Video Game / Phoenotopia: Awakening

Centuries ago, the Earth saw a war of unseen before proportions. Humanity nearly tore itself apart as they used both machines and biological weapons to do their best to destroy each other. When all hope of peace seemed lost, a final weapon was unleashed: the Phoenix, which ended the Great War in a single night. However, it was too late to save the planet, and the Earth was rendered nearly uninhabitable to humans. The survivors went into hiding in metal vaults, ready to exit them once the earth recovered.

Today, Earth did indeed recover, and the descendants of the survivors live in quasi-medieval kingdoms on the surface. Gail, an orphan girl living in the farming village of Panselo, is tasked with bringing home for dinner the kids that went playing in the nearby forest... narrowly escaping aliens abducting everyone that was still in the village. As the oldest of the people left behind, Gail must go on a journey to find out what happened to the villagers. The only clue left behind? The mysterious, broken head of a robot that crash landed in the forest earlier in the day...

Phoenotopia : Awakening, released on August 20, 2020, for the Nintendo Switch, is a remake of the 2014 flash game simply called Phoenotopia. Created by studio Cape Cosmic, it is a 2D action-adventure that draws inspiration from Cave Story and The Legend of Zelda series. In addition to improved graphics and music, the remake makes many additions to gameplay, including making the world map free-roaming rather than restricted to just the levels, the ability to fish and to cook food to increase its effectiveness, and altered story elements. The game was later released on Steam on January 21, 2021.

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This game provides examples of:

0-E

• 100% Completion: You get an achievement for finding all of the Heart Rubies, Emeralds, Moonstones, weapons, and secret techniques in the game. Finding all 55 heart rubies is also necessary to take on the Superboss.
• Action Bomb:
  • One of the Kobolds' weapons is a flying bomb droid that will chase you when you get close until its timer expires, it hits you, or it's caught in an explosion, and then... well, explode.
  • A different version appears in the Scorched Lands: this one pops out of the ground or ceiling when you get too close, and it starts rolling in whatever direction you're in until it hits something, not only exploding but spraying fiery shrapnel all over the place. They can be weaponized against the local ghouls.
  • One of the bug species found in Mul Caves will explode and spray acid when damaged or when getting too close to Gail.
• Action Girl: Gail, Aella, Hilde, Kiyoshi, Atri, Pelna and about half of all the humanoid enemies you can encounter.
• Adam Smith Hates Your Guts: Every item in the game is very expensive, item drops are scarce, and traders and quest givers aren't the most generous bunch. Even mediocre healing items can screw you from a major upgrade to your armor or weapons in a timely fashion. See Money Is Experience Points below.
• Adaptation Name Change: Some of the items and locations have had their names changed, as have some of the characters.
  • Gale is now called Gail.
  • Ruth is now called Rutea. This is referenced at one point when an NPC forgets her name and thinks it's Ruth.
  • Subverted with Billy's counterpart who is called Bart, it's mentioned by an NPC late in the game that Bart has a brother called Bill, implying that this is a case of Decomposite Character.
• Adaptational Heroism: In the original game, Billy was trying to take over the world. In this game, his counterpart Bart is genuinely helping to save it. Although it's implied that Billy still exists as Bart's brother.
• Adaptational Alternate Ending: The flash game ended with Billy turning out to be evil and making the awakened phoenix go after Gale, only for them to both be abducted by the same aliens who took the villagers while Billy is left to conquer Earth. In this game, Bart is actually a good guy, the awakened phoenix helps to defeat Katash and presumably also stop the invasion, and neither Gail nor anyone else aside from the villagers is abducted.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: In the flash game, Prince Leo was a Royal Brat who was insulted over being rescued by a girl. In this, though still somewhat careless with names, he is significantly more mature and responsible. He shows Gail genuine gratitude and promises to keep the Panselo Orphanage well funded and maintained once he returns to the throne. He also shows considerable mental fortitude, not giving up intel to his Kobold captors despite undergoing a beating.
• Advanced Ancient Acropolis: Ancient Earth is seen as one of these by modern humans; the planet recovered, but technology did not. The Peace Ministers carefully monitor new technologies, with the intent of stopping any other tragedy like the great war.
• Affectionate Gesture to the Head:
  • Bart does this to Gail when he meets her in person for the first time.
  • Lisa is shown doing this to an annoyed Alex in the cover art.
• After the End: Downplayed; most of Earth recovered pretty nicely by the time the game begins, with the notable exception of the Scorched Lands, a post apocalyptic city populated by killer robots. Towards the end of the game, it is discovered that the scientists behind the Phoenixes were also responsible for engineering lifeforms that could survive the harsh conditions of the razed earth and make it suitable to be inhabited by humans once again.
• Airborne Mook: Several, including bats, giant bees, money stealing vultures, flying shrimps, flying robots, and Harpies.
• Alien Abduction: Happens to all the adults in Panselo, as well as a few kids.
• Ambiguously Absent Parent:
  • A King is mentioned a few times, but the only member of Royalty you meet is Prince Leo, and no mention is made of what happened to his parents. It's implied that they died when the Kobolds invaded the castle.
  • Thomas and Rutea grew up in the building that is now Panselo's laboratory, but neither of them mention their parents, and one of Thomas' logs mentions Nana looking after Rutea when he left the village, and he also doesn't say anything about their parents when he's told about the abduction. It's possible that their parents might have died, but it's never brought up.
• Ambiguously Related: Inverted; Gail and Kitt are referred to as twins by a few of the villagers, but one notes that they look nothing like each other. It's hinted very late in the game that while they were raised together after being stolen from the phoenix vault, they are not actually twins, but it's unknown if they are still biologically related in some way or not.
• An Alien Named "Bob": The alien controlling the Golem head is called Bart, which is even lampshaded by Thomas after he introduces himself. Some of Bart's allies are called Jake, Audrey, and Coby, which are also fairly normal names. It makes sense when you learn they're actually descended from humans.
