History Videogame / Monolith

* NumericalHard: [[spoiler:Loops simply increase the number of bullets enemies fire. Initially, only loop 0 is unlocked, but defeating Database at the highest unlocked loop unlocks the next one.]]

* HaveANiceDeath: Kleines has different quotes for (almost) every enemy, boss, and hazard in the game if you ask him for advice immediately after being killed. These range from helpful tips to [[DeadpanSnarker dry criticism]].

* NonStandardGameOver: A few bosses have unique messages if they kill you. For example, you might be incinerated by Firewall or devoured by Devourer.

* CoolSword: The [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Sword]] weapon. It fires out [[Main/SwordBeam Sword Beams]] with each swing, and is the only weapon that can [[ParryingBullets block bullets by default]]. With the giant keyword, it turns into a {{BFS}}. One of the playable characters, [[spoiler:Overlord]], starts with a sword in place of the usual peashooter, and any weapons that drop for it are guaranteed to be swords.
** The unique swords are especially cool:

* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler:Null's fate at the end of Hard Mode. ??? also gets killed after they or Overlord take on The Machine.]]

** Two overlapping square shapes connected to a small circle in the middle. It's visible as the game program icon, in the background of Chamberlord's arena, and [[spoiler:as the difficulty level symbols. It's the symbol of the Power Eternal in the upgrade terminal menu for the conduit at the bottom of the facility]].

** The symbol shown while a ship is in an upgrade terminal. It is also engraved into Behemoth's chassis, and it is the shape of [[spoiler:Monolith]], a statue of which can be seen in the [[PlaceOfPower Sanctum]].

* BonusDungeon: Both [[spoiler:Nowhere]] and the Temple.

* StationaryBoss: Daemon (though not in Hard Mode), Reactor, [[spoiler:Special Offer, and Renegade]].

The game sets up the player as a ship searching through a ruined facility filled with hazards and enemies for a source of "Power Eternal." To do this, the player will need to find and defeat minibosses in order to break an impenetrable door leading to one of three bosses for each floor, all the while searching for upgrades and weapons.

* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: Kleines, the cat at the start, explains that [[EvilOverlord the Overlord]] was another ship that reached the Power Eternal. [[spoiler:Same with [[TrueFinalBoss Monolith.]]]]

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:At the end of Hard Mode, D-13 destroys the conduit for Power Eternal, but they and Null's search of the facility for Power Eternal came at the cost of the latter's life.]]

* EnemyScan: Downplayed: The Scanner upgrade reveals enemies' HP.

* SimpleYetAwesome: There are seven different Reliquary blessings left behind by TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness. While many of them can do things like increase firepower, grant Shields, or unlock rooms... all [[{{Seers}} Sight]] does is hamper the BulletHell a bit, making a fraction of projectiles "suffer unfortunate accidents".

* SkullForAHead: Liches have this, [[spoiler:and split into an Enchanted Skull and Headless Mage upon taking enough damage in Hard difficulty]].

* TurnsRed: Multiple bosses in the game.
** Chamberlord, Presence, Armor Tac, Devourer, Ice Wyrm, Firewall, Ordinator, Overlord, [[spoiler:Renegade, The Machine, Monolith, Database, The Warden, and Chaosgod]] all change up their attack patterns as their health is depleted.
** In Hard Mode, Daemon, Behemoth, Charlie and Nightmare also get in on the action.

*** [[spoiler:After taking on the Tier 4 temple, lighting all the seals, and defeating the Warden at his full strength, the player then faces the now-unsealed Chaosgod — upon defeating Chaosgod, it launches [[LastDitchMove a final desperation attack]]. Getting struck by this attack results in the player being banished along with Chaosgod and fighting its core inside the sealed prison — destroying Chaosgod's core ends its threat for good, but leaves the player trapped inside a black hole for all eternity.]]

** Another hidden and very difficult to obtain ending exists and is available for all characters; [[spoiler:after taking on the Tier 4 temple, lighting all the seals, and defeating the Warden at his full strength, the player then faces the now-unsealed Chaosgod — upon defeating Chaosgod, it launches [[LastDitchMove a final desperation attack]]. Getting struck by this attack results in the player being banished along with Chaosgod and fighting its core inside the sealed prison — destroying Chaosgod's core ends its threat for good, but leaves the player trapped inside a black hole for all eternity]].

* TrollingCreator: One of the shortcut rooms you can find consists of two 10% damage upgrades... with three out of four entrances blocking them off. Leaving the room causes them to despawn.

* FlipScreenScrolling

* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: Level 3, "Maintenance System".

* MyNameIsQuestionMarks: [[spoiler: The sixth floor typically doesn't have a name, but is referred to as ??? in mirror reports that detail the player being defeated there. ??? is also implied to be the Chaos Ship's name.]]

* VideoGameSettings:
** Excavation: AbandonedMine
** Archives: GreatBigLibraryOfEverything
** Maintenance System: DownTheDrain
** Bellows: EternalEngine
** Sanctum: PlaceOfPower
** [[spoiler:Floor 6: ForbiddenZone]]
** [[spoiler:Nowhere: AllTheWorldsAreAStage, MinusWorld]]
** Temple: TempleOfDoom, HailfirePeaks

* AdamSmithHatesYourGuts: {{Parodied| Trope}} with the [[spoiler:Special Offer, in which Bloke tries to force you to pay 1 million debris for one of the seals and requires Null to "haggle" with him to get a reasonable price by shooting his mech]]. Not even ''Kleines'' is that greedy, considering he [[spoiler:sells a seal for ''just'' 100k debris]].

* ArcSymbol: Two prongs, with one being shorter than the other. Some examples include the shape of the facility itself, Null's prongs being asymmetric, [[spoiler:and The Machine having a broken-off prong]].