Line #31 VideoGame/PauseAhead


1	%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.
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3	[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pauseahead_5168.png]]
4	[[caption-width-right:250: What an innocent-seeming game!]]
5
6	->''I awake in a dark place.''\
7	''The number '00' is branded on my palm.''\
8	''My thoughts are not on how I arrived,''\
9	''But how I escape.''
10	-->-- ''???''
11
12	A Molyjam inspired platformer from Creator/{{Askiisoft}} seeks to answer the question, "What if the pause button was a weapon?"
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14	An indie platforming game made in 2013 by askiisoft. In this game, you play as a surprisingly adorable humanoid wolf creature who attempts to escape from within a mysterious building.
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16	The game's overall feel and design, like its predecessor ''VideoGame/TowerOfHeaven'', invokes old UsefulNotes/GameBoy games.
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18	Can be played [[https://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/628969 here]] on ''Platform/{{Newgrounds}}'' using the [[https://www.newgrounds.com/flash/player Newgrounds Player]].
19	----
20	!!This game contains examples of:
21
22	* AndYourRewardIsClothes: If you beat it, yes. It's a nice [[spoiler: pair of shades for your wee sprite.]]
23	* {{Bathos}}: After clearing the game once, the dialogue changes to snarky humor, which contrasts amusingly with the dark and hopeless lore you learned about on that first run.
24	* BizarrePuzzleGame: The way the game handles its pause function goes against conventional knowledge of puzzle platformers. Grasping and mastering it is one of the biggest challenges to a new player.
25	* BreakingTheFourthWall: Once you reach level 9, the game's pre-level dialogue can be interpreted to be addressed to the player character... or the player themselves. The same goes for pause messages.
26	* BrutalBonusLevel: [[spoiler:Nihil]], which you can only reach if you find all 3 secrets before reaching the final boss, is absolutely littered with pointy death, and precision pausing is necessary to make any kind of progress.
27	* CoolShades: [[spoiler: Your character starts talking quite differently as a result of his new found swag.]]
28	* DeathIsCheap: Infinite respawns are in effect. [[NintendoHard You're going to need them]].
29	* DoppelgangerAttack: [[spoiler:A double of you appears during the final boss battle; touching it kills you]].
30	%% DoubleMeaning: It really depends on how you interpret each level's opening monologue.
31	* EarnYourBadEnding: Your reward for [[spoiler:finding all three hidden treasures and clearing Nihil]] is [[spoiler:some text on a terminal indicating that the player character has been terminated, and implying that they never lived a real life in the first place]].
32	* HoldTheLine: The final phase of the FinalBoss doesn't involve hitting any switches like the first two. You just have to outlast its attacks (and avoid your "ghost").
33	* HeKnowsAboutTimedHits: For new players of Pause Ahead, if you die more than two times on level 5 (the first instance where you will ''need'' to pause), you will be prompted with ''I remind myself to press [shift] or [C] to pause''.
34	* InformingTheFourthWall: The monologuing from the player character can serve as a vague PlayerNudge or hint at the game's backstory.
35	* LittleBitBeastly: The only indications that the main character isn't human are ears and some of the pause messages. "You have fur."
36	* MadeOfExplodium: You explode when you touch a death trap, be it a set of spikes or a smashing block.
37	* MinimalistCast: There are only three characters in this game: The test subject, [[spoiler:the unknown narrator and the Architect. And it's not clear if the narrator and the Architect are the same person or not.]]
38	* MissionControlIsOffItsMeds: About halfway through the game, another character (who may or may not be the BigBad) takes over the narration, and the pause messages become increasingly pleading, threatening, or plain nonsensical.
39	* MultipleEndings:
40	** The normal ending has you [[spoiler:defeating the Architect and escaping the maze into the outside world. The Architect has no problem with this, as it has a good number of more test subjects to play with]].
41	** The secret ending, which requires unlocking and beating [[spoiler:Nihil]], has you [[spoiler:playing the Architect's game to its horrible conclusion. Not much is really explained, but from the status of "terminated" at the end, it's surmised that the Architect has no more use for you as a test subject. Or perhaps you've become the new Architect. It's a MindScrew of a DownerEnding. All of this made worse by the fact that it is also implied you never lived a real life.]]
