History VideoGame / Marrow

* StoryBreadcrumbs: The game contains zero dialogues, the only text in it are the weapons/items descriptions, and the locations names. The only backstory can be found on the [[https://marrow.fandom.com/wiki/Marrow game's fandom page]], or in the [[https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=57659.0 developer's notes.]]

The release trailer can be found [[https://youtu.be/J0bakSQR6IU here]], and the game can be purchased from [[https://vincentguff.itch.io/marrow itch.io]] or [[https://store.steampowered.com/app/556710/Marrow/ steam]].

* BodyHorror: every single being in the game besides the protagonist and the orphans is either a mutated human, an alien, a ghost, or an {{EldritchAbomination}}.

* TennisBoss: Imprisoned Seer and Cloven.

** The Familiar, a powerful godlike being that was born from the experiments of crossbreeding between the marrow affected humanoid and a lumen fly. It has a from of underdeveloped and mutated humanoid embryo growing from the big main body, having both insect and human traits, as well as the pair of alienish eyes. It's unknown if the Familiar's mind is actually well-developed, or it's still on level of a newborn child, but considering it staying sealed in the Red Tower for centuries despite all of it's enormous might, we can assume the latter.

** The Familiar, a powerful godlike being that was born from the experiments of crossbreeding between the marrow affected human and a lumen fly. It has a from of underdeveloped and mutated human embryo growing from the big main body, having both insect and human traits, as well as the pair of alienish eyes. It's unknown if the Familiar's mind is actually well-developed, or it's still on level of a newborn child, but considering it staying sealed in the Red Tower for centuries despite all of it's enormous might, we can assume the latter.

** [[spoiler:Not really a jumpscare: in the Red Tower, there's a huge empty room with the dead bodies of unknown creatures on them. If you get past one of them until the point it's not visible on screen anymore, and then go back, you'll see the said body in sitting pose.]] [[spoiler:If you reenter the room after that, the body will be gone.]]
* MultipleEndings: [[spoiler:More gameover than an actual ending, Bad End is obtained if Daniel defeated the Familiar without saving all of the orphans. The protagonist just dies right afterwards, ''though it doesn't seem like the true ending brings any more happy conclusion for him''.]]
* MultiStageBattle: Upon depleting half of it's health, Stuland Patriarch's appearance becomes more distorded, and he starts attacking faster. In addition, Olnok's Eyes start using their lightning strikes more often after destroying all of their eyes.
* NintendoHard: While being a product of love to the whole NES era, the game is absolutely merciless in terms of difficulty, especially in comparison with the most of other metroidvania titles: there's no map option, no health bar, the player is consistently surrounded by darkness with all of its deadly inhabitants. Besides, the game uses {{Checkpoint}} system, and upon dying or saving at one of them most of the previously killed enemies will be revived.

* SoundOfNoDamage: Lumen Caster has an impenetrable shield, that player has to turn off in order to land damaging strikes on the boss; Imprisoned Seer can't be damaged by melee weapons, and can be defeated only by reflecting its magical blasts; the orb of the final Olnok's Eyes form is only taking damage when glowing blue.

* StoryBreadcrumbs: The game contains zero dialogues, and the only text in it are weapons/items descriptions, and locations names. The only backstory can be found on the [[https://marrow.fandom.com/wiki/Marrow game's fandom page]], or in the [[https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=57659.0 developer's notes.]]
* TeleportSpam: Lurkers are constantly teleporting to player while being barely visible and invulnerable, as if their high damage wasn't enough painful to player. [[spoiler:Same goes for the Familiar in addition to its other nasty tricks.]]

* AbilityRequiredToProceed: Not only offensive abilities will be needed to get into every nook and cranny of the underworld of the mountain, but also the ''Fissures'', through which Daniel can mutate into a warped version of himself: too weak to fight, but small enough to squeeze through tight spots.

** Grit Regain spell allows Daniel to regenerate his health for the cost of mana, making Daniel's voyage a bit more safer.
** Teleporting ability allows Daniel to warp back to the last checkpoint without resetting the enemies. However, doing this after the mysterious bell rings kills him on spot instead.
** While the standard melee attack is being performed in a slow and clunky manner while standing on the ground, attacking while jumping doesn't limit Daniel's movements, and is quite useful for hit-and-run strikes.

* BackgroundBoss: All of the game's bosses can be damaged only by hitting them in a certain spot.
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: In the true ending, Daniel manages to save all of his friends and sending them back to the surface, but after defeating the Familiar he's getting consumed by ''Marrow'' flooding the dungeon, while being one step from the exit. Whether he's died or not, remains unknown.]]

* BodyHorror: every single being in the game besides the protagonist is either a mutated human, an alien, a ghost, or an {{EldritchAbomination}}.

* Body Horror: every single being in the game besides the protagonist is either a mutated human, an alien, a ghost, or an {{Eldritch Abomination}}.

A group of orphans, that left their village for unknown reasons, heed in some abandoned house in the mountains during the thunderstorm. One of them, a boy named Daniel, wakes up at night and sees that all the other children have disappeared. He investigates the house and finds a huge hole in the floor that leads down below the mountain. Daniel is going down, trying to find and bring his friends back, but he doesn't even know what exactly awaits him in the bowels of the deep mountain...

[[caption-width-right:350:Going deeper into the nightmare]]

* StationaryBoss: Stuland Patriarch, Imprisoned Seer, Lumen Caster and Olnok's Eyes.

* TheArtifact: ''Luminous Orb'' and ''Tendril''.

* CaveBehindTheFalls: Upon entering the ''Necropolis'', it's possible to get straight into the upper levels of the area by dashing through the first marrowfall.

* DeadlyGas: ''The Growths'' release a poisonous cloud upon exploding. [[spoiler: This won't happen if they're killed by the Fire Blast.]]
* FinalBossNewDimension: The otherworldly cosmic landscape area before the battle with the ''Olnok's Eyes'' and the ''Familiar'', [[spoiler:that is located on bottom of the ''Red Tower''.]]

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: In the true ending, Daniel manages to save all of his friends and sending them back to the surface, but after defeating the Familiar he's getting consumed by ''Marrow'' flooding the dungeon, while being one step from the exit. Whether he's died or not, remains unknown.]]

* AbilityRequiredToProceed: Not only offensive abilities will be needed to get into every nook and cranny of the underworld of the mountain, but also the ''Fissures'', through which Daniel can mutate into a warped version of himself: too weak to fight, but small enough to squeeze through tight spots.

The release trailer can be found [[https://youtu.be/J0bakSQR6IU here]], and the game can be purchased from [[https://vincentguff.itch.io/marrow itch.io]] or [[https://store.steampowered.com/app/556710/Marrow/ steam]].