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Nowadays, the game, alongside a compatible Amiga emulator and the official soundtrack, is provided as freeware by one of its developers, Edvard Toth, [[https://edvardtoth.com/games/perihelion/ on his personal website]] - mainly because the game is one of the few Amiga games which does ''not'' require the still-sold, licensed [[UsefulNotes/{{Amiga}} Amiga Kickstart [=ROMs=]]] to run on an emulator.
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Nowadays, the game, alongside a compatible Amiga emulator and the official soundtrack, is provided as freeware by one of its developers, Edvard Toth, [[https://edvardtoth.com/games/perihelion/ on his personal website]] - mainly because the game is one of the few Amiga games which does ''not'' require the still-sold, licensed [[UsefulNotes/{{Amiga}} [[Platform/{{Amiga}} Amiga Kickstart [=ROMs=]]] to run on an emulator.
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Keeping consistency with how the Unborn God's final form is mentioned in the article.
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* ItsAWonderfulFailure: Should all members of your party die, you're treated to a text crawl detailing the 'birth' of the Unborn God - that is, becoming an [[EnergyBeings energy being]] - as it completely consumes reality, remaking it in its own image. Said text crawl is also accompanied by an illustrated scene of the Unborn God's final physical form dwarfing the planet Perihelion.
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* ItsAWonderfulFailure: Should all members of your party die, you're treated to a text crawl detailing the 'birth' of the Unborn God - that is, becoming an [[EnergyBeings energy being]] - as it completely consumes reality, remaking it in its own image. Said text crawl is also accompanied by an illustrated scene of [[spoiler: the Unborn God's final physical form form]] dwarfing the planet Perihelion.
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* FetusTerrible: [[spoiler: The Unborn's [[OneWingedAngel final form]], both when fought and before ascending to an EnergyBeing.]]
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* OneWingedAngel: Inverted when fighting [[spoiler: the Unborn. Its first form is a demon-like being, only to turn into a [[FetusTerrible literal fetus]] when said form is defeated.]]
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Added much-needed preposition to the end of the In Their Own Image example.
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* InTheirOwnImage: The ultimate goal of the game's [[BigBad main villain]], the Unborn. It's up to your party of genetically and psionically-augmented [[DesignerBabies designer babies]] to kill it.
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* InTheirOwnImage: The ultimate goal of the game's [[BigBad main villain]], the Unborn. It's up to your party of genetically and psionically-augmented [[DesignerBabies designer babies]] to kill it.it before it succeeds.
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Example used to illustrate Reality Is Out To Lunch in this work is better-suited for Just Before The End.
* JustBeforeTheEnd: As a consequence of the Unborn's ongoing emergence and ascension, psychic and conventional communication is becoming impossible, solar activity is decreasing, buildings are literally ''melting'', extradimensional, hostile monsters unclassifiable by Perhelion's sciences are appearing, and Perihelion's population is spontaneously mutating, the results of which are frequently lethal to children. And that's just what's happening in the ''introduction cutscene''.
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* RealityIsOutToLunch: As a consequence of the Unborn's ongoing emergence and ascension, psychic and conventional communication is becoming impossible, solar activity is decreasing, buildings are literally ''melting'', extradimensional, hostile monsters unclassifiable by Perhelion's sciences are appearing, and Perihelion's population is spontaneously mutating, the results of which are frequently lethal to children. And that's just what's happening in the ''introduction cutscene''.
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Added an introduction to the subsections of the Guide Dang It example.
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* GuideDangIt:
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* GuideDangIt: Thanks to the sparse-on-gameplay-details manual and a lack of other reference material, there are multiple examples:
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Clarified why the Unborn God is listed as part of the article's Complete Immortality example.
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* CompleteImmortality: The biggest perk the gods of Perihelion have as [[EnergyBeings energy beings]]. As part of its plans, the Unborn seeks to ascend from its current physical form to an energy being like its fellow gods, enabling it to complete its [[InTheirOwnImage rewriting of reality]] unopposed.
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* CompleteImmortality: The biggest perk the gods of Perihelion have as [[EnergyBeings energy beings]]. beings]] - except for the Unborn, which as of the game's events is a PhysicalGod and thus killable. As part of its plans, the Unborn it seeks to ascend from its current physical form to an energy being like its fellow gods, enabling it to complete its [[InTheirOwnImage rewriting of reality]] unopposed.
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Because Magic By Any Other Name is in effect, and there's no practical difference between psionics and mages, removed Our Mages Are Different example since it ends up being a non-example.
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* OurMagesAreDifferent: Magic, or [[MagicByAnyOtherName "energy manifestation"]], in the Perihelion setting is accomplished either through the use of godly power, wherein the caster is able to utilize a small portion of the god's living energy, or psionic powers, which are individual to the caster and must be invoked by artificially inducing a heightened state of emotion.