• Anti-Frustration Features:
  • There are settings to make combat slightly easier, such as reducing the time it takes to recharge stamina, or the speed at which food is cooked. There's also an option to enable eating food instantly from the menu, as opposed to having to equip it and wait some time for it to be eaten.
  • Unlike other special items such as Heart Rubies, Energy Gems, and Moonstones, Lunar Artifacts will respawn in the same place you found them if you recycle or discard them, so you're not locked out of selling them to Astrid. This is especially useful in the early game when you don't have a lot of inventory space.
  • After you make it through the Mul Caves, you'll find an area with a teleporter that takes you back to the lake in Daea without having to give away any Moonstones in case you don't have enough of them. You do have to figure out which batteries will power it, though.
  • If you're trying to find all the Heart Rubies, Energy Gems, and Moonstones, you can visit the Oracle in Daea city (after getting the rocket boots) to locate any you might have missed.
• Art Shift: The opening scenes of the game, as well as a few cutscenes in the middle and end, are drawn in a different style to the usual pixel graphics.
• Badass Adorable: Gail is a small, unassuming Rose-Haired Sweetie. Over the course of the game, she defeats several foes several times her size and is eventually revealed to be a genetically-engineered Super-Soldier, and helps to repel an Alien Invasion.
• Badass Boast: During the second phase of the final battle, the Kobold leader Katash says "This isn't even my full power!"
• Bandit Mook:
  • Some areas and overworld encounters have birds that swoop down and steal your money.
  • A boss example, but Katash can steal your food items and heal from them. Unless they're "Food".
• Batter Up!: Gail's main weapon is a baseball bat. She can also buy more powerful bats later in the game.
• Bee Afraid: Giant bees are normally non-aggressive, simply following preset paths and dealing contact damage if you happen to touch one. If you kill one, however, all the others on screen will turn red and chase after you. Overworld encounters close to Sunflower Road will have bees that already start the fight angry at you.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Gail is nice to people most of the time, but when she has Birdy cornered after defeating her sand drake, Birdy is scared enough to try and pass off the fight as a test. Gail has none of it and beats her up offscreen before tying her up and taking her to Atai Town.
• Bioluminescence Is Cool: The flora and fauna of the Mul Caverns have a lot of this.
• Bittersweet Ending: Downplayed. Bart and Gail successfully find the Phoenixes and use them to repel the invasion from the Astral Empire. However, they were not completely cowed by defeat, and now desire the power of the Phoenix for themselves. There is also still no sign of the kidnapped villagers.
• Black Comedy Burst: After helping out a young couple in Cosette, the girl's grandfather states that he has to plan their wedding. And after that, the next big event in his grandchildren's lives: His funeral. (He then clarifies that he's just joking, and doesn't plan on dying until he's met his great-grandkids.)
• Bleak Level: The Scorched Lands.
• Bonus Dungeon: Each region, roughly, has one hidden optional dungeon. The first region has the second half of the Anuri Temple, the second has the hidden vault, the third and fourth together share the waterways and underground caverns, and the final regions have the path to Terrelum, the hidden Monster Town.
• Boring, but Practical: Both the Civilian Crossbow and its upgraded version the Double Crossbow: It doesn't have a Charged Attack, and it's not the best weapon in terms of sheer DPS, but it has a long range and can be manually aimed, which gives it a lot of uses in both combat and exploration.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Many of the guards at the castle in Daea and in the overworld are under mind control from the Kobolds.
• Brats with Slingshots: The first weapon you can get, other than the bat. Justified as you get it from a kid.
• Bratty Half-Pint: The Mayor of Atai Town is a rude young boy who calls Gail an "old lady" upon seeing her for the first time, although it's hinted by his servants that he used to be happier and more friendly before his parents died.
• Bragging Rights Reward: Invoked with the Phalanx. Beating it gives no tangible gameplay reward other than a badge. Talking to the golem guarding the way has it literally say that the only reward is "bragging rights". However, getting the badge and then finishing the game with all moonstones, heart rubies, and stamina gems gives a Sequel Hook in the form of an after credits artwork.
• Bubblegloop Swamp: The Moonlight Ravine.
• But Thou Must!: At the beginning of the game, if you go to the bridge that leads out of the Panselo region, Gail will turn back and say she needs to fetch the kids from the forest.
• Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp": Pookis (sheep) and Perros (chickens). Humanoid robots are called Golems. It's later revealed that they aren't exactly sheep and chickens, but genetically enhanced sheep and chickens designed to better survive After the End.
• Cartoon Bomb: One of the tools you can get has this appearance.
• Cats Have Nine Lives: Not directly referenced, but there are 9 pettable cats found throughout the game's world.
• Chain of Deals: The "Trading Sequence" sidequest. You can find the people who require certain items in any order, but the chain doesn't properly start until you fish up a turtle in a hidden cave in the Panselo reigon. You then give it to a man at the GEO Club who wants the lone turle in the aquarium to have a friend, and he gives you a ring, which you give to a man at Moonlight Ravine as a gift for his girlfriend. He gives you perfume in return, which you give to some soldiers at the First Wall so they can repel bugs, and they let you take one of their stuffed toys. You give the toy to a girl at the Rhodus border and her mother tries to offer you a job, and then gives you a letter of reccommendation when you turn it down. You then give the letter to a girl in Cosette Village who wants to work elsewhere, and she lets you have her Golem dog, which you let two guards use to track down a pair of scammers, who hide at Adar's house and lock the door, requiring you to ask Garnet to open the door again while you play another game of hide and seek with the kids she looks after. When that's done, you get a prop sword, which you return to a customer at the Atai inn, and get his latest novel. The novel goes to a guard at the Last Wall, and he lets you have a claw that a Wrecker managed to break off a Wendigo, which you end up trading to a Harpy in Aurantia in exchange for the second piece of Dream Ore. Finally, you bring the ore to the blacksmith in Daea City who has the first piece, and he forges them into the Night Star for you.
