Line #39 VideoGame/LoveSam


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lovesam.jpg]]
2	''Love, Sam'' is a short 2019 PsychologicalHorror game by independent developer Korean Linguistics Lab.
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4	Gameplay-wise, it's a series of very well-choreographed scares in a tiny piece of a suburban household, like ''VideoGame/SilentHills''. Story-wise, it holds a plot rich with real horror and tragedy, told entirely through journal entries.
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6	It takes place in a single bedroom, with the player character reading the diary of a teenager and their tragic decay into depression and insanity over a boy they have a crush on named Brian, or "B". Meanwhile, there's someone, or some''thing'', stalking them.
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8	The characters include two couples: Sam and Brian (a CuteBookworm and a LovableJock), and Stacy and Kyle (an AlphaBitch and a JerkJock).
9	----
10	!!This game provides examples of:
11	* AcademicAthlete: Brian is a superstar athlete and a bookworm.
12	* AccidentalMurder: [[spoiler:Kyle's emotional confrontation with Sam ends with him accidentally scaring her off a cliff, which gets her killed.]]
13	* TheAce: AcademicAthlete Brian is perfect. It seems like everyone has a crush on him. [[spoiler:EvenTheGuysWantHim.]] Deconstructed however as he's only so perfect because [[BrokenAce society pressures him to be perfect]]. He's really torn up over his mom's recent death too.
14	* AlphaBitch: Stacy, a bitchy cheerleader who dates jocks. [[spoiler:She even helps Kyle ruin Sam's life with "pranks".]]
15	* ApocalypticLog: The main gameplay consists of the player character reading through a diary that [[spoiler:is actually revealed to be ''two'' diaries, one for Sam and one for Kyle. Considering that 1) Kyle accidentally kills Sam and 2) Kyle goes either [[LoveMakesYouCrazy mad with jealousy]] or mad with guilt and you are playing through the aftermath of both situations, both can be considered apocalyptic logs]].
16	* ArmoredClosetGay: [[spoiler:Kyle seems like a meatheaded stereotypical jock, but he's actually a psychological mess who hates himself for being gay. For extra metaphorical points, his final return to the apartment before the ending has him [[LiteralMetaphor literally come out of a closet]].]]
17	* TheBeard: [[spoiler:Stacy is clearly just one of ClosetedGay Kyle's many ways of repressing his sexuality, as he is obsessed and in love with Brian.]]
18	* BigBad: The StalkerWithACrush for Brian, [[spoiler:who isn't Sam, nor Stacy, but Kyle.]]
19	* CameraFiend: The stalker keeps taking photographs of the player without their permission. [[spoiler:It's a combination of Kyle stalking Brian, and Sam's ghost stalking Kyle.]]
20	* ChekhovsGun:
21	** The journal you read to understand the story of the game. [[spoiler:There are actually two of them and understanding who wrote each journal uncovers the truth behind what happened.]]
22	** Early on in the game, you pick up a tree branch that's just randomly hanging around in your bedroom and use it to reach for a journal page that's under your bed. [[spoiler: This is the same branch that Kyle used to reach for Sam's bag to get rid of it moments after he had pushed her off a cliff.]]
23	* CruelAndUnusualDeath: [[spoiler:Not only did Sam fall off a cliff, but she broke every bone in her body, including her neck, and slowly choked to death on her own blood.]]
24	* CruelCheerleader: Stacy is a cheerleader and has no problems [[spoiler:helping Kyle ruin Sam's reputation and spread rumors about her]], despite Sam not doing anything to her.
25	%% * CuteBookworm: Sam seems like this at first. [[spoiler:And it turns out she actually is. Perfectly sane, too.]]
26	* DepravedHomosexual: [[spoiler:Kyle is a gay {{Yandere}} who is obsessed with Brian to the point of stalking him, ruining Sam's life to isolate Brian, and killing Stacy in a moment of passion when she tries to confront him about it.]]
