Characters / Pathway

Adventurers

In general

• Action Girl: 7 of the 16 adventurers are female. Only one (Natalya) doesn't require to complete challenges to be available.
• Amazon Brigade: Creating a all-women party is possible. Completing an adventure with one is the prerequisite to unlock Rose.
• Big Damn Heroes: The goal of the first adventures is to rescue Morten from the Nazis.
• Multinational Team: Not counting the dogs, there are 16 player characters available from 14 different countries: three American; two British, one of them British-Indian;^note the Anglo-Indian Dr. Chandra and one each Russian, German, Brazilian, Spanish, Arabian^note Prince Omar, no specific country given, Italian, Icelandic, Belgian, African^note Shani, said to be from the African Steppe; she would be a subject of a European country unless she is Liberian or Ethiopian Caribbean,^note Annabelle; at the time and based on her French surname, she would likely be Haitian or a colonial subject of France and French.
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: An Italian prelate, an Icelandic female wrestler, a Brazilian smuggler, a Belgian female spy, an Arab prince and art collector...
• Unlockable Content: You need to complete challenges to be able to play with most of them. The only characters available to a new profile are Jackson, Natalya, Baron, Pereira, Miguel, and Omar.
• Weapon Specialization: At least some of them start with unique bonuses to a specific weapon class and can further focus on making them even better.

Jackson

Jackson Sheffield, American Globetrotter

• Badass Driver: As a Daredevil, he can do car chases.
• Foil: He's one to Miguel, being a reckless adventurer and with bonuses to playing aggressively.
• Weapon Specialization: Assault rifles, with starting bonus to Crit Chance. While Jackson is very versatile, his most optimal build is that encouraging heavy focus on buffing assault rifles, ignoring knives-related skills.

Natalya

Natalya Shushkova, Russian Scientist

• Apologetic Attacker: One of her barks on killing an enemy is "Don't take it the wrong way!"
• Awesome, but Impractical: While she can use disintegrators, her starting stats and general choices during level-ups make her far superior as a dedicated pistolero.
• Badass Bookworm: A scientist and adventuress.
• Combat Medic: Can use medical items to heal/reanimate adventurers during a tactical encounter. The "combat" part is downplayed at the start of the game, though (she's frail and relatively inaccurate at level 1).
• Nerd Glasses: A scientist with a pair of glasses.
• Omnidisciplinary Scientist: Has medical and engineer skills; contrary to most others characters, her medical skills translate in random events.

Baron

Baron von B., German Gentleman Imposter

• Bavarian Fire Drill: One of the "randomly met a Nazi party" events can turn to this if he's in the group. He'll successfully convince the German officer onsite that he's another (higher-ranking) officer doing an undercover mission (hence why he's not in uniform) and will requisition some fuel.
• Fake Aristocrat: his character sheet describes him as a "German Gentleman Imposter".
• Gentleman Adventurer: Pretends to be one and looks like one.
• Germanic Efficiency: One of his barks on killing an enemy is "Discreet and efficient."
• High-Class Glass: Wears one, probably as part of his (fake) aristocrat persona.
• Nazi Nobleman: Pretends to be one, particularly to fool Nazis he encounters.

Pereira

Captain Luiz "Piranha" Pereira, Brazilian Steamboat Smuggler

• Bottomless Magazines: Thanks to his starting bonus to ammo capacity, he can fire thrice from double-barreled shotguns before needing to reload.
• Father Neptune: He is a white-bearded man wearing a sailor cap. His subtitle is "Brazilian Steamboat Smuggler".
• Great White Hunter: Comes with two special perks, Big Game Hunter (extra damage to animals) and Survivalist (variety of random and special events), along with specialising in shotguns.
• Mighty Glacier: Comes with lots of HP and specialises at close-range combat... but also only has 2 Agility, making him very hard to position and rather immobile.
• Sawed-Off Shotgun: The shotgun he starts the game with is a double-barrelled, break-action rifle, without the stock and with a shortened barrel.
• Shout-Out: Peirera looks like Captain Haddock, except he has a white beard instead of a black one.^note the developers acknowledge Tintin as the main source of inspiration for the game
• Weapon Specialization: Shotguns. He starts with an incredibly useful buff to their ammo capacity and his level-ups focus on making shotguns even deadlier. He can even circumnavigate around his low mobility by increasing shotgun range instead.

