History VideoGame / InfraArcana

* FighterMageThief: The three available human character roles are a War Veteran, Occultist, and Rogue, which match up pretty well with these archetypes. Of course, there is also the role of a Ghoul, which is like a Barbarian taken up to eleven.

* OurGhoulsAreCreepier: A Ghoul is one of the four starting background options. They get the largest starting [=HP=] pool, but cannot regenerate it, and must feed upon corpses instead. They also lack any starting inventory whatsoever, but are immune to sprains and disease, and are obviously less fazed by seeing other monsters than the humans. Their eyes can also see in the dark, but are apparently worse at focusing because of it, resulting in a reduced accuracy with any firearms, or even when throwing things.

* BlackoutBasement: Once you go from the abandoned church building above ground, and descend into the actual catacombs, the darkness can at times be overwhelming, making it impossible for a human to see anything outside of a single tile radius around you. You do start with an Electric Lantern, but it'll only last for a 100 turns, unless you have invested into an Electrically Minded trait that'll double its duration (amongst the other bonuses.)

** Wizards are encountered in the late game simply wiser, tougher Priests with a larger spell repertoir and which are way more difficult to get rid of on the first turn. Setting them on fire to at least impede their spellcasting is often a good idea...as long as they don't paralyze you while your Molotov is lit, but not thrown!

* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:Though they vowed to destroy the Trapezohedron, the Exorcist will still end up making a pact for knowledge, binding themselves to serve Nyarlathotep]].
* FighterMageThief: The three available human character roles are a War Veteran, Occultist and Rogue, which match up pretty well with these archetypes. Of course, there is also the role of a Ghoul, which is like a Barbarian taken up to eleven.
* GiantSpider: The Huge Green, Red or White Spiders, which are encountered on the later levels. They are both tough, and move faster than the player character, and their damage is scary even if the player possesses the Iron Suit. Worst of all is their ability to blind, weaken or paralyze the player once they started attacking, making dealing with them at range (or straight-up avoiding them) paramount.

* LifeDrain: This is what the Vampire Bats' bite does to their victims (i.e. yourself.)

* MagicMissile: The Darkbolt spell, and one of the two Invocation-focused Occultists start with. It deals 4-9 damage, is guaranteed to hit its victim, and has a chance of paralyzing the target (which then boosts accuracy for your conventional melee[=/=]ranged attacks into 90-98% range). However, the projectile has a mind of its own, and so if there is more than one target it'll determine for itself which one it's going to strike. If there are no visible targets at all (i.e. if the player has been blinded), then it'll fizzle out immediately.

* NonCombatEXP: '''All''' of the [=XP=] is exclusively obtained through discovering new things. Descending to a new dungeon level immediately adds 5%: detecting a trap or a secret door adds 2, finding a monster you have never seen before is worth between 3% for basic monsters like Rat-Things to 10%+ for unique minibosses like Keziah Mason, finding unknown potions or manuscripts immediately adds 8%, identifying the purpose of the unknown Rods or Strange Devices can add 15%, and reading runes on the Obelisks immediately grants 20%. There are also two ways that are more chancey - some Fountains may give "more insightful" bonus and +1% [=XP=] if you drink from them, but it's also possible to get outright negative effects from a Fountain, while gongs '''may''' give a huge experience boost when rung, but are more likely to just deafen you for a considerable amount of time.
* NotUsingTheZWord: The undead are called Reanimated Corpses here. Justified, since the game is set around [[TheRoaringTwenties 1920s]], when the word "zombie" had yet to enter popular lexicon. They will occasionally drop the paralyzing powder that actually '''is''' called Zombie Dust, though, which presumably refers to the Haitian contoctions used to create the original "zombies" - plantation workers who were drugged out of their minds to ensure complete obedience.
* OptionalStealth: The game has a reasonably detailed stealth system, which includes several levels of awareness for the [=NPCs=] and takes both the light levels and noise made by the actions such as melee attacks, gunshots, swimming or wading through the water or opening[=/=]kicking down doors into account. Given the overall difficulty level, you'll likely resort to stealth at least some of the time. Rogue characters also start with a +45% bonus to remaining undetected.

