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* SceneryPorn - Seriously, just play through it and you'll know what I mean. Some of the jaw-dropping settings include a cathedral, a fancy opera house, a castle, a Turkish-style palace, a Venice-like city on the water, a modern dockyard with towering cranes, a hilltop monastery, and an absolutely vertigo-inducing snowy bridge level. Also, some locations doesn't have any mooks or useful objects in it - they were just made for scenery porn.
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oops.
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For a while, ''Painkiller owned the unique distinction of being '''THE MOST METAL GAME EVER''', finally being overtaken by ''[[BrutalLegend Brütal Legend]]''.
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For a while, ''Painkiller ''Painkiller'' owned the unique distinction of being '''THE MOST METAL GAME EVER''', finally being overtaken by ''[[BrutalLegend Brütal Legend]]''.
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Owns the unique distinction of being '''THE MOST METAL GAME EVER''' this side of ''[[BrutalLegend Brütal Legend]]''.
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* SequelDifficultySpike: ''Painkiller: Hell & Damnation'' is noticeably harder than the original game, especially the earlier levels. There are even more enemies, and the earlier levels now contain EliteMooks instead of simply waves of cannon fodder.
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** The ending of ''Hell & Damnation'' presents an alternate explanation for this: Daniel never died in the first place, he was simply in a coma the entire time in the real world, which explains why he's stuck wandering Purgatory instead of being able to settle in Heaven.
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* EleventhHourSuperpower - In Redemption, on the last level of chapter 1, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysontheTin Entrance]], which is [[spoiler: the entrance to the current BigBad's lair.]] It's loaded with monsters guarding, well, the [[CaptainObvious Entrance,]] and odds are stacked against Daniel. [[BaitAndSwitch Or they would be,]] if it weren't for the fact that he has [[NumberOftheBeast 666]] [[NighInvulnerable health,]] and [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic 666 ammo]] for [[MoreDakka EVERY]] [[ShotgunsAreJustBetter SINGLE]] [[AnIcePerson GODDAMN]] [[LightningGun WEAPON]] [[StockNinjaWeaponry IN]] [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice HIS]] [[GrenadeLauncher ARSENAL.]] Yes, that includes the [[LudicrousGibs Rocket launcher.]] There's a boss at the end which is a [[EldritchAbomination huge demon.]] [[spoiler: [[CurbStompBattle and he doesn't have a chance in hell]] of [[CrowningMomentofAwesome beating]] [[OneManArmy Daniel.]]]]
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* EleventhHourSuperpower - In Redemption, on the last level of chapter 1, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysontheTin Entrance]], which is [[spoiler: the entrance to the current BigBad's lair.]] It's loaded with monsters guarding, well, the [[CaptainObvious Entrance,]] and odds are stacked against Daniel. [[BaitAndSwitch Or they would be,]] if it weren't for the fact that he has [[NumberOftheBeast 666]] [[NighInvulnerable health,]] and [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic 666 ammo]] for [[MoreDakka EVERY]] [[ShotgunsAreJustBetter SINGLE]] [[AnIcePerson GODDAMN]] [[LightningGun WEAPON]] [[StockNinjaWeaponry IN]] [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice HIS]] [[GrenadeLauncher ARSENAL.]] Yes, that includes the [[LudicrousGibs Rocket launcher.]] There's a boss at the end which is a [[EldritchAbomination huge demon.]] [[spoiler: [[CurbStompBattle and And he doesn't have a chance in hell]] of [[CrowningMomentofAwesome beating]] [[OneManArmy Daniel.]]]]
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* EleventhHourSuperpower - In Redemption, on the last level of chapter 1, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysontheTin Entrance]], which is [[spoiler: the entrance to the current BigBad's lair.]] It's loaded with monsters guarding, well, the [[CaptainObvious Entrance,]] and odds are stacked against Daniel. [[BaitAndSwitch Or they would be,]] if it weren't for the fact that he has [[NumberOftheBeast 666]] [[NighInvulnerable health,]] and [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic 666 ammo]] for [[MoreDakka EVERY]] [[ShotgunsAreJustBetter SINGLE]] [[AnIcePerson GODDAMN]] [[LightningGun WEAPON]] [[StockNinjaWeapon IN]] [[ImpaledWithExtremePredjudice HIS]] [[GrenadeLuancher ARSENAL.]] Yes, that includes the [[LudicrousGibs Rocket launcher.]] There's a boss at the end which is a [[EldritchAbomination huge demon.]] [[spoiler: [[CurbStompBattle and he doesn't have a chance in hell]] of [[CrowningMomentofAwesome beating]] [[OneManArmy Daniel.]]]]
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* EleventhHourSuperpower - In Redemption, on the last level of chapter 1, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysontheTin Entrance]], which is [[spoiler: the entrance to the current BigBad's lair.]] It's loaded with monsters guarding, well, the [[CaptainObvious Entrance,]] and odds are stacked against Daniel. [[BaitAndSwitch Or they would be,]] if it weren't for the fact that he has [[NumberOftheBeast 666]] [[NighInvulnerable health,]] and [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic 666 ammo]] for [[MoreDakka EVERY]] [[ShotgunsAreJustBetter SINGLE]] [[AnIcePerson GODDAMN]] [[LightningGun WEAPON]] [[StockNinjaWeapon [[StockNinjaWeaponry IN]] [[ImpaledWithExtremePredjudice [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice HIS]] [[GrenadeLuancher [[GrenadeLauncher ARSENAL.]] Yes, that includes the [[LudicrousGibs Rocket launcher.]] There's a boss at the end which is a [[EldritchAbomination huge demon.]] [[spoiler: [[CurbStompBattle and he doesn't have a chance in hell]] of [[CrowningMomentofAwesome beating]] [[OneManArmy Daniel.]]]]
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* EleventhHourSuperpower - In Redemption, on the last level of chapter 1, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysontheTin Entrance]], which is [[spoiler: the entrance to the current BigBad's lair.]] It's loaded with monsters guarding, well, the [[CaptainObvious Entrance,]] and odds are stacked against Daniel. [[BaitAndSwitch Or they would be,]] if it weren't for the fact that he has [[NumberOftheBeast 666]] [[NighInvulnerable health,]] and [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic 666 ammo]] for [[MoreDakka EVERY]] [[ShotgunsAreJustBetter SINGLE]] [[AnIcePerson GODDAMN]] WEAPON IN HIS ARSENAL. Yes, that includes the Rocket launcher. There's a boss at the end which is a [[EldritchAbomination huge demon.]] [[spoiler: [[CurbStompBattle and he doesn't have a chance in hell]] of [[CrowningMomentofAwesome beating]] [[OneManArmy Daniel.]]]]
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* EleventhHourSuperpower - In Redemption, on the last level of chapter 1, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysontheTin Entrance]], which is [[spoiler: the entrance to the current BigBad's lair.]] It's loaded with monsters guarding, well, the [[CaptainObvious Entrance,]] and odds are stacked against Daniel. [[BaitAndSwitch Or they would be,]] if it weren't for the fact that he has [[NumberOftheBeast 666]] [[NighInvulnerable health,]] and [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic 666 ammo]] for [[MoreDakka EVERY]] [[ShotgunsAreJustBetter SINGLE]] [[AnIcePerson GODDAMN]] WEAPON IN HIS ARSENAL. [[LightningGun WEAPON]] [[StockNinjaWeapon IN]] [[ImpaledWithExtremePredjudice HIS]] [[GrenadeLuancher ARSENAL.]] Yes, that includes the [[LudicrousGibs Rocket launcher. launcher.]] There's a boss at the end which is a [[EldritchAbomination huge demon.]] [[spoiler: [[CurbStompBattle and he doesn't have a chance in hell]] of [[CrowningMomentofAwesome beating]] [[OneManArmy Daniel.]]]]
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* EleventhHourSuperpower - In Redemption, on the last level of chapter 1, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysontheTin Entrance]], which is [[spoiler: the entrance to the current BigBad's lair.]] It's loaded with monsters guarding, well, the [[CaptainObvious Entrance,]] and odds are stacked against Daniel. [[BaitAndSwitch Or they would be,]] if it weren't for the fact that he has [[NumberOftheBeast 666]] [[NighInvulnerable health,]] and [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic 666 ammo]] for EVERY WEAPON IN HIS ARSENAL. Yes, that includes the Rocket launcher. There's a boss at the end which is a huge demon. [[spoiler: [[CurbStompBattle and he doesn't have a chance in hell]] of [[CrowningMomentofAwesome beating]] [[OneManArmy Daniel.]]]]
