Line #19 VideoGame/PrayForDeath


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pfd.png]]
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3	''Pray for Death'' is a 1996 FightingGame developed by Light Shock Software and published by Virgin Interactive for DOS [[Platform/IBMPersonalComputer PCs]]. It was one of the many fighting games [[FollowTheLeader that tried to copy]] ''Franchise/MortalKombat'', with a TwoAndAHalfD art style similar to ''VideoGame/KillerInstinct''. However, it's worth mentioning that it includes Franchise/{{Cthulhu\|Mythos}} as a character.
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5	One day, the Grim Reaper decides to organize a fighting tournament between ten dead fighters, with the winner getting to come back to life.
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7	This game is still sold on Platform/{{Steam}} and Website/GOGDotCom. It can also be played in a browser or downloaded [[https://www.dosgames.com/game/pray-for-death/ here]].
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9	Not to be confused with the 1985 {{Ninja}} movie of the same name starring Sho Kosugi.
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11	!!''Pray for Death'' provides examples of the following tropes:
12	%%Administrivia/ZeroContextExamples are not allowed on the wiki. Please expand them with context before uncommenting them. Thank you.
13	* AIIsACrapshoot: Painbringer. A "malfunction" turned him from a military training automaton into a genocidal robot supremacist.
14	* AlienBlood: Cthulhu's blood is green, Anubi's is purple.
15	* AllMythsAreTrue: The Norse god Odin is mentioned in Wolfrich's bio, the Egyptian god Anubis (named "Anubi" here) has his cult, and Cthulhu is here as well.
16	* AxCrazy: Pantera and Maelstrom. The latter once slaughtered ''his own entire army'', thinking he would [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness no longer need them]].
17	* BadassNormal: In a game which features {{killer robot}}s, [[OurAngelsAreDifferent angels]], [[BigRedDevil demons]], and {{physical god}}s, Jan Fun is pretty much an ordinary man who is really, really good at martial arts.
18	* BadBoss: Working for Sir Maelstrom is hazardous to your health. Just ask his army, who got slaughtered by him.
19	* BladeBelowTheShoulder: Sir Maelstrom has two blades on each of his gauntlets.
20	* BruceLeeClone: Jan Fun is a Chinese martial artist who immigrated to America, invented a martial art, and died in 1973 under mysterious circumstances. Even his name is just Lee's Cantonese given name (Jun-Fan) with the vowels switched. The only difference to the real Creator/BruceLee in his backstory is that Jan Fun opened a dojo instead of becoming an actor.
21	%%* ComboBreaker
22	%%* {{Combos}}
23	* DanceBattler: Pantera, who kills dancing to the sound of techno.
24	* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Well, considering the man himself is a fighter, anybody is capable of felling the mighty Cthulhu. Even [[BadassNormal Jan Fun]] can put up a fight against him, and killing him is Maelstrom's goal.
25	* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Pantera in her ending, once [[HeelRealization she's unable to cope with the idea of having escaped Hell.]]]]
26	* DrugsAreBad: An addiction to hard drugs ended up aggravating Pantera's mental state, and causing her to become a SerialKiller.
27	* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: Cthulhu's plan for if he escapes from Hell is to destroy the dimension that humanity resides in.
28	* EvilVersusEvil: It's a given when all of the playable combatants have been damned to Hell. Some are ALighterShadeOfBlack though.
29	* FallenAngel: Uriel didn't want to help build Hell. Therefore, she was sentenced out of Heaven.
30	* FinishingMove: At the end of a fight, the winner can perform a "deadly move" to kill the loser.
31	* HighPressureBlood: All characters bleed a lot during the finishing moves - even when they are barely hit or not hit at all. Even Death himself bleeds! Averted only for Maelstrom and Painbringer, as their metal bodies give of [[SwordSparks sparks]] when hit. Pantera actually [[LampshadeHanging comments on this]] before battle.
32	* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Maelstrom renounced his Christianity to harness the dark power of the Necronomicon. Several years later, the Turks used its powers to [[DraggedOffToHell send him off to Hell]].
33	* HowTheMightyHaveFallen: [[spoiler:Hilariously, Cthulhu's ending shows that he, the Great Old One who wanted the destruction of the world, has been reduced to performing at a water park billed as "Polip-Man".]]
34	* IdiosyncraticDifficultyLevels: From easiest to hardest: Dead, Ectoplasm, Zombie, Demon and Entity.
35	* ItsPersonal: [[HornyVikings Wolfrich]] decides that now he's in Hell, he has the opportunity to go after his killer Xenobius.
36	* KillTheGod: Maelstrom's God complex means that he wants to get rid of any competition: more specifically, Cthulhu.
37	* ManVersusMachine: Painbringer's main goal is to kill Jan Fun and prove the superiority of machines over men.
38	* MySkullRunnethOver: This is what rendered Xenobius DeadToBeginWith; the power of Odin's coffer ended up rapidly aging him.
39	* NoHistoricalFiguresWereHarmed: Maelstrom's backstory indicates that he is clearly meant to be UsefulNotes/VladTheImpaler, down to Wallachia being his homeland and having "novels" written about him being mixed with legend (an obvious reference to [[Literature/{{Dracula}} Stoker's novel]]), not to mention how he was eventually killed by the Turks (the primary adversaries of the historical Vlad the Impaler).
40	* SuccubiAndIncubi: Murgan's backstory calls him a succubus, although he doesn't really do any seducing in-game and he'd more logically be called an incubus.
41	* TokenGoodTeammate: While all of the other participants are bloodthirsty maniacs, wrathful grudgeholders and/or malevolent gods, Uriel and Jan Fun are there for relatively more noble reasons; the former to [[TheAtoner repent for her prior crimes]], and the latter to reunite with his bereaved family.
42	* TomeOfEldritchLore: Maelstrom's main goal is to find the Necronomicon and become a god.
43	* WorthyOpponent: [[spoiler:Death admits that he has a lot of respect for Jan Fun should the latter best him in combat.]]

Context VideoGame / PrayForDeath