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Removed extraneous detail on game's Runic Magic.
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* RunicMagic: The emotions which drive the party's psi-powers are represented as runes. You are only told what spells correspond to which combination of runes [[GuideDangIt in the manual]], and this information doubles as the game's [[CopyProtection copy protection]]; furthermore, what class is required to even ''use'' psi-powers can only be found through [[TrialAndErrorGameplay experimentation]], an external guide, or the psi-power guide helpfully provided by one of the developers on his personal website.
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* RunicMagic: The emotions which drive the party's psi-powers are represented as runes. You are only told what spells correspond to which combination Specific combinations of runes [[GuideDangIt result in the manual]], and this information doubles as the game's [[CopyProtection copy protection]]; furthermore, what class is required to even ''use'' psi-powers can only be found through [[TrialAndErrorGameplay experimentation]], an external guide, or the psi-power guide helpfully provided by one of the developers on his personal website.specific psi-powers.
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Grammar.
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** Nowhere in the game or the manual explains the starting primary and secondary stats for each of the 7 possible races a character can be, nor is it explained which classes each race supports. Throw in how nowhere tells you you can define in percentage how much of a hybrid race is actually hybrid and how ''that'' affects stats, and you'll have to create a character to find out.
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** Nowhere in the game or the manual explains the starting primary and secondary stats for each of the 7 possible races a character can be, nor is it explained which classes each race supports. Throw in how nowhere tells you you can define in percentage how much of a hybrid race is actually hybrid and how ''that'' affects stats, and you'll have to create a character multiple characters just to find out.out (or find an external guide).
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Clarified that the game has much more to reality being out to lunch, but unless someone thinks there's more to add without bloating the example, I'm leaving it at that.
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* RealityIsOutToLunch: As a consequence of the Unborn's ongoing emergence and ascension, psychic and conventional communication is impossible, solar activity is decreasing, buildings are literally ''melting'', extradimensional, hostile monsters unclassifiable by Perhelion's sciences are appearing, and Perihelion's population is spontaneously mutating, the results of which are frequently lethal to children.
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* RealityIsOutToLunch: As a consequence of the Unborn's ongoing emergence and ascension, psychic and conventional communication is becoming impossible, solar activity is decreasing, buildings are literally ''melting'', extradimensional, hostile monsters unclassifiable by Perhelion's sciences are appearing, and Perihelion's population is spontaneously mutating, the results of which are frequently lethal to children.children. And that's just what's happening in the ''introduction cutscene''.
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As it happens, the party in this game is destined to die.
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* DeathIsTheOnlyOption: [[spoiler:Either your party dies before you can kill the Unborn God, [[ItsAWonderfulFailure allowing it to complete its goals]], or your party dies from the radiation [[BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu resulting from killing the Unborn God]].]]
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Fixed stylized name of vehicle being interpreted as a wiki word.
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* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Your party kills the Unborn, stopping its incursion into the mortal realm, reversing its alterations to the realm, and preventing it from becoming living energy. However, your SandGlider ([[CallARabbitASmeerp in-universe name for a hovercraft]]) is unable to outrun the radiation generated by its death. Being too much even for your genetically and psionically augmented party members, [[BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu the radiation causes you to die]] during your escape.]]
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* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Your party kills the Unborn, stopping its incursion into the mortal realm, reversing its alterations to the realm, and preventing it from becoming living energy. However, your SandGlider [=SandGlider=] ([[CallARabbitASmeerp in-universe name for a hovercraft]]) is unable to outrun the radiation generated by its death. Being too much even for your genetically and psionically augmented party members, [[BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu the radiation causes you to die]] during your escape.]]
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Removed example of Trial And Error Gameplay as it is better-classified as an example of Guide Dang It.
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* TrialAndErrorGameplay: While the possible psi-powers/spells as well as how to cast them are explained in the manual, the manual does ''not'' tell you what classes can actually ''cast'' specific spells. You'll need to find out through experimentation, an external guide, or the official psi-powers guide provided by one of the game's developers on his website.
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More research, more information to add and clarify.
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* BrainComputerInterface: Your party uses one to access one of many network stations littered around the game world, which can provide plot-critical information as well as information on inventory items and equipment.
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* BrainComputerInterface: Your party uses one to access one of many network stations littered around the game world, which can provide plot-critical information as well as lore and world-building material. It also works on ''the party itself'' to provide information on inventory items and equipment.
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* GuideDangIt: Want to use psi-powers/spells? Wondering why a particular psi-power isn't working? Hope you still have the manual, because that's the only place where the system and the runes which represent it is explained. Even then, the manual doesn't explain that spells require specific classes to cast. To top it all off, this manual-only information is also used for the game's [[CopyProtection copy protection]]. Thankfully, all this information is officially provided by one of the game's developers on his personal website.
