History VideoGame / TheyBreathe

You play as a frog who swims down into a submerged forest where something strange and terrible has happened.

* DarkLordOnLifeSupport: The [[spoiler:queen jellyfish has to use four frog corpses to continuously expel the air buildup within it, otherwise she explodes. You beat her by tricking the jellies into removing her life support.]]

* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: [[spoiler:A little green frog manages to kill an EldritchAbomination at the bottom of the lake.]]

* AndThenJohnWasAZombie: If your frog is killed by [[spoiler:a green jellyfish, it'll show them suffocating the frog and turning it into its new 'head'. Dying to a jelly during the boss fight also has the jellyfish drag your frog to the floor of the area and the queen spawns a moose-jellyfish from its body]].
* AssimilationBackfire: In a case of gaining the weaknesses from assimilation [[spoiler:the jellyfish become dependent on oxygen and susceptible to drowning once they assimilate a frog. The green jellyfish take it even further by becoming unable to breathe air altogether, meaning that without a way to replenish air they will die after some time]].

** The jellyfish. [[spoiler:If they successfully kill a frog and and bring it to their queen, she'll fuse it to them, allowing them to move quickly underwater as well as breathe air. It however also makes them [[AssimilationBackfire vulnerable to drowning]].]]
** The green jellyfish take this further. [[spoiler:They can immediately assimilate a frog they kill without needing to bring it to their queen]].
* AtopAMountainOfCorpses: The [[spoiler:parasite queen is surrounded by hundreds of dead frogs and half-formed jellyfish monsters. She also uses said corpses to create more moose-jellyfish monsters -- if your frog is dragged down by a jelly during the battle, she uses part of the pile to form a frog-jelly from your frog's dead body.]]
* BizarreAlienBiology: The jellyfish [[spoiler:are incapable of breathing air and will expand and explode if they take in too much. However, their queen is capable of using dead frogs to transform them into "moose" with dead frogs for heads, allowing them to breathe air but also making them susceptible to drowning. The jellies are also capable of "trading" dead frogs between them. Then there are the green jellies, which are poisonous, incapable of trading heads or having a head traded to them, and can immediately assimilate a frog they kill instead of requiring the queen to do so. Those who manage to assimilate a frog are unable to breathe air in any way and will perish after some time.]]

* OxygenMeter: This doubles as your HitPoints. It slowly drains over time, faster if the player is captured by a jellyfish, and getting hit by jellyfish tentacles, moose-jellyfish or toxic bubbles will hit a large amount off. To replenish it, you need to touch the OxygenatedUnderwaterBubbles rising from below. Moose-jellyfish also require oxygen to survive and if they run out after some time they die as well. Against [[spoiler:"head"-less jellyfish, the oxygen meter doubles as their damage meter which kills them once they take in too much, but poison bubbles will "heal" them by removing oxygen]].
* PoisonousPerson: Green jellyfish. Those with heads have the ability to emit poison bubbles that harm frogs, and if these moose-jellies touch a regular bubble, it turns that bubble into a large and highly damaging poisonous bubble. Those without heads will very quickly kill any frog they touch by suffocating them, including you, [[spoiler:and do not require dragging a frog down to the queen in order to assimilate them]].

* SetAMookToKillAMook: The moose-jellyfish are every bit as vulnerable to toxic bubbles (from the green moose-jellyfish) as the frogs are, meaning that by careful maneuvering you can get them to die a lot faster.

* SurvivalHorror: The player's frog is incapable of attacking and spends most of its time swimming away for its life from monster moose and jellyfish, with a resource that has to be managed in the form of oxygen. The methods it has to use to defeat enemies are [[spoiler:taking bubbles or luring them away from bubbles to deprive them of oxygen, guiding them into oxygen bubbles until they take in too much and explode, or in the case of the boss, luring another mook to take away its life support]].

''[[http://www.theworkingparts.com/theybreathe/ They Breathe]]'' is an indie game developed by The Working Parts for Xbox Live and the PC. It's a short game, taking no more than half an hour to complete, but it's a remarkable study in atmosphere.

