History VideoGame / Puppetshow

* [[SpidersAreScary Spider Headed Dolls Are Scary]]: There's always a doll on top of mechanical spider legs following the detective in every game. They were made by the Puppetmaster to be companions for Felicia. In ''Return to Joyville'' they are nowhere to be seen (justified as the game takes place prior to the fire that damaged Felicia). [[spoiler: The detective finds sketches for them and builds one for his own use in the Collector's Edition though.]]

* {{Roma}}: Prominently shown in ''Lightning Strikes'', with a gypsy man's love for a young girl relevant to the game's story.

** ''PuppetShow 6: Lightning Strikes'' has the "Reckless Detective" and "Pushy" achievements for using investigation cards wrongly and using an incorrect item five times in a row on the same hot spot, respectively.
** ''PuppetShow 8: The Face of Humanity'' has the "Are You Really a Detective?" achievement for trying to use a knife on the gendarme who demands authorization at the start of the game.

The first game was a success, and put ERS Game Studios on the map for producing well-thought supernatural/mystery based stories with gorgeous graphics and puzzles. The sixth game has been released, starting a new story arc, revolving around a Steampunk France and life-sized puppets, as well as the mysterious ''Magic Puppet'' that can animate life.

* ArtEvolution: ''Lightning Strikes'' in comparison to the previous games. In particular are the circus cutouts and the paper theater Hidden Object scenes.

* EarnYourHappyEnding: The detective saves young Felicia from her StartOfDarkness at the end of ''Return to Joyville''...[[spoiler: Only for the Collector's Edition to reveal that Joyville has become much, much worse.]]

** In ''The Price of Immortality'', [[spoiler:the detective successfully creates the cure for the plague that forced the town people to be transformed into puppets in the first place, restores them back to human, and Helen and Enrique finally become couple and live happily ever after.]]

* IdenticalStranger: The three kidnapped women in ''Lightning Strike'' Nightingale, Adel, and Leah all share a degree of similarity to [[spoiler:Marianna]].
* IfICantHaveYou: [[spoiler: Cricks didn't like getting rejected, so he decided to tie up the girl he likes in the theater and ''set it on fire''.]]

* {{Macguffin}}: The mysterious ''Magic Puppet''. It's featured in every games started from ''Lightning Strike'' but it is currently unknown if all of them are the same one or not.

* MissingMom: Nothing is ever mentioned of Felicia's mother.

* MotherlyScientist: [[spoiler:Hannah refuses to have David destroy their daughter, Eva, even though she caused harm upon the city's residents.]]

* FissionMailed: ''Face of Humanity'' has a rather creepy one after you break into David and Hannah's workshop with newspaper headlines stating that the detective died of poison, the mayor's daughter was never found and "IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT," followed by two decrepit, maggot-ridden puppets with David and Hannah's faces.

*** The game also has an example by way of its BigBad, the Puppet Master, [[spoiler:and his daughter Felicia]]. Imagine that you made your entire life devoted to helping and entertaining children, to the point that it's become your whole life. [[spoiler:Now imagine your own daughter in an accident, leaving half her face brutally scarred up and severely injured.]] You devote your life from that point to helping [[spoiler:her]] in secret, and betray the very children who used to laugh during your performances and cheer on your puppet shows. Now imagine [[spoiler:your daughter is slowly becoming more and more sycophantic and cruel, intentionally sabotaging your own methods of saving her, and intentionally sabotaging it so you kill more of the children who used to love you]]. That's what it feels like to be the main villain of the first Puppet Show game.

** ''Lightning Strikes:'' A maniacal life-size puppet will kidnap an innocent child right in front of your eyes taking them to who knows where.

* ''The Face of Humanity'': The city of Saltsburg is having its human workers replaced with life-sized puppets, causing an uproar from the humans. The mayor has asked the detective to help rescue his daughter from a strange hooded man. The question though is who's ''really'' pulling the strings?

The first game was a success, and put ERS Game Studios on the map for producing well-thought supernatural/mystery based stories with gorgeous graphics and puzzles. The sixth game has been released, starting a new story arc, revolving around a Steampunk France and life-sized puppets.

The first game was a success, and put ERS Game Studios on the map for producing well-thought supernatural/mystery based stories with gorgeous graphics and puzzles. The sixth game has been released, starting a new story arc.

* ''The Face of Humanity''

* FreudianExcuse: [[spoiler: In the bonus chapter ''Destiny Undone'', a fairy doll (who is actually Crick's first creation) explains that after the accident that rendered Cricks blind, the man who wanted to make puppets and people happy believed that there was no point in making the world happy and thus wanted to spread that hatred onto his old friend's creations before moving on past Joyville.]]
* GhostTown: Almost every city in the series has this. Joyville is due to failing business (the Puppet Theater attracted lots of people, not so much when it burned to the ground) [[spoiler: and even more so in the fourth game if you play the Collector's Edition.]] The second city is because the parents are at the side of the soulless children. The third in ''Lost Town'' is just plain abandoned with the robots replacing human jobs when a mysterious disease hit them years ago.

