History VideoGame / RiseOfTheTriad

* LevelEditor: A random level generator named [=RandROTT=] was shipped with the CD version of the original game. There are also third-party editors for it.

''Rise of the Triad'' is a FirstPersonShooter released by Apogee Software in 1994[[note]]The Shareware episode was released in late 1994, with the full release coming out early 1995[[/note]]. There's a story, involving a United Nations special operations team sent to investigate suspicious cult activity on a remote island, but you wouldn't know it unless you read the manual. Like most early [=FPSs=], it's all about shooting anything that moves and picking up anything that doesn't. ''Rise of the Triad'' introduced a number of gameplay innovations, many of which have become common in the FPS genre: elevated platforms, jumping, sneaky enemies that play dead and steal your weapons, areas full of poison gas, a plethora of different missile weapons, adjustable violence levels with a password lockout, breakable windows, bullet damage to walls, selectable player characters with varying abilities, and extensive multiplayer support.

In an era where "online gaming" meant two people playing head-to-head over a direct modem link, ''Rise of the Triad'' offered 11-way multiplayer games over a local area network (a dedicated server is required for more than eight players.) The game supports a number of multiplayer variants, including basic deathmatch, several variations of "tag", a race to collect the most treasure in the least amount of time, and "Capture the Triad" - the first implementation of CaptureTheFlag in a first-person shooter. Each mode offered a number of adjustable options to further customize gameplay. The game didn't support this newfangled Internet thing, just Novell [=NetWare=], so the only way most people could enjoy an 11-player fragfest was to take over an office or academic computer lab after hours.

* BanditMook: The Lightning Guards can snatch away your missile weapons with a terse "Gimme that!" if you get too close, which is a whole lot worse than the usual item-stealing baddies, because they'll immediately start [[HoistByTheirOwnPetard using it against you]].

* EldritchAbomination: [[spoiler:El Oscuro]]'s true form, which is basically a snake made out of giant humanoid heads. In the remake, his true form instead looks like a human-spider centaur thing.

** The new episode "The HUNT Continues" included in the ''Ludicrous Edition'' has you, once again, trying to hunt down the BigBad who [[BackFromTheDead returned from the dead]] in order to stop him for the third time.

* GunsAkimbo: ''John Woo Style'', as the game puts it. The dual pistols are still functionally treated as one weapon by the game, though. Coincidentally, this game is tied with ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}'' as being the first to have this feature - they both released on the exact same day - though ''Marathon'' had a much more sophisticated implementation.
* HardLevelsEasyBosses: With the exception of the [[ThatOneBoss NME]], the bosses are very basic and easy to beat. Getting there, on the other hand...

* HeavilyArmoredMook: One of the earliest FPS examples in the form of the Triad Enforcer, a rotund, black-clad soldier armed with a heavy machine gun who's got about 10-12 times the health of a regular enemy, aren't stunlocked by gunfire, and can soak several dozen bullets before dropping.

* ISurrenderSuckers: If you damage Lightning Guards enough, they'll sometimes drop to their knees and start begging for you not to shoot them (despite the gore, ''this'' is what really got the game a higher RSAC rating for violence than ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}''). It's a trick, though; if you choose not to kill one, he'll play possum for a little while, and then get back up and keep attacking you.

** "The Grand Vomitorium" from ''Extreme Rise of the Triad'', which starts out like the original Vomitorium, but instead of an NME fight, it has a series of outdoor areas where you have to avoid various obstacles trying to push you off the map. It's theoretically winnable without cheating, but one area has a series of [=GADs=] which spell out the not-too-subtle message "CHEAT NOW".

** Others are switch- or touchplate-operated.

** If you fail to destroy all the larvae in the final level before killing the boss, you destroy El Oscuro... but decades later, one of his spawn comes to power and explodes the Earth. But nice job, anyway. You are also treated to a charming snippet:

* RandomlyGeneratedLevels: The game bundles a program with the registered version called RANDROTT for generating random levels. Pick different parameters and a different seed value for a different set of levels. Quite a few user-made levels available online are actually modified RANDROTT levels.

* SheatheYourSword: The first form of [[spoiler:El Oscuro]]. Attacking him causes him to eat your missiles and regain energy. You're supposed to run away and let him wear himself out and revert to his snake form, which you chase down and kill. Except that every other challenge in this game essentially boiled down to [[Film/WildWildWest shoot first, shoot later, shoot some more, and then when everyone's dead, try to ask a question or two]], which makes this [[GuideDangIt a bit counterintuitive]].

* TheWallsAreClosingIn: In early versions, [[DeadlyWalls even touching an approaching wall causes instant death]]. While walls usually were independent movers, there are some places where sections of walls move back and forth to crush the player and one level where it appears the walls are closing in when you hit a touchplate but stop at the last second.
* TrulySingleParent: [[spoiler:El Oscuro's true form]] in the final level you find "his" embryos everywhere and have to destroy all of them or you get the DownerEnding where one grows up to destroy the world a few decades later.
* UnintentionallyUnwinnable: "Getting the Drop" in the ''Extreme'' expansion, which is [[ThatOneLevel a difficult level to begin with]], is nearly impossible to complete with any character other than Thi Barrett - there's a puzzle at the end of the level that involves making a maze out of pillars and running across them to get to the end of the level. Problem is, Barrett is the only character that can actually make it across without falling in between - any other character simply falls through the pillars, making it impossible to finish the level. It's thankfully possible to bypass it by using the Excalibat to RocketJump, but the Excalibat is easy to pass up, and the level prior does a good job of making you use up as much of the ammo as possible. %%invoked

* AttackablePickup: The ability to heat up Priest Porridge with explosives is retained, though the functionality has also been expanded to Monk Meals as well.

