History Videogame / TheCrookedMan

* SorryBillyButYouJustDontHaveLegs: [[spoiler:David's childhood dream was to become a pilot, but being color blind (at least to certain colors, because he sure can see red just fine) disqualified him from that.]]
** [[spoiler:David is probably red-green colorblind. He can see red and green just fine, but not in proximity to each other.]]

* MeaningfulName: Sissi

* TalkingDownTheSuicidal: [[spoiler:Subverted. While playing as Paul, you are given the option to try to persuade David to put down the gun. It doesn't work (because [[PsychicAssistedSuicide isn't David holding the gun]]) and David shoots himself.]]

-->'''Paul''': You come back to us safe! I... I don't wanna go to my friend's funeral!

* WhamEpisode: The two chapters taking place in the hospital are one long WhamEpisode. Fluffy's chapter ends with [[spoiler:a flashback showing that David once had a FreakOut and almost killed his mother.]] The chapter immediately following reveals that [[spoiler:Paul has some sort of sixth sense, Fluffy, Sissi and D are DeadAllAlong,]] and at the end of it Paul has to save David [[spoiler:from killing himself.]]

-->'''Paul''': [[{{Angrish}} HAAAAAAAHHHHH]]!!! YOU DAMN MONSTER! [[spoiler:GET AWAY FROM DAVID!!]]

* InvisibleToNormals: David is being haunted by the Crooked Man and can see [[spoiler:D, Fluffy and Sissi]] just fine as a result. [[spoiler:Paul]] can also see them just fine since he [[spoiler:can see and feel the supernatural.]] Marion can't see them [[spoiler:and gets upset, thinking Paul's pranking her.]]

* GetAHoldOfYourselfMan: The only way to [[spoiler:stop David from shooting himself while playing as Paul]] is to punch him in the face. Repeatedly. [[spoiler:in a variation, Paul is actually trying to punch the spirit posessing him, crossing this trope over with BeatTheCurseOutOfHim.]]

* GetAholdOfYourselfMan: The only way to [[spoiler:stop David from shooting himself while playing as Paul]] is to punch him in the face. Repeatedly. [[spoiler:in a variation, Paul is actually trying to punch the spirit posessing him, crossing this trope over with BeatTheCurseOutOfHim.]]

* [[spoiler:DeadAllAlong]]: [[spoiler:Sissi, D, and Fluffy, as they all turn out to be "facets" of Duke...]]

** Paul finds himself in the situation of [[spoiler: having to stop his best friend from killing himself.]]

* AfterActionVillainAnalysis: Paul ends up explaining what the motives of the Crooked Man are. How would Paul know such things? [[spoiler: Having a "sixth sense" of sorts helps.]]

* BeatTheCurseOutOfHim: When playing as Paul, you are given three options on what to do when you find David [[spoiler: possessed by the Crooked Man and about to shoot himself.]] One of the options is punching him; choose this option and Paul will punch David repeatedly until [[spoiler: it works. It's the only one of the three options that does work.]]
* [[spoiler: BittersweetEnding]]: [[spoiler: The good ending. Duke can finally rest in peace, David is able to face life with renewed vigor and is on better terms with his friends, David's fiancee came back to him, and his mom's operation to remove the tumor in her brain successfully brought her back to her normal self...but she died a short time later.]]

* BrickJoke: A rather heartwarming example. [[spoiler: While exploring Duke's mother's house in the final chapter, you find a note indicating that Duke has run out of cigarettes and needs to buy more. The final scene of the game is David leaving a pack of smokes at Duke's grave.]]
* BrokenTears: David when he has a HeroicBSOD and [[spoiler: gets possessed by the Crooked Man and almost compelled into shooting himself.]]
* ChekhovsGun: At one point David makes an offhand remark about how Paul has an interest in the occult. [[spoiler: Paul sees dead people.]]
* CreepyChildrenSinging: David meets Fluffy by following Fluffy's voice when Fluffy's singing "I'm a Little Teapot". Later, [[spoiler: Paul]] encounters Fluffy the same way, except this time Fluffy's singing "There Was a Crooked Man", and it for some reason has a creepy extra verse tacked onto it now. It is after this second Fluffy meeting that the player learns [[spoiler: Marion can't see Fluffy, Sissi, or D.]]
* [[spoiler: DeadAllAlong]]: [[spoiler: Sissi, D, and Fluffy, as they all turn out to be "facets" of Duke...]]

** [[spoiler: Since Fluffy, Sissi, and D are aspects of Duke, technically every conversation with any of them is this.]]
** [[spoiler: If you do a second playthrough, rather than simply finding Duke's corpse like in your first playthrough, David actually has a conversation with Duke's spirit before Duke finally passes on.]]
* DemonicPossession: [[spoiler: The Crooked Man briefly does this to David and tries to influence him to kill himself. Thankfully Paul snaps David out of it and drives the Crooked Man away.]]
* [[spoiler: DistractedFromDeath: During the true ending, David's mother sends him to fetch a glass of water for her so he doesn't have to see her die.]]

