Line #20 VideoGame/Overload


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/overload_cover_twitch01a.png]]
2
3	->''"Autonomous operators are hostile. Repeat: Auto-ops are hostile."''
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5	''Overload'' is a 3D [[FirstPersonShooter First-Person Shooter]] (alternatively, 6DOF shooter, for "six degrees of freedom"), and SpiritualSuccessor to the classic ''VideoGame/{{Descent}}'' games. In fact, the studio that developed it—Revival Productions—comprises many of the original developers of ''Descent'', including Parallax Software founders Matt Toschlog and Mike Kulas.
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7	It is 2118. Various outposts deep within UsefulNotes/TheMoonsOfSaturn, built as part of [[MegaCorp Juno Offworld Automation's]] "Cronus Frontier" project, have sent out distress calls regarding worker robots, known as "autonomous operators" or "auto-ops", that have suddenly and mysteriously gone rogue, attacking and killing most personnel present. Juno Offworld [[SendInTheSearchTeam dispatches]] the MPSV ''[[CoolStarship Iberia]]'', containing a ''[[MiniMecha Kodachi]]'' gunship, with you as a combat-qualified ''Kodachi'' pilot, to the nearest outpost to the asteroid belt, Ymir, to eliminate all hostile operators and rescue any survivors. As the ''Iberia'' travels between the outposts and towards Titan, where the administrative center of Cronus Frontier is located, it is revealed that Gabriel Kantor, CEO of Juno Offworld and leader of the Cronus Frontier project, has [[FaceHeelTurn gone rogue]], attempting to break Cronus Frontier away from the mega-corp. In response, Juno Offworld [[KnowWhenToFoldEm cancels the Cronus Frontier project]] and orders the remaining outposts to be cleared of hostile operators by [[ReactorBoss destroying the reactors in each one.]]
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9	''Overload'' was first released on May 31, 2018, on {{Platform/Steam}}; a DRM-free release followed on June 5, 2018, on Website/GOGDotCom. Its website is [[http://playoverload.com/ here]] and its Steam and GOG.com store pages can be found [[http://store.steampowered.com/app/448850/Overload/ here]] and [[https://www.gog.com/game/overload here]], respectively.
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12	!!New weapon! Picked up [Tropes]
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14	* AIIsACrapshoot: Played with twice over:
15	** The overall villains are [[spoiler:three]] AI entities that have deemed the universe theirs to command and do so by destroying and assimilating every civilization and race they come across...with humanity being their next target.
16	** {{Defied\|Trope}} with Mara, the synthetic AI controlling the MPSV ''Iberia''. Upon learning that [[spoiler:she was essentially sharing the same space with the second sovereign]], Mara immediately isolated it, preventing it from seizing control of the vessel.
17	* AntiFrustrationFeatures: This game was made by the same development team behind the ''VideoGame/{{Descent}}'' series. While creating ''Overload'', the developers worked in several clever features. Some try to address common complains and criticisms from the ''Descent'' fanbase, while others are original to ''Overload''.
18	** The Guidebot was intended to be an {{Anti Frustration Feature}} in ''Descent 2'' to help players navigate and find objectives in the game's increasingly complex and maze-like levels. Its ''Overload'' successor, the Hologuide, serves the same function, with a host of improvements to alleviate complaints fans have had with the Guidebot.
19	** That little circular reticle you see when you open your Automap? That's not a reticle. That is a marker that you can place anywhere in the level that you've been to. When you close the Automap, you'll be able to see the marker through the walls, even from clear across the map. This gives you a waypoint to navigate toward, so you're not having to stop every ten meters to check your map.
20	** Holding the "Fire Flare" button fires a Sticky Flare. Unlike the regular Flare, which bounces around and burns out after about a minute, the Sticky Flare sticks to any wall you fire it into and continues burning for two hours, giving you another handy way to mark a location.
21	** You do not need to be perfectly aligned to an auto-op to use your [[RammingAlwaysWorks Smash]] attack. If you are facing the general direction of an auto-op and it is within Smash range, your ship will auto-align to it when it executes the Smash. It will also do this against cloaked auto-ops.
22	** Upgrade Point and Super Upgrade Point orbs will make a distinctive sound if they're nearby, giving the player a means of locating them.
23	* ArtificialBrilliance: The ''Descent'' robots were already praised in their day for their advanced AI behaviors, such as using cover, predicting player behavior, and using manipulation tactics against the player. The auto-ops in ''Overload'' use an updated version of the same AI, and so inherited these behaviors, with a few advancements of their own. For example, if an auto-op sees a nearby flare, it will move to investigate the direction that flare came from. An auto-op that spots a player through a grate may also camp the door to the area behind the grate to ambush the player when he comes out.
