Line #54 VideoGame/SlaveZeroX


1	[[quoteright:616:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/capsule_616x353_285.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:616:Pictured: [[CyberNinja Shou]] and [[BioArmor X]]. Not pictured: several hundred dead {{mooks}}.]]
3	''Slave Zero X'' is a 2024 TwoAndAHalfD BeatEmUp / HackAndSlash game that serves as a direct {{Prequel}} to the 1999 CyberPunk MechaGame ''VideoGame/SlaveZero''. It tells the story of Shou, a member of the Guardians [[LaResistance resistance group]], who steals the group's salvaged Slave BioArmor "X" and sets out to slay the tyrannical [=SovKhan=], cutting a bloody swathe through legions of enemy {{Mooks}} in the process.
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5	This game has its ''own'' prequel, ''[[Recap/QuakeSlaveZeroXEpisodeEnyo Episode Enyo]]'', a short first-person ''VideoGame/QuakeI'' campaign following one of the game's antagonists.
6	----
7	!!''Slave Zero X'' contains examples of:
8	* AdvancingBossOfDoom: [[spoiler:Uriel's prototype biomecha is so hideously powerful that even touching it will instantly kill Shou. Whenever it shows up on screen, you can't fight it directly, and have to run away as fast as possible instead.]]
9	* ArrogantKungFuGuy:
10	** Flashbacks show that in the past, Shou was the best fighter in the Guardians, and he ''knew'' it. [[spoiler:His attitude was part of the reason Kurikara passed him over in favor of Isamu for the assassination mission four years ago, with disastrous results.]] There's still a bit of this attitude about him in the present day, though it's not as prominent.
11	** Shou's EvilCounterpart among the Five Calamities, Atavaka, sees himself as perfect and everyone else as beneath him. [[spoiler:Ironic, since he's a brainwashed Isamu.]]
12	* ArtEvolution: Compared to [[VideoGame/SlaveZero the original game]], the Slave designs in ''X'' have realistic proportions and look downright monstrous (which is what Ken Capelli originally envisioned when designing them).
13	* TheAtoner:
14	** Kurikara has trained the Guardians to stand against and ultimately kill the [=SovKhan=] in order to atone for his past sins. [[spoiler:He gets notably pissy at the end of the game when the [=SovKhan=] manages to escape with his life, because that means ''his'' atonement isn't done and ''he'' can't rest yet.]]
15	** [[spoiler:Shou himself is ultimately revealed to be one of these as well. When the Guardians made an attempt to kill the [=SovKhan=] four years ago, Shou's arrogance and poor attitude led to him being passed over for the mission in favor of his lover Isamu, who was less skilled, but more disciplined. A combination of wounded ego and concern for Isamu's safety led to Shou lashing out, and the two men parted on bad terms; Isamu was then captured during the mission and brainwashed, becoming Atavaka of the Five Calamities. Shou's ultimate reason for stealing X and taking on the [=SovKhan's=] entire army by himself was to make up for these past failings.]]
16	* AttackOfThe50FootWhatever: Instead of fighting Shou and X himself, [[spoiler:the Regent activates an incomplete prototype giant Slave and sics it on them. It doesn't work out for him as it crushes him to death as it's dying.]]
17	* BackgroundBoss: [[spoiler:The giant Slave prototype the regent unleashes on Shou, as well as the [=SovKhan's=] final form.]]
18	* {{BFS}}: Shou and X's preferred weapon. It's unclear whether it's a man-made sword or if X ''produced it''.
19	* BioArmor: Slaves in general. X is unique in that she's a self-aware individual with thoughts and feelings of her own. [[spoiler: This becomes a sticking point between her and Shou, her pilot, ''the guy wearing and controlling her'', later in their story.]]
20	* BioPunk: The original game had a touch of this, what with the giant biological mecha and all, but it's in ''full'' force in ''X'', where the Slave Unit you're in is a monstrous suit of BioArmor a la ''Manga/{{Guyver}}'', Megacity has a grotesque Creator/HRGiger skyline, and OrganicTechnology and Organic-''shaped'' technology are the rule of the day.
