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[[quoteright:256:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/heart_of_darkness_6229.png]]

''Heart of Darkness'' is a {{Cinematic Platform|Game}}er developed by Amazing Studio for the PC and Platform/PlayStation, that came out in 1998.

The game revolves around a boy named Andy with a fear of the dark, who during a solar eclipse gets his dog Whisky mysteriously kidnapped by a dark force. Determined to get his best friend back, he sets out in his spaceship to retrieve him from the alien [[DeathWorld Darklands]] to where he was taken.

The gameplay revolves mostly around puzzles, precision jumps, and predicting the environment. Often you'll have access to a weapon, but in some areas you'll be unarmed and have to resort to have to either avoiding your enemies or turning their MalevolentArchitecture against them.

Although the game retains an E rating, the game contains a wide array of rather gruesome ways Andy can be killed; and as the infinite amount of lives presented to you suggest, [[EverythingTryingToKillYou you WILL get killed]].

Not to be confused with the Creator/JosephConrad novella of [[Literature/HeartOfDarkness the same name]], or the ''[[VideoGame/VictoriaAnEmpireUnderTheSun Victoria II]]'' [[VideoGame/VictoriaAnEmpireUnderTheSun expansion pack]].

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!!''Heart of Darkness'' provides examples of:

* AdorableEvilMinions: The Shadow Spectres are just as dangerous as everything else, if a bit slower, but their cute babbling and sleek design makes them rather cute. In certain points of the game, they may even 'talk' to one another back and forth with squeaking giggles.
%%* {{Airborne Mook}}s: The Flying Spectres.
%%* AliensSpeakingEnglish
* AllJustADream: [[spoiler:The beginning of the last cutscene suggests that the events of the game were all in Andy's imagination.]]
* AmusingAlien: The Amigos are a whole race of these, who eventually help Andy to rescue his dog. They act just as goofy as they look, and even for late '90s CG they look particularly silly.
* AsleepInClass: The very start of the game, Andy being woken up during a lecture by his EvilTeacher.
* AsteroidsMonster: The Armored Shadows/Double Spectres, a late-game type of Mook, will split into two fleshy blobs when killed. If both blobs aren't destroyed in time, they will both grow into a new Mook. This is a problem since destroying them requires you to use the Charged Blast, and you often fight them in groups.
* BackgroundBoss: The Master in the final chapter floats around tossing the occasional {{Fireball|s}} at you. You can't harm him, though, and once you beat the last of his shadowy spawn he politely exits the screen.
* BadBoss: As you can expect from the villain of this kind of story, the Master constantly abuses his servant, and outright kills his minions.
* BloodlessCarnage: Despite the [[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath Family Unfriendly Deaths]] present in the game, which include Andy being eaten, incinerated, drowned, etc., there is almost no bloodshed in this game.
* BodyHorror: The Amigos cannot touch the ground in the Darklands around the Master of Darkness' lair. One of them gets too tired to fly, and the moment he lands he's turned into a Flying Shadow. If that wasn't enough, the other Amigos yell at Andy to get away, since it's too late to help that Amigo.
* ButYouWereThereAndYouAndYou: As well as the similarities the Master of Darkness has with Andy's teacher, the pink trunk-nosed servant can be likened to the pink elephant on Andy's pajamas in the ending cinematic, which also features a stuffed toy closely resembling Amigo shown next to Andy's other toys.
* ChildProdigy: How many kids do you know who invented their own makeshift lightning gun and spaceship? (Well, besides VideoGame/CommanderKeen...) [[spoiler:Judging by the ending, all this stuff may or may not have just been in his imagination.]]
%%* CinematicPlatformGame
%%* CollapsingLair: [[spoiler:Black holes and castles just don't mix. Neither do rivers of lava.]]
* ConservationOfCompetence: The Master told his minions to kidnap Andy. The minions kidnapped Andy’s dog Whiskey instead.
* ConvectionSchmonvection: The lava being well animated doesn't mean it was taken into account how quickly standing too closely to it would cook a human. As Andy can climb above it and freely walk along floating rocks that form natural stepping stones across the molten rock.
