The game follows a duke named Alcedornote , who, after becoming disillusioned and tired of the violence that the crusades brought, returns to his homeland of Upel. Unbeknownst to him, in his absence it has now been infested by both the undead and demonic forces, with only a handful of living people still around. As his adventure begins, you shall decide the fate of this land and its people, whether for the better or for worse.
The gameplay and overall style is reminiscent to Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, with upgrades for your equipments, and it includes a feature of a Morality System depending on your actions, and this reflects on your ending as a result.
Here are the official
, announcements and launch trailers from Berzerk Studio and Arcade Crew's YouTube accounts. You can also check out the game's website and Twitter account.
On October 24, 2022, an update was released for Halloween which adds a secret character called "The Stranger" who's an homage to the Evil Dead series, which can be seen here.
On April 5, 2023, an update titled "Deux or Die" was released which added local co-op and introduced the new optional 2P character of Cervul, Alcedor's squire with a completely different set of weapons and moves inspired by the Upel NPC guards.
Infernax provides the following tropes:
open/close all folders
A-K
- Ability Required to Proceed: Several areas require the use of skills or spells in order to proceed, such as Precision Strike to break the cracked walls, Guided Strike to break cracked floors, Skycall to reach high platforms, Holy Charge to pass Kastka Palace's tricky platforming segments, Familiar to flip out-of-reach switches, and Thunderstorm/Firestorm to reveal Stormheim Castle.
- Acid Pool: Acid pits are one of three types of liquid hazards that will instantly kill Alcedor if he so much as falls into them. Having this happen will cause a similar death to falling in lava, where Alcedor gets vaporized by the liquids.
- Always Chaotic Evil: Demons and undead are presented as utterly, irredeemably evil. In the two scenarios that involve either sparing or killing them (the Caged Demon and Remus), sparing them will lead to innocents being killed, with the latter causing a hit to Alcedor's karma meter.
- And Then John Was a Zombie: In the Evil ending, Alcedor survives his encounter after killing Belphegor, but the evil within him turns him into an undead wretch who gets chased away by Upel's soldiers.
- Anti-Frustration Features:
- Casual Mode can be switched on at any time (but can't be turned off again) and it removes the Checkpoint Starvation element of dungeons by adding a checkpoint midway through that replenishes the player's health and lives, as well as letting them teleport to the entrance should they need to stock up on items. It also grants the player an extra life and doesn't lock them out of any content. After a patch, the pits of lava and water no longer kill instantly.
- If the player wants to avoid the stronger enemies that come out at night or needs a specific time of day for a quest, they can rest at an inn for free or buy a cheap Time Warp spell from the second town and swap from day to night.
- Most platforming-focused areas (like Stormheim Shore) don't have more enemies during the night, since the enemies there are supposed to be a distraction, not the main challenge.
- No matter how much damage Evil Alcedor does to the towns, he can still buy items from shops and stock up on potions for free. The fact that the healing potions are for free at all makes the game easier in general.
- The Hell Cherubs in the Ultimate Good path is a Dual Boss that pits Alcedor against two degraded versions of Apollyon. Unlike Apollyon, who can only be damaged in the belly when it's open, the Hell Cherubs' faces also become vulnerable to damage when their bellies are open, allowing the battle to be much quicker.
- The Corruptors of Mind in the Ultimate Good path is a Dual Boss that pits Alcedor against two degraded versions of Leviathan. If one of them is using the tentacle sweep attack (which must be jumped over), the other will never use the Wave-Motion Gun (which must be crouched under).
- Any Last Words?: In the Good path, Alcedor asks Mayor Edgar at the gallows if he has any last words. Edgar uses them to plead for mercy and say that he won't do any evil again, but Alcedor is having none of that.
- Art Shift: Most of the gameplay is in a modernized NES art style, but certain cutscenes are given more beautiful and gory detail in quite amazing pixel art.
- Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: The credits of the Redemption ending show Alcedor (and Cervul) ascending into Heaven.
- Asshole Victim: Several bastards get what they deserve in both paths, mostly the good one.
- Mayor Edgar is not just incompetent and a coward, but a traitor as well. In the good path, he is hanged for his crimes.
- The cultist Philippe gets a very karmic one if you help Wilfred the injured soldier. When the cultist returns to kill him a second time, Wilfred simply kills him first with an axe in the face.
- You can murder Remus the skeleton in cold blood, despite his insistence on being harmless. While he will help you if you spare him with no backstabbing, this is still the good choice, as not only is the person who asked for a hit on him exactly right about him being a threat to her and her family, but he also has Brutus torture a wizard to death to give you a spell if you spare him.
- Robert the cultist leader is this in both ultimate paths. In the good one, he goes down like a punk, shot by Tancred's men. In the evil one, you kill him and take his place, even mocking his delusions. Considering he caused a lot of damage and is implied to be guilty for the invasion just as much as Baphomet is, he deserves it.
- Attack Its Weak Point: Bigger bosses have defined weakpoints you can attack to either actually damage them or just do extra damage against them.
- Attack Reflector: The Precision Strike skill allows Alcedor's melee attacks to deflect most physical projectiles back at enemies. This is required to beat Mammon.
- Auto-Scrolling Level: The battle against Alastor is a Platform Battle above a huge pool of acid while the screen slowly scrolls to the left to reveal more platforms.
- Back-to-Back Badasses: If Cervul is alongside Alcedor, most cutscenes and moments that focus on Alcedor will have the trusty squire cover his back while looking over towards where Alcedor is facing.
- Badass Armfold: Cervul seems to be a fan of such. Expect to see him doing this pose a lot in cutscenes.
- Badass Biker: In the "Future" ending, Alcedor has a slick Harley Davidson-like motorcycle as a transport. When playing with Cervul, he also gets a bike of his own as the two ride off into the sunset.
- Badasses Wear Bandanas:
- Alcedor wears a red headband, a rather defining part of his outfit. It's the only original part of his outfit that he keeps on his person in the "Future" ending, with his armor being replaced by a more modern yet still badass tanktop, finger-less gloves, pants, and boots. He wouldn't look out of place in Contra.
- In the same path when playing with Cervul, he replaces his chainmail coif with a matching blue bandanna instead.
- Badass Normal:
- Tancred's forces don't employ any magic, but they're still able to repel the undead that stalk the countryside, and despite their dark magic, the cultists have to spend almost the entire game mustering a force large enough to take Darsov. Should Alcedor and Cervul turn evil, they'll be greeted with a ballista and Tancred, as well as his captain and sergeants, show themselves to be some of the most dangerous enemies in the game. Special mention goes to the Axe Sergeant, who fights like a ninja that jumps around and throws unlimited axes everywhere, and Tancred, who can not only take a beating, but can dish out one as well with his surprising mobility.
- Just like the soldiers of Upel, Cervul doesn't have any magic of his own (at least in the Good paths). While Alcedor is a Magic Knight, Cervul is a simple squire with a relatively normal arsenal, consisting of: throwing axes, a crossbow, a pavise, and a banner. Yet he can keep up with Alcedor with no problem, as they are Boring Yet Practical.
- Baphomet: Several scenes will show a very brief red flash with a silhouette of Baphomet. He turns out to be the true Big Bad and True Final Boss of the Ultimate Good ending.
- Barbarian Hero: Axcedor, one unlockable character, is a shirtless warrior with a loincloth, fur/leather boots and an unruly mane of hair. He looks a lot like Conan the Barbarian or your stereotypical barbarian warrior.