* SurvivalHorror: The player's frog is incapable of attacking enemies and spends most of its time swimming away for its life, with a resource that has to be managed in the form of oxygen. The methods it has to use to defeat enemies are [[spoiler:taking bubbles or luring them away from bubbles to deprive them of oxygen, guiding them into oxygen bubbles until they take in too much and explode, or in the case of the boss, luring another mook to take away its life support]].

* AssimilationBackfire: In a case of gaining the weaknesses from assimilation [[spoiler:the green jellyfish become unable to breathe air after assimilating a frog, meaning that without a way to replenish its air it will die after some time]].

** The jellyfish [[spoiler:take on the traits of a frog if they successfully kill one, being able to move quickly underwater as well as breathe air. It however also makes them [[AssimilationBackfire vulnerable to drowning]].]]
** The green jellyfish take this further. [[spoiler:If they successfully kill a frog, they'll use the frog's dead body as a new 'head' which then allows them to expel air and makes them no longer weak to bubbles]].

* The first "headless" jellyfish you face will eventually start swimming faster until it catches the player's frog. This will instinctively prompt the player to [[spoiler:find air, and discover that air causes them to expand and eventually explode]].

* SurvivalHorror: The player's frog is incapable of attacking enemies and spends most of its time swimming away for its life. The method it uses to defeat enemies consists of either [[spoiler:taking bubbles or luring them away from bubbles to deprive them of oxygen, guiding them into oxygen bubbles until they take in too much and explode, or in the case of the boss, luring another mook to take away its life support]].

* TheReveal: At some point, you'll realize that [[spoiler:those aren't moose, those are jellyfish using dead frogs as 'heads' to help them expel air]].

* TurnsRed: Every time [[spoiler:the jellyfish queen loses one "head", it expands thanks to the air buildup]] and causes the playing field to become smaller.

* SurvivalHorror: The player's frog is incapable of attacking enemies and spends most of its time swimming away for its life. The method it uses to defeat enemies consists of either [[spoiler:taking bubbles or luring them away from bubbles to deprive them of oxygen, guiding them into oxygen bubbles until they take in too much and explode, or in the case of the boss, using another mook to take away its life support]].

* SurvivalHorror: The player's frog is incapable of attacking enemies and spends most of its time swimming away for its life. The method it uses to defeat enemies consists of either [[spoiler:taking or luring them away from bubbles to deprive them of oxygen, guiding them into oxygen bubbles until they take in too much explode, or in the case of the boss, using another mook to take away its life support]].

* ShoutOut: The title is a reference to ''Film/TheyLive''.

* OxygenMeter: This doubles as your HitPoints. It slowly drains over time, faster if the player is captured by a jellyfish, and getting hit by jellyfish tentacles, moose-jellyfish or toxic bubbles will hit a large amount off. To replenish it, you need to touch the OxygenatedUnderwaterBubbles rising from below. Moose-jellyfish also require oxygen to survive and if they run out after some time they die as well.

* TheAssimilator: The green jellyfish. [[spoiler:If they successfully kill a frog, they'll use the frog's dead body as a new 'head' which then allows them to expel air and makes them no longer weak to bubbles]].

* BizarreAlienReproduction: The jellyfish apparently start life as some sort of aquatic plant. [[spoiler:And then there's the fact that they're made from frog corpses...]]
** Not entirely, [[https://www.jellyfishart.com/images/content/kb/jellyfish_life_cycle.jpg real jellyfish do reproduce like that]], minus the [[spoiler: frog corpses]] anyway.

* TheAssimilator: The jellyfish. [[spoiler:If they successfully kill a frog, they'll use the frog's dead body as a new 'head' which then allows them to breathe air]].
* AssimilationBackfire: In a case of gaining the weaknesses from assimilation [[spoiler:the frog-jellyfish become susceptible to drowning from lack of oxygen after assimilating a frog]].

* TheAssimilator: The jellyfish. [[spoiler:If they successfully kill a frog, they'll use the frog's dead body as a new 'head' which then allows them to breathe air]]. In a case of also gaining the weaknesses, [[spoiler:these frog-jellyfish become susceptible to drowning]].

