History VideoGame / WitchHunterIzana

Upon reaching civilization she discovers the cause of the island's distress. Verand has unleashed a transformative curse, that quickly transforms those struck by monsters into that type of monster. Joined by the Knight Caelyn and the Hierophant Cyrano she has to fight her away across the island to slay Verand and put an end to the curse.

The game's most notable feature is that the heroes can be transformed by enemies in combat. If a character gets too transformed, they join the enemy's side until defeated and brought back to the side of light. Combat ends when all party member are converted instead of dead. To complement this there's a bad end for every monster type and boss.

* BenevolentBoss: Verand surprisingly. She is consistently supportive to her minions and in all of the bad ends gets along well with the transformed heroes despite them trying to kill her earlier.

* BittersweetEnding: The good ending. [[spoiler:Izana sacrifices herself so that the others can escape the church and spread the truth of their crimes. In the process she avenges the many that the Church's human cloning program has hurt.]] It's undone in the best ending.

* ClosedCircle: Scier's island is one. Verand is sinking all ships that approach the island and has sunk all ships that could leave the island. Finding a way off the island is part of getting the [[spoiler:golden ending]].
* CorruptChurch: [[spoiler:The church turns out boe be creating an army of clone witch hunters as expendable pawns, performing utterly inhuman experiments like crushing people into goo to experiment with soul suspension, using mental patients as test subjects, murder an entire island's populations to keep their secrets, and don't care if one of their creations goes on a rampage so long as it can't be traced back to them.]]

* EvilOverlord: Verand, obviously, as she is leading the invasion of Scier's island. In any ending where she wins, she goes on to establish an empire of Evil, with her as its decadent head.

* LadyOfBlackMagic: Cyrano counts, having the most offensive spells and being a hierophant. She's tall and thin and is more educated than her companions. This naturally puts her at odds with Izana, who views all non-church approved magic as suspect.
* MakerOfMonsters: Verand is the source of the curse which is transforming everyone. Beyond that she will directly transform party members in her boss battle. She also [[spoiler:transformed Nocha and Rosemary, and made Elvira the doll]].

** One of Izana's battle callouts is "Die monster you don't belong in this world!" in reference to VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight.

* TheWitchHunter: It's in the title. But the witch hunter Izana hews closely to the archetype, complete with bad attitude and impressive hat. Interestingly she is an outspoken proponent for the necessity of such a role, especially in the light of recent events.

Upon reaching civilization she discovers the cause of the islands distress. Verand has unleashed a transformative curse, that quickly transforms those struck by monsters into that type of monster. Joined by the Knight Caelyn and the Hierophant Cyrano she has to fight her away across the island to slay Verand and put an end to the curse.

* AbusivePrecursors: The hidden character, [[spoiler:Orios]] claims to be indescribably ancient, from before concepts like gender or identity were even things. They also lie, mislead and do their very best to get the heroes killed to save themselves.

* BigBad: Verand an evil vampire who is taking over the island Izana has been sent to investigate certainly fits the bill.
* BittersweetEnding: The good ending. [[spoiler:Izana sacrifices herself so that the others can escape the church and spread the truth of their crimes. In the process she avenges the many that the Church's human cloning program has hurt.]] It's undone in the [[spoiler:best]] ending.
* BossInMookClothing: There's an entire class of Minibosses that fall under this. The omega enemies are basic enemies. Basic enemies with their stats turned so far up that they will put you in the ground unless you are at the end game. [[spoiler:They guard the ultimate equipment.]]
* {{Brainwashed}}: A side effect of Verand's curse is that all positive emotions are redirected into loving her. Her soldiers cannot imagine not loving and serving her. Even if it means betraying close friends as [[spoiler:Cyrano]] finds out.
* ChurchMilitant: Fittingly enough for a game about a witch hunter. Much reference is made to two battalions of crusaders ready to invade the island if Izana fails. [[spoiler: They serve as the game's final enemy type.]]
* ClosedCircle: Scier's island is one. Verand is sinking all ships that approach the island and has sunk all ships that could leave the island. Finding a way off the island is part of getting the [[spoiler: golden ending.]]
* CreepyDoll: Verand's personal maid, Elvira is one. She is drawn less humanly than the rest of the characters to reinforce this. The player characters can of course get turned into them as well.
* CuteMonsterGirl: A feature of the setting, called Patirhumans they reproduce by transforming humans. However transformations as fast as Verand's curse allow are unusual in the setting. The party can naturally enough be turned into monster girls, and Sage the moth-girl is one of the primary vendors.