- Beast with a Human Face:
- Before its boss fight, Crocell is initially shown as a green-colored woman's face in the dark before the rest of its misshapen, frog-like body is revealed.
- The Lord of Maggots appears to be a giant green maggot with the head of an old, bearded human bishop wearing a black, pentagram-marked mitre.
- Belly Mouth:
- Kalamon's belly appears to have a huge mouth from which its guts hang out. It goes along with the eyes in place of its nipples to appear like a giant, secondary face.
- Crocell's belly has a giant mouth, which is used to spawn Imps and Roaches during its fight.
- BFS: Certain bosses carry large swords when engaged in combat. If Alcedor himself chooses the path of evil, he will swap out his mace and shield for a longsword. You can forgo the evil route and start with the longsword if you name your save Swordcedor.
- BFG: In the path towards the "Future" ending, Alcedor and Cervul wake up in modern times and have their weapons replaced with machine guns. Ones that have been repeatedly blessed then passed down through multiple generations and marked with multiple holy sigils. They can easily defeat most foes, even when they also use technology. They're the only weapon that can put the Final Boss Azazel down for good.
- Big Creepy-Crawlies: One of the enemies is a giant arthropod.
- Big "NO!": In the Good Path, when the cultists desert Mayor Edgar for his failures, he shouts out a "NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!" as he kneels down, defeated.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing:
- The Old Hermit will promise you rewards if you burn the villages, but fight you to the death if you refuse.
- Remus asks for you to spare him and says he is harmless. While he will help you if you do so, he is still a sadist who brutally has two civilians killed.
- Robert, who in the beginning pretends to be just a vagabond, is one of the main villains in the game and the leader of the cultists.
- Bloody Horror: Copious amounts of red bodily fluids to enhance and compliment the horror. Several bosses will explode into a shower of blood and guts when they're killed, often covering Alcedor and Cervul in them.
- Blood-Splattered Warrior: Deal enough damage to enemies and you'll quickly be covered in their blood.
- Blue Is Heroic:
- Alcedor's magic in the Good path are colored light-ish/white-ish blue with his mace and armor becoming a whiter and brighter shade of blue when they reach their final upgrades.
- The co-op character Cervul wears a blue tunic to make himself stand out from Alcedor and if you continue to follow the Good path he will continue to wear that tunic. Meanwhile going for the Evil path will have him replace it with a red one instead.
- Body Horror: Most of the demons and undead are obviously not lookers, and all of them are hideously deformed. Some of them even have their guts hanging out, such as Kalamon.
- Book Ends: The start of the game features an Aberration smashing through the gateway into Darsov. On an Ultimate Evil playthrough, this will happen again, only this time with Alcedor on the side of the invaders. On an Ultimate Good playthrough, a stronger Aberration is smashed by the gate of Darsov instead.
- Boss Bonanza:
- In the Ultimate Good path, Urzon Citadel has several encounters with enemies based off previous boss battles, many of which are Dual Bosses.
- In the Ultimate Evil path, the siege of Darsov has Alcedor face a few boss enemies, including two Sergeants, a Scorpion ballista, the Captain, and finally Tancred.
- Boss in Mook Clothing: Several of the cultists fought in the end game of the Ultimate Good ending are just men in pointy hoods with spears. They'll end you quicker than some of the Fake Ultimate Mook demons they fight alongside.
- Bottomless Magazines: Most likely one of the blessings given to the machine guns that Alcedor and Cervul use in the path to the "Future" ending, as they can shoot an endless amount of bullets like any Run-and-Gun worth their salt.
- Bottomless Pits: Like most, they are in this game. However, the death scene shown after falling in one reveals that down below are a long set of spikes.
- Brick Joke: If you deal with the caged demon by setting it on fire (and never put it out of its misery), a post-credits scene will show it still burning.
- Carry a Big Stick: Alcedor's starting weapon is a simple round-headed mace. He can get different types as the game goes on. Alternatively, he can forego maces all together and arm himself with a BFS should he turn evil.
- Checkpoint Starvation: Casual Mode places save shrines in several dungeons, often at the halfway point to allow Alcedor to save, heal, upgrade, and replenish lives. Classic Mode removes all save shrines in dungeons, making every dungeon this.
- Combat Tentacles:
- Kalamon's guts can unfurl to attack Alcedor from above.
- Leviathan has tentacles in place of legs, and can use them to sweep the area when it goes underwater. Should one of these kill Alcedor, it will proceed to impale him brutally. Likewise, its Degraded Boss version the Corruptors of Mind also sport the same tentacle sweep attack, albeit slower.
- Halphas has a tendril in each hand that it can use like a Grappling-Hook Pistol, allowing it to grapple across the room. Should it kill Alcedor, it uses one to throw him hard against the wall.
- Abbadon has a multitude of giant tentacles, which it can use as a Death Course that must be shot at to deter them, or attack from the top and bottom of the screen after tracking Alcedor's position.
- Close-Range Combatant: While other humanoid enemies use throwing axes, spears, or magical fireballs as projectiles, Alcedor is restricted to just his mace or sword. In the late game, he finally gains the ability to enchant his weapon with Holy Light or Hellfire and have it shoot fireballs, but given the cost of the spell, this isn't something he can use constantly without a lot of mana potions.
- Cosy Catastrophe: One would assume that burning the villages to the ground would render them useless to you, but if you leave and come back, life apparently is business as usual for the residents, most of which just go back to what they were doing despite the partly-destroyed houses and being lit on fire not long before. It's justified for the sake of gameplay: The stores and various questgivers still need to be available for the player to utilize.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Alcedor can be killed in a myriad of ways by enemies and obstacles, which is shown in silhouette as blood and guts fly all over the screen. A creepy little song indicates how long it takes until he actually dies — if he gets beheaded, for example, the song promptly cuts off. Quite a few deaths have the song keep playing as Alcedor is subjected to a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown until the Fade to Black.
- Cutscene Boss:
- Robert in the Ultimate Good ending path. After dispatching his skeleton and cultist guards, he gets unceremoniously shot down by Tancred's guards mid-rant. Also in the Ultimate Evil Path, if you choose to usurp him, he will still go down without a fight.
- If you choose to kill Remus, Alcedor kills him in a cutscene instead of fighting him. The main danger actually occurs when his ally Brutus sets the house on fire and turns the way out into a Death Course to kill Alcedor in revenge, then tries to get revenge again by fighting you later.
- In the Ultimate Evil ending, Alcedor uses the Necronomicon to have Abbadon tear Belphegor apart, skipping the latter's boss fight. Likewise, in the Ultimate Good ending, Alcedor uses the Necronomicon to open a portal to Hell in order to invade it, at which point Baphomet reaches out to grab Belphegor by the face and violently drag him into the portal while crushing his head, killing him.
- Cyborg: The True Final Boss Azazel in the Future path is a huge, cybernetically-enhanced demon complete with laser-shooting Arm Cannon.
- Dead Guy on Display: When Mayor Edgar gets hanged en route to the good ending, the residents of Kastka have the discourtesy to leave his body hanging at the gallows for the rest of the game. If you come back later, you'll find crows eating his corpse, starting with his eyes.
- Decapitation Presentation: In the Ultimate Good ending, Alcedor is shown doing this with a demon's head as he and his army rid Upel of any remaining demonic influence.
