Line #38 VideoGame/DotFlow


1	[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/flow_nexus.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:320:Think [[HubLevel the nexus]] looks a bit unsettling? Just wait.]]
3
4	''.flow'' is a [[FreewareGames freeware]] ''VideoGame/YumeNikki'' [[SpiritualSuccessor fangame]] created in the UsefulNotes/RPGMaker 2000 engine by a Japanese developer going by the alias "lol" or "lolrust". Like ''Yume Nikki'', exploration, surrealism, and atmosphere are the basic themes of the game; but unlike ''Yume Nikki'', this one has a ''lot'' more disturbing content and horror elements added in. ''.flow'', like ''Yume Nikki'', is an incomplete game, but as of 0.10 and onwards, the game now has a proper endgame and multiple endings, though the "multiple" status is of some debate.
5
6	''.flow'' stars a young girl known only as "[[MeaningfulName Sabitsuki]]", who uses her computer -- in one way or another, as the method is not explicitly mentioned -- to explore a surreal world while collecting special abilities known as "effects". These effects change Sabitsuki's appearance, varying from a witch outfit and a broom to a corpse. Some effects, such as the whistle and the iron pipe, can affect [=NPCs=] and certain objects; although most effects only have a small animation or side-effect that can be activated, while some are simply cosmetic.
7
8	Much like [[VideoGame/YumeNikki the original]], there are no provided explanations to what is seen or discovered in the game, and the game is practically textless outside of menus. Fans [[EpilepticTrees are left to speculate]] and come up with their own interpretations; most [=NPCs=], events, and areas are all [[FanNickname nicknamed by fans]], be it from a filename or elsewhere.
9
10	The latest version, v0.194, can be found at lolrust's site [[http://lolrust.site/game/dotflow/ here]], with an English translation available [[https://mega.nz/folder/rVV2ha6Z#ilQnipwufw9-J5AUFm6rTw here]]. Various other versions, both the Japanese originals and any translations, can be found on the fan wiki [[http://dotflow.wikidot.com/downloads here]] and [[https://yumenikkifg.fandom.com/wiki/.flow#Download.2FExternal_Links here]]. The author, lol, has a [[http://rustlimbo.webcrow.jp/ personal site]], a [[https://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?id=269411 pixiv account]], a [[https://lolrust.deviantart.com/ deviantART account]], a [[https://twitter.com/lol_rust twitter page]], and a [[https://lol-rust.tumblr.com/ tumblr account]].
11
12	[[JustForFun/IThoughtThatWas Not to be confused]] with the 2006 freeware life simulation game ''VideoGame/{{Flow}}''.
13
14	See also ''VideoGame/ShoujoKidan'' and ''VideoGame/MilyaBroken'', games by the same creator also with SurrealHorror vibes.
15
16	'''Note:''' Unless otherwise stated, assume all examples below apply to the latest version of the game. As well as this, due to the heavily speculative nature of the game, which relies on you coming up with your own interpretations and conclusions, please be careful about taking anything on the page as hard fact.
17
18	Beware of many '''unmarked spoilers'''!
19
20	----
21	!!''.flow'' provides examples of:
22
23	* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: The sewers area, while only spanning a few rooms, is rather large. It houses the bar/restaurant named "the Sugar Hole", which is home to the Cleaners.
24	* AcidTripDimension: The world accessed by Sabitsuki's computer. Fans are divided on what to name it, but it's usually referred to as "Sabitsuki's mind"/"mental world", ".flow", or the usual "dream world".
25	* AllJustADream:
26	** The mental world, at first, seems to just another form of a dream world... that is, until you uncover certain events that can affect the real world.
27	** The nightmare event seems to be simply a dream, though one could call that questionable given that Sabitsuki has to pinch her cheek to get it, which usually denotes waking up.
28	** The [[spoiler:third ending]] involves Sabitsuki [[spoiler:(or is it Rust?)]] waking up from her bed, calling the reality of [[spoiler:the entirety of the game beforehand]] into question.
29	* AllThereInTheManual: A lot of the major characters' names come from here; see the [[Characters/DotFlow character page]] for details.
30	** Much of the names for the locations and other [=NPCs=] come from the game's files or lol's sites
31	* AmbiguousEnding: The game has three endings, each one less coherent than the last. It's even ambiguous to whether they're all part of the same, or different courses of events.To say that the relationship these endings have to each other and to the game's real world is ambiguous may be an understatement.
32	** The first ending is easily the most coherent, [[spoiler:consisting just of Sabitsuki walking onto the rooftop of her apartment and looking out over the balcony]].
33	** The second is the same, [[spoiler:but with a gas mask nurse coming out from the apartment behind her, hinting that the events of the game might be more complicated than a simple dream]].
34	** The third, sometimes called the True Ending, [[spoiler:is just like the second, but Sabitsuki/Rust unsuccessfully fights the nurse, followed by a sequence that looks something like a DyingDream]].
35	* AprilFoolsDay: ''.flow'' had an April Fools update in version 0.16, otherwise known as the "April Fools" version. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fpw6Tk1KO9E Only one area is accessible in the mental world]], with events exclusive to this version, and only serves in adding more questions. Of course, due to its status as ''.flow''[='=]s April Fools joke, its canon status is definitely debatable.
36	* ArtificialLimbs:
37	** The machine effect gives these to Sabitsuki, as well as some kind of headgear.
38	** The television effect gives Sabitsuki a television for a head. Its side-effect is Sabitsuki switching on the TV screen, which can show a number of things, such as bloodstains or Sabitsuki's face. What shows up seems to change depending on location -- for example, turning on the TV in the hospital shows a bloody Sabitsuki face -- but the details are presently unknown.
39	** The girl living in the monochrome house appears to have either mechanical legs or mechanical arms and legs.