** Thi Barrett is former adult film star Misti Dawn.

** Doug Wendt is the only character not modelled after a real person.

* JokeLevel: "Escape from the Vomitorium", which starts out like the original Vomitorium, but ends with a series of PlatformHell jumping puzzles...and CheckpointStarvation is in full effect - you die, you start the whole level over. If you manage to reach the end, you [[spoiler:get eaten by the Dopefish]].

''Rise of the Triad'' is a FirstPersonShooter released by Apogee Software in 1994. There's a story, involving a United Nations special operations team sent to investigate suspicious cult activity on a remote island, but you wouldn't know it unless you read the manual. Like most early [=FPSs=], it's all about shooting anything that moves and picking up anything that doesn't. ''Rise of the Triad'' introduced a number of gameplay innovations, many of which have become common in the FPS genre: elevated platforms, jumping, sneaky enemies that play dead and steal your weapons, areas full of poison gas, a plethora of different missile weapons, adjustable violence levels with a password lockout, breakable windows, bullet damage to walls, selectable player characters with varying abilities, and extensive multiplayer support.

->HERE CATCH!

----

* BonusBoss: The remaster adds [[spoiler:Big John]] as a boss in the level "If It Bleeds, Kill It".

* NonIndicativeName: The track "Mist Ache" has a PunnyName but is a rather sad and sombre tune

The adjustable violence setting allows the player to select from four levels of gore: the self-explanatory None, small spurts of blood on Some, big damage causing enemies to turn into a little pile of mush on A Lot, and the default setting of Excessive, which can occasionally result in LudicrousGibs. An "engine killing gibs" cheat existed that, when enabled, would cause exploded enemies to spew hundreds of pounds of gibs that would fly across the room.

Interestingly, the shareware and "registered" (full retail) releases of the game have no single-player levels in common (the retail version did include the multiplayer levels from the shareware version). Apogee sold three different versions of the game: a basic floppy-disk version, a CD version that included additional levels and other bonus material, and a Site License CD version. The Site License version allowed for installation on up to 11 computers and included multiplayer levels designed for big games, a signed license certificate "suitable for framing", and 11 individual license cards. Apogee also sold a bonus pack that added some of the CD bonus content to the floppy-disk version of the game. The full version of ''ROTT'' supports user-made levels. Additionally, the bonus pack includes the RANDROTT random level generator which can generate a set of up to 100 levels for either single-player or multiplayer.

During [=3D=] Realms' "Realms Deep" event in September 2020, a remastered source port of the original ''ROTT'' by [=3D=] Realms and Destructive Creations was announced for a 2021 release on UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}, UsefulNotes/PlayStation4, UsefulNotes/XboxOne, and UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, only for the remaster to be delayed without a release date. After two years of radio silence, the remaster was announced again during "Realms Deep 2022" as ''Rise of the Triad: Ludicrous Edition'', this time being handled by Creator/NightdiveStudios and Creator/NewBloodInteractive. The remaster will feature the main game, the shareware episode, ''Extreme Rise of the Triad'' and the ''Doom'' mod ''Return of the Triad'', 4K and ultrawide support, restored cut content (including alternate female versions of most basic enemy types), assorted optional quality-of-life improvements (reduced self-damage from explosives, adjusted [=MP40=] drop rate by high guards, and reduced health on Monks), a sound test and the option to switch between the original game's soundtrack and the 2013 remake, revamped online multiplayer, a new level editor and a brand new episode called "The HUNT Continues". It is set to release on July 31, 2023 on PC. A Shareware Demo was released on June 19, 2023 as part of Steam Next Fest.

* BigBadDuumvirate: The titular Triad, consisting of [[GeneralRipper General John Darian]], [[EvilCripple Sebastian Kryst]] and [[EvilSorcerer El Oscuro]]. There's also the boss NME, but it's just a robot.

Unfortunately for Apogee, ''Rise of the Triad'' hit the streets over a year after Id Software (who formerly used Apogee as a publisher) had rewritten the PC gaming rulebook with ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}''. Originally pitched as a sequel to ''VideoGame/Wolfenstein3D'', ''ROTT'' was built using its UsefulNotes/GameEngine and, like its progenitor, only supported walls laid out on a square grid at 90-degree angles to each other. Although staircases and bridges could be built using floating platforms (and players could go both under and over a bridge, which you could not do in ''Doom''), the floor and ceiling heights throughout each level were fixed. Jumping was only possible through the use of fixed jump-pads. Next to Doom, which featured walls at any angle, variable floor and ceiling heights, and dynamic lighting effects, ''ROTT'' looked dated. However, despite being graphically behind the times, it was still a damn fun game.

** Accessible through an in-game powerup as well as the usual cheat code, God Mode doesn't just make you invincible, it also makes you ten feet tall and capable of firing blasts of energy from your bare hands that can disintegrate everything in the room, all while your character keeps making bellowing "God-like" noises (based on the ones Creator/JohnRomero would make while fooling around in ''VideoGame/{{DOOM}}'' with cheats on).