- Defeat Equals Explosion: The enemies explode when defeated.
- Degraded Boss: Aside from the Skeleton Knight, who has some more powerful types showing up later through the course of the game, it itself is encountered several times in one Bonus Dungeon. Then there's the Abberation, which has lesser copies showing up in the last regular dungeon of the game, and several armored versions during the Golden Ending of the good path.
- Dem Bones:
- Skeletons are one of the more common enemy types, even with variants in the form of horned skeletons.
- The Skeleton Knight is a sidequest boss who attacks with its blade and a Shockwave Stomp. Brutus is an Underground Monkey version of him. The Crypt Skeletons in the Hidden Crypt are Degraded Boss versions of the Skeleton Knight which are fought as normal enemies.
- Remus is a skeleton who can be talked to, and also Brutus' friend, who gives him orders.
- Demon of Human Origin: Just before the True Final Boss fight on the Ultimate Evil path, Alcedor uses the power of the Necronomicon to transform himself and Cervul into winged demons in order to fly into Hell and face off against Abbadon, which turned out to be a necessity since they're fighting over a lava pit with no solid ground in sight. After killing the elder demon, the transformed duke and squire proceed to take over Hell's legions to launch an renewed campaign of terror across Earth.
- Demonic Possession: A game filled with demons would naturally have a few people possessed by them:
- The very first karmic choice has Alcedor deal with a possessed man. Killing him will end his life; attempting to save him will cause Paimon, the demon possessing him, to messily and painfully transform him into the first boss.
- A sidequest involves having to cure a woman's possessed husband. Depending on whether Holy Light or Hellfire is used on him, he will either be purged of the demonic influence and reunite with his wife, or have his transformation into a demon fully completed before killing his wife.
- One quest has a priest possessed by an unknown demon, as he floats in the air with ominous pink clouds surrounding him. Alcedor can deal with this by either finding Gregor to exorcise the man, or by simply killing the possessed man.
- Getting killed by a Night Fiend or a Night Beast will cause them to jump inside Alcedor before making him violently explode.
- Devil, but No God: Downplayed. We definitely know that Heaven and angels exist, as they whisk away Alcedor's soul in the Redemption ending. But despite all the demonic forces wreaking havoc in the physical world, we don't see any angels or forces of Heaven taking an active role to fight them off.
- Devious Daggers: When going under the Evil path, one of the new tools Cervul can have are poisoned throwing daggers.
-
Difficulty Spike: While Valeshire Keep and Cobbelton Necropolis can be fairly challenging to new players, they are somewhat forgiving in their enemy and obstacle placements and offer short routes to the altars outside if you need to recover your Health and Magic. Stormheim Castle however is a very different story; Not only do you have to interpret a puzzle to summon the dungeon in the first place, once inside most of your platforming involves jumping on top of rotating water wheels above water that will instantly kill you, and the dungeon is filled with Deep Ones that will leap out of the water to chase you down, as well as Red Eyes with the same movement pattern at the notorious Medusa Heads from Castlevania. Both of these can knock you down into the water, yet even should you survive these odds, there are no shortcuts back to the entrance this time. This mens you will have to retread all previous rooms with respawned enemies to replenish your Health and Mana. Good luck! - Directionally Solid Platforms: Some platforms can be walked on but can also be jumped through from below.
- Dirty Coward: Mayor Edgar is this in spades, and often relies on his bodyguard for actual combat. On the Good path, shortly after his bodyguard is disposed of, he's caught killing Joann and Timothy, and he immediately attempts to retreat into the Cultists' hideout, but the cultists leave him behind with Alcedor for revealing their hideout. He's less so on the Evil path — while his sole contribution in the attack on Darsov is to flip a table and hide behind it to block a ballista from shooting him, he did it primarily to protect Alcedor.
- Dual Boss:
- A number of the battles in the Urzon Citadel on the Ultimate Good Ending path involve facing rehashes of previous bosses, only that you're now attacked by two of them, one from each side. They're usually weaker and more vulnerable than their earlier boss variants, but still tough fights.
- The Ultimate Evil path pits you against an Axe Sergeant and a Sword Sergeant at the same time during the siege of Darsov. Thanks to their tendency to jump around and corner the player as well as the former's projectile spam, it can be a surprisingly tough fight for two relatively minor human characters.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: Averted, very notably. Since Alcedor is a noble, some people respect him from the very beginning. Also, every sapient character you help, from the town guards to the sparable villains, will be really grateful and might even help you in return. Only the caged monster attacks you for your help, and it is implied to be mindless.
- Drought Level of Doom: Urzon Citadel in the Ultimate Good path is a Marathon Level with tons of powerful enemies, several Mini-Boss encounters, and a few tricky platforming segments. In Casual Mode, there's a save shrine that allows Alcedor to heal up. In Classic Mode, there are none. Hope you brought enough healing potions, mana potions, and Elixirs, which can only be replenished at towns!
- Earn Your Happy Ending: The intro of the game shows us Alcedor, tired of the violent crusades. Many crusaders took the journey, thinking that they were to liberate the Holy Lands, but they only found harmless families and pacific cities. For him, the crusade was anything but holy. Skip to the Ultimate Good ending, where Alcedor is wielding a Holy weapon, a relic from the heavens, and he creates the true crusade, where righteous knights will drive demons away from the lands of Darsov.
- Even Evil Has Standards: A small example by one of the cultist NPCs: One briefly questions the excessiveness of the cult's actions when they start sacrificing people to summon demons.
- Evil Costume Switch: If Alcedor and Cervul join the cultists, they will change their white/blue crusader attire to a red set, and their armor upgrades get darker instead of lighter, eventually turning Red and Black and Evil All Over.
- Evil Is Easy: Several evil choices tend to require less effort than the good choices, with many of them involving less combat or even avoiding boss fights altogether:
- The first choice of the game involves dealing with a possessed man. The good option of saving him causes him to turn into a Boss Battle. The evil option to kill him just ends him then and there, skipping the boss fight altogether.
- The quest for the brigand on the bridge has the brigand attempting to bribe Alcedor into letting him go after catching him threatening an old man. Should Alcedor take the Good option to refuse the bribe, he'll have to fight and kill the brigand in combat. The Evil option of accepting the bribe skips the fight and Alcedor gets a nifty extra 100 gold on top of saving the old man the brigand was threatening (though the old man decides to leave the area entirely for his own safety) and the monetary reward for completing the quest anyways.
- Two different quest givers will ask Alcedor to destroy Arkos' dam and burn all the villages. Should Alcedor take the Good option of never accepting, the former will turn into a Wolfpack Boss against a group of Specters, while the latter turns into the Faceless One, a full-fledged Boss Battle. The Evil option doesn't require doing any combat when complying with their orders.
- To deal with the possessed priest, the Good option requires finding Gregor to exorcise the man, and Alcedor needs to kill a werewolf boss to access Gregor's abode. The Evil option is to simply slay the possessed priest there and then.
- There are two ways to deal with the murderous skeleton Remus. The good option of slaying him will save his target, but his ally Brutus will burn Remus' house and turn the way out into a Death Course, and Alcedor is forced to fight Brutus later on in order to obtain the Dove spell. The evil option of sparing Remus will cause him to kill his target, but Alcedor gets a safe exit from his house, a slightly higher gold payout, and the later fight against Brutus is skipped entirely while Alcedor gets the Fiend spell in a cutscene.
