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{{work|wppage=Sacrifice (video game)}}
{{quote|
'''''Sacrifice''''' is a unique breed
The story of the game is about a wizard named Eldred ([[Hello, Insert Name Here|or whatever the player chooses to name him]]), assisted with his familiar Zyzyx, who meets a wise man named Mithras in the aftermath of a great war that has all but destroyed the world. Through a series of flashbacks narrated by Eldred, we learn the story of how he served the five Gods in the game: [[Friend to All Living Things|Persephone]], [[Only Sane Man|James]], [[Deadpan Snarker|Stra]][[Tim Curry|tos]], [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|Pyro]] or [[God of Evil|Charnel]], and how the intervention of his arch-nemesis, [[Omnicidal Maniac]] Marduk, led to the world's present state.
''Sacrifice'' did not gain wide popularity, but garnered cult status.
{{tropelist}}
* [[A Wizard Did It]]: Literally; explains the presence of [[Construct Additional Pylons]].
* [[Aerith and Bob]]: The five gods are Persephone, Stratos, Charnel, Pyro, and... James?
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* [[An Ice Person]]: Stratos, and of course his servants.
* [[Animate Dead]]: This handy spell is available if you serve Charnel. Despite the moniker, it actually serves more as a straight-up resurrection, sparing you the Mana and time expense of collecting the souls and re-summoning the creature manually.
* [[Anti
{{quote|
'''Mithras:''' A lord? Or perhaps a king?
'''Eldred:''' A tyrant, more like. You would have thought me an evil man.
'''Zyzyx:''' [[Deadpan Snarker|Most people did.]] }}
* [[Anti
* [[Attract Mode]]: This was introduced in later patches.
* [[Awesome but Impractical]]: Death. Insta-kills a certain number of creatures but won't harm wizards and has no Friend/Foe identification, so if you try to capitalize on the situation and move in (or your opponent runs out of creatures) he might go for your army instead. Mostly he just leads to your opponent having to collect a few souls and teleport away in irritation. Furthermore you can tell when your opponent is casting it, so a good human player will just teleport away and leave the caster footing the bill. He ''is'' good for cleaning up heavily guarded manaliths, but those are rare in multiplayer.
** And then there is the tactic of repeatedly summoning Manahores (1 mana when even a basic spell costs 300) and collecting their souls as they are killed. Repeat until the kill limit is reached and Death vanishes.
** All 5 top-tier spells have this a bit. Volcano is great against well-guarded manaliths but on the open battlefield your enemy can move out of the way before it erupts and the blast prevents you from taking any souls of creatures that do get killed. Meanstalks don't do much except throw units in the air for a bit. Bore can utterly destroy units but can't be used near manaliths and is relatively easy to avoid. And unless you get lucky and throw a few units of the edge of the map, tornado only delays the units it sucks up for a bit (though you can cast a cloudkill at the same position to do some more damage to the trapped enemies.)
* [[Back
* [[Beware the Nice Ones]]: James makes it clear that he does not want to fight, but if he's pushed into it he can be really dangerous.
* [[Big Bad]]: You'd expect Charnel to be the [[Big Bad]], but really it's Marduk. And {{spoiler|Stratos is the reason Marduk's here. Charnel's evil but he's on your side here}}.
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* [[Blow You Away]]: Stratos's spells tend to do this; his most powerful spell summons an actual tornado.
* [[Boring but Practical]]: Shield spells and most of the first level blast spells. Stratos' Lightning is the crown example: It has a measly 200 mana cost and an extremely short recharge time, but will kill most level 5 and 6 creatures in two castings without much trouble.
* [[Card
* [[Charm Person]]: Persephone's ultimate spell. Basically insta-gibbing on steroids; you get a new unit, *and* if it gets killed, its soul is now blue to you instead of its original owner's.
* [[Chronic Backstabbing Disorder]]: Thestor switches from Persephone to Charnel in Persephone's first mission, only to turn right back if you kill his underlings before killing him. He stays loyal for the rest of Persephone's campaign. Faestus switches from Persephone to Pyro in Pyro's first mission. If you at any point attack Pyro's capital of Helios, he will switch sides to your side and stick with you for the rest of the campaign no matter whom you serve.
