History Creator / ElephantGames

** ''Raincliff's Phantoms'' is the sequel to ''Raincliff'', and one of the Brown siblings is mentioned in ''Black Isle'' as having joined the agency; he appears briefly in the later installment ''Silent Hollow,'' and has a handful of minor mentions throughout the series. He eventually becomes a PlayerCharacter in ''Detectives United''. [[spoiler:One of the Browns' distant relatives is revealed to be the BigBad in ''Raincliff's Phantoms'' and also in ''Detectives United: Origins''.]]

** The Mystery Trackers rescue the player character of ''Haunted Hotel: Eternity'', and help the player character (implied to be the same character) of the next installment, ''Phoenix,'' with the investigation at the arson-riddled Stone Spires Hotel.

** Rick Rogers of ''Paranormal Files'' lost his mother to a house fire when he was just a child; she died [[HeroicSacrifice saving him]]. He was then raised by his father, who died of an illness after Rick was an adult. He got started on his strange path in life when he was fired from his job and caught his girlfriend cheating on him with his best friend.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: The ''It Happened Here'' series is about a widow, Emily, who solves mysteries as her way of coping after the death of her husband. She is also a writer who runs a podcast. It's hard not to see her as a 21st century update on [[Series/MurderSheWrote Jessica Fletcher]].

* FunctionalMagic: The supernatural ''definitely'' exists in the worlds of most Elephant series, including psychic abilities, magic rituals, time travel, ghosts, and invisibility. It may not always be clear to the player why or how the magic in question works, but it's a real thing.

** Eve returns in ''Two for Solitaire'', with Dana noting that she's very helpful but always disappears before Dana can ask her any questions. Near the end of the game, she finally reveals that [[spoiler:she's an aspect of Dana's own subconscious, and that only Dana can see or hear her. Dana has her doubts as to whether this is true.]]

* LighterAndSofter: The ''Christmas Stories'' games are much more lighthearted than their other hidden object games, as they are mainly riffs on classic fairy tales and fantasy literature, and can be enjoyed by gamers of all ages.

* PlotTriggeringDeath: Prior to the beginning of ''Strange Investigations'', Dana Strange's sister Ursula was kidnapped and murdered, which led to Dana becoming a police detective and then a private investigator.

** Oddly averted for Richard Gray, who has been missing from both the ''Grim Tales'' and ''Detectives United'' series since ''Grim Tales: Heritage''. No one in either game series appears to take much notice of his absence, apart from a single line in ''Heritage'' about him being "on vacation", and another in ''Detectives United: Deadly Debt'' where Anna wishes he were available to help with the current case. (This comes across very strangely when the player remembers that Richard is ''dead'', and exists in the games as a ghost.) The 22nd ''Grim Tales'' game ''Horizon of Wishes'' finally clears up the matter. Meanwhile, he returns to ''Detectives United'' in the installment ''Mission Possible'', with no hint to the player of that series why he's been absent.

** Daemon, Isaac, and Mia, who join the team of investigators in the ''Paranormal Files'' series beginning with ''Ghost Chapter'', and the Harding siblings who appear as ghosts in ''Price of a Secret''

** ''Strange Investigations'' also has shades of this, as it comes across as largely very modern but some of the dates make no sense. The second game shows a photograph of Dana's partner Mal as a Marine in 1957, which would make him at ''least'' 83 years old if the game was taking place in 2022 (when it was released). While he does appear to be a little older than Dana, he doesn't look anywhere near his 80s.

*** The bonus chapter for ''Mystery Trackers: The Secret of Watch Hill'' involves a villainous version of the protagonist crossing over from a parallel universe, having been sent by the Dark Trackers agency to locate the game's MacGuffin. The chapter takes place concurrently with the main game, but the regular protagonist doesn't suspect a thing.

* InTheBlood: Being a member of the Mystery Trackers is frequently a hereditary thing. The installment ''Silent Hollow'' reveals that some of the present members of the order are descended from earlier members. [[spoiler:This includes the PlayerCharacter herself, who is a descendant of the order's ancient nemesis Morpheus!]]