Miguel

Miguel Ignacio Caballero, Spanish Civil War Poet

• Foil: He's one to Jackson, being a guerilla fighter with variety of defensive tricks in his sleeve. Also, while Jackson can shine in the random events, Miguel is really good at combat.
• La Résistance: His experience fighting against the rise of Franco gives him an edge against the Nazis.
• Warrior Poet: Assault rifle and grenade expert, who's also described as a poet.
• Weapon Specialization: Either assault rifles or grenades (for which he has a starting extra Range bonus). Since the choice is mutually exclusive each time, he either gets very good at one weapon class or gets reduced to Master of None.

Omar

Prince Omar Abu al-Jarabi, Arabian Art Collector

• The Big Guy: He's strong enough to shove massive boulders around.
• Cultured Badass: A master of multiple weapons and a patron of the arts.
• Cunning Linguist: Fluent in Ancient Languages, allowing him to translate ancient texts and hieroglyphs during your adventures.
• Genius Bruiser: Starting with the Brute skill, he can intervene in some strength-based events, wears heavy armor, and starts off with proficiency in three weapon classes. He also can decipher Ancient Languages.
• Master of None: Downplayed — he can use more different weapon types any other character, but has a small penalty associated with each. Not a major hindrance, but noticeable.
• Multi-Ranged Master: Has more weapon proficiencies than any other character, including assault rifles, shotguns, and grenades.

Leonora

Leonora De Quincey, British Amateur Archeologist

• A-Team Firing: While specialising in assault rifles, Leonora has particularly low Dexterity, affecting her aim.
• Adventurer Archaeologist: It's right in her character sheet, and since the game has instances where you enter tombs and discover artifacts...
• Badass Bookworm: Is an archaeologist, can decipher ancient inscriptions, and is able to fight.
• Combat Medic: Can use medical items to heal/reanimate adventurers during a tactical encounter.

Veduti

Monsignor Carlo Veduti, Italian Vatican Legate

• Badass Bookworm: A catholic prelate with knowledge in the occult fields, who also knows how to use a sniper rifle.
• Badass Preacher: A high-ranking Catholic prelate. His weapon of choice is a sniper rifle and he has a bonus against undead enemies.
• Combat Medic: Can use medical items to heal/reanimate adventurers during a tactical encounter. In fact, he's far superior as a healer than as a sniper.
• Impractically Fancy Outfit: Travel through the desert while wearing a full Catholic cardinal suit.

Brunhilda

Brunhilda, Queen of the Valkyries, Icelandic Faiground Wrestler

• Blood Knight: Has very enthusiastic lines when she kills enemies. In one voiceline, she says she enjoys the sound of breaking bones.
• Cool, but Inefficient: Grenades, given she's a dedicated melee fighter. Grenades can be used only twice per combat and deal relatively low damage when compared with high-tier shotguns. On top of that, shotguns' Blast attack replicates Area of Effect of grenades, largely rendering them useless for Brunhilda.
  • In the release state of the game, it was even worse: grenades were a non-reusable item, once the stock was used, they were gone.
• Leotard of Power: Is dressed like a 1930s wrestler.
• Weapon Specialization: Knives, as she starts with a bonus to Crit Strength, her level-ups mostly buff mobility and she is easily one of the best dedicated melee characters.

Georgette

Agent Georgette Remy, Belgian Secret Agent

• Combat Medic: Can use medical items to heal/reanimate adventurers during a tactical encounter.
• Friendly Sniper: The most cheerful of all the characters able to use sniper rifles.
• Glass Cannon: Best sniper of the lot, but also comes with non-existing HP pool.
• The Scrounger: The party finds more ammo when she is present.
• Shout-Out: Her name is almost the feminine version of Georges Remi, Hergé's real name, and they're both Belgian.
• Stealth Expert: Her Shadow perk allows her to intervene in sneak-related events.
• Weapon Specialization: Sniper rifles, since she starts with an extra Range for them and her level-ups are entirely dedicated toward making sniper rifles even stronger.

Bellamy

Professor Mortimer Bellamy, American Inventor

• Badass Bookworm: Has engineering knowledge, can repair teammates' outfit on the spot during a tactical encounter, and is able to fight with disintegrators.
• Black and Nerdy: A genius American inventor with Nerd Glasses and Einstein Hair.
• Einstein Hair: A mild case, but he's bald with a ruff of white hair around each ear.
• Energy Weapons: His weapon is any disintegrator, Energy Weapons based on Nazi superscience. Bellamy is one of the scientists responsible for reverse-engineering the tech for the Americans.
• The Engineer: He starts off with the Engineer skill and proficiency in repair kits and disintegrators.
• Nerd Glasses: Wears glasses with thick black frames and is the team's dedicated tech nerd.
• The Scrounger: The party finds more fuel when he is present.