40	* ArcNumber: 97920 appears both on the walls of some buildings and in the FC glitch event.
41	* ArtShift:
42	** The [[UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem Famicom]] or [=FC=] world is rendered in an 8-bit style, complete with 8-bit sounds and music. Likewise, Sabitsuki's sprite changes to match the style of this world.
43	** The monochrome beach is done entirely in low-quality black and white pixels.
44	* TheAssimilator
45	** In the endgame, if Rust is hit by enough demons to the stage before death, looking closely at her sprite reveals that she appears to have a set of horns like the demons' through all the blood and gore, raising this implication. It's also worth noting that she grows a SlasherSmile as she becomes more and more deformed...
46	** In Rust's corrupted school event, [[spoiler:some of the Kaibutsu get transformed into the giant Fetuses]], complete with screams of pain heard nowhere else in the game.
47	** To a lesser and far more subtle extent, the Kaibutsu seem to be this to humans, through some sort of disease or bodily experimentation. [[spoiler:The third ending strongly implies that Sabitsuki has, or is becoming one herself.]]
48	* BigBad: [[spoiler:Rust]] and/or [[spoiler:Demon Sabitsuki]] are commonly interpreted as the source of the disease afflicting Sabitsuki.
49	* BittersweetEnding: One interpretation of the third ending is that [[spoiler:Sabitsuki has died, and the ending sequence is her looking back on the memories of her past life]].
50	* BlackScreenOfDeath: Also doubling as a GoryDiscretionShot,
51	** Used in both corrupted school events, right before either [[spoiler:a Kaibutsu or Fetus kills Sabitsuki/Rust]], [[spoiler:Smile kills Sabitsuki]], or [[spoiler:a very Kaibutsu-like Rust kills Smile]]. Unsettling laughter can be heard all three times.
52	** All three endings make use of this:
53	*** In the first ending, the scene cuts from Sabitsuki standing on a balcony to a black screen.
54	*** In the second ending, the scene cuts from Sabitsuki/Rust and [[spoiler:a Cleaner from the Sugar Hole]] standing on the balcony to a black screen.
55	*** In the third and final ending, the scene cuts from [[spoiler:Cleaner pulling out a chainsaw, and then Sabitsuki/Rust charging at her]], to a black screen.
56	* TheBlank: A special Cleaner in Sweet Sugar who seems to only have hidden eyes upon first glance, upon interacting with her, is revealed to have a giant hole in her face. Meeting certain requirements lets you go inside, into the Vomitgirl area (sometimes referred to as the "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Hole in Girl]]" world or just "Hole").
57	* BlobMonster:
58	** The slime effect turns Sabitsuki into one of these, with the action button causing her to sink into herself.
59	** In the apartments, two orange blob monsters can be found. They make bubbly sounds when interacted with, but otherwise do nothing.
60	* BloodFromTheMouth:
61	** Several events will add to Sabitsuki's "Erosion Counter"[[note]]alternatively called the "Corruption Meter" or similar[[/note]], and as the counter goes up, more and more blood appears in her room (heavily implying that Sabitsuki is or has leaked blood in some way), eventually accompanied by what ''may'' be life-support devices near the computer. One of these events in particular, the bloody room event, has Sabitsuki coughing blood from the mouth before fainting.
62	** The best way to distinguish an enraged Kaibutsu from a calm one: calm Kaibutsu resemble normal schoolchildren with slightly bloody faces, while enraged ones have very bloody faces, usually accompanied by some kind of body horror.
63	** Several mouth posters in the school area, usually in the basement area, appear to be leaking blood.
64	** One area of the body has a very detailed mouth in the background, decayed and bleeding profusely. Another version of this area has a clean mouth in the background but bloody mouths in the foreground.
65	* BloodierAndGorier:
66	** Oh yes. This game redefines "rusting" to mean "grows increasingly bloodier", and does not let you forget this at any point. Several events and areas of the game rust, be it over the course of the game or due to triggering an event/effect, and notably the whole mental world goes into a darker and more bloodier state during the endgame. [[spoiler:Sabitsuki herself]] also ends up slowly rusting over the course of the game.
67	*** The relation between rust and blood is a subtle Genius Bonus too. Rust comes from the oxidation of iron, and blood is largely made up of iron and oxygen.
68	** The most disturbing scene in the game, known as the "Dying Girls Event", has Sabitsuki witnessing nine black-haired girls spontaneously exploding and collapsing into piles of gore one after another, and then witnessing viscera splitting out of the stomach of a large black-haired girl on the wall. After interacting with the corpse of the large black-haired girl, Sabitsuki's vision goes blurry and she wakes up.
69	** The endgame has far more blood and gore than the rest of the game does -- you only need to look as far as what the Fetuses do to Rust.
70	* BodyMotifs: Pops up frequently, usually in a diseased or otherwise deformed way. There is a present focus on mouths/smiles and a more subtle one on Sabitsuki's legs (or lack of them) in particular.
71	* BodyHorror: All over the place. There are very many examples of body horror to be found.
72	** A few of Sabitsuki's effects invoke this: the arm effect makes her grow three extra arms; the viscera effect has her walk around with her intestines just hanging out, and its side-effect is Sabitsuki attempting to stuff them back in.
73	** In the endgame, as you get hit by more and more Fetuses, Rust decays more and more, causing her to become blood-covered and severely mangled, until it gets too much for her and causes her head to ''explode''.
74	* ICantReachIt: Like Madotsuki, Sabitsuki refuses to leave her room [[spoiler:unless the player collects all 24 effects.]] She will also refuse to go into certain areas.
75	* CerebusSyndrome: Not like the game isn't dark already, but things manage to get bleaker when you play as Rust: Most friendly [=NPCs=] are gone or permanently dead and you have to go to some disturbing areas to complete the game. Also, the Kaibutsu may have looked terrifying, but the worst thing the standard ones do is send you to an area that's easily escapable with the Arms effect. When playing as Rust, they are replaced by Fetuses that will ''kill'' her instead of teleporting her away.
