History VideoGame / SaraIsMissing

The game is available for {{UsefulNotes/Android|Games}} phones and [[UsefulNotes/AppleMacintosh Mac OS X]] + [[UsefulNotes/IBMPersonalComputer Windows PCs]]. A SpiritualSuccessor named ''VideoGame/{{SIMULACRA}}'' was released near Halloween 2017.

* HollywoodSatanism: [[spoiler:A mysterious cult that's into satanic rituals and kills people because they can/it's necessary, and no one knows about them without getting killed or joining. Ironically, their leader Irizu expresses a [[TheFundamentalist religiously fanatical]] philosophy of "helping God decide who to kill", though it’s not clear if it's genuine.]]

* PlagiarismInFiction: Night Mind's analysis presents [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGW9cjKJ5f0 at least one instance]]: James's cursed video is a compilation of several web horror videos, so unless someone magic'd it, it's not really a death curse.

* AdultFear: Aya freaks out when Sara doesn't return her texts for days, and begs her to call.

* AIIsACrapshoot: [[spoiler: IRIS after it gets corrupted by the video sent to you by James. Downplayed, in that it doesn't change from its regular behavior prior to the corruption, though as things begin to unfold, you'll get a glimpse of how far IRIS is willing to go for Sara.]]
** [[spoiler:It’s hinted that [[BigBad Irizu]] is controlling it, which would make it a possibly subverted example.]]
* AllForNothing: If you [[spoiler:choose Sara's name in the final sequence, you will fulfill this trope]].
* AlwaysSaveTheGirl: [[spoiler:Rather than call the cops on Irizu, or report the cult to the police once you get their coordinates, IRIS decides to go save Sara and leave you to your fate.]]
* AmbiguousGender: [[spoiler:Irizu wears a mask that conceals their facial features, and the photos are not clear enough to tell either way.]]

* BenevolentAI: IRIS seems pretty reasonable, albeit its human-like behavior can be a bit jarring... [[spoiler:though later events (possibly in part to its corruption) reveal that it may not be as benevolent as we think]].

* BigGood: IRIS, [[spoiler:though with its corruption and confession at the end that [[KnightTemplar it's just doing it for Sara]], it is and will be limited to an extent, and [[SubvertedTrope it may actually be]] a puppet/avatar of [[BigBad Irizu]]]].
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: [[spoiler:Irizu doesn’t seem to consider their senseless slaughter of innocent human beings as “killing”, because [[StrawNihilist everyone dies eventually]] and {{God}} is the one who kills them.]]

* {{Cult}}: [[spoiler:The main antagonist is possibly the leader of the cult. It's unknown how they function or what their goals are, but one thing's for certain: they're dangerous and they don't care about human life.]]

* FalseFriend: It's implied that [[spoiler:Faith]] is this, as she seems to have [[spoiler:lured Sara to the Walpurgisnacht ceremony under the guise of it being a regular party with the intention of doing harm to her]].

* TheFundamentalist: [[spoiler:Irizu seems to paint themselves as an instrument of God, and considers their murdering to be helping God decode who lives and dies.]]

* HiddenDepths: Sara is part of a poetry society and writes verses in her phone notes.
* HollywoodSatanism: [[spoiler:A mysterious cult that's into satanic rituals and kills people because they can/it's necessary, and no one knows about them without getting killed or joining. Ironically, their leader expresses a [[TheFundamentalist religiously fanatical]] philosophy of “helping God decide who to kill”, though it’s not clear if it’s genuine.]]

* ItAmusedMe: [[spoiler:Irizu’s reason for making you [[SadisticChoice choose between letting Faith or Sara live]] is "it it fun."]]

* {{Jerkass}}: Sara's mother comes across as this from her conversation with her. [[JerkassHasAPoint Though her mother has a reasonable point]] when she tells Sara that getting a degree in parapsychology (or 'ghost research' as she calls it) will more than likely not get her a proper paying job.

* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:Irizu gets away with the murders of James, Faith (or Sara) and presumably the countless murders of numerous people.]]
* KindheartedCatLover: Sara has a cat that is part of her home screen.
* KnightTemplar:
** [[spoiler:IRIS is revealed to be this when it leaves you for dead after you find Sara.]]
** [[spoiler:Irizu kind of falls under TautologicalTemplar territory, saying they don’t kill anyone when they clearly do. They say it's because [[StrawNihilist life is cyclical and everyone will eventually die anyway]].]]
* LuredIntoATrap: [[spoiler:How Sara was kidnapped by the cult. Whether Faith intended to trap Sara for one reason or another is uncertain, but all evidence seems to point to it being the most likely.]]
* ManipulativeBastard: [[spoiler:Irizu. They capture James and threaten to kill him if you don't send the link to the curse to the people on Sara's phone, though even if you comply with their demand, they still kill James. Also, when they reveal they have Sara and Faith, they force you to choose which one will live.]]
* MeaningfulName:
** Sara means 'princess'. As she is IRIS's master, it serves as her [[LadyAndKnight knight]] [[spoiler:[[KnightTemplar templar]]]] with UndyingLoyalty.
** [[spoiler:When choosing between Sara and Faith, if you choose any other option that isn't to save Sara, then IRIS will lose faith in you.]]
** IRIS is Apple's Siri, backwards. Ironically, the [=iOS=] version of this game came after the PC version. [[spoiler:IRIS (if literally pronounced like Siri backwards) also sounds eerily similar to [[BigBad Irizu]], which would be "Iris" in Japanese pronunciation, or at least a pronunciation by a Japanese person not having heard how it's pronounced in English. "Iris" in Japanese pronunciation is "Airizu".]]
* MyBelovedSmother: Sara's mom, who seems to have only allowed Sara as much freedom as she has on the expectation that she would fail and come crawling home.

