Video Game / MediEvil

100 years I've spent in exile, using my anger to keep me warm, feeding off my suffering, relaxing with my angst. But soon they will pay, all of them - including Fortesque. He thwarts my first plan to conquer Gallowmere and then posthumously claims to have killed me! When I find him I'm going to get medieval on his bony behind. I never liked him anyway, always hanging around the court, interfering: "Where are you going with that dead cat, Zarok?" "Where did you find that brain, Zarok?" Wretched busybody.

A 3D Action-Adventure platformer for the original PlayStation, developed by SCE Cambridge. It has been pegged as the much lighter and funnier spiritual grandfather of Dark Souls.

Long, long ago in a bygone age, Sir Daniel Fortesque was a lowly knight who regaled the nobles of Gallowmere with his wild tales of slain dragons and vanquished legions, which so impressed the king that Daniel was appointed head of the royal battalion. No more than an honorary position, as Gallowmere had not seen war in centuries, but the king liked stories, and Sir Dan was an excellent storyteller.

But then the evil Zarok, former court magician, returned from his years in exile and unleashed an army of demons and undead to take the kingdom for his own. Sir Dan was then thrust at the front of the king's army to face the unholy horde. Songs are still sung about how Daniel charged and carved a swathe through the accursed multitude, killed Zarok's own champion Kardok and then brought low the sorcerer in personal combat before finally succumbing to his many wounds, saving Gallowmere at the cost of his life.

What a load of tosh.

In reality, an arrow fired by one of Zarok's skeletal minions in the opening moments of the battle caught Fortesque right in the left eye. Dan was dead before he hit the dirt, and his second, a mere boy, had to lead Gallowmere's army and carry the day in his stead. The demonic horde were beaten back at great cost, but Zarok's remains were nowhere to be found. Embarrassed that he had fallen for a charlatan who talked a big game and then fell in the first charge, and fearful for the security of his kingdom, the king saw fit to weave a grand falsehood surrounding Dan's "heroic" death, hastily buried him in a tomb fit for a hero, and then forgot about him and tried his best to ensure everyone else did the same.

Zarok and Dan's names and exploits faded into the fog of time. One hundred years passed, and then Zarok returned. He cast a dark spell on the kingdom of Gallowmere, enslaving the living and raising the dead. Including Daniel. Fate, it seemed, had given the arrow-fodder a second chance. A chance to forget the ignoble truth, to defeat Zarok and save Gallowmere for real and live up to the legend, and maybe - just maybe - earn a place in the hallowed Hall of Heroes, where the greatest warriors of history spend eternity feasting, singing and arm-wrestling.

Try not to screw it up, eh?

A sequel, MediEvil 2, was released two years later, advancing to the Victorian era, set in and around London, where a new villain, Lord Palethorne, has gotten his hands on the Zarok spellbook, and plans to use it to take over the world as Zarok tried to.

A remake of the original game entitled MediEvil: Resurrection was an early release for the PSP. It makes a few alterations to the original plot, introduces a number of new characters and greatly plays up the humor. The gameplay is also heavily altered, and many levels are missing, resulting in a much shorter experience.

Fortesque also appears as a playable character in Hot Shots Golf 2 and Playstation All Stars Battle Royale.

It was announced at PSX 2017 that Sir Daniel would be coming back from the dead once more, with a remake of the original MediEvil for the PS4, similar to the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy earlier that year. The project was later revealed to be developed by Other Ocean Interactive, with more information and a teaser trailer. This PS4 remake was released on October 24th 2019, just in time for Halloween. Unlike the more compressed PSP remake, this one is a very faithful recreation of the original, with a few features added, like a list of enemies, environments, etc., voice narration for the books, and a second weapon slot so you can change weapons on the fly. A comic book prequel/sequel was also released to tie in with the remake.

