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Fridge Brilliance
- Most of these games have hostages who stupidly run in front of you. However in these games, they actually are trying to get away from the zombies and don't know you're coming, and the ones who aren't are usually pinned or grabbing onto something like a banister. In the later games, when the Zombie Apocalypse has taken into account, you don't save hostages — you're saving your partner or yourself.
- In general, the monsters are all supposed to be reversed or corrupted versions of the major arcana.
- The Fool: This card represents a new journey that is full of freedom and potential, trusting the universe to take care of you on your way. The giant sloth is encountered in a cylindrical cage and prevents the protagonists from moving on their journey, and it fights in an extremely reckless and self-destructive manner by attacking you with the same claws it climbs the cage with; it ends the fight literally flinging itself at you with only one claw to catch itself, contributing to its death when that claw finally gives out.
- Justice: In contrast to Lady Justice, this is a wild beast in a dirty sewer, incapable of logic and reason. It covers its face with its hand as if attempting to turn away from the truth.
- The Lovers: This is supposed to represent a healthy relationship, usually romantic but not necessarily so. The female spider is doing ALL the work, and the male spider is just a small, parasitic weak point. Basically almost completely useless (or worse, even) compared to its counterpart.
- The Empress: This is supposed to represent a woman (or any person but usually a woman) who is any combination of beautiful, elegant, motherly etc etc. A bringer of life, in some interpretations. A chainsaw is... well, I guess it depends on who you ask, but it’s not usually any of those things. The figure holding the chainsaw also twitches and moves erratically, lacking grace and civility.
- Temperance: Represents continence or self-control. The boss is a gigantic mass of fat that figuratively eats all the bullets you fire at it, representing Gluttony. Pretty much self-explanatory.
- The Star: Supposed to represent hope and wonder, but the boss is something that can only bring despair. And it does this in the main plot by killing one of the two people that can stop Goldman's Thanatos Gambit.
- The World: This is supposed to be the culmination of the journey of life, being true enlightenment. The boss creates things that are temporary (made of ice which inevitably melts) and continuously resurrects itself as if to deny itself a real conclusion to its own life. Likewise, the thing is intended to end the world, being the antithesis of its name.
- The Magician: Represents one with power and the determination to use it properly, as well as creativity and trying to fulfill one's true potential. However the boss misuses its power for evil purposes instead of good. The first thing it does is betray its creator, the only person who might have known what its limits might have been, and then in its subsequent appearances it has no purpose other than killing things.
- The Tower: Represents unexpected change of events that often unwanted. The boss is unaware that one of their mouths get shot when opening it. The monster embodies what the card is known for: a bringer of catastrophe, also being stationed in one place almost until the end.
- Judgment: Represents rebirth, absolution, judgment and inner calling. The monsters believe themselves to be judges, juries and executioners, twisting the meaning of the card for their own purposes. They don't follow an inner calling, being completely subservient to Goldman, plus they do get a rebirth: a second chance to fight you again.
- Hierophant: Represents the deep importance of spirituality and religion, resembling a pope. The monster is none of those things, resembling more as a denizen from Hell, and his actions are guiding the people towards destruction. Its own servants are always being sent to their deaths, rather than being counseled to better themselves.
- Strength: Represents purity of strength, not only internal, but also external. The monster only focuses on the external aspects, completely forgetting the internal ones, only focusing on the brute strength and asserting his control through force.
- Emperor: Embodies advice, wisdom, authority and grounding. The monster is a wannabe tyrant and megalomaniac who wishes to assert his authority to humans by subjugation, and also is overconfident and arrogant, underestimating his opponents, which leads to his defeat.
- Chariot: The Chariot Arcana is represents control, guidance, victory, and less knowingly, friendship. The Chariot monster is the first boss in all its appearances, a mindless lackey of a major villain, without any control over its own body, and any attempt at gaining freedom would destroy it due to needing life support to function.
- Hermit: The Hermit spider takes the isolation and introspective nature of this Arcana to its logical extreme, being totally alone during its boss fight, and fights to aid someone who has no regard for human life.
- Hangedman: The arcana means saving others through self-sacrifice, altruism and trying to redeem another. The boss monster spends most of its time in the air, sending its bat minions to die for it and using them as shields, and is introduced killing two helpless scientists out of sadism.
- The Sun: represents spreading positivity, joy and optimism throughout the world. The plant monster does the exact opposite. It's spread its killing tendrils and infected servants throughout the facility and assimilated many humans into its central trunk. Instead of spreading joy to others, it's spreading misery through its rampant growth, and stealing lives to fuel its growth.
- Moon: The moon represents the existence of an illusion or deception, or finding a hidden truth. And the only way to beat it is a one-in-a-million trick that you'd never see at first glance. However, the upright card is also associated with madness and fear, the former of which Thornheart has in spades, and the latter the Moon induces by its presence.
- Death: despite its scary name and appearance, this arcana merely represents change, a transition from one part of your life to the next. In effect, it's clearing away the old to start anew. The Death boss is already dead, as a zombie, and is also a berserk beast with only one attack. It does not change in either of its boss fights and in fact fights to prevent said changes.
- The High Priestess: Painting the humane aspects of spirituality, this monster is perhaps the most alien-like with even less earthling-lore than the others
- The Hanged Man has a Narmy squeaky voice, but being that it is a huge flying creature, there is a chance its design uses a lighter than air gas to help its flight, which are known to, when inhaled, give you a higher pitched voice.
Fridge Horror
- What could have happened that would lead to the state of the world in III despite the heroes winning in 4, 4 Special and Scarlet Dawn? Aside from Thomas and G, how many of our heroes are still alive? Aside from James Taylor blowing himself up with The World and Varla being a Brain in a Jar, Gary, Harry, Amy, Issac, Kate and Ryan are all unaccounted for.
- Goldman spends most of 4 monologuing about a successor within "Pandora's Box". Goldman is last seen throwing himself off of his headquarters, apparently to his death. Thornheart, in one alternate ending, was limping around Goldman's headquarters. Years later in the events of 4 the World comes out of the same courtyard Goldman's body landed in. The implication here, if the Final Boss of 3 is any indication, Goldman was somehow brought back as The World to finish what The Emperor started.
- The entire 2 incident was merely a preview for the real thing being stuffed somewhere deep and the World was already under the ground yet to be launched
Fridge Sadness
- In 2, while it is possible to save every civilian you're able to in chapter 1, there is one that dies no matter what, alongside some prior dead bodies. Once you see what kind of civilians you save on the branching paths of the other chapters, however, it further drives home that no matter which path you take, you can't save everyone that got caught in the city outbreak. It's essentially a masterfully somber case of for-want-of-a-nail. For instance, if you fail to save the driver at the start of chapter 2, you turn to see a woman you can save who is about to be killed by some creatures after the players see the dead driver. However, this means that if you save the driver, you doom her and other civilians on that path to die and vice versa. That's not even factoring in how each route in this chapter has an elderly couple or a couple of families that you'd either rescue or doom to die depending on where you go.
