Line #10 VideoGame/PsyCard


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/2890475_2038951233_screen.jpeg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:A game of ''[=PsyCard=]'' currently in progress]]
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4	''[=PsyCard=]'' is a VideoGame/{{Minesweeper}}-like game set in a "cozy cyberpunk dystopia" created by Creator/{{Ludosity}}. You are one of four friends freeloading it up on your rich {{cyborg}} friend's couch. She wants you out... once in a while, you can still sleep there and since your rather enamored with this [[NameDrop PsyCard]] game on TV, maybe you can do that as a hobby. Using your awesome psychic powers, which you somehow have and are, apparently, only used for playing [=PsyCard=], you'll climb through the ranks, playing from tourney to tourney, in the hope that you'll make it to the Grand Tournament, because... [[ExcusePlot you really have nothing better to do.]]
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6	As mentioned above: the game is very similar to Minesweeper. You have a grid of different colored cards. (one for you and one for your opponent) You each take turns flipping card trying to collect three fruit cards while also collecting stars (which fill your ManaMeter and give you bonus points) and trying to avoid red skulls (which make you [[OneHitKill insta-lose]] the round). Most cards you pull will have plus-signs, small stars, and small, black skulls. These mean that one of those cards is in the general vicinity, which is where the MS similarities come in. Collect three fruit to win a round, reach the score limit first to win the game.
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8	The game is {{freeware\|Games}} on Windows, [[https://regnsloja.itch.io/psycard itch.io link]], and a paid version for smartphones.
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10	----
11
12	!!Tropes in this game include:
13
14	* AfterCombatRecovery: In "Friend's Quest", HitPoints are restored to full after every battle.
15	* AllLowercaseLetters: The minigame, ''Friend's Quest'', is like this, item names, windows, FlavorText, etc.
16	* AlphabeticalThemeNaming: The player characters are Alf, Bees, Z, and Dea, a.k.a A, B, C and D, but twisted.
17	* AlwaysNight: When Blunda appears, and says "G'morning", when "its the middle of the night", she responds that: "it always is here, isn't it.", then someone mentions "some sunlight" breaking through a few days ago.
18	* AWinnerIsYou: The ending to ''Friend's Quest'', after defeating King Ur, is a "congratulations" window saying the number of victories, defeats, and how many steps were taken, then a selection to say "ok" or "good", both of which return the player back to the main game's start screen.
19	* BaitAndSwitch: At the third All Night Tournament, Phoebe talks about a sick filthy animal, and Alf, who's wearing a surgical mask, and who was previously hated by Phoebe because she assumed he was sick, which he might be, as he mentions frequent colds... But, instead, she's talking about GENEUS CORP's parrot:
20	--> It's disgusting, that's what it is.
21	* BioAugmentation: Neo Dea is Dea after undergoing GENEUS CORP's psychic powers genetic engineering, which also gives her a beak, instead of a mouth.
22	* ButThouMust: The beginning of the ''Friend's Quest'' {{minigame}}, which opens with a warning message and two options that do the same thing:
23	--> warning!\
24	your 4 friends have been stolen by vagabonds!\
25	[ok] [good]
26	* CargoShip: From ''Friend's Quest'', the "hot rock" and its FlavorText:
27	--> strangely attractive, for a rock.
28	* CatchingSomeZs: Blunda, seen in the [[https://youtu.be/fXholQZ3lC8?t=16 game announcement]], says "Zzzzz...", and presumably she's sleeping, as she's wearing pajamas, which additionally have a night theme, being dark blue, with clouds and crescent moons on it.
29	* {{Cyborg}}: As seen in the [[https://youtu.be/fXholQZ3lC8?t=3 game announcement]], Friend, who appears to be a human, has a cybernetic eye and hand.
30	* FamilyThemeNaming: Bees and Wasp are siblings, both named for members of the Apocrita family of insects.
31	* FlavorText: There's some for nearly every item in ''Friend's Quest'', for example:
32	** Bubble Ring:
33	---> careful... careful... don't pop it.
34	** third eye:
35	---> a gross ring
36	** luff:
37	---> a magical loof with healing properties
38	* GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke: As mentioned by Neon at the third All Night Tournament, GENEUS CORP "developed a technique to give {{psychic powers}} to anyone by genetic modification".
39	* HitPoints: Called HP, and they appear in Friend Quest, and are [[AfterCombatRecovery refilled after every battle]], even on a loss.
40	* ItemCrafting: In ''Friend's Quest'', items can be melded with other items to produce new items. The mechanic is also how items are applied to the player character, melding the stat boosting items to the self. Some examples are:
41	** bubbles + ring = bubble ring
42	** lickystick + lickystick = hell goop
43	** candy + candy = lickystick
44	** eye orb + ring = third eye
45	** eye orb + sword = black sword
46	** hot rock + hot rock = rock candy
47	** self + loaf = self-loofing
48	* InterchangeableAntimatterKeys: In ''Friend's Quest'', keys disappear when used, justified as them being old and poorly made, or just magically disappearing, for the gold keys.
