History VideoGame / Condemned

[[quoteright:240:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/condemnedcovers_8553.jpg]]

->''"You know better than most that there is scum in this city. Violent, hate-filled, '''fucking insane scum'''. There's no talking, no reasoning, just killing... Kill first, or be a rotting corpse for the birds."''
-->-- '''The Masked Man''', ''Condemned 2: Bloodshot''

A two-part series of games by Creator/MonolithProductions - ''Condemned: Criminal Origins'', and ''Condemned 2: Bloodshot''. Their selling point is their vicious and brutal melee combat, which combines with ([[MindScrew at times barely comprehensible]]) storytelling.

''Condemned: Criminal Origins'' takes place in a fictional U.S. city. named "Metro City". Ethan Thomas, rising star in the FBI's Serial Crimes Unit gifted with incredible forensic instincts, is framed for murder when investigating a crime scene. The next morning, an enigmatic man claiming to be a friend of the family comes and warns Ethan to flee, before the police arrive. This prompts Ethan, at this man's urging, to begin searching for the serial killer that set him up. As the game progresses, a trail of [[ChekhovsGun dead birds]] and murderous hobos begin hinting that something is wrong in the city, more wrong than he might have ever hoped.

''Condemned 2: Bloodshot'' takes place in the same city, one year later. Ethan has slipped into a drunken stupor, quitting his job at SCU despite clearing his name after hunting down the serial killer that framed him. When the enigmatic man from last game calls his old partner, begging to know where he is, she is sent to find him, and he is brought back to help in solving a new series of cases, seemingly related to the serial killings of yesteryear. In doing so, he begins to find out both about what makes him so special, and why everyone is always so berserker...
----
!!These games contain examples of:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:''Condemned: Criminal Origins'']]
* HundredPercentCompletion: Getting all the collectibles slightly changes the ending to reveal that an ancient cult was behind everything. Ethan still appears to [[spoiler: turn into a metal monster]] at the end, though.
* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking:
** Averted. You would think a trained police officer would be a stronger asskicker than a jacked up homeless person, but they're on even level. Ethan does have much better stamina, but see MadeOfIron as to why.
** Played straight with the Dark Watchers; their leader takes a hellacious amount of punishment even when compared to the other Watchers.
* AnAxeToGrind: Not only are axes one of the best melee weapons, but they are required to break through certain doors.
* BreakableWeapons: Using firearms as melee weapons will eventually cause them to break.
* ClearMyName: Ethan's goal is to prove that he didn't kill two police officer while hunting Serial Killer X
* ConceptArtGallery:
** Unlocked bits at a time by picking up dead birds and pieces of metal. Yeah...it's that kind of game.
** A few 50 point achievements can be earned by watching television,which involves walking up to a special TV and pressing the "A" button.
* CopKiller: The serial killer the player is following kills two cops at the start.
* CrapsackWorld: You rarely visit anything apart from long-disused, run-down and mostly destroyed buildings. Almost everyone you encounter is deranged and murderous.
* CrazyHomelessPeople: Whatever is causing birds to die, also make the homeless in Metro City act like homicidal maniacs.
* DidIMentionItsChristmas: The level set in the mega-store which is decrepit and abandoned. From the décor and the faint ghostly music you can hear playing, the store closed down one Christmas. This is arguably one of the most atmospheric levels of the game largely due to the out-of-place Xmas setting.
* DrivenToSuicide: The Torturer's method of "killing" is to drive his victims to suicide.
* DropTheHammer: The mighty (yet slow) sledgehammer is not just useful for breaking in skulls, but breaking through locked doors.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Subverted. Serial Killer X turns out to be [[spoiler:the nephew of Malcolm Vanhorn, who tries to help him snap out of his psychosis - but to no avail. It's a subversion because SKX doesn't ''give a fuck'' about Vanhorn; strangling him in ''Condemned'' and later killing and dissecting him in ''Bloodshot'' even after Vanhorn nursed him back to health when he took a gunshot to the face]].
* ExpositoryGameplayLimitation: Whenever Ethan receives a call on his cellphone the player is slowed down to a walk, cannot attack (as he is holding his phone in his hand) and {{Invisible Wall}}s appear around Ethan, significantly limiting the player's progress. Normal gameplay resumes once the call is over.
* {{Fingore}}: At the end of the game, you get to watch [[spoiler:SKX]] cut off [[spoiler:Ethan Thomas]]'s left index finger.
* FingerprintingAir: The level of details you get from analyzing crime scenes with just your on-site equipment is improbable, so it's honestly a ''surprise'' that exactly one set of fingerprints per game is actually too smudged for his equipment to properly identify.
* FragileSpeedster: The pale, skinny enemies you encounter in the subway tunnels move very quickly, but die in one hit from any weapon (including the tazer). They do get tougher in the latter part of the level, but not by much.
* GiantMook: The large men in firefighter coats and the giant burn victims wielding flaming 2x4s.
* {{Hammerspace}}: Averted for the most part. In the first game Ethan is always seen carrying a large bag storing all of the forensic tools. Doesn't explain why he can't carry med-kits with him though.
* HatePlague: Implied to be the reason why everyone is trying to kill you.
* ImprovisedWeapon: Very nearly all of them, from pipes to electrical conduits to locker doors.
* TheKillerBecomesTheKilled: Serial Killer X kidnaps serial killers [[{{Irony}} and uses their own methods to kill them]].
* MadeOfIron: Justified towards the end of the game, when you come across a classified medical report that shows Ethan having "abnormally high" muscle and bone density. Your enemies, meanwhile, presumably have adrenaline and the hideous strength of the insane going for them.
* MeaningfulName: ''Criminal Origins'', the subtitle of the game, is explained in the sequel as meaning that the Oro are [[spoiler: indirectly behind most if not all of humanity's atrocities]].
* MonsterCloset: Happens once in the subway level - the player opens a locker and gets jumped by a pale, emaciated woman wielding a rebar.
* MortonsFork: Combined with LastSecondEndingChoice, [[spoiler:the game ends with SKX taking a bullet to the face in the trunk of Malcolm Vanhorn's car, either from Ethan's gun or from his own. The rest of the ending progresses the same way no matter which choice you made; the only other change is whether you collected all the birds and metal pieces or not.]]
* MurderousMannequin:
** Subverted. Though several mannequins appear to follow you around in the department store level, even completely encircling you when you fall into a dark pit, they never actually attack you.
** But there ''are'' a bunch of crazies impersonating mannequins in that level as well. They have a different, more "relaxed" pose from the real mannequins, but without careful examination (or having never played the level before) you'd never be able to tell until they started clubbing you in the back of the head. Or you turned around to find that the mannequin on the pedestal behind you has walked off, or you see one looking at you.... A paranoid player may have attacked every single mannequin as a precautionary measure from the start of the department store level.
* MyRulesAreNotYourRules: Enemies can reload their guns, while you cannot (although not every enemy carries spare ammo).
* NeckSnap: One of Ethan's four finishing moves that he can perform on a weakened opponent.
%%* NightmareSequence: Plenty
* OneManArmy: Ethan. Over the course of two games, he fights his through an army of psychos with things like pipes, boards, wrenches, and the occasional firearm. Justified, because almost all of Ethan's enemies are crazy hobos with little to no strategy in melee combat or sense of self preservation, and Ethan is a trained FBI agent with "abnormally high" muscle and bone density.
* PipePain: A common type of weapon.
