You Have to Burn The Rope

"1. There's a boss at the end of this tunnel. 2. You can't hurt him with your weapons. 3. To kill him, you have to burn the rope above. -You Have To Burn The Rope "

You Have to Burn The Rope is a Parody of Puzzle Bosses, Platform Games, and possibly video games in general, created by "Mazapan." It may also be considered to be the Mirror Universe version of I Wanna Be the Guy.

Saying anything more would ruin the experience, so just play it here (originally hosted here). It's free. GO FORTH, TROPERS! And if you want to listen to/download the end credits song, here's the link, but don't do so until AFTER you finish the game. Trust us. Many, many spoilers.

Oh and... um, you have to burn the rope. Just sayin'...

Has no relation to the similar-sounding games Cut the Rope and Burn The Rope, other than the fact that ropes are involved.


 * Achilles' Heel: Chandeliers.
 * All There Is to Know About "The Crying Game"
 * An Axe to Grind: The player character's main weapon.
 * Ascended Meme: Given a shout out in the World of Goo level "You Have To Explode The Head".
 * Awesome but Impractical: The axes. You can't kill the with them, and they can't cut the rope.
 * Awesome Yet Practical: You get to drop a chandelier on someone, and it works.
 * Ax Crazy: By repeatedly hitting any button other than the directional keys or space.
 * Battle Theme Music
 * Benevolent Architecture: Lampshaded, just like nearly every other trope on here.
 * Blank White Eyes: The player character.
 * Boss Arena Idiocy
 * Chekhov's Gun: plays a vital role in defeating the final boss.
 * Collision Damage
 * The Computer Is a Lying Bastard: While the instructions claim that you cannot hurt with your weapons, it is in fact possible.
 * Closing Credits
 * Credits Gag: You'll see.
 * Easter Egg:
 * Exactly What It Says on the Tin
 * Expository Theme Tune: A rather strange version of this is seen in "Now You're a Hero," the end credits song. It doesn't explain anything; rather, it just reviews the entirety of the game. Then it asks you So What Do We Do Now? that you beat the game.
 * Expy: The player character is seemingly an Expy of Kirby...and Indiana Jones.
 * Which means...Kirby ate Indiana Jones!
 * Eye Beams: The signature attack.
 * Falling Chandelier of Doom:
 * Final Boss: Then again, he's
 * Flechette Storm: The main character can do this if you type fast enough.
 * Floating Platforms
 * Foregone Conclusion
 * Gameplay and Story Segregation: For some reason, you cannot simply cut the rope with the infinite axes the player character carries around.
 * But of course! You have to burn the rope. As for why, that is the realm of Fridge Logic and Epileptic Trees.
 * Girly Run
 * Gratuitous Panning: In the end credits.
 * Hammerspace: You can pull billions of axes out of nowhere in sequence.
 * Healing Factor: will take damage from your axes, but regenerates faster than you can keep up damage. By hacking the game it is possible to deplete the entire HP bar using only axes, but the  still won't die.
 * Improvised Weapon: The chandelier.
 * Jump Physics
 * Kill It with Fire: You have to burn the rope.
 * Life Meter: The boss has a certain amount of health,
 * Ludicrous Gibs: Well, some gibs, anyway.
 * Meaningful Name: The title. No points for guessing how to beat the boss.
 * Montage / Credits Montage
 * Necro Non Sequitur: Well, sort of.
 * No Arc in Archery: Averted, though with thrown axes.
 * Non-Indicative Name: never grins or even smiles.
 * Painting the Fourth Wall: The instructions and credits are printed beneath the floor of the first level, visible to the player but not the characters.
 * Point of No Return: The Boss Room has the hall seal as soon as you get to the end. In addition, at the end of the hall there is a drop from which you cannot jump back up.
 * Precision F-Strike: "You've manage to beat the whole damn ga-ame"
 * Puzzle Boss
 * Rule of Three: At the start, there are three instructions printed below the floor.
 * Saving the World: In the expository theme ("Now you're a hero, you burned the rope and saved us a-all." This seems to be the only place in the game where this particular plot-point is mentioned, however.)
 * Shoot the Rope: Averted; your normal weapons will have no effect as you have to burn the rope.
 * Shout-Out: The ending song seems to shout out to the ending credits tune from Portal, Still Alive. The lyrics actually scan to the Same tune.
 * So What Do We Do Now?: The end of the credit song.
 * Spoiler Title
 * Strategy Guide: The game's site links directly to the official strategy guide.
 * Storming the Castle: The entire game.
 * Stuff Blowing Up: How dies after you  on him.
 * That's All Folks: After the credits.
 * Title Drop: "3. To kill him, you have to burn the rope."
 * Variable Mix: The music changes the further down the tunnel you go. When you get past the Point of No Return between the third sign and the boss, the music is reduced to a low rumble.
 * Video Game Cruelty Potential: Jump Indy Kirby into the Eye Beams! Jump Indy Kirby into the creature! Jump Indy Kirby into the ceiling! It's got less Ludicrous Gibs than IWBTG, but also far less punishment.
 * Viewers are Morons: The entire game can be viewed as a parody of this.
 * Walking Head: The protagonist.
 * Weaksauce Weakness: A boss you can't harm with infinite axes without healing is totally dominated by a falling chandelier.
 * You Have to Burn the Web: Trope Namer.

By the way, if you'd just clicked the link at the beginning instead of reading all this, you'd have finished the game a few times over by now.