and released on Steam on October 16th, 2020.The game follows Oran, a boy who one day stole his parent's money and sailed south. Years later, after being informed by his grandfather that his parents have both died, he returns, though some people are less happy to see him back than others. Can he earn back their respect?
As well as having Dungeon Crawling elements, there are also Dating Sim elements, as there are several NPCs that can be romanced and eventually married.
A sequel called Veritus, taking place several years later, is currently in the works.
Prodigal contains examples of the following tropes:
- Ability Required to Proceed: The early dungeons feature obstacles that need certain items you don't have yet in order to progress through them. After that, you can do some of the dungeons in any order, but you have to bring the items to the one who requests them in a specific order. In the post-game, there are certain dungeons that require upgrades to progress through.
- All Your Powers Combined: The Boots of Graile have all the abilities of each of the other pairs of boots accessed from Tess' shop, which you will have to obtain (as well as complete a dungeon) in order to receive them.
- And Now You Must Marry Me: Mariana forces you to marry her after you defeat Captain Crossbones in an optional dungeon accessed after completing all her challenges. Talking to Oakley after her love confession will also lead to you being forced to marry her.
- Antepiece:
- The room where you first find the Dread Hand has a button that puts up a wall when you walk over it in order to reach the chest. Acquiring the item has Oran say that he can reset his position in the room with it, indicating that you need to do so to leave. Similarly, the rooms where you find the Lariat and the Rust Knuckle have features that you can use them on to leave the room, but you can still just use the Dread Hand instead.
- Downplayed with Tara's quest, which is designed to teach you that certain NPCs can be found in different places during different times of the day, as they will change positions at least once during the quest. While it's not important for the main story, it can be important for marriages and the post-game quest as you will need to remember where to find the people involved.
- Anti-Frustration Features:
- Each dungeon has a statue near the entrance and near the boss room so that you don't have to travel through the whole dungeon again once you reach there. This is especially useful if you lose all your HP and have to travel back. Some dungeons that are longer or have extra areas have more than one statue, most notably Crocasino Vault, which has one near a lengthy stealth section and in the cell you get sent to if you're caught so you don't have to travel all the way back to try again.
- There are various types of items that give you different buffs, such as being able to move faster, taking no damage from falls, or automatically reviving upon being knocked out.
- The game doesn't auto-save, so you don't have to start a new save file for each girl you want to marry, you can just reload a save after marrying one and then go for another. While there are three characters who can't be married until after you've completed the game, you'll have the ability to in Act 2 on a new save file if you're already married by the post-game, and there's even the option to skip straight to Act 2 with almost all the dungeons being being unlocked so you don't have to play through all the cutscenes again. You also automatically get the Winged Boots equipped.
- If you end up fighting the True Final Boss, your HP is automatically replenished since there's no option to backtrack and heal beforehand. You also get extra vitality, effectively doubling your HP.
- If you're having too much trouble moving a Crystal Key without taking damage, you can buy an Ice Key from Zaegul's secret shop and use that instead. They can also be found in a chest in the Crystal Caves, and a few chests in Enlightenment.
- Activating a Curse will automatically break all the Altars except the Chaos one (and this is only available after completing the game with them already broken, as well as clearing the Brutal Bonus Level). However, the Curse of Fraility, which turns all damage except falling into a One-Hit Kill, disables the permanent death that you would normally get from the Altar to Hate. Additionally, the Curse of Rust, which makes upgrades, rings, and boots ineffective, does not work on the Winged Boots as it would be annoying to be forced to walk everywhere slowly. The Curse of Horns also gives you the Climbing Gear so you can still access the places you need it for since you won't be able to buy it.
- Auto-Revive: Buying a Frostberry Cobbler from Red's Inn will allow you to automatically revive upon losing all your HP, although it uses up the item so you will have to buy another one after that. The same goes for the Lovely Meal, an item that's only available if you marry Keaton, or the Boon, which you can trade some Rare seeds to Aoife for after completing her sidequest.
- Babies Ever After: Implied by some versions of the "Hero's Rest" ending where Oran is married; the last shot will be of a sleeping baby with what is presumed to be Oran and his chosen wife in the background. This is further backed up by a tweet on Zaegul's Character Blog.