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* GuideDangIt: GuideDangIt:
** Want to use psi-powers/spells? Wondering why a particular psi-power isn't working? Hope you still have the manual, because that's the only place where the system and the runes which represent it is explained. Even then, the manual doesn't explain that spells require specific classes to cast. To top it all off, this manual-only information is also used for the game's [[CopyProtection copy protection]]. Thankfully, all this information is officially provided by one of the game's developers on his personalwebsite.website.
** Nowhere in the game or the manual explains the starting primary and secondary stats for each of the 7 possible races a character can be, nor is it explained which classes each race supports. Throw in how nowhere tells you you can define in percentage how much of a hybrid race is actually hybrid and how ''that'' affects stats, and you'll have to create a character to find out.
** Want to use psi-powers/spells? Wondering why a particular psi-power isn't working? Hope you still have the manual, because that's the only place where the system and the runes which represent it is explained. Even then, the manual doesn't explain that spells require specific classes to cast. To top it all off, this manual-only information is also used for the game's [[CopyProtection copy protection]]. Thankfully, all this information is officially provided by one of the game's developers on his personal
** Nowhere in the game or the manual explains the starting primary and secondary stats for each of the 7 possible races a character can be, nor is it explained which classes each race supports. Throw in how nowhere tells you you can define in percentage how much of a hybrid race is actually hybrid and how ''that'' affects stats, and you'll have to create a character to find out.
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After reading through some recommended reading for the game by Edvard Toth on his personal website, discovered an in-game case of Admiring The Abomination. Also, accompanying the Its A Wonderful Failure listing, noted how it's possible to read what happens if you fail to stop the Unborn God (e.g. total party kill) in the appropriate Apoclypse How subsection in this article.
* AdmiringTheAbomination: One file you can find on a network station in [=MidLight=] is an Imperial professor admiring the Unborn's ability to genetically-modify living beings. Given [[AllThereInTheManual the manual]] reveals genetics is the greatest Imperial science, not to mention the fact they created Project Awakening - [[DesignerBabies that is, you and your party]] - this is no small complement to the mad god currently remaking reality.
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** If your party fails to kill the Unborn, it will complete its [[InTheirOwnImage total rewriting of reality]].
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** If your party fails to kill the Unborn, it will complete its [[InTheirOwnImage total rewriting of reality]]. [[ItsAWonderfulFailure You even get to read it happen!]]
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The game has a special "game over" screen when your entire party is killed, detailing the fruition of the Big Bad's plans.
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* ItsAWonderfulFailure: Should all members of your party die, you're treated to a text crawl detailing the 'birth' of the Unborn God - that is, becoming an [[EnergyBeings energy being]] - as it completely consumes reality, remaking it in its own image. Said text crawl is also accompanied by an illustrated scene of the Unborn God's final physical form dwarfing the planet Perihelion.
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Game features trial-and-error gameplay due to how the spellcasting system is only partially explained in the manual, and the game itself does not elaborate on the missing parts.
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* TrialAndErrorGameplay: While the possible psi-powers/spells as well as how to cast them are explained in the manual, the manual does ''not'' tell you what classes can actually ''cast'' specific spells. You'll need to find out through experimentation, an external guide, or the official psi-powers guide provided by one of the game's developers on his website.
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Clarified the implementation of runic magic in-game.
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* RunicMagic: The emotions which drive the party's psi-powers are represented as runes. You are only told what spells correspond to which combination of runes, as well as what class is required to even ''use'' them, [[GuideDangIt in the manual]]; furthermore, this information doubles as the [[CopyProtection copy protection]].
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* RunicMagic: The emotions which drive the party's psi-powers are represented as runes. You are only told what spells correspond to which combination of runes, runes [[GuideDangIt in the manual]], and this information doubles as well as the game's [[CopyProtection copy protection]]; furthermore, what class is required to even ''use'' them, [[GuideDangIt in psi-powers can only be found through [[TrialAndErrorGameplay experimentation]], an external guide, or the manual]]; furthermore, this information doubles as psi-power guide helpfully provided by one of the [[CopyProtection copy protection]].developers on his personal website.
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Fixed broken wikiword.
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* GuideDangIt: Want to use psi-powers/spells? Wondering why a particular psi-power isn't working? Hope you still have the manual, because that's the only place where the system and the runes which represent it is explained. Even then, the manual doesn't explain that spells require specific classes to cast. To top it all off, this manual-only information is also used for the game's [[Copy Protection copy protection]]. Thankfully, all this information is officially provided by one of the game's developers on his personal website.