* HiddenObjectGame: In spades. One of the only complaints is that you have to collect multiples of some items (Some justified more than others)

** A more villainous one in ''Lightning Strike'' as revealed in Bonus Game. [[spoiler:Froissert wanted to marry Marianna, but because she always loved Alessandros he "adopted" her little brother as bargaining chip. Oh, and it's implied that she was murdered by him in the first place.]]

* LostForever: In ''Lightning Strikes'', there are two piggy banks in the zeppelin that can be easily missed in the beginning of the game.

** The hint system for ''Lightning Strikes'' is a stylish top hat. If one goes to use the Steampunk theme, it has a blinking meter at its side.

** In ''Lightning Strike'', [[spoiler:Alessandros becomes mad with his intention to revive Marianna after her untimely death, and sought to find pure-hearted woman whose heart can be used to resurrect her.]]
* {{Steampunk}}: The setting for ''Lightning Strikes'' is 19th century France with this aesthetic. Froissert has a wicked looking gauntlet on his left hand, there's a poster of Rosie the Riveter in regards to steam power, and there's an article about mechanisms replacing human workers during what looks like the French Industrial Revolution. The menu style will reflect the steampunk look if you choose it. For example, the diary becomes a steampunk-like scroll, and the Hint Top Hat will have a blinking meter at its side.

* TheXOfY: ''Mystery of Joyville'' and ''Souls of the Innocent''.

* ZeppelinsFromAnotherWorld: The main character rides one of these in the beginning of ''Lightning Strikes'' along with the zeppelin's owner, Froissert.

''Puppetshow'' is a series of {{hidden object game}}s produced by Creator/ERSGameStudios and published by Big Fish Games. The story tells of a detective following around and solving mysteries involving strange dolls. The first five games is part of the Joyville saga in which the detective unravels the mysteries regarding the Puppetmaster of Joyville and his daughter, Felicia.

* ''[[http://www.bigfishgames.com/download-games/6196/puppetshow-mystery-of-joyville/index.html Mystery of Joyville]] '', tells how the detective is asked by an old man and his daughter to find a young boy named Simon, who had gone missing for days. Piece by piece, the detective slowly finds clues that lead them to the mastermind of the plot.

* ''[[http://www.bigfishgames.com/games/8845/puppetshow-lightning-strikes-ce/index.html Lightning Strike]]'' (working name "Steam Heart") takes place in 19th century France where strange lightning has transformed helpless women into large life-size puppets.

* ''Face of the Humanity''

* AddressingThePlayer: If the player collected all ten dolls in ''Destiny Undone's'' Collector Edition, the Puppetmaster will thank the player for giving him and Felicia a happy ending and states that while Joyville's story is over, there will more adventures in store.

** [[spoiler:Marianna]] in ''Lightning Strikes''. Throughout the game it is revealed that she [[lost her parents, her little brother is taken away by Froissart who wanted to marry her, and finally, she loses her love of life Alessandros after he gave up his own heart for her to live once more.]]

* BigBad: For the Joyville Saga we have: Puppetmaster in ''Mystery of Joyville'', Felicia in ''Souls of the Innocent'' and ''Lost Town''. In ''Lightning Strikes'', the role goes to Alessandro.

* ''Lightning Strike'' (working name "Steam Heart") takes place in 19th century France where strange lightning has transformed helpless women into large life-size puppets.
* ''The Price of Immortality'' takes place in fictional village Immortale, where the detective must find his journalist friend, Enrique, who went missing after trying to unravel the secret of the mysterious ''Theater of Emotion''.

* AlasPoorVillain: While in ''Mystery of Joyville'', [[spoiler:The Puppet Master]] is more than willing [[WouldHurtAChild to kidnap children in attempts to transfer their souls into living dolls]], [[spoiler:he does it mostly either under duress or in a desperate attempt to make his daughter Felicia a new body to transfer into, wants to keep the number of casualties as low as possible, and has second thoughts when it turns out [[EnfantTerrible his daughter has gone absolutely psychotic]]]]. Which makes his demise a mix of cathartic and depressing as [[spoiler:Felicia's]] intentional sabotage of the vessel he created causes him to die within seconds of transferring into it.

