Line #10 VideoGame/Resonance


1	[[quoteright:337:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/resonanceresized_3955.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:337: Funny story - no matter what choices you make in the game, [[CoversAlwaysLie you will never see this image.]][[note]] Left to right: Ray, Anna, Ed, and Bennet.[[spoiler:Not all of them will make it.]][[/note]]]]
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4	''Resonance'' is a 2012 ScienceFiction AdventureGame developed by ''xii games'' and published by Creator/WadjetEyeGames (of ''VideoGame/TheBlackwellSeries'' and ''VideoGame/GeminiRue'' fame). It has nothing to do with [[DarthWiki/{{Resonance}} the Pokemon fanfic]] over in DarthWiki/DarthWiki.
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6	TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture, the brilliant particle physicist, Professor Javier Morales, has figured out the final calculations to unlock a brand new form of energy - ''Resonance''. By separating and storing the two subparticles of an electron, then releasing them, the resulting collision of particles releases an explosion of clean, reusable energy. The further the separation, the more power.
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8	However, "explosion" is the operative word, and like all new discoveries, more than a few unsavoury characters are interested in the new way to make things go "boom".
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10	In the aftermath of a Resonance-related tragedy, Ed, Dr. Morales' research assistant, Anna, a doctor and Morales's niece, Ray, a [[IntrepidReporter journalist]] and Bennet, [[CowboyCop a detective]], are brought together to uncover the secret of Resonance before the more "explosively minded" do first.
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12	!!Resonance uses the following tropes
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14	* AbusiveParents: Anna's father is the monster in all of her recurring nightmares of her childhood.
15	* AnyoneCanDie: [[spoiler:Whichever way you play it, you're going to see at least two of the Player Characters and an indefinite number of {{Non Player Character}}s get killed over the course of this game.]]
16	* ArtisticLicensePhysics: The basic concept of Resonance as a matter-destroying, energy-producing reaction is entirely made up. That said, most everything else is fairly realistic, so keep repeating that MST3KMantra.
17	* BigApplesauce: As is often typical of a Wadjet Eye Games production, the fictional city has a strong flavor of New York, complete with a secretary who has the accent, complex subways full of graffiti, nobody responding to a call for help, [[spoiler:the specter of terrorism blowing holes in buildings...]]
18	* BigBad: [[spoiler:The Eleven Foundation, really, as they set everything in motion. If you include Ed, it comes a BigBadEnsemble]].
19	%%* BoomHeadshot: [[spoiler:Poor Anna.]]
20	* BoringButPractical: In the opening sections of the game, there is a puzzle involving rewiring a security panel to open a side door, described [[WordOfGod by the developers]] as the hardest part of the game. [[spoiler:Or you could just climb back out the window and go through the open front doors]].
21	%%* BlackAndGreyMorality: The Eleven Foundation is the Black. [[spoiler:Ed is the Grey.]]
22	* BlackDudeDiesFirst: [[spoiler:Notably averted. Ray starts out as the least sympathetic playable character and is expressly only in it for the story, and the fame that comes with it. He has the least personal stake in the proceedings and is seemingly rather {{unscrupulous\|Hero}}. He is, however, the only playable character guaranteed to survive to the end, and his journalistic instincts turn out to be dead-on regarding the Antevorta conspiracy -- which he can then choose to risk his life to reveal to the world, with his website being the only outlet that will run the story, in one of the MultipleEndings.]]
23	* BuddyCopShow: Any time you put Ray and Bennet together, it basically turns into this. [[spoiler:Becomes mandatory after TheReveal.]]
24	-->'''Bennet:''' We stick together, got it?\
25	'''Ray:''' [[LampshadeHanging Is this going to be a buddy cop thing now?]]\
26	'''Bennet:''' [[DeadpanSnarker Yeah, you're the naive annoying one.]]
27	* BunnyEarsLawyer: J.P. Tortoise seems to have cornered the security market of the city, minting a reputation as one of the foremost security experts in the world. He did it all to fund his love of collecting, solving, and crafting his own intricate puzzle boxes. The boxes in turn serve as a testbed for some of the technology he uses in his business, but if he could make the boxes his entire business, he would.