42	--->[[spoiler:''To pass into that dark,'']]\
43	[[spoiler:''never having known freedom.'']]\
44	[[spoiler:''Never to laugh, to learn, to love.'']]\
45	[[spoiler:''Is there more tragic a fate?'']]
46	* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: [[spoiler:Nihil, the bonus level, which is Latin for "nothing".]]
47	* NintendoHard: This game features ''many'' hazard-filled corridors that you can only traverse with the TimeStandsStill pausing mechanic. To make matters worse, you can't control your direction while paused, so being stopped within a death trap while paused equals death.
48	* NoFourthWall: If [[spoiler:you're wearing the sunglasses]], both the player character and the other character will make frequent references to the fact that this is a video game.
49	* NoNameGiven: The protagonist you play has no name given. There is also the question of 'who' exactly may be talking to you...
50	* OffWithHisHead: Twice! [[spoiler: You have to sacrifice yourself to two guillotines at the bottom of Nihil to clear it.]] [[BloodlessCarnage The death animation is the same explosion as always]], but the imagery manages to be unmistakable regardless.
51	* OneHitPointWonder: Contact with a spike or saw or evilly grinning blocks will end you quite explosively.
52	* PauseScumming: The game is built around abuse of its pause function. However, it handles pausing in an unconventional way -- you are invincible and maintain your momentum while paused, allowing you to travel to places you can't reach normally.
53	* PlatformHell: Past the first few levels, the level design starts to get absurd as it presents hazards everywhere, reduces the amount of safe footing, lines entire corridors with SpikesOfDoom, and tightens the time limit to mere seconds. These would be outright impossible to complete without abuse of the Pause function.
54	* ProductionForeshadowing: At one point, the pause screen mentions [[SignificantAnagram anagrams]]. What's one of the words that appears when you pause? [[Videogame/PoliceTeamKazuo Ozuak.]]
55	* RaceAgainstTheClock: Every level is this to some degree, but the later levels, requiring you to finish the level in 1 second, require liberal use of the pause button to make it through alive.
56	* SequentialBoss: The Architect battle has three major phases.
57	* ShoutOut:
58	** To ''Videogame/TowerOfHeaven''; one of the later levels is a near-exact copy. [[spoiler:Including a secret if you go past the door and all the way to the left edge.]] Some of the pause texts include its ArcWords "May Heaven," "Grant you fortune".
59	** The game's description on [[https://askiisoft.com/games/pause-ahead/ the original site]] reads "Pause Ahead is a jumping-and-pausing action game. Pause through the caves until you reach the ending", which is a close match to [[VideoGame/CaveStory a similar game]]'s description.
60	** In the BonusLevelOfHell, the pause texts "Sanctuary," "Did you Know," "The witch woman," and "Once Had A Brother" reference the spike-filled bonus level of the same game.
61	** Also in the BonusLevelOfHell: [[VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou "You Have 7 Days."]]
62	** Another pause text reads "[[VideoGame/{{Pokemon}} Missing Number]]"
63	** "[[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders World]]" might count, given how the Pause button [[TimeStandsStill works]] in this game.
64	* SillinessSwitch: [[spoiler:The sunglasses you get for clearing Nihil]] change all the dialogue from surreal horror to snarky humor.
65	* StopPokingMe: Fail to pass level 5 repeatedly and the PlayerNudge gets more and more annoyed, culminating in the frustrated player character declaring "I consider pressing [ESC] to quit the game."
66	* TimeStandsStill: How the Pause mechanic works in-universe. You only see what that would look like during the replays at the end of each level or during the boss battle, where a digital copy of you follows you around and mimics your exact moves.
67	* TimedMission: Every level provides a short time limit to finish; you die if it lapses. Some are as tight as ''one second''.
68	* VillainousBreakdown: The pre-level monologues after level 9 attempt to talk the player character (or maybe the player themselves) into giving up. As the player progresses, it gets more desperate, sometimes outright begging them to cease.
69	* XanatosGambit: Both endings suggest that, despite your apparent triumph, your actions have been AllAccordingToPlan.

Context VideoGame / PauseAhead