Line #118 VideoGame/FearEffect


1	[[quoteright:400:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/feareffects.png]]
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3	''Fear Effect'' is an action/adventure/horror game published by Eidos Interactive. Released midway through the original Platform/PlayStation's life cycle, the game is the tale of three merciless mercenaries -- Hana, Glas, and Deke. The daughter of a rich and powerful businessman has run away, and the trio have learned of this via an inside source and plot to find her. Although, the three of them plan to ransom her back to her father if all goes well. However, everything is not what it seems to be, and the girl in question is the key to an epic ordeal -- possibly involving the fate of the world itself.
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5	The game spawned a prequel, ''Fear Effect 2: Retro Helix'', which shows how the three main characters met, and introduces Rain, Hana's love interest. Their mission in this game is to stop an epidemic of a highly dangerous disease.
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7	The gameplay features typical action/adventure elements, run and gunning enemies, stealth sequences, keycard-fetching and puzzle solving, but [[GenreBusting the setting fuses influences as diverse as cyberpunk and Chinese mythology.]] What is somewhat unique is each character you control has a "fear/confidence meter". By solving puzzles and taking out foes quickly, your character's meter stays green. When you screw up or take damage, the meter goes down. When it's red, your character has all the [[OneHitPointWonder defense of wet paper]].
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9	A third game, ''Fear Effect: Inferno'', was planned to be released for the Platform/PlayStation2, but was cancelled. With IP holder Square Enix's blessing, French indie developer Sushee launched a Website/{{Kickstarter}} [[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sushee/fear-effect-sedna campaign]] in 2016 for a new game titled ''Fear Effect Sedna'', which was released on March 6, 2018. ''Sedna'' takes place four years after the events of the first game.
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11	Due to the interest ''Sedna'' drew, a remake of the first game, titled ''Fear Effect Reinvented'', was announced in 2017. However, [[https://twitter.com/SaturnMemories/status/1702088790527873188 it was cancelled in September 2023]].
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14	!!This series provides examples of:
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16	* AbortedArc: ''Sedna'' doesn’t try to follow, not even throw hints towards, the planned love triangle between Hana, Glas and Rain that would have happened in the cancelled ''Inferno''; instead, in ''Sedna'', Glas has become estranged from the team, while Hana and Rain only have eyes for each other, with Glas completely out of the equation.
17	* AccidentalHero: The Planner, as his name suggests, has a plan to destroy central Hong Kong by reprogramming the Fixer robots to massacre the aqueduct workers and then setting off bombs in the methane exchange systems to bring down the city above. He is foiled completely incidentally when Hana and Rain use the aqueducts as a shortcut on their way to raid the Wing Chune building and he makes the mistake of hurting Rain (see Berserk Button below).
18	* AccidentalMisnaming: Hana calls Deke "Dick" the first time they meet. Then again....
19	* AllThereInTheManual: A big spoiler for ''Retro Helix'' is casually dropped in the introduction to the game's manual - [[spoiler:Rain has an evil twin sister, Mist.]]
20	* AnArmAndALeg: Not ''all'' of [[spoiler:Glas]] gets out of the first game intact. [[spoiler: Except in the true ending.]] Then there's his brother Drew.
21	* AnAssKickingChristmas: The second game takes place at or around Christmas, before ending just after New Year's has started.
22	* AntiHero: all four protagonists are mercenary cold-blooded killers who will eliminate anyone in the way of their objective, with Deke being an outright sadistic psychopath. Rain briefly has qualms about sniping a couple of oblivious guards from a vantage point... right after having murdered about a dozen of their comrades to reach it. Despite this, they're the only ones who can save the world - on three separate occasions.
23	* ArtShift: Somewhat; The first two discs of the original game had exaggerated animations done by hand in the cutscenes. Disc 3 suddenly shifts to mocap animation.
24	* AttackOfTheMonsterAppendage: In one of the bad endings in the Penglai Island stage of the second game, Hana ends up getting snatched by the tentacle of a massive lake monster, who then drags her into the water and devours her off-camera.
25	* AxCrazy: The Planner, the guy that Hana and Rain fight in the aqueducts, massacres almost his entire work force, tried to blow up the entire downtown district of Hong Kong, and straps Rain to a device straight out of the most demented doujinshi.
26	* Backtracking: Hell in the first game, and the Wing Chune gardens and 86th floor in the second, are particularly egregious examples, but in general you can expect to see the same locations over and over wherever you are.
27	* BareMidriffsAreFeminine: Hana bares her midriff in about half her outfits.
28	* BelligerentSexualTension: Hana and Glas have something like this. They have a habit of pointing guns at each other and giving tough talk. Also, the one female of the Eight Immortals says to Glas about Hana being his friend, which he tries so very hard to deny. In spite of this they are quick to help each other. [[spoiler: A trailer for ''Inferno'' shows Glas putting a hand over Hana's hand. He awkwardly tells her that "I just want to say...be careful, you know?" A few seconds later, she smiles and puts her head against his back, surprising him. She responds "We've all got to be careful." Considering what happens later... well, see the LoveTriangle entry below.]]
29	* BerserkButton: The quickest way to get on Hana's bad side is to mess with Rain.
30	* BewareTheNiceOnes: Rain is new to the mercenary business, somewhat innocent and naive, doesn't swear, scares easily, apologizes profusely for mistakes, is a little klutzy and comes across as a genuinely sweet and caring person. She also kills more people during the game (including her own mother and twin sister) than professional assassin Hana, former special forces soldier Glas and psychopath Deke combined.
31	* BigBad: Yim Lau Wong. The one behind everything in ''Fear Effect'', he's also a minor antagonist in ''Fear Effect 2''. ''Inferno'' also would have had him involved in some way.