* DueToTheDead: [[spoiler: When David finds Duke's corpse, he thanks him for helping him get back on his feet and ensures he receives a proper burial.]]

* ExpositionBreak: After his BigDamnHeroes moment and the revelation that [[spoiler: his interest in the occult is related to his ability to see/feel the supernatural,]] Paul ends up explaining to David--and the player--exactly why David's drawn to the previous tenant of his apartment, why the Crooked Man keeps attacking David, and even [[spoiler: what Sissi, D, and Fluffy really are.]]

** In an odd example, Bad End 2 foreshadows Bad End 4. In Bad End 2, you do the wrong thing trying to calm D down, [[spoiler: and D stabs David and then gets killed by the Crooked Man. As David is dying, the Crooked Man says "It wasn't me, it was you. You killed him, and then yourself.]] In Bad End 4, you do the wrong thing to calm David down [[spoiler: when the Crooked Man is compelling him to suicide,]] and this leads to [[spoiler: David killing Paul. And then himself.]]
** At one point you have to solve a puzzle and it involves ''Literature/TheStrangeCaseOfDoctorJekyllAndMrHyde''. The fact that you have to encounter this book foreshadows [[spoiler: Duke's dual motivation of hating David and wanting him dead...and yet also having pity on David and wanting him to succeed where Duke failed.]]
** One of the notes from the previous tenant mentions that he wanted someone to set him straight and tell him that his chasing after his dreams was foolish. [[spoiler: Later, if you try to tell D to keep going for his dreams, you get a bad ending.]]
** A very subtle example. During the hospital segment, you find a notebook scrap that says that the previous tenant wishes he could kill himself when he was still a child... and in the same area, the Crooked Man suddenly starts completely ignoring David to hunt and kill some kid named Fluffy. [[spoiler: This foreshadows that Fluffy and the others are actually aspects of Duke, with Fluffy being his inner child.]]
** The apartment has a big, off-angle crack in the back wall, and David's sharing it with a ghost [[spoiler: who has four separate selves.]] ''And they all lived together in a little crooked house''...
** A very easy-to-miss example: when you find the scrap of notebook paper in the hotel, it refers to the hotel as having been the previous tenant's special place with his girlfriend, and he specifically refers to it as "our special place." [[spoiler: Later, when Sissi talks about her ex-boyfriend and why she is in the hotel, she also calls it "our special place." This foreshadows the fact that she is really a personality of the former tenant, Duke.]]
* FourIsDeath: If you're in a building with four floors, expect to find something awful there, especially in the hospital, where the elevator is trapped on the fourth floor. The room where [[spoiler: Duke's mother died]] was room 413, combining this trope with ThirteenIsUnlucky. The Crooked Man himself also counts as this, given that [[spoiler: he has four aspects.]]

* GetAholdOfYourselfMan: The only way to [[spoiler: stop David from shooting himself while playing as Paul]] is to punch him in the face. Repeatedly. [[spoiler: in a variation, Paul is actually trying to punch the spirit posessing him, crossing this trope over with BeatTheCurseOutOfHim.]]
* GoOutWithASmile: [[spoiler: David's mother in the good ending.]]
* GoryDiscretionShot: [[spoiler: Sissi]]'s death in one of the bad endings; we just hear [[spoiler: Sissi]] screaming and then see blood spilling out the door. We don't see what the Crooked Man actually did to [[spoiler: her.]]
* GunStruggle: [[spoiler: When Paul has to stop David from killing himself, you are given the option of trying to grab for the gun. This results in them fighting over it for a few seconds until it goes off...and kills Paul. Leaving David so distraught that he shoots himself like he was going to.]]

* HeroicBSOD: David has one when [[spoiler: confronted by an image of his mother and recalling a particularly painful memory involving her.]] This leaves him vulnerable and [[spoiler: the Crooked Man takes control of him and tries to drive him to suicide.]] Luckily, Paul is able to save him.
* TheHunterBecomesTheHunted: Zig-zagged. David goes looking for the previous tenant, only to find himself being hunted down by the Crooked Man. [[spoiler: Then he finds out the Crooked Man ''is'' the previous tenant. And tracks him down to his home where he defeats him once and for all.]]

* InterruptedSuicide: [[spoiler: Paul saves David from shooting himself...if you decided to punch David instead of trying to talk him out of it or grabbing for the gun.]]
* InvisibleToNormals: David is being haunted by the Crooked Man and can see [[spoiler: D, Fluffy and Sissi]] just fine as a result. [[spoiler: Paul]] can also see them just fine since he [[spoiler: can see and feel the supernatural.]] Marion can't see them [[spoiler: and gets upset, thinking Paul's pranking her.]]

