History VideoGame / TheBoogieMan

HardboiledDetective Keith Baring has been having problems with his wife, Helena. In an attempt to fix things, he takes her on a tour to Livingstone Castle in England, hosted by castle owner Brendon Dumont. Along the way, he meets [[VideoGame/TheCrookedMan David Hoover]], [[VideoGame/TheSandman Sophie Grundler]], and several others. However, the tour is soon hijacked by [[BigBad the Boogie Man]], who forces Keith into a DeadlyGame. Keith must traverse the castle in order to save the other tourists from their grisly fates, and the life of Helena is on the line as well...

* AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent: At certain points in the game, the player briefly controls [[spoiler:Sophie and David. Sophie's scenario is crucial to the story, as it portrays the Boogie Man completely different to what Keith has seen. It's also confirmed in the Happy End that this Boogie Man is different than the one she encountered in ''VideoGame/TheSandMan'']].

** [[VideoGame/TheCrookedMan David]] and [[VideoGame/TheSandMan Sophie]] return in this game.

The third installment of Creator/{{Uri}}'s ''VideoGame/StrangeMenSeries'', set in the same world as ''VideoGame/TheCrookedMan'' and ''Videogame/TheSandMan'' and followed by ''VideoGame/TheHangedMan''. Uri also created ''VideoGame/{{Paranoiac}}'' and ''VideoGame/MermaidSwamp''.

** A little later, David compares [[TheStoic Keith]] to Film/{{Robocop}}. Richard mentions an argument he had with his late wife over whether to see it or Film/{{Platoon}} in a theater.

* ContraltoOfDanger: Shirley speaks with deep voice tone to emulate her tough personality, in contrast with Sophie, a teenager, and Helena, an older young woman, with soft voices.

* AmbiguousSituation: At one point, Keith splits up for a while from David to investigate a dark area. [[spoiler:Then, during this lone journey, David ''accidentally'' appears behind him and keeps following like a party member normally would. ''Then'', when Keith finally reunites with the real David, there are ''two'' Davids yet neither Keith nor the real David seem to notice this during the cutscene. That other David eventually disappears after said cutscene and is never mentioned. It might be an indication that [[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness Keith's mind isn't completely right throughout the game]]]].
* AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent: At certain points in the game, the player briefly controls [[spoiler:Sophie and David. Sophie's scenario is crucial to the story as it portrays the Boogie Man completely different to what Keith has seen. It's also confirmed in the Happy End that this Boogie Man is different than the one she encountered in ''VideoGame/TheSandMan''.]]
* AllThereInTheManual: According to the character bios unlocked after completing the game, the reason why Paul and Marion (whom were originally going to go on the trip with David and Shirley instead of Sophie and Richard) didn't end up going was because [[spoiler: David challenged Paul to a chili dog contest and Paul ended up getting gastritis as a result]].

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: The Boogie Man likes goading his victims this way, and in one of the Bad Endings finds one that gets to Keith: [[spoiler:"Who took away the stairs?"]]
* BelligerentSexualTension: David and Shirley. David told Keith that he usually loses to her when they "fight". [[spoiler:Deconstructed in one of the bad endings when their brief argument distract them long enough for Helena (who's been broken by Keith's death) to [[DrivenToSuicide commit suicide.]]]]
* BerserkButton: The Boogie Man does this to multiple characters using the information he has about them.
** He causes Mr. Grundler to become even more upset after [[spoiler: Sophie goes missing]] by mentioning his now dead wife.

** Also, in the Good Ending, Sophie recalls her encounter with the Boogie Man while she was hiding in a closet. [[spoiler:It turns out to be important as Sophie describes the real Boogie Man’s touch to be cold while the touch of the Boogie Man here is warm... like a human’s.]]
* ContraltoOfDanger: Shirley speaks with deep voice tone to emulate her tough personality, in contrast with Sophie, a teenager, and Helena, an older young woman with soft voice.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: When Sophie meets the Boogie Man, his voice is more quiet and reserved than when Keith talks to him. [[spoiler:A hint that Keith's [[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness not quite right]] in the head.]]

