History Main / Singularity

* XMeetsY: meets Z meets W meets A. As far as gameplay goes, it's sort of a greatest-hits compilation of the best shooters of the previous several years, with elements from everything from ''{{Bioshock}}'' to ''{{Left 4 Dead}}''. Thematically, it's ''{{Bioshock}}'' plus ''Videogame/RedAlert'' with a bit of ''{{Stalker}}'' thrown in.

* XMeetsY: meets Z meets W meets A. As far as gameplay goes, it's sort of a greatest-hits compilation of the best shooters of the previous several years, with elements from everything from ''{{Bioshock}}'' to ''{{Left 4 Dead}}''. Thematically, it's ''{{Bioshock}}'' plus ''videogame/RedAlert'' with a bit of ''{{Stalker}}'' thrown in.

* XMeetsY: meets Z meets W meets A. As far as gameplay goes, it's sort of a greatest-hits compilation of the best shooters of the previous several years, with elements from everything from ''{{Bioshock}}'' to ''{{Left 4 Dead}}''. Thematically, it's ''{{Bioshock}}'' plus ''VideoGame/RedAlert'' with a bit of ''{{Stalker}}'' thrown in.

* XMeetsY: meets Z meets W meets A. As far as gameplay goes, it's sort of a greatest-hits compilation of the best shooters of the previous several years, with elements from everything from ''{{Bioshock}}'' to ''{{Left 4 Dead}}''. Thematically, it's ''{{Bioshock}}'' plus ''RedAlert'' with a bit of ''{{Stalker}}'' thrown in.

* StoryDrivenInvulnerability Demichev when you [[spoiler: go back in time to stop yourself, You may realise that when you see yourself carrying Demichev at the end, you have a perfectly clear shot at him, but no apparently the devs couldn't even be bothered to stick in a hidden ending for the players who think outside the box, you just fail instead]]

* DownerEnding: Out of the three endings, [[spoiler: ''none'' of them restore the normal timeline. All of them make the world ''worse,'' although we might be able to assume that the world under Barisov's rule is at least livable. Devlin says he actually ''likes'' the huge statue of Barisov, so maybe he's even a benevolent ruler]].

* FridgeHorror : You know all those faded notes on the walls? [[spoiler: They're all written by you. And they're all true...]]

* FridgeBrilliance: Why is the Russian spoken by enemy soldiers so painfully bad at times? Because it's Soviet Union! A multilanugaged country with obligatory Russian in schools, yet not known for teaching languages well. They may be Baltic.

** Might as well be named ''"{{Fridge Brilliance}}: The Game"''; it's either this one or ''{{Prototype}}''. Just check the respective pages.

* DidNotDoTheResearch: During the flashbacks, Soviet scientists praise Stalin in their official reports, and a giant bust of the dictator is found in the first room. The game explicitly states that the facility was at its most active under Nikita Khruschev. Khruschev, of course, being most famous for his policy of de-Stalinization.
** The game's timeline diverges from our own in 1955 due to your actions. Khrushchev's "secret speech" denouncing Stalin wouldn't be given until the following year. So, in the time the game is set, de-Stalinization hasn't begun yet.

*** Each one of those rounds is worth a fortune. ''[[TeamFortress2 It costs four hundred billion rubles to fire this rifle twelve times!]]''

** It also happens in flashbacks, such as when you're in a schoolroom with [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel the corpses of the students under their desks]], you see the teacher react to something by telling everyone to get under their desks.

* GatlingGood: You are gonna want to make sweet love to that Autocannon...

** Debatable. [[spoiler: The guy writing the messages is ''desperate''. There are some that say ''"You're ruining everything!"'' or ''"I'm starting to forget. It's been so long"'', and that big, circular diagram you find in one of the offices says ''"They took my arm, they will take my arm again"'' (in reference to the TMD). The same diagram shows that the guy tried several endings for the time loop (one line reads "Demichev wins", I think). Also, the BackToTheFuture-style diagram shows that history branches out in ''two'' points: one with Demichev living, that reads "BAD", and another one, that branches out later, and is double-crossed, which probably indicates the Barisov timeline. All in all, I don't think it's ''just'' the second iteration]].

* NotSoFastBucko: Barisov's plan is to [[spoiler: destroy the Singularity in the past before the Soviet Union's research]] goes far enough to make a difference. You accomplish this objective...except [[spoiler: Demichev just rebuilds it in the intervening time]].

* XMeetsY: meets Z meets W meets A. As far as gameplay goes, it's sort of a greatest-hits compilation of the best shooters of the previous several years, with elements from everything from ''{{Bioshock}}'' to ''{{Left 4 Dead}}''. Thematically, it's ''{{Bioshock}}'' plus ''RedAlert'' with a bit of ''{{Stalker}}'' thrown in.

