History VideoGame / NoStraightRoads

* BothOrderAndChaosAreDangerous: Absolute Order corrupts absolutely, as NSR has cracked down on freedom of individuality (especially Rock music) in favor of mass-produced crap, [[FascistButInefficient it has had constant infrastructure problems that have lasted for years]], and its leaders vomit out content while [[TroubledProduction ignoring their growing mental baggage and how it negatively affects their fans]]. But at the end of the game, Bunk Bed Junction's unrestricted chaos [[spoiler:allows the {{Loony Fan}}s to riot en-masse and nearly tear down the city by destroying its infrastructure because it happens to be made by a megacorporation - in this case, one angry Kliff decides to take his revenge with a ''ColonyDrop'', [[DidNotThinkThisThrough ignoring the collateral damage in Vinyl City itself]]. Mayday and Tatiana both acknowledge this at the end and find a middle ground.]].

* BrickJoke: When Mayday and Zuke first crash DJ Subatomic Supernova's concert, he proceeds to compare their "uselessness" to former planet Pluto. Later, after the boss fight ends with Mayday and Zuke [[TwinkleInTheSky literally sending DJSS flying...]]

* AnAesop: Despite the game's initial premise being rock vs. EDM, the true central message [[spoiler:is that no form of artistic expression should be stifled. There is no superior way to go about one's craft, and attempting to subjugate one form of art in favor of another does more harm than good]].
** Revolution in the face of artistic oppression is not a bad thing, but one needs to be smart and careful about how you go about it, lest it become little better than what you're trying to revolt against. [[spoiler: A large part of Bunk Bed Junction's revolution is understandable given the context of the situation from their point of view, but because they approach this revolution carelessly and without considering the gravity of their actions, the revolution ends up being co-opted by the shady Kliff, who nearly ends up destroying Vinyl City in it's entirety for his own selfish reasons. Something that could have been avoided if Mayday and Zuke had been smarter about who they accepted into the revolution.]]

** During Sayu's boss fight, she'll sometimes declare [[Anime/BishoujoSenshiSailorMoon "In the name of love, I'll punish you!"]]

It released for the [[UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 [=PlayStation 4=]]], [[UsefulNotes/XboxOne Xbox One]], [[UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch Nintendo Switch]], and [[UsefulNotes/WindowsGames PC]] via Epic Games Store (as a timed exclusive) on August 25th, 2020. On the first anniversary of the game's initial release, it was announced that the game would receive an UpdatedRerelease on UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} as ''No Straight Roads: Encore Edition'', which released on October 21st, 2021.

* CharacterSelectForcing: The fight with Eve greatly encourages the player to use Zuke for the majority of the fight and Mayday only when necessary. There are fewer attacks on his side and the timing is less aggressive. Zuke's transformations would be more useful as the decoys help redirect attacks compared to Mayday's Turrets which would most likely miss given how Eve will move sides if you linger. [[spoiler: Given how the two have a history together, it would make sense he'd be the one to get more involved in the fight.]]

* MemeticHandGesture: InUniverse. After defeating DJ Subatomic Supernova, Mayday tells Tatiana that Bunk Bed Junction now fights "for the little guy!", symbolized by holding her fist up with her pinkie finger extended. As [=B2J=] takes back more and more of the city, graffiti of the hand gesture starts appearing all over from fans of the band.

* ObviousBeta: The [=XBox=] One and Nintendo Switch versions of the game were ported to those consoles by a second party developer, and in addition to degraded graphics and much poorer performance, were clearly made with a much earlier version of the game than the one used in the PC and Playstation 4 ports as certain voice lines and environmental assets in those aren't present. Worst of all, the healing items in the DK West fights are outright missing from those ports, making them exponentially more difficult to beat.

* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: Only the best musicians are granted a Platinum Record by NSR. Those records give the owner complete control over a district of Vinyl City as that district's Charter. By hijacking the Megastars' shows, Bunk Bed Junction claim the records and so take over the city one district at a time.

* FlashyProtagonistsBlandExtras: Many of the plot-relevant characters have very distinctive designs and silhouettes, from Bunk Bed Junction to the Megastars, with all interact-able [=NPCs=] having unique skin-colors and designs as well, while crowd shots tend to favor silhouetted or gray individuals, and non-interactive NPCs in the overworld being gray.

* SeriousBusiness: Music is this due to it literally powering the setting via devices that absorb sound vibrations called Qwasas, and it's implied most of the characters powers come from their musical talent as well (as well as Eve's artistic talent). [[spoiler:The BigBlackout is revealed to have been the unintentional result of Tatiana limiting the music that can be played to EDM due to her personal bias against rock, and furthermore, Kliff takes this UpToEleven in a completely different direction, when it's revealed that [[NotInThisForYourRevolution he never cared about the energy crisis]]; he just wanted to prove that rock was better than EDM and kicking out both it and Tatiana due to her change of career and music choice, going so far as to [[ColonyDrop drop NSR's satellite on their tower]] to re-establish rock's dominance over Vinyl City. It's this act that makes Mayday realize that [[FullCircleRevolution they've become the very thing they stood against]], and it ends with NSR being saved and reworked by Tatiana and her megastars as to not only allow EDM, but all kinds of music, which finally ends the blackouts]].