* BigBadDuumvirate: The titular Triad, consisting of [[GeneralRipper General John Darian]] [[EvilCripple Sebastian Kryst]] and [[EvilSorcerer El Oscuro]]. There's also the boss NME, but it's just a robot.

During [=3D=] Realms' "Realms Deep" event in September 2020, a remastered source port of the original ''ROTT'' by [=3D=] Realms and Destructive Creations was announced for a 2021 release on UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}, UsefulNotes/PlayStation4, UsefulNotes/XboxOne, and UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, only for the remaster to be delayed without a release date. After two years of radio silence, the remaster was announced again during "Realms Deep 2022" as ''Rise of the Triad: Ludicrous Edition'', this time being handled by Creator/NightdiveStudios and Creator/NewBloodInteractive. The remaster will feature the main game, the shareware episode, ''Extreme Rise of the Triad'' and the ''Doom'' mod ''Return of the Triad'', 4K and ultrawide support, restored cut content (including alternate female versions of most basic enemy types), assorted optional quality-of-life improvements (reduced self-damage from explosives, adjusted MP40 drop rate by high guards, and reduced health on Monks), a sound test and the option to switch between the original game's soundtrack and the 2013 remake, revamped online multiplayer, a new level editor and a brand new episode called "The HUNT Continues". It is set to release on July 31, 2023 on PC. A Shareware Demo was released on June 19, 2023 as part of Steam Next Fest.

* UpdatedReRelease: The 2023 ''Ludicrous Edition'' is a modern source port of the original 1995 game by Night Dive Studios. It features the shareware campaign, the main game, the expansion pack, and a new campaign made for the re-release, as well as a popular ''Doom'' mod that runs a fan-made ''Rise of the Triad'' campaign on the ''Doom'' engine. In addition to the expected technological improvements (modern resolutions and framerates, etc) it also has optional previously DummiedOut content such as alternative female enemy variants and some optional quality-of-life improvements such as reduced self-damage from explosives, adjusted MP40 drop rate from high guards, and reduced health on Monks.

During [=3D=] Realms' "Realms Deep" event in September 2020, a remastered source port of the original ''ROTT'' by [=3D=] Realms and Destructive Creations was announced for a 2021 release on UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}, UsefulNotes/PlayStation4, UsefulNotes/XboxOne, and UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, only for the remaster to be delayed without a release date. After two years of radio silence, the remaster was announced again during "Realms Deep 2022" as ''Rise of the Triad: Ludicrous Edition'', this time being handled by Creator/NightdiveStudios and Creator/NewBloodInteractive. The remaster will feature the main game, the shareware episode, ''Extreme Rise of the Triad'' and the ''Doom'' mod ''Return of the Triad'', 4K and ultrawide support, restored cut content (including alternate female versions of most basic enemy types), assorted optional quality-of-life improvements (i.e. reduced self-damage from explosives, reduced health on Monks), a sound test and the option to switch between the original game's soundtrack and the 2013 remake, revamped online multiplayer, a new level editor and a brand new episode called "The HUNT Continues". It is set to release on July 31, 2023 on PC. A Shareware Demo was released on June 19, 2023 as part of Steam Next Fest.

* EliteMooks[=/=]HeavilyArmoredMook: The heavily armored Triad Enforcers; they have a heavily damaging, [[MoreDakka lead-spewing M60]] and can toss grenades as well. They can take several dozen bullets before dying, but a few rockets to the face will deal with them quite nicely.

* HeavilyArmoredMook: One of the earliest FPS examples in the form of the Triad Enforcer, a rotund, black-clad soldier armed with a heavy machine gun who's got about 10-12 times the health of a regular enemy and can soak several dozen bullets before dropping.

* UpdatedReRelease: The 2023 ''Ludicrous Edition'' is a modern source port of the original 1995 game by Night Dive Studios. It features the shareware campaign, the main game, the expansion pack, and a new campaign made for the re-release, as well as a popular ''Doom'' mod that runs a fan-made ''Rise of the Triad'' campaign on the ''Doom'' engine. In addition to the expected technological improvements (modern resolutions and framerates, etc) it also has optional previously DummiedOut content such as alternative female enemy variants and some optional quality-of-life improvements such as reduced self-damage from explosives and reduced health on Monks.

During [=3D=] Realms' "Realms Deep" event in September 2020, a remastered source port of the original ''ROTT'' by [=3D=] Realms and Destructive Creations was announced for a 2021 release on UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}, UsefulNotes/PlayStation4, UsefulNotes/XboxOne, and UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, only for the remaster to be delayed without a release date. After two years of radio silence, the remaster was announced again during "Realms Deep 2022" as ''Rise of the Triad: Ludicrous Edition'', this time being handled by Creator/NightdiveStudios and Creator/NewBloodInteractive. The remaster will feature the main game, the shareware episode, ''Extreme Rise of the Triad'' and the ''Doom'' mod ''Return of the Triad'', 4K and ultrawide support, restored cut content, a sound test and the option to switch between the original game's soundtrack and the 2013 remake, revamped online multiplayer, a new level editor and a brand new episode called "The HUNT Continues". It is set to release on July 31, 2023 on PC. A Shareware Demo was released on June 19, 2023 as part of Steam Next Fest.

