History VideoGame / Iconoclasts

* AnAesop:
** Take time to grieve over the deaths of your loved ones. If you don't, you may act irrationally and lash out in ways you'll later regret. [[spoiler:This bites both Elro and Agent Black ''hard.'' Elro makes a huge mistake that essentially kickstarts the conflict of the game because he didn't think rationally when Agent Grey was simply asking him to calm down and Agent Black slowly goes off the deep end demonizing Elro and Robin for what Elro did instead of taking Chrome's advice and taking time to come to terms with the death of Grey.]]
** Don't let yourself get weighed down by what other people expect of you. Each of the supporting characters are weighed down by what is expected of them (or what they expect of others) and what that costs them personally, while wrestling with their own selfish impulses that only make things worse. Robin, on the flipside, is characterized by her staunch devotion to doing whatever she can to help regardless of what anyone thinks, and her sense of self-sacrifice makes her a true hero.

** Elro is a KnightTemplarBigBrother of the first order, and his actions [[TheMillstone cause more problems than they solve]]. [[spoiler:In particular, he started the whole affair by killing Agent Grey in a MomentOfWeakness, which fueled Agent Black's hatred for him and his family, including Robin. Later in the game, Elro attempts to confront Black one-on-one, and [[AnArmAndALeg gets his arm ripped off for his troubles]]. Then, when he has to press a button to launch a rocket into space with Robin on it, Elro outright refuses to do it, even though Robin needs to go to the moonbase to save the world. Mina even shoots Elro in the leg to prevent him from leaving. Later on, it's heavily implied that Teegan had to push the button to launch the rocket instead of Elro because of how stubborn he was.]]]]

** Both {{Bonus Boss}}es are tricky to activate, especially for players who make a habit of exploring past areas as soon as they can.

** There is a menu box that shows which tweaks Robin has made, with dots representing tweaks that she hasn't discovered. There are only around fourteen dots in the menu, but enough empty space in the box to hold two more icons; those spaces are for the schematics placed near the two {{Bonus Boss}}es.

** The Roller Bomb's charge shot is a powerful missile with the highest range of any attacks Robin can use. Unfortunately, in addition to the long charge and cooldown time it has, it can only fire straight forward and needs a split second to ready itself before it blasts off; if the missile hits anything in the short range it flies before igniting, the attack is wasted. You'll probably use the missile for puzzle-solving and an incidental enemy or two, since it's all but useless against most bosses[[note]]That being said, occasionally there is a situation where focusing on dodging far from the boss and periodically sending a high-damage missile onto them is a viable option - one such happens to be against difficult BonusBoss.[[/note]]

* BonusBoss: There are two, [[spoiler:Mother's Corners and Fitzroy]], both requiring some serious GuideDangIt to find.

** A BonusBoss says something to this effect. [[spoiler:Leticia sure doesn't, as noted when Robin defeats Fitzroy]].

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:On the one hand, the One Concern theocracy falls, its remaining forces are led by clueless Tolo, andt hey no longer have the power to harass Isi or intimidate peaceful people with the Penance. Robin stops armageddon from occurring by destroying the Starworm and its pilot to prevent him from siphoning off the remaining Ivory keeping the planet together, while nature repairs the planet after she (and potentially Mina) sticks an Isi seed into Starworm's Ivory-infused corpse. It's also implied [=ChemiCo=] Contra are making headway into alternative energy research, like the naturally-occurring energy of the Ferrier Shockwood, to ensure the planet won't come so close to the brink again. On the other hand, the demise of One Concern's transcended leaders like Mother, Chrome and Royal results in dozens of rank-and-file soldiers dying in the civil war, while most pupils at the Tower were killed by Mother's Corners, and the remainder appear unable to adapt to the independent life. The cycle of revenge between Agent Black and Elro ends with the former dying a horrible death, her remains burnt up in the atmosphere as B-17 took off, while the latter is alive, but crippled and embittered. Elro in turn ends up finally conceding the point that Robin is more than capable on her own, and he won't tell Robin what to do anymore. But had he just listened from the beginning instead of being a KnightTemplarBigBrother, things probably wouldn't have turned out so badly for him.]]

** For the purposes of a single playthrough, the Featherweight tweak gives Robin a DoubleJump. But since it's granted after [[spoiler:defeating Mother's Corners]], the effect is basically useless, since all that's left of the story by the time they're available to fight is to fight the FinalBoss. It can still be carried over to a NewGamePlus, however.
** Defeating the game's {{Superboss}} gets you a tweak, but it's a JokeItem called Roulette that's meant to make things more challenging by adding random status effects to Robin.

