Line #28 VideoGame/Sacrifice


1	[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/small.jpg]]
2
3	->''"In the realm that was my home, I had devoted my life to study of the arcane. No pursuit was too perilous, no sacrifice too great, until... Well... Under the many heavens, and in the many worlds, there are darker things than Men may dream of..."''
4
5	''Sacrifice'' is a RealTimeStrategy game for [[UsefulNotes/IBMPersonalComputer PC]], developed by Creator/ShinyEntertainment and first released in 2000.
6
7	The story of the game is about a wizard named Eldred ([[HelloInsertNameHere or whatever the player chooses to name him]]), assisted with his familiar Zyzyx, who meets a wise man named Mithras in the aftermath of a great war that has all but destroyed the world. Through a series of flashbacks narrated by Eldred, we learn the story of how he served the five Gods in the game: [[FriendToAllLivingThings Persephone]], [[OnlySaneMan James]], [[SmugSnake Stratos]], [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Pyro]] or [[GodOfEvil Charnel]], and how the intervention of his arch-nemesis, OmnicidalManiac Marduk, led to the world's present state.
8
9	In each battle, the player gathers souls to summon creatures, and then duke it out with other wizards, also supplemented with various spells. Their goal, based on the name, is to find an enemy altar, desecrate it by performing a sacrificial ritual on that altar, and then kill the enemy wizard one last time to banish him.
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11	Where many RTS games give the player a high-level isometric view of the battlefield, and [[NonEntityGeneral may be vague about where the player character is in all this]], the player's wizard avatar is specifically located and is viewed and controlled in the manner of a ThirdPersonShooter. The main battlefield view is locked to the wizard's location and the wizard has limited ability to affect things outside their immediate vicinity.
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13	At the beginning of each mission you are told to pick one of the five gods as your patron for that mission, and they will bless you with rewards. The game has a total of five different endings and 45 different levels for each god, inviting a lot of multiple playthroughs. Even still, each god will bless you with a new spell at the end of each one of their missions, with said spells being either BoringButPractical (healing, energy blasts, elemental spells) to insane feats of magical power (such as summoning entire whirlwinds and creating ''active volcanoes''.)
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15	The game is available through UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} and Website/GOGDotCom.
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17	----
18	!!This game provides examples of:
19	* AerithAndBob: The five gods are Persephone, Stratos, Charnel, Pyro, and... James?
20	* AffablyEvil: Charnel, despite his status as the unabashedly evil God of Death. In stark contrast to the brutal Pyro, [[spoiler:Charnel is entirely understanding if you decide not to stick with him in his ending, and merely wishes you well.]]
21	* AggressiveNegotiations:
22	** [[spoiler:Persephone's sixth, eighth and ninth mission. In all three cases, it backfires badly on the aggressors.]]
23	** In the third Pyro mission you can either do this or it'll go wrong on its own.
24	* AIBreaker: In skirmish mode, the AI never uses the low-level but powerful Teleport spell, giving human players an enormous advantage.
25	* AllThereInTheManual: Much of the background surrounding ''Sacrifice'', like what happened to the creator God and why the world is spilt into floating islands. It's also written in the style of the Gods themselves, which makes for an interesting read.
26	* AllTrollsAreDifferent: Trolls in ''Sacrifice'' are large, green humanoids with a HealingFactor that lack heads and have their faces on their chests instead. They serve the goddess of life, Persephone, and are as such benign. Pyro has a creature known as a firefist, which is a troll with flamethrowers attached to its fists -- due to the resulting burns, they do not regenerate. Both variants communicate purely through HulkSpeak.
27	* {{Ambadassador}}: Ambassador Buta, the rotund emissary of Pyroborea, is a powerful wizard in service of Pyro, god of fire, and doubles as one of Pyro's generals.
28	* AnIcePerson: Stratos, and some of his servants.
29	* AnimateDead:
30	** This handy spell is available if you serve Charnel. Despite the moniker, it actually serves more as a straight-up resurrection, sparing you the Mana and time expense of collecting the souls and re-summoning the creature manually.
31	** Persephone's ultimate unit can cast a 'breath of life', which functions like this spell, at will. Keeping it constantly resurrecting your creatures prevents it from fighting though.
32	* AntiHero: Eldred isn't a very nice man (and was possibly a VillainProtagonist in his old world), at best a PragmaticHero at the beginning. Depending on the gods you serve and the choices you make, he comes across as anything from TheAtoner and TheHero to a NominalHero (avoiding VillainProtagonist-hood because Marduk is the one trying to destroy the world).
33	-->'''Eldred:''' In Jhera, I had been a man of substance.\
34	'''Mithras:''' A lord? Or perhaps a king?\
35	'''Eldred:''' A tyrant, more like. You would have thought me an evil man.\
36	'''Zyzyx:''' [[DeadpanSnarker Most people did.]]
37	* AntiMagic:
38	** Troggs, James' first level ground creature, are immune to damage from spells.
39	** Acheron, Charnel's champion, takes reduced damage from magic.
40	* AntiquatedLinguistics: Eldred and Persephone both have a very 'old-fashioned' tone of speaking and use dramatic language and the occasional 'nay' added, though both stop short of actual FloweryElizabethanEnglish.
41	* ArtificialStupidity: The AI plays very cautiously, ignores opportunities to steal souls, and rarely makes a dedicated attempt at desecrating the player's altar. Consequently, unless you play especially badly most of the campaign missions can be won by attrition; no matter how badly you get trounced you can usually rebuild your force and try again.
42	* AttractMode: This was introduced in later patches.
43	* AwesomeButImpractical: All 5 top-tier spells have this to some degree.
44	** Volcano is great against well-guarded manaliths and looks extremely cool, but on the open battlefield your enemy can move out of the way before it erupts. If you are too close to the volcano the blast stuns you, potentially preventing you from taking any souls of creatures that do get killed.