• Close-Knit Community: Implied with Panselo. If you talk to the villagers prior to the mass alien abduction, most of them clearly know and like Gail. After the abduction, the remaining children band together to take care of one another while you're away. And former residents of the village, like Thomas and Lisa, choose to return as soon as you tell them what happened.
• Collapsing Ceiling Boss: The Great Drake and the Century Toad both have an attack that sends rubble raining down from the ceiling.
• Cooking Mechanics: Certain food items can be cooked at fires (which you'll often have to light yourself), and involves a minigame where you must press the right button when the indicator is within a certain area. Unsuccessful attempts at cooking will result in "Food" which reduces your health, but is useful for a specific sidequest.
• Consummate Professional: In-universe, the Kobolds, a race of space-bound, wolf-like, howling mercenaries, are so well-known for this that their mere presence on a planet is a good sign that someone else is up to something covert. Subverted with their leader Katash, who is smug and vindictive, and declares that It's Personal with Gail after she defeats him.
• Crapsaccharine World: Subverted. The world is beautiful and whimsical, but it also hosts many dangerous creatures and is the product of a brutal world war and a nuclear apocalypse. That said, the people are generally kind and society as a whole have made great efforts to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past.
• Critical Annoyance: Averted - there is a warning sound whenever Gail has less than 10 HP left, but it quickly fades away.
• Cute Bruiser: Gail, judging by several NPCs' comments.
• Dark Reprise: When you return to Panselo village after everyone except for Gail and the children are taken by aliens, a minor version of the usual theme plays.
• Degraded Boss:
  • Smaller versions of the Slargummy can be found all over the game.
  • The Kobold in charge of the Prison is the same as the regular enemies in the very next area.
  • A few Wreckers can be found in the Scorched Lands.
  • The Arboar you fight as part of one sidequest in Cosette later becomes an ordinary foe in the secret dungeon leading to Terrelum.
• Destructible Projectiles: You can destroy some projectiles like axes or arrows with your projectile weapons. Some projectiles can also be attacked with your melee weapon if they're moving horizontally, but you can't stop projectiles from Energy Weapons.
• Developer's Foresight:
  • Reloading a save will show Gail sleeping and waking up near the save point. If you save and reload at the entrance of Doki Forest after the abduction, the kids waiting nearby will tell her that she shouldn't be sleeping at a time like this. If you do the same at Sunflower Road, an NPC will ask her why she doesn't just sleep at the nearby inn.
  • Lisa's dialogue upon meeting Gail in Atai is slightly different if Gail's hair was dyed beforehand; Lisa will say that she still recognises Gail despite the change.
  • After freeing Lisa, she'll wait for you near one of Atai town's exits, expecting you to get her to leave with you. If you leave through the other exit and go to the south bridge, she'll come after you and call you out on leaving without her.
  • If you visit Fran at her lab by Daea's lake for the first time after Thomas accompanies you, he can be seen looking in through the window while Fran is introducing herself.
  • Two of the prizes you get for helping Fran are free vouchers to expand your storage. If your storage is maxed out, the tailor will exchange the vouchers for money instead.
  • You're supposed to gain access to the Cosette region after saving Prince Leo and learning the royal family's song from him, which will make the guard at the Cosette checkpoint let you pass. However, if you're dedicated in your Moonstone collecting and turning-in, it's not too hard to unlock the Franway leading to Cosette. If you do this and try to leave backwards through the checkpoint, the guard has special dialogue where he assumes you're a resident of the region and lets you pass freely.
  • If you show the Lunar Drake to Astrid while Gaspar is at her shop, he'll react when she throws it.
  • In the Scorched Lands, there is a single room where a ghoul is supposed to rush out at you from inside a box. If you destroy the box with a charged attack, the ghoul will instead rush in from the door behind you, so you can't avoid the Jump Scare.
  • The dialogue upon reaching Pristine City is different depending on how far into the Troubador's sidequest you've gotten; if you're past the point where "Cobette" has ran off, Bart will mention that he lost a bet that he could arrive before Coby did.
• Difficult, but Awesome:
  • Ukemi. Available from the start of the game, but difficult to practice in the heat of battle. Widely used by speedrunners.
  • Twice-Cooked Mystery Meat. You get the raw meat from critters, who are abundant. Each unit takes 2 seconds to eat. And one full stack lets you heal a whooping 96 hp. But it's one of the most difficult items to cook in the whole game.
• Disc-One Final Dungeon: The White Towers. Its music and setting is suitably epic, its boss is a big difficulty spike, and completing it changes the overarching goal of the game from finding out what happened to the villagers to finding the Phoenixes to stop the coming invasion.
• Disc-One Nuke:
  • The second you go to Cosette—which can even be earlier than intended due to the way the Franways work—you have access to a (somewhat hidden) sidequest that lets you fight an Arboar. If you use Save Scumming to ensure you get Arboar Meat from it, you can very quickly finish the chef's quest in Daea that unlocks the Elixir—the game's second-most powerful healing item. Arboar Meat is otherwise only available from a secret endgame dungeon.
  • Once you get the Sonic Spear in the castle dungeons, you can return to Atri in the Ouroboros hideout and, providing you collected at least 2 Ouroboros Scrolls, she'll teach you the Spear Bomb technique. This weapon + ability provides some of the best dps in the game, and may well carry you through to the endgame. Can be made even more useful by being trained by Master Teraka in the Daea Dojo (which halves the time it takes to charge your attacks) and by Aella (Which lets you store your charged attack).
• Distressed Dude: Thomas gets captured and imprisoned during your visit to Daea. After rescuing him and reaching the top of the White Towers, you find Prince Leo, who's been beaten up, tied to a chair, and interrogated by the Kobolds.
• The Ditz: Downplayed with Bart. He screws up his attempts to disable the mainframe in the Royal Archives, and in the Mul Caverns he briefly forgets he is in a remote-controlled robot body and therefore in no real danger. But otherwise he provides useful advice and hints and doesn't get in your way too much.
