Line #10 VisualNovel/QueensGambit


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/queensgambit.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:Counter-clockwise from right: Shield, João, Emmett, Tom, Emily.]]
3	''Queen's Gambit'' is a RomanceGame VisualNovel by [[Creator/VoltageInc Voltage USA]] for iOS and Android devices. The main character is a superspy with the codename "Shield." She's the consumate professional and at the top of her game, but all of this changes when on her most recent mission, she falls in love. This is made all the more complicated by the fact that her current mission has gone completely off the rails. It's up to Shield to save herself, and everyone else she holds dear while still getting the job done.
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5	[[http://voltage-graphicnovelromance.tumblr.com/post/150735431073/queens-gambit-is-closing On September 21 2016, Voltage announced that the game would be closing, to be removed from app stores on September 26.]]
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7	Not to be confused with ''Series/TheQueensGambit''.
8	----
9	!!Tropes:
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11	* AgentsDating: If you romance Emmett.
12	* AndTheAdventureContinues: Shield has no intention of retiring from her life as a superspy any time soon. She enjoys her work too much.
13	* BatmanGambit: Emmett and Shield pull one of these off, by virtue of knowing their opposition very well. [[spoiler: Their shared history with Emily lets them get the upper hand on her, with Emmett distracting Emily via MotorMouth to keep her from focusing on the badly injured Shield.]]
14	* BittersweetEnding: The "Agent" ending for each path tends to fall into this category. In Tom's, for example, [[spoiler:the assassination attempt on President Robertson]] is foiled, [[spoiler:Shield is exonerated]], and the day is mostly saved, but [[spoiler:Emily escapes]] and remains at large and [[spoiler:the Triumvirate]] is still in business. [[spoiler:Tom passes up the opportunity to blow the whistle on the Triumvirate in order to protect Shield and her sister, which completely ruins his political career. And with Shield back at work opportunities for her and Tom to meet up are rare, meaning that they must go months at a time without seeing each other]].
15	* BloodKnight: Emily. She was easily the most aggressive member of her team, which was what got her killed. [[spoiler:And what makes her so dangerous when she goes to get revenge on her former teammates and employer. She isn't concerned with collateral damage or even making sure she still has an organization or resources left when she's done.]]
16	* BodyguardCrush: Played straight in [[spoiler:Tom's]] route. Zig-zagged in [[spoiler:João's GoldenEnding. Shield and João fell for each other before she became his bodyguard]].
17	* BrokenBird: [[spoiler:Emmett]] is one. [[spoiler: He has symptoms not out out of line with PSTD from Emily's death five years prior, and his confidence is shattered.]]
18	* CharacterOverlap: President Robertson previously appeared as the father of the protagonist of in ''To Love & Protect'', Voltage USA's localization of ''VisualNovel/MySweetBodyguard''. His Secret Service agents Chadwick [=McGrew=] and Edgar Morton, who appear in minor roles in ''Queen's Gambit'', were two of the main love interests of ''To Love & Protect'' (as the adapted versions of Daichi Katsuragi and Subaru Ichiyanagi).
19	* ChessMotifs: The Queen's Gambit is an opening move in chess. Also, with regards to Destrier's operations, the Boss is said to be the only one who can see the whole board.
20	* TheChessmaster: The Boss tends to do this.
21	* ClearMyName: On Tom Walker's route, Shield ends up on the run after she's framed for [[spoiler:attempted assassination of the President of the United States]] and Destrier is forced to disavow any connection with her. [[spoiler:In a twist, the frame job is because the Triumvirate contracted Destrier to have Shield murder President Robertson, but she opts instead to poison him with a non-lethal compound, hoping that the scare will cause his security to be beefed up against future attempts. Unamused, the Triumvirate releases video footage of her actions during the mission to the news media.]]
22	* CodeName: Crown, Shield, and Sword were the codenames for the protagonist's first squad. They all even have tattoos of their codenames. After Sword's apparent death, the remaining two still went by their original code names, Crown and Shield. This also identifies Mongoose as the odd man out - as the newcomer, he doesn't have a codename that meshes with the original team's.
23	* TheConspiracy: [[spoiler:The Triumvirate is the main antagonist of Tom's route.]]
24	* CorruptCorporateExecutive: The first part of João Morais's route is spent trying to find evidence that he's one of these. [[spoiler: He isn't.]]
25	* CorruptPolitician: Tom Walker's public persona is much like an exaggerated caricature of a Republican. [[spoiler: This is in part due to him trying to throw off some of his backers, who expect this of him even as he tries to support more reasonable political practices.]]
26	* CrazyEnoughToWork: [[spoiler: Emmett]], when he gets going is capable of some truly amazing, confusing, hilarious, and bizarre solutions.
27	* DeadpanSnarker: Everyone except Cameron, Cassidy, and João have their moments.
28	* DealWithTheDevil: This is a big problem in [[spoiler: Tom Walker's]] route. [[spoiler:He's more or less inherited such a deal from his family, which is deeply entangled with the corrupt and malevolent Triumvirate. Tom himself wants nothing to do with them, but if he doesn't at least appear to dance to their tune, they can destroy him and absolutely everything he cares about.]]
29	* DownerEnding: The "Nightmare" endings are pretty much relentlessly horrible and tend to involve the deaths of most of the main cast. In Tom's, [[spoiler:Robertson is assassinated and Shield is framed for it, Destrier is wiped out, Shield is permanently on the run, Emily has 'recruited' Cassidy, and Tom dies in a plane crash presumably arranged by the Triumvirate]]. The "Rookie" endings are also pretty grim, though they at least provide some remaining spark of hope.
