Line #85 VideoGame/SilentStorm


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/silentstorm.png]]
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3	Creator/{{Nival}}'s ''Silent Storm'', known commonly as ''S2'', is a 2003 [[TurnBasedTactics turn-based tactical]] game set during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. The game is played in a 3D environment, and was one of the first Tactical Turn-Based games to feature fully-rotatable 3D graphics. This sort of design allowed for a [[EverythingBreaks fully-destructible environment]], and this was used to great effect with a [[StuffBlowingUp large variety of explosives]].
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5	The story puts the player in the shoes of a crack commando operative working for either the Allies or the Axis. Put in charge of Special Operations-[=SE2=] or Abwehr Section 2 respectively, you must assemble a [[MultinationalTeam small squad of the best operatives available to your faction]]. Together, you work to counter the enemy's intelligence efforts and uncover the double-agents supplying information to them. However, you quickly discover that a third party is behind everything, and that they have infiltrated both the Allies and the Axis. As the plot evolves, you discover that this "third party" is in fact an international terrorist organization called the Thor's Hammer Organization (THO), who are working to develop a super-weapon that would allow them to rule the world after the Allies and Axis have beaten each other to a bloody pulp.
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7	As with many other games of the genre, your commandos [[RPGElements gain levels in various skills]], and each has his own specialty and abilities which can be capitalized upon. There are 6 classes available, the [[ColdSniper Sni]][[FriendlySniper per]], the [[TheBigGuy Soldier]], the [[StuffBlowingUp Grenadier]], the [[TheEngineer Engineer]], the [[TheMedic Medic]] and the [[FragileSpeedster Scout]]. The game features a slew of different WWII weapons, all realistically modeled and are spectacular to fire within the 3D environment. The combination of 3D gameplay with an engrossing character-development system and reasonable plot were enough to ensure excellent reviews. In fact, due partly to the commonly low-quality of Turn-Based Tactics games created in the 2000's, Silent Storm is perhaps that genre's only real commercial success in that period.
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9	It received a expansion pack called ''Silent Storm: Sentinels'' (or ''S3''), which picked up the storyline a year after the end of the war. Thor's Hammer has been beaten back, and with the end of the war, the various organizations involved in fighting a war suffered from staff cutbacks. Some became criminals, taking what they wanted with surplus weaponry and their honed combat skills. Others banded together, creating an agency called the [[TitleDrop Sentinels]], consisting of [[MultinationalTeam elite operatives from both the former Allied and Axis powers]]. Someone appears to be interested in the military legacy of the Third Reich, attempting to obtain blueprints and examples of prototype weaponry. That's where you come in; a veteran of the war, the Sentinels are interested in recruiting you to find out what is really going on. You wake up in the basement of a house in Poland...
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11	Retaining many of the gameplay elements from ''S2'', it also adds several new mechanics, in addition to tweaks to several existing ones. [[BreakableWeapons Weapons now have a durability stat]], and may jam or misfire if it gets low enough. As the Sentinels are not a government-funded organization, its agents have to pay money for their equipment and to hire additional operatives, rather than being issued or assigned to them for free.
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13	An officially sanctioned [[GameMod mod]] was released commercially as ''Hammer & Sickle''. Set in the same universe as ''S2'' and ''S3'', it takes place in 1949 during the UsefulNotes/ColdWar. Put in the shoes of an undercover Soviet agent in the British-American sector of occupied Germany, the player must unveil a tangled web of intrigue and conspiracy, as well as thwart the machinations of an old enemy. They must tread carefully, however, for their actions may spark WorldWarIII... Marketed as a Tactical RPG, it completely reworks the game mechanics. Battles are now far more lethal, a weight limit has been implemented and clothing is no longer just cosmetic, to name a few.
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15	----
16	!!This series contains examples of:
17	* AKA47: There's occasional inaccuracies in the item's names, like the 9mm Parabellum ammunition refered as ".38 Parabellum", the Mauser C-96 refered as "Mauser K-96", and the [=MP 43=] refered as "[=StG43=]". There are mods which fix the naming issues.
18	* ApatheticCitizens: While civilians have a basic AI ordering them to leave the area where a gunfight occurs, they have absolutely no reaction when they see a group of armed guy wandering in town while wearing foreign uniforms (especially when it's Allies uniforms in a German town or Axis uniforms in the British countryside...).
19	* ArbitraryHeadcountLimit: Your team can only have up to six characters (the PC and five hirelings). Some missions also give you control of a guest character, who will be placed in an extra seventh slot if your team is already full.
20	* ArmorIsUseless: Averted.
21	** [[spoiler: Panzerkleins]] are near impervious to almost any form of weaponry in ''S2'' (including rocket launchers), though this is toned down in ''S3''.
22	** Body armor in ''S3'' helps a lot against incoming fire, sometimes stopping it completely if its penetration is low enough. However, they only protect certain parts of the body.
23	* ArtificialStupidity: AI-controlled units haven't been set to avoid taking cover behind exploding barrels. And then, they'll occasionally explode their own cover - and themselves - while trying to shoot your squad through the red barrels...