45	** Meanstalks don't do much except throw units in the air for a bit, doing surprisingly little damage and being little more than a glorified distraction. It is best used near the edge of the map so that there is a chance to throw units off of the map.
46	** Bore is probably the most useful top-tier spell, but still falls under this. It can utterly destroy units but can't be used near manaliths and is relatively easy to avoid due to taking a while for the bore to actually create the hole. It is also best used sparingly as any creatures that fall off the map can’t have their souls taken.
47	** Unless you get lucky and throw a few units of the edge of the map, tornado only delays the units it sucks up for a bit. If you can cast a cloudkill at the same position though, it becomes extremely deadly.
48	** Death has this the worst. It summons death itself which will insta-kill a certain number of creatures, but it won't harm wizards and has no Friend/Foe identification, so if you try to capitalize on the situation and move in (or your opponent runs out of creatures) he might go for your army instead. Mostly he just leads to your opponent having to collect a few souls and teleport away in irritation. Furthermore you can tell when your opponent is casting it, so a good human player will just teleport away and leave the caster footing the bill. He ''is'' good for cleaning up heavily guarded manaliths, but those are rare in multiplayer. And then there is the tactic of repeatedly summoning Manahores (1 mana when even a basic spell costs 300) and collecting their souls as they are killed. Repeat until the kill limit is reached and Death vanishes.
49	* BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil: Mithras notes that the five gods are bound by ancient ties and pacts that has so far kept them from fighting total wars of extinction. Marduk's presence throws those right out the window, though at least one god (Persephone) tries to avoid outright deicide. [[spoiler:Fat lot of good that does her]].
50	* BaselessMission: One of Stratos's missions sends the wizard on a surreptitious raid into another god's territory, with no altar and and no access to the features the altar usually provides.
51	* BewareTheNiceOnes: James makes it clear that he does not want to fight, but if he's pushed into it he can be really dangerous. His ultimate attack spell is probably the most destructive effect in the entire game, and unlike Persephone he responds to Pyro's slave-taking by commanding you to kill him.
52	* BigBad: For all the attention he receives Charnel is not the central antagonist, Marduk is. And [[spoiler:Stratos is the reason Marduk's here. Charnel's evil but he's on your side when it comes to the big threat]].
53	* BlindSeer: Mithras, the seer who delivers the prophecy of doom that divides the gods.
54	* BlowYouAway: Stratos's spells tend to do this; his most powerful spell summons an actual tornado.
55	* BookEnds: Should you follow Stratos' campaign to the end [[spoiler:and leave]], Stratos mirrors his speech at the beginning of the campaign.
56	-->'''Stratos:''' This is a civilized world now, after all... ''[[spoiler:and I, its only God.]]''
57	* BoringButPractical: Shield spells and most of the first level blast spells. Stratos' Lightning is the crown example: It has a measly 200 mana cost and an extremely short recharge time, but will kill most level 5 and 6 creatures in two castings without much trouble.
58	* CardCarryingVillain: Charnel, humorous example. Reading the manual reveals Charnel is quite savvy about his role as the source of all darkness and evil in the world, recognizing it as necessary for someone to be 'evil' so others can proclaim themselves 'good'. He's also the first god to immediately jump at the 'we must defeat Marduk' bandwagon, because he doesn't like competition for the role of BigBad.
59	* {{Cephalothorax}}: Trolls, Firefists, Mutants and Abominations all have their heads mounted in their torsos rather than sitting on their shoulders.
60	* CharmPerson: Persephone's penultimate spell, which converts a targeted creature to your side. Basically insta-gibbing on steroids; you get a new unit, ''and'' if it gets killed, its soul is now blue to you instead of its original owner's. There are no limits on what creature this spell can be used on either, allowing you even steal titans from the enemy. The spell is kept balanced though by having a ridiculously long cooldown time of ''four whole minutes''. Use it carefully.
61	* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder:
62	** Thestor switches from Persephone to Charnel in Persephone's first mission, only to turn right back if you kill his underlings before killing him. He stays loyal for the rest of Persephone's campaign.
63	** Faestus switches from Persephone to Pyro in Pyro's first mission. If you at any point attack Pyro's capital of Helios, he will switch sides to your side and stick with you for the rest of the campaign no matter whom you serve.
64	** It's also perfectly possible to play Eldred as one. Several scenarios are designed with the ability to backstab the god you work for and join the opposing side, and at several points in each god's campaign you're given the option to turn your back on the god you did your last mission for and go join some other (usually an enemy) god.
65	* CigarChomper: Pyro, one seemingly made of metal no less.
66	* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Pyro is styled after one, often seeing his servants as mere low wage employees.
67	* CoversAlwaysLie:
68	** A mild example, but still: See the big, creepy red-eyes thing on the cover Eldred is confronting? That's Charnel, not Marduk, and Charnel is not the BigBad or in any way as relevant to the story.
69	** One version of the cover features Gracchus, who is James' second champion, in Eldred's place.
70	* CripplingOverspecialization: Can happen if you stick with one god through all 9 levels. Persephone is probably the biggest offender, since she has creatures that heal fast by themselves AND a creature dedicated to healing others AND 2 additional healing spells... but hardly any offensive spells to speak of, mediocre ranged units, and either slow or fragile melee units. So while your units can survive long, you're not killing many enemies either if your opponent is any good. A level dip to get one of her healing abilities on the other hand is quite useful and she does get access to one of the best titan units in the game.
71	* CreativeClosingCredits: The end credits feature a {{machinima}} in which all the people who worked on the game, each represented by a different one of the game's character models, come out and take their bows.
72	* CreepyLongFingers: As seen on the cover, Charnel's fingers look like skeletal claws that (by human standards) would be at least a foot long.