* ActionGirl: Robin and Mina both travel through the base of One Concern operatives, fight {{Super Soldier}}s, and manage to [[spoiler:topple an entire corrupt regime and save the world at the same time]].

* AGodAmI: Being the physical representative of the Starworm, Mother is prone to this. Royal also shows signs of this, since he's supposed to be Mother's successor.

* AllForNothing: All the pain and sacrifice to get [[spoiler:Royal to the moon to commune with the Starworm ends up not mattering — Royal can't even get the thing to respond to him. He does end up wounding Him, which then allowed Robin to defeat Him, but he could have done that on the planet, too]]. In a larger sense, [[spoiler:all the panic and strife over the Starworm's return ends up not mattering either, since Robin still kicks its ass]].

** Take time to grieve over the deaths of your loved one. If you don't, you may act irrationally and lash out in ways you'll later regret. [[spoiler:This bites both Elro and Agent Black ''hard.'' Elro makes a huge mistake that essentially kickstarts the conflict of the game because he didn't think rationally when Agent Grey was simply asking him to calm down and Agent Black slowly goes off the deep end demonizing Elro and Robin for what Elro did instead of taking Chrome's advice and taking time to come to terms with the death of Grey.]]

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:On the one hand, the One Concern theocracy falls, and its remaining forces are led by clueless Tolo, and no longer have the power to harass Isi or intimidate peaceful people with Penance. Robin stops Armageddon from occurring by destroying the Starworm and its pilot to prevent him from siphoning off the remaining Ivory keeping the planet together, while nature repairs the planet after she sticks an Isi seed into Starworm's Ivory-infused corpse. It's also implied [=ChemiCo=] Contra are making headway into alternative energy research to ensure the planet won't come so close to the brink again. On the other hand, the demise of One Concern's transcended leaders like Mother, Chrome and Royal results in dozens of rank-and-file soldiers dying in the civil war, while most pupils at the Tower were killed by Mother's Corners, and the remainder appear unable to adapt to the independent life. The cycle of revenge between Agent Black and Elro ends with the former dying a horrible death, her remains burnt up in the atmosphere as B-17 took off, while the latter is alive, but crippled and embittered.]]

* ButThouMust: Late in the game, you're forced to commit a PlayerPunch by [[spoiler:leaving Royal on the moon to die. You have to place him near the only device that will open the last door, while he's so overcome with grief upon the revelation that his journey was AllForNothing that he won't even try to save himself. The device which opens the door is literally hanging by a thread, and it's too far away to get through the door with both Royal and Robin]]. Try as you might, the only way to progress forward is to go through with it.

** There are only slight hints that the Usurper Gun's swapping shot works on [[spoiler:City One's gatekeeper]] and [[spoiler:Mother]], and no hints that it can [[spoiler:remove the blue eyes protecting enemies in the Impact Zone]].

** Elro is a KnightTemplarBigBrother of the first order, and his actions [[TheMillstone cause more problems than they solve]]. [[spoiler:In particular, he started the whole affair by killing Agent Grey in a MomentOfWeakness, which fueled Agent Black's hatred for him and his family, including Robin. Later in the game, Elro attempts to confront Black one-on-one, and [[AnArmAndALeg gets his arm ripped off for his troubles. Then, when he has to press a button to launch a rocket into space with Robin on it, Elro outright refuses to do it, even though Robin needs to go to the moonbase to save the world. Mina even shoots Elro in the leg to prevent him from leaving. Later on, it's heavily implied that Teegan had to push the button to launch the rocket instead of Elro because of how stubborn he was.]]]]

* OnlyAFleshWound: Elro is a notable example of this. First, he loses an eye, but gets off with an EyepatchOfPower. Then, [[spoiler:Agent Black rips off his arm, yet he doesn't bleed out (though he does receive medical help from Chrome's army a short while later. He also goes back to wielding his sword in the other hand soon afterwards.]] Lastly, [[spoiler:he is shot in the leg by Mina, severely enough to lose consciousness for a while, and yet eventually regains consciousness by the time Robin gets back from the moon. Again he receives medical help afterwards, but it's unclear how much time passed since then. At the end of the game, Elro is left crippled but very much alive.]]

* PistolWhipping: Mina's melee attack involves using her shotgun like a club.