* OurGoblinsAreDifferent: Bog Tchers are an original creation of ''Infra Arcana'', and while described as "dwarfish" in appearance, their combination of small size, cruelty and inventiveness clearly evokes goblins. Since they are shorter and weaker than humans physically, they are pretty easy to beat down in melee. At range, however, they wield their Spike Guns, and if you don't kill them before they get to use them, a shot from one will almost certainly pin you to a wall, both immobilizing you, and making you take further damage during the attempts to tear free.
* OurZombiesAreDifferent: The Reanimated Corpses can be potentially encountered on the first level, and are one of the toughest early enemies. They move at pretty much the same speed as the player so outrunning them once they spotted you is difficult, possess as much [=HP=] as the player, if not more, and their damage quickly adds up: fighting just two of them at once in melee is usually a very bad idea.

** Actual rats can be encountered too, though they are only found on special occasions. This includes being summoned by the Cultist Priests or Keziah Mason (the "mother" of Rat-Things), or showing up as a dozen-strong pack as a potential ambush when the walls of a secret room near the player suddenly collapse (as an alternative to a Rat-Thing or a Reanimated Corpse[=/=]Bloated Corpse ambush.) In all cases, they are predictably weak, but can be annoying due to inflicting the Infected status.
* RegeneratingHealth: Hitpoints will regenerate automatically over time, unless you are playing as a Ghoul. Receiving a high amount of damage at once, however, will leave a ''Wound'', and these result in a permanent debuff unless treated with a Medical Bag over a considerable amount of turns. Death occurs once your character has either run out of hitpoints, or accumulated five wounds. A Survivalist trait also makes wounds somewhat more bearable, and grants immunity to the Diseased status (which may otherwise occur if Infections from certain nasty enemies are not treated promptly with a medical bag.), while Rapid Recoverer boosts the regeneration rate. The various Oozes are particularly annoying to deal with due to their high regeneration capabilities.

* ReligiousBruiser: The Exorcist, who enters the church in order to cleanse it of all the corruption within. Interestingly, their holy symbol appears to be an ankh, suggesting them to be a coptic christian or an offshoot of that faith.

** Tommy guns are still more powerful than the either shotgun, dealing damage in the much more consistent 20-30 range and. However, they consume 5 bullets per burst, so even if you find one with a full drum, you'll still get only 10 bursts out of it.
* ShoutOut: The cultists' chanting and raving are taken directly out of VideoGame/{{Blood}}

* SquishyWizard: The Occultist characters are the closest thing to a wizard in the setting, possessing the most Spirit points and regenerating them the fastest. They also get to drain occult traps to restore some Spirit Points, will occasionally block enemies' spells, suffer a halved Shock penalty for casting anything, and get to specialize a domain between Clairvoyance, Enchantment, Invocation and Transmutation. To compensate for these advantages, their max hitpoints reduced by 2 in comparison with the others.

* TenSecondFlashlight: Your Electric Lantern will expire in a 100 turns by default, which can happen ''very'' quickly. Players often take their chances even in pitch-black areas, and deploy them exclusively when rushing to the end-level stairway, hoping to stave off Insanity through their -20 Shock effect.
* TokenGoodTeammate: While most of the classes simply want to claim the Trapezohedron for themselves, the Exorcist desires to destroy it, so that it doesn't tempt anybody else, along with putting an end to the cult instead of simply claiming it's knowledge and treasures.

