Line #46 VideoGame/TheEndIsNigh


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/header_7.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:[[NintendoHard Your end is certainly nigh.]]]]
3	->''"Dear anybody reading this: I'm probably dead. That wouldn't be surprising, everybody else is. There was some kind of apocalypse, and all that was left was me. Well, most of me. All in all, y’know, hasn’t been so bad! Until yesterday… my favorite game cartridge finally broke. I think I’m gonna go out and make a friend!"''
4	-->-- '''Ash, intro cutscene'''
5
6	A platformer developed by Creator/EdmundMcMillen. Set in a post-apocalyptic world, the player controls Ash (voiced by [[WebVideo/RedLetterMedia Rich Evans]]), a one-eyed blob creature who after his favorite video game cartridge finally breaks decides to go out into the world and build himself a friend.
7
8	Platforming is reminiscent of ''Videogame/MeatBoy'', meaning that challenge is to be expected.
9	----
10	!!This video game contains the following tropes:
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12	* AdvancingBossOfDoom: The [[AntagonistTitle titular character]] in the Pus-Man cartridge.
13	* AfterTheEnd: By the time you start the game, Ash is one of the last...things, alive in this world. [[spoiler: Then something happens overnight once you finally make a friend, leaving the world even worse off for the second half of the game. And if you have enough tumors, you can survive the THIRD apocalypse and enter [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon Nevermore]]. ]]
14	* AntagonistTitle: [[BrutalBonusLevel Pus-Man.]]
15	* AntiFrustrationFeatures: After assembling your "friend" [[spoiler:and somehow triggering the ''second'' apocalypse, all the tumours you've collected so far count as extra lives. Luckily, reaching a warp point resets your tumour count to whatever amount you had collected, and you can always revisit the Past levels to get any tumours you missed]].
16	* AlwaysClose: No matter how much time is remaining when you [[spoiler:complete Acceptance]] in the normal ending, [[spoiler:Ash always escapes just in time to GoOutWithASmile before the explosion happens]].
17	* AmbidextrousSprite: Averted. Ash's sprite is designed so that his missing eye is always on the right (player's left), no matter which way you're facing.
18	* ApocalypseHow: The world already suffered what is most likely a [[ApocalypseHow/Class5 Class 5]]. [[spoiler: The ending has the world go through a [[ApocalypseHow/Class6 Class 6]]]].
19	* AtomicFBomb: Ash's reaction when his cartidge breaks in the intro.
20	* AvoidTheDreadedGRating: Really, the game would have been a solid T rating rather than M if it weren't for [[ClusterFBomb the massive amounts of F-bombs]] that are dropped.
21	* BigBoosHaunt: The Wall Of Sorrow. [[EverythingTryingToKillYou As expected]], you will die if you touch the ghosts.
22	* BioluminescenceIsCool: The Hollows has bioluminenscent mushrooms and enemies, and Ash also glows for whatever reason.
23	* BlackComedy: The cutscene that plays after [[spoiler:finally completing your "friend"]] is definitely played for some dark chuckles.
24	* BlackoutBasement: The Hollows.
25	* BlobMonster: Ash himself. The intro suggests he WasOnceAMan. [[spoiler:The Nevermore ending confirms it.]] Many enemies count, as well.
26	* BookEnds: [[spoiler:The cartridge you find at the end of Nevermore? It's the same catridge Ash plays in the intro.]]
27	* BrutalBonusLevel: The cartridges and the future levels you unlock by going into the [[Videogame/TimeFcuk Steven]] heads with enough tumors. [[spoiler: Later on, you can enter the real deal, Nevermore, unlockable by sacrificing yourself to the glowing orb at the end of Ruin/ start of Acceptance with at least 450 tumors.]]
28	* BulletHell: The SS Exodus has some elements of this.
29	* TheCameo: [[spoiler: [[Creator/EdmundMcMillen Isaac, Gish, Guppy and the squid from Aether]]]] all appear (or at least creatures resembling them do) in [[spoiler:the second half of the game]], hidden in secret areas. [[spoiler:Isaac even uses the "hurt" sound from Rebirth when talked to.]]
30	* CompanionCube: [[spoiler:Ash's friend, after being assembled, is still just a rotting corpse.]]
31	* ContinuityNod: The [[VideoGame/TimeFcuk Steven]] NPC in [[spoiler:Blight]] acknowledges Ash as [[spoiler:another part of himself, and even tells him to "[[ArcWords GET IN THE BOX!]] or whatever..."]]
32	* CoolAirship: SS Exodus, clearly inspired by certain other [[Videogame/SuperMarioBros3 airships]] ...