73	* DarkIsNotEvil: Zig-zagged... But not on Charnel. Pyro's introduction says that a lot of people are ''definitely'' going to label him the 'God of Destruction and Chaos' (and his personality doesn't help), but those aren't entirely true, Pyro actually encompasses some other positive traits than pure destruction and chaos, one of the things he's most proud of is progress. However, his attitude makes him more or less confirming that he's the bad guy.
74	* DeaderThanDead: Souls are essential to unit creation and normally cannot be destroyed, but if a unit's body does not land on one of the flying islands its soul(s) are lost. Additionally, Charnel's aforementioned soul-eating minions and James' ultimate attack spell, which causes a section of island to drop into space (ironic given that [[BewareTheNiceOnes James is the most sympathetic god]]). Stratos' Tornado, Persephone's Meanstalks and Pyro's Explosion can fling creatures off the edge as well.
75	* DeadpanSnarker: Zyzyx. Stratos.
76	* DefectorFromDecadence:
77	** [[spoiler:Sorcha]] does this in the last level of the Pyro campaign. [[spoiler:It doesn't do her any good.]]
78	** In the fifth chapter, if Eldred sides with Pyro and Charnel he can switch sides to Persephone and James before the game starts. In the eighth Charnel chapter the player can turn against Charnel and side with James.
79	* DefiantToTheEnd: [[spoiler:Charlotte]]'s final action in [[spoiler:James' final mission]] involves cursing out her killer [[spoiler:and throwing a big rock at his head.]]
80	* DemonLordsAndArchDevils: Demons are beings older and more powerful than the gods and summoning them is considered an extremely bad idea. The BigBad is an especially ancient demon named Marduk. There is also Astaroth, 'demon lord of Tartarus' and one of Charnel's hero units.
81	* DevilInPlainSight: In his introduction Stratos says plainly that in a civilized world he would be the only god. Then when it becomes clear in the next mission that one of the gods is plotting against the others nobody even considers he might be involved. Not to mention he's portrayed by Creator/TimCurry, one of the most typecast villain actors ever. It turns out he was behind it all along.
82	* DiscOneNuke: Sirocco, an upgraded version of the strongest unit in Persephone's army, can be acquired as an ally in James's second mission, making the next few missions a breeze.
83	* DishingOutDirt: James's wizards and creatures have the abilty to do just this.
84	* DoomsdayDevice: In Pyro's 5th mission he builds one of these, and it's activated by the slaves gathered in the 4th mission.
85	* DudeWheresMyRespect: Sorcha is a competent sorceress and also possessed morals. Pyro continually dumps her by not letting her defend his Ultimate Altar whenever possible and sends her in missions that violates her code of morals. And if you play Pyro's missions continuously, she gets sidelined in favor of Eldred. [[spoiler:That's one of the reasons she ditches him in the end, to her death.]]
86	** If you suddenly turned towards Stratos for Pyro's last mission, this is subverted. Pyro sends Buta to assist the assault on Charnel's domain, meaning that Sorcha gets to defend Pyro's ultimate altar for once. [[spoiler:[[YankTheDogsChain Only for Marduk to snuff her out immediately, and this in turn killed Buta]], and [[JerkassHasAPoint in a way accidentally giving points for Pyro because at least he would want his altar to be well-protected and while Sorcha might have morals, Buta turns out to have bigger competence, something that Pyro values more.]]]]
87	* DumbIsGood: James, probably the only wholly decent one in the pantheon. Though he's more unsophisticated than actually stupid.
88	* EdgeGravity: Insurmountable Edge Gravity prevents anyone from walking off the edges of the flying islands. It has no effect on flying creatures, though, which is good for shortcuts but bad if one is killed while it's over the bottomless abyss.
89	* ElementalPowers: James is god of earth, Stratos of air, and Pyro of fire. All three follow the personality profiles of their element to a tee.
90	* EvilAllAlong: [[spoiler:Stratos]] enters the war on the 'good side' but is revealed [[spoiler:to have been in a secret alliance with Charnel from before the war even started, and is using James' and Persephone's trust to set himself up to strike at their capitals]].
91	* EvilIsNotAToy: [[spoiler:Stratos]] admits to have summoned Marduk, expecting to be able to control him. Unsurprisingly, it failed.
92	* EvilIsVisceral: Charnel's units and spells. Many of his units are skinless, decaying or otherwise disgusting looking, their special abilities or attacks are often equally gross (Blights can shower enemies with itching parasites to weaken and slow them, Fallen attack by vomiting clouds of flesh-eating flies, Abominations ''rip out handfuls of their guts and throw them at enemies''), and Charnel spells include the likes of drenching foes in slowing, sticky slime, causing a rain of blood and pus, and creating a wall of screaming faces.
93	* EvilOverlooker: Charnel takes this role on the box art.
94	* EvilVersusEvil: Serve Pyro or Charnel, and the two ''will'' eventually come to blows. [[spoiler:Stratos will also be joining in.]]
95	* EvilVersusOblivion: When there's a prophecy that one of the gods is going to bring about the end of the world, suspicion immediately falls on Charnel, the god of death and suffering. He denies it, pointing out that if the world ends, there will be no people left to suffer and die, so it's in his interest to keep the world as it is.
96	* ExactWords: If you follow Charnel's campaign to the end, [[spoiler:Charnel reveals that he's been aware that Stratos summoned Marduk all along, but wasn't willing to act on it for as long as he needed the alliance to defeat Pyro and Persephone.]] When Eldred gets angry at having the truth withheld from him, Charnel points out that he explicitly promised Eldred 'a showdown with Marduk' and is delivering on that promise right now, but never 'the truth'.
97	* FauxAffablyEvil: Stratos seems charming and courteous but it soon becomes apparent he has an ItsAllAboutMe attitude.
98	* FantasyPantheon: ''Sacrifice'' has a Pantheon of five gods: James, Charnel, Stratos, Persephone, and Pyro.
99	* FateWorseThanDeath: "Charnel, death is not the answer to everything." "True... Torture also has its merits"
100	** Repeated as a BrickJoke after completing the game serving Charnel, regarding Eldred's decision to 'attend to' another of Charnel's minions who plotted to kill him.