• Doomed Hometown: All the adults (and a few of the kids) in Panselo are abducted by aliens early in the game, forcing the children to run the village while Gail seeks aid. Somewhat subverted by the trope standards, the hometown survives unscathed, and the children who remained had to take matters into hands about surviving on a farm community, at least until adults from other places arrive. The ending shows the town being worse for wear after the battle between the aliens and the Phoenixes, but everyone seems to have survived, and the village appears to have a force field around it.
• Door to Before: Several dungeons, especially later on, include quick exits back to certain areas that can generally only be accessed once you've gained certain items, or if you reach the switch to unlock them from the other side. For example, there's an exit in the Anuri Temple that leads back into the forest that can only be unblocked with bombs, and there's at least two instances of areas leading to the underground railway where you can get a train car back to places (one of them goes between Atai and the Ouroboros hideout, while the other goes between the Scorched Lands and the Subterra).
• Down the Drain: The Aqua Line, a sewer and water transporting system beneath Daea City.
• Dreaming of Things to Come: One sidequest in Cosette has you helping a young couple who have recently grown distant. Both confess to you it's because they've had terrible dreams about the future of their relationship: The young man has dreamed that he'll meet a red-haired woman and fall in love with her, being unfaithful, while the young woman has dreamed that her husband will die fetching her a rare fruit from a distant tree. You destroy the monstrous creature protecting the tree, making it safe, and you dye your hair red so the young man stops being afraid of red-haired women. Adorably, you later learn from the young woman that she herself has always wanted to dye her hair red, and you can actually see her with red hair in the ending scene.
• Empty Room Psych: A few in the Scorched Lands.
• Empty Room Until the Trap: In the Anuri temple, you go into a room with a huge puddle of water, and beat up a Gummy at the end of the room. Then the puddle reveals itself to be a larger version, and the boss fight begins.
• The Empire: The Astral Empire. It rules through power and military expansion, and wants to harvest the earth of its resources.
• Energy Weapon: Used by the Kobolds and most robotic enemies.
• Everything Fades: Defeated enemies turn black, and slowly shrink until disappearing in a puff of smoke. Thankfully, several things imply that Gail is not killing the human enemies, and is simply knocking them out instead.

F-L

• Falling Chandelier of Doom: In the White Towers, hitting chandeliers with your ranged weapons is the easiest way to take out Kobolds.
• Feed It a Bomb: Dragon Snares can be defeated by throwing bombs at them so that they'll fall in; it usually takes two bombs to kill them if successfully aimed.
• Fetch Quest: Everywhere. If you don't have enough of the items people ask you for, expect to have to do some backtracking in order to gather it. Thankfully most of these are optional, but there is one early on that's required to progress - to gain access to the Sand Drifts, you have to buy a bottle of wine for the imprisoned Ouroboros member, but to do that you need to borrow Lisa's ID and dye your hair brown.
• Fight Woosh: The camera zooms in and spins around if you run into enemies while travelling through the overworld.
• Fishing Minigame: Buying a fishing rod allows you to catch fish in various places throughout the game's world, and successfully catching them involves having to move a pointer to a green area that keeps moving, which is easier depending on how much energy you have. Some fish will give you special items upon being caught, such as Moonstones.
• Flying Brick: Gail herself, though not in-game. The credits sequence, however, shows that she's learned how to fly, and is using it to defend her village as a superhero.
• Food Porn: There are many food items in the game that you can either cook or purchase (most notably from Daea, which has three different eating establishments), a lot of which have descriptions that are sure to make you hungry.
• Friendly Rivalry: After you restore Aella's memory, she reveals that she considers Gail a rival and challenges her to spar. Gail wins, to Aella's dismay, but Aella bounces back from it and decides to teach Gail the Temperance ability that lets Gail store her Charged Attack.
• Galactic Superpower: All of the known universe is controlled by either the Galactic Federation or the Astral Empire.
• Game Hunting Mechanic: Many enemies drop consumable items that can be eaten raw or cooked. For example, you can get legs from toads, tails from Sand Drakes, and if you're able to catch lizards, scorpions, and mice before they run away, you'll get Mystery Meat from them.
• Giant Spider: In Sunflower Road and the Moonlight Ravine. Ariadne, an optional boss found in Mul Caves is an even bigger example.
• The Glomp: Gail gets one of these from Lisa after setting her free.
• Good Morning, Crono: The game begins with Gail waking up in her bedroom, although it's implied to actually be the afternoon, and she either slept in really late or was taking a nap.
• Gradual Regeneration: The Life Ring slowly regenerates health whenever you have any amount missing.
• Green Hill Zone: Doki Forest.
• Guide Dang It!:
  • Several sidequests are very well hidden. Many require you to talk to one NPC multiple times in a row to activate the quest, with no indication that you can do this.
  • Several of the song stone puzzles have answers that aren't intuitive at all, to say the least.
  • There's an area in the Cosette Reigon north of Wheat Road that has a hidden GEO dungeon. How do you uncover it? You have to listen carefully to your footsteps and use a bomb where it sounds like wood. Most people wouldn't think to pay attention to such sounds, and it's usually not wood but stone that you use bombs on.
  • The Oracle can tell you the locations of Heart Rubies, Energy Gems, and Moonstones, as well as give hints on how to find them, but some of her clues are more cryptic than others.
• Hard Work Hardly Works: After Gail restores Aella's memory, Aella laments that she can't match Gail in martial arts: No matter how hard Aella works, Gail surpasses her through sheer talent. Justified, in that Gail is a genetically-engineered Super-Soldier.
• Harping on About Harpies: Not Always Chaotic Evil, though the ones that are more than make up for it.