- Bittersweet Ending; The "Hero's Rest" ending shows that while some characters moved on with their lives, they faced various hardships (with at least one of them dying in at least one possible ending) and it's implied that a war is breaking out between the North and the South.
- Ashwood in particular gets this quite hard. If you don't help him marry Lynn, he returns south alone and eventually ends up poisoned. If you do help him marry Lynn, however, she travels south with him and they work to unite the kingdoms, only for it to be undone when the King of Ashford is assassinated.
- Bolt of Divine Retribution: Breaking the Altar to Raem will result in her constantly firing a beam of light at you that you have to avoid while in dungeons, including during boss battles.
- Bragging Rights Reward: The Daemon's Ring, which is the reward you get for completing all of Daemon's Dive, grants a barrier that can protect you from attacks, which recharges on its own after taking damage. However, due to the nature of the dungeon, you've already proven that you don't really need it.
- Brutal Bonus Level:
- Daemon's Dive, which is only available after finishing the main story, as well as acquiring equipment upgrades and the key (which itself is difficult to get). There are 9 different stages based on previous dungeons, 8 of which have a harder version of a previous boss, and at the end is one very difficult boss for you to fight. Your reward is a special ring that surrounds you with a barrier that can repair itself shortly after taking damage.
- There's also Enlightenment, which has harder versions of the post-game dungeons and bosses, with another difficult boss at the end, and a secret puzzle involving hidden rooms. To even be able to get there, you have to have done almost all of the post-game quests in order to obtain the Hero's soul, and even then you have to examine the pool of black stuff in the hidden room at the Crocasino dungeon, then go up to your old house, and there are no hints at this whatsoever.
- But Thou Must!:
- Talking to Oakley after her love confession will have her ask you to marry her; if you refuse, she'll say you have no choice and you'll be married anyway.
- Completing the dungeon that you get taken to during Mariana's quest will have her marry you after defeating its boss, with her saying you don't really have a choice.
- After Siska kidnaps Hugh, you won't be able to unlock any of the other dungeons required for the "Hero's Rest" ending that you haven't already until you've made it through her workshop and defeated her.
- Canon Name: Oran is the canon name of the protagonist, and is the default name on the naming screen.
- Casino Park: Downplayed with the dungeons in the Crocasino, as there aren't any bright flashing lights but the rooms do have what look like giant poker chips or dominoes in various places, and the second dungeon also has jazzy music playing.
- Chain of Deals: There are two of them:
- At the Crocasino, Tara asks you to retrieve some birth records from the library for her. You then end up being directed to specific NPCs who will request something in exchange, until finally, much to Oran and the player's relief, someone doesn't ask for something in return. The reward at the end is only 10 gold... at first. Seeing how annoyed Oran is, Tara decides to give him the Winged Boots, which allow faster movement.
- There is another quest that mostly takes place within the Colorless Void, but starts at Vann's Point. It ends with you getting another pair of boots, this time ones that give you a chance of not taking damage.
- Challenge Run: After you've finished the game at least once (regardless of if you get the True Ending or not), any new games after that will give you access to the Altars, which will make the game more difficult in certain ways, and there are also achievements related to them:
- The Altar to Zolei prevents items from being dropped from defeating enemies or breaking rocks except for those tied to quests, and also adds more difficulty to the final boss by having Zolei show up to join in.
- The Altar to Var doubles how much damage you take (except from falling).
- The Altar to Hate removes all the Heart Ores and makes death permanent (aside from certain cutscenes), deleting your save file if you lose all your HP.
- The Altar to Raem results in dungeons having an extra attack from Raem herself to avoid, as well as not giving you extra vitality when praying at the church, and Raem refusing to bless you during a sidequest.
- There's also a randomizer option, which randomizes items found in various places random depending on the level you decide. However, this can actually be more helpful in some instances, and if you're unlucky enough not to get the Lariat or Rust Knuckle before the dungeons where you need them then you can just buy them from Zaegul's hidden shop instead.
- If that's not enough, getting the Feat for finishing the game with all the Altars except Chaos broken and the Feat for beating Daemon's Dive will unlock Curses, which also breaks the four main Altars. These include making you able to die in one hit (though it disables permanent death), making certain buffs and upgrades unavailable or ineffective, making you unable to get married or obtain money, or giving even more extra attacks to avoid.