101	--->'''Eldred:''' Charnel, death is not the answer to everything.\
102	'''Charnel:''' Yes, torture also has its merits.\
103	'''Eldred:''' Exactly.
104	* {{Foreshadowing}}:
105	** In the introduction, [[spoiler:Stratos' line "in any halfway-civilized world, I would be its ''only'' god" might at first come across as him having his head in the clouds, even by god standards... Then it's revealed that he was the one who summoned Marduk for the purpose of killing all other gods. Whether this plays out well for him or not is up to the player]].
106	** As Charnel's second mission reveals, [[spoiler:Stratos had stewardship over the Demon Gate between the War of Purification and until Charnel retains control during said mission]].
107	** Mithras' prophecy also contains some foreshadowing. As expected, one might say, considering it is a, well, prophecy. One notable line is [[spoiler:"For lost to all are holy arts"... And, indeed, no matter which god's storyline you follow, Persephone always dies]].
108	* FragileSpeedster: Stratos' servants have the lowest average HP of all factions, but are on average also the fastest. Stratos' wizards -- Abraxus and Jadugarr -- have the highest base speed of all wizards (but below-average HP) and he also grants the unique 'speed boost' as boons in the campaign, increasing Eldred's movement speed.
109	* FreeRotatingCamera: The main camera view can be rotated, tilted and zoomed however the player chooses (but remains fixed to the wizard's location).
110	* TheFriendNobodyLikes: Naturally, nobody really trusts [[spoiler:Stratos. Both Persephone and James already keep their suspicions towards him and act naturally when he betrays them. And when he turns towards the bad guys' side or trying to appeal to them, Pyro and Charnel are quick to voice on how much they don't trust him and that he's a liar.]]
111	* GenreBusting: It's a fantasy third person RPG, RTS game.
112	* GlassCannon: Pyro's proles and Charnel's minions -- especially the latter, since they only heal by damaging other creatures.
113	* GodsNeedPrayerBadly: The main method of 'killing' a god is to desecrate their prime altar - thus demonstrating that the god is unworthy of faith, and depriving them of power. However the god is not dead, merely weakened, and can come in a different form given time.
114	* GodOfEvil: Charnel. And he relishes his role.
115	* GoneHorriblyRight: Eldred and [[spoiler:Stratos]] both wanted the services of a demon powerful enough to destroy their respective rivals. They got one. Just too bad neither could make him ''stop''.
116	* GoodIsNotSoft: James may be the most reluctant god to ''enter'' the war, but once it becomes inevitable he's the first 'good' god to suggest you ''end'' it by killing Pyro and Charnel.
117	* GoodSmokingEvilSmoking: Pyro is constantly sucking on a big, fat cigar.
118	* TheGrimReaper: Charnel's most annoying and powerful spell summons him, laughing maniacally as he slaughters anything within his reach.
119	* HappilyMarried: Abraxus and Lord Surtur. You'll most likely see Surtur wandering around if you fight Abraxus.
120	* HealingFactor: Persephone's faithful all have better healing than the other gods' creatures.
121	* HealingHands: One of the two spells you always have access to regardless of whom you follow is a basic healing spell which heals a decent amount for a low amount of mana. Persephone meanwhile has the best healing spells in the game, with two dedicated healing spells and a healing-only creature.
122	* TheHecateSisters: Persephone makes the claim of being an aggregate of all three aspects.
123	* HeadsIWinTailsYouLose: If you finish as one of the good guys, you can pick either to do Persephone's or James' last mission. [[spoiler:James survives either way, and Persephone apparently dies either way, making her the only god that doesn't survive in any ending.]]
124	* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler:Sorcha]] pulls this off in [[spoiler:Pyro's 9th mission.]] This one is an interesting take as [[spoiler:you get to see this from the evil side.]]
125	* HellGate: The Demon Gate of Golgotha. Charnel offers Eldred a mission to reclaim it, and later uses it to summon another demon to counter Marduk. In one of Persphone's missions Eldred destroys it, along with the demon.
126	* HeroUnit: The wizards, and the creature heroes. The former are players' avatars who form the centre of an army, while the latter are stronger, tougher and larger versions of regular units. Persephone has Thestor (gnome), Toldor (ent) and Sirocco (dragon), James has Gammel (icarus), Stratos has Sara Bella (braniac) and Lord Surtur (storm giant), Pyro has Faestus (gnome/pyromaniac) and Charnel has Gangrel/Astaroth (both scythes). Some show up on single missions only and have a HeroMustSurvive clause, but some of them (Thestor, Toldor, Sirocco, Gammel and Faestus) will stick with you through the campaign as long as you stay on one god's side and will even fight for you in the final battle, provided they don't die at some point during the campaign.
127	* HoldTheLine:
128	** Pyro's 7th mission and Charnel's 5th mission require you to do this.
129	** And an excellent, if boring, strategy in most missions. Link your creatures to your furthest building, and defend it against an enemy wizard's attack wave, converting some of his army's souls along the way. Rinse and repeat until he has so few souls left he can't field a proper army anymore. Then [[CurbStompBattle attack him with the army you stole from him]]. This strategy is pretty much a must if you want to stand a snowball's chance in heck of beating the last boss.
130	* HolierThanThou: Persephone. She is one of ''Sacrifice'''s good deities and genuinely seems to care for her followers, but she is far more self-righteous about it than James, and much more aggressive.
131	* HowWeGotHere: Most of the game is told in flashback, as Eldred looks back from just before the final battle.
132	* HulkSpeak: TROLL SMASH! FIREFIST FLATTEN!
133	* HumanSacrifice: As part of the ritual used to destroy another opposing wizard's altar (for a loose definition of "human").
