History VideoGame / ThemsFightinHerds

*** Oleander has [[LostWoods The Woodlands]].

* LostWoods: Oleander's home stage is a magical forest where the Unicorns reside. The Hallowed Grove Pixel Lobby also takes place in this area.

The game released in Early Access (mostly complete apart from the Story Mode) on February 22nd 2018. The game received a proper release on April 30, 2020. While it only had the first part of the Story Mode, the rest is planned to come out as free DLC.

* EverythingsBetterWithCows: The starting protagonist and one of the main characters is a young calf, and you can bet Arizona milks the fact that she's a proud bovine for all it's worth.

* FluffyTheTerrible: The Predators currently in the game are large shadowy figures with demonic red eyes--Fluffers the wolf, Flopsie the panther, Cuddles the spitting cobra, and Huggles the bear.

* AdamSmithHatesYourGuts: Some of the items from Cap N' Cash's are pretty pricey, and would definitely take a few trips into the Salt Mines.

* BigBad: The Great Devourer, the leader of the Predators, is set up to be one in the beginning.

* BleakLevel: The Alpake Highlands/ Huacaya Mountain level (Paprika's home stage) is very colorless and dusty looking compared to the other stages. It's Pixel Lobby is even called "A Dreary Place".
* BloodlessCarnage: Being apparitions, the Predator mooks just disappear into nothing when defeated. The fighters too; other than a few scrapes and bruises in icons and cutscenes, the cast can get bucked, trampled, frozen, ignited and still come out relatively fine. At least compared to if you were kicked by a hooves in real life.

* CatFight: Helps that all of the Key Seekers so far are female. Unlike the fanservice-y reputation of this trope though, most of them take their fights ''very'' seriously. [[note]]That being said, sometimes the characters get into fights for pretty stupid reasons.[[/note]]

* ComboBreaker: There's a limit to how long fighters can juggle opponents in midair for.

* DeathWorld: The mountains where the Alpake Clan live. All forms of natural disasters happen on a ''weekly'' basis and it doesn't phase them one bit. The fact that Paprika nearly drove them ''extinct'' with her antics screams just how terrifying she is.

** If the player somehow manages to beat [[spoiler:Oleander's third phase, Fred implies to have hidden plans of his own involving Oleander, and knocks out Arizona in a single hit. Fred lies and tells Ollie that she managed to defeat Arizona. Since Oleander was unconscious and Arizona presumably doesn't remember what happened when she gets back up, only he and the audience knows what really happened.]] Downplayed as we still don't know what those plans specifically are yet.

* DynamiteCandle: Players can throw these in the Salt Mines to destroy salt rocks and Predators faster. [[{{Griefer}} Or stun other players.]]

** Tianhuo is a Longma and is based off Rainbow Dash, with a flight-based moveset. She's notably the one Key Keeper who has no serious issues aside from a minor case of pride, having grown out of her bullying ways in the past and become a better person. As a result she takes more from Applejack and her "big sister" personality than Rainbow Dash.

** Pom is written with a Scottish accent, with words like "tae" written instead of "to."

* GameplayRoulette: It's a fighting game at its core, but you also have a mode that's a sprite based mining simulator, with a storymode that's mostly set up as an RPG with some fighting and occasionally platforming and puzzle elements.

* TheHero: While Arizona and Tianhuo are probably ''closer'' to this as straight examples, all of the characters are the hero of their own side of the story.

* HolidayMode: Some parts of the game gets a seasonal makeover around both Christmas and Halloween.

* HollywoodDarkness: The night time version of Baaah is entirely blue.

* MiniMe: A few pixel cosmetics are dolls of the characters, like a mini Arizona and Velvet, obtained in the first chapter.

* MultiMookMelee: There are parts in story mode where the protagonists has to fight a series of Predators. Arizona has two in different acts of her chapter.

* NoPowerNoColor: The lack of any colorful bars in your Magic meter is equal once less chance, or none at all, to use you character's magic attacks.
* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: A written text version. The reindeer of Reine don't have their dialouge written out in the same heavy accent that Velvet does, including her own family.

* SeldomSeenSpecies: It's hard to find many works that uses the mythical longma, but in this world we have one as a playable character and a regular species. In a funny way, [[OverlyNarrowSuperlative this probably makes Tianhuo the most well known longma in any form of media.]]

