History VideoGame / Sundered

* AntiVillain: General Waters. [[spoiler:His army committed atrocities against the Eshaton, but ultimately postponed the end of the world at the hands of Nyarlathotep.]]

* CosmicHorrorReveal: [[spoiler:Upon meeting Dominion, and seeing the deeper areas, the game enters Lovecraft territory. Later abilities in the tech tree outright reference characters from the Franchise/CthulhuMythos.]]

* AntiVillain: General Walters. [[spoiler:His army committed atrocities against the Eshaton, but ultimately postponed the end of the world at the hands of Nyarlathotep.]]

** Hysteria. Once an ordinary man named Emmett Nelson, he has since become a giant skeleton sticking out of a pulsating blob of green flesh which is fused to a mechanical spider-like armature. His ribcage is splayed open, his torso and hips are covered with throbbing growths that might be tumours or fungi, and stringy goop both connects him to the armature and leaks out of its joints.

* CoDragons: The {{dual boss}} called ''Rivalry'': [[spoiler:The reanimated corpses of General Walters and Ishaela Bha'gor.]]

* DirtyCoward: Emmett Nelson. [[spoiler:A cowardly Valkyrie who snuck away from the main battle to slaughter the women and children of the underground civilization. He ultimately died and came back as Hysteria.]]

* FaceDeathWithDignity: Upon defeating ''Rivalry'', [[spoiler:the animated corpse of General Walters can be seen yanking the Elder Shard's spike from his body before fading to nothing]].

* WasOnceAMan: Hysteria was once a human soldier named Emmet Nelson, before the Eschatons captured him and transformed him into the nightmarish [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot zombie-cyborg]]-SpiderTank that he is now. This also applies to [[spoiler:Eshe in the Embrace ending, as after she merges with the Shining Trapezohedron, [[HumanoidAbomination she’s only human in appearance alone, and even that’s pushing it]]]].

* WellIntentionedExtremist: The leader of the Valkyrie, [[spoiler:General Leonard Walters]].

* AntiVillain: General Walters. [[spoiler: His army committed atrocities against the Eshaton, but ultimately postponed the end of the world at the hands of Nyarlathotep.]]
* ArcWords: Resist or Embrace. It refers to [[spoiler: the player's choice to either spend Elder Shards on eldritch upgrades to her powers, or to disregard and destroy them, relying only on the basic abilities and Valkyrie tech she encounters.]]

* BerserkButton: The Shining Trapezohedron gets ''very'' angry it if Eshe starts using the Incinerator to destroy Elder Shards, though it can’t stop her from doing so.

* BossArenaIdiocy: There would be no way Eshe could reach Hysteria's Elder Shard fragments with her abilities alone. Thankfully, everytime Hysteria stomps the ground, the debris on it stays in air for some reason, allowing you to reach said Elder Shard fragments. See also TacticalSuicideBoss.

* BossSubtitles: Minibosses have names followed by a brief descriptive subtitle displayed on their health bars (for example, “Arlie Waylon – Fallen Valkyrie Panzer” or “Model Luther X9 – Deviant Meteoroid”). Main bosses get a big title card showing off their unpronounceable name in the Shining Trapezohedron’s language, followed by the English translation as a subtitle. So the boss Dominion, for example would read '''Xea’sh’kaebt''': Dominion.

* BittersweetEnding: In the Resist ending, [[spoiler:Eshe destroys Nyarlathotep and the Shining Trapezohedron, but in doing so the portal to the outside world is shattered, leaving her trapped in the caverns]].

* ChaosArchitecture: A partial example. The layout of the caverns changes every time Eshe dies, but important rooms that contain bosses, abilities, obstacles and/or vistas have fixed locations on the map. Justified since the caverns are an EldritchLocation.

* CoDragons: The dual boss called ''Rivalry'': [[spoiler: The reanimated corpses of General Walters and Ishaela Bha'gor.]]

* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: The Proving Grounds. [[spoiler: The primary hoard plays by different rules than the rest of the game, ''permanently'' spawning many Hunters, stationary mechs which never leave their position. Upon killing one and moving away, they will ''immediately'' respawn in the same spot!'']]

* CosmicHorrorReveal: [[spoiler:Upon meeting Dominion, and seeing the deeper areas, the game enters Lovecraft territory. Later abilities in the tech tree outright reference characters from the Cthulh uMythos.]]

* DeflectorShields: Early on in the game Eshe acquires a Shield that mitigates the damage she takes from enemy attacks. Corrupting it with an Elder Shard will make the shield deal back some of the damage it recieves.
* DirtyCoward: Emmett Nelson. [[spoiler: A cowardly Valkyrie who snuck away from the main battle to slaughter the women and children of the underground civiliation. He ultimately died and came back as Hysteria.]]