24	* ArtificialStupidity: Of course, robot AI that's ''too'' smart would make the game unplayable, and so the auto-ops had to inherit some of their predecessors' stupidity as well. If an ambush of auto-ops sees a flare fly in through a door, they will ''all'' try to investigate where it came from, and end up funneling themselves one by one into the crosshairs of the player waiting on the other side of the door.
25	* ApocalypticLog: There are audio logs that can be found throughout the levels, acting as diaries for the human workers on the facility before the auto-ops turned hostile and attacked them. A great deal are from [[DeadManWriting personnel who you can't find in the Cryopods]].
26	* AssimilationPlot: Towards the end, it turns out that [[spoiler:Kantor's paranoia and desire to declare an empty frontier independent of his superiors]] was influence from [[spoiler:a crashed alien AI.]] Once he went through [[spoiler:the teleportation gate he's constructed, Kantor]] is subsumed bit by bit, until he becomes [[spoiler:the AI itself - and the AI is part of three, who crush and absorb every race and civilization they come across; by the time they've found humanity, they claim the number is in the trillions.]] They try to drain the player's morale by [[spoiler:claiming they've already assimilated the Solar System,]] but in reality, they've only gotten to [[spoiler:Ymir, and can be stopped there.]]
27	* BeamSpam: [[spoiler:The alien auto-ops]] will make you dance in every directions with their rapidly-fired beams.
28	* BigDamnFireExit: Much like ''Descent'', most levels feature a reactor and the player must find and escape through an emergency exit.
29	* BossWarningSiren:
30	** Before every single one of the bosses, accompanied by a not-at-all encouraging ''MASSIVE INCOMING THREAT!'' message.
31	** Similarly, huge {{Zerg Rush}}es are announced the same way.
32	* BulletHell: The auto-ops love to surround you and shower you with projectiles. Evading their fire is mandatory to survive.
33	* BulletTime: The game has the Time Bomb, a bomb that ''slows down time'' temporarily...[[spoiler:except in multiplayer.]]
34	* BullfightBoss: One of the bosses is basically a giant buzzsaw with Drillers and Creeper launchers added to it. By that point, you've run into enough Shredders to know what to do when it periodically tries to charge at you.
35	* CallBack: The first and last level do ''not'' feature an explosion you need to outrun - the first time, you're teleported out, and the second, you have to leave before the instantaneous explosion.
36	* CatastrophicCountdown: Destroying the reactor or the boss causes a countdown, as the map starts to shake violently and explosion sounds start to echo throughout the level.
37	* ChargedAttack: The Thunderbolt is a weapon that features charging as an essential mechanic.
38	* CheckPointStarvation: The game has no checkpoints on its own, but one can save most of the time. The game also automatically saves between levels, but if the player doesn't save manually, dying will take them back to the beginning of the level.
39	* CriticalExistenceFailure: Downplayed. An additional "low armor" message will appear if the player ship's armor drops below 50, but it otherwise performs as per normal until all its armor is depleted, at which point, it spins out of control and explodes violently.
40	* DistressCall: The plot begins with many of the bases on Saturn's moons sending out a distress signal as the auto-ops have turned hostile.
41	* EquipmentUpgrade: All of the weapons and the ship can be upgraded with upgrade points, mostly found inside the levels.
42	* [[EveryTenThousandPoints Every 20 or 25 Kills]]: Challenge Mode grants a weapon upgrade every 25 or 20 kills, depending on the mode (Infinite or Countdown respectively).
43	* ExactlyWhatIAimedAt: The Nova missile is basically the Smart Missile from ''Descent'', releasing several homing plasma blobs when destroyed. Thus, it is a viable tactic to shoot the missile at a surface and let the homing blobs hit the target instead.
44	* ExactTimeToFailure: The countdown timer, upon reaching zero, instantly cuts you to the GameOver screen.
45	* FlashOfPain: Auto-ops will flash red when they take damage, and their lights will blink and flicker in response. Reactors, power generators, and other destructible objects flash yellow when hit.
46	* GameBreakingBug: The initial release tended to have doors that would get stuck, especially when saving or loading or when trying to make it to the exit of the level [[spoiler:in level 11 (Tethys Lab), where the wide door in particular caused problems]].
47	* GameMod: An official level editor is in the works.
48	* IdiosyncraticDifficultyLevels: Imported from Descent: Trainee, Rookie, Hotshot, Ace, and Insane, and a new difficulty level, [[spoiler:Insane+]].