76	* CheshireCatGrin: Unnerving smiles can be found in many places, usually bleeding. Smile, true to his name, has one very unnerving one, and Sabitsuki or Rust occasionally sport one as well.
77	* ColorMotif: Both dark red and orange come up in the game frequently. The dark red is most likely a reference to rust and/or blood, while the orange is one for Oreko and possibly Sabitsuki herself.
78	* CoolMask:
79	** The gas mask effect. A variant found in the debug room gives Sabitsuki one with twintails.
80	** The Cleaners all wear gas masks, and are never seen without them.
81	* CosmeticAward: Obtaining the special flower, orange, rust, and smile menus simply change the look of your menu.
82	** [[AvertedTrope Averted]] with the sugar menu: when equipped, it increases the likelihood of getting the meal instead of just the drink at the Sugar Hole.
83	* CriticalExistenceFailure: The endgame has a glitch that involves taking damage in the FC world. When you leave, Rust will appear to not have taken any damage, but actually has.
84	* {{Cyborg}}:
85	** Sabitsuki with the machine effect, which gives her artificial limbs and some kind of headgear or head modification.
86	** The girl living in the house on the monochrome beach appears to be one, if not an outright robot girl; the art style makes it hard to tell. A little girl in one of the hospital rooms, most likely a younger version of the same character, also seems to have robotic legs.
87	* {{Cyclops}}: The monoeye ability gives Sabitsuki a single, large red eye on her face. Its side-effect is blinking in rapid succession, and can also make an eye graffiti in the apartments blink.
88	* DarkerAndEdgier: The general atmosphere of ''.flow'' is much darker than ''Yume Nikki''.
89	* DarkWorld: The corrupted school and Parade ward of the hospital are even scarier versions of the school and hospital, right down to the [[HellIsThatNoise incredibly unsettling laughter]] in both.
90	* DebugRoom: Accessible though modifying the game in RPG Maker. It contains all the effects, a speed-up skill, and teleports to certain events such as the nightmare or flying event. Interestingly, some of the effects (such as the gas mask effect) have comments left by lol on them.
91	* DownerEnding: No matter which ending you choose, Sabitsuki does not meet a very good end. Like everything else about the endings, though, it's completely up in the air.
92	* DreamLand: The mental world, though there are hints that it's not quite a "dream".
93	* DreamPeople: Every [=NPC=] in the world via the computer. That is, [[spoiler:until the second and third endings reveal that the Cleaners also exist in the real world]].
94	* DreamWithinADream:
95	** One theory regarding the endgame and the endings, since Sabitsuki has to use the computer in the mental world to discard her effects. The theories sometimes use the fact that Rust uses a different exit animation (red screen static instead of pinching her cheeks) and doesn't pinch her cheeks after viewing the nightmare event as supporting evidence.
96	** The nightmare event seems to be one of these. Calling the "dream" theory into question is the fact that you have to "log off" via pinching cheeks to trigger it, and the event happens before you get up.
97	** The corrupted school events are occasionally interpreted as these; the Sabitsuki version as a nightmare or a twisted interpretation of reality, and the Rust version as a revenge fantasy.
98	* DrivenToSuicide:
99	** One interpretation of [[spoiler:the first ending]]. The [[spoiler:second ending]] could also be interpreted as a SuicideByCop, depending on how you look at it.
100	** One theory states that Smile did this at one point, seeing as you find him on a balcony in one of his many appearances, and balconies commonly have a negative connotation in ''Yume Nikki'' and related games.
101	* EmptyRoomPsych:
102	** Several rooms are empty and serve no purpose. In the endgame, however, some of these empty rooms now house Fetuses.
103	** A certain room in the apartments seems empty at first, but walking around it has a chance of causing an orange blob-monster to fall from the ceiling.
104	* TheEndingChangesEverything: ''Very'' much so. The third ending can completely change how one views and interprets the events of the game, as well as calling into question just how [[spoiler:real Sabitsuki's dream world is]].
105	* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin:
106	** Kaibutsu, which means "monster", is a perfect name to describe the demonic spiders the game throws at you.
107	** As with the Fetuses, who are certainly both red in appearance and demonic in both appearance and behavior.
108	* EyeScream:
109	** Many posters in the school depict eyes which appear to be either bleeding profusely or heavily tattooed. Smile has plus-shaped eyes, similar to these posters, which has caused speculation that they are either damaged, missing, or heavily tattooed. It's worth noting that the effect you get from a version of Smile is the tattoo effect, giving credence to the tattoo theory.
110	** The apartments area has a wall graffiti of an eye. Sabitsuki can smack it with her pipe and cause it to bleed.
111	* TheFaceless:
112	** The faces of the black-haired girls are never seen; even in the dying girls event, where a larger one's face is barely seen, it's blank and almost immediately dissolves into blood anyway.
113	** The Cleaners' true faces are never seen, since they are always seen with their gas masks on.
114	** The Sweet Sugar Cleaners, due to their incredibly small sprites, have no visible facial features, though one Cleaner has a shadow over her face; see also TheBlank above.
115	* FiringInTheAirALot: The handgun effect, which has certain effects on certain [=NPCs=], namely causing some to flee from Sabitsuki. If one fires in the air enough times in a row, Sabitsuki will run out of ammunition and have to reload the gun.
116	* {{Flashback}}: About as much the game can imply in about three instances
117	** The "Sugar Floats Days" event is implied to be Sabitsuki's life before the game, complete with a girl she's seen having tea with.
118	** The Disposal location shows Smile without his eye tattoos (if you're playing as Sabitsuki).
