Murder at Homecoming is a book in the Choices: Stories You Play series. It was released on July 29, 2022 for VIP players and on September 14, 2022 for everybody.
The Homecoming queen has been found murdered. Can a teen detective solve her murder amidst police inaction?
Murder at Homecoming includes examples of:
- Aborted Arc: One of the major subplots in this book, communicated in some lines and premium scenes throughout it, is the unsolved disappearance of Blake's sister Perdita years ago, which is explained alongside heavy implications that Beechwood is a Town with a Dark Secret. Ultimately, both arcs are left unresolved, presumably due to plans to develop a sequel to the book having to be canceled. A Cliffhanger is arguably averted because the book ends with Blake accepting the lack of resolution and need to move on in life for the sake of their loved ones.
- Accidental Murder: April gave Gabbie drugs intending to cause her to make a fool of herself at Homecoming. She didn't originally intend for the drugs to cause her death, which they did when they caused her to fall into the pool and drown. Subverted as April acknowledged that she chose not to help her out of the water anyway.
- Attempted Rape: In Chapter 8, Stevie reveals that Brett attempted to rape her during her freshman year.
- Big Bad: Brett's sister April appears to be a sweet and kind girl, until it is revealed in Chapter 15 that she killed Gabbie to avenge Brett's imprisonment (and plans to do the same to Claudia), thus revealing she's as bad as Brett.
- Bittersweet Ending: Ultimately, the story ends this way. April is imprisoned, Claudia recovers from her trauma, Brett and the rest of his family move away, and Gabbie has finally been avenged. However, Blake can choose to give up being a detective, and Perdita's disappearance is never solved, but Blake (and Perdita's old boyfriend) realize that they should move on, because that's what Perdita would have wanted.
- Breaking Old Trends: This is the first VIP book under the new plan to have its general release scheduled on a different day to the VIP release. For VIP players, the chapters were released on Fridays, but the general release had chapters released on Wednesdays.
- The Cameo: A premium scene with Donovan in Chapter 12 has an appearance by Levi Schuler. If Donovan is your love interest in Chapter 16, he'll be backstage at the Verve.
- Cast Full of Gay: Most of the main characters are LGBT (or can be, depending on how Blake is customized).
- Blake has both male and female love interests, and they can be trans or non-binary.
- Tyler is straight at first, but later realises he isn't if a non-female Blake romances him.
- Donovan and Stevie are canonically bisexual.
- Gabbie and Joanna were in a same-sex relationship. Gabbie is bisexual, while Joanna is a lesbian.
- Mr Lewis, the Cool Teacher who helps Blake near the end of the story and doesn't hold a grudge against them for a false accusation, is gay.
- Character Customization: Like many Choices stories, players can choose Blake's body type and gender pronouns. Tyler Woods can be customized as either black or Caucasian.
- Closet Key: Blake can be this for Tyler if they are male or non-binary and they choose to romance him.Tyler: (if a non-female Blake kisses him in Chapter 5) That was my first time kissing a guy/non-binary person. I always thought I was straight. Guess not.
- Company Cross References:
- In Chapter 4, in a premium choice to help babysit Sophia, Stevie's baby sister, Blake can read "Things That Live in the Woods."
- The final chapter, Chapter 16, is titled "Surviving High School."
- Content Warnings:
- The book opens with a warning to say that it contains depictions of death, substance abuse, and law enforcement that may be disturbing to some.
- Chapter 8 has another, more serious warning, due to the chapter containing references to Teacher/Student Romance and Attempted Rape. When the scene regarding the latter is about to start, the story gives you the option of being shown either the short version or the long version (saying that the latter version may be triggering).
- Cure Your Gays: Joanna was sent to conversion therapy at the age of twelve, and this made her hate herself for a long time.
- Darker and Edgier: By virtue of being a murder mystery story set in high school, where most of the characters (including Blake) are no older than 18, as well as containing references to drug use and not skimping on the details of Gabbie's murder. Additionally, Blake can die in Chapter 3 if they make the wrong choices (either by jumping out of a car too early or falling down a cliff while running away from Tyler)note . Chapter 8 takes things to an even darker territory, with a confirmed teacher-student relationship and Stevie mentioning that she was almost sexually assaulted when she was younger.
