"Why do I feel so... Trapped?"
The Trapped Trilogy is an adventure game series by Patrick Majewski (Godlimations). It consists of three installments: Trapped, Pursuit and Escape.Trapped focuses on an unnamed protagonist who wakes up afflicted with Easy Amnesia. Trapped in a bathroom, he tries to figure out who he is, where he is, and how to get out.
Pursuit shifts focus to Dialla Reineheart and her partner, Mickey Lee, as they attempt to pursue the Armor Gamsees, a notorious gang led by crime lord Dan McNeely.
Escape follows Dialla as she attempts to escape capture and put an end to everything once and for all.
Apparently, a fourth game, entitled Stranded, was in the works. This would have shifted focus back to Dan as he finds himself stranded on an island, with something evil lurking in the background. With the quiet closure of Godlimations's site in 2014 this never came to be.
The games are notable for having been featured on Retsupurae.
Not to be confused with the Trapped Series or the UK kids' game show which are similarly named.
This flash series provides examples of:
- Action Girl: Dialla, despite not always looking the part. Without going overboard, she's able to deal with a lot of physical and psychological damage through the second and third games, and can fight dangerous opponents despite of it.
- Aerith and Bob: On one side, we have ordinary names like Dan and Mickey, and on the other we have names like Dialla.
- And I Must Scream: Dan ends up in a safe at the bottom of the ocean after making himself immortal. He doesn't seem too bothered by this, though.
- Amnesiac Dissonance: Dialla used to be the leader of Armor Gamsees. McNeely also didn't seem so bad when he had amnesia, but he apparently had no trouble going back to being over-the-top evil once he got his memories back.
- Amnesiacs are Innocent: See above. Played straight with Dialla.
- Animesque: The series is done in an anime-inspired art style.
- Art Shift: Repeatedly, sometimes even during the same cutscene.
- As the Good Book Says...: "Greunbaum" reads briefly from a bible he finds in Trapped.
- A bible comes into play (complete with shoehorned in bible quote) at least once per game.
- Attempted Rape: Jason to Dialla in Escape. It also happens in the other games.
- Beard of Evil: McNeely grows one in the second game.
- Big Bad: Dan McNeely, leader of the Armor Gamsees crime syndicate and the amnesiac protagonist of the first game.
- Biting-the-Hand Humor: As noted under Tuckerization, the game's main antagonists are named after the site and founder of the site the game is hosted on. Whether it was intended in this way is up to debate.
- Black-and-Gray Morality: Everybody in the series kills at least one person. Kinda killing the point of this being a game about religion. Pretty much the only decent person is Benjamin Grenbaum, and he's dead before the series even starts.
- Boom, Headshot!: In the shotgun duel with Merik in Escape, headshots lower his health more, allowing you to kill him faster.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Dialla, probably unintentionally. She's quite competent (usually), but refuses to leave her apartment without her gun, her teddy bear, her knife, a light-bulb, and a banana. She does need all these items eventually, but if she somehow knew that, she's a better detective than Batman.
- Card-Carrying Villain: Literally. Members of Armor Gamsees have personalized ID Cards that also function as keycards.
- Captain Ersatz: In the second and third games, Dan bears a striking resemblance to Gendo Ikari.
- Chekhov's Gun: Averted. You would think the Bible would serve any purpose in the trilogy after picking it up twice. It doesn't.
- Contrived Coincidence: Two very valuable gold coins you find in a prison cell.
- Dark Is Evil: Most bad guys tend to wear black. Merik seems to be an exception to this. Also, Mickey Lee, if you consider his past connection with the Armor Gamsees.
- Decoy Protagonist: Dan McNeely is the player character of Trapped but Dialla is the player character of Pursuit and Escape and is the real protagonist of the trilogy.
- Dull Surprise: Mickey Lee's voice actor completely fails to express any meaningful emotion.
- Everyone Is Related: With one very minor exception, every character in the entire series is a member of the Armor Gamsees.
- Evil Laugh: Dan McNeely indulges in one at the end of Trapped.
- Fake Memories: Inorgamzics is said to have this as a side effect for those who take it.
- Faux Action Girl: Zigzagged with Dialla. Despite being a famed detective In-Universe, she spends 90% of the first game Bound and Gagged, refuses to touch a light-switch because she doesn't want to mess up her nails, and somehow gets locked in her own car. But at other times, she also manages to escape from prison and off multiple would-be assassins.
- Fiction Identity Postulate: There's a website
dedicated to making a movie of it. Notably, it attempts to explain most of the egregious plot twists, like Dialla being the leader of Armor Gamesees. - Fingore: The first game subverts this with the finger found in the wallet, which turns out to be prosthetic.
- Flat Character: All of the characters could be considered this to an extent. Mickey Lee is just the most obvious one.
- For the Evulz: Seems to be the reason McNeely does anything evil. Especially since he decides to have Mickey Lee's dead body tossed in the cell with Dialla (after she didn't accept McNeely's invitation to join their gang) and walks away laughing cruelly. There's no logical reason for doing something like this since, if he really wanted that person on his side, tossing the dead corpse of a partner and friend is not a way to endear somebody to you...
- Godhood Seeker: McNeely seems to be trying at this with the Inorgamzics.
- Guide Dang It!: All three games are guilty of this, though Pursuit is the biggest offender with its infamous "banana-knife-rope-glue" puzzle.