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Tropes that apply to the original game

• All There in the Manual: In-universe example: Gallowmere (and in the second game, London) is littered with books on small podiums. These serve to explain new concepts, give hints to puzzle solutions, or as humorous fluff text. All of them are totally optional, and some are easily missed.
• American Kirby Is Hardcore: Inverted, as the the Japanese version of the game tries to make Sir Dan a bit less scary. First, they had him keep his helmet from when he was alive, and second, they gave him bigger pupils (er...pupil).
• Ant Assault: A side quest has the Witch of the Forest shrink Daniel so that he can collect amber from an anthill. The ants are about as tough as you expect when they’re the same size as you, plus they all spit acid. And naturally, you have to kill their Queen to be able to leave the dungeon.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking:
  • A spellbook of Zarok's has chapters for things like raising the dead, stealing the souls of the innocent, and card tricks.
  • The PS4 remake has another example in Zarok's entry of the Book of Gallowmere, stating his ambitions are to command the forces of darkness, enslave mankind, and play ball one last time with dear old Mr Snuffy.
• Automatic Crossbows: Canny Tim's crossbow requires no loading.
• Awesome, but Impractical: The Lightning. It's powerful, sure, but it has a limited amount, and by that time you already have the Magic Sword and a variety of arguably better ranged weapons. Same goes for the PSP remake, even if the lightning can be replenished.
• Bad with the Bone: Dan's default weapon is to rip off his own arm and use it as an improvised flail.
  • Ballistic Bone: The strong attack when wielding Dan's arm lets him throw it around like a boomerang.
• Bandit Mook: The 'sticky-fingered' imps will steal your currently equipped weapon, leaving you with your arm until you switch to something else. This can result in the weapon being lost if they get into a hole with it. Fortunately they can be bought back, albeit at a hefty sum.
• Bedlam House: The Asylum, which is filled with cackling homicidal maniacs. And zombies.
• Bestiality Is Depraved: Implied - Zarok accidentally summons a sheep while trying to find a spell to use against Fortescue. He gives a distracted "Oooooooh!", then dismisses it by saying "Oh, not right now!".
• Big Boo's Haunt: Most of the game's levels are variations of this, most notably The Graveyard (a Creepy Cemetery named after our hero) and The Pools of the Ancient Dead (a swamp haunted by soldiers that died in a great battle there long ago).
• Bittersweet Ending: More sweet than bitter. Dan defeats Zarok, who then spitefully collapses his lair in an attempt to kill Dan once and for all, getting crushed by falling debris in the process. His death releases all the souls he'd previously captured, but since Zarok's magic was also the only thing keeping him alive, Dan has to return to his crypt and go back to his eternal rest. The people of Gallowmere will likely never know what Dan did or what happened, but he's finally the hero they all think he was. And if you collect all the Chalices, he's welcomed into the Hall of Heroes and gets his own statue.
• Boss-Arena Idiocy:
  • The dragon can't be diretly hurt by Dan's weapons, but using the hammer in his boss arena causes rocks to drop on his head.
  • The pirate captain is out of range of Dan's attacks, but there are two cannons (one aimable one in the PS4 remake) that Dan can fire at him by using the club as a torch or by using the Dragon Armour's fire breath.
• Boss in Mook Clothing: The scarecrows. At the time you fight them, you probably won't have the weaponry required to deal with them unless you actually charge up the broadsword obtainable by that point in the game.
• Boss-Only Level: The only things you need to do in Zarok's Lair are to defeat his elite soldiers, his champion Lord Kardok and Zarok himself.
• Bottomless Pits: Quite frequent. Some entire levels are suspended over these, but the strangest example is on the Ghost Ship, where there's such a pit contained within a ship.
• Bow and Sword in Accord: Two of the first weapons Dan can obtain are the sword and the crossbow. More powerful swords and several different longbow variations are obtained later in the game through the Hall of Heroes.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Zarok's spell made the inhabitants of the Sleeping Village into his mindless slaves who attack Sir Dan on sight. However, attacking and killing them is not advised, since they're ultimately innocent and doing so will make the level's chalice unobtainable.
• Chekhov's Gunman: In the opening cutscene, a giant vulture can be seen flying near Zarok's castle. It later shows up to save Sir Dan from a dragon that's chasing him, and flies him into safety in the ending.
• Chest Monster: Two examples; one an ally and one an enemy.
  • In Scarecrow Fields and Pools of the Ancient Dead, knocking open a certain chest will release the spirit of an ancient dragon, Kul Katura the Serpent Lord. Upon being released, he slithers around the level with you and kills nearby enemies before disappearing.
  • In Gallows Gauntlet getting close to its chest will release the Serpent of Gallowmere, who instead of killing enemies, will only gun for Dan. It'll hound him down, too, all the way through the level if you let it. Despite it seeming incorporeal, you can actually attack it enough that it will be deterred and slither out of the level.
• Collapsing Lair: Done twice, once heroically and once villainously:
  • The ghost of King Peregrine orders Daniel to collapse his ruined castle in order to kill the last of the shadow demons that have taken up residence there.
  • After being defeated, Zarok attempts to bring down his fortress on Dan's head in an attempt at Taking You with Me.
• Cool Sword: The Longsword is a fairly standard starting weapon, but Sir Dan can later obtain the more powerful Broadsword which can be enchanted to do more damage, and even later, the Magic Sword, the best melee weapon in the game.

