Assassin Blue

Assassin Blue is a story-heavy platformer created by Greg Lobanov ("Banov").

A massive war is happening for an unknown reason. Small regions are fighting and massacring others for the sake of their power-hungry leaders. The titular assassin, who is only known by his codename, became an assassin under one of those leaders with the promise of stopping the war. He justifies the dozens of deaths on his hands by believing that each one brings the war closer to an end, and therefore saves more lives in the long run. However, he can't lie to himself forever, and his orders keep nagging at the back of his mind more and more as the story goes on.

While the plot is not spectacular, it is still a decent game overall.

Tropes used in Assassin Blue include:

Authority Equals Asskicking: The first boss is the president of an unnamed company, and is tougher than the guards you fight on the way to him. Averted with an unnamed senator, and Blue and Red's boss.
Boss Rush: An unlockable feature.
Charged Attack
Combo: You can buy additional ones in the bonus shop.
Cool Sword
Creator Backlash: The game has a surprisingly high demand for a sequel, much to Banov's annoyance.
Doomed Hometown: Blue's motivation for vowing to end the war at all costs.
Dragon Their Feet: Red
Dual-Wielding: Red.
Even Evil Has Standards: Both played straight and subverted, by Blue and Red, respectively.
Heroic Sacrifice: Blue's brother did this to save him before the game started. Subverted; he miraculously survived and eventually became Red.
Giant Space Flea From Nowhere:
- The Tomb Guardian.
- Gunther.
Just Following Orders: Blue's excuse for killing. Of course, he begins to take responsibility later on.
No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Blue to his boss at the end.
One-Hit Kill: Blue can do this to normal enemies after breaking their guard or right before they attack. The latter takes inhuman reflexes to pull off consistently.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: The colors are completely inverted with Blue and Red.
Small Name, Big Ego: Subverted by Blue. He's about as awesome as he claims to be.
Too Dumb to Live: Extreme example with the man Blue is supposed to kill to prove his loyalty.
Turns Red: After you get a boss' health down to about half, a cutscene plays and they start to use an additional attack. Fittingly, Red does this multiple times.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: Blue initially believes that by killing his targets, he's bringing the war closer to its end. He then turns into a full-on Knight Templar when he rebels against his boss.