The main cast, with Roman front and center
Roman's Christmas is a visual novel released in 2020. It was produced by apoto5 and published by Yogurt game. It is available on Steam in both Chinese and English.Roman is a detective. He wants to spend Christmas at his favourite tavern, the White Star. He manages to meet up with some old friends while he's there. But eventually, a murder happens that he's tasked with solving.
Roman's Christmas provides examples of the following tropes:
- Aerith and Bob: There are normal names like Peter and Shawn, fancy adjectives like Elegant and Solar, and made-up names like Tsarzn.
- Boisterous Bruiser: Ianis is a huge sailor who often winds up fighting in brawls at the port according to Roman, and is very friendly with Peter. At one point, he pats Peter "gently", only for the screen to shake.
- Bound and Gagged: The culprit of chapter 2, Vincel, gets tied up and thrown into the basement by Tsarzn for his attempted murder of Anzox. He is later gagged with Tsarzn's unwashed socks for a while, but loses those later on. It also turns out that the ropes weren't keeping him tied - they were broken, allowing him to sneak off and attempt another murder.
- Closed Circle: The inn remains snowed in for the course of the story, forcing the guests to remain trapped there as they slowly turn against one another.
- Does Not Like Spam: Not even being locked in a cellar to almost starve can convince Vincel to eat liver. This comes back to bite him when a Vitamin A deficiency makes him night-blind, which causes him to kill someone who wasn't his target.
- Framing the Guilty Party: In chapter 3, Elegant presents some grey hairs, claiming that they were found in Ianis's room. This gets Lunic to confess to his murder. However, the hairs were in fact Roman's, and obtained from the washbasin. Roman doesn't take the revelation well.
- The Gambling Addict: Ianis loses quite a lot of money when he gambles, and at one point asks Roman for a lot of money to pay for his room rent.
- Gentleman Detective: Roman is a sociable and sometimes-wealthy man (enough to be able to lend money to Ianis, The Gambling Addict). He works as a private detective, solving crimes and investigating things for paying clients.
- Lady Looks Like a Dude: Upon first seeing her, Roman mistakes Elegant for a man.
- Locked Room Mystery: The door to the first victim's room, where the body was found, was locked tight. It turns out that the door wasn't really locked.
- The Mole: Elegant is working undercover in the Church to investigate an incident that supposedly left two people dead.
- The Nose Knows: Roman, being a wolf, has a very powerful sense of smell that allows him to detect very faint smells.
- Older Than They Look: Thrivey is thought to be a child when he first enters the inn. The mistake is corrected as soon as he reveals that he's a doctor.
- Serial Killer: According to Roman's case notes in chapter 3, there was a serial killer who targeted people in the Third Avenue apartments in Sunny Vale. All the victims were shot through the chest with a bow and arrow. Ianis ends up killed in a very similar fashion, but it turns out to be an unrelated crime.
- Twisted Christmas: It may be Christmastime, but that doesn't stop several murders from occurring at the inn.
- World of Funny Animals: The world is populated by many anthropomorphic animals, from wolves to dragons. There is inevitably some racism in the world.