- There are also Feats for defeating the final boss in less than 30 in-game days, and for doing so without collecting any Heart Ores.
- Chick Magnet: Several of the girls in Vann's Point can become romantically interested in Oran, with at least one of them bordering on possessiveness.
- The Computer Shall Taunt You: If you're playing with Curses (and by extension, the four Altars), Lynn's usual dialogue after a knockout where she suggests using buffs to help will be replaced with her saying "You should try getting good," since some of the Curses make buffs or upgrades unavailable.
- Cosmetic Award:
- There are in-game achievements known as Feats that don't really do much upon collecting them, although some of them unlock different title screen images. Getting all the Feats is one of the ways you can unlock the Crocasino VIP Lounge, which doesn't have any special items but instead lore to read and various NPCs to talk to. Another way to access the lounge is to finish the game in under an hour, finish the game with one or all Curses, or complete the Brutal Bonus Level with all Curses.
- After finishing the main story, you'll be able to access the Color Vault, where you can unlock different color palettes for the protagonist by meeting certain requirements at varying levels of difficulty.
- Cutscene Power to the Max: After completeing a dungeon, Oran will use the Dread Hand to leave, despite the fact that in gameplay all it does is reset your position in the room (and when upgraded, saves a position in the room to reset to). One notable instance has him using it to not only teleport himself out of the Pirate's Pier, but also Hugh and Caroline. This creates a case of Cutscene Incompetence earlier in the game when Oran doesn't think to use it to escape the Howling Bjerg's boss room when the path at the entrance doesn't come back, and the Dread Hand doesn't act on its own either despite doing so upon being knocked out in gameplay.
- Deal with the Devil:
- It's hinted a few times that Amadeus made a deal with Colorgrave, giving her some of his color in exchange for power so he could protect the North. This doesn't turn out too well for him, because after Oran defeats Bolivar, Colorgrave decides Amadeus isn't needed as a protector anymore, and she takes away the rest of his color while planning to use him for something else.
- Crocodile offers one in exchange for access to his backrooms in order to retrieve the Ora Moa for Kir Hasa; he makes Oran sign a contract, but doesn't specify exactly what it's for, saying that he will have to fulfil it at a later time. The "Hero's Rest" ending suggests that it involves another visit to the south, which may or may not have something to do with the King of Ashford's assassination...
- Death Is a Slap on the Wrist: You don't actually die when you lose your HP, so you don't lose any items (except for buffs) or money you found in the dungeons, and if you've already found the other statue, you don't even have to travel through the whole dungeon again. However, you can avert this in a new save file after completing the game, as you are able to activate a mode where losing your HP results in said save file being deleted.
- Defeat Means Friendship:
- In the Colorless Void, you encounter Wren, one of the bosses you fought earlier, who is thankful that you freed her from her job and says she'll let the other residents of the void know not to attack you. She also sells you two different buff items.
- Siska spends more time around Vann's Point after she's defeated, trying to make friends with everyone in a way that doesn't involve terrorizing them with her inventions. You can even marry her if you're not already married.
- Developer's Foresight:
- When meeting Zaegul for the first time, he'll call Oran "Urn" if his name was left unchanged. If you change it to something else, though, he'll decide to just call him "Human" instead. There's an easter egg related to this as well; having the name as one of the Gods will have him say what that God is related to. Most notably, he has no reaction for "Raem", "Var", or "Zolei", indicating that they are not true Gods. This can also be used to reveal that Revulan is a God, specifically the God of Storm.
- If you get knocked out, the Dread Hand will teleport you to safety, but if this happens before you get that item then Sheriff Vann will come for you instead.
- Warping with the statues uses the same animation as the Dread Hand. This is because it actually makes use of the Dread Hand; if you manage to reach the linked statue without it, you won't be able to use it to go back to the first one. And if you manage to defeat a boss before finding the Dread Hand, Oran won't teleport back home like he normally does.
- In the Crystal Caves, there's an area that's blocked off by Hugh which you're not meant to visit until he gets taken by the pirates, but you can go there while he's kidnapped by Siska, you just won't be able to reach a certain room until later. In the New Game Plus, if you open the Crystal Caves during Act 1, you'll find Sheriff Vann blocking the way instead of Hugh.