33	* CrapsackWorld: Best described by Ash himself.
34	-->'''Ash:''' "It's a dangerous, twisted place, full of death, decay and... death, mostly."
35	* CreepyCrows: Croasts are crow-like enemies found in the [[DeathMountain Wall of Sorrow]] stage. They wear skulls on their heads like most of the other enemies, make cawing sounds, and swoop down at Ash.
36	* DarkWorld: The Future stages basically serve as this to the Past stages, being more nightmarishly hard and evil in atmosphere than its counterpart.
37	* DeathMountain: Wall of Sorrow.
38	* DownerEnding: As per tradition for a Creator/EdmundMcMillen game, [[spoiler: Ash dies in the first ending, although with a smile. The second ending is a bit more optimistic, even though Ash is transformed into a small planet and stuck in [[BrutalBonusLevel Nevermore]] forever, at least now he is no longer alone and Steven is walking on him.]]
39	* DownTheDrain: Overflow, [[spoiler: Blight, and Ruin]].
40	* EpicRocking: The track for [[spoiler:the timed Acceptance sequence]] is exactly six minutes long.
41	* EternalEngine: The stage aptly named "The Machine".
42	* EtherealChoir: It's rather subtle, but you can hear an angelic choir in the background in the Arid Flats theme if you listen closely enough.
43	* ExactWords: Ash decides that he's going to ''make'' a friend, but since he's pretty much the last living thing in the entire world, he has to ''make'' that friend himself out of anything he can scavenge.
44	* EyeScream: Ash is missing one eye. When thinking about the things that may happen to him if he ventures outside in the intro, he mentions losing his other eye as a possibility.
45	* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: You actually play the game Ash is streaming. The game breaks as soon as you "die", and the levels are designed to ensure you won't complete them all in a single life. [[spoiler: {{Subverted\|Trope}} if you ''do'' manage to complete them without dying, which earns you a NonStandardGameOver in which Ash finishes his stream and doesn't go outside to make himself a friend and an [[BraggingRightsReward achievement]] for your troubles]].
46	* {{Foreshadowing}}:
47	** Pay close attention to the very beginning of the game, where Ash plays the "End is Nigh" cartridge just before it breaks. [[spoiler:His livestream name is "ASH_DIES_ALONE", which is exactly what happens in the game's main ending.]]
48	** The optional Future levels [[spoiler:are a hint to Nevermore's existence. To drive the point home, next to the blob creatures that take you to said Future levels have signs with a roman numeral from 1 to 4 on them. The glowing orb at the end of Ruin has the roman numeral for 5 on it.]]
49	* GoOutWithASmile: [[spoiler:In the first ending, Ash gives the world one final smile as he [[FaceDeathWithDignity accepts the fact that he's about to be caught in the blast of the orb]].]]
50	* GottaCatchThemAll: You can collect tumors located throughout the world. [[spoiler: This comes into play later in the second half of the game, where all of them are converted into extra lives.]]
51	* GuideDangIt: Accessing [[spoiler:the Nevermore stage. Jumping into the orb at the start of Acceptance without having at least 450 tumors just repeatedly kills you until you get a game over - and to make it worse, even if do you have the required amount of tumors, you still have to wait until 450 tumors are depleted]]. If you don't pick up on the small hint you're given that the entry point is significant, you might assume that what happens when you enter it prematurely is just a glitch, and that the entrance does not actually lead anywhere.
52	* InconvenientlyPlacedConveyorBelt: All over the freakin' place in The Machine.
53	* InterfaceSpoiler: By the time [[spoiler:you fully assemble your friend]], you'll still have several carts left to collect, and missing achievements if you're playing on Steam.
54	* LavaIsBoilingKoolAid: It's see-through and doesn't seem to affect anything except Ash.
55	* LethalLavaLand: Golgotha, which has a FireAndBrimstoneHell vibe. Although the lava might be [[EverythingTryingToKillYou the least of your worries there]].
56	* LevelInReverse: Some screens require this to collect the tumor. [[spoiler:Getting the normal ending also means completing Acceptance, which is essentially Ruin but backward and on a time limit.]]
57	* LudicrousGibs: What happens to Ash when he dies. [[NintendoHard Which will be very often.]]
58	* MeaningfulName: The end is nigh - [[spoiler:it has not come and gone, it is ''still nigh''. Two more apocalypse-inducing explosions happen since the beginning of the game, once after assembling your friend and once after clearing Acceptance.]]
59	* MeatMoss: Prevalent in Retrograde. Unlike most examples, [[EverythingTryingToKillYou it's not there for show]]. [[spoiler: It is also prevalent in Nevermore and The Future.]]