24	* AwesomeButImpractical: The Webley Scott is a big revolver which inflicts more damages than some ''rifles'', so it must be the ultimate weapon of the game, right? WRONG: it is very powerful, has a high rate of fire, and its reloading speed is decent, but those advantages are more than balanced by a long list of drawbacks: it has crappy range and accuracy (you can only fire it in snap shot mode), it can only be loaded with six bullets, it uses specific ammunitions which take a lot of room in the inventory (one square, six bullets). All those issues restrict this weapon to an emergency gun for very short range gunfights. It's a bit more practical but less awesome in ''S3'', where the damage has been slightly reduced but the range and accuracy are increased. Still an inventory hog, though.
25	* BankRobbery:
26	** In ''S2'' Axis campaign, the first mission has the player character stopping one.
27	** And as a unique random encounter in ''S3''. It is actually quite easy to do alone and you can get out of it with ''$52,000'', which can then be used to buy an especially high-level mercenary who can make the early game a breeze.
28	* {{BFG}}: The heavy weapons category, including machine guns and rocket launchers.
29	* BlownAcrossTheRoom: Can be caused by explosives or high powered firearms.
30	* BoobyTrap: Quite a few chests and doors have a nasty surprise in store for someone who tries to open them. They can be disarmed by an Engineer, who can also plant some of their own. Be careful when disarming, though, as they can blow up in your Engineer's face if they [[CriticalFailure do badly enough]].
31	* BoomHeadshot: Present in all the games. A hard to hit target, but it causes more damage than shooting the torso, and can inflict some of the nastiest crits in the game. Exaggerated in ''S3'', as headshot kills [[YourHeadAsplode remove the head]].
32	* BulletholeDoor: Most firearms can blast their way through a wooden door with ease, though metal doors require explosives to break through them. This method of entry can be ''required'' in some cases, especially if explosives have blown a crucial part of the scenery away (see EverythingBreaks). It's also useful if your engineer isn't skilled enough to pick the lock.
33	* CarryABigStick: The available melee weapons include a couple of clubs.
34	* ChoiceOfTwoWeapons: Each team member has two slots which can be filled by absolutely any item (weapon, explosive, or tool), which are the two items that are ready to be used. Switching between them is a free action, but changing one of the items during a fight requires to spend action points.
35	* ChunkySalsaRule:
36	** Some ''S2'' versions include an official tweak (deactivated by default) which turns any successful headshot into a OneHitKill.
37	** Explosives can turn the enemy into a [[PinkMist red mist]].
38	* ConcealmentEqualsCover: Averted. Bullets can still penetrate and hit, depending on the object used as cover. Most rifles and machine guns are even able to shoot through walls. This can be abused: use a hidden spotter to locate the enemy, then eliminate them with indirect fire through the walls. The AI won't return fire if it can't see where it's being shot at from.
39	* CoolShades: Available as "glasses" customization. Each of those features is purely cosmetic and have no effect in-game.
40	* CosmeticAward: The player characters occasionally gain a medal after a mission. They are displayed in a folder on their character sheet.
41	* CriticalFailure:
42	** Failing badly enough while defusing a booby trap causes it to explode.
43	** Failing badly enough at tossing a grenade[[note]]a regular failure just causes the grenade to land off target[[/note]] causes it land ''right in front'' of its thrower (more HilarityEnsues if the whole group was standing around).
44	* CriticalHit: These can range from causing the character to bleed, go blind and/or deaf, all the way up to [[ChunkySalsaRule instant death]]. Some of the classes have perks that affect these, whether inflicted on or by the enemy. The Sniper has a very popular perk that always causes critical hits with ''all'' shots from ''any'' ranged weapon, up to and including [[MoreDakka machine guns fired on long burst]].
45	* DieselPunk: It doesn't start out like this. See UnexpectedGenreChange below.
46	* EverythingBreaks: Some explosives can take out a large chunk of the environment (floors, walls, roofs), making some areas of the map completely unreachable (the squad is unable to climb straight into a doorway from a hole in the floor). This can sometimes be solved, however, by using even more explosives to create other holes that can be used to navigate between your holes, turning the building into a multi-floor maze.
47	** In at least one mission, it's quite possible to kill your entire team on the first turn by accidentally blowing out the floor underneath you, sending the entire squad falling to their deaths. You can, of course, [[VideogameCrueltyPotential also do this to the enemy]] on occasion.
48	* ExplodingBarrels: Explosive barrels appear from time to time. They explose when hit by a bullet, but the blast radius isn't very large. Also, they are usually encountered in areas where they make sense (storage areas, factories, next to an engine-generator, etc).
49	* FiringOneHanded: Some units fire their pistols like this.
50	* GameBreakingBug: In some versions (including the Steam one), ''S2'' last mission suffers from a bug which ''prevents the FinalBoss to appear''. Fortunately, there is an unofficial patch to fix this issue.
51	* GameMod: Some can be found [[http://www.strategycore.co.uk/files/silent-storm/mods/ here]] (''S2'') and [[http://www.strategycore.co.uk/files/silent-storm-sentinels/mods/ here]] (''S3''). They actually serve as gameplay modifiers that can be manually enabled and disabled. Among the various available mods:
52	** No [[spoiler: Panzerklein]] Modification: Very popular mod. It removes the [[spoiler: Panzerkleins and the energy weapons]], replacing the [[spoiler: Panzerkleins]] by regular mooks wielding heavy weapons. It upsets the game's intented difficulty and makes the plot a little nonsensical, though.