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* GuideDangIt: Want to use psi-powers/spells? Wondering why a particular psi-power isn't working? Hope you still have the manual, because that's the only place where the system and the runes which represent it is explained. Even then, the manual doesn't explain that spells require specific classes to cast. To top it all off, this manual-only information is also used for the game's [[Copy Protection [[CopyProtection copy protection]]. Thankfully, all this information is officially provided by one of the game's developers on his personal website.
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* RunicMagic: The emotions which drive the party's psi-powers are represented as runes. You are only told what spells correspond to which combination of runes, as well as what class is required to even ''use'' them, [[GuideDangIt in the manual]]; furthermore, this information doubles as the copy protection.
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* RunicMagic: The emotions which drive the party's psi-powers are represented as runes. You are only told what spells correspond to which combination of runes, as well as what class is required to even ''use'' them, [[GuideDangIt in the manual]]; furthermore, this information doubles as the [[CopyProtection copy protection.protection]].
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Created initial article.
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->''"Oh master, I saw the nightmare again. In the depths of my subconscious, in a concealed dimension stands the threshold of darkness. A fortress of pure shining steel, built upon the edge of two worlds by a power beyond expression, the ancient unholy power of an unborn god. Help me master, I feel the burning twilight behind those gates of steel..."''
-->-- '''Finian''', psionic-in-training, providing the game's intro narration.
''Perihelion'' is a 1993 [[TurnBasedCombat turn-based]] WesternRPG for the Commodore Amiga created by the 3-man team Morbid Visions and published by Creator/{{Psygnosis}}. Unusually for [=RPGs=], the only encounterable enemies in the game are bosses.
100 years before the game's events begin, a psionic-in-training of the Perihelion Imperium receives a monumental, apocalyptic prophecy of the future: The Unborn God (interchangeably called "The Unborn"), ''[[BigBad the]]'' [[EldritchAbomination god of]] [[BlueAndOrangeMorality negativity]], will go mad and rapidly consume reality in its quest to remake it in its own image. Horrified at this revelation, Imperial Emperor Rex Helion 27 commissions "Project Awakening", a group of six [[DesignerBabies artificially-created]] embryos designed to last long enough against the inevitable [[RealityIsOutToLunch collapse of reality]] the Unborn will bring in its wake to kill it. Now, the prophecy is coming true, and Project Awakening is activated. Will the six beings be able to destroy the Unborn before it can fully manifest, or will they be consumed along with the rest of reality?
Nowadays, the game, alongside a compatible Amiga emulator and the official soundtrack, is provided as freeware by one of its developers, Edvard Toth, [[https://edvardtoth.com/games/perihelion/ on his personal website]] - mainly because the game is one of the few Amiga games which does ''not'' require the still-sold, licensed [[UsefulNotes/{{Amiga}} Amiga Kickstart [=ROMs=]]] to run on an emulator.
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!! This game provides examples of:
* AllThereInTheManual: The specifics of the prophetic vision received by the psionic-in-training, said psionic's name, parts of the game's backstory, how magic works, the nature of the gods, and much more can only be found in the manual.
* ApocalypseHow:
** The Ancients, the Perheilion Imperium's [[{{Precursors}} precursor society]], wiped themselves and everything but their culture and a select bit of knowledge and technology off the face of reality during a [[{{NukeEm}} nuclear holocaust]].
** If your party fails to kill the Unborn, it will complete its [[InTheirOwnImage total rewriting of reality]].
* AmbiguousSyntax: "Perihelion" in-universe can mean "the center of Perihelion Imperial space", the planet ''called'' "Perihelion", the solar-centrist culture the Imperium inherited from [[{{Precursors}} the Ancients]], or..."solar-centric", its real-world meaning.
* BrainComputerInterface: Your party uses one to access one of many network stations littered around the game world, which can provide plot-critical information as well as information on inventory items and equipment.
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: None of the gods you and your individual party members can follow in Perihelion - not even the Unborn God - are classifiable as good or evil. As such, the gods are categorized using an ''emotional'' alignment instead of a [[TabletopGame/{{DungeonsAndDragons}} D&D-style moral alignment]], maxing out at "extremely positive" and "extremely negative", with "neutral" in-between. Only Primordial Forces can have a "pure" alignment, which is free from any opposing emotional influence, and the only one you are told about and face is the Unborn, which has a classification of "pure negative".
* BossGame: Unusually for normal gameplay in an RPG, every enemy encountered in the game is a boss, with no regular enemies to be found. This also means the only way to level up is to kill a boss.
* BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu: [[spoiler:While your party does kill the Unborn, the radiation it generates upon its death, which is lethal even to [[DesignerBabies your party]], cannot be outrun, resulting in death.]]