During [=3D=] Realms' "Realms Deep" event in September 2020, a remastered source port of the original ''ROTT'' by [=3D=] Realms and Destructive Creations was announced for a 2021 release on UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}, UsefulNotes/PlayStation4, UsefulNotes/XboxOne, and UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, only for the remaster to be delayed without a release date. After two years of radio silence, the remaster was announced again during "Realms Deep 2022" as ''Rise of the Triad: Ludicrous Edition'', this time being handled by Creator/NightdiveStudios and Creator/NewBloodInteractive. The remaster will feature the main game, the shareware episode and ''Extreme Rise of the Triad'', 4K and ultrawide support, restored cut content, a sound test and the option to switch between the original game's soundtrack and the 2013 remake, revamped online multiplayer, a new level editor and a brand new episode called "The HUNT Continues". It is set to release on July 31, 2023. A Shareware Demo was released on June 19, 2023 as part of Steam Next Fest.

* CameraScrew: Shrooms Mode makes your view move up, down, left, and right all the time. This is done [[JustifiedTrope on purpose]].

* EasyModeMockery: The game insults you for the two lowest difficulty settings. [[IdiosyncraticDifficultyLevels One of the possible names for the lowest one]] is "I am a chew toy" with a picture of a doll in a dog's mouth, while the second-lowest is "Will of iron, knees of jello (TM)," with a picture depicting a dollop of smelted iron on a cube of jello.

* NintendoHard: 84% of all levels in the original ROTT and 98% in Extreme.

* AntiFrustrationFeatures: The Ludicrous Edition allows the player to adjust the MP-40's drop rate, as well as the Monk's health, making certain parts of the game less of a chore to play.

* ExcusePlot: An evil cult being funded by a movie company (!?) is going to blow up L.A. and you have to kill all of them to prevent it. And then the expansion's plot is that when you killed the BigBad, he rewound time so that the events of the main game never happened and you get to do the whole thing again, only now they '''sure''' know you're coming.

During [=3D=] Realms' "Realms Deep" event in September 2020, a remastered source port of the original ''ROTT'' by [=3D=] Realms and Destructive Creations was announced for a 2021 release on UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}, UsefulNotes/PlayStation4, UsefulNotes/XboxOne, and UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, only for the remaster to be delayed without a release date. After two years of radio silence, the remaster was announced again during "Realms Deep 2022" as ''Rise of the Triad: Ludicrous Edition'', this time being handled by Creator/NightdiveStudios and Creator/NewBloodInteractive. The remaster will feature all episodes from the main game and its expansion packs, 4K and ultrawide support, restored cut content, a sound test and the option to switch between the original game's soundtrack and the 2013 remake, revamped online multiplayer, a new level editor and a brand new episode. It is set to release on July 31, 2023, with a Shareware Demo coming to Steam on June 18, 2023.

During [=3D=] Realms' "Realms Deep" event in September 2020, a remastered source port of the original ''ROTT'' by [=3D=] Realms and Destructive Creations was announced for a 2021 release on UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}, UsefulNotes/PlayStation4, UsefulNotes/XboxOne, and UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, only for the remaster to be delayed without a release date. After two years of radio silence, the remaster was announced again during "Realms Deep 2022" as ''Rise of the Triad: Ludicrous Edition'', this time being handled by Creator/NightdiveStudios and Creator/NewBloodInteractive. The remaster will feature all episodes from the main game and its expansion packs, 4K and ultrawide support, restored cut content, a sound test and the option to switch between the original game's soundtrack and the 2013 remake, revamped online multiplayer, a new level editor and a brand new episode.

A reboot, developed by Interceptor Entertainment (who also made ''VideoGame/{{Duke Nukem 3D}} Reloaded''), was released July 31st, 2013. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhi-7lj7osI Trailer here.]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWhsZAhfyqc Multiplayer footage showcasing the weapons, levels and soundtrack here.]] Preorders for the new game were rewarded with the Apogee Throwback bundle, which included the original Rise of the Triad titles, as well as both of the ''VideoGame/BlakeStone'' titles.

* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: "Monk Meal", "Priest Porridge". Picking up explosive weapons will give you messages like "You Have a Heat-Seeker!" or "You Bagged a Bazooka!". Also, [[spoiler: "You Discovered a Developer Ball!"]]

* {{EldritchAbomination}} [[spoiler: El Oscuro's]] true form, which is basically a snake made out of giant humanoid heads. In the remake, his true form instead looks like a human-spider centaur thing.

* HardLevelsEasyBosses: With the exception of the [[ThatOneBoss NME,]] the bosses are very basic and easy to beat. Getting there, on the other hand...

* ISurrenderSuckers: If you damage Lightning Guards enough, they'll sometimes drop to their knees and start begging for you not to shoot them (despite the gore, ''this'' is what really got the game a higher RSAC rating for violence than ''{{VideoGame/Doom}}''). It's a trick, though; if you choose not to kill one, he'll play possum for a little while, and then get back up and keep attacking you.

* MalevolentArchitecture: Count how many kinds of booby traps there are in Rise of the Triad. Pushwalls, flaming pushwalls, shrooms in a jar, boulders, lava pits, shredders, up-'n-down shredders, ceiling shredders, flamethrowers, floor flamethrowers...

* MirrorBoss: [[spoiler: El Oscuro returns your projectiles.]]

* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: [[KamehameHadoken Fireball-shooting]] zombie death cultist monks that speak in OminousLatinChanting and a robot boss that engages in [[MacrossMissileMassacre Macross Missile Massacres]].

* NonStandardGameOver:

-->Youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu suuuuuuuuuuuck.