* TheAssimilator: The jellyfish. [[spoiler:If they successfully kill a frog, they'll use the frog's dead body as a new 'head' which then allows them to breathe air]].

* WeaksauceWeakness: The jellyfish have an [[PopGoesTheHuman explosive weakness]] [[spoiler: to air]].

* AndThenJohnWasAZombie: If your frog is killed by [[spoiler:a green jellyfish, it'll show them suffocating the frog and turning it into its new 'head'. Dying to a jelly during the boss fight also has the jellyfish drag your frog to the floor of the area and spawn a moose-jellyfish from its body]].

* AtopAMountainOfCorpses: [[spoiler:The parasite queen is surrounded by hundreds of dead frogs and half-formed jellyfish monsters.]]

* EldritchAbomination: [[spoiler:The parasite queen at the bottom of the lake, a creature capable of fusing itself with frogs in order to use their lungs to expel oxygen from its body, and is somehow linked to the creation of the jellyfish monsters found throughout the game.]]

* PoisonousPerson: Green jellyfish. Those with heads have the ability to emit poison bubbles that harm frogs, and if these moose-jellies touch a regular bubble, it turns that bubble into a large and highly damaging poisonous bubble. Those without heads will very quickly kill any frog they touch by suffocating them, including you.

* AndThenJohnWasAZombie: If your frog is killed by [[spoiler:a green jellyfish, it'll show them suffocating the frog and turning it into its new 'head'. Dying during the boss fight also has the jellyfish drag you to the floor of the area and spawn a moose-jellyfish from your frog's body]].

* OneHitKill: Any frog including the player that is caught by a green "head"-less jellyfish will be instantly killed by the poison [[spoiler:and made into the jellyfish's "head"]] without any way to save them.

* OxygenMeter: This doubles as your HitPoints. It slowly drains over time, faster if the player is captured by a jellyfish, and getting hit by jellyfish tentacles, moose-jellyfish or toxic bubbles will hit a large amount off. To replenish it, you need to touch the OxygenatedUnderwaterBubbles rising from below.
* PoisonousPerson: Green jellyfish. Those with heads have the ability to emit poison bubbles that harm frogs, and if these moose-jellies touch a regular bubble, it turns that bubble into a large and highly damaging poisonous bubble. Those without heads will instantly kill any frog they touch by suffocating them, including you.

* CannibalismSuperpower: [[spoiler:The "Jellyies" obtain the ability to exhale excess air once they become "Mooses", although it seems they then become dependent of oxygen]].

* GoodColorsEvilColors: Healthy frogs, including the player, are vibrant green. Dying frogs and the creatures that hunt them are a sickly brown. Played with by the toxic jellyfish, which are green but are most certainly deadly.

* InstructiveLevelDesign: Each new threat is always introduced as a lone enemy to teach the player how they work and how to defeat them. Shortly after the first "headless" jellyfish is introduced, a headless one and two with heads are introduced to show the player that they can "trade" heads with each other.

* OneHitKill: Any frog including the player that is caught by a green "head"-less jellyfish will be instantly killed [[spoiler:and made into the jellyfish's "head"]] without any way to save them.
* OxygenatedUnderwaterBubbles: One of the main mechanics of the game are these, which you need to touch to regain health and avoid drowning. Moose-jellyfish also require said bubbles to avoid drowning, and [[spoiler:the bubbles are harmful to jellyfish without frogs attached to them]].
* PoisonousPerson: Green jellyfish. Those with heads have the ability to emit poison bubbles that harm frogs, and if they touch a regular bubble, it turns that bubble into a large and highly damaging poisonous bubble. Those without heads will instantly kill any frog they touch by suffocating them, including you.

* PoisonousPerson: Green jellyfish. Those with heads have the ability to emit poison bubbles that harm frogs, and if they touch a regular bubble, it turns that bubble into a large and highly damaging poisonous bubble. Those without heads will instantly kill any frog they touch, including you.