Video Game / God Eater

Gods will fall. Humanity will rise.

"Defy all Gods"

The official tagline of the franchise

God Eater is a series of Action RPGs published by Bandai Namco (the first two games and their Updated Rereleases being developed by Shift, with Marvelous First Studio taking over for 3 as Shift was busy with Code Vein in the interim), setting itself as a rival game franchise to Capcom's popular Monster Hunter franchise, as well as the Trope Codifier of the Hunting RPG subset of the Action RPG genre.

Set in a post-apocalyptic far-future world devastated by the Aragami, bizarre monsters made from microscopic Oracle Cells that can devour almost anything and take on its properties, humanity has been pushed to the brink of extinction. Mankind's last hope rests upon the shoulders of the God Eaters, Fenrir Corporation's artificially-modified half-Aragami soldiers with enhanced strength, resilience, stamina and the means to fight back using God Arcs, bio-mechanical hybrid weapons made from the same Oracle Cells that make up the Aragami's very biology.

Contributing to the longevity of the franchise is that God Eater differentiating itself from Monster Hunter through its fast-paced anime-styled combat, a wide cast of characters and an overarching plot, which in itself is not your typical "fight the monsters, save the world" story involving a Creature-Hunter Organization (though certainly, you end up doing a fair amount of that, too). The franchise explores the bleakness of surviving a Forever War against the race of Eldritch Abomination in a post-apocalyptic Earth, tackling themes such as humanity's struggles to survive in spite of the world's current state, what mankind is willing to die for in order to save the lives of many, how does our morality define us in the face of extinction, and most prominently, what it really means to be human. Its popularity has also led to various adaptations and Spin Offs in anime, manga, and light novels.

All God Eater videogames:

• God Eater (2010): The first game in the series, released for the PlayStation Portable. It follows the protagonist and the Retaliation Unit ^note more popularly known as simply "the First Unit" of the Fenrir Far East Branch as they not only fight against the Aragami, but also uncover a sinister plot to repopulate the Earth through a dreaded event called "The Devouring Apocalypse".
  • God Eater Burst^note Gods Eater Burst in the North America and Europe release (2010/2011): The first Updated Re-release title, released for the PlayStation Portable. In addition of expanding most of the original game's mechanics, the game also includes an additional storyline continuing the ongoing search for Lindow Amamiya, as well as the appearance of the mysterious Ren.
  • God Eater Resurrection (2015/2016): An HD remastered Updated Re-release of God Eater Burst, originally released for the Play Station Vita and PlayStation 4 (and is, in essence, the original GE rebuilt in the Rage Burst engine). The original mechanics from the second game were tweaked to include the new feature called "Predator Style", as well to include many of the features from Rage Burst and a new story arc that connects between the events of God Eater Burst and God Eater 2. The international release contains an updated and revised localization, as well as a brand-new English dub in accordance.
• God Eater 2 (2013): A sequel to the first game released for both the PlayStation Portable and PlayStation Vita. The sequel centers on the Blood Unit, an elite group of God Eaters, as well as a new protagonist, on board a moving mobile base sent to investigate the rapidly-spreading outbreak known as the Black Plague. This is the first game to feature three new weapon types: the Boost Hammer, the Charge Spear and the Shotgun.
  • God Eater 2: Rage Burst (2015/2016): The second Updated Re-release title, originally released for the PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 4. Like God Eater Burst, the game tweaked most of the mechanics from God Eater 2, and also includes a new storyline featuring a new God Eater named Livie Colette. This is the first game to introduce the Variant Scythe.
• God Eater 3 (2018/2019): A Darker and Edgier third main entry in the franchise for PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC. It introduces the Adaptive God Eaters (A.G.E.s for short) a new type which can survive in the Ashlands, an ever-spreading desert that turns everything it touches to ash. A new type of Aragami, the Ashborn, can enter Burst mode just like the God Eaters, and new weapons are available: the Biting Edge, the Heavy Moon, and the Raygun, the latter replaces one of the four Gun types in the game.

On December 21st, 2015, both God Eater 2: Rage Burst and God Eater Resurrection, were announced for an overseas release on PlayStation 4, Play Station Vita, and Steam. See the commentary video here.

Soma, Alisa, and Lindow also show up in Project × Zone. The sequel, Project X Zone 2, featured Ciel Alencon and Nana Kozuki, with Alisa returning as an assist character.

Aside from the games, various other media were released to either promote the game, or expanding the franchise's established universe.

List of various media tied with the games:

Anime/Other Games

• God Eater Prologue: A 12-minute ONA promoting the first game. It centers on 11-year-old Soma Schicksal's first mission as a God Eater.
• God Eater (Anime): A partially-canonical 13-episode anime by Ufotable released on 2015. Taking a slightly different approach in adapting the first half of the original game, it introduces Lenka Utsugi, an anime-only stand-in protagonist for the game's player protagonist.
• God Eater Mobile: A free-to-play mobile game developed by Mobage-town.
• Pachi-Slot God Eater: A slot-machine game based on the first game by Yamasa.
• invokedGod Eater Offshot: A photography-based spin-off of God Eater Resurrection, released in November 2015 only in Japan.
• God Eater Online: The MMO Smartphone Game announced from Tokyo Game Show 2016, released in February 2017. The game takes place in the year 2075, and follows a new protagonist, a member of Cradle stationed to the Himalayan Branch. The game concluded service on the 29th of September, 2018. The main cast eventually make their return to God Eater Resonant Ops in June 2019.
• Pachi-Slot God Eater 2: A sequel to Yamasa's Pachi-Slot God Eater, based on God Eater 2.
• God Eater: Resonant Ops: A turn-based mobile game for the iOS and Android devices released in April 2018. Taking place in 2078, the protagonist is a rookie God Eater, who along with their allies, will take part in a large-scale operation at Fenrir Headquarters. The plot of GEREO is meant to help bridge the gap between Rage Burst and GE3, but isn't required to understand the story of 3. After two seasons, the service was terminated on the 24th of September, 2020.

• Code Vein: A Spiritual Successor, of sorts, to the God Eater franchise developed by the series' original developers, Shift; the game mixes in Dark Souls-esque difficulty and design style with the incredible customization and freedom of play that is the hallmark of the God Eater games.

