Line #23 VideoGame/SineMora


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mora_7.png]]
2	->'' Holding in his hands a giant sieve\
3	Time stands ever sifting\
4	He sifts through worlds, he picks them out\
5	Not with regret, but with delight\
6	He grieves only those that fall\
7	And those that fall deserve to fall\
8	Time spares no pity for offal\
9	Waning nations, cold worlds',\
10	Broken lives' miasmal desire\
11	It's death they deserve - and nothing less.''
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13	''Sine Mora'' is a side-scrolling ShootEmUp game developed in a collaborative effort by Creator/GrasshopperManufacture, and Creator/DigitalReality, written and directed by Theodore Reiker. It was published by Creator/MicrosoftStudios on March 21st, 2012.
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15	This 2D shooting side-scroller has a twist involving time control. There are no lives, and you don't immediately die when you're hit. Instead, players have a time meter constantly counting down. Destroying enemies adds time, whilegetting damaged removes time. This gives beginners more chances to make mistakes, but in advanced play, players need to constantly destroy enemies while not getting hurt to avoid the time running out. The airplanes in this game have different types of Time Capsules that have different time control effects, such as slowing the game down to avoid damage or rewinding time, even after death.
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17	Another thing that makes the game unique to the genre is the amount of depth that went into the game's [[DarkerAndEdgier chilling, tragic story and setting.]] The story is set on a DieselPunk alien planet called ''Seol'', with two major warring factions: TheEmpire and a time-controlling civilization known as The Enkies, with the story starting with the Enkie's obliteration. The story directly revolves around the actions of two different groups of [[AntiHero Anti Heroes]] devastated by the recent events. Leading one group is Ronotra Koss, who seeks revenge against TheEmpire for the death of his son, Argus Pytel, dragging Myryan into the conflict via blackmail. The other major group is the last of TheResistance, consisting of Durak, Akyta Dryad, and Lynthe Ytoo. The language spoken in the game is Hungarian, telling a tragic story of revenge and genocide.
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19	After players finish the Story, more hardcore players can try their hand at Arcade Mode, which only has two modes, [[SerialEscalation Hard and Insane.]]
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21	The game was re-released as ''[[UpdatedRerelease Sine Mora EX]]'' for [=PlayStation=] 4, Xbox One, Windows, and Nintendo Switch via Creator/THQNordic. Additions include improved rendering, co-op for up to 2 players in story mode, a 16:9 aspect ratio (while retaining the choice of changing it to 16:10), 3 new versus modes (Race, Tanks, and Dodgeball), new challenge levels, and an English dub (while keeping the original's Hungarian dub as an option). The PC and [=PS4=] versions of the game also feature a native 4K at 60 FPS when played on a compatible PC engine and [=PS4=] Pro, respectively.
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23	----
24	!!''Sine Mora'' contains examples of:
25	* AirstrikeImpossible: The harder prologue route, and Domus, a late-game boss.
26	* TheAlcoholic: Koss.
27	* AlternativeCalendar: The Enkies founded the first calendar of their world, with ''Circles'' being the largest time unit, essentially replacing years. TheEmpire founded its own calendar, banning all others. [[spoiler:The Enkie calendar counts ''down'', though.]]
28	* AnachronicOrder: The story is told mostly in a straightforward timeline, but later bounces back and forth as flashbacks and [[spoiler:time travel]] occur.
29	** There's also some 'revisiting' of earlier levels but at different time periods; for instance, Durak, Ytoo, and Dryad raid ''Moneta Point'', a volcanic hellhole of a research station... which was, many years ago, ''Bokumono''; a [[TheAlcatraz submerged, super-high-security prison]] guarded by a giant submarine.
30	* AndIMustScream: [[spoiler:The Empire's Project is to render the entire Enkie race immobile by disabling their bodies, leaving them unable to move or do anything while they study their ability to control time. Their collective, comatose bodies form a reactor for all of the Empire's time control.]]
31	* AnimalMotifs: Girai is a robot resembling an Orangutan.
32	** A couple of Tsuchigumo's bullet patterns resemble webs, too.