• Creepy Cemetery: The first proper level of the game, aptly titled "The Graveyard."
• Crystalline Creature: There's a stained-glass demon as the boss of the Hilltop Mausoleum, which first appears as a mural on stained glass windows before leaping out and coming to life to attack.
• Cue the Sun: The sun rises during the final cutscene. This is a justified example, as Zarok had created The Night That Never Ends.
• Corpse Land: Pools of the Ancient Dead is a barren, swampy area where the dead from a long ago battle still roam.
• Cutscene Incompetence: A highly justified one. The prologue shows Fortesque being killed by the first arrow shot when he leads the armies of Gallowmere into battle. When you take over, Fortesque can prove to have actually been a pretty good fighter after all.
• Dem Bones: Sir Dan. Curiously, for a game about undead, there are very few enemies of this type. The most notable examples are the crew of the Ghost Ship.
• Deus ex Machina: Dan survives the aftermath of the Zarok fight because a vulture swoops in and saves him.
• Difficulty by Region: In the Japanese version of the original game, the Dragon Armor drains health while equipped and the Pumpkin King boss regenerates health, but you can buy more ammo for the Lightning weapon.
• The Dragon: Captain Lord Kardok to Zarok.
• Dual Boss: The cemetery guardians, the flying demons in The Enchanted Earth and the firebreathing stone golems in the ruins of Castle Peregrin.
• Elephants Are Scared of Mice: In Asylum Grounds, solving Jack of the Green's third riddle involves finding a topiary sculpture of an elephant and scaring it with a mouse (careful to avoid the cats roaming around). This also opens up the path to solving the fourth riddle, the spooked sculpture knocking out the wall behind it.
  Face like a tree,
  Skin like the sea,
  A great beast I be,
  Yet vermin frighten me!
• Emergency Weapon: Dan's arm, which he can pull off and use as a makeshift weapon, whether in melee combat or by throwing it. It does pitiful damage, but can never be lost.
• Evil Laugh: The skeleton in the opening menu lets out an evil cackle when a choice is made.