* ItsPersonal: In the second ''Strange Investigations'' game, Dana's partner Mal says this about the murder of his old war buddy Robert. Prior to the series beginning, Dana herself felt this way about the abduction and murder of her sister, so she understands his attitude.

* MissionControl: Agent Shade is this for Anna, Brown, and James in ''Detectives United.''

** Oddly averted for Richard Gray, who has been missing from both the ''Grim Tales'' and ''Detectives United'' series since ''Grim Tales: Heritage''. No one in either game series appears to take much notice of his absence, apart from a single line in ''Heritage'' about him being "on vacation", and another in ''Detectives United: Deadly Debt'' where Anna wishes he were available to help with the current case. (This comes across very strangely when the player remembers that Richard is ''dead'', and exists in the games as a ghost.) The 22nd ''Grim Tales'' game ''Horizon of Wishes'' finally clears up the matter.
* PublicDomainCharacter: The ''Book Travelers'' series has several of these roaming the stories, including Jane Eyre, Tom Sawyer, and Sherlock Holmes.

* SceneryPorn: These games are beautifully rendered, but in the spookier supernatural settings such as ''Fate's Carnival'' or the ''Grim Tales'' series, it can lead to SceneryGorn.

** The ''Christmas Stories'' and ''Knight Cats'' series are implied to take place in the same universe, as the residents of Catstown were mentioned in the bonus chapter of ''A Christmas Tree'' a few years before the ''Knight Cats'' series debuted.

* ShoutOut:
** ''Haunted Hotel: Eclipse'' is something of an homage to Literature/SherlockHolmes and Dr. Watson; James dresses very similarly to the famous detective, and the player character talks about what good friends they are and how they've solved many cases together. James repeats the look in his next two appearances as well.

* StandaloneEpisode: Each game is basically designed to be this, so that new players don't have to learn a lot of backstory in order to enjoy the puzzles and current storyline, but several of the series do have ongoing plots which add a little something extra for fans who play them in order.

* SuddenlyVoiced: Beginning in the installment ''Mist Over Blackhill'', the player character of ''Mystery Trackers'' has a voice actress.

* ''Lucky Season: King of Fools'': In this standalone special edition created for St. Patrick's Day 2024, leprechauns must stop the evil clurichauns from overwhelming the human world with bad luck.

The devs maintain a fairly active [[https://facebook.com/elephantgames Facebook page]] where players can participate in contests and discussions; they also release exclusive art pieces (such as calendars featuring their most popular characters) and occasionally leak advance hints about upcoming games. Elephant is celebrating its 20th anniversary of incorporation in 2023, and as such will be offering plenty of bonus content throughout the year; in particular, they have announced their game release schedule for the first half of the year to whet players' appetites for their favorite series.

* GoodStepmother:
** Margaret, in ''Cursed Fables: White as Snow'', wants to be this to her stepdaughter Literature/SnowWhite. Snow's own diary notes that she likes Margaret, who is very nice to her, and she's pleased that her father is HappilyMarried.
** Stella, who is Literature/{{Cinderella}}'s stepmother in ''Cursed Fables: Before the Clock Strikes'', has raised Cinderella alongside her own two daughters and loves her like her own child.

* LongRunner: ''Mystery Trackers, Haunted Hotel,'' and ''Grim Tales'' each have more than fifteen installments, which is quite unusual for the genre.

** Rick Rogers of ''Paranormal Files'' is this, though it seems like he doesn't necessarily ''want'' to be, at first. He later embraces it wholeheartedly.

** As of the end of ''Paranormal Files: Ghost Chapter'', [[spoiler:series protagonist Rick Rogers is still missing, and the man who hired Rachel and her team to investigate his estate has disappeared and stolen some key items.]] In the next installment, ''Price of a Secret'', [[spoiler:he reappears in the bonus chapter - but not permanently]], meaning there's going to be at least one more game before this is resolved.

** There's a time skip of nearly seven years between ''Grim Tales: Guest From the Future'' and the next installment, ''The Generous Gift''. At the end of ''Guest From the Future'', Anna receives confirmation that she's pregnant with her daughter Alice; the events of ''The Generous Gift'' take place on Alice's sixth birthday. In the later installment ''Echo of the Past'', which marks Alice's last appearance in the series, she looks to be about nine or ten.

