History VideoGame / TooHuman

[[StillbornFranchise Planned to be a trilogy]], the game released to mixed reception and underperformed commercially, preventing any sequels that would conclude the myriad of dangling plot threads. More importantly, however, is the title's status as being the centerpiece for several events that ultimately caused the bankruptcy of its developer. To quickly summarize, Silicon Knights sued Creator/EpicGames for giving them an incomplete version of Unreal Engine 3, claiming it hurt the game's development. Epic not only won the case after it was made clear Silicon Knights knew exactly what they were getting to with the early version of [=UE3=], but they also successfully counter-sued when it was discovered that the supposed proprietary engine that the developer moved ''Too Human'' to stole code from Epic's game engine. In addition to now owing millions, the court ordered all copies of this game (and any other games that used the stolen code) destroyed and the game purged from all online stores; with nothing to their name, the studio shut down.

* AmmunitionBackpack: Robotic example: some of the 'Troll' class enemies use heavy {{Grenade Launcher}}s, and wear huge, cylindrical ammo-canisters on their back to supply them. These are somewhat problematic, since their presence prevents you from doing your 'jump up on their shoulders and stab them in the neck' insta-kill, and they're hard to destroy since the Trolls always turn to face you ... hence, the grenade-launching Trolls winds up being much more dangerous than their [[DropTheHammer hammer-wielding]] brothers, but not because of their attack-range...

The plot is a science-fiction take on Myth/NorseMythology, with its characters and events forming the basis for human gods, monsters and legends. The [=Æ=]sir Corporation and its cybernetically enhanced rulers stand watch over what little remains of humanity during the last days of an ongoing war against sentient machines whose motivations are left unclear at best. Baldur -- seen by the humans as less distant and aloof than his fellow "gods" -- leads a hunt for a particularly nasty robot, GRNDL-1, and is drawn into a larger plot tied to the mystery of his wife's death.

[[StillbornFranchise Planned to be a trilogy]], the game released to mixed reception and underperformed commercially, preventing any sequels that would conclude the myriad of dangling plot threads. More importantly, however, is the title's status as being the centerpiece for several events that ultimately caused the bankruptcy of its developer. To quickly summarize, Silicon Knights sued Creator/{{Epic}} for giving them an incomplete version of Unreal Engine 3, claiming it hurt the game's development. Epic not only won the case after it was made clear Silicon Knights knew exactly what they were getting to with the early version of [=UE3=], but they also successfully counter-sued when it was discovered that the supposed proprietary engine that the developer moved ''Too Human'' to stole code from Epic's game engine. In addition to now owing millions, the court ordered all copies of this game (and any other games that used the stolen code) destroyed and the game purged from all online stores; with nothing to their name, the studio shut down.

''Too Human'' was supposed to be the first game in a planned trilogy developed by Creator/SiliconKnights (''VideoGame/EternalDarkness'', ''VideoGame/BloodOmenLegacyOfKain''). Originally planned as a four-disc Platform/PlayStation epic, it shifted consoles to the Platform/Nintendo64 when an exclusive partnership was formed between Silicon Knights and Creator/{{Nintendo}}. That didn't happen either, and plans to release it for Platform/NintendoGameCube were similarly set aside when the development house began work on ''Eternal Darkness''. After nearly a decade stuck in DevelopmentHell, the game was finally released on Platform/Xbox360 in 2008 to largely mediocre reviews and sales.

[[StillbornFranchise Planned to be a trilogy]] and ending with many plot points unresolved, its poor reception in addition to Silicon Knights falling into bankruptcy has killed off any chance for a sequel. To make things worse, after Silicon Knights was found to have copied code from Unreal Engine 3, a court ordered all copies of the game destroyed and the game purged from all online stores. Nevertheless, in June 2019, ''Too Human'' surprisingly became one of the last Xbox 360 titles made backwards compatible for the UsefulNotes/XboxOne, being re-released on the Xbox Games Store for free.

''Too Human'' was supposed to be the first game in a planned trilogy developed by Creator/SiliconKnights (''VideoGame/EternalDarkness'', ''Blood Omen: VideoGame/LegacyOfKain''). Originally planned as a four-disc Platform/PlayStation epic, it shifted consoles to the Platform/Nintendo64 when an exclusive partnership was formed between Silicon Knights and Creator/{{Nintendo}}. That didn't happen either, and plans to release it for Platform/NintendoGameCube were similarly set aside when the development house began work on ''Eternal Darkness''. After nearly a decade stuck in DevelopmentHell, the game was finally released on Platform/Xbox360 in 2008 to largely mediocre reviews and sales.

''Too Human'' was supposed to be the first game in a planned trilogy developed by Creator/SiliconKnights (''VideoGame/EternalDarkness'', ''Blood Omen: VideoGame/LegacyOfKain''). Originally planned as a four-disc UsefulNotes/PlayStation epic, it shifted consoles to the UsefulNotes/Nintendo64 when an exclusive partnership was formed between Silicon Knights and Creator/{{Nintendo}}. That didn't happen either, and plans to release it for [=GameCube=] were similarly set aside when the development house began work on ''Eternal Darkness''. After nearly a decade stuck in DevelopmentHell, the game was finally released on UsefulNotes/Xbox360 in 2008 to largely mediocre reviews and sales.

