History VideoGame / BlacklightRetribution

* TheHorde: Your goal in the ''Onslaught'' gamemode, is to survive facing off an increasing number of [=SIVs=] (and Order Agents) for 10 waves straight. And depending on how many players are in an ''Onslaught'' match, you and your teammates might even kill off a total of over a thousand of them.
* InexplicablyAwesome: In-universe, nobody knows who - or ''what'' - Viper is. Flavor text ranges from rumors that he's either undead, a mutant or not even human. What doesn't help is the appearance of the armor he's wearing, making him seem like an otherworldly alien too.

* DropTheHammer: The normal and Toxic Breach Hammers melee weapon utility gears. The former is an extremely powerful tool that instantly kills enemies on contact (provided they aren't wearing the Melee Protection Gear) but comes with the downside of having a slow swinging speed, on top of having to re-arm itself after every successful strike. Meanwhile, the latter has a weaker strike with the same swinging speed and re-arming problems - but comes with a small Toxic Grenade-like timed warhead that detonates after a short delay, whose gas cloud will actually cling to a struck target while simultaneously afflicting other enemies within a certain range of it's initial victim.

-> ''"Objective: [[KillEmAll Eliminate All Hostile Agents.]]"''

* AnAxeToGrind: The Sonic and Exploding Tomahawks melee weapon utility gears, both of which can also be thrown at distant targets. The former allows for a quick way of dispatching most enemies in a single hit, while the latter can also be used as a makeshift mine or grenade by way of remote detonation.

** AirplaneArms: A very annoying one. [[EverythingsBetterWithSpinning There's also a spinning variant.]] Complete with ''Brrrrrrrr'' sound effects!

* RareGuns: Along with many gun parts that can be attached to your weapons, the Snubnosed Revolver has it's barrel aligned with the bottom chamber, likely drawing inspiration from the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mateba_Autorevolver Mateba Autorevolver]] and it's kin.
** The [=M4=] and [=AK47=] rifles are considered this in-universe, judging by the [=M4X=] Rifle's and [=AK470=] Rifle's flavor texts.

** The HRV Blackout utility gear will prevent anything in it's vicinity from appearing on the HRV (unless it was used within a certain range), though to the naked eye, it has a ''very'' noticeable distortion field. It's often used to hide mines, snipers, turrets or [[UpToEleven all of ]][[CrazyPrepared them at once]].

* KnifeNut: The two types of Combat Knives (Mk.1 and Mk.2), Throwing Knives Mk.1 and the Machete gave players enough variation to become this. You could even feasibly carry the entire lot with enough gear slots, if you were feeling redundant.

* Players receive GP and EXP at the end of each match, the amounts of which are dependent on how well they have performed during one, the former mainly being used to acquire or rent equipment such as new weapons, armor, utility gear and more. Of course, using ZEN to buy them instead is much faster.

* AcePilot: Artemis's and Lilith's specialities; the two of them are the game's Hardsuit Pilot Heroes, and their equipment sets means they will only be at their best when they're inside their natural habitats.
* AbnormalAmmo: The game has a few, [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture considering how far in the future it is set.]]

** Toxic Rounds obscures enemy vision and does mild DamageOverTime, while also lowering their maximum health for a while.

** The complete StarterEquipment Assault Rifle bears a ''remarkable'' resemblance to the [=SIG 550=].

** The [=AK470=] and [=M4X=] Rifles don't even try to hide what guns they're based from, and their flavor text states they're modernized versions of them. You can even equip them with weapons parts that are exact matches of their real-life versions too!
* AllegedlyFreeGame: Originally, you could play the game without buying ZEN [[BribingYourWayToVictory (which is only obtained by paying real money or doing surveys and offers for them)]]. Players just had access to high-level equipment at a slow but steady rate. Even then, some items could only be ''rented'' with GP. For example, the ammo types listed above could only be rented up to 7 days with GP (after reaching level 30) or up to 30 days with ZEN, but with no way to permanently purchase them. However, some decorative items which have no effect on gameplay (like certain helmets, weapon and armor camouflages, trophies, taunts, titles and emblems) are only available with ZEN, and weapon parts that are also ZEN-only tended to have some niche advantages.
** The first year anniversary of the game being on Steam gave the developers an excuse to sell Anniversary Packs. Purchasing the Gold Pack for 10000 ZEN ($100 US) and later for 8000 ZEN unlocked all first year items with the exception of taunts, titles and weapon tags. This included ''the permanent unlocking of elemental ammo for those weapons''. The second year anniversary also brought out a Platinum Anniversary Pack for 10000 ZEN too, which also unlocked second year items sans the taunts, titles and weapon tags.
** Somewhat averted after the Parity Patch Update (which made the PC version work like the [=PS4=] version and allowed cross-platform play): All items that weren't cosmetic in nature became available for purchase with GP and now doesn't require levels to unlock. Nowadays, ZEN is considered as just a quick way to buy weapons, armor, gear, taunts, tags, titles, weapon and armor camouflage as well as special editions of normal armor if one does not have the time, effort or GP needed to buy any of them instead.
** There's also the new GP Duplicator that can only be bought with 1000 ZEN - replacing Blacklight Prime - where owning it nets you twice the amount of GP normally gained per any match as well as a free title, Duplicity.
* AllThereInTheManual: Where the heck are those zombies in ''Onslaught'' coming from, and who are those hostile soldiers backing up said zombies? Both are holdovers from the co-op mode in the first game, which explained the zombies as victims of the Sentient Insanity Virus ([=SIV=]), a widespread but mostly unknown virus that rots flesh and turns infected victims insanely homicidal, while the soldiers are Agents of The Order, a mysterious terrorist group with implied financial and military backing coming from all around the world, who are helping the [=SIVs=] attempt to kill you and your teammates for reasons unknown.

* {{BFG}}: The guns in this game are a lot bigger compared to their real-life counterparts. There are also a few of these available, though they mostly come in the form of Railguns, Miniguns and Auto-Cannons attached to the Hardsuits. For the small arms versions, it's the Anti-Materiel Rifle, the Light Machine Gun and the two depot weapons [=T56=] Trident 'Minigun' and [=RG057=] Ghost 'Railgun'.
* BlingBlingBang: Metallic gold, silver and bronze 'camouflage' patterns are available for your weapons and armor, the Prestige versions of certain armor and gear notwithstanding. There's also some of the available weapon tags; (gold) dollar signs, pots of gold and so on.
* BlownAcrossTheRoom: Pellets from the two Shotguns and rounds from the Anti-Materiel Rifle can throw the corpses of killed players a fair distance away, often causing a slightly more conventional RailingKill.

* BrokenFaceplate: Battle-damaged variants of certain helmets are available in the game - though in this case the damage on them are purely cosmetic, and they still have the same stats as their undamaged versions. But whether or not they make your Agent look badass, however, is up for you to decide.
* CallBack: After killing an enemy player, your Agent will sometimes say, "Tango down! Heh. That's appropriate."
* ColdSniper: Duchess and Ghost, the two Sniper Heroes whose weapons and equipment means they are well-suited for prolonged long-range combat, with the latter even more so than the former.
* ColorCodedElements: The ammo types listed above tend to have unique impact effects, and each of them has a color-coded warning notice and symbol to indicate the type of damage that they deal. Equipment that protects against these types of damage also have the latter things to indicate what resistant or immune against.

* CombatMedic: Crusher and Lazarus, the game's resident Medic Heroes. Crusher is geared towards healing injured allies, while Lazarus - living up to her codename - specializes in Reviving her killed teammates.

** Sometimes jumping and landing on the head of another player can quickly kill them - regardless of their team alignment - as if they were crushed by a Hardsuit. The slain player's killcam will then proceed to follow the ally/enemy who killed them this way.
* CrowbarCombatant: The Black Mesa Crowbar melee weapon utility gear, as well as it's Silver and Gold variants. Added to the game in celebration of Blacklight: Retribution being released on the ''Steam'' platform, all three crowbars are essentially the Combat Knife Mk.1 but with different skins and the same stats.

* DeathFromAbove: The A36 Brimstone 'Airstrike' depot weapon, of course. It's a signal flare launcher that, when fired, calls down an airstrike at the area it was pointed to after a short delay.

* DifficultButAwesome:
** The Combat Rifle. It is a semi-automatic rifle, making it quite nice to use for mid to long range targets. The trouble is, however, [[MasterOfNone at any range there's another rifle that can do it's job better.]] It's very low ammo capacity also tends to cause it's users a few problems too. But in the right hands, it's capable of downing ANYONE in quick 2-4 shots, assuming it's users are careful about it's weapon spread and have also opted to fire it in bursts.
** The Light Machine Gun. Even before the Parity Patch Update, it's highly inaccurate against other automatic rifles at most ranges, leading to itself being more useful in defensive or ambush situations. However, it boasts the highest base damage per shot and ammo capacity out of all the primary weapons - and with the right weapon parts, it can even be used as a long-range weapon capable of out-damaging or suppressing enemy fire. Just make sure to crouch in order to balance it's recoil while you're shooting at mid- to long-range targets, or at least remember to use weapon parts that lowers the recoil to a more manageable level.

** The Compound Bow. While it's seemingly out of place in a game like this, it still has all the advantages of using a bow on it's side, as well as all it's disadvantages. But when used correctly, it becomes one of the most deadliest weapons anyone can encounter in a match, allowing for long distance silent kills or even headshots on the fly once you've gotten used to aiming or timing your shots with it. Additionally, you can pick up and reuse your fired arrows so as long as they aren't too far for you to reach.
* DropTheHammer: The normal and Toxic Breach Hammers melee weapon utility gears. The former is an extremely powerful tool that instantly kills enemies on contact (provided they aren't wearing the Melee Protection Gear) but comes with the downside of having a slow swinging speed, on top of having to 'reload' itself after every successful strike. Meanwhile, the latter has a weaker strike and the same swinging speed and 'reload' problems - but comes with a small Toxic Grenade-like timed warhead that detonates after a short delay, whose gas cloud will actually cling to a struck target while simultaneously afflicting other enemies within a certain range of it's initial victim.
* TheEngineer: This is Deacon's role, as he is the sole Engineer Hero introduced in the game. With his Repair Tool Tactical Gear, he can easily fix and reinforce anything that's mechanical, including the Scorpion Tank in the Siege gamemode.

* FlareGun: The Breech-Loaded Pistol works like this, and it has three ammo types. The first is the HE Round Bore, a yellow flare that deals explosive damage to enemies in the vicinity it was shot to, and the second is the Incendiary Round Bore, a red flare that quickly incinerates anyone and anything it sticks to. It's third ammo type, the Flechette Chamber Boring, converts it into a powerful handheld shotgun that is best used against tight clusters of enemy Agents instead.
* FragileSpeedster: Speed-oriented builds, as you have to sacrifice your maximum health in return for increased movement speed. Pure speed builds are uncommon, as most feel they sacrifice too much and gain too little. This is also Viper's gimmick - he is ''extremely'' fast and stealthy thanks to his equipment, but one good shot from even an SMG will kill him dead.

* GrenadeSpam: ''Mostly'' averted, as you can only carry a single grenade of any given type at a time, though with the right kit setup and a lot of GP or Zen, you could feasibly carry up to ''four'' different kinds.

* GunPorn: Players have praised the game's customization features. Want a ''metallic pink'' automatic death spewing machine with an attached 1.8x zoom holographic scope, a short damage-enhancing barrel and completed with a foregrip and silencer, anyone?
** GunAccessories: While this game doesn't have any underbarrel attachments or anything else that's too fancy, but other than that? It has different kinds of muzzles, barrels, magazines, scopes, stocks and weapon tags... and there are simply plenty of each to put on most of your weapons. And as mentioned above, many of them are clearly based off actual real-life gun parts. Some of which have never entered widespread production.

** There's also it's two other variants, in blue/green and red/orange, for reducing Toxic and Incendiary damage respectively.
*** As of the Parity Patch Update, the helmet and it's variants no longer provide additional protection against the elemental damage they were made for, and these days they are considered a rare sight when worn by veteran players of the game.
* HealThyself: The Heal Injector Mk.1 Tactical Gear, which holds 15 'charges' and slowly regenerates them over time. It restores 50 HP at the cost of all 15 'charges' if you use it on yourself, or 100 HP at the cost of 3 'charges' if you use it on your allies. It is much more team-oriented than it used to be.

** There's also the various 'camouflages' you can buy with ZEN or get as a reward from Chance Packs, certain events or promotions. Purple, red, baby blue, bright pink, metallic gold/silver, solid white... you take your pick.
** It gets even more ridiculous when it comes to the special event and holiday camouflages, but as they are not meant to be taken seriously, they end up being hilarious instead. There's nothing like seeing players in cupid pink camo running around the map showing the others how much they love them by shooting them in the face with their Christmas-themed guns!

* InexplicablyAwesome: In-universe, nobody knows who - or ''what'' - Viper is. Flavor text ranges from rumors that he's either undead, a mutant, or not even human. What doesn't help is the appearance of the armor he's wearing, making him seem like an otherworldly alien too.
* InterfaceScrew: Digi Grenades act like a smokescreen by creating a cloud of digital interference; entering it will obscure your view. Toxic Grenades leave a lingering green haze on your screen if you ever walk into their deadly gas clouds. Shock Grenades, Stun Mines and Stun Shurikens makes your Heads Up Display fuzzy and stops you from quickly turning around. Being hit with explosives will jar your vision as you'd expect. EMP Grenades are the worst, throwing the ''Blue Screen of Death'' all over your interface!
** If you look closely at your HUD when it restarts, you can see your own Agent/character name being entered into a login and password bar. These are both carryovers from Tango Down.
** The 'new' animation displayed when entering into a map or respawning back from the dead is considered a very negative use of this by some players as well. Fortunately, it can be disabled in the settings menu.
** The Gunman Hardsuit's Digi Grenade Clusterbomb Launcher, which leaves a large cloud of digital interference behind the Hardsuit. It's perfect for making a quick getaway and for making it difficult for enemy players to get a clear shot at you.