- Deadly Prank: In Chapter 5, it is revealed that the track team pranked the freshmen by having Tyler jump scare them in a Monster Clown costume, then take a picture of their reactions. Unfortunately, one of them has epilepsy and the prank triggered a seizure causing her to be hospitalized. Tyler got blamed for it and was nearly expelled.
- Detectives Follow Footprints: Despite being a high school student, Blake is the only one interested in investigating the mysteries of Gabbie's death.
- Developer's Foresight:
- If Blake is male or non-binary and chooses to kiss Tyler in Chapter 5, Tyler will comment that they are the first person Tyler kissed who wasn't a girl.
- Following an update after Chapter 10 was released, when Blake and their friends are discussing gender and sexuality following the reveal that Gabbie was in love with Joanna, more options were added. If Blake is transgender or non-binary and/or if they have chosen at least one romantic option with a love interest of the same gender, Blake mentions they are part of the LGBT+ community. They can mention that they've found a loving community at high school, that people have given them fake "support" to seem progressive, or they can mention that they've received homophobic and/or transphobic comments.
- Everyone Is a Suspect: The in-app description of Chapter 2 mentions that nobody, not even the closest friends of the deceased, is above suspicion.
- Frame-Up: In Chapter 2, some of the jocks planned to hide a bag of weed in Tyler's locker to get him in trouble.
- Hairpin Lockpick: A premium scene with Stevie in Chapter 13 has her use one to pick the stairwell lock to the hospital roof. She learned how to do it out of boredom.Stevie: My mom was in labor with Sophia for sixteen hours. I got bored. Sue me. No one was gonna notice anyway.
- Hate Sink:
- Brett Morris, a spoiled rich kid who has been in and out of prison so much that they might as well install a revolving door, despite his privileged lifestyle. He's a drug dealer, a thief, an abuser of women, and he made the lives of many people a living hell, even disrespecting Gabbie after she was murdered. Worse, he's gaslit both his ex-girlfriend and Stevie into believing that they were responsible for his treatment of them, and sees nothing wrong with his behavior, not even when Blake confronts him about it. He's essentially the book's answer to Bryce Walker.
- Dr. Morgan, Joanna's father. He sent his only daughter to conversion therapy at the age of twelve, not caring about how she hated her own mind when it was all over, as long as she was "cured". Even when he became a top researcher to fix his daughter's epilepsy, it was out of a desire to maintain the image of having a perfect family, rather than to help his daughter. When Joanna reveals that she was in a relationship with Gabbie, Dr. Morgan kicks his daughter out of the house, despite her only being 17 at the time. Later, Morgan is revealed to be a massive Hypocrite; despite everything, Morgan cheated on his wife, while simultaneously abusing and shaming his daughter for conflicting with his image of "a perfect, happy family".
- Heartbreak and Ice Cream: In Chapter 13, Blake tells Millie to ask Toby out on a date. One of the options about if he refuses is they'll join her with a tub of ice cream and binge sad movies, or whatever movie she prefers.
- High School: The setting, specifically during Homecoming, when the murder takes place.
- Make It Look Like an Accident: Drugs are found in Gabbie's system, causing the police to declare her death an accidental overdose. Blake isn't convinced because they know Gabbie wasn't a drug user.
- Missing White Woman Syndrome: This is briefly brought up when discussing the incompetence of the police, they mention if Gabbie was white maybe they’d work harder.
- A Mistake Is Born: Chapter 4 reveals that Stevie's parents had her when they were young, and that it was an unplanned pregnancy, due to the condom breaking. Her little sister Sophia was planned, and Stevie shows resentment that she's doted upon more because of this.
- Next Sunday A.D.: Inverted, the story takes place in September 2021, while the book was released in the second half of 2022.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Blake accusing Mr Lewis of having an affair with Gabbie not only led to Lewis being hauled to court, it culminated in Gabbie's girlfriend Joanna getting kicked out of home by her parents after she was forced to reveal their secret relationship.