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* [[Evil Versus Evil]]: Serve Pyro or Charnel, and the two ''will'' eventually come to blows. {{spoiler|Stratos will also be joining in.}}
* [[Face Heel Turn]]: {{spoiler|Sorcha}} pulls this off in {{spoiler|Pyro's 9th mission}}.
* [[Faux Affably Evil]]: Charnel is very jovial and cheerful for a [[God of Evil]], especially compared to the odious and crude Pyro, but he nonetheless delights in wickedness and evil. In a less-evil example, Stratos seems charming and courteous but it soon becomes apparent he has an [[
* [[Famous Last Words]]: Nearly everyone has one. Except {{spoiler|the Gods you kill}}, for some reason. Possibly justified in that they technically aren't dead, just put out of action for a few generations.
* [[Fantasy Pantheon]]: ''Sacrifice'' has a Pantheon of five gods -- James, Charnel, Stratos, Persephone and Pyro.
* [[Fate Worse Than Death]]: "Charnel, death is not the answer to everything." "True... Torture also has its merits"
** Repeated as a [[Brick Joke]] after completing the game serving Charnel, regarding Eldred's decision to 'attend to' another of Charnel's minions who plotted to kill him.
{{quote|
'''Charnel:''' Yes, torture also has its merits.
'''Eldred:''' Exactly. }}
* [[Foreshadowing]]: As Charnel's second mission reveals, {{spoiler|Stratos had stewardship over the Demon Gate between the War of Purification and until Charnel retains control during said mission.}}
* [[For Want of a Nail]]: By playing through multiple playthroughs you soon get to see which missions which gods are capable of doing on their own, and which ones their own wizards will cock up because you didn't play a part, and how this begins affecting and twisting the overall story. Generally speaking, every god succeeds at their first three missions and the story progresses in the same way up to that point no matter which god(s) you serve, after that all bets are off.
* [[Fragile Speedster]]: Stratos' servants.
* [[Gameplay and Story Segregation]]: Not so much, but in the actual story it seems that the creatures killed in battle are actually dead at the end of a mission. Otherwise there's copious amounts of [[Fridge Logic]], such as "what happened to that huge freaking army I amassed last mission?" and "why isn't Eldred trying to collect any of the blue souls that are hanging around in the intro?"
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* [[God of Evil]]: Charnel. And he relishes his role.
* [[Gone Horribly Right]]: Eldred and {{spoiler|Stratos}} both wanted the services of a demon powerful enough to destroy their respective rivals. They got one. Just too bad neither could make him ''stop''.
* [[Good Smoking, Evil Smoking]]: Pyro is constantly sucking on a big, fat cigar.
* [[The Grim Reaper]]: Charnel's most annoying and powerful spell summons him, laughing maniacally as he slaughters anything within his reach.
* [[Guttural Growler]]: Marduk.
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* [[Healing Hands]]: Persephone also has the best healing spells in the game, with two dedicated healing spells and a healing-only creature.
* [[The Hecate Sisters]]: Persephone makes the claim of being an aggregate of all three aspects.
* [[Heads I Win, Tails You Lose]]: If you finish as one of the good guys, you can pick either to do Persephone's or James' last mission. {{spoiler|James survives either way, and Persephone apparently dies either way, making her the only god that doesn't survive in any ending. [[And There Was Much Rejoicing]].}}
* [[Hell Gate]]: The demon gate located in Golgotha
* [[Hero Unit]]: The wizards, and the creature heroes. The former are players' avatars who form the centre of an army, while the latter are stronger, tougher and larger versions of regular units. Persephone has Thestor (gnome), Toldor (ent) and Sirocco (dragon), James has Gammel (icarus), Stratos has Sara Bella (braniac) and Lord Surtur (storm giant), Pyro has Faestus (gnome/pyromaniac) and Charnel has Gangrel/Astaroth (both scythes). Some show up on single missions only and have a 'protect this unit' clause, but some of them (Thestor, Toldor, Sirocco, Gammel and Faestus) will stick with you through the campaign as long as you stay on one god's side and will even fight for you in the final battle, provided they don't die at some point during the campaign.