* PistolWhipping: You can use firearms as melee weapons, but it's not recommended as you'll break the firing mechanism after just a couple of swings. Pistols are also pretty much the worst melee weapons in the entire game, which is understandable since a small bit of metal doesn't compare well to a pipe or 2x4.
* RegeneratingHealth: ''Criminal Origins'' uses the same downplayed version from the first ''F.E.A.R.'', where you only regenerate up to a very tiny threshold once you're nearly-dead and medical supplies were needed to regain half your total.
%%* SceneryGorn
* SerialKiller: There's a variety of serial killers who X is hunting down and killing; you explicitly deal with ones called the "Match Maker" and the "Torturer", [[spoiler:though SKX at the end mentions two more, a "Roadside Carver" who simply [[SlashedThroat slitted his victims' throats]], and a "Bone Cutter" who would apparently cut out his victims' internal organs and individually label them for the police]].
* SerialKillerKiller: Serial Killer X, the main antagonist, is named as such late in the game after you discover one of his victims. [[spoiler:The first guy you're chasing is the "Match Maker", a serial killer who sets up his victims (always female) with male department store mannequins. But then halfway through the game, you find the same sort of scene, but with the genders reversed - a male victim and a female mannequin. Turns out that the victim this time ''is'' the Match Maker, done in with his own methods.]]
** Unlike many other examples of this trope, this guy is not doing it out of any sense of altruism or justice. He seems to be doing it as a way of "absorbing" the power of murderers or something like that.
* SetAMookToKillAMook: Guaranteed to happen at least once while you're playing, even if you aren't aiming to do it.
* ShockAndAwe: The basic taser stuns enemies just long enough for you to steal their weapon. After getting upgraded in the library, it takes a huge chunk out of the enemy's health and causes them to collapse, allowing the player to kill them with a single hit.
* ShotgunsAreJustBetter: Averted and played straight. Pump-action shotguns usually come with enough ammo to help you get through a tough fight or at least keep you alive long enough to find a decent replacement weapon. Double-barreled ones on the other hand only come with 2 shots and are only useful for killing a single powerful enemy. In a game where you are constantly attacked by large groups of murderous hobos this makes it almost useless.
* ShovelStrike: The shovel is a fairly rare and powerful weapon. It can be used to bypass certain types of locked doors.
%%* SinisterSubway: Two levels.
%%* StoryDrivenInvulnerability
* StringyHairedGhostGirl: The subways have several female enemies that bear a resemblance to this trope - most likely due to the squalid living conditions one would expect in a subway.
* SubwaysSuck: They're apparently infested with pipe-wielding psychotic maniacs.
%%* SurvivalHorror
* ThrowAwayGuns: Firearms cannot be reloaded, and must be discarded after using up all the pre-loaded bullets.
* VerbedTitle
* ViceCity: A {{Deconstruction}} in that it shows just how frightening a decaying, crime-filled city, in which the cops don't really do anything unless they have to, would be.
* VigilanteExecution: SKX's modus operandi.
* WrongfulAccusationInsurance: In the course of proving his innocence in the murder of two police officers, Ethan flees from the police (twice), breaks into multiple closed or condemned buildings, and bludgeons a small army of hobos, drug addicts, and assorted other lunatics to death. Then again, it's entirely possible Malcolm Van Horn or the AncientConspiracy pulled strings to get him off the hook.
** More than one person has made a LetsPlay of the game [[LampshadeHanging pointing this out]]:
-->'''Shadrouge:''' Isn't the whole reason that you're sneaking around down here is because the police think you've killed someone and--\\
'''Shadrow:''' Hey, look, the police are outside! Yay!\\
'''Shadrouge:''' "I didn't kill anyone so I think I'll go run off and kill a bunch more!"\\
'''[=BigPhyll=]:''' Like I pointed out before, yeah, this cop is just going on a killing spree with weapons like sledgehammers and axes!\\
'''Fertro:''' No, they attacked him first.
* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: Metro City, in which the games are set, is what appears to be a "Rust Belt" city, due to its large amount of abandoned factories and cold winter. However, the Rust Belt area is quite large.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:''Condemned 2: Bloodshot'']]
* HundredPercentCompletion: The game has per-level versions, where the quality of the upgrade you get at the end of a level depends on things like how well you did in investigations and whether you completed optional objectives, with the best rewards requiring you to do everything.
* ActionCommands: Chain combos are featured.
* ActionizedSequel: A slighty bigger emphasis is placed on firearms and the melee system is enchanced with combos and chain attacks.
%%* AirVentPassageway
%%* AncientConspiracy: The Oro.
* ArtShiftedSequel: Almost every returning character looks different, [[http://lpix.org/606222/1541139-rosa_before_and_after.jpg sometimes radically so.]]
* BaldOfEvil: [[spoiler:Serial Killer X]] sports a shaved head.
* BeardOfSorrow: Part of Ethan's whole {{Grunge}} make over.
* BearsAreBadNews: Black Lake Lodge level features a segment where you are chased by a rabid bear.
* BigBrotherIsWatching: [[spoiler: Revealed in the climax of the game]].
* BlackBugRoom: Ethan's hallucinations mysteriously go to a place filled with oily black monsters, getting progressively worse as black oil starts covering everything in that place, and then [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment never show up again]].
* BlatantItemPlacement: A bottle of alcohol - which Ethan requires to steady his hands when aiming - is a sure sign a shootout is coming up.
* BodyHorror: Pretty much anything involving the Oro.
* BoomHeadshot: An instant kill against any enemy, including bosses - complete with an [[YourHeadAsplode exploding head effect]]. Considering how rare ammo is, it's a very efficient way of using firearms.
* BottomlessMagazines: Can be unlocked by finishing the final level with a Gold rating. The crossbows in the museum level are also inexplicably given this; you just automatically get more bolts for it once you've used up the five you can carry.
* BreakableWeapons: Anything will break if used long enough as a weapon.
* BrownNote: The sonic resonators found throughout the game are what is driving people insane.
* TheCanKickedHim: One of the weapons is a toilet seat. You can also kill downed enemies by slamming their heads against a toilet bowl.
* CATTrap: One full level is a hallucination Ethan has while in a CT tube.
* ClusterFBomb: The game features almost every principal character saying "fuck" at least once.
* {{Combos}}: There are melee attack combos, some of which get surprisingly complicated.
* ComicBookFantasyCasting: TheObiWan Malcolm Van Horn looks uncannily like Creator/MaxVonSydow. This is particularly obvious in the concept art.
* TheComputerIsALyingBastard: Due to what is likely a programming oversight, when [=LeRue=] asks you which service elevator you're at late in the factory level, the actual number attached to it is the wrong answer.
** You can faintly make out that one is actually the shaft number. The elevator number is written on a fallen-off plaque you can find on the ground. Several questions in the game try to upset the player by giving them a supposedly obvious answer, which then turns out to be not quite right if only they had looked around more.
* ConceptArtGallery: The game has one that unlocks as the player completes various tasks.
* CreepyDoll: There's a level of this. It's an abandoned doll factory that is not quite so abandoned after all; its new "owner" is some kind of crazy clown woman manufacturing walking, talking, exploding doll robots.
* CuttingOffTheBranches: The sequel goes from the ending where [[spoiler:Ethan shot SKX in the trunk of Malcolm Van Horn's car - for what little difference it makes, given the other ending is [[MortonsFork SKX shooting himself in the trunk of Van Horn's car]].]]
* DarkerAndEdgier: Somehow, ''Bloodshot'' manages to be darker than ''Criminal Origins''.
* DeadAllAlong: [[spoiler:The Agent who helps you fight through the nightmarish version of SCU Headquarters turns out to have been killed months ago]].