53	** Class Skill Changes: Party members and AI units skills overhaul.
54	** [=DieHard=]: The game is harder and the AI uses grenades more often.
55	** Grenade Range Increase: ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin.
56	** Easier Medical and Engineering Items: Fixes the glitched growth of the medical and technical skills (cf UselessUsefulNonCombatAbilities below).
57	** ''[[http://www.strategycore.co.uk/forums/topic/10295-new-s3-mod-all-uniforms-in-development-feedback-is-welcome/ BlunterMod]]'' (''S3'' only): You can customize you team's appearance by buying them new clothes. It also includes some other features (skills and stats overhaul, grenade's range increased, new missions, new items, etc).
58	** ''[[http://www.strategycore.co.uk/forums/topic/11320-s3-mod-silent-storm-sentinels-redesigned/ Silent Storm Sentinels: Redesigned]]'' (''S3'' only, obviously) adds new uniforms, modifies some animations to make them a bit more realistic, alters camera angles (especially in cutscenes), completely rebalances the prices of items and mercs, overhauls the enemies outfits and stats, adds the possibility to capture enemies (depending on the maps and their tier, enemies may feel overhelmed and decide to surrender; each living prisoner adds some additional money at mission's completion), and adds police[=/=]military reinforcements showing up during some missions.
59	** ''[[http://www.strategycore.co.uk/forums/topic/12158-s3-mod-silent-storm-true-terror-in-development/ Silent Storm: True Terror]]'' (by ''Silent Storm Sentinels: Redesigned'' creator) is an upcoming mod which consists in a port of ''S2'' Allies campaign with ''S3'' gameplay. It also adds new mercs, a "Prestige" meter which serves to hire mercs or get favors, a dynamic difficulty depending on whereas the enemies succeed their own plans or not, and it makes missions on German soil much more dangerous by adding many hostile reinforcements.
60	** ''S3'' also has a tweak which removes the breakable weapons.
61	* GenreShift:
62	** ''S2'' starts out as a fairly realistic SpyFiction set during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII where you command a squad of Allied or Axis commandos and tasked with finding traitors and following clues. Then [[spoiler: Panzerkleins]] are introduced, followed by [[spoiler: energy weapons]] and a [[spoiler: shadowy organization straight out of ''Film/JamesBond'' that seeks to get both sides of the war to obliterate each other, so that they can pick up the pieces]]. The change was so jarring, a mod was created shortly after release to remove [[spoiler: Panzerkleins]] from the game (although that makes the plot a little nonsensical).
63	** ''S3'' takes place a few years after the war, with the game going back to its SpyFiction roots, and the titular organization (made up of some of the commandos from both sides) trying to stop the formerly-defeated organization from going back to its old tricks. Then (sigh) the [[spoiler: Panzerkleins]] are re-introduced (apparently, everyone forgot about them, and none were left in the Sentinels' stocks), and (with TheReveal that [[spoiler:the Sentinels' commander is the head of the villainous organization]]) it goes right back into ''James Bond'' territory with [[spoiler: Panzerkleins]] and [[spoiler: energy weapons]].
64	** ''Hammer & Sickle'', surprisingly, averts this, as the developers have finally listened to the players and did their best to stick to the SpyFiction genre. This time, since the events take place during the UsefulNotes/ColdWar, the fiction is of this flavor. The PlayerCharacter is a Soviet soldier sent across the Iron Curtain to form a spy network and subvert the Allies without starting WorldWarIII (an actual [[NonStandardGameOver possibility]])... Then the Sentinels and the organization (that just won't die) show up... but without their high-tech toys.
65	* GratuitousForeignLanguage:
66	** Each of the characters' lines are filled with words in their own language.
67	** On each character's file, the rank is written in his[=/=]her own language.
68	* GridInventory[=/=]InventoryManagementPuzzle: One of the low points in the game. It was slightly rectified in the expansion.
69	* GunPorn: Several dozens of real-life guns (and some Sci-Fi ones, to), all with their own stats. And several knives, too. To give an idea, [[http://www.gog.com/forum/silent_storm/silent_storm_item_codes_list_sentinel here's a complete list]] of items available in ''S3'' (there are a bit less variety in firearms in ''S2'').
70	* HitPoints: Called Vitality Points, merely dropping it to zero is a NonLethalKO (for your characters); drop it far enough into the minus (usually by tossing a grenade at someone already out-cold) and the target will die permanently.
71	** HealingPotion: Averted. Regardless of whether you're in combat or not, [=VPs=] are restored over time and it immobilizes both the healer and the patient until it's done. More specifically, the healer can't do anything else while the patient can turn and shoot normally, but cannot move or change stances.
72	* HeroicRROD: There are several power-up items (using them requires a minimum level in the medical skill) which greatly increase the vitality points amount for a number of turns, but make the affected character faint when the effect ends.