* PunnyAcronym: NME stands for "Nasty Metallic Enforcer" and is pronounced "enemy".

* TheStinger: After the credits roll, [[spoiler: you see the HUNT portrait with the text "The HUNT is victorious. The End", but if you wait long enough, they all get [[HolidayMode various holiday-themed items]] at the same time and the text changes to "Now go and celebrate! The Real End"]]

* TrulySingleParent: [[spoiler: El Oscuro's true form]] in the final level you find "his" embryos everywhere and have to destroy all of them or you get the DownerEnding where one grows up to destroy the world a few decades later.

* BreakoutCharacter: Big John, the KingMook Enforcer boss, has become something of a popular meme thanks to his goofy dialogue, enough so that he's had cameo appearances in other games, including ''VideoGame/{{Dusk}}'', ''VideoGame/AmidEvil'' and ''VideoGame/MaximumAction''.* CampGay: Krist has a prissy lisp and threatens to sodomize you, man or woman.

* CrossOver: With the ''VideoGame/{{Shadow Warrior|2013}}'' reboot. ''ROTT'' gets [[TheCameo Lo Wang]] as a playable multiplayer character as of the 1.3 patch, while ''Shadow Warrior'' gets an Excalibat skin for the katana.
* DenserAndWackier: While the original was over-the-top, it was, at least, mildly serious. The remake features oodles of VideoGame/{{Borderlands 2}}-style humour, featuring smart-ass remarks upon death, various tasteless jokes from the prisoners, a buttload of pop culture references, Thi making suggestive noises each time she jumps, and much more.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: [[spoiler: You can activate the missile launch during the final battle and kill everyone in Los Angeles, triggering the bad ending.]]
* NonStandardGameOver:

-->El Oscuro: [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Oh, no]] [[MemeticMutation you didn't!]]

** Also, beat the game and stick around after the credits. You'll be told there's nothing to see. You'll be asked why you're still there. [[spoiler: But you do get to see two development videos.]] The shareware version of the original does the same [[spoiler: but without the videos]].

* ExcusePlot: An evil cult being funded by a movie company (!?) is going to blow up L.A. and you have to KillEmAll to prevent it. And then the expansion's plot is that when you killed the BigBad, he rewound time so that the events of the main game never happened and you get to do the whole thing again, only now they '''sure''' know you're coming.

''Rise of the Triad'' is a FirstPersonShooter released by Apogee Software in 1994. There's a story, involving a United Nations special operations team sent to investigate suspicious cult activity on a remote island, but you wouldn't know it unless you read the manual. Like most early {{FPSs}}, it's all about shooting anything that moves and picking up anything that doesn't. ''Rise of the Triad'' introduced a number of gameplay innovations, many of which have become common in the FPS genre: elevated platforms, jumping, sneaky enemies that play dead and steal your weapons, areas full of poison gas, a plethora of different missile weapons, adjustable violence levels with a password lockout, breakable windows, bullet damage to walls, selectable player characters with varying abilities, and extensive multiplayer support.

''Rise of the Triad'' is a FirstPersonShooter released by Apogee Software in 1994. There's a story, involving a United Nations special operations team sent to investigate suspicious cult activity on a remote island, but you wouldn't know it unless you read the manual. Like most early FPSs, it's all about shooting anything that moves and picking up anything that doesn't. ''Rise of the Triad'' introduced a number of gameplay innovations, many of which have become common in the FPS genre: elevated platforms, jumping, sneaky enemies that play dead and steal your weapons, areas full of poison gas, a plethora of different missile weapons, adjustable violence levels with a password lockout, breakable windows, bullet damage to walls, selectable player characters with varying abilities, and extensive multiplayer support.

''Rise of the Triad'' is a FirstPersonShooter released by Apogee Software in 1994. There's a story, involving a United Nations special operations team sent to investigate suspicious cult activity on a remote island, but you wouldn't know it unless you read the manual. Like most early FPS's, it's all about shooting anything that moves and picking up anything that doesn't. ''Rise of the Triad'' introduced a number of gameplay innovations, many of which have become common in the FPS genre: elevated platforms, jumping, sneaky enemies that play dead and steal your weapons, areas full of poison gas, a plethora of different missile weapons, adjustable violence levels with a password lockout, breakable windows, bullet damage to walls, selectable player characters with varying abilities, and extensive multiplayer support.

In an era where "online gaming" meant two people playing head-to-head over a direct modem link, ''Rise of the Triad'' offered 11-way multiplayer games over a local area network (a dedicated server is required for more than eight players.) The game supports a number of multiplayer variants, including basic deathmatch, several variations of "tag", a race to collect the most treasure in the least amount of time, and "Capture the Triad" - the first implementation of CaptureTheFlag in a first person shooter. Each mode offered a number of adjustable options to further customize gameplay. The game didn't support this newfangled Internet thing, just Novell [=NetWare=], so the only way most people could enjoy an 11-player fragfest was to take over an office or academic computer lab after hours.

* TheAhnold: The remake features Big John, a BossInMookClothing who speaks in a familiar Austrian accent and quotes ''Film/{{Predator}}''.
* AnAssKickingChristmas: The game's HolidayMode is very bit as bloody as the normal mode, and its AutobotsRockOut adaptation of "Carol of the Bells" is named "God Rest Ye, Deadly Gentlemen".
* AssShove: According to a loading screen in the remake, the Monk Crystal healing items are suppositories.
* AttackablePickup: The Priest Porridge, which can be turned into a more effective [[IncrediblyLamePun Priest Porridge Hot]] with a carefully aimed explosion. The remake lets you do this to Monk Meal as well.