- Disc-One Nuke:
- The Smoked Salmon and Frostberry Cobbler from Red's Inn temporarily double your HP and Auto-Revive you, respectively. Both are available from the start of the game as long as you can afford them, and if you can't, Keaton will even let you have a Smoked Salmon for free. The same item also becomes free if you catch enough fish, which can be done at any time after gaining the Lariat.
- The Flare Knuckle becomes this in the New Game Plus; you can get it as early as Act 1 since the Crystal Caves will be available at any time, and you can even get it as soon as you open the Tidal Mines; you just need to find the Harmonica and use it to access Zaegul's shop, where you can buy the Lariat and Rust Knuckle so you don't have to find the latter in the Dry Fountain.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Occasionally, you'll encounter an NPC called Phil who keeps getting annoyed at someone digging holes everywhere. Eventually, you'll find him near a pile that is implied to have a dead body under it, with him claiming that they went to the frontier and that no one will be bothered by the holes anymore. Predictably, this gets him jailed.
- Distressed Dude:
- Happens to Hugh twice; first when he is kidnapped by Siska, and again when he gets taken by pirates working for Revulan. He manages to break out both times, proving that he is underestimated.
- Oran also ends up as this a few times. Part way through the game, he gets trapped in an icy cave and is rescued by Amadeus, then later on if he's captured at the Pirate's Pier Caroline will give him the key to escape. There's also an optional sidequest as part of Mariana's marriage path where she rescues him after he gets captured.
- Door to Before: The statues in the dungeons function as this; there is usually one at the entrance, and another at the boss door. Some dungeons have more than one statue at the entrance, used as a quick way to travel to extra areas that you won't be able to access on your first visit.
- Easy Level Trick:
- If you complete the Gravedigger's sidequest, you'll earn the Cleated Boots, which allow you to walk across ice normally. This makes any dungeons with ice in them extremely easy, most notably the last stage of the Reflective Crypt. You can even get it before you go to the Howling Bjerg if you unlock the sidequest before starting Act 2.
- Finding the upgrade to the Rust Knuckle in the Crystal Caves makes certain areas easier, since it allows you to jump across. It's especially useful in bypassing some of the things that can do damage when having to bring a Crystal Key somewhere. You can also access it as early as Act 1 in any saves made after defeating the Lighthouse boss.
- The Illusory Ring, an item which first-time players won't be able to get until the post-game, can turn you invisible either when you're standing still or not running, making the stealth rooms in the Pirate's Pier and the fourth stage of Daemon's Dive much easier.
- 11th-Hour Superpower: In the True Ending, Oran gains the ability to fly and throw his pick at Var in order to damage him.
- Evil All Along: Bolivar is revealed to be evil at the end of Act 1, killing Pa and Sheriff Vann, and wounding Oran. It's shown from reading various texts throughout the game and the True Ending that he is actually Var, the Estarosan god of Dark, who was cursed into a mortal form with his power sealed in the sword he wanted to repair.
- Fast-Forward Mechanic: Praying at the Church of Raem will bring you to the next part of the day.
- Final Death Mode: Breaking the Altar to Hate not only removes all the Heart Ores in the game but also makes it so that losing all your HP results in a permanent death. And we mean permanent, as your save file is also deleted.
- Foreshadowing:
- The secret rooms in some of the dungeons have books that can be read that talk about a powerful and dangerous sword. It is, of course, the sword that Bolivar is asking you to help him repair.
- At the Howling Bjerg, Amadeus' theme is included in the music. Guess who shows up to rescue you at the end of the dungeon.
- During a cutscene involving Amadeus and Caroline, she wonders why he was looking at her so strangely. Later on, a pirate shows her a secret dock that she and Oran can sail from to reach where Hugh has been taken, and says it was her father's. The "Hero's Rest" ending tells us that Caroline eventualy found out that Amadeus is her father.
- Frictionless Ice: Featured a lot at the Howling Bjerg, although one pair of boots you can get allows you to walk across it normally, making backtracking there easier. The Crystal Caves also have this when everything is frozen.
