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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dark_fall_journal.jpg]]
2->''"Oh Nigel, what have you done? Oh God! What have '''we''' done?"''
3
4A series of PointAndClick adventure games that fall squarely in the horror genre, created by Jonathan Boakes.
5
6The first game, ''Dark Fall: The Journal'', was released in 2004. It takes place at Dowerton, an abandoned [[UsefulNotes/TheWestCountry West Country]] train station and hotel. The player character's brother is attempting to renovate it into a bed and breakfast. It turns out that the train station has a DarkAndTroubledPast involving many mysterious disappearances over the years and apparent paranormal activity. Your character receives a panicked message on your answering machine, leading you to hitch on out to the train station in the wee hours to investigate the matter. When you arrive, no one is there...at least no one besides a child's disembodied voice. Against your better judgement, you begin exploring this eerie place.
7
8Positive Word-Of-Mouth got this small, independent production the attention of The Adventure Company and the game enjoyed a wider release, which in-turn led to three sequels (''Dark Fall: Light's Out'', ''Dark Fall: Lost Souls'', and ''Dark Fall: Ghost Vigil'') and a spin-off game series (''VideoGame/TheLostCrown'').
9
10In ''Lights Out,'' you play as a cartographer who was sent out to an isolated lighthouse on an island off the coast of Britain to find out what happened to its keepers. As before, the people you are looking for have literally vanished, and the process of trying to find out transpired takes you on a (creepy) journey through time, through thousands of years of the island's history.
11
12In ''Lost Souls,'' you play as an Inspector who, five years before, tried and failed to discover what happened to a missing girl from Dowerton named Amy. You have returned to Dowerton to try to... find her? Save her? Settle the questions in your mind? Your reasons for being there are obscure, as is the truth about what happened five years ago. You'll gradually learn the awful truth as you play your way through Dowerton Station; if you played ''The Journal,'' you'll recognize the place, but just barely. It's...really gone downhill.
13
14In ''Ghost Vigil'', you play as the new recruit for a team of young Oxford Paranormal Group ghost-hunters, who are investigating and conducting paranormal experiments at Harwood House, an abandoned country mansion. Steeped in layers of history - and tragedy - this 18th-century manor-cum-1980s children's home has long been the scene of spooky phenomena, which you'll do your best to capture with gadgets, CCTV cameras, and tape. But all too soon, it become apparent that it's ''you'' and your fellow ghost-hunters who have truly been captured...
15
16----
17!!These games contain examples of:
18
19* AbandonedPlayground: ''Ghost Vigil'' has one in which you can play on the slide, swing, etc.
20* AbusiveParents: Benjamin Parker's father sent him to the Cartography Academy, when he only wanted to be an artist.
21** Arther was forced into joining the British army by his father, which led to [[spoiler: Arther losing his life in UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo.]]
22** Not explicit, but tattered promotional posters and an old TV ad for Shangri-La suggest that the children's home was marketed to lazy, self-centered parents who opted to dump their troubled offspring with strangers so they could enjoy a kid-free lifestyle.
23* AccidentalMisnaming: Probably due to poor spellchecking, two characters in ''Lights Out'' named James Woolf and Gerard Magnus have their names written in different ways throughout the game, such as "James Wolfe" and "Magnus Griel". The Director's Cut fixes the latter by spelling out his full name as "Gerard Griel Magnus."
24** In an in-Verse example, the Shangri-La staff don't seem to know whether the youngest girl's name is Louise or Louisa, using either or both spellings in documents scattered around Harwood House. [[spoiler: This ambivalence as to her name's form makes one of the game's puzzles harder, as deducing the girl's country-of-origin is part of the challenge. Different nationalities tend to spell the name differently, so...]]
25* AdaptationalAngstUpgrade: The versions of Gloria Grable, Andrew Verney, and Matilda Fly in ''Lost Souls'' are a ''lot'' more angsty than the ones in ''The Journal''. More of an adaptation-effect than a sequel, due to the first game's [[spoiler: cosmic retcon]] ending.
26* AdaptationalHeroism: Gloria Grable's version in ''Journal'' showed no indications of being anything more than [[spoiler: a greed-driven criminal]], but in ''Light's Out'', it's strongly hinted that [[spoiler: the bank she and her lover robbed was run by Nazi collaborators, and the robbery was covertly green-lit by British Intelligence to acquire proof of this.]]
27* AIIsACrapshoot: [[spoiler: Malakai in ''Lights Out'' is one screwed-up sentient space probe.]]
28* AllJustADream: [[spoiler: The entirety of ''Dark Fall: Lost Souls'' might just be a hallucination brought on by mixing vodka and medication.]]
29* AlwaysNight: All but the second game happen entirely after dark. [[spoiler: In ''Ghost Vigil'', it's because the Harwood estate becomes frozen in time and isolated at 12:00:13, trapping you and the OPG team there.]]
30* AmbiguouslyJewish: Timothy's accent sounds Jewish, but it's never stated if he was a Jew back in 1941.
31* AnachronismStew: [[spoiler: Parker finds a computer disk in 1912, examines a necklace of computer parts in the 2090 B.C. encampment, wears a viewing headset from 2004 in all four eras, and uses a lantern from his own time to explore the 2090 research station.]] The first evidence of paranormal activity you're likely to discover in ''Ghost Vigil'' is that the radio in the attic still plays news broadcasts from 1984.
32* AncientEvil: Contact between humans and the Dark Fall evidently goes back to prehistoric, or at the very least pre-Roman times.
33* AncientTomb: [[spoiler: There's a cell under Harwood House where Lord Harwood locked the Jericho Five away to die, and an adjacent cavern full of skeletons that were apparently there long before Lord Harwood discovered it.]]
34* AndIMustScream: Getting your soul eaten by the Dark Fall isn't the end; it'll keep you around as a ghost to torment and/or use you as bait to draw in more victims.
