History VideoGame / FirstEncounterAssaultRecon

** Monolith considers the two expansions, which were made by other developers, non-canon. Some gameplay and story elements have been utilized in the proper canon, however, such as the laser weapon and the ability to [[DynamicEntry punch open doors]] with melee or explosives. Most are noticeably different, however; the cargo plane that crashes in the city comes down noticeably earlier in ''2'' than in the expansions, Auburn Memorial goes from a regular hospital used as the eponymous extraction point to a front for the underground Harbinger Facility, the Replica reactivate due to Alma taking control of them rather than because of Fettel's ghost, Fettel coming back by possessing a Replica soldier rather than just coming back as a ghost, etc.

** The first ''F.E.A.R.'' [[spoiler: ends with the Pointman barely surviving the nuclear explosion, only to have the game cut to the credits when Alma appears crawling into the helicopter the player is aboard.]]
** ''F.E.A.R. Extraction Point'' [[spoiler: ends with the Pointman reaching the eponymous extraction point only for the helicopter to explode for no reason right in front of the player, leaving Pointman's fate in the non-canon expansion packs a mystery.]]
** ''F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate'' almost gets away with a closing (and surprisingly happy) end... [[spoiler: but TheStinger is pulled and reveals the Nightcrawlers succeeded in their mission of bringing the Senator Paxton Fettel's DNA.]]
** ''F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin'' is probably the biggest if not most dramatic of them all, [[spoiler: we're left with a sudden ending of Alma being pregnant!]]
** ''F.E.A.R. 2: Reborn'' [[spoiler: ends with Foxtrot 813 being possessed by Paxton Fettel, and Fettel proclaiming he is reborn.]]
** Even the supposed series finale ''F.E.A.R. 3'' pulls one off... [[spoiler: in ''both'' endings: Fettel's ending is him killing his brother to supposedly possess him permanently, and then goes to take Alma's newborn baby to raise as a pawn. Pointman's ending is him exorcising his brother with three bullets to the brain, and taking the baby for himself. But in TheStinger for both endings, Fettel claims he will continue his revenge against Armacham (and possibly Point Man), and asks Point Man if he has the strength to go on as well.]]

** They appear to be Fettel's clones, although the ones you actually see unmasked are horribly deformed. There's a strong possibility that those could have been messed up at some point in their development, though, since they aren't part of the main fighting force. The Replica you control in ''Reborn'' has a perfect, unmarred Fettel face.

* CrateExpectations: Introduced in the two ''F.E.A.R.'' expansion packs, where they can contain anything from weapon caches to [[HeartContainer health boosters]]. Strangely, they're all marked as explosive, despite ''very'' rarely actually having any sort of explosive weapon in them (though grenades too occasionally pop up in smaller metal boxes).

* CriticalHit: In the first game, your gunshots will occasionally deal a bonus effect that dramatically effects your target. For some guns, like the Pistols and the SMG, your opponents can go flying or lose their head, while the shotgun causes them to ''explode into red mist''. Fun!

* DamnYouMuscleMemory: The control scheme in ''F.E.A.R. 3'' is identical to ''F.E.A.R. 2'' with one exception-the crouch and melee buttons have switched places.

* AnAxeToGrind: One of the weapons used by cultists in ''F.E.A.R. 3''.

* AKA47: Primarily in the first game, such as an H&K [=SL8=] with a different rear sight and magazine as the "Rakow [=G2A2=]", an unmodified SPAS-12 as the "Vollmer VK-12", or a TAR-21 with a sci-fi scope and an apparent up-chambering to 7.62mm as the "Baksha ASP". Later ones started to shift more towards hybrids of two or more real guns, like the second game's "SHO Series-3" shotgun being a Remington with a Benelli M4 stock and an [=M16A2=]'s bolt and case deflector, or making the straight copies into {{energy weapon}}s rather than traditional bullet-shooters, like its F2000-alike [[{{BFG}} firing giant blasts of flesh-searing energy]] as the "Type-12 Pulse Weapon"; the game does have one interesting case where it pulls this again for a gun that already had a fake name, that being the ASP rifle returns in multiplayer, now called the "Kohler & Bock IDW-15". ''F.E.A.R. 3'' interestingly inverts this with its successor to the [=G2A2=], a hybrid of the Bushmaster ACR and TDI Vector named the [[CoolGuns/BattleRifles G3A3]].