* AlasPoorVillain: While in ''Mystery of Joyville'', [[spoiler:The Puppet Master]] is more than willing [[WouldHurtAChild to kidnap children in attempts to transfer their souls into living dolls]], [[spoiler:he does it mostly either under duress or in a desperate attempt to make his daughter Felicia a new body to transfer into, wants to keep the number of casualties as low as possible, and has second thoughts when it turns out [[EnfantTerrible his daughter has gone absolutely psychotic]]]]. Which makes [[spoiler:his]] demise a mix of cathartic and depressing as [[spoiler:Felicia's]] intentional sabotage of the vessel he created causes him to die within seconds of transferring into it.

The first game was a success, and put ERS Game Studios on the map for producing well-thought supernatural/mystery based stories with gorgeous graphics and puzzles.
The sixth game has been released, starting a new story arc. Named ''Lightning Strikes'' (working name "Steam Heart") takes place in 19th century France where strange lightning has transformed helpless women into large life-size puppets.

* BigBad: For the Joyville Saga we have: Puppetmaster in ''Mystery of Joyville'' and Felicia in ''Souls of the Innocent'' and ''Lost Town''.
** BiggerBad: [[spoiler: Cricks, the deranged former puppet master, is revealed to the one behind the tragic theater accident in ''Return to Joyville'' and nearly kills the Puppetmaster and scars Felicia with acid in ''Destiny Undone''. His escape sets him up as the series's real BigBad in future games.]]

* CoolOldGuy: Froissert in ''Lightning Strikes'', who has been part of the Parisian for forty years and is the owner of a zeppelin that carried the main character from New York to Paris.

* TagalongKid: Jean from ''Lightning Strikes''.

* WomanInWhite: The main character encounters a strange human-sized puppet all dressed in white in ''Lightning Strikes''.

** In ''Steam Heart:'' The owner of the zeppelin is Froissert, the fortuneteller is named Shanta and the boy's name is...Jean.
* {{AFGNCAAP}}: Our only clue as to what the detective looks like comes from ''Mystery of Joyville'' in which Egidio says that he made 'his' [the detective's] bedroom. Meanwhile, there's no clue as to the gender of the detective in ''Destiny Undone''. ''Steam Heart'' confirms our character as male.

* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: The Puppetmaster's name is never revealed. Felicia only calls him "Father" and ''Destiny Undone'' just call him "Master" (of Puppets). The main character is mostly known as detective. In an amusing note, Jean in ''Steam Heart'' immediately calls the main character "Detective" justifying in that he's a little kid and assumed the main character was one due to the case file they had on them.

* LightningCanDoAnything: The subject of ''Steam Heart'' is the lightning storms that can cause statues and lamp posts to become monsters, and innocent women into life-sized puppets.

* LostForever: In ''Steam Heart'', there are two piggy banks in the zeppelin that can be easily missed in the beginning of the game.

* PickOnSomeoneYourOwnSize: Jean says this to the living street lamp in ''Steam Heart''.

* SuddenlyVoiced: Many of the characters become this beginning with ''Lost Town''. The main character gets a voice in ''Steam Heart'', confirming that the character is male.

The first game was a success, and put ERS Game Studios on the map for producing well-thought supernatural/mystery based stories with gorgeous graphics and puzzles. A beta for the 6th game, "Steam Heart" has been released. Taking place outside Joyville in 19th century Paris, a strange case of lightning has caused many women to be captured and transformed into puppets and it all relates to a man who wanted to prove love could conquer death itself.

* HundredPercentCompletion: ''Steam Heart'' will feature achievements that act like this.

** ''Steam Heart:'' A maniacal life-size puppet will kidnap an innocent child right in front of your eyes taking them to who knows where.

* AnachronismStew: ''Steam Heart'' takes place in Paris in the year 1888 (see ShownTheirWork for more details), but there's a modern drum set in the Moulin de Rose, and an ice cream vendor with helium balloons that didn't come in for another few decades. This also doesn't count the zeppelin and Steampunk aesthetics.
** The newspaper in the beginning of ''Steam Heart'' has a poster of Rosie the Riveter stating "We have steam power!". Rosie the Riveter wasn't shown until World War ii, at most six decades after the game takes place.

** ''Steam Heart'' takes place in an alternate Paris with a few steampunk aesthetics and zeppelins.
* ArtEvolution: ''Steam Heart'' in comparison to the previous games. In particular are the circus cutouts and the paper theater Hidden Object scenes.

* BearsAreBadNews: Maria, a circus bear, will not let anyone enter the circus tent until her cub is found.

* BratsWithSlingshots: Jean in ''Steam Heart'', who uses his slingshot at a street lamp that somehow came alive.

* CasualDangerDialogue: Froissart in ''Steam Heart'' is hanging on for dear life onto some rope high in the atmosphere in his own zeppelin while there's strange lightning storms about. He calmly tells the main character not to worry all while ''smoking a cigar with his free hand''.

