''Heavenly Sword'' is a hack-and-slash game set in an [[FantasyCounterpartCulture ambiguously Asian]] empire where everyone speaks with British or Australian accents. It was developed by Ninja Theory and released exclusively on the [=PlayStation=] 3 in September 2007. The plot concerns Nariko, the unwanted daughter of a clan whose duty is to protect the titular sword, which the ambitious King Bohan believes will grant him [[AGodAmI godlike power]]. Nariko and her clan sister, Kai, flee with the sword and spend the remainder of the game attempting to rescue Nariko's father and end Bohan's reign of terror. Though the plot is hardly new, it's solidly executed, with excellent voice acting and motion capture (due to the involvement of Andy Serkis and Weta Workshop) and a surprising amount of humor.
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'''This game provides examples of:'''

*ActionGirl: Nariko.
*AnimeHair: Nariko again.
*ArrowsOnFire, a specialty of Kai's.
*AutomaticCrossbows: Kai uses one, for starters.
*AxCrazy: Flying Fox.
*BigBad: King Bohan, [[spoiler:until the very end, when it's heavily implied that he is in fact TheDragon for the raven that's been sitting on his shoulder throughout the game]].
*BigNo: [[spoiler:Nariko lets out a grief-stricken "NOOOOOOOOO!" after Kai's apparent death (and, shortly after, a variation which just has her [[SayMyName screaming Kai's name]]).]]
*BittersweetEnding: She gets ample opportunity for revenge in the end[[spoiler: but succumbs to her DealWithTheDevil as the titular sword takes her life.]]
*BreakTheCutie: Kai is already broken. Then Flying Fox breaks her more.
*TheCaligula: King Bohan.
*CatFight: Nariko's battle with Whiptail degenerates into an exchange of insults.
*ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler:King Bohan's raven]].
*CompleteMonster: Flying Fox.
*CrowningMomentOfAwesome: Several, including [[spoiler:Kai's eventual revenge on Flying Fox]].
*CrowningMusicOfAwesome
*DeadlyUpgrade: Nariko trades in her longsword for the Heavenly Sword after being cornered by Bohan and his army. It ends the way you'd expect given the trope and the fact that the sword has a history of killing anyone who wields it in a rather excruciating manner.
*DealWithTheDevil: Nariko makes such a bargain with the Heavenly Sword.
*EmpathicWeapon: The Heavenly Sword.
*TheEmpire
*ExtraordinarilyEmpoweredGirl: Nariko, of course.
*EyeScream: [[spoiler:King Bohan]] suffers this towards the end of the game when [[spoiler:the Raven pecks out his eyes for failing him]].
*FeedMe: King Bohan and Flying Fox, especially.
*FiveBadBand
**The BigBad: King Bohan.
**TheDragon: Flying Fox.
**TheBrute: Roach.
**The DarkChick: Whiptail.
*ForegoneConclusion: Nariko dying is shown at the beginning. [[spoiler:Still, she manages to wipe out Bohan and his army one last time before she's gone for good.]]
*ForMassiveDamage: [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by Kai.
*GroinAttack: This game is particularly fond of them, both implied and executed.
*HeyItsThatVoice: Andy "[[TheLordOfTheRings Gollum]]" Serkis as King Bohan, Steven "[[{{Octopussy}} General Orlov]]" Berkoff as Flying Fox.
**Not to mention Anna "[[{{Fringe}} Olivia Dunham]]" Torv as Nariko.
*HotChickWithASword: Work it out. Duh!
*HowWeGotHere
*IHaveYouNowMyPretty: Bohan's behaviour around Nariko [[spoiler:shortly after he captures her]].
*ImprobableWeaponUser: Nariko, though the Heavenly Sword ''is'' alive, so its improbability may be justified. Far stranger is her ability to ''steer corpses and other improvised weapons in midair'' after throwing them or shooting them.
**Kai can do much the same thing with her arrows.
*IneffectualSympatheticVillain: Brutally subverted with Bohan, who ''seems'' incompetent and acts like a complete goofball more often than not, but routinely performs monstrous acts in order to further his own ambitions.
