern of the shots is still unpredictable.

''Note:'' [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-XyvgqXwZs The RC6 update]] in September 2012 added, first, a flashlight (notably ''neither'' {{Ten Second|Flashlight}} nor {{Infinite|Flashlight}} -- the batteries run dead after a ''few hours'' use), and second, two new guns accompanying the original [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1911_pistol Colt 1911 A1]]: a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_%26_Wesson_Model_10 Smith & Wesson Model 10 revolver]] and a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glock Glock 17 pistol]] modified with an [[MoreDakka FSS-G fire-selector]].

-->"Your crude world is not the true reality. Your physical body here is the shadow cast by your transcendent mind. We call this higher plane 'Reality A', and your world of shadows 'Reality B'. [[spoiler: [[MindScrew If you are receiving this message in a fictional context, you are at an even deeper level - one that we cannot reach.]]]]"

* VariableMix: If you pay attention, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Lx0ROwuTsA the music]] can clue you in to whether you're approaching a Killdrone, before you can see or hear it yourself. Even the death sting syncs correctly to the beat.

* RevolversAreForAmateurs: The one thing it's got going for it is it's

* RevolversAreForAmateurs: Naturally, since you have to operate all the relevant mechanisms in-game.
* RevolversAreJustBetter: The revolver is the simplest weapon to operate, powerful, but slower to reload than the two magazine-based handguns and has the smallest bullet capacity. it also has slightly more detail than the other two guns.

* TheConspiracy: The cult believes that some sort of entity - extraterrestrial, human, government, corporate, or otherwise - is manipulating all electronic signals to suppress humanity's true state of being, some sort of Nirvana-like enlightenment, and will destroy countless humans to ensure no one can achieve their awake state, which the entity (referred to as "the Threat" in th cult's parlance) either knows or believes is a massive threat to whatever their machinations are.

* AwesomeButImpractical: Full-auto fire on the Glock ''would'' be excellent... if you were facing off against personnel, and not turrets and [=UCAVs=] that were impervious to small-arms fire, save for a few weak points. You also don't get any extended magazines that would make full-auto fire slightly more sustainable. Even the intended use (suppressing fire on a Cypher drone that's running right at you) doesn't guarantee results, thanks to how jittery the Cypher is.

* TheConspiracy: The cult believes that some sort of entity - extraterrestrial, human, government, corporate, or otherwise - is manipulating all electronic signals to suppress humanity's true state of being, some sort of Nirvana-like enlightenment, and will destroy countless humans to ensure no one can achieve their awake state, which the entity (referred to as "the Threat" in th cult's parlance") either knows or believes is a massive threat to whatever their machinations are.

* TheCuckoolanderWasRight: Cults aren't known for their rationality. The cult the PC had joined threw around buzzwords like "mindtech" on their recruitment brochure, which amounted to psychic gobbledygook, and they blame everything on a vaguely named "Threat" that will kill all but a few chosen - also based on actual, real life cults. The thing is, their apocalyptic event ''actually happens''...

* OneWomanWail: The game's VariableMix includes Indian chanting when you're listening to a tape. Given the game's other subtle references to Hindu/Buddhism, this fits.
* RandomlyGeneratedLevels: The rooms are (mostly) the same, but their relative arrangement varies, as does the starting position of enemies.

* OneWomanWail: The game's VariableMix includes Indian chanting when you're listening to a tape. Given the game's other subtle references to Hinduism/Buddhism, this fits.

* VariableMix: If you pay attention, the music can clue you in to whether you're approaching a Killdrone, before you can see or hear it yourself. Even the death sting syncs correctly to the beat.

* OneWomanWail: At certain times, you'll hear Middle Eastern chanting, and one of the tapes only contains this chanting. Given that the game was meant to give you a religious experience, it ties in.

* UnfriendlyFire: When bullets are fired, who is shooting them is entirely independent of what they damage. Fixed turret drones can actually damage other drones with their bullets, but using this as a tactic is not remotely recommended (it usually just gets you killed). And if you're careless enough with running, you can accidentally shoot yourself and die.

* TheConspiracy: The cult believes that some sort of entity - extraterrestrial, human, government, corporate, or otherwise - is manipulating all electronic signals to suppress humanity's true state of being, some sort of Nirvana-like enlightenment, and will destroy countless humans to ensure no one can achieve their awake state.
* CoolGuns: [[CoolGuns/{{Handguns}} A Colt M1911, a modified Glock 17]], and a [[CoolGuns/{{Revolvers}} Smith & Wesson Model 10]].

* GottaCatchThemAll: The eleven tapes. The first tape refers to a "Perpetual Set" that these eleven tapes are only a small part of.