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* [[Human Sacrifice]]: As part of the ritual used to destroy another opposing wizard's altar (for a loose definition of "human").
* [[Implacable Man]]: Death cannot be targeted, cannot be injured, has no time limit on his existence, and cannot be banished. He targets units unerringly and will chase them to the ends of the map and back until that unit is dead, teleports be damned.
* [[In Love
{{quote|
** Charnel has offered you a boon** }}
* [[Incredibly Lame Pun]]
{{quote|
'''Eldred:''' ...NeverSayThatAgain. }}
** In the Book of Persephone, she describes the Rain of Frogs spell by warning you about its tendency for friendly fire, telling you to keep your own creatures away "lest they croak" (she immediately apologizes for the pun).
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* [[Instant Win Condition]]: Missions can only be won by desecrating the other wizard's altar -- although if your enemy isn't sufficiently weakened, odds are he or she will pop in and stop you the moment you start doing it.
* [[Justified Tutorial]]: Eldred is described as an old archmage with probably decades of experience under his belt: A tutorial for him would feel somewhat out of place. Therefore, the tutorial you play as Shakti, a novice mystic who's just entered the service of Persephone.
* [[Jerkass Gods]]: [[
* [[King of All Cosmos]]: Stratos' head is a helium balloon, complete with gas cylinder.
* [[Klaatu Barada Nikto]] :Some of the magic words spoken by the wizards.
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* [[Ludicrous Gibs]]: A frequent occurrence when poking first-tier units too hard. This can happen to any unit however, no matter how powerful, and is encouraged as gibbed units produce blue souls, free to take without the need to convert.
* [[Mana]]: The second resource besides souls.
* [[Mana Meter]]
* [[Meaningful Name]]/[[Punny Name]]: Pretty much everyone with a name is either one or the other.
* [[Mutants]]: ''Sacrifice'' has Mutants, which are available if you choose Persephone. In Misson 4 of the campaign they randomly turn up after you meet the misguided Jadugar, a cutscene later plus a little talk from Persephone and they join you against Jadugar.
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* [[Necromancer]]: Charnel's wizards are called necromancers: These are Seerix, Acheron and The Ragman. Marduk (and depending on the mission, Hachimen) also use Charnel spells.
* [[Nietzsche Wannabe]]: Charnel's obsession with conflict kind of paints him as one of these. He's probably [[Evilly Affable|the most entertaining example out there, though.]]
* [[Non
* [[Obfuscating Stupidity]]: Many of the gods are a lot cleverer than you would think from their initial personalities. {{spoiler|Stratos}} is probably the main example.
* [[Omnicidal Maniac]]: Marduk. His stated purpose is to destroy all 'unworthy' parts of Creation, and by the time the game has begun he's already destroyed Eldred's homeworld and is on the verge of destroying this one.
* [[Old Soldier]]: Gammel, James' [[Hero Unit]] for the Icarus. "Let's show those blighters what for!"
* [[Only Sane Man]]: James has elements of this. While the other gods are busy trying to kill each other, especially after a [[Self
{{quote|
* [[Our Dragons Are Different]]: Dragons are green and look like short-necked Apatosauruses with wings. They attack with their bite (which also entangles foes), and their [[Breath Weapon]] shoots life energy that can resurrect your own creatures. They are intelligent, good-aligned, and serve Persephone.
* [[Palette Swap]]: A lot of them, with nearly as many [[Justified Trope|justifications.]]
* [[Playing
* [[Powered
* [[Pyromaniac]]: Pyro's Flame Minions, who can be heard constantly giggling about the possibility to set fires. One of Pyro's units (a gnome with a rocket launcher) is called pyromaniac, and is probably also this.
* [[Rage Against the Heavens]]: {{spoiler|Jadugarr seeks the death of the gods. He joins Marduk in order to do so.}}
* [[Real Time
* [[Royal We]]: Persephone does this. It really doesn't help with her attitude problem, and {{spoiler|Stratos}} even lampshades how pretentious it made her sound.
* [[Royals Who Actually Do Something]]: Sorcha, the Empress of Pyroboria.
* [[Shock and Awe]]: Stratos' third element for his spells, besides storms and ice.