- The Ultimate Evil path lacks a long endgame dungeon with tons of enemies and bosses compared to the Ultimate Good path, although the Attack on Darsov does contain its own Boss Bonanza. Also, you have unlimited ranged attacks and flight against Abaddon, while Baphomet is a race between his health and your magic.
- Evil Versus Evil: What the Evil and especially the Ultimate Evil path ultimately boils down to. Alcedor fights the demonic forces solely because he wants to be the one in charge of Upel when it's over, while almost any demons not directly controlled by the cult just want to kill everyone. It doesn't quite work out on the Evil route where he turns into a zombified wretch after killing Belphegor, but it does on the Ultimate Evil route where he not only kills off Belphegor and Abbadon, but successfully becomes a powerful demon and takes control of a demon army to become feared both on Earth and Hell.
- Evil Virtues: For a bunch of murderers and demon-worshippers, the cultists are very loyal to each other. Especially Edgar, who's a Dirty Coward in all paths except the evil one, where he'll actually warn Alcedor about the ballista being shot at him and throws a table sideways to shield them both from it. In fact, the only cultist capable of betraying them is Alcedor himself, by way of abandoning their cause mid-game or backstabbing Robert in the endgame, and in the only other two cases the cultists betray someone, Handsome Hans and Mayor Edgar, it was pragmatic, as they became more trouble than he was worth with their incompetence and failures.
- Extreme Omnivore: Of the Unpicky Eater variety. When Alcedor ends up eating some rotted wall chicken, he immediately barfs out large amounts of green bile. If Cervul is with him, however, the squire will actually be sucking some green residue off of his gauntlet's fingers and say that it reminds him of his mother's cooking. He must have been training an iron stomach.
- Eyes Do Not Belong There: A good number of demons have eyes in unnatural spots, and these are often their weak points:
- Kalamon has eyes replacing its nipples, which goes along with its Belly Mouth to give the appearance of another face on its torso.
- Leviathan has an eye in its belly that can fire out a Wave-Motion Gun. It also has eyes on its hands, which it uses to cast fire spells.
- Apollyon has an eye in its belly that opens up to fire out fireballs or spawn eyeball mooks.
- Crocell's mouth opens up to reveal a giant eye that fires a Spread Shot of fireballs.
- Faceless Eye: One of the enemies is a floating eyeball.
- Failure Is the Only Option: The Ultimate Evil path has a quest that will be failed — killing Tancred, his guards, and optionally destroying their ship at the Shores of Upel before they can make land. While the guards and the ship can be destroyed, Tancred will survive and escape in a cutscene no matter how much damage you deal to him, as his Story-Driven Invulnerability only expires during the siege of Darsov if you assist the cultists.
- Fake Ultimate Mook: The endgame is filled with quite a few, several of them recolors of previously fought bosses.
- Fallen Angel: On the Ultimate Good path, the hellish inner sections of Urzon Citadel have angelic enemies called Fallen. They fly, can take a beating for their size, Teleport Spam, fire painful aimed projectiles, and appear in groups, which makes them very dangerous enemies.
- Fan Disservice:
- Crocell's introductory cutscene has the face of a rather alluring green-skinned bald woman appearing in the dark. Then, the rest of "her" body is revealed, which resembles a misshapen, giant, Belly Mouthed toad with lumpy tumours in place of where "her" breasts should be.
- Baphomet has a pair of human breasts. He's also a goat-headed demon who is not pleasant on the eyes.
- Fanservice Extra: The two naked demon girls at Alcedor's feet in the Ultimate Evil ending.
- Fighter, Mage, Thief: The three unlockable bonus characters that you can play as are Axcedor, an axe-wielding barbarian with high attack, Gardakan, a wizard who uses spells with regenerating mana and very poor defense, and Maxime Gunn, a long-ranged gunner who plays more like a Contra character.
- Fire and Brimstone Hell: Urzon Citadel is transformed into one in the Ultimate good path.
- Fish People: Stormheim Castle is filled with Deep Ones, fishman-like enemies whose primary purpose is to jump out of water pits and knock Alcedor in. If they do land on the ground, they prove to be fast and can even fire fast projectiles, but are thankfully very fragile.
- Flaming Sword: One of the skeleton types wields a sword that is on fire.
- Flunky Boss: Several bosses have the ability to spawn smaller enemies:
- The Necro fought in the barn only teleports around while summoning zombies.
- Mahalmon can spawn flying eyeballs from its belly.
- Kalamon can drop skeletons into the battle via cages.
- Apollyon can spawn flying eyeballs from its belly when it's flying.
- Crocell can spawn Imps or Roaches from the mouth on its belly.
- The Faceless One can use its hands to pull zombies out of the ground.
- Paimon's true form will often climb on the ceiling and drop showers of eggs that spawn Roaches.
- Baphomet can summon two different kinds of enemies: Demonic bats from a pentagram symbol, or a swarm of eyeballs from its belly.
- Gameplay and Story Segregation:
- Alcedor always takes center stage in all the cutscenes, meaning the secret bonus characters will show up as regular Alcedor in them. The worst case of it is when going down the future route with Maxime Gunn: Normally when playing as Alcedor, you no longer have access to your skills when in the future (you'll still have your spells) since you're essentially a new character. This is still the case as Maxime Gunn despite having all the appropriate gun-centric upgrades — you will lose all of them when in the future.
- The non-Ultimate paths end with Alcedor and Cervul being mortally wounded and the former either dying or becoming a zombie (Cervul always dies regardless). This happens even if you didn't take a single hit during the final battle.
- Genre Shift:
- The game is mostly Castlevania-like taking place in medieval times and with most of your attacks needing to be up close and personal. But, if you take the path to the "Future" ending, the game will take a hard shift in genre, as Alcedor and Cervul get sent several years into the future, waking up in modern times, where they are greeted by the descendants of the people of Upel, who have kept holy machine guns that have been blessed several times and passed down several generations for safekeeping as weapons the heroes can use to finally purge the demonic forces. The game then turns into a Run-and-Gun action game like Contra, with Alcedor and Cervul even sporting similar outfits to the main protagonists in those games.
- The final battle of Ultimate Evil is an Unexpected Shmup Level where Alcedor and Cervul sprout demonic wings and fly through hell shooting fireballs at Abbadon.
- Get Out!: If Alcedor chooses to expel Robert and his cultist vagabonds from their initial campsite, he will issue them a stern "GET OUT!" while pointing away.
- Giant Hands of Doom: The Optional Boss Faceless One is a classic case of this, being a wraith-like robed and hooded torso with 2 giant floating hands to cast spells and pull up zombies from the ground with. You can focus damage on the hands to take them out first.
- Golden Ending: No less than three. Ultimate Good sees Alcedor and Cervul purge the cult, slay Baphomet, and cleanse Upel; Ultimate Evil has them carve out an empire from both Upel and Hell; and the Future route leads to freedom and a new beginning for our heroes. In order to get any of these endings, they must obtain the Necronomicon before entering the Urzon Citadel.
- Good Is Not Soft: As the Content Warning about "ACTS OF VIOLENCE IN THE NAME OF JUSTICE" indicates, Alcedor is brutal towards those he goes up against, even in the Ultimate Good route where he is at his most virtuous. Examples include abandoning Mayor Edgar to be hanged even when the latter wets himself in fear, caving in Baphomet's skull, and holding up the severed head of a demon with a grim look on his face.