49	* InsaneTrollLogic: The shield generators that unlock secret doors or open force fields when destroyed [[spoiler:actually '''lock''' a secret door in level 11, more precisely the entrance to the fourth secret level, which is unlocked by default.]]
50	* InvisibleMonsters: Phantom, the (mostly) invisible version of the Scorpion that attacks you by clawing on your ship.
51	* ItsTheOnlyWayToBeSure: The first level explicitly has you killing all the auto-ops to regain control of the facility, making it clear that the megacorp wants you to minimize damage, as they believe that the incident is limited to this one facility. As soon as they realize that it's ''not'', your orders change from KillEmAll to NukeEm, to prevent things from getting more out of control then they already are.
52	* LateToTheTragedy: The facilities you visit have already been attacked by hostile auto-ops, who have killed the majority of the human workers.
53	* LiteralMetaphor: The Time Bomb is both an actual bomb ''and'' slows down time.
54	* LoadBearingBoss: The bosses cause a countdown much like the reactor. A rare justified example, as the Goliath (first boss) is said in the data logs to require so much power they just took the base's reactor and put it inside the boss. The Taurus (second boss) is probably the same deal. [[spoiler:Subverted with the last boss. The level does self-destruct, but not because you killed the boss.]]
55	* MacrossMissileMassacre: Your Missile Pod can fire multiple small unguided missiles simultaneously. Upgrade them to give them tracking capability or fire even more missiles.
56	* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: [[spoiler:Kantor]] killed the construction crew and orchestrated the Enceladus incident to keep the discovery of an alien crash site secret.
57	* MascotMook: The Shredder (formerly and still internally known as Blades) was more or less the poster auto-op prior to the game's release, appearing in most promotional art for the game. Post-release, the Scorpion seems to have succeeded the Shredder in this regard and plays this trope straight on a level equal to the Medium Lifter from ''Descent II''.
58	* MoreDakka:
59	** The Overdrive powerup increases the firing rate of all weapons as well as providing BottomlessMagazines for as long as it is active.
60	** The Driller is the only primary weapon that has two upgrades that increase its fire rate, with the first one being a requirement to unlock the weapon's super upgrades. With both fire rate upgrades and an Overdrive powerup active, the Driller is the fastest-firing weapon in the game.
61	* TheMaze: Many of the levels have labyrinthine layouts.
62	* MechaMooks: All your enemies are robots - [[spoiler:even the alien ones]].
63	* MegaCorp: Juno Offworld Automation. As a more modern example of the trope, Juno Offworld's board of directors, and the entire company by extension, serves as the game's BigGood. [[spoiler:The problem lies with Kantor, who is their CEO.]]
64	* MonsterCloset: Carried over from ''Descent''.
65	* MookMaker: The auto-op fabricators, which create an endless amount of additional auto-ops until destroyed...if they don't happen to be protected by a shield.
66	* MythologyGag:
67	** Kantor and some of the audio logs mention PTMC, the MegaCorp of ''Descent'', by name.
68	** ''Overload'' uses the exact same sound effects used in ''Descent'' to indicate the Invulnerability powerup being picked up and expiring.
69	** The ''Descent'' series took its first game's Medium Lifter as its cover mascot, featuring it prominently on the covers of both ''Descent'' and ''Descent 2''. ''Overload'' continues the tradition with the Medium Lifter's {{Expy}}, the Scorpion.
70	* OneHitPolykill: The Thunderbolt, when upgraded to Thunderbolt+, fires charged shots that can pass through several auto-ops.
71	* OutrunTheFireball: The exit sequence features you flying away from an explosion that is dangerously approaching you.
72	* PaletteSwap: Super auto-ops, which have a red glow compared to the original variants and have more powerful weapons.
73	* PinballProjectile: The Reflex fires plasma orbs that can bounce off walls. Upgrades to it will cause the bolts to bounce back at enemies up to a certain angle away.
74	* PunnyName: The game's sole BullfightBoss is named Taurus.
75	* PurpleIsPowerful: The Thunderbolt and the Lancer have purple-colored bolts and beams. They are the two most powerful weapons in your arsenal. [[spoiler:The alien auto-ops are also all purple and the most difficult opponents you'll face.]]
76	* RammingAlwaysWorks:
77	** Your ship has a ''Smash attack'' that damages enemies by ramming them. It is even stronger when you are invincible.
78	** The Shredder embodies this trope, smashing its two slicer hands together before charging you at high speed while emitting a distinctive screeching noise. If it hits you, it ''will'' hurt.
79	** The various kamikaze drones also ram into the player and detonate their load, in increasingly nuclear ways.