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Your party kills the Unborn, stopping its incursion into the mortal realm, reversing its alterations to the realm, and preventing it from becoming living energy. However, your SandGlider ([[CallARabbitASmeerp in-universe name for a hovercraft]]) is unable to outrun the radiation generated by its death. Being too much even for your genetically and psionically augmented party members, [[BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu the radiation causes you to die]] during your escape.]]
* CompleteImmortality: The biggest perk the gods of Perihelion have as [[EnergyBeings energy beings]]. As part of its plans, the Unborn seeks to ascend from its current physical form to an energy being like its fellow gods, enabling it to complete its [[InTheirOwnImage rewriting of reality]] unopposed.
* CopyProtection: The game manual's list of psi-powers/spells and what runes are required to cast them are required to answer the game's copy protection.
* DeliberatelyMonochrome: The game deliberately uses a monochrome color palette (with white not always being the second color) as part of the overall mood, with color only used to highlight important elements or emphasize pieces of the interface, characters, and backgrounds.
* DesignerBabies: Your party due to being creations of Project Awakening, the plan to kill the Unborn God. You are all designed to be genetically and psychically-resistant to the influence of the Unborn in the hopes you can last long enough to kill it.
* DreamingOfThingsToCome: How the Imperium is made aware of the Unborn's coming. An Imperial psionic-in-training receives a monumental, prophetic vision where reality and all which dwell in it are consumed and remade by the Unborn.
* EldritchAbomination: The Unborn God's very nature as a Primordial Force defies explanation by the sciences which are able to explain every other god and supernatural phenomena. What little ''can'' be explained is it's gone mad and wants to rewrite reality in its own image. Worse, if it weren't for the [[DreamingOfThingsToCome prophecy]], the Imperium wouldn't even be ''aware'' of its existence until it emerged - which would've been too late to stop it.
* EmotionalPowers: Given the ([[EldritchAbomination scientifically-comprehensible]]) gods themselves operate on emotional alignment rather than a [[TabletopGame/{{DungeonsAndDragons}} D&D-like moral alignment]], this is how the spells in Perihelion work. The caster must enter an artificially-induced state of heightened emotion, which unlocks their latent psychic powers.[[note]]These are different from godly powers, where the caster uses a small portion of their chosen god's living energy.[[/note]]
* TheEmpire: Unlike what one would expect of this trope, the Perihelion Imperium, from what little backstory the game gives you, is genuinely interested in the well-being of its citizens, going so far as to create [[DesignerBabies Project Awakening]] in order to have a chance against the Unborn God.
* EnergyBeings: The gods of Perihelion are hyperintelligent beings who exist as immense pools of living energies set amongst the abyss of time and space. Among other benefits, this grants them [[CompleteImmortality complete immortality]]. The immortality part is why the Perihelion Imperium sends out your party to kill the Unborn - it currently exists in a physical form despite being a god, and should it successfully ascend into this, it can remake reality with impunity.
* GuideDangIt: Want to use psi-powers/spells? Wondering why a particular psi-power isn't working? Hope you still have the manual, because that's the only place where the system and the runes which represent it is explained. Even then, the manual doesn't explain that spells require specific classes to cast. To top it all off, this manual-only information is also used for the game's [[Copy Protection copy protection]]. Thankfully, all this information is officially provided by one of the game's developers on his personal website.
* InTheirOwnImage: The ultimate goal of the game's [[BigBad main villain]], the Unborn. It's up to your party of genetically and psionically-augmented [[DesignerBabies designer babies]] to kill it.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: The Unborn God is described as a god gone mad, implying that the other Perihelion gods, no matter how sadistic or benevolent they act [[BlueAndOrangeMorality by human standards]], have never attempted to rewrite reality in the uncaring fashion the Unborn is.
* MagicByAnyOtherName: Even though the game's manual explicitly labels your party's various abilities as spells, the game still calls them "psi-powers". It also calls the general results of magic, whether godly or psionic, as "energy manifestation".
* OurGodsAreDifferent: Gods in the Perihelion setting are hyperintelligent beings who exist as immense pools of [[EnergyBeings living energies]] set amongst [[VoidBetweenTheWorlds the abyss of time and space]] and their thought processes being described [[BlueAndOrangeMorality in terms of emotions]]. Their existence is known to and felt by all in Perihelion, making faith in them both unnecessary and inapplicable. The exception to this is the Unborn, a Primordial Force, whose presence was only warned of by a psionic-in-training's prophetic vision 100 years before the events of the game. Its current form is physical, though it seeks to become living energy like the other gods.
* OurMagesAreDifferent: Magic, or [[MagicByAnyOtherName "energy manifestation"]], in the Perihelion setting is accomplished either through the use of godly power, wherein the caster is able to utilize a small portion of the god's living energy, or psionic powers, which are individual to the caster and must be invoked by artificially inducing a heightened state of emotion.