- The Goomba: The zombies are slow, weak and fragile, and very very common. They are fodder in the earlier areas.
- Gorn: It wouldn't be a Berzerk Studio game if there wasn't copious amounts of Ludicrous Gibs and gore. Several bosses in particular will explode into showers of blood and gore when killed, covering Alcedor and Cervul in their viscera.
- Go-to-Sleep Ending: Sleeping five times in the inn will cause an alternate ending which is a Homage and piss-take of the ending to Super Mario Bros. 2, which shows the world quite literally going to Hell in a handcart outside without a hero to save it, while Alcedor blissfully snoozes away.
- Grappling-Hook Pistol: Optional Boss Halphas sports a tentacle-like appendage in each hand that functions as this trope, allowing him to grapple the walls and ceiling to move around. Should he defeat Alcedor, the death scene has him use them to throw Alcedor into the wall hard.
- Guide Dang It!: The player will need to complete the majority of sidequests to reach the Ultimate Good or Evil endings, and some are hidden in obscure places or require using a spell in ways that aren't obvious.
- There's a questgiver in a lone hut on the Shores of Upel, the starting area. The player has little reason to backtrack to this area, and if they happen to do so at night, then the door will remain locked.
- An Evil sidequest involves burning all three villages. The game provides no clue that the way to do this is by casting the Thunderstorm or Firestorm spell. Likewise, doing so is also the only way to destroy the boat that Tancred and his guards arrive in on an Ultimate Evil path.
- Some events like a mugging or the caged beast only take place if the player travels through a specific area at night.
- The extremely useful Teleport spell is located in a random hut the player cannot access on their first trip, on a path the player has little reason to return to.
- The player is used to using their Thunderstorm spell as an attack, so it may not occur to them to use it to summon the Stormheim dungeon, which only appears during storms. Talking to the people at the Stormheim Shore inn will mention them seeing the castle during a storm, but those are the only hints you'll get.
- Hard Levels, Easy Bosses: Several of the dungeons contain rather hellish platforming segments where one mistake is an instant life loss thanks to water, lava, acid, or Bottomless Pits. The bosses, in contrast, have rather predictable attack tells and oftentimes deal less damage than the enemies in the area.
- He Knows Too Much: The cult will attempt to silence Handsome Hans despite him being a member because he keeps blabbing about their location and activities to everyone who will listen (and many who would prefer not to) and he's too big of a security risk. On the good path, Alcedor will have to save him from an assassination attempt in order to obtain the password for the Tohan Passage hideout and Hans runs off to go into hiding...in Kadjanto Peak, just under the hideout there. On the evil path, the cultists in the Tohan Passage hideout will task Alcedor himself with silencing Hans, which he can do or spare him to run off... assuming that Alcedor doesn't lose his patience listening to Hans' poor attempt at begging and strangles him before the prompt can even come up.
- Healing Checkpoint: Shrines will refill Alcedor's health and mana, and will also restore any lost lives in the process.
- Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: The only kind of headgear on Alcedor's head is a red headband. This is even more noticeable in the intro where his fellow crusaders wear different kinds of crusader/knight helmets, and his squire Cervul wears a chainmail coif over his head.
- The Hero Dies: In both the endings of the Good and Redemption paths after the battle with Belphegor. While the ending of the former shows that the villagers are building a memorial statue of Alcedor in his honor, the ending of the latter shows that the angels and demons are waging war over the dying Alcedor and Cervul's souls, before the angels triumph and carry them away into the heavens above. This kinda sorta also happens in the Evil path ending, but it also doesn't (in two-player mode, Cervul succumbs to his wounds alongside him even in the Evil path).
- Heroes Prefer Swords: Zig-zagged; only as a villain does Alcedor wield a sword, but if he is named "Swordcedor", he can still stay on the path of good while wielding one. It's an interesting contrast to his mace, which can become spiked, but only if he continues the good path.
- I Can Rule Alone: On the Ultimate Evil playthrough after winning the Battle of Darsov, Robert will tell Alcedor to kneel before him and become his apprentice, declaring that together they will rule all the lands now that the cult stands triumphant. Choosing to submit results in the Submission ending, while choosing to kill Robert has Alcedor slam his sword through Robert's face and taking the Necronomicon for himself with the full intent of going even further than that by taking over Hell's legions for himself.Alcedor: No, Robert. You are not the Chosen One... I am.
- I'm Cold... So Cold...: If you left Tancred and his army to fight on Mt. Kastka, but then returned to find most of the army dead, Tancred will tend to a wounded soldier before the latter says, "It's cold... so cold..." indicating that the soldier may not survive.
- Inexplicably Preserved Dungeon Meat: Parodied. Eating the wall chicken just causes Alcedor to get sick and vomit, questioning what he was thinking when he decided to eat it. For even more hilarity, if Cervul is with him, the squire will actually state that it reminds him of his mother's cooking.
- Karma Meter: Certain actions will give Alcedor positive or negative karma points, which influences the choices he can take as well as the endings he can obtain.
- Klingon Promotion: In the Ultimate Evil path, Alcedor can choose to off Robert instead of submitting to him after he successfully takes over Darsov. This makes Alcedor become the new leader of the cultists.
- Konami Code: As part of its heavy Castlevania (and other NES titles) inspirations, the Classic Cheat Code is present in the game. Inserting it at the title screen results in unlocking and starting the game as a futuristic gun-shooting protagonist, Maxime Gunn.
L-Y
- Lava Pit: Starting from Valeshire Keep, pits of lava start to appear.
- Ledge Bats: The game milks this for all its worth with some particularly nefarious Airborne Mook placement around moving and shifting platforms over pits of certain death. Honorable mention goes to Stormheim Castle, which loves having Deep Ones jump out of the water at you as you navigate rotating waterwheels.
- Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards: The playable wizard character starts with atrocious defense, and each attack will drain his mana, so early game will be focused on picking your fights and managing your mana so you won't be caught off-guard and unable to fight back. But his mana regenerates, so if you can get far enough to get the screen-clearing Thunderstorm or Drain Life, you get to spam it with impunity.
- Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me:
- While not as prominent as his mace or magic, Alcedor's shield provides useful cover against most projectiles launched at his direction. Evil Alcedor drops this in favour of a longsword/claymore.
- Cervul the trusty squire can carry a pavise (a large oblong shield) to protect both him and Alcedor.
- Magic Knight: Alcedor is a badass crusader that is well-versed in both might and magic, already having some experience fighting in the crusades and even starting the game with a decent amount of mana.
- Mana: Player's special attacks require mana to cast.
- The Many Deaths of You: Most enemies and obstacles you die from will feature a scene of Alcedor getting brutalized by them. Expect being stabbed to death, burned alive, or even getting blown to bits. Or drowned.
- Meaningful Background Event: In Urzon Citadel, at one point you can see Baphomet rise from a mountain of skulls in the screen before he faces off against you.
- Mercy Invincibility: The player is invulnerable for a few seconds after being hit.
- Money Spider: Killed enemies soon start to drop money, whether they are skeletons, floating eyeballs, or critters.
- Moral Event Horizon: In-universe, sacrificing Jarvis to the cultists will deem Alcedor and Cervul beyond redemption and lock players out of the good paths. Before this, they can commit a few evil deeds but still be redeemed. The achievement unlocked for doing this is appropriately named "Devoid of Redemption". However, if you do the minimum amount of evil quests and deeds needed to unlock the mission to sacrifice Jarvis, do so, and then do enough good deeds to push your morality back into the positive, it's possible for Alcedor and Cervul to get the Redemption ending.
