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->''"The Truth... is out there."''

''The X-Files Game'' is a FMVGame SpinOff to ''Series/TheXFiles'', released in 1998. Set during the events of Season 3, you play as a young Seattle FBI agent named [[OriginalCharacter Craig Willmore]], who is tasked with tracking down Fox Mulder and Dana Scully after they go missing while on a case in Everett, Washington.

The game is close to an AdventureGame, as you explore environments for clues while using various items from your FBI toolkit to solve puzzles. These can trigger a surprising number of {{Easter Egg}}s and {{Bad End}}s, such as phoning certain characters, or being fired or arrested for using your gun at inappropriate moments. There are also VisualNovel elements, as you can choose dialogue options which affect certain scenes in the game: for example, if you frequently choose paranoid or serious responses, then scenes shift to include more ParanoiaFuel elements (like Craig spotting a featureless black van following him).

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!! Tropes in this work include:

* FiveFiveFive: All phone numbers contain 555.
* AbandonedLaboratory: The military facility at Alaska.
* AgentMulder: Believer into the paranormal.
* AgentScully: Willmore, judging by his skeptical reaction to the whole [[spoiler: alien]] thing.
* AlienAutopsy: A video clip of it is being provided by Series/TheLoneGunmen.
* AliensAreBastards: [[spoiler: The black oil doesn't mind killing people to get back to its ship.]]
* AlignmentBasedEndings: At the end Astadourian is waiting for you at your apartment only if you chose to be gentle with her earlier.
* AlmostKiss: See StrictlyProfessionalRelationship below.
* AmicableExes: If you choose to answer Cook in a neutral way at the beginning of the game, Willmore's relationship with his ex-wife will be more cordial. For instance, Willmore will find a letter from his ex-wife on his Bureau desk, she will leave him messages on his answering machine ending on a "I miss you" note and will be nicer to him.
* ArtisticLicenseNuclearPhysics: The game's depiction of acute radiation syndrome (referred to in the game by the common term "radiation poisoning"), how it's contracted, what the symptoms are, and how long they last is inaccurate overall but also incredibly inconsistent. One character gets radiation poisoning just from handling a piece of evidence retrieved from a radioactive area, while two of the protagonists enter that same highly radioactive area without any protective equipment and spend significant amounts of time there without having any side effects at all. Furthermore, the description given by the nurse of [[spoiler: Scully]]'s symptoms indicate a potentially ''lethal'' dose of radiation received, yet the nurse indicates she'll be "just fine" and [[spoiler: Scully]] is off chasing Willmore around without having any lingering symptoms.
* AskAStupidQuestion: See SarcasmMode below.
* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: Many scenes with Willmore and Astadourian end in this. Especially after the [[spoiler: explosion where they share... an AlmostKiss.]]
* BadEnd: Dozens of them. Some are related to making bad decisions in the story, most of which just end in Willmore's demise. However, the player can also see Willmore arrested or fired from the FBI if the player tries shooting {{Non Player Character}}s or handcuffing them (usually with the NPC warning "Don't do that!"). The player can even go for the DrivenToSuicide ending by shooting Willmore himself.
** Touching Astadourian's butt will also result in a bad end.
* BadImpressionists: John Amis and his Sean Connery impersonation. "It's neither illegal nor sexy."
* BigFirstChoice: Downplayed. Depending on the way you choose to answer Cook at the very beginning of the game, the gaming experience will be slightly different. If you answer Cook in a neutral way, see AmicableExes above. If you use the paranoid answer, see SanityMeter below. The funny answer's consequences have yet to be studied.
* BilingualBonus: The Russian boat in the game is called the ''Tarakan''. "Tarakan" is Russian for Cockroach.
* BodySurf: The alien life form is capable of switching between humanoids in its vicinity.
* {{Bowdlerise}}: The Platform/PlayStation port is slightly toned down if you make Wilmore more paranoid.
* BreakingTheFourthWall: After Willmore rescues Mulder, NSA agents arrive and Willmore says that now that he's found Mulder and Scully, [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere "I'm outta here!"]] Mulder responds, "What kind of attitude is that? The game's not over yet. Don't you want to wait around for the payoff?"
