History VideoGame / Monstrum

** It's left vague as to whether the protagonist is one of the 2 crewmen who are mentioned in the notes as having been unconscious during the initial attack due to earlier injuries, and has amnesia, or if they're an entirely random stranger who has been transported to the ship by unknown means. Neither possibility is ruled out by the game.

->''"..it sounds like the most demonic game of Pac-Man ever conceived."''

''Monstrum'' is a combination of the Roguelike and SurvivalHorror genres developed by Team Junkfish.

Gameplay is based around object driven puzzle solving and escaping the monsters lurking within the ship, who will be alerted to your presence by any noise you make. The items you need are somewhere in the ship and may not even be present, forcing players to change their plans. The player and the creature are the only living things on the vessel, and that monster is hunting you from the moment the game starts. Each new file pits the player against one of three different monsters, but you'll never know which one you're facing until it finds you...

* ComplexityAddiction: Unlike the NoNonsenseNemesis Brute and the CombatPragmatist Hunter, the Fiend is the most inclined to toy around with you before going for the kill. Arguably justified, though: Its long-range MindOverMatter is something of a StoryBreakerPower.

* RockMonster: The Brute is a massive {{Golem}} type thing that looks like cooled lava, complete with GlowingEyesOfDoom that can give you a warning that he's nearby -- if the stomping doesn't tip you off.

** The Brute is the most straightforward monster, being an AlmightyIdiot of pure physicality instead of some complex stalker with fancy abilities like the Hunter and the Fiend. That being said, the "pure physicality" in question is still enough to make it a terrifying {{Juggernaut}} and NoNonsenseNemesis.

* AdvancingBossOfDoom: You have no way to actually harm whichever monster you end up with; you can only evade or lure it elsewhere. [[note]]Granted, you can at least stun it via item like the fire extinguisher, but that still only buys you a couple of seconds at best.[[/note]]

* ParanoiaFuel: If you get the Hunter, then [[SarcasmMode have fun walking past a vent]].

* BarrierBustingBlow: The Brute can force its way through anything, including power-locked.

* ExcusePlot: You wake up on a ship with no memory of how you got there. There's a monster on the ship with you. Escape. That's the entire extent of the game's plot. Scattered notes found around the ship provide some background flavor (such as establishing the year the ship fell to the monster as 1977, and possibly hinting that the monsters are wildlife or humans that were injected with an experimental healing serum derived from deep sea jellyfish, but don't actually present an over-arcing story.

* GhostShip: The game is set on an abandoned cargo ship. The only things on it are the player character and the monster who is trying to kill you.

* HumanoidAbomination: The Fiend is an emaciated gray humanoid with an elongated head, tiny glowing pupils and telekinetic powers that it uses to freeze the player. It floats through the air due to its legs ending in stumps.

* JumpScare: When the monsters pop up right in front of you, particularly when the Hunter emerges from a vent or an egg sac. The steam pipes in the Lower Decks also qualify.

* RockMonster: The Brute is a massive {{Golem}} type thing that looks like cooled lava, complete with GlowingEyesOfDoom that can give you a warning that he's nearby - if the stomping doesn't tip you off.

* SuperPersistentPredator: the three monsters that antagonise the player ([[WordOfgod though only the Hunter actually has any interest in eating you]]). Fortunately, only one of them will appear in each playthrough... Unfortunately, you won't know which until you encounter them. They are:
** [[TheJuggernaut The Brute]]: A hulking, fiery golem. Physically the strongest of the monsters, able to knock down doors when pursuing you. However, it's also by far the noisiest of the monsters, allowing the player to hear it coming, and it's GlowingEyesOfDoom creates a red light wherever it looks that warns the player if it's just around the corner.
** [[StealthExpert The Hunter]]: An almost skeletal entity with elongated, clawed fingers. It travels around through the Ship's vents, and can scale up walls. It is much quieter than the Brute, and the poor lighting of the ship means that by the time you see it, it may already be too late.
** [[HumanoidAbomination The Fiend]]: A wraith-like demon that levitates instead of walking (it has no feet). It has supernatural powers like shorting out lights whenever he is near and possessing telekinetic abilities. It "plays on more malevolent tropes like serial killers and the supernatural". Oh, and its inclusion to the game was veiled in the patch notes, catching most players in surprise when they encountered it for the first time.
* UniversalDriversLicense: The protagonist is able to competently drive both the helicopter and the submarine (vehicles which require an enormous amount of training to operate), and can fly the helicopter well enough to pull off a complex, risky maneuver (scrapping the monster off on a passing cargo container while it's hanging off the landing struts).
* WasOnceAMan: [[spoiler: The new notes added in the 2016 patch reveal that the Brute and the Fiend were created in medical experiments where two injured "test subjects" were injected with a regenerative serum derived from deep sea jellyfish. The test subjects may or may not have been the two injured crew members that are mentioned repeatedly in the notes and audio logs.]]