35* AnotherMansTerror: ''Lost Souls'' requires the Inspector to talk Gloria down from crashing her (figurative) car with him inside it, re-enacting her suicide with each failed attempt. ''Ghost Vigil'' has your character experience [=POV=] visions of two ghost's deaths, one by choking and one by grisly suicide.
36* AntagonistTitle: "Dark Fall" is the name (title?) of the malign, soul-leeching supernatural entity/force that is responsible for much of the horror in these games.
37* ApocalypticLog: George's notes in ''Journal'', the head lighthouse-keeper's diary in ''Light's Out'', and Thomas's various writings in ''Ghost Vigil''. One of the cassette tapes from the latter game is a recording of an on-the-scene radio report about one of the Shangri-La tragedies.
38* AristocratsAreEvil: [[spoiler: Lord Harwood is revealed to have sacrificed his son, his wife, and the Jericho Five to the Dark Fall. And adding a bonus KickTheDog to his crimes, he tortured his son's pet canary and an unknown number of other animals to death in his experiments.]]
39* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: The moral or social offenses for which the Jericho Five were [[spoiler: selected to be sacrificed to the Dark Fall by Lord Harwood]] include arrogance, gambling, homosexuality, obesity, and ''being Welsh''.
40* AscendedExtra: Nigel goes on to become the main character in ''The Lost Crown'' game series.
41* BadPeopleAbuseAnimals: Lord Harwood's experiments resulted in ugly deaths for a variety of small and harmless animals. [[spoiler: Averted by the Shangri-La girls, whose notes indicate they'd held out hope that they could get away with using a ''snail'' for a decoy instead of a rat, bird or snake, presumably because a snail's nervous system is too basic to experience much distress.]]
42* BathroomStallGraffiti: In ''The Journal'' and ''Lost Souls'', the train station restrooms have graffiti on the walls, intermingled with World War 2-era posters and symbols related to the Dark Fall.
43* BeepingComputers: Polly White's computer in the first game, and the D.E.O.S. lab's machinery in the second. Ramped up for ominous effect in the facility's launch room.
44* BigBad: The Dark Fall itself.
45* BigCreepyCrawlies: The giant grub-things in ''Lost Souls''.
46* BigSecret: Despite there being a bank robber secretly hiding out at his hotel, George has ''much'' more serious things on his mind. The kids at Shangri-La Children's Home were far more aware of the terrors haunting Harwood House than the adult staff, [[spoiler: and had even devised fairly sophisticated plans to foil it. Too bad the girls never risked sharing their plans with the boys or vice versa...]]
47* {{Blackmail}}: Matilda Fly found out who Gloria Grable really was, thanks to her collected newspaper clippings, but rather than turning her over to the police, she made a deal with Gloria: in exchange for keeping quiet, Matilda would get a piece of Gloria's spoils. At some point, Matilda recieved the money, but didn't get to make use of it before the Dark Fall captured everyone.
48* BloodierAndGorier: ''Lost Souls'' had a LOT more blood in it than the previous games. As in, "it was all over the walls, floor, and ceiling."
49** And you're lucky when it's just blood.
50* BookEnds: ''Journal'' starts and ends with a closeup of your wristwatch as you're listening to an ansaphone message from your brother.
51* [[TheTapeKnewYouWouldSayThat The Book Knew You Would Read That]]: In ''Light's Out'', your character finds a notebook written by the head lighthouse-keeper. Its contents grow increasingly-disturbing with each entry, until the last of the writing directly ''addresses you by name''.
52* BornInTheWrongCentury: Mr. Harding, the teacher at Shangri-La, develops a crush on Lady Isabella's ghost. When he comes to his senses, he blames his attraction for her - or at least the ''idea'' of her - on this trope.
53* BrokenRecord: Corbin Hart's [=MP3=] player plays back a message from his kids in a horribly choppy manner. His wife lampshades this in a letter, and asks him to invest in a new one.
54** A literal example shows up in the first game with Edith Penfold's record player.
55** [[spoiler: At the climax of ''Ghost Vigil'', you finally encounter the other three ghost-hunters in person ... as semi-transparent, paralyzed presences who keep chanting the same phrases over and over.]]
56* CallBack: In ''Ghost Vigil'', [[spoiler: playing the five petrospheres left to right in the Air Trial room makes the same sound sequence from ''Journal'', though the actual order to solve the trial is different.]]
57* CampbellCountry: The games are set at fictional locations in Cornwall and Oxfordshire.
58* CantMoveWhileBeingWatched:
59** In ''The Journal'', Polly and Nigel camped out in Edith Penfold's room to see if her record player would start on its own. When it didn't, Polly came to the conclusion that Edith wouldn't move while being watched.
60** The Inspector plays "Statues" with Amy during their first close encounter in ''Lost Souls''.
61* TheChewToy: Polly White. In each of the first two games she ends up investigating events way above her pay grade with the backing of Hadden Industries... [[spoiler: only for the player to make the incidents she was investigating never happen by the end of the game. In the former, at least, it saved her from death and eternal torment in the process. In the latter... not so much.]]
62* ClearMyName: An implied objective in ''Light's Out'', although the scenario doesn't make a big deal out of it.
63* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: The only reason Andrew seems even more calm and level-headed than Timothy is that, unlike Timothy, he seems to have no idea what's going on, the lucky bastard.
64* CobwebJungle: ''Lost Souls'' has one made by ''cocooned larvae'' rather than spiders.
65* CondensationClue: Made a bit trickier in ''The Journal'' because you have to restore the hotel's hot water before you can detect this one. In ''Lost Souls'', Verney writes a clue in the grime on a full-length mirror.