32	* BigScrewedUpFamily: Rain comes from one. To wit:
33	** Her mother, Rachel Kazra, injects herself with the DNA of Qin Zhang in a bid to create the perfect being and inadvertently releases the EINDS virus. By the time ''Fear Effect 2'' rolls around, she's become an Abomination.
34	** Rain's father, Qin Zhang, is the immortal first emperor of China.
35	** Her sister Mist, is an EvilTwin demigod with plans to take over the world.
36	** Rain herself is an amnesiac demigod gun for hire. It says a lot that the mercenary is the most normal of the bunch.
37	* TheBigGuy: Deke.
38	* BladeBelowTheShoulder: The first game has the Hell Acrobat enemies, demons with scythes for hands who can teleport all over the damn place, and can slice chunks of health from players if they got too close. They appear firstly in the riverfront, and later on in the final hell level there's a stronger red variant.
39	* BodyHorror:
40	** Wee Ming has the power to turn people into monsters just by looking at them. At the final stages of EINDS, people look like they are suffering from a combination of AIDS and smallpox.
41	** In the first game, once Wee Ming's power leaks out in a brothel, the working girls all start losing their skin and spawning teeth and claws. And now the players must fight their way out of a brothel infested with demon prostitutes.
42	* BossInMookClothing:
43	** The two soldiers Deke fights on top of the train take a full magazine from an assault rifle each.
44	** The brothel guard under a bed, despite having the uniform of regular guards, has a proper extended life bar synonymous with other bosses, and soaks up plenty of bullets before dying. He can also kill Glas in a cutscene if Glas accidentally shot an innocent prostitute on the bed.
45	* BrickJoke: At the start of the second game, when Hana asks Jin if the mission has an exit plan, he mockingly suggests that she and Rain just walk out of the front door. Two discs later, they do exactly that. "Ta-ta!"
46	* BuryYourGays: [[spoiler: Averted in the canon ending, but the bad one does see Hana and possibly Rain dead.]]
47	* ButNotTooForeign: Hana is a mix of French and Chinese. Rain is also half-Caucasian and half-Chinese, but resemble her Caucasian mother more.
48	* CainAndAbel: [[spoiler: Glas and Drew, with Glas being Abel and Drew being Cain. Rain and Mist, with Rain being Abel and Mist being Cain. Subverted in both cases, with Glas and Rain not only surviving the attempts on their lives, but end up killing off Drew and Mist.]]
49	* CasanovaWannabe: "Big" Tom tries a bunch of lame come-ons towards Hana with zero effect. One gets the feeling if they weren't in a crowded room she would have shot him.
50	* CatchPhrase: Glas definitely has one. "You draw on me? You better be prepared to face the consequences!"
51	* CelShading: The games use an impressive ''fake'' cel-shading technique - instead of using real time lighting for the cel-shading, the developers textured the character models to look like they were cel-shaded, then applied basic flat lighting to achieve the full cartoon-like look. True real time cel-shading would not arrive until the Platform/SegaDreamcast, most likely due to a lack of hardware power in the fifth-generation consoles or a lack of precedent in programming cel-shading effects.
52	* CharacterizationMarchesOn: The first game, Hana outright calls Jin a friend, and when they run into each other in Hell, she is glad to see him. In ''Fear Effect 2'', which is a prequel, she's downright hostile to him.
53	* ChineseVampire: In the Temple of Xi'an in the second game.
54	* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Hana's reply to Rain's above statement about her dress. "Don't be silly. I'd only be able to hide one gun naked."
55	* ConspicuouslySelectivePerception: Rain can blast away at the guards in the Wing Chune gardens with unsilenced automatic weapons, and their comrades fifty feet away won't notice a thing.
56	* CurseCutShort: Deke tells Glas "You need a shave and a haircut, mate." Glas says "You mother-" before Hana interrupts him. It is likely that she did not interrupt Glas because of his cursing, as Hana can curse, too, but because she needed to ask Deke questions and she could not do that if a fight broke out between Glas and Deke.
57	* DarkAndTroubledPast: Three of the four main characters have one to some degree:
58	** Hana was only 5 years old when her parents were killed in front of her by the Triad, who then sold her into slavery, before turning her into a mercenary.
59	** Glas was a secret agent/military commander who saw most of his unit wiped out with the few surviving members being used as guinea pigs for the EINDS virus, [[spoiler:before being forced to kill his own brother. His brother then reveals himself to be working for the people who killed Glas' men.]]
60	** Rain is an amnesiac demigod whose own family tries to bring about the end of the world.
61	** Deke doesn't have one but that's because he is a psychotic hit man who [[spoiler: is just another one of Rachel Kazra's failed experiments.]]
62	* DeadpanSnarker: Hana and Glas get a lot more sarcastic in ''Fear Effect 2''.
63	* DeathSeeker: Glas [[EstablishingCharacterMoment establishes]] himself in ''Retro Helix'' by playing RussianRoulette with a six-shooter that has two chambers full.
64	* DemotedToExtra: Deke in the second game, to the point that the last time you play as him [[spoiler: it's actually a demon in disguise.]]
65	* DeadlyRotaryFan: One puzzle in Glas' flashback requires him to get past one. Failure leads to a lovely scene of Glas' [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe chopped corpse being left behind]].
66	* DevilInDisguise: [[spoiler: As it turns out, Jin was Yim Lua Wong the whole time.]]
67	* ADickInName: One of the, uh, "heroes", Jacob "Deke" Decourt, that everyone calls "Deke". He's not the most pleasant character either, being a sadistic brute and a BloodKnight.
68	* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: [[spoiler: In one ending, Hana shoots Yin Lau Wong right between the eyes. In the true ending, Glas shoots the King of Hell who then falls into a pit.]]
69	* DisneyDeath: [[spoiler: Deke turns up alive and well, complaining of a bump on his head, in the best ending of the first game.]]
70	* DistractedByTheSexy: An effect that saves Hana's life from time to time.