134	* IAmVeryBritish: The Icarus is an obvious 'stereotypical RAF pilot' reference and speaks in an extremely posh upper class accent (in contrast to the rest of the Yeomen, who mostly speak with various lower-class accents from both Britain and the USA).
135	* ImplacableMan: Death cannot be targeted, cannot be injured, has no time limit on his existence, and cannot be banished. He targets units unerringly and will chase them to the ends of the map and back until that unit is dead, teleports be damned.
136	* InLoveWithYourCarnage
137	-->'''Charnel:''' Whether the forest falls or not matters little to me... But, such ''carnage''. You are an ''artist''.\
138	''Charnel has offered you a boon''
139	* InsufferableGenius: Brainacs and their HeroUnit Sara Bella. And Stratos, their patron.
140	* InstantWinCondition: Missions can only be won by desecrating the other wizard's altar -- although if your enemy isn't sufficiently weakened, odds are he or she will pop in and stop you the moment you start doing it.
141	* JackOfAllStats:
142	** Persephone's faithful. About the only thing they excel at is having a better-than-average regeneration rate.
143	** And not a bad strategy to go for when you build your custom spell list in multiplayer (or pick times to switch sides in the singleplayer campaign). For instance, Persephone has 2 healing spells and one healing creature, all of whom are usefull but taking them all leaves you with a vastly reduced offensive arsenal. Much better to mix and match it with creatures and spells from, say, Pyro.
144	* JustifiedTutorial: Eldred is described as an old archmage with probably decades of experience under his belt: A tutorial for him would feel somewhat out of place. Therefore, the tutorial you play as Shakti, a novice mystic who's just entered the service of Persephone.
145	* JerkAssGods: [[SmallNameBigEgo Stratos]], [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Pyro]] and [[GodOfEvil Charnel]], certainly. [[HolierThanThou Persephone]], debatably. [[GoodOlBoy James]], not so much.
146	* KillItWithFire: The theme of Pyro's wizard spells.
147	* KillTheGod: What the struggle between the gods inevitably leads to.
148	* KlaatuBaradaNikto: Some of the magic words spoken by the wizards include "klaatu", "barada", and "nikto", though not necessarily all three together or in order.
149	* KnightTemplar: Marduk claims to be a physical incarnation of all creation's sins, and that his mission is to destroy everything that he judges 'sinful' -- in other words, everything that reflects himself, however little.
150	* LamePunReaction:
151	**
152	--->'''Zyzyx:''' Now, Grakkus there is none too fast on his feet. It may be because he lives such a... ''Sedimentary'' lifestyle.\
153	'''Eldred:''' ... NeverSayThatAgain.
154	** In the Book of Persephone, she reacts to her own lame pun, apologizing after warning that the Rain of Frogs spell has a tendency for friendly fire and telling you to keep your own creatures away "lest they croak".
155	* LanguageOfMagic: Throughout the game, every wizard shares a common pool of [[KlaatuBaradaNikto phrases]] they chant seemingly at random when casting spells. Some wizards have phrases and words unique to themselves, and others do not.
156	* LargeHam: Stratos, and to some degree most of the other gods too.
157	* LastOfHisKind: Jadugarr, last living Centaur. Eldred, last survivor of his homeworld Jheira.
158	* TheLegionsOfHell: Charnel's minions are an amalgam of this and TheUndead. They are among some of the freakiest looking creatures in ''Sacrifice''
159	* LethalLavaLand: Pyro's maps are like this. In the campaign, there is even the risk of a volcano (created by Pyro's DoomsdayDevice) randomly popping up underneath the wizard's feet. (Sadly, in the mission where you play as Pyro to defend it, the volcanoes still pop up where it's inconvenient for you, since your starting position is identical to the one in the mission to destroy it.)
160	* LaughablyEvil: Charnel and Pyro. The former is so insanely and unapologetically sadistic it crosses into goofy territory. Meanwhile the latter is a boastful jerk prone to long speeches who overestimates his importance in the overall story, often making himself look like a pretentious fool.
161	* LevelEditor: Scapex, developer-made. Notable for allowing you to alter the game's official campaign maps and triggers with a little knowledge of scripting, allowing you to fix/tweak small campaign triggers or simply cheat like a one-armed bandit.
162	* LightIsNotGood:
163	** Persephone is the goddess of life and the one most eager to show off her 'justice and righteousness' credentials. She's also big into "those who cannot be purified by the word must be so by wrath". Charnel implies she is just as bad about picking pointless fights as the other gods are, she just dresses it up with pretty labels like "righteous crusade" and "holy war", and the fact that Persephone is just as quick as the others to shout down James when he suggests they avoid going to war again (though to be fair, she was the injured party in the affair that started it) suggests Charnel may not be completely lying.
164	** Stratos is the setting's god of the heavens. He's egocentric and unashamedly exploitative of his servants and allies, if not actively malevolent like Charnel and Pyro.
165	* LouisCypher: [[spoiler:Mithras is Marduk. You've spent the entire storyline telling your story to the BigBad.]]
166	* LudicrousGibs: A frequent occurrence when poking first-tier units too hard. This can happen to any unit however, no matter how powerful, and is encouraged as gibbed units produce blue souls, free to take without the need to convert.
167	* {{Mana}}: The second resource besides souls, and used to cast spells (or make ranged attacks). It's harvested from a mana fountain, can be claimed with a manalith to ensure enemies can't use them, and then transferred to the wizard using a manahoar.
168	* ManaMeter: A classic blue one located right next to your health bar, it restores on its own overtime but will be restored faster when you have manahoars near you. With help from the gods, you can be given more mana or have mana regeneration be increased
169	* MeaningfulName[=/=]PunnyName: Almost every character and creature in the game is either one or the other.
170	** For example of the former: the gnome Faestus' name references the Greek god [[UltimateBlacksmith Hephaestus,]] drawing attention to Faestus' firey attacks and inventor nature, as well as [[Myth/{{Faust}} Faust]] which references Faestus making a deal with the [[DealWithTheDevil immoral and infernal Pyro.]]