• Exploding Barrels: Well, exploding chests full of... blue stuff that explodes in a massive shockwave, killing anything within its blast radius, save for Dan, who is merely shoved away. They become particularly troublesome, and abundant, in the Pools of the Ancient Dead, where the resulting blast can push you into the Grimy Water, costing you a life.
• Eye Scream: Sir Dan met his end prior to his undeath by getting shot in the left eye with an arrow.
• The Faceless: We never get to see Sir Dan's living face, as it's obscured by his helmet during the flashback to the Battle of Gallowmere. The Japanese version of the game takes this trope even further, having him keep the helmet after his death, likely because Japanese audiences would have a harder time relating to a skeletal hero. Even the game's FMV cutscenes and loading screens have him wearing the helmet, although it can be unequipped at any time.
  • Averted in the HD remake; the game's bonus content features a motion comic prequel that depicts Sir Dan while he was still alive. Even with his bottom jaw in place, his top teeth are just as prominent; combined with his dandy mustache, it makes him look rather goofy, keeping with his characterization as a boastful storyteller rather than a hardened warrior.
• Fake Ultimate Hero: Sir Fortesque is an odd example, given that (as shown in-game), Fortesque actually is a more than decent fighter, and can be a true hero if you play your cards straight. The only reason he is one of these is because his reputation was propped up for propaganda purposes (he ended up getting shot in the eye by the very first arrow fired in the battle), not by any effort or fault of his own. He did, however, make up his background in order to get in the King of Gallowmere's good graces. He was appointed as a knight because he was supposedly a great hero already, and given Gallowmere's peaceful history, he didn't expect to actually have to live up to the stories he made up. And he really had to be cajoled into fighting Zarok when he was alive.
• Faustian Rebellion: Dan was one of the undead raised by Zarok's magic. Despite this, he utilizes his current undeath to take Zarok down.
• The Ferryman: Encountered in Pools of the Ancient Dead, who requires Sir Dan to retrieve him certain lost souls so that the game can proceed. He will then take Sir Dan to the next level, The Lake.
• Final Boss: Zarok himself is fought as the last enemy (this is after the player gets past his remaining soldiers and then Kardok in his arena, at which point Zarok will take matters into his own hands), and he takes a One-Winged Angel form that has a chicken's cluck. Destroying this completes the game.
• First-Episode Resurrection: Sir Fortesque, obviously. It's how the hero enters the game!
• Gangplank Galleon: The Ghost Ship level, which is a flying ghostly pirate ship that will take Sir Dan to Zarok's castle upon completion.
• Ghost Pirate: The skeleton pirates in the Ghost Ship.
• Grievous Harm with a Body: Sir Dan's arm can be ripped out and used as a weapon, but it's really a last resort sort of thing.
• Heart Container: In each game Dan can collect 9 life bottles. These function similarly to Metroid's energy tanks, as they're used automatically when Dan's health is depleted. They're also used whenever Dan falls into a bottomless pit or into deep water.
• Helping Hands: Hands can be found skittering across some levels. They can be smashed with the hammer for free coins.
• Heroic Comedic Sociopath:
  • Several of the heroes in the Hall of Heroes, particularly Woden the Mighty. A book about him in one stage notes that he scared his enemies "as well as family pets and small children".
  • Then there's Bloodmonath Skull Cleaver, who is crazy enough to have led an attack with only the spike on his helmet.
• Healing Spring: A rather non-standard example are the 'fountains of rejuvenation', springs of green energy that Dan can stand in to refill his health and his life bottles, a total of 600 energy contained within each.
• Historical Hero Upgrade: In-universe. Daniel died in the first charge after catching an unlucky arrow in the eye, but was claimed to be the hero who defeated Zarok to spare him (and the king who appointed him) embarrassment.
• Hyperspace Arsenal: As either game progresses, Dan gets weighed down with more and more weapons, some nearly as large as he is, and others that go completely unused after a certain point.
• Immune to Fire: One of the perks granted to Sir Dan by the dragon armour.
• Improbable Infant Survival: The little girls in Sleeping Village will run away when attacked rather than dying.
• Incredible Shrinking Man: Dan becomes one of these briefly, after accepting a quest from the Witch of the Forest to gather seven pieces of amber for her. Unfortunately for him, said amber is in the depths of an anthill. This 'quest' and the level that follows it are both completely absent from the PSP remake.
• Inexplicable Treasure Chest: Found in all games, along with Inexplicable Treasure Bags. They're very rarely hidden, save for a few secret areas with extra goodies.
• Infinity +1 Sword:
  • The Lightning. Notably, the Lightning is in limited supply and cannot be renewed.
  • The Chicken Drumstick may also be an example, for despite not damaging bosses, it instantly kills minor enemies by poofing them into a hearty meal.
  • Woden's Brand, in the PSP remake. In addition, the aforementioned lightning can now be re-purchased.
• Invincible Boogeymen: In Scarecrow Fields, there's something living in the cornfield that cannot be fought, cannot be killed and cannot even be seen. If you stray into the cornfield and don't leave immediately, you'll be rewarded with an ominous hissing noise as something large rushes through the corn towards you, and then you will instantly lose a life. That's it.