119	** In the Deterioration location, we get three rooms. Room 0 has a broken vase with lilies, Room 2 has a younger Sabitsuki, and Room 3 has present Sabitsuki, with Room 1 can be inferred to be what happened between the latter two, calling back to the Sugar Floats Days event.
120	* FloralMotifs: Possibly unintentional but, in the newest version, we get a new location called "Deterioration". In Room 0, we come to an apartment with a shattered vase with white lilies on the floor.
121	* FlyingBroomstick: The broom effect, which both serves the same function of speeding up the player as the bike in ''VideoGame/YumeNikki''. It is also similar to the witch effect from the same game, down to being able to access a special flying event hidden somewhere in a maze or maze-like area.
122	* {{Foreshadowing}}: The events of the endings are very subtly hidden all over the place. For example, notice how several effects do things to Sabitsuki's legs, such as replacing them (machine, plant, slime) or removing them (limbless, ghost), and that the one speed-up effect, the broom, is also the one that takes Sabitsuki's legs out of the picture, all implying that Sabitsuki has weak or bad legs? [[AnArmAndALeg Come the third ending...]]
123	* GameBreakingBug:
124	** v0.19 initially came with one, a corrupted music file that rendered the city coast and monochrome beach inaccessible, causing one's game to crash and spam errors when accessed.
125	** Parodied in the FC world's glitch event, which roughly follows the same vein as ''Yume Nikki''[='=]s.
126	* GasMaskMooks: The Cleaners, who all wear gas masks.
127	* GirlWithPsychoWeapon:
128	** Sabitsuki's killing implement of choice is an iron pipe. Her Kaibutsu-lookalikes also wield pipes.
129	** The Cleaners are associated with and seen wielding chainsaws.
130	** lol often draws Sister wielding a knife in their art.
131	* GoodGuyBar: The Sugar Hole, populated by Cleaners, one regular, and occasionally a special Kaibutsu known as the "bar Kaibutsu". Sabitsuki can get a drink or meal at the bar for varying prices.
132	* {{Gorn}}: A good deal of it, as standard for ''Yume Nikki'' fangames.
133	** For effects, we have the limbless, corpse, and viscera[[note]]Sabitsuki's intestines hang out[[/note]] effects.
134	** Getting hit by Fetuses further and further decays Rust, to the point where her face is mangled and she's coated in her own blood.
135	* GottaCatchEmAll: All 24 effects as Sabitsuki, then the three "empty boxes" as Rust. All of the collectibles, especially the empty boxes, correspond to some part of Sabitsuki's mind.
136	* GuideDangIt:
137	** You ''will'', at some point or another, need to look up some videos or guides if you want to find some of the effects. However, all the effects can be obtained in some way without needing any other effects whatsoever, which lessens the frustration a little bit.
138	** Let's not count out the empty boxes either, which are even more troublesome than the effects to find, given that you have to walk long paths into the deeper parts of the dream world for them, and that Rust can't use any effects to aid finding them.
139	** Getting all the menu types are fairly straightforward, except for the damned rust menu. To get the rust menu, you need to raise the erosion counter to 100 points/two blood splatters (which becomes annoying if you've been doing things to decrease the erosion counter beforehand), going all the way to the Parade ward, and interact with the diseased-looking child Sabitsuki in her room.
140	** Getting the nightmare event. You have to raise the erosion counter to ''250'' points. The blood splatters in Sabitsuki's room that one can use as a tally stop appearing after 200 points, so after that, it's basically guesswork until you get the event. Furthermore, you have to manually pinch your cheek to get it -- you won't get this event by, for example, getting killed by the bar Kaibutsu and waking up that way.
141	* HappyEnding: One interpretation of the third ending is that, given the sequence with [[spoiler:Sabitsuki walking past several objects and [=NPCs=] found in-game]], is that [[spoiler:Sabitsuki is really alive and well, and even free of her disease]].
142	* TheHeroDies:
143	** Sabitsuki can try to smack the bar Kaibutsu with the pipe, and get beaten to death and stuffed into what appears to be a furnace for her efforts.
144	** The "Blood, Pus, Rust" event, where Sabitsuki coughs up blood and collapses.
145	** Similarly, in the endgame, getting hit by too many Fetuses causes Rust's head to explode.
146	** Sabitsuki doesn't get any better luck in the endings either, though due to the very ambiguous nature of the endings, whether she dies or not is unclear.
147	* HiddenEyes:
148	** The special Cleaner in Sweet Sugar has a shadowed face. A close-up reveals that she actually has a hole instead, which is not reflected in her sprite.
149	** Sabitsuki gets a shadowed face when exiting the town maze.
150	* {{Homage}}:
151	** The more mechanical side of things seem to have been inspired by asgr's designs for cyborgs and machines. Oreko's computer and the machines in the deeper areas of the orange industrial maze are the most obvious examples. Fans sometimes dub the technology as "helltech" due to it's sinister appearance.
152	** The broom event is a direct homage to both ''VideoGame/YumeNikki''[='=]s witch event and Creator/StudioGhibli's ''Kiki's Delivery Service''.
153	* TheHyena:
154	** The Kaibutsu laugh a ''lot'' when enraged, hence the signature giggle associated with them, though most of their laughing has been reduced or outright taken out in later versions of the game (notably, the candle world Kaibutsu and the Kaibutsu in the chase event and corrupted school events keep theirs). They'll still laugh a little when smacked, though.
155	** Smile laughs when attacked in his house or when attacking Sabitsuki in the corrupted school event, leading to this interpretation; the Sabitsuki Kaibutsu in the same event also laugh a lot while chasing you.
156	* InvisibilityCloak: The ghost effect's side-effect, which is used to confuse enraged Kaibutsu, making them easier to evade. However, it doesn't affect some other chaser-type [=NPC=]s.