71	* DistressedDamsel: Rain, at the end of the aqueducts level. She gets nabbed again in the Temple of Xi'an, but manages to free herself off screen, forcing [[spoiler:Demon!Deke and Mist to pull the ol' twin switch.]]
72	* DoppelgangerSpin + EvilTwin: Part of the prequel's climax and determines whether you get the good ending or the bad ending.
73	* DrowningMySorrows: Glas already has six empty bottles of whiskey when kills a seventh one at the start of ''Fear Effect 2''.
74	* DueToTheDead: [[spoiler: Both of Hana and Glas' endings in the first game has them apologizing for killing the other. In addition, Glas burns down Madame Chen's brothel as he believes that's what Hana would have wanted.]]
75	* EverybodyHatesHades: Yim Lau-Wong is based off the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yama_(Buddhism) Buddhist God of Hell / Underworld]], so naturally he's the game's main antagonist.
76	* EverybodyLives: [[spoiler: All three games have this as their good endings. Otherwise, one, maybe two named characters are still alive at the end.]]
77	* EverythingTryingToKillYou: And they do. However, the students in the aqueducts will leave you alone if you don't go around actively shooting them, the Immortals will not fight you if you make the right choices (i.e. ''not'' shooting the students), and the girls in the bio-hazard suits will ignore Rain for as long as she doesn't have her weapons armed. Same goes for Hana and the guards in Madame Chen's restaurant while she's in the hooker outfit.
78	* EvilElevator: One of the harsher game overs involves Hana being reduced to a greasy smear after being hit by the one she had just climbed out of.
79	* EvilLaugh: The bad guys really enjoy this one.
80	* FaceHeelTurn: Wee Ming goes through one, should you pick Glas in the final boss fight. Losing to her just cements it.
81	* FacePalm: Glas pinches the bridge of his nose in exasperation when told to lower his guns by Hana during the second game's climax.
82	* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: In the first game, during the brothel scene, [[spoiler: you can't save Deke, regardless which choice you make. He will be killed in an unskippable cutscene when Madam Chen corners him]].
83	* FireAlarmDistraction: The brothel escape from the first game has Glas escaping his cell, sneaking through a crowded kitchen (while avoiding being spotted - get caught by any guards and Glas dies instantly in a cutscene) and eventually making it to a fire alarm, where Glas will trigger it on purpose causing sprinklers to go off everywhere in the kitchen, scattering everyone while Glas takes down several guards during the confusion.
84	* FireForgedFriends: Hana, Glas, Deke, and Rain. [[spoiler: In ''Inferno'', the bonds between the four of them have improved significantly. In fact, the four of them seem to have started romantic or sexual relationships with each other, except for between Hana and Deke, and Glas and Deke.]] Best shown by this line from Glas: "That's no way to talk to my friend. Even if you [[spoiler: are a king.]]
85	* FiringOneHanded: [[spoiler: Glas,]] after having his arm cut off in the first game.
86	* FlunkyBoss: The FinalBoss - both of them, depending which path you chose - qualifies from having their own legion of UniqueEnemy monsters backing them up during their penultimate battle. Monsters which shows up as their minions and nowhere else.
87	** For Hana, players will face Mr. Lam, who sics various flying, imp-like monsters which spends the entire battle hovering around Hana.
88	** As Glas, the battle against Wee Ming has the latter summoning green, tentacled monsters that crawls in a straight line towards Glas.
89	* FreudianTrio: Hana is the leader who tends to drag Glas into situations he does not want, which would put her between Id and Ego. Glas has been a leader, tends to be concerned about his profits, and he tries to figure out all the angles, which would put him in Superego territory. Deke has little problem working with Hana and Glas, and he tends to kill people left and right when he is alone, which would put him in Ego and maybe towards Id. Of course, this is before you put Rain in there.
90	* FullMotionVideo: The first two games extensively use FMV. Not only are the cutscenes presented using video, but during gameplay, the backgrounds are almost exclusively short looping videos which you guide the characters over, instead of the static bitmaps of ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' and its imitators. ''Sedna'' dropped this aspect since technology had advanced enough to make the practice largely redundant.
91	* GameplayAndStoryIntegration: After [[spoiler: Glas lose his arm]], he can't use his shotgun anymore, due to the difficulty in using it one handed, and that weapon is automatically crossed off his inventory. But still...
92	* GameplayAndStorySegregation: Glas has a few in the first game.
93	** It is possible for Glas to run out of ammo in the first stage (at least, for his pistols), and yet make it to the final area to bust Hana out. In the following cutscene, Glas will then drop down and fire his pistols all over the place for Hana to escape, even though his inventory shows him having no pistol bullets at all.
94	** The first game's village stage has a moment where Glas gets surrounded by zombies, and must fight his way through. It's possible to take them all down with a single pistol, or with Glas' smackjack (for skilled players who want to conserve ammo) -- the following cutscene will have Glas holding two smoking pistols amidst a pile of dead zombies.
95	* GenreShift: The first game starts out as a third person stealth action game, in a similar vein to ''VideoGame/SyphonFilter''. Then our heroes come across a burning village and it goes head long into SurvivalHorror.
96	* GirlyRun: Rain definitely runs like this. Hana does not. This serves as a contrast between the characters, with Hana being [[ButchLesbian more masculine]] and Rain being [[LipstickLesbian more feminine]].
97	* GirlOnGirlIsHot: During the infamous elevator scene, one of the guards watching actually thinks about doing his job and removing Hana and Rain from the off limits area. The other guard gives him a DopeSlap and continues watching hoping the dress covering the camera will fall off.
98	* GirlsWithGuns: Hana. Rain starts to come into her own by the time the climax rolls around.
