History Videogame / Monolith

!The two {{true final boss}}es near the end of the timeline and the two {{superboss}}es are the only marked spoilers on this page. Due to the sheer amount of content that the game's marketing has hidden, all others are [[Administrivia/SpoilersOff unmarked]]. Administrivia/{{You have been warned}}.

!The {{true final boss}}es at end of the timeline and the two {{superboss}}es are the only marked spoilers on this page. Due to the sheer amount of content that the game's marketing has hidden, all others are [[Administrivia/SpoilersOff unmarked]]. Administrivia/{{You have been warned}}.

!The end of the timeline and the two {{superboss}}es are the only marked spoilers on this page. Due to the sheer amount of content that the game's marketing has hidden, all others are [[Administrivia/SpoilersOff unmarked]]. Administrivia/{{You have been warned}}.

* 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. There exist many especially cool variants of the weapon:

!Due to the sheer amount of content that the game's marketing has hidden, all spoilers unrelated to the end of the timeline and the two {{superboss}}es are [[Administrivia/SpoilersOff unmarked]]. Administrivia/{{You have been warned}}.

!Due to the sheer amount of content that the game's marketing has hidden, all spoilers unrelated to the end of the timeline and the two {{superboss}}es are unmarked. You have been warned.

* 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 the seal while avoiding his mech's attacks]]. Not even ''Kleines'' is that greedy, considering he [[spoiler:sells a seal for ''just'' 100k debris]].
* AnAesop: [[spoiler:Be careful not to get too caught up in your fascinations with the past. If you don't know what you're toying with, the things you take for granted can easily become one with the past.]]

* AllTheWorldsAreAStage: [[spoiler:The hidden 7th floor, "Nowhere", reuses all enemies and hazards from higher floors.]]

* AntagonistTitle: The game's [[spoiler:TrueFinalBoss]] is a monolith. [[spoiler:The TrueFinalBoss in Hard Mode is ''Monolith''.]]

** The symbol shown while a ship is in an upgrade terminal. It is also engraved into Behemoth's chassis, and it appears [[spoiler:on the Hard Mode symbol in the "mod" menu]]. It is the shape of [[spoiler:Monolith]], which is shown as a statue in the [[PlaceOfPower Sanctum]] and part of [[spoiler:the symbol of the Power Eternal in the upgrade terminal menu for the conduit at the bottom of the facility]].
** The game's logo: two overlapping square shapes connected to a small circle in the middle. It's in the background of Chamberlord's arena, and it's [[spoiler:the shape of the difficulty level symbols. It's part of the symbol of the Power Eternal in the upgrade terminal menu for the conduit at the bottom of the facility]].
* ArtifactDomination: [[spoiler:The side effect of the fabled Power Eternal.]]

* 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. A certain ending that is even tougher to obtain at AndIMustScream above also counts.]]

* BossRemix: [[spoiler:Monolith, of Rivaling Force.]]

** [[spoiler:Sacred Arms doesn't shoot out sword beams itself, but instead comes with a MagicStaff that floats besides you and automatically fires lasers at enemies.]]
** [[spoiler:Edge of Reality is a [[BlackSwordsAreBetter pitch black sword]] seemingly [[CelestialBody made of space]], and its sword beams pass through all blocks and enemies. It also has a unique ChargedAttack that is powered up through attacking enemies and blocking bullets with the swing — after it's sufficiently charged, the next swing's projectile will create a rift on the side of the screen, pulling in and damaging nearby enemies]].

* DiscOneFinalBoss: [[spoiler:After defeating Overlord, your run cannot continue further if you didn't open all four seals.]]

* DualBoss: [[spoiler:In level 6, one miniboss consists of two chamberheads with a shared health pool.]]

* DungeonShop: Run by an '80s cool kid by the name of Bloke, or others who look [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute very much like him]]. [[spoiler:One of the seal bosses, Special Offer, is fought here.]]

** [[spoiler:Many enemies below the seal count, known as "eternal" versions of previously encountered ones.]]
** [[spoiler:Also denoted by a ring around an enemy's head, and only seen in floor 6 or much more commonly in Hard Mode. The ring and the special ability it grants can be swapped off between enemies if the original bearer is killed.]]
* EnemyRollCall: [[spoiler:Applies to all non-Relics of the Past enemies (even revealing the name of the Machine!) and hazards in the Hard difficulty credits.]]