157	* JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind:
158	** While most interpretations lie in speculation, it's generally agreed that the world Sabitsuki accesses via her computer is some representation of her mind.
159	** One interpretation of the rusting path that appears after gaining all three empty boxes is that it leads to the very core of Sabitsuki/Rust's mind, or the core of the disease inflicting her.
160	* JumpScare:
161	** The Kaibutsu chase event, accessed via the red eye world, has one where one is chased down a corridor by three Kaibutsu, only to be struck down by a fourth one that comes out of ''nowhere''. The only way to evade it is by using the ghost effect's invisibility cloak, where one can then either exit the event or head on towards the corrupted school event.
162	** When you find Smile and his sister in their house, and decide to hit Smile with your iron pipe. Cue [[spoiler:Smile laughing hideously at you while his smile ''radiates'' in the foreground]].
163	** Attempting to attack the bar Kaibutsu leads to them counterattacking and killing Sabitsuki. Certainly a jump for the unprepared.
164	** One scene of the third ending requires you to hit the action button to continue. Cue [[spoiler:a very sudden blast of static, mixed in with creepy laughter]].
165	** A minor one in an empty room of the apartments: wandering around inside has a random chance to make one of those cute, orange blobs fall from the ceiling. It's quite shocking if one is not expecting it.
166	* KilledOffForReal:
167	** The cyborg girl in the house on the monochrome beach, when piped, will never regenerate even if you end the session and start a new one. She won't disappear either, though, so you can keep beating her corpse if you're feeling particularly morbid -- though she makes a quiet, painful moan if you pipe her a second time, she makes no noises afterwards.
168	** To a lesser extent, the scarecrow and the girl hiding in the vines in the plant labyrinth: if either are piped, they will die and not respawn if one leaves and re-enters the room, but will regenerate in a new session. Oddly enough, piping either one will kill the other, implying the [=NPC=]s are both one and the same. Like the robot girl, you can keep beating them even after death, since they don't disappear like the usual [=NPC=]s.
169	* LaughingMad: Creepy, unsettling laughter plays many, many times throughout the game. This laughter is normally associated with the Kaibutsu, but also Smile, and the deranged versions of Sabitsuki and/or Rust.
170	* LikeBrotherAndSister: It's speculated that Sabitsuki and Smile may have had a relationship like this in the past. It helps that the two have similar hair styles (though opposite hair colours), wield weapons, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking have a tendency to smile creepily]], which also leads some to interpret them as actual siblings.
171	* LoveHotels: The Sweet Sugar hotel in the psychedelic city is implied to be one of these. Here is also where we see Sabitsuki's (and Rust's) reflection in a state of ShouldersUpNudity in later updates.
172	* TheMaze: Though .flow has a few mazes, such as the rainbow maze and the industrial/orange maze, although none of them are as hard or as confusing to navigate as some of ''VideoGame/YumeNikki''[='=]s.
173	* MeaningfulName:
174	** Most of the names of the major characters have some kind of meaning behind them; see the character page for details.
175	** The title of the game could potentially refer to the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology) psychological term]], which interestingly also has a technology theme to it, which heavily features in ''.flow''. Going by this theory, this may suggest that the "dream world" in ''.flow'' is really an immersive reality, rather than a dream world.
176	* MentalWorld: Sabitsuki explores her mind in some fashion via her computer. It seems straightforward until you uncover the effects of the "erosion counter", where certain events can affect the real world. The endgame messes everything up even further, say nothing of the endings.
177	* MindControlDevice:
178	** The whistle effect causes most [=NPCs=] to move in the direction Sabitsuki is facing.
179	** The handgun effect causes most to move away from Sabitsuki or otherwise shock them.
180	** Using the dress effect, making Sabitsuki curtsy, in the same room as any Cleaners will cause them to bow in your direction.
181	* MindScrew:
182	** True to its [[VideoGame/YumeNikki predecessor]], ''.flow'' is filled with many {{mind screw}} themes. ''.flow'' also takes the mind screw themes further than ''VideoGame/YumeNikki'', an example of which can be seen above under {{mental world}}.
183	** The endings are ''notorious'' for taking the whole real world vs. dream world perception and throwing it out the window.
184	* MiniGame: "Shinsoku Neko", a cute little 8-bit minigame where you control a black cat and try to catch as many fish as possible. It is ''much'' harder than it sounds.
185	* MoneyForNothing: Averted: unlike ''VideoGame/YumeNikki'', money can be spent at the Sugar Hole to buy drinks or meals, and purchasing can unlock various things in-game.
186	** You have to buy the meal three times over separate sessions to obtain the sugar menu.
187	** Several events, usually associated with the Sugar Hole or the Cleaners, are activated by eating the meal several times over separate sessions.
188	*** An event in the apartments can be accessed by eating ten meals and interacting with a Cleaner. However, you must have not eaten at the Sugar Hole in the current session; doing so blocks the stairs to the event back up.
189	*** An event in Sweet Sugar can be accessed after one eats five or more meals. Even then, though, it's a 1 and 5 chance to actually get the event.
190	* MoneySpider: All [=NPCs=] have a random chance of dropping 100 coins when killed, and the money can then be spent at the Sugar Hole, either 100 for a drink or 300 for a meal of tea and cake. The non-Kaibutsu regular at the Sugar Hole can be piped for instant money every session, and lots of money can be farmed in the black-haired girls-filled room prior to the Dying Girls Event.
191	* MoodWhiplash: Generally, travelling through the many areas of the game can lead to this, as one travels from areas with a dark or melancholy atmosphere to more colourful or brighter ones. A good example would be travelling to the rainbow maze, which is accessible through the red eye world full of deformed eyes and mouths.