99	* GoldenEnding: Of the three endings in the original ''Fear Effect'', [[spoiler: the best can only be obtained by playing on hard mode. In it, Glas willfully pulls his gun back, allowing Hana to fight the monstrous Mr. Lam. Once she defeats him, Wee Ming promises to repay Hana and Glas for their sacrifices, and that she will never forget Hana before disappearing. The King of Hell attempts to attack Hana, only to get shot down by Glas. The King falls down a pit, which causes the area that Glas and Hana are in to start collapsing around them, causing them to flee for their lives. Crawling out of the now destroyed brothel, both are surprised to see Deke alive and well, with Glas surprised to see his once severed arm has grown back. Deke asks how they made out, with Hana and Glas agreeing they did just fine.]]
100	* {{Gorn}}: Both games have death sequences that are oh-so-lovingly crafted, and [[NintendoHard happen often]], you'd think the developers were shooting for this.
101	* GoshDarnItToHeck: Rain drops a few "darn its" when everyone else is saying something much stronger.
102	* GotOverRapeInstantly: Happens when Rain gets strapped to a device that was clearly violating her; she cracks jokes about it with Hana and an hour later takes part in a DistractedByTheSexy scheme with Hana to get access to a private elevator.
103	* GroinAttack: When using the Arc Taser, Rain's attacks on guards ''invariably'' zap them right between the legs - even if they're facing away from her.
104	* GunsAkimbo: The player has an option to carry two pistols or Uzi at once, regardless which character they're using. For gameplay involving Jacob Decourt, players get two '''shot pistols''' right from the start (which blasts 3 bullets with ''each'' shot).
105	* {{Hammerspace}}: This game allows your characters to carry assorted firearms and plenty of ammunition despite walking around with just a holster and minimal gear, but it gets really ridiculous in the first game in levels involving Hana. She spends a level clad in just a towel (being interrupted by mooks during her shower) and disguises herself as a brothel prostitute clad entirely in lingerie in another, and both stages allows her to carry firearms and plenty of ammunition despite her lack of clothing. Including the assault rifle. Somehow.
106	* HandicappedBadass: [[spoiler: Glas won't let a little thing like a severed arm stop him from storming the very gates of Hell itself.]]
107	* HardModePerks: [[spoiler:The canon ending of the first game, the only one where everybody survives, is only reached by playing on Hard, which lets you TakeAThirdOption at the MexicanStandoff.]]
108	* HighVoltageDeath: The first stage of the first game has what is easily the hardest part, a set of electrified panels which activates when Hana installs a fuse to power-up a defunct elevator. The following cutscene has a pair of mooks standing on the panels getting electrocuted, and as Hana players must navigate their way through while avoiding the electric panels.
109	* HoneyPot: Hana uses this in the opening cinematic of Retro Helix, to deadly effect. She even taunts the poor fool's corpse by asking him if it was worth dying for.
110	* HonorBeforeReason: The final boss fight in the good ending of ''Fear Effect 2'' has [[spoiler: Rain fighting her twin sister Mist one on one, when it could have been 4 on 1 if she had allowed it.]]
111	* HumongousMecha: Glas both fights and pilots them in ''Fear Effect 2''.
112	* IDidWhatIHadToDo: Glas justifies slitting Wee Ming's throat thinking that would end the madness he and Hana had been subject to over the last 24 hours. It doesn't take however.
113	* ImmuneToBullets: averted, as supernatural monsters and products of perverted science alike can be taken down with sufficient firepower.
114	* InsistentTerminology: Deke is not fat, he's stocky.
115	* ItsASmallWorldAfterAll: Rain and Deke are both [[spoiler: the results of Rachel Kazra's genetic experiments.]]
116	* {{Jerkass}}: Deke. In his profile for both games, he's described as a "borderline psychopath". Hana and Glas get several PetTheDog moments, with Rain being a borderline {{woobie}}.
117	* JigglePhysics: Hana has a little bit of a bounce when she switches to the hooker outfit in the first game.
118	* JustBetweenYouAndMe: [[spoiler: The very second Jin reveals himself as [[BigBad Yim Lau Wong]], he begins explaining his reasoning for his plan.]] Unlike most examples, he actually wanted Hana to know because he wanted her to protect Wee Ming. Should you fail the final boss fight as Hana, you'll get to see why.
119	* KnightInSourArmor: Glas. He claims he is hardened beyond caring, but his actions speak louder. In fact, one of his deaths in Fear Effect is shooting an innocent woman, and being so stunned he allows a mook to shoot him.
120	* LaserGuidedAmnesia: Rain lost her memory of her past when she crossed from Penglai Shan into the real world, but conveniently retained her prodigious technical skills. (She apparently regained her memory of her family when she crossed back, but that doesn't explain why the same didn't happen to Deke, who was unknowingly [[spoiler: another of Rachel's experiments]].)
121	* LastSecondEndingChoice: Both games endings depend entirely on who you choose to shoot at the end.
122	* LawmanBaton: Glas' melee weapon is his trusty Smackjack, a baton that deals decent damage by smacking enemies from close range.
123	* LeftHanging: The trailers for ''Inferno'' revealed a number of things:
124	** [[spoiler:One scene shows Jin/Yim Lau Wong alive and plotting with an unnamed man about Hana. This unnamed man is probably a member of the Triad Hana has to work for.]]
125	** [[spoiler:There was a website that said that Hana reached to the point where she decided to go against her contract with the Triad. It is hard to say if that means she got enough money at that point or that she simply had had it. Either way, a woman named Minx threatens to kill Rain if Hana goes against the contract.]]
126	** [[spoiler:Hana does not take threats like that lightly, so she decides to kill Minx, with Glas, Rain, and Deke helping her. There is next to nothing revealed about Minx. She may be a member of the Triad, or perhaps a servant of Jin/Yim Lau Wong.]]
127	** [[spoiler:The outcome of the mission to kill Minx is not revealed.]]