* CanonDiscontinuity: Somewhat zigzagged. While the game seems to be canon in the X-Files series with some of the major characters, none of the events are mentioned later in the series.
* TheCharmer: Willmore tries to be charming. It's more funny than anything, though.
* ComeAlone: X requests Willmore to meet him alone.
* ComeOutComeOutWhereverYouAre: This happens if you choose to [[spoiler: run away from the so-called NSA agents towards the end of the game, which results in a forest chase. Willmore can hide, chased by the agents trying to find him in the dark forest.]]
* ConsummateLiar: [[spoiler: Cook. He claims that a witness saw Wong's murder, that Smolnikoff may be behind Wong's death and Mulder and Scully's disappearance, that he was attacked and that somebody stole Scully's laptop, and so on. Cook is, of course, behind all this.]] Wong can also qualify since he doesn't really have a wife and daughter. [[spoiler: His long rap sheet also proves that he is far from being the innocent fisherman he pretends to be]].
* ConvenientlyInterruptedDocument: The video footage of Mulder running into a baddie at a gas station cuts off before it gets interesting.
* CopAndScientist: Willmore and John Amis.
* CuttingOffTheBranches: The game features several endings, two of which can be canon: [[spoiler: both have Mulder and Scully survive, but Willmore dies in one of them. Since the latter never makes an appearance nor is mentionned again in the show, it is impossible to determine which is exactly canon]].
* {{Determinator}}: A normal agent would've point blank refused to continue when the [[spoiler: aliens]] got involved, but Willmore...
* DialogueTree: The game offers many dialogue possibilities, often with different outcomes. The most representative example could be the conversation with Cook in Willmore's office before the first day warehouse stakeout.
* DrivenToSuicide: You can shoot Willmore during a cutscene if you want, which will be interpreted as a suicide and end the game. See GoodbyeCruelWorld and HeroicBSOD below.
* DullSurprise: Craig is amazingly unphased by most things that happen to him.
* EasterEgg: Type "wanker" in the database to see a hidden file.
** In the Platform/PlayStation version when you see the airport scene with Scully, shoot a passing woman and you'll be shown a secret photo of presumably the dev team.
* EveryonesInTheLoop: You can make this trope come true if you decide to send your field notes to Cook, Shank, and Skinner. They will always answer you according to what notes you sent them and sometimes thank you for keeping them informed.
* EvilGloating: [[spoiler: Cook's little speech near the end of the game on why he betrayed you while he is beating you up.]]
* FakingAndEntering: The disappearance of Scully's laptop and Cook's mugging is entirely attributable to [[spoiler: the latter]].
* FallGuy: [[spoiler: Cook, willing to slow down Willmore's investigation, tells him Smolnikoff could be behind the disappearance of Mulder and Scully along with Wong's death. Of course he doesn't have anything to do with any of these events.]]
* FBIAgent: Cook, Mulder, Scully, Shanks, Skinner and Willmore.
* ForeShadowing: Plenty, [[spoiler: we first see Rauch quite early on, Cook's dialogue is full of it and X gives us a little too. Not to mention the book on aliens in Mulder's room.]]
* ForTheEvulz: And the money. [[spoiler: But Cook's so jaded that he seems to enjoy giving his old best friend a completely undeserved beatdown.]]
* FourPhilosophyEnsemble: Willmore's the realist, Scully's the Cynic, Mulder's the Idealist and Cook's Apathetic.
* GoldenEnding: The one where [[spoiler: Mulder, Scully and Willmore survive]] is the best. Not to mention that [[spoiler: it is implied that Astadourian and Willmore end up together]].
* GoodByeCruelWorld: Shooting Willmore, therefore having him commit suicide, will display his suicide note on the screen. The reasons Willmore mentions vary based on the way you answered Cook at the very beginning of the game. See HeroicBSOD below.
* HeroicBSOD: The reason given if you shoot Willmore is that he's got problems.
* HintSystem: The gameplay option "Artificial Intuition" helps you find difficult items throughout the game.