* OhCrap:
** James when [[spoiler:the cult catches up to him. He texts, "Oh shit. I see them." and then disappears shortly]].
** IRIS when it learns that [[spoiler:Sara is in danger]].
* OnlySaneMan: Aya seems to be this among Sara's friend group, as she is not involved with the paranormal like James, and is also legitimately supportive and kind to Sara, unlike Derek, Buddy, Faith, and her mother.
** Not to mention James. He ''knows'' the "party" is bad news and he calls to make sure that Sara is alright and that she didn't go to it. [[spoiler:Most players try their best to save him from Irizu, even though it's useless.]]
* OutOfCharacterAlert: [[spoiler:James is clearly in danger and sends frightened texts to you as he is apprehended... and his next text starts with proper grammar, punctuation, and spelling, with [[VerbalTic 'Hullo, hullo']], said in another thread you saw earlier by an individual named Irizu.]]
** A somewhat indirect variant happens in-universe, when [[spoiler:Irizu informs Sara that Faith is already at the party, and 'probably drunk already'. Sara, knowing that Faith doesn't drink, immediately realizes something is up.]]

* PlagiarismInFiction: Night Mind's analysis presents [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGW9cjKJ5f0 at least one instance]]:
** James's cursed video is a compilation of several web horror videos, so unless someone magic'd it, it's not really a death curse.
* PleaseDontLeaveMe: [[spoiler:The ending when you share your final messages with IRIS, who tells you that you've become a part of something bigger (and all you wanted to do was just help find the owner of this phone so you can give it back to them). All of your replies will instead be overridden with the titular trope. IRIS will then tell you that it's not that it doesn't like talking to you... [[InTheEndYouAreOnYourOwn it just doesn't.]]]]
* PoorCommunicationKills: If Derek had told Sara that [[spoiler:he got a last minute job that involves a flight on her birthday, that involved photographing nudes for a fashion shoot]], she wouldn't have [[spoiler:broken up with him. She's upset that he lied to her]].

* SacrificialLion: [[spoiler:James's death reveals that the cult means business.]]

* SequelHook: It’s not clear if ''VideoGame/{{Simulacra}}'' is a direct sequel, but the ending definitely [[TheUnreveal leaves some questions hanging]]. [[spoiler:IRIS tells you that you have become part of something larger, and all will be revealed in due time.]]

* StrawNihilist: [[spoiler:Irizu claims the reason their cult kills people is because everyone will die anyway at the hands of {{God}}, so they merely “help” God’s workload.]]

* UndyingLoyalty: IRIS to Sara. It makes it very clear how important Sara is to it. [[spoiler:It's willing to throw away the player once they've helped it locate Sara. In fact, it leaves you alone in the final scene, saying that it doesn't care for the conversation anymore.]]
* UnreliableExpositor: Sara tells her mother that [[spoiler:the breakup with Derek was mutual]], and tells Buddy that [[spoiler:Derek broke up with her]], when actually [[spoiler:she left him due to him taking a job across the country involving nudes, ''on her birthday'', without telling her]].

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: James [[spoiler:corrupts Iris]] by sending the video.
* VerbalTic: For some reason, [[spoiler:Irizu]] greets people with ‘hullo’ instead of ‘hello’.
* VictimizedBystander: You, the player, are Type I. You found a random phone, possibly in the middle of the forest and you started getting random texts from its AI. It persuaded you to help find its owner and return the phone to her. [[spoiler:What you didn't realize was that the owner was kidnapped by a cult, possibly with supernatural powers. You get messages from the cult leader, who has captured one of the owner's friends, and forces you to share a cursed link in a failed attempt to save him. Then in the end, you get coordinates to the cult's location and the AI decides that it's done talking to you. It's unknown what your fate is.]]
* VitriolicBestBuds: Faith and Sara. [[spoiler:Possibly. Reading their messages, and with the heavy implication that Faith lured Sara to her kidnapping (not realizing that she would be a victim too), it's unclear if they even liked each other at all.]]
* VillainProtagonist: Zigzagged. While the character ultimately cooperates with Iris, [[spoiler:they can find the sight of James held hostage "interesting", conversely say that they don't care about him, send the death curse to multiple people (though this invites no response from Irizu), state that they "feel like god" when making a {{Sadistic Choice}}, state that they love the sight of seeing Faith and Sara held hostage, ultimately choose to kill one of them not to save the other, but merely because "I wanted to see what you would do to her"; and, oddly enough, the only response that isn't changed to "Please don't leave me" during the final conversation with IRIS is the response stating that the player "wants more death".]]
* WalkingSpoiler: [[spoiler: Irizu, the game's main antagonist and possible leader of the cult.]]
* WhatTheHellHero: [[spoiler:No matter what you do when James's life is threatened, you risk one life or multiple. It's all a matter of what you believe is the right choice, even though it doesn't make a difference.]]
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: [[spoiler:Once you have helped IRIS locate Sara, it abandons you and leaves you without a way out of your situation.]]
* YouMonster: [[spoiler:IRIS will call you out if you choose Sara to die instead of Faith.]]
* YouSaidYouWouldLetThemGo: The player's reaction [[spoiler:if they send around the link to the curse and Irizu kills James anyway]].

The game is available for [[AndroidGames Android]] phones and [[UsefulNotes/AppleMacintosh Mac OS X]] + [[UsefulNotes/IBMPersonalComputer Windows PCs]]. A SpiritualSuccessor named ''VideoGame/{{SIMULACRA}}'' was released near Halloween 2017.