History VideoGame / PhoenotopiaAwakening

** SPHERE: The final area of the game is a shielded underground city that housed the remains of humanity during the great war/apocalypse. [[spoiler: [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion And in its deepest level is a God-like/angelic extraterrestrial dubbed "Adam" who is the basis for a line of super humanoid bio-weapons]].]]

* ShoutOut: [[spoiler:In the Royal Archive, there is a secret room which references Space Invaders. Small robot enemies spawn from the top of the screen and slowly make their way down while periodically shooting directly below. There are a few barriers towards the bottom of the room which serve as cover from the lasers, and you have to destroy all the enemies to get the prize hidden in the room.]]

* AdamSmithHatesYourGuts: Every item in the game is very expensive, item drops are scarce, and traders and quest givers aren't the most generous bunch. Even mediocre healing items can screw you from a major upgrade to your armor or weapons in a timely fashion. In an RPG that lacks traditional leveling. See MoneyIsExperiencePoints below.

* MoneyIsExperiencePoints: There is no XP or leveling in this game. Your "build" will be determined by your financial choices. Will you stock up on healing items; or invest in a new combat manuever, armor, or weapon upgrage. Pick ''one'' and choose wisely.

* AdamSmithHatesYourGuts: Every item in the game is very expensive, item drops are scarce, and traders and quest givers aren't the most generous bunch. Even mediocre healing items can screw you from major upgrade to your armor or weapons in a timely fashion. In an RPG that lacks traditional leveling [[MoneyIsExperiencePoints your "build" will be determined by your financial choices]]; and choose wisely you should.

* GeniusBonus: The Anuri Temple is home to the Century Toad boss. "Anura" is the taxonomic order comprising frogs and toads.

* AnAxeToGrind: Male Ouroboros bandits will use axes to attack you.

* RoboticReveal: [[spoiler:At the end of Mr. Planto's sidequest, he turns around and you see that he's a Golem. Apparently Gail is surprised, [[BehindTheBlack even though she could easily see it from the angle that the player can't]] (and even then if you look closely you'll see that his hands appear to be blue]].

** It's suggested that Nana's name is actually Nana, since a dialogue option early in the game has gail refer to her as "Grandma Nana", and a few other people who aren't part of the orphanage also call Nana.

** After freeing Lisa, she'll wait for you near one of Atai town's exits, expecting you to get her to leave with you. If you walk past her and go to the south bridge, she'll come after you and call you out on leaving without her.

* RamblingOldManMonologue: An old woman in Daea talks a lot about times from her past, and if you let her tell youe everything she has to say, she'll mistake you for one of her family members and give you a Moonstone.

** Gail makes noises when making charged attacks, leaping, and using certani techniques she learns. She also yawns whenever she wakes up.

** Thomas and Rutea grew up in the building that is now Panselo's laboratory, but neither of them mention their parents, and one of Thomas' logs mentions Nana looking after Rutea when he left the village, and he also doesn't say anything about their parents when he'd told about the abduction. It's possible that their parents might have died, but it's never brought up.

* NintendoHard: The game has quite difficult combat, especially in the beginning, and many of the puzzles are also difficult to solve. And that's not even getting into trying for the "[[HarderThanHard Zero Tri" badge, which involves finishing the game [[MinimalistRun without collecting any Heart Rubies or Energy Gems]], or enabling any of the accessibility settings.

* NintendoHard: The game has quite difficult combat, especially in the beginning, and many of the puzzles are also difficult to solve.

* OurOrcsAreDifferent: [[spoiler: The Trolls in this game are more of the Blizzard variety, though not all of them are violence loving brutes. It is later revealed that they (and harpies) were genetically engineered by humans to be used as weapons in the Great War]].
* OverworldNotToScale: The overworld is a miniature version of the world, that unlike the original game, Gail can freely roam, with many side and secret areas added as a result.

* LastOfHisKind: The [[FrogMen Anuri]] are said to have been wiped out during the Great War, but one of them can be found in the Subterra. [[spoiler:If you give him the Strange Urn and return to the room after, you'll see tadpoles swimming in the water the urn gets dropped into, implying that the species will be brought back]].

* AffectionateGestureToTheHead: Bart does this to Gail when [[spoiler:he meets her in person for the first time]].

* CartoonBomb: One of the tools you can get.

* VoiceGrunting: The characters have blips of noise made to sound like voices, with different pitches depending on their age and gender. The Golems have more of a beeping noise, [[spoiler:except Mr. Planto, likely to hide the reveal of his true nature]].

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Gail is nice to people most of the time, but when she has Birdy cornered after defeating her sand drake, Birdy is scared enough to try and pass off the fight as a test. Gail has none of it and beats her up offscreen before tying her up and taking her to Atai City.

* CollapsingCeilingBoss: The sand drake and the century toad both have an attack that sends rubble raining down from the ceiling.

** There's an area in the Cosette Reigon noth of Wheat Road that has a hidden GEO dungeon. How do you uncover it? You have to listen carefully to your footsteps and use a bomb where it sounds like wood. Most people wouldn't think to pay attention to such sounds, and it's usually not wood but stone that you use bombs on.

** A few Wreckers can be found in the [[spoiler: Scorched Lands]].

* YoungerThanTheyLook: Gilroy, one of the Peace Ministers, is stated by Floret to only be ten years of age, but he looks older because he's a meta-human with special abilities. However, his large eyes do give him a youthful appearance.