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* EleventhHourSuperpower - In Redemption, on the last level of chapter 1, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysontheTin Entrance]], which is [[spoiler: the entrance to the current BigBad's lair.]] It's loaded with monsters guarding, well, the [[CaptainObvious Entrance,]] and odds are stacked against Daniel. [[BaitAndSwitch Or they would be,]] if it weren't for the fact that he has [[NumberOftheBeast 666]] [[NighInvulnerable health,]] and [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic 666 ammo]] for EVERY [[MoreDakka EVERY]] [[ShotgunsAreJustBetter SINGLE]] [[AnIcePerson GODDAMN]] WEAPON IN HIS ARSENAL. Yes, that includes the Rocket launcher. There's a boss at the end which is a [[EldritchAbomination huge demon. demon.]] [[spoiler: [[CurbStompBattle and he doesn't have a chance in hell]] of [[CrowningMomentofAwesome beating]] [[OneManArmy Daniel.]]]]
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* EleventhHourSuperpower - In Redemption, on the last level of chapter 1, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysontheTin Entrance]], which is [[spoiler: the entrance to the current BigBad's lair.]] It's loaded with monsters guarding, well, the [[CaptainObvious Entrance,]] and odds are stacked against Daniel. Or they would be, if it weren't for the fact that he has 666 health, and [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic 666 ammo]] for EVERY WEAPON IN HIS ARSENAL. Yes, that includes the Rocket launcher. There's a boss at the end which is a huge demon. [[spoiler: and he doesn't have a chance in hell of beating Daniel.]]
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* EleventhHourSuperpower - In Redemption, on the last level of chapter 1, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysontheTin Entrance]], which is [[spoiler: the entrance to the current BigBad's lair.]] It's loaded with monsters guarding, well, the [[CaptainObvious Entrance,]] and odds are stacked against Daniel. [[BaitAndSwitch Or they would be, be,]] if it weren't for the fact that he has 666 health, [[NumberOftheBeast 666]] [[NighInvulnerable health,]] and [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic 666 ammo]] for EVERY WEAPON IN HIS ARSENAL. Yes, that includes the Rocket launcher. There's a boss at the end which is a huge demon. [[spoiler: [[CurbStompBattle and he doesn't have a chance in hell hell]] of beating [[CrowningMomentofAwesome beating]] [[OneManArmy Daniel.]]]]]]
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* EleventhHourSuperpower - In Redemption, on the last level of chapter 1, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysontheTin Entrance]], which is [[spoiler: the entrance to the current BigBad's lair.]] It's loaded with monsters guarding, well, the [[CaptainObvious Entrance,]] and odds are stacked against Daniel. Or they would be, if it weren't for the fact that he has 666 health, and [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic 666 ammo]] for EVERY WEAPON IN HIS ARSENAL. Yes, that includes the Rocket launcher. There's a boss at the end which is a huge demon. [[spoiler: and he doesn't have a chance in hell of beating Daniel.]]
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A SpiritualSuccessor to this game, named ''VideoGame/{{Bulletstorm}}'', is now available.
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* SpiritualSuccessor - To older FPS games, specifically ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Quake}}'' and ''{{Heretic}}''. The game has also spawned its own set of spiritual successors: ''NecroVision'', developed by The Farm 51 whose team includes former People Can Fly designers, and ''VideoGame/{{Dreamkiller}}'', an original shooter from the developers of ''Overdose''. People Can Fly themselves are currently in the employ of EpicGames, and are working hard on VideoGame/{{Bulletstorm}}.
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* SpiritualSuccessor - To older FPS games, specifically ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Quake}}'' and ''{{Heretic}}''. The game has also spawned its own set of spiritual successors: ''NecroVision'', developed by The Farm 51 whose team includes former People Can Fly designers, and ''VideoGame/{{Dreamkiller}}'', an original shooter from the developers of ''Overdose''. Most eployees of People Can Fly themselves Fly are currently in the employ of EpicGames, and are who ended up working hard on VideoGame/{{Bulletstorm}}.''VideoGame/{{Bulletstorm}}''. The rest of them founded Flying Wild Hog, who made ''VideoGame/HardReset''
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* BarredFromTheAfterlife: The basis is that the main character has died, but cannot enter Heaven with his wife until he does some work for the angels and kill the generals of Hell.
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-->- [[ZeroPunctuation Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw]]
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-->- [[ZeroPunctuation [[WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw]]
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* AbnormalAmmo - Roughly every single weapon has you firing something that could arch a few eyebrows. Demon fetuses, stakes, the screams of a severed demon head, [[MemeticMutation shuriken and]] [[ZeroPunctuation lightning]]...
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* AbnormalAmmo - Roughly every single weapon has you firing something that could arch a few eyebrows. Demon fetuses, stakes, the screams of a severed demon head, [[MemeticMutation shuriken and]] [[ZeroPunctuation [[WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation lightning]]...
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* GagDub - by [[ZeroPunctuation Yahtzee]], of the game's intro sequence, which can be seen as a post-credits addon in his review of ''TheWitcher''
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* GagDub - by [[ZeroPunctuation [[WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation Yahtzee]], of the game's intro sequence, which can be seen as a post-credits addon in his review of ''TheWitcher''
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* GenreThrowback - The game is unapologetically hailing to older [=FPSes=], with the only tactical decision being "well done or extra crispy".
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* GenreThrowback - The game is unapologetically hailing to older [=FPSes=], with the only tactical decision decisions being "well done or extra crispy"."unload" and "charge".
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Owns the unique distinction of being ''''THE MOST METAL GAME EVER''' this side of ''[[BrutalLegend Brütal Legend]]''.
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Owns the unique distinction of being ''''THE '''THE MOST METAL GAME EVER''' this side of ''[[BrutalLegend Brütal Legend]]''.
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Rename
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* GeorgeLucasThrowback - The game is unapologetically hailing to older [=FPSes=], with the only tactical decision being "well done or extra crispy".
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* GeorgeLucasThrowback GenreThrowback - The game is unapologetically hailing to older [=FPSes=], with the only tactical decision being "well done or extra crispy".
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A modern [[VideoGameRemake remake]] of the game, titled ''Painkiller: Hell & Damnation'', has was released on October 31, 2012 on {{Steam}}. It was developed by The Farm 51, the makes of ''NecroVision'' and ''{{Dreamkiller}}'', who were themselves heavily inspired by the original ''Painkiller''. The game is basically a "greatest hits" of the best levels from ''Painkiller'' and ''Battle Out of Hell'', with a new engine and modern graphics, new weapons, and a new original story attached (Daniel is fighting to collect an army of 7,000 souls for Death, in exchange for being reunited with his wife Catherine). Noteably, Daniel is now voiced by Jon St. John, the voice of DukeNukem.
to:
A modern [[VideoGameRemake remake]] of the game, titled ''Painkiller: Hell & Damnation'', has was released on October 31, 2012 on {{Steam}}. It was developed by The Farm 51, the makes of ''NecroVision'' and ''{{Dreamkiller}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Dreamkiller}}'', who were themselves heavily inspired by the original ''Painkiller''. The game is basically a "greatest hits" of the best levels from ''Painkiller'' and ''Battle Out of Hell'', with a new engine and modern graphics, new weapons, and a new original story attached (Daniel is fighting to collect an army of 7,000 souls for Death, in exchange for being reunited with his wife Catherine). Noteably, Daniel is now voiced by Jon St. John, the voice of DukeNukem.
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* SpiritualSuccessor - To older FPS games, specifically ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Quake}}'' and ''{{Heretic}}''. The game has also spawned its own set of spiritual successors: ''NecroVision'', developed by The Farm 51 whose team includes former People Can Fly designers, and ''{{Dreamkiller}}'', an original shooter from the developers of ''Overdose''. People Can Fly themselves are currently in the employ of EpicGames, and are working hard on VideoGame/{{Bulletstorm}}.
to:
* SpiritualSuccessor - To older FPS games, specifically ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Quake}}'' and ''{{Heretic}}''. The game has also spawned its own set of spiritual successors: ''NecroVision'', developed by The Farm 51 whose team includes former People Can Fly designers, and ''{{Dreamkiller}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Dreamkiller}}'', an original shooter from the developers of ''Overdose''. People Can Fly themselves are currently in the employ of EpicGames, and are working hard on VideoGame/{{Bulletstorm}}.
