History VideoGame / TheCaligulaEffect

* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: [[spoiler:Before the game's release, several fans guessed correctly that Kensuke and Kagi-P were the same person, as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48jr_dmRZ1Y this trailer]] revealed that they both looked identical and were voiced by Creator/ShoutaAoi. Additionally, Kagi-P was both excluded from the group shot of the Ostinato Musicians in the trailer and lacked an entry on [[http://www.cs.furyu.jp/caligula/character/index.html the official website]], further fueling that theory.]]

The vocal software known as μ has enabled people to escape from the despair of reality by listening to her song; those who are "saved" by listening to her are granted their every wish through Mobius. In the virtual world of Mobius, everyone is an ideal high school student at Kishimai High School in the idyllic Miyabi City, repeatedly reliving high school days, blissfully unaware that they are not in reality. A small group of men and women figure out that Mobius is not the real world, and form the "Going-Home Club" in order to find a way back to reality. Each one of them has violated certain taboos, and each one has dark secrets...

* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: [[BigBad Thorn]], leader of the Ostinato Musicians, intends to destroy the world to avenge her deceaser friend. Formerly Asuka Natsume, Thorn saw how her two friends agree to commit joint suicide before one of them backed up. Someone that had denied it's own identity long ago yet still carrying a eternal grudge against a former friend. Thorn was unable to move from the past.

* YouCanKeepHer: Mirei threatens Kotono by kidnapping her (not current) boyfriend Ryosuke and putting his life in danger, but it turns out to not work as a threat because not only are they not dating, Kotono ''hates'' Ryosuke. Ultimately averted, though.

An UpdatedRerelease, ''The Caligula Effect: Overdose'', was announced for a May 17, 2018 release on the UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 in Japan, featuring an expanded story, new allies and enemies, a selectable female protagonist, and the ability to [[FaceHeelTurn side with the Ostinato Musicians]], developed by Historia instead of Aquria. ''Overdose'' was announced to be coming to not only [=PS4=] in America, but also to the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch and UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}, localized by Creator/NISAmerica, slated for an early 2019 release. A TwelveEpisodeAnime adaptation by Creator/{{Satelight}} aired in the Spring 2018 season.

An UpdatedRerelease, ''The Caligula Effect: Overdose'', was announced for a May 17, 2018 release on the UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 in Japan, featuring an expanded story, new allies and enemies, a selectable female protagonist, and the ability to [[FaceHeelTurn side with the Ostinato Musicians]], developed by Historia instead of Aquria. ''Overdose'' was announced to be coming to not only [=PS4=] in America, but also to the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch and UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}, localized by Creator/NISAmerica, slated for an early 2019 release. A 12 episode anime adaptation by Creator/{{Satelight}} aired in the Spring 2018 season.

* NiceHat: Suzuna gains a large one resembling those worn by witches while her Catharsis Effect is active. Lucid also has a nice fedora.
* NoNameGiven: Because players can name him themselves, the protagonist has no canon name, and is simply referred to as "Hero" in the trailers. The other Going-Home Club members only refer to him in conversation as "President", as he is the club's [[TheLeader leader]]. Played with in the Forbidden Musician Route. While the Musicians do know the protagonist's name, they are always addressed as Lucid.

** Overdose adds a non-canon game mode ''The Dream of the Songstress'' where you can put characters from both the Go-Home Club and the Ostinato Musicians into one team if you meet the requirements. Even better, your modified crew can even have conversations. Imagine what the conversation between Shogo and [[spoiler:Thorn]] must be like. Awkwaaaaard...

* AnimeThemeSong: "Idolatry", sung by Creator/EmiNitta (Sweet-P), Creator/ErikoNakamura (Mirei), and Creator/YukaOotsubo (Thorn) under the alias [=RePLiCA=].
** ''Overdose'' has "Cradle", composed by kemu and sung by [=RePLiCA=]; this time, they've picked up a fourth member in Creator/HimikaAkaneya (Kuchinashi).

* ShoutOut: Shadow Knife's appearance and mannerisms are references to an anime popular in the real world; while this is referring to an in-universe anime, his appearance nonetheless brings ''Manga/TokyoGhoul'' to mind.

An UpdatedRerelease, ''The Caligula Effect: Overdose'', was announced for a May 17, 2018 release on the UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 in Japan, featuring an expanded story, new allies and enemies, a selectable female protagonist, and the ability to [[FaceHeelTurn side with the Ostinato Musicians]], developed by Historia instead of Aquria. ''Overdose'' was announced to be coming to not only [=PS4=] in America, but also to the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch and UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}, localized by Creator/NISAmerica, slated for a 2019 release. A 12 episode anime adaptation by Creator/{{Satelight}} aired in the Spring 2018 season.

An UpdatedRerelease, ''The Caligula Effect: Overdose'', was announced for a May 17, 2018 release on the UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 in Japan, featuring an expanded story, new allies and enemies, a selectable female protagonist, and the ability to [[FaceHeelTurn side with the Ostinato Musicians]], developed by Historia instead of Aquria. ''Overdose'' was announced to be coming to not only [=PS4=] in America, but also to the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch and UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}, localized by [[Creator/NipponIchi]], slated for a 2019 release. A 12 episode anime adaptation by Creator/{{Satelight}} aired in the Spring 2018 season.

An UpdatedRerelease, ''Caligula Overdose'', has been announced for a May 17, 2018 release on the UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 in Japan, featuring an expanded story, new allies and enemies, a selectable female protagonist, and the ability to [[FaceHeelTurn side with the Ostinato Musicians]]. It will be developed by Historia instead of Aquria. A 12 episode anime adaptation by Creator/{{Satelight}} aired in the Spring 2018 season.