73	* HollywoodSilencer: There are several silenced weapons available (there are even silenced sniper rifles which, in the hands of a Sniper with the "[[CriticalHit Always Inflict Ranged Critical]]" perk, are downright deadly). Shooting these while hidden won't automatically reveal your location, though you may still get spotted if an enemy is looking your way. On the other hand, they deal less damage than their regular counterparts and tend to be rather rare. The best way to use the silenced rifle (which can only be obtained in one mission) is to hide your sniper and use a hidden scout as a spotter. Even if the enemy is looking your way, they won't spot the shooter, as the shooter is outside their sight range.
74	* InfinityMinusOneSword: The AVS-36 rifle may seem less awesome than the stuff described below, but it's a high tier rifle with decent accuracy and damage, a big magazine, and the ability to fire in bursts (unique for a rifle). And the best thing: if you're playing ''S2'' Allied campaign, it's an Allies gun, which means that you can refill it as much as you want in your base.
75	* InfinityPlusOneSword: Several, the [[EnergyWeapon Prototype 8M1]], the [[{{BFG}} Sea Devil Scoped]] and the [[KatanasAreJustBetter Katana]].
76	* InterfaceSpoiler:
77	** If you look at the skill trees of your soldiers, you'll see skills like: Enhanced [[spoiler: Panzerklein]] Familiarity. This may lead you to wonder, "What the heck is a [[spoiler: Panzerklein]]?"
78	** The Axis version of the "UK Laboratory" mission in ''S2''. Your team of Abwehr operatives is sent to a military-guarded laboratory in British countryside, with the task of kidnapping the head scientist. You quickly meet a group of soldiers in German uniforms, who are themselves busy kidnapping your target and fighting against the guards. Them opening fire on you is a surprising twist... or would have been, if they weren't called "renegade soldiers" ingame, and didn't have the "enemy unit" floating over their head since the exact moment you first see them.
79	** The games have a feature which allows the party members to locate [=NPCs=] and enemies without seeing them but with the sound of their footsteps. Of course, it's impossible to identify whether it's a civilian or a mook with just their sound... Unless you look carefully who is moving during the turns, since enemy units and neutral[=/=]friendly units actually have their own distinct turns.
80	* JustAStupidAccent: Most of the characters. Depending on which translated version of the game, it is averted for characters speaking the same language that the dubbed game.
81	* KatanasAreJustBetter: The Katana is the best (and rarest) melee weapon in ''S2'' and ''S3''. Justified, as the other melee weapons primarily consist of knives.
82	* KukrisAreKool: There are kukris knives available.
83	* MacheteMayhem: ... and machetes, too.
84	* MeleeATrois:
85	** In ''S2'', there are missions involving both Axis and Allied troops fighting against each other and THO soldiers, who are hostile to both.
86	** In ''S3'' "The Firm", the police is initially hostile to THO. They become hostile to the squad too if they spot them wielding weapons.
87	** The ''[=BlunterMod=]'' questline's first mission consists in your squad witnessing a firefight between mobster from Eastern Germany and the bodyguards of your contact (a Soviet agent infiltrated in said mob, and who just have raised the mob's suspicion). Both groups are hostile to the squad, and being able to talk to the contact requires to kill everyone.
88	* MoralMyopia: A type of mooks is the "Armed Civilian" (guy with civilian clothes and light weapons). They use the same soundset as the actual (neutral) civilian, so they attack your party while complaining when you shoot them back.
89	* MoreDakka: Plenty of it. The various submachine guns and machine guns can quickly pump out a lot of bullets, especially if fired on Long Burst, which only ends if the target dies (this one actually requires to benefit from a specific skill), the gun runs out of bullets or the shooter runs out of AP.
90	* MultipleEndings: ''S3'' has two, depending on which version of the final mission you choose. ''H&S'' takes this up to eleven.
91	** In the ‘Good’ ending of S3, [[spoiler:you’ll have to pick the Assault option in the final mission. It may be significantly harder than the Stealth option because you’ll have to face the blunt of the enemy forces including several Panzerkleins and the tough as nails prototype Robotic Soldiers, but if you brave through all that, it ensures that Boris survives to lead the Sentinels in the epilogue. And you will be ready to save the world again once the call comes.]]
92	** The second ending is more downer than the above [[spoiler:if you pick the Stealth option. Boris and his men face the blunt of Hammer forces, taking significant casualties in the process. Those that survived are then wiped out by the Major’s prototype Robotic Soldiers, Boris himself included. Though they succeed in buying you time to sneak in from the back door and take the Major by surprise and end the crisis, in the epilogue the Sentinels are disbanded because there’s no one to lead it.]]
93	* NoCampaignForTheWicked: Played with. ''S2'' allows you to play as the Axis and the ''H&S'' player character is a Soviet spy. However, ''S2'' remains largely the same regardless of which side you pick, as you wind up primarily battling Thor's Hammer. None of the games allow you to play as THO, the real bad guys in the ''Silent Storm'' universe.
94	* NumberedSequel: Played with in a way. The first game is called ''S2'', and there is no ''S1''. Subsequently, the expansion's title, which contained [[AddedAlliterativeAppeal three words beginning with S]], was abbreviated as ''S3'' to preserve the same scheme, despite being neither a sequel nor the third game produced in the series.
95	* OldSoldier: Some of the characters you can get on your squad, who are usually veterans of the [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarI First World War]] as well.
