Line #4 VideoGame/TheInfectiousMadnessOfDoctorDekker


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/header_43.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350: "What do you think, Doctor?"]]
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4	''The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker'' is an InteractiveMovie, developed by D'Avekki Studios, and originally released on [[Platform/IBMPersonalComputer PC]] through Platform/{{Steam}} on 19th May, 2017. It was then ported to Platform/Playstation4, Platform/XboxOne and Platform/NintendoSwitch on June 5th, 2018.
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6	Your character is a psychologist, called to fill in for the titular Doctor Dekker, who has been murdered. Your job is to treat his roster of patients, while also trying to determine who killed him. However, Doctor Dekker's patients have some unique problems which may make your job more difficult than expected.
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8	Since so much of the plot is revealed directly through gameplay, some tropes might be spoilers by their very nature. Proceed with caution.
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10	On March 14, 2019, the game's creators released a prequel to ''Dekker'' in the form of a livestream on Twitch. The prequel concerns a new patient named Eve whom Dr. Dekker has left in the care of his "colleagues" (i.e. participants in the livestream's chat). Viewers got to ask Eve questions in real time and help determine whether she ends up happy, sad or insane.
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12	The game has a SpiritualSuccessor called ''VideoGame/TheShapeshiftingDetective'', to which it was eventually {{Canon Weld\|ing}}ed by ''VideoGame/DarkNightsWithPoeAndMunro''.
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14	!!Provides examples of:
15	* OneHundredPercentCompletion: If you still have questions to ask someone, their icon will be red. If you've asked enough questions to move on to the next chapter, their icon will be orange. If you've asked all possible questions, their icon will be green. However, completing everything isn't necessarily in your best interest. [[spoiler: Most of the "extra" questions will affect your sanity.]]
16	* TheAlcoholic: Doctor Dekker himself, who kept vodka in his desk. In the prequel, Eve confesses to drinking a lot in order to help mitigate her anxiety.
17	* AllTherapistsAreMuggles: Averted. You may have started as one, but your conversations with the patients soon include supernatural elements.
18	* AmoralAttorney: One of the endings implies that certain lawyers [[spoiler: sent Dekker his clients and told them to feign "strangeness" in order to get insanity diagnoses]].
19	* AnimateDead: Claire considers herself to be something of a necromancer.
20	* AntimagicalFaction: Some of the characters believe that [[spoiler: psychologists should be this, talking any {{reality warper}}s out of believing in their powers, so that [[YourMindMakesItReal those powers cease to work]]. Dr. Dekker apparently abandoned this philosophy]].
21	* CameBackWrong: [[spoiler: David Castleford, if Claire is to be believed. Dr. Dekker may have done it too... Maybe.]]
22	* ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve: This is how psychokinesis supposedly works.
23	* ColdBloodedTorture: [[spoiler: Claire threatens you with this if you don't give her her insanity diagnosis, implying that she'll kill and reanimate you repeatedly.]]
24	* CreatorCameo: The game's director, Tim Cowles, is seen in a photo as David Castleford.
25	* CreepyChild: A little girl named Molly sometimes shows up that invokes this.
26	* DeathOfAChild: [[spoiler: The truck driver who caused Nathan's accident takes his daughter Molly with him. It can also happen with Anoushka, depending on whether you tell Claire to kill David (again) or not.]]
27	* DreamWalker: A past client of Doctor Dekker named Scarlett claims to be one of these.
28	* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:During the sequence where you get stuck in time, Nathan mentions that Doctor Dekker gave him a pill with a skull-and-crossbones on it that could [[DeadlyEuphemism put an end to the time loop]]. You can encourage him to take it, but doing so doesn't seem to work.]]
29	** [[spoiler: The truck driver who was involved in Nathan's accident also does this.]]
30	* EasterEgg: If you ask Professor Warwick about Atlas, Ryan Rand or ''VideoGame/{{Contradiction}}'', he will chuckle and say [[ActorAllusion "I think you're confusing me with someone else" and swirl his whisky glass]].
31	* EldritchAbomination: [[spoiler: The undersea creature that Marianna lures people to.]]
32	* EmptyShell: [[spoiler: The reanimated David.]]
33	* EveryoneIsASuspect: You don't know who killed Doctor Dekker, but most of the characters could conceivably have done it. The killer is chosen at random at the beginning of the game, and some scenes are different depending on who did it.
34	* FeaturelessProtagonist: The game plays out almost entirely from the player character's point of view and we never find out anything about them, including their gender (There are hints that the doctor is male, given Marianna's flirtatious behavior. However, even that isn’t complete confirmation, as Marianna has admitted to seducing women as well as men).
35	* FootFocus: Marianna always seems to be barefoot, allowing her to put her feet up on the couch. Jaya occasionally as well.