%%* CutsceneBoss: The Master at the end.
* CutsceneIncompetence: Like most cinematic platformers, ''Heart of Darkness'' is generally good at avoiding this series of tropes however it occasionally includes examples of CutscenePowerToTheMax and TookAShortcut.
* CutscenePowerToTheMax: Andy's powers and abilities are quite similar between cinematic and gameplay. The special powers work in the same way and the specters are as much of a threat. However, two specific instances can be noted: the fireballs thrown from the flying specters are shown to not kill the Amigos in the cinematics even though sustaining a direct hit from one in-game and Andy will leave only a shoe. Andy is also in danger of falling off the floating island in "Space Island" which counts as a death, but at the end of the level [[spoiler:saves himself from falling off Space Island in a cinematic by growing a giant sunflower on the main surface of the planet and slowing his descent. ]]
* DarkIsEvil: Darkland, Dark kingdom, Master of Darkness, Heart of Darkness... yeah.... The whole darkness theme might be from Andy's fear of the dark.
* DeadHatShot: While many of the deaths result in Andy being eaten, crushed, or incinerated into oblivion his clothes will sometimes manage to survive. The underwater suckers will spit out Andy's shirt, bandanna and shoes. Andy's single red hightop sneaker is often left behind both after [[SmolderingShoes being incinerated]] and [[SpitOutAShoe being eaten]]. [[MadeOfIndestructium Seemingly unscathed.]] It's no match for lava, however.
* DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist: Infinite lives, [[TrialAndErrorGameplay for a perfectly good reason.]]
* DeathWorld: Getting crushed by rocks, falling into lava, falling off cliffs, being crushed by giant fossils, the ground crumbling beneath your feet, being generally loathed by all its living inhabitants....
* DismantledMacGuffin: In the last part of the game, the Master blows the MagicMeteor into pieces, depriving Andy of its powers. With the help of the Master's cowardly sidekick, Andy must then find the fragments dispersed in the mine.
%%* DramaticIrony: Used in one of the Amigo cut-scenes.
* EatenAlive: Andy is unavoidably eaten late in the game as he falls atop the head of Mefudoka... Who happened to be the same beast that ate Andy's lightning gun and equipment near the beginning. You can guess what happens.
* EverythingTryingToKillYou: The plant life, the underwater creatures, the dark beings, the environment, ''shadows'' cast by the environment...
%%* EvilOverlord: The Master
* EvilTeacher: The Master looks a lot like Andy's mean teacher, and has a similar voice.
* ExcusePlot: A largely unexplained one anyway (for example, why did the EvilOverlord want to kidnap Andy in the first place?)[[spoiler:; though the end suggests it was AllJustADream.]]
* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: There's almost no blood. However, many of the deaths involve broken and dislocated bones with a properly SickeningCrunch as a monster pulls them loose, or flesh getting torn off.
* FissionMailed: After losing the power granted by the meteor while deep inside the enemy caves, you ''have'' to get eaten by the GiantMook [[spoiler:in order to retrieve your plasma gun the monster had eaten earlier]].
* FloatingContinent: There is what looks like an upside-down mountain floating above the world, where live the "Amigos". Weirdly, it has inverted gravity compared to the main land -- if you fall from the mountain's edge, you go UP into the sky. If you reach the mountain's "top" (its bottom from a non-inverted viewpoint), then you're claimed back by the gravity of the earth and fall down.
* GreenThumb: A beneficial side-effect Andy receives from touching an illuminated underwater rock. When he charges his powers, Andy can launch a large ball of energy that is able to make plants grow, even from seeds.
* GroundPunch: The bigger Shadow Spectres can punch the ground hard enough to cause a tremor, making Andy fall from a ladder or dislodging stones below a ledge.
* HeroesLoveDogs: The entire motive and driving force behind Andy's mission and his activities in the Darkland is to rescue his beloved dog Whisky.