*KickTheDog: Bohan does most of the kicking, and the dog is usually named Roach.
*KlingonPromotion: In one of the animated shorts which describes Bohan's StartOfDarkness, he ascended his throne through poisoning the former king.
*LargeHam: Bohan and Flying Fox practically ''define'' this trope. Whiptail also definitely counts.
*MemeticMutation: Hat + Gong = Door opens! Also, Kai loves fireworks.
**Also, "We may need you to play twing-twang" leaps into mind.
*MoralEventHorizon: Flying Fox [[spoiler:murdered Kai's mother, then had her ''stuffed, mounted and put on display''. Years later, he shows Kai his handiwork]].
*NeckSnap: Bohan does this to [[spoiler:Whiptail]]. And makes it look surprisingly easy.
*NoIndoorVoice: Most of Flying Fox's lines are yelled at the top of his voice. [[spoiler:In fact, one of the few times he '''doesn't''' yell is when he's dying.]]
*NoOneCouldSurviveThat: [[spoiler:Kai is hung by her neck after being dropped from a great height]], and presumably dies instantly. [[spoiler:As it turns out, she is still very much alive, though weakened.]]
* NoFlowInCGI: Averted... a little too hard.
*OneManArmy: Nariko
*TheOphelia: Kai.
*ParentalIssues: Nariko and Shen, Roach and Bohan.
*PlayerPunch: Sort of. The scene in which [[spoiler:Flying Fox, after spending a portion of the game gleefully tormenting Kai, captures her and then proceeds to '''hang her by the neck''' from a '''really big height''' (apparently killing her in the process), deliberately doing it as Nariko watches]] is just plain upsetting. [[spoiler:Nariko's anguished screams at Kai's apparent death really serve to make the moment hit even harder (but don't worry, Kai [[IGotBetter gets better]])]].
*PlayingTennisWithTheBoss: This is one of the keys to defeating [[spoiler:the Raven-possessed Bohan]].
*PsychopathicManchild: Roach, Bohan's mentally-challenged illegitimate son.
*PsychoForHire: Flying Fox.
*QuirkyMinibossSquad: While the heroes are usually deadly serious, the villains are often prone to silliness - even King Bohan.
*RapunzelHair: Nariko.
*RecurringBoss: Flying Fox.
*RoaringRampageOfRevenge: [[spoiler: If she weren't already dead]], Nariko could probably stop wars just by showing up and glaring a little bit. She's that scary given that she literally tore through an army to get at the last person who pissed her off.
*SayMyName: [[spoiler:"KAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIII!!"]]
*SceneryPorn: And how!
*SnakeTalk: Whiptail.
*StayInTheKitchen: Nariko's clan despises her for being born female, as their prophecy specifies that only a male child is destined to protect the Heavenly Sword. Her father even went so far as to [[spoiler:attempt to kill her while she slept]] for this unpardonable offense, but was unable to bring himself to do it. Her clan [[UngratefulBastard continues to treat her like crap]] even after she's ''saved their lives numerous times at great personal risk''.
*{{Stripperiffic}}: Whiptail's outfit mainly consists of a type of armoured bikini, complete with exposed underboob.
*TakeThat: The appearance of [[GodOfWar Kratos' blades and armour]] in Bohan's armoury is a bit like a cross between this and a ShoutOut. (''Heavenly Sword'' has often been compared to ''God Of War'', with some referring to it as ''Goddess Of War''.)
*TearJerker: [[spoiler:The ending]]. Enough said. Also, the moment in which [[spoiler:Bohan is lying, helpless and blinded, while Roach runs to his aid, telling him that he's going to take care of him and begging Nariko to "please let me take him home"]] qualifies.
** [[spoiler:The apparent death of Kai]] also qualifies.
*TraumaInducedAmnesia: [[spoiler:Kai doesn't remember the death of her mother, until Flying Fox forces her to remember.]]
*VolleyingInsults: Whiptail and Flying Fox seem to be particularly fond of hurling rather inventive insults at each other, much to Bohan's immense annoyance.
*TheWarSequence: Nariko at the start and near the end.
*TheWoobie: Roach, a rare villainous example.
** Kai, too.
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