- Muggles Do It Better: During the Siege of Darsov in the Ultimate Good path, the Cultists send an armored Aberration that's completely immune to damage, even from Alcedor and Cervul's weapons and magic. It's taken down by having the spiked town gate close on it, impaling its head.
- Multiple Endings: Quite a few of them to go around, some of them morality-based*:
- Coward: After killing their first enemy, Alcedor decides that he and Cervul should hightail it out of there, leaving on the ship they came from in the direction they arrived.
- Drowsiness: Alcedor chooses to sleep heavily in the inn rather than fight the demons and monsters infesting the land, as the village burns outside his window.
- Submission: After helping Robert take over Darsov, Alcedor submits to him and he and Cervul become his servants in conquering the lands.
- Good: Alcedor and Cervul defeat Belphegor, but both succumb to their wounds. Alcedor, however, is hailed a hero and a statue is erected in his honor.
- Evil: Alcedor and Cervul defeat Belphegor, but while Cervul succumbs to his wounds, Alcedor barely survives. However, he's little more than a zombified wretch who is chased away by the guards of Upel.
- Redemption: Alcedor and Cervul defeat Belphegor, but both succumb to their wounds. Despite the evil deeds they had done, their selfless sacrifice in saving Upel gives them a chance at redemption, and both are escorted to Heaven by two sets of two angels each before two demons can get to them.
- Ultimate Good: Alcedor and Cervul defeat Baphomet, giving them an ultimate victory against the demonic invasion. With Father Henry's help, they destroy the Necronomicon and Alcedor gathers an army of warriors to purge the rest of the evil from the lands.
- Ultimate Evil: Alcedor and Cervul defeat Abbadon, furthering their thirst for conquest. With Upel no longer enough for him, Alcedor uses the Necronomicon to start a reign of unholy terror across both Hell and Earth.
- Future: Alcedor and Cervul defeat Azazel in the future. They then celebrate the end of their quest and ride into the sunset on motorbikes, towards whatever the future may hold.
- My Master, Right or Wrong: As of the Deux or Die update, Cervul will unquestionably have Alcedor's back no matter what path the latter takes, adjusting his own morality based on Alcedor's.
- Nice Day, Deadly Night: Stronger and more aggressive enemies roam the lands at night. A few side quests can also only be done after the sun goes down.
- Nothing but Skulls: The backgrounds in the Fire and Brimstone Hell.
- Not Quite Dead: If Paimon is killed at the start of the game, the wife of his vessel will reveal that his spirit isn't gone yet. Alcedor can help her to revive Paimon, then put him down permanently this time.
- Not Quite the Right Thing: Played With in the very first choice of the game. Alcedor encounters a possessed man who begs the crusader to kill him. Doing as he says and killing him to end his life and misery might seem like a good idea, but his wife will witness this and despise Alcedor for killing her husband. Attempting to save him will cause the demon possessing him to painfully and messily transform him into the first boss, and when killed, his wife will also witness this, but understand that Alcedor tried to save him, giving him more respect and a sidequest.
- Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: Some cultists claim to be trying to create a better world, but their Obviously Evil methods and spiteful actions show that they're only really in it for themselves.
- Obviously Evil: While the karma meter isn't visible, it doesn't have to be, as the evil characters you can side with all play this straight.
- Robert and his cult. Even before their true nature is officially revealed and they're posing as simple vagabonds, they look and act incredibly shifty and seem nonplussed about the demonic invasion.
- Edgar, the Mayor of Kastski, treats his citizens very horribly and appears just as shifty as Robert. Turns out, he's also working for the cultists.
- There are two different sidequest-givers who request Alcedor to do rather horrific deeds for them (burning the villages, and destroying Arkos' dam to flood it). The latter even speaks in a way that is extremely suspicious. If Alcedor refuses them outright, they drop their human guise and turn out to be ghostly monsters that will attack him.
- Whenever you have to side with the humans or a hideous monster, siding with the monster is always the evil choice.
- Omega Ending: The only way to fight Azazel and get the Future ending is to fill up most of the Demonology codex, which requires both Ultimate Good and Ultimate Evil runs.
- Orcus on His Throne: Belphegor is introduced just sitting on his throne, whilst his demonic minions and cultists ransack the countryside.
- Painful Transformation: The first living human that Alcedor meets on Upel is a possessed man who's clearly contorting in pain. Trying to save him will cause the demon possessing him to horrifically and gorily transform him into the first boss, Paimon, starting with causing his heart to burst out of his ribcage, with the man's last words before transforming even being "NO! PLEASE! IT HURTS!"
- Platform Battle:
- Alastor's battle is an Auto-Scrolling Level which involves various, semi-randomly placed layers of floating platforms over a pool of instant-death acid where Alastor pops up from.
- Azazel's battle takes place on six platforms above the lava, and his attacks can knock Alcedor off the platforms if the player is not careful. To make matters dicier, Azazel will periodically spew three fireballs which temporarily take out any platforms they land on.
- Post-Defeat Explosion Chain: Bosses, when defeated, produce series of explosions.
- Potty Failure: In the Ultimate Good ending path, this happens to Mayor Edgar when he's caught by Alcedor and his soldiers, and brought to the gallows for hanging. The section of his robes around his groin gets a darker patch that spreads downwards, indicating that he pissed his pants.
- Power Up Letdown:
- The Firestorm spell is an upgrade to the Thunderstorm spell on an Evil path. Despite its much longer duration, it's arguably less effective, as it requires the fireballs to actually touch enemies to deal damage (while Thunderbolt just hits everything on the screen), and it also deals less damage to bosses.
- Cervul's axes eventually get replaced with small bombs that explode into flames on the Evil route. While the fire does extra damage, it lacks the axes' ability to go through walls, heavily cutting the versatility of Cervul's standard attack. In the same route, Cervul's crossbow eventually gets replaced with poison daggers, which do poison enemies for bonus damage but has no upgrade to pierce enemies, which arguably made the crossbow THE weapon to go to for quick enemy clearing.
- Press Start to Game Over: It's possible to die before fighting your first enemy by jumping off the boat into the water; however, the boatman will repeatedly try to stop Alcedor and push him back until he finally gives up after eight times. Because of this, it's actually much faster to get a Game Over from being killed by the first enemy within 2 hits, or earn a Non-Standard Game Over by killing it, returning to the boat, and choosing to get out of there.
- Promoted to Playable: Played with Cervul, who is his own character, yet his moveset and weaponry are heavily influenced by the Upel Guards.
- Protagonist Journey to Villain: It's possible for Alcedor to slip into villainy depending on his choices and actions, eventually joining the cultists and, in the Ultimate Evil ending, completing his transformation from protector to unholy scourge. Same goes when he brings Cervul with him, as his trusty squire follows his master no matter what.
- Purposefully Overpowered: When playing as him with a fresh save file, Maxime Gunn is exactly as overpowered as you would expect a gun-wielder in a platformer designed around close-range combat to be. The 30 extra lives only hammer home the lack of difficulty.
- The Quiet One: Alcedor becomes eerily much less talkative after turning evil. All but two lines exclusive to an evil Alcedor are Visible Silence.
- Rank Scales with Asskicking:
- The high-ranking demons are far stronger than the monsters working under them. It's shown best when Baphomet easily kills his top enforcer, Belphegor, for his failure to keep Alcedor from getting the Necronomicon.