128	** [[spoiler:Trailers and Wikipedia indicate that Hana was captured and put in an insane asylum (or she may have been killed and sent to hell, forcing the other characters to find some way to get to hell and rescue her). Unfortunately, the insane asylum is controlled by Jin/Yim Lau Wong's demons.]]
129	** [[spoiler:She also has visions and gains some abilities. She even gains some kind of sword and uses it against a boss. The boss is an asylum doctor who is a monstrous creature whose brain pops open - and if Hana loses, a cutscene plays showing the monster ripping off Hana's arm and adding it to his body. Oh, yeah, and Deke infiltrates the asylum as one of the patients.]]
130	* {{Leitmotif}}: Deke is usually accompanied by drums and a didgeridoo in the original ''Fear Effect''.
131	* LethalEatery: One set piece in the first game has you trying to sneak through an unbelievably filthy kitchen, with your movement opportunities coming from the chefs breaking every rule of the Board of Health. If you screw up, it turns out this is a ''Triad-owned'' kitchen, and all the cooks are ''armed''.
132	* LoadsAndLoadsOfLoading: A real annoyance in the first game, particularly after death scenes, but was fixed in the prequel.
133	* LosingYourHead: [[spoiler:Deke. Well, not ''completely''.]] Just enough to be [[{{Gorn}} really, really gross]].
134	* LoveTriangle: Trailers for ''Inferno'' reveal that one would have developed between [[spoiler:Hana, Rain, and Glas. Hana loves Rain very much, and she begins to show affection to Glas. Rain loves Hana very much, and she appears to want to have sex with Glas and maybe more than that. Glas begins to show affection to Hana, and he appears to be willing to have sex with Rain and maybe more than that. This would have been one complicated LoveTriangle and how it would have been handled has not revealed. One trailer indicates that Rain and Deke have formed a relationship.]] Talk about complicated relationships.
135	* MadeOfIron: The Planner. He takes a full magazine from an assault rifle when he fights Rain, gets knocked into an electrified waterfall three times by Hana, which melts half his face off, and get back up and tries to kill both every time. This leads an exasperated Rain to shout "why won't he die!"
136	* MaleGaze: We get several close ups of Hana's body in both games. An in-universe example is averted when Hana threatens to kill Deke for peeking at her.
137	* TheManyDeathsOfYou: This series had an entire cottage industry devoted to the various ways for Hana, Rain, and their friends to die in various horrible ways: devoured by a horde of rats, crushed to death, burned to a cinder, etc. And that's just assuming you weren't killed by a {{Mook}} first.
138	* MexicanStandoff: Part of the first game's climax. [[spoiler:You choose who fires first, and it decides your ending. On Hard, however, [[TakeAThirdOption you don't have to choose]], and both characters make it out alive.]] Also seen in the climax to Sedna.
139	* MoneyToBurn: An inversion of sorts, as Mr. Lam became wealthy by actually burning money in a ritual pact with Yim Lua Wong.
140	* MsFanservice:
141	** Hana, from gratuitous shower scenes to stripper disguises to running around in nothing but a towel. A noticeable example is in the original game. What is the solution to one puzzle where Hana having a gun pointed at her point-blank while she's only wearing said towel? Go into your inventory and use the towel. As a result, she ''takes it off''. Nice butt, Hana. Deke breaks the guy's neck while he's distracted.
142	** Rain. She can easily match Hana in terms of being MsFanservice.
143	* MultipleEndings: The first game had many:
144	** If you side with Hana, she kills Glas for his attempt to kill Wee Ming Lam. Mr. Lam transforms into a monster and becomes the FinalBoss. Hana kills Yim Lau Wong while burning the brothel to the ground. Wee Ming simply disappears.
145	** Siding with Hana and then losing the fight has her being forced to work for Yim Lau Wong as she goes on a killing spree in the world while justifying it by saying that they could probably make the world better than it was originally. Wee Ming stands by her side.
146	** If you side with Glas, he kills Hana believing that she was being deluded about the prophecy. Wee Ming transforms into a monster and becomes the FinalBoss for Glas. When she's defeated, she becomes a paper doll that Glas picks up and takes with him as he escapes and burns the brothel to the ground in Hana and Deke's names.
147	** If Glas dies, Wee Ming uses his blood to fulfill the prophecy where she now roams the world and can transform anyone she looks at into a monster.
148	** On Hard mode, you can TakeAThirdOption by siding with both Hana and Glas. Hana fights Mr. Lam. Wee Ming completes her prophecy and promises Hana and Glas that their sacrifices will be repaid in full. Glas shoots Yim Lau Wong and causes him to fall into a pit. [[spoiler: Deke is brought back to life with no memory of his death and Glas grows a new arm.]]
149	* MyEyesAreUpHere: Hana has one of these moments in both games. The first when she distracts a guard by dropping the towel she was wearing, whom Deke then kills. Hana reminds him not to look too long, for she's killed for less. The second happens during the Christmas party, when she uses the trope name word for word on a guy who just can not take a hint.
150	* NavelDeepNeckline: Hana's green party gown in ''Fear Effect 2'' has such a revealing plunging neckline that it makes it look like she's wearing a bikini instead. As Rain says: "You're wearing that?! Why don't you just walk in there naked?!"
151	* NeckSnap: In a cutscene of the first game, Hana managed to [[DistractedByTheSexy distract a soldier]] by dropping her towel, allowing Deke to sneak behind and twist the soldier's neck.
152	* NewRulesAsThePlotDemands: The penultimate level reveals that when Wee Ming comes into contact with blood, anyone in the surrounding area mutates into a monster, and yet Lam somehow doesn't mutate in the brothel like all the prostitutes even though he was standing ''right next to Wee Ming''. Similarly, when [[spoiler:Mr. Lam]] mutates at the very end, Glas is unaffected by Wee Ming's BloodMagic even though ''he'' is standing nearby. Possibly justified by her powers being similar to [[Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk the Ark of the Covenant]], in that you have to look at her.