33	** Acridoidea looks vaguely like a grasshopper. Makes sense, as it is named after a superfamily of grasshoppers and locusts.
34	* AnimalStereotypes: Argus fits the Wolverine very nicely, especially when he takes down the Libelle (a giant mechanical wasp-like thing) single-handedly after it forces his father to make an emergency landing. At first, he comes off as a little HotBlooded, but later turns darker and moodier thanks to various events.
35	* AntiFrustrationFeatures: If there are powerups near your ship when a cinematic starts, they will home into you.
36	* AntiHero: Pretty much the whole cast, but Koss is a definite Type V. Doesn't give a damn about anything but his revenge, is hellbent on murdering every single member of the Cobalt King crew despite only one of them having anything to do with his son's death, and his plans include blackmailing a rape victim.
37	* AttackDrone: Myryan's special ability, Gemini Drone.
38	* AttackItsWeakPoint: [[AC:Hyper Guardian Train]] '''Matouschka''' has a special weak spot that can only be hit when using the Slow Time capsule. Using it to destroy '''Matouschka''' is one of the requirements for the Master Sergeant rank and achievement.
39	* TheBadGuyWins: Already the case at the start of the game. The main antagonists, the Layil Empire, have already defeated the Enkies, achieving complete political and cultural hegemony over the planet. The members of the cast acknowledge this reality, being aware there is nothing they can do to change it.
40	* BattleshipRaid: The Prologue; the harder route has you do an AirstrikeImpossible on one of the enemy flying fortresses. ''Literally'' an airstrike impossible, because you fly through the corridor so fast you'll almost certainly crash without using the BulletTime feature. Many of the bosses count as well, as some of them are split up into distinct 'stages' with different parts and attack patterns.
41	* BeamSpam: The Chameleon Cannon miniboss is a cluster of beam guns, backed up by some kind of overhead beam platform.
42	* BecauseDestinySaysSo: See YourDaysAreNumbered.
43	* BecomingTheMask: [[spoiler:In the true ending, Argus Pytel becomes the traitor that stops the nuke.]]
44	* {{BFG}}: The Merenstein and Soprano -- the Merenstein's is located above the cockpit, whilst the Soprano's is center-line with another large gun underneath.
45	* BigCreepyCrawlies: The huge glowing worms that fire green balls, and the giant bugs that fire huge sprays of poison. And then there's Libelle, a huge biomechanical dragonfly.
46	* BigNo: [[spoiler: Akita pulls one when she realizes that she deactivated the life support of the remaining Enkies.]]
47	* BlueBlood: Durak.
48	* BossSubtitles: Each boss is introduced with a brief pause, showing their name and purpose. For example; [[AC:Alloy Selector Spider]] '''Tsuchigumo'''.
49	* BrokenAce: Koss
50	* BrokenBird: Durak, [[spoiler:one of the two last Enkies,]] who can't have children, and has been devastated over it.
51	* BulletTime: The 'default' time capsule allows you to slow down time. Or more accurately, slow down everything that isn't ''you''; you continue to move and fire at full speed, but enemies and their projectiles move slower. Unfortunately, if you're playing for score, this wipes your entire multiplier.
52	* TheChosenOne: Enky, the first and greatest of the Enkies. [[spoiler:Akyta Dryad and Lynthe Ytoo's son.]]
53	* ContinuingIsPainful: Not as severe as say, VideoGame/{{Gradius}}, but if the player takes a hit, they drop some of their weapon upgrades; recklessly scrambling to retrieve them can cause the player to take more damage.
54	* CoolAirship: [[AC:Extraordinary Airship]] '''B630214'''
55	* CoolTrain: [[AC:Hyper Guardian Train]] '''Matouschka''', in Moneta Point.
56	* CrapsackWorld: The earth quakes violently everywhere, TheEmpire kills off their elderly ritualistically, both the Empire and the Enkies have a strict caste system that rules over its subjects. And the Empire pretty much encompasses the whole planet.
57	* CrosshairAware: Whilst fighting the Chameleon Cannon mini-boss, targeting crosshairs will appear on the ground shortly before an overhead WaveMotionGun is fired.