* HyperspaceArsenal: Apparently Willmore has a pocket dimension in his coat for all the FBI tools he can haul around and his inventory fills up over time and occasionally empties of quest items as the story removes them. The vast majority of his gear is never actually used in the course of the game and appears to be either related to content that might have been cut or simply the developers assuming the player would find it more realistic for an FBI agent to have a full crime fighting kit even if the player will ''never'' need to, say, dust for prints, shine a flashlight, or handcuff a suspect.
* IdiotHero: You can turn Willmore into this by handcuffing random people (and then get fired for it), by asking a character the same question twice, who ends up wondering out loud what's the matter with you. Taking pictures of the person you are talking to is also a good means of looking like an idiot to their mind. Besides, [[spoiler: why doesn't Willmore understand that Cook is TheMole?]]
** Willmore ''doesn't know his own computer password'', leading to one of the first puzzles of the game requiring the player to search through all of Willmore's things just to find an obscure hint to it, then search for Willmore's "favorite battle in the Civil War," something he should probably know anyway.
* INeverSaidItWasPoison: At one point, Cook mentions Wong to you while he should not have known about him. Though the PC version allows the player to tell Cook about Wong by sending him the field notes and the FBI file relating to the latter before his assassination. Cook will even reply to the player and therefore acknowledge Wong's appearance in the case. Whatever the case, the PC version always assumes that Cook has never heard of him. You call him out on it, but still [[IdiotHero continue to trust him completely]].
* InsideJob: [[spoiler: Cook's]] position allows him not to be suspected for his shenanigans, such as [[spoiler: the disappearance of Scully's laptop]].
* {{Jerkass}}: You can turn Willmore into this as well, but doing it at the wrong times can result in a game over.
* JurisdictionFriction: The player character can meet the town's detective that is on scene for a crime investigation. The detective will hate your guts and if you decide to push it further by being a bigger jerk ass over how the investigation belongs to the FBI, [[NonStandardGameOver you will get fired]].
* KillerCop: [[spoiler: Cook apparently went rogue for "money". He kills Wong and won't hesitate to kill you at the end of the game if you don't put an end to his EvilGloating.]]
* KillScreen: If you play the Platform/PlayStation port on a [=PS2=] or [=PS3=], the screen can look buggy.
* LargeHam: Cook is this when he's not busy being [[spoiler: one big foreshadowing.]]
-->'''Willmore:''' Cover me!\\
'''Cook:''' ''(enthusiastically)'' You got it!
* LoveInterest: Astadourian for Willmore.
* LowerDeckEpisode: The game was produced between seasons of the show but also in the run up to the first movie. This kept both Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny too tied up to film much. To get around this, the game instead focused on the new character of Craig Willmore and the entire plot focused on locating Mulder and Scully, ensuring the filming commitments for both actors was relatively short.
* TheManyDeathsOfYou: There are ''tons'' of ways that Willmore can die and most of them have their own unique bad ending in how you met your demise.
* MathematiciansAnswer: When Willmore asks Astadourian if he can take a shower first, she asks "I don't know, can you?"
* TheMole: [[spoiler: Cook.]]
* MultipleEndings: [[spoiler: Willmore can die while Mulder and Scully survive, Mulder can die while Willmore and Scully survive, everybody can survive, not to mention [[TheManyDeathsOfYou every game over this game has to offer]].]]
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Willmore's reaction when he learns [[spoiler: that he indirectly caused his friend John Amis (the bloke from the crime lab) to get radiation poisoning.]]
* MysteriousInformant: X, who helps Willmore get his investigation back on track. You must be very careful with him as he [[spoiler:will kill you with his knife if you give him answers he doesn't like.]] Lampshaded by Willmore: "So... it's the mystery man. I was expecting someone a little more Creator/SeanConnery."
* NoCanonForTheWicked: Try killing any of the characters from the show doesn't count, even the ones who die later in the series proper.
* NonstandardGameOver: Other than death by low health there are many ways to fail the game (usually you'll get jailed or fired respectively), this involves:
** Not finding out enough or not getting started with the investigation.
** Committing a crime (like killing or handcuffing random people) or doing random stupid stuff (like annoying the motel lady too much).
