What happens when you throw Warhammer 40,000, Cthulhu Mythos, and World War I into a satanic blender known as Doom? This Game Mod.
Trench Foot is a series of connected First-Person Shooter episodes set in the same dark universe, built on the Doom engine, mainly with Project Brutality as a base, and a lot of Survival Horror mechanics thrown on.
Taking place in the brutal Crapsack World of Cretu, Trenchfoot revolves around the struggles of the Caliphate of the Canonicate Exousian, a nightmarish totalitarian state that dominates the central landmass, ruling most of settled Cretu as a horrifying theocracy under the Exousian Church, which puts thousands to the stake at any sign of heresy or disobedience. It's very telling what kind of universe this is, by the fact the Caliphate is very much A Lighter Shade of Black to the alternative; humans enslaved by very real dark forces beyond the cosmos.
That's where they Player Character comes in; a Master Templar of the Sovereign Military Order of the Holy Knights Templar, the iron fist of the the Exousian Church. They are both secret police and praetorian guard to the church, ruthlessly broken down, conditioned and trained into the most fanatical and disaplined super soldiers in the world. With almost limitless authority and a burning hatred for anything but total commitment to their faith, they decide who lives and who dies in this world.
With a dark Cult lurking in the backwoods, the relative peace of the last century has fallen to an explosion of mass upheaval with countless rebellions, all brought on by heretical teachings. The Caliphate is on the very brink of collapse and Civil War.
Narratively the "Trench Foot" project is split into two categories.
- The Siege: The Siege is the current and main setting of the story; taking place in a ruined, shelled trench-line about to be overrun by a vast army of cultists. Besieged, on the brink of collapse, and exhausted after decades of fighting the Caliphate seems to be in it's final death throes, as city after city is captured by heretical rebels, and the souls of it's denizens damned. This main defensive line guarding yet another vital fortification is on the verge of collapse. The Master Templar finds themselves alone in the garrisons dark chapel, praying for deliverance, before realizing it will only come from the barrel of their shotgun. The Siege is episodic, split into multiple episodes, with only a demo for it's first episode currently being available to play.
- Foot Notes: Foot Notes are stand-alone episodes that depict the many investigations and raids against heretics the Master Templar led in his past. They are usually "themed" around a certain locale, and are very different in tone compared to The Siege. Currently one full Foot Note has been released; Countrycide.
The Mod's website can be found here
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Trench Foot provides examples of the following tropes:
- Anti-Hero: The Master Templar is absolutely ruthless, executing heretics with brutal efficiency and methods, but, as shown by his immense disgust towards the slaughtering of innocents, still maintains a functioning moral compass. unlike the rest of his comrades.
- Badass Long Coat: The Master Templar wears a black one over his plated Power Armor.
- Cool Sword: The Master Templar carries a silver-plated broadsword at his side everywhere he goes. It's supposed to be ceremonial, but will do in a pitch as an Emergency Weapon in close quarters against would-be cultists.
- Darkest Hour: The Siege begins with the war going poorly against the Caliphate Army, with the heretics at their very gates. The Master Templar, however, has no intention of dying right there and then.
- Evil Versus Oblivion: An oppressive theocracy that brutalizes the masses and freely practices Burn the Witch! as a government policy facing against a militarized Religion of Evil that wants to bring forth The End of the World as We Know It, or enslave humanity to dark gods, all the while practicing Human Sacrifice to a nightmarish scale, I Am a Humanitarian, and Would Hurt a Child.
- Gas Mask Mook: Worn by both the Caliphate Army troopers (whose goggles glow an otherworldly blue) and the Heretic Militiamen (whose lenses are a sickly, glowing green). The Master Templar himself has a set of these, though his adorning helmet is far more ornate.
- Lost Colony: The main setting, Cretu, is described as having been cut off from the rest of humanity for at least a thousand years.