171	** An example of the latter is one of James' most powerful units, the Jabberrocky. It is a combination of rocky and Literature/{{Jabberwocky}}, a poem about a bizarre beast. While the Jabberrocky does not look anything like the Jabberwock, it is most assuredly one of the most bizarre looking monsters in the game.
172	* {{Mutants}}: ''Sacrifice'' has Mutants, which are available if you choose Persephone. In Mission 4 of the campaign they randomly turn up after you meet the misguided Jadugar, a cutscene later plus a little talk from Persephone and they join you against Jadugar.
173	* MightyGlacier: James's yeomen; many of them resemble rocks and boulders, with legs, and are appropriately tough but are rather slow. The Jabberrocky and Rhinok are the slowest units in the game and they are James's strongest units. His wizards -- Gracchus and Charlotte -- also have high HP but low movement speeds.
174	* MookMedic: The scarab, which automatically shoots healing energy at any injured ally within range.
175	* MoralMyopia: Discussed in a loading screen, though mostly PlayedForLaughs.
176	-->'''Eldred:''' In my own world, dragons were long since extinct, hunted for tooth and scale and heart. As the boneyards drew near, some part of me thought ahead in sorrow at the prospect of slaying so magnificent a creature.\
177	'''Zyzyx:''' Oh, but ''imp slavery''? He's fine with ''that''...
178	* {{Mordor}}: Charnel's realm of Stygia is a dark and gloomy land inhabited by Charnel's minions.
179	* NayTheist: Jadugarr. He used to worship Stratos until he became TheLastOfHisKind.
180	* MurderIsTheBestSolution: Played for laughs by the God of Death, Charnel.
181	-->'''Charnel:''' Kill the blasphemer!\
182	'''Persephone:''' Charnel! Death is not the answer to everything.\
183	'''Charnel:''' Yes... ''torture'' also has its merits...
184	* {{Necromancer}}: Charnel's wizards are called necromancers: These are Seerix, Acheron and The Ragman. Marduk (and depending on the mission, Hachimen) also use Charnel spells.
185	* NobleTopEnforcer: Abraxus, Stratos' top Servant, and the only one too since Jadugarr ditched him. While Stratos is rather slimy, Abraxus is nonetheless a fair wizard that mostly fights you fair and square and [[MyMasterRightOrWrong serves her God faithfully with no ill wills.]]
186	* NonentityGeneral: One of most notable aversions of this trope as the general is a wizard that actively leads their troops into battle and provides support through spell casting while supplying them with manna so they can continue to fight.
187	* ObfuscatingStupidity: Many of the gods are a lot cleverer than you would think from their initial personalities. [[spoiler:Stratos]] is probably the main example.
188	* OmnicidalManiac: Marduk. His stated purpose is to destroy all 'unworthy' parts of Creation, and by the time the game has begun he's already destroyed Eldred's homeworld and is on the verge of destroying this one.
189	* OldSoldier: Gammel, James' HeroUnit for the Icarus. "Let's show those blighters what for!"
190	* OneWordTitle
191	* OnlySaneMan: James has elements of this. While the other gods are baying for all-out war, especially after a [[SelfFulfillingProphecy prophecy]] warns that one of their number is plotting to [[KilledOffForReal kill the rest off for real]], only poor James wonders if they should give all the fighting a rest.
192	-->'''Everyone else:''' NO!!!
193	** Once the war actually becomes reality, Persephone tries to avoid making the gods killing each other. Her attempts to make Charnel, Pyro and Stratos see reason go... altogether less than well.
194	* OurDragonsAreDifferent:
195	** Dragons are green and look like short-necked Apatosauruses with wings. They attack with their bite (which also entangles foes), and their BreathWeapon shoots life energy that can resurrect your own creatures. They are intelligent, good-aligned, and serve Persephone.
196	** There is also a spell called 'dragonfire' for Pyro, whose description hints at more 'traditional' fire-breathing greedy dragons. That variant appears to have gone extinct in this world, however.
197	* PaletteSwap: A lot of monsters have similar models, though the game actually [[JustifiedTrope gives a lot of good in-world justifications.]]
198	* PlayingWithFire: All of Pyro's spells, and all of Pyro's Proles, in one way or another.
199	* ThePowerOfLegacy: In Persephone/James' endings Eldred praises Mithras for making a HeroicSacrifice against Marduk and proclaims him a hero for speaking the truth no matter its consequences. [[spoiler:Mithras was Marduk in disguise, but he never committed any crimes as 'Mithras' and his prophecy ultimately proved true and beneficial, if very destructive to the world.]]
200	* PoweredByAForsakenChild: Charnel's Netherfiend, Styx and Hellmouth minions' special abilities are fuelled by blue souls; additionally multiplayer maps usually feature peaceful villages that you are encouraged to massacre for additional souls.
201	* PreMortemOneLiner: Marduk, just before he kills [[spoiler:Stratos. "There are no false prophecies, only false gods."]]
202	* ProphecyTwist: Mithras' prophecy. [[spoiler:Stratos claims it's a false prophecy intended to sow discord, but everything in it comes true (and Marduk implies that was the intention). Also note that "seal the gaping maw of doom" could mean either averting the doom before it has eaten anyone, or that it has come to pass -- Eldred and Marduk are both 'vagrants' to the world and Eldred ends up fulfilling it in the former sense, but Marduk would have done it in the latter.]]
203	* PyroManiac: Pyro's Flame Minions, who can be heard constantly giggling about the possibility to set fires. One of Pyro's units (a gnome with a rocket launcher) is called pyromaniac, and is probably also this.
204	* RageAgainstTheHeavens: [[spoiler:Jadugarr seeks the death of the gods. He joins Marduk in order to do so.]]
205	* RealTimeWithPause: In single-player, the game can be paused at any time, which freezes the action but allows the player to look around the battlefield and issue commands to their creatures, which are carried out once the game is resumed.