21	* BlueAndOrangeMorality: X is a rare ''protagonist'' example. She wants the same thing Shou does: the [=SovKhan=] and anyone working for him brutally slaughtered. Except Shou wants that for pretty understandable reasons: Because the [=SovKhan=] is a brutal tyrant [[spoiler: and brainwashed Shou's lover Isamu into becoming his right hand man]]. X wants the same, but less for any "moral" reasons and more because [=SovKhan=] declared her defective, and she took ''personal'' offence to that statement. Her reasons for fighting slowly start to align with her wearer's as the game goes on.
22	* BloodierAndGorier: Compared to the original game, ''X'' throws buckets of HighPressureBlood and {{Gorn}} with each and every onscreen kill.
23	* BuryYourGays: [[spoiler:Isamu, having been brainwashed and transformed into Atavaka, is put down by his lover, Shou. Shou himself is also critically injured at the end of the game, leaving it up in the air if he survived long after he and X escaped.]]
24	* ControlFreak: In his efforts to turn the Guardians into the ultimate anti-[=SovKhan=] resistance force, Kurikara controls essentially every aspect of their lives, granting them effectively zero agency. This is Shou's main point of conflict with the man and the cause for much of his rebellious behavior.
25	* CoolButInefficient One of Shou's hidden moves is a full-on homage to the [[Franchise/StreetFighter Shun Goku Satsu]], and true to its source the attack requires an unorthodox command input, has a lengthy startup that can be easily interrupted, requires a full EX move meter (or be in Fatal Synch). It also competes with the other hidden super move, the Border Breaker, which has the same cost but a far simpler command input for an AOE effect that immediately causes guard breaks vs. enemies with super armor and does massive amounts of damage too.
26	* CrapsackWorld: Now that we're out of a giant living mecha and on a human scale, we can see what the Megacity is actually like. Yeah, it's not a great place to live. The city is riddled with pollution and poverty, the Sovereign Khan rules with an iron and flesh fist, police brutality is ''standard policy'', and that's before we get into the biological horrors within. As an example: Not only are civilians encouraged to spy on their fellows and report anything that might be seen as dissent, ''the city offers a cash reward for it''.
27	* CyberNinja: Shou is a BioPunk take on this trope. Imagine if [[VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance Raiden]] was in a Manga/{{Guyver}} suit. A ''fully sentient'' Guyver suit that talks to him and slowly learns from being attached to him.
28	* CycleOfHurting: There is no MercyInvincibility in this game -- unless a character's ass is flat on the ground, they can be hit, and each hit stuns Shou and most normal enemies for a brief moment. While this means you can often stun-lock large quantities of enemies at a time and whale on them until they [[LudicrousGibs explode]], it also means that if you're standing in a big crowd of enemies and you get hit even once, you can expect to get hit ''dozens'' more times, as they all start attacking just out of sync with each other and stretch the stun duration out longer and longer.
29	* DragonWithAnAgenda: Enyo, second of the Five Calamities, is less working for the [=SovKhan=] and more working against Shou. She outright states that she's planning to kill the [=SovKhan=], and the only reason her and Shou aren't working together on this is that Enyo wants to be the one to do the deed, and is trying to kill the competition (RE: Shou and X).
30	* {{Eagleland}}: General Hercules J. Thorman is a textbook example of 'Murica the Boorish who ''thinks'' he's representing America the Beautiful. Thorman is a LargeHam GeneralRipper who [[WearingAFlagOnYourHead wears an American flag for a cape]] and blows a lot of hot air about "liberty," "justice" and "freedom" [[{{Hypocrite}} while serving as one of the top enforcers of a fascist police state]]. He also seems to have a [[FutureImperfect rather skewed idea]] of what America actually ''was''; while his statements about the glory days of "the American Empire" ''might'' be true in the context of the setting, his belief that he's descended from a long line of mighty American warriors [[UsefulNotes/AmericanFootball known as "quarterbacks"]] probably isn't. Further emphasizing his hypocrisy, the end of his boss battle reveals that [[spoiler:1) inside his mechanized muscle-suit, Thorman is actually a shriveled, decrepit old man; and 2) he's also a DirtyCoward, frantically offering to abandon the ideals he'd so vocally defended and sell out his former comrades [[VillainsWantMercy in exchange for Shou sparing his life]]. Shou is understandably not interested and swiftly decapitates him]].
31	* FightingYourFriend: [[spoiler:Atavaka is a brainwashed Isamu, the man Shou ''loves''. Their final duel to the death is appropriately tragic.]]