Light Novel

• God Eater: Days of Ruins: A light novel that covers Soma's past.
• God Eater: Those Who Break Taboo: A light novel that covers the protagonist Geese Crimson, and the special group Asasoru.
• God Eater: Alisa in Underworld: A light novel that covers Alisa's past.
• God Eater: Knockin' on Heaven's Door: A light novel based on the canonical protagonist of God Eater, Yuu Kannagi.
• God Eater 2: Moonlight Mile: A novel telling the story of the events before God Eater 2 from Soma's point of view.

Manga

• God Eater: Comic Anthology series: A Self-Parody manga series based on God Eater and God Eater 2. Unlike every other manga adaptations, the Comic Anthology series does not acknowledge the default male protagonist's Canon Name.
• God Eater: The Spiral Fate: A non-canon manga that offers an alternate reality to the main continuity of the God Eater series, it introduces Ryo Kagami, a manga-only stand-in protagonist for the game's player.
• God Eater: Return of the Messiah: An ambiguously-canon manga takes place in year 2072, revolving on the struggles of a group of God Eaters on the Fenrir America Branch, as well as the road to vengeance of a God Eater named Silva Orcride. Two of the main characters, Mizuki and Rosette makes their cameo appearance in -the 2nd break- manga.
• God Eater: The Summer Wars: A Fanservice-filled manga. Alisa and Yuu are dispatched to Aegis Island on a protection mission.
• God Eater -the 2nd break-: A manga focuses on events concerning Alisa, Soma, and Kota before and during the story of God Eater 2. The manga also features a story crossover connection with God Eater: Those Who Break Taboo by including Marguerite Claverie in the first few story arcs, as well as the cameo appearance of Hiro Kamui and the Blood Unit from God Eater 2.
• God Eater 2: Undercover: An interlude manga sets before the events of God Eater 2, following Yuu and Lindow in their secret mission.
• invokedGod Eater 2 (Manga): An on-going manga adaptation of God Eater 2 that focuses on Hiro Kamui and the Blood Unit.
• God Eater ~side by side~: A manga takes place in year 2068 and centers on Tatsumi O'Mori as a main protagonist and the former 2nd Unit leader, Marco Donath.
• God Eater 2: Anagura Recipe: A comical Slice of Life manga about the Blood Unit and the God Eaters of the Far East Branch competing against each other regarding... well, food and desserts. Hilarity Ensues.
• Chibi God Eater: A Spin-Off Babies manga series retelling the events of God Eater 2 in a light-hearted comical manner, featuring cute, super-deformed versions of the characters.
  • The third volume retells the story of the anime, featuring the First Unit and Lenka Utsugi as chibified versions of themselves.

Has an official wiki here!

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WARNING: The following tropes in this page contains a heapful amount of spoilers, most of which are been left unmarked! Read at your own risk!

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TROPES, COMMENCING MISSION!:

• Ability Depletion Penalty: Running out of stamina (most commonly by running or dashing too much) will leave you immobilized for a few seconds while you catch your breath and your stamina refills.
• After the End: Planetary near-total extinction. The game starts out after the Aragami have eaten most of the planet. They make up the entire biosphere at this point, and the tiny remnant of humanity is almost all that's left of native Earth life. Landmasses are now little more than desert. And Fenrir's scientists believe that an even worse apocalypse is on the way: the Devouring Apocalypse, where the Aragami density reaches a critical mass and a single massive Aragami comes out on top of the food chain, consuming and consuming all the others until the face of the Earth is literally wiped clean of anything and everything but this one super-lifeform. Life will then be 're-distributed'.
  • The state of the world in God Eater 3 has become much worse than the hypothetical Devouring Apocalypse with the appearances of the Ash Aragami, as well as the sudden expansion of the Ashlands via the Ash Storms due to the existence of the Ashblight. Unlike the Devouring Apocalypse, this was entirely man-made, accidental even.
• The All-Seeing A.I.: A minor example that works in your favor. Many Aragami have area attacks, and sometimes it's hard to tell apart the preparations for those attacks from a less wide one — if that is even possible; AI characters not currently performing their own attacks, however, will run towards a safe area (if it's possible for them, they block if it isn't) a second or two before the enemy even begins the motions of the attack. Keeping an eye on the mini-map and listening carefully can provide a human player with a small forewarning. It's even justifiable to an extent; the Aragami's Database Entries usually include hints on what attacks they might be capable of using, so your NPC friends may have actually done their research on the monsters before setting off.
• All Your Powers Combined:
  • When you devour an Aragami, you gain their attacks as bullets and have the option to use it against them. You have the option of shooting it at your teammates instead, granting them an even more powerful Link Burst Mode and a stronger Aragami Bullet, with both can be charged up to three levels.
  • In the climax of Rage Burst, all the members of Blood unite their Blood Powers to counteract the Devouring Apocalypse in the Spiral Tree by channeling their powers and the player's Blood Rage onto Romeo's God Arc, resulting in a massive explosion of light....
  • The Engage mechanic in God Eater 3 embodies the trope, allowing AGEs and even regular God Eaters to empower and even benefitting each other in combat, only growing stronger the more their bonds strengthens to the point of the reducing the threat imposed by the Ashblight.
• Alternate Company Equivalent: All of the melee weapons have one towards another in the Monster Hunter series:
  • The Short Blade is one for the Sword and Shield, both being, well, short swords that are Jack of All Stats.
  • The Long Blade towards the Long Sword, both being katana-style weapons with a riposte, and sacrificing speed for more power and range.
  • The Buster Blade, like the Great Sword, is an even bigger sword that has huge power, but not particularly good speed, and has a charge attack that does more damage.
  • The Boost Hammer is a full striking weapon that hits surprisingly fast, but has less defense options, like the Hammer in MH.
  • The Charge Spear is similar to the Lance and Gunlance, being mainly thrusting attacks that do more damage countering.
  • The Variant Scythe is the closest equivalent to the Switch Axe, but inverts the stances, the default having shorter range, but decent speed, while the transformed mode has superior range.
  • The Biting Edge are dual short swords that combine for a faster weapon speed at the cost of stamina drainage. Unlike the Dual Blades, however, the Biting Edge turns into a double edged glaive, making it also an equivalent to the Insect Glaive.
  • The Heavy Moon, like the Charge Blade, has a second axe form with a power discharge finisher.
• And Your Reward Is Clothes: While outfits aren't given out as actual quest rewards, new ones can be bought/crafted using materials found on missions.
• Arcology: The Den and presumably most of the other main branches of Fenrir are this. Each was built to be self-sustaining and capable of surviving even if cut off from all the others.
• Arc Words: Given how the characters referring to the Aragami as "gods", expect this word to come up a lot.
  • Expect at least a named character to use the phrase "Don't run away from living!" once per game.
• Armor Is Useless: The clothes you can create have no effect on gameplay outside of aesthetics, which can be kinda jarring when you consider that samurai armor gives you no more protection than a swimsuit. Handwaved in that anything not manufactured with Bias Factor (the same substance that makes people into God Eaters and what controls the Aragami's appetite) is basically edible tissue paper to an Aragami - that samurai armor is exactly as durable as a swimsuit to the all-devouring giant monsters. God Eaters' defensive attribute is accounted for their shield regardless of how he or she is dressed. So one who goes in battle in just bikini or beach shorts but having a strong tower shield will last longer than one who goes with full combat attire but with weak buckler.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Some of the Aragami. A notable example would be the Ouroboros: the Database describes it to be as big as a mountain, and when you see it, you'll find that they weren't exaggerating. And that's not accounting its appearance in the anime, in which the "as big as a mountain" statement is not a mere metaphor.
  • Exaggerated in God Eater 3 with the Rogue Odin and the Fallen Odin, both being even bigger than the aforementioned Ouroboros.
• Badass Adorable: Plenty to choose from. The most notable of which were:
  • The original God Eater has Shio, the resident Hunter of His Own Kind which took form of a little girl who can create her own God Arc using her own body.
  • God Eater 2 Rage Burst's Nana Kouzoki is one heck of a Cute Bruiser with a Boost Hammer, as shown by her huge appetite for arm-sized sandwiches and her maxed-out HP.
    • Also from God Eater 2 Rage Burst, there's Erina der Vogelweid, the Charge Spear-wielding younger sister of the late Eric der Vogelweid, who became the youngest God Eater to date at age 8.
  • God Eater 3, on the other hand, gives us Phym, the most adorable child-like Heavy Moon-wielding Humanoid Aragami, who is also both a Lightning Bruiser and Combat Medic rolled into one.
• BFG: A central part of the God Eater's arsenal. Sniper and Raygun gun parts are around the character's height, the Assault guns have cannons large enough to fit a head, and Blast guns are even wider.
• BFS: Short blades are larger than old-fashioned claymores, the basic Long blades is easily the size of an ironing board, and Buster blades are half as wide and much thicker.
• Bifurcated Weapon: The Biting Edge consists of two smaller God Arcs which can be combined into a dual-ended glaive.
• Bizarre Alien Biology: The Aragami are actually clusters of single-celled organisms that can consume just about anything, as well as have the ability to take on the traits of the things they eat. The only reason there's still a breathable atmosphere in the world is because some Aragami learned to photosynthesize, possibly by devouring nearly all plant life. And then there's the Humanoid Aragami, a rare type that were more human than Aragami in more ways than one.
• Camera Lock-On
• Camera Centering
• Cataclysm Backstory: The first Devouring Apocalypse where Oracle Cells spreads on the planet and spawn Aragamis to bring ruin on human civilization.
• Chainsaw Good:
  • You have Blaze, Freeze, Spark, and Divine-elemental chainsaws to put in place of a normal BFS, with Lindow's model being a dual-element blade. In the first two games, they recover more OP per hit than normal but has the 'Noisy' skill, making Aragami more likely to hear you coming.