153	* NintendoHard: The original game has virtually no margin for error in many fights and is full of adventure-game-style instant kills if you aren't careful. ''Fear Effect 2'' isn't ''quite'' as difficult, but it's still a challenge.
154	* NonStandardGameOver: Dying in the final boss fight in either game gives a cutscene from the bad guys perspective, with Yim Lau Wong sparing Hana but making her into Wee Ming's body guard as intended, or Glas dying, and Wee Ming completing a FaceHeelTurn and kick starting Yim Lua Wong's plan. In ''Retro Helix'', the Temple of Xi'an goes nuclear, and Yim Lua Wong contemplates that maybe his plan wouldn't be as hard as he thought.
155	* OhCrap: Getting sucked into the Shores of Eternity against his will gets one of these from Glas. Likewise, almost getting blown up with a rocket launcher elects one from Hana. Hana has another one in Fear Effect when the train she is on starts going off a destroyed bridge.
156	* OnceMoreWithClarity: The first game's opening cinematic shows Wee Ming, the girl which the mercenary team is trying to abduct, being escorted by a funeral procession on a misty road, before a mysterious, one-armed figure sneaks up behind her and kills her. The gameplay then begins. And in the final stage, ''hell'', the scene plays again, but this time [[spoiler: the mysterious assailant is none other than the one-armed Glas, who is killing Wee Ming in order to prevent her powers from causing any further damage. Oh and the funeral's pallbearers? They're revealed to be hordes of demonic monks]].
157	* OneHitPointWonder: When the fear meter is red (or damn close to it).
158	* OneWingedAngel: Most of the bosses, who transform into horrifying, demonic monsters in their penultimate battle. Madam Chen, Mr. Lam, Wee Ming...
159	* OnlySaneMan: Glas comes across as this during the second game. Quickly and correctly deducing it's a setup at the Temple of Xi'an, he tries to leave on several occasions, but keeps getting pulled back in, and voices his disbelief during some of the more absurd moments while everyone else just acts like talking to an Immortal is an everyday occurrence.
160	* OutRunTheFireBall: Done several times over the course of both games.
161	* PermaStubble: Glas has the "[[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Homer Simpson]] 2 day growth permanently painted on" one.
162	* PixelHunt
163	* PsychoForHire: Deke joins the team of mercenaries just to satisfy his lust for killing.
164	* PoorCommunicationKills: Glas is the poster boy of having little to no communication skills. In ''Fear Effect 2'', he could have explained to Hana why he is so opposed to having faith in someone else. In the original ''Fear Effect'', he fails to explain to Hana why he thinks Wee Ming is the cause of the problems they faced so far. A lot of grief could have been spared if he just explained rather than go on a wild rant. Then there is the fact that he does not try to find out the significance of [[spoiler: the paper doll]] or even mention it to anybody. At least Deke handled the matter of [[spoiler: the paper doll]] than Glas ever did. Oh, and Glas also reveals that he does not speak Chinese. Honestly, does the army cause or teach people to have no communication skills? At least in ''Inferno'', Glas tells Hana to be careful and he clearly shows that it was very hard to get that out of his mouth (i.e. CannotSpitItOut).
165	* {{Prequel}}: ''Fear Effect 2: Retro Helix''.
166	* PuzzleBoss: The [[CoolPlane Hover Plane]] boss Glas faces, for instance. Glas' pistol is down to a single magazine, and could barely scratch the attacking vehicle. As it turns out, Glas need to aim his gun on a set of low-hanging banners in the area - firing enough shots will cause the banners to be ripped and sucked into the plane's turbines. Two banners later the plane will steer out of control and crash.
167	* RapeAsDrama: The pendulum swings back and forth between this and RapeAsComedy in ''Fear Effect 2'', when Hana finds Rain strapped to the bug thing, she is genuinely horrified, and later asks Rain if she's alright. In the very next scene, both are cracking jokes about it.
168	* RedEyesTakeWarning: Not only are the Planner's pupils red, but the whites of his eyes are so bloodshot that they have turned yellow.
169	* {{Retcon}}: The ending of ''Fear Effect 2'' segues right into the first game, when the opening for ''Fear Effect'' makes it clear that Hana, Glas, and Deke had been working together for a while.
170	* RunningGag: Each character has a sort of theme in terms of what their missions are like. Deke just can't stop falling off things, Glas has an unfortunate tendency to get caught on fire, and Hana seems to have a compulsion to strip once a disk.
171	* RussianRoulette: Glas partakes in this during the opening in ''Fear Effect 2''.
172	* SadisticChoice: During the Eight Immortals Challenges, Glas has to pick between his father (loyalty) or his brother (honor). [[spoiler: Neither is the right choice. Being able to let go of the demons of his past is, but he doesn't get that choice.]] Hana gets one her own a little later, having to chose between her parents (the future that never was) or Rain (the future that could be). [[spoiler: This one is much easier, as the whole reason Hana is doing these challenges in the first place is for Rain's sake. Picking her parents results in a very difficult duel boss fight.]]
173	* SanitySlippage: [[spoiler:After losing his arm]], Glas starts becoming increasingly unhinged.
174	* ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules: Hana's reason for not just bolting when Mr. Lam finds Wee Ming; she believes that Wee Ming is being sold into sex slavery, and is trying to keep her from the same fate Hana herself was subject to. When Deke asks her is it's still about the money, Hana bluntly tells him "not anymore."
175	* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Glas tries to pull this off multiple times across both games.
176	* SheFu: In ''Fear Effect 2'', Hana has as her melee move a series of spine breaking kicks. The biohazard acrobats in the Wing Chun Tower use flips and cartwheels to avoid bullets.