32	* ForegoneConclusion: [[spoiler: ''Slave Zero X'' being a prequel to ''Slave Zero'', Shou and X's assassination of the [=SovKhan=] is bound to fail, arranging events leading to Ch'an's eventual battle with and subsequent victory over the [=SovKhan=] in ''Slave Zero''.]]
33	* GenreShift: In gameplay at least. The [[VideoGame/SlaveZero original game]] is a ThirdPersonShooter MechaGame, while the prequel is a TwoAndAHalfD BeatEmUp with HackAndSlash elements.
34	* GoodIsNotNice: Kurikara, the leader of the Guardians and Shou's master; Yes, he also wants the [=SovKhan=] dead, but he is ''fuming'' that Shou is going rogue on a one-man-murder crusade through the Megacity. Once he realizes in the second part that Shou isn't going to stop until he or the [=SovKhan=] is dead, he hooks him and X up with [[VoiceWithAnInternetConnection Ayesha]] and goes silent. [[spoiler: Until the Regent is killed, on which he gives Shou his formal blessing to wreck the Sovereign Khan's ass. And then he slips right back into his old self at the end, when Shou/X simply leaves the Megacity with a Slave Zero embryo, and the [=SovKhan=]'s whereabouts unknown.]]
35	* TheGoomba: Ordinary human security guards armed with maces are the weakest of the [=SovKhan's=] soldiers, going down in just a single hit. In contrast, ordinary human security guards armed with ''guns'' are actually capable of taking multiple hits before dying.
36	* GrandTheftMe: [[spoiler:In the leadup to the battle with the Regent, X eventually gets sick of Shou ordering her around and forcibly hijacks his body. It takes a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind and some character development on Shou's part before they're able to work together effectively again.]]
37	* GunNut: Enyo, to a fetishistic degree. One of the [=SovKhan=]'s Five Calamities, "Beloved by the Bullet," she's single-mindedly obsessed with guns, bullets, killing, and [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs killing people with bullets shot from guns]].
38	* HopelessBossFight: Atavaka is ridiculously overpowered during his first boss fight with Shou, and you're not supposed to be able to beat him. If you manage to do so anyway, [[HeadsIWinTailsYouLose he gets right back up and performs a finishing move on you]] so the plot can move on like it's supposed to. Unlike many instances, you don't truly get "stronger" when you have your rematch; your attacks do the same amount of damage, you have the same moveset as before, and what upgrades you do have only give you additional projectiles and improve your stat meters.
39	* {{Irony}}: [[spoiler:Enyo, "Beloved by the Bullet," is defeated when one of her guns jams, giving Shou an opening to cut her down. Shou {{lampshade\|Hanging}}s this in his PostMortemOneLiner.]]
40	-->'''[[spoiler:Enyo]]:''' ''[[spoiler:It... jammed...]]''\
41	'''[[spoiler:Shou]]:''' ''[[spoiler:Hmm... is that so? Not so beloved, then.]]''
42	* KentBrockmanNews: Channel 9 "[[BlatantLies The Truth]]", a [=SovKhan=] sponsored news channel that can be heard throughout the game. It comments on Shou's rampage through the city, and 95% of what it says is complete bullshit. [[spoiler:And it isn't even a real person on the anchor, it's just the Regent putting on another voice as part of his job]].
43	* LongHairedPrettyBoy: Outside the X BioArmor, Shou is a ''very'' pretty man, with delicate facial features and long, flowing hair. His lover Isamu qualifies as well.
44	* LudicrousGibs: If you damage an enemy just enough to defeat them, they will turn dark and then melt away shortly after hitting the floor. If, however, you're able to keep hitting them ''after'' you've defeated them or you overkill them with a powerful enough attack, they will instead explode into chunks of bloody meat.
45	* ManipulativeBastard: Every word out of the Regent's mouth[[MultipleHeadCase (s)]] is calculated to instill doubt, confusion, and internal conflict in Shou and X, and he does a pretty good job of it, even though the pair know that's ''exactly'' what he's doing. He's also the one who's responsible for shaping the relatively sweet-natured Uriel into a fanatical [=SovKhan=] loyalist, and seems to be in charge of the [=SovKhan's=] propaganda in general [[spoiler:since apparently he's the one who provides the voice of the [[KentBrockmanNews Channel 9 news]] anchorwoman]], so being a Manipulative Bastard is essentially his ''job''.