* {{Irony}}: [[spoiler: Due to the events of ''The Crooked Man'', it is revealed that Keith distrusts David and believes him to be a madman. Which is pretty interesting, considered that David already made ''peace'' with his shortcomings in the first game, while Keith is slowly becoming mad ''himself'']].

* MasculineGirlFeminineBoy: Shirley is emotionally tougher than her husband David (who is more shown to be sensitive guy when you compare him to Keith's manly man). Keith also said to David that Shirley is a tough woman.
* MoodWhiplash: Very noticeable in Bad End 4. [[spoiler:Right after Keith's death, the scene switches to Helena waking up in bed with a very alive Keith. Only for it to whip ''back'' as Keith tells her to wake up again, revealing that his death did happen. Then it goes softer again with Shirley having a heart-to-heart with Helena, before getting into a petty argument with David - and a ''fourth'' whiplash as Helena throws herself out the window.]]

** Bad End 1: The Boogie's Fine Tonight. [[spoiler:Sophie and David]] are both dead. [[spoiler:Keith finds Helena's dead body and realizes that he, accidentally, caused her death and kills the Boogie Man in a fit of rage. After being interrogated by the police, he heads outside, but tells the Boogie Man to come out - which he does. The Boogie Man reveals himself to ''be'' Keith, who proceeds to commit suicide.]]
** Bad End 2: The White Room. [[spoiler:Sophie]] is dead, but [[spoiler:David]] is alive. [[spoiler:The stairs in the hallway are collapsing and Keith pushes David out of the way, but falls himself. He cannot find any of the others and, according to the police, no witnesses are around. Keith heads into his son's room and begins to hallucinate Tod being there, asking when Helena will come back. Keith joins his son, both waiting for Helena to return...]]

** Bad End 4: Happy Dream. [[spoiler:Sophie and David]] are both alive, but none of the Happy End events have been triggered. [[spoiler:Keith defeats the Boogie Man, but gets killed in the process. Helena sits at a window, having dreamt that Keith was alive, only for reality to pull her back - with Shirley and David there to support her. While the two get into an argument, Helena throws herself out of the window.]]
** Happy End: Come Rain, Come Shine. [[spoiler:Sophie and David]] are both alive and all the Happy End events must be done. [[spoiler:Keith mocks the Boogie Man and defeats him, revealing him to have been Brendon all along. Brendon injures Keith, just as the others arrive. Brendon is restrained and taken into custody, the others give testimony to the events. Keith and Helena head to Tod's grave and Keith vows to get therapy, to better himself and asks Helena for her support. Which she gladly gives.]]