* DisturbedDoves: Well, disturbed pigeons.
* DoingInTheWizard: ''Condemned 2'' changes the [[spoiler:Oro from mysterious supernatural enemies to government infiltrators using sonic technology]] to perform all their apparent weirdness.
* TheDragon: [[spoiler:Agent Dorland]].
* DropTheHammer: An ordinary claw hammer is one of the melee weapons.
* DrunkenMaster: Ethan Thomas when it comes to shooting, as drinking a bottle of alcohol will help him steady his hands.
* EleventhHourSuperpower: [[spoiler:The Voice]]. Made infamous by Yahtzee of ''WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation'' citing it in the review.
* EnemyMine: [[spoiler:Serial Killer X]] and Ethan briefly team up against the Oro.
* EnemyWithin: Ethan gets one in the form of the Alcohol Demon, although he's more along the lines of a particularly violent and cynical TricksterMentor.
* FingerprintingAir: Ethan's smartphone is practically a tricorder from ''Franchise/StarTrek''. Once, he scans a severed arm in the mountains and Rosa is able to detect animal saliva all over it and also signs that the animal in question is rabid.
* FlunkyBoss: Instead of fighting you directly, the final boss of ''Bloodshot'' just hangs back and uses an area-of-effect life-draining sonic attack on you, while his Oro {{Giant Mook}}s jump into the arena and to fight you.
* FragileSpeedster: The "slime creatures" move and attack incredibly quickly, but die in one hit. [[spoiler:SKX's "experiments"]] later on in the game are about as fast but only slightly more durable.
* GiantMook: The huge drug addicts and the muscular cultists.
* {{Hammerspace}}: One of the upgrades attempts to avert this by giving Ethan a gun holster to store one firearm besides his main weapon. Yet, despite it clearly being designed to hold a small gun like a pistol or revolver, if you get anything better than Bronze in the stage that holster will let him carry things like rifles and shotguns.
* HeavilyArmoredMook: The Museum level has many enemies wearing partial plate armor stolen from the museum exhibits. They can take ''a lot'' of damage before dying, and are armed with some of the most damaging weapons in the game (swords and battleaxes).
* HyperactiveMetabolism: Ethan downing an entire bottle of strong alcohol goes straight into his head, and the effects only last for about five minutes.
* IdiotHero: Some of the dialogue options give this impression of Ethan / the player. For example, when told by Rosa that the Oro have been around for more than two thousand years, one of Ethan's possible reply questions is "were humans even around two thousand years ago?" You can practically hear Rosa HeadDesk if you have Ethan say that.
** [[FridgeBrilliance This may be justified]] when you remember that Ethan has been drinking heavily for the past year, and that the alcohol may have [[FridgeHorror messed up his brain]].
* ImprobableWeaponUser: Some of the weapons are absolutely ridiculous, including ''gumball machines'' and deer antlers.
* ImprovisedWeapon: ''Condemned'', now with explosive dolls (!).
* InfernalRetaliation: A few enemies in the factory level are on fire. Contact with them will do massive damage. Fortunately, they die in one hit and will eventually burn to death if you avoid them long enough.
* InvincibleMinorMinion: The "Metal Junkies" are giant enemies wearing metal armor made out of scrap. They're completely immune to all normal attacks, and can only be killed with the sonic crossbow or by using a magnet to drop them into a crusher.
* KillItWithFire: Throwing an alcohol bottle at an enemy then using the taser on them will set them on fire.
* MadnessMantra: The bird knows best when roosting in its nest. The bird knows best when roosting in its nest.
* {{Mundanger}}: The single most dangerous thing you deal with, rather than any of the hallucinations or genuine crazy things going on, is [[BearsAreBadNews a good old-fashioned, rabid bear]].
* NeckSnap: The default finishing move if you can't get a grabbed enemy to an environmental kill, and both variants of the level-three chain attack also end with one.
* NewGamePlus: The FPS Mode, which gives the player a gun at the start of most levels, and infinite ammo.
* NightmareSequence: The first and [[spoiler: fifth]] levels are nightmares.
* NostalgiaLevel: You'll have to return to the abandoned school you tried to track down SKX in in the first game. It's even ''worse'' for the wear, somehow. [[spoiler:And the corpse of the boss you fought in the kitchen is still there]]!
* NotOfThisEarth: Subverted. The metal fragments that The Oro use to enhance their power are suggested to be of alien origin by a TV reporter, but the scientist she's interviewing says that they ''are'' of earthly origin, but made with a previously-unknown manufacturing technique.
* NumberedSequels
* OffWithHisHead: Happens about halfway through the game to [[spoiler:mayor Rachael Mars]] in the museum. This is also how Ethan finishes off the armored knight enemy later on in that same level.
* PipePain: A common type of weapon. There's now even an extra challenge to defeat 50 enemies with a pipe.
* ProgressivelyPrettier: Rosa in the first game was an overweight, middle-aged black woman with frumpy clothes and hair. Now she has the body proportions of your average Hollywood actress, and much better fashion sense.
* RaceLift: Ethan has gone from being distinctly Hispanic/Samoan to pasty white between the games. Could be [[JustifiedTrope justified]] because he's been a sickly wreck since the end of the first game. Becoming a reclusive alcoholic doesn't do good things for your looks.
* RegeneratingHealth: ''Bloodshot'' has a segmented health regeneration system similar to ''VideoGame/{{Resistance}}: Fall of Man'' and later ''VideoGame/FarCry'' games, with optional upgrades for doing well in a specific mission giving you up to a full extra segment of health.
* SchizoTech: Ethan has a forensics lab in his cellphone, and yet all the televisions he comes across use antenna. Admittedly it's because Ethan is going through places that have long been abandoned, but that just brings up the question of why the televisions still work at all.
* SecretLegacy: [[spoiler:Ethan is the legendary Remedy to the Oro, a human with naturally tuned vocal cords capable of [[YourHeadAsplode destroying the heads]] of those who hear his voice.]]
* ShockAndAwe: The taser from the previous game has been nerfed by requiring the player to find batteries to keep it charged.
* SoftGlass: Zig-zagged. Ethan can punch glass without injury, but using a glass pane as a finisher results in shards fatally jammed into the enemy's face.
* StageMagician: The Magic Man, an Oro outcast who holes up in an abandoned theatre and has a squad of insane showgirl assistants.
%%* SuddenSequelDeathSyndrome: [[spoiler:Malcolm Vanhorn]].
* ThrowAwayGuns: Like in the first game, you still can only carry one magazine's worth of ammo for your guns, but you ''can'' reload that magazine from enemy guns dropped on the ground, the occasional ammo box in an SCU locker, or a second copy of the gun in a holster you can unlock about halfway through the game. Then when you finally run out of ammo you can ''actually'' throw it and bean someone in the head with it.
* TitleDrop:
** Rosa namedrops the first game's subtitle when she refers to the Oro as potentially "the origin of crime itself".
** There's a news report advertised by Tony called "The Condemned City".
* UnexpectedGameplayChange: There are few levels which ditch the melee combat mechanic for assault rifle vs assault rifle shootouts against SWAT soldiers. These seem more fitting for ''[[VideoGame/FirstEncounterAssaultRecon FEAR]]'' than ''Condemned''. Unfortunately, aim-steadying booze isn't nearly as useful as BulletTime.
* UniqueEnemy: Most special enemy types only appear a handful of times, and usually only in one or two levels.
* VerbedTitle
* WhyDontYouJustShootHim: Subverted. If you lose the final ActionCommands combo punching sequence at the end of the final battle, the BigBad just whips out a gun and shoots you in the head. Why he didn't just do this ''earlier'' in the final fistfight, though...
* YourHeadAsplode:
** It's incredibly easy to pop heads with guns, but most importantly, it's the most visible manifestation of the Oro's power. They need special training and metal implants to do so, but [[spoiler: Ethan Thomas]] can do this at will.
** One part of the Doll Factory level has an industrial vise you can use to crush enemy heads.
[[/folder]]
----