27	* DiariesAreGirly: PlayedWith. The game is played in first-person through the player character reading a series of diary entries that detail a teen's crush, later jealous obsession with a boy named Brian or "B". Since the player character model isn't shown, based on the writing in the journal, the game leads you to believe you are the titular Sam, the new girl who moved in from out of town who starts dating Brian, or Stacy, a CruelCheerleader who hangs out with Brian. [[spoiler:You're neither. You are actually reading two separate journals. One ''does'' belong to Sam, but the obsessive StalkerWithACrush one belongs to JerkJock Kyle, Brian's best friend who is [[ClosetGay secretly in love with him]] and [[GreenEyedMonster jealous of Sam]]. Bonus points for Kyle's diary being the one with pink hearts on the cover, while Sam's is a plain green one.]]
28	* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Kyle ruins Sam's life, Stacy ruins Kyle's life, Kyle accidentally gives Sam a slow and brutal death, Kyle gives up on life. And this is all before the game even starts. So it's basically a DownerBeginning]]. From those revelations, any way to end it is not gonna be good.
29	** If you pick yes on being questioned on if you wanna keep the diary, [[spoiler:the game has you wake up on the [[HereWeGoAgain same bed you've awoken on the beginning of the game, making it clear that Sam's ghost will keep haunting Kyle without end and will keep having horrific hallucinations]]]].
30	** If you pick no instead, [[spoiler:Kyle will wake up in real life, and confess his crimes to the police and will say one final goodbye to B, even if he will never hear it. Justice is served, but it doesn't matter]].
31	* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Out of guilt and despair, Kyle tries to kill himself. But whether he goes through with it or not is up to the player.]]
32	* DumbJock: Sam expects Brian to be this, shocked at seeing a jock in a library. But he turns out to be an AcademicAthlete.
33	* EvenEvilHasStandards: [[spoiler:Stacy eventually gets fed up with Kyle's obsessive hatred of Sam and snitches on him to Brian.]] Not out of sympathy for Sam, but because she mistakenly believes that [[spoiler: Kyle wants to get rid of Brian so ''he'' could have Sam. See WrongGenreSavvy below.]]
34	* {{Foreshadowing}}:
35	** When first reading through the diary, players believe they're playing as Sam (who's a girl). However, when paying close attention to the bedroom, you'll notice that the clothes lying around are [[spoiler: ''men's'' clothes.]]
36	** [[spoiler: Early on, Sam's real diary notes that Brian and Kyle are "more than friends." In addition to this, Kyle's diary refers to Brian by his full first name when talking about him generally/in reference to Sam or the others, but when referring to his own relationship with Brian, Kyle uses the more personal nickname "B."]]
37	** In an early scare, the wardrobe will be filed full of needles instead of clothes. [[spoiler: It's an early sign that Kyle has been injecting himself with drugs, and that the scares are AllInHisHead]].
38	* {{Frameup}}: [[spoiler:Kyle frames his obsessive stalkings on Sam.]]
39	* GreenEyedMonster: [[spoiler:Kyle is driven to stalking and murder over the jealousy of Sam and Brian's relationship.]]
40	* HellIsThatNoise: The ghost makes a creaky croaking noise exactly like Film/TheGrudge. [[spoiler:It's the last noise Sam made as she choked on her own blood.]]
41	* HiddenDepths: Brian is not the JerkJock one would initially think, and actually takes a keen interest in Creator/StephenKing's ''Literature/{{Misery}}'' when recommended it by Sam. And while Sam peppering her diary with drawings is probably to be expected from the CuteBookworm that she is, [[spoiler:it's much more unexpected from a JerkJock like Kyle, who ACTUALLY owns the Journal. The art is mildly {{Animesque}}, to boot.]]