* IncreasinglyLethalEnemy: The Armored Shadows, if not destroyed fast enough, will re-spawn endlessly and can swarm you if you're too slow at finishing them off.
* JustEatHim: Late in the game, Andy is inevitably swallowed whole by a GiantMook. This looks like an endgame but isn't, [[spoiler:because the toad-like monster had earlier swallowed Andy's plasma cannon... and the hero can ''recover his weapon in the mook's stomach and blast it from the inside''.]] Oddly enough, [[spoiler:if you get eaten by the monster just after it eats your lightning gun by the start of the game, you die, since this time, [[AvertedTrope he chews]].]]
* LavaIsBoilingKoolAid: Subverted. Creator Eric Chahi is particularly fond of geology, specifically of the volcanic variety and for its time the lava in the [[LethalLavaLand River of Fire]] level moves and behaves more like real lava than in other video games. With a more viscous thick mass and bubbling cracking texture.
* {{Leitmotif}}: The soundtrack written by Bruce Broughton and performed by the Sinfonia of London is composed of multiple recognizable musical phrases for several characters. The different themes are present throughout the score and are altered depending on the setting and context.
* LifeEnergy: Whatever powers Andy gets from touching the glowing green rock act something like this. He can use it to cause seeds to sprout into vines for him to climb, stun wildlife by overloading them with it, and flat-out vaporize shadow monsters.
* LightningGun: Andy's default weapon. It gets taken early on in the game, but he gets it back. And then, it runs out of power.
* LudicrousGibs: You won't [[BloodlessCarnage see any blood]], but you're still going to see yourself die in a wide variety of gruesome ways. Being literally disintegrated is actually one of the ''least'' horrific ways you can die in the game.
* MadeOfIron: Andy manages to be both this and a OneHitPointWonder. A lot of things can kill him, but he can still drop several times his own height with no ill effects and hold his breath for far longer than even a normal adult could.
* MagicMeteor: The glowing rock at the bottom of a lake who gives Andy his GreenThumb and HandBlast powers is in fact a meteor (and the lake its crater). It becomes a DismantledMacGuffin later on.
* ManEatingPlant: There are three different kinds of man-eating plant in the game, five if you count the underwater sucker and tentacle monsters in the Magic Lake.
* TheManyDeathsOfYou: As mentioned in LudicrousGibs above, you're definitely going to come face-to-face with a myriad of grisly deaths, be it getting killed by plants, underwater creatures, dark shadowy beings, etc.
* MooksButNoBosses: Because you will have your hands full enough [[EverythingTryingToKillYou with all the things that want to see you dead]].
* NeverBareheaded: Andy spends the game either donning his baseball cap or a raybeam helmet made out of a colander. Despite removing his cap and replacing it with his helmet in the opening scene, his hat is revealed to be constantly worn underneath the helmet when it is taken from him by Mefudoka. During his "salto" double jump, Andy manually grabs his hat when it's in the air to ensure it stays on his head. Although several deaths result in Andy's hat or helmet inexplicably disappearing midway through the animation. He also lets Whisky wear his hat for part of the opening cinematic.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Andy would be dead if not for some unintentional help from the monsters:
** When just deprived of his powers, Andy is surrounded by enemies. One of them breathes fire on him; [[spoiler:if he avoids it, the fire burns the flimsy trapdoor under his feet, sending Andy tumbling away from the danger]].
** Shortly afterward, Andy is SwallowedWhole by the GiantMook... [[spoiler:who earlier ate his plasma cannon, giving him back his weapon when it is most needed]].
* NintendoHard: With EverythingTryingToKillYou, Andy being a OneHitPointWonder, and enemies being deceptively fast, numerous and resilient you ''will'' indeed die a lot. And when the enemies themselves don't do you in, it'll be the environment.
* NonDubbedGrunts: Andy's cries, squeals, and enthusiastic exclamations that he makes in-game are sampled from the noises he makes in the cinematics. In other language dubs the sounds are kept in both the game itself and the cinematics. For some languages it's seamless, making it difficult to tell if it was sampled from the English or French voice actor, but with the Spanish dub Andy has a considerably higher-pitched voice, making it clash more with the rest of his dialogue.