66* CosmicRetcon: [[spoiler:All four games feature this, although it's only implied by Malakai's remarks at the end of ''Lights Out''. In ''Lost Souls'', evidence that the Inspector's actions saved Gloria and Matilda turns up within minutes of him intervening in their history.]]
67* ContinuityNod: Pete Crowhurst, the missing brother from ''Journal'', had previously surveyed Harwood House for possible renovation as luxury student housing. [[spoiler: Nigel Danvers, of ''Journal'' and ''The Lost Crown'', spent his early childhood as a ward of Shangri-La.]]
68* CrazyPrepared: In ''Journal'', Nigel notes that the photos in George's darkroom were shot on 35mm film, a very recent product in 1947.
69* CreatorCameo: [[spoiler: Spelling out Boakes's name on the ouija board]] in ''Lost Souls'' will get you an EasterEgg describing how "local ghosthunter" Jonathan Boakes knows of the Station Hotel, but is [[TakeThatMe too scared to investigate it]].
70* CreepyBasement: A large (and haunted, natch) one in ''Journal'' qualifies, but the one in ''Ghost Vigil'' readily tops it in the creepiness department. There's a boiler room and coal bin in the ''Light's Out'' lighthouse instead, but some eerie half-flooded tunnels [[spoiler: in the 2090 version]] serve a similar purpose.
71* CreepyCemetery: Some eerie tombstones line the roadside in ''Ghost Vigil''.
72* CreepyChangingPainting: In ''The Journal'', two paintings in Arther's studio are this. One of them, resembling a demon, even ''[[EvilLaugh laughs at you]]'' accompanied by the sounds of fire crackling.
73** Some of the CCTV challenges in ''Ghost Vigil'' are spot-the-difference minigames, and include examples of this. The large portrait of Lord Harwood sometimes turns blank in the same game.
74* CreepyChild: Quite a few ghostly children haunt Harwood House and the grounds around it, but the Crying Boy is the most alarming. Also a little ''creep'', no "y" attached.
75%%** Timothy Pike, though he's also really friendly.
76%%** Amy Haven, from ''Dark Fall: Lost Souls'', takes CreepyChild up to eleven.
77%% Please add context to the two commented out examples befire removing markup. Be sure to fix indentation after.
78* CreepyDoll: The Inspector must find the parts of three damaged baby-dolls, reassemble them, and place them correctly to progress in ''Lost Souls''. In ''Ghost Vigil'', you must use a rag doll to [[spoiler: craft a simulated "child sacrifice" to attract the Dark Fall so you can banish it]].
79* CrustyCaretaker: The spirit of Shangri-La's old caretaker speaks to you a few times in ''Ghost Vigil'', and is fairly friendly for a ghost.
80* CuriosityKilledTheCast: You and the other Oxford Paranormal Group members from ''Ghost Vigil''. Also George and Arther in the first game, and Polly in the second, when she didn't even have the (thin) excuse of a college project to justify her ghost-hunting.
81* DarkAndTroubledPast: Both the train station and the Crabtree family, in ''Journal''. Also the Inspector and Gloria in ''Lost Souls'', Harwood House and many of its past residents in ''Ghost Vigil'', and [[spoiler: Nigel Danvers, who is revealed to have lived there as a child]].
82* DarknessEqualsDeath: [[spoiler:Subverted when you go to the third floor for the first time in ''Journal''. That doesn't stop it from easily being one of the scariest moments of the game.]]
83* DataPad: What the D.E.O.S. personnel use in their underwater base, even for mundane things like picture frames and cookbooks.
84** The brother in ''Journal'' left some notes and e-mails on one in the station's waiting room.
85** You find tablets left around by your fellow ghost-hunters all over Harwood House in ''Ghost Vigil'', although any clues they offer are in the form of photos, not text notes.
86* DeadAllAlong: [[spoiler:Mr. Bones]]
87* DeadlyPrank: One of Any Haven's notebooks imply she had seriously hurt or even killed people by setting a fire as a prank.
88* DeadManWriting: The titular ''Journal''.
89* DeadPersonConversation: A mechanic for all four games, sometimes with the aid of Ghost-Hunting Goggles to actually see and/or hear the person in question.
90* DeathOfAChild: Timothy Pike died pretty young. [[spoiler: The crying baby from ''Lost Souls'', who evidently died in the Blitz, was much, ''much'' younger.]] Ollie choked to death in the Shangri-La pantry, where he'd been stuffing himself with sweets (forbidden due to his diabetes). Edgar Harwood died very young, reportedly of scarlet fever.
91* DialogueTree: The second and third games have this mechanic, though only the Inspector's lines are voiced. The fourth game has in-Verse texting with the other three ghost-hunters, as well as dialogue buttons for talking to ghosts.
92* DiegeticSoundtrackUsage: In ''Lost Souls'', Amy sometimes hums a higher-pitched version of ''The Journal's'' theme, also heard from a music box later on. Also used in a piano puzzle in ''Ghost Vigil''.
93* DisgustingPublicToilet: One of the grosser locations in ''Lost Souls'' is the public restroom beside the platform. Largely averted for the same location in ''Journal'' and for the island's facilities in ''Lights Out'', although they could both use some sweeping. The bathrooms in ''Ghost Vigil'' range from grimy and distasteful to half-collapsed, and a number of nasty-looking commode chairs are scattered around.
94* DistressCall: A bizarre voice-mail plea from your brother Pete is what summons you to the train station in ''Journal''.
95* DistressedDamsel: Polly from ''Journal'' and ''Light's Out'', and Jen from ''Ghost Vigil''. The Inspector in ''Lost Souls'' '''thinks''' Amy Haven is this at first, but the truth is a whole lot worse...
96* DistressedDude: Nigel and Pete in ''Journal''. Bear and Steve in ''Ghost Vigil''.