46	* MeatMoss: Starts becoming relevant halfway through the game, [[spoiler: particularly in the Heart, where flesh is spilling out of labs, and in the last legs of the game, which is a temple dedicated to [=SovKhan=]. Rather worryingly, it doesn't seem to be a sign that things are going horribly wrong (at least from the [=SovKhan=]'s perspective): There are still scientists working in the Heart even while lab experiments run amok, and the temple priests are still worshipping in the pits of biological slurry. The meat growing everywhere isn't a unintended problem, it means things are ''working as intended'']].
47	* MultipleHeadCase: The Regent has multiple different mask-like heads sitting atop his shoulders, and regularly switches which head he's speaking from. While each head ''probably'' doesn't have its own actual personality, he ''does'' take on a different voice and persona for each one as part of his manipulation tactics.
48	* NotDrawnToScale: In the original game, the Slaves are a 2-story tall beings and the cars and tanks look like toys to them. The Slaves here are only larger than humans (just compare the height of an average human security guard to a Slave next to him). [[spoiler: This is because the Slaves currently present are from an earlier, smaller line of Slaves. The [=SovKhan=]'s forces developing the giant Slaves of ''Zero'' is a critical plot point.]]
49	* OneWingedAngel: [[spoiler:For the final phase of the [=SovKhan's=] boss fight, he turns into this giant biomechanical ''thing'' with [[MultiArmedAndDangerous six arms]] and a BellyMouth, which attacks you [[BackgroundBoss from the background]] of [[FinalBossNewDimension the surreal alternate dimension he's transported you to]].]]
50	* OutOfCharacterAlert:
51	** After defeating Uriel, Shou contacts [[MissionControl Ayesha]] and regretfully informs her that her beloved drone sacrificed itself to get him crucial information. Ayesha, [[DissonantSerenity eerily chipper]], replies that ''everyone'' who gets close to Shou inevitably dies. This gives Shou [[FiveSecondForeshadowing a few seconds of warning]] that [[spoiler:the Regent has located and captured Ayesha and hijacked his comms, and things are about to get a lot worse for him and X]].
52	** During Shou's final approach to the Regent, the latter imitates Kurikara's voice and pretends that the Guardians are being cut down by the [=SovKhan=]'s forces, lamenting that they trusted Shou and that he let them all down. Shou immediately sees through the ruse, pointing out that Kurikara has ''never'' trusted or had any amount of faith in him and would never say such a thing. ([[{{Irony}} As it happens]], Kurikara ''has'' developed enough faith in Shou to at least capitalize on his actions and send the Guardians into battle behind him, but Shou has no way of knowing that at the time.)
53	* PhlebotinumDependence: [[spoiler:Uriel of the Five Calamities has been fused with a prototype biomecha that is hideously powerful, but also hideously unstable -- requiring a constant infusion of dark matter just to keep from falling apart. Defeating him involves finding and destroying the dark matter infusers located throughout the level while avoiding contact with Uriel himself.]]
54	* PlayfulHacker: Ayesha, a {{plucky\|Girl}} TechnoWizard from the megacity's lower levels who's fighting against the [=SovKhan's=] regime in her own way. Although she's explicitly not a Guardian, Kurikara taps her to serve as Shou's MissionControl once it becomes clear Shou has no intention of stopping his one-man murder crusade.
55	* PoliceBrutality: ''Oh, my dear,'' yes! One of the first scenes in the game is a pair of officers shaking down and murdering some unfortunate for drugs ''so they can take the drugs themselves.'' Note that one of these officers is wearing a ''Slave.''
56	* PreAsskickingOneLiner: An example from the demo:
57	-->"Pathetic, I'll wear ''your'' skin for my next promotion!" [''cue boss fight'']
58	* RunOrDie: Both of Uriel's encounters: Either get the hell away from him, or get ''crushed underneath''.
59	* TokenGoodTeammate: Among the Five Calamities, Uriel is the only one who harbors no real animosity towards Shou, actually trying to talk him down before their encounter and forgiving him when Shou makes it clear he won't stop. He also genuinely considers the other Calamities his friends and truly believes the [=SovKhan=] to be an infallibly virtuous messiah. Between his generally sweet nature, how obviously he's been manipulated to bring him to his current mindset, and [[spoiler:the horrific transformation that's been inflicted on him by fusing him with his biomecha]], he comes across as a TragicVillain whose ultimate defeat is practically a MercyKill. Had circumstances been different, he and Shou probably would have become friends.
