Cadaver (1990) and its sequel, The Payoff (1991), are two Isometric Action-Adventure games by the Bitmap Brothers. The dwarf mercenary Karadoc is hired to sneak into an ancient castle via the sewers, make his way to the tallest tower, and defeat the evil necromancer Dianos. In the sequel, it turns out he doesn't actually get paid, so he goes off to kill his former employers. Each floor is a multi-room maze containing numerous puzzles and deathtraps, and a handful of monsters.
Contains the following tropes:
- Bag of Spilling: Going to the next level erases most of your inventory, or in some cases all of it, with no explanation given.
- Big Bad: Dianos.
- Cutscene Power to the Max: Although the cutscene in question is just a text scroll, in the intro Karadoc has an easy time slaughtering a giant and a horde of eldritch demons, whereas in the actual game he has a lot of trouble killing a small mound of slime.
- Dungeon Bypass: You can make stacks of items to bypass most barriers; this works particularly well with bottles, and the floating items from the kitchen in level 2.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: A one-level demo of the game was distributed on magazine cover disks; this level is not otherwise present in the game. This demo uses a different interface, an earlier version that's notably harder to control, and it has a crossbow as a weapon instead of thrown objects.
- Excuse Plot: It is never explained what is so evil about Dianos, or why you are being paid to kill him. Incidentally, for a necromancer, he sure doesn't mance a lot of necro.
- Fan Sequel: The Last Supper is a fanmade additional level to the game, distributed on magazine cover disks.
- Informed Attribute
- Dianos is a necromancer but doesn't really do anything with it to stop you.
- Karadoc is apparently a great warrior, but in game, it's very difficult to kill what should be easy enemies for him.
- Interface Screw: Drink an Alcohol potion to reverse your controls.
- Mission-Pack Sequel: The Payoff adds four more levels but is otherwise the same engine.
- Never Trust a Title: The game has absolutely nothing to do with cadavers. Technically the main antagonist is meant to be a necromancer, but we don't really seem him do any necromancy.
- Orcus on His Throne: in the final level, the Big Bad Dianos is literally sitting on a throne doing absolutely nothing (except damage you if you come close) while you gather the items required to kill him.
- Puzzle Boss: Dianos is this, though there's no pressure to solve the puzzle quickly or anything. He'll just sit there.
- Save-Game Limits: You must pay gold to save your game, and the amount gets bigger for each subsequent save.
- Unwinnable by Design: It is oh-so-easy to use a potion or scroll in the wrong place, making it no longer available for the puzzle for which you need it. Hope you paid the save toll.