* ForbiddenZone: [[spoiler:The floor below the seal.]]

** [[spoiler:The hidden 7th floor, "Nowhere", alternates between appearances of the floors above it, sometimes letting them mix together.]]

* IdiosyncraticDifficultyLevels: As characters, initially. [[spoiler:Null is the protagonist of normal mode, D-13 is the protagonist of hard mode. Once you conquer hard mode as D-13, you can play in Normal or Hard modes with any ship of your choosing.]]

* LivingStatue: Not a monolith, but instead [[spoiler:the seal boss Renegade, the statue at shrines]].

** Any characters not mentioned below [[spoiler:destroy The Machine, and earn themselves The Power Eternal. The game ends as they claim it from the conduit]].
** D-13 [[spoiler:and any other ship in Hard Mode, however, fights Null, who has transformed into Monolith due to taking the Power Eternal. After defeating Null, D-13 destroys the conduit and ends the threat/temptation of the Power Eternal for good]], earning you a proper credits sequence. You also get a special post-credits scene if you [[spoiler:defeat Monolith with all S-ranks]].
** [[spoiler:Overlord damages The Machine, which promptly tries to destroy Overlord with [[LastDitchMove one last attack]]. Overlord is shoved out of harm's way by ???, however, [[TakingTheBullet who perishes in the process of doing so]]]].
** [[spoiler:??? damages The Machine, but is killed when it explodes after the fight]].

*** [[spoiler:After unlocking the secret seventh floor "Nowhere" and traversing it, the player encounters and is fought by a corrupted Database. Once the player prevails, they will be thanked for their use of the facility database, and will then be prompted to choose between advancing to a more difficult loop... and simply ending the run on the spot.]]
*** [[spoiler:After taking on the Tier 4 temple, lighting all the seals, and defeating the Warden at their 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.]]
* 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.]]

* 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. If loops are activated, you start your run with the Integer Overflow cartridge.]]
* TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness: Seven mages, each holding mastery over a school of magic make up the council. As of now, five appear in the game proper: [[spoiler: [[Main/{{Seers}} Daemon]], [[Main/PlayingWithFire Ordinator]], [[Main/DishingOutDirt Bloke]], [[Main/{{Necromancer}} Renegade]], and [[Main/ConfusionFu The Warden]]]].

* OptionalBoss: In ''[[ExpansionPack Relics of the Past]]'', there's Microcore, Trespasser, and [[spoiler:the Warden]].

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

** After you knock out the first phase of [[spoiler:Nightmare, Genesis, it promptly gets consumed by its second phase, Oblivion. On Hard Mode, after defeating Oblivion, it'll spit out a half-chewed Genesis, which must both be fought together as a final phase]].
** On Hard Mode, [[spoiler:trying to progress to the next level after blowing up Reactor will instead put you in a fight against its core, which must be destroyed first before you can progress]].
** [[spoiler:Armor TAC has two phases — one with legs and one [[VictoryFakeout as just a floating sphere]].]]

*** [[spoiler:The Machine could be considered a sequential boss that is [[ExaggeratedTrope fought across the span of three characters]]. Initially, the Chaos ship first encounters and damages it, followed by the Overlord ship fighting and damaging it further, causing it to seal itself in the slab form that you first fight as Null.]]

** After defeating [[spoiler:Tier 4 Warden, which has four phases, you have to fight [[PhysicalGod Chaosgod]] immediately after, sporting multiple phases itself. Upon defeating Chaosgod, you can optionally get sucked into one of the black holes it throws out during its ending sequence, [[ExaggeratedTrope forcing you into fighting its core]]]].

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

* TimeStandsStill: [[spoiler:The Warden's gimmick [[TurnsRed during its last phase]].]]
* TragicKeepsake: [[spoiler:D-13's watch, earned by defeating Monolith in hard mode with all S-ranks. Blastcore's ribbon also qualifies.]]
* TheTropeWithoutATitle: [[spoiler:The sixth floor does not have a name displayed when you enter it.]]
* TurnsRed: 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.
** [[spoiler:In Hard Mode, Daemon, Behemoth, Charlie, and Nightmare also get in on the action.]]
* VictoryFakeout: [[spoiler:Armor TAC, Nightmare, the Machine, and Hard Mode Reactor.]]

