Jamestown: Legend of the Lost Colony is a Vertical Bullet Hell Shoot 'Em Up created by a Philadelphia-based trio of developers known as Final Form Games. It's the first game by the company, done for the art and funded through the developers' own savings.
The game tells the story of a man named Walter Raleigh (Sir Walter Raleigh, to be exact, if we can assume that this is the same famous explorer), an Englishman who has escaped from prison when he was about to be executed for an unknown crime (the actual Sir Walter Raleigh was executed for supposedly being in the Main Plot against King James). In an attempt to clear his name and earn the pardon of the British king, he travels to Jamestown, one of the British colonies in the new world, in hopes of earning glory and fame.
Only, these are not the colonies you know.
You see, this is a Schizo Tech version of the colonial era, with airships capable of taking off into space, and man has colonized Mars. The colony of Jamestown in particular is set in contested territory, with the English fighting against a joint effort between the Spanish and the indigenous Martians. After barely surviving a recent attack, Raleigh flies onward searching for The Lost Colony of Roanoke. From there, the clues in the way slowly bring our protagonist towards the uncovering of an Evil Plan engineered by the Spanish general that may put all of the colonies in danger.
The game can be purchased on Steam. An expansion, Gunpowder, Treason & Plot, was released on November 10, 2011, featuring four new playable ships (including one that can mimic some of the abilities of the other seven). An Updated Re-release, Jamestown+, was released for PlayStation 4 systems on March 17, 2015, adding three more new ships and a pair of new stages that take place on Phobos and Deimos, the moons of Mars. It was eventually ported to Steam in December, 2019 with a Nintendo Switch version following suit.
Jamestown: Legend of the Lost Colony — in which the game and its following tropes are described thusly:
- Alternate History: When the intro explicitly tells you that man has managed to colonize Mars in the 17th century, you know that you're in for a ride of this.
- Anime Hair: The Conquistador has it in his final form.
- Attack Drone: Thomas Percy's conveyance, "Gunpowder", generates up to three barrels that circle the ship. These fire shots forward, and can be launched to deliver heavy damage.
- The Atoner: Sir Walter Raleigh.
- Beethoven Was an Alien Spy
- Big Bad: The Spanish Conquistador.
- Blood Knight: John Smith.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: It is implied by the game that the once peaceful Martians were turned berserk by ancient technology found by the Spanish in Mars.
- Bullet Hell: You got it. Lampshaded by the name of one achievement, for completing any one level on Divine: "More like bullet heaven!"
- Call a Hit Point a "Smeerp": Ships are "conveyances," power-up mode is "vaunting," etc.
- Charged Attack: Virgina Dare's Charge Ship fires bullets that grow progressively larger the longer you wait to press the secondary fire button. Guy Fawkes's seeker missiles as well, though you must hold the button down.
- Continue Countdown: Running out of lives will give you 10 seconds to spend a credit to continue the level. If you're out of lives and credits, though, it's Game Over.
- Cool Old Guy: Both Raleigh and John Smith.
- Daddy's Girl: Virginia Dare.
- A Day in the Limelight: The Appendix levels introduced in Plus chronicle John Smith and his misadventures on the Martian moons Phobos and Deimos.
- Disc-One Nuke: The Gunner is the first ship that can be unlocked, and it can easily carry you for most of the game with its wave shots that you can alter the direction of, making it intensely useful for hitting enemies threatening you from the sides or from behind.
- Dug Too Deep: The final stage.
- Easy-Mode Mockery: The second to last level has no Normal mode and can only be unlocked by beating all levels before it on Difficult. The final level has no Normal nor Difficult modes and can only be accessed by beating all other levels on Legendary.
- Energy Weapon: Sir Walter's Beam ship, appropriately enough.
- Fake Difficulty: Remember that invincibility flash you usually get immediately after dying? It's fine against enemies, but not against obstacles!
- Fiery Redhead: John Smith. His first appearance has him making a grand entrance to bail everyone out, only to learn that Walter had already driven off the Spanish/Martian forces. He takes it in stride though.
- Forgotten Superweapon: One was found by the Spanish forces and used to drive all the Martians around Roanoke berserk, razing the colony to the ground. The Conquistador plans to use another one to conquer all of Mars.
