History VideoGame / TheMissingJJMacfieldAndTheIslandOfMemories

* {{BFS}}: The hairshrieker, who sometimes shows up to chase J.J. carries a massive utility knife. [[spoiler: As the manifestation of her suicidal impulses, it's only fitting it wields a version of the blade she cut her wrists with.]]
* BigBad: [[HumanoidAbomination The Hairshrieker]] is the monster that haunts Memoria Island and is chasing down [[PlayerCharacter J.J.]] and [[LoveInterest Emily]]. It is revealed to be [[spoiler:the [[MentalMonster embodiment of J.J.'s suicidal feelings]] after being outed as a {{transgender}} girl- killing her frees J.J. from her nightmare]].

!!Tropes in ''The Missing: J.J Macfield and the Island of Memories'' include...
* EleventhHourSuperpower: During the final boss "battle", J.J.'s resolve causes her regeneration power to work as soon as she gets hurt instead of needing to press a button for a moment for her to will herself back to life. Shifting the gameplay from puzzle solving, to PlatformHell style launching of J.J. around via sawblades and other hazards that previously blocked progress.

* BackgroundBoss: [[InvertedTrope Inverted.]] [[spoiler:Near the end, you play as J.J. as the giant Hairshrieker in the background, while Emily runs back and forth in the foreground.]]

* LiteralMetaphor: The exact metaphor isn't said out loud, but the implications of [[spoiler: J.J. limping along like the shadow version of her which became a monster in the beginning while the whole school jeers at her (before also transforming into it for a sort of inverted boss battle)]] is pretty clear; [[spoiler: after being outed, she feels like a monster!]]

* MentalMonster: The "Hairshrieker" which occasionally shows up to chase J.J turns out to be a manifestation of [[spoiler: her own suicidal urges; wielding a version of the razor she attempted to kill herself with.]]

* NoAntagonist: While some characters are mean, the real threat to J.J. is ultimately [[spoiler: transphobia (from no specific individual) and her own suicidal impulses]].

* SupernaturallyValidatedTransPerson: The game uses this as a twist in one of its subplots [[spoiler: ...or rather, the main plot. The entire game is a nightmare J.J. is having to help her regain the will to live, having been DrivenToSuicide after being outed as a trans girl. Her appearance when she wakes up is very different, implying that her form was a sort of "true self". [[MindScrew Maybe]].]] The game was made by [[Creator/{{Swery65}} the same creator as]] ''Deadly Premonition'', who made a point of asking several transgender people for their input on their experiences.

* UnknownCharacter: Somebody [[spoiler: created the fake profile of J.J. to out her as trans]], but exactly who did it (or indeed if they were any of the named characters) isn't clear (as is the case with many similar forms of bullying). The events which followed it are far more important to the story.
* WhamLine: While it's not as unambiguous as any of the Wham Shots below, the fact that J.J.'s mum finds it unusual [[spoiler: that her daughter has girls clothes in her room]] is the first hint to the bait and switch the plot's pulling on the player.
* WhamShot:

* WhoNeedsTheirWholeBody: This is part of the core mechanic of the game. J.J. is made immortal early on, so no amount of mutilation can kill her, and several puzzles actually require her to lose some of her body parts (or even to be reduced to just her head!) in order to proceed. Could be considered a DeconstructedTrope, as the whole process is extremely painful for J.J., and the game pulls absolutely no punches in conveying this to the player.

One peaceful afternoon, J.J. Macfield and her girlfriend Emily go on a camping trip to Memoria Island, Maine. Things go well initially, until Emily goes missing during the night. J.J. sets off into the dangerous island to find her, and a few minutes later sees her being chased by [[BigBad the Hairshrieker]], a mysterious, shadowy hair monster that haunts the island. After finding out that she is unable to die, J.J. must use her newfound immortality to mutilate herself to progress and find Emily before the Hairshreiker finds both of them. Even if all of her limbs are chopped off, J.J. will still stay alive for the sake of Emily. What is going on in Memoria Island? Perhaps there's something more...

One peaceful afternoon, J.J. Macfield and her friend Emily go on a camping trip to Memoria Island, Maine. Things go well, until Emily goes missing during the night. J.J. sets off into the dangerous island to find her, and not too long in sees her being chased by [[BigBad the Hairshrieker]], a mysterious, shadowy hair monster that haunts the island. After finding out that she is unable to die, J.J. must use her newfound immortality to mutilate herself to progress and find Emily before the Hairshreiker kills both of them. Even if all of her limbs are chopped off, J.J. will still stay alive for the sake of Emily. What is going on in Memoria Island? Perhaps there's something more...

One peaceful afternoon, J.J. Macfield and her friend Emily go on a camping trip to Memoria Island, Maine. Things go well, until Emily goes missing during the night. J.J. sets off into the dangerous island to find her. After finding out that she is unable to die, J.J. must use her newfound immortality to mutilate herself to progress and find Emily, all while avoiding [[BigBad the Hairshrieker]], a mysterious monster that is on her tail. Even if all of her limbs are chopped off, J.J. will still stay alive for the sake of Emily. What is going on in Memoria Island? Perhaps there's something more...

One peaceful afternoon, J.J. Macfield and her friend Emily go on a camping trip to Memoria Island, Maine. Things go well, until Emily goes missing during the night. J.J. sets off into the dangerous island to find her, though finds herself unable to die. Even if all of her limbs are chopped off, J.J. will still stay alive for the sake of Emily. What is going on in Memoria Island? Perhaps there's something more...