97* DoingInTheWizard: [[spoiler: The second game initially hints that the cause of the disappearances and strange temporal phenomenon is another monster like in the first game... only for it to turn out that they are the result of a psychotic AI-controlled space probe -- which was trapped in the distant past in a teleportation accident -- trying to manipulate events so it can return home.]]
98* DrippingDisturbance: The hotel's kitchen in ''The Journal'' has a dripping faucet that can't be turned off.
99* DroneOfDread: The machinery in the D.E.O.S. lab gives off constant low hum while you're there, blending with the occasional stings of futuristic music.
100* DrowningMySorrows: In ''Lost Souls'', it's implied that Matilda did this when she arrived at the hotel, judging by a ''huge'' bar receipt in there. [[spoiler: It turns out that Matilda failed her play because she was drunk to begin with.]]
101* DwindlingParty: The OPG ghost-hunters start going missing, one by one, halfway through ''Ghost Vigil''.
102* EarnYourHappyEnding: Always assuming getting out alive suffices for "happy"...
103* EasterEgg: Several in ''Lost Souls'', and even more in ''Ghost Vigil''.
104* EldritchAbomination: If not for its tendency to taunt its victims, the Dark Fall might seem more like an unearthly ''force'' than an entity.
105* ElectromagneticGhosts: EM interference, EVP recordings, flickering lights and haunted radios appear across multiple games of the series, and occasionally provide clues. The gadgets you carry in ''Ghost Vigil'' are directly modeled on ones used by RealLife paranormal investigators to detect ghosts via this trope.
106* TheEndOrIsIt: [[spoiler: Even the ''good'' ending of ''Ghost Vigil'' implies that Harwood House is still haunted and the Dark Fall still poses a threat there.]]
107* EtTuBrute: Tom from ''Journal'' has...abandonment issues
108* EvilGloating: Nearly every time Malakai talks to you in ''Lights Out''.
109* EvilPhone: Several communication devices, like the phone in the hotel and the "blowers" in the lighthouse, sound just plain weird in all four games. Sometimes a few of the characters talk to you at random, but others, only very unsettling noises...
110** Lampshaded by the goggle-viewable graffiti in the ''Journal's'' hotel lobby, which warns that the desk phone's rings are the Dark Fall trying to distract you.
111* FateWorseThanDeath: Anyone taken by the Dark Fall not only has their soul fed upon, but [[spoiler: their spirits are exploited as bait by the creature to lure others to a similar doom]].
112* FeaturelessProtagonist: Some details of your character in ''The Journal'' are implied (rough age, last name, etc..), but most of his or her identity is left vague. The nameless Inspector of ''Lost Souls'' has a voice and history, but you have to work fairly hard to learn about the latter. Averted in ''Lights Out'', where your character's identity is about the ''only'' thing you can be certain of at the start. Played straight in ''Ghost Vigil'', in which your fellow ghost-hunters address you as "you" and refer to your character simply as "the newbie".
113* FirstPersonGhost: All four games are non-shooter examples, and excusable given how it enhances the spookiness.
114* FishOutOfTemporalWater: [[spoiler:Benjamin Parker. Malakai too, which is what starts all the trouble.]]
115* FlashbackEffects: In ''Lights Out'', your first taste of time travel is a flashback in part of your journal that allows you to explore Robert Demarion's kitchen during the previous morning. What you see is an orange fish-eye filter around the edges, with some of the pages in the book protruding from one side. The entries after that go into more detail on what you found.
116** A few of the CCTV challenges' views in ''Ghost Vigil'' display "Time Events", in which the room under surveillance takes on its appearance from a previous era. The camera feed jitters and flickers when this happens ... although it does that a lot anyway, so it's not ''specific'' to the room "flashing back" to the past.
117* {{Foreshadowing}}: The first time you ascend to the upper story of Harwood, Jen quotes from "Antigonish" over the walkie-talkie. [[spoiler: When Jen vanishes later in the game, it's when she encounters a "man who wasn't there" - Ben's spirit, set as a lure by the Dark Fall - on that very staircase.]]
118* FramedClue: One of the lyrics is hidden in a framed photo on a wall, and can only be retrieved if [[spoiler: you play the right song on the phonograph loudly enough to make the picture fall down]].
119* FriendlyGhost: ''Journal'': Timothy Pike, in the beginning. Edith Penfold qualifies, too, as she leaves you a message hinting as to where her lyric is. ''Ghost Vigil'': Thomas, Matron, and the Caretaker all give you advice that can help you out. Most of the lyrics are left behind for you by ghosts you've successfully communicated with and/or assisted. [[spoiler: Thomas and Louise/a also give you keys you need ... although it's unclear whether it's actually the girl's ghost in the latter case or the Dark Fall trying to sucker you into its domain.]]
120* FunWithAcronyms: D.E.O.S., which stands for Deep Exploration Of Space.
121* GainaxEnding: Both of the possible endings in ''Lost Souls''. [[spoiler: The "happy ending" has the Inspector successfully revived but failed in his mission to return Amy; the other is absolutely horrifying. Both, however, are crazy and fit this trope to a T.]] If you complete a certain mini-game, only to make the wrong choice at the end of ''Ghost Vigil'', you wind up [[spoiler: in Saxton from ''The Lost Crown'', of all places!]]
122* GameBreakingBug: ''Lost Souls'' has several of these. An infamous bug involves the combination lock to the train station's office. On some playthroughs, the correct code you get still won't work, requiring players to start a new game.
123* GhostAmnesia: The majority of ghosts seem not to recall that they're dead or how long they've been there.
124* GhostTrain: Occasional train noises can be overheard in ''Journal'', despite the station's line having been closed for decades. [[spoiler: The Inspector has a far more frightening experience with this trope early in ''Lost Souls'', when he hears a fast-approaching locomotive as he's trapped in the train tunnel.]]