* {{Precursors}}: The technocratic society from which the Perihelion Imperium inherited its solar-centrist culture, known only as the Ancients. Stated in [[AllThereInTheManual the backstory]] to have [[{{NukeEm}} nuked themselves into extinction]], bringing most of their technology and knowledge with them.
* PsychicPowers: The main source of your party's supernatural abilities, though the [[AllThereInTheManual game's lore]] states they must be activated by activated by artificially-inducing a [[EmotionalPowers state of heightened emotion]].
* PhysicalGod: The form the Unborn starts off the game in is physical, unlike its [[EnergyBeings fellow gods]], and spends the game trying to become non-corporeal so it can fully manifest its will and become unstoppable. Unlike most examples of this trope, however, it is actually the most powerful of its fellow gods even in this form.
* RealityIsOutToLunch: As a consequence of the Unborn's ongoing emergence and ascension, psychic and conventional communication is impossible, solar activity is decreasing, buildings are literally ''melting'', extradimensional, hostile monsters unclassifiable by Perhelion's sciences are appearing, and Perihelion's population is spontaneously mutating, the results of which are frequently lethal to children.
* ReligionIsMagic: While not religious in nature, there are organized orders of people dedicated to each god in Perihelion's pantheon. Those who subscribe to these orders are able to utilize a small part of their chosen god's living energy as their own. Following a god also has the side-effect of modifying one's physical abilities, such as strength, dexterity, or speed.
* RunicMagic: The emotions which drive the party's psi-powers are represented as runes. You are only told what spells correspond to which combination of runes, as well as what class is required to even ''use'' them, [[GuideDangIt in the manual]]; furthermore, this information doubles as the copy protection.
* ScientificallyUnderstandableSorcery: The usage of both godly and psionic powers (psi-powers) are defined by Perihelion's sciences - to the point where psi-powers are activated by artificially-inducing a [[EmotionalPowers state of heightened emotion]].
* SufficientlyAdvancedAlien: Thanks to the Perihelion Imperium's sciences, the gods are known to be [[EnergyBeings energy beings]] which possess [[CompleteImmortality complete immortality]] and live in [[VoidBetweenTheWorlds the void between time and space]], with the exception of the Unborn, which originates from a place ''[[PlaceBeforeTime beyond that]]''.
* SufficientlyAnalyzedMagic: The supernatural is a science to the Perihelion Imperium, meaning even the gods, despite being far beyond mortals, are empirically-explainable...unless you're talking about [[EldritchAbomination the Unborn]]. This does ''not'' mean the gods can be ''controlled'' by mortals - they're still ''far'' beyond anything mortals can ever hope to be or achieve.
* VoidBetweenTheWorlds:
** The Unborn's Steel Fortress is explicitly stated in the game's intro to exist between two dimensions.
** The gods of Perihelion in general are stated to exist "amongst the abyss of time and space", while the Unborn comes from a place ''[[PlaceBeforeTime beyond that]]''.
-->-- '''Finian''', psionic-in-training, providing the game's intro narration.
''Perihelion'' is a 1993 [[TurnBasedCombat turn-based]] WesternRPG for the Commodore Amiga created by the 3-man team Morbid Visions and published by Creator/{{Psygnosis}}. Unusually for [=RPGs=], the only encounterable enemies in the game are bosses.
100 years before the game's events begin, a psionic-in-training of the Perihelion Imperium receives a monumental, apocalyptic prophecy of the future: The Unborn God (interchangeably called "The Unborn"), ''[[BigBad the]]'' [[EldritchAbomination god of]] [[BlueAndOrangeMorality negativity]], will go mad and rapidly consume reality in its quest to remake it in its own image. Horrified at this revelation, Imperial Emperor Rex Helion 27 commissions "Project Awakening", a group of six [[DesignerBabies artificially-created]] embryos designed to last long enough against the inevitable [[RealityIsOutToLunch collapse of reality]] the Unborn will bring in its wake to kill it. Now, the prophecy is coming true, and Project Awakening is activated. Will the six beings be able to destroy the Unborn before it can fully manifest, or will they be consumed along with the rest of reality?
Nowadays, the game, alongside a compatible Amiga emulator and the official soundtrack, is provided as freeware by one of its developers, Edvard Toth, [[https://edvardtoth.com/games/perihelion/ on his personal website]] - mainly because the game is one of the few Amiga games which does ''not'' require the still-sold, licensed [[UsefulNotes/{{Amiga}} Amiga Kickstart [=ROMs=]]] to run on an emulator.
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!! This game provides examples of:
* AllThereInTheManual: The specifics of the prophetic vision received by the psionic-in-training, said psionic's name, parts of the game's backstory, how magic works, the nature of the gods, and much more can only be found in the manual.
