Beware of spoilers! You have been warned!
Main Characters
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Mad Rat
Mad Rat
"I'll show him the true terror of a rat!"
The main protagonist. A rat who was dissected and left for dead. After being revived by the Rat God, he vows to kill the human doctor so that he can die in peace.- Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: Mad Rat's getup consists of a pair of gloves and a tag on his ear. The tag is Justified because he is a lab rat, but the gloves are anyone's guess.
- Acrofatic: He's a little tubby, but he can move through the air quickly and stylishly.
- Ambidextrous Sprite: The stitches on his shoulder and the tag on his ear switch from left to right depending on which way he’s facing.
- Appropriated Appelation: Crossing over with No Name Given; we don't know Mad Rat's original name, or even if he had one. Heart starts calling him Mad Rat, and he decides to use it.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: He saves the girl who saved him from being hit by a truck, and at the end, saves Heart from the surgery for everything the latter did for him.
- Big Guy, Little Guy: With Heart, who's small enough to fit inside his chest cavity. This dynamic is reversed in the ending, where Heart turns out to be a cat who's large enough to carry Mad Rat on his back.
- Body Horror: There is a giant hole in his chest, with his ribcage showing a bit. There's also the fact he has a horrific parasite stuck inside his brain.
- Creepy Good: ...mostly after Character Development kicks in, but Mad Rat, despite being a rat zombie, wants revenge against a human who vivisected him. He can stop if the doctor turns out to be more compassionate to Mad Rat, and Mad Rat also averts the deaths of a cat and a girl later on.
- Deadpan Snarker: He delves into this at times. After the Rat God tells him that she lives in his head, Mad Rat demands rent pay.
- Determinator: Absolutely nothing will stop him from achieving his goals, no matter how improbable.
- Doomed Protagonist: The Rat God makes it clear that even if he succeeds in getting his revenge, he's still going to die once the day is over. While the specifics of how it would happen are actually a lie she told in order to manipulate him, the end result isn't — the truth is that he was always going to die even if the events of the game never occurred, thanks to his failing heart.
- First-Episode Resurrection: The game begins with Mad Rat getting killed via dissection. Right after that, the Rat God revives him during the tutorial. Except the Rat God never revived him herself; in truth, she just made him aware of his time powers.
- Handicapped Badass: He's a rat with a heart condition, but that led to him gaining a supernatural pacemaker in the form of a talking, time-controlling heart that increases his power whenever he moves.
- Hollywood Heart Attack: Averted; his heart condition doesn't leave him prone to sudden cardiac arrest, but he does show the typical symptoms of heart failure before his dissection, primarily in how difficult it is for him to move due to the lack of oxygen in his system.
- Heroic BSoD: He has several whenever the Rat God appears, falling down and fainting. He has a big but short one upon realizing that the first half of the game only happened in his head.Mad Rat: I thought you were the mad one... ...but it was me.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Not quite at first, but as the game goes along, Mad Rat steadily becomes a highly gruff but less selfish person with great compassion.
- Meaningful Name: He's a very angry rat. And also a brainwashed-into-insanity one.
- Morton's Fork: Mad Rat is revealed to be trapped in one of these thanks to his own failing heart. He either takes the transplant which kills both him and Heart, or not and save Heart, while still doomed to die. He takes the latter, but not without opposition from Rat God.
- One-Hit-Point Wonder: It doesn't matter if Mad Rat touches a Nightmare or sewer water, it'll kill him all the same. Thankfully, the Time Rewind Mechanic allows you to go back, so this isn't as much of a problem as it normally would be.
- Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: When Mad Rat really sets his mind to something near the start, what does he ask?"Heart! Give me a beat!"
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Initially his goals are to kill the doctor who vivisected him. When it turns out the Rat God is more to blame for everything, she becomes the new focus.
- Scary Stitches: His body is stitched up after the operation.
- Taking You with Me: When the Rat God hijacks Mad Rat's Time Rewind Mechanic to make sure he gets eaten by a cat, undoing everything he and Heart did, he opts to let himself die without the surgery so that the Rat God goes down with him and Heart, along with everyone else, can be safe.
- Through the Eyes of Madness: The first half of the game is revealed to be Mad Rat's hallucinations, from the zombie Mob Rats, their ghosts, and even killing the doctor, thanks to the Rat God infecting him. Finding this out causes him to have a Heroic BSoD until Heart comforts him.