125* GogglesDoSomethingUnusual: The Hadden eyepieces in the first two games, which allow the wearer to perceive ghostly phenomena. In ''Lights Out'', they're also necessary to [[spoiler: travel through time by touching certain objects/areas]].
126* GoMadFromTheIsolation: [[spoiler: Malakai]] certainly qualifies.
127* HappyEnding: [[spoiler: ''Journal'' and (if you make the right final choice) ''Ghost Vigil''.]]
128* HauntedHouse: The Dowerton Station Hotel. Harwood House. Fetch Rock Lighthouse.
129* HauntedHouseHistorian: Steve from ''Ghost Vigil'' first got interested in Harwood House after reading a book about it, which was authored by a pair of these.
130* HauntedTechnology: The "blowers" in the ''Light's Out'' lighthouse, various [=TV=]s and radios in ''Lost Souls'' and ''Ghost Vigil'', the [=GWR=] communications board in ''Lost Souls'', the telephones in every game but the second, and the OPG's private chat network in ''Ghost Vigil''.
131* HearingVoices: At least half of the creepy stuff is what you hear, not what you see.
132** The whispered "Here..." that clues you in to where you should use the ghost-hunting devices is a bit spooky, particularly if you mistake it for some sort of Franchise/CthulhuMythos reference ("Ia!").
133** The Matron of Shangri-La is particularly chatty, and can be heard calling to, scolding, or giving instructions to her charges all over the upper floor and office area.
134** Can be invoked by your character in ''Ghost Vigil'' by activating the "ghost box" tool.
135* HellHotel: Considering it was built directly ''over'' the railroad tracks, the Station Hotel would've been pretty noisy and smoky to stay in even ''before'' it became haunted and abandoned.
136** Harwood House also, although its period as a swanky country hotel in the 1920s is the least-developed aspect of its history in-game.
137* HellIsThatNoise: The sound effects in ''Lost Souls'' can get '''really''' disturbing.
138* HiddenHarasser: The Inspector keeps receiving taunting text messages from ''somebody'' calling themselves "Echo", who is apparently watching his every move. The OPG chat group receives some cryptic texts from an unknown party with a solid black chat icon.
139* HintSystem: After the tutorial, Timothy Pike can give you hints for some of the puzzles. You do this by standing still in front of the puzzle for a while, then immediately walk to his hideout on the footbridge.
140** Walkie-talkie and text messages from your fellow ghost-hunters help you get started in ''Ghost Vigil''.
141* HorrorDoesntSettleForSimpleTuesday: Amy's disappearance happened on Bonfire Night, the date of the Inspector's harrowing experiences in ''Lost Souls''. Ollie from ''Ghost Vigil'' died on Halloween, which was also his birthday.
142* ImColdSoCold: Some of the ghosts say this if you answer the phone or blowers within the series.
143* IHaveNoSon: The Crabtrees didn't like George that much when he started losing his mind, to the point that they barred all but the police from entering the hotel, and removed George's name from the family tree after he vanished.
144* ImpairmentShot: One of the Inspector's time-jump visions is of Matilda Fly getting ready for her performance while three sheets to the wind. The screen's image wobbles and images double because she's too wasted to see.
145* ImpededCommunication: At some point prior to your arrival in ''Journal'', Polly had tried to warn her professor at Weymouth University, but the Dark Fall blocked her internet connection. Your brother's cell phone is also busted when you arrive.
146** Not long after you arrive in ''Ghost Vigil'', the ghost-hunting team's wireless devices lose contact with the outside world, although they can and do talk or text to one another. [[spoiler: At least until they start to vanish, at which point their links to the OPG chat group go dead.]]
147* IndianBurialGround: Played with in ''Ghost Vigil'', in which a (British) burial ground on the Harwood Estate is discovered to have been dug up and the bones dumped by some would-be renovators in the 1990s. The "played with" comes in because Harwood House was '''already''' so heavily haunted, having been so for centuries, that a few irate spirits roused by ''that particular'' disturbance of the dead wouldn't have made much difference.
148* InnOfNoReturn: Of the supernatural variety. Everyone at the Dowerton Hotel vanished without a trace on the same night, back in the 40s.
149* InSeriesNickname: Ben from ''Ghost Vigil'' uses the nickname "Bear". Jen remarks that it avoids confusion to call him that, as "Jen" and "Ben" sound too much alike over the walkie-talkies.
150* InsurmountableWaistHighFence:
151** Common in ''Lost Souls'', where building debris and even ''plant life'' restricts where the Inspector can walk, making traveling around the station and hotel take longer than it did in ''The Journal''.
152** ''Ghost Vigil'' levels out with this trope, since you're able to climb over some of the debris, though not in every area.
153* InterfaceScrew: The drunk flashback to Matilda Fly's worst night in ''Lost Souls''.
154** Happens repeatedly in ''Ghost Vigil'', when the ghost you're encountering gets ''really'' upset. [[spoiler: Black wavering vapor-trails surround you in the room of confiscated toys, flying water drops and a "cracked mirror" view in the laundry, frost freezes the borders of your field of view in the cold pantry, and more dancing black vapors and red auras in the upstairs classroom.]]
155* InvisibleWriting: In ''The Journal'', the picture of a pigeon can be heated over the gas stove upstairs, causing the names of four lyrics to appear.
156* IronicNurseryTune:
157** The first verse of Hughes Mearns' ''Antagonish'' is used as a plot point for ''Lights Out'', spoken by James Woolf. Becomes especially chilling when one of the D.E.O.S. crew logs mentions Magnus [[ArcWords repeating those same words]].
158** In the bad ending of ''Lost Souls'', [[spoiler: Amy sings "Ring around the Roses" after the Inspector decides to stay, and ends the verse with, "A-tissue, a-tissue, [[WhamLine the Dark Fall is NOW]]."]]