* NonstandardGameOver: All of the bad endings. [[spoiler: Tell Sissi not to cry, the Crooked Man kills her and then you. Tell D to keep going for his dream, he'll stab you and then be killed by the Crooked Man. While playing as Paul and having to confront a suicidal David, either try to talk him down which will result in him shooting, or grab for the gun which will result in him accidentally killing Paul and then freaking out about it and shooting himself anyway.]]
* NotSoDifferent: [[spoiler: Turns out to be the entire motivator for the whole game. David is drawn to the previous tenant because the few things he knows about him are things David relates to. The former tenant is Duke [=MacGahan=], and is the Crooked Man who keeps following David...partly because he hates David and wants him dead because he reminds him too much of himself, and partly because he doesn't want things to turn out for David the way they did for him.]]

* PsychicAssistedSuicide: [[spoiler: When Paul finds David about to shoot himself, he sees the Crooked Man's arms, one around David's shoulders and the other one holding David's hand with the gun to his head. David isn't acting fully out of his own free will.]]

** [[spoiler: David is probably red-green colorblind. He can see red and green just fine, but not in proximity to each other.]]

* SureLetsGoWithThat: When Marion thinks Paul [[spoiler: is trying to play a cruel prank on her by talking to the air to freak her out,]] Paul realizes [[spoiler: that she can't see Sissi, D, or Fluffy]] and simply apologizes to her and asks her to go outside and wait for him to return with David.
* TalkingDownTheSuicidal: [[spoiler: Subverted. While playing as Paul, you are given the option to try to persuade David to put down the gun. It doesn't work (because [[PsychicAssistedSuicide isn't David holding the gun]]) and David shoots himself.]]

-->'''Paul''': You come back to us safe! I...I don't wanna go to my friend's funeral!

* ViolenceIsTheOnlyOption: [[spoiler: At the part where David's been possessed and is about to shoot himself, you must have Paul punch him. Trying to talk him down will be ineffectual and trying to take away his weapon will be worse than ineffectual.]]
* WasOnceAMan: The Crooked Man himself [[spoiler: was the mystery tenant David had been trying to find.]]
* WhamEpisode: The two chapters taking place in the hospital are one long WhamEpisode. Fluffy's chapter ends with [[spoiler: a flashback showing that David once had a FreakOut and almost killed his mother.]] The chapter immediately following reveals that [[spoiler: Paul has some sort of sixth sense, Fluffy, Sissi and D are DeadAllAlong,]] and at the end of it Paul has to save David [[spoiler: from killing himself.]]

** [[spoiler: The vision of David's mother to David. "Are you going to try to kill me again?"]]

-->'''Marion''': [[spoiler: Just WHO do you keep talking to?]]
* YouAreNotAlone: David suffers a HeroicBSOD after [[spoiler: recalling some very painful memories involving his mother,]] which leads to him getting [[spoiler: possessed by the Crooked Man and almost DrivenToSuicide.]] Paul and Marion then take out an entire day to drive to an abandoned area they've never been to before, just to make sure David's okay. Paul ends up saving David's life.
* YouMonster: Paul to [[spoiler: the Crooked Man]] when the latter [[spoiler: has David possessed.]]
-->'''Paul''': [[{{Angrish}} HAAAAAAAHHHHH]]!!! YOU DAMN MONSTER! [[spoiler: GET AWAY FROM DAVID!!]]

* TalkingDownTheSuicidal: [[spoiler: Subverted. While playing as Paul, you are given the option to try to persuade David to put down the gun. It doesn't work and David shoots himself.]]

* FamilyUnfriendlyAesop: Most stories go the "Never give up! With enough hard work and dedication, you'll achieve your dream!" route. This one doesn't. [[spoiler: The moral of the story is that sometimes, hard work and dedication to a dream is just bashing your head against a wall, and the harder you work toward something impossible the more miserable you'll make yourself. Sometimes, you ''have'' to give up on one dream... so that you don't give up on living altogether.]]

* FourIsDeath: If you're in a building with four floors, expect to find something awful there, especially in the hospital, where the elevator is trapped on the fourth floor. The room where [[spoiler: Duke's mother died]] was room 413, combining this trope with ThirteenIsUnlucky.

* ImprovisedWeapon: The only weapon David picks up that is really a proper weapon is the revolver; all the other weapons are things that are just lying around. That the knife is a fruit knife means it wasn't intended for use as a weapon. Then there's the iron pipe. And the fire extinguisher. And splashing wine on the Crooked Man and then setting him aflame with a lighter.

''The Crooked Man'' is a Japanese freeware horror adventure game, made in WOLF RPG Editor by [[http://2style.in/uri/thecrookedman/top.html Uri]], who also made ''VideoGame/{{Paranoiac}}''.