* IShallTauntYou: While some are only available with ZEN, a couple are free and most of them can be bought with GP. They can be used in-game, and give a small CP bonus which is dependent on their taunt duration and type, with longer stationary taunts (during which the taunter is completely defenseless) providing a greater CP bonus than one of the quicker taunts that allows movement.
** AirplaneArms: A very annoying one. Complete with ''Brrrrrrrr'' sound!

** GivingSomeoneThePointerFinger
** HandSignals: Being a military-ish game, a couple of actual military hand signals are available as taunts. There's also throat-cutting, and so on.

** VSign

** The [[LetsPlay/SeaNanners SeaNanners]] bonus voice pack gives vocal taunts when doing physical taunts after a kill.

---> "Let's face it... you'll never be the man your mother was."

* LethalJokeItem: The Burst-Fire [=SMG=] used to be one of these (or just a ScrappyWeapon depending on who you ask), as it's recoil and spread usually had it's third and fourth (sometimes even the second!) shots going way off target, essentially wasting them. Then the new spread/recoil system came along, and it's turned ''deadly'' all of a sudden, able to put all four rounds into a target - with the recoil only really kicking in around the end of the burst-fire.

* LightningBruiser: The Gunman Hardsuit trades in the Rhino Hardsuit's OneHitKill Railgun and Anti-Personnel Minigun for lighter armor, an Auto-Cannon, a Digi Grenade Clusterbomb and a freakishly fast movement speed, making it a nightmare to fight in close quarter combat. However, it's lighter armor also means it's more susceptible to Rocket Stingers and small arms fire. Have fun hitting one without getting killed by it a few seconds later, though.
* LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe: Like ''[[VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOpsII Black Ops 2]]'', you can wield or deploy a Barricade Tactical Gear to provide cover for yourself on the spot, with a small gap in the barricade for you to safely shoot your enemies through. The barricade isn't invulnerable, however, and if takes too much damage it will get wrecked, exposing you to enemy fire.

* MagneticWeapons: Seriously, just don't get in the way of any sort of [[OneHitKill railgun]].
* MightyGlacier: The Rhino Hardsuit. Though it has a 'boost' function, it can't move, turn or fire it's weapons for a few moments after using it, and players can usually and easily outrun one - allowing for their allies to throw explosives behind or strafe circles around one as they explode, cook or avoid the pilot inside.

** Played with in ''Onslaught''; while they are seemingly perfect for taking on waves of [=SIVs=], Agents of The Order armed with the [=RL5=] Rocket Stinger or [=FT18=] Flamethrower depot weapons will begin to spawn later in the gamemode as a hard counter to them, and they will start coming in increasing numbers to deter players from calling one down. Also, the sheer number of [=SIVs=] attacking a Hardsuit will usually slow it's movement speed down to a crawl, making it trivial for the Order Agents to destroy one. On the other hand, using their considerable firepower and thick armor to mow down waves of [=SIVs=] will make surviving their onslaught easier, assuming of course enemy Agents are killed on sight.

** There was an era when the Assault Rifle would kill anyobe it was pointed to, regardless of how far they were or how bad it's user modded it's accuracy.
** Heavy Assault Rifles made using a Bolt-Action Rifle for sniping pointless, due to it's very predictable recoil pattern; it also had ridiculously high damage, so much so that it could beat an SMG in close quarter combat. Now it got reduced to a more [[PVPBalanced balanced]] level with a smaller magazine, lower damage and slightly less range.
** During the closed beta, by either bug or by poor design, the SMG had such a low weapon spread that it's 10 points of damage at longer range could kill easily a target with no issue, even with full-automatic fire. Which is pretty impressive for the 9mm round of the future.

* NeverBringAKnifeToAGunFight: Played straight and subverted. Players who charge at their enemies with only their Combat Knives will quickly be shot dead. But it's played straight when one uses the right tactics, as skilled or lucky players can pull off killing multiple enemies in a short amount of time with their Combat Knife.
* NoobCave: New players can choose to play on ''Proving Ground'' servers, where only players up to a certain level (35 as of this time of writing) are allowed to play in. Playing on these servers is a good way to get a handle on the gameplay mechanics without having high-level players kicking your ass while you're still learning.
** There's also ''Practice'', which allows the player to go head to head with a mob of hostile robots on one of the most hectic close quarter maps in the game, Containment. It also allows players to try out things they have pinned to their equipment slots, though obviously you can't keep them around outside of it.
** ''Onslaught'' was intentionally designed as something of a NoobCave, with decent [=XP=] and [=GP=] payouts even on Easy Difficulty, so that new players can level up and unlock gear without mercilessly being hammered by veterans. One should also keep in mind that it goes all the way up to [[HarderThanHard Hardcore Difficulty]] [[BoomHeadshot (which makes only headshots deal any damage to the enemies),]] so it's not ''just'' for rookies.

** Another popular theory says that after the events of ''Tango Down'', Blacklight failed to maintain world peace. Now many Blacklight/Order Agents (like yourself) went rogue, each fighting for their own interests.
** The Order returns in ''Onslaught'', as the hostile Agents attacking you and your teammates while you're all busy fending off [=SIV=] infectees.
* NotUsingTheZWord: The people who were infected by the Sentient Insanity Virus in ''Onslaught'' are called [=SIVs=], and there are no indications of them acting like your typical flesh-eating zombie. Aside from their hostility, they won't even try biting you - instead they will claw and swing at you and will even resort to using shields to bash you to death.

* PlayfulHacker: Chronos, the game's only Hacker Hero. He thrives in the Domination and the [=NetWar=] gamemodes, thanks to his Tactical Gear significantly increasing his point capture or hacking speed.
* PowerfulPick: The Tactical Ice Axe and the Nor'Easter melee weapon utility gears. They are essentially the Machete with a different skin, with the latter weapon also having a cool blue flame wreathing it's blade.

* QuickMelee: Pressing the melee button will make you melee with your gun's stock or [[PistolWhipping pistol's grip]]. The game also has a number of stronger dedicated melee weapons like the Combat Knives, the Machete, the Tactical Ice Pick, the Tomahawks and the Breach Hammers - all of which can be a guaranteed OneHitKill on most players.

* RobotGirl: MARS, the only Robot Hero of the game, who uses a female voice and is referred to as a 'she'. Her role in the game is to act as fire support to her fellow Agents, and can also help replenish their low ammunition through the use of her Tactical Gear.
* ScaryBlackMan: Grendel, the Heavy Hero of the game. He has the maximum possible health - 250 HP - and fittingly, is equipped with the maximum quantity of explosives: Three Grenades and a Proximity Mine. Aside from his demolitionist duties, his role also doubles as fire support like MARS, but unlike her, he is able to do it easier - which means anywhere and anytime - with his Tactical Gear.

* ShotgunsAreJustBetter: Currently the pump action and automatic Shotguns are around the most popular secondary weapons, especially after the Machine Pistol was nerfed. They offer good damage over a short range and are also ideal for detonating mines, particularly those pesky Stun Mines whose hitboxes are annoyingly small.
* ShortRangeShotgun: They start losing damage beyond around 10 meters, and hit minimum damage by around 20. Combine that with the way the shot cloud spreads out, and you might as well use harsh language at longer ranges. On the other hand, they're ''[[OneHitKill extremely]]'' deadly within their effective range.

* StandardFPSGuns: Though it should be noted that the role of your primary weapon mostly depends on how you configured it to do based on which parts you used. You can have a compact Assault Rifle that's good at close quarter combat, or one with a powerful scope better suited for mid- or long-range combat. A Bolt-Action Rifle ideal for high-damage long-range shots, or built for short-range engagements and quickly moving between vantage points. And so on.

** The Burst-Fire Rifle. Bullpup config, three-round bursts. Exceptionally accurate with the recoil only kicking in at the end of each burst. A patch in late 2017 made it's clip size smaller to compensate for it's amazing accuracy.
*** The Bullpup Full Auto. Bullpup config again, but more a hybrid of the AR and SMG than a long range gun like the [=BFR=] above.

** The Submachine Gun. Very good at close quarter combat, but less effective at longer ranges; and the Machine Pistol, it's smaller and less damaging secondary weapon cousin.
*** The Tactical SMG. The faster but weaker version of the SMG. Deadly in close quarter combat. Has even MoreDakka. Looks vaguely like a [[RareGuns P-90]], for some reason.
*** The Burst-Fire [=SMG=]. Exactly what it sounds like. Once thought to be weak and ineffective, now proving to be surprisingly deadly in the right hands.

However, the game is no longer available through the ''Steam'' platform, with all the PC servers having been shutdown as of March 12th, 2019, due to low playerbase activity and ''Hardsuit Labs'' focusing on other projects.

In 2015, the game made a transition to ''Perfect World's ARC Games'' platform (where it unfortunately entered a long period of content drought due to the dissolution of ''Zombie Studios'' and a lack of updates), before it eventually migrated to ''Steam'' under the development and publication of ''Hardsuit Labs'' and a new server provider (the Russian-based my.com, which also hosts ''Videogame/{{Warface}}) in late 2017.

In 2015, the game made a transition to ''Perfect World's ARC Games'' platform (where it unfortunately entered a long period of content drought due to the dissolution of ''Zombie Studios'' and a lack of updates), before it eventually migrated to ''Steam'' under the development and publication of ''Hardsuit Labs'' and a new server provider in late 2017.

* CombatMedic: Crusher and Lazarus, the game's resident Medic Heroes. Crusher is geared towards healing injured allies, while Lazarus - living up to her codename - specializes in Reviving her killed teammates. CherryTapping: Jumping onto other players directly from above will cause exactly 1 HP's worth of damage to them, and likewise hitting them with a thrown but not yet exploded grenade will also do 1 HP's worth of damage. It's rare, but still possible to kill a player that way.

* AllegedlyFreeGame: Originally, you could play the game without buying ZEN [[BribingYourWayToVictory (which is only obtained by paying real money or doing surveys and offers for them).]] Players just had access to high-level equipment at a slow but steady rate. Even then, some items could only be ''rented'' with GP. For example, the ammo types listed above could only be rented up to 7 days with GP (after reaching level 30) or up to 30 days with ZEN, but with no way to permanently purchase them. However, some decorative items which have no effect on gameplay (like certain helmets, weapon and armor camouflages, trophies, taunts, titles and emblems) are only available with ZEN, and weapon parts that are also ZEN-only tended to have some niche advantages.

* CombatMedic: Crusher and Lazarus, the game's resident Medic Heroes. Crusher is geared towards healing injured allies, while Lazarus - living up to her codename - specializes in Reviving her killed teammates.

* CherryTapping: Jumping onto other players directly from above will cause exactly 1 HP's worth of damage to them, and likewise hitting them with a thrown but not yet exploded grenade will also do 1 HP's worth of damage. It's rare, but still possible to kill a player that way.

* TheHacker: Chronos, the game's only Hacker Hero. He thrives in the Domination and the [=NetWar=] gamemodes, thanks to his Tactical Gear significantly increasing his point capture or hacking speed.

''Blacklight: Retribution'' is a [[AllegedlyFreeGame free to play]] sequel to ''Blacklight: Tango Down''. Created by the folks at ''Creator/ZombieStudios'' (and later ''Hardsuit Labs'' when the former went defunct in January 2015) and published by ''Perfect World Entertainment'', it's your standard FirstPersonShooter powered by the Unreal Engine, though it's got some interesting features to set it apart from the pack:

* Everybody has the HRV (Hyper Reality Visor), which let players see enemies and objectives through walls. This comes with a downside, though - you can't use any weapons while it's in use and you'll have to wait for it to fully recharge before it can be used again.
* The game features weapon depots scattered around the maps that lets players restock their ammo and regain lost health, as well as bring heavy weapons such as a flamethrower, a rocket launcher or even a [[MiniMecha Hardsuit]] into the fight in exchange for Combat Points (CP) gained from kills, assists or completing objectives.
* Players receive GP and EXP at the end of each match, the amounts of which are dependent on how well they have performed during one, the former mainly being used to acquire or rent equipment such as new weapons, armor and utility gear. Of course, [[BribingYourWayToVictory paying for ZEN to buy them instead is much faster]].

The game features classic game modes like Deathmatch, Capture The Flag, Domination and King Of The Hill, alongside new ones like [=NetWar=] (a combination of Capture The Flag and Domination), Siege and Kill Confirmed. A recent update added Search & Destroy, Last Man Standing and Onslaught, while another update sadly removed [=NetWar=] and Siege from the gamemode playlist.

In 2015, the game made a transition to ''Perfect World's ARC Games'' platform (where it unfortunately entered a long period of content drought due to the dissolution of ''Zombie Studios'' and a lack of updates), before it eventually migrated to Steam under the development and publication of ''Hardsuit Labs'' and a new server provider in late 2017.

The game is no longer available through the Steam platform, with all the PC servers having been shutdown as of March 12th, 2019, due to low playerbase activity. Nowadays, it's only available on the [=PlayStation 4=] for free, thanks to having no game servers being hosted through the console's peer-to-peer network.

* AbnormalAmmo: The game has a few, though the first four veer into AwesomeButImpractical territory:
** Electro Rounds does less damage to players (unless they're Stunned) but does extra damage to Hardsuits, Turrets and Assault Bots.

** Magnum Rounds increases damage dealt at the cost of increased recoil and reduced range, thus limiting the player to fight only from close to mid range combat.
** Toxic Rounds obscures enemy vision and does mild damage over time, while also lowering maximum health for a time.
** Incendiary Rounds sets your enemies on fire and does additional damage over time, but in exchange for dealing less damage up-front.

