History VideoGame / ImmortalSouls

-->'''Raven:''' Touch me again and I'll shove that taser up your--
-->'''John:''' YIKES! OK! I get the point.

-->'''John:''' You'll pay for what you've done here, you self-righteous bastards!
-->'''Desmond:''' Indeed, we shall be rewarded greatly in the pinnacle of Heaven.

* TookALevelInJerkass: Granted, Desmond's a bit of a jerk from the get-go, but in ''John Turner #1'' he's mostly just a self-righteous twit, with his actions still being mostly understandable from his POV, and he even shows [[spoiler:a glimmer of a bit of a JerkassRealization]] at the end. In ''Dark Crusade'', however, he's seen engaging in only barely justifiable experiments, and acts increasingly more hostile and lacking in empathy to John, culminating in trying to [[spoiler:coldly order John, whom he thinks is mind-controlled, into committing PsychicAssistedSuicide.]] Yikes. Add on a possible dose of [[spoiler:IgnoredEpiphany]] too, depending on whether you read ''Dark Crusade'' as a sequel to ''JT#1'' or a retelling.
* TooKinkyToTorture: Not only does the Black Witch not mind getting beat up, tortured, or ordered around, she even claims to enjoy it, and at least voluntarily submits to it even though she's easily powerful enough to resist everyone if she wants.
* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: At first the game setting looks like it's present day, just with vampires, ghosts, zombies, and so on. Then the Templars show up with PowerArmor and {{Energy Weapon}}s.
* TwiceShy: John and Allison, though Allison does manage to make some first moves eventually.

* VillainousCrush: The Black Witch is ''very'' much into John, openly flirting with him every time they meet. It's implied the attraction is why she turned him, and Isis Corp also "recruited" John mainly so they could use her attraction to their advantage. John is pretty squicked out by the whole deal (mostly understandably pissed off she turned him into a vampire), but does take (non-sexual) advantage of the matter sometimes.

* WildCard: The Black Witch, who, at one point or another, has helped every faction we see in the games. [[spoiler:Especially in ''John Turner #1'', where she gave an artifact to four rival factions.]] Why? [[ItAmusedMe Because she wants to see what will happen]].

* YouAreNumberSix: When John gets captured by the Templars in ''Dark Crusade'' they insist on calling him by his prisoner number, which starts ticking him off after a while.

* ShoutOut: One of the Isis Corp agents [[Film/TheMatrix looks like Agent Smith and fights like Neo]]. One of the games also has a chapter called "[[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade It Belongs In a Museum]]". Also, possibly John being called [[Literature/LesMiserables Subject 2401]].

* [[VillainousBreakdown Anti-Villainous Breakdown]]: ''Dark Crusade'' is pretty much one continuous one for Desmond, due both John's indignant retorts and goading and John [[spoiler:breaking free of his mind control and handily beating his knights]]. Culminates in a combination of outright panicking and him trying to coldly order John to [[spoiler:commit PsychicAssistedSuicide]].

->''"This is New Haven, ground zero for a SecretWar, the war between angels and demons. Our only hope lies in two vampires. One fights for revenge for the family that was taken from her. The other fights for redemption, seeking forgiveness he can never have. This is the battle between HeavenAndHell. This is the story of the Immortal Souls."''

* XMeetsY: The game's own marketing blurbs describe it as ''VideoGame/PuzzleQuest'' meets ''VideoGame/{{Bejeweled}}'' meets ''Franchise/FinalFantasy''.

* BlackAndGreyMorality: The "bad guys" consist of malevolent monsters who will kill anything they come across, including other shadow creatures. The "good guys" consist of a shadowy MegaCorp more concerned with keeping the balance than active do-gooding and is not above heavily manipulating people, a group of [[GoodIsNotNice arrogant]] {{jerkass}} KnightsTemplar who engage in very dubious experiments, and a guy caught in between them who does care about protecting innocents but would really [[RefusalOfTheCall prefer to be left alone and have someone else handle it]].