36	* {{Foreshadowing}}: The opening sequence consists of clips from Dr. Dekker's therapy sessions including one with a girl called Molly who says her father is trying to hurt her. [[spoiler: We later find out that her father committed suicide and took her with him]].
37	* FreudianCouch: The main way you interact with the other characters is by typing questions while they sit on the couch in your office. In fact, almost the entire game takes place here.
38	* GainaxEnding: [[spoiler: The endings become increasingly bizarre depending on how many "insanity points" you pick up. They include the suggestion that the patients are nothing more than aspects of your personality, that you are actually Dr. Dekker back from the dead or that you are one of Dr. Dekker's patients]].
39	* TheGhost: Most of the people Jaya and the patients talk about are never seen. Dr. Dekker himself is also this since we never see a picture of him and we never even learn his first name.
40	* GroundhogDayLoop: Nathan believes he is stuck in one. [[spoiler:At one point, you get stuck alongside him.]]
41	* HospitalHottie: Elin to an extent, and possibly Doctor Dekker, [[spoiler: who may have dated certain patients]]. The prequel stars an attractive young woman named Eve who worked as a doctor before circumstances forced her to quit.
42	* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: [[spoiler: Doctor Dekker was stabbed through the heart with a paper spike on his desk. Claire stabbed her husband with a steak knife.]]
43	* InfectiousInsanity: Practically name-dropped in the title. Some characters believe their sessions with Dr. Dekker only made their symptoms worse, since they feel he had characteristics of a PsychoPsychologist.
44	* InkblotTest: Several of these hang on the wall above your FreudianCouch.
45	* InsanityDefense: Claire [[spoiler: killed her husband]]. It's mentioned that it would be quite convenient if her sanity was put in doubt.
46	** [[spoiler: One ending implies certain lawyers are trying to invoke this by telling their clients to feign illnesses.]]
47	* InteractiveMovie: Like its predecessor, it's a game centered on live action footage that works similar to a visual novel.
48	* ItsAllMyFault: Nathan blames himself [[spoiler: for the truck driver's suicide, after sending him an accusing letter]].
49	* JumpScare: A couple, mostly caused by Jaya breaking into your conversation to provide information. The other major ones tend to be implied to be [[spoiler: either visions or hallucinations, as if something like a ghostly little girl appears]] they won't appear in the video's playback, or little FreezeFrameBonus events in a client's idle screens like [[spoiler: Claire suddenly walking towards you holding a knife]].
50	* KeywordsConversation: All the conversations you have with the patients. They can react to certain words, usually giving you more information. But if the game doesn't recognize any of the words you type as important, you won't learn anything new.
51	* KindheartedCatLover: Elin has a cat called [[Literature/PetSematary Church]].
52	* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: When you're stuck in the time loop with Nathan, he at one point mentions that he believes the whole conversation is being controlled by someone behind a computer, creating the conversation through a keyboard, which is exactly what you, the player, are doing. In the prequel, Eve wonders if she might be in a video game because [[spoiler:she can see other people's "life bars" (which indicate how much life they have left)]].
53	* TheLostLenore: [[spoiler: Hannah, Nathan's fiancée.]]
54	* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: Do your patients truly have supernatural powers, or are they delusional and only think they do?
55	* MayDecemberRomance: 25-year-old Elin dates Max, one of her former patients who is 77.
56	* MeaningfulName: Claire's husband (who is an optician) had an assistant named '''Iris'''. Claire lampshades it as being incredibly on the nose.
57	* MentalTimeTravel: Nathan says he experienced this.
58	* MercyKill: It can be argued that [[spoiler: David's second death, if he experienced it at all, is this]].
59	* MindOverMatter: One of the types of supposed psychic abilities that can come up is this to lift objects and the like.
60	* MortonsFork: A few choices can arrive at the same conclusion anyway. For example, [[spoiler: Claire will kill David again whether you tell her to or not, but if you do, Anoushka will live]].
61	* MultipleEndings: Dependent on how much insanity you accrue and who the murderer is.
62	* NeverFoundTheBody: At one point, [[spoiler: Dr. Dekker's body went missing]].
63	* OffingTheOffspring: [[spoiler: Molly's father kills both her and himself via carbon monoxide poisoning]].
64	* OffWithHisHead: [[spoiler: Claire beheads the reanimated David with an axe.]]
65	* OnlySaneWoman: Jaya seems to be the only character to have a firm grasp of reality. [[spoiler: Unless she turns out to be the killer, that is]].
66	* PlotTriggeringDeath: If Dr. Dekker hadn't died, you wouldn't be interviewing his clients.
67	* PoliceAreUseless: Implied to be the case given that it's up to Dr. Dekker's replacement to find the killer.