!!This series contains examples of:
* ActionCommands: ''Bloodshot'' has chain combos.
* ActionizedSequel: ''Bloodshot'' places a slighty bigger emphasis on firearms and enhances the melee system with combos and chain attacks.
* AirVentPassageway

* AncientConspiracy: The Oro.
* ArtShiftedSequel: Almost every returning character in the sequel looks different, [[http://lpix.org/606222/1541139-rosa_before_and_after.jpg sometimes radically so.]]
* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Averted. You would think a trained police officer would be a stronger asskicker than a jacked up homeless person, but they're on even level. Ethan does have much better stamina, but see MadeOfIron as to why.
** Played straight with the Dark Watchers in the first game; their leader takes a hellacious amount of punishment even when compared to the other Watchers.
* BaldOfEvil: [[spoiler:Serial Killer X]] sports a shaved head in ''Bloodshot''.
* BeardOfSorrow: Part of Ethan's whole {{Grunge}} make over in ''Bloodshot''.
* BearsAreBadNews: The chase in the Black Lake Lodge in ''Condemned 2''.
* BigBrotherIsWatching: [[spoiler: Revealed in the climax of the 2nd game]].
* BlackBugRoom: In the second game, Ethan's hallucinations mysteriously go to a place filled with oily black monsters, getting progressively worse as black oil starts covering everything in that place, and then [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment never show up again]].
* BlatantItemPlacement: In the second game, a bottle of alcohol - which Ethan requires to steady his hands when aiming - is a sure sign a shootout is coming up.
* BodyHorror: Pretty much anything involving the Oro.
* BoomHeadshot: An instant kill against any enemy, including bosses - complete with an [[YourHeadAsplode exploding head effect]] in the second game. Considering how rare ammo is, it's a very efficient way of using firearms.
* BottomlessMagazines: Can be unlocked in the second game by finishing the final level with a Gold rating. The crossbows in the museum level are also inexplicably given this; you just automatically get more bolts for it once you've used up the five you can carry.
* BreakableWeapons: In the original, only firearms could break after being used as a melee weapon, while in Bloodshot, anything will break if used long enough.
* BrownNote: The sonic resonators found throughout the second game are what is driving people insane.
* TheCanKickedHim: One of the weapons in ''Bloodshot'' is a toilet seat. You can also kill downed enemies by slamming their heads against a toilet bowl.
* CATTrap: One full level of ''Condemned 2'' is a hallucination Ethan has while in a CT tube.
* ClearMyName: Ethan's goal in the first game.
* ClusterFBomb: ''Condemned 2,'' which features almost every principal character saying "fuck" at least once.
* {{Combos}}: Bloodshot has melee attack combos, some of which get surprisingly complicated.
* ComicBookFantasyCasting: TheObiWan Malcolm Van Horn looks uncannily like Creator/MaxVonSydow, especially in the second game. This is particularly obvious in the concept art.
* ConceptArtGallery: Unlocked bits at a time by picking up dead birds and pieces of metal. Yeah...it's that kind of game.

** The second game also has one that unlocks as the player completes various tasks.
* CopKiller: In ''Criminal Origins'' the mass murderer the player is following kills two cops at the start.
* CrapsackWorld: You rarely visit anything apart from long-disused, run-down and mostly destroyed buildings. Almost everyone you encounter is deranged and murderous.
* CrazyHomelessPeople: The Game.
* CreepyDoll: The sequel has a level of this. It's an abandoned doll factory that is not quite so abandoned after all; its new "owner" is some kind of crazy clown woman manufacturing walking, talking, exploding doll robots.
* CuttingOffTheBranches: The sequel goes from the ending where [[spoiler:Ethan shot SKX in the trunk of Malcolm Van Horn's car - for what little difference it makes, given the other ending is [[MortonsFork SKX shooting himself in the trunk of Van Horn's car]].]]
* DarkerAndEdgier: Somehow, ''Bloodshot'' manages to be darker than ''Criminal Origins''.
* [[spoiler:DeadAllAlong]]: The Agent who helps you fight through [[spoiler: the nightmarish version of SCU Headquarters turns out to have been killed months ago]].
* DidIMentionItsChristmas: The level set in the mega-store which is decrepit and abandoned. From the décor and the faint ghostly music you can hear playing, the store closed down one Christmas. This is arguably one of the most atmospheric levels of the game largely due to the out-of-place Xmas setting.
* DisturbedDoves: Well, disturbed pigeons.
* DoingInTheWizard: ''Condemned 2'' changes the [[spoiler: Oro from mysterious supernatural enemies to government infiltrators using sonic technology]] to perform all their apparent weirdness.
* TheDragon: [[spoiler:Agent Dorland]] in ''Bloodshot''.

* DropTheHammer: The mighty (yet slow) sledgehammer is not just useful for breaking in skulls, but breaking through locked doors. The second game supplemented it with a ordinary claw hammer.
* DrunkenMaster: Ethan Thomas in the second game when it comes to shooting.
* EleventhHourSuperpower: [[spoiler:The Voice]]. Made infamous by WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation citing it in the review.
* EnemyMine: [[spoiler:Serial Killer X]] and Ethan briefly team up against the Oro in ''Condemned 2''.
* EnemyWithin: Ethan gets one in the second game in the form of the Alcohol Demon, although he's more along the lines of a particularly violent and cynical TricksterMentor.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Subverted. Serial Killer X turns out to be [[spoiler: the nephew of Malcolm Vanhorn, who tries to help him snap out of his psychosis - but to no avail. It's a subversion because SKX doesn't ''give a fuck'' about Vanhorn; strangling him in ''Condemned'' and killing and dissecting him in ''Bloodshot'' even after Vanhorn nursed him back to health when he took a gunshot to the face]].
* ExpositoryGameplayLimitation: In the original game, whenever Ethan receives a call on his cellphone the player is slowed down to a walk, cannot attack (as he is holding his phone in his hand) and {{Invisible Wall}}s appear around Ethan, significantly limiting the player's progress. Normal gameplay resumes once the call is over.
* {{Fingore}}: At the end of the first game, you get to watch [[spoiler:SKX]] cut off [[spoiler:Ethan Thomas]]'s left index finger.
* FingerprintingAir: The level of details you get from analyzing crime scenes with just your on-site equipment is improbable, and gets more improbable in the sequel, where Ethan's smartphone is practically a tricorder from ''Franchise/StarTrek''. Once, he scans a severed arm in the mountains and Rosa is able to detect animal saliva all over it and also signs that the animal in question is rabid - with things like that, it's honestly a ''surprise'' that exactly one set of fingerprints per game is actually too smudged for his equipment to properly identify.
* FlunkyBoss: Instead of fighting you directly, the final boss of ''Bloodshot'' just hangs back and uses an area-of-effect life-draining sonic attack on you, while his Oro {{Giant Mook}}s jump into the arena and to fight you.
* FragileSpeedster:
** The pale, skinny enemies you encounter in the subway tunnels move very quickly, but die in one hit from any weapon (including the tazer). They do get tougher in the latter part of the level, but not by much.
** The "slime creatures" in ''Bloodshot'' move and attack incredibly quickly, but die in one hit. [[spoiler:SKX's "experiments"]] later on in the game are about as fast but only slightly more durable.
* GiantMook: In both games,
** ''Criminal Origins'' has large men in firefighter coats and giant burn victims wielding flaming 2x4s.
** ''Bloodshoot'' brings us huge drug addicts and muscular cultists.