- Have I Mentioned I Am Heterosexual Today?: Jason states he has "a thing for women" in Escape. No one had suggested otherwise.
- Idiot Ball: Both Dialla and "Greunbaum" in the same scene.
- Important Haircut: Dialla's hair changes between Pursuit and Escape. This is explained a bit by saying Jason cut it off, though it never explained how the hell he managed to cut her hair or get the hair.
- It's a Wonderful Failure: Failing to escape the room in 'Trapped'' when the guards are about to break in results in a funny conversation with Dialla, and a funny message telling you to try the door.
- The Killer in Me: The plot twist of Trapped reveals the amnesiac Dan McNeely is actually the Big Bad of the series and a ruthless murderer and gang leader.
- Large Ham: McNeely treads into this.
- Milking the Giant Cow: Dan.slowbeef: You ever hear of over-animation?
- Mood Whiplash: The relatively serious plot contrasts heavily with the ludicrousness of the puzzles.
- Moon Logic Puzzle: Need to open a locked door? Burn the artificial finger you found! Want to catch a fish? Make a fishing rod out of a rope, a knife, and a banana! Looking for evidence? Open an alcove on a wall, stick a lamp in the alcove and turn it on, hang a picture with a pinhole in it over the alcove and tap on the wall where the light shines to find evidence!!
- Mundane Utility: Found two very old, probably valuable coins in your cell? Use one to unscrew a toilet lid and the other one to stop up a drain.
- Pocket Protector: The Bible "Greunbaum" carries in Trapped."I've heard about the Word saving people's lives, and this has me all but convinced."
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Played with. At first McNeely calling Dialla "baby doll" seems to be establishing him as a sexist pig, but we later find out that they were lovers and this was his pet name for her.
- Railroading: If you don't pick up the bible in the first game, you get shot, and it tells you to go back and try again.
- Recurring Riff: That 4 note motif when often plays when something happens.
- Red Herring: Despite being the one thing Armor Gamsees is after, you never learn the combination to the safe in Trapped and it is never opened.
- The Treasure being guarded by Armor Gamsees nor the other members gathered around are encountered in the final game and the focus is instead put on the Imorgamzics drug being produced by McNeely.
- The Reveal: "Greunbaum" being McNeely (didn't see that coming, did 'ya?) in Trapped. Dialla being the actual leader of Armor Gamsees in Escape.
- Redemption Equals Death: A possible interpretation of Mickey Lee's death since we find out later that he was a member of Armor Gamsees. Though, considering that things seemed to be tacked on as the story went on, it doesn't seem right to give the writer that much credit.
- Resurrective Immortality: The effects of the inorgamzics, which was created by the Armor Gamsees to turn humans into gods. Because both Dialla & Dan McNeely have consumed this...
- Rogue Protagonist: The protagonist of "TRAPPED" becomes the antagonist of the two other games.
- Rule of Cool: At the end of Pursuit, Dan makes his appearance in the sewer in a Slick Black Suit Complete with a pair of Sunglasses. (You know, to see in a dark sewer.)
- Sequel Hook: The ending of Escape post credits shows Dan lighting a match in the safe.
- Solve the Soup Cans: An infamous offender.
- Some Dexterity Required: The interface is rather painful when it comes to combining items.
- Stealth Pun: The main force behind the games, the Armor Gamsees, is a play on "Armor Games", who were the sponsors for the trilogy.
- Title Drop: Done twice, in Trapped and Escape."Greunbaum": "Where am I? Why am I here? I can't remember... Who am I? And why do I feel so... Trapped?"
- From Retsupurae: "I feel trapped in this pursuit, and I need to escape!"
- Tomato in the Mirror: Done twice. The protagonist of the first game is Dan McNeely, and Dialla was the original leader of the Armor Gamsees and Dan’s boss.
- Too Dumb to Live:
- Mickey Lee. Going down into a sewer—which is acting as a base for a dangerous gang (and knowing that)—unarmed and alone. Yeah.
- Also, McNeely shoots Jason by offering him Inorgamzics to distract him.
- Dialla can come across as this, most notably in the puzzle where she is somehow locked inside a car.
- Tuckerization: Dan McNeely and Armor Gamsees are named after, well... Daniel McNeely, founder of Armor Games, the site where the games are hosted.
- Unexpected Gameplay Change: The shooting sections of Trapped and Escape.
- Violation of Common Sense: The fishing rod puzzle is the most obvious example (requiring you to tie a knife to a rope and glue it to a banana to act as a makeshift handle), but there's plenty more strange solutions, like using a vintage coin to clog a sink or unlocking a car by removing the door's side panel.
- Voodoo Shark: Dialla being the leader of the Armor Gamsees doesn't explain anything, and somehow manages to screw up the earlier story.
- We Can Rule Together: McNeely to Dialla in Escape.
- Where the Hell Is Springfield?: The story takes place in an unnamed city. The only thing that seems to be named as far as location is concerned is Greunbaum's mansion in Trapped. It's not even clear if that mansion is located in the same city we see in Pursuit and Escape—which kind of makes it jarring for the player.
- Worst News Judgement Ever: Played for Laughs at the end of Trapped. We see a newspaper with the headline "WANTED CRIMINAL: DAN MCNEELY. SERIAL KILLER LARGE REWARD"; a smaller headline reads "More exciting news! Jesus has returned!".
- Wicked Cultured: Not so much the character as the voice actor: Tiong has a way of making McNeely sound like this. Tiong has a way of making anyone sound like this.
