History VideoGame / Valfaris

* CheckpointStarvation: Activating a checkpoint consumes one Resurrection Idol, but at the end of a level, you get the option to trade Idols for weapon upgrade materials, encouraging you to engage in ''self-inflicted'' Checkpoint Starvation for the sake of beefing up your weapons. Also, every Idol you hold onto increases your max HP and shield energy, further discouraging you from spending them.

* AllForNothing: In the end, [[spoiler: Therion finds out that Vroll fled Valfaris long ago, while its interim ruler, Kyvok, was a noble lord who intended to send Valfaris into the star to destroy its corruption for good, and would have done so even if Therion had never shown up.]]

* BigBad: No less than Emperor Vroll himself, whose hubristic experiments at trying to exploit alternate dimensions have corrupted both him and Valfaris.

* FaceDeathWithDignity: Even though Lord Kyvok runs from Therion after you defeat him the first time, (in his Ironclad Desolator mech), in the end, he's all about it. [[spoiler: As he's literally ensured his own death by driving Valfaris into Sol Mori at this point, meaning that whether or not Therion dies is the only thing left in doubt.]]
-->'''Kyvok:''' Therion, you are just in time. Soon, [[spoiler: we shall be cleansed by Sol Mori's radiant beauty.]] Let us enjoy a final battle as we creep towards destiny. It seems fitting that as [[spoiler: Valfaris]] dies, so does a Son of Vroll.\\

'''Kyvok:''' Don't be afraid Therion. We can embrace death together.\\
'''Therion:''' As tempting as that sounds, I have other plans.

* FlunkyBoss: Itnan constantly summons bugs to assist him. Arach also has arachnids crawling down from both sides to assist it.
* GatlingGood: The first {{BFG}} obtained is an enormous gatling gun called the Hellwraith, which shoots a barrage of damned souls.
* GardenOfEvil: The third area are corrupted gardens, which are now flooded with acid instead of water and are home to all sorts of horrific plant and insect life.
* GiantSpider: Fittingly named Arach is one such boss. However, its spends the whole battle suspended in the middle of the ceiling practically immobile, only spitting a large orb projectile that has a long charge-up time and can be bounced back to inflict great damage. The only that prevents it from being a total pushover are the lesser arachnids that regularly crawl in from both sides of the screen.

* HeroAntagonist: You eventually find out that [[spoiler:Vroll left long ago and Valfaris is actually "ruled" by Lord Kyvok, whose only goal is to purge Valfaris of the corruption left behind by Vroll. By the time you show up, he's already made peace with the idea it would require him to drive Valfaris into the star and die himself in process; in fact, that is the only reason it resurfaced.]]

* HurlItIntoTheSun: [[spoiler:Kyvok's plan is to destroy Valfaris by driving it into a star, killing everyone on it including himself, feeling it's the only way to stop the corruption plaguing it]].

* MookMaker: The first "boss", Fuel Crystal Chamber, does absolutely nothing at all. However, as soon as you find out you need to destroy it to get the crystal inside, enemies begin to constantly teleport inside until you deal with the battle.
* NewGamePlus: An update added this, known as "Full Metal Mode". You keep all your weapons and upgrades from your previous playthrough, but the game becomes even more challenging.
* NintendoHard: Make no mistake, this is a very difficult game. You will die. ''A lot''.

* OneWingedAngel: The final battle with [[spoiler:Lord Kyvok eventually ends with him giving in to corruption and turning into Hydravok, a three-headed, flame-breathing hydra. Once you defeat this form too, though, he regains sanity and demands a finishing blow to end the madness.]]

* ShoutOut: Defeating the penultimate boss, Furrok, awards Therion with a flaming sword that's just like the one used by Bathoryn, the protagonist of ''VideoGame/{{Slain}}.'' [[spoiler:In fact, it IS the same Bathoryn]]

* SwordAndGun: Your starting weapons are an energy sword and a plasma gun, which Therion wields one in each hand. You will find a plethora of other sidearms and melee weapons.

Vroll's son, Prince Therion, was once born on Valfaris, but ever since it was gone, he had long dreamed of hunting down Vroll for his crimes. Now that Valfaris is back, and represents his best chance of finding Vroll, he flies there without a second thought, even if he only has his sword, pistol and wolfship's AI Hekate to assist him.