* AKA47: Several weapon parts in this game can easily be identified as having come from real firearms, or at the least are very visibly based off certain parts from them. See the GunPorn entry further down.
** For more specific examples, the Heavy Pistol receiver is clearly based off the old Colt [=M1911=], the Burstfire Pistol is some manner of Glock, the Heavy Assault Rifle resembles the FN Carbine and the complete StarterEquipment Assault Rifle bears a ''remarkable'' resemblance to the [=SIG 550=]. One foregrip/barrel segment is highly similar to the [=MP7=], whilst another resembles the [=FN MAG=]. The newly introduced Snubnose Revolver is nearly identical to the snub-nosed Chiappa Rhino.
** Two new Assault Rifle-like receivers don't even try to hide what guns they're based on. Their names are the [=AK470=] Rifle and [=M4X=] Rifle, and their flavor text states they're modernized versions of them.
* AllegedlyFreeGame: Originally, you could play the game without buying ZEN (which is only obtained by paying real money or doing surveys and offers for them). Players just had access to higher-level equipment at a slower rate. Even then, some items could only be ''rented'' with GP. Additionally, the elemental ammunition types listed above could only be rented up to 7 days with GP (after reaching level 30) or up to 30 days with ZEN, but with no way to permanently purchase them. However, some decorative items which have no effect on gameplay (like camouflages or taunts) are only available with ZEN, and weapon parts that are also ZEN-only tended to have some niche advantages.
** The first year anniversary of the game being on Steam gave the developers an excuse to sell Anniversary Packs. Purchasing the Gold Pack for 10000 ZEN ($100 US) and later for 8000 ZEN unlocked all first-year items with the exception of taunts, tag lines and weapon tags. This included ''the permanent unlocking of elemental ammo for those weapons''. The second year anniversary also brought out a Platinum Anniversary Pack for 10000 ZEN too, which also unlocked second year items sans the taunts, player tags and weapon tags.
** Somewhat averted after the Parity Patch Update (which made the PC version work like the [=PS4=] version and allowed cross-platform play): All items that weren't cosmetic in nature became available to purchase with GP and now doesn't require levels to unlock. Nowadays, ZEN is considered as just a quick way to buy weapons, armor, gear, taunts, weapon tags, player titles, weapons and armor camouflage as well as special editions of normal armor if one does not have the time, effort or GP needed to buy any of them instead. There's also the new GP Duplicator that can only be bought with ZEN, where owning it nets you twice the amount of GP normally gained per any match as well as a free player title.
* AllThereInTheManual: Where the heck are those zombies in ''Onslaught'' coming from, and who are those soldiers backing up said zombies? They're holdovers from the co-op mode in the first game, which explained the zombies as victims of [=SIV=], a widespread virus that rots flesh and turns infected victims insanely homicidal, while the soldiers are Agents of The Order, a secretive terrorist group with implied backing coming from all around the world, who are helping the [=SIVs=] attempt to kill you and your teammates for reasons unknown.
* AnAxeToGrind: The Sonic and Exploding Tomahawks. The former allows for a quick way of dispatching enemies in close quarters combat, while the latter also does that too - except it can also be used as a makeshift mine/grenade by way of remote detonation.
* AttackItsWeakPoint: If you're skilled/crazy/stupid enough, you can hit the weak points on a Hardsuit for ten times the usual damage.

** [[MiniMecha Rhino]] [[MightyGlacier Hardsuits.]] They're good to use against regular players, but are slow to manoeuvre, making it incredibly easy to leave them wide open for flamethrower or rocket launcher ambushes - and they're near-useless in ''Onslaught'' too, because by the time you get enough CP to call down one, the game will already have begun to spawn Order Agents who will wield rocket launchers against you.

* {{BFG}}: There are a few available, though they mostly come in the form of Railguns, Miniguns and Auto-Cannons attached to Hardsuits. For handheld versions however, it's the Anti-Materiel Rifle, the [=T56=] Trident 'Minigun' and the [=RG057=] Ghost 'Railgun' depot weapons.
* BlingBlingBang: Metallic gold, silver and bronze 'camo' patterns are available for your weapons. There's also the weapon tags; (gold) dollar signs, pots of gold, and so on.
* BlownAcrossTheRoom: Pellets from the two Shotguns and rounds from the Anti-Materiel Rifle can throw the corpses of players a fair distance away, often causing a slightly more conventional RailingKill.
* BodyArmorAsHitPoints: Wearing heavier armor pieces increases your health; inversely, wearing lighter armor pieces reduces it.
* BrokenFaceplate: Battle-damaged variants of certain helmets were given out as awards somewhat recently - though in this case the damage on them are purely cosmetic and still have the same stats as their undamaged models. Whether or not they make your Agent look badass, however, is up for you to decide.

* ColorCodedElements: The elemental ammo types listed above tend to have unique impact effects, and each elemental magazine has a color-coded warning notice and symbol to indicate the type of ammo in it. Explosive is orange-yellow, Electro is blue, Toxic is green, Incendiary is red and Standard is white. Equipment that protects against these types of damage are also color-coded to indicate what type of damage they protect against.
** Oh, and there's also the 'Magnum' ammo type, which is purple and does more damage at the cost of increased recoil and reduced range.
* CherryTapping: Jumping onto other players directly from above will cause exactly 1 HP's worth of damage to them, and likewise hitting them with a thrown but not yet exploded grenade will also do 1 HP damage. It's rare but possible to kill a player like that.
** Sometimes jumping and landing on the head of another player can also quickly kill them, regardless of their team alignment, as if they were just crushed by a Hardsuit. The slain player's killcam will then proceed to follow the ally/enemy who killed them this way.
* CrowbarCombatant: The Black Mesa Crowbar melee weapon utility gear, as well as it's Silver and Gold variants. Added to the game in celebration of Blacklight: Retribution being released on the Steam platform, all three crowbars are essentially the Combat Knife Mk.1 but with different skins.
* CyberPunk: Between the ''Film/BladeRunner''-style scenery, the cool and futuristic armor designs and the electronics-based warfare, it's definitely fitting.

** The Combat Rifle. It is a semi-automatic rifle, making it quite nice to use for mid to long range targets. The trouble is, however, [[MasterOfNone at any range there's a receiver that does it's job better.]] It's very low ammo capacity also tends to cause problems too. But in the right hands, it's capable of downing ANYONE in quick 2-4 shots, assuming it's user is careful of the weapon spread and has also opted to fire in bursts.
** The Light Machine Gun. Even before the Parity Patch Update, it is highly inaccurate against other automatic receivers at most ranges, leading to itself being more useful in defensive or ambush situations. However, it boasts the highest damage per shot and ammo capacity out of all the automatic receivers - and with the right weapon parts, it can even be used as a long ranged receiver capable of out-damaging or suppressing enemy fire. Just make sure to crouch to balance it's recoil while you're shooting at mid to long range targets, or at least remember to use weapon parts that lowers the recoil to a more manageable level.
** The Stun Shurikens. While stealth builds mostly use them and still can be thrown well by other builds, even if they miss a target and hit a wall or the floor instead, the three projectiles will still go off in proximity to an enemy and either stun or kill them as though they were blown up by a stun mine.
** The Compound Bow. It has all the advantages of using a bow, as well as all the disadvantages of using one. But when used correctly, it becomes one of the most lethal weapons anyone can encounter in a match, allowing for long distance silent kills or even headshots on the fly once you've gotten used to aiming or timing your shots with it. Additionally, you can pick up and reuse your fired arrows as long as they aren't too far for you to reach.
* DropTheHammer: The Breach Hammer and Toxic Breach Hammer melee weapon utility gears. The former is an extremely powerful hammer that instantly kills enemies on contact (provided they aren't wearing the Melee Protection Gear) but comes with the downside of having a slow swinging speed on top of having to 'reload' itself after every successful strike, while the latter has a weaker strike and the same swinging speed and 'reload' problems - but comes with a small Toxic Grenade-like warhead that detonates after a short delay, and whose gas cloud will actually cling to the struck target while simultaneously afflicting all other enemies within a certain range of it's victim.
* FacelessGoons: Almost ''everyone''. But all the helmets are awesome looking, so it's forgiven. Most hero characters, however, have an option to go helmet-less, or at least have some form of skin exposure (Viper only ever shows off his mutated arm, while MARS is all-robot).
** Apparently the non-hero characters do have faces beneath their helmet, which can be only be seen through clipping. They are low res compared to the hero characters, and only the area around their eyes are not covered by a balaclava.
* FlareGun: The Breech-Loaded Pistol works like this, and it has three ammo types. The first is the HE Round Bore, a yellow flare that deals explosive damage to enemies in the vicinity it was shot to, and the second is the Incendiary Round Bore, a red flare that quickly incinerates anyone and anything it sticks to. The third ammo type, the Flechette Chamber Boring, converts it into a powerful ShortRangeShotgun best used for tight clusters of enemy Agents instead.
* FragileSpeedster: Speed-oriented builds, as you have to sacrifice your maximum health in return for increased movement speed. Pure speed builds are uncommon, as most feel they sacrifice too much and gain too little. This is Viper's gimmick - he's ''extremely'' fast, but one good hit from even an SMG will kill him dead.
** This can be mitigated somewhat with the Cloak Mk.I Tactical Gear. A common tactic for some players playing this build is to combine light armor, 'The "Speed Demon"' boots and the Cloak Mk.I Tactical Gear as well as either one of the Combat Knives or the Breach Hammer to do easy silent kills from behind.
* FriendlyFireproof: Although you can shoot enemy mines, setting them off next to allies can injure or even kill them. Unoccupied Hardsuits can be damaged by both teams too, and the resulting explosion will injure or kill any Agents who happened to be close by.
** This has led to some clever schmucks doing things like sticking an A36 Brimstone's signal flare or an Explosive Tomahawk on their own teammates, causing havoc when their enemies least expect it.

* GrenadeSpam: ''Mostly'' averted, as you can only carry a single grenade of any given type at a time, though with the right kit setup and a lot of GP and/or Zen, you could feasibly carry up to ''four'' different kinds.

* GunPorn: Players have praised the game's customization feature. Want a ''metallic pink'' automatic death spewing machine with an attached 1.8x zoom holographic scope, a short damage-enhancing barrel complete with a foregrip and silencer, anyone?
** GunAccessories: No underbarrel attachments or anything too fancy, but otherwise? Suppressors, flashbrakes, compensators, scopes... there are plenty of other things for you to use on your gun. As mentioned above, many are clearly based off actual real-life gun parts. [[RareGuns Some of which have never actually entered widespread production.]]
* HaveANiceDeath: Happens if one leaps off the deadly drops of the maps Vertigo and Rig, walked off the docks on [=SeaPort=] or when one jumps down from quite the height while on low health (and even when quitting a match!):

* HazmatSuit: The new ''Prex Chemical/Hazmat Respirator'' helmet, added in the Evacuation Update. It claims to reduce damage taken from ''explosive'' attacks however, not chemical weapons. Unfortunately the bright yellow-orange visor also makes your head ''very'' visible to enemy players.
** There's also two other variants, in blue/green and red/orange, for reducing Toxic and Incendiary damage respectively.
* HealThyself: The Heal Injector Mk.1 Tactical Gear, which holds 15 'charges' and slowly regenerates them over time. It restores 50 health at the cost of all 15 charges if you use it on yourself, or 100 health at the cost of 3 charges if you use it on allies. It is much more team-oriented than it used to be.

* HighlyConspicuousUniform: The camouflage patterns available in this game would have all worked fine if not for all those [[ColorCodedMultiplayer team-indicating]] neon highlights on your Agent's armor. Also, the fact that your name can sometimes appear over your head.
** There's also various "unique" camouflages you can buy with ZEN or get as a reward from chance packs, certain events or promotions. Purple, red, baby blue, bright pink, metallic gold/silver, solid white... you take your pick.
* HollywoodSilencer: There are four, each (save the highest-level one) reducing damage and having some other minor effects. The quieter audio cue can often give you an extra edge over an unaware enemy; by the time they've figured out where you're shooting them from, they're most likely already dead.

* InterfaceScrew: Digi Grenades act like a smokescreen by creating a cloud of digital interference; entering it will obscure your view. Toxic Grenades leave a lingering green haze on your screen if you ever walk into their deadly gas clouds. Shock Grenades, Stun Mines and Stun Shurikens makes your display fuzzy and stop you from quickly turning around. Being hit with explosive ammo and nearby explosions will jar your vision as you'd expect. EMP Grenades are the worst, throwing the ''Blue Screen of Death'' all over your interface!
** If you look closely at the HUD when it restarts, you can see your own Agent/character name being entered into a login and password bar. These are both carryovers from Tango Down.
** The 'new' animation displayed when spawning is considered a very negative use of this by some players as well. Fortunately, it can be disabled.
** The Gunman Hardsuit's Digi Grenade Clusterbomb Launcher, which leaves a large cloud of digital interference behind the Hardsuit. Perfect for making a quick getaway or for making it difficult for enemy players to get a clear shot at you.

* IShallTauntYou: Most need to be purchased with ZEN first, though a couple are free. They can be used in-game, and give a small CP bonus depending on the length and type, with longer stationary taunts (during which the taunter is defenseless) providing a greater CP bonus than one of the quick taunts that allow movement.

** The Cloak Mk.1 and Mk.2 Tactical Gears, though the former doesn't hide you from infrared scopes or the HRV for both, and [[VisibleInvisibility you're still somewhat visible while using them (especially when you're sprinting)]].
** The HRV Blackout utility gear will prevent anything in it's vicinity from appearing on the HRV (unless within a certain range), though to the naked eye, it has a ''very'' noticeable distortion field. It's often used to hide mines, snipers, turrets or [[UpToEleven all of ]][[CrazyPrepared them at once]].
** The HRV Cloak is a Tactical Gear that hides it's user from being seen on the HRV from a distance. It's a good way to screw with most players, particularly those who thought no hostiles were in the area until you proved them wrong. But you'll still appear as a slightly shimmering figure if you happened to be close by when someone used their HRV.
** A lesser one is the Infrared Protection Gear, which allows someone to not be seen easily with infrared scopes.
* KatanasAreJustBetter: There's one, the [=KTN8=] Katana, which is only available as a depot weapon. It costs 350 CP to bring into a match, but it does a lot of damage and increases movement speed while actively being used. Plus, it has a [[FlashStep lunge attack]] that can kill multiple foes in one swift assault. It also throws a nice diagonal blood splatter across the screen whenever an enemy is killed by one, their corpse gushing blood before falling over.
* KillAllHumans: It's very easy to miss, but the Assault Bots in ''Practice'' sometimes say this and other similar phrases. So do the Assault Bots called down in other gamemodes.