  • The Heavy Moon weapon type can turn into a sawblade when performing the Raging Moon attack.
• Central Theme: The franchise is known for pulling off several of these.
  • How far are you willing to go to save the last of the human race? This usually come into play whatever a character undergoes an important moral dilemma over what they should do for the sake of others, even if it means going for some drastic measures to achieve it. Examples of this includes Director Schicksal's Ark Project and Port Gleipnir's Commander Abraham's Plan Odin.
  • How deep can your morality sink in the name of survival? The conflict between Port Gleipnir and Crimson Queen in 3 is one such example.
  • What does it mean to be human? This is mostly shown with the existence of the Humanoid Aragami, a rare type of Aragami with a human form and mentality, who were befriended and humanized by the heroes, with Shio and Phym being best examples of this.
  • What defines our humanity? One of the main aspects of the franchise revolves on how does humanity actually reacts to The End of the World as We Know It, as shown in-game where despite humanity is still on their self-destructive habits, they will always pull through when push come to shove.
• Character Customization: The player can select the character's name, alias, gender, hair style/color, facial structure, skin tone, clothing and in-combat voice set. The hair style/color and clothing can be customized after creation. God Eater 2 and God Eater 3 gives you more freedom with the hair and skincolors, but doesn't let you choose an outfit at start. Of course, the new uniform is improbably cool.
• Charged Attack:
  • Buster Blades have the Charge Crush, a single, devastating blow with all the user's might (and a bit of Stamina). It charges faster when in Burst Mode.
  • Charge Spears have the Charge Glide, a rapid thrusting attack. Unlike other charged attacks, the user can still move around while charging it, and jump to execute the move in midair.
  • Boost Hammers have the Boost Ignition, which activates the rocket thrusters in the hammer's back. This can lead into a few different attacks: Boost Rush, a repeating barrage of blows; Boost Drive, a quick swing that vaults the user forward; and Boost Impact, which brings the hammer down in a mighty slam. The longer it's charged, the faster these attacks become at the cost of stamina.
  • Heavy Moons have Raging Moon, which revs up the blade of the weapon in axe form, essentially turning it into a chainsaw. Mashing the attack button while the blade's in contact with an Aragami extends the attack's duration significantly.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: The Bullet Outlines for the icons come in the following colors (and applies to some Blades, Guns and Shields): Red for Blaze, Blue for Freeze, Yellow for Shock, Purple for Divine and (only applies to Bullets), Green for Recovery bullets. Status-based shots (as well as mixed elements) are Colorless.
• Color-Coded Item Tiers: Items are tiered by "Rank" and icon colors/icon background. Ranks 1 and 2 use the default font color and background, 3 and 4 uses Purple icons, 5 and 6 uses Red, 7 and 8 uses Teal, 9 uses White and 10 uses white with a special background.
  • God Eater 2 has Green (Ranks 1 and 2), Purple (3 and 4), Blue (5), Yellow (6), Red (7 and 8) and White (9 and 10)
• Combat Resuscitation: Defeated God Eaters must be revived via Link-Aid. This involves another character sharing a portion of their own health to heal their fallen comrade. There is a timer counting down during this, and if it reaches zero, or the whole team gets incapacitated at the same time, the character is sent back to the spawn point and revived with full health, at the cost of at least 5-10 Endurance Points. Running out of all Endurance Points results in a failed mission.
• Convection, Schmonvection: Justified. The first time the lava-filled Infernal Subway area is visited, Sakuya explains that Oracle Cells enable God Eaters' bodies to adapt to extreme temperatures and a normal human would have gone up in flames by now. However, certain mission states that Fallen Freeze Aragamis feels stressed on that place's heat that they go berserk.
• Crafted from Animals: Some of God Arc parts can be crafted using materials extracted from a certain Aragami species and the result product resembles the said Aragami. Examples are the long blade, assault gun and shield parts made from Ogretail materials which do look like an Ogretail.
• Crapsack World: Humanity has been pushed to near-extinction by the Aragami, and the one organization capable of fighting them may not be telling the entire truth of the matter. However, people are still mostly good on an individual basis, despite the fact that riots and rebellions are very commonly seen throughout.
• Cutscene Power to the Max: It may take you several minutes to take down some of the bigger Aragami, but cutscenes will sometimes shows characters taking down several of them easily.
• Creature-Hunter Organization: The whole Fenrir Corporation, particularly the First Unit, and Blood Unit and the Hounds are this, since they specialize in fighting Aragami.
• Damage Discrimination: A God Eater's melee attacks can't hurt their allies. Their ranged attacks will cause allies to be briefly staggered, but won't actually damage their health.
• Damage Typing: Physical damage on Aragami comes with five types: Melee (Slash/Sunder, Crush, Pierce) and Gun (Crush, Pierce), which effectiveness varies on Aragami and its part that got hit. Elemental damage (Blaze, Freeze, Spark, Divine) provides additional damage on Aragami weak on a specific element.
• Death-Activated Superpower: More like incapacitation than actual death, skills such as "Wrath of Revenge", "Friendship" and "Dearest" works this way. "Wrath of Revenge" gives the user Burst status when an ally nearby is incapacitated, while "Friendship" and "Dearest" gives Link Burst status to allies of same and opposite gender respectively if the user is incapacitated.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: The game has four people at the most, wielding improbably-large Morph Weapon, kicking the ever-loving rump out of extinction-level monsters at least the size of a large hill. On a daily basis.
• Difficulty Levels: Like all hunting games, missions in later ranks are harder and so technically fall into this trope. Some Aragami even get new moves in the later ranks. The ranks go up to 10 in the first game and God Eater 2, but God Eater 2 Rage Burst caps out at 15.
  • Complete the one and only story mission in Difficulty 15, and you unlock the option to set mission difficulty. Found the Difficulty 15 missions hard? That was just level 1 out of 99. Raising the difficulty not only raises the enemies' stats, but makes certain tricks (Stagger Locking and Down Locking) harder, or even outright impossible due to the increased threshold the player must pass in order to knock them down in the first place.
• Disk One Nuke: Resurrection adds two cameos from Rage Burst to the list of AI partners. While they aren't any more powerful by themselves, they're both New Types and lack Alisa's negative skills, meaning they're more than happy to share Aragami bullets and give you level two and three boosts long before the game expects you to have them.
• Ditto Fighter: Thanks for their customizability, the protagonists can duplicate certain NPC's God Arcs and they can even match them with the appearance of said NPC of same gender, although 2's female protagonist can also duplicate Julius.
• Double Weapon: In Glaive Mode, the Biting Edge is a glaive with blades on both ends.
• Downer Beginning: According to the developers; In God Eater 3, the Far-East Fenrir Branch was decimated sometime after the events of Rage Burst by a new Aragami threat and the surviving God Eaters have become drifters attempting to survive in the wild.