• He Knows Too Much: Thomas, when you first meet him, thinks you are a Peace Minister and are there to silence him because of his scientific work going against their rules, and gets the Wrecker he was working on to fight you. Some time later, he gets captured by the mind controlled guards, implied to be because he brought up the subject of aliens during his failed attempt to get into the towers, which have been taken over by the Kobolds.
• Healing Checkpoint: Downplayed. Save points don't heal you when you save, and most of them won't heal you if you die or quit. However, if you reload after saving near a Zophiel statue, you'll be at full health.
• Helpful Mook: The Dragon Snare plants will chomp on Gail until you mash Attack enough to break free. However, when they do let go, they spit you high in the air. This can be useful for reaching high places. If you have Stinkroot in your inventory, they'll spit you out right away, meaning you'll take minimal damage, too.
• Hero of Another Story:
  • The other Stellanites working with Bart, specifically the other seven that were tasked with finding the pieces of the Spheralis in the other countries.
    • One of the other seven actually had their Golem broken by man named Gustav, who mistook it for a threat. After the Stellanite controlling it told him about the upcoming invasion, he was tasked with retreiving a Spheralis shard from Rhodus in their stead.
  • The ending artwork for getting 100% Completion as well as deafeating both Katash in his second fight and Phalanx implies that Kitt and Rutea have become this, having somehow escaped from captivity and gained two alien companions while fighting lizard-like aliens on another planet.
• Heroic Mime: Gail. Downplayed in that she does say item descriptions when you examine something, has occasional dialogue options, and she still talks offscreen, but beyond that, she's a silent protagonist.
• His Name Really Is "Barkeep":
  • It's suggested that Nana's name is actually Nana, since a dialogue option early in the game has Gail refer to her as "Grandma Nana", and a few other people who aren't part of the orphanage also call Nana.
  • The Mayor of Atai is actually called Mayor, unlike the rest before him who were called Neri instead.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Any enemy with an explosion-based attack can have said attack turned against it (or its allies) somehow. The most glaring example is harpies, which can be take massive damage by setting off bombs they're still carrying. Additionally, Gail can be injured by being too close her own bombs when they go off.
• Ho Yay: In-Universe. In Daea, two men are both trying to impress the same girl, and constantly brag to one another about how awesome they are. The very amused woman in question notes that they're "basically flirting with each other" instead.
• Hyperactive Metabolism: Health can be regained by consuming food. Several of them will have additional effects as well, like a temporary boost to damage and stamina regeneration.
• Identity Amnesia: Your friend Aella suffers from this; there is a sidequest to restore her memory.
• Infinity +1 Sword: The Night Star, which deals double the damage of your starting weapon. To get it, you must perform a long trading quest which begins with giving a turtle to a man in the Geo Club and ends with giving the Dream Ore to the blacksmith in Daea.
• Instant Roast: If you kill a small critter (like a lizard or rat) with a bomb or exploding spear, they drop Cooked Mystery Meat instead of the usual Mystery Meat.
• Interface Spoiler: It's possible to unlock badges featuring certain characters before you actually meet them, and there's two badges with characters you never get to meet. One of the badges can also reveal that Mr. Planto is a Golem before you find that out.
• It's a Wonderful Failure: In the middle of the game, you can choose "no" when asked if you will help to save the world from an alien invasion, resulting in the game telling you that without Gail's help, the world was destroyed, along with an image of said event happening. The same thing happens if you agree to rest with Mother Computer.
• Javelin Thrower: One of the tools you can get. It creates a platform every time it's embedded into a wall. You can also get an upgrade that makes it able to explode when charged.
• Jump Scare:
  • Dragon Snares come up out of the ground very suddenly, which can surprise you if you don't pay attention to the flowers that signal their presence.
  • An empty room in the Scorched Lands will have a ghoul sprint at you from behind a box and attack you. This room has no other purpose. Even if you wise up and destroy the box with a bomb or chaged attack, the ghoul will come in from the door behind you instead.
• Killer Robot: The Ghouls and Wendigos, according to both NPC dialogue and first-hand experience.
• Knockback Evasion: The Ukemi mechanic: by pressing a button just before you hit the ground, you can avoid being stunned by enemy attacks or long falls.
• Last of His Kind: The Anuri are said to have been wiped out by unknown means some time after the Great War, but one of them can be found in the Subterra. If you give him the Strange Urn and return to the room after, you'll see tadpoles swimming in the water the urn gets dropped into, implying that the species will be brought back.
• Le Parkour: A character called Bo likes to do this, calling it "free running", and he has several challenges you can attempt.
• Lethal Chef: Messing up the cooking process will result in "Food", which damages you by five points when consumed. It can be given to Mr. Planto for use as fertilizer.
• Loads and Loads of Sidequests: There are sidequests everywhere, usually in the form of characters asking you to bring them certain items. There's even a Chain of Deals quest that ends with you getting a powerful weapon.
• Locked in the Dungeon: A rare voluntary example with the prisons in Daea, with several guards locking themselves inside the cells to avoid being mind controlled by the Kobolds.
• Lost Technology: Much of the technology of the ancients has been lost to the ages. The Peace Ministers carefully monitor their reintroduction to society, and have allowed things like Golems and the Recycler.

M-S

• Mirror Boss: Towards the end of the game, you have to fight a shadow version of Gail who can use all the same items and attacks, the only difference being that she can duplicate herself.
• Mistaken for Romance:
  • One NPC in the game is an old man watching a pair of youngsters converse. He says he admires their youthful romance and admires their "sparks." They're actually cousins catching up on family happenings.
  • In Thomas' lab, a Peace Minister thinks that the girl in the pictures on the wall is his girlfriend when she's actually his sister.
• Money Is Experience Points: There is no XP or leveling in this game. Your "build" will be determined by your financial choices. Will you stock up on healing items; or invest in a new combat manuever, armor, or weapon upgrade?Pick one and choose wisely.
• Monster Town: The hidden village of Terrelum is inhabited by friendly Trolls and Harpies.
• Multi-Mook Melee: In the Bandits' hideout and the Dungeons. Also sometimes happens in overworld encounters.