** The Xbox 360 and [=PS3=] versions of the original game each had their bonus mission starring a character who doesn't have Point Man's slo-mo powers and an exclusive weapon. On the 360, this consisted of a bonus mission starring Douglas Holiday and the [=SM15=] Machine Pistol, which replaced half of the available RPL SMG spawns to be usable across the game and its expansions, while the [=PS3=] had a mission starring two Delta Force operators and the Watson Automatic Shotgun, which is only found in the bonus mission and a single enemy near the end of the campaign.
** The console exclusive ''F.E.A.R. Files'' (''Extraction Point'' and ''Perseus Mandate'' bundled into a single package for consoles) has 6 bonus missions, while on PC only 3 of those missions are included with ''Perseus Mandate''.

** During the mid-00's, City Interactive released a large number of low budget military-themed FPS games built on the Lithtech Jupiter EX engine and using many assets from ''F.E.A.R.'' (such as animations and A.I.), essentially being total conversions of the first ''F.E.A.R.'' with real world weapons and no bullet time. Titles in this list include SAS: Secure Tomorrow, Mortyr: Operation Thunderstorm, Terrorist Takedown 2, Terrorist Takedown 3, Code of Honor 2, Code of Honor 3, Royal Marines: Commando, Armed Force Corp, Special Forces, Battlestrike: Shadow of Stalingrad, and Wolfschanze II.
* ObviousPregnancy: [[spoiler:Alma at the end of ''Project Origin''. In short Alma is quite obviously pregnant mere seconds after raping Becket. May be an aversion of the LawOfInverseFertility since Alma clearly wanted the child and one can assume Becket didn't. This could quite possibly lead to the EndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt since it's implied that Becket is close to if not at least as powerful a telepath as Alma, making their child an insanely powerful psychic being. Possibly justified as Alma is a psychic and her being obviously pregnant could simply be an illusion to show off the fact that she is.]]
** ''F.E.A.R. 3'''s official site confirms that nine months have passed since the events of the first game, though it makes no mention of Becket. The rapidly-ticking clock seen within the final battleground would imply that Becket was sealed within the amplifier for those nine months, though it seemed to him to be a few minutes, tops.
** Anytime adult Alma is seen in ''F.E.A.R. 3'', ObviousPregnancy ensues.

* OhCrap: [[spoiler:When you fight Col. Vanek in Project Origin, you have to button mash to fight him hand-to-hand. The final sequence has you force his own shotgun to his head. You are treated to a close up view of the state-of-the-art face control technology slowly make his expression go from homicidal rage to a pitiful, realistic look of total fear, and if you tap fast enough you blow off his head. Manage to keep tapping fast on seeing that face?]]

--> '''Nightcrawler''': He's too fast!
** ...or when you chuck a grenade.
--> '''Replica''': Fuck!
* OlderThanTheyLook: Chronologically, Alma's somewhere in her forties.
* OminousMusicBoxTune: Alma's music box.
* OminousWalk: Alma loves this one.
* OneBulletClips

* OneManArmy: The Point Man and Becket. Holiday also gets this status in the Xbox 360 port, where he manages to take down several dozen Replicas, multiple Heavy Armors, and an Assassin without any slow-mo powers. In the non-canon expansions, the Sergeant is another that more than fits the bill.

* PinnedToTheWall: If you kill an enemy with the Penetrator near a wall, he will be thrown away and pinned to it.
* PipePain: One of the cultists' arsenal of melee weapons.

* PoweredArmor / MiniMecha:

* FakingTheDead: In the third game, the cultists will often pretend to be one of the many corpses littering the environment, only to get up and attack when you get close.

** During the mid-00's, City Interactive released a large number of low budget military-themed FPS games built on the Lithtech Jupiter EX engine, essentially being total conversions of First Encounter Assault Recon with real world weapons and no bullet time. Titles in this list include SAS: Secure Tomorrow, Mortyr: Operation Thunderstorm, Terrorist Takedown 2, Terrorist Takedown 3, Code of Honor 2, Code of Honor 3, Royal Marines: Commando, Armed Force Corp, Special Forces, Battlestrike: Shadow of Stalingrad, and Wolfschanze II.