96	* OneBulletClips: While the bullets in each clip and magazine are tracked, reloading only takes as many bullets as the gun needs from them and only from one clip until it's exhausted, at which point the following reloads use the next clip until that one is exhausted too, etc. This also means that weapons chambered for the same caliber have fully interchangeable magazines: every weapon accepts every magazine holding the proper ammo, regardless if it's a rifle clip, submachine gun box magazine or machine gun drum magazine. However, their maximum ammo capacity is still determined by their original clip, not the one actually loaded into the weapon; the frequency of reloads isn't changed, you merely save inventory space by packing a drum magazine you can reload from several times instead of multiple clips you can use once.
97	* OneHitPolykill: The realistic damage and penetration modelling means it is entirely possible to kill multiple mooks with a single high-caliber bullet. The only real difficulty is getting them to line up so you can pull it off. Depending on how powerful the bullet is, you can even do this through walls.
98	* PinballProjectile: While it's almost impossible to plan, bullets will sometimes ricochet off hard surfaces and may even hit a target (not always the one aimed at).
99	* PoweredArmor: [[spoiler: Panzerkleins]] appear late in the game, which are nearly completely immune to small arms fire. The only way to beat them are with your own [[spoiler: Panzerkleins]] or with EnergyWeapons, which cut right through armor. In ''S3'', they're less resistant to small arms, especially at close range, but EnergyWeapons have a much lower penetration stat than before.
100	* RandomEncounter: While moving your team around on the world map (between the main missions), "encounter warning" areas often pop up randomly in your vicinity and disappear a short while later[[note]]each encounter spawns at a specific place, each of them is a specific static scene with its own (not random) enemies. They only are "random" because they appear, disappear, and appear again at random[[/note]]. You can actually CHOOSE to have an encounter by moving your squad to that area. Some encounters can net you some great equipment (and can be [[LevelGrinding farmed for money]] in ''S3''). Sometimes (by fluke), an encounter zone will appear right underneath your squad as it moves, causing the encounter to trigger immediately like a classic RandomEncounter (''S3'' custom difficulty settings allows to turn the encounter's markers invisible, which makes them unavoidable, thus giving same a similar feeling). Some of these encounters are incredibly rare, and tend to have equipment that cannot be obtained any other way. ''S3'' takes this further, with one that allows you to get a free squad member.
101	* ReverseGrip: The small knives (those which can be both thrown and used as mêlée weapons) are wielded this way.
102	* RevolversAreJustBetter: ZigZagged.
103	** ''S2'': The two available revolvers are the Nagant 1910 and the Webley Scott, respectively the crappiest pistol and a very powerful one (the Webley inflicts more damages than most of the ''rifles''). Being pistols, they still lack of accuracy and range.
104	** ''S3'' nerfs the Webley Scott's damages. It also adds a brand new revolver, the Colt Detective Special .38 S&W, which is even more useless than the Nagant.
105	** ''[=BlunterMod=]'' adds the Smith & Wesson Model 10, a straight example of the trope: it is more powerful than other pistols and SMG, has a better range, and has a higher rate of fire. Its only drawbacks compaired to most other guns are a slightly lower reload time, being a six-shooter, and the size of ammos in the inventory (six bullets in one square).
106	* SaveScumming: Doing this can allow to succeed some especially tricky shots (like shooting someone far from you with a pistol or a submachine gun) or influence the damages inflicted by a successful shot. Or if the enemy AI managed to hit you (and how badly) during its own turn. This can be exploited, as the game allows you to save and reload during the AI turn.
107	* SceneryGorn:
108	** You create this. German or Polish towns and British villages are initially fine, but the scenery is destructible and even bullets can take some wall chunks. Then you can also use explosives.
109	** ''S2'' "German Weapon Factory" is a straight example of the trope, being set in a ruined German factory.
110	* ShortRangeLongRangeWeapon: Averted. Weapon ranges are quite realistic - even submachine guns can shoot across the smaller maps, and that's not getting into rifles. Good luck hitting anything at that distance, though (e.g. a submachine gun's accuracy rapidly drops to 2% beyond a short distance away).
111	* ShoutOut: During one extremely rare RandomEncounter in Switzerland, the team finds a crater with a UFO in it. In the vicinity, the [[InfinityPlusOneSword Prototype 8M1 laser rifle]] can be found, the only fully-automatic energy weapon in the game. The rifle looks exactly like the Laser Rifle from ''VideoGame/XCOMEnemyUnknown''. This has given some fans an idea for an ''X-Com'' mod for ''S2''. It could also be a ShoutOut to VideoGame/{{Fallout}}, where a similar random encounter also occurs.
112	* ShoutingShooter: ''Every'' character becomes this if ordered to fire a machine gun from the hip on full auto.
113	* ShowsDamage: Units' models show blood stains on the area where they have been hit. It isn't a very accurate way to measure a character's health, though, since an almost dying guy having received a single very powerful blow will look better than someone who took dozen of {{Scratch Damage}}s and still has more than a half of his health bar. Also, wounded characters still look bloodied even when heal (until you leave the map), and an uninjured character can occasionally show a blood stain if someone else has been hit in his immediate vicinity.