• Mundane Made Awesome: The Light Casters are a cult-like group who "turn darkness into light"... by fixing the lights in the sewers.
• Mythology Gag:
  • In the original game, the Ghouls were extremely fast-moving and deadly enemies that mercilessly pursued Gail. In this game, however, they're much slower and easier to beat. In one room in the Scorched Lands, a fast-moving Ghoul jumps out of a box to attack you, in reference to a notorious Jump Scare from the original.
  • The first boss is different from that of the original game. Later on, you gain access to more of the temple, which leads you to the original boss, complete with the same music.
  • There's a secret area in the Mul Caves that resembles how said caves looked in the original game.
• Neglected Sidequest Consequence: Generally averted; the sidequests can be completed at any time before the final boss battles, and don't affect the overall story in any way. The most you miss out on is access to fast travel between Panselo, Atai, Daea, and Cosette as well as having Thomas fix or upgrade most of your weapons if you haven't freed Fran from the bridge, but there is no time limit so you can go back and help her at any point after getting the bombs (she explains that she was able to survive being trapped because she had a lot of food with her).
• Nintendo Hard: The game has quite difficult combat, especially in the beginning, and many of the puzzles are also difficult to solve. And that's not even getting into trying for the "Zero Trial" badge, which involves finishing the game without collecting any Heart Rubies or Energy Gems, or enabling any of the accessibility settings.
• No Fair Cheating:
  • The game autosaves whenever you pay the Oracle to give you hints about where to find certain items, preventing you from saving your money by reloading. It doesn't stop you from using a different save file, though, or looking up the locations online...
  • Downplayed with the cheat mod on the PC version, which disables the ability to earn achievements on Steam, however you can still earn the badges in-game.
• Notice This: Breakable objects, enemies, or fish that have important items such as keys or Moonstones will have a glowing effect around them.
• One-Gender Race: Trolls (all-male) and Harpies (all-female).
• One-Woman Army: Gail can take on hoards of monsters, soldiers, and robots all by herself. Many characters remark on how much stronger she is than she looks. It's revealed that she's actually a Super-Soldier who was stolen out from the vaults, which is why she's so much stronger than an ordinary human.
• Optional Boss: There are a few extra areas you can explore with bosses at the end, but are not required to progress.
  • After you get the bombs (the lifesaver is also ideal), you can explore an additonal area of the Anuri Temple, and unlock the doors leading to the giant toad boss of the original game.
  • There's an underground area you can go to after learning the Royal Hymn, where you can fight a radioactive version of the first boss after getting a key from a fisherman.
  • In the Mul Caves, you can go back and fight the giant bug that captured Gail earlier.
  • The Ancient Vault near Adar's house has two Wreckers near the end.
• Orphanage of Love: Implied with the Panselo orphanage. The orphans are generally not left wanting, and are free to mingle with the other kids in the village. Notably, despite being an orphanage, none of the children there express any particular desire to be adopted. A flashback in E.D.E.N shows that Nana had originally opened the orphanage after adopting Gail and Kitt. She had specifically set out to care for children who don't have anyone else.
• Our Orcs Are Different: The Trolls in this game are more of the Blizzard variety, though not all of them are violence loving brutes. It is later revealed that they (and Harpies) were genetically engineered by humans to be used as weapons in the Great War.
• Overworld Not to Scale: The overworld is a miniature version of the world, that unlike in the original game, Gail can freely roam, with many side and secret areas added as a result. There are also enemies that you can get into encounters with.
• Paper-Thin Disguise:
  • All Gail has to do to buy wine with Lisa's ID is dye her hair brown.
  • Thomas doesn't seem to realise that "Narf" is actually just Fran wearing a pair of disguise glasses. Not even when she denies having met Gail before.
• Patchwork Map: Partially justified by the Great Walls, which close off a section that ancient humans didn't want monsters getting out of - or, rather, didn't want humans getting into - and has stood for centuries. No in-universe justification exists for the rest of the map, however.
• Permanently Missable Content: Mostly averted; there are a few sidequests at the beginning of the game that you can miss if you don't complete them before the villagers get abducted, but the rewards are either money or items that you can easily get in other ways. Lunar Artifacts will respawn back where you found them if you discard or recycle them, so you can pick up another to sell to the antique collector (and they'll also respawn if you do that). There are two badges, though, that are intended to be earned on separate playthroughs: "Zero Trial" (finishing the game without picking up any Heart Rubies or Energy Gems, and with the hardest combat settings) and "Speed Runner" (getting to the save point at the Final Rest in under four hours).
• Planet Looters: Bart says that this is why the Astral Empire is invading Earth.
• Point of No Return: After you get to the end of the hallway after the Final Rest, a door closes behind you and won't open again even after you've fought Mother Computer II and a shadow version of Gail. However, there are no save points after the one at Final Rest, so you can reload your last save and backtrack for anything you've missed.
• Pop Quiz: One of the intern trials in Thomas' lab is this. Getting just one question wrong results in you getting ejected into pond outside and having to start over.
• Pretend to Be Brainwashed: One of the sidequests involving a character named Ruby has her doing this when she tries to become a guard, only to end up being caught by the Kobolds and having to avoid being mind controlled by pretending she already is.
• Proud Warrior Race Guy: The Trolls and Harpies outside of Terelum are revealed to be this. Attacking you is essentially their way of saying hello.
• Rambling Old Man Monologue: An old woman in Daea talks a lot about times from her past, and if you let her tell you everything she has to say, she'll mistake you for one of her family members and give you a Moonstone.
• Robotic Reveal: At the end of Mr. Planto's sidequest, he turns around and you see that he's a Golem. Apparently Gail is surprised, even though she could easily see it from the angle that the player can't (and even then if you look closely you'll see that his hands appear to be blue).
• Rose-Haired Sweetie: Gail is implied to be a Nice Girl by most sidequests and actions you can do, and has a naturally pink hair.