* BatterUp: The magical Excalibat weapon. The reboot gives it an ominous-looking demonic eye that keeps fidgeting around as you hold it. The original game has a multiplayer map with this name, and the level is a baseball field.
* BigBadDuumvirate: The titular Triad, consisting of [[GeneralRipper General John Darian]] [[EvilCripple Sebastian Kryst]] and [[EvilSorcerer El Oscuro]]. There's also the boss NME, but he's just a robot.

* BlownAcrossTheRoom: The Shotgun in the remake does this to enemies, with added LudicrousGibs when they hit a wall.
* BossInMookClothing: Literally in the remake. One level in each of the first three episodes has a mini-boss that looks like a regular mook, but takes a ''lot'' more damage and has a health bar and unique name: episode 1 has a Strike Guard named Dirty Sanchez, episode 2 has a Triad Enforcer named Big John, and episode 3 has a Robot Guard named Mr. Roboto. The episode 4 mini-boss, El Zee, is a giant El Oscuro statue rather than a mook.
* BottomlessMagazines: The pistols and [=MP40=] have unlimited ammo, and never need to be reloaded. Even though this is still the case in the remake, there's a reload button because [[RuleOfCool the animations look cool]].
* BreakoutCharacter: Big John, the KingMook Enforcer boss in the remake, has become something of a popular meme thanks to his goofy dialogue, enough so that he's had cameo appearances in other games, including ''VideoGame/{{Dusk}}'' and ''VideoGame/MaximumAction''.
* TheCameo: As of the remake's 1.3 patch, Lo Wang from the 2013 ''VideoGame/{{Shadow Warrior|2013}}'' reboot is playable in multiplayer.

* CampGay: Krist in the remake has a prissy lisp and threatens to sodomize you, man or woman.

* CheckPoint: Present in the remake.
* ColorCodedMultiplayer: In the original, the players are identified by their [[PaletteSwap shirt color]].
* CoolChair: Sebastian Krist. His chair shoots ''rockets and mines''. In the remake it also flies and has an energy shield.
* CrossOver: With the ''VideoGame/{{Shadow Warrior|2013}}'' reboot. ''ROTT'' gets Lo Wang as a playable character, while ''Shadow Warrior'' gets an Excalibat skin for the katana.
* DeathByCameo: Tom Hall plays El Oscuro, the final boss of the game. Also, all of the digitized sprites are made from 360 degree photos of Apogee staff in costume, most of whom worked on the game. The remake does the same with Interceptor's staff.
* DenserAndWackier: While the original was over-the-top, it was, at least, mildly serious. The remake features oodles of VideoGame/{{Borderlands 2}}-style humor, featuring smart-ass remarks upon death, various tasteless jokes from the prisoners, a buttload of pop culture references, Thi making suggestive noises each time she jumps, and much more.
* DestroyableItems: The Ankh coins in the original game.

* DownloadableContent: The remake has plans for it - and it will all be released for free.
* DualBoss:
** The level "Krist Cross" in ''Extreme VideoGame/RiseOfTheTriad'' makes you fight two Krists at once, although you only need to defeat one to finish the level. This applies to any other custom level with multiple bosses.

* EasyModeMockery: The game insults you for the two lowest difficulty settings. [[IdiosyncraticDifficultyLevels One of the possible names for the lowest one]] is "I am a chew toy" with a picture of a doll in a dog's mouth, while the second-lowest is "Will of iron, knees of jello," with a picture depicting a dollop of smelted iron on a cube of jello.

** The remake adds a new one called the Uberpatrol, which can roll like the Strike Team, throw nets like the Overpatrol, steal weapons like the Lightning Guard, and use a machine gun like the High Guard.

* EnvironmentalSymbolism: In the original game, lights in walls may mean different things, according to the manual of the shareware:
** Some Triad walls near switches have 1-4 lights in them. The number of the lights indicates how many walls will move when the switch is flipped.
** Some walls have big X lights which mean a nearby area is very dangerous but visiting it is not necessary to finish the game.
* EyeScream: The idle animation for the Excalibat in the reboot/remake is your character trying to poke it in the eye. They get shocked for their troubles.

** The remake affixes a backronym to the Drunk Missile: '''D'''estructive '''R'''andomly '''U'''nguided '''N'''ullification '''K'''it
%% You are a member of H.U.N.T.
%% NME. Pronounce it out loud.

** Accessible through an in-game powerup as well as the usual cheat code, God Mode doesn't just make you invincible, it also makes you ten-feet tall (but not in the remake) and capable of firing blasts of energy from your bare hands that can disintegrate everything in the room, all while your character keeps making bellowing "God-like" noises (based on the ones Creator/JohnRomero would make while fooling around in ''VideoGame/{{DOOM}}'' with cheats on).
** There's also a Dog Mode that transforms you into an invincible (except in the remake's multiplayer), two-feet tall dog capable of firing a deadly supersonic bark.