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* LuckBasedMission - At least one card condition in ''Overdose'' relies on pure, dumb luck: the level ''Animal Farm'' requires the player to collect 160 souls to collect the card. However, there are only [[strike:162]] 161 enemies (the last one is glitched out) in the entire level, so the player can only miss a single soul at most - which is already incredibly challenging, but becomes luck-based because some souls can spawn out of reach, and the card condition becomes {{Unwinnable}} if this happens even twice.
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* LuckBasedMission - At least one card condition in ''Overdose'' relies on pure, dumb luck: the level ''Animal Farm'' requires the player to collect 160 souls to collect the card. However, there are only [[strike:162]] 161 enemies (the last one is glitched out) in the entire level, so the player can only miss a single soul at most - which is already incredibly challenging, but becomes luck-based because some souls can spawn out of reach, and the card condition becomes {{Unwinnable}} if this happens even twice.
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** [[MemeticMutation Well, where the hell]] [[SouthPark was he supposed to go, Detroit?]]
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* {{Wutai}} - ''Japanese Massacre'', The second level of ''Overdose''.
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* {{Wutai}} - ''Japanese Massacre'', The second level of ''Overdose''. To a lesser extent, demon samurai and ninja are prominent in Episode 2 of the original game, trying to kill you in a European Opera house and a Russian army bridge.
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* ContinuityReboot - ''Hell & Damnation'' clearly seems to ignore all of the third-party games ([[spoiler: although Belial appears at the end and claims to be the new protagonist]]), but it's ambiguous as to whether it's the same continuity as the original ''Painkiller'' and ''Battle Out of Hell''. Daniel mentions battling the devil, and being cheated by Heaven out of their side of the bargain. Eve's betrayal is also mentioned, although for some reason she doesn't have any Queen of Hell powers and is sincerely trying to help Daniel. Overall it seems to take the events of the first 2 games as having happened in BroadStrokes.
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* ContinuityReboot - ''Hell & Damnation'' clearly seems to ignore all of the third-party games ([[spoiler: although Belial appears at the end and claims to be the new protagonist]]), but it's ambiguous as to whether it's the same continuity as the original ''Painkiller'' and ''Battle Out of Hell''. Daniel is extremely untrustworthy of Death, initially rebuffing his offer with 'I've heard that before', mentions battling the devil, and being cheated by Heaven out of their side of the bargain. Eve's betrayal is also mentioned, although for some reason she doesn't have any Queen of Hell powers and is sincerely trying to help Daniel. Overall Overall, it seems to take the events of the first 2 games as having happened in BroadStrokes.BroadStrokes, or at the very least, the remake seems to be a HereWeGoAgain.
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* HereWeGoAgain - ''Hell and Damnation'' implies that its campaign is a loop of the first two games. Daniel mentions that "he's not falling for that again" to Death, when he offers to rejoin him with his wife, and still has his shotgun.
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* AllJustADream - The ending to ''Painkiller: Hell & Damnation'' seems to imply Daniel never died, but was really in a coma the entire series. However, the supernatural events in Purgatory all really happened, it just happens that Daniel was alive all along the whole time.
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* ContinuityReboot - ''Hell & Damnation'' clearly seems to ignore all of the third-party games ([[spoiler: although Belial appears at the end and claims to be the new protagonist]]), but it's ambiguous as to whether it's the same continuity as the original ''Painkiller'' and ''Battle Out of Hell''. Daniel mentions battling the devil, and being cheated by Heaven out of their side of the bargain, but at the same time he still appears to be on good terms with Eve (who doesn't appear to be secretly evil anymore).
to:
* ContinuityReboot - ''Hell & Damnation'' clearly seems to ignore all of the third-party games ([[spoiler: although Belial appears at the end and claims to be the new protagonist]]), but it's ambiguous as to whether it's the same continuity as the original ''Painkiller'' and ''Battle Out of Hell''. Daniel mentions battling the devil, and being cheated by Heaven out of their side of the bargain, but at the same time he still appears to be on good terms with Eve (who bargain. Eve's betrayal is also mentioned, although for some reason she doesn't appear have any Queen of Hell powers and is sincerely trying to be secretly evil anymore).help Daniel. Overall it seems to take the events of the first 2 games as having happened in BroadStrokes.
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Changed line(s) 19,20 (click to see context) from:
A modern [[VideoGameRemake remake]] of the game, titled ''Painkiller: Hell & Damnation'', has was released on October 31, 2012 on {{Steam}}. It was developed by The Farm 51, the makes of ''NecroVision'' and ''{{Dreamkiller}}'', who were themselves heavily inspired by the original ''Painkiller''. The game is basically a "greatest hits" of the best levels from ''Painkiller'' and ''Battle Out of Hell'', with a new original story attached (Daniel is fighting to collect an army of 7,000 souls for Death, in exchange for being reunited with his wife Catherine). Noteably, Daniel is now voiced by Jon St. John, the voice of DukeNukem.
to:
A modern [[VideoGameRemake remake]] of the game, titled ''Painkiller: Hell & Damnation'', has was released on October 31, 2012 on {{Steam}}. It was developed by The Farm 51, the makes of ''NecroVision'' and ''{{Dreamkiller}}'', who were themselves heavily inspired by the original ''Painkiller''. The game is basically a "greatest hits" of the best levels from ''Painkiller'' and ''Battle Out of Hell'', with a new engine and modern graphics, new weapons, and a new original story attached (Daniel is fighting to collect an army of 7,000 souls for Death, in exchange for being reunited with his wife Catherine). Noteably, Daniel is now voiced by Jon St. John, the voice of DukeNukem.
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A modern [[VideoGameRemake remake]] of the game, titled ''Painkiller: Hell & Damnation'', has was released on October 31, 2012 on {{Steam}}. It was developed by The Farm 51, the makes of ''NecroVision'' and ''{{Dreamkiller}}'', who were themselves heavily inspired by the original ''Painkiller''. The game is basically a "greatest hits" of the best levels from ''Painkiller'' and ''Battle Out of Hell'', with a new original story attached (Daniel is fighting to collect an army of 7,000 souls for Death, in exchange for being reunited with his wife Catherine). Noteably, Daniel is now voiced by Jon St. John, the voice of DukeNukem.
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* ContinuityReboot - ''Hell & Damnation'' clearly seems to ignore all of the third-party games ([[spoiler: although Belial appears at the end and claims to be the new protagonist]]), but it's ambiguous as to whether it's the same continuity as the original ''Painkiller'' and ''Battle Out of Hell''. Daniel mentions battling the devil, and being cheated by Heaven out of their side of the bargain, but at the same time he still appears to be on good terms with Eve (who doesn't appear to be secretly evil anymore).
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-->''Painkiller is in the same bucket as ''SeriousSam'' and the original {{DOOM}}s in that it serves as an antidote to fancy-pants complex modern [=FPSes=]. There are no stealth elements, no [[FetchQuest key hunting]], no [[EscortMission escort quests]], no [[VoiceWithAnInternetConnection dorky support characters dribbling in your ear]], no [[VideogameObjectives mission objectives]] besides '''kill everyone'''. It's just you, some guns, and the entire population of Murdertown between you and where you need to be.''
to:
-->''Painkiller is in the same bucket as ''SeriousSam'' and the original {{DOOM}}s ''VideoGame/{{DOOM}}s'' in that it serves as an antidote to fancy-pants complex modern [=FPSes=]. There are no [[StealthBasedGame stealth elements, elements]], no [[FetchQuest key hunting]], no [[EscortMission escort quests]], no [[VoiceWithAnInternetConnection dorky support characters dribbling in your ear]], no [[VideogameObjectives mission objectives]] besides '''kill everyone'''. It's just you, some guns, and the entire population of Murdertown between you and where you need to be.''