- Gameplay and Story Segregation:
- Even though Oran is implied to have been Asleep for Days following Bolivar's attack on him, this doesn't affect the game's day counter, which only moves forward by one day. The day counter also doesn't seem to be affected by the marriages.
- Having the Frostberry Cobbler, Lovely Meal, or Boon buffs won't work if Oran is knocked out during a cutscene, or in certain instances where making the wrong decision results in a knockout. In addition, any buffs won't clear on occasions where it can't be avoided (except for the Smoked Salmon and Lovely Meal since cutscene knockouts still deplete the HP meter).
- The Dread Hand is used in gameplay to teleport you to the start of the room, yet Oran is able to use it to go home after finishing a dungeon, and it also acts on its own if you lose all your HP. Oran also doesn't think to use it to escape from prisons, or from an icy cave where he almost freezes to death before Amadeus shows up.
- Genre Throwback: The game is a throwback to top-down dungeon crawlers like the classic The Legend of Zelda games, specifically on the Game Boy consoles.
- Guide Dang It!:
- Some puzzles are harder to figure out than others, and may even have more than one solution. There's also the secret rooms, most of which have no indication of where to find them.
- There's a building on the south east of the overworld with a hole in the floor filled with water, which will normally damage you (unless you have the Fall Feather) if you fall into it. However, you can safely go down it and discover a hidden area if you're wearing the Anchor Greaves or Boots of Graile. There's no in-game indication of this, though.
- There's not much indication of how to unlock the True Final Boss if you defeat the main final boss without meeting the requirements (repaying your debt and getting married) beforehand. The only way you know that there is a True Ending is the fact that there's an achievement tied to it.
- The Haunted Hall, a post-game dungeon, has certain rooms that are timed so that a ghost will appear to send you back to the beginning if you spend too long in that room. There is no onscreen timer for this, nor is there any hint at which rooms are timed and which ones aren't. Thankfully the ones with more difficult puzzles don't seem to have this.
- The scenes required to progress in the marriage quests can be hard to come across. Some of them you may walk into without intending to, but others require you actually going to talk to the NPCs yourself, and sleeping in order to progress to the next step.
- There are no hints at how to access the Enlightenment dungeon. You have to get all the blessings and obtain Torran's soul, then go to the hidden room in the Crocasino dungeon and examine the pool of black stuff, and finally go to your old house where you will see an image of the God of Light. Most players wouldn't think to go back to the hidden room, especially not after acquiring the soul.
- Hello, [Insert Name Here]: When making a new save file, you get the option to choose a name, though it defaults to Oran, the Canon Name.
- Heroic BSoD: Oran has one after Bolivar reveals his true colors, kills Pa Darrow and Sheriff Vann, and wounds Oran himself. When he wakes up, he is so shaken by this betrayal and the fact that he unwittingly caused their deaths that he can't focus on anything properly, not listening to anything anyone says to him until he gets on a boat to run away again. This is represented by everyone being shown as silhouettes, and the map being just a black void with only a few areas of interest and not much far to walk between them. Additional dialogue during this part has Oran blaming himself for failing everyone.
- Heroic Mime: Played with. Oran isn't seen talking directly to other characters, but he does provide flavor text on most items, and when examining things. There's also a few occasions where he talks to himself or to the player.
- Inexplicable Treasure Chests: To be expected from a dungeon crawler, with there being chests all over the places like old mines, a graveyard, an icy cave, and an abandoned castle. Some chests will even drop out of nowhere after completing a puzzle, or defeating a miniboss in one case. Interestingly, some areas have chests that were already opened (although one of them does still have something inside).
- Invincible Minor Minion: Several of them:
- Turtles will move in straight lines, sometimes back and forth and sometimes in a square or rectangle. They cannot be damaged, but they will not directly hurt you if you're not in their line of movement.
- Yhotes move quickly towards you as soon as you are in their line of sight, and they don't take damage.
- Helmed Nippers also don't take any damage; the only way to defeat them is to push them into pitfalls.
- Mecha Vanns will teleport near you in order to attack, and can't be damaged.
- Stealth-related enemies (Golems and Bandits) can't be defeated in any way - attempting to do so will just get you captured.