* BaitAndSwitchBoss: After going through the hive area, and having fought Hive Sentinel boss earlier, Therion expects to battle the Hive Queen now. She likewise roars in anticipation of the fight...only for the Exterminator Mech to burst through and immediately drive its energy weapon through it. Lord Kyvok congratulates it over the commlink, but then tells it to deal with you as well.

** From the first trailers, the game was colloquially described as the "[[TabletopGame/Warhammer40K Emperor of Mankind]] game", due to Therion both possessing a great deal of physical resemblance to Emperor at his prime and being equipped with very [=WH40K=]-style armor and weapons, not to mention a similar sort of brutality. Heck, his command chair even sports an Iron Halo. Once released, however, it became clear that Valfaris actually inverts this definition: if anything, you are playing as Horus in an alternate universe where he remained pure and it's ''the Emperor himself'' who has been corrupted, and now needs to be hunted down.

* CarFu: Thereon starts level 1 by running over a squad of guards with his ship.

* SequelHook: The game ends with [[spoiler:Therion realizing Vroll left Valfaris long ago as it's destroyed in flamed by Kyvok, but he then learns that there ''nine'' more traces of Vroll in the galaxy to investigate.]]

** From the first trailers, the game was colloquially described as the "[[TabletopGame/Warhammer40K Emperor of Mankind]] game", due to Therion both possessing a great deal of physical resemblance to Emperor at his prime and being equipped with very [=WH40K=]-style armor and weapons, not to mention a similar sort of brutality. Once released, however, it became clear that Valfaris actually inverts this definition: if anything, you are playing as Horus in an alternate universe where he remained pure and it's ''the Emperor himself'' who has been corrupted, and now needs to be hunted down.

* ShoutOut: Defeating the penultimate boss, Furrok, awards Therion with a flaming sword that's just like the one used by Bathoryn, the protagonist of ''VideoGame/{{Slain}}.'' [[spoiler:In fact, it IS Bathoryn, whose soul fused with his sword after the game's end]]

* ShoutOut: Defeating the penultimate boss, Furrok, awards Therion with a flaming sword that's just like the one used by the protagonist of ''VideoGame/{{Slain}}.''

* LaserSight: One is always present on the sniper rifle of [[spoiler:Ithan, the undead brother of Therion.]] Like with most examples, he would have been better off without it, as it really only lets you know where to dodge.

** Defeating Arach boss allows Therion to use its leg as a weapon, and enjoy life drain at the expense of less energy recovery.

** Upgrading the Blood Axe to Level 3 unlocks the ability to activate Blood Frenzy, a SuperMode that is CastFromHitPoints causing you to constantly take damage, but makes the already fast-swinging axe swing even faster and gives it life drain upon killing enemies.

* TakingYouWithMe: [[spoiler: This is Kyvok's intention when you reach the final battle with him. He knew that he's corrupted too, and always intended to die alongside Valfaris after setting its course into the star, but now that Therion is here, he considers a final battle to the death before the star destroys them to be a perfect finish.]]

* SequelHook: The game ends with [[spoiler: Therion realizing Vroll left Valfaris long ago as it's destroyed in flamed by Kyvok, but he then learns that there ''nine'' more traces of Vroll in the galaxy to investigate.]]

* YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle: It eventually turns out that [[spoiler: Therion's father, Emperor Vroll, had left Valfaris long before he arrived. After Therion defeats Kyvok and flies off as Valfaris is consumed in the fires of , he requests a primary trace scan from Hecate, who eventually picks up ''nine'' traces of Vroll, meaning that Therion's hunt could go on for a few more games to say the least. ]]

''Valfaris'' is a brutal action [[PlatformGame platformer]], developed by Steel Mantis and released on October 10th, 2019 for [[UsefulNotes/IBMPersonalComputer PC]], UsefulNotes/PS4, UsefulNotes/XboxOne and UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch. Like the creator's previous work, ''VideoGame/{{Slain}}'', it is brutally difficult and with aesthetics clearly inspired by heavy metal, although the setting is sci-fi rather than fantasy this time.

The game [[LocationTitle is named]] after the planet-sized citadel of Valfaris, once a shining jewel in the crown of Emperor Vroll, but which had mysteriously disappeared from all charts long ago, and the Emperor went missing with it. Now, however, it had re-emerged around the orbit of Soli Mora, a slowly dying purple star.

Vroll's son, Prince Therion, was once born on Valfaris, but ever since it was gone, he had long dreamed of hunting down Vroll for his crimes. Now that Valfaris is back, and represents his best chance of finding Vroll, he flies there without a second thought, even if he only has his sword, pistol and wolf ship's AI [=Hecate=] to assist him.