* OneHitPointWonder: There is no LifeMeter. Everything just [[OneHitKill instakills]] you. The game makes up for it though by giving you save points and unlimited continues.
* OrWasItADream: [[spoiler:During the credits, the Amigos are seen playing with the wreckage of Andy's ship and using his camera, possibly implying that the events of the game really happened.]]
%%* OurWormholesAreDifferent: How Andy travels to the Darklands.
* PlotHole: Early in the game, Andy's plasma gun is eaten by one of the Master of Darkness' monsters and we see it clearly get destroyed as he eats it. Yet, [[spoiler:when Andy is eaten by the same monster late in the game, he manages to retrieve his gun which is not only not digested, but somehow perfectly intact]].
* PowerGlows: The Magic Rock's green glow. It fades when the Master blows it to pieces.
* PowerSource: The MagicMeteor is the source of Andy's powers, and when blown to bits by the Master, Andy suddenly loses them... just as several enemies are closing on him.
* RubeGoldbergDevice: Andy's treehouse elevator.
* ServileSnarker: The pink servant constantly mutters under his breath about how crappy his job is but is too terrified of the Master to say anything out loud.
* SceneryPorn: Beautiful but deadly environments.
* SmolderingShoes: One of the deaths has Andy incinerated, with only his shoes left.
* SpikesOfDoom: Used as motivation to make the Servant do what his master expects of him. Surprisingly, Andy himself cannot fall victim to them.
* SpitOutAShoe: Whenever Andy gets eaten by something in the game, it spits or burps out his shoes.
* TheStarscream: The Master's pink servant. The Master has to destroy the glowing green rock when his servant brings it to him when he suspects that it's giving him... ideas, and eventually he starts plotting with Andy to put it back together and destroy him (though he's obviously plotting to backstab him once it's complete).
* SuperDrowningSkills: Averted. Unlike most video game characters who can drown, Andy can hold his breath for a surprisingly long time, though he can eventually drown if you don't go up for air.
* ATasteOfPower: Your start the game with a lightning gun and spend the first few screens using it to kick monster ass. Then it's swallowed up by another monster, leaving you unable to fight. Not that you'll let a little thing like that stop you... [[spoiler:You eventually do recover it near the end.]]
* TemptingFate: The Amigo shaman proudly informs Andy that he's perfectly safe on their floating mountain, since the Darkness never once reached them before... except he's cut mid-diatribe by the hut exploding from an attack by Flying Shadows.
* TitleDrop: "Are you ready now to face the ''Heart of Darkness''?!"
* TookAShortcut: In "Into the Lair", [[spoiler:Andy manages to escape a cell and subsequently traps the Vicious Servant inside. The Servant somehow manages to get out of the cell to presumably cross the River of Fire, make his way all the way to the Magic Lake, and bring the Magic Rock all the way back to the Lair in the time it takes Andy to traverse 5 screens. How is never explained.]]
* TotalEclipseOfThePlot: Whiskey is kidnapped during a total solar eclipse, kickstarting the game.
* TheUnintelligible: The Spectres, who only speak a high-pitched babble.
* VileVillainLaughableLackey: The Master is a terrifying figure, but his most direct underling is a pink trunk-nosed servant, who looks and sounds comical, cowers in fear before the BigBad or the hero, and ends up helping Andy defeat his boss.
* ViolenceIsDisturbing: Andy can potentially suffer a myriad of horrific deaths throughout the game. From flying monsters that break Andy's spine to worm creatures that snap the young boy's neck, the amount of violence directed at a child is downright disturbing.
* WhamShot: The Flying Shadows are actually corrupted Amigos.
* WouldHurtAChild: All occupants of the Darkland save for the Amigos. Every oversized bug, carnivorous plant, and ravenous shadow wants Andy dead. Even the Master of Darkness who demanded the boy be brought to him likely did so simply because he wanted the pleasure of killing Andy himself.
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