- In-Universe Game Clock: The game has different times of the day that progress - Dawn, Day, Dusk, and Night. The number of days you spend in the game is also counted, but it doesn't really matter unless you're going for an achievement that requires you to defeat the final boss within 30 days or less.
- Last-Name Basis:
- Lord Festus Ashwood prefers to just be called Ashwood.
- A possible example with Oakley. She gets referred to as "Zatra" during a sidequest and an optional post-game conversation with Revulan, but it's unclear if this is her first name and Oakley is her surname, or if she actually changed her name.
- Lethal Lava Land: The Magma Heart, although falling into the lava itself doesn't do more damage than falling into water or a pit (and does none at all with the Fall Feather equipped).
- Level in Boss Clothing: The boss battle of Castle Vann takes place across three rooms where you have to make your way past enemies and obstacles before reaching the boss and attacking it each time.
- Light and Mirrors Puzzle: Some areas have a variation where you direct a flame with mirrors rather than a light, meaning that you can't see the path it will take until you send it flying. Sometimes you will have to keep pressing a switch to move down raised tiles before it reaches them, and some rooms, most notably one in the Lighthouse, are so big that you can't watch all of the flame's path, needing some trial and error when it comes to timing when to press the switches. The boss of the Magma Heart also involves using this kind of puzzle in order to stun it (or you can completely bypass that by hitting it with the Rust Knuckle instead).
- Lock and Key Puzzle: This is featured a lot in dungeons. In the post-game and New Game Plus, you can buy Normal Keys from Zaegul's shop, but you can only go so far with them because some dungeons have Crystal Keys, which you have to move from one place to another without taking any damage at all, and Daemon's Dive has Divine Keys, which can only be found within that particular dungeon to stop you from relying on Normal Keys that were acquired elsewhere.
- Must Make Amends: While it's unclear if Oran feels this way at the start of the game, he certainly does by Act 2. Some dialogue while visiting his old house has him mention that he'll try to make his late parents proud.
- Marathon Level: Three become available after finishing the game:
- The number of statues seen in the Reflective Crypt are a good indication of how long this level is going to be. While it's a puzzle-only dungeon, and the only threat to your health is pitfalls (which can easily be negated with the Fall Feather), or the Altars and Curses, said puzzles can take a while to complete.
- Daemon's Dive has even more statues, and 9 stages in total, each with a boss at the end.
- Enlightenment has less stages, but each of them are quite long and not only have harder enemies but also more difficult puzzles that can take several tries to solve.
- Monster Town: The Colorless Void, a place where a several different types of monsters live, including one you fought earlier. Curse Crackers: For Whom The Belle Toils reveals that they are known as the Graven.
- Mook Bouncer:
- Some levels have statues or guards (and in some cases, moving statues) that will send you to a prison cell (which is easily escaped) or the start of the level if they catch you in their line of sight.
- The Haunted Hall has certain rooms where if you stay in them for too long, a ghost will appear and send you back to the entrance.
- New Game Plus: After you've defeated the boss at the Lighthouse, you are able to access most post-game content from the beginning on a new save file, and all the post-game marriage quests become available in Act 2, as well as certain items. You also have the option to make the game more difficult or skip straight to Act 2 with most of the dungeons unlocked.
- Non-Lethal K.O.: Whenever your HP runs out, the Dread Hand teleports you out and you wake up at the church (or in one case, the dungeon entrance). However, after completing the game, you have the option to start a new game where you can permanently die.
- Noob Cave: The Old Mines where you find the pickaxe functions as this, introducing you to some of the simpler game mechanics.
- Not Completely Useless: The Spiced Ham, which allows faster movement, is often overlooked in favour of the Winged Boots in order to leave a free space for another buff. However, it's useful in the quest to acquire said boots, and it's good to use so you can still move fast with a different pair of boots until you get the Boots of Graile.
- NPC Roadblock: Happens at the start of the game with various NPCs blocking you from exploring more of Vann's Point before progressing the game. There's also a few other areas that will have a charcter standing in front of them until a certain condition is met.