- Torso with a View: Has little problem moving with a gaping hole clean through his ribcage due to being brought back from the dead. It also doubles as an alcove where Heart stays during gameplay.
- Your Days Are Numbered: Three times over does something ensure he will die in due time. First, Rat God tells him that he can only live until nightfall after his resurrection, which turns out to be a lie to motivate him into chasing down the "cheese" hallucinations. Then it turns out he's suffering from a bad heart and Heart isn't doing much to fix it, so either he accepts the transplant and lives for a bit longer while also killing Heart, or he doesn't take the transplant and die earlier while Heart lives.
Heart
Heart
Click to see Heart's true form.MAJOR SPOILERS!
"Look! I'm even shaped like a heart, hehehe! Aren't I cute?"
Mad Rat's companion, his now talking heart who helps him get from level beat by beat. Is very supportive of his revenge.- Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: As a cat, he was red-furred and had a heart marking on his chest.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Turns out to be holding back a lot of power despite just being a heart, as shown in his boss fight. After all, his true form is a cat.
- Blood Magic: Justified, albeit not in the normal sense: a lot of his attacks in his boss battle involve blood. After all, he is a heart.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: When Mad Rat says 'give me a beat', Heart starts the music. In his boss fight, he can also stop the music and, therefore, time. He is also aware of the many times Mad Rat had died during gameplay.
- The Conscience: To Mad Rat, calling him out on his less-than-upstanding actions. Ultimately, Mad Rat's development from a jerk to a nice guy is aided by Heart.
- A Dog Named "Dog": Mad Rat's sentient heart is just called Heart. Averted and Justified when it's revealed that Heart was a cat before the transplant, although in this state he does have a heart shaped patch of fur.
- Foreshadowing: Heart's single, cat-slit eye foreshadows the reveal that Heart was actually a cat before the heart transplant.
- Gameplay and Story Integration: As Heart controls the music, he has full control of it during the boss fight; whenever he takes damage, he snaps his fingers and the music stops for a few seconds. He also claims to have seen Mad Rat die hundreds of times… that is, the many deaths the player rewound during gameplay.
- Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Heart fights Mad Rat due to the rat succumbing to Rat God's brainwashing, and when that fails, slaps him to get him to realize he's been led into danger. Whenever Mad Rat starts hallucinating from then on, Heart always slaps some sense back into him.
- The Heart: Pun not intended, Heart is the more moral of the duo and the one who provides Mad Rat a beat to make him more agile as well as his ability to rewind time. His boss fight proves you don't want to force him into combat, though.
- Leitmotif: "HEART's Beat." The boss battle against him is accompanied by a remix of it, and you hear another remix of it when Mad Rat rewinds time to before the heart transplant and releases Heart, as a cat, out of his pet carrier.
- Meaningful Name: He is a living heart. His true form, a cat, has a heart-shaped mark on his chest.
- Morality Pet: Fittingly, it is thanks to Heart that Mad Rat becomes a nicer person.
- Nice Guy: A very kind and polite person who sincerely wants to help Mad Rat, though he won't hesitate to call him out on his nastier actions.
- Only Sane Man: Tries to help Mad Rat in his quest for revenge. Becomes this even more so following the reveal that Mad Rat's perception had been compromised from the beginning, and keeps him from danger from then on.
- Organ Autonomy: He's a sentient heart and eventually revealed to hold the same consciousness as the animal he was originally from.
- Overdrawn at the Blood Bank: His boss battle involves lots of blood. From using blood shoots to creating blood spikes, he even surrounds himself in a ball of blood as a means of guarding.
- Spanner in the Works: Him slapping Mad Rat back into reality is the only reason why Mad Rat didn't fall for the same tricks all the forest rats did.
- Stating the Simple Solution: As the Only Sane Man, Heart asks Mad Rat why he can't just use his time powers to live forever. Mad Rat states that it would be no different than being stuck on the wheel.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Mad Rat figures out that the parasite manifesting as the Rat God was inside of Heart during the transplant, and infected him afterwards.
- Visual Pun:
- Heart is literally The Heart of the Mad Rat-Heart duo.
- One of his attacks involve forming crystals of blood. In other words, he is forming blood rubies.
Rat God (Unmarked Spoilers)
The Rat God/Toxoplasma Gondii
Click here to see her when you finally fight her
"Everyone has the right to take a bite out of their special treat!"