A fun and rather refreshing game, that holds nothing revolutionary but nonetheless uses classic FPS and TimeTravel conventions to build a very enjoyable story, one that you might have trouble getting your head around.

This [[UnderStatement does not go well.]]

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Within the first five minutes of the game, you save a man from dying in a fire and carry him to safety. [[{{Understatement}} That was probably a mistake.]]

* OurZombiesAreDifferent: There's basically 3 types of [[strike: zombies]] murderous mutants in the game. There's the basic Mutant, a feral, spindly figure chock-full of tumors and anger, created by random exposure to E99 radiation. Then there's the [[ItGotWorse Revert]], a product of de-aging gone [[UnderStatement awry]], who, in the words of the developers, "because of their "condition", are forced to constantly clear fluids out of their throat, sometimes chewing and swallowing their way through slabs of thick phlegm just to maintain their ability to take air in". And then there's the Zek (Russian for "[[MeaningfulName prisoner]]"), created by ''[[UnderStatement complications]]'' with teleportation experiments: they're humans possessed by extra-dimensional "Soul Leeches", and come in many varieties: Basic Zek, Echo Zek (faster, smarter, and with a [[AnatomyArsenal shiv]] implanted in their arm), Fatty Zek (reproduction form for the Soul Leeches; can revive dead Zeks by sending a new Leech into them) and the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Brute Zek]].

** ...Which, in some cases, comes across as more of a way to HandWave Raven's [[SoldierOfFortune love]] [[{{Wolfenstein}} of]] [[{{Quake}} gore]]; for instance, the Autocannon (basically a minigun), when continuously fired into an enemy's body, will cause all their limbs to spontaneously fly off, one at a time; they only fall down to the ground once both their legs are gone.

* TranslationConvention: Sort of. We see lots of signs that are posted in both Russian ''and'' English, something that would be odd for 1950s Russia to do, and most of the characters (except soldiers gunning for you) speak in Russian-accented English. Given that "Renko" is a Russian name, he's probably Russian-American with a limited understanding of Russian.

* AcceptableTargets: Surprisingly, despite the majority of the enemies being Soviet soldiers (either past or alternate-present), most of the recordings and flashbacks do quite a bit to humanize the Russians in general. We see recordings of a couple deeply in love, leftovers of friends playing chess, teachers taking care of schoolchildren, and so on.
** They were also intentionally exposing the children to E99 by putting it in their milk just to see the results.
*** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_experimentation_in_the_United_States#Experiments_involving_other_radioactive_materials About that....]]

* ComplacentGamingSyndrome: It's not hard to get through the entire game using only the Valkyrie once you've gotten it early on, especially when you consider how quickly you can upgrade it. The plentiful ammo is also a point in its favor.
* CompleteMonster: Demichev, to put it mildly.

* DemonicSpiders: The teleporting, phasing enemies which reoccur throughout the game are an absolute nightmare to fight. Even after you get the TMD, which allows you to knock them down for a fairly easy kill, the low amount of TMD energy and the high-cost to Impulse makes it a difficult tactic. They swarm you, in packs of three or more, and can kill you before you can even take one of them down.
** And every time you think you've cleared the area, more teleport in.
*** Then there is that special mutant who appears a couple times who is ''immune'' to your [[GameBreaker deadlock]] power.

* GoddamnBats: Goddamn phase ticks! They usually appear in swarms and latch onto you and explode. Two of the TMD functions can save you from them (the Impulse wave, or the time-slowing Deadlock field) but they're still annoying, distracting, and potentially deadly if you're caught at an inopportune moment.
** Try using the de-aging function on them, see how that works for you.

* HighOctaneNightmareFuel: The Reverts and those ''sounds'' they make.
** If you look closely, you'll see that some Zeks are made out of ''2 people fused together'', probably the same person in 2 different timelines.
** ParanoiaFuel: The first time you meet the "Echo" Zek, he jumps and takes a stab at you, after which he vanishes. If you have the Spikeshot rifle, you can use the thermal scope to look behind you... and see that ''he's still there''. He stalks you for most of that chapter, and most people don't even know he's there.

* PlayerPunch: Barisov's ending. As the details start slowly adding up, Devlin, who made himself fairly useful in fights, voiced the confusion the player was likely feeling in the early part of the game and was [[spoiler: eventually murdered by Demichev, and is now alive and well, thanks to you,]] says, "Isn't that right, ''[[spoiler: Comrade]]?''" This moment tells you what's going on before [[spoiler: the statue does, and it's your own buddy obliviously saying [[YouCantGoHomeAgain You Can't Go Home Again]]]].

* GainaxEnding: [[spoiler: Barisov, the ''[[PlanetOfTheApes Planet of the Apes]]'' 2001 remake called; it wants its ending back.]]

** When you're in the first flashback (the one with the fire in the worker's area) after you rescue Demichev you hear a guy yell "Renkov, no! Don't let Demichev live!" before he's crushed by falling rubble.