- NPC Scheduling: Certain NPCs have specific places they are at certain times of day, which can also change depending on the weather. For example, Lynn is found working outside her house in the morning, but spends the rest of the day at the Church of Raem before being found either in her house or on the beach at night.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Pa Darrow lost his son and daughter-in-law prior to the events of the game. Lynn's father Quinlan also lost his other daughter. There's also two unnamed NPCs who are sometimes seen standing around the grave of someone who died too young, implied to be their child.
- Playboy Bunny: The female staff at the Crocasino wear outfits like this, although their neckwear varies.
- Plotline Death: Pa and Sheriff Vann get killed by Bolivar at the end of Act 1. The post-game also has Ashwood's maid, who is murdered by the Butler.
- Post-Defeat Explosion Chain: Happens to bosses when they're defeated.
- Post-End Game Content: There are still quests for you to complete after finishing the main story, as well as the New Game Plus, which allows you to change certain settings to make the game more difficult. You can also skip straight to Act 2 if you just want to focus on the marriage quests.
- The Power of Love / The Power of Family: In the second fight against Bolivar, he takes no damage from your attacks until an image of Pa or whoever you have married appears with some encouraging words; you then have to move into this image to make him vulnerable to your attacks.
- Power-Up Food: You can get various buffs that come mostly in the form of food or potions, although only two of them will be used up under certain circumstances, and the rest will only clear if you are knocked out or if you intentionally clear them at one of the shops.
- Powerful Pick: The game's main weapon, used not just to fight but also to break rocks.
- Puzzle Boss: Most of the bosses in the game have a specific strategy to defeat them, involving evading their attacks or obstacles in the arena, and sometimes using them to your advantage. One notable example is the boss of the Magma Heart, where you have to move mirrors around to direct a flame towards it and stun it.
- Relationship Values: Talking to the marryable characters and witnessing specific cutscenes with them will make progress towards them confessing their love and you being able to propose.
- Schizo Tech: The game's world seems to be a Medieval European Fantasy / Heroic Fantasy, but one of the mines is entered by using a crane, and there are also slot machines and mechas.
- She Cleans Up Nicely: Most of the girls you can marry have different outfits that they wear for the wedding. Special mention goes to River, who usually wears a more tomboyish outfit, but still looks great in her wedding dress.
- Schmuck Bait:
- At one point, the Gravedigger will ask you some questions to see if you're a spy. These should be easy to answer, but if you get curious and decide to pick the wrong option, he'll stab you, depleting all your HP, and he and Oakley will run off (you can talk to someone to convince them to come back, though).
- Talking to Revulan before defeating Inkwell has her tell you not to bother her the first two times. If you talk to her a third time, she'll attack you with lightning, once again depleting all your HP. You were warned.
- In the Crystal Caves, you find a chest that looks different from all the others, and it's quite obviously meant to harm you. However, doing so results in the Rust Knuckle being upgraded, which is required to progress in most of the post-game areas.
- Sequel Hook:
- In the Colorless Void, you meet two NPCs called Tedra and Leer, who tell you that one day they will return to their world and get revenge on the mages, whom they believe are responsible for the monsters in the void being banished there. This is expanded on more in Colorgrave's next game, Curse Crackers: For Whom The Belle Toils, where the two are antagonists who have been attacking mages.
- In the "Hero's Rest" ending, it's shown that Caroline left to travel to another world to search for Amadeus. She appears as an NPC in Curse Crackers, where she at one point mentions that she's looking for her father, and is shown to have had a daughter with Hugh.
- If you help River enough, the "Hero's Rest" ending will say that she travelled to the Frontier to slay the creature that killed the group she was leading. It appears that Howling Crown, one of Colorgrave's upcoming games, will go into more detail about this.
- There are many things revealed about the Dread Hand, where it is said to be a part of Veritus, the God of Shadow, and a few characters are unnerved by Oran's possession and use of it. Even Shadow Oran tells him not to trust it. This will be expanded on more in the upcoming sequel, Veritus.
- At the very end, Colorgrave (the character) says that her story is far from over.
- Slippy-Slidey Ice World: The Howling Bjerg has several rooms with Frictionless Ice that you have to make your way past. There's also the Crystal Caves, where you can switch between the water being frozen or thawed.
- Speedrun Reward: One of the ways to access the Crocasino VIP Lounge (and possibly the least difficult way) is to defeat Bolivar in under an hour. This can easily be done with Story Skip or a Randomizer seed, though some players enjoy the challenge of doing it without.
