Warning! These entries contain unmarked spoilers for the identity of the player character, and some trope names may spoil later reveals in the game. Read at your own risk.
Smilla
A spirit who found themselves awakening with none of their memories after having been murdered and their body thrown overboard by someone on the ship. In truth, she was in life the Douce Amere's new captain Smilla, who was killed after she got too close to the evil truth of the ship and its passengers. As a ghost, she can only solve the mystery by possessing other people—either partially, to influence them to do things they would normally do, or fully, to make them do things they'd never do.
- Amnesiac Hero: She initially has none of her memories thanks to being a ghost, but slowly recovers parts of herself from learning about how she was in life. Her memories are never stated to fully come back, but she does regain her prior appearance to an extent.
- Brutal Honesty: One of her flaws, according to Xu, was that she had next to no tact.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Implied by the comments of the other crew and passengers, that she came to be captain so she could forget about a tragedy in her past. She has a photo in her dresser of two people (with what is presumably birth and death dates on the back,) hinting at what that tragedy was.
- She Knows Too Much: The reason why she was murdered. Smilla noticed several incongruities about how the ship was run, and almost stumbled on Garv's human trafficking organization trying to figure them out. This is what led to her death.
Paulo
A young boy traveling on the Douce Amere by himself, who has psychic powers. He manages to help Smilla stay on the mortal plane for a while longer while she tries to figure out how she died, and offers help to the player in progressing.
- Break the Cutie: He's kidnapped and tortured by the serial killer. Although he's rescued in all endings, it's clear he won't be recovering for a while and in the worst ending he seems completely shattered by his experience.
- Lonely Rich Kid: Implied; he's not very social, has a self-help book on overcoming shyness, and his parents are almost never around because of their jobs.
- Mr. Exposition: Until he's kidnapped he provides the player with hints about how to proceed and explains everything they need to know about themselves and their condition.
- Parental Neglect: His parents don't have time for him because of their job, and don't even pick him up from boarding school but have him make the trip back by himself.
- Psychic Children: He can talk to ghosts and sense when something bad is about to happen, hence him being able to help the player character.
- Wise Beyond Their Years: He's extremely advanced in math and has the most sense out of most of the adults onboard the ship despite being so young.
Alton
A rich college dropout who has a thing for Xu before finding out about her stealing habit. He's the entertainment for the observation deck, which no one ever visits. When possessed he's able to change the background music in the game.
- It's All My Fault: Utterly blames himself for Xu stealing from him because he reasons he should have realized that was all she wanted from him.
- Nice Guy: Despite being a little oblivious and not always focusing on what's appropriate in the moment, he's one of the nicest members of the cast and had nothing to do with the trafficking operation, unlike his fellow crewmembers. He's also noted to be too nice to do anything about Xu's theft.
Xu
The Chinese waitress on the Douce Amere. She secretly steals from crew and guests alike so she can cover her criminally low wages, among other things. When possessed she has the ability to see what's in other people's pockets.
- The Illegal: It's revealed that her visa expired when she flunked college, but she was too afraid to go back to China and face her parents so she stays employed on the ship for terribly low wages instead.
- "Reason You Suck" Speech: She can deliver one to Alton when he confronts her about her stealing his things, telling him that while she lives like a slave to save up money he took his job just for a fun vacation and is completely oblivious to her problems.
Donovan
An intense loner who seems to be on a mission. it's revealed later on that he's on the hunt for a Serial Killer onboard the ship, whom he believes has done away with the captain. When possessed he can scan the room for items of interest.
- Driven to Suicide: After he kills whoever he thinks is the Serial Killer, he shoots himself next as he knows there'll be no justifying what he does to the courts.
- He Knows Too Much: Just like the captain, he's seemingly killed for getting too close to the truth. Unlike the captain, though, he survives the attempt on his life.
- Knight Templar: He doesn't care about anything except taking out the Serial Killer, and believes that it's worth it if other people get hurt or even killed because of the amount of lives he'll save by finding his target. This leads him to shooting multiple people at the end if you can't prove who the killer is in time.
- Rabid Cop: Reading emails from L. on his computer show that he was already not well and had been suspended from his job in the FBI. By the finale, all he cares about is shooting the killer, and he'll barely give any time to the player to show him who that is before he starts shooting everyone who fits his profile. Shooting Ferdinand when the player hasn't figured out the full truth has Ferdinand proclaim that Donovan doesn't even care if he's really the killer, Donovan just wants to hurt him.