192	* MonstrousHumanoid: All of the Kaibutsu fall under this. Sabitsuki seems to become one over the course of the game -- [[spoiler:specifically, she seems to become a Kaibutsu herself, as much speculation has pointed out]] -- and Rust is generally speculated to be one.
193	* MultipleEndings: Three of them, though their "multiple" status is the subject of much speculation: one after collecting all the effects, one after discarding all the effects, and one after collecting all three empty boxes and traversing the last area of the endgame. All of these happen by leaving your room by the nexus door in the real world.
194	* NightmareFace:
195	** The Kaibutsu develop these when enraged. Depending on the Kaibutsu, they have a bloody face with a giant hole, a giant mouth, or two messed-up eyes. One special type of Kaibutsu, that resembles Sabitsuki, has a definite SlasherSmile.
196	** The red eye world has strange things with wide-open mouths. In a random event, three of these things can appear in a group, one as a "door" leading to the Kaibutsu chase event.
197	** In the endgame, Rust's face gets messed up as she takes more damage via Fetuses. Even if there's not much to see due to the small sprites, your mind will fill in the gaps.
198	** The Fetuses themselves seem to have bloody, messed-up mouths for faces.
199	* NothingIsScarier:
200	** There is a sequence involving an open, pitch black doorway with blood and gore splattered all around it, known as the "bloody room" event. You can't see what's on the other side of the doorway at first, and you never will as Sabitsuki. Sabitsuki refuses to go through the doorway, and the only way to leave the room is to step back. When you do, Sabitsuki starts oozing blood ''everywhere'', causing her to pass out and wake up to discover blood all over her keyboard. It's one of the few events that gives points to the erosion counter, causing blood to appear in Sabitsuki's room. In other words, whatever Sabitsuki saw on the other side of that doorway was so horrifying that ''it actually caused her physical harm''. The effect of this event is mitigated somewhat, however, when you enter as Rust and finally see what is behind the door; though since the entrance is accessed in a different place to where one goes with Sabitsuki, it's implied that both rooms may not be the same room.
201	** Getting the corpse effect requires one to cross a large, black void from a cell. Certainly very unsettling, though it has arguably become slightly less after v0.15 added music to the area.
202	* OnlyAFleshWound: The limbless effect removes Sabitsuki's limbs (and it is heavily implied that this is done by chainsaw, given that the effect is taken from a chainsaw), and the viscera effect has Sabitsuki casually walking around with her intestines hanging out. However, the endgame trumps both of those effects, as Rust continues to casually wander around even as her body is torn apart by the Fetuses.
203	* OneHitKill:
204	** The Corrupted School Event, where the [[spoiler:Sabitsuki-lookalike, pipe-carrying Kaibutsu kill you should they reach you]], and the same with [[spoiler:Smile if you interact with him]].
205	** In Rust's version of the corrupted school, [[spoiler:the giant Fetuses kill her if she is touched]], and [[spoiler:she performs one on Smile when you interact with him]]. Due to a glitch in version 0.15, the [[spoiler:giant Fetuses]] did not actually kill Rust, though this glitch has been fixed in later versions.
206	** The Kaibutsu in the bar will kill you immediately if you try to smack them with the pipe.
207	* OrWasItADream: The trauma events and ''especially'' the endings leave one questioning whether or not. See also the DreamWithinADream entry above.
208	* PeopleJars:
209	** Oreko can be found in a tube in the orange maze; touching her changes the maze to a linear path.
210	** During the endgame, a giant Sabitsuki can be found in a tube in a disconnected section of the orange maze (which is accessed via the aforementioned linear path). Notably, this Sabitsuki is where you get one of the empty boxes from.
211	* PermanentlyMissableContent: As well as access to many events (such as the trauma events), all the collectible menu types become inaccessible in the endgame, due to the loss of effects, disappearance of certain [=NPC=]s, and other changes that come from entering the endgame.
212	* PerpetualBeta: Although it's still farther in development than ''VideoGame/YumeNikki'', version-number wise, as ''VideoGame/YumeNikki'' never went past version 0.10.
213	* PlantPerson:
214	** The plant effect turns Sabitsuki into one, and the side-effect causes the plants on her to grow. When used in rain, Sabitsuki overgrows to the point where she can't move. Fittingly, it's found in the plant labyrinth, after one causes the plants in the industrial snow area to overgrow.
215	** The past plant labyrinth has many children overgrown with plants inside. A related area also has the nurse from the hospital slightly plantified.
216	* PointOfNoReturn: Entering the endgame. Once one has discarded Sabitsuki's effects, there's no getting them back, rendering them forever unusable from that point on; several events also become permanently inaccessible, such as the Sugar Hole, and any event requiring effects to activate or reach them. There's no warning given (though some English translations do add one in) so without prior knowledge you could end up discarding all your effects before unlocking or seeing everything. However, if you haven't saved after entering the endgame, you can just close and re-open your save file.
217	* RandomEvent: Several found all over the place, as par the course for ''VideoGame/YumeNikki'' fangames.
218	** All the events connected to the erosion counter (bloody room, dying girls, bar Kaibutsu) are randomized, with the exception of the nightmare event.
219	** The town has a randomized event where one can either gain access to a previously-unaccessible part of the area, or see [[SarcasmMode pleasant sights]] such as a Kaibutsu beating up a hunk of meat or a Cleaner standing menacingly with a chainsaw behind a line of cones.
220	** Gaining access to the Vomitgirl area, after eating the sufficient amount of cake required, is a 1 in 5 chance every time you interact with the hole-faced Cleaner.
221	** There is a 1 in 3 chance that the child Oreko in the children's hospital will be asleep when you enter her room.
222	* RandomDrops: Killing [=NPCs=] has a chance of dropping 100 yen every time. Several events, such as the dying girls event and the bar Kaibutsu, have a chance of randomly appearing every trip to the mental world.
