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The Visual Novel
- Player Punch: A lot of them, but one of the harshest comes if you decide to imprison Sem in Chapter 3. Especially if you have been on his romance path before. And then, of course, there's the Bad Ending.
- Spiritual Licensee: There's a city that stands amidst the uninhabited plain. It runs partly on technology that sometimes seems to defy laws of science, partly on magic that is inherent in the place this city was build upon. The beliefs of the natives of the place feature prominently in the story. There are also two protagonists - the medicine man and the rational scientist - with very different perspectives. Both are unreliable narrators and both find themselves charged with the saving of the city. At one point, the medicine man is charged with murder. Halfway into the game, one of the governing authorities declares a witch hunt. There are four possible endings: the city is destroyed completely, the city is saved at the expense of the magic, the magic is saved at the expense of the city, and both the magic and the city are saved at the expense of something else, respectively. One of the significant characters is a Bedlah Babe and a courtesan. Now, which game have we described - Solstice or Pathologic?
- Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: Between the Black-and-Grey Morality, the sheer cruelty of what happens to most of the inhabitants, and the fact that every ending is a Downer Ending (with the best case scenario arguably being the one where everyone dies), it's very easy for this to happen to players.
The Band
- Contested Sequel: Is White Horse Hill a worthy successor to New Dark Age? Some fans say it was worth the wait, others say the music is fine but there isn't enough of it, and yet others dislike the shift from the doom and gloom of the first two albums toward a Lighter and Softer sound.
- Epic Riff: "The Sleeping Tyrant", "The Man Who Lost the Sun", "To Sol a Thane". Kind of a requirement for doom bands.
- Replacement Scrappy: Although Simon Matravers and Morris Ingram are quite similar vocalists on paper, Morris's less confident delivery is often considered the fatal flaw of New Dark Age. Averted with Paul Kearns. The jury is still out on Hagthorn, for obvious reasons.