* ApocalypseHow:
** The Ancients, the Perheilion Imperium's [[{{Precursors}} precursor society]], wiped themselves and everything but their culture and a select bit of knowledge and technology off the face of reality during a [[{{NukeEm}} nuclear holocaust]].
** If your party fails to kill the Unborn, it will complete its [[InTheirOwnImage total rewriting of reality]].
* AmbiguousSyntax: "Perihelion" in-universe can mean "the center of Perihelion Imperial space", the planet ''called'' "Perihelion", the solar-centrist culture the Imperium inherited from [[{{Precursors}} the Ancients]], or..."solar-centric", its real-world meaning.
* BrainComputerInterface: Your party uses one to access one of many network stations littered around the game world, which can provide plot-critical information as well as information on inventory items and equipment.
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: None of the gods you and your individual party members can follow in Perihelion - not even the Unborn God - are classifiable as good or evil. As such, the gods are categorized using an ''emotional'' alignment instead of a [[TabletopGame/{{DungeonsAndDragons}} D&D-style moral alignment]], maxing out at "extremely positive" and "extremely negative", with "neutral" in-between. Only Primordial Forces can have a "pure" alignment, which is free from any opposing emotional influence, and the only one you are told about and face is the Unborn, which has a classification of "pure negative".
* BossGame: Unusually for normal gameplay in an RPG, every enemy encountered in the game is a boss, with no regular enemies to be found. This also means the only way to level up is to kill a boss.
* BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu: [[spoiler:While your party does kill the Unborn, the radiation it generates upon its death, which is lethal even to [[DesignerBabies your party]], cannot be outrun, resulting in death.]]
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Your party kills the Unborn, stopping its incursion into the mortal realm, reversing its alterations to the realm, and preventing it from becoming living energy. However, your SandGlider ([[CallARabbitASmeerp in-universe name for a hovercraft]]) is unable to outrun the radiation generated by its death. Being too much even for your genetically and psionically augmented party members, [[BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu the radiation causes you to die]] during your escape.]]
* CompleteImmortality: The biggest perk the gods of Perihelion have as [[EnergyBeings energy beings]]. As part of its plans, the Unborn seeks to ascend from its current physical form to an energy being like its fellow gods, enabling it to complete its [[InTheirOwnImage rewriting of reality]] unopposed.
* CopyProtection: The game manual's list of psi-powers/spells and what runes are required to cast them are required to answer the game's copy protection.
* DeliberatelyMonochrome: The game deliberately uses a monochrome color palette (with white not always being the second color) as part of the overall mood, with color only used to highlight important elements or emphasize pieces of the interface, characters, and backgrounds.
* DesignerBabies: Your party due to being creations of Project Awakening, the plan to kill the Unborn God. You are all designed to be genetically and psychically-resistant to the influence of the Unborn in the hopes you can last long enough to kill it.
* DreamingOfThingsToCome: How the Imperium is made aware of the Unborn's coming. An Imperial psionic-in-training receives a monumental, prophetic vision where reality and all which dwell in it are consumed and remade by the Unborn.
* EldritchAbomination: The Unborn God's very nature as a Primordial Force defies explanation by the sciences which are able to explain every other god and supernatural phenomena. What little ''can'' be explained is it's gone mad and wants to rewrite reality in its own image. Worse, if it weren't for the [[DreamingOfThingsToCome prophecy]], the Imperium wouldn't even be ''aware'' of its existence until it emerged - which would've been too late to stop it.
* EmotionalPowers: Given the ([[EldritchAbomination scientifically-comprehensible]]) gods themselves operate on emotional alignment rather than a [[TabletopGame/{{DungeonsAndDragons}} D&D-like moral alignment]], this is how the spells in Perihelion work. The caster must enter an artificially-induced state of heightened emotion, which unlocks their latent psychic powers.[[note]]These are different from godly powers, where the caster uses a small portion of their chosen god's living energy.[[/note]]
* TheEmpire: Unlike what one would expect of this trope, the Perihelion Imperium, from what little backstory the game gives you, is genuinely interested in the well-being of its citizens, going so far as to create [[DesignerBabies Project Awakening]] in order to have a chance against the Unborn God.
* EnergyBeings: The gods of Perihelion are hyperintelligent beings who exist as immense pools of living energies set amongst the abyss of time and space. Among other benefits, this grants them [[CompleteImmortality complete immortality]]. The immortality part is why the Perihelion Imperium sends out your party to kill the Unborn - it currently exists in a physical form despite being a god, and should it successfully ascend into this, it can remake reality with impunity.