** One of the upgrades in the second game attempts to avert this by giving Ethan a gun holster to store one firearm besides his main weapon. Yet, despite it clearly being designed to hold a small gun like a pistol or revolver, if you get anything better than Bronze in the stage that holster will let him carry things like rifles and shotguns.
* HatePlague: The reason why everyone is trying to kill you.
* HeavilyArmoredMook: The Museum level in ''Bloodshot'' has many enemies wearing partial plate armor stolen from the museum exhibits. They can take ''a lot'' of damage before dying, and are armed with some of the most damaging weapons in the game (swords and battleaxes).
* HundredPercentCompletion:
** In the first game, getting all the collectibles slightly changes the ending to reveal that an ancient cult was behind everything. Ethan still appears to [[spoiler: turn into a metal monster]] at the end, though.
** The second game has per-level versions, where the quality of the upgrade you get at the end of a level depends on things like how well you did in investigations and whether you completed optional objectives, with the best rewards requiring you to do everything.
* HyperactiveMetabolism: In the sequel Ethan downing an entire bottle of strong alcohol goes straight into his head, and the effects only last for about five minutes.
* IdiotHero: Some of the dialogue options in ''Bloodshot'' give this impression of Ethan / the player. For example, when told by Rosa that the Oro have been around for more than two thousand years, one of Ethan's possible reply questions is "were humans even around two thousand years ago?" You can practically hear Rosa HeadDesk if you have Ethan say that.
** [[FridgeBrilliance This may be justified]] when you remember that Ethan has been drinking heavily for the past year, and that the alcohol may have [[FridgeHorror messed up his brain]].
* ImprobableWeaponUser: Some of the weapons are absolutely ridiculous, from subway signs and desk tops in the first game, to freaking ''gumball machines'' and deer antlers in the second game.
* ImprovisedWeapon: Very nearly all of them, from pipes to electrical conduits to explosive dolls (!).
* InfernalRetaliation: A few enemies in the factory level of ''Bloodshot'' are on fire. Contact with them will do massive damage. Fortunately, they die in one hit and will eventually burn to death if you avoid them long enough.
* InvincibleMinorMinion: The "Metal Junkies" in ''Bloodshot'' are giant enemies wearing metal armor made out of scrap. They're completely immune to all normal attacks, and can only be killed with the sonic crossbow or by using a magnet to drop them into a crusher.
* MadeOfIron: Justified towards the end of the first game, when you come across a classified medical report that shows Ethan having "abnormally high" muscle and bone density. Your enemies, meanwhile, presumably have adrenaline and the hideous strength of the insane going for them.
** Look at PCP users: cops testify consistently that PCP can make a normal man powerful and a strong man into a juggernaut. And the enemies of Condemned are hardly long-term planners when it comes to their physical well-being.
* MadnessMantra: The bird knows best when roosting in its nest. The bird knows best when roosting in its nest.
* MeaningfulName: Criminal Origins, the subtitle of the first game, is explained in the sequel as meaning that the Oro are [[spoiler: indirectly behind most if not all of humanity's atrocities]].
* MonsterCloset: Happens once in the subway level of ''Criminal Origins'' - the player opens a locker and gets jumped by a pale, emaciated woman wielding a rebar.
* MortonsFork: Combined with LastSecondEndingChoice, [[spoiler:the first game ends with SKX taking a bullet to the face in the trunk of Malcolm Vanhorn's car, either from Ethan's gun or from his own. The rest of the ending progresses the same way no matter which choice you made; the only other change is whether you collected all the birds and metal pieces or not.]]
* {{Mundanger}}: The single most dangerous thing you deal with in ''Bloodshot'', rather than any of the hallucinations or genuine crazy things going on, is [[BearsAreBadNews a good old-fashioned, rabid bear]].
* MurderousMannequin: Subverted. Though several mannequins appear to follow you around in the department store level, even completely encircling you when you fall into a dark pit, they never actually attack you.
** But there ''are'' a bunch of crazies impersonating mannequins in that level as well. They have a different, more "relaxed" pose from the real mannequins, but without careful examination (or having never played the level before) you'd never be able to tell until they started clubbing you in the back of the head. Or you turned around to find that the mannequin on the pedestal behind you has [[ParanoiaFuel walked off, or you see one looking at you...]] A paranoid player may have attacked every single mannequin as a precautionary measure from the start of the department store level.
* MyRulesAreNotYourRules: Enemies can reload their guns in the first game, while you cannot (although not every enemy carries spare ammo).
* NeckSnap: One of Ethan's four finishing moves that he can perform on a weakened opponent in the first game. In the second, it's the default if you can't get a grabbed enemy to an environmental kill, and both variants of the level-three chain attack also end with one.
* NewGamePlus: FPS Mode in ''Bloodshot'', which gives the player a gun at the start of most levels, and infinite ammo.
* NightmareSequence: Plenty in the first game. The first and [[spoiler: fifth]] levels of ''Bloodshot'' also count.
* NostalgiaLevel: ''Condemned 2: Bloodshot'' returns to the abandoned school you tried to track down SKX in in the first game. It's even ''worse'' for the wear, somehow. [[spoiler: And the corpse of the boss you fought in the kitchen is still there]]!
* NotOfThisEarth: Subverted. The metal fragments that The Oro use to enhance their power are suggested to be of alien origin by a TV reporter, but the scientist she's interviewing says that they ''are'' of earthly origin, but made with a previously-unknown manufacturing technique.
** May be related to DoingInTheWizard above, as the origin of the Oro may have been tweaked between games.
* OffWithHisHead: Happens about halfway through the game to [[spoiler:mayor Rachael Mars]] in the museum. This is also how Ethan finishes off the armored knight enemy later on in that same level.
* OneManArmy: Ethan. Over the course of two games, he fights his through an army of psychos with things like pipes, boards, wrenches, and the occasional firearm.
** Justified, because almost all of Ethan's enemies are crazy hobos with little to no strategy in melee combat or sense of self preservation, and Ethan is a trained FBI agent with "abnormally high" muscle and bone density.
* PipePain: A common type of weapon in both games. The second game even has a challenge for defeating 50 enemies with a pipe.

* ProgressivelyPrettier: Rosa in the first game is an overweight, middle-aged black woman with frumpy clothes and hair. In the sequel she has the body proportions of your average Hollywood actress, and much better fashion sense.
* RaceLift: Between the first and second games Ethan went from being distinctly Hispanic/Samoan to pasty white.
** Could be [[JustifiedTrope justified]] because he's been a sickly wreck since the end of the first game. Becoming a reclusive alcoholic doesn't do good things for your looks.
* RegeneratingHealth: ''Criminal Origins'' uses the same downplayed version from the first ''F.E.A.R.'', where you only regenerate up to a very tiny threshold once you're nearly-dead and medical supplies were needed to regain half your total. ''Bloodshot'' switched to a segmented health regeneration system similar to ''VideoGame/{{Resistance}}: Fall of Man'' and later ''VideoGame/FarCry'' games, with optional upgrades for doing well in a specific mission giving you up to a full extra segment of health.
* SceneryGorn
* SchizoTech: Ethan has a forensics lab in his cellphone, and yet all the televisions he comes across use antenna. Admittedly it's because Ethan is going through places that have long been abandoned, but that just brings up the question of why the televisions still work at all.
* SecretLegacy: [[spoiler:Ethan is the legendary Remedy to the Oro, a human with naturally tuned vocal cords capable of [[YourHeadAsplode destroying the heads]] of those who hear his voice.]]

* SerialKiller: The first game also has a variety of other serial killers who X is hunting down and killing; you explicitly deal with ones called the "Match Maker" and the "Torturer", [[spoiler:though SKX at the end mentions two more, a "Roadside Carver" who simply [[SlashedThroat slitted his victims' throats]], and a "Bone Cutter" who would apparently cut out his victims' internal organs and individually label them for the police]].

* ShockAndAwe: The basic taser stuns enemies just long enough for you to steal their weapon. After getting upgraded in the library, it takes a huge chunk out of the enemy's health and causes them to collapse, allowing the player to kill them with a single hit. The second game nerfed this by requiring the player to find batteries to keep the taser charged.
** In ''Bloodshot'', throwing an alcohol bottle at an enemy then using the taser on them will set them on fire.

* SinisterSubway: Two levels in the first game.
* SoftGlass: Zig-zagged in ''Bloodshot''. Ethan can punch glass without injury, but using a glass pane as a finisher results in shards fatally jammed into the enemy's face.
* StoryDrivenInvulnerability
* StageMagician: The Magic Man, an Oro outcast who holes up in an abandoned theatre and has a squad of insane showgirl assistants.
* StringyHairedGhostGirl: The subways in the first game have several female enemies that bear a resemblance to this trope - most likely due to the squalid living conditions one would expect in a subway.

* SuddenSequelDeathSyndrome: [[spoiler:Malcolm Vanhorn]] in ''Bloodshot''.
* SurvivalHorror
* TheComputerIsALyingBastard: Due to what is likely a programming oversight, when [=LeRue=] asks you which service elevator you're at late in the second game's doll factory level, the actual number attached to it is the wrong answer.
** You can faintly make out that one is actually the shaft number. The elevator number is written on a fallen-off plaque you can find on the ground. Several questions in the game try to upset the player by giving them a supposedly obvious answer, which then turns out to be not quite right if only they had looked around more.
* TheKillerBecomesTheKilled: Serial Killer X kidnaps serial killers [[{{Irony}} and uses their own methods to kill them]].
* ThrowAwayGuns: Firearms cannot be reloaded, and must be discarded after using up all the pre-loaded bullets. In the sequel, you still can only carry one magazine's worth of ammo for your guns, but you ''can'' reload that magazine from enemy guns dropped on the ground, the occasional ammo box in an SCU locker, or a second copy of the gun in a holster you can unlock about halfway through the game. Then when you finally run out of ammo you can ''actually'' throw it and bean someone in the head with it.
* TitleDrop: In ''Condemned 2'' Rosa refers to the Oro as potentially "the origin of crime itself".
** ''Condemned 2'' also has a news report advertised by Tony called "The Condemned City".
* UnexpectedGameplayChange: The second game has a few levels which ditch the melee combat mechanic for assault rifle vs assault rifle shootouts against SWAT soldiers. These seem more fitting for ''[[VideoGame/FirstEncounterAssaultRecon FEAR]]'' than ''Condemned''. Unfortunately, aim-steadying booze isn't nearly as useful as BulletTime.
* UniqueEnemy: Most special enemy types only appear a handful of times, and usually only in one or two levels.

