* CompleteMonster: [[ArchnemesisDad Dmitri Romanov]] is the ruthless patriarch of the Romanov dynasty, and despite [[FreudianExcuse having been imprisoned by the previous Tsar]], surpasses any justifiable actions. After losing to Vladimir Makarov in a duel for the throne of the Tsar, Dmitri forces his sister Jocasta to have his children via genetic engineering, breeding them to be the most ruthless killers in the empire. He has his eldest son, Valentine, bear a FlawedPrototype weapons crest, which physically and psychologically scars him beyond recognition. After Katarina Dante reneges on a job for him, he beats and [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil rapes her just so he can break her]], [[ChildByRape resulting in Nikolai's conception]]. After gearing up for war, he orders Konstantin to murder Julianna Makarov just in case Nikolai manages to save Jena from Richard Hawksmoore so that the conflict will go ahead anyway, then [[WeHaveReserves callously throws the lives of his army away to the Tsar's guns]] and [[YouHaveFailedMe even personally shoots survivors for losing]]. Even after the war and his suicide, he transfers his consciousness to Arkady and secretly plans his revenge over a number of years, at which point he kills Viktor's wife simply because she's from a poor background, strips Dante of his weapons crest, burns Jocasta to death, and forces Jena to marry him. To further pour salt into the wound, he forces Nikolai to watch the ceremony and [[CripplingCastration sends a surgeon to castrate him]] while it happens. Even his first act as Tsar is not to rebuild the empire, but his own personal winter palace.
* [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome Crowning Moment of Awesome]]: Loads special mention however to [[spoiler:Nikolai taking backstabbing a little too literally to Konstantine]]
* GrowingTheBeard: ''The Great Game'' is where the story really began to come together.
* HilariousInHindsight:
** Selina Solaris, a CaptainErsatz of ComicBook/{{Catwoman}} more than slightly resembles Creator/HalleBerry.
** An evil Russian named Vladimir Makarov? [[VideoGame/ModernWarfare Where have we seen this before?]]
* NightmareFuel:
** Lulu's cyberdemon swarm. They can devour a grown man alive in seconds. Lulu even slaughters a passenger liner by concealing them within the crew and passengers and letting them loose, killing everyone.
** Valentine's actual appearance underneath the holo implant. Because his crest is a FlawedPrototype, the HealingFactor ''[[AndIMustScream does not work]]'', meaning that every time he uses its abilities, it scars him further, making him look [[http://grimkun10.tripod.com/jena.htm like a skeletal]] [[BodyHorror horror]]. This drives him insane and, when Nikolai destroys his holo implant, he abandons any pretence of sanity, instead opting to become a [[EvilIsHammy hammy]] OmnicidalManiac.
* ParanoiaFuel: Nastasia pulls this on Nikolai by implying that she could have poisoned either (or both) glasses of wine they share.