159* ISeeDeadPeople: Or rather, the ghost-hunting equipment ''lets'' you see the dead people and/or their possessions.
160* ItsUpToYou: In every game, you're pretty much working solo to resolve the situations you find yourself in, although the OPG team give you an occasional passcode, and a ghost will occasionally offer a bit of advice or an item in ''Journal'' and ''Ghost Vigil''. In ''Lost Souls'', Echo provides a hint between the taunts once in a while, [[spoiler: although even then, it's still ''you'', as Echo is the Inspector's conscience]].
161* ItWontTurnOff: The radio in Harwood House's kitchen, if switched off, will turn itself on every time you move to another part of the room.
162* JumpScare: Polly's Hypnosis Regression tape in the second game has a loud, screeching noise at the very end.
163* {{Jerkass}}: Tom and Gloria from ''Journal''. The EVP messages of the Crying Boy in ''Ghost Vigil'' suggest he's a bullying little creep.
164* JustifiedTutorial: ''Journal'': The first few minutes of gameplay with Timmy basically teaches novice adventure gamers how to use the ''VideoGame/{{Myst}}''-like interface.
165* KillTheLights: One of several possible eerie events in the ''Journal'''s hotel hallways.
166* LeftTheBackgroundMusicOn: In ''The Journal'' and ''Ghost Vigil'', the player can tune radios to different stations that continue to play in the background. ''Ghost Vigil'' sometimes also requires the player to use certain frequencies as puzzle solutions.
167* LighthousePoint: Fetch Rock is such a locale in ''Light's Out'', [[spoiler: at least in 1912 and 2004]].
168%%* LoveMakesYouEvil: Betty
169* LooseFloorboardHidingSpot: In ''Journal'' and '' Lost Souls'', Gloria Grable's hotel room turns out to have [[spoiler: a stash of stolen cash and a PlotCoupon under the floorboards]], though in the former, the Ghost-hunting goggles are needed to be able to see it.
170* MacabreMothMotif: The room in ''Lost Souls'' that's filled to the brim with pictures of butterflies, pupae containing ''life leeches'', and even on the ''wallpaper''.
171* MadnessMantra: "All comes to he who waits".
172* ManOnFire: The Crying Boy in ''Ghost Vigil'', who was accidentally set alight while playing near a lit fireplace. His ghost and his portrait both emit ghostly flames, which are ''terrifying'' at close quarters.
173* MegaCorp: Hadden Industries, supplying every gadget in the first two games, and apparently were so successful that, [[spoiler: in the future, they funded the D.E.O.S. lab and its research into dark matter and artificial intelligence.]]
174%%* MindScrew
175* MisfortuneCookie:
176** A variant in the ''Journal'' with a broken slot machine in one of the storerooms. You can pull it as much as you want, and certain combinations dispense cards displaying random advice from various historical figures.
177** Played straight in the 2090 time zone. The base's crew room has a pile of fortune cookies among other party decorations, and each fortune you pick is randomized. Some of them are {{Foreshadowing}}, while others are just generic.
178* MissingMom: Timothy and (possibly) Arther. The former is mentioned in a newspaper in the first game, at least.
179* MissingSecret: The original version of ''Lights Out'' renders the D.E.O.S. launch room as this, leaving a locked room that can be opened...with nothing of value inside. The Director's Cut averts this, adding ominous music, one of Malakai's clues, and [[ApocalypticLog a recording of his launch]].
180** Near the end of ''Ghost Vigil'', [[spoiler: there's a tunnel that's blocked off almost completely by rubble. An in-game map suggests there's a chamber behind the blockage, but you never get to see it.]] There's a second, newer playground on the OPG's sketch map of the Harwood House grounds, but you can't get behind the house to see it.
181* MistakenForMurderer: George Crabtree was blamed for the 1947 disappearances. [[spoiler: Also applies to your character in ''Lights Out'', as indicated by the 21st-century museum exhibits.]]
182* MultipleEndings: Two (good and bad) for ''Lost Souls''. Three (good, bad, and Gainax) for ''Ghost Vigil''.
183* MundaneUtility: A hyper-futuristic tool that you can pick up in the 2090 AD time zone apparently is designed to be nothing more than a "laser screwdriver". Especially bizarre, given that there are actual screwdrivers laying about that you ''can't'' pick up.
184* NegativeSpaceWedgie: [[spoiler: The anomaly that Malakai found while in deep space, which damaged his MoralityChip, causing him to attempt using his dark matter software to return home without his creator's control.]]
185* NiceJobBreakingItHero:
186** ''Journal'': Polly and Nigel. George and Arthur before them, too. Also Tom's friend, Will
187** [[spoiler: You, in one ending of ''Lost Souls.'' Great job unleashing that supernatural horror, inspector.]]
188** Steve, who arranged for you and the others to ghost-hunt in Harwood House.
189* NightmareFuelColoringBook: The youngest Shangri-La boy [[spoiler: (Nigel Danvers)]] left crude drawings of the ghost of Lord Harwood lying around the boys' dorm.
190* NoOntologicalInertia: ''Journal'': [[spoiler: The final cinematic vaguely suggests that defeating the Dark Fall undid ''everything'' it ever did over the centuries. Timothy Pike even spells it out:]]
191--> [[spoiler: '''Timothy Pike''': Things don't have to turn out as they did; You'll find out what I mean soon. Bye.]]
192** [[spoiler: ''Lights Out'' confirms this, as Timothy Pike evidently grew up to be an author.]]
193** [[spoiler: Ironically, because the Retcon erases the Dowerton station's scary reputation as a place where people vanish, the version seen in ''Dark Fall: Lost Souls'' is a lot '''more''' run-down and ruined, as vandals and junkies didn't avoid the place.]]