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[[quoteright:250:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/painkiller_6359.jpg]]
-->''If video games got drunk and had one-night stands that resulted in pregnancy, Painkiller would be the product of the frenzied, S&M-laden coupling of {{DOOM}} and SeriousSam.''
-->- Steerpike of [[http://tap-repeatedly.com/2003/02/painkiller-review/ Four Fat Chicks]].
-->''Painkiller is in the same bucket as ''SeriousSam'' and the original {{DOOM}}s in that it serves as an antidote to fancy-pants complex modern [=FPSes=]. There are no stealth elements, no [[FetchQuest key hunting]], no [[EscortMission escort quests]], no [[VoiceWithAnInternetConnection dorky support characters dribbling in your ear]], no [[VideogameObjectives mission objectives]] besides '''kill everyone'''. It's just you, some guns, and the entire population of Murdertown between you and where you need to be.''
-->- [[ZeroPunctuation Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw]]
''Painkiller'' is a FPS made by Polish developers People Can Fly (now absorbed by EpicGames). The game concerns Daniel Garner, a man with an idyllic life, a beautiful spouse, and whose life is tragically snipped short when a truck plows straight into his car. Daniel gets to watch as his wife goes to Heaven, but he has to stay in Purgatory where he is commissioned by God to stop Lucifer's invasion. If Lucifer takes Purgatory, he can take Earth and Heaven as well. Oh, and Eve is your companion through the game. Yeah, [[AdamAndEvePlot that Eve.]]
The story is utterly auxiliary, though it lends itself to interesting interpretations. Either way, you can skip all the cutscenes and hop right into the game with no ill consequence. The game strings together massive battle after massive battle, tossing a bunch of novel guns into your inventory and setting you free in the Demon Preservation Hunting Grounds in the middle of Demon Hunting season.
The boss battles are massive, the challenges the game sets are worth it (in the form of powerups you can earn), the enemies are varied and awesome (Nazi zombies whose war cry is "SCHEISSE!"), it's got hours of replay value, and it costs something like $10. In short, it's a fantastic example of old-school FPS game design with new-school sensibilities.
Owns the unique distinction of being ''''THE MOST METAL GAME EVER''' this side of ''[[BrutalLegend Brütal Legend]]''.
Apart from the original game, People Can Fly also developed an expansion pack, ''Battle out of Hell'', made up mostly of [[WhatCouldHaveBeen content that was]] DummiedOut or otherwise scrapped for the original game. It shows, as most players consider the expansion to be a bit of a mixed bag that doesn't quite reach the level of the original game. Since then, the game's publishers have released other standalone expansions developed by fan modders, starting with ''Painkiller: Overdose'' in 2007 (developed by Mindware Studios from the Czech Republic), and following up with ''Painkiller: Resurrection'' in 2009 (by Homegrown Games) and ''Painkiller: Redemption'' in 2011 (by [=Team EggTooth=]). [[RunningTheAsylum Par for the course, none of them are particularly good.]]
Not in any way related to [[PainkillerJane a series of media featuring virtually immortal, ass-kicking Action Girls.]] Or Music/JudasPriest. Though being related to Music/JudasPriest would be the one and only way to make the game any more metal than it already is.
A SpiritualSuccessor to this game, named ''VideoGame/{{Bulletstorm}}'', is now available.
----
!!This game provides examples of:
* AbnormalAmmo - Roughly every single weapon has you firing something that could arch a few eyebrows. Demon fetuses, stakes, the screams of a severed demon head, [[MemeticMutation shuriken and]] [[ZeroPunctuation lightning]]...
* AirborneAircraftCarrier - The "Air Combat" level from Overdose takes place on one such vessel in what appearsto be an alternate version of WorldWarOne.
* AnticlimaxBoss - Once you realize what you're supposed to do to kill him, Lucifer turns out to be a pathetically easy PuzzleBoss who can be killed in just a few seconds.
** GlassCannon: Despite being killable in just a few seconds with just 2 shots, Lucifer's attacks do massive damage and he can kill you in just a couple hits if you don't know what you're supposed to do to harm him.
* ATasteOfPower - Sort of. If you collect enough enemy souls, you'll become a demon until you run out. A very, very powerful demon, at that. A demon who kills enemies just by looking at them, lighting them on fire and [[MindRape Mind Crushing]] them.
* ArrowsOnFire - Ammo from the Stakegun will catch fire if it flies far enough. It can also be lit on fire if the stake hits a Stakegun grenade in mid-air, turning it into a rocket.
* AtTheOperaTonight - Mr. Garner's idea of a fine opera performance includes samurai, ninja, and beetle-things lunging off the stage and trying to kill him. To which he replies by promptly blowing their heads off.
* AwesomeButImpractical- Yes, you can shoot a stake through a grenade to make a long-range grenade. Yes, it's awesome when you get it working. No, it doesn't have any real combat application.
** Not so much in multiplayer, where a staked grenade's faster projectile speed makes it an extremely useful spawnkilling weapon in the hands of a skilled player. Still useless in direct combat, though, due to the stake gun's low rate of fire.
* BagOfSpilling: Health, armor, and ammo are all reset at the beginning of each new level. This seems to be done to avert TooAwesomeToUse, giving you absolutely no reason to hold back during the firefights.
* TheBattleDidntCount - [[spoiler: Lucifer's general Alastor appears at the end of the game to mock you after you kill Lucifer himself in the "bad" ending. It seems killing Alastor in Purgatory just sends him back to hell. Whoops.]]
** [[MemeticMutation Well, where the hell]] [[SouthPark was he supposed to go, Detroit?]]
* BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame - See A Taste of Power
* BulletTime - The Haste, Double Haste and Triple Haste cards, which can [[GameBreaker make any encounter a breeze]] when combined with certain other cards.
* CircusOfFear - One of the levels in ''Battle Out of Hell''.
* CityOfCanals - City on the Water.
* ClownCarGrave - Explicitly stated to be portals used by demons, so {{justified|Trope}}.
* CollectionSidequest - To get 100% on all levels (and some of the cards), you need to find well hidden gold and treasures.
* CopyAndPasteEnvironments - The aforementioned CircusOfFear in ''Battle Out of Hell'' was pretty much copied shamelessly in ''Overdose'', aside from a few different enemies and a different final section.
** Not to mention the guns, most of which were copied directly from ''Painkiller'' and ''Battle Out Of Hell'', usually with a reskin and a {{Nerf}} to boot.
** And on that note, ''Redemption'' is made up ''entirely'' of multiplayer levels from ''Painkiller'', populated with monsters.
* CrateExpectations - There are crates found here-there. Might be justified in a factory level of the first game which has pallets.
* CreepyCathedral - Several levels.
* [[Awesome/VideoGameLevels Crowning Level of Awesome]] - The game has tons of great levels, ranging from the atmospheric ''Asylum'' level to the gorgeous ''City on Water'', but the stage for the final BossBattle is generally agreed upon to be one of the greatest levels in the game, if not one of the greatest levels ever made for any FPS. See HellIsWar below. [[spoiler:Too bad the fight itself is [[AnticlimaxBoss stupidly easy and short]])]].
** The Leningrad level in ''Battle Out of Hell'' deserves a special mention, taking place in the titular city in the World War II-era, complete with you being stuck in the middle of a war between Nazi Zombies and a demonic Russian military. The music that plays during every fight sequence? [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlGx3ms3a-k&feature=related The Soviet national anthem, complete with wails of the damned in the background.]]
* DarkerAndEdgier - Painkiller could be considered the darker counterpart of ''SeriousSam'', which also imitated the old-skool [[TheWarSequence War Sequence]]-spamming FPS style and came earlier.
* DeadToBeginWith - Well, Dead Because Of Opening Cutscene.
* DeliberatelyMonochrome - The demon morph makes Daniel see in black and white, with enemies tinted black and red.
* DegradedBoss - The miniboss from the first level of ''Painkiller''. See below.
* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: Just in case you missed the intro, Belial will be sure to remind you. Every 15 seconds or so.
* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu - The final boss is Lucifer himself.
* DieChairDie
* EasyModeMockery - The lower your difficulty choice, the fewer levels you can access. Curiously, if you play on the highest difficulty rating then the entire final chapter is locked out.
* EmergencyWeapon - The titular Painkiller actually remains a useful weapon for the rest of the game.
