History VisualNovel / SteamPrison

* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Cyrus's hair is pink, Fin and Ulrik both have green hair, and Sachsen's hair is purple. Adage has streaks of pale green in his black hair, and a flashback CG shows he had them even as a child, suggesting that they're natural rather than dyed.

* ClearMyName: Even after being exiled to the Depths, Cyrus hopes to uncover the truth about her parents' murders and clear her name. It's subverted in most paths of the story, in which she has no opportunity to investigate and winds up having more immediate issues to deal with. In Ines's route, however, she's potentially able to find the real murderer.

* ArrangedMarriage: All marriages in the Heights are arranged by the Temple. Before the death of her parents, Cyrus was begrudgingly engaged to Fitzgerald Evans.

* YouCantGoHomeAgain: Anyone who has been exiled from the Heights. This include the HOUNDS. All of them comprise of police officers dismissed from duty when something happened to their partners. Although there are some exceptions of people being able to return. The process is lengthy and getting accepted is rare.

* {{Dehumanization}}: How the HOUNDS, particularly Sachsen, treat people in sanctuary. Criminals exiled from the Heights are stripped of their last names. The rations they recieve are poisoned and the antidote must be traded with food, perpetuating a vicious cycle. Sachsen has been shown to treat new recruits this way to transform them into a hound that obeys orders.

* BetterToDieThanToBeKilled: On two different routes, Sachsen demonstrates that he would rather take his own life than let Cyrus either kill or spare him after defeating him in a duel. In Eltcreed's path, [[spoiler:Elt stops him because the death of the HOUNDS' commander would have lasting effects on the sanctuary district and relations between the Heights and the Depths]]. On Ines's path, [[spoiler:Sachs stabs himself in the throat with his own sword and dies]].

* StartOfDarkness: Flashbacks in Ines's path show that Sachsen wasn't always a bad man, and reveal the events that put him in his current position. [[spoiler:His attempt to aid the HOUNDS by forming a trade agreement with Verräter caused the death of the HOUNDS' then-commander Theia, a woman he greatly respected]]. The emotional fallout of these events - guilt, insecurity regarding his own strength, and paranoia regarding the people of the Depths - combined with the pressures of leading the HOUNDS over the past two years have taken an obvious toll on his mental stability, shaping him into an erratic tyrant obsessed with strength and control by any means.

* TookALevelInCynic: Sachsen Brandenburg. Before the death of Theia Skone, Sachsen wasn't such a bad guy. Sure, he may not have thought much of the people living in Sanctuary because they were criminals, but he never went out of his way to torment them either. When he was trying to solve an issue with food rations, since the ones they were receiving from the Heights were not enough, Sachsen set up a meeting with the Verräter to trade. The meeting turns out the be a trap which ends with Theia dead. Guilt-ridden and bitter, Sachsen becomes the new commander as part of Theia's dying wish for him to be his successor. Cutting down those that oppose him, stopping formal relations with the Depths and ruling the HOUNDS and sanctuary with an ironfist. His hostility towards Cyrus is because he is reminded of how similar she is to Theia, believing that her sense of justice is ultimately what got her killed.

* StoryBranching: The storyline forks in several places, beginning with a split into the "Bodyguard Route" and the "Prisoner Route." The Bodyguard Route in turn splits off into Eltcreed and Ulrik's paths, while the Prisoner Route divides into Ines and Adage's paths, and each love interest's path has at least one more significant fork based on your decisions before finally splitting off into the various possible endings.

* MiscarriageOfJustice: Cyrus is arrested for murder, confined overnight, and the very next day is hauled out for her sentence to be carried out without even being officially questioned, let alone receiving anything resembling a trial. Adage's path confirms it was a purposeful frame job.

* FateWorseThanDeath:
** In the "The Ending We All Wished For," [[spoiler: Yune is exiled to the depths because of his love for Cyrus. Due to rejecting Sekiei's love he loses his ability to redirect harm but stays immortal. The people of the sanctuary who are angry with him proceed to beat him when they realize they won't get hurt by doing so. Afterwards, Sachsen hands Yune over to Glissade as research subject. After some time, Ulrik is able to find and give him a MercyKill.]]

** [[spoiler: In the "The Ending We All Wished For" Yune is exiled to the depths because of his love for Cyrus. Due to rejecting Sekiei's love he loses his ability to redirect harm but stays immortal. The people of the sanctuary who are angry with him, proceed to beat him when they realize they won't get hurt by doing so. Afterwards, Sachsen hands Yune over to Glissade as research subject. After some time, Ulrik is able to find and give him a MercyKill.]]

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Warner Evans, for all his flaws, does genuinely love his son Fitzgerald. When it seems Ines is gonna strike Fitzgerald for interrupting his duel with Cyrus, [[PapaWolf Warner immediately leaps to his defense to protect him]].