* DropTheHammer: Construction hammers are probably the most "average" weapon in the game: it deals an acceptable 3 to 9 damage, is not silent like hatchets or daggers, has average weight, and possesses a minor +5% to-hit modifier, right in between +15% and +20% modifiers of Hatchets and Daggers and -15% modifier of weapons like Pitchforks and Maces. In all, though, War Veterans already possess a superior weapon with their machete, while the others are likely to find random machetes or axes a superior option in the same weight category.
** A Sledgehammer is practically the most powerful melee weapon in terms of pure damage, and wielding one also grants a large bonus for breaking down the doors. However, their sheer weight, combined with a hefty accuracy penalty, makes them non-viable for anyone besides the War Veteran characters.

* BladeOnAStick: You can randomly find a pitchfork in the lair. It deals 4-13 damage, reduces your chances of being hit by 15% due to its long handle and pushes back the opponents a tile as well. However, it is quite heavy, and wielding it reduces your own melee accuracy by 15% as well, so it's mainly an option for War Veterans, who already start with bonuses to melee to compensate for that.

* RegeneratingHealth: Hitpoints will regenerate automatically over time, unless you are playing as a Ghoul. Receiving a high amount of damage at once, however, will leave a ''Wound'', and these result in a permanent debuff unless treated with a Medical Bag over a considerable amount of turns. Death occurs once your character has either run out of hitpoints, or accumulated five wounds. A Survivalist trait also makes wounds somewhat more bearable, and grants immunity to the Diseased status (which may otherwise occur if Infections from certain nasty enemies are not treated promptly with a medical bag.), while Rapid Recoverer boosts the regeneration rate.

* ReligiousBruiser: The Exorcist, who enters the church in order to cleanse it of all the corruption within. Interestingly, their holy symbol appears to be an ankh.
** The various Oozes are particularly annoying to deal with due to their high regeneration capabilities.

* TokenGoodTeammate: While most of the classes simply want to claim the Trapezohedron for themselves, the Exorcist desires to destroy, so that it doesn't tempt anybody else.

* AnAxeToGrind: Occultists start off wielding a Hatchet, which is a small axe, as the game helpfully points out. Like Rogues' daggers, they are very light in comparison to the other weapons (actually weighing less than the default [=M1911=] Colt pistol), have a 15% modifier to accuracy and their attacks are still silent, unlike War Veterans' Machetes. Otherwise, however, they are quite weak, with their damage restricted to a 1-5 range. An Occultist player is usually best served by completely ditching the Hatchet in favour of an enchanted Dagger as soon as they find one (either randomly, or from a dead Cultist Priest).
** You can find proper timber axes in the dungeon as well. These are much more powerful, with damage in the 5-15 range, and have one of the best damage[=/=]weight ratios in the game out of all the melee weapons.

* FighterMageThief: The three available human character roles are a War Veteran, Occultist and Rogue, which match up pretty well with these archetypes. Of course, there is also the role of a Ghoul, which is like a Barbarian taken UpToEleven.

* AnAxeToGrind: Occultists start off wielding a Hatchet, which is a small axe, as the game helpfully points out. Like Rogues' daggers, they are very light in comparison to the other weapons (actually weighing less than the default [=M1911=] Colt pistol), have a 15% modifier to accuracy and their attacks are still silent, unlike War Veterans' Machetes. Otherwise, however, they are quite weak, with their damage restricted to a 1-5 range. An Occultist player is usually best served by completely ditching a Hatchet in favour of an enchanted Dagger as soon as they find one (either randomly, or from a dead Cultist Priest).

* AnAxeToGrind: Occultists start off wielding a Hatchet, which is a small axe, as the game helpfully points out. Like Rogues' daggers, they are very light in comparison to the other weapons (actually weighing less than the default [=M1911=] Colt pistol), have a 15% modifier to accuracy and their attacks are still silent, unlike War Veterans' Machetes. Otherwise, however, they are quite weak, with their damage restricted to a 1-5 range. An Occultist player is usually best served by completely ditching a Hatchet in favour of an enchanted Dagger as soon as they find one (either randomly, or from a dead Cultist Priest), due to thei
** You can find proper timber axes in the dungeon as well. These are much more powerful, with damage in the 5-15 range, and have one of the best damage[=/=]weight ratios in the game out of all the melee weapons. They will