• Downer Ending: Regardless of your accomplishments, nothing you do will ultimately matter. One way or another, the Devouring Apocalypse will happen and humanity will die out, and there is literally nothing that can stop this. At best, all anyone can hope to do is delay the inevitable, making all of your accomplishments ultimately pointless in the long run. There is literally no hope for mankind. One way or another, the Aragami will win unless a miracle happens.
  • The third game provides that miracle. It's not an ideal solution, but it's better than an apocalypse or Forever War.
• Eldritch Abomination: Most of the Aragami. Especially one of the DLC monsters, Venus, who's an amalgamation of many other Aragami into one lovely piece of melting flesh. Could also count Lindow's transformation into a Corrosive Hannibal.
  • Director Schicksal makes himself into an abomination to begin the Devouring Apocalypse. It's called the Arda Nova.
  • God Eater 2 did it again by turning Julius into the final boss, the World Opener.
  • Another one in Rage Burst when Rachel, having absorbed into the Spiral Tree and gained Aragami-like powers, transforms herself into the World Closer.
• Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: Blaze (Fire), Freeze (Ice), Shock (Lightning), and Divine (Holy) that act as modifiers to non-elemental physical attack properties. Divine quickly overshadows the others later on in the game.
• Emote Command: The D-pad and shoulder buttons allow the player to do several actions within the Fenrir Base, ranging from clapping to a Twisted-Knee Collapse to a bow to... that famous dance.
• Empathic Weapon: The God Arcs are a special case in that they are essentially weapon shaped Aragami with the same Oracle Cells as their wielders. This has a very unfortunate side-effect: If anyone but their wielder so much as touches them, they get either devoured or, in the worst-case scenario, turned into an Aragami that can only be killed with their own Arcs. And then comes Ren, the physical manifestation of Lindow's own God Arc, come alive for the sole purpose of making sure the protagonist gets to bring Lindow back home.
• The Empire: The Fenrir Corporation has shades of this. They are the dominant power in the world since they are the only ones who can fight the Aragami, but they can force anyone they want to undergo the eligibility test to become a God Eater. Additionally, Fenrir bases (the safest places in the world at the moment) can only sustain so many people, so those not rich/affluent/directly useful enough are forced to live in the Outer Ghetto.
• Equipment Upgrade: All non-clothing equipment is subject to Elemental Crafting. In order to make the upgrade for a given piece of equipment available you must have the materials needed to craft it.
• Excuse Plot: Averted, each game has its own storyline with well-developed characters. The plot and Worldbuilding are popular enough the series has several adaptations and stories in other media. This is largely accepted to be what gave the franchise so much staying power compared to most Monster Hunter knockoffs.
• Expy:
  • Hannibal is often stated to be "Nargacuga 2.0"". They have similar body shape, tail whip attacks, and are very fast.
  • The Kongou is similar to both the Congalala and Blagonga from the same franchise, even sharing their shockwave bodyslam move.
  • The Chrome Gawain might as well be Gore Magala's cousin.
  • The Anubis is basically God Eater 3's equivalent to the Nergigante, in terms of ferocity and power.
  • The Dromi might as well be one towards Deviljho, especially for being aggressive and very relentless in its appetite for AGEs.
• Extreme Omnivore: The Aragami have eaten much of what used to exist on Earth, including rather large chunks of the buildings and even their own kind.
• Face-Design Shield: There are some shields that are this, like the Borg Camlann's one (which you get in tower shield form); the (tower) shield made from Ouroboros pieces is the face of the Ouroboros itself, as is the Susano'o-based shield. It's more likely that your shield will end up being an Aragami's 'hat', crown, or back, however.
• Fanservice: Very much present throughout the franchise and it definitely shows. Much of the cast seems to have fallen into either a Ms. Fanservice with an ample chest (complete with a Form-Fitting Wardrobe or Stripperific outfit) or a Bishōnen Mr. Fanservice, with Badass Adorable and Tag Along Kid often falls somewhere in between.
• Failure Is the Only Option: The goal of Fenrir and the God Eaters in general is to create a safe haven secure against the Aragami. In case you haven't played the first game through yet, well, there are sequels, so make of that what you will. Alisa's narration in -the 2nd break- even underscores the hopelessness of making a meaningful change in the face of such a permanently twisted world.
  "Nothing has changed, has it...? Even though three years have passed, our living circumstances haven't changed. We are still somehow surviving in this city, surrounded by armor to defend against the Aragami. We 'God Eaters' still risk our lives in battle, and everyone still lives each day in fear. Nothing has changed at all."
  • The sequel introduces the Red Rain, which causes all who get drenched in it to contract the fatal Black Spider Disease which is eventually revealed to be a natural mechanism meant to create a new Singularity that activated because the original one (Shio) left Earth, lending even more support to the theory that the Aragami are part of a natural cycle of destruction and rebirth of the Earth. It certainly seems pretty hopeless when Mother Nature itself is your enemy.
  • Rage Burst ends on a semi-hopeful note, with one instance of the Devouring Apocalypse... Not exactly negated, but allowed to happen at a glacially slow pace originating from a single area, creating a small sanctuary where the Aragami cannot function, as the Apocalypse shuts down Oracle Cells as they're no longer needed when it's done.
  • The third game finally ends with a definitive success. It's not the end of all conflict, but humanity is no longer staring down the barrel of extinction every day.
• Fantastic Ghetto: The Outer Ghetto.
• Fire, Ice, Lightning: Three of the four type of bullets available to you, the other type being Divine.
• Fun with Acronyms: A real-world example when it comes to God Eater Resonant Ops. Logically, you'd abbreviate that as GERO, right? Well, Namco insists on calling it "GEREO" (or sometimes "GEReO"), because げろ, gero, is an actual noun in Japanese. The typically accepted translation of this noun? Vomit. (This has not stopped the JP fandom from making jokes, especially those less fond of the mobile entries.)
• Gameplay and Story Integration:
  • In Kanon's database profile, as well as a few conversations with her, it's mentioned that she's notorious for friendly fire, to the point where her squad members flee when she attempts to shoot a recovery bullet. Much to the consternation of those who wish to use a medic when Sakuya isn't around, this is not just character fluff. Her AI is programmed to shoot even when you're in her line of fire. And then to admonish you for being in her line of fire. On the plus side, this actually saves you from death on occassions when an Aragami is about to unleash a killing blow.
  • A more subtle example can be found in Kota: shortly after arriving, Alisa disparagingly notes that he wastes too much of his health when he performs a Link Aid. In gameplay, most characters will usually only give about half of their health to revive you, but Kota can often be seen using up a lot more, showing that what Alisa said was true. In game terms, this means Kota has the "Self-Sacrifice" trait, which you can also get from some gear.
  • Alisa also notes that Kota deals strong attacks but doesn't pace himself, meaning he runs through his entire OP gauge in a matter of seconds. This is noted in his final profile sheet, which mentions that he fights well with New-Type God Eaters, since New-Types can place him in Burst mode. On the bright side, at least he can aim.