206	* ReverseShrapnel: The Halo of Earth spell.
207	* RidiculouslyFastConstruction: {{Justified\|Trope}} by the fact that building and units are not constructed, but magically summoned out of thin air.
208	* RoyalWe: Persephone does this. It really doesn't help with her attitude problem, and [[spoiler:Stratos]] even lampshades how pretentious it made her sound. Her justification is that she's TheHecateSisters combined in one form.
209	* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: Sorcha, the Empress of Pyroboria.
210	* SarcasticDevotee: Zyzyx to Eldred. Given he's essentially bound to Eldred by magic, snarking seems to be his only outlet.
211	* ShatteredWorld: The game's setting is one of these, having been shattered in a previous war between the gods.
212	* ShockAndAwe: Stratos' third element for his spells, besides storms and ice.
213	* ShoutOut:
214	** Worm-like God James certainly looked a lot like a certain [[VideoGame/EarthwormJim earthworm-in-a-space-suit]]... Even his name sounds similar too -- and let's not forget his highest-level spell, '[[DropTheCow Bovine Intervention]]'. The game was made by Shiny, the makers of ''VideoGame/EarthwormJim''.
215	** The magic words used by the wizards include KlaatuBaradaNikto, the Charm of Making from ''{{Film/Excalibur}}'', and the name of the monster from ''Film/{{Dragonslayer}}''.
216	** The StopPokingMe lines are full of these.
217	** In James' mission 5, Pyro will try to recruit you by offering you 'power beyond your imagining'. Eldred's reply if you turn it down?
218	--->'''Eldred:''' [[Franchise/StarWars I don't know, I can imagine quite a bit...]]
219	** Another Franchise/StarWars reference in the dying words of the Pyromaniac units. "I find my lack of health... disturbing".
220	** Zyzyx's name is the classic cheat code from ''VideoGame/ColossalCave'' spelled backwards and with the two last/first words exchanged.
221	*** It could also be a straight reference to the real-life town of Zyzyx, California.
222	* SmugSnake:
223	** Stratos. His introduction speech just sets the tone, by claiming that in any "half-way civilized world, I would be the ''only'' God".
224	** Pyro. He considers gaining power as the only thing that matters, and sees himself as superior to everyone.
225	* TheSoulless: According to Zyzyx Acheron was previously condemned to a primal hell for creatures with no souls.
226	* SpeedEchoes: When using the faster-movement spell.
227	* SpiderPeople:Charlotte has the appearance of one,but,she's far from the typical evil example as she serves James. Zyzyx notes that she's especially mouthy.
228	* SquatsInAName: Many of the characters have names from mythology, but most of them don't seem to have any meaningful connection with the relevant myth.
229	* StoneWall: Most of James's units.
230	* StoryBranching: Each time the gods offer Eldred a selection of missions, the player's choice affects the plot and Eldred's role in it; the missions that are passed up can not be gone back to later, and every few missions one of the gods will stop offering Eldred work, making that god's later missions inaccessible for the current playthrough. The branches don't go off in completely different directions, though; certain key plot events will always happen whether Eldred is present for them or not, and it always ends up with Eldred having only one god still talking to him and having to go out and face Marduk in a final showdown.
231	* StiffUpperLip: The Icarus. Its only response to StopPokingMe is a somewhat condescending "Oh, I say, poor show."
232	* SymbolDrawingInterface: One possible way to navigate through the tactical menus was to use mouse gestures. This was a bit overkill, however, and it was usually easier to click or use the keyboard shortcuts.
233	* TheStinger[=/=]SequelHook: After the credits, an angry Jadugarr cries out "This is not over! I will have my revenge!". Sadly, sales of the game kept this from becoming a reality.
234	* ThisCannotBe: Eldred's reaction upon learning that Marduk has followed him to this world. [[spoiler:Also, Marduk's final words.]]
235	* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Three of the campaigns ends with an option to do this:
236	** [[spoiler:Stratos campaign: Eldred is outraged at being used by Stratos and planeshifts away from ''Sacrifice'''s world. Stratos is disappointed, but since Eldred has helped him secure his supremacy, he tells Eldred that he's always welcome to come back to the realm where he's the only God, should Eldred change his mind.]]
237	** [[spoiler:Pyro's campaign: Eldred is tired of being a gopher, declares the whole campaign as IDidWhatIHadToDo to gain power needed to defeat Marduk and leaves, declaring he'll never serve another tyrant. Pyro is outraged, but can't do anything about it.]]
238	** [[spoiler:Charnel's campaign: Eldred says that meeting Marduk opened his eyes to the infinite possibilities of the planes and, being free of Marduk chasing him, leaves to experience more of it. Charnel wishes him good luck and the two part amicably.]]
239	* StopPokingMe: ''Sacrifice'' continues this fine Blizzard tradition of units getting pissed of more and more if you click on them too much. It's actually quite impressive when you consider that there's TONS of individual units and hero units in this game.
240	* StrawNihilist: Charnel's obsession with conflict kind of paints him as one of these.
241	* TacticalRockPaperScissors: Ranged units beat flying beat melee beat ranged... In theory. In practice, fliers are further divided into flying ranged and flying melee (the latter are excellent against buildings, and also murder ranged units if they get close) and ranged units are divided into basic first-tier archery-types, artillery (inaccurate, deal heavy area-of-effect damage, good against ground units but seldom hit fliers), snipers (extremely accurate and long range, but very slow rate of fire and is easily overwhelmed by a ZergRush) and the warmonger/rhinox, who don't really fit any other category than 'walking murder machines'. Plus, fliers fly low, and all but the lowest tier melee units are tall and can actually reach most fliers (but fliers have 90% damage resistance against melee attacks from ground creatures, however, so beating them to death takes a lot of time).
242	* ThereCanBeOnlyOne: [[spoiler:Only one of the gods survives the war. Stratos started it with the assumption that it would be him.]]
