History VideoGame / IronHelix

* LiveActionCutscene: Every character is portrayed by a live actor, and since everybody on board the ship is [[PosthumousCharacter already dead]], you never interact with any of them, so they are all relegated to cutscenes. Most cutscenes are shot with a green filter over them to mimic the ship's screens, but the UsefulNotes/SegaCD version features an exclusive ending cutscene shot in full-color.

* PreRenderedGraphics: Every frame is pre-rendered, as you can only move forward and backward one screen at a time, and turn left or right 90-degrees at a time, so only a handful of screens and animations were necessary. The arm of the probe that the player can raise to interact with certain elements is pre-rendered, too, with only a handful of sprites for every possible position it can take on the screen. Cutscenes are [[MediumBlending a mixture of live-action and pre-rendered graphics]], with the UsefulNotes/SegaCD version featuring a couple of exclusive cutscenes, one of which is entirely pre-rendered, the other is solely live-action.

* TheFuture: ''Iron Helix'' takes place an unspecified amount of years into the future.

''Iron Helix'' is an {{Adventure|Game}} / SurvivalHorror [[GenreMashup hybrid]] game developed by Creator/DrewPictures, published by Creator/SpectrumHolobyte, and released in 1993 for [[UsefulNotes/AppleMacintosh Mac]], [[UsefulNotes/MicrosoftWindows Windows]], and [[UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis Sega CD]].

* SuddenDownerEnding: After destroying the ''Obrian'', the player character goes to Starbase Amethyst, [[spoiler:only to immediately get detained, interrogated, and ''tortured'' by Admiral Arboc, who ''was'' [[MissionControl helping them throughout the game]], but now is demanding to know how much the protagonist knows about "Project: Iron Helix".]] For some reason, this cutscene is only in the Sega CD version. In the Mac and PC versions, the game simply ends with the player character being ''summoned'' to Starbase Amethyst, leaving their fate ambiguous.

''Iron Helix'' is a {{Adventure|Game}} / SurvivalHorror [[GenreMashup hybrid]] game developed by Creator/DrewPictures, published by Creator/SpectrumHolobyte, and released in 1993 for [[UsefulNotes/AppleMacintosh Mac]], [[UsefulNotes/MicrosoftWindows Windows]], and [[UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis Sega CD]].

* LiveActionCutscene: Every cutscene is in live-action, though the gameplay is pre-rendered 3D.

* FullMotionVideo: Every cutscene is in live-action, though the gameplay is pre-rendered 3D.

* PosthumousCharacter: The crew of the ''Jeremiah Obrian'' are all dead by the time you get onboard, your interactions with them being limited to discovering video logs they recorded only moments before their deaths.

* DepopulationBomb: The titular "Iron Helix" is a biological weapon capable of eliminating all life on a planet with only a single use. Unfortunately, it leaked on the ''Jeremiah Obrian'', and killed everyone on board (who wasn't killed by the ''Defender'' security drone first).

* CrushKillDestroy: Unbeknownst to the crew of the ''Jeremiah Obrian'', they were infected with a virus that mutated their DNA, which caused the ship to no longer recognize them or accept their commands. The ship then activated its automated defense drone, which eliminated the crew one-by-one.

* DepopulationBomb: The titular "Iron Helix" is a biological weapon capable of eliminating all life on a planet with only a single use. Unfortunately, it leaked on the ''Jeremiah Obrian'', and killed everyone on board.

-->''"Control, this is Bridge, targeting computer has taken control of the helm, cannot override. Repeat:'' '''CANNOT OVERRIDE'''''."''

* BiometricBypass: Access to the ship and the various systems are controlled through DNA scans: if your DNA doesn't match someone on the ship's registry, your access to the ship is severely restricted. The first part of the game involves carefully searching the ship for unmutated DNA of the various crew members, trying to increase your access to the ship until you can get an unmutated sample of the Captain's DNA, which gives you access to everything. Just having access is not enough, though: you still need to figure out how to disable and destroy the ship.

* DepopulationBomb: The titular "Iron Helix" is a biological weapon capable of eliminating all life on a planet with only a single use.

* TimedMission: You have 90 minutes real-time to stop the ''Obrian'' from attacking Calliope.

* FeaturelessProtagonist: By virtue of the player not actually controlling a living, breathing person, but a zoological probe which is merely being ''remotely-piloted'' by the protagonist, the game avoids giving any real detail about them. Not even a name or gender.

Enroute to their destination of an uninhabited planet to test their weapon on, the ''Obrian'' suddenly alters its course to Calliope, a Thanatosian world. The ''Obrian'' plans to unleash the weapon on Calliope, which will trigger a war between Humanity and Thanatosian which could span the entire galaxy.

