One rainy night, Mayo Michino, her imaginary friend, Mister Masper, and her father, Sohta Michino, are driving out for dinner, but then their car suddenly stops. Sohta sees a path in a forest nearby and goes out searching for help. However, when he doesn't return after 30 minutes Mayo becomes concerned, so she and Mister Masper decide to leave the car to look for him. They follow the path in the forest and find a dark and mysterious mansion full with hidden secrets.
Midnight Puppeteer is a mystery puzzle explorer game with horror elements by Mascapone made with Wolf RPG Editor. The game has been translated in English by vgperson and can be found here
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This game includes the following tropes:
- Air-Vent Passageway: You have to travel through air vents to get to some inaccessible rooms.
- Block Puzzle: The courtyard and the auditorium feature maze puzzles involving red stones. You have to maneuver through them and push the last stone out of the way in order to get access to a key at the end of the maze.
- Cult: The Eye of Truth is a religious cult dedicated to researching the use of ESP for the betterment of people's lives. They have done abhorrent things in pursuit of ESP research, such as kidnapping children with psychic potential, torturing them, and killing anyone they deem useless for their purposes.
- Descending Ceiling: The suspended ceiling room has a descending that will crush Mayo flat if she doesn't find the hidden exit in time.
- Enter Solution Here: Several puzzles have clues that can be found in other rooms.
- Eyes Always Shut: Sohta's eyes are always depicted closed. When Gouichi says Sohta isn't lying because he sees the truth in his eyes, Reiru quips that he hasn't even opened his eyes yet.
- Fun with Homophones: When Masper remarks that one of the rooms in the basement smells like death, Mayo thinks he's talking about deaf people. Masper then clarifies what he means in a irritated tone.
- Invisibility: Shun has the ability to make himself and anything or anyone (up to two people) he is in close proximity to invisible. Masper is able to sniff him out easily, though.
- Lock and Key Puzzle: All locked doors in the game have keys that can be obtained in other rooms.
- Mind over Matter: Miren's psychic ability is telekinesis which gives her the ability to move and manipulate light objects.
- Monochrome Past: Flashback scenes from the past are sepia toned.
- Non-Indicative Title: There's a painting of a pink bear in the basement titled "Pink Panda". Masper points out that the bear looks nothing like a panda. However, the origin of the painting is explained in a room that has several paintings that come with a story. The story is about an old man who wanted to see a pink panda before he died as his inheritance wish. His sons couldn't find a pink panda so one of them painted a regular panda pink.
- Notice This: Key information and puzzle hints in the game have a sparkle indicator.
- Ring Menu: The menu displays as a ring that holds items in Mayo's inventory and the save button.
- Spoon Bending: The 2F reference room has several books related to psychic abilities including one book about spoon bending titled "Bending Spoons and You".
- Suspiciously Cracked Wall: You have to break a cracked wall with a sledgehammer in order to get expired chocolate from a item box.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Miren has a strong fear of bug-like creatures, which include Mobiacs. Mayo uses this phobia to her advantage when she throws Mobiac bait at Miren, attracting a swarm of Mobiac. This distraction gives Mayo enough time to attempt an escape.