28	* ButThouMust: When Bennet asks what's going on at the hospital, trying to let him in on it will lead to Anna interrupting Ed before he can speak (at this point they're not sure if they can trust the police). In fact, this is explored throughout the game: [[spoiler:Anna being killed before she can make the choice, the Eleven Foundation's master plan, the fact that the game rewinds when you fail a (timed) puzzle]], etc... all refer to how [[YouCantFightFate we never really have free will]] and every choice and event in life is always calculated and controlled by an unseen force.
29	* ChekhovsGun: The [[spoiler:"Antevorta" database]] pops up at the beginning, before being mostly forgotten in all the Resonance-related shenanigans. Turns out they're pretty closely linked...
30	* ChekhovsLecture: Ed's explanation of [[spoiler:how Resonance technology could be weaponised. Can also count as a case of NiceJobFixingItVillain, if you decide to kill Ed in the final confrontation.]]
31	* TheChessmaster: The [[TheConspiracy Eleven Foundation]] is impossibly influential. [[spoiler:They can also actually predict the future [[PresienceByAnalysis by crunching available data]].]] The BigBad, however, is [[spoiler:''Ed'', who, despite having been manipulated by the Eleven Foundation himself, has since gone rogue in order to stop them from putting Antevorta into operation. He plays a mean game of XanatosSpeedChess, insinuating himself into Anna's life to gain access to her uncle's secrets, framing Bennet to divert suspicion from himself, then rapidly putting another Resonance weapon to destroy Antevorta. It's just a shame he's so quick to resort to killing people to achieve his ends.]]
32	* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Ray's contact Ozzy is a downplayed example. He has a thing for ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'', what with his emerald green cubicle concealed behind a red curtain and how he announces himself as "The Great and Powerful Oz".
33	* ContrivedCoincidence: Ed and Anna just happened to share a train that morning. [[spoiler:Ed [[TheChessmaster set the whole thing up]].]]
34	* CowboyCop: Bennet. Made obvious when he breaks stakeout protocol to track the suspect during his introduction.
35	* DeathByFlashback: Anna shares a series of flashbacks with her uncle, who dies at the end of the first act. [[spoiler:Anna is the only character out of the four that gets these flashbacks, and her childhood abuse at the hands of [[AbusiveParents her father]] is interwoven with clues to the mystery. Guess what happens to her at the end of the second act.]]
36	* DecoyProtagonist: Cleverly done. The first scene is played from Ed's perspective, but Anna has the deepest connection to the central mystery. During the four individual scenes, Anna gets the most backstory, while Ed feels like the one whose personality we get see the most from the inside. [[spoiler:The two of them feel like the "real" protagonists of the four {{Player Character}}s... until TheReveal, when Ed kills Anna, turning the game into a BuddyCopShow between Bennet and Ray.]]
37	* DevelopersForesight: While your options as a player are by no means unlimited, there are many puzzles in the game that have more than one possible solution, using different combinations of the four characters you control. Unlocking all the achievements requires finding several of these alternative solutions.
38	* DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler:''Just'' as Anna uncovers that Morales was her ''father'', not uncle, she's unceremoniously shot in the head...by Ed.]]
39	* EmbarrassingFirstName: Ed's real name is ''Tolstoy'' Eddings, so he understandably sticks with "Ed".
40	* FalseFlagOperation: The game begins with a series of terrorist attacks in the world's major cities. [[spoiler:The Eleven Foundation were never interested in Resonance as a power source. Instead, they wanted a weapon of mass destruction that could be blamed on terrorists and used to create global fear to justify the use of Antevorta, their Big Brother supercomputer capable of tracking every electronic activity of every person on Earth.]]
41	* FirstNameBasis: [[spoiler:During the prelude to the final confrontation with Ed, Bennet refrains from addressing Ray as "Jimmy", much to the latter's pleasant surprise]].
42	* FourTemperamentEnsemble:
43	** Sanguine -- Ray, a sometimes flirty, always outspoken writer.
44	** Choleric -- Bennet, a no-nonsense, driven detective.
45	** Melancholic -- Ed, a socially awkward mathematician.
46	** Phlegmatic -- Anna, a compassionate but secretly-insecure doctor.
47	* {{Foreshadowing}}: Regarding TheReveal.