  • Karel's attitude of being self-serving and Shun's reluctance to help others also fit in this trope in their own subtle ways; like the Kota example above, most characters usually give you half their health to revive you. These two only give a fourth of their health, meaning they have the "Defensive" trait. In God Eater 2 1.40, which comes with Another Episode (the only way to get these two back in your roster), the obvious risks that come with this can be outweighed if you're willing to put up with them for hundreds of missions — levelling them up makes their Link-Aid heal more for very little, which will make them excellent Link-Aid batteries in a pinch.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation:
  • Cutscenes imply that it is actually possible for a God Eater to kill other people with both their melee and ranged attacks. Thankfully, friendly fire only staggers you and your party members without doing any damage, while melee attacks do absolutely nothing to anything other than Aragami during missions.
  • Old-Type gunners are supposed to lack shields, but the chassis of their God Arcs still include visible shield components.
• Gargle Blaster: The First Love Juice. Tastes sweet and bitter, like a first love.
• Gendered Outfit: Several clothes, mostly school uniforms and military uniforms for female avatar.
• Goofy Suit: Animal suits, as well as Pretty Kelot and Cute Kelolun are available for your character to wear. Kigurumi, a party member introduced in 2, wears a bunny mascot costume.
• Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: The male Old-Types tend to have melee God Arcs, while females have guns. Lindow and Sakuya are well-known examples. Haruomi and Kate also count before they become New-Types.
• Healing Shiv:
  • You can create healing bullets and shoot them at your friends or NPC allies, sometimes to ludicrously broken levels.
  • In an unusual twist, you also have a Super Mode Shiv. Shoot the Aragami bullets that you bit off of your enemies at your teammates instead, and they get the powerful Link-Burst, gaining up to three (stackable) levels of massive stats boosts and an even more powerful version of the attack you fired at them. They can do the same to you, and if you've equipped a control unit that regenerates health while in Burst mode, you can combine healing and Super Mode... through the power of being shot.
• Head-in-the-Sand Management: The higher-ups in Fenrir at many times are told, and sometimes even directly shown, to be this. They are all aware of the Aragami threat but, even in the post apocalypse world, are too centered on their own political stature to provide the already desperate survivors much needed aid and act as Obstructive Bureaucrats to Fenrir themselves. Because of this there is a bit of rift between Fenrir and those of the Outer Ghettos and nearly allowed The End of the World as We Know It to trigger twice.
• Hoist by His Own Petard:
  • Divine becomes the Infinity +1 Element in the game because similar to Monster Hunter and its Dragon Element, several monsters are weak to their own usage of Divine. For players who don't have decent divine weapons, devouring monsters and using their own attacks against them quickly becomes a strategy.
  • Goes full circle in Rage Burst with the Arc Aberrants: Aragami that have been fused with God Arcs, allowing them to use not only those God Arcs for attacks but a few even have access to Blood Powers based of a member of the Blood Unit represented by its weapons.
• Holy Hand Grenade: One of the bullet types available to you to use at the start. Specifically, the "kamui::mortar" bullet, which explodes with Divine damage upon impact.
• Humongous-Headed Hammer: Alongside the BFGs they wield, God Eaters have a variety of options for oversized melee weapons, including very, very big hammers. In God Eater, they were classified as Buster Blades due to Early-Installment Weirdness, but God Eater 2 introduces a new melee type called the Boost Hammer, which combines the hammer with a jet engine to increase its power when swung. Boost Hammers tend to have a head about half as tall as your character and just as wide.
• Hong Kong Dub: A lot more noticeable during the Burst storyline, where the camera starts focusing a lot more on the characters' faces during cutscenes.
• Hungry Menace: Flipped on its head. It's the God Eaters who come off this way, making comments that suggest they feel their symbiotic weapon's satisfaction in devouring Aragami, and its hunger for more. Downplayed, in that they have complete control of the ability.
  • God Eater 3 has Dromi, an Ashborn whose unyielding appetite for AGEs earned it the nickname "AGE Hunter".
• Hunk:
  • Although it has a Cast Full of Pretty Boys, there are also a few hunks in the series such as Lindow and Brendan, as well as retired badasses like Gen and Damian.
  • Edger K. Rogers from Return of the Messiah.
  • Godot Valentine from God Eater Online.
  • Ricardo from God Eater 3.
• Impending Clash Shot: All of the covers have your Player Character wielding the default God Arc against an Aragami.
  • The original pits the male protagonist (Yuu), along with female protagonist (Aki) against a Vajra, while the Burst cover features an unrelated pair of male and female protagonists against a Hannibal and the Burst Append Edition cover features another unrelated pair of male and female protagonists fighting against the Susano'o. All shots are in City of Mercy.
  • The cover for God Eater 2 has the male protagonist (Hiro), alongside Gilbert and Nana, already in the midst of a battle with the Marduk. This shot takes place in the Abandoned City.
  • God Eater 2 Rage Burst has the player character (Once again, Hiro) about to smash the new Aragami, Chrome Gawain, in the face with Blood Rage activated, alongside Livie, with the Spiral Tree in the background.
  • God Eater Resurrection features the same player character from the original once again (Yuu), but this time he's solo against Dyaus Pita using one of the aerial Predator Styles. The Japanese covers adds Alisa to the mix.
  • God Eater 3 has the player (Luka), wielding a Biting Edge and accompanied by Claire, fighting against an Anubis.
• Impossibly Cool Clothes: For being in a mostly-destroyed future, looking awesome hasn't gone out of style. Hilariously lampshaded by the merchant, whose sale pitch notes that the world isn't much fun these days, so you might as well try to lighten up with fashion.
  • God Eater 2 cut all military uniforms (except the blue/green standard formal uniform) from the first game to make room for more stylish clothes.
  • God Eater 2 Rage Burst add lots and lots of Impractically Fancy Outfit.
  • God Eater Online also had fancy clothes released each month of the game's service while it was active.
  • Slightly subverted in God Eater 3, in which was lampshaded as the collapse of Fenrir and the subsequent creation (dehumanization) of AGEs meaning that their outfits were basically scraps of clothing literally duct-taped together, befitting of their status as literally slaves of war.
• Impossibly Cool Weapon: The Old-Type God Arcs are either a BFS or a BFG. The New-Type ones can switch between the two, and use a shield while in blade form. (Old-Type God Eaters who use blades are also equipped with a shield, whereas gunners have no choice but to dodge.) God Eater Resurrection, God Eater 2, and God Eater 2 Rage Burst add giant hammers, spears, scythes, and shotguns, while God Eater 3 adds transforming melee weapons - dual blades that combine into a sword, and a gigantic half-chakram that turns into a (living) chainsaw axe.
• Item Crafting: Besides the standard Build and Upgrade, you can also make your own Bullets in this manner. And if you want to survive the game, the bullet editor is your best friend. You can also use several lower-tier items to make one higher-tier equivalent, or vice versa. This allows you to gather different resources than the ones specified in a weapon's recipe list, then convert your resources to the resources required.