- Stealth-Based Mission: The Crocasino Vault features quite a bit of this, as you have to make your way past statues and guards without getting in their line of sight or you'll be sent to a prison cell. There's also some optional ones as part of a quest involving the Gravedigger, and Oakley's marriage path. Pirate's Pier is perhaps the biggest one, where there are two different types of guards as well as moving statues. And if that's not enough, there's a particularly hard one in Daemon's Dive (unless you have the Illusory Ring equipped).
- Super Drowning Skills: There is no way to swim in the game, so going into the water counts as falling.
- Take Your Time: In Act 2, even though Bolivar is currently reclaiming his power in the Lighthouse, you can take as long as you like to meet the requirements to enter it without anything bad happening. It's not until after defeating his first phase that he becomes more powerful, and even then the only thing that will make him return to his full power is repaying your debt and getting married, or having both the Curse of Crowns and the Curse of Horns active, no matter how much or how little time that takes.
- Terms of Endangerment:
- Bolivar calls Oran "Cesa", which means "Friend" in Estarosan. He continues to call him that even after showing his true colors.
- While her exact alignment is unknown, Colorgrave calls people "Darling" and "Dear" even when she's being threatening towards them.
- Toggling Setpiece Puzzle:
- A lot of dungeons have floor tiles that switch between flat and raised, or bridges that you have to make appear to cross over with, and sometimes you're required to time their movements when completing puzzles that involve rolling barrels or reflected flames.
- The Crystal Caves is this on a larger scale, where you have to switch the water in the entire area between thawed and frozen in order to access certain parts of it.
- Treacherous Quest Giver: Bolivar. The items he sent you to fetch were so he could repair the sword containing his power.
- True Final Boss: If you've repaid your debt and gotten married, or if you have the Curses of Crowns and Horns active, then after defeating Bolivar's second form, he'll transform fully into his true form of Var, and you can defeat him for good (or rather, much longer than if you'd defeated him normally). This gets you an additional cutscene with Oran and whoever he has married, and another involving Amadeus and Colorgrave.
- Unconventional Wedding Dress: While Keaton, Caroline, and Tara wear white dresses, the other characters you can marry wear different outfits. River wears a green and blue dress, Oakley wears a purple dress, Mariana wears a red dress with a military theme, Lynn wears a pink dress with white accessories, Siska marries you while in her mecha, Tess is shown sleeping in bed for her wedding picture, and while you don't technically marry Kir Hasa, she wears a slightly different outfit without her hood.
- Utility Weapon: Both the Pickaxe and the Rust Knuckle are both used to fight enemies and to assist in puzzles. The latter is used in puzzles the most, as it can move heavy rocks, as well as send certain types of blocks further than the Pickaxe will.
- Vague Age: It's unclear how old or young Oran is. The manual says he was gone for nearly a decade, but doesn't mention how young he was when he ran off. The bartender at the Crocasino says he looks too young to drink, yet he can still gamble there. The ages of the characters he can get married to are also unknown.
- Video Game Cruelty Potential: There is a dog on the beach that you can pet and play fetch with; however, you can also throw the ball into the sea, making the dog sad. Most players will discover this by accident, but there's nothing stopping you from doing it on purpose. Thankfully, the ball respawns if you enter and leave a dungeon.
- We Will Meet Again:
- Oran's shadow says that he'll be waiting after successfully answering his questions in Time Out. You'll encounter him again if you unlock Daemon's Dive, and you'll have to fight him after clearing each stage.
- If you defeat Bolivar's second form without paying your debt or getting married, he will leave while saying this.
- "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: The "Hero's Rest" ending shows what happened to various characters based on how you helped them. Some have happier endings than others, especially depending on if you helped them enough or not.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness:
- Once Bolivar has finished the sword he's working on, he kills Pa and the Sheriff, and wounds Oran as well while thanking him for the help, though he survives.
- Zig-zagged after the True Final Boss. Colorgrave takes away the rest of the color from Amadeus, deciding that Oran is powerful enough to defend the North and that Amadeus is no longer needed as its protector; however she intends to use him for some other purpose and tells him that he will be useful to her.