* KnifeNut: The two types of Combat Knives (Mk.1 and Mk.2), Throwing Knives Mk.1 and the Machete gave players enough variation to become this. You could even feasibly carry the entire lot with enough gear slots, if you were feeling especially redundant.
* KukrisAreKool: The Machete melee weapon utility gear has an inward bowed blade, that resembles a kukri much more than an actual machete. Fittingly, it has a much higher reach compared to the Combat Knives.
* [[LandMineGoesClick Prox Mine Goes Beep]]: Now in delicious Frag and Stun flavours! They make a nice little ''beep-beep'' noise just before exploding, so sometimes you can at least avoid dying to them. Keep an eye out on your HRV too; mines are marked with an exclamation symbol. Also, you can 'safely' detonate enemy mines using gunfire or grenades to earn a few Combat Points, and maybe even hurt any enemies standing close to them.

* LettersToTheEditor: Not exactly. But Zombie Studio once answered questions through the Blacklight Retribution Patch Minutes videos which came out with every game updates, until they didn't. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XEuS2msbpE&feature=youtu.be Here's one for 0.964.]]
* LightningBruiser: The Gunman Hardsuit (currently available only on the [=PS4=] version of the game) trades in the Rhino Hardsuit's OneHitKill Railgun and Anti-Personnel Minigun for lighter armor, an Auto-Cannon, a Digi Grenade Clusterbomb and a freakishly fast movement speed, making it a nightmare to fight in close quarter combat. However, it's lighter armor also means it's more susceptible to rocket launchers. Have fun hitting one though.
* LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe: Like ''[[VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOpsII Black Ops 2]]'', you can wield or deploy a Barricade Tactical Gear to provide cover for yourself on the spot. Some [=SIV=] infectees and Agents of The Order also carry them in ''Onslaught'' to often lethal effect.

* MightyGlacier: The Rhino Hardsuit. Though it has a 'boost' function, it can't move, turn, or fire it's weapons for a few moments after using it, and Agents can usually easily outrun one - allowing for someone to throw explosives behind it or even strafe circles around one as they explode/flame out/avoid the person inside.
* MiniMecha: The Rhino and Gunman Hardsuits are combat mecha, and come equipped with either a Minigun and a Railgun or an Auto-Cannon and a Digi Grenade Clusterbomb Launcher. These things are very dangerous and the former can even run you down with it's boost. They do, however, [[AttackItsWeakPoint have a randomly generated weakpoint]]. Hitting it causes your weapon to deal ''ten times'' it's normal damage to the Hardsuits. Also, the former has slow turning rates, making teammate backup pretty much mandatory in taking one down, while the latter is a nightmare in close quarter combat as stated above, and must be dealt with quickly before bodies start piling up.
** Played with in ''Onslaught''; while they are seemingly perfect for taking on waves of [=SIVs=], Agents of The Order armed with the [=RL5=] Rocket Stinger or [=FT18=] Flamethrower depot weapons will begin to spawn later in the gamemode as a hard counter to them, and they also come in increasing numbers to deter players from calling one down. Also, the sheer number of [=SIVs=] attacking a Hardsuit will usually slow it's movement speed down to a crawl, making it trivial for the Order Agents to destroy one. On the other hand, using their considerable firepower and thick armor to mow down waves of [=SIVs=] will make surviving them easier, assuming of course enemy Agents are killed on sight.
* MoreDakka: The Rhino Hardsuit's Minigun and the Gunman Hardsuit's Auto-Cannon. For the handheld versions, it's the Light Machine Gun, an Assault Rifle equipped with the biggest ammo capacity magazine available and the [=T56=] Trident 'Minigun' depot weapon.
* {{Nerf}}: Oh, a ''lot''.
** There was an era when the Assault Rifle would kill anything it was pointed at, regardless of range or how bad a user modded it's accuracy.
** Heavy Assault Rifles made using a Bolt-Action Rifle for sniping useless, due to it's very predictable recoil pattern; it also had ridiculously high damage, so much so that it could beat an SMG in close quarter combat. Now it got reduced to a more [[PVPBalanced balanced]] level with a smaller magazine, lower damage and slightly less range.
** During the closed beta, by either bug or by poor design, the SMG had such a low weapon spread that it's 10 points of damage at long range could kill easily a target with no issue, even with full-automatic fire. Pretty impressive for the 9mm round of the future.
** The World's End Update brought some long-overdue (or at least as far as many players are concerned) nerfs to the Exploding Tomahawk, Machine Pistol, and maximum-damage oriented Bolt-Action Rifle builds. The Health Injector got adjusted around the same time too, and now players aren't quite sure about the results.
* NeverBringAKnifeToAGunFight: Played straight and subverted. Players who charge enemies with only their Combat Knives will often be quickly shot dead. However, played straight when using the right tactics, as skilled players can pull off killing multiple enemies in a short time with a Combat Knife.
* NoobCave: New players can choose to play on ''Proving Ground'' servers, where only players up to a certain level (35 as of this time of writing) are allowed to play in. They're a good way to get a handle on the gameplay mechanics without having high-level players kicking your ass while you're still learning.

** ''Onslaught'' was intentionally designed as something of a NoobCave, with decent [=XP=] and [=GP=] payouts even on Easy Difficulty, so that new players can level up and unlock gear without being hammered by veterans. One should also keep in mind that it goes all the way up to [[HarderThanHard Hardcore Difficulty]] [[BoomHeadshot (which makes only headshots deal any damage to the enemies),]] so it's not ''just'' for rookies.
*** Averted for now. Currently, ''Onslaught'' has no changeable Difficulties, and the Bronze, Silver and Gold tokens that can be picked up from killed [=SIVs=] and soldiers don't do anything noticeable.
* NoPlotNoProblem: This game is supposed to be a sequel to ''Blacklight: Tango Down''. But as of yet, it still doesn't have much in the way of an official storyline. Not that the players care for now.
** The world seems to be going to hell in a hand-basket, with no real governments being in power for long, and the players are the best of the best picked out by Blacklight to help protect the world. Meanwhile, a virus of some description is ravaging the civilian population, with automated broadcasts recommending people stay in their homes as much as possible. See the Fridge page! A popular player theory is that the 'game' is actually a virtual reality simulation in which Blacklight uses to train their recruits and hone their skills without putting them in danger.
** Another popular theory says that after the events of ''Tango Down'', Blacklight failed to maintain world peace. Now many Blacklight/The Order Agents (like you) went rogue, each fighting for their own interests.
** The Order returns in ''Onslaught'', as the Agents attacking you while you try to fend off the [=SIV=] infectees.
* NotUsingTheZWord: They're [=SIVs=], not zombie-like-guys!
* OneBulletClips: The Anti-Materiel Rifle. Worth every shot though, if it hits someone that is.

* PinkMist: Can be averted with the "Gore" being set to Full (i.e. heads are removed with headshots) to Mid (heads remain intact but a red mist is shown) to None (blood is replaced with splashes of a glowing blue liquid).
* PistolWhipping: The Handguns' and the Revolvers' melee attack.
* PowerfulPick: The Tactical Ice Axe and the Nor'Easter melee weapon utility gears. They are essentially the Machete with a different skin, with the latter melee weapon also having a cool blue flame wreathing it's blade.
* PrettyLittleHeadshots: Played with. With Full Gore, scoring a full Shotgun blast to somebody's face - or landing a headshot with the Bolt-Action Rifle and Anti-Materiel Rifle - results in a satisfying explosion sound and a red cloud. Other weapons may or may not cause it; it seems random, or [[NoKillLikeOverkill based on damage]].
* QuickMelee: Pressing the melee key will make you melee with your gun's stock or [[PistolWhipping pistol's grip]]. However the game also has a number of stronger dedicated melee weapons like the Combat Knives, the Machete, the Tactical Ice Pick, the Tomahawks and the Breach Hammer and it's Toxic variant - both of which are a guaranteed OneHitKill on any Agent.

* RareGuns: Along with some gun parts, the new ''Snub 260'' Revolver has it's barrel aligned with the bottom chamber, likely drawing inspiration from the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mateba_Autorevolver Mateba Autorevolver]] and it's kin.
** The M4 and [=AK47=] are considered this in-universe, judging by the [=M4X=]'s and [=AK470=]'s flavor texts.
* RedEyesTakeWarning: The [[NotUsingTheZWord SIVs]] have glowing red eyes. As if the fact they're charging at you and basically foaming at the mouth because they think you look tasty or something wasn't enough of a warning.
* RegeneratingHealth: If you get your health knocked below half, you can regenerate it back to half your maximum health by waiting - but for a full heal, you may want to visit a depot or get a teammate to heal you using the Health Injector Mk.1 Tactical Gear.

* RobotGirl: M.A.R.S., the second Hero character, who uses a female voice and is referred to as a 'she'.
* ScaryBlackMan: Grendel, the demolitionist Hero. He has the maximum possible health - 250 HP - and fittingly, is equipped with the maximum quantity of explosives: Three Grenades and a Proximity Mine.
* SentryGun: The AT-D4 Deployable Turret depot item. While it has a fairly limited firing arc, it's fast firing speed and considerable maximum range makes it a useful tool for area denial against the enemy team, but savvy players can use Shock and [=EMP=] Grenades to temporarily disable it. It's pretty useful in ''Onslaught'' too, netting you twice the amount of CP you usually gain from [=SIVs=] who are killed by it. Humorously, it used to love shooting at walls thanks to a glitch in it's coding, but thankfully recent patches have fixed it's bizarre targeting behavior since.
* ShieldBash: Players equipped with any of the Barricade Tactical Gears can kill opponents by simply slamming them with it. While extremely hard to pull off, it can be worth it as actively using them provides their wielders an ample degree of protection from bullets... but only in the direction they are looking at, and their feet are free game.

** Now we have the [[VideoGame/HalfLife Black Mesa Crowbar]] available for purchase in celebration of the Steam launch, for a limited time, and a Headcrab weapon tag recently became available for playing prior to a certain date. There were also limited-edition Portal Gun weapon tags.

* ShotgunsAreJustBetter: Currently the pump action and automatic Shotguns are around the most popular secondary weapons, especially after the Machine Pistol was nerfed. They offer good damage over short range and are also ideal for detonating mines, especially those pesky Stun Mines whose hitboxes are annoyingly small.

* SkullForAHead: The Bonebreaker helmet has a stylized faceplate that resembles the upper half of a skull.

** Even the Revolver has an optimal range of 40 meters and effective maximum range of 60 meters, but it's a different story if you armed it with a 6x zoom sniper scope, crouched and then took aim before shooting someone in the head...

* SprintMeter: Wearing heavy armour to increase your health decreases the sprint speed and the amount of time you can sprint, while wearing light armour (thus decreasing your health) increases your sprint speed and time. It's a balancing act.

** Thanks to recent updates, players old and new were also given the Submachine Gun, Bolt-Action Rifle and Burstfire SMG for free as starting equipment, each basic primary weapon deadly in their own right.

* StandardFPSGuns: Though it should be noted that the role of your primary weapon mostly depends on how you configure it and which parts you use. You can have a compact Assault Rifle that's good at close combat, or one with a powerful scope better suited to mid or long range combat. A Bolt-Action Rifle ideal for high-damage long-range shots, or built for shorter-range engagements and quickly moving between vantage points. And so on.

*** The [=M4X=] Rifle. Based on the M4 Carbine. Increased rate of fire, but reduced damage, range and accuracy. Better for close-up combat. A mix between the AR and the Submachine Gun, retaining some of their strengths.

*** The Heavy Assault Rifle. Increased damage and accuracy at the cost of increased recoil, lower rate of fire, and reduced ammo capacity. A mix between the AR and the Light Machine Gun, statistically speaking.

** The Submachine Gun. Very good at close quarters combat, but less effective at longer ranges; and the Machine Pistol, it's smaller, less damaging secondary weapon cousin.
*** The Tactical SMG. The faster but weaker version of the SMG. Deadly in close quarters combat. Has even MoreDakka. Looks vaguely like a [[RareGuns P-90]], for some reason.
*** The Burst-Fire SMG. Exactly what it sounds like. Once thought to be weak and ineffective, now proving to be surprisingly deadly in the right hands.
** The Light Machine Gun. Fast fire rate for suppressing enemies. Has the most [[MoreDakka Dakka]] out of any primary weapon in the game, sitting at '''80 rounds per clip.''' But it's recoil is high, reducing the effectiveness of short bursts, although it decreases during prolonged firing.

** The Light Pistol, Heavy Pistol, Burst-Fire Pistol, [[FlareGun Breech-Loaded Pistol]], [[RevolversAreJustBetter Revolver and Snub-Nose Revolver]]. All fairly competent light secondary weapons, when configured properly.

* TournamentPlay: The general community's clan vs clan scrim ruleset ban the use of Hardsuits, [[AbnormalAmmo elemental ammo]] and depot weapons. Other weapons may apply depending on their current GameBreaker status.
* VideogameCrueltyPotential: It's entirely possible to kill an unsuspecting enemy player who had just called down a Hardsuit to the map, then climb into said newly arrived Hardsuit to use it for yourself. Woo-hoo, free MiniMecha [[DoomyDoomsofDoom of Doom!]] It's also possible to destroy a Hardsuit by deploying your own to fight it. You can also abandon very badly-damaged Hardsuits and use them as bait to draw in unsuspecting enemy players before blowing both of them up. Mines can also be used to boobytrap depots and spawn points, often enraging the unfortunate victims.
* VideoGameFlamethrowersSuck: Not exactly. The [=FT18=] Flamethrower can kill players faster than an Assault Rifle and a Submachine Gun can, due to releasing a steady stream of mostly accurate and recoil-less flames when fired with. It is also very capable of cooking Hardsuit pilots alive through their armor (unless they're using the Hardsuit Battle Mode Tactical Gear) - and in ''Onslaught,'' the Flamethrower can bypass shield-wielding enemies and kill regular Order Agents and [=SIVs=] fairly quickly. However, you can't spread fire to deny areas to the enemy, and your victims don't visually catch on fire, though admittedly they do suffer some damage over time after being burned.