* VersionExclusiveContent: The Xbox 360 and [=PS3=] versions of the original game each had their bonus mission starring a character who doesn't have Point Man's slo-mo powers and an exclusive weapon. On the 360, this consisted of a bonus mission starring Douglas Holiday and the [=SM15=] Machine Pistol, which replaced half of the available RPL SMG spawns to be usable across the game and its expansions, while the [=PS3=] had a mission starring two Delta Force operators and the Watson Automatic Shotgun, which is only found in the bonus mission and a single enemy near the end of the campaign.

* ArtificialBrilliance: The ''F.E.A.R.'' [[VideoGameAI A.I.]] is actually a good example of emergent behavior, which is programmer-speak for "we didn't program it specifically to do that, but for some random reason it does it anyway, and it's really, really cool that it does!". In other words, a relatively simple set of rules intended for a limited set of functions actually provides for more complex behavior than intended. Specifically, the A.I. is programmed for a limited number of simple behaviors: moving in coordinated squads, providing covering fire, seeking cover, and repositioning itself based on the player's movement and position. The A.I. isn't actually programmed to flank or circle behind the player, but its tendency to seek cover and reposition itself based on the player's movements results in flanking and circling behaviors occurring naturally without "conscious" effort on the A.I.'s part (mostly due to the A.I.'s high mobility combined with its preference for seeking lateral cover rather than charging the player directly). In fact, the A.I. of the Replica Soldiers was toted as perhaps the best enemy A.I. seen in a FPS game to date, and it still holds up more than a decade later. Its only [[ArtificialStupidity failings]] are that the AI is not designed to fight one another (which only happens twice in the original game for this reason, between ATC security guards and a Replica squad or a single PoweredArmor, plus one occasion in ''Perseus Mandate'' where friendly Delta Force soldiers assist you in fighting Replica - where the enemy performs much more admirably than in a pure AI-vs-AI fight because they're mostly fighting you rather than the Deltas); that, in spite of their ability to recognize and actively avoid regular grenades, they are completely blind to mines or remote bombs set by the player, even if you plant them in full view of the entire squad; and that they don't consistently know how to deal with transparent but bulletproof surfaces, often causing them to simply stare you down through them if there isn't an immediately-obvious way to navigate around it from their position and.

* GatelessGhetto

* DownerEnding: The ending of ''Extraction Point'' is probably the bleakest of the game endings, and that's saying something.
** [[spoiler:Paxton Fettel's ending in ''F.E.A.R. 3'' certainly qualifies.]]

* DownerEnding: The ending of Extraction Point is probably the bleakest of the game endings, and that's saying something.

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Paxton Fettel's ending in ''F.E.A.R. 3'' certainly qualifies.]]

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: [[spoiler:So, the Point Man overloading the vault reactor and nuking Auburn helped us how exactly? Thousands of people are dead, Armacham has free reign in the chaos to destroy evidence of their involvement and Alma wasn't harmed in the slightest.]]

** ''Extraction Point'' ends with [[spoiler:EVERYONE that survived the original game dead.]] ''Perseus Mandate'' ends on a more upbeat note; not only does almost everyone survive to the end and escape, but also [[spoiler: the ghost of the one guy that did die shows up and seems to say goodbye and congratulate you for making it.]]

* AKA47: Primarily in the first game, such as an H&K [=SL8=] with a different rear sight and magazine as the "Rakow [=G2A2=]", an unmodified SPAS-12 as the "Vollmer VK-12", or a TAR-21 with a sci-fi scope and an apparent up-chambering to 7.62mm as the "Baksha ASP". Later ones started to shift more towards hybrids of two or more real guns, like the second game's "SHO Series-3" shotgun being a Remington with a Benelli M4 stock and an [=M16A2=]'s bolt and case deflector, or making the straight copies into {{energy weapon}}s rather than traditional bullet-shooters, like its F2000-alike [[{{BFG}} firing giant blasts of flesh-searing energy]] as the "Type-12 Pulse Weapon"; the game does have one interesting case where it pulls this again for a gun that already had a fake name, that being the ASP rifle returns in multiplayer, now called the "Kohler & Bock IDW-15". ''F.E.A.R. 3'' interestingly inverts this with its successor to the above [=G2A2=], a hybrid of the Bushmaster ACR and TDI Vector named the [[CoolGuns/BattleRifles G3A3]].