* EquipmentBasedProgression: Mixed with level based progression. A crafting mechanic is used to make better weapons and armor which is essential to progression.
* EvilOverlord: Verand obviously as she is leading the invasion of Scier's island. In any ending where she wins, she goes on to establish an empire of Evil, with her as it's decadent head.
* TheFundamentalist: Izana, she is unwilling to admit that the church could be anything but correct even when the evidence is in front of her eyes. She grows out of it a bit, but it's a slow process. [[spoiler:It's later revealed that it's part of her programming.]]
* GettingSmiliesPaintedOnYourSoul: Those afflicted by Verand's curse cannot help but love, obey her and view the curse as a great thing. Even if they hated her before.
* GoldenEnding: The "best" ending gotten by finishing [[spoiler: Rosemary's quest, which allows Izana]] to survive the events of the game.
* GoodIsNotNice: The witch hunter Izana is a classic example. She is brusque to even her friends, will often proudly boast of skinning her enemies alive and cares absolutely nothing for her enemies except for killing them. She's the hero.

* InfinityPlusOneSword: The Omega gear, which is hands down the best equipment in the game. It's just guarded by Omega enemies, which are hands down the hardest enemies in the game.
* ItsAWonderfulFailure: Part and parcel of being a transformation centric game. Every enemy type you can get transformed into has a special ending, sometimes changing based on game progress. Same for bosses.
* LadyOfBlackMagic: Cyrano counts, having the most offensive spells and being a hierophant. She's tall and thing and is more educated than her companions. This naturally puts her at odds with Izana who views all non-church approved magic as suspect.
* MakerOfMonsters: Verand is the source of the curse which is transforming everyone. Beyond that she will directly transform party members in her boss battle. She also transformed [[spoiler:Nocha, Rosemary and made Elvira the doll.]]

* NeverSplitTheParty: The heroes never split up except in the [[spoiler:good endings.]] Given that someone by themselves is easy pickings for transformation, it makes sense.
* NiceGirl: Caelyn is polite, positive and generally able to keep Cyrano and Izana from bickering too much. This is one of the biggest hints that the only person she genuinely hates is a complete monster.
* PressXToDie: The player can craft charms that transform a character most of the way into a monster type. No points for guessing what happens if you fight a monster type already mostly transformed into one. The statues even have a special ending for it.
* SealedEvilInACan: A very well-hidden version is below the Villa. If the heroes are careless after releasing it the entire island can be erased from existence.

** One of Izana's battle callouts is "Die monster you don't belong in this world!" in reference to VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight
** Izana quotes Jojo's bizarre adventure as she approaches the first boss.
** One of the achievement titles is "Don't got time to bathe" in reference to Film/Predator
** Reaching the hunting lodge unlocks "Suriving the game" in reference to Film/SurvivingTheGame
** Defeating Verand unlocks "Ill needs a savior" in reference to VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight
** Getting the harpy ending is titled "Freebird"
** Getting the zombie ending is titled "Night of the mostly dead" in reference to Film/NightOfTheLivingDead1968
** Getting the doll ending references the studio's other game ''VideoGame/StringTyrant''
** Getting the statue ending is called "It belongs in a museum!"
** The icon for "I wonder if I can monetize this" references the studio's NSFW project
** The title for finishing the quest to find [[spoiler:Quinn's vampire girlfriend]] is Sundown Literature/Twilight

* SlimeGirl: One of the heroes possible fates. They are very very stupid.
* TakenForGranite: One of the infection types enemies can inflict. One of the most dangerous as it takes 5 infection ticks instead of five infection ticks and another hit.
* TransformationFiction: Transformation is a major part of the game, with one of the primary combat mechanics being transformed mid combat. Get too transformed and you join the enemies side until the character is smacked back to sense.

* WasOnceAMan: Many of the lower tier enemies were likely originally the inhabitants of Scrier's island, now so transformed into monsters as to be unrecognizable. Very nearly happens to [[spoiler:Quinn]].
* WeAreStrugglingTogether: Izana is a witch hunter, Cyrano is a hierophant, or in other words a witch. The only reason Izana doesn't kill Cyrano on sight is that she has no hope of surmounting the curse by herself. Cyrano knows this and snarks at her at every opportunity. Thankfully Caelyn, a knight errant is able to keep them mostly on task.