* TheKnightsTemplar: Desmond and his followers seem to be somehow a present-day version of the order, since they wear white and red PowerArmor styled after the ancient order's look, use the order's cross as emblems, and also have the ancient order's motto and name written in Latin on their base's decorations. Of course, [[IncrediblyLamePun heaven only knows]] how they went from a disbanded order to a group of MadScientist-esque warriors with ''VideoGame/{{Halo}}''-level weaponry. ...literally, as one plotline involves Desmond trying to access an artifact to learn the order's history. [[spoiler: Doesn't work, since the artifact is booby-trapped. Well, whoops.]]

-->''"This is New Haven, ground zero for a SecretWar, the war between angels and demons. Our only hope lies in two vampires. One fights for revenge for the family that was taken from her. The other fights for redemption, seeking forgiveness he can never have. This is the battle between HeavenAndHell. This is the story of the Immortal Souls."''

* ShoutOut: One of the Isis Corp agents [[Film/TheMatrix looks like Agent Smith and fights like Neo]]. One of the games also has a chapter called "[[Franchise/IndianaJones It Belongs In a Museum]]". Also, possibly John being called [[Literature/LesMiserables Subject 2401]].

-->''"This is New Haven, ground zero for a SecretWar, the war between angels and demons. Our only hope lies in two vampires. [[{{Revenge}} One fights for revenge]] for the family that was taken from her. [[TheAtoner The other fights for redemption]], seeking forgiveness he can never have. This is the battle between HeavenAndHell. This is the story of the [[TitleDrop Immortal Souls]]."''

* DidMomJustHaveTeaWithCthulhu: At one point John finds out that Isis Corporation has moved a clueless Allison and her taxi service into one of their offices, to [[ShameIfSomethingHappened provide "protection" for her while John does their bidding]].

* TheIngenue: Allison's purpose is mainly to be a sweet, kindly unwitting motivator for John.
* InnocentBlueEyes: Played with. Desmond has them to go with his Holy Paladin outer image, but tends to be a jerkass who engages in dubious tactics. Allison is a more straight example.

* InnocentBlueEyes: Played with. Desmond has them to go with his Holy Paladin outer image, but tends to be a jerkass who engages in dubious tactics. Allison is a more straight example, combined with HairOfGold.

* XMeetsY: The game's own marketing blurbs describe it as ''VideoGame/PuzzleQuest'' meets ''VideoGame/{{Bejeweled}}'' meets ''VideoGame/FinalFantasy''.

* AntiHero: John is a Type II, and Isis Corp and the Templars are both Type IV.

** Considering Desmond's utterly humorless personality, it's hard to tell whether he's being obtuse or intentionally antagonistic.

* {{Adorkable}}: Whenever John is talking to or about Allison, he goes from badass to earnestly awkward dork.

* BadassCape: Desmond has one attached to his PowerArmor, for no real apparent reason other than it looks cool and fits the medieval paladin styling.
* BadassLongcoat: John and Raven both wear a black leather trenchcoat that serves as their "armor" in terms of game mechanics.
* BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil: The Isis Corp technically isn't so much dedicated to doing good as they are to just maintaining the {{Masquerade}} and the balance between the mundane and shadow worlds.
* BatterUp: John's choice of weapon for his Melee attack.

* BlackAndGreyMorality: The "bad guys" consist of malevolent monsters who will kill anything they come across, including other shadow creatures. The "good guys" consist of a shadowy MegaCorp who is mostly concerned with keeping the balance than active do-gooding and is not above heavily manipulating people, a group of arrogant {{jerkass}} {{Knight Templar}}s who engage in dubious experiments, and a guy caught in between them who does care about protecting innocents but would really [[RefusalOfTheCall prefer to be left alone and have someone else handle it]].

* HunterOfHisOwnKind: Raven ''loves'' killing vampires, as well as any other shadow creatures she comes across. It's implied she does so as revenge on some of them killing her family.

* KnightTemplar: Go on, guess. In fact, Desmond and his followers probably actually ''are'' somehow a present-day version of the actual Knights Templar, since they wear white and red armor, use the ancient order's cross on their armor and base decorations, and some of said decorations have the ancient order's motto and name written in Latin on their base's floor. Of course, [[IncrediblyLamePun heaven only knows]] how they went from a disbanded order to a group of MadScientist-esque warriors with ''VideoGame/{{Halo}}''-level weaponry. ...literally, as one plotline involves Desmond trying to access an artifact to learn the order's history. [[spoiler: Doesn't work, since the artifact is booby-trapped. Well, whoops.]]