* PunchPackingPistol: When only one is used, the Rakow AT-14 pistol is but a humble popgun with actually decent damage. Going GunsAkimbo, however, doubles the ammo capacity to a lot more than the mid-game Penetrator rifle can hold without sacrificing reload speed, and increases the fire rate while still keeping it perfectly controllable. This combination makes the pistols a valuable asset throughout the first generation of games, and ''the'' best weapon to use in Slow-Mo. See BoringButPractical above: it's no surprise to see many, ''many'' players on Youtube ignore novelty weapons (which includes most of the {{BFG}}'s) in favor of the "AT-14 pistol/[=G2A2=] rifle/VK-12 shotgun" combo from start to finish.

* ResearchInc: Armacham Technology Corporation (ATC)
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: One city (and its outlying suburbs) and counting.
* RogueAgent: The Point Man is this as of ''F.E.A.R. 3''.
** Foxtrot 813 in the ''Project Origin'' DLC campaign ''Reborn'' becomes this due to an Alma-induced hallucination that causes him to kill his squad.

* ScareChord: All the time.

* ShellShockSilence: While not particularly overwhelming, mild ones will happen if you stand next to an exploding warhead.

* ShortRangeShotgun: Severely downplayed with the first game's VK-12 and the [=Ultra92=] in ''Project Origin''. The spread is tight enough to hit a human torso at ten meters without missing a pellet, but damage falloff dampens damage output by a lot past medium range, requiring five or six shells to put down even the most lightly armored enemy when in close range typically only one shot is needed. The SHO Series-3 in ''Project Origin'' and the EL-10 CAS in ''F.3.A.R.'' progressively play this straighter, the latter in particular being an almost perfect encapsulation of the trope - it fires far more pellets per-shell than the earlier shotguns did, but in return it has the widest spread among them, even when aiming; you can fire one shell from extreme close range that gibs your target, then step back just two or three inches and need two shells to put down another target.

** And just the entire list mentioned in {{BFG}}s above.

* StringyHairedGhostGirl: Alma.
* StrippedToTheBone: Alma often does this to people she doesn't like. The player can do this too with the Type-7 Particle Weapon in the first game or the Type-12 Pulse Weapon in the second.

* SurprisinglySuddenDeath: Alma in the first game, when she murders your squad at the water treatment plant. A Replica Assassin also kills [[spoiler: Snake Fist]] in the same sudden manner.

* TenSecondFlashlight: ''F.E.A.R.'' is one of the most serious offenders. ''F.E.A.R. 2'' gives you an InfiniteFlashlight instead, coupling with...
* TentativeLight: When something scary is about to show up, lights go out.

* TragicMonster: The final battle against [[spoiler: Sergeant Keegan]] in ''F.E.A.R. 2''.
** Then goes through a MyGodWhatHaveIDone: "'''BECKET!! HELP... MEEEE...'''"
** Alma is also this, given her history.

* UnbrokenFirstPersonPerspective: The first and second games use this trope, which when coupled with their aversion of FirstPersonGhost makes for a highly immersive experience.
* UncannyValley: Alma and the Replica were deliberately designed to be this way in-universe. Even in her "healthy" adult form in ''FEAR 2'', Alma is just...''off'' enough to make it clear that she's not natural.

* TheUnfavourite: For Harlan Wade, the [[spoiler: Point Man]] was this when compared with his brother.

* UnstoppableRage: Alma. In fact, calling it that is probably a ''massive'' understatement. That girl is ''pissed.''

* CosmicDeadline: Quite noticeable in ''F.E.A.R. 3''. The game has a clear beginning, middle, and finale. However, it literally jumps straight from the middle to the finale without any form of transition in between, feeling as though the game completely skipped it's 3rd act. It's especially jarring since the finale pretty much wraps up the storyline for the entire trilogy of games, so you'd think there'd be more of a build-up to it.