''Witch Hunter Izana'' is a turn based RPG by Bottled Starlight, the developers of ''VideoGame/StringTyrant''. It released on Steam on September 1st, 2023. The player controls the witch hunter Izana, an agent of the church in the world of [[VideoGame/RunesOfPandemonium Pandemonium]], who has been sent to investigate why the monastery on Scier's Island has gone silent. She is quickly confronted by the Vampire Verand, who flees upon noticing something unusual about Izana.

''Witch Hunter Izana'' is a turn based RPG by Bottled Starlight. It released on Steam on September 1st, 2023. The player controls the witch hunter Izana, an agent of the church in the world of Pandemonium, who has been sent to investigate why the monastery on Scier's Island has gone silent. She is quickly confronted by the Vampire Verand, who flees upon noticing something unusual about Izana.

!!Witch Hunter Izana provides examples of:

** Getting the zombie ending is tittled "Night of the mostly dead" in reference to Film/NightOfTheLivingDead1968
** Getting the doll ending references the studio's other game ''{{VideoGame/StringTyrant}}''

* WasOnceAMan: Many of the lower tier enemies were likely originally the inhabitants of Scrier's island, now so transformed into monsters as to be unrecognizable. Very nearly happens to [[spoiler:Quinn]]

* Determinator: Any of the party members count, as they all keep fighting until everyone has been transformed. There is no surrender option.

* CompleteMonster: King Neck Crush, the leader of the orcs. He is actively selling his followers into slavery with Verand's curse for his own personal comfort and previously did indiscriminate murder in an attempt to get back at Caelyn.

** Getting the zombie ending is tittled "Night of the mostly dead" in reference to Film/NightOfTheLivingDead

* HeroicSacrifice: Happens in the good endings to buy time for the heroes and villagers to escape. The difference between the good and the best ending is who sacrifices themselves.

* GreaterScopeVillain: The [[spoiler:church]] is indirectly responsible for everything that happens in the game. It's even implied that Verand herself is merely a leftover following their programming. All of the good endings involve the heroes going after the [[spoiler:church]] next.

* TheFundamentalist: Izana, she is unwilling to admit that the church could be anything but correct even when the evidence is in front of her eyes. She grows out of it a bit, but it's a slow process. [[spoiler:It's later revealed that it's part of her programming.]]
* TheWitchHunter: It's in the title. But the witch hunter Izana hews closely to the archetype, complete with bad attitude and impressive hat. Interestingly she is an outspoken proponent for the necessity of such a role, especially in the light of recent events.

* WeAreStrugglingTogether: Izana is a witch hunter, Cyrano is a hierophant, or in other words a witch. The only reason Izana doesn't kill Cyrano on sight is that she has no hope of surmounting the curse by herself. Cyrano knows this and snarks at her at every opportunity. Thankfully Caelyn, a knight errant is able to keep them mostly on task.

* BittersweetEnding: The good ending. [[spolier:Izana sacrifices herself so that the others can escape the church and spread the truth of their crimes. In the process she avenges the many that the Church's human cloning program has hurt.]] It's undone in the [[spoiler:best]] ending.

* BossInMookClothing: There's an entire class of Minibosses that fall under this. The omega enemies are basic enemies. Basic enemies with their stats turned so far up that they will put you in the ground unless you are at the end game. [[spoiler:They guard the ultimate equipment.]]

* LadyOfBlackMagic: Cyrano arguably counts, having the most offensive spells and being a hierophant. She's tall and thing and is more educated than her companions. This naturally puts her at odds with Izana who views all non-church approved magic as suspect.

* TakenForGranite: One of the infection types enemies can inflict. Arguably the most dangerous as it takes 5 infection ticks instead of five infection ticks and another hit.

* BigBad: Verand an evil vampire who is taking over the island Izana has been sent to investigate certainly fits the bill. [[spoiler:The reveal is that the church is arguably the BiggerBad, having caused the events of the story and attempting to directly kill our heroes at the end of the story.]]
* BittersweetEnding: The good ending. Izana sacrifices herself so that the others can escape the church and spread the truth of their crimes. In the process she avenges the many that the Church's human cloning program has hurt. It's of course undone in the [[spoiler:best]] ending.

* BlackMagicianGirl: Cyrano arguably counts, having the most offensive spells and being a hierophant. This naturally puts her at odds with Izana who views all non-church approved magic as suspect.