58	* DarkerAndEdgier: The characters are reminiscent of ''Franchise/StarFox'', but the story is much more mature and tragic.
59	* DeathByIrony: [[spoiler:Koss is killed by his own son, who he pretty much ripped apart the Empire trying to avenge.]]
60	** To add another layer, [[spoiler:Argus needs to be avenged because he was (allegedly) killed for disobeying an order to bomb the Enkie city]]. Then, [[spoiler:he actually ends up being the man that he switched his name with. He disobeyed this order because he was tricked into killing his own father.]]
61	*** This adds another layer if we go for a particular interpretation of the Golden Ending. [[spoiler:If Argus was actually both the pilot and the co-pilot (even if it goes against time travel rules), that means that Argus killed his counterpart of the future. That would mean that Koss' revenge made sense the whole time: he was really going for the man that killed his son.]]
62	* DeflectorShield: One of the alternate Time Capsules is the ''Reflector'', which does nothing to alter the flow of time. Instead, it creates a spherical barrier around the ship that reflects projectiles. The easy route in the Prologue also has enemies protected by invincible shields, and one boss has a shielded section that can deflect your own shots back at you.
63	* DieselPunk: Complete with planes that are absolutely watertight, and can 'fly' underwater (with little loss of maneuverability!) by rotating their wings 180 degrees. There are also larger flying craft seen, such as Durak's transport in the future-Moneta Point assault with Dryad and Ytoo.
64	* DownerEnding: Both the normal and GoldenEnding. [[spoiler:The Enkies end up dead, Lynthe Ytoo spends the rest of his life in jail, Myryan Magusa dies of cancer, Argus kills his own father and decides to rebel against the empire by traveling back in time, piloting the Cobalt King and refusing to deliver the nuke.]]
65	* DynamicDifficulty: The story mode has a casual setting for beginners, and provides lots of time boosts for casual players. Advanced players can change the story to Challenging Mode, and finally, Arcade Mode exclusively has two difficulties, Hard and Insane.
66	* DysfunctionJunction: Pretty much the whole playable cast.
67	* EnergyWeapon: Of both the SlowLaser and instant beam kind -- though the latter tend to be full-on WaveMotionGun affairs.
68	* EverythingTryingToKillYou: Naturally. Seol is a very dangerous planet due to tectonic instability, but that's even before you take the wildlife into account. Some of which is, in fact, mechanical. Whether they're leftovers from past civilizations or somehow 'natural' is never explained.
69	* EvilutionaryBiologist: The Empire's policy on family is that [[spoiler:"monogomy creates jealousy and sexual frustration", that people need to have lots of children, and that elders must commit suicide to "make room" for the next generation, who are inherently superior.]]
70	* FaceDeathWithDignity: [[spoiler:Durak.]]
71	* FairytaleMotifs: The spider boss is called Tsuchigumo, a mythical spider that [[PlagueMaster spreads plagues.]]
72	* FloatingContinent: The floating cities of Mirage Mountain (the doomed Enkie capital) and Tira (the Imperial capital). Due to Tira's underside looking like a rusted version of the Enkie city's, they might even be the [[TimeyWimeyBall same city]]. The encyclopedia reveals that all major cities are like this due to tectonic instability.
73	* FlowerMotifs: A rose is the Sine Mora emblem, painted on the Enkie rebels planes.
74	* FreeLoveFuture: The Empire are extreme polygamists and The Enkies are monogomists. The empire has as many children as they can and kill their elderly while the Enkies have traditional relationships of monogamous civilizations. The Empire calls this heresy.
75	* GenderEqualEnsemble: The playable cast contains three males (Argus, Ronotra, Lynthe) and three females (Myryan, Akyta, Durak). There's also Garai, but it's technically genderless.
76	* GoodRepublicEvilEmpire: Played with. Despite being an Empire, it's mentioned that the Imperialists use "democracy" as an excuse for their actions, implying that there is some kind of constitutional government. However, they seem to place the collective goals over the rights of the individual.