Dr. Chandra

Dr. Gopal Chandraputra, Anglo-Indian Antiquarian

• Combat Medic: Can use medical items to heal/reanimate adventurers during a tactical encounter. Like Natalya, he also can intervene in medical-themed events. Unlike Natalya, he can heal at range from the start and then increase that range further, making him the best medic in the game.
• Compelling Voice: He can psychically compel enemies to attack each other.
• Failure Is the Only Option: With a meta-twist. To unlock him, you must get KO'ed fifteen times and then revive such character. As a result, according to Steam, less than 3% of all players have him unlocked.
• Reluctant Warrior: In early versions of the game, his Pacifist trait reduced the damage he did to enemies. Even without this trait, he still expresses regret at having to fight and kill.

Shani

Shani, African Steppe Huntress

• Awesome, but Impractical: Her special ability gives her a 25% damage boost against Undead, all while she comes with the highest Agility of all characters, running through half the map as if nothing. In the same time, she's terrible at fighting zombies, due to being melee-exclusive. Zombies retaliate in melee if not killed in single shot. Meanwhile, Infected explode upon death, dealing damage to everyone standing next to them. Add to this the fact she can only ever equip Light Armour (which can in turn be only increased in value at cost of the badly needed damage upgrades she needs too), meaning she'll constantly keep taking damage. Oh, and she doesn't gain the Cleave ability (attacking up to 3 targets at once) only at the very final level. When facing anything else than the undead, she's even worse, given how Nazis tend to shoot back. As a result, she's Pereira, if he was useless.
• Crippling Overspecialization: She can't use any ranged weapon, though she's the best melee fighter of the game.
• Fragile Speedster/Glass Cannon: Very mobile, low protection (can only wear light armour), a below-average amount of hitpoints, but inflicts huge damage if she can reach her target.
• Fur Bikini: Wears one with a claw/tooth necklace.
• Machete Mayhem: Her starting weapon is one (technically belongs to the knives class).

Rose

Rose Sheffield, American Adventuress and Mystic

• Badass Bookworm: Aside from her martial abilities, she has significant knowledge of the occult.
• Combat Medic: Can use medical items to heal/reanimate adventurers during a tactical encounter.
• Master of None: Can use three different weapons, but isn't particularly good at any of them. Her versality is however very useful in Hardcore plays, allowing flexible approach to the situation.

Annabelle

Annabelle Césaire Montserrat, Caribbean Freelance Aviatrix

• Adventurer Outfit: Visually, she wears an aviator outfit (complete with the aviator leather helmet and the assorted goggles).
• Gunslinger:
  • To even unlock her, you need to pull 15 kills using Double Shot from any of the pistol-wielding characters.
  • Annabelle has very high Dexterity, boosting her aim, along with variety of perks to make her already good pistol skills even better.
• Weapon Specialization: Pistols. She starts with a nice bonus to Crit Chance and almost all of her level-ups are dedicated to making pistols even better.

Le Fantôme

Le Fantôme, French Burglar Legend

• Domino Mask: Part of his burglar get-up.
• Fragile Speedster: Starts with the Sprint skill, and his traits make him both deal and receive more damage than usual.
• French Jerk: Can use heal items... on himself.
• Gratuitous French: His name means "the Ghost" in French.
• Luck-Based Mission: It takes 35 successful Evades to unlock him (enemies missing their attacks don't count). Evasion can only be performed by characters using Low Profile (which takes 2 Bravery and is something only characters wearing Medium Armor can do), and there's a small chance any character can Evade an attack when targeted). This means he's 2nd least unlocked character according to Steam data.
• Heal Thyself: He is able to use medical supplies during a tactical encounter, but only on himself. At 5th level, he can finally gain ability to heal others, but at a price of perks boosting his own damage or armour.
• Psychic Powers: At the final level he gains ability to Set a Mook to Kill a Mook. Very handy.
• Stealth Expert: His Shadow perk allows her to intervene in sneak-related events. He is a famous thief, after all, and his nickname is explicit.
• Weapon Specialization: Either he focuses on knives (at which he can excel and has a starting bonus) or he becomes Master of None.

Donut & Fenris

• Canine Companion: Donut is a white wolfhound. Fenris is a black hound with German googles and a German nametag.
• Crippling Overspecialization: Melee attack only. They're dogs...
• The Dog Bites Back: Fenris is a literal example. He fled because the Germans abused him (or so the player party assumes), and he has a trait that makes him inflict bonus damage to the Germans.
• Logical Weakness: They're dogs... Their equipment can't be upgraded, doesn't provide any protection, and they only have a melee attack.
• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Invoked during the dialog which plays when the party recruits Fenris. The last human party member notices Fenris obviously bears German equipment but doesn't seem hostile. They assume Fenris deserted because the Germans abused him.
• Secret Character: Only appears when the party suffered losses and is reduced to a single member during.