• Schizo Tech: Justified - humanity was clearly very advanced before the invasion, and much of their technology was lost during the war. The Peace Ministers carefully control which newly rediscovered technology of the Ancients should be accessible by the public, which results in strange things like semi-sapient robots alongside medieval looking farming villages.
• Secret Test of Character: Birdy tries to pass off getting Bubbles to attack Gail as this, saying that Gail can be her second in command after she defeats it and corners Birdy. Gail doesn't buy it.
• Sequel Hook:
  • The invaders were repelled, but they now seek the power of the Phoenixes for themselves. Additionally, there is still no sign of the missing villagers.
  • It is unknown what happened to Ava, the woman who brought Gail and Kitt to Panselo.
  • Completing the game with the "Light Wings" and "Dark Wings" badges, as well as all moonstones, heart rubies, and energy gems, shows a post-credits artwork depicting Kitt and Rutea on an alien planet.
  • Two Phoenixes grew angel wings like Adam, and going by statues in the Royal Archives, escaped E.D.E.N. and left their mark on the outside world. The "Dark Wings" badge and some dialogue from Zeke and Birdy's sidequest suggests one of them became the leader of the Kobolds, while the other one may be depicted in the Zophiel statues.
• Sequence Breaking:
  • It's possible to gain access to Cosette before you're required to go there in the story by finding enough Moonstones to unlock the teleporter there. But you will still have to learn the Royal Hymn in order to activate the beacons to go to the next area.
  • A common speedrun tactic is the "Ouroboros Skip" where with the right items and some careful platforming, you can cross the bridge leading to Daea instead of going through Moonlight Ravine, bypassing the need to free Lisa and obtain the Lifesaver from her.
• Shifting Sand Land: Atai, the Sand Drifts, and the Bandits' Hideout.
• Shop Fodder: Amberite Ore can occasionaly be found by blowing up rubble, but its only purpose is to be recycled for money.
• Shout-Out:
  • In the Royal Archive, there is a secret room which references Space Invaders. Small robot enemies spawn from the top of the screen and slowly make their way down while periodically shooting directly below. There are a few barriers towards the bottom of the room which serve as cover from the lasers, and you have to destroy all the enemies to get the prize hidden in the room.
  • The swordmaster/novelist in the Atai tavern resembles Dante from Devil May Cry.
  • The friendly alien depicted in the mural within the Ancient GEO Base resembles a cross between Hollow Knight and Ori.
  • SPHERE/Pristine City: The final area of the game is a shielded underground refuge that housed the remains of humanity during the great war/apocalypse. And in its deepest level is a God-like/angelic extraterrestrial dubbed "Adam" who is the basis for a line of super humanoid bio-weapons.
• Sidequest Sidestory: Some of the sidequests you can do have their own storylines, the most notable one being the "Trading Sequence" which has a part where two people scam money out of you that they claimed would be for repairing a bridge, and you having to help the guards catch them, with an optional scene later on that reveals that one of them is Garnet's brother. It also turns out that one of the Troubadours who runs off towards the end of their sidequest is actually a Stellanite-controlled Golem and one of Bart's allies.
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Fran and Thomas are shown to be rivals, with each of them saying they're the best scientist in Castella and refusing to name one another, and a pair of students in Daea are implied to also have a rivalry based on which one they look up to. That said, Fran doesn't seem to mind secretly helping Thomas while in disguise if it means she can get Moonstones from him. The ending implies that they are on better terms and are now working together.
• SkeleBot 9000: The skeletal ghouls.
• Skippable Boss: You can escape the Mul Caves without ever fighting its boss. Even if you walk into the room where the boss lives, you can just walk right back out again. You get a Heart Ruby for beating it, though.
• Smashing Survival: Whenever you become trapped, such as being eaten by a Dragon Snare or paralyzed by electricity, you can hit the attack button to break out faster.
• Space People: The Stellanites aren't actual aliens, but rather humans who took to the stars after the Great War rather than hide in vaults. Their elvish features is a result of genetically modifying themselves to survive the harsh conditions of space.
• Stealth-Based Mission: One of the trials you have to do in the Ouroboros hideout involves sneaking past enemies without letting them see you.
• Stepping-Stone Sword: The Sonic Spear.
• Super Drowning Skills: Touching any body of water before acquiring the Lifesaver will hurt you and warp you to the last solid ground you were standing on, dealing one point of damage (originally, drowning would cost five HP). Justified and lampshaded when one of the kids reminds Gail that she is the worst swimmer in Panselo.
• Superboss: The Phalanx, which you're not even allowed to fight until you've found every Heart Ruby and maxed your health. There's no technical reward for beating it, though you get a Sequel Hook after the credits if you do so.
• Superior Species: Stellanites to humans. Justified - Stellanites are the descendants of the ancient humans who went to space, and they had to genetically engineer themselves to survive.
• Super-Soldier: Gail herself is one—she was broken out of the vaults as a baby and brought to Panselo by as-yet unknown forces. Her abducted twin brother Kitt is almost certainly one too, which is most likely why he prominently features in the Sequel Hook.

T-Y

• Take Your Time: Despite being told that there isn't much time left before the world gets invaded and destroyed, there is no time limit and you can take as long as you like to complete all the sidequests and find all of the game's secrets before facing the final boss.
• Tempting Fate:
  • At the beginning of the game, one of the NPCs in Panselo talks about how boring it is there and how she'd like there to be more visitors, even aliens. Then she and all the other adults there get abducted by aliens soon after.
  • One of Thomas' logs has him mention that a specific attack from the Wrecker he repaired can be turned against it by hitting it like a baseball, before saying that it's unlikely to ever happen. Now remember what Gail uses as her main weapon.
• That Poor Cat: Happens twice in the game. The first instance occurs in an area in the Scorchlands, when you trick a Wrecker into breaking a hole in the ground, revealing the ancient GEO base below and destroying itself in the process. The second happens after you defeat the Phalanx.