* AnAxeToGrind: Occultists start off wielding a Hatchet, which is a small axe, as the game helpfully points out. They are very light in comparison to the other weapons (actually weighing less than the default [=M1911=] Colt pistol), have a 15% modifier to accuracy and their attacks are still silent, unlike Machetes, and they are also more effective at chopping apart corpses. Otherwise, however, they are quite weak, with their damage restricted to a 1-5 range.
** You can find proper timber axes in the dungeon as well. These are much more powerful, with damage in the 5-15 range, but are also correspondingly noisier, heavier and less accurate, with a -5% to-hit modifier.

* BackStab: An attack performed upon an unaware enemy (as indicated by their blue background) will do 50% additional damage, and is almost certain to connect. Rogues can also eventually get a Vicious trait that raises said damage by 150%, and Ruthless then adds on ''another'' 150%.

* BladeOnAStick: You can randomly find a pitchfork in the lair. It deals 4-13 damage, reduces your chances of being hit by 15% due to its long handle and pushes back the opponents a tile as well. However, the chief downside is that it reduces your own melee accuracy by 15% as well.

* CreepyRavens: These can appear on the very first floor, and will usually make their presence known before you even see them, simply through the eerie flapping of their wings. While they are unlikely to kill you on their own, their pecks have a high chance of blinding you for a couple of turns (unless you possess eye protection such as a Gas Mask), which makes them very dangerous if they are accompanied by any stronger enemies.
* TheCult: The Church of Starry Wisdom; what else? Their members can be found from the first floor onwards, and speak almost exclusively in garbled incantations. The lowest-ranking ones may try to cast spells, but generally fail: however, they will almost certainly possess firearms of their own to compensate. These are usually the basic (but still dangerous) [=M1911=] Colts like yours, but it's also possible that they'll have heftier weapons like Tommy Guns or sawn-offs. On the other hand, Cultist Priests are superior spellcasters, but do not bother to carry anything besides ritual daggers.
** There are also the more special cultists like Zealots, who have torn their eyes and tongue out in their devotion, and now lash themselves with a Spiked Mace, which both does hefty '''and''' has a 25% chance of stunning the victim and thus exposing them to more sustained punishment. The worst thing is that they frighteningly tough, being easily able to tank several shots from your Colt [=M1911=], and even a Molotov may not stop them. While they are theoretically ''supposed to'' mainly appear below floor 3, discovering them even on the first floor is not of the question, at which point a Dynamite Stick may well be your best option.
* DropTheHammer: Hammers are short, noisy melee weapons, but they are also comparatively effective, dealing between 3 to 9 damage, while still possessing a +5% to-hit modifier, instead of outright crippling your accuracy like some of the heavier weapons.
* EnemySummoner: Major Clapham-Lee was originally an undead character in ''Literature/HerbertWestReanimator''. Here, like in that story, he acts as a commander to the generic undead, and able to summon basic Reanimated Corpses out of seemingly nowhere.

* MagicMissile: The Darkbolt spell, which Invocation-focused Occultists can start with. It deals 4-9 damage, and paralyzes the target. However, the projectile has a mind of its own, and so if there is more than one target it'll determine for itself which one it's going to strike.