243	* ThirdPersonPerson: Pyro constantly refers to himself in a third-person, this does not denote low intelligence but instead shows how extremely full of himself he is.
244	* TokenGoodTeammate:
245	** Sorcha is much more kind-hearted than you'd expect for a Pyromancer. [[spoiler:She eventually betrays Pyro over his repeated acts of brutality if he isn't killed first.]]
246	** Lord Surtur has been heavily influenced by his long 'imprisonment' in Elysium and looks and sounds like a Persephone faithful rather than a Stratos unit. Ultimately, he sticks with his wife and his god however.
247	* TreacherousAdvisor: [[spoiler:Mithras, the blind prophet and benevolent advisor to the gods is revealed to be Marduk in a cunning disguise, playing them against each other for his own purposes.]]
248	* TreacheryCoverup: If you side with James, the hero covers up the fact that [[spoiler:the prophet Mithras was the omnicidical demon Marduk in another form]].
249	* UndergroundMonkey: Many of the different units are clearly reskins of each other. For quite a few of them, lore in the manual explains that this is because they share a common origin, typically having been followers for one god who were then stolen or lured away by another.
250	** Earthflings are James' mainstay ranged unit, but have counterparts in the Fallen, who are Earthflings corrupted by Charnel, and the Flame Minions, which descend from Earthflings traded to Pyro for the island Karn.
251	** Gnomes are normally servants of Persephone, but some have defected to follow Pyro, becoming the Pyromaniacs, and Charnel has risen others as zombie versions of themselves called Deadeyes.
252	** Pyro stole Trolls from Persephone and remade them into Firefists, whilst Stratos lured away some of her Gremlins, who now serve him as Seraphs.
253	** The mountains of the Glebe, Pyroborea and Empyrea are all home to a lumbering, boulder-flinging beast called the lummox, so each realm's god has tamed its local population of lummoxes and uses them in different ways. James calls his version a Flummox (for "Fighting Lummox") and lets it just stick to doing what's natural. Pyro armors his Bombards and outfits them with fire-bombs. Stratos has his Flurries be ridden by elementalists, who conjure crystaline implosive projectils for them to throw.
254	* UnintentionallyUnwinnable: Or at least, not able to get OneHundredPercentCompletion by Mistake: In one of Charnel's missions, it's impossible to collect the boon. The bonus objective is to keep Gangrel alive. Too bad the mission can't be completed until Gangrel is possessed by a demon, turning him into Astaroth, causing the game to decide you no longer have Gangrel. Even should you banish Yogo before the channeling is complete (which is hard but doable), you still do not receive the boon as the condition is that Gangrel must be under the player's control. During the channeling Gangrel is held immobile and can't be controlled by the player.
255	* UnstableEquilibrium: Once a wizard has a soul lead, it's very hard to change it, as it's much harder to steal a wizard's souls than it is to recover your slain creatures.
256	* UselessUsefulSpell: Averted. The instant death spells ''Intestinal Vaporization'' and ''Bovine Intervention'' can and will one-shot even the mightiest creatures. Even better, they instantly gib their targets, meaning the souls are up for grabs for anyone. If you're not careful, you can lose a lot of souls to a crafty opponent this way.
257	* VaderBreath: The Pyromaniacs. Their unit quotes are also filled to the brim with [[Franchise/StarWars Darth Vader]] and [[{{Film/Spaceballs}} Lord Helmet]] {{Shout Out}}s.
258	* VideogameCaringPotential: Several missions reward you for caring more than the mission parameters require you to. Most famously, the mission in which you're sent to slay a troublesome dragon rewards you really well for taking the time to find out why the dragon is behaving the way it is and coming up with a better solution [[spoiler:(said dragon becomes a hero unit of yours later in the game.)]]
259	* VideogameCrueltyPotential: Wizards can slaughter the innocent, defenceless peasants with the nastiest spells in their spellbook while the peasants beg, whimper and cry for mercy. Wizards are ''encouraged'' to slaughter the innocent in multiplayer -- they're a good source of soul income and are flagged as hostile for this reason.
260	* WaddlingHead: A number of units have this design. Charnel's basic fighter, the Scythe, looks like a hovering skull with rotating pendulum-razors strapped to its forehead. Pyro's basic fighter, the Cog, is a mechanical head with spinning hammers attached to it. Persephone's upper-tier melee unit, the Ent, is a giant head carried by four spidery legs that grow out of its forehead.
261	* WeHaveReserves: The key to playing a Necromancer. Due to the cheapness of Animate Dead, the GlassCannon nature of Charnel's minions and the somewhat indiscriminate nature of many of his spells, a one-to-one kill/loss ratio is entirely tolerable as long as you've got your creature's corpses around to animate/detonate.
262	* WeaksauceWeakness: Pyro's ultimate weapon, the [[StealthPun Magnafryer]], fires a heat ray that deals heavy damage over time and will kill everything in the game eventually... Except it counts as magic damage, so James' first level melee attacker, the Trogg, is completely unaffected.
263	* WelcomeBackTraitor: There's two gnome heroes in the game, and both [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder switch sides repeatedly]]. They're still usable units though.
264	-->'''Zyzyx:''' And to think that [[MadScientist Faestus]] used to be one of Persephone's brightest Gnome inventors... Well, I guess it's best that he's on our side now.
265	* WorldOfHam: All of the gods except James are pretty hammy, as are many of their followers.
266	* WorldInTheSky: ''Sacrifice'' is set around several floating islands in a large void. The manual provides a vague explanation for this.
267	* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Both Pyro and Charnel predictably plan on doing this to each other. Charnel betrays Pyro earlier, while Pyro plans to kill off Charnel after he has Stratos slain. [[spoiler:Stratos later reveals that he discards useless allies like flies, as both Persephone and James learn the hard way.]]

Context VideoGame / Sacrifice