The Nazis

Colonel von Ortzen

• Authority Equals Asskicking: Represented by an officer during the tactical encounter at the end of "Wrath of God".
• Big Bad: Leads the Nazi expedition of the "Wrath of God" adventure.
• Faux Affably Evil: Politely engages conversation with the heroes, while forcing them at gunpoint to pick up the mysterious artifact which may be very dangerous.
• Nazi Nobleman: Implied by his name.

Captain Rueckhert

• Big Bad: Leads the Nazi expedition of the "Dreams in the Desert Sand" adventure.
• The Unfought: Dies during a cutscene when drinking the strange liquid which fills a pool in the chamber of Kharga Serabit.

Nazi Troops

• Angry Guard Dog: Among their basic units are attack dogs, which appear to be German shepherds.
• Authority Equals Asskicking: Officers have more hitpoints than mooks and buff them if one is present.
• Combat Medic: One of the types of enemies. They carry guns, but most of the time they heal injuried Nazis (or themselves).
• Mooks: Nazi Troopers are the most common Nazi unit, but lack protection or special abilities (contrary to the Elite Mooks).
• Elite Mooks:
  • Shock Troopers are armoured enemies wielding shotguns.
  • Snipers aren't very tough (and are unarmoured), but can use the same "Ambush" special action that is available to sniper rifles' wielding adventurers.
  • Teslaborgs are another armoured German enemy. They wield disintegrators.
• Faceless Goons: Shock Troopers' sprites have armoured facial masks.
• Gas Mask Mooks: Teslaborgs wear gasmasks with their Stahlhem.
• Shoot the Medic First: As mentioned above, Medics treat wounded Nazis, and letting them live will likely make battles longer and more tedious. They are counted as enemies and must be killed to complete a tactical encounter, anyway.
• Those Wacky Nazis: The main enemies are the mooks of the Nazi archaeological expeditions.

The Khonesh Brotherhood

In general

• Cult: A nebulous organization with sinister goals, dabbling in sorcery and necromancy.
• Necromancer: Their mooks are zombies.
• Scenery Gorn: Cultists and zombies are usually encountered in either devastated areas full of corpses and gore, or in defiled places filled with piles of skulls.

Cultists

• Bald of Evil: Have shaved heads which, along with their clothing, make them look like ancient Egyptian people.
• Molotov Cocktail: Not a proper Molotov Cocktail but a weapon using the same principle: their ranged attack consists of tossing pots filled with burning sulfur.

High Priestess

• Mook Maker: Can "resurrect" already killed zombies.
• Power Floats: Levitates above the floor.
• Shoot the Medic First: The Brotherhood answer to the Nazi Medic.

Zombies

• Elite Zombie: Along with basic zombies, there are also the Infected (explode when killed) and the Spore Bearers (have a ranged attack which can paralyze its target).
• Mooks: Play this role to the Brotherhood.
• Our Zombies Are Different: Reanimated by black magic.
• Zombie Puke Attack: Infected and Spore Bearers' ranged attacks look like they spit something green.

Turash-Ka, the Black Pharaoh

• Greater-Scope Villain: You need to stop the Brotherhood from awakening him.
• Metatwist: In works where the heroes need to stop the villains to summon or awaken an ancient evil, they usually are too late and need to fight the ancient evil to succeed. In the game, the adventurers manage to stop the ceremony before it reawakens him, averting the common trope You Can't Thwart Stage One.
• Nepharious Pharaoh: The Black Pharaoh. Besides the sinister nickname, a successful resurrection of him would be "terrifying" and the goal of the team is to stop it.
• The Unfought: The awakening ritual is stopped before being completed during the cutscene introducing the episode's final battle, so you don't even need to fight him personally.

Other characters

The player character

• Non-Entity General: The player's avatar isn't one of the party members but the unnamed, unseen leader of the expedition.

Morten

• Distressed Dude: Rescuing him is the goal of the "A Friend in Need" adventure. When you finally find him, he's about to be shot by a Nazi firing squad. The tactical encounter which follows features him tied to a pole in the middle of camp.
• Hostage MacGuffin: As mentioned above, rescuing him is the goal of the first adventure.
• Noodle Incident: When you rescue him:
  You won't believe what I got my hands on in Casablanca! Too bad the Nazis took everything. Ah well, maybe another time...

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