* [[VillainousBreakdown Anti-Villainous Breakdown]]: Desmond has one whenever John beats his knights and tries to get him to accept that John is just a once-ordinary guy who only wants to try to live a normal life.

* BadassLongcoat: John wears a black leather trenchcoat that serves as his "armor" in terms of mechanics.

* KnightTemplar: Go on, guess. In fact, Desmond and his followers probably actually ''are'' somehow a present-day version of the actual Knights Templar, since they wear white and red armor, use the ancient order's cross on their armor and base decorations, and some of said decorations have the ancient order's motto and name written in Latin on their base's floor. Of course, [[IncrediblyLamePun heaven only knows]] how they went from a disbanded order to a group of MadScientist-esque warriors with ''VideoGame/{{Halo}}''-level weaponry.

* [[SaveTheVillain Save the Hero Antagonist]]: At one point John saves Desmond from a malfunctioning artifact, even though Desmond had been trying to kill him up to that point and even though destroying the artifact put Allison in potential danger. When Desmond asks why, John explains that not all vampires are bad, which causes Desmond to HeroicBSOD and leave.

* ShoutOut: One of the Isis Corp agents [[Film/TheMatrix looks like Agent Smith and fights like Neo]]. One of the games also has a chapter called "[[Franchise/IndianaJones It Belongs In a Museum]]".

* TookALevelInJerkass: Granted, Desmond's pretty much a jerk from the get-go, but in ''John Turner #1'' he's mostly just a self-righteous twit, with his actions still being mostly understandable from his POV, and he even shows a glimmer of a bit of a HeelRealization at the end. In ''Dark Crusade'', however, he's seen engaging in only barely justifiable experiments, and acts increasingly more hostile and lacking in empathy to John, culminating in trying to [[spoiler:order John, whom he thinks is mind-controlled, into committing forced suicide by shooting himself in the head.]] Yikes. Add on a possible dose of IgnoredEpiphany too, depending on whether you read ''Dark Crusade'' as a sequel to ''JT#1'' or a retelling.

** Considering Desmond's utterly humorless personality, it's rather hard to tell whether he's being obtuse or intentionally antagonistic.
* TookALevelInJerkass: Granted, Desmond's pretty much a jerk from the get-go, but in ''John Turner #1'' he's more of a self-righteous twit than anything, with his actions still being mostly understandable from his POV, and he even shows a glimmer of realizing he's goofed up at the end. In ''Dark Crusade'', however, he's seen engaging in only barely justifiable experiments, and acts increasingly more hostile and lacking in empathy to John, culminating in trying to [[spoiler:order John whom he thinks is mind-controlled, into committing forced suicide by shooting himself in the head.]] Yikes. Add on a possible dose of IgnoredEpiphany too, depending on whether you read ''Dark Crusade'' as a sequel to ''JT#1'' or a retelling.

* InnocentBlueEyes: Played with. Desmond has them to go with his Holy Caped Crusader outer image, but tends to be a jerkass who engages in dubious tactics.
* KnightTemplar: Go on, guess. In fact, Desmond and his followers probably actually ''are'' somehow a present-day version of the actual Knights Templar, since they use the ancient order's emblem on their armor and base decorations, and some of said decorations have the ancient order's motto and name written in Latin on their base's floor. Of course, [[IncrediblyLamePun heaven only knows]] how they went from a disbanded order to a group of MadScientist-esque warriors with ''VideoGame/{{Halo}}''-level weaponry.

* NinetiesAntiHero: Played with. John looks and dresses the part to a tee, and his fighting animations are appropriately gritty. Yet he's a pretty NiceGuy for a vampire, and has the most traditionally heroic motivations in the setting.

* KnightTemplar: Go on, guess. Though it is played with slightly in that the Templars seem to focus their fanaticism entirely on the shadow creatures, who ''are'' mostly malevolent and/or mindless.

* [[VillainousBreakdown Anti-Villainous Breakdown]]: Desmond has one whenever John manages to handily beat his knights and tries to get him to accept the fact that John is just a once-ordinary guy who only wants to try to live as normal a life as possible.

* AwesomeMcCoolname: Desmond Benedict the Third.