-->'''Shadrouge:''' Isn't the whole reason that you're sneaking around down here is because the police think you've killed someone and-\\

* WhyDontYouJustShootHim: Subverted in ''Condemned 2''. If you lose the final ActionCommands combo punching sequence at the end of the final battle, the BigBad just whips out a gun and shoots you in the head. Why he didn't just do this ''earlier'' in the final fistfight, though...
* YourHeadAsplode: It's incredibly easy to pop heads with guns in the sequel, but most importantly, it's the most visible manifestation of the Oro's power. They need special training and metal implants to do so, but [[spoiler: Ethan Thomas]] can do this at will.

* TheCanKickedHim: One of the weapons in ''Bloodshot'' is a toilet seat. You can also kill downed enemies by slamming their heads against a toiler bowl.

* NotOfThisEarth: Subverted. The metal fragments that The Oro use to enhance their power are suggested to be of alien origin by a TV reporter, but the scientist she's interviewing says that they ARE of earthly origin, but made with a previously-unknown manufacturing technique.

* OneManArmy: Ethan. Over the course of two games, he fights his through an army of psychos with things like pipes, boards, wrecnches, and the occasional firearm.

* RegeneratingHealth: ''Criminal Origins'' uses the same downplayed version from the first ''F.E.A.R.'', where you only regenerate up to a very tiny threshold once you're nearly-dead. ''Bloodshot'' switched to a segmented health regeneration system similar to ''VideoGame/{{Resistance}}: Fall of Man''.

* ArtShift: Almost every returning character in the sequel looks different, [[http://lpix.org/606222/1541139-rosa_before_and_after.jpg sometimes radically so.]]

* ArtShift: Almost every returning character in the sequel looks different, [[http://lpix.org/606222/1541139-rosa_before_and_after.jpg sometimes radically so]].

* FragileSpeedster: The pale, skinny enemies you encounter in the subway tunnels move very fast, but die in one hit from any weapon (including the tazer). They do get tougher in the latter part of the level, but not by much.
** The "slime creatures" in ''Bloodshot'' move and attack incredibly fast, but die in one hit. [[spoiler:SKX's "experiments"]] later on in the game are about as fast but only slightly more durable.

** That's nothing. You can unlock a few 50 point achievements by watching television. And by "watching television" I mean walking up to a special tv and pressing the "A" button. (In comparison, beating chapters only give 10 point achievements.)

* ThrowAwayGuns: Firearms cannot be reloaded, and must be discarded after using up all the pre-loaded bullets.
** In the sequel, you still can only carry one magazine's worth of ammo for your guns, but you ''can'' reload that magazine from enemy guns dropped on the ground, the occasional ammo box in an SCU locker, or a second copy of the gun in a holster you can unlock about halfway through the game. Then when you finally run out of ammo you can ''actually'' throw it and bean someone in the head with it.

* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: Metro City, in which the games are set, is what appears to be a "Rust Belt" city, due to it's large amount of abandoned factories and cold winter. However, the Rust Belt area is quite large.

* SerialKillerKiller: Serial Killer X, the main antagonist. In fact, your first investigation (of the game, not for Ethan) is investigating the murder site of the Matchmaker, who, up until then, had only been killing women and posing them with male mannequins at macabre dinner scenes. [[spoiler:You find a man posed with a female mannequin, and quickly discover that the dead man ''is'' the Matchmaker. Couple that with the still-smoking ashtray...[[OhCrap and you realize you're just minutes behind the killer.]]]]

* SerialKiller: The first game also has a variety of other serial killers who X is hunting down and killing.

* BottomlessMagazines: Can be unlocked in the second game by finishing it on any difficulty. The crossbows in the museum level are also inexplicably given this; you just automatically get more bolts for it once you've used up the five you can carry.

* FingerprintingAir: The level of details you get from analyzing crime scenes with just your on-site equipment is improbable, and gets more improbable in the sequel, where Ethan's smartphone is practically a tricorder from Star Trek. Once, he scans a severed arm in the mountains and Rosa is able to detect animal saliva all over it and also signs that the animal in question is rabid.

** The "slime creatures" in ''Bloodshot'' move and attack incredibly fast, but die in one hit.

* HundredPercentCompletion: In the first game, getting all the collectibles slightly changes the ending to reveal that an ancient cult was behind everything. Ethan still appears to [[spoiler: turn into a metal monster]] at the end, though.

** But there ''are'' a bunch of crazies impersonating mannequins in that level as well. They have a different, more "relaxed" pose from the real mannequins, but without careful examination (or having never played the level before) you'd never be able to tell until they started clubbing you in the back of the head. Or you turned around to find that the mannequin on the pedestal behind you has [[ParanoiaFuel walked off....]] A paranoid player may have attacked every single mannequin as a precautionary measure from the start of the department store level.

* NeckSnap: One of Ethan's four finishing moves that he can perform on a weakened opponent in the first game; in the second, it's the default if you can't get to an environmental kill.

* ArtShift: Almost every returning character in the sequel looks different, sometimes radically so.

* BottomlessMagazines: Can be unlocked in the second game by finishing it on any difficulty.

* DidIMentionItsChristmas: The level set in the mega-store which is decrepit and abandoned From the décor and the faint ghostly music you can hear playing the store closed down one Christmas. This is arguably one of the most atmospheric levels of the game largely due to the out of place Xmas setting.

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Subverted. Serial Killer X turns out to be [[spoiler: the nephew of Malcolm Vanhorn, who tries to help him snap out of his psychosis - but to no avail. It's a subversion because SKX doesn't ''give a fuck'' about Vanhorn; strangling him in ''Condemned'' and killing and dissecting him in ''Bloodshot'']].
* ExpositoryGameplayLimitation: In the original game, whenever Ethan receives a call on his cellphone the player is slowed down to a walk, cannot attack (as he is holding his phone in his hand) and [[InvisibleWall Invisible Walls]] appear around Ethan, significantly limiting the player's progress. Normal gameplay resumes once the call is over.

** ''Criminal Origins'' has large men in firefighter coats and giant burn victims wielding flaming 2x4s

** One of the upgrades in the second game attempts to avert this by giving Ethan a gun holster to store one firearm besides his main weapon. Yet, despite it clearly being designed to hold a small gun like a pistol or revolver it will let him carry things like rifles and shotguns.

* {{Mundanger}}: The single most dangerous thing you deal with in ''Bloodshot'', rather than any of the hallucinations or genuine crazy things going on, is [[BearsAreBadNews a good old-fashioned bear]].

* NeckSnap: One of Ethan's four finishing moves that he can perform on a weakened opponent.

* TitleDrop: In ''Condemned 2'' Rosa refers to the Oro as potentially "the origin of crime itself".
** ''Condemned 2'' also has a news report advertised by Tony called "The Condemned City".

* BlatantItemPlacement: In the second game, a bottle of alcohol-which Ethan requires to steady his hands when aiming-is a sure sign a shootout is coming up.
* BoomHeadshot: An instant kill against any enemy in the second game, including bosses-complete with an [[YourHeadAsplode exploding head effect]]. Considering how rare ammo is, it's a very efficient way of using firearms.

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Subverted. Serial Killer X turns out to be [[spoiler: the nephew of Malcolm Vanhorn, who tries to help him snap out of his psychosis-but to no avail. It's a subversion because SKX doesn't ''give a fuck'' about Vanhorn; strangling him in ''Condemned'' and killing and dissecting him in ''Bloodshot'']].

* FlunkyBoss: Instead of fighting you directly, the final boss of ''Bloodshot'' just hangs back and uses an area-of-effect life-draining sonic attack on you, while his Oro [[GiantMook Giant Mooks]] jump into the arena and to fight you.

* ImprovisedWeapon: all of them, from pipes to electrical conduits to explosive dolls (!).

* MonsterCloset: Happens once in the subway level of ''Criminal Origins''-the player opens a locker and gets jumped by a pale, emaciated woman wielding a rebar.
* {{Mundanger}}: Possessed dolls? No problem. But [[BearsAreBadNews a single bear...?]]
** Hardly. It's half a ton of muscle, claws, and murder-frenzy. Even if we know that it's called a bear, it's still a non-metaphorical monster. Does genuine monster status only qualify for fictional things?