• Jousting Lance: The Charge Spears are very large lances which, as their name indicates, can be used in a Dash Attack.
• Knight of Cerebus: As soon as Dyaus Pita is introduced, things take a turn for the darker. Not even the Burst storyline is safe when Hannibal hijacks the plot and cripples the player. And then there's ''God Eater 3''...
• The Lava Caves of New York: The Infernal Subway, as the name suggests, is a lava-flooded train tunnel.
• Lava Is Boiling Kool-Aid: Zigzagged. The Blaze Fallen Gboro-Gboro can swim under the lava in Infernal Subway field, but all other Aragamis just walk on the lava as if it's a solid surface.
• Lethal Joke Weapon: A set of equipment made out of desserts, which was only available in the Japanese version for the first game but is in all versions of 2. The long sword is a giant chocolate bar (GE Chocolate), the gun is a giant piece of shortcake (GE Shortcake), and the shield is a lollipop (GE Candy). Despite their rather ridiculous look they have excellent skills that can max out your HP, OP, and ST gauges as well as Burst skills that are good for the gunner playstyle.
• Living Weapon: The God Arc. It is created using Aragami cores and is bound to its user's armlet (which is fused to said user). They may not look that alive under ordinary circumstances, but given the right command, they can turn into a giant pair of jaws that chomps on any other Aragami on sight. They also have the unfortunate side-effect of devouring anyone that touches them other than their wielder.
  • It's revealed in the anime that an Oracle Cell Erosion will occur if a God Eater's compatibility rate is rising too high for their God Arc to keep up, causing an uncurable cancer-like disease to spread over the body until it kills them, should they continue on using it. This doesn't explain how Lenka got cured in the last shot of him in the final episode.
  • Under rare circumstances, a God Arc can even manifest a meta-physical form that can be interacted only by those they chose to. So far, there are two examples:
    • Ren, the manifestation of Lindow Amamiya's God Arc, who came alive after the player touches the Arc (despite Licca's early warnings about touching other God Eater's God Arcs and the dangers that came with it) and unknowingly uses Resonance on it, which also reveals that Lindow is somehow alive.
    • In an rather unique case, in God Eater Online, Maria became the manifestation of the player's God Arc. Long story short: In order to save the poor girl from being killed by a strange Aragami, the player grab onto the nearby God Arc to at least drive it off. Unfortunately, they picked an unstable red-core God Arc, which then swallowed up Maria and nearly devoured the player for touching another God Arc that not their own, but luckily, the player survived due to Maria finally manifest herself and stabilizes the Arc.
• Long-Distance Relationship: Yuu and Alisa in any of the manga and light novels set after the first game, due to both of them being assigned to different teams with Yuu being mostly assigned abroad. Most obvious in -the 2nd break-.
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: The shield parts are made to resist devouring by Aragami, and passively add some of that resistance to you; when the shield is actually deployed, the concentration of Bias Factor helps block most Aragami attacks. Bucklers deploy the fastest and have skills to leverage it, but let a quarter of the damage through and have low stats, while Towers are the slowest with few skills, but have great stats and block all of the damage at the cost of your stamina; normal Shields are between the two in terms of stats, speed, and skills. Many skills apply to the shield, from making it faster to deploy (crucial), to expanding the guarded area or reducing the damage you take while guarding even further; like most skills, though, they do have their negative counterparts. However, only Blade-Arc Old-types and New-types can use them. Old-type gunners have to make do with dodging, not that they don't have an advantage either.
• Meaningful Name: All over the place. Fenrir in particular is named after the mythological Canis Major who ate the Norse God Odin.
• Mega Manning: Hitting an Aragami with a Devour attack usually grants you three bullets capable of shooting something similar to one of its signature attacks.
• Mission Control: In God Eater 2, the Operators serve as this — confirming downed/defeated Aragami, informing you of how long you have before reinforcements show up, and most helpfully, confirming whether or not your attacks have inflicted status effects like Venom and Bind.
• Money Spider: Golden Gboro-Gboro, though instead of money or loot, it drops salvageable materials of varying rarity.
• Muscles Are Meaningless: It doesn't matter how skinny or scrawny the characters are, they will always be able to hold their incredibly huge weapons as if they're weightless Explained in-story; God Eaters are enhanced through their Oracle Cells to have super strength and regeneration abilities.
• Morph Weapon:
  • The New-Type God Arcs can switch between melee and ranged modes, have a built-in shield, and can turn into a set of big monstery jaws in order to "Devour" an Aragami's Oracle Cells.
  • The new melee weapon types introduced in God Eater 3 all have transformations of their own:
    • The Biting Edge can switch between Dual Wielding small blades, and a double-bladed glaive.
    • The Heavy Moon is a Deadly Disc which can turn into an axe. And said axe has a further transformation into a sawblade.
• No Cutscene Inventory Inertia:
  • Your character will usually have their exact equipment showing in cutscenes, but replaying some earlier cutscenes with late-game clothing equipped will cause those items to be replaced by the default uniform items. In a less noticeable instance, your character will always hold their God Arc in blade form, regardless of details like having been in gun form two seconds ago.
  • Alisa will always be shown holding her God Arc in Gun Form during cutscenes, in a subtle moment of Gameplay and Story Integration — she will use her gun against enemies (even when you wish she wouldn't) until she runs out of OP and switches to blade attacks. The main character and other New Types will be shown in blade form, possibly because it's a bad idea to walk around with a finger on the trigger of a gun capable of destroying buildings and tank-like monsters, but more likely due to the fact that Blade Form allows for devouring and shield deployment, actions that are shown in several key story scenes. Blade form is also the "default" form status, in that you begin every mission in Blade Form and have to switch to Gun Form.
• Picky Eater: The basis of every bit of Anti-Aragami tech is using the Bias-Factor to make the Oracle Cells into this.
• Player Data Sharing: Avatar cards allow other players' player characters to be hired as NPC teammates.
• Powers as Programs: The operating principle behind bullet customization, as well as the Blood Rage mechanic from Rage Burst.
• Rainbow Pimp Gear: The player's God Arc can suffer from this. Some equipment looks silly or doesn't match with the other parts' appearance, but you may end up using it anyway for the stats and skills it gives you. Thankfully, your actual clothes aren't affected since your stats are determined entirely by your God Arc and your outfit is purely cosmetic.
• Randomly Drops:
  • Every Aragami has somewhere between five and ten different materials that you can get if you devour their cores after you kill them and every material has a fixed drop rate. Gets infuriating later on as creating and upgrading high end equipments requires multiples of the material with the lowest drop rate. ^note For example: Creating the L$weberg requires (among other things) 4 Emperor Fangs. You get Emperor Fangs from Dyaus Pita, the biggest and baddest member of the Vajra Line of Aragami. The drop rate of an Emperor Fang? A mere 8%. Later in the game, you can craft equipment that increases your chance of obtaining rare Aragami materials.