The goddess that Mad Rat meets in the afterlife. She resurrects him so that he can fulfill his wish and find his "happy ending". In truth, she is no divine being, but a parasite that infests Mad Rat's brain, trying to lead him to his "happy ending" of being eaten by a cat so that she can continue to live.- Alas, Poor Villain: As evil as she was, she was ultimately little more than a parasite who couldn't fight back against her nature.Rat God: Is that really a sin? I only want to live…
- Big Anime Eyes: A notable example in that she's the only one designed with chibi-style anime eyes, which looks out of place with all the other characters.
- Big Bad: Ultimately turns out to be the game's main villain.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: The Rat God comes off as benevolent and helpful towards Mad Rat at first, but this is all a ploy for her to lure Mad Rat near a cat so he can be eaten.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: Downplayed. She does need Mad Rat to be eaten by a cat to survive, she even asks if it is so bad for her to try and live, but nevertheless demonstrates sincerely sadistic tendencies and does some needlessly cruel things for no real reason, like undoing Mad Rat saving the little girl from being hit by a truck. Even before this, Rat God makes some pretty unusual statements involving morality, like "You're allowed to think killing them is wrong" involving killing the entire group of Mob Rats.
- Bullying the Disabled: She teaches Mad Rat how to dash after mocking how Mad Rat is so slow when walking… which the game reveals is because Mad Rat has a bad heart.
- Consummate Liar: Just about everything she says is a lie; the "revival" was in fact after the botched heart surgery. She claims that the yellow liquid oozing out of both the Mob Rats and the doctor is blood, when it's just a hallucination. She claims that she was the one who gave Mad Rat the time powers, but it's later revealed that she just made him aware of it, as most beings have that power, and are just unaware of it. And the fact that Nightmares only plague the afterlife is shown to be another lie once they start appearing in the real world; the Nightmares originate from her, and she is using them to control Mad Rat.
- Dark Reprise: Rat God's introduction is accompanied by the tutorial stage and its catchy upbeat song "MAD RAT, ALIVE?" When she is finally fought as the final boss, that same song is warped into the chaotic and unnerving "MAD RAT, DIE".
- Didn't See That Coming: Loses her composure when the Heart breaks into her hallucination.Rat God: What the hell are you doing here?!
- Evil All Along: She initially presents herself as being on Mad Rat's side, but from the beginning, her true intentions were to get him killed.
- Faceless Eye: Her true form when she's unable to — or unwilling to — keep up the guise of a God is a pile of disembodied eyes.
- Foreshadowing: Her claim that Nightmares only haunt the afterlife seems to fall flat when they show up in the real world. This is her first lie, which hints that she isn't as clear-cut as she claims to be.
- God Guise: What is perceived to be the "Rat God" is actually little more than a parasite that pretends to be a god in order to make Mad Rat easier to manipulate.
- Humanoid Female Animal: The Rat God looks more like a human woman with rat ears and a tail than any kind of actual rat. This is even Lampshaded by Mad Rat. Averted later in the game when she reveals her true form, which is more akin to a cluster of cells that look like multi-colored eyes.
- Idiot Hair: Visible only when her hat is off while she's vulnerable during the boss fight.
- Leitmotif: "MAD RAT, ALIVE?" Elements from this song pop up in the boss battle with her, as well as in the bonus song "If We Could Be Friends."
- Non-Standard Character Design: Her bright chibi anime design, particularly the Big Anime Eyes, really stands out from the rest of the characters who have more simplistic designs. Justified as this is an illusionary form she takes on as a parasite infecting Mad Rat's brain to get him eaten by a cat.
- Not Quite Dead: Though defeated, after the credits, the Rat God is revealed to still be alive should you try and start the game again. She then asks if you want to continue playing despite Mad Rat and Heart's story being done, and lets you relive their adventure, no strings attached. Justified in that she's literally inside Mad Rat's brain, so "killing" her is impossible, but breaking her ability to control and influence him isn't.
- One-Winged Angel: When you fight her, she drops her "cutesy" look in favor of a Slasher Smile filled with jagged teeth, red and yellow eyes, and various parts of her body gaining holes in them. Then she outright sheds that form in favor of a cluster of red and yellow cells.
- Puppeteer Parasite: She causes her hosts to hallucinate as a means to make them do what she wants, mainly putting themselves in a situation where they can be preyed upon.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Her eyes are a pinkish-red, and she's the Big Bad.
- She Is the King: While she has a very feminine appearance and is always referred to as female, she's always called a God rather than a Goddess.