80	* ReactorBoss: On their own, the reactors are completely harmless, with their extremely high hitpoints being their only defense. However, most of the reactors are either protected by a forcefield, surrounded by auto-op fabricators, or flanked by indestructible turrets. The Goliath explicitly one-ups this by being a LoadBearingBoss, as its power source is the reactor, and it is implied that the Taurus also functions on the same principle.
81	* ReassignedToAntarctica: When James Lynch, a formerly close colleague of Kantor, raised some concerns about safety, he was reassigned by Kantor to the outer moons on a much less prestigious job.
82	* TheReveal: You are [[spoiler:Alex Warden]], the individual mentioned a few times in the audio logs. After [[spoiler:passing through the wormhole and Kantor identifies you by name, as well as revealing what he had done,]] this causes you to be SuddenlyVoiced for the pre-mission log that plays in the next level.
83	* ScifiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale: Played with. It's outright stated in the opening cutscene that it takes two years to get to Saturn from the inner planets, and yet has you responding to a distress signal that was only sent a few days ago. This serves as the second clue that [[spoiler:you weren't sent from the inner planets]]. Mostly averted everywhere else - even [[spoiler:FTL teleportation across the universe and back]] takes 16 days.
84	** Averted at one point when [[spoiler:after you go through the alien portal,]] Kantor tells you that you are in a megastructure similar to a DysonSphere, which he claims harnesses the power output of a star, which he lists as "500 trillion trillion watts". Our sun has an output of about 380 trillion trillion (or septillion) watts, meaning such a figure is not at all unreasonable, as the sun is only about medium size as stars go.
85	* SecretLevel: Found via secret portals hidden somewhere in the level.
86	* SelfDestructMechanism: In true ''Descent'' style, each outpost is wired to blow if its power reactor is sufficiently damaged - it's the only way to get rid of the insane auto-ops.
87	* SendInTheSearchTeam: The plot begins with you entering the Ymir base to figure out the cause of the distress signal you received. [[spoiler:Depending on how many survivors you rescued throughout the facilities,]] the plot could also end with you being discovered by a search vessel deployed to explore the ruins of the last destroyed facility.
88	* ShotgunsAreJustBetter: The Crusher fires a cluster of bullets into a small area in front of the ship, doing tremendous damage to anything that gets hit by the entire cluster. The bullets also have no damage falloff, making the Crusher perfectly serviceable as a SpreadShot at medium range. Its similarity to an actual shotgun is even noted in-universe, with one of its engineers calling it a "fancy shotgun" ([[AvertedTrope although not as a compliment]]). The Crusher's base upgrade increases its firing rate, while its super upgrades turn it into one of the more powerful primary weapons in the game, with one upgrade increasing damage, and the other turning it into an automatic weapon.
89	* ShoutOut: The initial release used the afterburner sound from ''VideoGame/RaptorCallOfTheShadows'' to indicate the ''Iberia'' approaching an outpost.
90	* SniperRifle: The Driller is an unusual full-auto variant that fires highly accurate, nearly {{hitscan}} shots. Two of its upgrades mix in MoreDakka without sacrificing accuracy.
91	* SpiritualSuccessor: To ''VideoGame/{{Descent}}''. Many of the people who worked on various installments of that series also worked on ''Overload''.
92	* ThemeNaming: Most of the auto-op names revolve around HighFantasy, like goblin, ogre, harpy, goliath, and golem. [[spoiler:Considering the origins of the sovereigns and the unnatural, almost arcane influence that they have on mechanical and organic beings,]] this is not a coincidence.
93	* SuddenlyVoiced: TheReveal causes your character to record a log into the Kodachi gunship you are flying, using his own voice. This is the ''only'' time in the entire game that your character speaks.
94	* UnnecessarilyCreepyRobot: Basically all of the enemies. Why do mining auto-ops have to look like this?
95	* ViolationOfCommonSense: Using the Smash attack to damage or destroy enemies will give you a small armor boost.
96	* WhereItAllBegan: The first and last levels take place at Ymir Outpost, [[spoiler:before and after an alien infestation.]]
97	* WakeUpCallBoss: The first boss [[spoiler:has two phases, unlike the rest of the bosses that have just one, and even has Devastator missiles for weaponry,]] even if they're fired only rarely.
98	* YouAreTooLate: [[spoiler:Kantor, and later, the AI sovereigns,]] tries to demoralize you by invoking this trope several times while you are exploring [[spoiler:the alien megastructure.]]
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100	->'''''[[LoadingScreen TELEPORTING TO TVTROPES OUTPOST]]'''''

Context VideoGame / Overload