77	* GratuitousGerman: ''[[MeaningfulName Libelle]]'' [[MeaningfulName is german for "dragonfly".]]
78	* GratuitousJapanese: Tsuchigumo, for starters.
79	* GratuitousLatin: The game's title ("Without Delay") and all the trophies and achievements are in Latin.
80	* GratuitousRussian: Pops up for a couple of boss names too.
81	* HandicappedBadass: Koss and Myryan. Myran speaks through a voice box due to throat cancer, and although you won't know it until you look at him on the character select screen, Koss has no legs.
82	* HitboxDissonance: The player planes have only a small collision circle within the main chassis.
83	* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler:Koss was so focused on revenge that he might have lived if he went back in time alongside Myryan and Girai to save his son. Instead, he chases the man he believes shot Argus through the street of the Imperial Capital Tira, and then discovers the man he was chasing was his own son, who took the place of the man who reports say shot him, and is shot down as Argus defends the capital ''from his own father'', as he was waiting there to catch the man who was killing the Cobalt King crew one by one.]]
84	* HunterOfHisOwnKind: The Collaborationists are Enkies against the Sine Mora beliefs. Nationalized by The Empire, they use their time control abilities against the Enkies, helping the Empire fight them and round up Enkie slaves for The Project. Koss, Argus, Myryan, and Lynthe all got their start as Collaborationists.
85	* InterspeciesRomance: Koss is a bison and his son Argus is a wolverine, then there's [[spoiler:Akyta and Lynthe]], so it's likely this is accepted in the Sine Mora universe.
86	* ItsAllAboutMe: Durak.
87	** The Empire itself might count as well.
88	* KeepingSecretsSucks: [[spoiler:Argus had his name publicized as the traitorous pilot of the Cobalt King that wouldn't drop a nuke on the Enkies to make his job in intelligence easier. This starts his father's RoaringRampageOfRevenge.]]
89	* LastOfHisKind: Akyta is the last lower-class Enkie, and Durak is the last of the upper class. Myryan is also Enkie, secretly and successfully nationalized by the Empire without knowing her true abilities.
90	* LivingMacguffin: The Enkies.
91	* LoveAtFirstSight: Lynthe Ytoo thoroughly discusses it in the Alternative text, [[spoiler:referring to Akyta]].
92	* MacrossMissileMassacre: Argus Pytel's ''Seeker Missile'' subweapon. A couple of bosses also use conventional missile barrages as part of their attacks.
93	* TheMagicGoesAway: [[spoiler:The Enkies are all wiped out to extinction in an instant by Akyta/Argus, and time control is lost forever.]]
94	* ManipulativeBastard: Koss has no problems blackmailing Myryan Magusa into serving him.
95	* MatureAnimalStory: One of the darkest [[ShootEmUp Shoot 'em Ups]] ever made, where the characters are all animals.
96	* MercyKill: [[spoiler:The final objective of the resistance. They know full well the Enkies are comatose and doomed. Combined with the fact that their calendar predicts the exact moment they will go extinct, they set out to put them out of their misery and deprive the Empire of their power.]]
97	* MoreDakka: Primary weapon upgrades mean more bullets and an increased rate of fire.
98	* MyGodWhatHaveIDone
99	** [[spoiler:Argus Pytel killing his own father.]]
100	** Akyta fights the last boss, [[spoiler:the control system enslaving her fellow Enkies, all comatose. By destroying it, their life support is cut off. Note that this was her [[MercyKill ''objective'']], but she is no less heartbroken. In the GoldenEnding, Argus decides to bear that responsibility.]]
101	* NoAntagonist: TheEmpire is pretty much the main villain, but they practically rule the planet already. Several of the playable characters acknowledge that they are on one side, and perspective, of their conflict. Koss and Myryan are on nobody's side but their own. TheResistance is more directly toward fighting the Empire, but to save the Enkies, rather than harm the Empire.
102	* OneHitKill: Due to the time mechanics, few things can ''actually'' instantly kill you. Getting caught on terrain and hitting the far left of the screen is one way to instantly lose. Being vaporized by jets of fire in the raw material intake is another.