177	* ShotgunsAreJustBetter: Deke's trademark shot pistols, which are essentially a pair of sawed-off shotguns.
178	* ShoutOut:
179	** Glas encounters [[spoiler:the first emperor of China]] and they have a short dialogue that was clearly taken from ''Film/{{Ghostbusters 1984}}'' and paraphrased a little bit. When Glas fights this fellow, said fellow uses an attack that was clearly lifted from a certain black-robed figure in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi''.
180	** The Shop, the organization that Glas used to work for, is almost certainly taken from the books of Creator/StephenKing.
181	** The scene where [[spoiler: 5-year-old Hana witnesses her parents get shot and killed right in front of her]] may very well have its roots go back to Franchise/{{Batman}}.
182	** The disease EINDS is similar to the disease AIDS and smallpox. AIDS and smallpox is not that big of a problem anymore when compared to EINDS. While AIDS has yet to be cured, smallpox has, like EINDS. Deke's prolonged exposure to EINDS is similar to Magic Johnson's almost 25 year long battle with HIV, which is longer than people who were born with HIV have lasted.
183	** One website said that [[spoiler: Jin/Yim Lau Wong is essentially the [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI Kefka]] of ''Fear Effect'']].
184	** [[spoiler: The King of Hell falling down a pit and apparently exploding is something that can be compared to a certain scene in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi''.]]
185	** The DualWielding, {{Mexican Standoff}}s, and artful dodging while firing are all staples of Creator/JohnWoo films.
186	** The first level of ''Fear Effect'' is heavily influenced by ''Film/BladeRunner''.
187	** One of Hana's death scenes involves turning into a golden statue, much like one of ''VideoGame/TombRaiderI''[='=]s most famous death scenes.
188	** The skinless dog-like creatures Hana and Glas run into during their trek through Hell are almost certainly lifted from ''Franchise/ResidentEvil''.
189	* ShowerScene: The reason Hana spends the majority of the village level in a towel and slippers is because the junk she was on comes under attack right after she finishes washing up.
190	* SilentSnarker: Some of Glas' best moments are when he's saying nothing at all, such as when he's pinching the bridge of his nose during the final boss fight in the good ending for ''Fear Effect 2''.
191	* SillyRabbitCynicismIsForLosers: Glas is the cynical one. Hana is the idealistic one. Glas is treated as the ButtMonkey and TheLancer. Hana is treated as the IronWoobie and TheHero. [[spoiler: It probably won't surprise you that the best ending in the first game essentially has Hana winning out without having to shoot Glas.]]
192	* SkippableBoss: Hana has two during the Eight Immortals challenges: The first comes when one reveals himself to be the aqueduct worker who gave Hana a couple of items. His fight is avoided by simply not shooting the other aqueduct workers, as he will simply wave Hana through to the next challenge. [[spoiler: The second one comes as a result of a SadisticChoice for Hana: who does she miss most; Rain or her parents. Picking Rain will again see Hana waved through, but picking Hana's parents results in a fight against 2 of the teleporting demons, who suddenly are much, much more durable than the ones fought in the gardens.]]
193	* SleevesAreForWimps: Deke spends most of Retro Helix in a green tank top.
194	* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: Okay, this is a tough one. There are points in the series that are certainly cynical. However, there are points that are idealistic. One good example is the contrast between Hana and Glas. Hana proves to be the idealistic one, while Glas proves to be the cynical one. In fact, the ending of the first game could be viewed as the result of a battle between idealism and cynicism. [[spoiler: The true ending has Hana winning out, with Glas surviving (as well as regaining the arm he lost) and Deke being resurrected, thus causing the series to lean towards idealistic. Of course, the three of them failed to get any money out of the job, so the series also leans toward cynical]]. In ''Fear Effect 2'', the manual claims that EINDS is a worldwide epidemic and causing theft, murder and terrorism to become big business. However, the original ''Fear Effect'' shows people going about their daily lives and not at all acting like the world is coming to an end. [[spoiler: The true ending of ''Fear Effect 2'' has the characters put together a cure for EINDS and make it available to everyone worldwide and not just the highest bidder, which may explain that]]. The series could be put in the middle of idealistic and cynical.
195	* SnowMeansDeath: Fear Effect Sedna has this as its major thematic setting, with the latter half of the story taking place in Greenland.
196	* SolveTheSoupCans: The series is generally pretty good about this, but the Juniper Gardens have a really bad one as you are supposed to find a bunch of crystals, plant them to grow a tree which sprouts a diamond, then use that to open a door. The game gives you no hints to any of this.
197	* SpotTheImposter: Prior to the final battle of the second game, Hana and her allies ends up confronting two identical Rains, both of them claiming to be the real deal, and the player is forced to shoot either one of them in the shoulder. Choosing the wrong Rain leads to a bad ending. Hint: [[spoiler: Note the hand Rain uses her pistol with during gameplay. Left or right?]]
198	* SpritePolygonMix: Real time [=3D=] foregrounds, pre-rendered animated [=3D=] backgrounds shown as FMV.
199	* SpyCatsuit: Hana and Rain wear a pair in the upper floors of the Wing Chun Towers.
200	* SteelEardrums: Averted. When the aqueduct generator explodes in Hana's face, she tells Rain she is fine beyond her ears ringing like church bells.
201	* SuicideAttack: the Cat-Eyes in Retro Helix are hovering drones that fly at their target and explode like grenades.
202	* SurprisinglySuddenDeath: [[spoiler: Rain]] in Fear Effect Sedna. Although in the good ending, [[spoiler: she gets better]].
203	* SurvivalHorror: The second stages and onwards for the first two games, where you'll be dealing with zombies, demons, skinless prostitutes from hell and various supernatural monsters.
204	* SwarmOfRats: One of the possible deaths in the second game. They rip apart a MechaMook, and you if you're not careful.