114	* StatGrinding: Each stat and attribute gains some points at each use (which also gains global experience to the character), then is increased at specific caps. The skills that can be chosen at each level-up include some which increase their growth rate. ''S3'' adds caps to skill levels, depending on the character's experience level (skills can still improve past those caps, but it is a lot slower).
115	* StupidJetpackHitler:
116	** [[spoiler: This game has gasoline-powered armored exoskeletons with laser weapons (mostly developed in Switzerland, but Germany is shown producing them as well). The FinalBoss in ''S2'' takes the aforementioned exoskeleton and adds a jetpack, making it a partially literal example.]]
117	** A fully-functioning [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focke-Wulf_Fw_Triebfl%C3%BCgel Triebfluegel]] appears in ''S2''.
118	* TrialAndErrorGameplay:
119	** The "Place Marked on the Map" level of ''S2'' contains just a ruined house with absolutely no enemies in the area, requiring you to find some data stashed in either the basement or the attic. The room which leads to the basement's stairs is filled with ''tons'' of powerful mines. The mission is unlocked quite early in the campaign and it is very possible to go there before ever encountering traps of any kind. As the technical skill is broken, you'll probably not be able to disarm the mines anyway.
120	** The "Act of Terrorism" mission in ''S3'' is virtually impossible to complete without several run-throughs. Your men have to be split correctly between two entry points, and carry exactly the right type of weapons to take out several enemies within the space of about two or three turns once they charge through the doors.
121	* UnintentionallyUnwinnable:
122	** Consequence of EverythingBreaks. Using explosives inside a building can create holes on the floor or destroy a stair, making an area unreachable. Even if it is required to get there. Also, explosions or stray bullets can destroy ''plot clues'' (you know, the things that are supposed to be picked up in order to complete missions and unlock new areas).
123	** ''S2'' "Unknown Complex" turns to a TimedMission thanks to the LoadBearingBoss Orlov (cf this trope entry above).It's more than possible for him to leave the building and attack you, there is a very real chance that you'll probably shoot him outside of the complex and won't have enough time to pick the other mission objectives.
124	* UniqueEnemy: You occasionally meet enemy agents of officers who have their own name instead of "Allies[=/=]Axies Officer" or something similar, while their stats are similar to standard officers. Some of them serve as for the mission objectives who need to be captured. Sometimes, those named unique enemies exist as friendly {{NPC}}s in the opposite campaign.
125	* WalkingArmory: The character's models show some of the equipment they carries (not just the two weapons that are in the equiped items slots). When not wielded as the current weapon, gear is typically shown this way: a knife and a pistol in holsters hanging from the belt, a longarm on the back, ammos pouches on the chest or the belt, and grenades on the chest and[=/=]or the waist.
126	* WeirdHistoricalWar: Cf GenreShift.
127
128	!!Tropes specific to the original ''Silent Storm'':
129	* BlastOut: One of the main story missions in the Allied campaign is one of these - you're investigating a group of friendly soldiers who are suspected of being Nazi agents, and [[PoorCommunicationKills they all suspect ''you'' of being Nazi agents]]. You're all standing together in a cramped room, and everyone is armed, and one thing leads to another and suddenly everyone is shooting everyone from two feet away.
130	* {{Foreshadowing}}: In a ''S2'' mission, one of the clues is a Russian police report stating that some local citizens spotted in the nearby forest what they described as iron animals (the report emphasizes that the witnesses don't drink). Said clue is one of those which unlocks the "Unknown Complex" mission. Depending on the order of which you do the missions, is can be the first area where you have to fight [[spoiler: Panzerkleins]].
131	* ImproperlyPlacedFirearms: The British and German RedShirts[=/=]{{Mooks}} in ''S2'' tend to wield weapons from the other Allies/Axis-aligned nations in high-level RandomEncounters.
132	* LoadBearingBoss: In ''S2'', Orlov in the "Unknown Complex" mission. The mission's objectives requires to capture the enemy officer in charge of the place, along with other clues scattered in the complex. When shot by your team, you heard from a radio he is carrying that his underlings (you are trying to join him, in vain) are about to trigger the complex's autodestruction. If it happens before you left the area, this is an immediate game over, even if you salvage all the clues and no team member could have been hurt by the blast.
133	* TheMole: In ''S2'', missions sometimes have an objective requiring to search for a mole, either as a contact or as a target, depending on the mission and your side. Of course, a mole who is a contact in the Axis campaign is a target in the Allies one, and vice versa.
134	* NoSwastikas: In ''S2'', there are various places (including character's creation if you play the Axis campaign) in which the game include a German flag. It isn't the real swastika flag from Nazi Germany but something like [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bizarroflag.gif this]].
135	* PerspectiveFlip: In ''S2'', most missions are common to both campaigns. In some of them, the perspective is inverted, like meeting a mole in Britain (Axis) VS capturing a German mole (Allies), or making a raid in a British command center (Axis) VS defending said command center (Allies).
136	* SchmuckBait: In ''S2'' first Allies mission, when you get close to a sidecar motorbike with a mounted machingun, the game advices you that you can use it. Actually using it (you don't have to) spawns a group of enemies who are hard to hit with the weapon, thanks to its accuracy...
