Line #28 VideoGame/GeminiRue


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/GRedit2_8931.jpg]]
2	->''He's trying to change who he is, something that I couldn't do. If I can help him do that... Maybe, maybe I can live with myself.''
3	-->-- '''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1hKT075w6w Azriel,]]''' talking about his brother.
4
5	''Gemini Rue'' is a {{Cyberpunk}} AdventureGame from 2013, developed by Joshua Nuernberger, and published by Creator/WadjetEyeGames. The game takes a lot of cues from Film/BladeRunner in terms of aesthetics, and is highly recommended for anyone who enjoys a serious adventure game. As a sidenote, this is possibly the only point-and-click adventure game ever to include gunplay as a developed and re-used mechanic.
6
7	In the distant future, humankind has not only begun colonizing other star systems, but other galaxies. This tale takes place in the Gemini galaxy, in a system that has been completely taken over by [[{{Yakuza}} the Boryokudan]], and revolves around the stories of two people.
8
9	The first is Azriel Odin, a former Boryokudan assassin who participated in the Gemini wars that led the system to their current state. He had a change of heart, and is now working for the police from the Taurus Galaxy, trying to undermine the Boryokudan. His mission is to find his brother, who he believes is stranded somewhere on the planet Barracus, a Boryokudan-controlled mining world.
10
11	The second is Delta-Six, AKA "Charlie," a prisoner in some kind of space rehabilitation facility called Center 7. His memory has been wiped, perhaps multiple times, but despite this he knows he must escape from his prison by any means necessary. Something strange and wrong is happening in the prison (yes, moreso than usual for a place that mind-wipes people whenever they're disobedient), and he must get out before he finishes his training exams.
12	----
13	!!The games use the following tropes:
14	* AcePilot: Kane Harris.
15	* AmnesiacDissonance: Mind-wiping is... occasionally imperfect.
16	* AnachronicOrder: At first, it seems that Delta-Six's story happens at the same time as Azriel's, and that Delta-Six is in fact the brother who Azriel is trying to rescue. Actually, the correct order of events is [[spoiler:all of Delta Six's story except the opening scene, then the opening scene, then all of Azriel's story]].
17	* AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent: The game's intro features Delta-Six in a ControllableHelplessness situation, before switching to Azriel's story. After completing Azriel's first major objective, the story switches back to Delta-Six in his "rehabilitation" facility. [[spoiler:This gets subverted with TheReveal that Delta-Six's story took place a year earlier, and that Azriel ''is'' Delta-Six. A straight example occurs in the final act, where most of the game is played from the perspective of Sayuri]].
18	* ArtisticLicenseSpace: Barracus is shown as a world with cities, rain, mines, and reasonably Earthlike gravity and atmosphere. It's also described in the terminals as a ''gas giant.''
19	* BadBoss: The Director. [[spoiler:He starts by selling out to the mob, then goes on to to terribly unethical things with his patients, and eventually murders most of his staff.]]
20	* BewareTheNiceOnes: Azriel, as a cop means well but he's willing to avenge the Boryokudan.
21	* BigBadFriend: Inverted. [[spoiler:Matthius]] retains all of the memories from his past as [[spoiler:Balder]], but they are submerged pending activation by The Director. [[spoiler:Azriel]], who can't remember their previous battle, does not hide his disappointment at a "friend" turning on him.
22	* BoomHeadshot: There's a mechanic for doing this in the shootouts. It's risky (requiring a long time spent out of cover), but it's an instant kill if pulled off.
23	* ControllableHelplessness: You cannot stop the mind-wipe. [[spoiler:Neither of them.]]
24	* CowboyCop: A mild example. For an ex-hitman, Azriel is very averse to infringing on other people's rights, and he won't open fire on unidentified targets. On the other hand, he's not above breaking and entering.
25	* CrapsackWorld: As you might expect, a whole galaxy run by the mob isn't in the best of shape.
26	* CyberpunkWithAChanceOfRain: There is a perpetual rain on Barracus due to the weather control tower.
27	* DialogueTree
28	* TheDragon: [[spoiler:Matthius/Balder]], arguably.
29	* TheDulcineaEffect: Azriel to Sayuri, and Delta-Six to Epsilon-Five. [[spoiler:Apparently, the two had some manner of connection in the past.]]
30	* EarnYourHappyEnding: While [[spoiler:no one gets their memory back, and Azriel/Delta-Six has to deal with being freshly mind-wiped in a big dark cosmos, the clean slate ahead of them means the characters end the game upbeat]].