48	** [[spoiler:There are several hints early in the game that Ed isn't what he seems. For one thing, he keeps saying that Dr. Morales is hurt inside the lab, even though he has no proof of this, and never tries to call Dr. Morales' phone. For another, he starts to get kind of... manic... whenever anyone starts discussing Resonance technology. Most obvious, though, is his reaction to Anna giving him a peck on the cheek - despite all the [[ShipTease ship teasing]] between them before now, Ed doesn't look happy, or [[CrushBlush flustered]], or even very surprised. He looks [[BecomingTheMask downcast]].]]
49	** [[spoiler:Even more subtle are the two RedHerring notes that point toward Bennet (not counting the letter Bennet dropped by accident). In both instances where Ed hands something of Dr. Morales to Anna, she immediately finds a note attached to it. Coincidence?]]
50	* FunctionalAddict: Ozzy, a friend of Ray who works at the National Credit Service. He has a [[FantasticDrug comfocil]] addiction, but it doesn't interfere with his work... except when he runs out and gets panicky. [[spoiler:You have to replenish his fill (this can also be done with a placebo) in order to get Morales' financial records.]]
51	* GenreShift: It starts out as a sci-fi thriller TeamworkPuzzleGame where you can change party members on the fly. Ed's segments tend to involve more mechanical puzzles, Ray's reading lore and sussing out details, while Bennet's segments are a straight-up detective show, and Anna's nightmarish dream sequence flashbacks lean into psychological horror and focus on mood and atmosphere rather than logic. [[spoiler:After TheReveal, you can't switch out party members and the game tends to play like a slightly more straightforward inventory-based adventure game.]]
52	* GratuitousSpanish: Happens once or twice with Dr. Morales talking to his niece, most notably [[spoiler:with the password to the Resonance vault -- Te Prometo, or 'I promise'.]]
53	* GuideDangIt: The aptly-named "Insane" achievements fall under this trope. One requires you to go through a TimeTrial without taking steps to increase the amount of time you have, and the other requires you to solve a four-part block-puzzle without being able to see the blocks. It may be that the developers meant they cannot be unlocked unless you know exactly what you're doing, either because you've played the game before or because you're looking at a walkthrough.
54	* HoistByHisOwnPetard:
55	** In one of the endings, [[spoiler:Eddings]] is taken out by one of the Resonance devices stolen from Morales.
56	** [[spoiler:Also happens to the Eleven Foundation, courtesy of Raymond Abbot, if the player so chooses. They manipulated him so the [=AbbotPost=] could become a reliable news source. But because of Ed's betrayal, they also had to reveal themselves to him, providing enough information to expose them. Normally, as Ray says, nobody would have listened to a mere blog written by an independent journalist. But since he exposed several scandals before...]]
57	* HowWeGotHere: The game opens with the news report showing over a dozen cities world wide having suffered some sort of an attack, before jumping back 60 hours earlier.
58	* InsistentTerminology: Ray is ''not'' a "blogger".
59	* LukeIAmYourFather: [[spoiler:Anna's "Uncle" Javi is her real father, through an affair with his brother's wife. Dante knew.]] This seems to have played a part in Anna's father becoming TheAlcoholic, abusive monster that he was.
60	* MeetCute: Ed and Anna are riding the subway together. Anna drops her lucky coin which rolls to Ed's feet...[[spoiler:Except it turns out he was actually [[SubvertedTrope shadowing her and attempting to build a rapport]].]]
61	* TheMole: As it is hinted right from the beginning that at least one of the PlayerCharacters are not completely trustworthy, the player is left in state of mild paranoia and speculation right up until the TheReveal.
62	* MultipleEndings: Three, with two closely related.
63	** New World Order endings: At the end of the game, you [[spoiler:kill Ed with the resonance technology, and Ray gets to choose whether to post an article exposing the Eleven Foundation or drop the charges to go back to his normal life. If he does, the organisation initially succeeds in getting the US government to adopt Antevorta, but their victory is short-lived as they are ultimately exposed and arrested, but the two heroes are still on the run; if he doesn't, Antevorta is taken on by every nation in the world, just as the Eleven Foundation wanted.]]
64	** Lesser of Two Evils ending: Alternatively, [[spoiler:Ray can be sympathetic to Ed's cause and agree to help him destroy Antevorta -- but Detective Bennet and several hospital patients die, and it's not clear how much damage has actually been done to the Eleven Foundation. Even though the supercomputer is destroyed and the Eleven Foundation's leading members end up becoming the world's most wanted criminals, the allegations have caused nations worldwide to distrust each other, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero and that in a time when peace treaties were about to be signed everywhere]].]]