*** [[spoiler:After unlocking secret seventh floor "Nowhere" and traversing it, the player encounters and is fought by a corrupted Database. Once the player prevails, they will be thanked for their use of the facility database, and will then be prompted to choose between advancing to a more difficult loop... and simply ending the run on the spot.]]

* 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". However, a few bullets vanishing shortly after firing is a blessing that gets the job done.

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

* AntagonistTitle: The game's [[spoiler:TrueFinalBoss]] is a monolith. [[spoiler:The TrueFinalBoss in Hard Mode is ''Monolith.'']]

** [[spoiler:The hidden 7th floor, "Nowhere", alternates between appearances of the floors above it, something letting them mix together.]]

** [[spoiler:In Hard Mode, Daemon, Behemoth, Charlie and Nightmare also get in on the action.]]

* AwesomeMcCoolname: Most of the bosses. Just to name a few, Guardian, Presence, Devourer, Ordinator, and Overlord.

* ArtifactOfDoom: [[spoiler:The fabled Power Eternal.]]

** One of [[spoiler:the boss amalgamations that can be encountered while fighting Database]] [[LawyerFriendlyCameo is practically]] [[VideoGame/HollowKnight the Radiance]] with SerialNumbersFiledOff. [[spoiler:The excaliburs it launches do double damage, just like its inspiration's direct attacks.]]

* IdiosyncraticDifficultyLevels: As characters, initially. Null is the protagonist of normal mode, D-13 is the protagonist of hard mode. Once you conquer hard mode as D-13, you can play in Normal or Hard modes with any ship of your choosing.

* OneHitPointWonder: [[spoiler:Sudden Death mode]]. You [[GlassCannon deal triple damage]], but your max HP stat is permanently locked to 1. Not only that, the game removes the Autobomb and Quickening upgrades from terminals, just to hammer home the fact that you really cannot get hit, ''at all''.

* PointOfNoReturn: The Overlord fight; once you defeat him, you either escape the facility or [[spoiler:pass the seal]], with no way to revisit rooms on the Sanctum.

** Rarely, an enemy may spawn that resembles a [[Main/StealthPun flan wearing a pink mob cap with a red ribbon]], [[Franchise/TouhouProject similarly to a certain 495-year-old vampire]].

* DegradedBoss: The Honor Guards in the Sanctum are weaker versions of the Guardian boss, with only one attack this time. Using a weapon with the Curse of Paranoia causes a weaker version of Presence to randomly spawn alongside regular enemies, [[spoiler:and it also appears as a normal enemy in level 6 along with many other minibosses of previous floors]].

* AnAesop: [[spoiler:Be careful not to get too caught up in your fascinations with the past. If you don't know what you're toying with, the things your take for granted can easily become one with the past.]]

* AnAesop: Be careful not to get too caught up in your fascinations with the past. [[spoiler:If you don't know what you're toying with, the things your take for granted can easily become one with the past.]]

* AnInteriorDesignerIsYou: Limited. At certain cumulative score thresholds, Kleines will let you decorate your hub with a few pieces of furniture. He'll even give you a ghost in a jar that you can put hats on!

* AllTheWorldsAreAStage: [[spoiler:The hidden 7th floor, "Nowhere", alternates between appearances of the floors above it, something letting them mix together.]]

* HailfirePeaks: Certain rooms of the Temple have fiery, watery, heavenly, or icy environments.

* EliteMook: Denoted by a ring around the mook's head, and only seen in floor 6 or much more commonly in Hard Mode. The ring and the special ability it grants can be swapped off between enemies if the original "elite" is killed.

** Overlord [[spoiler:damages The Machine, which promptly tries to destroy Overlord with [[LastDitchMove one last attack]]. Overlord is shoved out of harm's way by ???, however, [[TakingTheBullet who perishes in the process of doing so]]]].
** ??? [[spoiler:damages The Machine, but is killed when it explodes after the fight]].

** The symbol shown while a ship is in an upgrade terminal. It is also engraved into Behemoth's chassis, and it appears [[spoiler:on the Hard Mode symbol in the "mod" menu]]. It is the shape of [[spoiler:Monolith]], a statue of which can be seen in the [[PlaceOfPower Sanctum]].
** The game's logo: two overlapping square shapes connected to a small circle in the middle. It's in the background of Chamberlord's arena, and it's [[spoiler:the shape of 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]].