137	* ShaggyDogStory: The Axis version of "General Bauer's Headquarters" consists in protecting said General Bauer, whose headquarters are invaded by THO agents. Completing the mission unlocks "German Town", which opens with General Bauer killed during a cutscene.
138	* TimedMission:
139	** In "German Manor", you must capture a man and find several clues in his manor. When half of his guard are dead, he'll attempt to retreat toward a rocket in his backyard. If he reaches it (after a dozen of turns), the mission isn't technically failed, but you'll miss a clue which leads to a mission in which you can get [[spoiler: Panzerkleins]].
140	** "Unknown Complex" eventually turns to be one (cf LoadBearingBoss above).
141
142	!!Tropes specific to ''Silent Storm: Sentinels'':
143	* AntiFrustrationFeatures:
144	** In ''S3'' and ''H&S'', when you exit a mission area, before reading the score board there is an autoloot tab in which you can manually pick any of the area's item (if you found them, of course) and drop some of those you carried.
145	** ''S3'' Sentinels' HQ includes a stash in which you can store some items. When you have a special temporary party member in a mission, his inventory is automatically given to the stash when you leave the area.
146	* BreakableWeapons: Introduced in ''S3''. Each weapon have a durability stat, which decreases at each use. When it's low enough, guns have a chance to jam. Emergency repair can be done on the field with screwdrivers (Engineers are better to do this), but it permanently decreases the weapon's max durability.
147	* BookEnds: The game opens with a man sleeping on a desk with a photo and once you finish the game, [[spoiler: the man wakes up and either slams the photo frame down (bad ending) or answers a call from Boris. (good ending)]]
148	* CashGate: When you progress far enough, [[spoiler: you need to buy the location of the Thor's Hammer base with $100,000.]]
149	* DiscOneNuke: ''S3'' first and second missions are hard. You start the opening level with the crappiest gun of the game (the Nagant) without any spare cartridge; at the end of the mission you normally have knives and a couple of other guns. Since the shop only opens after completing the second mission, you can only do the second mission with whatever you salvaged from the beginning. The nuke itself is lying behind the locked door in the first area's basement, next to the starting area: bashing the door gives access to a SMG and two magazines, turning the beginning into a cakewalk.
150	* FractionalWinningCondition: At several points, ''S3'' gives sets of missions (usually three or four) that can be completed in any order to progress in the campaign. You actually can't complete all of them, as the plot progresses when you complete three out of tour (or two out of three) of those missions, preventing to access the last one.
151	* KickTheDog: One of the missions in ''S3'' has you visit a Soviet gulag to gather intel. Incidentally, the prisoners rebel against the guards and take up arms. [[DealWithTheDevil You're allied with the guards.]]
152	* LevelGrinding: Primarily in ''S3'', and mostly for money rather than improving your characters. You can redo the "random" encounters over and over again to get the enemy's gear, either for actual use or for their monetary value (since sufficient money is relatively hard to come by). In the process, your squad will gain some skill and XP, but there are AntiGrinding mechanisms in place to make sure you can't advance much beyond the optimal level for the next main-story mission.
153	* LevelScaling: In ''S3'', the mooks level along the player's avatar (especially in the random encounters). It allows to train newly hired low level units faster, but has the consequence of making solo runs luch harder than they initially seemed. Customized difficulty settings allow to choose how exactly the enemy's level scales with the player characters's (from 3 levels less to 3 levels more).
154	* {{Nerf}}: In ''S2'', [[spoiler: Panzerkleins]] are almost immuned against anything which isn't [[spoiler: a heavy futuristic weapon]] or [[spoiler: Panzerklein weaponry]]; even rockets and grenades barely scratch them (in rare occasions). They are a lot less resilient in ''S3''.
155	* NonStandardGameOver: If you [[spoiler: take the stealthy route for the final mission, letting enemies reach alarm panels in certain areas will result in the room being sealed off with sonic blasts being sent through the vents that take out your team and result ina game over.]]
156	* VideoGameCrueltyPunishment: Once you're officially hired by the Sentinels, civilian casualties result in a fine taken from the mission's reward.
157	* ViolationOfCommonSense: ''S3'' has a secret character ([[spoiler: ABSR the robot]]) who can be recruited at completion of a convoluted process requiring, among other things, to acquire several notes. One of them can only be gained by ''failing'' a mission on purpose (it is dropped on death by a Russian mobster you're supposed to catch alive).
158	* YourHeadAsplode: Any ranged attack to the head (including throwing knives and ''punches'') can potentially cause this in ''S3''.
159
160	!!Tropes specific to ''Silent Storm Sentinels: Redesigned'':
161	* ColdBloodedTorture: In the new version of the third mission (rescuing a Sentinel held prisoner by THO in Great Britain), the opening cutscene shows Captain Wallis being beaten with a club by a mook dressed like a Medic. Once he becomes playable, he suffers from a severe debuff which reduces a lot his action points pool.
162	* DarkActionGirl: New enemies include female THO mooks, who looks very similar to their male counterparts, and female "War Criminals" (cf. TheRemnant below) who looks like female Sentinels (basically, a black catsuit with an NavelDeepNeckline and high-heeled boots) wearing a male Axis Engineer side cap.