** Most weapons can be tuned to increase your sprinting speed as well, at least by a little. This usually comes at the cost of low accuracy, high recoil and low damage though, so sometimes it's just not worth gimping your weapon's stats if you want to sprint even faster. You'll usually be better off changing your Agent's armor pieces instead.
* ZombieApocalypse: The whole [=SIV=] [[TheVirus virus]] crisis caused by The Order back in ''Tango Down''. Also, ''Onslaught'' pitches you against ten waves of increasingly difficult foes, with four possible difficulty levels (no longer available thanks to the Parity Patch Update), and assorted GP and EXP rewards for collecting special three tiered tokens during the match.

In 2014, the game made a transition to Perfect World's ARC Games platform (where it unfortunately entered a long period of content drought due to the dissolution of ''Zombie Studios'' and a lack of updates), before it eventually migrated to Steam under the development and publication of ''Hardsuit Labs'' and a new server provider in late 2017.

The game is no longer available through the Steam platform, with all the PC servers having been shutdown on the 11th of March 2019 due to low player base activity. Nowadays, it's available only on the [=PlayStation 4=], thanks to having no game servers being hosted through the console's peer-to-peer network.

** Electro Rounds does less damage to players (unless they're Stunned) but does extra damage to Hardsuits, turrets and assault bots.
** Explosive Rounds jars enemy vision to throw off their aim, and also prevents killed players from quickly Reviving.

*** The 18th of August 2015 Parity Patch Update, however, limited the ammo types to just Toxic, Incendiary and Standard Rounds.
* AKA47: Several weapon parts can easily be identified as having come from real firearms, or at the least are very visibly based off parts from them. Also see the GunPorn entry further down.

** Two new Assault Rifle-like receivers don't even try to hide what guns they're based on. Their names are the [=AK470=] Rifle and [=M4X=] Rifle, and their flavor text states they're modernized versions.

** The first year anniversary of the game being on Steam gave the developers an excuse to sell Anniversary Packs. Purchasing the Gold Pack for 10000 ZEN ($100 US) and later for 8000 ZEN unlocked all first-year items with the exception of taunts, tag lines and weapon tags. This included ''the permanent unlocking of elemental ammo for those weapons''. The second year also brought out a Platinum Anniversary Pack for 10000 ZEN too, which also unlocked year 2 items sans the taunts, player tags and weapon tags.
** Somewhat averted after the Parity Patch Update (which made the PC version work like the [=PS4=] version and allowed cross-platform play), all items that weren't cosmetic in nature became available to purchase with GP and now doesn't require levels to unlock. Nowadays, ZEN is considered as just a quick way to buy weapons, armor, gear, taunts, weapon tags, player titles, weapons and armor camouflage and special editions of normal armor if one does not have the time, effort or GP needed to buy any of them instead. There's also the new GP Duplicator that can only be bought with ZEN, where having it nets you twice the amount of GP gained per any match as well as a free player title.
* AllThereInTheManual: Where the heck are those zombies in ''Onslaught'' coming from, and who are those soldiers backing up said zombies? They're holdovers from the co-op mode in the first game, which explained the zombies as victims of [=SIV=], a widespread virus that rots flesh and turns infected victims insanely homicidal, while the soldiers are Agents of The Order, a secretive terrorist group that has ex-US Special Forces in them, who are helping the [=SIVs=] attempt to kill you and your team for reasons unknown.
* AnAxeToGrind: The Sonic and Exploding Tomahawks. The former allows for a quick way of dispatching enemies in close quarters combat, while the latter also does that too - except it can also be used as a makeshift mine/grenade by way of remote detonation.

* BrokenFaceplate: Battle-damaged variants of the Hunter and [=R5X=] Ghost helmets were given out as awards somewhat recently - though in this case the damage on them are purely cosmetic and still have the same stats as their undamaged models. Whether or not they make your Agent look badass, however, is up for you to decide.

* CyberPunk: Between the ''Film/BladeRunner'' scenery, the cool armor designs and the electronics-based warfare, it's definitely fitting.
* DeathFromAbove: The A36 Brimstone 'Airstrike' depot weapon, of course. It's a signal flare launcher that, when fired with, calls down an airstrike at the area it was fired at after a short delay.

** Of course that all goes out the window if someone gets their hands on the GL-7 Bear Claw 'Grenade Launcher' depot weapon, which can fire a total of '''twelve''' grenades...

** The Gunman Hardsuit's Digi Grenade Clusterbomb, which leaves a large cloud of digital interference behind the Hardsuit. Perfect for making a quick getaway or for making it difficult for enemy players to get a clear shot at you.

** The HRV Cloak is a Tactical Gear that hides it's user from being seen on the HRV from a distance. It's a good way to screw with most players, particularly those who thought no hostiles were in the area until you proved them wrong. But you still appear as a slightly shimmering figure if you happened to be close by when someone used their HRV.

* KillAllHumans: It's very easy to miss, but the bots in Practice Mode sometimes say this and other similar phrases.
* KillItWithFire: The [=FT18=] 'Flamethrower' depot weapon, of course. Effective against Agents and especially against Hardsuits - it cooks their pilots alive. However, don't even think about [[HoistByHisOwnPetard stealing that Hardsuit you just emptied out while it's still glowing red-hot.]]

* KukrisAreKool: The so-called Machete melee weapon utility gear has an inward bowed blade resembling a kukri much more than an actual machete.

* MiniMecha: The Rhino and Gunman Hardsuits are combat mecha, and come equipped with either a Minigun and a Railgun or an Auto-Cannon and a Digi Grenade Clusterbomb. These things are very dangerous and the former can even run you down with it's boost. They do, however, [[AttackItsWeakPoint have a randomly generated weakpoint]]. Hitting it causes your weapon to deal ''ten times'' it's normal damage to the Hardsuits. Also, the former has slow turning rates, making teammate backup pretty much mandatory in taking one down, while the latter is a nightmare in close quarter combat as stated above, and must be dealt with quickly before bodies start piling up.

* KnifeNut: The two types of Combat Knives (Mk.1 and Mk.2), Throwing Knives Mk.1 and the Machete gave players enough variation to become this. You could even feasibly carry the entire lot with enough gear slots, if you were feeling especially redundant.

** There's also the new ''Practice'' mode, which allows the player to go head to head with a mob of hostile robots on one of the most hectic close quarter maps in the game, Containment. It also allows players to try out things they have pinned to their equipment slots, though obviously you can't keep them around outside of it.

* RegeneratingHealth: If you get your health knocked below half, you can regenerate it back to half your maximum health - but for a full heal, you may want to visit a depot or get a teammate to heal you using the Health Injector Mk.1 Tactical Gear.
* ReverseGrip: How Agents hold the Combat Knives.
* QuickMelee: Pressing the melee key will make you melee with your gun's stock or [[PistolWhipping pistol's grip]]. However the game also has a number of stronger dedicated melee weapons like the Combat Knives, the Machete, the Tactical Ice Pick, the Tomahawks and the Breach Hammer and it's Toxic variant - both of which are a guaranteed OneHitKill on any Agent.

* ZombieApocalypse: The whole [=SIV=] [[TheVirus virus]] crisis caused by The Order back in ''Tango Down''. Also, the new Onslaught Mode pitches you against ten waves of increasingly difficult foes, with four possible difficulty levels (no longer available thanks to the Parity Patch Update), and assorted GP and EXP rewards for collecting special three tiered tokens during the match.

[[http://store.steampowered.com//app/209870 The game is currently available through the Steam platform.]]

Now available on the [=PlayStation 4=]!

''Blacklight: Retribution'' is a [[AllegedlyFreeGame free to play]] sequel to ''Blacklight: Tango Down''. Created by the folks at ''Creator/ZombieStudios'' (and later ''Hardsuit Labs'' when the former went defunct in January 2015) and published by ''Perfect World Entertainment'', it's a standard FirstPersonShooter powered by the Unreal Engine, though it's got some interesting features to set it apart from the pack:

* The game features weapon depots scattered around the maps that lets players restock their ammo and regain lost health, as well as bring heavy weapons such as a flamethrower, a rocket launcher, or even a [[MiniMecha Hardsuit]] into the fight in exchange for Combat Points (CP) gained from kills, assists or completing objectives.

** Electro Rounds does less damage to Agents (unless they're Stunned) but does extra damage to Hardsuits, turrets and assault bots.
** Explosive Rounds jars enemy vision to throw off their aim, and also prevents killed Agents from quickly Reviving.

** Toxic Rounds obscures enemy vision and does mild damage over time, while also lowering maximum health for a while.

* AllThereInTheManual: Where the heck are those zombies in ''Onslaught'' coming from, and who are those soldiers backing up said zombies? They're holdovers from the co-op mode in the first game, which explained the zombies as victims of [=SIV=], a widespread virus that rots flesh and turns it's victims insanely homicidal, while the soldiers are Agents of The Order, a secretive terrorist group that has ex-US Special Forces in them, who are helping the [=SIVs=] attempt to kill you and your team for reasons unknown.

** [[MiniMecha Rhino]][[MightyGlacier Hardsuits.]] They're good to use against regular enemies, but are slow to manoeuvre, making it incredibly easy to leave them wide open for flamethrower or rocket launcher ambushes - and they're near-useless in ''Onslaught'' too, because by the time you get enough CP to call down one, the game will already have begun to spawn Order Agents who will wield rocket launchers against you.

--> '''Flavor Text:''' No man should have all this power!

* BrokenFaceplate: Battle-damaged variants of the Hunter and [=R5X=] Ghost were given out as awards somewhat recently - though in this case the damage on the helmets are purely cosmetic and they still have the same stats as their undamaged models. Whether or not they make your Agent look badass, however, is up for you to decide.

** Sometimes jumping and landing on the head of another player can also quickly kill them, regardless of their team alignment, as if they were crushed by a Hardsuit. The slain player's killcam will then proceed to follow the ally/enemy who killed them this way.

** The Combat Rifle. It is a semi-automatic rifle, making it quite nice to use at mid to long range. The trouble is, however, [[MasterOfNone at any range there's a receiver that does it's job better.]] It's very low ammo capacity also tends to cause problems too. But in the right hands, it's capable of downing ANYONE in quick 2-4 shots, assuming it's user is careful of the weapon spread and has also opted to fire in bursts.
** The Light Machine Gun. Even before the Parity Patch Update, it is highly inaccurate against other automatic receivers at most ranges, leading to itself being more useful in defensive or ambush situations. However, it boasts the highest damage per shot and ammo capacity out of all the automatic receivers - and with the right weapon parts, it can even be used as a long ranged receiver capable of out-damaging or suppressing enemy fire. Just make sure to crouch to balance it's recoil for mid to long range targets, or at least remember to use weapon parts that lowers the recoil to a more manageable level.
** The Stun Shurikens. Stealth builds mostly use them and can throw them well, but even if they miss a target and hit a wall or the floor instead, they will still go off in proximity to an enemy and either stun and hurt them as though they were hit by a stun mine.
** The Compound Bow. It has all the advantages of using a bow, as well as all the disadvantages of using one. But when used correctly, it becomes one of the most lethal weapons anyone can encounter in a match, allowing for long distance silent kills or even headshots once you've gotten used to aiming or timing your shots with it. Additionally, you can pick up and reuse fired arrows as long as they aren't too far for you to reach.
* FacelessGoons: Almost ''everyone''. But all the helmets are awesome looking, so it's forgiven. Most hero characters, however, have an option to go helmet-less, or at least have some form of skin exposure (Viper only shows off his mutated arm, while MARS is all-robot).

* FriendlyFireproof: Although you can shoot enemy mines, setting them off next to allies can injure or even kill them. Unoccupied Hardsuits can be damaged by both teams too, and the resulting explosion will injure all Agents who happened to be close by.

* GoodOldFisticuffs: Since the [[{{BFG}} Anti-Materiel Rifle]] is too heavy and large to use it as a makeshift club in close quarter combat, the player's Agent will simply ''punch'' the enemy instead as it's melee attack.

** Of course that all goes out the window if someone gets their hands on the GL-7 Bear Claw 'Grenade Launcher' depot weapon, [[UpToEleven which can fire a total of '''twelve''' grenades...]]

* HaveANiceDeath: Happens if one leaps off the deadly drops of the maps Vertigo and Rig, or when one jumps down from quite the height while on low health (and even when quitting a match!):

* HazmatSuit: The new ''Prex Chemical/Hazmat Respirator'' helmet, added in the Evacuation Update. It claims to reduce damage taken from ''explosive'' attacks, however, not chemical weapons. The bright yellow-orange visor also makes your head ''very'' visible to enemy players.

** Apparently the non-hero characters do have faces beneath their helmet, which can be only be seen through clipping. They are low res compared to the hero characters, and only the area around their eyes are not covered by a balaclava.
* HighlyConspicuousUniform: Camouflage would work fine if not for all those [[ColorCodedMultiplayer team-indicating]] neon highlights on your armor. Also, the fact that your name can sometimes appear over your head.

* ZombieApocalypse: The whole [=SIV=] [[TheVirus virus]] crisis caused by The Order back in ''Tango Down''. Also, the new ''Onslaught Mode'' pitches you against ten waves of increasingly difficult foes, with four possible difficulty levels (no longer available thanks to the Parity Patch Update), and assorted GP and EXP rewards for collecting special three tiered tokens during the match.

** The Submachine Gun. very good at close quarters combat, but less effective at longer ranges; and the Machine Pistol, it's smaller, less damaging secondary weapon cousin.

* VideoGameFlamethrowersSuck: Not exactly. The [=FT18=] Flamethrower can kill players faster than an Assault Rifle and a Submachine Gun can, due to releasing a steady stream of mostly accurate and recoil-less flames when fired with. The flames will also obscure much of a burning player's screen, causing them to shoot wildly in their haste to kill it's user, and are also capable of cooking Hardsuit pilots alive through their armor (unless they're using the Hardsuit Battle Mode Tactical Gear) - and in ''Onslaught,'' the Flamethrow can bypass shield-wielding enemies and kill regular Order Agents and [=SIVs=] fairly quickly. However, you can't spread fire to deny areas to the enemy, and your victims don't visually catch on fire, though admittedly they do suffer some damage over time after being burned.