* BottomlessMagazines: Justified, as your sidearm is an energy weapon.

* CheckpointStarvation: Activating a checkpoint consumes one Resurrection Idol, but at the end of a level, you get the option to trade Idols for weapon upgrade materials, encouraging you to engage in ''self-inflicted'' Checkpoint Starvation for the sake of obtaining more power. Also, every Idol you hold onto increases your max HP and shield energy, further discouraging you from spending them.

* EnergyBlade: Therion's primary weapon is a sword of blue plasma. Lord Kyvok wields a large, purple energy sword.

** Therion's only loyal companion and conversation partner of any kind is Hecate, an [=AI=] on his ship with female holographic appearance and personality, who clearly fulfils the same role as [[Franchise/{{Halo}} Cortana]].

* FlunkyBoss: Ithan constantly summons bugs to assist him. Arach also has arachnids crawling down from both sides to assist it.

* LifeDrain: Defeating Arach boss allows Therion to use its leg as a weapon, and enjoy life drain at the expense of reduced damage. There's also the Bishop's Reach, a sidearm that drains life from enemies, but hurts Therion if he fires it without hitting any targets.

* SniperPistol: Vroll's Sidearm is an automatic long-range pistol, and its range only gets longer with upgrading.

* {{BFG}}: ''All'' of your energy-consuming weapons are this.

* BoringButPractical: Therion's default sword is the best for quite a while (until you get Bathoryn) due to its range and increased energy absorption.

* ShortRangeShotgun: The Hellhammer has such short range it's basically a melee weapon mapped to the wrong button, but makes up for it by being extremely powerful.

--> '''Kyvok''': ''Therion, you are just in time. Soon, [[spoiler: we shall be cleansed by Sol Mori's radiant beauty.]] Let us enjoy a final battle as we creep towards destiny. It seems fitting that as [[spoiler: Valfaris]] dies, so does a Son of Vroll.''
--> '''Therion''': ''Even though I was born on Valfaris, I have no intention of dying here.''
--> '''Kyvok''': ''Don't be afraid Therion. We can embrace death together.''
--> '''Therion''': ''As tempting as that sounds, I have other plans.''

* SwordAndGun: Your starting weapons are an energy sword and a plasma gun. You will find a plethora of other sidearms and melee weapons.

* LifeDrain: Defeating Arach boss allows Therion to use its leg as a weapon, and enjoy life drain at the expense of reduced damage.

* FireBreathingWeapon: The Exterminator Mech is equipped with what appears to be a plasma flamethrower in one hand. The other hand has a cross-like collection of three energy blades.

* HeroAntagonist: You eventually find out that [[spoiler:Vroll left long ago and Valfaris is actually "ruled" by Lord Kyvok, whose only goal is to purge Valfaris of the corruption left behind by Vroll. By the time you show up, he's already made peace with the idea it would require him to drive Valfaris into the star and die himself in process; in fact, that is the only reason it resurfaced.

''Valfaris'' is a brutal action [[PlatformGame platformer]], developed by Steel Mantis and released on October 10th, 2019 for UsefulNotes/IBMPersonalComputer PC]], UsefulNotes/PS4, UsefulNotes/XboxOne and UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch. Like the creator's previous work, ''VideoGame/{{Slain}}'', it is brutally difficult and with aesthetics clearly inspired by heavy metal, although the setting is sci-fi rather than fantasy this time.

It is named after the planet-sized citadel of Valfaris, once a shining jewel in the crown of Emperor Vroll, but which had mysteriously disappeared from all charts long ago, and the Emperor went missing with it. Now, however, it had re-emerged on the orbit

* EnergySword: Therion's primary weapon is a sword of blue plasma. Lord Kyvok wields a large, purple energy sword.

** Therion's only loyal companion and conversation partner of any kind is an [=AI=] on his ship with female holographic appearance and personality, who clearly fulfils the same role as [[Franchise/{{Halo}} Cortana]].

* YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle: It eventually turns out that [[spoiler: Therion's father, Emperor Vroll, had left Valfaris long before he arrived. After Therion defeats Kyvok and flies off as Valfaris is consumed in the fires of , he requests a primary trace scan from the ship, which eventually picks up ''nine'' traces of Vroll, meaning that Therion's hunt could go on for a few more games to say the least. ]]