* SlidingScaleOfAnthropomorphism: All of the ungulates is a CivilizedAnimal without exception, but there are a few background animals such as squirrels and mice that are seemingly just that; animals. The Predators also seems to have a degree of sapience, as they talk in the intro. That is, except for the sheepdogs, who have some degree of intelligence but can't communicate with the other sapient species.
* SNKBoss: [[spoiler:Velvet and Oleander both have moves as bosses that can not be done by human players.]]

* SomeDexterityRequired: Other then getting a complete tutorial, mostly Averted. ''Them's Fightin' Herds'' is a bit more generous and simple with its combos compared to most other fighting games, and you might have a more difficult time with the platforming sections. [[NintendoHard Though that certainly doesn't make things any less hard or competitive.]]

* ThreeRoundDeathmatch: The game is best two out of three by default. Averted in story mode and the Salt Mines where everyone (including you) have one health bar.

* UndergroundLevel: The Salt Mines. Apparently they connect all throughout Foenum.

* VideoGameFlight: Tianhuo's flight doesn't last very long. Even if you you set the magic meter to 'infinite' in training mode, it only lasts for around two seconds.

* VirtualPaperDoll: All of the playable fighter's sprites can wear a different accessory on their heads, necks, and backs that can be bought in the Pixel Lobby or found in story mode. Averted during the fighting segments.

* WindmillScenery: Baaah, Pom's homestage, is a nice grassy meadow with a windmill in the background.

* WanderingCulture: Unlike most other races in F'num, the majority of the Cattlekind and Alpake clans don?t live in a fixed location, and are always moving while living off the land within The Prairie and The High Plains, respectively.

* AssistCharacter: FHTNG/Fred and all of Pom's dogs are technically this. In Oleander's level 2 super, she can summon Fred in a more corporal form to help, while Pom can summon Big Papa in hers.

** Velvet the reindeer is based on Rarity, although she uses [[AnIcePerson ice]] instead of [[GemstoneAssault gems]] and [[ImprovisedWeapon sewing supplies]]. She can also hold her ice projectiles in place similar to Rarity's Gem Shots. While Rarity was vain, Velvet takes these traits UpToEleven to the point where she comes across as far more hostile and proud than Rarity ever was.

* HealThyself: Paprika's leftover apples projectiles recover lost health if eaten. While the broccoli [[PowerUpFood fills up super meter]. Unfortunately for Paprika players, their opponents can do the same thing.

* ArtEvolution: Since the start of the game Paprika and Pom gained accessories and most of the character's colors were slightly tweaked.

* ChristmasElves: The [[http://manesixdev.tumblr.com/image/120646298700 Ice Sprites]], caretakers of the Reine deer, resemble this, although they look more like a hybrid of TheFairFolk and TheGreys (but they are still cute).

* CivilizedAnimal: All of the ungulates in Fœnum (except for the Ice Sprite) are all sapient animals.

* CoolPet: The reindeer to the Ice Sprites. While the reindeer are fully sentient and have their own civilization, the Ice Sprites dote on them as their pets, and are treated well in turn as they do anything asked of them.

* CrapsaccharineWorld: While some areas of Foenum don't look ''too'' bad, most of its residents are still divided amongst themselves, and the whole world is nearly on the verge of a SugarApocalypse with the arrival of the Predators. There's also The Highlands, a dangerous and depressing place to live, yet the mountains are home to a bunch of cute and fluffy alpaca.

** If the player ''somehow'' manages to beat [[spoiler:Oleander's third phase, Fred implies to have hidden plans of his own involving Oleander, and knocks out Arizona in a single hit. Fred lies and tells Ollie that she managed to defeat Arizona. Since Oleander was unconscious and Arizona presumably doesn't remember what happened when she gets back up, only he and the audience knows what really happened.]] Downplayed as we still don't know what those plans specifically are yet.

** The LaughingMad [[SinisterSilhouettes Sinister Silhouette]] is described as the "monster" who roams the High Plains by the Alpake, and stalks Arizona throughout the level. It's obvious that the "monster" is [[spoiler:that yellow alpaca in the character select screen.]]
* {{Dump Stat}}: Parodied: All of the cosmetics, even the characters themselves, for the pixel lobbies contain random useless stats that have no effect on the fighting or salt mine gameplay. For example: Black Rose: +10 Oleander Attraction, +5 Angsty Poems. In story mode, the player can find several chests with cosmetics that can be applied and have similarly useless joke stats.