* EnemySummoner: Dominion can conjure Monster Portals that, if not destroyed by the player, will continuously summon Crawler Minions to chase after Eshe. When his health gets low he’ll start creating a dozen of these portals at once, and if left unchecked the resulting tide of monsters can quickly overwhelm the player.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: It is mentioned in the lore that General Waters [[spoiler:(whom you meet in game as Legion)]] had a son named Luther.

* FaceDeathWithDignity: Upon defeating ''Rivalry'', [[spoiler: The animated corpse of General Walters can be seen yanking the Elder Shard's spike from his body before fading to nothing.]]

* FusionDance: After you beat [[spoiler:Nyarlathotep]] in the Resist path, [[spoiler:the Shining Trapezohedron merges with it in an attempt to kill you]]. [[ClippedWingAngel It doesn’t help much]].

* GlassCannon: Eshe, when fully embraced. [[spoiler: She gains abilities that are both powerful attacks and provide superior mobility, but her base stats are inferior to a full Resist build.]]

* KingMook: All minibosses are souped up variants of enemies you'll find in the game.

* LivingShadow: Various eldritch horrors can appear as shadowy tentacles or creatures throughout your journey, some of Eshe’s corrupted powers include weaponising them, [[spoiler: and in the Embrace ending, she becomes a [[HumanoidAbomination particularly powerful and monstrous one]] after merging with the Shining Trapezohedron.]]
* LastOfHisKind: Dominion is the first and last humanoid member of the Eshaton you meet. [[spoiler: He is their leader, Krural Mirrah, sealed away by the Valkyries while all the women and children were killed and the men were turned into monsters from the failed summoning ritual.]]

* TheMagicVersusTechnologyWar: The conflict between the Eschaton and the Valkyries. On the one hand, the Eschaton are a society of EldritchAbomination-worshipping cultists who wield sorcerous powers gifted to them by their alien gods. On the other hand, the Valkyries are soldiers and scientists armed with lasers, DeflectorShields, robots and powered armour. This game being [[CosmicHorrorStory what it is]], both sides lost long before the player arrives.

* MightyGlacier: Eshe when she fully Resists. [[spoiler: She never gets the superior mobility from the Elder Shard abilities, but her base offensive and defensive stats become ''massive'' instead.]]

* TheResenter: With the world in collapse, The Valkyries came to the Eshaton in search of medicine, technology and resources, and Kurarl Mirrah refused them. They went to war instead, resentful of their prosperity.

* [[HeWhoFightsMonsters She Who Fights Monsters]]: Eshe can upgrade her powers even further after she's encountered them using Elder Shards, but she takes on a monstrous form when she does so. [[spoiler: She becomes evil if she finds and uses them all.]]

* ShoutOut: The flavor text in the Trapezohedron Tree and the names of the corrupted abilities both reference a number of Franchise/CthulhuMythos entities like Atlach-Nacha, Ghatanothoa and Z’toggua. The Shining Trapezohedron is a reference to the short story ''The Haunter of the Dark'', and just like that story, [[spoiler:it is connected to this game’s version of Nyarlathotep]].

* WasOnceAMan: Hysteria was once a human soldier named Emmet Nelson, before the Eschatons captured him and transformed him into the nightmarish [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot zombie-cyborg]]-SpiderTank that he is now. This also applies to [[spoiler: Eshe in the Embrace ending, as after she merges with the Shining Trapezohedron, [[HumanoidAbomination she’s only human in appearance alone, and even that’s pushing it.]]]]

* WellIntentionedExtremist: The leader of the Valkyrie, [[spoiler: General Leonard Walters.]]
* WhamShot: The last area of the game is dark and sorta purple-ish and you soon find a strange helmet.... [[spoiler: and then suddenly black tendrils and claws appear in and something resembling a human mouth but more akin to a latex mask take control of the helmet. Then you see the entity's name... NYARLATHOTEP.]]

** This is because [[spoiler: their god, Nyarlathotep, takes on many forms, each one called a Mask.]]

* ZergRush: Singular enemies are rare. In general, they come in weak but ''massive'' hordes. An klaxon or a supernatural sound (called The Gong) indicates when a hoard is coming.

* TurnsRed: Legion and Salvation. Whenever Eshe knocks one of them out, the other will literally turn red, become invincible, and attack Eshe much more aggressively until the one she defeated reanimates.