42	* InsidiousRumorMill: DrivenByEnvy Kyle spreads rumors on social media [[spoiler:with help from Stacy that Sam is a StalkerWithACrush for Brian who just got lucky enough to actually date the object of her obsession because [[ClosetedGay he's in love with Brian]] and wants to split the two up. He also spread the information that [[SinsOfMyFather Sam's dad is in prison for sexually abusing teens]]. Everyone at school is critical of Sam and Brian turns his back on her completely. Later, Stacy, thinking Kyle did all of that because he wanted to hook up with Sam, exposes Kyle for orchestrating the rumor mill and everyone, including Brian, shun him instead.]]
43	%% * JerkJock: While Brian is a LovableJock, Kyle is definitely a {{Jerkass}}. [[spoiler:Especially when it turns out he's a murderous stalker.]]
44	%% * JumpScare: The game has a handful of well-timed ones.
45	* KarmaHoudini: {{Downplayed}}; Kyle is quickly exposed for [[spoiler: his cruel pranks toward Sam, and gets shunned by everyone, including Stacy and Brian.]] However, he gets no comeuppance for [[spoiler: murdering Sam]]. However, the player has the option to make him [[spoiler: confess his crime to the police]], subverting this trope.
46	* KillItWithFire: [[spoiler:Kyle burns all of the evidence (i.e. the notes and journals) and has such little to live for that he doesn't really resist the flames himself.]]
47	* LovableJock: Sam expects to hate Brian for being a jock, but she eventually warms up to him for being a NiceGuy.
48	* LoveMakesYouCrazy: [[spoiler:DrivenByEnvy Kyle ruins Sam's life and kills her because he's jealous that she gets to date his secret crush Brian.]]
49	* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: At first, it seems like a typical "haunted by a ghost girl" scenario, but it's likely more psychological and metaphorical than that.
50	* MistakenForGay: Inverted. [[spoiler:Stacy's FaceHeelTurn happens after she comes to the conclusion that Kyle is trying to break up Sam and Brian so that Kyle can hook up with Sam. She's only half-right about her ClosetGay boyfriend, as he's ''really'' in love with Brian.]]
51	* MultipleEndings: The game's end depends on a choice the player makes when they reach the end of the diary.
52	** By choosing "Yes". [[spoiler:Kyle decides to keep the diary, and essentially re-starts the cycle of guilt he's stuck in. Sam's Ghost/Kyle's guilt returns in the end, implying that, by keeping the diary, the events of the game will just repeat themselves.]]
53	** By choosing "No" and then not moving. [[spoiler:Kyle sets his diary on fire, but stays still and lets the flame consume him as well, implying he died from smoke inhalation.]]
54	** By choosing "No" and then moving towards the door. [[spoiler:Kyle finally gets his head straight. With his diary gone, he decides to finally turn himself into the police, and gets arrested for murder, which he says is some sort of closure for him.]]
55	* NeverMyFault: [[spoiler:Kyle insists that what happened is Sam's fault for getting in the way, not his. Kyle's final choice is whether or not he wants to maintain this mentality by choosing whether or not he gets to keep the diary in which he ostensibly paints himself as the real victim of the story. The better ending arguably happens by him refusing to do so, burning the diary and finally coming clean to the police.]]
56	%% * NothingIsScarier: Being a master of PsychologicalHorror, the game is full of this.
57	* OppositesAttract: Sam theorizes this is the reason a NiceGuy like Brian is best friends with a {{Jerkass}} like Kyle.
58	* OurGhostsAreDifferent: [[spoiler:It's doubtful that Sam's ghost is really haunting Kyle. This ghost is just a metaphor for Kyle's insane guilt.]]
59	* RedHerring: [[spoiler:Sam's diary is a little emotional, but nothing out of the ordinary for a teenage girl. Kyle is the ''real'' psycho.]]
60	* RedHerringShirt: [[spoiler: Kyle is this, both in Sam's real diary and his own - he is mentioned a small handful of times by Sam, and not at all in his own diary, fooling the player into believing he is largely unconnected or merely an accomplice to Stacy's antagonism, when in reality, Kyle is both the protagonist and Sam's VillainOfAnotherStory.]]
