History VisualNovel / BadEndTheater

''BAD END THEATER'' ([[https://store.steampowered.com/app/1764390/BAD_END_THEATER/ Steam]], [[https://nomnomnami.itch.io/bad-end-theater itch.io]]) is a UsefulNotes/RenPy-based VisualNovel released by Creator/NomnomNami in October 2021. Unlike their previous releases, which are primarily FreewareGames, this story was commercially available on multiple digital distribution services upon release.

* TomatoInTheMirror: [[spoiler:Both TRAGEDY and the Director, as revealed in the OmegaEnding, are revealed to bear the appearances of the Maiden and the Overlord, respectively, since they are their own respective self-inserts.]]

* TomatoInTheMirror: [[spoiler:Both TRAGEDY and the Director, as revealed in the OmegaEnding, are revealed to be bear the appearances of the Maiden and the Overlord, respectively since they're respectively their own self-inserts.]]

* TomatoInTheMirror: [[spoiler:Both TRAGEDY and the Director, as revealed in the OmegaEnding, are revealed to be the Maiden and the Overlord, respectively since they're respectively their own self-inserts.]]

* ResetButton: The final achievement, "Total Reset", requires the player to agree to reset the game, taking every character back to the start. [[spoiler:This is indeed a total rest and erases ''all'' the save files, not just one of them.]]

%% * PeekABangs: The Hero has one of their eyes completely covered by their hair. %% Not a trope on its own. Do the bangs indicate something? %%

* PeekABangs: The Hero has one of their eyes completely covered by their hair.

* TheCameo: According to [[https://twitter.com/nomnomnami/status/1459301502548275202 this NomnomNami tweet]], one of the random demons that the Hero encounters on their way to the Overlord's castle intentionally looks like Vido from ''VideoGame/{{KAIMA}}''.

* AccentUponTheWrongSyllable: The ending song pronounces "labyrinth" as "la-BEE-rinth".

* TheOutsiderBefriendsTheBest: the Maiden very quickly becomes a friend [[spoiler: and a love interest]] of the Overlord.

* AllForNothing: The "[[spoiler:USELESS HERO]]" ending. [[spoiler:The Hero finds no traces of the Maiden in the castle, so his whole adventure was pointless.]]

* AssassinationAttempt: If there's no conflict between the Hero and the Demons, the Underling will learn that the other demons working for the Overlord are planning to [[spoiler:seal her in her bedroom while she sleeps and burn the room down, since they don't think they can overpower her in a fair fight]].
* AxCrazy: The "[[spoiler:PERFORMER UNDERLING]]" ending. [[spoiler:The Underling eats the Maiden alive, then heads to the village and starts happily slaughtering humans before the Hero puts them down.]]

* BittersweetEnding: The "[[spoiler:TRIUMPHANT HERO]] / [[spoiler:COMPLACENT MAIDEN]] / [[spoiler:SLAIN OVERLORD]]" endings, which are the same save for PerspectiveFlip. [[spoiler:The heroic Hero successfully "rescues" the Maiden and returns her home after slaying the Overlord and all of her minions (except the Underling, who runs away), and he considers it just, even though the Maiden's clearly traumatized because the demons were actually innocent and she was never in real danger.]]
* BloodKnight: A "Dutiful" Hero will slaughter the demons, as is his duty, even if the demons pose no threat or are attempting to clear up a misunderstanding.

* BurnTheWitch: The "[[spoiler:SPECTATOR HERO]] / [[spoiler:EXECUTED MAIDEN]]" endings. [[spoiler:The Maiden was never in danger, and returns back to town. But when she says the demons didn't harm her, the townsfolk don't believe her, and burn her at the stake for potentially being in league with them while the Hero can only watch from the distance.]]

* FailureHero: Considering the Hero in the many non-golden endings does things like [[spoiler:[[VanHelsingHateCrime killing the Overlord when she didn't harm any people]], [[UnwantedAssistance getting the Maiden killed (sometimes by his own blade)]], [[MomentKiller driving the Overlord and the Maiden apart]], or [[NiceJobBreakingItHero allowing the Underling to take the throne]]]], he fits this trope to a T. This bit of narration when he's getting [[spoiler:torn apart by the Overlord for killing all her people]] sums it up.

* ForcedIntoEvil: For the Underling to survive, it's inevitable for them to gain the "disloyal" trait, as the only other outcome is [[spoiler:to get killed by their fellow demons for not agreeing to their assassination plan]].

** While many of the Bad Ends have the protagonists reflect on their poor choices, multiple ones for the Maiden are outright ''accusatory'', with the narration for "[[spoiler:SELFLESS MAIDEN]]" stating "[[AllLowercaseLetters this is exactly the kind of punishment you deserve]]" for [[spoiler:trying to break from her role, be Heroic, and save the Overlord when her minions set the castle on fire, only to fail and be burned to death]]. The reason for this becomes clear in the OmegaEnding.
** Unlock enough endings, and you will start receiving hints about the OmegaEnding in the form of letters from [[spoiler:"TRAGEDY" to "my love"]]. There is even a subtle hint towards [[spoiler:the true identity of "my love", namely the color of the quoted text in the fourth letter]].

* HeroicSacrifice: In the "[[spoiler:VICTORIOUS UNDERLING]]" ending, [[spoiler:the Underling stays in the castle and helps the demons defeat the bloodthirsty Hero, but is fatally wounded in the process]].

* KnightTemplar: The Hero thinks demons are all evil monsters and feels completely justified in killing them. Also, if he sees the Maiden [[spoiler:get burned at the stake, he just assumes she deserved it somehow]].