• Irony: Sir Daniel Fortesque was a knight who was a much better storyteller than a fighter, and his tales of false heroism impressed the King of Gallowmere so much that he ended up in charge of the kingdom's army, only to get ignominiously killed in the opening minutes of his first real battle via arrow to the eye without ever proving his real valour. When he arises a century later as an undead warrior thanks to the machinations of his archnemesis, he gets a second chance, but he is The Unintelligible thanks to a missing lower jaw. You might say, he has to "put his money where his mouth is" this time round.
• "It" Is Dehumanizing: The gargoyles often refer to Sir Dan this way.
• Jerkass: Woden the Mighty in the Hall of Heroes does not think highly of Dan, and he makes it perfectly clear to him.
• Lean and Mean: The captain of the Ghost Ship is a nine feet tall skeleton.
• Lethal Joke Item: The Chicken Drumstick. Kill multiple mooks by turning them in to food and regain health all in one glorious, southern-fried go!
• The Lost Woods: The Enchanted Earth, renamed The Enchanted Forest in the remake.
• Kill It with Fire:
  • How the Shadow Demons meet their fate, although it's really lava.
  • Also what Dan himself can do with a variety of weapons, namely the Dragon Armor (Dragon Potion in the PSP Remake) which lets him breathe fire, but also makes him invulnerable to it.
• Matchstick Weapon: Dan's club can sometimes be lit on fire and then used to light torches, burn enemies, and destroy some terrain (such as the haystacks found in Scarecrow Fields).
• Mini-Mecha: Imps pilot mechs in their own likeness in the Scarecrow Fields.
• Mr. Exposition: The gargoyles, when they aren't mocking you.
• My Greatest Second Chance: MediEvil could very well be called My Greatest Second Chance: The Game; Dan died an ignoble death and is given a hero's burial, with stories being written of how he slew Zarok before succumbing to a mortal wound. Then when Gallowmere is threatened by Zarok again, Dan is inadvertently brought back from the dead as a side-effect of the sorcerer's magic and given a chance to finally kill Zarok and become the hero he failed to be in life.
• New Weapon Target Range: Gallows Gauntlet, the area immediately after you require the dragon armour, has a burning gate that can only be safely passed using the armour's fire immunity, and a lot of burnable enemies that are very vulnerable to the fire damage of its Breath Weapon.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: In order to proceed in his quest, Dan releases the Shadow Demons. The very same Shadow Demons that terrorized Gallowmere ages ago and were magically entombed, sealed away with a magical 'shadow artefact', and intended never to be let into the world again. An information gargoyle you can talk to after the fact chews Dan out for this and laments that Gallowmere is doomed.
• The Night That Never Ends: Zarok casts a spell that plunges Gallowmere into eternal night, and it stays that way until Dan finally kills Zarok, the sun rising as he returns to his crypt at the end of the game.
• No-Harm Requirement: Because the villagers in the Sleeping Village level are insane-but-otherwise-innocent people rather than monsters, killing them will trigger a warning stating "A good soul has been lost!" and reduce Dan's chalice completion score, making it harder for him to collect the chalice and visit the hall of heroes. This also applies to the farmers in the Haunted Ruins; the shadow demons would sacrifice them into fires placed beneath them at the first sign of trouble, necessitating Dan to kill the demons and then put out the fires to save them.
• Non-Standard Game Over: Dan uses a chalice to summon a group of lost souls, so that they can fight off Zarok's final soldiers. What happens if you fail to keep them healed and they all get killed? Dan gets mocked for his failure by Zarok and the soldiers immediately gang up on him. Cue death.
• Objectshifting: One of the weapons you can find in is an enchanted chicken drumstick, a gift from one of the witches Sir Dan can meet over the course of the game. Upon being deployed, it instantly transforms enemies into roast chicken... which can then be used to refill Sir Dan's health.
• One-Man Army: Even if he was killed while backed up by an actual army, in death Dan becomes one of these. Slaughtering zombies, magical beasts, undead minions and even loads of demons like they're nothing.
• Our Zombies Are Different: Sir Dan may have been brought back via dark forces as an undead monster, but he's still as good a guy as he was when he was alive.
• Portmantitle: Medieval + Evil.
• Power Crystal:
  • Found in The Lake, attached to huge machines that, when activated, freeze a gigantic whirlpool in place.
  • The very next level is the mine where they came from, and it is explained that the Rhinotaurs that inhabit the place use them to prolong their lifespans.
• Power Of Glass: The Stained Glass Demon fittingly attacks with shards of glass.
• Regional Bonus: The Japanese version of the game pushes Dan more towards The Faceless through the extensive inclusion of a bronze helmet item that can be equipped and unequipped as the player desires. Not only is his statue in the main menu wearing it, but the FMVs are redone with the helmet in mind. They even include some loading screen art of him holding it in contemplation.
• Riddle Me This: Jack the Green, master of the Asylum gardens, is quite fond of this. He gives Dan a series of riddles that must be solved using things around the hedge maze the garden is comprised of.
• Ring Out: There are a few enemies that can't be hurt by Dan's weapons but can be knocked back and defeated by being pushed off the edge of the level, such as the armoured knights in Pools of the Ancient Dead and the golems in the Ancient Ruins.