* MolotovCocktail: All of the human characters start with a couple of these, and they are exactly as dangerous as one would expect. However, keep in mind that the fire can and will spread over a considerable number of turns, so deploying them without a way to escape is a foolish thing indeed.
* NonCombatEXP: The [=XP=] is almost exclusively obtained through discovering things here. Descending to a new dungeon level immediately adds 5 points: detecting a trap adds 2, finding a monster you have never seen before is worth at least 5 points, and finding unusual objects like strange potions is worth 8 points at least.
* NotUsingTheZWord: The undead are called Reanimated Corpses here. Justified, since the game is set around [[TheRoaringTwenties 1920s]], when the word "zombie" had yet to enter popular lexicon. They will occasionally drop the paralyzing powder that actually '''is''' called Zombie Dust, and presumably refers to the Haitian contoctions used to create the original "zombies" - plantation workers who were drugged out of their minds to ensure complete obedience.
* OptionalStealth: The game has a reasonably detailed stealth system, which includes several levels of awareness for the [=NPCs=] and takes both the light levels and noise made by the actions such as melee attacks, gunshots and opening[=/=]kicking down doors into account. Given the overall difficulty level, you'll likely resort to stealth at least some of the time. Rogue characters also start with a +45% bonus to remaining undetected.

** There are ghouls roaming the levels as well. They will be allied to a Ghoul player character, but the others will have no such luck.

** For extra fun, a Reanimated Corpse going down may occasionally lead to its intestines bursting out of its stomach and '''crawling out to attack you on their own'''. While they are essentially equivalent to a Worm Mass in stats, and thus easy to deal with, the mere fact of this happening adds around 10% of Shock all on its own, and may end up pushing the character into 100% if this happened unexpectedly as they were about to move on to the next level.
* PoisonMushroom: The unidentified potions and manuscripts you find can both have harmful effects. The most infamous example is probably the Potion of Paralyzis.
* RatStomp: One of the earliest enemies you will likely encounter are Rat-Things. While they may not be quite like normal rats, they still go down easily. War Veteran characters will likely not even take any damage from their bites due to the Flak Jackets they wear.

* SanitySlippage: Like any Lovecraftian game worth its salt, ''Infra Arcana'' has a sanity meter, which consists of two tier. As such, things like sighting the disturbing monsters, carrying unholy artifacts, using occult powers, staying in the darkness for too long, or spending too much time in that accursed lair in general accumulates Shock, while standing in the light reduces it a bit, and descending to the next dungeon level clears Shock completely. If Shock reaches 100%, your character snaps in some way (ranging from laughing uncontrollably, to fainting, or even gaining a permanent phobia) and then, the Shock value is reset down to 0%, but the '''Insanity''' value rises, and this cycle can potentially go on until your character truly goes irrevocably mad at 100% Insanity.
* SavageWolves: The wolves can be encountered from the first floor of the lair onwards, and they typically come in packs.
* ShotgunsAreJustBetter: There are two main varieties: the normal Pump-Action Shotguns are essentially a straight-up upgrade over the default Colt [=M1911=], having a slightly higher max ammo capacity (8 over 7) and dishing out damage in the 6-18 range instead of Colt's 5-12; their only weakness is that they are reloaded shell-by-shell. Sawn-Off Shotguns only fit two shells and are hideously inaccurate when not used up close, but their damage values of 8 to 24 are great at putting down anything that is still vulnerable to physical damage.
** Tommy guns are still more powerful than either shotgun, dealing damage in the much more consistent 20-30 range. However, they are also very ammo-hungry.

** War Veterans start the game with a Gas Mask, which will protect them from all the harmful gases, including the dungeon's gas traps, which inflict confusion status for several dozen turns. However, the Gas Mask's filter only has a limited lifespan, and wearing the mask both reduces their accuracy and makes it harder to detect hidden objects (traps included), or even the enemies trying to sneak up on them

* TacticalDoorUse: Every door in the lair that can be opened can also be closed (assuming the door wasn't jammed when you first found it, forcing you to kick it down). Closed doors will successfully stop the various animals, but not cultists; however, human characters begin the game with several metal spikes in their inventory, which will permanently bar the doors.
** Reanimated Corpses do not know how to open doors, ''but'' they will try to beat them down; this works on the simple wooden doors, but is useless against the prison-style barred doors. An additional advantage of the barred doors is that you can still easily shoot at anyone behind them through the gaps in the metal bars, allowing you to deal with an indefinite number of animals as long as you still have ammo and/or throwing knives to spare.
* TenSecondFlashlight: Your Electric Lantern will expire in a 100 turns by default, which can happen ''very'' quickly.
* UnidentifiedItems: Played straight with all of the potions and manuscripts you find. However, carrying both of them for a while will eventually give you a feeling as to whether that item type is benign or harmful. The Occultists who specialize in Clairvoyance also get an Identify spell.