* UpdatedReRelease: ''Sundered: Eldritch Edition'', which was released in December of 2018 and added an extra region, a new boss, and local co-op multiplayer to the game. The update was free for anyone who already owned a copy of the game on Steam or the PS4, and it was also ported to the UsefulNotes/XboxOne and the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch.

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Two of the endings are this. In the Neutral ending, Eshe escapes the underground... but so does the Shining Trapezohedron. In the Embrace ending, Eshe willingly annihilates the last remnants of her humanity, reopens the portal, and leads the tentacle monsters' invasion of the surface.]]

* OneWingedAngel: In the Embrace path, [[spoiler:Eshe’s doppelganger will transform into Humanity, a Shoggoth-like monstrosity with too many eyes, limbs, jaws, and exposed spinal cords]].

* WasOnceAMan: Hysteria was once a human soldier named Emmet Nelson, before the Eschatons captured him and transformed him into the nightmarish [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot zombie-cyborg]]-SpiderTank that he is now.

* WellIntentionedExtremist: The leader of the Valyrie, [[spoiler: General Leonard Walters.]]

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:All three endings have elements of this. In the Neutral ending, Eshe escapes the underground... but so does the Shining Trapezohedron. In the Resist ending, Nyarlathotep and the Trapezohedron are finally destroyed, but so is the portal to the surface, leaving Eshe stranded in the dark. In the Embrace ending, Eshe willingly annihilates the last remnants of her humanity, reopens the portal, and leads the tentacle monsters' invasion of the surface.]]

** [[spoiler: Eshe vs the Shining Trapezohedron if she fully Embraced.]]

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler: If the Shining Trapezohedron convinces Eshe to fully embrace, the portal finally opens for him to escape and invade earth...only to be killed and replaced by Eshe.]]

* CoDragons: The dual boss called ''Rivalry'': [[spoiler: The reanimated corpses of General Walters and Ishaela Bah'lgor.]]

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Two of the three endings are this.]]

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: It is mentioned in the lore that General Waters [[spoiler:(whom you meet in game as Legion)]] had a son named Luther.
* EvilLaugh:
** Dominion greets the player with a malevolent chuckle before putting on his mask and starting the boss fight.
** The Shining Trapezohedron indulges in maniacal cackling on multiple occasions, most notably during all three final boss fights.

* WallCrawl: The Gravitational Boots allow Eshe to climb up any sheer wall, so long as she starts out at its base while standing on the ground. Their corrupted form, Atlach-Nacha’s Grip, allows Eshe to climb up and down any such wall like a spider, and she can start climbing from any point on the wall’s surface.

* MechaMooks: Most of the Valkyrie enemies are robots, although the Panzers (and possibly the Araneas and Wurms) appear to be cyborgs.

''Sundered'' is a Metroidvania with Roguelike elements from ''Thunder Lotus'', the creators of ''VideoGame/{{Jotun}}''.

* ArcWords: ''Resist or Embrace.'' It refers to [[spoiler: the player's choice to either spend Elder Shards on eldritch upgrades to her powers, or to disregard and destroy them, relying only on the basic abilities and Valkyrie tech she encounters.]]

* BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu: In the Resist ending, [[spoiler:Eshe destroys Nyarlathotep and the Shining Trapezohedron, but in doing so the portal to the outside world is shattered, leaving her trapped in the caverns]].

* CosmicHorrorReveal: [[spoiler:Upon meeting ''Dominion,'' and seeing the deeper areas, the game enters Lovecraft territory. Later abilities in the tech tree outright reference characters from the Cthulu Mythos.]]

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: All ''three''.]]

* LastOfHisKind: ''Dominion'' is the first and last humanoid member of the Eshaton you meet. [[spoiler: He is their leader, Krural Mirrah, sealed away by the Valkyries while all the women and children were killed and the men were turned into monsters from the failed summoning ritual.]]

* MultipleEndings: The game has several endings, depending on whether Eshe chose to resist or embrace the powers of the Elder Shards. If Eshe fully resists, [[spoiler:she destroys Nyarlathotep and the Shining Trapezohedron, but the portal to the desert shatters, seemingly leaving her trapped in the caverns]]. If she doesn’t fully resist or embrace, [[spoiler:she defeats Nyarlathotep and is returned to the desert, only for the Shining Trapezohedron to light up as the game abruptly ends]]. If she fully embraces, [[spoiler:Eshe kills her own humanity and merges with the Shining Trapezohedron to become a monster. The Trapezohedron then tears open a gate to the desert, allowing Eshe and an endless tide of eldritch horrors to pass through and presumably bring about TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt]].