  • Each combat field has a set of locations where materials and loot can be scavenged. Each location has its own random selection of possible items it produces, which changes at different mission difficulties. This means sometimes you have to farm specific fields at specific difficulty levels to get what you want, not just Aragami. Thankfully alleviated to an extent in God Eater 2. You can convert some of the items you get on the field into cores to upgrade your equipment, making it less of a hassle. You still need to hunt the more powerful Aragami to get acceptable materials for the final tier's cores, though; 100 points is a steep price to pay with items that only give 1 point a piece. But it's back in full force in its Updated Re-release; the crafting system was reverted to the one in the first game. Thankfully though, mission rewards are now randomly chosen from a long list of items if you meet their conditions instead of having a 100% chance of getting 3 to 4 fairly common materials. The list is different for each mission, even if all Aragami in them and the ranks of the missions are identical. Some NPCs even have special skills that boost the chances of getting stuff on the list.
• Rank Inflation: The highest rank on a mission can be SSS+, which is only given if performed solo and within a certain time limit.
• Real-Time Weapon Change: You can swap between a blade and a gun. The "Dexterous" skill ups your change speed, while the "Clumsy" skill slows it down. Yes, those seconds are crucial. Moreover, the process isn't silent and some Aragami have very good hearing. There's even a skill for that: Noisy. You can, however, counter it with the "Mute" skill, and some Controllers have the skill "Super Mute" while in Burst mode.
• Recurring Riff: "God Eater", the first game's title theme, has a riff which is reused in many songs, including "No Way Back", "The March of Evil", and "God and Man". The latter of these also has a Recurring Riff of its own in God Eater 2, being used in the title screen, "Revolving Lantern" and "Skies of Destiny", the latter became its own Recurring Riff for most of the tracks in God Eater 3.
• Restraining Bolt:
  • God Eaters, once recruited, typically wear Armlets that inject them with Oracle Cells that put them in the "safe zone" for their weapon's Bias Factor (a type of enzyme determining what an Aragami will and will not eat). They're permanently attached and without them, they'd get eaten by their own weapons. The Adaptive God Eaters of 3 requires two, which also serves as a pair of shackles.
  • This problem is turned into a plot point when Lindow loses his armlet in a fight with an Aragami (Dyaus Pita), cutting off his Bias Factor supply keeping the Oracle Cells from his God Arc from devouring him. During his subsequent disappearance, he was progressively turning into a Corrosive Hannibal.
  • Also, it's often noted that the armlets look rather like handcuffs. This gets taken to its logical extreme in 3, where the paired armlets do indeed also serve as a pair of handcuffs, and the trope comes into full effect as the cuffs restrain the AGEs when they're off-duty.
• Ruins for Ruins' Sake: Most of fields are ruins of human civilization before the Aragami existed.
• Scavenger World: Most of the items you scrounge for are old medical supplies, bits of cloth, magnets, and rare minerals. They get converted to useful materials at mission's end.
• Sequel Goes Foreign: The first two games are set in Fenrir Far East Branch which where Japan used to be. Certain spin-offs and the third game are set elsewhere.
• Sinister Scythe: The Variant Scythe introduced in Rage Burst, which doubles as Whip Sword when used in "Fang" mode.
• Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: All over the place. While the setting and the viewpoint of some of the characters with the most influence like Johannes and Rachel lean toward the latter with the belief that the Aragami threat will only continue to worsen until The End of the World as We Know It inevitably happens, a good majority of the characters believe in the former, believing that as long as they keep living they will eventually find a way to defeat the Aragami threat for good.
• Squad Controls: Rudimentary in GEB; you can tell your NPC allies to search, spread out, gather, or converge (the last of which works on all NPCs on the map, not just the ones near you). The second game expands on this, letting you do the above as well as select how your allies will act. Seeing them continue to attack a running boss is so satisfying after dealing with them gathering to you when it decides to scram for so long.
• Stripperiffic: Apparently, Oracle Cells keep women from wanting or being able to cover up, even when it's snowing. The artbook makes it painfully obvious that bras (and likely other undergarments) didn't survive the apocalypse. This can be justified due to how Aragami can eat anything easily unless it's imbued with Oracle Cells: if the enemies can tear through armor like it's nothing, why bother with the heavier stuff when you could be wearing lighter clothes that offer just as much protection? Clothes are also laced with Bias Factor, which is the only reason (system limitations aside) you don't suffer Clothing Damage whenever an Aragami gets a bite of you. Given how incredibly important Bias Factor is to almost everything, people may be more willing to go commando (and indulge "less is more" fashions, at least for women) to make the best of their resource budgets.
• Super Mode: Burst Mode, which is achieved by either devouring an Aragami, or receiving a Link Bullet from a teammate in order to enter Link Burst Mode. Later games add more varieties of Super Modes, such as Blood Rage (a nigh-unstoppable form which requires fulfilling a set of selected criterias to activate) and Engage (requiring being close to your teammates, allowing the player and one of their fellow God Eaters to share each other's combat perks.
• True Companions: The many God Eater teams are pretty much this. They stick together through thick and thin and are pretty much like an extended family. Most prominent would be the 1st Unit in Burst and Blood in God Eater 2.
  • This is even more relevant in God Eater 3 as the main cast treats each other more as a part of a bigger family, to the point that they didn't hesitate to save one of their own when she plans to enact a Heroic Sacrifice to save them and countless other AGEs against an incoming Ash Tempest... and even a rogue Odin unit.
• Utopia: The goal of the Fenrir Corporation is the Aegis Project, an impenetrable safe haven against the Aragami. However, it turns out to be a front for the Ark Project, which is more of an attempt at recreating Noah's Ark by sending people to space while the whole Earth is being purified of Aragami.
• The 'Verse: Shares the same world with Code Vein.
• Was Once a Man: Overdosing on the Bias factor causes human cells to mutate into Oracle Cells, touching a God Arc that doesn't belong to you can infect you with Cells that your Arc can't stop, and losing your bracelet means that you can't stop the Oracle Cells within you from eating you then transforming into an Aragami themselves. It's speculated that the Susano'o first 'evolved' from one of the previous cases. Lindow almost suffered this fate, but the intervention of Shio, then the Protagonist and Ren, helped him return - with new powers and a badass Aragami arm to boot.
• You Can't Fight Fate: The Devouring Apocalypse cannot be stopped in any way, as its occurence is a hardcoded law of reality instead of a mere catastrophe. Every time it is seemingly stopped, reality literally rewrites itself to ensure that this very threat comes back stronger until it finally manages to happen. All humanity can hope to do is delay the inevitable for as long as they can. God Eater 3 does able to provide a miracle in the end, though the Aragami threat has been slightly became reduced.

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"Don't run away! Don't run away from living! THAT'S AN ORDER!!"