223	* RealAfterAll: [[spoiler:The Cleaners are revealed to be this in two of the endings.]]
224	* RebelRelaxation: The "Disposal" world introduced in version 0.193 includes youths in dark clothes leaning against walls like this.
225	* RedEyesTakeWarning: Sabitsuki and Rust both canonically have red eyes. Smile and the Kaibutsu are commonly interpreted as having them; Smile has red eye tattoos and one Kaibutsu has bloody pink-coloured eyes.
226	* RelationshipValues: There is a value for the relationship you have with Oreko, known as the friendship meter. Interacting with Oreko nets you five points, and interacting her with the diving helmet effect activated can net you an extra five, whilst killing her subtracts ten. Thirty points and up, a ghostly Oreko will appear in the lights-filled area where you obtain the machine effect, and interacting with her teleports you to a place where you can get the orange menu.
227	* SchmuckBait:
228	** As in ''VideoGame/YumeNikki'', the inactive Kaibutsu don't like being attacked. ''Especially'' the bar Kaibutsu.
229	** Attempting to attack Smile just makes him [[NoSell laugh at you]].
230	* ShoutOut:
231	** In particular, there are many that refer back to ''VideoGame/YumeNikki'':
232	*** The arm effect makes Sabitsuki look like Monoko's five-armed form.
233	*** An image similar to Uboa also appears on the wall of a dead end in the temple maze accessed via the ocean world.
234	*** More obscurely, the limbless effect is functionally similar to the severed head effect, and is found in an endlessly looping area full of Kaibutsu. You also get it from interacting with a chainsaw, similar to how Madotsuki must interact with a guillotine for the severed head effect.
235	*** Everything about the witch effect. An [=NPC=] resembling witch Madotsuki appears in the FC world, and interacting with her gives you the witch effect. The broom effect is functionally a mix of ''VideoGame/YumeNikki''[='=]s witch and bicycle effects, and can be used to activate a special flying event in the rainbow maze area, similar to ''VideoGame/YumeNikki''[='=]s Flying event.
236	*** The FC world's glitch event heavily resembles ''VideoGame/YumeNikki''[='=]s, down to having to interact with a wall in a dead end room.
237	*** The music world has an event where, upon being sent to an inescapable area via a certain Kaibutsu and interacting with a green cube in the center of the area, turns all the [=NPCs=] in the area into the green cubes, as a shout-out to the similar event in ''Yume Nikki''[='=]s number world.
238	*** Some of the graffiti in the Apartment resembles Kyuukyuu-Kun.
239	** Outside of ''VideoGame/YumeNikki'', the broom effect gives Sabitsuki [[Anime/KikisDeliveryService a large red bow and blueish dress]].
240	** The seedy psychedelic town and Sweet Sugar hotel accessed near the rainbow maze resemble ''VideoGame/{{EarthBound\|1994}}'''s Moonside.
241	** Smile's cross tattoos resemble a lot of a certain [[Manga/{{Dorohedoro}} cross-eyed gang.]]
242	* SlasherSmile:
243	** Nearly every single mouth (and there are many) in the game, most notably Smile's.
244	** The twintail Kaibutsu is sometimes interpreted as having one of these; the Sabitsuki Kaibutsu definitely has one of these.
245	** Looking closely at her sprite, Rust seems to grow a deformed one as she becomes more and more decayed by the Fetuses.
246	** The Sabitsuki in the school you get the school uniform effect from has nothing but a creepy smile on her face.
247	** During the bloody room event, after coughing up some blood, Sabitsuki smiles creepily before collapsing.
248	* SnowMeansDeath
249	** The Industrial Snow World has a few of these:
250	*** It is where the dress effect is found, with said dress resembling a black funeral gown.
251	** There is a special plant in a building which, when interacted with, makes the area overgrown with vegetation and makes it loop.
252	** Blowing the whistle in the snow area reveals a ghost of a younger Sabitsuki wearing a scarf.
253	*** Some theories speculate that the snow world is really a cremation site, given the smoke stacks and the plant labyrinth below resembling a tomb, and with the snow actually being ashes.
254	* SourceMusic: The music in the underwater village is played by guitarist [=NPCs=], and it will no longer play if they are killed.
255	* SplitPersonalityTakeover: It's speculated that some version of this happens in the third ending and the events leading up to it. Usually Rust is the one doing the takeover.
256	** SplitPersonalityMerge: That, or this happens, given how blurry the line between the two identities becomes.
257	* StoryBreadcrumbs: There is an actual story going on, but it requires piecing together reoccurring characters and imagery to understand it. [[spoiler:From what can be understood via the visceral gore and hospital imagery, Sabitsuki seems to be ill with some kind of disease that is threatening to (and in some endings, ''does'') overtake her body.]]
258	* SurrealHorror: Very much so, though the surreality is somewhat toned down from ''Yume Nikki'' to focus on the horror aspects.
259	* SwallowedWhole: How one gets to the rainbow maze via the footprint path: walking right into the belly of a multi-eyed red monster.
260	* TheVirus:
261	** Parts of the game heavily imply that Sabitsuki had or currently has a fatal disease or virus.
262	** The Fetuses are speculated to either be a virus or a product of a virus, especially given their presence in the body areas and in the endgame.
263	** The Kaibutsu are speculated to be one as well, mostly by the hospital areas and [[spoiler:the implications that Sabitsuki may be becoming one herself]].
264	** Interacting with a green cube in one of the music world's inescapable areas will turn the rest of the [=NPC=]s into green cubes that only emit static when interacted with.
265	* TomatoSurprise:
266	** The Cleaners [[spoiler:apparently exist in the real world]], which only comes up in the second and third endings.