- Fragile Speedster: Technically everyone since this is a Shoot 'Em Up, but Guy Fawkes' ship is faster then anyone else's.
- Gag Sub: The 'farce' option, which basically makes the cutscene exposition downright silly.
- Which is doubly amusing, because the original script was already downright silly.
- Giant Enemy Crab: Several of the buggers appear in the Deimos level, all decked out in pirate gear no less.
- Harder Than Hard: Beyond Difficult mode are Legendary, Divine, and Judgement.
- Historical Hero Upgrade: The historical Walter Raleigh was no devil, but he was no saint, either. In here, he's the last, best line of defense between the Spanish and total domination of Mars.
- Historical Villain Upgrade: The Spanish Conquistadores were at times ruthless in their conquest efforts, but none of them was a Card-Carrying Villain bent on global domination, like the one in this game.
- Hitbox Dissonance: As is the norm on this kind of games. The ship select screen is nice enough to point it out for you.
- Homing Projectile: Guy Fawkes' conveyance can fire seeker missiles. You can fire one at a time or charge up to fire up to four, but doing so slows you down.
- Icon of Rebellion: The DLC adds Guy Fawkes, complete with mask and Dual Wielding blades. He is joined by fellow Gunpowder Plot conspirators Thomas Percy and Robert Catesby.
- Idiosyncratic Difficulty Levels: First we got Normal and Difficult, but then the scale ramps up with 'Legendary', 'Divine' and 'Judgement', the last of which must be unlocked by beating all levels in Divine.
- Informed Attractiveness: Raleigh calls John Smith "handsome." He's not.
- In Which a Trope Is Described: The chapter subtitles.
- Interface Spoiler: Averted. If you die fighting the Conquistador in the ruins, the game over screen shows that you finished 90 to 99 percent of the level (so obviously the level will be over if you defeat him, right?) But if you die on the Heart Of Mars form, the completion percentage drops back down to 70 percent.
- Lighter and Softer: Farce mode.
- Lost Technology: The last stage.
- Macross Missile Massacre: The specialty of "Treason," the Guy Fawkes conveyance.
- Manly Tears: Walter in Farce mode.
- More Dakka: All of the ships except the Bomber do this. On higher difficulty settings, all the enemies do this.
- Octopoid Aliens: Mars' native civilisation is a race of floating betentacled creatures of varying size.
- Ominous Latin Chanting: Averted. The composer confirmed that there are actual lyrics to the last level's song and that they are not in Latin.
- Ominous Spanish Chanting: CON-QUIS-TA-DOOOR, CON-QUIS-TA-DOOOR, CON-QUIS-TA-DOOOR, CON-QUIS-TA-DOOOOOOOOOR...
- Psychopathic Manchild: Within Farce mode, the narrator, Walter and Joachim certainly qualify.
- Shout-Out: One of the earlier challenge stages is basically Space Invaders if it were a bullet hell.
- Schizo Tech
- Shielded Core Boss: The Last Express. You need to attack the orb-like objects to make the boss expose its weak point temporarily, then attack the weak point before it retracts and you have to do the process again.
- Space Pirates: One appears as the boss of the Deimos level.
- Spread Shot: Sir Walter's primary attack.
- Gameplay and Story Segregation: Each chapter introduces John Smith, Virginia Dare, and Joachim Dare, in that order. All are playable from the beginning and in multiplayer mode, all can be on the screen at once. And of course, none of the DLC characters actually appear in the story.
- Space Romans: Space English colonists versus Space Spanish invaders, FIGHT!
- Temple of Doom: The final level takes place in an underground Martian temple with Mayincatec elements.
- The End... Or Is It?: Right after you defeat the final boss, see the ending and the credits, the words 'The End...' show up in a black screen, followed by a pair of question marks shortly after, and a pair of ominous red eyes flashing right above the words (similar to the Final Form logo). At first, this and the name of some Steam achievements hinted at a True Final Boss, but it turns out it's only a Sequel Hook if anything.
- Unlockable Difficulty Levels: Divine and Judgement difficulty levels become playable once you purchase them from the shoppe.
- Wham Line: The "New World"? It's Mars.