** Lying in the hospital where [[spoiler:Scully]] is, failing to guess what the homeless guy has, entering the car to the "airport".
** Two very cruel ones in the end: [[spoiler:you can let Scully die in the laboratory and you can even kill Mulder '''yourself''' if you please,]] both will end in immediate game over.
* NotSoAbandonedBuilding: The seemingly AbandonedWarehouse where Mulder and Scully went missing turns out to have been used for smuggling operations from time to time.
* NoWarrantNoProblem: [[spoiler: Cook]] actually has no warrant to [[spoiler: raid Smolnikoff's warehouse]].
* OmniscientDatabase: The FBI database features a lot of information regarding the many characters Willmore encounters during his case. Even minor ones, such as police officer Mendoza.
* OnlySmartPeopleMayPass: You have to solve the [[spoiler: railroad bum's riddle to get the video tape]]. If you fail, the game is over.
* OptionalSexualEncounter:
** Averted after the explosion where Willmore doesn't get to kiss Astadourian, no matter how nicely he has treated her up to that point... however if the player ''did'' treat her well, she'll at least signal being open to it later.
** Played straight ([[WillTheyOrWontThey or so it can be assumed]]) at the end (see AlignmentBasedEndings).
* OutrunTheFireball: Willmore and Astadourian running from the explosion at Gordon's Hauling.
* ThePasswordIsAlwaysSwordfish:
** Played straight early on when you try to find the password to your own computer which turns out to be a place from a postcard tagged to the wall next to your desk.
** Subverted later when you find Scully's laptop. It's password-protected, and you can ask Skinner for suggestions on what the password might be. None of his guesses (such as "faith") are correct, and after three incorrect tries the laptop locks you out. [[spoiler:In fact, it's impossible to gain access to the laptop. You have to send it to the FBI's IT division to get it hacked, so that it can later be stolen just before you get the information inside.]]
* PixelHunt: Finding [[spoiler:the bullet and the cig butt]] at the warehouse certainly qualify.
* PoliceBrutality: This is what happens if you decide to shoot people with your service pistol. [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome Then you go to jail.]] [[spoiler: Unless they're shooting at you first. Obviously.]]
* PressXToNotDie:
** Some scenes require you to shoot enemies and failure to do so will get you shot and killed.
** Many of the multiple choice questions can result in you being killed/fired/etc if you make the wrong choice.
* ProductPlacement: The [=MessagePad=] 2000 sports an [[Platform/AppleMacintosh Apple]] logo.
* PuppeteerParasite: [[spoiler: The black oil can control human beings.]]
* ReadingYourRights: Cook tells you he is going to read [[spoiler: Smolnikoff]] his rights while you go search for the gun he asked you to find.
* RedHerring:
** Scully's laptop. Its content seems to be plot-relevant but we never get to see any of it.
** [[spoiler: The Plutonium smuggler operation]] was a setup by [[spoiler:Cook]] who tried [[RevealingCoverup but ultimately failed]] to divert Willmore's attention away from [[spoiler: the real alien plot.]]
* SanityMeter: Choosing the "paranoid" mood response throughout the game results in seeing Wong's body move at the morgue as well as his arm falling out of the body bag. It also triggers a special game over screen where if Willmore is killed in the hauling yard explosion, you see a small secret cameo from the Cigarette Smoking Man who stands over the wreckage.
* SarcasmMode:
-->'''Craig Willmore:''' So what happened?\\
'''Arley:''' Well, Agent Willmore, barring some unexpected revelation it looks like someone shot this man in the back of the head.
* SassyBlackWoman: The receptionist at the motel. She is generally annoyed by your presence, hopes that there is no dead body in the motel because she has a final exam coming up, gets annoyed when you ask her to get a copy of the billing records, and gets ticked off if you ring the bell too many times. She'll always have some form of sass with everything she says.
* SecondActBreakup: Willmore and Astadourian were getting quite close half-way through the story. But then they have a falling out over Willmore not keeping her in the loop about the raid at Smolnikoff's office.