• Ruins for Ruins' Sake: Mostly averted, but then comes The Haunted Ruins, the remains of King Peregrin's Castle. Aside from the throne room, nothing else about the castle seems livable, and most of the insides seem to be taken up by the dungeon, suspended over a huge black void. The only other notable rooms are the room with the gate stopping a massive lava flow that could destroy the castle and the mountain it sits atop, and a room with a boiler that keeps... a small pool of boiling oil hot.
• Schizo Tech: Scarecrow Fields, a farm in the late 1300's, has a combine harvester and a small processing plant near the end of the stage.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: The Shadow Demons; Fortesque is forced to release them when he himself is trapped in their prison. Also the Stained Glass Demon from the same game, whose heart has been locked away.
• Sequential Boss: The final battle with Zarok takes place over three stages, the first against Zarok's personal army, which you battle with your accumulated souls manifesting in the form of warriors, the second against Zarok's champion, Lord Kardok, and finally against Zarok himself, as a huge fire-spewing multicolored beast that clucks like a chicken.
• Shark Tunnel: The Lake has a tunnel of water, magically frozen in place by crystals. Outside are huge, blue elephant fish, which constantly trumpet as they swim around.
• Shield Bash: After defeating the cemetery guardians, Dan learns an ability called the 'Daring Dash', which allows him to rush forwards for a few feet, which blocks oncoming attacks, does minor damage to enemies, can be used to smash down walls, and allows Dan to do longer jumps. It was made available from the get-go in both the sequel and PSP remake.
• Skeleton Motif: The Kingdom of Gallowmere uses a skull as its symbol; it adorns its forces' shields and its former King Peregrine had his throne placed inside the mouth of a giant one.
• Sore Loser: In the Final Battle against Zarok, he reacts petulantly and tries to bring down his entire lair on both their heads as a last-ditch moment to kill Dan — but it just gets him crushed under debris and Dan gets out in time. Also Jack the Green doesn't take it well when Dan manages to solve his riddles, leaving it at "Alright then you clever-clogs, you want free passage through my maze? Go ahead. Find your own way out!".
• Sorcerous Overlord: Zarok is a powerful sorcerer who commands a vast army of demons and other monsters in a move to conquer Gallowmere.
• Squashed Flat: The fate of anyone that Sir Dan uses the Hammer on. This is also what happens to Zarok when Dan defeats him at the end of the game. A piece of debris falls down and unceremoniously crushes Zarok, with him squealing at his last breath.
• Super Drowning Skills: Fortesque can't swim at all. Justified, since as the game puts it, the armored dead have buoyancy problems. For laughs, the player has to use this to defeat certain enemies at the Pools of the Ancient Dead.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
  • An arrow shot to a vital organ can kill any man, no matter their prowess. Fortesque, despite his incompetence, still charged head first into battle against the enemy... and died the instant his head connected with an arrowhead. Even Lord Kardok, a powerful and fearsome brute, met an end just as undignified.
  • Even if you are a mighty hero worthy of being called a One-Man Army, don't overly handicap yourself. Skull Cleaver tried to capture a fortress armed with only the spike of his helmet, and failed.
• Tactical Suicide Boss:
  • The stained glass demon can only be damaged when he exposes his heart.
  • The ant queen can only be damaged when she rears up to drop rocks from the ceiling onto Dan.
• Taunting the Transformed: A one-time-only optional mission in the Enchanted Earth features a witch shrinking Sir Dan to the size of an insect so he can collect pieces of amber from the nearby ant's nest, resulting in immediate mockery from the gargoyle sitting by the nest entrance, who cheekily remarks, "Run, little man! If the Master found it now, he would crush it like a bug!"
• Took a Level in Badass: For someone who was such a pantywaist when he was alive, Fortesque is a remarkably skilled fighter as a dead guy.
• Undignified Death: Just chiming in with yet another reminder that Sir Daniel Fortesque was killed with an arrow through the eye in the first charge of his first real battle, and a mere boy of sixteen had to take over his army and win the day without him. Also, Karl Sturnguard, a powerful knight who fought with a magic shield that protected him from harm, died at a feast when somebody made a snide remark about his "cowardly" fighting style and, surprised, choked on a sausage he was eating.
• The Unintelligible: Fortesque, due to lacking a lower jaw, can only moan and slur. Luckily, there are subtitles. He gains greater speaking ability in the second game, where instead of moaning and mumbling his dialogue, his speech is just heavily slurred.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Karl Sturnguard and Dirk Steadfast are implied to be this in a book you can find in The Sleeping Village. Despite hating each other's choices in weaponry, they remained friends until Sturnguard's death, caused by his choking on a large sausage whilst Steadfast explained his views on Karl's shield.
• Warrior vs. Sorcerer: The main protagonist of the games is Sir Daniel Fortesque, a knight who was killed and revived as a skeleton. The main villain is the Evil Sorcerer Zarok.
• What the Hell, Hero?: After releasing the Shadow Demons from their tomb in order to proceed, a nearby gargoyle is quick to berate Sir Dan for doing so, and for dooming Gallowmere.
• What You Are in the Dark: Ultimately when Zarok's dark spell over Gallowmere is lifted, Dan is back dead in his tomb and nobody knows what happened and what Dan did to set it right, and it is unlikely anybody will ever find out.