* BrainwashedAndCrazy: [[spoiler:Sweet-P, Shonen Doll and Ike-P in the final dungeon.]]

* NeverTrustATrailer: [[spoiler: Eiji's personaly and demeanor, as you will soon find out if you pursue his Character Episode and later on in the game, is completely different than what trailers and early screenshots would have you believe. Not only is he a BitchInSheepsClothing, he's also heavily implied to be the one who burned down Kuchinashi's home and killed her family.]]

* SecondYearProtagonist: The protagonist, Izuru, Naruko, and Ayana are this while in Mobius. [[spoiler:Mifue is this in real life, too, while Ayana is older.]]
* SempaiKohai: In Mobius, Shogo, Kotaro, Kotono, and Eiji are sempais to the protagonist and other characters listed above, while Kensuke, Mifue, and Suzuna are kohais. [[spoiler:In real life, the only one of these to apply is Suzuna (who remains a kohai). Mifue is a second-year in real life, and the rest are not high school age.]]

An UpdatedRerelease, ''Caligula Overdose'', has been announced for a May 17, 2018 release on the UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 in Japan, featuring an expanded story, new allies and enemies, a selectable female protagonist, and the ability to [[FaceHeelTurn side with the Ostinato Musicians]]. It will be developed by Historia instead of Aquria. An anime adaptation by Creator/{{Satelight}} began airing on April 9, 2018.

** The Musician route gets a ''five''-part final fight, putting the Musicians against [[spoiler:Kotono, Kotaro or Eiji, and Naruko; Mifue, Suzuna and Ayana; Izuru and Kensuke; Shogo; and finally, Aria.]]

* GreyAndGreyMorality: Both the Go-Home Club and the Musicians have very good reasons to fight for what they do; the Go-Home Club wants to return to reality and face their traumas head-on while the Musicians have issues that may not necessarily be solvable in real life, and to that point want to keep Mobius around. The Go-Home Club ''was'' the LighterShadeOfGrey, and then [[TokenEvilTeammate Eiji]] and [[AntiVillain Kuchinashi]] came along.

* OlderThanTheyLook: [[spoiler:Shogo (30), Ayana (27), Kotono (23), Kensuke (19) and Mifue (17).]]

* {{Foil}}: μ and Aria. μ is beautiful and a perfectionist, where Aria is cheerful and casual.
* FlowerMotifs: All around with the protagonist and the going-home club members when they activate their catharsis effect

* OneDegreeOfSeparation: All of the new characters in ''Overdose'' are connected to each other. [[spoiler:Ayana was a member of Uzume-tai with Himari and witnessed the assault that would cause her to commit suicide, which was carried out by Kouki. Eiji was his lawyer, and defended Kouki by convincing him to plead insanity. Kuchinashi's parents were involved in the trial, and are killed when an arsonist (very heavily implied to be Eiji) burns down their home. Stork was a police officer who had gone to the home to [[ThePeepingTom do what he does best]], only to run into the arsonist right before he started the fire; he attempted to arrest him, but the arsonist escaped.]]

* BlandNameProduct: The social network "Gossiper" is very clearly supposed to be representative of ''Website/{{Twitter}}''. Characters also use WIRE (as opposed to LINE), and one character has a [=myPhone=].

* MutuallyExclusivePartyMembers: On the Musician route, [[spoiler:Kotaro and Eiji]] become this. [[spoiler:If Eiji's Character Episode isn't finished (read: he's already left the party) by the time the party fights Shadow Knife, Kotaro will save Shadow Knife from falling to his death but end up falling off the Landmark Tower himself.]] Thankfully averted, however, if you complete Shadow Knife and Eiji's Character Episode in the Forbidden Musician Route.

* NoNameGiven: Because players can name him themselves, the protagonist has no canon name, and is simply referred to as "Hero" in the trailers. The other Going-Home Club members only refer to him in conversation as "President", as he is the club's [[TheLeader leader]].

* OneDegreeOfSeparation: All of the new characters in ''Overdose'' are connected to each other. [[spoiler:Ayana was a member of Uzume-tai with Himari and witnessed the assault that would cause her to commit suicide, which was carried out by Kouki. Eiji was his lawyer, and defended Kouki by convincing him to plead insanity. Kuchinashi's parents were involved in the trial, and are killed when an arsonist (very heavily implied to be Eiji) burns down their home. Stork had gone to the home to [[ThePeepingTom do what he does best]], only to run into the arsonist right before he started the fire; he tried to stop him, but he got away.]]

* OneDegreeOfSeparation: All of the new characters in ''Overdose'' are connected to each other. [[spoiler:Ayana was a member of Uzume-tai with Himari and witnessed the assault that would cause her to commit suicide, which was carried out by Kouki. Eiji was his lawyer, and defended Kouki by convincing him to plead insanity. Kuchinashi's parents were involved in the trial, and are killed when an arsonist (Eiji) burns down their home. Stork had gone to the home to [[ThePeepingTom do what he does best]], only to run into Eiji right before he started the fire; he tried to stop him, but Eiji got away.]]

* OlderThanTheyLook: [[spoiler:Shogo (30), Kotono (23), Kensuke (19) and Mifue (17).]]

* OneDegreeOfSeparation: All of the new characters in ''Overdose'' save Stork are connected to each other, mostly involving Himari's death. [[spoiler:Ayana was a member of Uzume-tai with her and witnessed the assault that would cause her to commit suicide, which was carried out by Kouki. Eiji was his lawyer, and defended Kouki by convincing him to plead insanity. Kuchinashi's parents were also involved in the trial, and are killed when an arsonist burns down their home (and it's heavily implied that Eiji was the arsonist).]]