267	** [[spoiler:Sabitsuki's transformation into a Kaibutsu]] is very subtly foreshadowed in the game proper and thus very easily missed, which makes the reveal of it during the last few moments of the third ending all the more shocking. Even more so in that one can easily miss [[spoiler:Sabitsuki's Kaibutsu-like giggling]] due to [[spoiler:how faint the sound is]].
268	* TooManyMouths:
269	** The mental world is filled to the brim with various mouths and toothy smiles, usually bloody.
270	** The Fetuses have a mouth on their stomachs and have one covering their entire face.
271	* UnexpectedShmupLevel: The flying event accessed in the rainbow maze, a homage to a similar event from ''VideoGame/YumeNikki'', which has a different movement style to the one used in the rest of the game.
272	* UnlockableContent: All the various menu types.
273	** Three menu types are already unlocked at the start of the game: the default silver one, a red-and-white dot one, and an orange FC one.
274	** The flower menu type is unlocked by interacting with the gardener in one of the rooms in the plant labyrinth accessed via the hospital.
275	** The Smile menu type is unlocked by attempting to hit him with the pipe in his house.
276	** The sugar menu type is unlocked by eating three meals at the Sugar Hole.
277	** The rust menu type is unlocked by raising the erosion counter to 100 points (two blood splatters on the floor of Sabitsuki's room), going to the Parade ward of the hospital, and interacting with the child Sabitsuki.
278	** The orange menu type is unlocked by raising the friendship meter to 30 points, going to the world of orange and pink lamps where one finds the machine effect, interacting with the ghostly Oreko in a patch of orange lamps, going down the stairs and interacting with the ghostly Oreko again.
279	* VideoGameCaringPotential:
280	** The room before the dying girls event is full of [=NPCs=] blocking the path. You can either get through by killing the [=NPCs=] with the pipe, or with skillful manipulation of the whistle. While using the pipe can net you money -- indeed, this area is used as a place for farming money due to the sheer amount of [=NPCs=] -- using the whistle is by far the faster option.
281	** The friendship meter involving Oreko.
282	** Interacting with Oreko with the diving helmet effect on and eating at the Sugar Hole both decrease the erosion counter by several points each.
283	* VideoGameCrueltyPotential:
284	** The iron pipe, Sabitsuki's equivalent to Madotsuki's knife, can be used to kill things, and there are oh-so-many defenseless [=NPCs=] out there to beat to death.
285	** Raising the erosion counter involves making Sabitsuki experience incredibly traumatizing events over and over again, horrible enough that she gets disconnected from the mental world and leaks blood all over the floor and walls of her room, eventually revealing that she [[spoiler:has life-support devices attached to her computer]]. Just to rub salt in the wound, all you get out of raising the erosion counter to high levels is a new menu type and a very creepy event.
286	** Going between either versions of the plant labyrinth requires one to either enter the areas by different entrances in the mental world, or open up a usually-blocked door that acts as a gate between the two. Said door is opened by killing an [=NPC=] in either area. Do the math.
287	* VideoGameCrueltyPunishment:
288	** The same kind as present in ''VideoGame/YumeNikki'': Trying to kill a Kaibutsu will just enrage them and make them chase Sabitsuki.
289	*** Trying to kill the Kaibutsu in the bar will just get Sabitsuki killed herself. As an added note, swinging around your pipe at everything may result in some serious consequences. For example, smacking a Kaibutsu in a specific foggy area accessible via the body area will [[spoiler: turn the whole place rusted and horrific]].
290	** The friendship meter and Oreko. If you choose to kill Oreko several times, eventually she will disappear from the mental world, leaving only her diving helmet in her home. One can raise the friendship meter again, however, through interacting with the diving helmet.
291	*** Killing Oreko will also permanently enrage the Candle World Kaibutsu.
292	** Depending on how you interpret the event, the nightmare event could count as this, seeing you have to raise the erosion counter to 250 points to get it, and the painstaking process and trauma you have to put Sabitsuki through to get it that high.
293	** Piping all the guitar-playing [=NPC=]s in the underwater village turns the place dark and makes all the other [=NPC=]s come after you, and getting caught transports you to an inescapable area in ''Hell''.
294	* WeatherControlMachine: The watering can effect makes it rain (or snow, if used in the industrial snow world) in varying degrees, from a slight drizzle to a downpour. A special event in the psychedelic town is activated with the use of the watering can, and one can put out Charlotte's fire by summoning rain.
295	* WholeEpisodeFlashback: The general consensus is that version 0.16 counts as this, depending on just how much of an AprilFools joke you take it as. It attempts to explain how Sabitsuki's time at the hospital as a child was.
296	* WombLevel:
297	** The Flesh Walls world, with a few rooms shaped like organs, and the area's music contains a slow heartbeat. Interestingly, this area looks uterine when completely mapped out [[http://archive.uboachan.net/flow/src/1296632922799.png]]. Disturbingly, it gets more and more obviously decayed and diseased as you go deeper in.
298	** The Vomitgirl area resembles flesh with the color palette and the pulsating walls.
299	* YourHeadASplode:
300	** Attempting to enter the Bloody Room before the endgame will cause Sabitsuki to shake her head and refuse to go in. When you then try to leave the area, she falls to her knees, coughing up blood as her head bleeds profusely and falls apart.
301	** After you become Rust, this happens if you bump into too many Fetuses.
302	* YourMindMakesItReal: There are a number of events can affect the real world. See the erosion counter detailed above.
303	* YourRewardIsClothes:
304	** A number of effects are simply cosmetic and either have only little animations with no major uses, or simply do nothing. For example, the dress effect makes Sabitsuki do a curtsy.
305	** A hut in the underwater village contains two dresses that Sabitsuki that wear. These dresses are simply cosmetic, however.
306	* ZeroEffortBoss: Demon Sabitsuki, the FinalBoss (or closest thing the game has to one), dies in three hits and has no way of harming Rust.
307

Context VideoGame / DotFlow