- No Bisexuals: Surprisingly averted for a murder mystery story where the murder victim is revealed to have been in a same-sex Secret Relationship, in addition to having a fake partner of the opposite sex.
- When the gang find out that Gabbie had a secret girlfriend, rather than assume she was gay, they instead use the term "queer", and Gabbie explicitly identifies as bisexual in a flashback scene while discussing her sexuality with her girlfriend.
- Averting this trope further, two of the love interests, Donovan and Stevie, both identify as bi. Tyler identifies as straight at the beginning of the story, but if the player romances him while playing as a male, there is extra dialogue in which he begins to reconsider his sexuality.
- Non-Standard Game Over:
- In Chapter 3, if Blake either jumps out of Tyler's car too early or takes the wrong path during the chase scene, they die, sending you back to an earlier checkpoint. As such, this is the first time the protagonist of a Choices story can die if they make the wrong choices since Shipwrecked, and Blake is currently the youngest Choices protagonist who can do so.
- In Chapter 13, Blake sneaks into the computer lab to gain access to security footage. If they make too many wrong choices, Toby will catch them in the act and turn them in (this doesn't happen if you took the premium choice to set Toby up on a date with Millie).
- In Chapter 15, while escaping the killer (A.K.A April Morris), if Blake chooses to take the elevator, they encounter her waiting for them before she kills them, and you have to repeat this choice.
- Police Are Useless: For whatever reason, the police refuse to investigate Gabbie's murder, leading Blake to investigate it themselves. They even refused to look into the disappearance of Blake's older sister four years prior to the start of the story. Subverted towards the end when they do assist in arresting the culprit if the player makes the right choice.
- String Theory: The cover art shows Blake standing in front of a board of evidence interconnected in this way.
- Teacher/Student Romance: In Chapter 7, it is revealed that Gabbie was in a relationship with Mr. Lewis, one of the most popular teachers in school. Subverted in Chapter 10 when it is revealed that Gabbie was in a relationship with a girl, and Mr Lewis was helping them to elope.
- Town with a Dark Secret: Perdita's ultimately unresolved investigation into Beachwood's corruption hinted towards this.
- The Unsolved Mystery: See Aborted Arc above.
- Vote Early, Vote Often: In Chapter 1, some of Tyler's enemies stuffed the ballot box so he wouldn't win. Fortunately, Blake notices that the ballots have been written in identical handwriting and ink, making everyone realize they were fake votes.
- Watch the Paint Job: In Chapter 2, one of the options Blake has to get the security guard to move is to tell him kids are keying up an expensive Dodge, only to find out it was a lucky guess.Guard: Not my sweet Chelsea!
- Wham Episode:
- Chapter 7. Brett, the prime suspect in Gabbie's murder, is revealed to be innocent; while he was released from juvie days before Gabbie's death, this chapter reveals that he broke parole and was thrown back in, meaning he couldn't have murdered Gabbie. Then, at the end of the chapter, Blake finds out who bought the necklace for Gabbie (the person who she was likely having an affair with): her teacher, Mr. Lewis.
- Chapter 10. It turns out that Mr Lewis was a Red Herring, and that Gabbie was in a Secret Relationship with a girl and forced to hide the relationship due to said girl's extremely homophobic parents. Now Blake and the girl in question have to figure out how to prove Mr Lewis' innocence without outing her.
- Chapter 14. Dr. Morgan, for all he's done, is revealed to be innocent in regards to Gabbie's murder, Joanna disowns her father once and for all in an epic Calling the Old Man Out speech, and the chapter ends with Blake realising who the true killer is.
- You Monster!: Blake can say this to Brett Morris in Chapter 10 after he denies all responsibility of abusing his ex-girlfriend and nearly sexually assaulting Stevie.Blake: Do you not feel even a sliver of remorse for what you've done?Brett: Why should I?Blake: You know what, I'm not even going to bother. It's like you don't even have the capacity for guilt.