30	* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: "The Boss." No name is ever given for him.
31	* FanService: Expect at least one instance of a shirtless love interest per route. Emily and Tom in particular seem to spend a lot of time sans clothes.
32	* GambitPileup: The natural result of half the cast playing XanatosSpeedChess.
33	* GayOption: Emily is one of the potential love interests.
34	* HeIsAllGrownUp: Emmett was an awkward, rollypolly teenager. Adulthood, and presumably the exercise being in Destreider requires, has him grow into a fine looking adult.
35	* HelloInsertNameHere: The game asks you to name the protagonist. If you close the naming screen without entering anything, it will use the default name "Barbara Eddricks".
36	* HiddenDepths: Played straight with [[spoiler: Tom Walker]] and subverted with [[spoiler:João Morais. In fact, it's ''because'' he's exactly what he appears to be that causes João so much trouble. João's the only unambiguously good love interest in the series, having never done anything to hurt another person in his life.]]
37	* HoneyTrap: Shield pulls this on [[spoiler:João]], and notes she's done similar work in the past. [[spoiler:Matters are complicated by the fact that she's InLoveWithTheMark when the kill order comes in.]]
38	* IncorruptiblePurePureness:
39	** President Robertson. He can't be bribed, threatened, or bargained with. [[spoiler:Which results in an assassination plot against him.]]
40	** [[spoiler:João Morais. This baffles his competition since he doesn't operate on rules they're familiar with. The reports of his corruption have to be manufactured.]]
41	* LoopholeAbuse: Shield tries to pull this on the Triumvirate when they order her to to [[spoiler: assassinate the president of the United States]]. This involves the explicit application of ExactWords, but the Triumvirate doesn't stand for it.
42	* LoveTriangle: Understated for the most part, due to Emmett being in love with Shield for eight years. On every route except his own, this goes unrequited and he doesn't even bring it up except in João's route.
43	* InLoveWithTheMark: [[spoiler:Shield with João on his route.]]
44	* InMediasRes: Each route opens with Shield and her love interest of choice in the middle of some kind of inflammatory situation, ending on a cliffhanger before skipping back to the initial mission briefing and showing how she ended up there.
45	* MissingMissionControl: This turns up every so often, either through damaged equipment or specific blocking by an enemy. The later is usually an indication that the opposition is well funded and well armed.
46	* MultipleEndings: "Nightmare", "Rookie", "Agent", and "[[GoldenEnding Super Spy]]."
47	* ObliviousToLove: Shield and her sister, Cassidy. Shield, despite being a superspy, manages to miss the fact that Emmett, her partner, has been in love with her for eight years. Cassidy also mentions that Shield was oblivious to all the people who had massive crushes on her in highschool. Cassidy for her part, hasn't clued in on the fact that boys asking her out for coffee and inviting her to go skiing with their families may mean they're interested. In one of the incidents where Cassidy meets Cameron, she completely misses that he's just as enamored of her as she is of him.
48	* OurPresidentsAreDifferent: US President Robertson is a President Personable, a likable and reasonable man who acts with his country's best interests in mind. In Tom Walker's route, he's also a President Target: [[spoiler:the Triumvirate contracts Destrier to have Shield assassinate him. When Shield does an end run around actually killing Robertson via creative interpretation of the wording of her orders, the unamused Triumvirate blows her cover to the media and sends Emily to try to finish the job]].
49	* PlayfulHacker: Emmett is definitely one of these.
50	* PsychoLesbian: Due to the fact that Velma is actively trying to maim or kill Shield in three out of four routes, and has serious BloodKnight tendencies, this trope comes up in hindsight.
51	* RagsToRiches: João grew up in an impoverished family where simply having enough to eat was a problem. He eventually starts and leads a multinational company with the purpose of addressing global food shortages, environmental problems, and generally making the world a better place.
52	* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: President Robertson hears Shield out and proves willing to act on what she tells him even though [[spoiler:she poisoned him in what is - not entirely inaccurately - assumed to have been an assassination attempt]]. He's similarly willing to trust and work with Tom after learning that [[spoiler:Tom is tangled up, admittedly unwillingly, with the conspiracy that ordered his assassination]]. Though they did just [[spoiler:save his life]], he only really has their word on the specifics, but all he requires is that they come clean with him with a full explanation about exactly what's been going on.
53	* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Emily has a tendency towards this. [[spoiler: Shield has one as well in Emmett's route, when she thinks he's been killed by Emily.]]
54	* SherlockScan: Since she's a superspy, Shield does this often. It's Cameron's specialty to defy this sort of thing. [[spoiler:Tom]] is also good at it, to Shield's surprise.
55	* ShipperOnDeck: Cassidy is like this for Emmett and João. It inevitably leads to Shield claiming, [[SheIsNotMyGirlfriend He Is Not My Boyfriend]].
56	* SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan: This trope in action can be exactly what attracts Shield to [[spoiler:João]].
57	* TheStrategist: This was Emmett's role before he abdicated leading the team [[spoiler: after he feels responsible for getting Shield badly injured and Emily killed during their first mission]]. Since then he's been acting as MissionControl.
58	* SurvivorGuilt: [[spoiler: Emmett]] has this in spades.

Context VisualNovel / QueensGambit