103	* OneManArmy: Justified by the time-alteration mechanics, explained in the in-game encyclopedia. It is essentially force-multiplication by reflection and refraction of time and entities, allowing for a single unit to effectively attack from multiple directions at once by coordinating ''with itself''. [[MindScrew Try not to think about that too much]]. When two armies using temporal manipulation go head to head, things get ''really confusing''.
104	* OnlyOneName: Durak, because she is an upper-class Enkie, who only has one name.
105	* PyrrhicVictory: [[spoiler: With Koss and Durak's deaths, Lynthe's arrest and trial, and Akita seemingly disappearing, the Empire managed to some extent to defeat the rebel organizations operating against them. However, it came at the cost of losing its most powerful weapon, severely hampering its capacity of not only administering its territory but also changing time itself as well. According to Argus, the Empire will have to rely more on Colaborationists like him from now on, weakening its position.]]
106	* PoisonMushroom: There is one fake item that is dark blue with "???" on it. Touching it causes a PianoDrop, killing you. Doing this at least once is a requirement for the final promotion achievement.
107	* PoweredByAForsakenChild: The Project imprisons and enslaves the last of the Enkies exclusively for creating a Time Control center. This center is used both as a weapon and for predicting tectonic shifts on the planet's volatile surface.
108	* [[PretentiousLatinMotto Pretentious Latin Achievements]]:
109	** Nascentes Morimur: From the moment we are born, we begin to die.
110	** Lex Talionis: An eye for an eye.
111	** Tempus Neminem Manet: Time waits for no one.
112	** Salva Veritate: Saving the truth.
113	** Inter Caecos Regnat Strabo: Among the blinds the squinting rules.
114	** Melius Frangi Quam Flecti: It is better to break than to bend.
115	** Suaviter In Modo: Gentle In Manner.
116	** Fortiter Fideliter Feliciter: Boldly, Faithfully, Successfully.
117	** Dies Irae: Day of Wrath.
118	** Stercus Accidit: Shit Happens.
119	** [[TitleDrop Sine Mora: Without Delay.]]
120	* ProphecyTwist: ''The Book of Days to Come'' predicts the exact hour the Enkies will go extinct. [[spoiler: It turns out they are already brain-dead and Argus and Akyta must cut off their life support as a MercyKill.]]
121	* RankInflation: S++, S+, S, A, B, C, D, E.
122	* RapeAsBackstory: Myryan Magusa.
123	* ReactorBoss: The FinalBoss. [[spoiler:Destroying it kills off the Enkies in stasis.]]
124	* ReportsOfMyDeathWereGreatlyExaggerated: [[spoiler:Argus Pytel.]]
125	* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Pretty much everything Koss does is exclusive to his own desire for revenge. Even as he [[spoiler:sends Myryan and Girai back in time to save his son, he stays behind just to kill the final member of the Cobalt King crew]].
126	* ScaryDogmaticAliens: TheEmpire are the DirtyCommunists, and the Enkies are [[TheFundamentalist The Fundamentalists.]]
127	* SdrawkcabName: Domus' title, which is just 'Fucked Up Boss' backwards.
128	* SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong: Of all people, it's [[spoiler:Argus Pytel, not Koss, who does this]].
129	** The 'Rewind Time' capsule also allows you to 'undo' the last few seconds of gameplay; the longer you hold it down, the further back you go.
130	* ShootEmUp
131	* ShoutOut: A couple of obscure literary ones stand out; ''Angrenost'' is the elven name for the city of Isengard in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''. There's also the defense rig ''Melkor''; Melkor is the original name of Morgoth Bauglir, who is the protagonist of ''Literature/TheSilmarillion''.
132	** Steropes' entrance is ''very'' similar to that of the the first stage MiniBoss of ''VideoGame/{{Contra}}: Hard Corps'', ''another'' cyclops HumongousMecha. It appears in the background, walks a bit, sweeps the ground with its EyeBeams, causing a trail of explosions, and then it jumps into the foreground to fight the player. Similarly, it can also use its arms to throw objects at the player.