-->-- '''In-game announcer''', ''before starting a Deathmatch/Team Deathmatch round.''

* The game features weapon depots scattered around the maps that lets players restock on their ammo and health, as well as bring heavy weapons such as a flamethrower, a rocket launcher, or even a [[MiniMecha Hardsuit]] into the fight in exchange for Combat Points (CP) gained from kills, assists or completing objectives.
* Players receive amounts of GP and EXP at the end of a match which are dependent on how well they have performed during it, the former mainly being used to acquire or rent equipment such as new weapons, armor and utility gear. Of course, [[BribingYourWayToVictory paying for ZEN to buy them instead is much faster]].

The game features classic game modes like Deathmatch, Capture The Flag, Domination and KOTH, alongside new ones like [=NetWar=] (a combination of Capture The Flag and Domination), Siege and Kill Confirmed. A recent update added Search & Destroy, Last Man Standing, and Onslaught, while another update also removed [=NetWar=] and Siege from the gamemode playlist.

In 2014, the game made a transition to Perfect World's ARC Games platform (where it unfortunately entered a long period of content drought due to the dissolution of Zombie Studios and a lack of updates), before it eventually migrated to Steam under the development and publication of ''Hardsuit Labs'' and a new server provider in late 2017.

** Toxic Rounds obscures enemy vision and does mild damage over time, while also halving maximum health for a while.
** Incendiary Rounds sets your enemies on fire, doing additional damage over time, but in exchange for dealing less damage up-front in total.

** For more specific examples, the Heavy Pistol receiver is clearly based off the old Colt [=M1911=], the Burstfire Pistol is some manner of Glock, The Heavy Assault Rifle resembles the FN Carbine and the complete StarterEquipment Assault Rifle bears a ''remarkable'' resemblance to the [=SIG 550=]. One foregrip/barrel segment is highly similar to the [=MP7=], whilst another resembles the [=FN MAG=]. The newly introduced Snubnose Revolver is nearly identical to the snub-nosed Chiappa Rhino.

** [[MiniMecha Hard]][[MightyGlacier suits.]] They're good to use against regular enemies, but are slow to manoeuvre, making it incredibly easy to leave them wide open for flamethrower or rocket launcher ambushes - and they're near-useless in ''Onslaught'' too, because by the time you get enough CP to call down one, the game will already have begun to spawn Order Agents who will wield rocket launchers against you.

* BlownAcrossTheRoom: Blasts from the two Shotguns and bullets from the Anti-Materiel Rifle can throw the corpses of players a fair distance away, often causing a slightly more conventional RailingKill.
* BodyArmorAsHitPoints: Wearing heavier armor pieces increases your health; inversely, wearing lighter pieces reduces it.

* CallBack: After killing an enemy Agent, your Agent will sometimes say, "Tango down! Heh. That's appropriate."
* ColorCodedElements: The elemental ammo types listed above tend to have unique impact effects, and each elemental magazine has a color-coded warning notice and symbol to indicate the type of ammo in it. Explosive is orange-yellow, Electro is blue, Toxic is green, Incendiary is red and Standard is white. Equipment that protects against these types of damage are also color-coded to indicate what type of damage they protect against. Oh, and there's also the 'Magnum' ammo type, which is purple and does more damage at the cost of increased recoil and reduced range.
* CherryTapping: Jumping on another player directly from above will cause 1 HP worth of damage to him/her, likewise hitting them with a thrown but not yet exploded grenade will also do exactly 1 HP damage. It's rare but possible to kill a player like that.

* CyberPunk: Between the ''Film/BladeRunner'' scenery, the armor designs and the electronic warfare, it's definitely fitting.

** Let's just say you don't want to be standing where a Hardsuit is going to land - whether from it's initial drop-in to the map, or if some Agent inside one just decides to drop off a ledge.

** The Combat Rifle. It is a semi-automatic rifle, making it quite nice to use at mid to long range. The trouble is, however, [[MasterOfNone at any range there's a receiver that does it's job better.]] It's low ammo count also tends to cause problems too. But in the right hands, it's capable of downing ANYONE in quick 2-4 shots, assuming the user is careful of the weapon spread and has opted to fire in bursts.
** The Light Machine Gun. Even before the Parity Patch Update, it is highly inaccurate against other automatic receivers at most ranges, leading to itself being more useful in defensive or ambush situations. However, it boasts the highest damage per shot of all the automatic receivers - and with the right weapon parts, it can even be used as a long ranged receiver capable of out-damaging enemy fire. Just make sure to crouch to balance it's recoil for distant targets, or at least remember to use parts that lowers the recoil to a manageable level.
** The Stun Shurikens. Stealth builds mostly use them and can throw them well, but even if they miss a target and hit a wall or the floor, they will still go off in proximity to an enemy and either stun and hurt them as though they were hit by a stun mine.
** The Compound Bow. It has all the advantages of using a bow, as well as all the disadvantages of using one. But when used correctly, it becomes one of the most lethal weapons anyone can encounter in a match, allowing for long distance silent kills or even headshots once you've gotten used to aiming or timing your shots with it. Additionally, you can pick up and reuse fired arrows so as long as they aren't too far for you to reach.

** This has lead to some clever schmucks doing things like sticking an A36 Brimstone's signal flare or an Explosive Tomahawk on their own teammates, causing havoc when their enemies least expect it.

* GrenadeSpam: ''Mostly'' averted, as you can only carry a single grenade of any given type at a time, though with the right kit setup and a lot of GP and/or Zen, you could feasibly carry up to four different kinds.
** Of course that all goes out the window if someone gets their hands on the GL-7 Bear Claw 'Grenade Launcher' depot weapon, which can fire a total of '''twelve''' grenades...
* GunPorn: Players have praised the game's customization feature. ''Metallic pink'' automatic death spewing machine with attached 1.8x holographic scope, short damage-enhancing barrel complete with foregrip and silencer, anyone?
** GunAccessories: No underbarrel attachments or anything too fancy, but otherwise? Suppressors, flashbrakes, compensators, scopes... there are plenty of other things for you to use. As mentioned above, many are clearly based off actual real-life gun parts. [[RareGuns Some of which have never actually entered widespread production.]]
* HaveANiceDeath: Happens if one leaps off the deadly drops of the map Vertigo, or jumps down from quite the height while on low health (and even when quitting a match!):

* HelmetsAreHardlyHeroic: Played with. Standard characters can't remove their helmets (the closest one can get to being helmet-less is by wearing a face-covering goggles getup, with a balaclava covering the rest of the head). However a few of the hero characters have the option to get their helmets removed, while certain heroes like Duchess don't even come with one.
** Apparently the non-hero characters have a face beneath the helmet, which can be only be seen through clipping.
* HighlyConspicuousUniform: Camouflage would work fine if not for all those [[ColorCodedMultiplayer team-indicating]] neon highlights on your armor. Also, the fact that your name sometimes appears over your head.
** There's also various "unique" camouflages you can buy with ZEN or get as a reward from chance packs, certain events or promotions. Purple, red, baby blue, bright pink, metallic gold/silver, solid white... take your pick.
* HollywoodSilencer: There are four, each (save the highest-level one) reducing damage and having some other minor effects. The quieter audio cue can often give you an extra edge over an unaware enemy; by the time they've figured out where you're shooting from, they're already dead.
* InexplicablyAwesome: In-universe, nobody knows who - or ''what'' - Viper is. Flavor text ranges from rumors that he's either undead, a mutant, or not even human.
* InterfaceScrew: Digi Grenades act like a smokescreen by creating a cloud of digital interference; entering it will also obscure your view. Toxic Grenades leave a lingering green haze on your screen if you ever walk into their deadly gas clouds. Shock Grenades, Stun Mines and Stun Shurikens makes your display fuzzy and stop you from quickly turning around. Being hit with explosive ammo and nearby explosions will jar your vision as you'd expect. EMP Grenades are the worst, throwing the ''Blue Screen of Death'' all over your interface!

---> "Let's face it...you'll never be the man your mother was."
---> [[Advertising/TheMostInterestingManInTheWorld "You don't ALWAYS suck...but when you do, you're dead."]]

** The HRV Blackout utility gear will prevent anything in it's vicinity from appearing on HRV (unless within a certain range), though to the naked eye, it has a very noticeable distortion field. It's often used to hide mines, snipers, turrets, or [[UpToEleven all of ]][[CrazyPrepared them at once]].
** The HRV Cloak is a Tactical Gear that hides it's user from being seen on the HRV from a distance. It's a good way to screw with most players, particularly those who thought no hostiles were in the area until you proved them wrong. But you still appear as a slightly shimmering figure if you happened to be close by when someone uses their HRV.

* KatanasAreJustBetter: There's one, the [=KTN8=] Katana, which is only available to be used as a depot item. It costs 350 CP to use in a match, but it does a lot of damage and increases movement speed while actively being used. Plus, it has a [[FlashStep lunge attack]] that can kill multiple foes in one swift assault. It also throws a nice diagonal blood splatter across the screen whenever an enemy is killed by one.

** The Flare Gun's Incendiary Round Bore. Anyone or anything the red flare touches, they're as good as dead. It's especially useful against Agents piloting a Hardsuit as well.
* KukrisAreKool: The so-called Machete melee weapon utility gear has a inward bowed blade resembling a kukri much more than an actual machete.

* LightningBruiser: The Gunman Hardsuit (currently available only on [=PS4=] version of the game) trades the Rhino Hardsuit's OneHitKill Railgun and Anti-Personnel Minigun for lighter armor, an Auto-Cannon and a freakishly fast movement speed, making it a nightmare to fight in close quarter combat. However, it's lighter armor also means it's more susceptible to rocket launchers. Have fun hitting one though.
* LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe: Like ''[[VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOpsII Black Ops 2]]'', you can use and deploy a shield. Some [=SIV=] infectees and Agents of The Order also carry them in ''Onslaught''.

* MiniMecha: The Rhino and Gunman Hardsuits are combat mecha, and come equipped with either a [[MoreDakka minigun]] and a [[OneHitKill railgun]] or an Auto-Cannon and a [[InterfaceScrew Digi Grenade cluster]]. These things are very dangerous from the front and the former can even run you down with it's boost. They do, however, [[AttackItsWeakPoint have a randomly generated weakpoint]]. Hitting it causes your weapon to deal ''ten times'' it's normal damage to the Hardsuits. Also, the former has slow turning rates, making teammate backup pretty much mandatory in taking one down - which additionally makes them near-useless in ''Onslaught'', as Agents of The Order armed with rocket launchers spawn later in the gamemode - while the latter is a nightmare in close quarter combat as stated above, and must be dealt with quickly before bodies start piling up.
* MoreDakka: The [=T56=] Trident minigun depot weapon, as well as the Rhino Hardsuit's minigun arm. For weapons, it's the Light Machine Gun.
* {{Nerf}}: Many.
** There was an era when the Assault Rifle would kill anything it was pointed at regardless of range or how bad it's user modded it's accuracy.
** Heavy Assault Rifles made using a Bolt-Action Rifle for sniping useless due to it's very predictable recoil pattern; it also had ridiculously high damage, so much so that it could beat an SMG in close quarter combat. Now it got reduced to a more [[PVPBalanced balanced]] level with a smaller magazine, lower damage and slightly less range.
** During the closed beta, by either bug or by poor design, the SMG had such a low weapon spread that it's 10 points of damage at long range could kill easily a target with no issue even with full-automatic fire. Pretty impressive for the 9mm round of the future.
** World's End brought some long-overdue (or at least as far as many are concerned) nerfs to the Exploding Tomahawk, Machine Pistol, and maximum-damage oriented Bolt Action Rifle builds. The Health Injector got adjusted around the same time, and now players aren't quite sure about the results.
* KnifeNut: The two types of Combat Knives, Mk.1 and Mk.2, Throwing Knives Mk.1 and the Machete gave players enough variation to become this. You could even feasibly carry the lot with enough gear slots, if you were feeling redundant.
* NeverBringAKnifeToAGunFight: Played straight and subverted. Players who charge enemies with only their Combat Knives will often be quickly shot dead. However played straight when using the right tactics, as skilled players can pull off killing multiple enemies in a short time with a Combat Knife.
* NoobCave: New players can choose to play on Proving Ground servers, where only players up to a certain level are allowed to play in. They're a good way to get a handle of the game mechanics without having high-level players stomping you while you're still learning.
** There's also the new ''Practice'' mode, which allows the player to go head to head with a mob of robots on one of the most hectic close quarter maps in the game. It also allows players to try out things they have pinned to their equipment slots, though obviously you can't keep them around outside of ''Practice''.
** ''Onslaught'' was intentionally designed as something of a NoobCave, with decent [=XP=] and [=GP=] payouts even on Easy Difficulty, so that new players can level up and unlock gear without being hammered by veterans. One should also keep in mind that it goes all the way up to [[HarderThanHard Hardcore Difficulty]] (which makes only headshots deal any damage to the enemies), so it's not ''just'' for rookies.

* NoPlotNoProblem: It is supposed to be a sequel to ''Blacklight: Tango Down''. But as of yet, the game still doesn't have much in the way of an official storyline. Not that the players care for now.
** The world seems to be going to hell in a hand-basket, with no real governments being in power for long, and the players are the best of the best picked out by Blacklight to help protect the world. Meanwhile, a virus of some description is ravaging the civilian population, with automated broadcasts recommending people stay in their homes as much as possible. See the Fridge page! A popular theory is that the 'game' is basically a virtual reality simulation in which Blacklight uses to train their recruits.
** Another popular theory says that after Tango Down, Blacklight failed to maintain peace. Now many Blacklight/The Order Agents (like you) went rogue, each fighting for their own interests.
** The Order returns in ''Onslaught'', as the soldiers attacking you while you try to fend off the [=SIV=] infectees.

* OneBulletClips: The Anti-Materiel Rifle.
* PinkMist: Can be averted with the "Gore" setting with Full (heads are removed with headshots) to Mid (heads remain intact but blood is shown) to None (blood is replaced with splashes of a glowing blue liquid).