* MyRulesAreNotYourRules: Enemies can reload their guns, while you cannot (although not every enemy carries spare ammo).

* RegeneratingHealth: ''Bloodshot'' uses a segmented health regeneration system similar to ''VideoGame/{{Resistance}}: Fall of Man''.

* StringyHairedGhostGirl: The subways in the first game have several female enemies that bear a resemblance to this trope-most likely due to the squalid living conditions one would expect in a subway.

** In the sequel, you still can only carry one magazine's worth of ammo for your guns, but you CAN reload that magazine from enemy guns dropped on the ground, the occasional ammo box in an SCU locker, or a second copy of the gun in a holster you can unlock about halfway through the game.
*** And when you finally run out of ammo you can bean someone in the head with it.
* UnexpectedGameplayChange: The second game has a few levels which ditch the melee combat mechanic for assault rifle vs assault rifle shootouts against SWAT soldiers. These seem more fitting for ''[[VideoGame/FirstEncounterAssaultRecon FEAR]]'' than ''Condemned''. Unfortunately, booze isn't nearly as useful as BulletTime.

'''[=BigPhyll=]:''' Like I pointed-out before, yeah, this cop is just going on a killing spree with weapons like sledgehammers and axes!\\

* EnemyMine: Serial Killer X and Ethan briefly team up against the Oro in ''Condemned 2''.

* CrapsackWorld: And how! You rarely visit anything apart from long-disused, run-down and mostly destroyed buildings.

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/condemned_2__psw_cover_2355.jpg
[[caption-width:300:A rare non-[[CoversAlwaysLie vague horror cover]].]]

* HeyItsThatVoice: In the first game, Ethan is voiced by Greg Grunberg (best known as Matt Parkman from ''Heroes'').

* TheOtherDarrin: Rosa Angel, Ethan, Malcolm Vanhorn and Ferrel got new voices for the second game. Also, Rosa's character design is ''drastically'' changed between games, going from looking like a stocky, middle-aged version of Halle Berry to looking like Jada Pinkett Smith (Niobe from ''Film/TheMatrix'').

* OneManArmy: Ethan. Over the course of two games, he fights his through an army of psychos with things like pipes, boards, wrecnches, and the occasional firearm.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: The bear chase is, strangely, one of them. The fact that you shot a bear in the face with a shotgun given to you by a random SCU operative, seemingly fail to kill it, and end up in a random place in a pool of blood is never acknowledged again.

* ActionCommands - ''Bloodshot'' has chain combos.
* ActionizedSequel - ''Bloodshot'' places a slighty bigger emphasis on firearms and enhances the melee system with combos and chain attacks.

* AncientConspiracy - The Oro.
* ArtShift - Almost every returning character in the sequel looks different, sometimes radically so.
* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking - Averted. You would think a trained police officer would be a stronger asskicker than a jacked up homeless person, but they're on even level. Ethan does have much better stamina, but see MadeOfIron as to why.

* BaldOfEvil - [[spoiler:Serial Killer X]] sports a shaved head in ''Bloodshot''.
* BeardOfSorrow - Part of Ethan's whole {{Grunge}} make over in ''Bloodshot''.
* BearsAreBadNews - The chase in the Black Lake Lodge in ''Condemned 2''.
* BigBrotherIsWatching - [[spoiler: Revealed in the climax of the 2nd game]].
* BlackBugRoom - In the second game, Ethan's hallucinations mysteriously go to a place filled with oily black monsters, getting progressively worse as black oil starts covering everything in that place, and then [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment never show up again]].
* BlatantItemPlacement - In the second game, a bottle of alcohol-which Ethan requires to steady his hands when aiming-is a sure sign a shootout is coming up.
* BoomHeadshot - An instant kill against any enemy in the second game, including bosses-complete with an [[YourHeadAsplode exploding head effect]]. Considering how rare ammo is, it's a very efficient way of using firearms.

* BreakableWeapons - In the original, only firearms could break after being used as a melee weapon, while in Bloodshot, anything will break if used long enough.
* BrownNote - The sonic resonators found throughout the second game are what is driving people insane.
* TheCanKickedHim - One of the weapons in ''Bloodshot'' is a toilet seat. You can also kill downed enemies by slamming their heads against a toiler bowl.
* CATTrap - One full level of ''Condemned 2'' is a hallucination Ethan has while in a CT tube.
* ClearMyName - Ethan's goal in the first game.
* ClusterFBomb - ''Condemned 2,'' which features almost every principal character saying "fuck" at least once.
* {{Combos}} - Bloodshot has melee attack combos, some of which get surprisingly complicated.

* ConceptArtGallery - Unlocked bits at a time by picking up dead birds and pieces of metal. Yeah...it's that kind of game.

* CrapsackWorld - And how! You rarely visit anything apart from long-disused, run-down and mostly destroyed buildings.
* CrazyHomelessPeople - The Game.
* CreepyDoll - The sequel has a level of this. It's an abandoned doll factory that is not quite so abandoned after all; its new "owner" is some kind of crazy clown woman manufacturing walking, talking, exploding doll robots.

* [[spoiler:DeadAllAlong]] - The Agent who helps you fight through [[spoiler: the nightmarish version of SCU Headquarters turns out to have been killed months ago]].

* DisturbedDoves - Well, disturbed pigeons.
* DoingInTheWizard - ''Condemned 2'' changes the [[spoiler: Oro from mysterious supernatural enemies to government infiltrators using sonic technology]] to perform all their apparent weirdness.

* DrivenToSuicide - The Torturer's method of "killing" is to drive his victims to suicide.

* DrunkenMaster - Ethan Thomas in the second game when it comes to shooting.
* EleventhHourSuperpower - [[spoiler:The Voice]]. Made infamous by WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation citing it in the review.
* EnemyMine - Serial Killer X and Ethan briefly team up against the Oro in ''Condemned 2''.
* EnemyWithin - Ethan gets one in the second game in the form of the Alcohol Demon, although he's more along the lines of a particularly violent and cynical TricksterMentor.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes - Subverted. Serial Killer X turns out to be [[spoiler: the nephew of Malcolm Vanhorn, who tries to help him snap out of his psychosis-but to no avail. It's a subversion because SKX doesn't ''give a fuck'' about Vanhorn; strangling him in ''Condemned'' and killing and dissecting him in ''Bloodshot'']].

* {{Fingore}} - At the end of the first game, you get to watch [[spoiler:SKX]] cut off [[spoiler:Ethan Thomas]]'s left index finger.
* FingerprintingAir - The level of details you get from analyzing crime scenes with just your on-site equipment is improbable, and gets more improbable in the sequel, where Ethan's smartphone is practically a tricorder from Star Trek. Once, he scans a severed arm in the mountains and Rosa is able to detect animal saliva all over it and also signs that the animal in question is rabid.
* FlunkyBoss - Instead of fighting you directly, the final boss of ''Bloodshot'' just hangs back and uses an area-of-effect life-draining sonic attack on you, while his Oro [[GiantMook Giant Mooks]] jump into the arena and to fight you.
* FragileSpeedster - The pale, skinny enemies you encounter in the subway tunnels move very fast, but die in one hit from any weapon (including the tazer). They do get tougher in the latter part of the level, but not by much.

* {{Hammerspace}} - Averted for the most part. In the first game Ethan is always seen carrying a large bag storing all of the forensic tools. Doesn't explain why he can't carry med-kits with him though.
* HatePlague - The reason why everyone is trying to kill you.
* HeavilyArmoredMook - The Museum level in ''Bloodshot'' has many enemies wearing partial plate armor stolen from the museum exhibits. They can take ''a lot'' of damage before dying, and are armed with some of the most damaging weapons in the game (swords and battleaxes).
* HeyItsThatVoice - In the first game, Ethan is voiced by Greg Grunberg (best known as Matt Parkman from ''Heroes'').
* HundredPercentCompletion - In the first game, getting all the collectibles slightly changes the ending to reveal that an ancient cult was behind everything. Ethan still appears to [[spoiler: turn into a metal monster]] at the end, though.
* IdiotHero - Some of the dialogue options in ''Bloodshot'' give this impression of Ethan / the player. For example, when told by Rosa that the Oro have been around for more than two thousand years, one of Ethan's possible reply questions is "were humans even around two thousand years ago?" You can practically hear Rosa HeadDesk if you have Ethan say that.