31	* EasterEgg: When playing as Azriel at certain points in the game, you may encounter ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' characters at specific locations. If you return to the same spot after walking away, they won't be there anymore.
32	* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: The Director.
33	* FacialHorror: [[spoiler:Balder]] is blinded and badly scarred by a broken pipe. He's still pretty steamed (ho ho) about it once the Director gives his memories back.
34	* FantasticDrug: "Juice", a highly-addictive hallucinogenic, and the backbone of the Boryokudan's income.
35	* TheFatalist: The Director is a staunch behaviorist, determined to prove that the actions of a person can be determined entirely by the personality he programs into them.
36	* FakeMemories: The omniscient perspective is reliable--what you see onscreen really happened. ''Everything'' else is potentially fake.
37	* FauxAffablyEvil: The Director is very polite, soft spoken and earnest.
38	* ForegoneConclusion: Once the AnachronicOrder is set firmly into place with the WhamLine, [[spoiler:it's certain that Sayuri will escape and Delta-Six will not. A player who's figured out the location of the opening scene in the timeline will also know that Giselle will die.]]
39	* {{Foreshadowing}}:
40	** [[spoiler:When Sayuri first meets Azriel on Barracus, she doesn't believe he was formerly an assassin, as he "doesn't have death in [his] eyes"]].
41	** Look very carefully at the character portraits...
42	* GuideDangIt: Not as prevalent as in many adventure games, but certain things can end up being difficult to figure out the first time. Examples include:
43	** Reaching Giselle, which requires you to talk through a door to get her to open it for you.
44	** The pipe stuck in the gears in the Weather Tower.
45	** Turning off the lights to attack the guards outside the room in Hibiscus Highrise.
46	** The flippy-switch puzzle.
47	* HighClassGlass; The Director has a monocle [[RetroFuture for some reason]].
48	* HyperlinkStory: The two stories of Azriel and the amnesiac seem completely separate, but they eventually come together. [[spoiler:They're both the same person, taking place years apart.]]
49	* InTheHood: Sayuri refuses to show her face regardless of circumstances. (This is important: [[spoiler:it hides that she's Epsilon-Five]].)
50	* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler:The Director is killed by the man he trained to be a desensitized killer. If he didn't erase his conscience, he would still live.]]
51	* KleptomaniacHero: Averted; Azriel frowns upon theft. He won't pick up any items that he doesn't presently need.
52	* LaserGuidedAmnesia[=/=]LossOfIdentity: Mind-wiping. Removes personality and memories, retains skills... provided you do it correctly.
53	* MagicPlasticSurgery: Massive facial reconstruction can apparently be performed at will in this universe. This is a major plot point.
54	* ManchurianAgent: [[spoiler:Matthius Howard, AKA Balder.]]
55	* ManipulativeBastard: Giselle.
56	* MeaningfulName:
57	** Azriel Odin. [[spoiler:Azriel is the angel of death. He was trained as an assassin and kills a bunch of people in the game. Odin is the chief god of Scandinavians. Odin was referred to by about 200 names. In the mythology, he changes shapes. Azriel Odin has his personality changed quite a lot of times.]]
58	** Similarly, [[spoiler:Balder is also a character in Norse mythology, though in this case, the name is non-indicative. In the mythos, Balder is a good, noble god, described as shining, pure, and loved. This contrasts rather strongly with the vindictive, insane Balder of Gemini Rue.]]
59	* MysteriousWaif: Sayuri, first seen digging through a dumpster on Barracus. She becomes a much more important character later on, and she's even playable towards the end. (She can't use guns, but she can hack computer terminals, allowing her to access rooms Azriel can't reach.)
60	* NatureVersusNurture: The Director is initially on the side of nurture, and aims to prove it through implantation of FakeMemories. Towards the end of the game, he concludes that this doesn't work--someone who has memories of killing innocent people may still have a nature that prevents them from doing it--so he decides it's more efficient to change people's natures. His plan is to force assassin trainees to kill so many other people that their natures warp and they become desensitized. It completely and utterly backfires on him.
61	* NiceGuy: Justified since Azriel's a cop, even if he picks locks to solve cases and kills people who try to harm him and others, he always means well. Only in his current life though.
62	* NoNewFashionsInTheFuture: On Barracus, everyone is dressed in traditional FilmNoir attire. On Center 7, scientists wear the standard, easily recognizable labcoat while prisoners are apparently provided with a T-shirt and sweatpants.
63	* NoodleIncident: It's never quite explained [[spoiler:how Delta-Six humiliated Balder]], although the implications are alarming.