The very existence of the weapon onboard the ''Obrian'' is [[OverTheTopSecret highly-classified]], so only a few officials at Earth's military HQ are even aware of the situation, though it wouldn't matter anyway, as none of Earth's ships are fast enough to reach the ''Obrian'' before it reaches Calliope. In a last-ditch effort to stop the ''Obrian'', Earth's Starbase Amethyst sends out a distress signal hoping to reach someone, ''anyone'', that can reach the ''Obrian'' and stop it.

* AllThereInTheManual: A large chunk, though not all, of the backstory is only in the manual.
* ApocalypticLog: As you explore the ''Jeremiah Obrian'', you'll come across video journals left by the ship's crew, leaving clues as to what happened to make the ship go rogue.
* AttackDrone: The ''Obrian''[='=]s security drone, known as the ''Defender'', is an armed robot that constantly patrols the ship.
* BeautifulVoid: The entire game takes place inside the ship, the ''Jeremiah Obrian'', which is completely empty since the entire crew was killed by their own automated security drone.
* CatAndMouseBoss: The ''Defender'' is constantly pursuing you throughout the entire game. One of your main objectives is neutralizing it, which there are several ways to do: crush it in the ''Obrian''[='s=] trash compactor, burn it in the incinerator, or jettison it into space. Another ''Defender'' drone will be activated if you take too long to destroy the ship afterward, though.

* DepopulationBomb: The titular "Iron Helix" is a biological weapon capable of eliminating all life on a planet with a single use.
* FeaturelessProtagonist: No information is ever given about who exactly we are playing as, not even a name or gender. The most we get is the name of their own the ship: The ''Indiana''.
* FlingALightIntoTheFuture: The crew of the ''Obrian'' knows they're doomed, but that doesn't stop them from leaving video logs detailing how to disable the ''Defender'' and how to destroy the ship before it reaches Calliope.

* MinimalistCast: The ''Obrian'' and the ''Defender'' are completely automated, so very few characters are actually present in the game, and even the ones that are, only have a few minutes of screentime total.
* OverTheTopSecret: The ''Jeremiah Obrian'' is carrying a payload so secretive that even the crew doesn't know what it is.

* PosthumousCharacter: The crew of the ''Jeremiah Obrian'' are all dead by the time you investigate the ship.
* RemoteBody: The player character never actually sets one foot inside the ''Jeremiah Obrian''. Instead, they remote pilot an unarmed "Darwin 5" zoological probe to explore and interact with the ship.

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: The in-game cutscenes spell the planet's name as "Calliope", while the manual spells it "Calliop'''é'''".
* SuddenDownerEnding: Only in the Sega CD version, strangely. [[spoiler:After destroying the ''Obrian'', the player character is brought back to Starbase Amethyst, only to immediately get detained, interrogated, and ''tortured'' by the very officer who was helping you throughout the game, who is now demanding to know how much you now know about "Project: Iron Helix".]]
* SyntheticPlague: The Iron Helix is a biological weapon that attacks the infected's cells, mutating their DNA and rendering their bodies unable to carry out vital metabolic functions, which kills them within only a few hours.

* UngratefulBastard: Again, only in the Sega CD version. After you destroy the ''Obrian'' and prevent a war between Humanity and the Thanatosians, all the Earth Force cares about is [[spoiler:how much you know about "Project: Iron Helix". They're even willing to torture you over it.]]
* TheUnreveal: It's never revealed what caused the ''Obrian'' to reroute itself to attack Calliope.
* {{Utopia}}: The manual states that Earth has "solved its problems of disease and prejudice".

* VideoGameLives: In the form of remotely-controlled drones. You get three of them, if one runs out of power or gets destroyed by the security drone, another will automatically be activated and sent in. Lose all three and, well, GameOver.

* TimedMission: You have a limited amount of time to stop the ''Obrian'' from attacking Calliope.

* GoneHorriblyRight: The ship's security drone is actually working ''exactly'' as intended, the problem is that the crew members were infected with a virus that mutates their DNA, so the drone registered them as intruders and eliminated them.

* TheUnReveal: It's never revealed what caused the ''Obrian'' to reroute itself to attack Calliope.

* TimedMission: Two-fold. First, you have a limited amount of time to stop the ''Obrian'' from attacking Calliope

Enroute to their destination of an uninhabited planet to test their weapon on, the ''Obrian'' suddenly alters its course to Calliope, a Thanatosian world. The Obrian plans to unleash the weapon on Calliope, which will trigger a war between Humanity and Thanatosian which could span the entire galaxy.

The Obrian's crew desperately tries to override the ship's navigational computer but finds that the computer no longer recognizes their DNA and ignores their commands. Now believing them to be intruders, the ship activates its defense mechanism, an armed security drone known as the ''Defender'', which eliminates the crew one-by-one.

-->''"Control, this is Bridge, targeting computer has taken control of the helm, cannot override. Repeat:'' '''CANNOT OVERRIDE'''."