* [[Shout
** Worm-like God James certainly looked a lot like a certain [[Earthworm Jim (
** The magic words used by the wizards include [[Klaatu Barada Nikto]], the Charm of Making from ''[[Excalibur (
*** The [[Stop Poking Me]] lines are full of these.
** In James' mission 5, Pyro will try to recruit you by offering you 'power beyond your imagining'. Eldred's reply if you turn it down?
{{quote|
* [[Smug Snake]]: {{spoiler|Stratos}}, as an enemy.
* [[The Soulless]]: Acheron,according to Zyzyx.
* [[Speed Echoes]]: When using the faster-movement spell.
* [[Spiritual Successor]]: ''[[Brutal Legend]]''. Possibly with a middle link of ''[[Giants: Citizen Kabuto]]'', which was released around a month after ''Sacrifice'' was. Hardly surprising, since Planet Moon Studios, the developers of ''Giants'' was comprised of employees who once worked with Shiny, the developer of ''[[Sacrifice]]''.
** [[Tim Schafer]] did not know about [[Sacrifice]], or that he unknowingly hired one of it's creators, until fans made the connection. He later played it and praised it.
* [[Stiff Upper Lip]]: The Icarus. Its only response to [[Stop Poking Me]] is a somewhat condescending "Oh, I say, poor show."
* [[The Stinger]]/[[Sequel Hook]]: "This is not over! I will have my revenge!". Sadly, sales of the game kept this from becoming a reality.
* [[This Cannot Be!]]: Eldred's reaction upon learning that Marduk has followed him to this world. {{spoiler|Also, Marduk's final words.}}
* [[Stop Poking Me]]: ''Sacrifice'' continues this fine Blizzard tradition of units getting pissed of more and more if you click on them too much. It's actually quite impressive when you consider that there's TONS of individual units and hero units in this game.
* [[Tactical Rock
* [[There Can Be Only One]]: {{spoiler|Only one of the gods survive the war. Stratos started it with the assumption that it would be him.}}
* [[Third Person Person]]: Pyro.
* [[Unstable Equilibrium]]: Once a wizard has a soul lead, it's very hard to change it, as it's much harder to steal a wizard's souls than it is to recover your slain creatures.
* [[Unwinnable By Mistake]]: Or at least, not able to get [[One Hundred Percent Completion]] by Mistake: In one of Charnel's missions, it's impossible to collect the boon. The bonus objective is to keep Gangrel alive. Too bad the mission can't be completed until Gangrel is possessed by a demon, turning him into Astaroth, causing the game to decide you no longer have Gangrel.
** Even should you banish Yogo before the channeling is complete (which is hard but doable), you still do not receive the boon as the condition is that Gangrel must be under the player's control. During the channeling Gangrel is held immobile and can't be controlled by the player.
* [[Useless Useful Spell]]: Averted. The instant death spells ''Intestinal Vaporization'' and ''Bovine Intervention'' can and will one-shot even the mightiest creatures. Even better, they instantly gib their targets, meaning the souls are up for grabs for anyone. If you're not careful, you can lose a lot of souls to a crafty opponent this way.
* [[Video Game Cruelty Potential]]: Wizards can slaughter the innocent, defenceless peasants with the nastiest spells in their spellbook while the peasants beg, whimper and cry for mercy. Wizards are ''encouraged'' to slaughter the innocent in multiplayer -- they're a good source of soul income and are flagged as hostile for this reason.
* [[We Have Reserves]]: The key to playing a Necromancer. Due to the cheapness of Animate Dead, the [[Glass Cannon]] nature of Charnel's minions and the somewhat indiscriminate nature of many of his spells, a one-to-one kill/loss ratio is entirely tolerable as long as you've got your creature's corpses around to animate/detonate.
* [[Weaksauce Weakness]]: Pyro's ultimate weapon, the [[Stealth Pun|Magnafryer]], fires a heat ray that deals heavy damage over time and will kill everything in the game eventually... Except it counts as magic damage, so James' first level melee attacker, the Trogg, is completely unaffected.
* [[Welcome Back, Traitor]]: There's two gnome heroes in the game, and both [[Chronic Backstabbing Disorder|switch sides repeatedly]]. They're still usable units though.
{{quote|
* [[World in
{{reflist}}
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