* RatedMForManly: Thor, being a raging hulk of cybernetics that prefers to charge into battle with no plan besides smashing anything in his way with his hammer and [[HeManWomanHater hates anything he deems to be feminine.]] Bringing him on missions is described as overkill and the Aesir mainly keep him as their DumbMuscle to take down the Giants of Jotenheim.

* AGodAmI: All the Aesir, though they're a rather benevolent lot.

%% * HotScientist: Idunn.

''Too Human'' was supposed to be the first game in a planned trilogy developed by Creator/SiliconKnights (''VideoGame/EternalDarkness'', ''Blood Omen: VideoGame/LegacyOfKain''). Originally planned as a four-disc UsefulNotes/PlayStation epic, it shifted consoles to the UsefulNotes/Nintendo64 when an exclusive partnership was formed between Silicon Knights and Creator/{{Nintendo}}. That didn't happen either, and plans to release it for [=GameCube=] were similarly set aside when the development house began work on ''Eternal Darkness''. After nearly a decade stuck in DevelopmentHell, the game was finally released on UsefulNotes/Xbox360 in 2008 to unreasonable expectations and largely mediocre reviews and sales.

Much like a few [[VideoGame/CliveBarkersJericho other]] [[VideoGame/AdventRising games]] originally [[StillbornFranchise planned as part of a trilogy]], its poor reception in addition to the fact that Silicon Knights has gone belly-up, has made a ''Too Human'' sequel's likelihood [[Creator/NathanRabin range from "Nonexistent" to "Are you fucking kidding me?"]] -- not the least big because after Silicon Knights was found to have copied code from Unreal Engine 3, a court ordered all copies of the game destroyed and the game purged from all online stores. Unfortunate, as it leaves off with many things unresolved. Nevertheless, in June 2019, ''Too Human'' surprisingly became one of the last Xbox 360 titles made backwards compatible for the UsefulNotes/XboxOne, being re-released on the Xbox Games Store for free.

* ArbitraryGunPower: It ''is'' an [[RolePlayingGame RPG]], after all.

* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler:Baldur]].

* {{Cyborg}}: Almost everyone.

* EmpathicWeapon: Baldur's sword Fenrir.

* ExpositionBreak: Between levels, and (irritatingly, to some) ''during'' levels. There's a reason the story is excised in online multiplayer.
* FanDisservice: Hel.
* GhostShip: The World Serpent.

* HotScientist: Idunn.

* ItsPersonal: Baldur's pursuit of Hod.

* LevelGrinding: And how! 5 Character Classes, 50 Levels each. Have fun!

* MonstersEverywhere: Absolutely '''''everywhere'''''. Except cyberspace and Asgard.

* RunDontWalk: Baldur runs by default, and slowing his down a walk via the control stick makes him walk '''''incredibly''''' slowly.

* SmugSnake: Loki.

* ToThePain

* UnwittingPawn: Hod.
* TheWarSequence: The whole freaking game.

!!This game contains examples of the following tropes:

* MagicIsFeminine: Thor loudly proclaims that the magic of the setting is essentially ClarkesThirdLaw, where control over technology and cyberspace are equated to being the "magic" of the setting. The belief that such skills are reserved for women alone is still mentioned by Thor, who prefers to just smash things with his hammer.

* AnmesiacHero: Baldur is this.[[spoiler:Having been [[BoomHeadshot shot in the head]] by a misguided Hod and resurrected by the Aesir with facial scars.]] He spends much of the game having an identity crises over his missing memories and tries to piece together the story of his life.

* LosingYourHead: Mimir, like in the myth.

* ShipSinking: Baldur was implied to have a passionate romance with Freya in the past, but chose to give his love to his late wife Nyanna. After Nyanna's death, Baldur and Freya admit lingering feelings for one another that they choose to put behind them, [[spoiler:which promptly ends on Baldur's part when Freya admits she helped plan the scheme that brought Baldur back from death which kickstarted the problems of the story.]]

* ManipulativeBastard: Loki, of course. Everything that occurred in the story was a result of a massive gambit that included war against Helheim and the death of his own daughter Hel, all to facilitate a human coup to allow him to escape confinement, discredit the Aesir, weaken their forces, and get to Jotenheim to kick off Ragnarok.

* HotBlooded: Baldur. Thor is at LeeroyJenkins levels to the point he nearly tried to get himself and Baldur killed to destroy a dangerous ship despite the fact that Baldur clearly mentioned their deaths would weaken the Aesir's forces

* WeCanRebuildHim: Part of Baldur's backstory, also the Valiant Warriors/Einherjar made from the soldiers fallen in battle and retrieved by the Valkyries. In addition Hel reanimates corpses as technological zombies.

* RobotWar

* ContinuingIsPainful ''and'' DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist: When you die, after the death animation you're dumped right back into the fight with no loss of progress, but on the other hand, your equipment is damaged and your combo meter is reset to zero, meaning if you're in a bad situation, you have fewer resources to deal with it than before you died. Also, the cutscene is completely unskippable. This in and of itself can also be considered a punishment of sorts.