68	* PosthumousCharacter: The titular doctor.
69	* ProfessionalGambler: Professor Warwick tried to become one.
70	* PsychologicalHorror: Delves into this at times.
71	* PsychoPsychologist: Some of the patients seem to think Doctor Dekker became this.
72	* RapeAsDrama: Comes up during a possible conversation with a patient as [[spoiler: Marianna can accuse ''you'' of this, making reference to you "getting inside her" and it hurting. If you press her further, she goes into more detail. She says she strips naked while your face turns into worms that get inside her. She then accuses you of being the "sick one". This is ''very bad'' for your sanity]].
73	* RealityWarper: A lot of the strange happenings mentioned in the game are said to have occurred because someone willed them to happen.
74	* Really700YearsOld: We see a photo of a grave that says Dr. Dekker was born in 1875 but this is most likely a delusion.
75	* RecurringDreams: At least one character has them. [[spoiler: Complete with an EldritchAbomination and MeatMoss!]]
76	* ReluctantFanserviceGirl: Marianna has blackouts that end with her being found naked on the beach. This results in unwanted attention from the police and her Uber driver. Though she does enjoy dancing in her underwear (or less).
77	* SanityMeter: Each of your recurring patients has one, as do you.
78	* SanitySlippage: Can happen to characters as the game progresses. Including you.
79	* SecretTestOfCharacter: Bryce believes that the "hooded figure" is putting him through these.
80	* ShapeShifting: Elin claims to be able to do this in certain circumstances.
81	* ShoutOut: Six possible suspects, a murder victim known only by their last name, a randomly chosen murderer and the game concluding with an accusation (which you can get right or wrong) make it superficially similar to ''TabletopGame/{{Clue}}''. There's even a character named Scarlett who wears a red dress (although she isn't a suspect).
82	** Bryce's ability is that as time stops for everybody but him for an hour at the stroke of midnight, which he refers to as his "[[VideoGame/Persona3 Midnight Hour]]".
83	** Eve specifically mentions playing [[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]].
84	* SlippingAMickey: It appears Doctor Dekker was this victim of this.
85	* SpontaneousHumanCombustion: Apparently, Jaya's mother succumbed to this.
86	* StalkerWithACrush: Marianna seems to attract a LOT of these. [[spoiler: Possibly including you.]] Also, Bryce to a certain extent. He takes naked photos of his neighbor without her knowledge.
87	* TakeThat: Glyn took his date to see ''Film/Zoolander2'' and says he doesn't recommend it.
88	* TheTease: Marianna, Marianna, Marianna.
89	* TextParser: How you interact with your patients.
90	* TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou: [[spoiler: At the end of the prequel stream, Eve began reading comments from the despondent chat, who believed they'd gotten the bad ending (as she ended up killing someone) and that they'd screwed up.]]
91	--->'''Eve:''' You think this is a game? ''She winks, stream ends.''
92	* ThroughTheEyesOfMadness: Some of the patients describe seeing things that... aren't right. [[spoiler:Sometimes you do, too.]]
93	* TimeStandsStill: Bryce describes experiencing this for one hour every night.
94	* TitleDrop: Jaya says the full title out loud at one point.
95	* TheUnreveal: Bryce says he can sometimes see a girl standing behind us and speculates that it might be a relative of ours. This is never brought up again and is ultimately left unexplained. [[spoiler: It's conceivable that the girl is Molly but since Bryce has no connection to her (unlike Nathan), it's not clear why he'd be able to see her]]. Asking about her does not help your sanity in the slightest.
96	* VideoGameCaringPotential: You're a therapist after all, and trying to actually help your patients can be very rewarding, since the ending will show what happened next.
97	* VideoGameCrueltyPotential: Alternatively, you can be a giant dick to all your patients.
98	* VoluntaryShapeshifting: Elin claims to be able to "shift" into her patients' relatives.
99	* WhateverHappenedToTheMouse: We get to see what happens to the five main patients but not the minor ones like Scarlett and Professor Warwick.
100	* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue: At the end, depending on how the patients have been treated, you'll get to see what happened to them after the game.
101	* WhoWatchesTheWatchmen: Your assistant Jaya stresses the need to keep an eye on you as you work with the patients.
102	** [[spoiler: If she's the murderer, she asserts that her job is more important than yours precisely because of this in her confession.]]
103	* WouldHurtAChild: [[spoiler: Molly's father commits suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning while both of them are in the car. The reanimated David kills Anoushka if you tell Claire to let him live]].
104	* YouCantGetYeFlask: As the game is entirely based around "following up on statements via a text parser," it can run into this pretty frequently. It gets particularly bad when one needs to include ''multiple'' keywords to follow up on both at once.

Context VideoGame / TheInfectiousMadnessOfDoctorDekker