* EverythingFades - Including dropped souls and gold, if you aren't fast enough.
* ExcusePlot - You're dead, and God has decided to make you His errand boy by holding your wife over your head. Go kill everything.
* FanDisservice: The 'nurse' enemies are a parody of the sexy nurse concept, complete with bad breast augmentation and waxy faces.
* FinalExamFinale - A very clever variation. In the second to last level in ''Overdose'', the Movie Studios, you go through the "stages" and "actors" of each level previous. Along with ''cardboard cut-out monsters''!
* FireAndBrimstoneHell - Averted. Instead Hell consists of [[spoiler: a collection of man-made disasters and wars frozen in motion.]]
* FreezeRay - Secondary fire of the Shotgun (Or "Bonegun", in ''Overdose'').
* FunWithAcronyms: ''Painkiller: '''H'''ell and '''D'''amnation''
* GagDub - by [[ZeroPunctuation Yahtzee]], of the game's intro sequence, which can be seen as a post-credits addon in his review of ''TheWitcher''
* GameBreakingBug: The game has an annoying habit of corrupting save files.
* GameplayAndStorySegregation - What happens in the intro and in between cutscenes, has little to do in the game. At least in first installment.
* GasMaskMooks - Skeleton soldiers.
* GatlingGood - With an attached rocket launcher.
* GeorgeLucasThrowback - The game is unapologetically hailing to older [=FPSes=], with the only tactical decision being "well done or extra crispy".
* GodivaHair - [[MsFanservice Eve]] wears only this and a cloth wrap around her hips. In some shots her nipples are actually clearly visible underneath.
* GottaCatchEmAll - Most, if not all of the card conditions basically boil down to this: Find all the monsters and kill them, find all the secrets, catch a certain number of souls and demon morph a certain number of times, etc. Some of them can be really [[FakeDifficulty dickish]] to get too.
* GrapplingHookPistol - The titular weapon, sort of. Secondary fire latches onto the environment with a hook... but then just projects a laser beam back to the base if you face it, slowly vaporizing anything caught in it. Enemies can find themselves taking first-class flight on a direct hit with the hook.
* GratuitousJapanese - Par for the course with demonic ninjas, but the things they yell out ("''watashi wa karasu!!!''"/"I am a crow!!!") kinda border on nonsense.
** Unless you happen to know that tengu in Japanese mythology were essentially demonic crow ninjas, then it makes slightly more sense.
* GuideDangIt - How many of those secrets will an "average" gamer find without a walkthrough?
** A couple of gamers were this stumped on the Vampire miniboss in the catacombs level. [[spoiler: Shoot the ceiling and shine light on him.]]
* GunsAreWorthless - Not for you ([[NoKillLikeOverkill thankfully]]), but for the enemies. If you have armor on, you barely even take ScratchDamage on most difficulties ([[DeathOfAThousandCuts it adds up fast, though]]). Then we have the bikers in the first Painkiller: they wield Tommy Guns in level 5-1 and [[NailEm nail guns]] in 5-2, and [[GoddamnBats the nails do MUCH more damage]].
* HarderThanHard - two hidden difficulty levels (Nightmare and Trauma)
* {{Hell}} - The last level of the original; The earlier ones are actually Purgatory.
* HellIsWar - Literally. The final area of the game takes place in {{Hell}}, which to the hero's human eyes looks like a time-frozen collection of historic war scenarios with the humans cut out, complete with an unmanned battering ram breaking through crumbling castle walls, grenades exploding in trenches, a crashing airplane and, looming in the distance, a giant mushroom cloud forming over an exploding atomic bomb.
* HeyItsThatVoice - Most games with this game's development budget just have a couple of guys who sound like they were grabbed from the office across the hall do all the voice work. ''Painkiller'' actually goes the extra mile and has several recognizable voice actors, including Cam "Liquid Snake" Clarke as the main character, and the incredibly hammy Jim Cummings as Alastor.
* HighlyVisibleNinja - If they're not using projectile attacks, then they're about four inches from your nose trying to kill you. And they repeatedly yell in Japanese.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard - [[spoiler: How Daniel defeats Lucifer.]]
* IdiosyncraticDifficultyLevels - Daydream is easy, Insomnia is normal, Nightmare is hard, and Trauma is NintendoHard.
* ImpossiblyCoolWeapon - Just about every single one of them.
* ImprobableWeaponUser - One of the weapons in ''Overdose'' you get to use is a '''severed demon head'''. Another are demon fetuses.
* InexplicableTreasureChests
* LeapOfFaith - Frakking secret areas.
* LimitedSpecialCollectorsUltimateEdition - Both subverted and played straight.
* LiterallyShatteredLives - You can freeze and shatter enemies. This is the best way of dealing with some GoddamnedBats.
* LiteraryAllusionTitle - [[Music/JudasPriest He is the painkiller,]] and [[ThisIsMyBoomstick this is the painkiller]].
* LuckBasedMission - At least one card condition in ''Overdose'' relies on pure, dumb luck: the level ''Animal Farm'' requires the player to collect 160 souls to collect the card. However, there are only [[strike:162]] 161 enemies (the last one is glitched out) in the entire level, so the player can only miss a single soul at most - which is already incredibly challenging, but becomes luck-based because some souls can spawn out of reach, and the card condition becomes {{Unwinnable}} if this happens even twice.
* LudicrousGibs - The Painkiller shreds enemies into a fine paste, and that's just the beginning.
* {{Malaproper}} - Daniel somehow pronounces Alastor's name as ''Allister''.
* MonsterClown - In the CircusOfFear, natch.
* MoodWhiplash - The Asylum and Orphanage levels are genuinely horrifying. Especially the Asylum pre-patch, when there is no battle music at all to pump you up. Both of them come RIGHT at the time you're considering yourself utterly BadAss.
* MsFanservice - The game's portrayal of Eve makes one contemplate all manner of original sin.
* MultipleEndings - There's three in the original game.
** A bad ending: [[spoiler: You are trapped in Hell, fighting off an infinite wave of enemies with just your Manly Boots and shotgun.]]
** The second bad ending: [[spoiler: You've completed the game at 100%. The ending is the bosses running towards the camera in washed-out, bright white light. That's it.]]
** [[spoiler:Completing the game at 100%, then the [[HarderThanHard first hidden difficulty]] at 100%, and then the [[NintendoHard second hidden difficulty]] gives you the good ending, which shows Daniel and his wife slowly walking together and holding hands. And the ending isn't canon anyway.]]
* NighInvulnerability - Part of the Demon Morph powers.
* NinjaPirateZombieRobot - Numerous nouns become descriptive adjectives transfixed before "demon", such as "pirate demon", "prisoner demon", or "biker demon". The amount of variety in Hell is absolutely staggering.
* NoAnimalsWereHarmed - [[InvertedTrope "Several demons were actually harmed during the production of Painkiller."]]
* NumberOfTheBeast: The 666 Ammo card, obviously. However, the number on the card is written in Roman numerals (DCLXVI), which shows that the devs knew the ''value'' is important, not three sixes.
* NunsAreSpooky - Demon nuns show up in the Orphanage level.
* ObfuscatingStupidity - Daniel's easy-going Imp friend that follows him around for most of the game turns out to be [[spoiler: Lucifer himself in disguise, busy digging holes to open portals between Purgatory and Hell]].
* ObviousBeta - ''Resurrection'', through and through.
* OneHitKill - Part of the demon morph's powers, except against bosses.
** One of the cards, when activated, gives every single enemy 1 HP.
* OneManArmy
* PacifistRun - Sort of; the Tarot Card challenge of ''Battle Out Of Hell'''s second level, Looney Park, is "Kill no more than 88 enemies". The first 67 kills are mandatory, so the Pacifism part only comes into play during the rail shooter section in the second half.
** Doubles as a LuckBasedMission: the roller-coaster automatically running over 18 enemies and the other enemies accidentally killing each other can ''very'' easily push your kill count over 88.
* PowerupLetdown - Many tarot cards.
* PuzzleBoss - It's easier to name those who are NOT: Necrogiant, Alastor, and Cerberus.
* QuadDamage - Via the Black Tarot. There's also a skull item which alters weapons so that some of their weaknesses are removed.
* RewardingVandalism - Most of the objects, when destroyed, release coins for some strange reason.