- The heroic warriors of Darsov follow this to the letter, which is well-shown in the Siege of Darsov if you are evil. The soldiers, while they have several moments of competence, often exist to get killed. The Sergeants are mostly quest-givers, but a couple of them can be very dangerous in battle. A Captain is enough to be considered a boss on his own if you face him. And finally, Tancred is immortal whenever he fights by your side, and a very tough fight when you face him in a duel. If Alcedor himself, who is above even Tancred in the Good path, being the Duke, helps Tancred in the Siege, he still can be the most valuable asset for the defenders of Upel.
- Rated M for Manly: You play as a hardened Crusader that bashes and slices giant demons to death in orgies of blood and gore. This becomes more prominent and over-the-top in the "Future" ending: Alcedor is shown shoving his machinegun into a giant demon's body and shooting, then generally firing in the sky while screaming as blood and organs fall from the sky and later Riding into the Sunset with his Cool Bike. Manly? You bet!
- Redemption Rejection: The guardsmen and priests plead with and urge Alcedor to change his ways once he turns evil and has negative morality. Depending on your actions, he can either avert and go for the Redemption ending or play this straight and commit to one of the Evil endings. Played straight in the mission to kill Tancred in the Shores of Upel, where Tancred pleads with Alcedor one last time to give up his evil ways, with no option but to attack him and his soldiers.
- Religion of Evil: The Cultists led by Robert worship the demons and even attempt to sacrifice people to summon them.
- Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: Three of the demons fought in the game are named after those in the Ars Goetia — Paimon, Crocell, and Halphas.
- Retraux: The game is a tribute to the NES era of games (mainly Castlevania ones) and features sprites that are stylized after NES graphics, although with a few obvious modern touches and improvements.
- Sacrificial Lamb: The game certainly can't get enough of these, with a lot of NPCs that get introduced as semi-important, only to get killed later. The trope takes a literal turn when you start actually sacrificing them on behalf of the cultists. With special mention going to the couple, Joann and Timothy: One of them will die on the evil path, but on the good path, they both die.
- Sadistic Choice: Subverted with one "Choose Fate" sequence where you get a choice of sacrificing a husband or wife right in front of the other, causing the survivor to fall into despair. At this point, it matters little, since Alcedor's turned to the cultists' side.
- Savage Spiked Weapons: Inverted interestingly, the rounded mace that Alcedor starts out with can be replaced with the spikier Magic Mace and Holy Mace if he continues the Good path. A contrast to the longsword that Evil Alcedor can be armed with.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: One secret ending is achieved if, after killing the first enemy, you return to the boat and choose to sail away from the now cursed land of Upel. Doing so gets the game to mock you by unlocking the "Book of the Coward", whose cover is a crying portrait of Alcedor.
- Sheep in Sheep's Clothing: Caroline of Kastski. She sends you to slay a monster, saying he threatens her family. Said monster immediately protests he is no threat and asks to be spared, so she basically sent you to commit murder in cold blood. However, everything she says about herself and her target is the truth, and trusting her is the good choice both on paper and in practice.
- Shockwave Stomp: A number of bosses in the game are capable of performing a Sword Plant Meteor Move which causes a ground shockwave to emit upon landing. Even Alcedor himself can gain a similar attack too once he learns the Guided Strike skill.
- Short Range Guy, Long Range Guy: Alcedor and Cervul, respectively. Alcedor starts out with a basic mace and shield, allowing him to consistently deal damage in close-quarters while shrugging off certain projectiles. Cervul, on the other hand, starts out with an unlimited amount of throwing axes, which travel in an arc, thus leaving him vulnerable up close. Cervul can also unlock a crossbow with infinite bolts, but it needs to be reloaded between shots, so the result is that he's still left open.
- Shout-Out: The game really loves its references, see here.
- The Siege: The Ultimate Good path starts with Robert laying siege to Darsov with an army of cultists and Demons, requiring Alcedor to defend the town alongside Tancred and his men. It's inverted in the Ultimate Evil path, where Alcedor is the one helping Robert lay siege to Darsov with an army of cultists and demons against Tancred and his guards.
- Siege Engines: One miniboss fought in the Ultimate Evil path during the attack on Darsov is a manned scorpion ballista. Most of the "battle" is a Corridor Cubbyhole Run where Alcedor needs to advance while timing his jumps to evade its incredibly-damaging giant flaming arrows.
- Skippable Boss:
- The very first boss Paimon can be skipped entirely if Alcedor chooses to kill instead of save the possessed man. This also locks you out from fighting Paimon's true form.
- On the Ultimate Good and Ultimate Evil paths, the normal Final Boss Belphegor is unceremoniously killed by either Baphomet or Abbadon, respectively. On the Future path, you never even meet him.
- Slasher Smile: Alcedor sports a psychotic wide-mouthed grin in his character portraits if he turns evil. He sports an especially malicious one as he kills Robert after aligning with him for most of the game.
- Sleeves Are for Wimps:
- Future Alcedor/Maxime Gunn wears a red tanktop while Future Cervul wears a blue one; hilariously for Maxime, the descriptions for his tank top armors mention de-sleeving or how protective it is despite having no sleeves.
- The Stranger starts out with an otherwise normal shirt with the sleeves cut short. He then gets a different shirt, then a sleeveless leather vest, then finally is a metal chestplate that still leaves the arms exposed.
- Smashing Hallway Traps of Doom: Spiked crushers act as a hazard.
- Spikes of Doom: Spikes can be found throughout the game and have to be avoided.
- Spread Shot: Many bosses and some enemies can shoot their projectiles this way. Also, when playing as Future Alcedor or Maxime Gunn, using the Holy Light or Hellfire spell will make your shots do this.
- Squishy Wizard: Gardakan boasts impressive range with his magic spells and self-regenerating mana, which is balanced out with his laughably atrocious defense. To get an idea of that, when starting fresh, the first enemy in the game can One-Hit Kill him.
- The Squire: In the "Deux or Die" update, we are introduced to the 2P characer of Cervul the squire. Fittingly, his playstyle focuses on ranged combat and offering support to Alcedor; for the former he has throwing axes and a crossbow while for the latter, he has a pavise, a banner, and bandages.
- Stationary Boss:
- Crocell doesn't move from its spot during the entire fight against them.
- The Scorpion ballista on an Ultimate Evil path doesn't move from its end of the corridor and can even become inert should Alcedor attack the guard manning it. However, getting to it is a Corridor Cubbyhole Run in itself where Alcedor must jump over its powerful flaming bolts.
- Mammon, being a Tennis Boss with a spike pit dividing it and the player, also doesn't move from its spot.
- Stock Femur Bone: Grey skeletons explode into dozen femur bones when defeated. Amusingly, these also fly out of some of the dead bosses' corpses/heads should you go on bashing them after their defeat.
- Story-Driven Invulnerability: In an Ultimate Evil path, Tancred will always survive your attack on him and his guards at the Shores of Upel, no matter how much damage you and your cultists deal to him. This is because his Plotline Death occurs during the Attack on Darsov, where the player can finally kill him for good.
- Summon Bigger Fish: In the Ultimate Evil ending, Alcedor uses the Necronomicon to summon Abbadon, whose tentacle promptly drags away and kills Belphegor.
