* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: [[AwesomeMusic/{{Unreal}} Shares a page with the rest of the franchise]].
* BreatherLevel:
** Sacred Passage is set between the enemy-infested Rrajigar Mines and Chizra Temple levels. It has few enemies you can deal with no problem (Flies, Mantas and Devilfishes mostly).
** Harobed Village is set between the Chizra Temple and Terraniux levels. You can even bypass the Nali village part if you're speedrunning or not interested in finding secrets, though you may miss getting a powerful weapon (the Flak Cannon) early by not going to the abbey.
** Noork's Elbow is set between the Terraniux and the Temple of Vandora. You can either explore each area of the map or go straight to the bridge, then get into the Temple.
** The Trench is set between the Temple of Vandora and the ISV-Kran ship. It's initially a subversion, as you get three Titans to battle, but you can completely avoid them and get straight onto the ship.
** After the tense ISV-Kran ship, you end in Spire Village, again, with avoidable Titan battles. Skipping straight to the Sunspire may prevent you from getting some helpful weapons and items.
** Between the Na Pali Haven island levels and Bluff Eversmoking, you get Velora Pass, a [[BreatherBoss "boss" battle]] which you can avoid by raising the bridge, luring the Stone Titan to it, and sinking the bridge back into the lava.
** Serpent Canyon comes right after the enemy-infested labyrinth that is Cellars at Dasa Pass. It's mostly an automatic stroll on a boat from the start to the end of a river within said canyon, so you can feel free to enjoy the sky of Na Pali at dawn. The few enemies present are way easier to deal with than what a weary player's gotten used to in Dasa, and even the music is low-key and relaxing. This is the final rest stop before the final push that starts at Nali Castle.
** [[spoiler:Mothership Basement]] is mostly a series of corridors set between [[spoiler:the intense Demon Crater and Mothership Lab levels]]. It has few enemies, and your biggest worry will be the series of traps preventing you from reaching the button that opens the door to the ship.
** Finally, [[spoiler:The Source Antechamber is a (mostly) monster-free level set between the lightless, boss-infested The Darkening and the FinalBoss battle in The Source]].
* DemonicSpiders: The Marines in the expansion pack. Fast, smart, and hit hard with their assault rifles, rocket launchers, and grenade launchers. Fortunately, you only have to face nine of them in the entire campaign. There's a specific type of botmatch where the regular bots are replaced with marines for extra challenge.
* EpilepticTrees: The fan theories about what exactly the PlayerCharacter did in order to be imprisoned for tend to zig-zag around this trope. While they can get quite outlandish at times, they also have a kernel of truth in them: they almost always include the character committing atrocities of some sort. This is justified, since the translators logs in Vortex Rikers show that the prisoners are quite vicious, and the ship also has an execution chamber for them. In other words, they probably weren't locked up for mere traffic infractions.
* SugarWiki/FunnyMoments: If you [[OffWithHisHead decapitate]] a Skaarj Trooper with a [[BoomHeadshot Razorjack disc or Sniper Rifle bullet to the head]], the body will comically reach up and feel for its missing noggin before falling to the floor.
* GameBreaker: The CAR rifle in the expansion: it's one of the few {{Hitscan}} weapons in the game, it can hold up to 400 ammo (twice as much as the minigun), and ammo for it is very plentiful from all the supply crates airdropped all over by the UMS Bodega Bay. It's best used against Skaarj and other enemies that can dodge, but is pretty useful against everything for the most part.
* GoddamnedBats:
** Flies, which look like Earth dragonflies but are bigger.
** You'd have to ''really'' suck to be killed by the tiny, spider-like Pupae, but they sure are annoying (primarily because their hitboxes are so narrow that it's really hard to kill them once they get close, which they invariably do).
** Another example from the expansion pack: Pack Hunters, which border on DemonicSpiders. One of the fastest-moving enemies in the game, they can corner and kill an unprepared player ''very'' quickly.
* GoodBadBugs: In ''Return to Na Pali'', deactivating the Cloak item (which basically gives you both {{Invisibility}} and Jump Boots) and re-activating it before the process finishes [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuUEBHLfRz8 will make players jump higher than before]], in some cases, falling damage will stop counting even when falling from killing heights.