* CosmicDeadline: Quite noticeable in ''F.E.A.R. 3''. The game has a clear beginning, middle, and finale. However, it literally jumps straight from the middle to the finale without any form of transition in between. It's especially jarring since the finale pretty much wraps up the storyline for the entire trilogy of games, so you'd think there'd be more of a build-up to it.

* ParentalIncest: [[spoiler:Harlan Wade supplied some of the DNA used to impregnante Alma to make both Fettel and the Point Man]].

* NotSoDifferent: By the end of ''F.3.A.R'', Fettel's motivations are not dissimilar from Harlan Wade's, with him echoing Wade's line regarding them becoming "like gods." It is hinted that [[spoiler: the "ghost" of Fettel might just be an amalgam of the darker aspects of Fettel's personality and memories and given form and purpose by Alma's powers, like the Creep was for Harlan Wade's memories and personality.]]

''[[FunWithAcronyms First Encounter Assault Recon]]'' (F.E.A.R) is a special operations unit working for the United States government. Their purpose: [[WhoYouGonnaCall to deal with paranormal threats to national security.]]

* ClusterFBomb: Colonel Vanek from ''F.E.A.R 2''. To quote his words when you fight him:

* GrandTheftMe: Paxton Fettel's [[spoiler:plan for Foxtrot 813, or, in short, [[PlayerCharacter you]], in Reborn]]. In F.E.A.R 3, he can do this to enemies to fight alongside The Point Man.

** F.E.A.R 2 introduced the Remnants, who were once people that have been corrupted beyond all recognition by Alma’s power. They appear as hideously distorted, cadaverous perversions of what they used to be who are able to emit psychic screams that hurt anyone who hears it as well as raise the dead to fight for them, and after being killed they disintegrate into ashes. Despite being mindless they retain enough of themselves to ape their former lives and can also still act human enough that even [[ProperlyParanoid the ATC cleanup crew are told to stay the hell away from any seeming pedestrians they find after they lose contact with several teams as a result.]]

* InvisibleAnatomy: Averted. You have to put your weapons away to climb ladders and go swimming, and can see yourself while looking down and after explosions. ''F.E.A.R 2'' expands on this with the ability to mantle over low cover, shift items to become makeshift cover, and typing on keyboards or turning valves, all of which results in you seeing your character's relevant limbs.

* {{Animesque}}: Surprisingly, the series has much in common with anime. The MegaCorp, psychic powers, villain origins, and military personnel bring to mind more than a few similarities with anime such as ''Manga/{{Akira}}'' and especially ''Manga/ElfenLied'', and when in slow-mo, the combat has a lot in common with the techniques seen in anime, complete with subtle SpeedLines effects. Not surprisingly, a few names, weapons, and other ideas behind the series were re-used from ''VideoGame/ShogoMobileArmorDivision'', an earlier FPS from the same developers that was much more overt in its influence from HumongousMecha anime (and which the second game nods to by dressing a character in a T-shirt advertising a fictional sequel to ''Shogo'').

* ArtificialBrilliance: The ''F.E.A.R.'' [[VideoGameAI A.I.]] is actually a good example of emergent behavior, which is programmer-speak for "we didn't program it specifically to do that, but for some random reason it does it anyway, and it's really, really cool that it does!". In other words, a relatively simple set of rules intended for a limited set of functions actually provides for more complex behavior than intended. Specifically, the A.I. is programmed for a limited number of simple behaviors: moving in coordinated squads, providing covering fire, seeking cover, and repositioning itself based on the player's movement and position. The A.I. isn't actually programmed to flank or circle behind the player, but its tendency to seek cover and reposition itself based on the player's movements results in flanking and circling behaviors occurring naturally without "conscious" effort on the A.I.'s part (mostly due to the A.I.'s high mobility combined with its preference for seeking lateral cover rather than charging the player directly). In fact, the A.I. of the Replica Soldiers was toted as perhaps the best enemy A.I. seen in a FPS game to date, and it still holds up more than a decade later. Its only [[ArtificialStupidity failings]] are that the AI is not designed to fight one another (which only happens twice in the original game for this reason, between ATC security guards and a Replica squad or a single PoweredArmor, plus one occasion in ''Perseus Mandate'' where friendly Delta Force soldiers assist you in fighting Replica); that, in spite of their ability to recognize and actively avoid regular grenades, they are completely blind to mines or remote bombs set by the player, even if you plant them in full view of the entire squad; and that they don't consistently know how to deal with transparent but bulletproof surfaces, often causing them to simply stare you down through them if there isn't an immediately-obvious way to navigate around it from their position.

