History VideoGame / Contradiction

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: Jenks hits [[spoiler: Paul Rand]], after the latter's MotiveRant [[spoiler: about the importance of enjoying what you have now in the present, with "and what do you enjoy in the present?" This seems to strike a nerve in Paul, who no longer seems to have much to do.]]
* BadLiar: Jenks outright says this when [[spoiler: Emma's real reason for arguing with Kate is revealed]].

* BigBad: [[spoiler: Rebecca, with Atlas serving as the main RedHerring in an unusual combination of tropes.]]

* ButThouMust: An interesting reversal with the [[spoiler: 500 Pound cheque for Kate]] clue. If you've played through the game before and know the ending, it is tempting to try talking to [[spoiler: Rebecca]] about it. However, the game does not allow you to do so. The game simply says, [[spoiler: "It's probably best not to ask Rebecca about this"]]. It's one of the few times the game blocks you from asking about something in a manner that's not justified by the plot. Most likely done to preserve the game's final reveals.

** [[spoiler: Kate's driver's license itself. It is the only clue you have at the beginning of the game, and no one you talk to has any meaningful thing to say about it. Yet, one of the first things you learn about Kate, a college student, is that she liked to hit the bottle, and thus its presence as a major clue naturally throws suspicion on someone who sells alcohol and would be in the business of checking ID's.]]

* {{Cliffhanger}}: The game ends on one; while the mystery of Kate's death is satisfiably resolved, most of the other mysteries aren't (this was due to budget issues and may be addressed in the sequel). Some of these mysteries are even [[LampShade acknowledged by the game in the pre-credits scene]]. They include: [[spoiler:the truth behind Atlas/Third Eye (and how true/false James' conspiracy theories about them are), where Simon went after he disappeared following your last conversation with him, what happened with that bizarre "ritual" in the woods that Jenks interrupted, the truth behind Liam's suicide, and most importantly the bringing of the Rands to justice]].

* ConvictionByContradiction: The thing the game was named after. Used to learn new information from the various people you interrogate. [[spoiler: Ultimately played with. While you naturally nab the killer after catching him or her in a contradiction, the killer is actually the suspect who contradicts him or herself the least over the course of the game.]]

* FallGuy: [[spoiler: While he is technically not responsible for Kate's death, Ryan attempts to deflect suspicion onto Simon. He leaves the implication that he was trying to cover for Rebecca, who was the real culprit.]]

* FullMotionVideo

* KavorkaMan: Ryan has a pretty wife that looks a lot younger than him and [[spoiler: a mistress]] despite looking rather plain and being rather smug. His wealth and mannerism probably help a lot.

* TheCuckoolanderWasRight: It turns out that [[spoiler: James is absolutely spot-on with most of the stuff he says regarding Atlas. Ryan even confirms that James was the one who shut Third Eye down, and Paul admits that James' ravings about making 'corporate slaves' is basically what Atlas does for money.]]

** [[spoiler: Emma's affair with Ryan leads to Kate's murder. Funnily enough, she believes was the UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom in a separate death - Liam's - which is likely not the case.]]
** Also, [[spoiler: Simon gave Kate morphine as part of a "threshold test", which is why her body was found with morphine in it in addition to alcohol. While Simon certainly didn't mean for Kate to end up dead, Kate not having her full faculties is the reason Kate fell into the lake while reaching for her stuff, and also why she wasn't able to swim or climb out of the lake on her own, which gave the true culprit the opportunity to kill her.]]
* VillainousBreakdown: [[spoiler: Ryan has a pretty loud one in his last contradiction. Paul has a more subdued but still seething MotiveRant. Rebecca's, despite being the true culprit, is fairly tame.]]