* {{Narm}}: The 24th level of the game is titled "Bluff Eversmoking". The level is surrounded by bluffs (steep cliff faces that border water) so the first half of the name is literally true, while the second half "Eversmoking" could have been part of an AwesomeMcCoolname. But combining the words together makes it sound like a thinly-veiled cannabis reference.
* OnceOriginalNowOverdone: Though still considered a very important game for both its graphics and what it brought to the table gameplay-wise (bigger levels, focus on SceneryPorn and diegetic narrative), many find the game has not aged anywhere near as gracefully as other big PC FPS games like ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Quake|I}}'', or even its own sequel, ''VideoGame/UnrealTournament''. The enemy variety is lacking, the game tends to not give you enough ammo, and the level design deteriorates over time with the game becoming very fond of throwing too many powerful enemies at you at a time (made worse by the lacking ammo supply) and making the levels either too wide-open or confusingly maze-like.
* TheScrappy: One of the monsters added in ''Return to Na Pali'' is a GiantSpider, which many critics complained was rather unimaginative, especially considering there already was a spider-like monster in the original game in the form of the Pupae.
* ScrappyWeapon:
** The Stinger doesn't pack much of a hit in either firing mode; its rapid-fire primary is not that rapid, and the secondary 5-shard burst takes a long time to refire. Worst of all, the projectiles aren't {{Hitscan}} and will trigger the auto-dodge of more agile enemies. It later gets outclassed by the Minigun and the Flak Cannon respectively, and gets relegated as a weapon to dispatch nuisances and smaller threats without wasting ammo for the big guns. In later games, it's replaced by the more useful Pulse Gun/Link Gun.
** ''Return to Na Pali'' introduces three new weapons: an assault rifle, a grenade launcher, and a rocket launcher. It's a wonder why these weapons were even introduced in the first place, considering that the original game already had a minigun and a rocket launcher (Eightball) with a grenade launcher as its second firing mode. Ironically, both the Minigun and the Eightball also appear in ''RTNP'', not only making the new rocket launcher and grenade launcher weapons even more redundant to use, but also making it even more baffling as to why they they even exist at all. To wit:
*** The Combat Assault Rifle is the better of the three new weapons, even if it is more or less the same as the minigun, only with a second firing mode that shoots out explosive rounds. However, the main fire lacks punch against bulkier enemies.
*** The new rocket launcher may have on its favor the ability to steer the missile (akin to ''VideoGame/HalfLife''[='=]s Rocket Launcher), however the missile is too fast to be steered appropriately, and the missile itself doesn't do enough damage to justify using the weapon. To make matters worse, [[spoiler:during the UMS Marine fight in "Inside UMS Prometheus", the UMS Marines pack the same Rocket Launcher, but theirs actually deals damage]].
*** The grenade launcher is a pain in the ass to use because it doesn't aim properly and it feels underpowered compared to the Eightball's grenade launcher firing mode. The only saving grace is the versatile remote-bomb mode of SecondaryFire.
* SlowPacedBeginning:
** In the main game, the first level is about [[PlayerCharacter Prisoner 849]] trying to escape from a prison ship. There are no fightable enemies and no hazards (at best, there's an explosion that removes a bit of your health, but that's it) until after 849 exits the ship... a minute after the beginning of the second level.
** The expansion pack ''Return to Na Pali'' starts with Prisoner 849's escape ship being found by the UMS Bodega Bay, and a communication between the ship and Starlight Base introducing the player to what they can expect from the mode. Afterwards there's a flyby consisting of previous Unreal levels, followed by the first Intermission segment with a SuddenlyVoiced 849 telling the log what's the situation.
* ThatOneLevel: [[ThatOneLevel/{{Unreal}} Shares a page with the rest of the franchise]].
* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: [[OnceOriginalNowOverdone Even if it is outdated nowadays]], ''Unreal'' is still the first game to use the titular [[MediaNotes/GameEngine Unreal Engine]], and it shows: the large set of colors, the characters' reflection on ice, the shadow effects and your weapons' fire lighting darkened rooms were incredible effects for a 3D game in 1998.
* WoobieSpecies: The Nali. A peaceful race of aliens enslaved by the cruel Skaarj and forced to mine for tarydium. Whenever they try to rebel or escape they get killed, often by [[CruelAndUnusualDeath crucifixion]] or other horrific means.
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