205	* SwitchingPOV: The games regularly switch between all available characters at such a rapid pace you can struggle to acclimate yourself to them.
206	* TacticalSuicideBoss: The OneWingedAngel form of the bosses would be invulnerable if not for certain actions they choose:
207	** Madam Chen, in her demon form, is surrounded by a fiery force-field which bullets couldn't penetrate, as she summons skinless prostitutes to attack Hana. Skinless prostitutes that upon being killed, will drop paper dolls. Collecting the dolls and dropping them into the forcefield will neutralize it, allowing Hana to damage Madam Chen.
208	** Hana's FinalBoss, Mr. Lam, also counts; he's completely invulnerable, and can release bolts of electricity at ground level that Hana must avoid. But his battle is also flanked by various imps which, upon being killed, will drop similar paper dolls, which can be burnt in pyres ''within the boss arena'' making Lam vulnerable to gunfire.
209	* TakeAThirdOption: [[spoiler: In ''Fear Effect'', you get three endings. The first two depends on who you choose in the MexicanStandoff at the end. The third however, in which both Hana and Glas lower their guns, can only be gotten by playing on hard.]]
210	* TeethClenchedTeamWork: The second game, being an origin story, features the heroes trying not to kill each other during the Temple of Xi'an, as Glas keeps trying to leave, Hana is more concerned with Rain than the ongoing conspiracy, Deke can't stop betraying everyone, and Rain inadvertently pulls a TwinSwitch.
211	* ThatManIsDead: Madame Chen constantly calls Hana "Mei Yun", to her chagrin, to the point that Hana attacks Chen with a circular saw for calling her that one too many times.
212	* ToHellAndBack: The end of the first game takes place in the Chinese version.
213	* TookALevelInBadass: [[spoiler: A trailer for ''Inferno'' shows Rain looking like an expy of Zero Suit Samus. She is trying to open a locked door. She finally gets it open with one powerful jump kick. She also knocks some guy over with one powerful punch, while wearing a red Chinese dress and high heels. If only she could have done these moves in gameplay.]]
214	* TrialAndErrorGameplay: The series practically breathes this.
215	* TrippyFinaleSyndrome: It seems normal enough at first, and then suddenly it starts turning into a precursor to ''VideoGame/EternalDarkness''.
216	* TwoDecadesBehind: On the far right side of the second floor of the Wing Chun Tower is a group of people doing the Macarena. Keep in mind this game takes place about 50 years after it was released.
217	* UnexplainedRecovery: [[spoiler:Wee Ming bounces back from having her throat slit remarkably fast.]]
218	* UniversalDriversLicence: Hana either drives or flies in order; a gyrocopter, a military helicopter, a limo, a train, a speed boat that doubles as a submersible, and a motorcycle.
219	* UnnecessaryCombatRoll: Averted, as like ''VideoGame/SyphonFilter'' before it, this is often times the only thing between life and death.
220	%%* UseItem
221	* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: Hana tells herself this more or less, if she loses the final boss fight in ''Fear Effect''.
222	* VideoGameCaringPotential: Sparing the aqueduct workers (all of whom are horribly traumatized by their boss going nuts and shooting up the place, and as such only shoot when shot themselves, and rather poorly at that) in the first level of ''Fear Effect 2'' pays dividends later by sparing you a boss fight.
223	* VideoGameCrueltyPotential: Sometimes it can be pretty funny seeing the many different ways our heroes can be killed.
224	* VideoGameCrueltyPunishment: If you do kill the aqueduct workers, all you get is a measly little bit of pistol ammo, and a boss fight that requires you to engage in melee combat against a guy who shoots lightning out of his hands.
225	* VomitDiscretionShot: The guard that Rain snatches an elevator keycard from ducks out of frame when he can no longer hold in what he drank.
226	* WeHaveReserves: [[spoiler: The Shop, the organization Glas used to work for, sent Glas and his entire squad on a mission. Said mission caused the squad to end up in an ambush that left them all dead or captured, except for Glas. Glas tried to order the squad to abort, but it was too late. Glas unexpectedly encounters his brother Drew and Drew shoots him in the back. Drew claims that the Shop knew that the squad would be ambushed on this mission, but it sent the squad on it anyway. Glas and his squad were not informed of this. Does anyone realize how much the idea of knowing that an ambush is going to occur and not warning anyone about it makes no sense at all?]]
227	* WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong: Hana says this at the end of ''Fear Effect 2''. It shows the King of Hell surrounded by fire and laughing hysterically. Those who have played the first game should know exactly what happened.
228	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Hana encounters a frightened old woman in a fishing village, where she gets some exposition about what happened to the village. She then leaves the old woman behind and is not seen or heard from again.
229	* WolverineClaws: Deke's melee weapon are a set of bronze knuckle dusters ending with three sharp, pointed tips, which allows him to pound and gore enemies from close range. It deals far greater damage than Hana's knife or Glas' baton.
230	* WhatTheHellHero: the Planner attacks Rain, knocks her out, strips her to her underwear, imprisons her in some kind of bondage apparatus, and subjects her to whatever is going on with the bug machine - which is ''at the very least'' sexual assault, and arguably worse. Yet mere minutes later, Hana - who has been established as ultra-protective of Rain - makes a wisecrack about the whole incident... to which Rain ''responds in kind''. There's no indication of this being the couple dealing with a horrible experience through dark humor; it's simply laughed off and never referred to again. Perhaps more a case of What The Hell, Writers?
231	* YetAnotherStupidDeath: Quite a few of the deaths in the games are only possible through gross stupidity. ''Fear Effect 2'' will sometimes play a short cutscene of Hana or Rain talking to themselves about how they shouldn't do whatever it is that will lead to a death through stupidity.
232	* YouHaveFailedMe: Yim Lua Wong turns Mr. Lam into a monster for not killing Glas when he had the chance.

Context VideoGame / FearEffect