60	* TragicVillain:
61	** Uriel [[spoiler:has "The Hero of Man" for his title among the Five Calamities, and it's not entirely ironic -- his dialogue portrays him as a genuinely kind, thoughtful, and heroic soul who wishes no harm on anyone and truly views the other Calamities as his friends. Unfortunately, the Regent's manipulations have convinced Uriel that the [=SovKhan=] is benevolent and infallible, and that Uriel is his chosen champion. Because of this, Uriel has allowed himself to be fused with a prototype biomecha that ''should'' be an unstoppable engine of destruction... but unfortunately, it's so incredibly unstable that it requires a constant supply of dark matter just to maintain its structural integrity, leading to Uriel being sealed away inside the Heart. Shou's killing of Thorman and Enyo, and his ultimate goal to kill the [=SovKhan=], eventually convinces Uriel that Shou is irredeemably evil, and while Shou doesn't seem to ''regret'' putting Uriel down in the end, he doesn't take any pleasure in it either]].
62	** Atavaka [[spoiler:is Shou's lover Isamu, captured and brainwashed during the Guardians' attempt to assassinate the [=SovKhan=] four years before the start of the game. Unfortunately, he's ''so'' far gone, and ''so'' strong and skilled, that having an IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight isn't an option -- Shou ''has'' to go all-out fighting Atavaka, or he will definitely die. Shou manages to defeat Atavaka, and the old Isamu seems to re-emerge in his final moments, but even then he tells Shou to let him go for the good of the future. After one last AnguishedDeclarationOfLove, Shou impales Atavaka through the chest, killing Isamu for good]].
63	* TraintopBattle: One stage is set atop a subway train going through the city.
64	* TranshumanAbomination: Where to begin?
65	** Inside the Heart, the lab complex/power plant of Megacity S1-9, we see the bulk of the Megacity's genetic experiments: warped, mutated humans that have "[[AngelicAbomination corrupted divinity]]" forced into them, resulting in things like giant crawling heads with halos, a human with a massive third arm growing out of its shoulder, a weeping humanoid that can summon hands from surfaces, and what can best be described as a ''amniotic sac full of worms on legs''. Worse, this isn't even on accident: aside from them getting loose and running rampant through the labs, this is implied to be ''the intended results'', and once the [=SovKhan=]'s forces get a handle on them, they're fielded just like the rest of his army.
66	** And then there's Uriel. [[spoiler: Uriel has been fused with a Slave Unit and pumped full of Dark Matter, creating a ginormous biomechanical centaur thing. He's so powerful that simply ''touching'' him is enough to instantly kill Shou]].
67	** Finally, there's [[spoiler:the [=SovKhan=] himself, who adopts a [[OneWingedAngel truly massive and monstrous form]] in the final phase of his battle with Shou]].
68	* UncertainDoom: [[spoiler:After fighting their way through the [=SovKhan=]'s forces inside his fortress and defeating him, Shou and X have potentially permanently fused their minds and suffered critical injuries. Though they manage to capture the last of the Zero Slave embryos and make their escape, the game ends before we can learn of their fate.]]
69	* UngratefulBastard: [[spoiler:At the end of the game, after the fused X-Shou has literally [[{{Depower}} beaten the divinity out of]] the [=SovKhan=], the greatly-diminished tyrant loses all composure and teleports away in a panic. Kurikara demands that X-Shou go after him and finish the job. X-Shou, who is ''critically injured, standing in a collapsing palace, and has no idea where the [=SovKhan=] went'', understandably goes "fuck that" and gets out instead. Despite Ch'an pointing out that X-Shou has struck a massive blow against the [=SovKhan=] and his regime and turned the tide in the Guardians' favor, and despite X-Shou showing up shortly afterward with the last Slave Zero embryo (setting up the events of [[VideoGame/SlaveZero the original game]]), Kurikara continues to whine about how the [=SovKhan=] still lives, his Chosen One has failed again, and ''[[ItsAllAboutMe his]]'' [[ItsAllAboutMe atonement is still out of reach]].]]
70	* WalkingArmory: Enyo has a ''lot'' of guns. Hidden [[HyperspaceArsenal somewhere on her person]] are a SniperRifle, a [[GunsAkimbo pair of SMGs]], a shotgun, and a HandCannon.

Context VideoGame / SlaveZeroX