133	** The ''Sonic Sword'' Subweapon is pretty much the Radiant Sword from ''VideoGame/RadiantSilvergun ''.
134	** The fact that enemy attacks are coloured in both red and blue is very likely to be a shout-out to ''VideoGame/{{Ikaruga}}''. Also, [[spoiler: the final phase of the FinalBoss, Ophan, involves the player having to evade the attacks without being able to damage it, in a very similar way as the battle against the final boss of Ikaruga, the Stone Like.]]
135	* SlaveRace: By the end of their lifespan, the Enkie race are reduced to [[spoiler: living comatose batteries kept in a gigantic prison facility, harvested for their ability to time travel.]]
136	* SmartBomb: Koss' subweapon, ''Punk Spirit''. Many of the other subweapons will also destroy any bullets in their path.
137	* SmokingIsCool: Argus and Lynthe are portrayed as smoking in their full portraits.
138	* SpiderTank: Tsuchigumo, in the Imperial [=AiBorg=] Factory.
139	* StableTimeLoop: Maybe, or at least a semi-stable loop depending on the events of the next cycle. In the GoldenEnding, [[spoiler:Argus Pytel sends Akyta into the distant past, pregnant with the child who would become the first of the Enkie race. The Enkies in the present are still wiped out; Argus finishes off the Core, then travels back in time to take the place of the pilot of the Cobalt King. Though all we see is Argus as the pilot of the Cobalt King, it is never stated whether the bomb is dropped or not. Presumably, he does refuse to drop the bomb, in which case his co-pilot shoots him]].
140	* StartOfDarkness: Koss losing his son. Later, [[spoiler:Argus killing his father]].
141	* TheFatalist: Every single Enkie. [[spoiler:Argus becomes one in the end.]]
142	* TheGhost: Nessa, the Second Sovereign, ruler of the Empire, that can also count as TheUnfought. While tecnically can be considered as some kind of antagonist, [[spoiler: it is highly implied by Argus on the Alternate Narration that the Enkie genocide was orchestrated by the Empire's upper class instead of just one individual.]]
143	** Also the prophet Enky, founder of the Enkie Nation
144	* ThemeNaming: Two of the bombers were named; ''Cobalt King'' and ''Lord Granite''. It's probably safe to assume the other two had similar names.
145	* TimeMaster: The Enkies. The name 'Sine Mora' is also the name of a school established in-universe to teach them to become Time Masters, in fact.
146	* TimeTravel: The Enkies can travel through time on a whim, making them very elusive targets for TheEmpire.
147	* TimeyWimeyBall
148	* TitleDrop: Sine Mora = "Without Delay." It is the name of the Enkie time travel school, and the final line in the story.
149	-->[[spoiler:'''Argus Pytel''': I had to give his death meaning, and without delay.]]
150	* TsuchigumoAndJorogumo: Tsuchigumo is a huge robot spider that fires out web-like BulletHell patterns.
151	* VillainProtagonist: Koss.
152	* WaveMotionGun: Lynthe Ytoo's special ability, ''Zebaoth Driller.'' There's also some kind of screen-filling KillSat-esque WaveMotionGun that fires during the fight with the modified observatory (nevermind the [[EnergyWeapon Frickin' Laser Beams]] Cannons the observatory has!) that leaves a small strip of free space on the far sides of the screen, causes a ChunkyUpdraft, and blocks your shots. [[GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere Giant Orbital Laser From Nowhere!]]
153	** B630214 also has one on top, used by a giant mirror that absorbs the sun's rays and fires it out as a beam.
154	* WrenchWench: Myryan Magusa.
155	* YouCantFightFate: See YourDaysAreNumbered.
156	* YourDaysAreNumbered: Quite literally, the Enkies live knowing the exact day they will die, with the first Enkie predicting the exact moment their race goes extinct, ''down to the day and hour''. A kind of bible called ''The Book of Days to Come'' keeps the moment each Enkie dies, in writing. It turns out the real reason they know when they will go extinct is that [[spoiler:Akyta Dryad was there. It's also the reason of why the book doesn't mention the deaths of Lynthe and Akita.]]

Context VideoGame / SineMora