• There Are No Adults: In Panselo after the abduction. After rescuing Prince Leo, Thomas and some of the guards from Daea come to stay (Lisa also returns before then, although it's unclear how old she is).
• Trauma Inn: Sleeping at Gail's house or an inn (or anywhere else that gives you the option to sleep) fully heals her.
• Turns Red: The giant bees do this if you kill one.
• The Very Definitely Final Dungeon: E.D.E.N., a massive underwater research facility housing the Phoenix, filled with terminals showing you the diaries of the scientists who worked there and are responsible for the state of the world in the present.
• Tragic Keepsake: Hilde, a general at the Last Wall, wants you to collect the dogtags of fallen soldiers so that they can be returned to their families as a last memento of their loved ones. If you collect all of them, it turns out that one of the tags was that of her own deceased wife, and part of her asking you to collect the tags was in the hope that you might find her beloved Alba's.
• Ultimate Life Form: Adam, the specimen from which the Phoenix Weapons were created. The Phoenix Weapons themselves may also count.
• Uncertain Doom: Depending on the outcome of the final battle, Kobold boss Katash gets beaten up by either Gail or a Phoenix awakened by Bart. When this happens, Katash is flung offscreen, and there's no indication as to whether he survived this incident.
• Vague Age: Gail is likely one of the oldest orphans in the Panselo orphanage alongside her twin Kitt, but she still lives in the orphanage. She has several close friends who were old enough to leave and travel the world. One of the older ladies in Panselo teases her about when she'd find a boyfriend/husband. She needs Lisa's ID to buy alcohol at the bar in Atai, although Lisa says she is old enough and only lets Gail use hers because she would have to wait a month for it to be ready otherwise. All of this seems to imply that she's somewhere in her mid to late teens, but nothing certain.
• Video Game Caring Potential: In order to progress, you have to take the bombs from Adar's house after getting Garnet to unlock the door for you. However, there is an option to leave some money behind in the nearby bank as a payment. Unlike most instances of you giving away your money, you don't get anything out of this except for the "Ethics" badge.
• Video Game Remake: In addition to updated graphics and sounds, the remake has many additions and differences with the original:
  • Perhaps the biggest gameplay change is that the world map is now free roaming instead of limited to just moving between levels. Overworld encounters and secret areas have been added, as well as a teleportation system to make travel faster.
  • Many antagonists had their character expanded. For example, the Ouroboros in the original were rather generic desert bandits who may or may not be sand drake activist. Here, they are a tribe of desert nomads who have the sand drake as their sacred animal, and only became outlaws under the agressiveness of their newest leader, Birdy, who replaces the unnamed "Bandit Leader" from the original.
    • The Kobold General from the original game received similar treatment; he is named Katash, has a fleshed-out personality, and even shows up again at the end of the game looking to pick a fight with Gail.
  • Some food items can be cooked in a minigame that involves pressing the right button at the right time. Cooked food will heal more and take less time to eat.
  • A fishing rod was added, allowing you to... well... fish, giving you a convenient source of food in places with water.
  • A flute was added, which can play up to six melodies with certain effects, like opening doors or healing you. There are also many optional doors that require unique melodies to open. A puzzle must be solved to figure out the melody, which will lead to goodies like money, moonstones, heart rubies, and energy gems.
    • Additionally, the Artifact, a tool from the original game, was reworked to be an upgrade to the flute; it can do everything the flute can do, but is also able to control high-tech devices that only respond to sound signals from the Artifact.
  • Gail now has a twin brother, Kitt, who is abducted with the other villagers at the start of the game. His nature as a Phoenix, and a post credits artwork shown to 100% completionists suggest he will likely be the protagonist of the sequel.
  • In the original, the Earth was devastated by aliens, while here it was the humans who destroyed themselves, and aliens don't show up until the events of the game. It's later revealed that the Phoenixes were the ones to raze the earth, with the origin of this order being unclear.
  • Billy is replaced by Bart, who plays much the same role for most of the game but is a genuinely good guy who has no plans to betray you. A conversation late in the game implies that Billy still exists as Bart's brother, and is a lot less nice than him.
  • The ending changes significantly. In addition Bart replacing Billy, the final area goes from a dark and decrepit lab to a brightly lit and still intact research facility. Gail's nature as a Phoenix is revealed by Mother Computer, the AI in charge of the facility, who becomes one of the final bosses. The chase sequence with Unit 66 has been replaced with a rematch against Katash, leader of the Kobolds. The game ends with Bart using the Phoenixes to successfully repel the invaders, and an alliance being formalized between Stellanites and Humans, and Gail doesn't get abducted like she did in the original game's ending, though the villagers are still missing.
• Voice Grunting:
  • Gail makes noises when making charged attacks, leaping, and using certain techniques she learns. She also yawns whenever she wakes up.
  • The characters have blips of noise made to sound like voices, with different pitches depending on their age and gender. The Golems have more of a beeping noise, except Mr. Planto, likely to hide the reveal of his true nature.
• We Will Meet Again: After you defeat Katash in the White Towers, he says it isn't over. Sure enough, you encounter him again near the very end of the game.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: The Peace Ministers. Their intention in controlling technology is to prevent another disaster like the great war to happen again, but by doing so their also restricts genuinely useful technologies like teleporters (though even then, their reasoning that those would disrupt the economy and destroy many jobs is not without merit). In the ending scene, Bart says that they will ease of on the restrictions to face the coming challenges.
• "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: The ending scene shows what's going on in Daea, Atai, and Panselo, with appearances from certain NPCs depending on if you completed their sidequests or not, as well as your completion level in general.
• Wolf Man: The Kobolds look like anthropomorphic wolves.
• You ALL Look Familiar: There are several identical little girls, old men, old ladies, guards, men in turbans, and innkeepers. There are also a few identical merchant NPCs where you can actually select "You look familiar..." as a dialogue option when speaking to them.

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