194** In ''Ghost Vigil'', [[spoiler: the good ending shows that, at the very least, events which led the ghost-hunting party to Harwood House are being re-written. Whether anything ''else'' ugly that the Dark Fall'd caused to happen, in Shangri-La or previous eras, was undone is never specified.]]
195* NoOshaCompliance: Even if you discount the haunting, Shangri-La doesn't seem to have been a very safe place for children. A small boy burned to death playing near an un-grated fireplace, pupils were expected to perform their Astronomy schoolwork on a portico roof that lacks railings, and an asbestos-contaminated room was used as a ''nursery''.
196* NoPaperFuture: ''Light's Out'': Subverted, everybody in the D.E.O.S. lab uses Data Pads, but Corbin Hart, the project manager, resorts to using paper and pen to keep his thoughts secret.
197* NothingIsScarier: The third floor of the hotel in ''Journal''. You ''will'' need a change of pants after the first visit.
198* NPCRoadblock: In the Director's Cut of ''Lights Out'', Robert Shaw prevents you from going to the lighthouse's second floor until you answer his questions properly.
199** In ''Ghost Vigil'', the Crying Boy [[spoiler: wants his game pieces back]], and won't let you past without meeting this need. Considering he's ''on fire'', he's a pretty intimidating roadblock.
200* OccultDetective: Nigel and Polly in ''Journal'', and Polly again in ''Light's Out''. Steve, Bear, Jen and yourself in ''Ghost Vigil''. [[spoiler: Also George Crabtree and Thomas Harding, although their amateur inquiries only got both of them killed and trapped haunting their former homes.]]
201* OminousKnocking: How the Dark Fall lured the guests and your brother to their death in the first game. It'll sometimes even knock when you're in the middle of reading a note or looking around.
202* OminousMusicBoxTune: ''Journal'': The music box in Edith's bedroom. The tune it plays also makes a brief reappearance in ''Lights Out'' after you solve a certain puzzle.
203* OnceForYesTwiceForNo: In ''Lights Out'', Polly White hides behind a locked door and asks you a couple of questions that you must answer in this manner, to gain her trust. When you do this, she slips a map of Fetch Rock under the door, showing where her Ghost-Hunting headset is. Weirdly, the Director's Cut omits this puzzle, making the map easy to miss unless you [[GuideDangIt simply look down when in front of the door.]]
204* PaperKeyRetrievalTrick: To get the key to George Crabtree's study in game one.
205* ParlorGames: Amy plays some very creepy rounds of these with the Inspector in ''Lost Souls''.
206* PornStash: Amusingly, one of ''The Journal'''s clues is hidden in a drawer full of 1940s-era cheesecake photos.
207* PromotedToParent: Rashema and Darren, oldest girl and boy at Shangri-La, independently took up protective-parent roles in keeping their dormmates safe from the hauntings, as the adult care staff were too skeptical, intimidated, and/or distracted to help.
208* ProjectedMan: The HardLight variant in ''Light's Out'', with [[spoiler: Drake and Magnus having been transformed into this by Malakai's matter-altering abilities.]] You can actually see [[spoiler: Magnus' body]] up close in the D.E.O.S.' lab's medical bay, if you're early enough.
209* PsychicDreamsForEveryone: ''Lights Out'' starts with Benjamin Parker having a recurring dream of Fetch Rock and [[spoiler: Malakai flying towards it]]. When Parker gets to the island, Drake's journal mentions a similar dream. [[spoiler: Later on, Polly White and Corbin Hart's kids have the same dreams as well.]]
210** [[spoiler: Nigel Danvers apparently had vivid dreams about Saxton when he was a small boy at Shangri-La children's home, decades before he would end up there as the protagonist of ''The Lost Crown''.]]
211* PsychicGlimpseOfDeath: Collect the relevant items at the sites of Ollie's and Thomas's demise in ''Ghost Vigil'', and you'll experience elements of their respective deaths.
212* RedHerring: Fetch Rock is loaded with areas you can zoom in on, but serve no purpose.
213* RailroadTracksOfDoom: [[spoiler: Subverted]] in ''Lost Souls''' opening scene.
214* RecursiveCanon: One of the personnel cabins in the D.E.O.S. lab has a poster that says, "The Dowerton Experiment; New Adventure Game". This is a reference to the first game.
215* ReducedToRatburgers: Mr. Bones' diet, apparently.
216* RepetitiveAudioGlitch: Heard whenever Malakai speaks to you.
217* RoomFullOfCrazy: ''Journal'': There's a ''lot'' of graffiti on the walls around Dowerton Station, some of it [[spoiler: put there by ''the Dark Fall itself''.]]
218** Both Harwood House and the much-vandalized version of Dowerton re-visited in ''Lost Souls'' have been tagged six ways from Sunday in places. More cheerfully, the children of Shangri-La were allowed to decorate the walls of their play areas with drawing of flowers and the like.
219* RunningGag: Edith and Betty Penfold's notes complaining about Matilda Fly in the first game, often calling her a "cow".
220* {{Schoolmarm}}: The teacher at Shangri-La is a rare male example. With just over a dozen pupils in residence, Matron apparently saw no need to employ more than one teacher.
221* SdrawkcabSpeech:
222** In ''Journal'', Room 1B in the hotel has "LEAVE ME ALONE" written backwards on the wall, beside symbols of the Dark Fall. Nigel mistakes it for an anagram in one of his photos.
223** In ''Lost Souls'', the station master's ghost talks this way.
224--> "Who are you? Where is everyone? You shouldn't be here."
225* SealedEvilInACan: The Dark Fall itself, and the goal in [[spoiler: ''Journal'' and ''Ghost Vigil'']] is to seal it again.
226* SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong: ''Lost Souls'' features several [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin lost souls]] who need to have some part of their history examined and fixed before they can leave Dowerton in peace. [[spoiler: This includes you.]]