- Slasher Smile: Makes ones when Mad Rat states his intents to kill the doctor, another one right before she sics Phantom Moon on Mad Rat, and later makes a very potent one in the final battle, with it even frightening Mad Rat.
- Treacherous Advisor: All of her "advice" in the game is just a ploy to get Mad Rat killed so she can live on in another host's body.
Others
Doctor (Unmarked Spoilers)
Doctor
- The Faceless: They're always either hidden in shadow, or facing away from the camera wearing clothes that completely cover their body, and any interactions with the Mad Rat are done by only showing their hands.
- Hello, [Insert Name Here]: Revealed to be the character you name at the start.
- Humans Are Bastards: Depending on the answers the player gives at the start, this is either player straight or subverted. If the choices were pitiless and cold, the doctor will be just as bad as Mad Rat thought. If the choices were merciful and emphatic, it is revealed the doctor is actually a decent person and their cruelty was yet another hallucination made by the Rat God.
- The Unfought: Neither of the two times you try to kill him (once as a hallucination and the other as the real doctor if you choose) have a boss fight associated with them.
Mob Rats
- Advancing Boss of Doom: As the ghost in the sewers.
- Body of Bodies: Their ghosts bunch up together to form the Ghost Rat. In the form they use to fight Mad Rat at the end of the second chapter, they resemble a pile of deathly pale rats with a few eyes placed here and there among them that, together, take on the shape of a giant monstrous rat.
- Body Horror: Their boss forms show that their brains have swollen to the point that they’ve burst out of their skulls, constantly throbbing and blocking their eyes, and their brains have been pierced with pins. When they become vulnerable, said brains explode, leaving them in a dead-eyed stupor. Their mouths have also become fanged maws to indicate their instinctive nature.
- Meaningful Name: The "Mob" (モブ, mobu) in "Mob Rat" comes from a Japanese slang term used to refer to background characters/NPCs in video games, movies, anime, etc. They also form a mob around Mad Rat during their boss fight.
- Starter Villain: They serve as the bosses of the first two chapters.
- Wolfpack Boss: The Mob Rats only take one hit before being defeated, but their strength is in numbers.
Stray Rats
- Brainwashed: Like Mad Rat, they have parasites inside their brain taking the guise of the Rat God.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Their only onscreen roles consist of yelling about cheese and then dying, but they all hallucinate the Rat God giving them cheese before they die, cluing the player in on the Rat God's true motives.
Little Girl
- Because You Were Nice to Me: Mad Rat saves her from being killed by a truck for saving him from being eaten by a cat.
- Girlish Pigtails: The little girl wears a dress and has her hair in two braids.
- Improbable Infant Survival: Averted hard in "Some Kind of Hope" as Mad Rat witnesses the aftermath of the child being hit by a truck, and while we do not see the full body, the child's blood-soaked hat landing nearby her lifeless hand leaves very little to the imagination. This trope is actually Zigzagged: due to Mad Rat's time-manipulation, it doesn't stick, but thanks to Rat God, she nullifies said attempt. At the end of the game, this is once again averted thanks to Heart helping her.
- Signature Headgear: Her straw bonnet is one of her defining features.
Black Cat
- Androcles' Lion: Mad Rat manages to save the black cat he fought from drowning. In turn, the cat refuses to eat him when they cross paths later thanks to Rat God.
- Defeat Means Friendship: After besting it in a boss fight, Mad Rat goes back in time to avert the fight against it, which the cat seems to understand, helping you escape from drowning. Later, when the Rat God tries to have Mad Rat eaten, it spares him.
- Lone Wolf Boss: One of only two bosses not affiliated with the Rat God in some way, and notably the only boss fight in the game that takes place entirely within reality.
- Technicolor Eyes: When the cat is chasing you, its irises are a bluish-purple, while its pupils are green. Once Mad Rat and Heart befriend the cat, its eyes change to blue.
Nightmares
- Bright Is Not Good: The nightmares are represented by bright, neon colors, and they are not on your side at all.
- King Mook: The penultimate boss, the Phantom Moon, is essentially a giant, more elaborate Nightmare.
- Meaningful Name: Nightmares mean "bad dreams", which makes sense when they only exist in Mad Rat's head thanks to the Rat God.
- Mooks: They eventually turn out to serve as these to The Rat God.
- Nonstandard Character Design: The Nightmares are neon-colored blob-creatures, contrasting with the rest of the cast. Some of them resemble actual things (like fire or cacti), but for the most part they are formless, loudly colored shapes.