* AssholeVictim: Turns out Alma had very good reasons for telling Paxton Fettell to "kill them all". [[spoiler:After all the shit Armacham put her through, up to and including forcibly impregnating her and stealing her children, they did indeed "all deserve to die".]]

* DummiedOut: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MGhD2bn-oQ This video]] features some cut dialogue from the Replica soldiers in the first game that indicates originally, the Armacham executive they were looking to capture was actually Harlan Wade. In the final product, it was changed to Norton Mapes.

* ExplodingBarrels: Regular barrels, as well as fire extinguishers and fuse boxes. Shooting them is a good way to take out multiple enemies down at once, especially the barrels, which they often try to use as cover for whatever reason. DummiedOut EnemyChatter lines indicate that [[ArtificialBrilliance they were meant to use these hazards against the player on purpose]]; alas, they can only set them off unintentionally with stray bullets or grenades, which [[ArtificialStupidity more often than not cause friendly fire amongst themselves due to their tendency of staying near them]].

** The ''Reborn'' {{DLC}} has [[spoiler: Fettel [[GrandTheftMe posessing]] the player Foxtrot 813's body in a church, which could be an allusion to Fettel's first appearance in ''Extraction Point''.]]

* {{BFG}}: Many kinds to go around with. The first ''F.E.A.R.'' and its two {{expansion pack}}s alone will give you an [[MoreDakka automatic 20mm cannon]], a revolving {{grenade launcher}}, a [[MacrossMissileMassacre multishot rocket rifle]], a [[FrickinLaserBeams frickin' laser carbine]], a [[GatlingGood gatling gun]], a [[StrippedToTheBone flesh-vaporizing]] {{disintegrator ray}} and a [[ChainLightning chain]] {{lightning gun}}.

*** FrickinLaserBeams: ''F.E.A.R.''[='s=] Type-12 Laser Carbine (expansion packs only), ''F.E.A.R. 2''[='s=] FL-3 Laser and ''F.E.A.R. 3''[='s=] Arc Beam.

* GreaterScopeVillain: In ''F.E.A.R. 2'', the Armacham board of directors. They were the ones who sent the black ops teams to kill Genevieve Arstide and destroy any traces of Project Origin. According to one email the board chairman sent to Arstide, [[EvenEvilHasStandards they were unaware of the true nature of Origin and disgusted by what they learned.]]

* SecondHourSuperpower: In the second game, Becket gets his power in the second level after his surgical operation.

* SequelHook: In ''F.E.A.R. 3'', during the Point Man's ending, Paxton Fettel's monologue [[spoiler: during the video of his synchronicity even has him swearing revenge on the Point Man for killing him ''again.'']]

* SealedEvilInACan: Alma was put in an induced coma and sealed in a telesthetic suppression field after Armacham found her psychic powers too overwhelming to control. It didn't stop her. Dual credit for unsealing her goes to Genevive Aristide and Harlan Wade.

* ShortRangeShotgun: Severely downplayed with the first game's VK-12 and the [=Ultra92=] in ''Project Origin''. The spread is tight enough to hit a human torso at ten meters without missing a pellet, but damage falloff dampens damage output by a lot past medium range, requiring five or six shells to put down even the most lightly armored enemy when in close range typically only one shot is needed. The SHO Series-3 in ''Project Origin'' and the EL-10 CAS in ''F.3.A.R.'' progressively play this straighter, the former at least still being somewhat useful at the ranges you expect from a video-game shotgun, then the latter being so pathetic that even physically touching a target still needs at least two shells to actually kill them.