49	* ManaPoints:
50	** The main game has stars that are found during rounds, allowing players to use their psychic powers.
51	** ''Friend's Quest'': They're called MP, and have to be gathered during battle to cast spells.
52	* MarathonLevel: The last tournament, the King Ludo Tournament, which has a score limit of 40, and 3 three eliminations needed to win, where the highest score to reach for any other tournament, was 30 at most.
53	* MiniGame: Friend's Quest, which is another game, where a dungeon is explored, and [=PsyCard=] is how monsters are fought, and you play as Friend, instead of the other four characters who live with Friend.
54	* OneLetterName: One of the playable characters is a girl named "Z".
55	* OneWordTitle: "[=PsyCard=]" is written in CamelCase, and is actually one word, not two.
56	* OnlyOneName: Everyone:
57	** Friend
58	** Z
59	** Alf
60	** Ur
61	** Bees
62	** Dea
63	** Saturnus
64	** Fae
65	** Neon
66	** B-fia
67	** Sofia
68	** Sam
69	** Aya
70	** Blunda
71	** Wasp
72	* OnlyOneSaveFile: Because it's a mobile game so space is at a premium, and only used by one person. And there's progressive unlocks without any reason to time travel backwards, since replaying the game is relatively short and easy.
73	* {{Portmantitle}}: "[=PsyCard=]" = Psy + Card.
74	* PowerDyesYourHair: Well, technically a depower. In ''Friend's Quest'', melding the "self" with a "loaf", results in "self-loofing", with green hair, and "you feel miserable", along with a decrease in all stats by one, from base "self".
75	* PsychicPowers: Psychic powers are the means by which [=PsyCard=] is played — without psychic abilities, blank cards don't show any hints. Most people are tested for psychic powers in school. According to Z, being psychic isn't very useful outside of [=PsyCard=], though strong psychics like Aya can still do things like read minds.
76	* PunctuatedForEmphasis: When Sofia is scolding B-fia, there are pauses in her speech:
77	--> '''Sofia:''' "Who [pause] said [pause] you [pause] could [pause] speak?"
78	* RareCandy: Multiple types:
79	** The candies of ''Friend's Quest''. "rock candy" and "candy" both say:
80	---> meld with self to increase hp by 2!
81	** "psycho star", which can be melded with the "self":
82	---> known to increase one's psycho power.
83	** lickystick:
84	---> meld with self to increase mp by 1!
85	* ShameIfSomethingHappened: The second line from Aya, right after saying that the second All Night Tournament is "nice", is:
86	--> It'd be a real shame if something awful happened to it...
87	* ShoutOut: Mainly in ''Friend's Quest'':
88	** The TenuouslyConnectedFlavorText of the Rose Ring is one to ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'', as a reference to the Rose Signets, and "grants you the power to bring world revolution".
89	** The ones that are wallpapers:
90	*** ''VideoGame/CardCityNights'' StartScreen
91	*** ''VideoGame/IttleDew1'' StartScreen
92	*** ''VideoGame/IttleDew2'' Tiled pictures of Ittle lying on Tippsie with a skull.
93	* {{Sleepyhead}}: Blunda, as Bengt says she "sleeps a lot!" and "plays [=PsyCard=] in her sleep!"
94	* {{Sleepwalking}}: Blunda caused traffic problems by doing this, as it says in the credit sequence.
95	* StarterEquipment: From ''Friend's Quest'', as it says:
96	--> knife.\
97	classic starter weapon.\
98	+2 atk
99	* StationaryEnemy: PreexistingEncounters in the ''Friend's Quest'', the FauxFirstPerson3D-type {{Minigame}}. The corridors aren't wide enough to go around them, but some can be skipped.
100	* TheTeamNormal: Dea has no psychic powers, or almost none, as that was the result of the tests done during her schooling. She can focus to detect fruit cards, and reveal the hints that all other psychics see on their cards.
101	* TenuouslyConnectedFlavorText: From ''Friend's Quest'', the "rose ring", talking about "world revolution" when the known world's just a maze, with no system of government or anything, until the FinalBoss, and the only known ruler, King Ur, is finally seen. It's primarily a ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'' reference:
102	--> "grants you the power to bring world revolution"
103	* TerrifiedOfGerms: Phoebe, who plays while covering her hands with oven mittens, and wanting a fresh deck for every round, which is how the official tournaments do it, or so she says.
104	* ThatWasNotADream: Blunda thinks she's dreaming, if the player defeats her in the Minor Major Tournament.
105	* ThirdEye:
106	** Ur has a red mark on their forehead in that location, and they have psychic powers.
107	** ''Friend's Quest'' has a item called "third eye" that boosts MP, which is implied, in the Psycho Crystal FlavorText, to be a measure of psychic power, instead of Mana Power, Magic Power, or any other acronym.
108	* VisibleSilence: After Sofia says to B-fia, "Who said you could speak?", B-fia says: "..."

Context VideoGame / PsyCard