* GuideDangIt: The "Bonus Bonus" End-of-stage bonus, which can only be obtained on very few specific stages, including exactly ONE stage in The HUNT Begins. Getting it requires getting every other end-of-level bonus in the game (not just the ones "possible" in the level, EVERY one), which means the level must have a powerup, health item, pushwall, plant, firewall (one from an earlier level can be brought), life item, healing basin.... The game was released in 1994. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XW-oVKLFf4 The only Bonus Bonus obtained on video to date went up in 2009.]] Even with the guide, it's still difficult to obtain, and thus it was never noticed that the game would crash if you got that bonus.

* HeavilyArmoredMook: Has one of the earliest FPS examples in the form of the Triad Enforcer, a rotund soldier armed with a heavy machine gun who's got about 10-12 times the health of a regular enemy and can soak several dozen bullets before dropping. In the remake he was turned into a single character, a MiniBoss named Big John.
* HeyCatch: The black-clad EliteMooks will humorously punctuate each thrown grenade by yelling "Here, catch!"

* InkSuitActor: While the remake doesn't use DigitizedSprites, the characters are modeled after real people:
** Taradino Cassatt is Interceptor Entertainment CEO Frederik Schreiber.
** Thi Barrett is former adult film star Misti Dawn.
** IP Freely is Interceptor executive producer/lead level designer Daniel Hedjazi.
** Lorelei Ni is Vivian Nagy, wife of Apogee Software CCO Terry Nagy.
** High Guards are based on Interceptor lead character artist Chris Pollitt.
** Lightning Guards are based on Interceptor lead 3D artist Nick Quackenbush.
** Triad Enforcers are Interceptor employee Stefan Madsen.
** Monks are Interceptor employee Asle Høeg-Mikkelsen.
** General Darian is Terry Nagy.
** Sebastian Krist is Joe Siegler, reprising his role from the original.
** The rest of the characters are a mix of different faces.
** Doug Wendt is the only character not modeled after a real person.

** The Shrooms Mode makes your view move up, down and sides, and you see all the enemies, traps, and movable columns as one-coloured with the colour blinking and changing all the time.
* InterfaceSpoiler: In the remake, any of the human enemies can play dead (not just the Lightning Guard like in the original, and they'll do it without begging for mercy first too). But since the HUD displays how many enemies you've killed in the last few seconds (for score multiplier purposes), you can tell when they're faking it because that number won't go up.
* IronicEcho: During the fight with General Darian in the reboot, one of his taunts is that he'll "bury you in a lunchbox". Guess what the name of the achievement you get for killing him is.

** "The Vomitorium", consisting of a couple of huge rooms chock-full of Shroom and Elasto items and a bunch of glowing walls with "YOU DO NOT BELONG HERE" written on them. If you manage to find the flying GAD that takes out out of the main room, you'll find a boss fight against the NME in ''extremely'' close quarters, which is impossible to win without cheating.

** "The Grand Vomitorium" from ''Extreme Rise of the Triad'', which starts out like the original Vomitorium, but instead of an NME fight it has a series of outdoor areas where you have to avoid various obstacles trying to push you off the map. It's theoretically winnable without cheating, but one area has a series of [=GADs=] which spell out the not-too-subtle message "CHEAT NOW".
** The remake has "Escape from the Vomitorium", which again starts out like the original Vomitorium, but ends with a series of PlatformHell jumping puzzles...and CheckpointStarvation is in full effect - you die, you start the whole level over. If you manage to reach the end, you [[spoiler:get eaten by the Dopefish]].

* KaizoTrap: When a boss dies, [[MadeOfExplodium he blows up]] ({{justified|Trope}} because bullet weapons and melee attacks don't do anything - you have to use missiles, magic, or some combination of the two). If you happen to die in the explosion, you get a GameOver. Even with maxed out lives.

* LevelEditor: A random level generator named [=RandROTT=] was shipped with the CD version of the original game. There are also third-party editors for it. There's also an official level editor for the remake, and it's called Ludicrous Development Kit.
* LevelMapDisplay: In the original game, there's one that shows every wall and actor in the map and can be zoomed, and looking at it pauses the game.
* LimitedLoadout: the player can hold at one time any number of the infinite-ammo bullet weapons (of which there are three: single pistol, dual pistols, and machine gun) and only one of the limited-ammo missile/magic weapons. The remake lets you have both a missile and a magic weapon at the same time, and also gives you a knife for melee attacks and cutting through the Overpatrol's net (whereas in the original you had to find the knife and could only use it once before having to find another one).
* LoadingScreen: The one in the original is a still portrait of the HUNT team, whereas the one in the remake is the camera panning across levels, superimposed by hints and trivia.

* MeaninglessLives: Spending a life just sends you back to the beginning of the level - when you can just load up your last save. The remake does away with lives entirely; the ankh coins that counted towards extra lives in the original are still in the game, but give you points instead.

* MusicalSpoiler: Once an boss is awakened the level music will change from an normal level track to the boss theme.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: In the remake, [[spoiler: you can activate the missile launch during the final battle and kill everyone in Los Angeles, triggering the bad ending.]]

** In the reboot, when fighting [[BigBad El Oscuro's]] [[OneWingedAngel monstrous form]], you can press the button on the console to blow up L.A. El Oscuro, of course, has some choice words for that.
-->El Oscuro: [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Oh, no]] [[MemeticMutation you didn't!]]
* NonIndicativeName: The track "Mist Ache" has a PunnyName but is a rather sad and somber tune
* OffScreenStartBonus: The first level of the reboot has a boarded up passage behind where you start, with the message [[BlatantLies "Not A Secret"]] printed on the planks. Shooting through it leads you to an [=MP40=].

