Subway Midnight is a
Psychological Horror Environmental Narrative Game developed by Bubby Darkstar and published by Aggro Crab, released for PC on October 28, 2021. The game is about a young girl that boards a late-night subway train, encounters some ghosts, and tries to befriend them while avoiding a sinister weirdo.
Tropes:
- Big Friendly Dog: Rusty is much bigger than both Rose and Lizz, and all he wants is some pets. He even thanks Lizz with a lick if she stops to pet him at every opportunity.
- Canine Companion: Rose shares her level with her pet Rusty, a huge, curly-furred dog of unknown breed.
- Color-Coded Characters: Each of the ghosts have their own signature color:
- Kiki Thomas: Pink
- Colin Thomas: Gold
- Benson T. Reeves: Green
- Jessica Simmons: Cobalt blue
- Victoria R. Ashley: Dark grey
- Julia H. Coney: Yellow-green
- Rose S. Numan: Red
- Coordinated Clothes: The sibling duo Kiki and Colin wear near matching outfits, with the only noted difference being the white collar on Colin’s shirt. The symbols on their shirts- a flower and an apple, respectively- also go together as parts of a plant.
- Decoy Protagonist: The game starts with a girl named Cass waking up in a subway train, traversing a few rooms before being cornered by a Sinister Silhouette...and then the game cuts to Lizz, the "actual" protagonist, at a subway station getting on the train. Lizz later crosses paths with Cass, and they try to survive together.
- Deliberately Monochrome: Every living character is portrayed in grayscale, while all of the ghosts are colored with a single hue based gradient.
- Despair Event Horizon: As shown in the Best Ending, the hobo lady, Eleanor Birch, is a mother whose daughter died, and began kidnapping and killing children afterwards.
- Easter Egg: New events are added to the game if the player launches it at exactly midnight (as in, Subway Midnight). This is also a requirement for the Best Ending.
- The Ending Changes Everything: The events depicted in the Best Ending completely redefine the main antagonist's motivations from an insane murderer to a bereaving mother.
- Environmental Narrative Game: The majority of gameplay is simply walking from one end of each subway car to the next, with some occasional puzzles thrown in.
- Everybody Lives: In the Best Ending, not only do Lizz and Cass live, but none of the murders occur in the first place, with the only death being Eleanor's daughter, Jacklyn, who passed away before the game took place.
- Fake Longevity: It's impossible to get the Good Ending on your first playthrough; even if you help every ghost you meet, one of them requires an item that's collected later in the game, and it's impossible to backtrack.
- Foreshadowing: Your playable character never really reacts to the shadowy monster like you'd expect, even waving at them early on. This is because, from their perspective, the monster is just a regular (if unnerving) lady.
- For Want Of A Nail: The crux of the Best Ending is Jacklyn preventing any child murders from happening in the first place.
- Friendly Ghost: The worst any of the spirits do is startle Lizzbeth, and in the Good Ending, they’ll save Cass and Lizz from Eleanor.
- Ghostly Animals: Rusty is Ruby’s pet phantom dog, though Lizz can interact with him physically just like a real dog.
- Ghost Pirate: Julia’s eye patch, swampy yellow-green color, and nautical aesthetic give her the appearance of one.
- Girls Love Stuffed Animals: Kiki always carries a teddy bear with her. During the good ending route, it is implied to be part of her, or at least something she can take the form of.
- Jacob Marley Apparel: All of the ghosts are still wearing the same outfits that they were in their respective missing posters, with Benny initially being the only exception.
- Jump Scare: The "Colin's Game" segment has a few, most notably a monster that appears in the basement after you pick up an item there. If playing the game a second time, there's an early jumpscare of that monster showing up in a subway car.
- Kitsch Collection: Jessica owns multiple piles of all-women fantasy character figurines. One of the steps to getting the good ending involves reuniting Jessica with it.
- Morality Pet: In the Best Ending, Jacklyn appears just as her mother is about to harm a kid, and stops her from claiming any victims to begin with.
- Multiple Endings: The game has a Bad Ending (don't help every ghost), a Good Ending (help every ghost), and a Best Ending (play at midnight and find all the secrets).
- No Name Given: Due to the lack of dialogue, the main protagonist is never named in the game itself. However,
Word of God states that her name is Lizzbeth Talby, and the Decoy Protagonist is named Cassandra Santiago. Rusty was also left nameless in game, only being listed as such as part of a merchandise listing. - Perspective Flip: If playing the game at midnight, there will be new segments added to the game, including some in which the perspective shifts to a spirit wearing a skull mask that prevents any murders from happening, as well as to that of Eleanor at the very end.
- Phony Degree: The game's Steam store page states that it has been awarded the "Aggro Crab Seal of Quality". Aggro Crab is the game's publisher.
- Pink Means Feminine: Kiki’s the most outwardly feminine spirit of the group, and manifests as a bright pink soul.
- Prophet Eyes: Every one of the ghosts has milky, pupil-less eyes at rest. When Benny puts on his play, he momentarily has pupils while playing as himself prior to dying.
- Silence Is Golden: Although there are sound effects and written text, the game doesn't contain any spoken dialogue.
- Sinister Silhouettes: The figure that confronts the Decoy Protagonist, and is seen by the actual protagonist before boarding the subway, is a black silhouette with red eyes and a grin. It's revealed in the endings to be a murderous hobo lady.
- Sinister Subway: A horror game where the player is a little girl who is being hunted through an abandoned subway by someone who wants to hurt her.
- Threatening Shark: The undead shark enemy in Julia’s level will constantly chase Lizz as she makes her way through it, causing an instant kill if it catches her. On the good route, however, it’s revealed to actually be the same tiny fish as the sticker on Julia’s fishing rod case.
- Would Hurt a Child: All of the ghosts encountered throughout the subway trains are of children like the main protagonist, who had all gone missing while riding the train. They were all murdered by the hobo lady, Eleanor.
- Writer's Block: Victoria is suffering from a case of art block through the entirety of her level. Collecting all of the paint cans scattered throughout said level will inspire her enough to break out of it.