60	* MindScrew: How does Ash survive jumping into [[spoiler:a bomb capable of causing another apocalypse]]? Why is the intro cart [[spoiler:found in an area only revealed by a nuclear explosion]]? And why is there [[spoiler:a miniature [[VideoGame/TimeFcuk Steven]] walking on top of Ash]] in the secondary ending?
61	* MultipleEndings: Three of them. One for beating the game in the most obvious manner, one for [[spoiler:beating a set of levels unlocked by collecting at least 450 tumors]], and one for [[spoiler:beating the unglitched cartridge that Ash is streaming at the very start of the game]].
62	* NintendoHard: It's a platformer by Creator/EdmundMcMillen. If you've played VideoGame/MeatBoy, you'll have an idea of what you're getting into.
63	* OhCrap: After putting your "friend" together...
64	--> '''Ash:''' What the ''fuck''!? How the ''FUCK'' [[spoiler: does the Earth die ''twice''!?]]
65	* OminousLatinChanting: One of the tracks in the game titled "The Future" has this, which makes sense considering that it's a remix of Verdi's Requiem.
66	* OutrunTheFireball: [[spoiler:Subverted. Regardless if you escape within the time limit in Acceptance, Ash is still caught in the mushroom cloud at the end]].
67	* PlanetHeck: Golgotha, of course.
68	* PublicDomainSoundtrack: The whole soundtrack are reworked classical pieces. The theme of The End is Camille Saint-Saëns' "Danse Macabre", the music in the Wall of Sorrow is Franz Liszt's "Hungarian Rhapsody", the music in the secret underground Mega Tumor rooms [[spoiler:and Ruin]] is Edvard Grieg's "In The Hall of the Mountain King", while the music of [[LethalLavaLand Golgotha]] is Modest Mussorgsky's "Night On Bald Mountain", just to mention some examples.
69	* RemixedLevel: [[spoiler: The first ones in The Future.]]
70	* RuinsOfTheModernAge: The End, which ironically is the first area. [[spoiler:Its future counterpart Anguish as well.]]
71	* ShiftingSandLand:
72	** The Arid Flats [[spoiler: and its future counterpart Gloom]].
73	** To a lesser extent, Retrograde, as the environment seems to be a PaletteSwap of Arid Flats.
74	* ShoutOut:
75	** All the collectible cartridge games are a reference to a classic game. For example, VideoGame/{{River City Ran\|som}}cid, Franchise/{{Ca\|stlevania}}tastrovania, [[VideoGame/PacMan Pus-Man]]...
76	** The Kuko Jr. and Kuko enemies are one to Franchise/{{K\|irby}}racko, both in name and design.
77	** The [[VideoGame/TheBindingOfIsaac Charger]] enemy.
78	** The headblobs you can enter to play hidden Future levels are called [[VideoGame/TimeFcuk Steven]]. [[spoiler:The Nevermore ending also features Steven walking on Ash and ends with his face. (This resembles the setting of the canned game ∅uroboros)]]
79	** The headblob found at the beginning of The End stage says [[Film/LittleShopOfHorrors "Must be blood, must be fresh...feed me..."]]
80	* SirSwearsALot: Ash has the tendency to say "fuck" a lot.
81	* SolidClouds: Some areas have clouds that you can use as platforms. In Wall of Sorrow, the clouds serve as {{Temporary Platform}}s.
82	* SoundtrackDissonance: The game that takes place in a dismal, post-apocalyptic setting has "Hungarian Dance" and "Flight of the Bumblebee" as soundtracks of all things. Although it is likely the themes were meant to represent the more chaotic side of doomsday.
83	* SpiritualSuccessor: To ''[[VideoGame/MeatBoy Super Meat Boy]]'' and, if the general aesthetic and [[spoiler:the Nevermore ending]] are anything to go by, ''VideoGame/TimeFcuk''.
84	* StylisticSuck: The game begins with Ash doing what seems to be a LetsPlay of one of his favorite games. His narration is awkward and mumbly on top of having Rich Evans' grating voice, and it descends into panic when his game breaks.
85	* UndergroundLevel: The Hollows and Golgotha.
86	* TimedMission: [[spoiler:Acceptance]] and the [[spoiler:Dead Racer]] cart. In both cases, if the time limit runs out, you have to restart the level from the first room.
87	* TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon: [[spoiler: Nevermore.]]
88	* VideoGameLives: Either 0, 9, or infinity in the cartridge levels. [[spoiler: Also, the tumors you get in the past are each 1 life in the future.]]

Context VideoGame / TheEndIsNigh