- Super Drowning Skills: Just like in some retro games, water usually means death (though not instantaneous) for our main character. Somewhat justified as Alcedor is decked out in full heavy armor (sans helmet), so he definitely isn't cut out for swimming. Not quite as justified with the three secret characters, who all dress a lot lighter.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: In one Castle, you can find some wall chicken… and it turns out that meat that's been left to rot in a wall isn't very tasty or healthy. Hilariously, however, while Alcedor barfs his guts out, if Cervul is with him, the squire actually enjoys the rotted wall chicken, even saying that it reminds him of his mother's cooking.
- Sword and Gun: The Stranger wields a sturdy stick (which can be upgraded to a crowbar) in one hand and a shotgun in the other, though he usually keeps the latter holstered on his back.
- Tennis Boss: Mammon is fought this way. It's impossible to reach it with melee attacks thanks to a huge spike pit separating you from it, and it will attack you with large balls of demonic energy or small pellets. Both can be hit back into its eyes with your mace.
- Tom the Dark Lord: The head cultist who leads the sect summoning all matters of demons is named Robert.
- Underused Game Mechanic: The Skycall and the Holy Charge abilities are required to get past the game's platforming challenges and are useful to avoid enemies and their projectiles. Guided Strike generates a Shockwave Stomp, but its ability to break floors is only ever needed once, as part of the path leading to Hidden Crypt. It doesn't help that said attack is the reward for the optional mission where Alcedor has to face Mammon.
- Unexpected Shmup Level: The fight against Abbadon in the Ultimate Evil path gives Alcedor unlimited flight and fireball shots as he fights the demon in a manner akin to a Horizontal Scrolling Shooter.
- The Unfought: Mayor Edgar is never fought in any path. In the Ultimate Good path, he's captured by Alcedor and sent to the gallows after his cultist allies betray him for failure. In the Ultimate Evil path, he's your ally.
- Unique Enemy: There is only one Crucified in the entire game, and it's the very first enemy that Alcedor faces. Crucified are never encountered again for the rest of the playthrough, they are merely replaced by the zombies.
- Ungrateful Bastard:
- The Caged Monster is the only being in the game that plays the trope straight, as it will attack you if you try to reason with it.
- Subverted with Remus. While he is a bastard, he is not ungrateful if you spare him, even giving you a slightly bigger gold reward than if you killed him, and will help you at the expense of civilians.
- Upgraded Boss: The Skeleton Knight is an optional early-game boss with two attacks, a basic melee attack and a Shockwave Stomp Sword Plant. Bosses that are based off him appear later on, but with more health or extra attacks:
- Brutus is fought if the player kills Remus, and he not only looks like the Skeleton Knight with a pale-blue and green color scheme, but also fights exactly like them while sporting more health and attack power.
- The Champion of Rot fights like the Skeleton Knight but with an extra move, namely a dash attack that requires Skycall to jump over.
- The Champion of Hell in the Ultimate Good path has both the Shockwave Stomp and the dash attack, but also adds teleportation to its arsenal and its basic attack also causes a huge wave of fire to travel across the ground.
- The Very Definitely Final Dungeon: The entire game is built around unlocking the door of Urzon Citadel. Opening the door results in a torrent of screaming skulls pouring out of the door.
- Video Game Caring Potential: You can save soldiers' lives. The gold you get afterwards will make you feel better than the gold that the enemies drop.
- Video-Game Lives: Alcedor can buy extra lives (represented by a heart) in stores and starts with one on Casual Mode. If Alcedor dies, he restarts the area he was in with one less life unless he had none, in which case it's back to the last save point. Save points incidentally replenish any lost lives. Inputting a specific code into the Game Wizard will give Alcedor 99 lives right off the bat.
- Villain Forgot to Level Grind: In the Ultimate Good path, the third Cultist base you raid has the Cultist High Priest summon an Aberration to fight Alcedor. It's just about as strong as the first one, and by now Alcedor's weaponry and spells are far more than a match for it. The High Priest behind said Aberration actually has more health and deals more damage than it.
- Villain's Dying Grace: The Werewolf boss thanks the Duke for freeing him from his torment and opens the way before finally succumbing to his wounds.
- Villains Want Mercy: Edgar's last words when he's about to be hanged for his crimes is him pathetically begging for his life and promising to be good from then on. Alcedor's response is to bluntly tell the executioner to get on with it.
- Warm-Up Boss:
- Paimon can be fought four screens into the starting area of the game, and its fire breath attack is very predictable and avoidable. Even if it corners Alcedor, it cannot hit the very rightmost edge of the screen.
- Should the player decide to skip Paimon, the Aberration would count as this. Its giant cleaver is a slow and easily telegraphed attack that can be avoided by either staying away, or by crouching at a short distance in front of it. Furthermore, it also gets Left Stuck After Attack for a short while, making it unable to attack until then. You also have the help of some guards who provide a good distraction at the very least.
- Was Once a Man: The (possible) first boss Paimon is a monstrous, skull-faced demon with an exposed ribcage containing its heart. This used to be a possessed human that Alcedor meets, and there's even a horrific scene of the man's transformation if the player chooses to attempt to save him.
- Weak Boss, Strong Underlings:
- Mayor Edgar is a Cutscene Boss who drops his sword once confronted by Alcedor. His goon is about twice as strong as the normal cultists.
- Remus is much weaker than Brutus, as the former goes down in a single hit and the latter is probably the strongest skeletal enemy. However, the former gives him orders because he is far more calculating, while Brutus is destructive and just smart enough to set traps.
- Played with with Robert. His fighting skills are nonexistent, while the cultist leaders put up more of a fight. However, his summoning skills are the strongest, as his officers needed rituals to summon one demon, while Robert can summon a whole army of skeletons without rituals.
- Welcome to Corneria: Several villagers' dialogue does not get updated as the game carries on, which becomes noteworthy seeing as Alcedor can go from trusted Duke to feared scourge over the course of the game. Most notably, the lady at Darsov Inn will still say "It's good to see you m'lord" even after he has set fire to the town, slaughtered its knights and priests, and brought it under the control of a demon-summoning cult.
- What the Hell, Hero?: During the Ultimate Good questline where you need to raid the three Cultist hideouts, it's possible to back out and let Tancred and his guards clear two of them instead of following them in to assist them. Doing so will result in casualties and Tancred harshly chewing out Alcedor (and results in an appropriately named achievement, "Sins of Omission"). This can't be done for the third hideout, however, as you're forced to go in before Tancred's men due to an important story cutscene.
- The Worf Effect: On the Ultimate Good and Ultimate Evil paths, the normal Final Boss Belphegor is unceremoniously and easily killed by the True Final Boss Baphomet and Abbadon respectively in order to help hype up the inevitable showdown Alcedor and Cervul will have with them.
- You All Look Familiar: A lot of the NPCs reuse character portraits but not necessarily always using the same sprite. It gets a lot more egregious when some other NPCs are clear palette swaps, despite the reused portraits.
- You Have Failed Me:
- In the Ultimate Good path, Mayor Edgar attempts to retreat into the cultists' hideout tunnel to save himself from Alcedor and his guards. Seeing that he revealed the hideout location to Alcedor, the cultists collapse the tunnel with a fireball and leave Edgar to be captured by Alcedor for punishment. Granted, what Edgar did goes beyond "failure" into "actually screwing his allies over", so it's a little hard to blame them.
- In the Ultimate Good Ending, Baphomet kills Belphegor for failing to stop Alcedor from getting this far.