* PowerFloats: God Mode (in the remake, at least) removes all view bobbing when you move, implying this.

* PuttingOnTheReich: Outfits worn by the enemies allude to Nazi Germany (a holdover from the initial plan to make the game a sequel to ''VideoGame/Wolfenstein3D''). Bizarrely enough, the manual says they're surplus Korean uniforms, presumably North Korean. They also have MP-40s. It's taken further in the remake, where the Triad has long red banners with white crosses, stahlhelms, missile launchers whose handles are based on those of the Panzerschreck, etc., while the surplus Korean uniform bit is implied with some televisions depicting actual real-life footage of Kim Jong-Un.
* RaceLift: The remake changes the nationalities of two HUNT members: Thi Barrett is changed from Scottish to Canadian, and Ian Paul Freely is changed from Greco-Spanish to British.

* RecklessGunUsage: In the remake, [[spoiler:General Darian]] falls victim to this after you get his health to zero: he pins you down and points his gun at you, it fails to fire, he looks down the barrel, and [[IJustShotMarvinInTheFace it blows his head off]].

* SecondaryFire: The Excalibat, The Split Missile and Dog Mode in the original game have this. So do most weapons in the remake.
* SecretLevel: There's at least one in each episode in both games.
* SelfImposedChallenge: There's one made by the ROTT community, which makes the entire game [[TrialAndErrorGameplay Nintendo]] [[LuckBasedMission Bloody Impossible]] (think of ''VideoGame/IWannaBeTheGuy'') instead of just NintendoHard. All you need to do is: 1: Go get [=WinROTT=], 2: Look for ''config.rot'' file and set the ''[=SuperHard=]'' option to 1, 3: Open [=WinROTT=] itself and set [='TIMELIMIT 36000; MAXTIMELIMIT 36000; WARP (fully optional) [number of level you wish to play]'=] in the command line, without quotes. Time limit gives you a possibility to have infinite lives during those 10 hours of play. 4: Select the hardest difficulty. '''Never''' use savegames. The basic purpose of this challenge is to polish your missile-dodging skills SO thoroughly you couldn't even imagine. The catch is: every Lightning Guard wields one of the many lootable rocket launchers (or, considering there's no sprites of them carrying a [=RL=], rocket pistols). Should you only be [[IncrediblyLamePun unstrafeful]] for a split second, you'll be thrown back to square one. Considering Low Guards and Lightning Guards tend to change between each other randomly, the challenge will become ''purely'' luck-based. [[HaveANiceDeath Have fun dying!]]

* SoundOnlyDeath: When you tell the game to exit out, it will put up a message suggesting you getting killed. Confirm the quit out, and it plays an appropriate sound-bite before exiting. The complete list is as follows:

** '''The Heavy''': Triad Enforcers, armed with [=M60s=] and grenades that eat health like candy, and Robot Guards, robots that deal a LOT of damage, and are immune to bullets and the Flamewall. There's another variety of robots that are invulnerable to everything, requiring you to run past them.

* TheStinger:
** In the remake, after the credits roll, [[spoiler:the HUNT team sees one of El Oscuro's disembodied eyeballs come back to life and escape through the portal. Cue SequelHook as the heroes follow it into the unknown.]]
** In the original, after the credits roll, [[spoiler: you see the HUNT portrait with the text "The HUNT is victorious. The End", but if you wait long enough, they all get [[HolidayMode various holiday-themed items]] at the same time and the text changes to "Now go and celebrate! The Real End"]]
* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: In the first level of the remake, behind the player's starting point is a boarded up area labeled "Not a secret".

** A light-hearted one at the memetically popular "Call of Duty Dog" from ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyGhosts'', in the form of a teaser trailer showcasing dog mode, claiming it's modern.
** The remake features the Mission Briefing for [=E4L1=] stating that the last thing they need are El Oscuro's parasites to get to Scientologists.

* TookALevelInBadass: In the remake, General Darian goes from a bog standard KingMook to a cyborg with a ''shotgun arm''. Krist turns into a PuzzleBoss with a jetchair equipped with lasers.

* UnintentionallyUnwinnable: "Getting the Drop" in the ''Extreme'' expansion, which is [[ThatOneLevel a difficult level to begin with]], is nearly impossible to complete with any character other than Thi Barrett - there's a puzzle at the end of the level that involves making a maze out of pillars and running across them to get to the end of the level. Problem is, Barrett is the only character that can actually make it across without falling in-between - any other character simply falls through the pillars, making it impossible to finish the level. It's thankfully possible to bypass it by using the Excalibat to RocketJump, but the Excalibat is easy to pass up, and the level prior does a good job of making you use up as much of the ammo as possible. %%invoked

* WhatTheHellPlayer: In [=E2L1=] of the remake, there's a room with Dog Mode and some dogs. If you shoot the dogs, you'll get the message, "WTF! Don't shoot the dogs." [[spoiler:Keep shooting them and you'll be instantly killed.]]
** Also, in the remake, beat the game and stick around after the credits. You'll be told there's nothing to see. You'll be asked why you're still there. [[spoiler: But you do get to see two development videos.]] The shareware version of the original does the same [[spoiler: but without the videos]].

* GunsAkimbo: ''John Woo Style'', as the game puts it. The dual pistols are still functionally treated as one weapon by the game, though. Coincidentally, this game is tied with ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}'' as being the first to have this feature, though it had a much more sophisticated implementation.