61	* TheReveal: [[spoiler:It's set up that the stalker's journal is written by Sam, but it's actually Kyle. It's a combination of Kyle framing Sam as a psycho, and his actual true feelings.]]
62	* RemovingTheRival: [[spoiler:Kyle tries removing Brian's girlfriend, Sam. First, he breaks them up through social manipulations. Then, after Brian finds out and "dumps" him, Kyle snaps and kills her. It's ambiguous whether or not it was on purpose.]]
63	* RoomFullOfCrazy: The bedroom eventually devolves into this, a visual metaphor of [[spoiler:Kyle's fracturing mind.]]
64	* SamusIsAGirl: A villainous inversion [[spoiler: since we're led to believe we're playing as a psychotic female stalker obsessed with a male classmate. However, we learn towards the end that we're actually playing as a psychotic male stalker struggling with his repressed homosexuality and obsession with another boy.]]
65	* SecondaryCharacterTitle: [[spoiler: Sam may be a central character, but she's not the protagonist - Kyle is. The title serves to bolster the BaitAndSwitch that comes later on.]]
66	* SecretDiary: The whole focus. There's actually two, one written by Sam pre-breakup, another written by Sam post-breakup. [[spoiler:The latter is actually Kyle.]]
67	* SinsOfOurFathers: [[spoiler:Sam is bullied and treated like a freak for having a father who was convicted of molesting a teenager.]]
68	* [[SirSwearsalot Sir Swears-a-lot]]: All characters (the main students to be precise) is known for swearing a ''lot'', maybe except for Brian.
69	* SlasherSmile: The game is absolutely riddled with images of what looks like huge, giant smiles cut out of newspapers. [[spoiler:They represent the smiles of the girls on the Greenhart University posters, since that's where Brian decides to go to school, and his impending departure drove obsessed Kyle to insane desperation.]]
70	* SmallRoleBigImpact: It seems at first like Kyle is a background character. [[spoiler:That's exactly what he wants you to think.]]
71	* SpannerInTheWorks: [[spoiler:Though she's mentioned a lot, Stacy is a minor character. She does, however, have ''one'' moment where she changes everything, by betraying the obsessive Kyle and telling Brian everything, which eventually leads to Kyle committing a murder-suicide.]]
72	* SpookyPhotographs: The game's main motif, because [[spoiler:Kyle took creepy pictures of Brian and used them to frame Sam as a stalker.]]
73	%% * StringyHairedGhostGirl: [[spoiler:Sam.]]
74	* TomatoSurprise: There are two and they're related. [[spoiler: The journal you are reading are actually two journals, one by the titular Sam and one by the infrequently mentioned side character, Kyle. Also, you are ''not'' playing as the titular Sam, but as Kyle.]]
75	* VengefulGhost: [[spoiler:It seems like Kyle is being haunted by Sam's ghost, for killing her. It's probably just a metaphor for his guilt though.]]
76	* VillainProtagonist: [[spoiler:Kyle is such a central character that he's also the BigBad.]]
77	* WalkingSpoiler: If you haven't noticed, there are a rather large number of spoiler tags on this page. [[spoiler:Kyle in particular]] is responsible for most of them.
78	* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: The stalker is a monster, but a very sympathetic villain since you get to see their tragic decay of sanity through their journal. [[spoiler:They become even more sympathetic once it turns out they're a self-loathing ArmoredClosetGay.]]
79	* WrongGenreSavvy: [[spoiler: PlayedWith. Stacy breaks up with Kyle and tells Brian everything he did to ruin Sam's life because she's realized his real goal was to separate them so that he can make his move... except she believes that it's ''Sam'' he wants, not Brian. Regardless of her mistake, though, her plan works - Brian realizes what kind of person Kyle is, and promptly cuts him off.]]
80	* {{Yandere}}: The journal is written from the perspective of a StalkerWithACrush on Brian. [[spoiler:It's set up to be Sam's, but it's actually Kyle's.]]

Context VideoGame / LoveSam