Tropes unique to the PS4 Remake

• Adaptational Badass:
  • At least in terms of design, the information gargoyles, as detailed under Art Evolution.
  • To mix things up for veterans of the series, most of the bosses get new attacks or use new tactics. For example, the Stained Glass Demon is slightly more aggressive and gains a new shockwave attack, the Graveyard Guardians can both attack at the same time, the Queen Ant summons more falling rocks, the Demonettes get a Bullet Hell attack, and the Ghost Ship Captain fights back by throwing stuff, and half way through the fight, it starts raining, putting out the club fires, forcing you to light the cannon by making the Captain throw flammable objects at you, or by using the Dragon Armour.
• Adaptation Expansion: The Book of Gallowmere is a new item carried by Dan the entire game, and it fills up over time with entries that explain the various characters and enemies in the game.
• Anti-Frustration Features:
  • The game now features standard camera controls, a feature the original lacked, and also added in the weapon quick-switch mechanic that was introduced in MediEvil 2.
  • In the original game, once you used up all your lightning, it was gone for good. In the remake, you can refill it for a price at the merchant gargoyles.
  • The remake adds a merchant gargoyle in the Hall of Heroes, so you can purchase stuff between levels (provided you've found the chalice).
  • Thanks to the autosave feature, getting a Game Over doesn't kick you back to the title screen anymore, but merely makes you restart the level immediately.
• Art Evolution:
  • The information gargoyles are a lot more intimidating looking. In the original, they looked more like billy goats with glowing eyes and talked like withered old men. In the remake, while they still sound like withered old men, now they appear a lot more monstrous and gargoyle-like, with fangs, pointy ears and scarier faces. Their glowing eyes are also much more prominent, and the glow has also been extended to their mouths, nostrils, and the base of their horns.
  • The merchant gargoyles now have glowing red eyes, in addition to their mouths, nostrils and horns like the information gargoyles, and they've been given a tiny pair of arms holding out a plate, which explains how they're able to give items and take coins. In the original, they were completely silent and lacked any sort of expression, but now they are shown to be eating the coins Sir Dan gives them. Once the transaction is complete, a bag of coins appears on their plate, and they ravenously chow down.
  • When Sir Dan earns a new weapon from a hero in the Hall of Heroes, the weapon will now be missing from the hero's statue.
  • Each Chalice you earn gets added to the long feast table in the Hall of Heroes.
• Armor Is Useless: Sir Dan's helmet is available as DLC through picking it up in the free demo. However, it doesn't actually protect him against anything, and in fact, causes him to take more damage.
  • The Golden Armor provided with the game's Digital Deluxe Edition also doesn't provide any extra protection, despite it doing just that in MediEvil 2. Instead, wearing it increases the amount of coins Dan picks up.
• Ascended Extra: The narrator, in the original game, was only around for the intro. Now recast with Lani Minella in the role, she sticks around for the rest of the game, reading aloud whatever books the player opens.
• Bowdlerise: Imanzi Shongama is significantly less curvy compared to the original game and Resurrection. Not only that, her more suggestive dialogue from the original is completely absent.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: The entry for the Corn Killer is basically the developers admitting that they wanted to railroad the player to the next destination and found that an instant-kill monster forcing the player along a set path was the best way to go. Doubly so under time constraints. What? Tropes Are Not Bad.
• The Cameo: In the main hallway of the Hilltop Mausoleum, there are some stained glass windows featuring the likeness of Al-Zalam.
• Cherry Tapping: There's a trophy for defeating the Stained Glass Demon by using only Sir Dan's severed arm.
• Cut Lex Luthor a Check: The Book of Gallowmere entry on Mecha-Imps notes that they were designed by the imps to steal crops, and wonders why they couldn't have made a fortune mass-producing them and selling them to farmers instead. But hey - thieves gotta thieve.
• Damn You, Muscle Memory!: Attacking is done with square instead of X, the jump button is X instead of circle, charging weapon attacks is done by holding circle instead of square, and blocking and the Daring Dash are done with the R1 button, with the triangle button being used to swap weapons or interact with objects. Thankfully, there's an option to use the classic controls from the original game.