** Shanta, in the upcoming ''Steam Heart'' looks very similar to Madam Lulu from ''Souls of the Innocent'' (the seer who was in a meditate trance and whose soul was in the type writing doll).
* CoolOldGuy: Froissert, who has been part of the Parisian for forty years and is the owner of a zeppelin that carried the main character from New York to Paris.

* ExtendedGameplay: In ''Steam Heart'', the character can find piggy banks to help spruce up areas around the Eiffel Tower and Statue of Liberty.

* FreezeFrameBonus: The newspaper shown in ''Steam Heart'' shows that the date is October 28, 1888 and on the corner is a Rosie the Riveter poster.

* GoForTheEye: Jean's advice in ''Steam Heart'' when it comes to fighting off living statues and street lamps.

* MusicalNod: The music played on the phonograph in ''Steam Heart'' can be a track from either ''Dark Tales: Edgar Allan Poe's Murders in the Rue Morgue'', or ''Dark Tales: Edgar Allan Poe's The Premature Burial'' both made by ERS. Fitting in that the Dark Tales series takes place in France.
* MythologyGag: In one of the first hidden object scenes in ''Steam Heart'', the player clicks on a "Dead End" sign and a photo of a family that were found in ''Phantasmat: Crucible Peak'', a previous ERS game.

** The hint system for ''Steam Heart'' is a stylish top hat. If one goes to use the Steampunk theme, it has a blinking meter at its side

* PlayingCardMotifs: The evidence for the case file in ''Steam Heart'' is presented as playing cards. For example: evidence with Nightingale is shown as the Heart suit.

* ProphetEyes: Shanta has these when she communicates with the main character in ''Steam Heart''.
* RecordNeedleScratch: In ''Steam Heart'', the main character finds who they believe to be Nightingale sitting at a chair, only to reveal that it's a mannequin dressed in her likeness. There's a sound of a a needle scratch to drive it home.

* {{Roma}}: Prominently shown in ''Steam Heart'', with a gypsy man's love for a young girl relevant to the game's story.

* ShoutOutThemeNaming: In ''Steam Heart'', the boy Jean, and the zeppelin owner Froissert are named after a famous 14th century author known as [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Froissart Jean Froissart]], who helped chronicle most of the Hundred Years War up till 1400.
* ShownTheirWork: In ''Steam Heart'', there's a poster that tells the completion of the Eiffel Tower on March 1889, and Froissert mentions that the epidemic had to be solved before the "World Exhibition". The exhibition was the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exposition_Universelle_(1889) World's Fair in Paris]], which was held in the Eiffel Tower at the time.

* {{Steampunk}}: The setting for ''Steam Heart'' is 19th century France with this aesthetic. Froissert has a wicked looking gauntlet on his left hand, there's a poster of Rosie the Riveter in regards to steam power, and there's an article about mechanisms replacing human workers during what looks like the French Industrial Revolution. The menu style will reflect the steampunk look if you choose it. For example, the diary becomes a steampunk-like scroll, and the Hint Top Hat will have a blinking meter at its side.
* StealthPun: The hint button for ''Steam Heart'' is a top hat. It's a ''thinking cap''.

* SweetTooth: The bear cub in ''Steam Heart'' loves sweets, and will go with the detective if given a lollipop. A poster in the circus also confirms this: the cub is shown on a unicycle juggling numerous lollipops.
* TagalongKid: Jean from ''Steam Heart''.

** In ''Steam Heart'', Jean moves in the way of the living lamp post to take a blow for the main character. He ends up all right.

** The Paper Theater HOG in ''Steam Heart'' also has this sign when Shanta starts revealing the game's backstory.

* WomanInWhite: The main character encounters a strange human-sized puppet all dressed in white in ''Steam Heart''.

* ZeppelinsFromAnotherWorld: The main character rides one of these in the beginning of ''Steam Heart'' along with the zeppelin's owner, Froissert.

* MusicalNod: The music played on the phonograph in ''Steam Heart'' can be a track from either ''Dark Tales: Edgar Allan Poe's Murders in the Rue Morgue'', or ''Dark Tales: Edgar Allan Poe's The Premature Burial'' made by ERS. Fitting in that the Dark Tales series takes place in France.

* LostForever: In ''Steam Heart'', there's a piggy bank in the zeppelin's drawing room that disappears if you don't get it at the beginning of the game.

** The hint system for ''Steam Heart'' is a stylish top hat with a red feather and a blinking meter on the side.

** The main character can also collect coins to spruce the areas around the Eiffel Tower and Statue of Liberty. The setting takes place in 1888, and the Statue of Liberty was completed in late October of 1886.