Chekhov's Skill: Kalani's compassion for animals, established in an early cutscene, allows her to pass through a wolf pack's territory safely near the end of the game.

Getting a close look at Atevo's dagger near the end of the game is what finally reminds the spirit of his real name.

Chekhov's Gun: The tur'puy daggers all Yanrana receive as a rite of passage once they reach a certain age.

The second aquatic animal encountered is referred to as an 'axolotl', even though it's clearly a scaly ray-finned fish of some variety, rather than a gilled salamander.

Call a Smeerp a 'Rabbit': Creatures which look like fairy armadillos (an exotic, though real, species) are referred to as the much more familiar mole (which belongs to an entirely different order they're as related to wolves as they are to each other).

Broken Bridge: The wolf frequently runs across obstacles, such as deep canyons, rivers, or narrow holes, that require her to possess another animal to pass.

It helps that she can't take an animal too far from others of its species, so they're always able to return to their group without trouble. She doesn't cause any damage to the animals she possesses and they go back to going about their business when she's done with them.

Body Surf: The wolf is a 'soul wanderer', capable of jumping into and controlling other animals and even switching between hosts on the fly.

Be the Ball: The wombat's special ability is to curl up into a ball and roll around.Beneath the Earth: The 'moles' are capable of traveling through elaborate tunnels and digging under various obstacles.

Aside from the fact that you're a wolf who's occasionally followed and talked to by a glowing red wisp, it really is just like wandering deep in a forest filled with ruins. Beautiful Void: All humans are long dead, and the animals are pretty normal.Men who were victorious would be admitted to the Sinchi Guard. Beastly Bloodsports: The entrance to the Grand Temple of Quilotasi has a long row of cages where wild wolves would be kept before being put in the arena for wolf versus human battles.The game's story revolves around reliving Kalani's memories to learn why this is. In the opening minutes of the game, he determines that the wolf is a reincarnation of a woman named Kalani who also suffered this fate. The player's spirit companion is prevented from reaching the City of Light, the Yanrana afterlife, by a barrier of red light. Barred from the Afterlife: The entire premise of the game.Atevo is this throughout the game, but especially towards the end as they realize just how badly they were in the wrong while alive.The Atoner: Kalani spends the second half of the game trying to make up for causing the destruction of Quilotasi by trying to do what Weyla wanted from the beginning.They should actually be about the size of the wolf's snout. Animals Not to Scale: The 'moles' (actually fairy armadillos) are about the size of badgers.All for Nothing: Kalani's revolution fails to overthrow the emperor and only results in meaningless destruction that brought the Yanren civilization, already unstable, to its knees and results in her death and those of her followers.During the second half of the game, the player comes across the remains of structures built by the Machu'ruku, a civilization that fell so long ago, even the Yanrana only knew of them by the massive ruins they left behind.After the End: The Yanrana died out or were killed some time ago, and the game shows how forest has reclaimed their buildings.Compare with Spirit of the North, a similar game featuring a fox guided by a point of light through the ruins of a lost civilization and told entirely without words.

Lost ember