* EssenceDrop: The shadows drop health and special meter refills when destroyed. The amount given of each is {{Random|Drop}}.

* FurryReminder: The way the fighters eat Paprika's healing items is by sticking their face on the ground and eating them off the floor like wild animals.

** The hardest ai difficulty is "?NSP?KBL?"
* HealThyself: Paprika's leftover apples and broccoli projectiles recover lost health if eaten. Unfortunately for Paprika players, their opponents can do the same thing.

* AnIcePerson: Velvet, one of the game's main characters, uses ice and cold for most attacks. She gets it from eating golden oats provided by the Ice Sprites.

* IntrepidMerchant: Cashmere and Cap sell their wares across Fœnum, and you can find them in all of the Pixel Lobbies.

* KnowsTheRopes: Arizona is capable of using a lasso, which is tied to her magic meter.

* LostWoods: Oleander's homestage is a magical forest where the Unicorns reside. The Hallowed Grove Pixel Lobby also takes place in this area.
* MacGuffin: All of the fighters are seeking to obtain the enchanted key that will lock the Predators away.

* TheMarvelousDeer: The Deerfolk of Reine, in the Tundra. They are revered and pampered by the [[ChristmasElves Ice Sprites]], living in a city built by the Sprites and gaining magic abilities by eating their [[PowerUpFood Golden Oats]], that makes the deer able to [[InASingleBound leap so high and far it seems they can fly]], and giving them the ability to [[AnIcePerson control wintery weather]] (following a Christmas-theme). Their [[TheChampion Key Keeper]] is Velvet.

* MoneyFetish: Cashmere and Cap really love salt. Like, a lot. Just see their reactions when you save enough to buy the highest priced item.

** A lot of the fighter's alternate costumes are [[ShoutOut/ThemsFightinHerds shoutouts to other series.]] Some made by the devs, some made by other contributers.
** Velvet has a skin that makes her look exactly like Cashmere, though without the scarf and the same antlers.

* PatchworkMap: Unless Arizona was TravelingAtTheSpeedOfPlot, there's almost no transition between the very hot and rocky High Plains and the very cold and snowy Reine. Granted, since there's no physical map, this one could be hand waved by there being a short TimeSkip between the first and seconds acts. Still, the sudden opposites in climate is jarring.

* SavageWolf: Fluffers, one of the Predator mooks, is one of these.

* ShownTheirWork: When Tianhuo the Longma was announced, [[http://manesixdev.tumblr.com/post/129720831812/wait-long-is-dragon-and-ma-is-horse some fans were surprised to learn]] that "Longma" is not a newly made-up species just for TFH; it's actually [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longma a creature from Chinese mythology]].

** Pom, a young sheep, is assisted by a quartet of Sheep Dog puppies, similar to Fluttershy and her animal companions. Pom is a huge coward like Fluttershy, but where Fluttershy was able to shake off her shyness with enough effort, Pom is nearly ''paralyzed'' by fear every second she's on screen.

* MinimalistCast: So far, there's only six default playable fighters, with a seventh as DLC. Though there are plenty of other {{NPC}}s in Fœnum, the list of supporting characters with names is relatively small.

* WelcomeToCorneria: The {{NPC}}s usually say the same thing; the story mode is part-RPG, afterall. Downplayed with Cashmere and Cap in the Pixel Lobby, who have quite a lot to say.

* {{Shotoclone}}: Notably averted. None of the Key Keepers play like a baseline shotoclone, with Oleander being the closest approximation thanks to her fireballs. But even then, she's more defensive and mobile than the usual shotoclone thanks to her teleports, and her level 2 super turns her into a PuppetMaster type for a short while.

** The dev team [[https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/31993562/15d97c60d2fe942267228f14c75a4c251f426023_960x311.png really seem to like the pairing of Cashmere and Oleander,]] and the former is all but revealed to have an interest in the later. Some of her lines whenever the unicorn visits her [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar needs to be seen to be believed,]] especially if she was wearing the mistletoe or whipped cream accessory around the holidays.

* ADayInTheLimelight: Each chapter follows a different protagonist.

** For The Salt Mines:

* ManaMeter: Each character has a "Magic" gage, which lets them perform unique abilities.

* KillEnemiesToOpen: The path after the pack of four in the Abandoned Cave is filled with vines until the waking Fluffers in the room is defeated.