** Equally, when Royal first suggests his plan to [[spoiler:see Mother to heal Elro,]] neither Robin nor Elro himself bother to tell him that [[spoiler:Elro murdered an agent unprovoked, and so is highly unlikely to receive help at the best of times. Of course, Royal also neglects to mention that he's merely talking about spiritual healing rather than physical healing; had the rest of the party known from the start, they likely wouldn't have bothered trying to confront Mother in the first place]].

'''Black:''' *leaps off of the couch, doing a double AngryFistShake* ''CHROME!!''\\

'''Black:''' *[[HighPressureEmotion entire head turns a deep shade of red]]* ''WHAT ARE YOU DOING?''\\

''[=*=]Black leaps to the podium and punches Chrome off of it*''\\

''[=*=]Black tackles Chrome and [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown proceeds to lay him out]]*''

** There's no getting around an event at Midway. [[spoiler:You have to leave Royal to die on a decompressing Midway, as one scanner is pulled too far away from the door to work while you're carrying him, and the other is just flat out broken, meaning trying to use the Usurper Shot to position him near it would be pointless [[GameplayAndStorySegregation even if it did work]]. The game even twists the knife by giving you way more time than you need to escape, as if to suggest that there is actually a way to save him when there isn't.]]

* RedHerring: [[spoiler:The first time you see a Transcendence chamber it is made very clear that it is a Big Deal. Then Elro gets hurt. Then Elro starts bleeding to death near a Transcendence chamber. Then it is mentioned that nothing can heal Elro's missing arm short of stuffing him in a Transcendence chamber. Then nothing happens.]]

* SadBattleMusic: [[spoiler:The final fight against Black]] has this, though it stops being sad once [[spoiler:she goes OneWingedAngel]]. The same sad music returns outside of battle when [[spoiler:you are escaping from Midway, and are forced to leave Royal behind to die]].

** Robin's GroundPound normally goes straight down. However, it has a minor homing effect when used over an enemy. You'll still land the hit if you attempt to GoombaStomp an enemy but your aim is slightly off.

** In Challenge Mode, Lawrence takes six hits to defeat instead of twelve. Very convenient for a fight [[OneHitPointWonder where one mistake means repeating it]] and you're playing as Elro, who is [[MightyGlacier extremely slow but quite strong]].
** The first boss fight with Agent Black features [[AlwaysAccurateAttack an attack that Robin cannot dodge no matter what]], and [[HPToOne reduces her HP to critical levels]]. As compensation, weak enemies will always spawn right after Black uses this move, and these enemies will always drop health pick-ups.
** A late-game boss fight featuers Robin trapped in a room with poison gas. Taking damage from this gas is unavoidable, with Robin's health bar essentially acting as a time limit for the fight. As compensation, her health drains much slower than any other time where she runs out of oxygen.

* NotSoInvincibleAfterAll: The agents are unkillable agents of the One Concern. Then [[spoiler: not one, but two are killed in quick succession.]]

* GivenNameReveal: Out of all the Agents, we only learn Black's real name: [[spoiler:Madelyn Binoche. Royal reveals Black's first name just before the last boss fight with her, and a plaque on the moon base reveals her last name. This moon base location also gives the real names of several other characters, but there's no indication as to who is who]].

* {{Antepiece}}: When Robin arrives at City One, she's stopped by a gatekeeper, and the only way to get past him is to use the Usurper's charge shot, which pulls him off the high platform and onto the ground. [[spoiler:This weakness is shared with Mother, the boss fought a few minutes after this scene.]]

* GivenNameReveal: Out of all the Agents, we only learn Black's real name: [[spoiler:Madelyn Binoche]].

* HellIsThatNoise: The screams of the mutated [[spoiler:Agent Black]] in her final fight are downright ''bone-chilling''.

* TheHeretic: Well, considering the game is called 'Iconoclasts'...

* HideYourLesbians: Despite how obvious it is from the get-go, [[spoiler:Mina and Samba]] are never explicitly stated to be a couple ([[spoiler:at least until the ending credits]]). {{Justified|Trope}} in that [[spoiler:Isi culture places an extremely high importance on procreation, which likely means same-sex relationships are not tolerated and they have to keep it secret]].

* IllKillYou: One of the late-game bosses, [[spoiler:the DuelBoss in the form of Mother's Concerns]], has the boss vow that they'll rip Robin open and break her ribs for her actions up to this point.

* TurnsRed: Averted. Most bosses tend to become weaker as the battle goes, forced to use less effective and impressive attacks as they become more and more damaged.

* YourHeadAsplode: The demise of [[spoiler:Agent Black's final form, preceded by her uttering "HEAD... ACHE..." for one final time.]]