* NeckSnap: The Brute's preferred method of killing you.

** [[EldritchAbomination The Fiend]]: A wraith-like demon that levitates instead of walking (it has no feet). It has supernatural powers like shorting out lights whenever he is near and possessing telekinetic abilities. It "plays on more malevolent tropes like serial killers and the supernatural". Oh, and its inclusion to the game was veiled in the patch notes, catching most players in surprise when they encountered it for the first time.

* WasOnceAMan: [[spoiler: The new notes added in the 2016 patch reveal that the Brute and the Fiend were created in medical experiments where 2 injured "test subjects" were injected with a regenerative serum derived from deep sea jellyfish. The test subjects may or may not have been the 2 injured crew members that are mentioned repeatedly in the notes and audio logs.]]

** The Life Raft ending. While the Helicopter and Submarine ones definitely involve cooler vehicles, the Life Raft one requires the least steps to complete, as well as doesn't automatically make you play a final ProtectionMission against the monster.

* TheMole: The collectible notes reveal that at least two or more passengers or crew on board the ship were part of a secret operation to gather mysterious "specimens" from the Pacific Rim region. It is implied that the specimens may have hatched or matured and become the monsters, though the notes are extremely vague and this may or may not be the case.

* ExcusePlot: You wake up on a ship with no memory of how you got there. There's a monster on the ship with you. Escape. That's the entire extent of the game's plot. Scattered notes found around the ship provide some background flavor (such as establishing the year the ship fell to the monster as 1977, and possibly hinting that the monsters are undiscovered Asian wildlife (like Mogwai[=/=]Gremlins)), but don't actually present an over-arcing story.

** The Life Raft ending. While the Helicopter and Submarine ones definitely involve cooler vehicles, the Life Raft one requires the least steps to complete as well as doesn't automatically make you play a final ProtectionMission against the monster.

* DangerouslyGenreSavvy: The Fiend persistently lingers near where it last saw you, actually considers locking doors to cut you off, is the most inclined to check potential hiding spots, and even tries to lure you out via false sense of security.
** The Hunter to a lesser degree -- it uses the vents for ambushes and even sets traps via its sacs that you occasionally see.

* AdvancingBossOfDoom: You have no way to actually harm whichever monster you end up with; you can only evade or lure it elsewhere.

Gameplay is based around object driven puzzle solving and escaping the monsters lurking within the ship that will be alerted to your presence by any noise you make. The items you need are somewhere in the ship and may not even be around. The player and the creature are the only living things on the vessel, and that monster is hunting you from the moment the game starts. Each new file pits the player against one of three different monsters, but you'll never know which one you're facing until it finds you...

* BoringButPractical: The Brute is the most straightforward monster, being an AlmightyIdiot of pure physicality instead of some complex stalker with fancy abilities like the Hunter and the Fiend. That being said, the "pure physicality" in question is still enough to make it a terrifying {{Juggernaut}} and NoNonsenseNemesis.

* TheManyDeathsOfYou: Getting caught by one of the monsters treats you to a first-person death animation of them horribly killing you in some way relative to the manner in which they found you, such as the Hunter pouncing on you and devouring your head or the Fiend violently twisting your limbs with its power.
* MagmaMan: The Brute, combined with RockMonster

* RockMonster: One of the monsters chasing you is a massive {{Golem}} type thing, dubbed the Brute by the developers, that looks like cooled lava, complete with GlowingEyesOfDoom that can give you a warning that he's nearby- if the stomping doesn't tip you off.

Gameplay is based around object driven puzzle solving and escaping the monsters lurking within the ship that will be alerted to your presence by any noise you make. The items you need are somewhere in the ship and may not even be around. The player and the creature are the only living things on the ship, and that monster is hunting you from the moment the game starts. Each new file pits the player against one of three different monsters, but you'll never know which one you're facing until it finds you...

Gameplay is based around object driven puzzle solving and escaping the monsters lurking within the ship that will be alerted to your presence by any noise you make. Each new file pits the player against one of three different monsters, but you'll never know which one you're facing until it finds you...

** Red: Brute.
** Green: Hunter.
** Blue: Fiend.

* BoringButPractical: The Brute is the most straightforward Monster, being an AlmightyIdiot of pure physicality instead of some complex stalker with fancy abilities like The Hunter and The Fiend. That being said, the "pure physicality" in question is still enough to make it a terrifying {{Juggernaut}} and NoNonsenseNemesis.

* TheWikiRule: [[http://themonstrum.wikia.com/wiki/Monstrum_Wiki Yup.]]