Line #43 VideoGame/SchizmMysteriousJourney


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/schizm_journey_5.jpg]]
2	A First-Person AdventureGame of [[ScienceFiction science-fictional persuasion]] developed by Detalion Entertainment and published by LK AVALON. Unlike most [[PointAndClickGame point and click adventure games]], you are able to control two characters rather than one. Released in 2001, Schizm was one of the first adventure games to be released on DVD, though said release was harder to find than its 5-CD version. As obscure as it was at the time, Schizm is now [[https://www.gog.com/game/schizm available]] on Website/GogDotCom.
3
4	In 2083 the planet Argilus was discovered and found to be abandoned like the ''[[StockUnsolvedMysteries Mary Celeste]]'', with doors unlocked and machinery still functioning, but no people. The planet is thus quarantined and three science bases get established, staffed with First Contact-trained science personnel. After they lose contact with Earth, our protagonists, Sam Mainey and Hannah Grant, are [[SendInTheSearchTeam sent in]] on the ship ECS ''Angel''.
5
6	The ''Angel'' arrives for the first supply drop, but none of the bases respond, even though scans show their channels and systems to be working. Mainey pilots the ship closer, assuming the lack of communication is due to the planet's strong magnetosphere, but after another failed transmission, he tries to call everything off. Then the ''Angel'''s primary systems fail, secondaries don't respond, sending the ship sinking into Argilus' gravity well. So the only option left are the emergency [[EscapePod escape pods]]. Mainey and Grant [[AbandonShip abandon ship]] and launch their pods, but the course is significantly altered and they land far apart. Which is where you come in.
7
8	!!Schizm provides examples of:
9	* AllThereInTheManual: The game's manual elaborates on the rather dry introduction given at the start of the game, and provides a basic map of Argilus. The international and GOG.com releases began with a live-action news interview [[HowWeGotHere after the adventure had taken place]].
10	* AlternateNumberSystem: The Argilans use a Base-12 number system, and you have to solve a math problem to derive new coordinates from a set of old ones.
11	* AlwaysNight: The Living Ships area appears this way, with a very faint sun on the horizon that never seems to set.
12	* AmbiguouslyHuman: The [[HumanAlien people of Argilus]] all have triangular markings on their foreheads and only speak in their native tongue, [[spoiler: except for two]].
13	* ApocalypticLog: The video tablets left behind by the scientists. Some of them were left blank in the CD version, omitting a large amount of backstory.
14	* {{Backtracking}}: One puzzle involves a notorious amount of this, in which you have to buy oil from a man on the Living Ships and bring it to the temple in Bosh, only to find the dispenser was rigged one unit short, and you have to go back ''again'' to get the proper amount, which also requires bringing your partner along to move something while the other retrieves the necessary money hidden behind it.
15	* CoolAirship: The catfish-like blimp that Sam fills with gas and uses to leave the Balloon Field.
16	* CoolShip: Hannah commandeers one of the Living Ships, and it is BIG! It even becomes a [[spoiler: CoolSpaceship]] at the end of the game.
17	* CoversAlwaysLie: The box art prominently features one of the large alien balloons where Sam starts, but in-game you only get to explore a very small part of that area.
18	* ClassifiedInformation: Everything about Argilus was kept top secret after its discovery. Sam and Hannah were supposed to get a MissionBriefing once the previous science team made contact with Earth, but that never happened.
19	* DevelopersForesight:
20	** After a certain conversation, Sam coherently repeats a couple of alien words for Hannah, because he heard those same words in an earlier puzzle. If the roles are switched, Hannah stumbles over those words a bit.
21	** Some bits of dialogue are added depending on who's in Bosh, where, and before either of the two meet.
22	* EarpieceConversation: Sam and Hannah can only talk to each other by radio while on Argilus. Bonus points that the earpiece is visible on their pictures in the HUD.
23	* TheFaceless: In-universe example. [[spoiler: When Sam and Hannah finally reunite, they find themselves unable to see or touch each other, but still retain radio contact. The natives and science personnel try to break through this, but only temporarily.]] You are able to see Sam and Hannah's faces in the lower-right hand corner of the inventory bar, though.
24	* GhostPlanet: Argilus seems like this throughout the game. Bonus points for Sam and Hannah calling the appearances of natives and scientists "ghosts".
25	* GuideDangIt: Most of the puzzles within the world of Schizm are solvable from the get-go, but offer no clues about how to do so. Puzzles often require you to push buttons in a random order, open capsules repeatedly, or run around listening to obscure sounds, all while giving you no hint whatsoever that they are needed to solve the puzzle. Handwaved by Angela Davies that some of these puzzles are rituals that Matia needs people to perform.
26	* HardLight: A feature of some of the Living Ships. One puzzle requires extending a row of spikes that create a bridge out of this, and Hannah's ship unfurls its sails using hard light as well.
27	* InformingTheFourthWall: Justified for most of the game, as Hannah and Sam record what they say to transmit to each other when they achieve radio contact.
28	* LawOfConservationOfDetail: To maintain the pre-rendered backgrounds, every elevator or vehicle moves out of sight once the player moves away from them. This actually plays into a couple of puzzles within the game as well.
29	* LivingGasbag: The Balloon Field where Sam starts the game.
30	* LostAtSea: In the DVD version, entering an incorrect set of coordinates on either Hannah's Living Ship or Sam's airship ends with either transports being stranded in the middle of the ocean, or later, sending the former straight back to Bosh.
31	* LostInTransmission: On his mission log, Dr. Hoviz tells you to leave, but [[HisNameIs fails to explain why]] before the log becomes corrupted and abruptly ends.
32	* MeaningfulName: The word "Schism" refers to a divide, or rift between two factions or areas. This fits with how Sam and Hannah began stranded on distant sides of the planet, out of radio range of each other. The main menu screen even shows this before the game starts, with images of the Living Ships and Balloon Field on either side. split by the menu itself.
33	* NoOshaCompliance: The outside sections of Bosh are riddled with thin rusty catwalks suspended over enormous drops, without handrails.
34	* OrganicTechnology: The argilan technology is a mix of [[{{Steampunk}} brass and dials]] and smooth, organic stuff.
35	* PlayerCharacterCalculus: You have the option to toggle between controlling Hannah or Sam at any time, and occasionally [[TeamworkPuzzleGame both of them are needed simultaneously to solve a number of puzzles]].
36	* RedHerring: Base 1 is Sam and Hannah's original objective, but by the time Sam gets close, all physical means of getting there are absent. Neither of the other two bases are even seen in-game, either.
37	* SceneryPorn: Practically everywhere on Argilus.
38	* SendInTheSearchTeam: Sam and Hannah are the search team.
39	* SongsInTheKeyOfLock: Done using a set of prayer grinders in Bosh to open a secret door.
40	* StarfishLanguage: See any symbols? Write them down. They do not make any sort of recognizable language, but there's a lot of symbol-based puzzles.
41	* UpdatedReRelease: Subverted as the original DVD release features much-improved graphics, more animations and ghost appearances, a couple of new puzzles, and a better plot, probably thanks to the higher disk space. The CD version was made at the publisher's insistence, comes on 5 [=CDs=] and requires a lot of swapping, especially between characters.

Context VideoGame / SchizmMysteriousJourney