* RuleOfCool - The game's reason for existing.
* SecondaryFire, of course! Some even have Tertiary Fire.
* ShockAndAwe - Hi, Electrodriver.
* SimulatedUrbanCombatArea - The architecture is amazingly realistic in more than several of the urban levels.
* [[SkeletonsInTheCoatCloset Skeletons In The Gun Closet]]: The Bonegun and the Spinegun from ''Overdose'' are made entirely out of bones.
* SpiritualSuccessor - To older FPS games, specifically ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Quake}}'' and ''{{Heretic}}''. The game has also spawned its own set of spiritual successors: ''NecroVision'', developed by The Farm 51 whose team includes former People Can Fly designers, and ''{{Dreamkiller}}'', an original shooter from the developers of ''Overdose''. People Can Fly themselves are currently in the employ of EpicGames, and are working hard on VideoGame/{{Bulletstorm}}.
* StandardFPSGuns - Averted. There are five guns, each with an alternate fire. The Painkiller, a weedwhacker/grappler/beamgun. The shotgun that also shoots freezing ice bolts. The Stakegun, that fires yard-long bolts of wood and grenades. And the Electrodriver, which shoots shurikens and lightning. The only gun that can be considered "standard" is the rocket launcher/minigun. The expansion adds a machine gun/flamethrower and a sniper rifle/flechette mini-bomb launcher.
** Not only does Electrodriver shoot shurikens and lightning, but it can also shoot shurikens which shoot lightning themselves.
** Also The Painkiller can shoot its blade out at an enemy, go through multiple enemies, and return to the user. It does a decent amount of damage if you are willing to wait for it to return to you.
** ''Overdose'' features several weapons that lifted directly from the original game, reskinned, and usually nerfed. However, its original weapons are... interesting. Most notably, a radioactive waste spewing wheel-lock pistol/flamethrower
* StandardSciFiSetting - In ''Overdose'', the Asteroids level pretty much happily channels typical sci-fi.
* StandardStatusEffects - Some enemies can make the character slower, poison him or make unable to fire weapons.
* TheStarscream - [[spoiler: Turns out Alastor's not really that upset you killed Lucifer. In fact, he was on his way to kill the old man himself for being such a boneheaded leader. Also Eve, who only wanted you to kill Alastor to take his powers and become the Ruler of Hell.]]
* StockScream - In Asylum and Hell stages, many of them can be heard in the background. Wilhelm and Howie screams are not included.
* SuperDrowningSkills: Submerging in some of the levels is instantly fatal.
* SuperMode - Aforementioned demon morph.
* SwissArmyWeapon - See above. The expansion ''Overdose'' also adds some newer, even stranger weapons.
* TakeThat: A print ad for ''Hell Wars'' read "Hang up your {{Halo}}. Get ready for Hell."
** There's also a subtle jab at ''VideoGame/{{Doom}} 3'' in the opening cinematic of Battle Out of Hell. Eve tells Daniel that "nobody wants to teleport into Hell."
* UndergroundMonkey - Surprisingly averted. For the first 2/3rds of the game, each new level features a new set of enemy types, with their own unique models and behavior. The last several levels do tend to use repeating enemy types, but even then there's some degree of variety.
* UrbanFantasy - There's just as many modern-day levels as there are ancient levels.
* TheWarSequence - The original ''Painkiller'' might already have counted, but nearly every single encounter in ''Redemption'' plays out like this: Every single level has close to a ''thousand'' monsters, with as many as ''a hundred'' for individual encounters.
* WreakingHavok - ''Painkiller'' was one of the first high-profile games to use Havok physics, but unlike some of its more [[HalfLife popular]] [[{{Halo}} contemporaries]], ''Painkiller'' focused more on [[RagdollPhysics enemy corpses flying through the air propelled by shotgun blasts]] and giant bosses whose footsteps make arcways collapse brick-by-brick.
* {{Wutai}} - ''Japanese Massacre'', The second level of ''Overdose''.
* ZombieApocalypse - The Village level is a medieval one.
** The Dead City level in Battle Out of Hell is a literal one, and almost more intense than ''Left4Dead'', particularly if you're trying to beat the level under 20 minutes to get the Tarot card.
----
-->''If video games got drunk and had one-night stands that resulted in pregnancy, Painkiller would be the product of the frenzied, S&M-laden coupling of {{DOOM}} and SeriousSam.''
-->- Steerpike of [[http://tap-repeatedly.com/2003/02/painkiller-review/ Four Fat Chicks]].
-->''Painkiller is in the same bucket as ''SeriousSam'' and the original {{DOOM}}s in that it serves as an antidote to fancy-pants complex modern [=FPSes=]. There are no stealth elements, no [[FetchQuest key hunting]], no [[EscortMission escort quests]], no [[VoiceWithAnInternetConnection dorky support characters dribbling in your ear]], no [[VideogameObjectives mission objectives]] besides '''kill everyone'''. It's just you, some guns, and the entire population of Murdertown between you and where you need to be.''
-->- [[ZeroPunctuation Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw]]
''Painkiller'' is a FPS made by Polish developers People Can Fly (now absorbed by EpicGames). The game concerns Daniel Garner, a man with an idyllic life, a beautiful spouse, and whose life is tragically snipped short when a truck plows straight into his car. Daniel gets to watch as his wife goes to Heaven, but he has to stay in Purgatory where he is commissioned by God to stop Lucifer's invasion. If Lucifer takes Purgatory, he can take Earth and Heaven as well. Oh, and Eve is your companion through the game. Yeah, [[AdamAndEvePlot that Eve.]]
The story is utterly auxiliary, though it lends itself to interesting interpretations. Either way, you can skip all the cutscenes and hop right into the game with no ill consequence. The game strings together massive battle after massive battle, tossing a bunch of novel guns into your inventory and setting you free in the Demon Preservation Hunting Grounds in the middle of Demon Hunting season.
The boss battles are massive, the challenges the game sets are worth it (in the form of powerups you can earn), the enemies are varied and awesome (Nazi zombies whose war cry is "SCHEISSE!"), it's got hours of replay value, and it costs something like $10. In short, it's a fantastic example of old-school FPS game design with new-school sensibilities.
Owns the unique distinction of being ''''THE MOST METAL GAME EVER''' this side of ''[[BrutalLegend Brütal Legend]]''.
Apart from the original game, People Can Fly also developed an expansion pack, ''Battle out of Hell'', made up mostly of [[WhatCouldHaveBeen content that was]] DummiedOut or otherwise scrapped for the original game. It shows, as most players consider the expansion to be a bit of a mixed bag that doesn't quite reach the level of the original game. Since then, the game's publishers have released other standalone expansions developed by fan modders, starting with ''Painkiller: Overdose'' in 2007 (developed by Mindware Studios from the Czech Republic), and following up with ''Painkiller: Resurrection'' in 2009 (by Homegrown Games) and ''Painkiller: Redemption'' in 2011 (by [=Team EggTooth=]). [[RunningTheAsylum Par for the course, none of them are particularly good.]]
Not in any way related to [[PainkillerJane a series of media featuring virtually immortal, ass-kicking Action Girls.]] Or Music/JudasPriest. Though being related to Music/JudasPriest would be the one and only way to make the game any more metal than it already is.
A SpiritualSuccessor to this game, named ''VideoGame/{{Bulletstorm}}'', is now available.
----
!!This game provides examples of:
* AbnormalAmmo - Roughly every single weapon has you firing something that could arch a few eyebrows. Demon fetuses, stakes, the screams of a severed demon head, [[MemeticMutation shuriken and]] [[ZeroPunctuation lightning]]...
* AirborneAircraftCarrier - The "Air Combat" level from Overdose takes place on one such vessel in what appearsto be an alternate version of WorldWarOne.
* AnticlimaxBoss - Once you realize what you're supposed to do to kill him, Lucifer turns out to be a pathetically easy PuzzleBoss who can be killed in just a few seconds.
** GlassCannon: Despite being killable in just a few seconds with just 2 shots, Lucifer's attacks do massive damage and he can kill you in just a couple hits if you don't know what you're supposed to do to harm him.
* ATasteOfPower - Sort of. If you collect enough enemy souls, you'll become a demon until you run out. A very, very powerful demon, at that. A demon who kills enemies just by looking at them, lighting them on fire and [[MindRape Mind Crushing]] them.