* SequelHook: The good ending suggested that there will be a sequel [[spoiler: because X orders Agent Willmore to hold on to the stiletto because he will need to use it again soon.]] Obviously no sequel happened and the events of the game never get referenced in any other ''X-Files'' media.
* ShoutOut: See the [[ShoutOut/TheXFiles sub-page]] listing Shout Outs from the whole franchise.
* SmallReferencePools: When Willmore asks [[spoiler: Cook]] if he has a warrant to [[spoiler: attack Smolnikoff's warehouse]], the latter replies by saying "Who do I look like? Mark Fuhrman? I have a federal warrant from a federal judge."
* SoUnfunnyItsFunny:
-->''(Willmore hands Amis a cigarette butt in an evidence bag for him to analyze)''\\
'''John Amis:''' No thanks, I'm trying to quit.\\
'''Craig Willmore:''' That's very funny.
* SpeakingSimlish: Upon entering [[spoiler: Smolnikoff's office]], the latter can be heard speaking "Russian" on the phone just before hanging up to face Cook and Willmore. What sounds like Russian is nothing more than random Russian-sounding sounds and therefore does not mean anything.
* StoryBreadcrumbs: It is possible to find and read documents that have no relevance to the plot whatsoever, such as Willmore's diary, divorce papers or even various leaflets etc. which only point is to make the game world and its characters more credible. See also OmniscientDatabase above.
* StrictlyProfessionalRelationship: [[spoiler: The player can try to kiss detective Mary Astadourian after the explosion at Gordon's Hauling if they want to. If the player has been nice enough to her, she will flirtingly decline to kiss Willmore and tell him that they should wait before the case is wrapped before they go "tampering with the evidence". If you have been a total jackass to her and try to kiss her anyway, get ready for a humiliating rejection.]]
%%* TimeBomb: [[spoiler: Gordon's Hauling's bomb.]]
* TitleIn: Just as in the series, all locations you are visiting are introduced via on-screen display including a timestamp.
* TheKillerBecomesTheKilled: Whatever happens, [[spoiler: Cook, who killed Wong and tried to kill Willmore,]] always end up being killed, [[spoiler: either by Scully of Willmore]].
* TurnInYourBadge: It happens if you fail to perform your FBI agent duties/fail the case due to various reasons such as handcuffing someone/being way too much of a jerk to Astadourian and so on.
* {{Tuckerization}}: The game has several characters and locations named for ''X-Files'' staff members.
** Detective Astadourian is named after Mary Astadourian, Chris Carter's personal assistant. Her name was also used for an observatory in the season 3 episode "D.P.O."
** James Wong was a staff writer in seasons 1, 2, and 4 and a number of episodes in the show sneak his name in. His name is used in this game for the shady fisherman.
** The town of Charno is named for Sarah Charno, another staff writer.
** Willmore's apartment building, Eavelyn Apartments, is named for the game's executive producer Halle Eavelyn.
* TwoKeyedLock: The two doors at the opposite ends of the isolation chamber are controlled via two push buttons that have to be pressed simultaneously.
* UnwinnableByDesign:
** There's one optional encounter with Cook near the very end where you can stun or shoot him. If you shoot Cook then in the very end [[spoiler:the alien can't pick him as a host and instead will become you. While you still can make significant progress after the meeting there's no way to get rid of the alien and so Scully will kill you just before the end and you lose]].
** In the very end, there's the room with the jars. [[spoiler:You shouldn't enter it, because if you do, you'll encounter Scully being controlled by the black oil, and it's game over as she kills you.]]
* UselessItem:
** The handcuffs have no use at all. You can use it on people to arrest them, but it results in you being fired for wrongful arrest.
** [[spoiler: The wire cutters also count if you try defusing the bomb]]
* VisualNovel: Similar to the style. It uses full motion video technology called Virtual Cinema, and it includes a large number of cut scenes.
* WhoShotJFK: The onsite doctor examining [[spoiler: Wong]] thinks that aliens did.
* WillTheyOrWontThey: A lot of tension between Astadourian and Willmore.
* WrongGenreSavvy: Astadourian, as it turns out, was way off. So was Cook, [[spoiler: but he was [[BlatantLies lying anyway.]]]]
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