227* SexyDiscretionShot: In Andrew Verney's memory of the hotel in ''Lost Souls'', the player can hear a couple perpetually giggling to each other inside room 2F, complete with a "Do Not Disturb" sign on the doorknob.
228* SequelEscalation: Room 2A in the first game has a pair of scissors stuck in one wall. When you reach that same room in ''Lost Souls'', there's ''dozens'' of those things on that wall. It also includes a ghost that the Inspector can talk to. [[spoiler: [[DeadPersonImpersonation Which is actually the Dark Fall]] looking to eat him. ]]
229* ShoutOut: Loads of references to Boakes' sources of inspiration, particularly "The Ballad of Flannan Isle" for ''Lights Out''.
230** The 3 tracks on Ivan Krozt's [=MP3=] player are all [[Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey named]] [[VideoGame/SystemShock after]] [[Film/{{Alien}} certain]] AI's.
231** Polly and Nigel have an "[[Series/TheXFiles I want to believe]]" poster.
232** Gerard Magnus' name is misspelled at one point as "Magnus Griel". Magnus ''Greel'' was a villain from classic ''Series/DoctorWho'', [[spoiler: who'd likewise succumbed to an experimental device's botched time travel.]]
233** Dowerton Station's layout is a near-perfect replica of the abandoned train station from Assignment 2 of ''Series/SapphireAndSteel'', right down to the corrugated metal nailed up over the platform-side windows. Some of the death-flashbacks in ''Lost Souls'' are similar to the ones from that story. In ''Lights Out'', one of the undersea lab's residents has a vintage scifi magazine with ''Sapphire and Steel'' on the cover.
234** The dialogue of the keepers in ''Lights Out'' often scans like an homage to Vince and Ben from "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS15E1HorrorOfFangRock Horror of Fang Rock]]". The hole in the door of the game's crew room references Leela knocking a similar hole through Reuben's door with a sledgehammer. One of the island's rocks depicted on a map in 2004 is even called Fang Rock.
235** Loads of mid-80s pop culture memorabilia lie scattered among the debris at Harwood House, from Colin Baker-era ''Series/DoctorWho'' postcards to magazine covers lauding the Music/{{Eurythmics}} to scrapbooks of 1984's Olympic soccer stars.
236* SingleMaltVision: The Inspector sees double when he experiences Matilda's memory of waking up hung over.
237%%* SinisterSubway
238* SinisterWhistling: In the first game, your brother's diary mentions a ghost whistling on the train station platform. You can also hear this ghost from one of the rooms of the hotel.
239* SmallNameBigEgo: Matilda Fly is an in-universe example, but only in the first game.
240* SpookyPainting: Arther's studio in the first game has many of these.
241* SubtitlesAreSuperfluous: Played straight with ''Lights Out'', which can make Malakai's dialogue very difficult to understand.
242* TrespassingHero: If you read Matilda's letter in the first game, she comments on this.
243--> '''Matilda''': You're very nosy, aren't you? Poking around in other peoples' things?
244* TalkingToThemself: [[spoiler:Echo from ''Lost Souls'']]
245* TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow: Mentioned in George's journal, and by Polly White in the first game.
246* TheTapeKnewYouWouldSayThat: "I see you - [=PARKER=]!"
247* TheTeamBenefactor: Steve's journal cites her providing funds for [=OPG=]'s work, courtesy of her father's wealth, as one reason Jen was recruited for the ghost-hunting team.
248* TheThreeTrials:
249** The first game's last 3 puzzles, even called trials in the backstory, which must be solved before you can finally confront the Dark Fall. The first [[spoiler: simply relies on a sequence of colors, the second uses the 4 elements, and the last one is a short SimonSaysMinigame.]]
250** Continued in ''Lost Souls'', with three ghosts to assist, and three dolls to assemble and place in the right order near the endgame.
251** Three trials yet again in ''Ghost Vigil'', [[spoiler: although one isn't necessarily in the chamber where the in-game map leads you to expect it'll be.]]
252* TwoGuysAndAGirl: The OPG team of Steve, Ben ("Bear"), and Jen.
253* UpdatedRerelease: The Director's Cut of ''Lights Out'', along with two later re-releases of ''The Journal''.
254* UndeadChild: Amy Haven in ''Lost Souls''; Louise/Louisa and the Crying Boy in ''Ghost Vigil''. Various other child-spirits manifest as voices, silhouettes or CCTV images at the Harwood estate, but aren't met face to face.
255* TheUnsolvedMystery: The back-story to ''Journal''.
256** In-universe examples are featured in museum exhibits from ''Light's Out''. The culprit in the lighthouse disappearances is widely believed to have been [[spoiler: your character]], but the suspect vanished so the complete truth never came out.
257%%* UrbanLegends
258* VaderBreath:
259** George Crabtree's study has a constant, muffled breathing noise in the background.
260** [[spoiler: Malakai's]] presence in ''Lights Out'' is heard by a slow breathing noise, also.
261** In ''Lost Souls'', The Inspector is heavily implied to have emphysema, as he often gets exhausted by simply climbing halfway up a ladder or stairway. The opening even starts with him struggling for air off-screen.
262* TheVoiceless: Neither the architect's sibling from ''The Journal'' nor the cartographer from ''Lights Out'' ever speaks aloud, even when it would be sensible and beneficial to do so. The Inspector does talk, but for some reason his voice actor is listed as a "?" in the credits. Your newbie ghost-hunter in ''Ghost Vigil'' doesn't speak, a fact that's lampshaded by Steve saying he appreciates you not being overly chatty.
263** Lampshaded in ''The Journal'' if you call a pizza place. A woman on the other end calls you a weirdo and hangs up because you don't say anything to her.
264* VoiceOfTheLegion: Mr. Bones speaks in a distorted Malakai-esque voice, for no explained reason.

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