Epic Duel

EpicDuel is Artix Entertainment's sixth major game, and second MMORPG. The game began development in 2007 under Epic Inventions, LLC, which was purchased by Artix in December 2009. Since it was developed independently from the family of Artix games, the characters and storyline are separate from the world of Lore, and the game does not share NPCs, areas or storylines with any of the other games (with the exception of some staff).

The game primarily focuses on player-versus-player action, which takes place on the abandoned mining planet Delta V. Players are exiles who can align themselves with either the Exiles and Oz or the Legion and despotic ruler Baelius. Players spend most of their time dueling other players

This series provides examples of:

 * Amazing Technicolor Population: Caden.
 * Author Avatar: NPCs Nightwraith, Titan, Charfade, Cinderella and BigTuna represent current and past (in the case of BigTuna) Epic Duel staff.
 * Badass in a Nice Suit: Nightwraith. He even warns players to "watch the suit".
 * The Bad Guy Wins: Before the events of the game, Baelius and the Legion had conquered Delta V, and killed many of the planet's inhabitants. The Exile factions are reportedly fighting back each day with an updated daily War Meter.
 * Bare Your Midriff: Oh, and do they ever. Female characters in the "Tech Mage" or "Mercenary" classes start off with bare midriffs, and many of the NPCs (Anya, Talia, Valestra) and equippable armors feature bare midriffs for women.
 * Big Bad: Baelius
 * Bilingual Bonus: Juloffenblotten and Frysteland.
 * Bribing Your Way to Victory: Players can purchase Varium, which acts as a premium in-world currency. Varium items typically have better stats, and an advantage over non-paying players in battle, making this game quite a literal version of this trope.
 * Darker and Edgier: Epic Duel is more aimed at 'mature' players and contains some weapons coated with much red blood and some painfully sharp weapons (which includes cricket bats and bazookas) which can add some Nightmare Fuel considering the size of them. Not only that, (instead of respawning) whenever your character loses a battle- they start fainting!
 * Dystopia: Delta V is a Crapsack World ruled by Baelius, who posts his image and symbol all over Delta V along with the word "OBEY".
 * Evil Is Sexy: Alydriah Descarl
 * Hot Scientist: Cinderella (also note Heroes Want Redheads)and Talia
 * Lego Genetics: Boss character "Armor Hazard" was created by transfecting an embryonic Bio Hazard with Armor Beetle genes. This is basically how Alydriah corrupts the wildlife.
 * Our Monsters Are Different : Introduced during the War for Frysteland, Delta V's mountain people are known as Krampus, and their costume reflects the more traditional Krampus (the Krampus Trader and Krampus Warrior characters wear goatlike gas masks, and King Alaric wears a giant horned headdress). The Yetis also fall under this trope.
 * Our Titans Are Different: The Game Lead and Head Programmer of Epic Duel goes by "Titan", as does his Author Avatar. Titan may be a Physical God. In real life, Titan is the tallest Artix Entertainment staff member at six feet seven inches.
 * Somewhere an Entomologist Is Crying: Subversion, since staff member Cinderella is an Entomologist in real life. Word of God says Insectoid mine worker Kraggor is female, and the design notes feature weekly Insect Facts.
 * Shout-Out: The game is full of these. April Fools items include a giant spoon (named "Too Big!") and a banana suit, referencing Don Hertzfeldt's "Rejected", achievements include several pop-culture references ("Meltdown in sector 7G", "Somebody set us up the bomb", "It's so delicious and moist!", etc.), and several NPCs reference other media- The Lawman resembles Motörhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister and shares a name with a Motörhead song, and NPC Slayer is an Expy for Artix Entertainment's Galanoth's in-game presence.
 * You Mean "Xmas": The game features holiday items, and two events have focused on the Harvest Festival (Halloween/Thanksgiving) which includes the Candy Harvest (Trick or Treating) and the Harvest of Souls (similar to the Day of the Dead) and a winter event called Juloffenblotten.