* ImprobableWeaponUser - Some of the weapons are absolutely ridiculous, from subway signs and desk tops in the first game, to freaking ''gumball machines'' and deer antlers in the second game.
* ImprovisedWeapon - all of them, from pipes to electrical conduits to explosive dolls (!).
* InfernalRetaliation - A few enemies in the factory level of ''Bloodshot'' are on fire. Contact with them will do massive damage. Fortunately, they die in one hit and will eventually burn to death if you avoid them long enough.
* InvincibleMinorMinion - The "Metal Junkies" in ''Bloodshot'' are giant enemies wearing metal armor made out of scrap. They're completely immune to all normal attacks, and can only be killed with the sonic crossbow or by using a magnet to drop them into a crusher.
* MadeOfIron - Justified towards the end of the first game, when you come across a classified medical report that shows Ethan having "abnormally high" muscle and bone density. Your enemies, meanwhile, presumably have adrenaline and the hideous strength of the insane going for them.

* MeaningfulName - Criminal Origins, the subtitle of the first game, is explained in the sequel as meaning that the Oro are [[spoiler: indirectly behind most if not all of humanity's atrocities]].
* MonsterCloset - Happens once in the subway level of ''Criminal Origins''-the player opens a locker and gets jumped by a pale, emaciated woman wielding a rebar.
* {{Mundanger}} - Possessed dolls? No problem. But [[BearsAreBadNews a single bear...?]]

* MurderousMannequin - Subverted. Though several mannequins appear to follow you around in the department store level, even completely encircling you when you fall into a dark pit, they never actually attack you.

* MyRulesAreNotYourRules - Enemies can reload their guns, while you cannot (although not every enemy carries spare ammo).

* NewGamePlus - [=FPS=] mode in ''Bloodshot'', which gives the player a gun at the start of most levels, and infinite ammo.
* NightmareSequence - Plenty in the first game. The first and [[spoiler: fifth]] levels of ''Bloodshot'' also count.
* NostalgiaLevel - ''Condemned 2: Bloodshot'' returns to the abandoned school you tried to track down SKX in in the first game. It's even ''worse'' for the wear, somehow. [[spoiler: And the corpse of the boss you fought in the kitchen is still there]]!
* NotOfThisEarth - Subverted: The metal fragments that The Oro use to enhance their power are suggested to be of alien origin by a TV reporter, but the scientist she's interviewing says that they ARE of earthly origin, but made with a previously-unknown manufacturing technique.

* OneManArmy - Ethan. Over the course of two games, he fights his through an army of psychos with things like pipes, boards, wrecnches, and the occasional firearm.
* PistolWhipping - You can use firearms as melee weapons, but it's not recommended as you'll break the firing mechanism after just a couple of swings. Pistols are also pretty much the worst melee weapons in the entire game, which is understandable since a small bit of metal doesn't compare well to a pipe or 2x4.
* RaceLift - Between the first and second games Ethan went from being distinctly Hispanic/Samoan to pasty white.

* RegeneratingHealth - ''Bloodshot'' uses a segmented health regeneration system similar to ''VideoGame/{{Resistance}}: Fall of Man''.

* SchizoTech - Ethan has a forensics lab in his cellphone, and yet all the televisions he comes across use antenna. Admittedly it's because Ethan is going through places that have long been abandoned, but that just brings up the question of why the televisions still work at all.
* SecretLegacy - [[spoiler:Ethan is the legendary Remedy to the Oro, a human with naturally tuned vocal cords capable of [[YourHeadAsplode destroying the heads]] of those who hear his voice.]]
* SerialKillerKiller - Serial Killer X, the main antagonist. In fact, your first investigation (of the game, not for Ethan) is investigating the murder site of the Matchmaker, who, up until then, had only been killing women and posing them with male mannequins at macabre dinner scenes. [[spoiler:You find a man posed with a female mannequin, and quickly discover that the dead man ''is'' the Matchmaker. Couple that with the still-smoking ashtry...[[OhCrap and you realize you're just minutes behind the killer.]]]]

* SerialKiller - The first game also has a variety of other serial killers who X is hunting down and killing.
* SetAMookToKillAMook - Guaranteed to happen at least once while you're playing, even if you aren't aiming to do it.
* ShockAndAwe - The basic taser stuns enemies just long enough for you to steal their weapon. After getting upgraded in the library, it takes a huge chunk out of the enemy's health and causes them to collapse, allowing the player to kill them with a single hit. The second game nerfed this by requiring the player to find batteries to keep the taser charged.

* ShotgunsAreJustBetter: Averted and played straight. Pump-action shotguns usually come with enough ammo to help you get through a tough fight or at least keep you alive long enough to find a decent replacement weapon. Sawed off shotguns on the other hand, only come with 2 shots (AT MOST!) and are only useful for killing a single powerful enemy. In a game where you are constantly attacked by large groups of murderous hobos this makes it almost useless.

* SinisterSubway - Two levels in the first game.

* StageMagician - The Magic Man, an Oro outcast who holes up in an abandoned theatre and has a squad of insane showgirl assistants.
* StringyHairedGhostGirl - The subways in the first game have several female enemies that bear a resemblance to this trope-most likely due to the squalid living conditions one would expect in a subway.
* SubwaysSuck - They're apparently infested with pipe-wielding psychotic maniacs.
* SuddenSequelDeathSyndrome - [[spoiler:Malcolm Vanhorn]] in ''Bloodshot''.

* TitleDrop - In ''Condemned 2'' Rosa refers to the Oro as potentially "the origin of crime itself".
** ''Condemned 2'' also has a news report advertised by Tony called The Condemned City.
* TheKillerBecomesTheKilled
* TheOtherDarrin - Rosa Angel, Ethan and Ferrel got new voices for the second game. Also, Rosa's character design is ''drastically'' changed between games, going from looking like a stocky, middle-aged version of Halle Berry to looking like Jada Pinkett Smith (Niobe from ''Film/TheMatrix'').
* ThrowAwayGuns - Firearms cannot be reloaded, and must be discarded after using up all the pre-loaded bullets.
** In the sequel, you still can only carry one magazine's worth of ammo for your guns, but you CAN reload that magazine from enemy guns dropped on the ground, and the occasional ammo box in an SCU locker.

* ViceCity - A {{Deconstruction}} in that it shows just how frightening a decaying, crime-filled city, in which the cops don't really do anything unless they have to, would be.
* VigilanteExecution - SKX's modus operandi.
* WrongfulAccusationInsurance - In the course of proving his innocence in the murder of two police officers, Ethan flees from the police (twice), breaks into multiple closed or condemned buildings, and bludgeons a small army of hobos, drug addicts, and assorted other lunatics to death. Then again, it's entirely possible Malcolm Van Horn or the AncientConspiracy pulled strings to get him off the hook.
** Made-fun-of in one of the Let's Plays:
-->'''Shadrouge:''' Isn't the whole reason that you're sneaking around down here is because the police think you've killed someone and-
-->'''Shadrow:''' Hey, look, the police are outside! Yay!
-->'''Shadrouge:''' "I didn't kill anyone so I think I'll go run off and kill a bunch more!"
-->'''[=BigPhyll=]:''' Like I pointed-out before, yeah, this cop is just going on a killing spree with weapons like sledgehammers and axes!
-->'''Fertro:''' No, they attacked him first.
* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield - Metro City, in which the games are set, is what appears to be a "Rust Belt" city, due to it's large amount of abandoned factories and cold winter. However, the Rust Belt area is quite large.
* WhyDontYouJustShootHim - Subverted in ''Condemned 2''. If you lose the final ActionCommands combo punching sequence at the end of the final battle, the BigBad just whips out a gun and shoots you in the head. Why he didn't just do this ''earlier'' in the final fistfight, though...
* YourHeadAsplode - It's incredibly easy to pop heads with guns in the sequel, but most importantly, it's the most visible manifestation of the Oro's power. They need special training and metal implants to do so, but [[spoiler: Ethan Thomas]] can do this at will.