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1[[quoteright:256:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/evildead_hailtotheking_9324.jpg]]
2[[caption-width-right:256:''"Who's laughing now, you primitive screwhead?"'']]
3
4''Hail to the King'' is first of the three licensed ''Franchise/EvilDead'' games published by the late Creator/{{THQ}}.
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6Eight years after the events of ''Film/ArmyOfDarkness'', Ash decides to [[FaceYourFears face his old fears]] by visiting the cabin where everything started with his new girlfriend Jenny. Soon, deadites are once again released. Now Ash must hack his way through them to find his disappeared girlfriend, and a way to send the bastards back to where they came from.
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8The game is an early SurvivalHorror game, with 3D-polygon characters moving over fixed 2D backgrounds, often from dramatic camera angles, similar to the first 3 installments in the ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' series.
9
10!!This game has the examples of:
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12* BigBad: Evil Ash, who tries to bring all the deadites back for good.
13* BigNo: At the end of the game, Ash makes one so big it's a bonafide SkywardScream. To be fair, you'd scream too if you found out that [[spoiler: the Necronomicon has been translated and sold as a bestseller all around the world.]]
14* BitchInSheepsClothing:
15** The grandmother of the local hillbillies seems like a fairly nice lady, trapped in her bed by her children after they became corrupted by the Necronomicon. Ash is cautious of her, but agrees to free her in exchange for the page she keeps hidden. Of course, she turns out to be a deadite far stronger than any of her children.
16** Father Allard, [[spoiler: who turns out to be Evil Ash in disguise]].
17* ChainsawGood: Ash's signature weapon is back. It is strong, but it needs gasoline to work. Later in the game, it can be upgraded to a circular saw one.
18* ContinuityNod: Several in regards to the film trilogy:
19** The end of the opening cutscene depicts Ash assembling his classic chainsaw hand just as he did in ''Evil Dead II''.
20** One of the bosses Ash fights is a possessed Annie Knowby, who still has the Kandarian Dagger sunk into her back.
21** [[Film/TheEvilDead1981 Linda]] appears as a unique Deadite enemy, rising from her grave.
22* CuttingTheKnot: Ash comes upon a locked door guarded by what seems to the worst puzzle in the game yet. The game changes perspective to the standard, pre-rendered "puzzle screen" and the instructions tell you to find seven rare earth elements and then balance them against each other by their specific weight to open the door. Then Ash suddenly jumps in, aims his trusty shotgun at the wall-mounted puzzle and simply shoots the door open instead.
23* DemBones:
24** Common skeletons appear as enemies in the forest maze and the church area.
25** Armored variant is an early enemy in Damascus.
26* DemonicPossession: Some of the enemies are flying possessed humans.
27* DiscoSucks: Invoked with Ash's GiveMyRegardsInTheNextWorld taunt.
28-->"Say hi to disco for me."
29* DualWielding: Ash can hold two weapons at the same time.
30* EarlyGameHell: Like a lot of survival horror, you start the game off with very limited supplies and relatively weak weapons, with most items dropping from defeated deadites, and you have to progress a decent way before you can access another save point besides the one in the tool shed. Once you learn how to convert mushrooms into fuel and health items, supplies will be a lot easier to manage.
31* EquipmentUpgrade: In the second half of the game, there are item boxes containing upgrade parts you can use to power up the guns. Ash's chainsaw also gains a new blade after beating the second-to-last boss.
32* EvilKnockoff: Alongside with Ash's evil mirror image, the fourth boss is a skeleton dressed like Ash.
33-->'''Ash''': Great. 'Cause two of me just weren't enough.
34* FaceYourFears: The plot of the game starts when Ash is haunted by nightmares of what he experienced during the movies. His new girlfriend Jenny suggests he should face his old fears by going back to the old cabin where it all started. It goes about as well as you'd expect.
35* FlyingFace: Skulls with wings are enemies in the scout area.
36* FullBoarAction: Hellbillies pig pen feature deadite-possessed swine with tusks.
37* GiantSpider: The old hillbilly lady in her bed reveals herself to be a giant deadite spider in disguise.
38* HelpingHands: Ash's possessed hand is still scurrying about, and it releases the deadites by playing the record of Professor Knowby's incantations.
39* HideYourChildren: Averted; the enemies in the first half include Deadite-possessed boy scouts.
40* HillbillyHorrors: The first area of interest you have to unlock and explore is a forest house where deadite-possessed hillbillies live, called the Hellbillies. It includes the classic furniture made out of human remains and a slaughterhouse filled with pigs and [[ImAHumanitarian human meat]].
41* HumanSacrifice: Evil Ash kidnapped Jenny to sacrifice her to the Dark Ones.
42* HumanoidAbomination: Evil Ash. Looks much like a deadite but is something more than that. In the final boss battle against him after you kick him around a bit... he proceeds to take it up a notch and [[OneWingedAngel reveal his true nature]].
43* IdleAnimation: A variation- if you wait too long on the title screen, Ash's annoyed voice will start demanding that you press the Start button.
44* LongNeck: Once possessed Annie take enough damage, she extends her neck for long range attacks.
45* TheMagazineRule: A specialized magazine for {{Hillbilly Moonshiner}}s can be found in the Hellbillies house, which provides tips to create fuel and healing items with mushrooms.
46* OhNoNotAgain: Ash's word-for-word reaction when his evil hand plays Knowby's recorded incantations again.
47* OneWingedAngel: The very final boss battle is against Evil Ash who turns himself into bizarre pile of limbs and mouths.
48* PuzzleBoss: The heavily armored boss with a hammer in Damascus cannot be damaged by conventional means, and must be defeated by dousing him with molten metal and cold water twice.
49* RespawningEnemies: Defeated enemies eventually return, sometimes right in the spot where you killed the last one.
50* SuddenDownerEnding: [[spoiler:Ash defeats Evil Ash, reseals away the evil and saves Jenny. But the time travel trip back home sucked the translated Necronomicon along with it. When the two get back, it's be around long enough that it's a popular sell in bookstores. Ash is [[BigNo understandably]] [[SkywardScream upset]].]]
51* TimeTravel: Ash has to go "round two with the primitives" when a time portal sends him into Damascus 730 AD.
52* UnintentionallyUnwinnable: At the start of the second disc, you're supposed to save the game at a save point immediately upon arriving in Damascus, then leave the area, fight some skeletons for the parts needed to open the town gate, and then proceed. If you do this, then reloading the game if you fail triggers the second disc's opening cut scene, and all's well. However, if you run to the area with the skeletons, then turn back around and ''then'' save the game and reload it, the enemies will vanish - along with the items you needed to collect from them. You're now stuck outside the city with no way to get through the locked gate, and with the game saved at that spot.
53* VertigoEffect: Emulated when the spider boss reveals itself.
54* WhenTreesAttack: Second boss battle is against a possessed man-eating tree.
55* WrenchWhack: One miniboss battle is against a mechanic with a big wrench.
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