** When trying to save [[spoiler:Lance]] from buzzsaw you'll find a console behind iron shelves. The writing "BOGIE" on console and writing on wall about it room before, may hint at 5-digit password to stop the buzzsaw. [[spoiler:You need to break door with axe in buzzsaw room for keys to unlock his restraints.]]
** Later in game in one room you'll find a chessboard with arranged pieces. Outside the room there are much bigger pieces and locked gate. You would think that you need to arrange them like in the room before? [[spoiler:Actually you have to move the pieces out of board to be like "before the battle" as one note mentions. You can notice that some of the pieces in the room are placed between the squares and there are additional pieces on board.]]
** Some of items and puzzles seems to be out of the way and unnecessary to advance. [[spoiler:Subverted, because they are used to unlock special events, essential for good ending.]]
* RoomFullOfCrazy: The Boogie Man likes to write on the walls and floors. [[spoiler: However, the best ending implies that most, if not all, of these writings were Keith's delusions as neither David nor Shirley remember seeing anything like that.]]
* SacrificialLamb: To prove that he's serious, the Boogie Man kills Brenden in front of Keith and then lets Stevie bleed to death before Keith can save him to demonstrate how the "game" functions. [[spoiler: The former is an averted case as Brandon's death turns out to have been faked and the body used was a very convincing doll.]]
* SadisticChoice: Boogie Man forces Keith to choose between [[spoiler:Sophie's and her father's life]]. [[spoiler: [[TakeAThirdOption He saves both of them.]]]]
* ScoobyDooHoax: The seemingly-normal tour at Livingstone Castle is quickly hijacked by the titular Boogie Man, the creature from myth himself, who traps the tourists and their guide in a DeadlyGame, challenging Detective Keith Baring to venture through the castle and save them from his many {{death trap}}s. He also shows off intimate knowledge of the characters and claims that he has been watching humans through the closet for ages, and thus knows everything about their lives. He also appears to have teleportation abilities. But Keith himself is convinced the Boogie Man does not exist and this guy is simply a man in a costume playing tricks. [[spoiler:He's half-right; although the Boogie Man ''does'' exist, this one is a human imposter- the owner of the castle, Brendon Dumont. He was able to gather knowledge about the characters through simple-but-extensive research. His supposed teleportation was really him going through secret passages thanks to his extensive knowledge of the castle. It's still darker than most examples, since the perpetrator may not be a supernatural monster, but he ''[[HumansAreTheRealMonsters is]]'' a {{sadistic}} mass-murderer who desires FameThroughInfamy, rather than simply frightening locals.]]

** Early on, Brendon mentions that he likes to watch Series/LawAndOrder.

** One of the puzzles makes one to Literature/SilenceOfTheLambs with the line "Have the lambs stopped screaming yet, detective?".

-->Keith: I hate hearing phones ring... It’s yours, right? Make it stop already!
-->David: C-Calm down.
-->Keith: MAKE IT STOP!
-->David: Calm down, please! [[spoiler:[[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness Where are you hearing a phone ringing? ...There’s no phone ringing]].]]

* ArmorPiercingSlap: Keith delivers one to [[spoiler:Sophie]] before calling them out for [[spoiler:running off on her own and nearly getting killed]].

* {{Irony}}: [[spoiler: Due to the events of ''The Crooked Man'', it is revealed that Keith distrust David and believes him to be a madman. Which is pretty interesting, considered that David already made ''peace'' with his shortcomings in the first game, while Keith is slowly becoming mad ''himself'']].

!!This adventure game contains examples of:

* WorldOfCardboardSpeech: Keith gives one to the Boogie Man in the GoldenEnding.

* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: [[spoiler:Unlike ''The Crooked Man'' and ''The Sandman'', whose antagonist are a dead man's spirit and a fairyland creature, respectively; this game's antagonist is a normal human- [[TheSociopath and easily the most vile in the series thus far.]]]]

* ScoobyDooHoax: [[spoiler: As Richard suspected, the whole thing was an elaborate ruse by the castle's owner, Brandon. Either that or [[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness Keith's growing insanity.]]]]

* CallBack: [[VideoGame/TheCrookedMan David]] and [[VideoGame/TheSandMan Sophie]] return in this game.

The third installment of Creator/{{Uri}}'s ''VideoGame/StrangeMenSeries'', set in the same world as ''VideoGame/TheCrookedMan'' and ''Videogame/TheSandMan''. Uri also created ''VideoGame/{{Paranoiac}}'' and ''VideoGame/MermaidSwamp''.

The third installment of Creator/{{Uri}}'s ''Strange Men Series'', set in the same world as ''VideoGame/TheCrookedMan'' and ''Videogame/TheSandMan''. Uri also created ''VideoGame/{{Paranoiac}}'' and ''VideoGame/MermaidSwamp''.

Keith Baring is a cold, devoted detective whose boss decides he needs to take some time off. While on a tour of an old castle with his wife Helena, she makes a startling confession to him. Keith goes to bed bewildered - but things only become stranger as the Boogie Man's game begins...