** There are also more unique cultists

* MagicMissile: The Darkbolt spell, which Invocation-focused Occultists can start with. It deals 4-9 damage, and paralyzes the target. However, the projectile has a mind of its own, and so it'll determine itself which target it's going to strike.

* MolotovCocktail: All of the human characters start with a couple of these, and they are exactly as dangerous as would expect. However, keep in mind that the fire can and will spread over a considerable number of turns, so deploying them without a way to escape is a foolish thing indeed.

* NotUsingTheZWord: The undead are called Reanimated Corpses here. Justified, since the game is set around [[TheRoaringTwenties 1920s]], when the word "zombie" had yet to enter popular lexicon.

* AnAxeToGrind: Occultists start off wielding a Hatchet, which is a small axe, as the game helpfully points out. Their attacks are still silent, unlike Machetes, and they are also more effective at chopping apart corpses.

* TheCult: The Church of Starry Wisdom; what else? Their members can be found from the first floor onwards, speak in garbled incantations, and will almost certainly possess firearms of their own.

* SmokeOut: There are Smoke Grenades, and War Veterans in particular begin the game with a few of these. They will obscure the opponent's field of vision, but the same will happen to you once the smoke spreads towards your location, and the acrid smoke will also hurt your eyes, lungs and throat. ** War Veterans also start the game with a Gas Mask, which will protect them from both their own smoke grenades, and from the effects of the dungeon's smoke traps and gas traps (the latter inflict confusion status for several dozen turns.). However, the Gas Mask's filter only has a limited lifespan, and wearing the mask both reduces their accuracy and makes it harder to detect hidden objects (traps included), or even the enemies trying to sneak up on them.

''Infra Arcana'' is a [[FreewareGames freeware]] {{Roguelike}} game created by Marin Tornquist. Its development began in 2011, but the game is still being updated to this day. It can be found [[https://sites.google.com/site/infraarcana/ here]].

It is explicitly part of the Franchise/CthulhuMythos of Creator/HPLovecraft. Like most of his works, it is set in the early 20th century. The protagonist finds themselves in the forest at the entrance of a so-called Church of Starry Wisdom, a new yet already notorious cult. Their lair is large, and somewhere beneath it lies the object of their worship, The Shining Trapezohedron, which is said to reveal all secrets of the universe. The cultists will do anything to protect it; if you are a dedicated player, your character (or rather, [[YetAnotherStupidDeath numerous characters]]) will likewise do anything to get to it.

* CreepyRavens: These can appear on the very first floor, and will usually make their presence known before you even see them, simply through the eerie flapping of their wings. While they are unlikely to kill you on their own, their pecks have a high chance of blinding you for a couple of turns, which makes them very dangerous if they are accompanied by any stronger enemies.

* SmokeOut: There are Smoke Grenades, and War Veterans in particular begin the game with a few of these. They will obscure the opponent's field of vision, but the acrid smoke will also hurt your eyes, lungs and throat. To counter that, War Veterans also start the game with a Gas Mask, but its filter has only a limited lifespan. Moreover, wearing it both reduces their accuracy and makes it harder to detect hidden objects (traps included), or even the enemies trying to sneak up on them.
* SquishyWizard: The Occultist characters are the closest thing to a wizard in the setting, possessing the most Spirit points and regenerating them the fastest. They also get to drain occult traps to restore some Spirit Points, will occasionally block enemies' spells, suffer a halved Shock penalty for casting anything, and get to specialize a domain between Clairvoyance, Enchantment, Invocation and Transmutation. To compensate for these advantages, their max hitpoints reduced by 2 in comparison with the others.