* PrettyLittleHeadshots: Played with. With full gore, scoring a full shotgun blast to somebody's face - or landing a headshot with the Bolt Action Rifle - results in a satisfying explosion sound and a red cloud. Other weapons may or may not cause it; it seems random, or [[NoKillLikeOverkill based on damage]].
* RagdollPhysics: Which may cause corpses to spin or breakdance on their own. Especially if they get one of their limbs stuck into something.

** The M4 and [=AK47=] are considered this in-universe judging by [=M4X=] and [=AK470=]'s flavor text.

* RegeneratingHealth: If you get your health knocked below half, you can regenerate it back to half your maximum health - but for a full heal, you may want to visit the depot or get a teammate to heal you using the Health Injector Mk.1 Tactical Gear.

* ScaryBlackMan: Grendel, the demolitionist Hero. He has the maximum possible health, and similarly, the maximum quantity of explosives - three grenades and a proximity mine.
* SentryGun: A depot item you can buy. It has a fairly limited firing arc. It used to love shooting at walls, but recent patches fixed it's targeting behaviour. Savvy players can use Shock and [=EMP=] grenades to temporarily disable it.
* ShieldBash: Agents equipped with any of the Barricade Tactical Gears can kill opponents by simply slamming them with it. While hard to pull off, it can be worth it as actively using them provides their wielders an ample degree of protection from bullets... but only in the direction they are looking at.

* ShotgunsAreJustBetter: Currently the pump action and automatic shotguns are around the most popular secondary weapons, especially after the Machine Pistol was nerfed. They offer good damage over short range and are also ideal for detonating mines.

* SniperPistol: You could make one, thanks to the plethora of customization options available in the game... but it's not very effective. Damage falloff kicks in pretty quick for pistols. Even the Revolver has an optimal range of 40 meters and effective maximum range of 60 meters.

** Averted with the Parity Patch Update. Anyone can now sprint for as long as they want, and as fast as they want depending on the weight of the armor they are wearing.
* StarterEquipment: Everyone is given a set of basic armor, the Light Pistol, and the basic Assault Rifle with the basic Titan Rail Sight. They are [[BoringButPractical pretty reliable]], mind you. It's not unusual to see BLR newcomers [[CurbstompBattle kicking the snot out of multiple level 30+ veterans]] using these things, and some vets like to go back to using them just for the fun of it.
** In ''Onslaught'', the game will drop "Grasshopper" Assault Rifles (and Shotguns), in case anyone ran out of ammo, or has inferior equipment.
* StandardFPSGuns: Though it should be noted that the role of your primary weapon mostly depends on how you configure it and which parts you use. You can have a compact Assault Rifle that's good at close combat, or one with a powerful scope better suited to mid/long range combat. A Bolt-Action Rifle ideal for high-damage long-range shots, or shorter-range engagements and quickly moving between vantage points. And so on.
** The Assault Rifle. A jack of all trades, it can be customized and tuned to suit almost any role - though there's usually a more specialized weapon out there that can do it's job better.
*** The [=M4X=] Rifle. Based on the M4 Carbine. Increased rate of fire, but reduced damage, range and accuracy. Better for close-up combat.

*** The Heavy Assault Rifle. Increased damage and accuracy at the cost of increased recoil, a lower rate of fire, and reduced ammo capacity.
*** The Parity Patch added the Tactical Assault Rifle; another heavy hitter that fires even slower than the Heavy Assault Rifle, but has better overall accuracy and recoil, making it more reliable at close range.
** The Burst-Fire Rifle. Bullpup config, three-round bursts. Exceptionally accurate with the recoil kicking in at the end of each burst. A patch in late 2017 reduced it's clip size to compensate for it's accuracy.
** The Bullpup Full Auto. Bullpup config again, but more a hybrid of the AR and SMG than a long range gun like the [=BFR=] above.
** The Combat Rifle. Semi-automatic rifle. A 'lite' edition of the Bolt-Action Rifle; much better rate of fire and higher ammo capacity, but less damage. Somewhere between the [=BFR=] and [=BAR=], in theory.
** The Bolt-Action Rifle. Very small ammo cap and low rate of fire, but high damage and general pinpoint accuracy. Lower damage builds have a higher rate of fire, whilst high damage builds tend to have an even lower rate of fire ''or'' reduced accuracy.
*** The Anti-Materiel Rifle. Single-shot, ''very'' slow reload, very slow scope-in time, but always kills regardless of where you hit a target.
** The SMG, very good at close quarters but less effective at range; and the Machine Pistol, it's smaller, secondary weapon cousin.
*** The Tactical SMG, the faster but weaker version of the SMG. Deadly in close quarters. Even MoreDakka. Looks vaguely like a [[RareGuns P-90]].
*** The Burst-Fire SMG, exactly what it sounds like. Once thought to be weak and ineffective, now proving to be surprisingly deadly in the right hands.
** The Light Machine Gun, fast fire rate for suppressing enemies and has the most [[MoreDakka Dakka]] out of any gun in the game, sitting at '''80 rounds per clip.''' But recoil is high, reducing the effectiveness of short bursts, though it decreases during prolonged firing.
*** The LMG Recon. A lower rate of fire than the standard [=LMG=], and exceptionally high accuracy when correctly configured. Works best when you have a significant range advantage.
** Light Pistol, Heavy Pistol, Burst-Fire Pistol, [[FlareGun Breech-Loaded Pistol]], [[RevolversAreJustBetter Revolver, and Snub-Nose Revolver]]. All fairly competent secondary weapons.

*** The automatic Shotgun AR-k (or SAR-k for short). Basically the Shotgun, but with less recoil, fewer pellets, and a massively increased rate of fire. Oh, and a very silly firing noise.
* TechnicolorBlade: The Combat Knife Mk.II, Throwing Knives Mk.1, Exploding Tomahawk and the [=KTN8=] Katana all have blue/orange neon outlines implying a high tech nature, explaining their presence in the futuristic combat.

* VideogameCrueltyPotential: It's entirely possible to kill an enemy who had just called down a Hardsuit, then climb into said Hardsuit to use it for yourself. Woo, free Hardsuit! It's also possible to destroy a Hardsuit by deploying your own. You can also abandon badly-damaged Hardsuits and use them as bait for unsuspecting enemy players. Mines can also be used to boobytrap depots.
* VideoGameFlamethrowersSuck: Not exactly. The [=FT18=] Flamethrower can kill faster than Assault Rifles and Submachine Guns (and has no recoil, either), and can cook enemies out of their Hardsuits (unless they're using the Hardsuit Battle Mode Tactical Gear), and in ''Onslaught'', bypass shield-wielding zombies and kill regular Order soldiers and [=SIVs=] quickly. However, you can't spread fire to deny areas, and enemies don't catch on fire.
* ViolationOfCommonSense: Of the ''VideoGame/CounterStrike'' kind: equip any pistol or knife in order to sprint faster.
** Most weapons can be tuned to increase your sprinting speed as well, at least a little. This usually comes at the cost of low accuracy, high recoil, and low damage.
* ZombieApocalypse: The whole [=SIV=] [[TheVirus virus]] crisis caused by The Order back in Tango Down. Also, the new ''Onslaught'' pitches you against ten waves of increasingly difficult foes, with four possible difficulty levels, and assorted rewards for collecting special tokens during the match.

* Players receive GP and experience points at the end of a match depending on how well they have performed, the former mainly being used to acquire or rent equipment such as new weapons, armor and utility gear. Of course, [[BribingYourWayToVictory paying for ZEN to buy them instead is much faster]].

The game features classic game modes like Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, Domination, and KOTH, alongside new ones like [=NetWar=] (a combination of CTF and Domination), Siege and Kill Confirmed. A recent update added Search & Destroy, Last Man Standing, and Onslaught, while another update also removed [=NetWar=] and Siege from the gamemode playlist.

In 2014, the game also made a transition to Perfect World's ARC Games platform (where it unfortunately entered a long period of content drought due to the dissolution of Zombie Studios and a lack of updates), before it eventually migrated back to Steam under the development and publication of ''Hardsuit'' Labs and a new server provider in late 2017.

** Magnum Rounds increases damage dealt at the cost of increased recoil and reduced range, limiting the player to fight only from close to mid range combat.

* AKA47: Several weapon parts can easily be identified as having come from real firearms, or at least are very visibly based off parts from them. Also see the GunPorn entry further down.

** Two new Assault Rifle-like receivers don't even try to hide what guns they are based on. Their names are the [=AK470=] Rifle and [=M4X=] Rifle, and their flavor text states they're modernized versions.

** [[MiniMecha Hard]][[MightyGlacier suits.]] They're good to use against regular enemies, but are slow to manoeuvre, making it incredibly easy to leave them wide open for flamethrower or rocket launcher ambushes - and they're near-useless in ''Onslaught'', because by the time you get enough CP to call down one, the game will already have begun to spawn Order Agents who will wield rocket launchers against you.
** [[OneHitKill The Anti-Materiel Rifle]]. It has a very slow reload speed, which doesn't help it much as it needs to chamber another round after every single shot, on top of an equally long scope-in time while aiming. Although it is very powerful, it is not commonly used and is rarely seen only in the hands of a competent or experimenting player. Even the gun's flavor text acknowledges this:

* DeathFromAbove: The A36 Brimstone depot weapon, of course. It's a signal flare launcher that, when fired with, calls down a series of airstrikes at the area it's signal flare was shot to after a short delay.
** Let's just say you don't want to be standing where a Hardsuit is going to land - whether from it's initial drop-in, or if some Agent inside one just decides to drop off a ledge.

** The Combat Rifle. It is a semi-automatic rifle, making it quite nice to use at mid to long range. The trouble is, however, [[MasterOfNone at any range there's a receiver that does it's job better.]] It's low ammo count also tends to cause problems too. But in the right hands, they're capable of downing ANYONE in quick 2-4 shots, assuming the user is careful of the weapon spread and has opted to fire in bursts.

** The Stun Shurikens. Stealth builds mostly use them and can throw them well, and even if they miss a target and hit a wall or the floor, they will still go off in proximity to an enemy and either stun or hurt them as though they were hit by a stun grenade/mine.

* FragileSpeedster: Speed-oriented builds, as you have to sacrifice maximum health for increased speed. Pure speed builds are uncommon, as most feel they sacrifice too much and gain too little. This is Viper's gimmick - he's ''extremely'' fast, but one good hit from even an SMG will kill him dead. This can be mitigated somewhat with the Cloak Mk.I Tactical Gear. A common tactic for some players playing this build is to combine light armor, 'The "Speed Demon"' boots and the Cloak Mk.I Tactical Gear as well as either one of the Combat Knives or the Breach Hammer to do easy silent kills from behind.

* GrenadeSpam: ''Mostly'' averted, as you can only carry a single grenade of any given type at a time, though with the right kit setup and a lot of GP and/or Zen, you could feasibly carry up to four different kinds. Of course that all goes out the window if someone gets their hands on the GL-7 Bear Claw depot weapon, a revolver-mechanism grenade launcher that can fire a total of '''twelve''' grenades...

** GunAccessories: No underbarrel attachments or anything too fancy, but otherwise? Suppressors, flashbrakes, compensators, scopes... there are plenty of other things to use. As mentioned above, many are clearly based off actual real-life gun parts. [[RareGuns Some of which never actually entered widespread production.]]

* InterfaceScrew: Digi Grenades act like a smokescreen by creating a cloud of digital interference; entering it will also obscure your view. Toxic Grenades leave a lingering green haze on your screen if you ever walk into their deadly gas clouds. Shock Grenades, Stun Mines and Stun Shurikens make your display fuzzy and stop you from quickly turning around. Being hit with explosive ammo and nearby explosions will jar your vision as you'd expect. EMP Grenades are the worst, throwing the ''Blue Screen of Death'' all over your interface!

** The HRV Cloak is a Tactical Gear that hides it's user from being seen on the HRV from a distance. It's a good way to screw with most players, particularly those who thought no hostiles were in the area until you proved them wrong. But you still appear a slightly shimmering figure if you happen to be close by when someone used the HRV.
** A lesser one is the Infrared Protection Gear, which allows someone to not be seen as clearly with infrared scopes.

* KillItWithFire: The [=FT18=] Flamethrower, of course. Effective against Agents and especially against Hardsuits - they cook their pilot alive. However, don't even think about [[HoistByHisOwnPetard stealing that Hardsuit you just emptied out while it's still glowing red-hot.]]

* LightningBruiser: The Gunman Hardsuit (currently available only on [=PS4=] version of the game) trades the normal Hardsuit's OneHitKill Railgun and Anti-Personnel Minigun for lighter armor, an Auto-Cannon and a freakishly fast movement speed, making it a nightmare to fight in close quarter combat. However, it's lighter armor also means it's more susceptible to rocket launchers. Have fun hitting one though.

* MightyGlacier: The normal Hardsuit. Though they have a 'boost' function, they can't move, turn, or fire their weapons for a few moments after using it, and Agents can usually easily outrun one - allowing for someone to throw explosives behind it or even strafe circles around them as they explode/flame out/avoid the person inside.
* MiniMecha: The normal and Gunman Hardsuits are combat mecha, and come equipped with either a [[MoreDakka minigun]] and a [[OneHitKill railgun]] or an Auto-Cannon and a [[InterfaceScrew Digi Grenade cluster]]. These things are very dangerous from the front and the former can even run you down with it's boost. They do, however, [[AttackItsWeakPoint have a randomly generated weakpoint]]. Hitting it causes your weapon to deal ''ten times'' it's normal damage to the Hardsuits. Also, the former has slow turning rates, making teammate backup pretty much mandatory in taking one down - which additionally makes them near-useless in ''Onslaught'', as Agents of The Order armed with rocket launchers spawn later in the gamemode - while the latter is a nightmare in close quarter combat as stated above, and must be dealt with quickly before bodies start piling up.
* MoreDakka: The [=T56=] Trident minigun depot weapon, as well as the normal Hardsuit's minigun arm.

* VideoGameFlamethrowersSuck: Not exactly. The FT18 Flamethrower can kill faster than Assault Rifles and Submachine Guns (and has no recoil, either), and can cook enemies out of their Hardsuits (unless they're using the Hardsuit Battle Mode Tactical Gear), and in ''Onslaught'', bypass shield-wielding zombies and kill regular Order soldiers and [=SIVs=] quickly. However, you can't spread fire to deny areas, and enemies don't catch on fire.