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: In the "[[spoiler:TRAGIC HERO]]" ending, [[spoiler:after slaughtering the entire demon army, the Hero is shocked to learn that the Maiden was never in any danger, and quietly accepts his fate when the Overlord kills him in retaliation]].

* PaperTiger: The "[[spoiler:CONQUERED OVERLORD]]" ending. [[spoiler:After the Hero has rampaged through her castle and stabs her, the Overlord admits to herself as she dies that she was never actually any better than her underlings, and it was only her title that allowed her to boss others around.]]

* PersonalityPowers: Played with, as by progressing through the routes, you unlock "personality modifiers" for the performers. All of the characters naturally learn traits fitting their roles, and once known, the "director" can choose to activate or disable them in order to change the flow of events; for example, by finding and disabling the Underling's "hungry" trait, [[spoiler:they'll stop devouring the Maiden on-sight]].

* PetTheDog: In the "[[spoiler:ESCAPED MAIDEN]] / [[spoiler:HEROIC UNDERLING]]" endings, [[spoiler:after carrying out their violent revolution plot against the Overlord, the Underling takes a moment to send the Maiden home out of concern for her safety]].

* RevengeBeforeReason: If the Hero is dutiful and slays demons, the Underling and/or Overlord can try to avenge their allies by fighting him. [[spoiler:The Underling's doomed to failure, while the Overlord only loses if he's also Heroic and feels no guilt for his actions.]]

* SaunaOfDeath: The AssassinationAttempt mentioned above involves [[spoiler:locking the Overlord in her room and setting it on fire, burning her to death]].

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: The "[[spoiler:DESERTER UNDERLING]]" ending. [[spoiler:When the Hero storms the castle to find the missing Maiden, the Underling decides to just run for it, abandoning their comrades and living in solitude from then on.]]

* SenselessSacrifice: The "[[spoiler:SACRIFICIAL MAIDEN]] / [[spoiler:LOYAL HERO]]" endings, in which [[spoiler:a martyr Maiden shields the Overlord from the heroic Hero, only for the Overlord to put RevengeBeforeReason, attack, and immediately be slain herself]].
* ShaggyDogStory: The "[[spoiler:FAILED HERO]]" and "[[spoiler:TRAGIC HERO]]" endings; in both, [[spoiler:the dutiful Hero slaughters all of the demons in order to rescue the Maiden]], only to learn in the former that [[spoiler:she was never there (she was devoured by the Underling, but the Hero never learns this)]] or in the latter that [[spoiler:she was completely fine the whole time, which leads to letting the Overlord kill him to avenge her army]].

* TheStarscream: The "[[spoiler:LORD UNDERLING]]" and "[[spoiler:HEROIC UNDERLING]] / [[spoiler:ESCAPED MAIDEN]] / [[spoiler:UNLUCKY HERO]]" endings have [[spoiler:the Underling kill the Overlord and usurp her as the leader of the demons]]. In the first, [[spoiler:they do it while she's sleeping, and they wonder just how long until another demon does the same thing to them]]; in the latter, [[spoiler:it's after the Hero has weakened her and all of the other conspiring demons are already dead]].

* TooDumbToLive: If the Underling has the "captor" trait, [[spoiler:the other demons will just outright tell the Hero that they've locked the Maiden in their dungeon, and immediately get slaughtered for it while the Underling hides]].
* ToServeMan: The Underling's "hungry" trait turns them into this, as demonstrated when [[spoiler:they devour the Maiden]].
* ATragedyOfImpulsiveness: The majority of tragedy in the narrative can be traced back to either [[spoiler:the humans assuming the demons are responsible for the Maiden's disappearance]], or [[spoiler:the demons not thinking their assassination plan through and accidentally burning down the Overlord's entire castle]].

* WithFriendsLikeThese: The Underling considers the other demons their friends, and yet [[spoiler:they are all ready to kill the Underling for disagreeing with their revolution plan, and even throw the Underling under the bus should their plan go south]].

* {{Yandere}}: In any ending where [[spoiler:the Overlord's "possessive" behavior comes into play, she takes such a liking to the Maiden that she would rather murder the Hero than let him take the Maiden away]].

* {{Yandere}}: In any ending where [[spoiler:the Overlord's "possessive" behavior comes into play, she takes such a liking to the Maiden that she would rather murder the Hero than let him take the Maiden away]].

* BlindingBangs: The Underling's white hair completely covers their ExtraEyes, save for when they become serious. The Hero also has one of their eyes completely covered by their hair.

* ExtraEyes: Most of the demons have additional eyes on their face, including the Underling (though they're usually covered by their BlindingBangs) and the Overlord (although hers is positioned like a ThirdEye).

''BAD END THEATER'' ([[https://store.steampowered.com/app/1764390/BAD_END_THEATER/ Steam]], [[https://nomnomnami.itch.io/bad-end-theater itch.io]]) is a VisualNovel released by Creator/NomnomNami in October 2021. Unlike their previous releases, which are primarily FreewareGames, this story was commercially available on multiple digital distribution services upon release.

** The narration in the Hero's story uses "it" pronouns for the Underling and other minor demons, reflecting how the Hero views demons as mere monsters. The Maiden's story alternates between "they" and "it", since the Maiden is more open-minded about meeting demons than the Hero. The Underling and Overlord's stories use "they" pronouns exclusively.

* ItIsDehumanizing: Curiously, in the GoldenEnding, [[spoiler:TRAGEDY refers to ''itself'' at "it", making it seem like you're fighting the ''concept'' of tragedy rather than a person named after it]].

>''To the lost, the cold\\