** ''Anthology''

* GoodStepmother: Margaret, in ''Cursed Fables: White as Snow'', wants to be this to her stepdaughter Literature/SnowWhite. Snow's own diary notes that she likes Margaret, who is very nice to her, and she's pleased that her father is HappilyMarried.

** In the ''Royal Detective'' games, the princess is known simply as Princess. It's eventually revealed, however, that this is because she's not actually a princess - Princess is just her name.

* HalfHumanHybrid: In the ''Royal Detective'' games, Princess eventually learns that her mother is a human sorceress and her father is an elven wizard.

* ''Royal Detective'': A series which focuses on the eponymous royal detective and the ongoing effort to help a lost princess find happiness.

** In the ''Royal Detective'' games, the princess is known simply as Princess.

** ''All Shades of Black'' (currently in beta)

* StockPuzzle: Klotski and Towers of Hanoi puzzles are seen occasionally in the various puzzle series.

** The player character of ''Mystery Trackers'' has one, although this isn't made clear until the installment ''The Secret of Watch Hill.'' Watch Hill was her hometown, which she left following the deaths of her parents and brother, and she must return there fifteen years later to deal with a related issue. Her painful past also comes up in ''Fatal Lesson,'' in which a {{flashback}} in the beginning shows her at the organization's camp as a young woman, learning to be a detective alongside Agent Shade; her inner monologue mentions that her family was killed a year earlier.

** The ''Halloween Stories'' games may possibly be part of the same universe as ''Grim Tales'' and its relations, because a picture of Richard Gray appears in one scene of ''Halloween Stories: The Neglected Dead.'' However, the picture is only in the background, so it's equally possible that the ''Grim Tales'' games exist as fiction in the ''Halloween Stories'' universe.

** Also in ''Grim Tales'', when Anna's maternal aunt Alexandra is shown, she wears an outfit which is remarkably similar to that of Ciri in ''VideoGame/TheWitcher3WildHunt''.

** The phrase "haunted hotel" crops up occasionally in the ''Haunted Hotel'' games. Some of the games in the series also get their subtitle dropped at least once.

* WomanScorned: Or man, sometimes. Many of the mysteries in the darker games revolve around this trope, usually involving a LoveTriangle of some sort.

* ''Midnight Castle'':[[/index]] This isn't a series, but a standalone {{Freemium}} game hosted on Big Fish Games, in which the player explores and interacts with characters in a large spooky castle.

** ''Beacon of Truth'' (currently in beta)

** Starting with ''Black Isle'', your ''Mystery Trackers'' character is accompanied by a miniature pinscher named Elf. It's then revealed that many agents in the Mystery Trackers have animal companions; in ''Silent Hollow'', one of the {{Collection Sidequest}}s involves collecting information cards about them.

** ''Anthology'' (currently in beta)

** Each installment of ''Cursed Fables'' falls into this, as they are entirely distinct from each other and (thus far at least) have zero connection other than each one being based on a different classic fairy tale.

** ''What Was Lost'' (currently in beta)

** ''A Voice to Die For'' (currently in beta)

** ''Secrets Can Be Deadly'' (currently in beta)

* BloodyHorror: Some of the scarier installments of the various series fall into this, such as ''Haunted Hotel: The Axiom Butcher'', which centers around the ritual antics of a serial killer. It's BloodierAndGorier than any other game in the series.

** The BigBad of ''Grim Tales: Dual Disposition'' is Anna's identical doppelganger from another dimension.

'''Elephant Games''' is a Armenian video game company that specializes in highly detailed {{Hidden Object Game}}s. Their games span a wide variety of genres, from supernatural mysteries to fantasy to lighter puzzle games.

** ''Beyond Time'' (currently in beta)

'''Elephant Games''' is a Russian video game company that specializes in highly detailed {{Hidden Object Game}}s. Their games span a wide variety of genres, from supernatural mysteries to fantasy to lighter puzzle games.