Gwen
A young redheaded woman who's haunted with paranoia and fears that someone is stalking her, going so far as to keep a hatchet in her room for protection. When possessed she can look into other peoples' rooms through the keyholes.
- Dark and Troubled Past: She is implied to have been sexually assaulted by her father or some other man during the night, and her sister allegedly dies because of illness.
- Frame-Up: She's accused of being the killer because of some key evidence that the crew finds in her quarters. Most of the cast agree that it's likely she was framed, and proving it is the goal for the chapter.
- Unwitting Pawn: She realizes that she was one for Ferdinand, who nudged her into suspecting and investigating Donovan, who had been hot on Ferdinand's trail.
Garv
An old man who's suffered through a bitter divorce and custody battle and now prefers the company of his pets, a bird and the black cat Sunshine, to humans. When possessed he can summon his cat to him to save the player time looking for it.
- Big Bad: Turns out he is this—not as the Serial Killer, but as the culprit of a human trafficking ring selling women into sexual slavery via the ship. He even tries to use the real serial killer to help him get away with his plot, and is only foiled if the player finds and presents the right evidence.
- Kindhearted Cat Lover: Seems like one, having a black cat that he cares about very much and being marginally more friendly than some of the others on the ship. Subverted in that he's actually the most evil character in the group.
- Surrounded by Idiots: This is one of the things he can say in his thoughts, hinting at his misanthropy.
Marcurio
The chef of the Douce Amere, who prefers to keep to himself in the kitchen. He despises the ship and feels it stifles his creativity, hoping to one day open up a restaurant of his own. When possessed he can see suspicious trails around the ship leading to important areas.
- Freudian Excuse: He reveals to Gwen that his father beat him bloody when he was a child, and no one ever helped him even though it was obvious he was being abused. This led to his cynical and self-serving mentality as an adult.
- Heel Realization: In any ending where he survives, Marcurio comes to the conclusion that he's a rotten person because his "don't rock the boat" mentality led to him unknowingly aiding a sex trafficking ring, which he'd previously suspected was smuggling.
Quella
A good-natured writer who can't seem to finish her book no matter how hard she tries, and is desperately trying to make a deadline. Being the most helpful in the cast, she investigates a lot of the goings on without having to be fully possessed. Once possessed, she can determine someone's tone of voice in the middle of conversations.
- Face Death with Dignity: She has come to terms with her death, and resolves to simply live out what time she has left achieving what she can.
- Nice Girl: She's one of the most genuinely kind and altruistic people on the ship, and a lot of the game's progress with helping the other passengers and solving the mystery is through possessing her.
- Secretly Dying: The player has to do some digging to find out that Quella's "deadline" is a literal one—she's been diagnosed with cancer and has a limited amount of time to live.
Darryl
A shabby lawyer who spends all of his time out on the deck of the ship. He's mostly nonverbal and defeatist in nature, making cryptic comments about just wanting to get "far away", suggesting he's suffering from something. He walks very slowly when possessed, but can speed up if he takes a pill—in exchange for hindered vision.
- It's All My Fault: Blames himself for his wife's suicide, as he thought she was happy and didn't realize she was depressed until it was too late.
- Married to the Job: In the past he worked like this, spending long hours at his lawyer career. This is another reason why he blames himself for his wife's death. His wife took hours to die of an overdose and he believes he could have saved her if he'd just come home earlier.
Ferdinand
The first mate of the Douce Amere, who was freshly hired along with the captain. He's relentlessly chipper and takes every setback with surprising optimism. His power when possessed is being able to use all the ship's controls.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Everyone else's thoughts show what they're worried or insecure over, while his is just him humming along to music. Foreshadowing that he's the killer, since an ordinary person should be bothered by everything going on.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Although he acts like a cheery buffoon, he's surprisingly competent when he needs to be. Though this is because he's the killer; while the cheeriness is real, his stupidity is to throw people off his scent.
- The Sociopath: He tortures and kills for no reason, and feels no remorse or empathy. Gwen can see in one of the endings that while he makes the right facial expressions to show emotion, there isn't real meaning behind it and he's actually evil inside.
- Would Hurt a Child: Kidnaps and tortures Paolo.