* ColorCodedElements: The elemental ammo types listed above tend to have unique impact effects, and each elemental magazine has a color-coded warning notice and symbol to indicate the type of ammo in it. Explosive is orange-yellow, Electro is blue, Toxic is green, Incendiary is red and Standard is white. Equipment that protects against these types of damage are also color-coded to indicate what type of damage they protect against. Oh, and there's also the 'Magnum Rounds', which is purple and does more damage at the cost of increased recoil and reduced range.

** The Light Machine Gun. Even before the Parity Patch Update, it is highly inaccurate against other automatic receivers at most ranges, leading to itself being more useful in defensive or ambush situations. However, it boasts the highest damage per shot of all the automatic receivers - and with the right weapon parts, it can even be used as a long ranged receiver capable of out-damaging enemy fire. Just make sure to crouch to balance it's recoil for distant targets, or at least remember to use parts that lowers the recoil to a more manageable level.

-> ''"Objective : [[KillEmAll Eliminate All Hostile Agents.]]"''

** Electro ammo does less damage to Agents (unless they're Stunned) but does extra damage to Hardsuits, turrets and assault bots.
** Toxic ammo obscures enemy vision and does mild damage over time, while also halving maximum health for a while.
** Explosive ammo jars enemy vision to throw off their aim, and also prevents killed Agents from quickly Reviving.
** Magnum ammo increases damage dealt at the cost of increased recoil and reduced range, limiting the player to fight only from close to mid range combat.
** Incendiary ammo sets your enemies on fire, doing additional damage over time, but in exchange for dealing less damage up-front in total.

** Two new Assault Rifle-like receivers don't even try to hide what guns they are based on. Their names are the AK-470 and [=M4X=], and their flavor text states they're modernized versions.
* AllegedlyFreeGame: Originally, you could play the game without buying ZEN (which is only obtained by paying real money or doing surveys and offers for them). Players just had access to higher-level equipment at a slower rate. Even then, some items could only be ''rented'' with GP. Additionally, elemental ammunition also could only be rented up to 7 days with GP (after reaching level 30) or up to 30 days with ZEN, but with no way to permanently purchase them. However, some decorative items which have no effect on gameplay (like camouflages or taunts) are only available with ZEN, and weapon parts that are also ZEN-only tended to have some niche advantages.

** Somewhat averted after the PC Parity Update (which made the PC version work like the [=PS4=] version and allowed cross-platform play), all items that weren't cosmetic in nature became available to purchase with GP and now doesn't require levels to unlock. Now ZEN is considered as a quick way to buy weapons, armor, gear, taunts, weapon tags, player titles, weapons and armor camouflage and special editions of normal armor if one does not have the time, effort or GP needed to buy any of them instead.
* AllThereInTheManual: Where the heck are those zombies in ''Onslaught'' coming from, and who are those soldiers backing up said zombies? They're holdovers from the co-op mode in the first game, which explained the zombies as victims of [=SIV=], a widespread virus that rots flesh and turns its victims insanely homicidal, while the soldiers are Agents of The Order, a secretive terrorist group that has ex-US Special Forces in them, who are helping the [=SIVs=] attempt to kill you and your team for reasons unknown.
* AnAxeToGrind: The Sonic and Exploding Tomahawks. The former allows for a quick way of dispatching enemies in melee, while the latter also does that - except it can also be used as a makeshift mine by way of remote detonation.

** [[MiniMecha Hard]][[MightyGlacier suits.]] They're good to use against regular enemies, but are slow to manoeuvre, making it incredibly easy to leave them wide open for flamethrower or rocket launcher ambushes - and they're near-useless in ''Onslaught'', because by the time you get enough points to call down one, the game will already begin to spawn Order Agents who will wield rocket launchers against you.
** [[OneHitKill The Anti-Materiel Rifle]]. It has a very slow reload speed, which doesn't help it much as it needs to chamber another round after every single shot, on top of an equally long scope-in time while aiming. Although it is very powerful, it is not commonly used and is rarely seen only in the hands of a competent or experimenting player.
* BlingBlingBang: Metallic gold, silver, and bronze 'camo' patterns are available for your weapons. There's also the weapon tags; (gold) dollar signs, pots of gold, and so on.
* BlownAcrossTheRoom: Shotguns and the Anti-Materiel Rifle can throw the corpses of players a fair distance away, often causing a slightly more conventional RailingKill.

* ColorCodedElements: The elemental ammo types above tends to have unique impact effects, and each elemental magazine has a color-coded warning notice to indicate the type of ammo in it. Explosive is orange-yellow, Electro is blue, Toxic is green, and Incendiary is red. Equipment that protects against these types of damage are also color-coded to indicate what type of damage they protect against. Oh, and there's also 'Magnum' ammo, which is purple and does more damage at the cost of increased recoil and reduced range.
* CherryTapping: Jumping on another player directly from above will cause 1 HP damage to him/her, likewise hitting them with a thrown grenade will also do exactly 1 HP damage. It's rare but possible to kill a player like that.
** Sometimes jumping and landing on the head of another player can also quickly kill them, regardless of their team alignment.

* DeathFromAbove: Airstrikes, of course.
** Let's just say you don't want to be standing where a Hardsuit is going to land - whether from the initial drop-in, or if some player inside one just decides to drop off a ledge.
* DifficultButAwesome :
** The Combat Rifle. It is a semi-automatic rifle, making it quite nice to use at mid to long range. The problem is, [[MasterOfNone at any range there's a receiver that does it's job better.]] It's low ammo count also tends to cause problems too. But in the right hands, they're capable of downing ANYONE in quick 2-4 shots, assuming the user is careful of the weapon spread.
** The Light Machine Gun. Even before the Recoil Update, it is highly inaccurate against other automatic receivers at most ranges, leading to itself being more useful in defensive or ambush situations. However, it boasts the highest damage per shot of all the automatic receivers - and with the right weapon parts, it can even be used as a long ranged receiver capable of out-damaging enemy fire.
** The Stun Shurikens. Stealth builds can throw them well, and even if they miss and hit a wall or the floor, they will still go off in proximity to an enemy and hurt them as though they were hit by a stun grenade/mine.
** The Combat Bow. It has all the advantages of using a bow, as well as all the disadvantages of using one. But when used correctly, it becomes one of the most lethal weapons anyone can encounter in a match, allowing for long distance silent kills or even headshots once you've gotten used to arcing your shots with it.

* FlareGun: The Breech-Loaded Pistol works like this. One ammo type is even named Flare. It's fairly accurate, and the flares fired explode shortly after striking a target. One of it's alternate ammo types converts it into a ShortRangeShotgun, and another turns it into an actual flare gun that sticks to and incinerates anyone it hits.

** This can leads to some clever schmucks doing things like sticking an Airstrike Beacon or an Explosive Tomahawk on their teammates, detonating them when their enemies least expect it.

* GrenadeSpam: ''Mostly'' averted, as you can only carry a single grenade of any given type at a time, though with the right kit setup and a lot of GP and/or Zen, you could feasibly carry up to four different kinds. Of course that all goes out the window if someone gets their hands on the "GL-7 Bear Claw" revolver-mechanism grenade launcher...

* HaveANiceDeath: Happens if one leaps off the deadly drops of the map Vertigo, or jumps down from quite the height while on low health (and even when quitting a match):

** Apparently the characters have a face beneath the helmet which can be seen through clipping.

* InterfaceScrew: Digi Grenades act like a smokescreen by creating a cloud of digital interference; entering it will also obscure your view. Shock Grenades and Mines make your display fuzzy and stop you from quickly turning around. Being hit with explosive ammo and nearby explosions will jar your vision as you'd expect. EMP Grenades are the worst, throwing the ''Blue Screen of Death'' all over your interface!
** If you look closely at the HUD when it restarts, you can see your own agent/character name being entered into a login and password bar. These are both carryovers from Tango Down.

** The active camouflage Tactical Gears, though it doesn't hide you from infrared scopes or the HRV, and [[VisibleInvisibility you're still somewhat visible while using them (especially when you're sprinting)]].

** The HRV Cloak is a Tactical Gear that hides it's user from being seen on the HRV from a distance. It's a good way to screw with most players, particularly those who thought no hostiles were in the area until you proved them wrong.

** Incendiary ammo, to a lesser degree. Whilst bullets do less damage per hit, the target takes damage over time as mentioned above.
* KukrisAreKool: The so-called Machete melee weapon has a inward bowed blade resembling a kukri much more than an actual machete.

* LightningBruiser: The Gunman Hardsuit (currently available only on [=PS4=] version of the game) trades the normal Hardsuit's OneHitKill railgun and anti-personnel minigun for lighter armor, an Auto-Cannon and a freakishly fast movement speed, making it a nightmare to fight in close quarter combat. However, this also means it's more susceptible to rocket launchers.
* LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe: Like ''[[VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOpsII Black Ops 2]]'', you can use and deploy a shield. Some [=SIV=] infectees and Agents of The Order also carry them in Onslaught mode.

* MightyGlacier: The normal Hardsuit. Though they have a 'boost' function, they can't move, turn, or fire their weapons for a few moments after using it, and Agents can usually easily outrun one - allowing for someone to plant explosives behind it or even strafe circles around them as they flame out the person inside.
* MiniMecha: The normal and Gunman Hardsuits are combat mecha, and come equipped with either a [[MoreDakka minigun]] and a [[OneHitKill railgun]] or an Auto-Cannon and a [[InterfaceScrew Digi Grenade cluster]]. These things are very dangerous from the front and the former can even run you down with it's boost. They do, however, [[AttackItsWeakPoint have a randomly generated weakpoint]]. Hitting it causes your weapon to deal ''ten times'' it's normal damage to the Hardsuits. Also, the former has slow turning rates, making teammate backup pretty much mandatory in taking one down - which additionally makes them near-useless in ''Onslaught'', as Agents of The Order armed with rocket launchers spawn later in the game mode - while the latter is a nightmare in close quarter combat as stated above, and must be dealt with quickly before bodies start piling up.

* KnifeNut: Two types of combat knives, throwing knives and the machete gave players enough variation to become this. You could even feasibly carry the lot with enough gear slots, if you were feeling redundant.
* NeverBringAKnifeToAGunFight: Played straight and subverted. Players who charge enemies with only their knives will often be quickly shot dead. However played straight when using the right tactics, as skilled players can pull off killing multiple enemies in a short time with a knife.

** There's also the new ''Practice Mode'' option, which allows the player to go head to head with a mob of robots on one of the most hectic close quarter maps in the game.

* RegeneratingHealth: If you get your health knocked below half, you can regenerate it back to half your maximum health - but for a full heal, you may want to visit the depot or get a teammate to heal you using the Health Injector.
* ReverseGrip: How characters hold the combat knives.
* QuickMelee: Pressing the melee key will make you melee with your gun's stock or [[PistolWhipping pistol's grip]]. However the game also has a number of stronger dedicated melee weapons like combat knives, machetes, and the Breach Hammer - which is a OneHitKill on any agent.

* StarterEquipment: Everyone is given a set of basic armor, the Light Pistol, and the basic Assault Rifle with iron sights. They are [[BoringButPractical pretty reliable]], mind you. It's not unusual to see BLR newcomers [[CurbstompBattle kicking the snot out of multiple level 30+ veterans]] using these things, and some vets like to go back to using them just for the fun of it.
** In ''Onslaught'', the game will drop "Grasshopper" assault rifles, in case anyone runs out of ammo, or has inferior equipment.
* StandardFPSGuns: Though it should be noted that the role of your primary weapon mostly depends on how you configure it and which parts you use. You can have a compact AR that's good at close combat, or one with a powerful scope better suited to mid/long range combat. A bolt-action rifle ideal for high-damage long-range shots, or shorter-range engagements and quickly moving between vantage points. And so on.

*** The [=M4X=] Rifle. Based on the M4 carbine. Increased rate of fire, but reduced damage, range and accuracy. Better for close-up combat.

** The Combat Rifle. Semi-automatic rifle. A 'lite' edition of the bolt-action rifle, much better rate of fire and higher ammo capacity, but less damage. Somewhere between the [=BFR=] and [=BAR=], in theory.
** Tje Bolt-Action Rifle. Very small ammo cap and low rate of fire, but high damage and generally pinpoint accuracy. Lower damage builds have a higher rate of fire, whilst high damage builds tend to have an even lower rate of fire ''or'' reduced accuracy.
*** The Anti-Materiel Rifle. Single-shot, ''very'' slow reload, very slow scope-in time, but always one-hit kill regardless of where you hit the target.

** The Light Machine Gun, fast fire rate for suppressing enemies and MoreDakka. Recoil is high, reducing the effectiveness of short bursts, but decreases during prolonged firing.

** The Shotgun, an 'up close and personal' secondary weapon. Straight out of the ShortRangeShotgun school of thought.
*** The [=SARk=] Automatic Shotgun. Basically the Shotgun, but with less recoil, fewer pellets, and a massively increased rate of fire. Oh, and a very silly firing noise.
* TechnicolorBlade: The Combat Knife Mk.II, Throwing Knives, Exploding Tomahawk and the [=KTN8=] Katana have blue/orange outlines implying a high tech nature, explaining their presence in the futuristic combat.

* VideoGameFlamethrowersSuck: Not exactly. They can kill faster than Assault Rifles and Submachine Guns (and have no recoil, either), and can cook enemies out of their Hardsuits (unless they're using the Hardsuit Battle Mode Tactical Gear), and in ''Onslaught'', bypass shield-wielding zombies and kill regular Order soldiers and [=SIVs=] quickly. However, you can't spread fire to deny areas, and enemies don't catch fire.

* LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe: Like ''[[VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOps2 Black Ops 2]]'', you can use and deploy a shield. Some [=SIV=] infectees and Agents of The Order also carry them in Onslaught mode.

** There was an era when the Assault Rifle would kill anything it was pointed at regardless of range or how bad it;s user modded it's accuracy.