• Defeat by Modesty: According to the Book of Gallowmere, the imps attempted this on the morning of the Battle of Gallowmere, carrying out a co-ordinated theft of every undergarment in the kingdom. Never before had an army's charge been so devastatingly broken before battle had even begun!
• Embedded Precursor: Laying all the Lost Souls to rest unlocks the original game in the main menu.
• Gangsta Style: Using the alternate attack button with the crossbow equipped will have Dan fire the crossbow while holding it like a sideways gun. It doesn't do anything but look cool.
• Gender Flip: The narration is done by Lani Minella, whereas the original narrator was male.
• Guilt-Based Gaming: The Book of Gallowmere entry for the Graveyard Wolf enemies is deliberately written in a way to make the player feel bad about killing them, noting that they're simply looking for meat to bring back to their adorable little cubs and that the graveyard provides them a safe recluse from Gallowmere farmers who have hunted the creatures to near extinction.
• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: The Imps are stated in the Book of Gallowmere to have formerly been kept as pets and servants by the inhabitants of Gallowmere, but were poorly treated, leading them to form an alliance with Zarok.
• Mythology Gag
  • The original Japanese version of the game had Sir Dan keep the helmet he was wearing before his death, due to fears that a Japanese audience wouldn't be able to relate to a skeletal hero. Now Dan's face is uncovered in all versions of the game by default, but the helmet is still present as an item that can be picked up, located right next to where he first wakes up. However, it can only be obtained if the player acquires the helmet in the demo.
  • Mr. Apple, an inside joke by the devs that appeared in the credits of the original game, appears in this game hiding in the levels as an Easter Egg to be found.
  • The Pumpkin King regenerating health is a reference to the original boss design in the original game's Japanese version.
• Never Trust a Trailer:
  • The initial announcement trailer for the remake featured voices and visuals from Resurrection, including Al-Zalam's voice, who doesn't appear in this game apart from a cameo on a stained glass window.
  • That trailer also gave the inital impression it was using the voice cast from the Resurrection, most notably Tom Baker as The Narrator and Death. The game instead uses all the original voice recordings from the original, with the only exceptions being Jason Wilson rerecording his lines as Sir Dan and The Narrator being recast with Lani Minella.
• Poison Mushroom: Sir Dan's helmet is cursed, and when equipped, causes him to take more damage.
• Running Gag: The Book of Gallowmere contains multiple entries warning the player not to lick toads, specifically the Dragon Toads that appear in the Enchanted Earth. Doing this is apparently what drove the patients inside the asylum insane.
• Scenery Porn: The game was made as a 1:1 recreation of the original and has been brought up to date with modern technology. The levels are all lush and vibrant. However, it makes the same mistake MediEvil: Resurrection made with Scarecrow Fields and Pumpkin Gorge: they're set in near daylight while Zarok's spell of perpetual night is in effect. Scarecrow Fields may have a small inkling of an excuse though, the level intro cutscene shows at least one windmill with its blades on fire.
• Shout-Out: The lightning Megwynne Stormbinder gives you is now represented by what's basically the Infinity Gauntlet.
• Silent Snarker: Sir Dan is far more animated when interacting with fellow heroes.
• Spoof Aesop: The game is very adamant that you, the player, must never lick toads.
• Superboss: Parodied with Derok the Rat King, a new boss fought during the Lost Souls sidequest who has 9999HP - but he's just a regular rat that doesn't attack and can be killed with a single hit of the hammer or club.
• Sword Drag: The running animation for the Mad Family's daughter now has her dragging the blade of her axe along the ground, which also causes sparks.
• Truer to the Text: The remake is noticeably much more accurate to the original than MediEvil: Resurrection, featuring none of the new levels, characters or mechanics from that version on top of far more accurate character and level designs.
• Video Game Cruelty Potential: Invoked with the A Shocking Lack of Respect trophy, which requires you to smash 100 tombstones to get.
• Who Would Be Stupid Enough?: The Book of Gallowmere's entry on the Shadow Demons:
  Don't worry! We're safe! Only a complete fool would ever set them free.
  Oh... please tell me you didn't?!
• Zero-Effort Boss: Dherok the Rat King from the Lost Souls quest, who dies to a single blow from Dan's hammer.

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