* ArrowsOnFire - Ammo from the Stakegun will catch fire if it flies far enough. It can also be lit on fire if the stake hits a Stakegun grenade in mid-air, turning it into a rocket.
* AtTheOperaTonight - Mr. Garner's idea of a fine opera performance includes samurai, ninja, and beetle-things lunging off the stage and trying to kill him. To which he replies by promptly blowing their heads off.
* AwesomeButImpractical- Yes, you can shoot a stake through a grenade to make a long-range grenade. Yes, it's awesome when you get it working. No, it doesn't have any real combat application.
** Not so much in multiplayer, where a staked grenade's faster projectile speed makes it an extremely useful spawnkilling weapon in the hands of a skilled player. Still useless in direct combat, though, due to the stake gun's low rate of fire.
* BagOfSpilling: Health, armor, and ammo are all reset at the beginning of each new level. This seems to be done to avert TooAwesomeToUse, giving you absolutely no reason to hold back during the firefights.
* TheBattleDidntCount - [[spoiler: Lucifer's general Alastor appears at the end of the game to mock you after you kill Lucifer himself in the "bad" ending. It seems killing Alastor in Purgatory just sends him back to hell. Whoops.]]
** [[MemeticMutation Well, where the hell]] [[SouthPark was he supposed to go, Detroit?]]
* BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame - See A Taste of Power
* BulletTime - The Haste, Double Haste and Triple Haste cards, which can [[GameBreaker make any encounter a breeze]] when combined with certain other cards.
* CircusOfFear - One of the levels in ''Battle Out of Hell''.
* CityOfCanals - City on the Water.
* ClownCarGrave - Explicitly stated to be portals used by demons, so {{justified|Trope}}.
* CollectionSidequest - To get 100% on all levels (and some of the cards), you need to find well hidden gold and treasures.
* CopyAndPasteEnvironments - The aforementioned CircusOfFear in ''Battle Out of Hell'' was pretty much copied shamelessly in ''Overdose'', aside from a few different enemies and a different final section.
** Not to mention the guns, most of which were copied directly from ''Painkiller'' and ''Battle Out Of Hell'', usually with a reskin and a {{Nerf}} to boot.
** And on that note, ''Redemption'' is made up ''entirely'' of multiplayer levels from ''Painkiller'', populated with monsters.
* CrateExpectations - There are crates found here-there. Might be justified in a factory level of the first game which has pallets.
* CreepyCathedral - Several levels.
* [[Awesome/VideoGameLevels Crowning Level of Awesome]] - The game has tons of great levels, ranging from the atmospheric ''Asylum'' level to the gorgeous ''City on Water'', but the stage for the final BossBattle is generally agreed upon to be one of the greatest levels in the game, if not one of the greatest levels ever made for any FPS. See HellIsWar below. [[spoiler:Too bad the fight itself is [[AnticlimaxBoss stupidly easy and short]])]].
** The Leningrad level in ''Battle Out of Hell'' deserves a special mention, taking place in the titular city in the World War II-era, complete with you being stuck in the middle of a war between Nazi Zombies and a demonic Russian military. The music that plays during every fight sequence? [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlGx3ms3a-k&feature=related The Soviet national anthem, complete with wails of the damned in the background.]]
* DarkerAndEdgier - Painkiller could be considered the darker counterpart of ''SeriousSam'', which also imitated the old-skool [[TheWarSequence War Sequence]]-spamming FPS style and came earlier.
* DeadToBeginWith - Well, Dead Because Of Opening Cutscene.
* DeliberatelyMonochrome - The demon morph makes Daniel see in black and white, with enemies tinted black and red.
* DegradedBoss - The miniboss from the first level of ''Painkiller''. See below.
* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: Just in case you missed the intro, Belial will be sure to remind you. Every 15 seconds or so.
* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu - The final boss is Lucifer himself.
* DieChairDie
* EasyModeMockery - The lower your difficulty choice, the fewer levels you can access. Curiously, if you play on the highest difficulty rating then the entire final chapter is locked out.
* EmergencyWeapon - The titular Painkiller actually remains a useful weapon for the rest of the game.
* EverythingFades - Including dropped souls and gold, if you aren't fast enough.
* ExcusePlot - You're dead, and God has decided to make you His errand boy by holding your wife over your head. Go kill everything.
* FanDisservice: The 'nurse' enemies are a parody of the sexy nurse concept, complete with bad breast augmentation and waxy faces.
* FinalExamFinale - A very clever variation. In the second to last level in ''Overdose'', the Movie Studios, you go through the "stages" and "actors" of each level previous. Along with ''cardboard cut-out monsters''!
* FireAndBrimstoneHell - Averted. Instead Hell consists of [[spoiler: a collection of man-made disasters and wars frozen in motion.]]
* FreezeRay - Secondary fire of the Shotgun (Or "Bonegun", in ''Overdose'').
* FunWithAcronyms: ''Painkiller: '''H'''ell and '''D'''amnation''
* GagDub - by [[ZeroPunctuation Yahtzee]], of the game's intro sequence, which can be seen as a post-credits addon in his review of ''TheWitcher''
* GameBreakingBug: The game has an annoying habit of corrupting save files.
* GameplayAndStorySegregation - What happens in the intro and in between cutscenes, has little to do in the game. At least in first installment.
* GasMaskMooks - Skeleton soldiers.
* GatlingGood - With an attached rocket launcher.
* GeorgeLucasThrowback - The game is unapologetically hailing to older [=FPSes=], with the only tactical decision being "well done or extra crispy".
* GodivaHair - [[MsFanservice Eve]] wears only this and a cloth wrap around her hips. In some shots her nipples are actually clearly visible underneath.
* GottaCatchEmAll - Most, if not all of the card conditions basically boil down to this: Find all the monsters and kill them, find all the secrets, catch a certain number of souls and demon morph a certain number of times, etc. Some of them can be really [[FakeDifficulty dickish]] to get too.
* GrapplingHookPistol - The titular weapon, sort of. Secondary fire latches onto the environment with a hook... but then just projects a laser beam back to the base if you face it, slowly vaporizing anything caught in it. Enemies can find themselves taking first-class flight on a direct hit with the hook.
* GratuitousJapanese - Par for the course with demonic ninjas, but the things they yell out ("''watashi wa karasu!!!''"/"I am a crow!!!") kinda border on nonsense.
** Unless you happen to know that tengu in Japanese mythology were essentially demonic crow ninjas, then it makes slightly more sense.
* GuideDangIt - How many of those secrets will an "average" gamer find without a walkthrough?
** A couple of gamers were this stumped on the Vampire miniboss in the catacombs level. [[spoiler: Shoot the ceiling and shine light on him.]]
* GunsAreWorthless - Not for you ([[NoKillLikeOverkill thankfully]]), but for the enemies. If you have armor on, you barely even take ScratchDamage on most difficulties ([[DeathOfAThousandCuts it adds up fast, though]]). Then we have the bikers in the first Painkiller: they wield Tommy Guns in level 5-1 and [[NailEm nail guns]] in 5-2, and [[GoddamnBats the nails do MUCH more damage]].
* HarderThanHard - two hidden difficulty levels (Nightmare and Trauma)
* {{Hell}} - The last level of the original; The earlier ones are actually Purgatory.
* HellIsWar - Literally. The final area of the game takes place in {{Hell}}, which to the hero's human eyes looks like a time-frozen collection of historic war scenarios with the humans cut out, complete with an unmanned battering ram breaking through crumbling castle walls, grenades exploding in trenches, a crashing airplane and, looming in the distance, a giant mushroom cloud forming over an exploding atomic bomb.
* HeyItsThatVoice - Most games with this game's development budget just have a couple of guys who sound like they were grabbed from the office across the hall do all the voice work. ''Painkiller'' actually goes the extra mile and has several recognizable voice actors, including Cam "Liquid Snake" Clarke as the main character, and the incredibly hammy Jim Cummings as Alastor.
* HighlyVisibleNinja - If they're not using projectile attacks, then they're about four inches from your nose trying to kill you. And they repeatedly yell in Japanese.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard - [[spoiler: How Daniel defeats Lucifer.]]
* IdiosyncraticDifficultyLevels - Daydream is easy, Insomnia is normal, Nightmare is hard, and Trauma is NintendoHard.