163	* DiscOneNuke: A new Germany random encounter is set in an abandoned cemetary in which four Nazi fugitives have set their camp. Killing them potentially allows to acquire a FG-42 and a ZB 26-30 machine gun earlier than when they start showing up in the Sentinels' store, as well as finding a golden chalice which can be sold for an interesting amount of money.
164	* EarlyGameHell: Even more than the unmodded game. One of the balance alterations removes 40 HP to ''everyone'', making each early fight much more luck-based. The item cache in the first mission's basement no longer contains a SMG, but a stick of dynamite (that you'll probably be unable to use with a level 1 non-Engineer character anyway) and a couple of tools. Mooks in random encounters are no longer level-scaled to the party, but have a static level, making some encounters too tough to be entered by a single low level merc. Oh, and some of the new random encounters make you lose money (killing Soviet[=/=]British[=/=]US soldiers seems to be as frowned upon as murdering civilians, even if they shoot first...).[[note]]On the other hand, the "everyone has 40 HP less" mixed with the absence of level scaling makes easy mode somewhat even easier than Vanilla once you start gaining levels and skills.[[/note]]
165	* FixFic: The original ''S3'' was a bit unrealistic about the usual absence of police's reaction for shoot-outs in urban areas. In the mod:
166	** The "Test of Loyalty" (the second mission, where you must bring back a package from a Switzerland coffee house) opening cutscene now includes a short scene with someone phoning the police to lure them elsewhere in town, explaining why Swiss policemen didn't immediately show up when armed guys started shooting in the coffee shop.
167	** The original version of "Saving Sentinel" (the third mission, where you must rescue a captured Sentinel) has been remade from scratch. It is no longer set in the middle of a British small town but now happens inside a barn build in the middle of nowhere.
168	* NonstandardGameOver: The first mission is now failed if Boris gets killed.
169	* PoorCommunicationKills: Some random encounters involve bumping into Soviet[=/=]British[=/=]US patrols (or small Soviet[=/=]British[=/=]US military bases) in which they immediately turn hostile toward your party of Sentinels. Since the area seems infested by THO troops and wandering Nazi remnants, this hostility toward a group of shady armed guys working for a mysterious paramilitary organisation is understandable.
170	* RandomEncounter: They're have been redesigned. Some of them are brand new (notably, the famous Germany bank job have been moved to Poland). Their content is more random (sometimes, there aren't even any enemy), and sometimes have THO troops fighting against the Allies[=/=]Soviets. And then, there's maps in which you bump on Soviet[=/=]British[=/=]US patrols, who turn hostile.
171	* TheRemnant: Enemies that can show up in Germany's random encounter include groups of units dressed like German troops and named "War Criminal".
172	* SchmuckBait: In the aformentioned cemetary random encounter, the diary of one of the opponents is lying somewhere. The last entries tells that the area feels creepy and that he has a very bad feeling about the ancient sword lying in the crypt. [[spoiler: Picking it up raises corpses of the four squatters as zombies, then it raises the corpses of the people buried there.]]
173
174	!!Tropes specific to ''[=BlunterMod=]'':
175	* AceCustom: ''[=BlunterMod=]'' adds to ''S3'' several unique and more powerful variants of standard weapons, some of them being found in specific places, some others being part of a couple of squad member's starting gear. There's one (a scoped Lee-Enfield named "Piggy") lying behind the locked door in the basement of the first mission of the game.
176	* ArtisticLicenseHistory: ''S3'' is set a couple of years after World War 2's end. In ''[=BlunterMod=]'', studying the region's names and countries' frontiers of the new worldmap shows that it's an Europe map from before the war.
177	* AwesomeButImpractical: The APZ-K Penetrator Scoped is a powerful antimaterial rifle. Its main advantage is that it OneHitKill absolutely anything (including [[spoiler: Panzerkleins]]. On the other hand, it takes a lot of room in the inventory, firing it consumes lots of action points, it has a ridiculously low ammo capacity while its magazine are huge (2x2 squares for 2 rounds), and it's painfully slow to reload, too.
178	* {{BFG}}: The APZ-K Penetrator Scoped.
179	* BoozeBasedBuff: A new group of "medical" items consists in a selection of alcoholic beverages. They allow to ignore the penalties of injuries during a couple of turns.
180	* CounterfeitCash: The mod's new questline starts when the Sentinels' base banker asks your squad to investigate the origin of counterfeit cash circulating in Eastern Germany.
181	* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: The "Linden Castle" random encounter consists in helping a group of mercenary to defend a castle besieged by zombies in SS uniforms.
182
183	!!Tropes specific to ''Hammer & Sickle'':
184	* EarnYourHappyEnding: You'll have to be careful and smart if you want to prevent World War III.
185	* NintendoHard: Combat is even less forgiving, carry weight is now a concern and it's possible to lock yourself into a bad ending.
186	* NukeEm: If you don't play your cards right in ''H&S'', WorldWarIII starts, and the final cutscene mentions that it only ends with the Americans nuking several major Soviet cities, including Kiev and St. Petersburg. Moscow is only spared because a Soviet pilot performs a HeroicSacrifice and [[RammingAlwaysWorks rams]] the plane carrying the A-bomb.
187
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Context VideoGame / SilentStorm