* BigBad: [[spoiler:Draconis]] in the first game.

* EverythingTryingToKillYou: Literally, at the end of "John Turner #1". John even asks in exasperation, "What, is the whole city after me?!" (Yes. Yes they are.)
* FoeYay: A couple one-sided cases.
** The Black Witch is very, very, very much into John, openly flirting with him and calling him "lover" any time they meet. It's implied the attraction is why she turned him in the first place, and the entire reason why Isis Corp "recruited" him is so they can use her attraction to their advantage. John is pretty squicked out by the whole deal, but does take (non-sexual) advantage of the matter on a few occasions.
** Juliet openly tells John she thinks he's handsome, but she has no qualms about killing him, and John only cares about stopping her from harming innocents.

* HeroAntagonist: Desmond's Templars are technically "good guys", in that they're dedicated to wiping out the demons and monsters to protect humanity and serve God. They just can't/won't accept that not all of the shadow creatures are malevolent, and thus tend to be whom John fights the most other than the monsters.

* MegaCorp: The Isis Corporation, who seem to be ''the'' big shots in the shadow world.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: At one point John finds himself having to escape from a Templar base, so he frees the other monsters they had imprisoned, thinking they'll help distract the Templars. Which they do... but they also attack him too, as well as going back to their malevolent ways against the humans afterwards. Whoops.

* SecretTest: The Isis Corp agents are very fond of attacking John or tricking him into being in harm's way, then claiming they were testing him to see if he'd be strong enough for their missions. It's not made clear whether they're telling the truth, or if they're lying and really wanted to kill him and just figured that since he lived they might as well put him to use.

* WhatTheHellHero: Desmond calls John out on releasing the Templars' monster prisoners to try to help himself, thus putting the regular populace in danger again.

The series features two "good" vampires, Raven and John Turner. Raven is a hunter against the shadow world, to get revenge for the creatures who killed her family. John, meanwhile, is a former street racer who was turned by a crazy powerful vampire called the Black Witch, and now spends his time trying to live a normal life as a nocturnal taxi driver.

On one side of them is the shadow world, full of all manner of nightmarish creatures; fellow vampires, zombies, ghosts, ghouls, werewolves, mutants, and other monsters, most of which are bent on killing anyone or thing that crosses their path. On the other side of them is the Templars, technologically-advanced {{Church Militant}}s bent on destroying all shadow creatures, even "good" ones like John and Raven. In between is the [[{{Muggles}} normal humans]], unaware of their status as prey caught in the middle. Including John's LoveInterest Allison Donovan, who works as his dispatcher... and has a brother in a coma that she doesn't know John caused. And of course there are plenty of troublemaking humans as well. Finally, watching over all this is the shadowy [[MegaCorp Isis Corporation]] that Raven works for, dedicated to keeping a balance between the angels and demons, the normal world and the shadow world.

* [[VillainousBreakdown Anti-Villainous Breakdown]]: Desmond has one when John both manages to handily beat his knights and tries to get him to accept the fact that John is just a once-ordinary guy who only wants to try to live as normal a life as possible.

* HunterOfHisOwnKind: Raven ''loves'' killing vampires, as well as any other shadow creatures she comes across. It's implied she does so as revenge for some of them killing her family.
* IJustWantToBeNormal: John really wants to go back to being human again, or, barring that, at least be left alone to drive taxis and woo his cute dispatcher.

* InnocentBlueEyes: Played with. Desmond has them to go with his Holy Caped Crusader outer image, but is a complete jerkass who engages in some pretty dubious tactics.
* KnightTemplar: Go on, guess.

* NinetiesAntiHero: Played with. John looks and dresses the part to a tee, and his fighting animations are appropriately gritty. Yet he's a pretty nice guy for a vampire, and has the most traditionally heroic motivations in the setting.

* ShoutOut: One of the Isis Corp agents [[Film/TheMatrix looks like Agent Smith and fights like Neo]].

* ElegantGothicLolita: Juliet and the female members of the Black Martyrs dress like this.

* HeroAntagonist: The Templars are technically "good guys", in that they're dedicated to wiping out the demons and monsters to protect humanity and serve God. They just can't/won't accept that not all of the shadow creatures are malevolent, and thus tend to be whom John fights the most other than the monsters.