64	* NPCAmnesia:
65	** At one point, you have to ask a fellow at the front desk of an apartment building the room number of Matthius Howard. But he won't give it to you without (what he thinks is) a legitimate reason and there is in fact a correct solution. If you fail to provide one, he'll refuse to speak with you for the rest of the game. At this point, you can call your partner, Kane to call the guy and ask for the number, which he'll relay to you.
66	** Later, you have to convince a smuggler to meet up with you, and no matter how many times you botch the conversation, he's willing to give you another chance to convince him despite his apprehensions.
67	* OurGraphicsWillSuckInTheFuture: All the computer monitors looks they are from the 1980s.
68	* PercussiveMaintenance: One of the many uses of the "kick" command.
69	* PrettyLittleHeadshots: While there is quite a bit of blood in the game, gunshot wounds only occasionally bleed.
70	* ProfessionalKiller: Azriel's previous profession. He still has his old tools and instincts.
71	* RetroUniverse: The game takes place two centuries in the future in another star system, but Barracus still has things like phone booths and newspapers.
72	* SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale: The game talks about the Taurus and Gemini galaxies. It explicitly says the Boryokudan are running the Gemini galaxy since the war. The terminal map refers to the three inhabited planets in the Gemini ''system'', and clearly shows a single star around which the three planets orbit. Later, a character refers to a gas cloud on that map as a nebula, and says it is "at the top of the Gemini galaxy." [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galaxy Galaxy]] ≠ [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_system Star system]].
73	* ShoutOut:
74	** When you enter the Boryokudan building for the first time, Azriel has the option to tell the agent "I'm selling these fine dark trench coats", a variation on a RunningGag common in a lot of [=LucasArts=] adventure games.
75	** [[Film/{{Memento}} "I have this condition..."]]
76	** [[Film/BladeRunner Azriel, a detective-type wearing a trenchcoat whose portrait shows him looking a bit down and to the side, deals with a perpetually dark and rainy place. Electronic saxophone music plays during tender scenes.]]
77	** You can meet some of the characters of ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' if you [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY5yA1NI4q4 can find them ]]
78	** Giselle asks Delta-Four to turn off a switch and prefaces her command with [[VideoGame/BioShock1 "Would you kindly..."]]
79	** When Azriel has Sayuri look through a series of crates for the device he needs to fix his lockpicks, the wrong options are [[VideoGame/PoliceQuest PQ-1]], [[VideoGame/SpaceQuest SQ-2]], [[VideoGame/LeisureSuitLarry LSL-5]], and [[VideoGame/MonkeyIsland MI-2]]. Each crate contains items related to the game it abbreviates.
80	* StarshipLuxurious: Kane's ship has a surprisingly spacious living area.
81	* TakeCover: A core element of the gunplay. The challenge is in timing when to pop out of cover and be ready to fire, and when to pull the trigger as enemies expose themselves to fire back. Seeing characters enter cover is pretty much the signal to the player that a gunfight is about to break out.
82	* TomatoInTheMirror: [[spoiler:Azriel Odin]]
83	* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: It's a space-age society, with all the technological advances that entails, but... besides the odd spaceship and Carbon Ray Stabilizer, most of the technology looks like it must have come from the present day. This might have something to do with Boryokudan management hampering social progress.
84	* UnexpectedGameplayChange: There are a few times in the game where you will get into gunfights with enemies. Instead of the typical "Use Gun On > Enemy", you're required to reload, pop in and out of cover and take aimed shots.
85	* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: Azriel and Sayuri are not surprised at all by the new dead bodies they walk past [[spoiler:when they revisit Center 7]]. Even examining them doesn't elicit any questions.
86	* UsedFuture: In every possible way. The Center 7 facility is the shiniest place you'll ever see, and even it is falling apart.
87	* TheUnreveal: You never do learn [[spoiler:who Delta-Six used to be.]]
88	* WhamLine: A single word in the wrong time, specifically [[spoiler:Sayuri's name in Delta Six's story]], sets the AnachronicOrder in place.
89	* WhenItRainsItPours: On Barracus, weather control towers are used to make it rain constantly on "mining" days. Something about the "mining" process makes this necessary, but it is not clear why it needs to rain or what is being mined, except that it is needed for space travel. During the game, it is always raining heavily. Despite this, no one wears a raincoat besides Sayuri.
90	* {{Yakuza}}: "Boryokudan" means violence group and refers to what is commonly called Yakuza.
91	* YouHaveResearchedBreathing: "Don't tell me you've forgotten how to move a box!" Justified because this is a consequence of sloppy mind-wiping.

Context VideoGame / GeminiRue