* SubsystemDamage: You can shoot off various parts of the Hoverbots and turrets to neutralize them without having to destroy them. Taking out the Hoverbot's tazer or the turret's ammo supply will make it unable to attack. Taking out the optical sensor on either enemy will effectively blind them.

* GottaCatchThemAll: The eleven tapes.

** Surviving a head-on attack by a Cypher depends wholly on if you manage to hit any of its vital parts (hard to do when it's tilted) and if it manages to miss your hitbox.

* OneHitPointWonder: You. Even a ricochet can kill you dead.

* BottomlessMagazines: Even leaving aside the obvious aversion of this trope for the player, the machinegun turrets only carry about fifteen rounds each. That said, trying to run them out of bullets is awfully dicey...

* FeaturelessProtagonist[=/=]FirstPersonGhost: You don't actually have a character model. Whatever you're holding (the gun or the magazine) just floats in the air in front of you, and items you pick up just slide along the ground to you.

* OneWomanWail: At certain times, you'll hear Middle Eastern chanting. Given that the game was meant to give you a religious experience, it ties in.

* CessationOfExistence: [[spoiler:The Mindkill causes this for any human not capable of Receiving. The Killdrones are apparently rigged to do this to any surviving humans or Receivers.]]

* TheConspiracy: The cult believes that some sort of entity - extraterrestrial, human, government, corporate, or otherwise - is manipulating all electronic signals to suppress humanity's true potential - some sort of Nirvana-like enlightenment state, and will destroy countless humans to ensure no one can achieve their awake state.

* TheCuckoolanderWasRight: Cults aren't known for their rationality. The cult the PC had joined threw around buzzwords like "mindtech" on their recruitment brochure, which essentially is psychic stuff, and they blame everything on a vaguely named "Threat" that will kill all but a few chosen - also based on actual, real life cults. The thing is, their apocalyptic event ''actually happens''...

* DoubleMeaningTitle: In the world of the game, a "Receiver" is a person (like the player character) who can hear the messages of the people who made the tapes, but the word can also mean [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Receiver_(firearms) the functional part of a firearm]].

* UnfriendlyFire: When bullets are fired, who is shooting them is entirely independent of what they damage. Fixed turret drones can actually damage other drones with their bullets, but using this as a tactic is not remotely recommended (it usually just gets you killed). And you can literally shoot yourself in the foot and die.
----

* AWinnerIsYou: The ending, aside from piecing together the puzzle, are the cult's brochures.

* ShockAndAwe: The [=UCAVs=] are Cypher UAVs with a stungun slapped on them. They cause instant death.

* CessationOfExistence: [[spoiler:The Mindkill causes this.]]

* TheConspiracy: The cult believes that some sort of entity - extraterrestrial, human, government, corporate, or otherwise - is manipulating all electronic signals to suppress humans.

* EverybodysDeadDave: The player character is the only one in the building to have survived the Mindkill.

* OneWomanWail: At certain times, you'll hear vaguely Middle Eastern chanting. Given that the game was meant to give you a religious experience, it ties in.

* JustifiedTutorial: One of the tapes is a guide to operating the gun. The narrator goes over the controls by summarizing an imaginary manual, treating the keyboard and mouse controls as figures in a diagram (e.g. "the weapon can be discharged with the trigger labeled LMB in the manual" and "engage the safety in figure V for your protection": the '''L'''eft '''M'''ouse '''B'''utton pulls the trigger and the V key toggles the safety).

* EmergencyWeapon: [[AvertedTrope Your pistol is your only weapon.]] If you run out of bullets, all you have left is dodging and hiding.

* HeKnowsAboutTimedHits: Subverted with the JustifiedTutorial: the narrator goes over the controls by summarizing an imaginary manual, treating the keyboard and mouse controls as figures in a diagram (e.g. "the weapon can be discharged with the trigger labeled LMB in the manual" and "engage the safety in figure V for your protection": the '''L'''eft '''M'''ouse '''B'''utton pulls the trigger and the V key toggles the safety).
* JustifiedTutorial: One of the tapes is a guide to operating the gun. The game's unique control scheme necessitates it.

* RevolversAreJustBetter: The game's excruciating level of detail in the workings of the guns can make this trope averted, subverted, or played straight depending on your preferences. The revolver is the simplest weapon to operate, powerful, but slower to reload than the two magazine-based handguns and has the smallest bullet capacity. On the other hand, since you also have to add bullets to your magazines when they are depleted, this adds another layer of complexity to using semiautomatics not normally seen in fiction.

* UnfriendlyFire: When bullets are fired, who is shooting them is entirely independent of what they damage. Fixed turret drones can actually damage other drones with their bullets, but using this as a tactic is not remotely recommended (it usually just gets you killed). And you can literally shoot yourself in the foot and die.