* GuideDangIt: Want to use psi-powers/spells? Wondering why a particular psi-power isn't working? Hope you still have the manual, because that's the only place where the system and the runes which represent it is explained. Even then, the manual doesn't explain that spells require specific classes to cast. To top it all off, this manual-only information is also used for the game's [[Copy Protection copy protection]]. Thankfully, all this information is officially provided by one of the game's developers on his personal website.
* InTheirOwnImage: The ultimate goal of the game's [[BigBad main villain]], the Unborn. It's up to your party of genetically and psionically-augmented [[DesignerBabies designer babies]] to kill it.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: The Unborn God is described as a god gone mad, implying that the other Perihelion gods, no matter how sadistic or benevolent they act [[BlueAndOrangeMorality by human standards]], have never attempted to rewrite reality in the uncaring fashion the Unborn is.
* MagicByAnyOtherName: Even though the game's manual explicitly labels your party's various abilities as spells, the game still calls them "psi-powers". It also calls the general results of magic, whether godly or psionic, as "energy manifestation".
* OurGodsAreDifferent: Gods in the Perihelion setting are hyperintelligent beings who exist as immense pools of [[EnergyBeings living energies]] set amongst [[VoidBetweenTheWorlds the abyss of time and space]] and their thought processes being described [[BlueAndOrangeMorality in terms of emotions]]. Their existence is known to and felt by all in Perihelion, making faith in them both unnecessary and inapplicable. The exception to this is the Unborn, a Primordial Force, whose presence was only warned of by a psionic-in-training's prophetic vision 100 years before the events of the game. Its current form is physical, though it seeks to become living energy like the other gods.
* OurMagesAreDifferent: Magic, or [[MagicByAnyOtherName "energy manifestation"]], in the Perihelion setting is accomplished either through the use of godly power, wherein the caster is able to utilize a small portion of the god's living energy, or psionic powers, which are individual to the caster and must be invoked by artificially inducing a heightened state of emotion.
* {{Precursors}}: The technocratic society from which the Perihelion Imperium inherited its solar-centrist culture, known only as the Ancients. Stated in [[AllThereInTheManual the backstory]] to have [[{{NukeEm}} nuked themselves into extinction]], bringing most of their technology and knowledge with them.
* PsychicPowers: The main source of your party's supernatural abilities, though the [[AllThereInTheManual game's lore]] states they must be activated by activated by artificially-inducing a [[EmotionalPowers state of heightened emotion]].
* PhysicalGod: The form the Unborn starts off the game in is physical, unlike its [[EnergyBeings fellow gods]], and spends the game trying to become non-corporeal so it can fully manifest its will and become unstoppable. Unlike most examples of this trope, however, it is actually the most powerful of its fellow gods even in this form.
* RealityIsOutToLunch: As a consequence of the Unborn's ongoing emergence and ascension, psychic and conventional communication is impossible, solar activity is decreasing, buildings are literally ''melting'', extradimensional, hostile monsters unclassifiable by Perhelion's sciences are appearing, and Perihelion's population is spontaneously mutating, the results of which are frequently lethal to children.
* ReligionIsMagic: While not religious in nature, there are organized orders of people dedicated to each god in Perihelion's pantheon. Those who subscribe to these orders are able to utilize a small part of their chosen god's living energy as their own. Following a god also has the side-effect of modifying one's physical abilities, such as strength, dexterity, or speed.
* RunicMagic: The emotions which drive the party's psi-powers are represented as runes. You are only told what spells correspond to which combination of runes, as well as what class is required to even ''use'' them, [[GuideDangIt in the manual]]; furthermore, this information doubles as the copy protection.
* ScientificallyUnderstandableSorcery: The usage of both godly and psionic powers (psi-powers) are defined by Perihelion's sciences - to the point where psi-powers are activated by artificially-inducing a [[EmotionalPowers state of heightened emotion]].
* SufficientlyAdvancedAlien: Thanks to the Perihelion Imperium's sciences, the gods are known to be [[EnergyBeings energy beings]] which possess [[CompleteImmortality complete immortality]] and live in [[VoidBetweenTheWorlds the void between time and space]], with the exception of the Unborn, which originates from a place ''[[PlaceBeforeTime beyond that]]''.
* SufficientlyAnalyzedMagic: The supernatural is a science to the Perihelion Imperium, meaning even the gods, despite being far beyond mortals, are empirically-explainable...unless you're talking about [[EldritchAbomination the Unborn]]. This does ''not'' mean the gods can be ''controlled'' by mortals - they're still ''far'' beyond anything mortals can ever hope to be or achieve.
* VoidBetweenTheWorlds:
** The Unborn's Steel Fortress is explicitly stated in the game's intro to exist between two dimensions.
** The gods of Perihelion in general are stated to exist "amongst the abyss of time and space", while the Unborn comes from a place ''[[PlaceBeforeTime beyond that]]''.