* ImpossiblyCoolWeapon - Just about every single one of them.
* ImprobableWeaponUser - One of the weapons in ''Overdose'' you get to use is a '''severed demon head'''. Another are demon fetuses.
* InexplicableTreasureChests
* LeapOfFaith - Frakking secret areas.
* LimitedSpecialCollectorsUltimateEdition - Both subverted and played straight.
* LiterallyShatteredLives - You can freeze and shatter enemies. This is the best way of dealing with some GoddamnedBats.
* LiteraryAllusionTitle - [[Music/JudasPriest He is the painkiller,]] and [[ThisIsMyBoomstick this is the painkiller]].
* LuckBasedMission - At least one card condition in ''Overdose'' relies on pure, dumb luck: the level ''Animal Farm'' requires the player to collect 160 souls to collect the card. However, there are only [[strike:162]] 161 enemies (the last one is glitched out) in the entire level, so the player can only miss a single soul at most - which is already incredibly challenging, but becomes luck-based because some souls can spawn out of reach, and the card condition becomes {{Unwinnable}} if this happens even twice.
* LudicrousGibs - The Painkiller shreds enemies into a fine paste, and that's just the beginning.
* {{Malaproper}} - Daniel somehow pronounces Alastor's name as ''Allister''.
* MonsterClown - In the CircusOfFear, natch.
* MoodWhiplash - The Asylum and Orphanage levels are genuinely horrifying. Especially the Asylum pre-patch, when there is no battle music at all to pump you up. Both of them come RIGHT at the time you're considering yourself utterly BadAss.
* MsFanservice - The game's portrayal of Eve makes one contemplate all manner of original sin.
* MultipleEndings - There's three in the original game.
** A bad ending: [[spoiler: You are trapped in Hell, fighting off an infinite wave of enemies with just your Manly Boots and shotgun.]]
** The second bad ending: [[spoiler: You've completed the game at 100%. The ending is the bosses running towards the camera in washed-out, bright white light. That's it.]]
** [[spoiler:Completing the game at 100%, then the [[HarderThanHard first hidden difficulty]] at 100%, and then the [[NintendoHard second hidden difficulty]] gives you the good ending, which shows Daniel and his wife slowly walking together and holding hands. And the ending isn't canon anyway.]]
* NighInvulnerability - Part of the Demon Morph powers.
* NinjaPirateZombieRobot - Numerous nouns become descriptive adjectives transfixed before "demon", such as "pirate demon", "prisoner demon", or "biker demon". The amount of variety in Hell is absolutely staggering.
* NoAnimalsWereHarmed - [[InvertedTrope "Several demons were actually harmed during the production of Painkiller."]]
* NumberOfTheBeast: The 666 Ammo card, obviously. However, the number on the card is written in Roman numerals (DCLXVI), which shows that the devs knew the ''value'' is important, not three sixes.
* NunsAreSpooky - Demon nuns show up in the Orphanage level.
* ObfuscatingStupidity - Daniel's easy-going Imp friend that follows him around for most of the game turns out to be [[spoiler: Lucifer himself in disguise, busy digging holes to open portals between Purgatory and Hell]].
* ObviousBeta - ''Resurrection'', through and through.
* OneHitKill - Part of the demon morph's powers, except against bosses.
** One of the cards, when activated, gives every single enemy 1 HP.
* OneManArmy
* PacifistRun - Sort of; the Tarot Card challenge of ''Battle Out Of Hell'''s second level, Looney Park, is "Kill no more than 88 enemies". The first 67 kills are mandatory, so the Pacifism part only comes into play during the rail shooter section in the second half.
** Doubles as a LuckBasedMission: the roller-coaster automatically running over 18 enemies and the other enemies accidentally killing each other can ''very'' easily push your kill count over 88.
* PowerupLetdown - Many tarot cards.
* PuzzleBoss - It's easier to name those who are NOT: Necrogiant, Alastor, and Cerberus.
* QuadDamage - Via the Black Tarot. There's also a skull item which alters weapons so that some of their weaknesses are removed.
* RewardingVandalism - Most of the objects, when destroyed, release coins for some strange reason.
* RuleOfCool - The game's reason for existing.
* SecondaryFire, of course! Some even have Tertiary Fire.
* ShockAndAwe - Hi, Electrodriver.
* SimulatedUrbanCombatArea - The architecture is amazingly realistic in more than several of the urban levels.
* [[SkeletonsInTheCoatCloset Skeletons In The Gun Closet]]: The Bonegun and the Spinegun from ''Overdose'' are made entirely out of bones.
* SpiritualSuccessor - To older FPS games, specifically ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Quake}}'' and ''{{Heretic}}''. The game has also spawned its own set of spiritual successors: ''NecroVision'', developed by The Farm 51 whose team includes former People Can Fly designers, and ''{{Dreamkiller}}'', an original shooter from the developers of ''Overdose''. People Can Fly themselves are currently in the employ of EpicGames, and are working hard on VideoGame/{{Bulletstorm}}.
* StandardFPSGuns - Averted. There are five guns, each with an alternate fire. The Painkiller, a weedwhacker/grappler/beamgun. The shotgun that also shoots freezing ice bolts. The Stakegun, that fires yard-long bolts of wood and grenades. And the Electrodriver, which shoots shurikens and lightning. The only gun that can be considered "standard" is the rocket launcher/minigun. The expansion adds a machine gun/flamethrower and a sniper rifle/flechette mini-bomb launcher.
** Not only does Electrodriver shoot shurikens and lightning, but it can also shoot shurikens which shoot lightning themselves.
** Also The Painkiller can shoot its blade out at an enemy, go through multiple enemies, and return to the user. It does a decent amount of damage if you are willing to wait for it to return to you.
** ''Overdose'' features several weapons that lifted directly from the original game, reskinned, and usually nerfed. However, its original weapons are... interesting. Most notably, a radioactive waste spewing wheel-lock pistol/flamethrower
* StandardSciFiSetting - In ''Overdose'', the Asteroids level pretty much happily channels typical sci-fi.
* StandardStatusEffects - Some enemies can make the character slower, poison him or make unable to fire weapons.
* TheStarscream - [[spoiler: Turns out Alastor's not really that upset you killed Lucifer. In fact, he was on his way to kill the old man himself for being such a boneheaded leader. Also Eve, who only wanted you to kill Alastor to take his powers and become the Ruler of Hell.]]
* StockScream - In Asylum and Hell stages, many of them can be heard in the background. Wilhelm and Howie screams are not included.
* SuperDrowningSkills: Submerging in some of the levels is instantly fatal.
* SuperMode - Aforementioned demon morph.
* SwissArmyWeapon - See above. The expansion ''Overdose'' also adds some newer, even stranger weapons.
* TakeThat: A print ad for ''Hell Wars'' read "Hang up your {{Halo}}. Get ready for Hell."
** There's also a subtle jab at ''VideoGame/{{Doom}} 3'' in the opening cinematic of Battle Out of Hell. Eve tells Daniel that "nobody wants to teleport into Hell."
* UndergroundMonkey - Surprisingly averted. For the first 2/3rds of the game, each new level features a new set of enemy types, with their own unique models and behavior. The last several levels do tend to use repeating enemy types, but even then there's some degree of variety.
* UrbanFantasy - There's just as many modern-day levels as there are ancient levels.
* TheWarSequence - The original ''Painkiller'' might already have counted, but nearly every single encounter in ''Redemption'' plays out like this: Every single level has close to a ''thousand'' monsters, with as many as ''a hundred'' for individual encounters.
* WreakingHavok - ''Painkiller'' was one of the first high-profile games to use Havok physics, but unlike some of its more [[HalfLife popular]] [[{{Halo}} contemporaries]], ''Painkiller'' focused more on [[RagdollPhysics enemy corpses flying through the air propelled by shotgun blasts]] and giant bosses whose footsteps make arcways collapse brick-by-brick.
* {{Wutai}} - ''Japanese Massacre'', The second level of ''Overdose''.
* ZombieApocalypse - The Village level is a medieval one.
** The Dead City level in Battle Out of Hell is a literal one, and almost more intense than ''Left4Dead'', particularly if you're trying to beat the level under 20 minutes to get the Tarot card.
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