* {{Asexuality}}: Implied to be the case with [[spoiler: Emily. One postgame text conversation has F.K. ask J.J if she has anyone special in her life. She says that her relationship with Emily isn't necessarily romantic, but Emily is her most important person, and she doesn't feel the need for other romantic relationships as long as she has Emily.]]

* BaitAndSwitchLesbians: Played with. The game starts off with J.J. and Emily on what appears to be a romantic night out together. The truth is more complicated, as [[spoiler:it is revealed J.J. is hiding a secret only Emily knows. Early phone conversations imply that she's trying to hide the fact that she's in a lesbian relationship with Emily. By the end it's revealed that J.J's actual secret is that she's a trans woman. Since the events of the game are all a dream, it's left ambiguous whether her relationship with Emily in the real world is that of close friends or a couple; some phone conversations have J.J. awkwardly bringing up the concept and dropping it, suggested that it's something she's considered but that they may or may not have actually acted on.]].

* GameplayAndStoryIntergration: The gameplay loop of "injure yourself and regenerate" is used to directly parallel J.J's own suffering, and the story beats all come forward in the gameplay. This was a strong enough theme that Creator/{{Swery65}} even [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6b69BYO-RW0 gave a talk on how to integrate narrative and gameplay at Game Design Conference]].

* SupernaturallyValidatedTransPerson: The game uses this as a twist in one of its subplots [[spoiler: ...or rather, the main plot. The entire game is a nightmare J.J. is having to help her regain the will to live, having been DrivenToSuicide after being outed as a trans girl. Her appearance when she wakes up is very different (despite the fact she was already presenting as a girl at university), implying that her form was a sort of "true self". [[MindScrew Maybe]].]] The game was made by [[Creator/{{Swery65}} the same creator as]] ''Deadly Premonition'', who made a point of asking several transgender people for their input on their experiences.

* EleventhHourSuperpower: During the final boss "battle", J.J.'s resolve causes her regeneration power to work as soon as the button's pressed instead of needing a moment for her to will herself back to life. Shifting the gameplay from puzzle solving, to PlatformHell style launching of J.J. around via sawblades and other hazards that previously blocked progress.

* {{Asexuality}}: Implied to be the case with [[spoiler: J.J. One postgame text conversation has F.K. ask her if she has anyone special in her life. She says that her relationship with Emily isn't necessarily romantic, but Emily is her most important person, and she doesn't feel the need for other romantic relationships as long as she has Emily.]]
* BaitAndSwitchLesbians: Played with. The game starts off with J.J. and Emily on what appears to be a romantic night out together. The truth is more complicated, as [[spoiler:it is revealed J.J. is hiding a secret only Emily knows. Early phone conversations imply that she's trying to hide the fact that she's in a lesbian relationship with Emily. By the end it's revealed that J.J's actual secret is that she's a trans woman. Since the events of the game are all a dream, it's left ambiguous whether her relationship with Emily in the real world is that of close friends or a couple; some phone conversations have J.J. awkwardly bringing up the concept and dropping it, suggested that it's something she's considered but that they may or may not have actually acted on. It's also implied that Emily is a homoromantic asexual, and had her own journey coming to terms with it, further complicating the exact nature of their relationship]].

* TheReveal: [[spoiler: J.J is a trans woman who was nearly bullied into suicide and the whole game is a DyingDream scenario.]]

* AndYouWereThere: When J.J. wakes up at the end [[spoiler: it turns out that the moose headed doctor was a manifestation of an EMT who was trying to revive her; her stuffed animal F.K. was being used to staunch the wound, and Emily, who was furious and hostile towards J.J. in the dream was waiting nearby with AngerBornOfWorry.]]

* HeteronormativeCrusader: J.J.'s mother sends her text messages about her dislike of LGBTQ+ individuals; pretty awkward considering that our hero appears to be in a relationship with a girl. [[spoiler: When she discovered she's trans, she wants to send her to what's not too subtly implied to be conversion therapy]].

** Also like ''Deadly Premonition'', the beginning of the endgame takes place in a clock tower. In light of the story of ''The Missing'', it might be relevant that ''Deadly Premonition'''s clock tower segment was a boss fight with [[spoiler:a character revealed to be a trans woman, who ends up hung from a line, though that game was a lot more ambiguous about things]].

** Some of J.J.'s friends texts talk about [[spoiler: how she'd rather die than not dress the way she wants]]. Another friend assures J.J. she has attractive hands. [[spoiler:Hand size is a common tell (and source of dysphoria) for trans women who went through male puberty]].

** Some of J.J.'s friends texts talk about [[spoiler: how she'd rather die than not dress the way she wants]]. Another friend assures J.J. she has attractive hands [[spoiler: hand size is a common tell (and source of dysphoria) for trans women who went through male puberty]].

** Also like ''Deadly Premonition'', the beginning of the endgame takes place in a clock tower. In light of the story of ''The Missing'', it might be relevant that ''Deadly Premonition'''s clock tower segment was a boss fight with [[spoiler:a character revealed to be a trans woman, who ends up hung from a line]].

* EleventhHourSuperpower: During the final boss "battle", J.J.'s resolve causes her regeneration power to work as soon as the button's pressed instead of needing a moment for her to will herself back to life. Shifting the gameplay from puzzle solving, to PlatformHell style launching of J.J. around via sawblades and other hazards that previously blocked progress.

** One of the more obvious examples is the moose headed doctor, who's shouts of "major haemorrhage" and other medical terminology [[spoiler: allude to the fact that J.J. is dying of self inflicted blood loss.]]

* NotHisSled: In contrast to the previous games of Swery65, [[spoiler:F.K.]] turns out to be a purely benevolent, if creepy, being.