65	* NecessarilyEvil: [[spoiler:Ed honestly]] hates himself for his actions, but he has a point when he says [[spoiler:the [[SinisterSurveillance Antevorta]] project]] would be a thousand times worse than the few dozen more deaths to stop it. The problem is that he never considered [[TakeAThirdOption a third option]], but he believes he's in way too deep to stop now -- he's already a murderer.
66	* NiceGuy: Ed's kind of dorky, shy and nervous. [[spoiler:[[AffablyEvil None of this changes after he's revealed to be the villain.]]]]
67	* TheNicknamer: Bennet gives nicknames from time to time, such as "Sugar" for Anna, and "Jimmy" for Ray[[note]]As in, "Franchise/{{Superman}}'s Pal ComicBook/JimmyOlsen"[[/note]]. The latter is lampshaded late in the game, with Ray calling him out and explaining that Jimmy Olsen was in fact [[ShownTheirWork a photographer, not a reporter]]. Bennet retorts by requesting whether he should call him "[[Franchise/{{Superman}} Lois Lane]]" [[GenderBlenderName then]].
68	* PoorCommunicationKills: [[spoiler:Eddings]] says he only shot [[spoiler:Anna]] because she wouldn't talk to him about her decision. [[spoiler:Even if Anna/the player chose to save the data, he couldn't see it from outside the bars.]]
69	%%* PrecisionFStrike: Bennet delivers quite a few.
70	* PrivateEyeMonologue: Bennet introduces himself with one of these. [[WhatCouldHaveBeen That's the only time he does it, though.]]
71	* RedHerring: [[spoiler:Detective Bennet is not the traitor.]] The seemingly incriminating [[spoiler:letter]] he drops is about something else.
72	* RepressedMemories: Anna's nightmares are caused by the recollection of how [[spoiler:her "father" really died: her "uncle" Javi (her biological father through an affair with her mother) knocked him down a flight of stairs, then fled.]]
73	* TheReveal: Approximately two-thirds through the game, after you locate [[spoiler:Dr. Morales' hidden vault]], Anna is given the choice whether to save or destroy the research, [[spoiler:only for Ed to shoot her in the head, reveal himself to behind the murder of Dr. Morales, and try to kill Ray and Bennet.]]
74	* ShoutOut:
75	** One of the things you find is [[Literature/{{Neuromancer}} a television, tuned to a dead channel.]]
76	** That's the [[VideoGame/MonkeyIsland second biggest monkey wrench]] Detective Bennet has ever seen.
77	* TheSmurfettePrinciple: Anna is the only girl out of the four, and one of the only female characters in the game, period.
78	* SphereOfDestruction: How Resonance-explosions operate. Anything sitting inside the sphere... ''isn't'', afterwards.
79	* StraightGay: [[spoiler:Bennet]] is implied to be gay and to have been involved with [[spoiler:a fellow officer]], who was forced out of his job after being outed by [[spoiler:a reporter. This explains his letter and his mistrust of Ray.]]
80	* TransparentCloset: Played with. [[spoiler:No character says that Bennet is gay other than Bennet himself, and his orientation is never questioned... but several lines of dialogue with police officers suggest Bennet's potential secret isn't as well hidden as he'd like.]] Considering that [[spoiler:a fellow cop]] was fired after being outed, it's understandable that [[spoiler:Bennet's friends]] would avoid saying anything direct.
81	* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler:Tolstoy "Ed" Eddings.]] He's not wrong when he says that the Eleven Foundation needs to be stopped by any means necessary, and [[spoiler:he's obviously torn up about his actions.]] On the other hand, he's a multiple murderer who betrayed everyone close to him.
82	* WesternTerrorists: The opening FlashForward shows scenes of terror from around the globe. Naturally the perpetrators are revealed through the course of the plot.
83	* WildCard: Ray, who has the least connection to ongoing events. No matter what happens, he's got one hell of a story. [[spoiler:He can even choose to support either Bennet or Ed in the final confrontation. If he chooses the former Bennet leaves it up to him if he want publish the truth about the The Eleven Foundation and potentially bring both of them in trouble, or just delete the article and walk away]].

Context VideoGame / Resonance