Amir: There was a meet-and-greet scheduled today with iPear founder Paul Gigs, but I heard people saying it's canceled because someone was murdered!
The police department arrives to The Greens, the former poverty and crime-ridden Industrial Area that has now turned into a trendy and modernized neighborhood over the years, to investigate Tony Marconi's affairs in the district and see if he has truly reformed or not. But before that, Gloria and the player are called by Amir to investigate the murder of iPear CEO Paul Gigs, who died after ingesting a poisoned pear in one of his own stores.
Tropes
- Ambiguously Evil: Continuing from the previous case, Marconi's behavior in this case still leaves unclear whether he's truly a Reformed Criminal or not, as you discover he's running a private security company he's been trying to keep as secret as possible while justifying its anonymity by claiming he wants to unveil it slowly as public still doesn't trust him. And then there's the fact he's the only person Zoe remembers...
- The Bus Came Back: One-Tooth Sam makes a return here as a suspect.
- Call-Back: Tony Marconi reappears during the Additional Investigation.
- Child Prodigy: Rozetta claims to be such a genius she was already coding augmented reality prototypes when she was twelve, and you later discover she also wrote the code of the victim's iPear during an internship when she was fifteen.
- Continuity Nod: Judge Powell mentions her daughter likes blasting The Henge at full volume.
- A Day in the Limelight: One for Amir, who accompanies you through most of the Additional Investigation to assist at Rozetta's VR party.
- Fallen-on-Hard-Times Job: Jon fears this is what going to happen to him due to letting Gigs die on his watch, believing his career as bodyguard is over. He still manages to receive a job offer from Marconi's security company, though it's left unclear if he ends up accepting it.
- Fantasy-Forbidding Father: After arresting the killer, Gloria recalls how her mother openly opposed to Gloria's dream of becoming a police officer, and Gloria had to fight for it until her mother finally accepted.
- Heel–Face Town: Thanks to One-Tooth Sam using his fortune to gentrify it over the course of five years, the Industrial Area has gone from being a poverty, crime, and gang-infested Urban Hellscape to a modernized neighborhood thriving with life and security, full of trendy business and tech startups that have attracted lots of young people and Hipsters who now live in The Greens.
- Honest Corporate Executive: This case introduces Rozetta Pierre, CEO of DreamLife who, despite her abrasiveness and Insufferable Genius tendencies, seems to be running a genuine tech business with innovative ideas.
- Idle Rich: Waldo Gigs, the victim's son, would rather spend his time working on his hobbies than working or even studying, even becoming a college dropout as a result.
- Insufferable Genius: Rozetta certainly takes pride in her achievements as a former Child Prodigy and current CEO of DreamLife.Rozetta: They say Gigs was a marketing genius, but I'm the actual genius! I was coding augmented reality prototypes when I was twelve! Gigs could only dream of being as smart as me!
- Irony: When you discover Marconi, a former mafia lord and ex-convict, now manages a private security business in The Greens, Ramirez compares it to "a cat running a business protecting parakeets."Marconi: Yes, yes, very ironic. I used to steal stuff to make a living, and now people pay me to protect stuff!
- Jack the Ripoff: The killer inspired themselves to commit the murder after reading the cyberpunk novel User 404, as the hero defeats the villain with poison while telling them to "meet their maker", which are the words the victim vandalized a cardboard cutout of Gigs with.
- I Just Want to Be Free: Waldo's ultimate reason for killing his father is that he wanted his son to take over his company someday, forcing him to attend countless hours of iPear training when all Waldo wanted was to keep being an Idle Rich.
- Malicious Slander: According to Rozetta, Gigs made up she had leaked iPear secrets on her blog right after she finished writing the code for iPear and thus was kicked out of the internship, most likely so he could get away with Stealing the Credit from her and pass it as his own.
- Mean Boss: The victim was this towards his bodyguard Jon Benson, as he constantly screamed at him for the smallest mistakes and even tore apart Jon's book because, in his words, "he was a shield, and shields absorb bullets, not books."
- New Technology Is Evil: Eugene, a sociologist studying the effects of technology on humans, justifies his hatred for the victim and his tech company with this.Eugene: Here in The Greens, I'm a dissident! Everyone else is a Gigs-worshipping technocrat! All of them are brainwashed!I go for a jog, and what happens? A traffic jam of pedestrians, because everyone's looking at their phones, apathetic toward reality!They claim technology brings us together, but when two people sitting next to each other have phones in their hands, they couldn't be further apart!
- Not So Above It All: When you interrogate Waldo for the first time, Gloria seems distraught when he mentions eating "unicorn toast," which is a type of sandwich made in The Greens. Later during the investigation, however...Gloria: I got hungry while you were searching the place, and I couldn't resist one of these newfangled unicorn toast things...
- Only Smart People May Pass: Rozetta's invitations to her VR party are encrypted tablets that, once unlocked, give you the permission to attend it.Rozetta: The ticket is around this restaurant somewhere. It looks like a tablet, and it's coded. If you're smart enough to crack it, you're welcome to come to the launch party!
- I Own This Town: A non-villainous example with One-Tooth Sam, who after regaining his fortune five years ago dedicated himself to buying and modernizing the entire Industrial Area until it became The Greens, and was understandably furious when Gigs not only attributed the district's gentrification to his company, but also made clear he intended to take the landowning away from Sam altogether.Sam: Gigs was worse than Napoleon! He wanted to strong-arm me out of my own neighborhood!But The Greens is MINE! And I'll stop at nothing to keep it!
- The Paranoiac: According to Cathy and some of your suspects, Gigs was famous for being both secretive and extremely paranoid, which is why no one knew he had a son until you meet him during the investigation.
- Parental Neglect: After you discover Gigs forgot about the birthday of his son Waldo, he tells you his father was never "looking over his shoulder," which Waldo considered a good thing since it gave him the freedom necessary to pursue his hobbies. In the end, however, this neglect made of Waldo an Idle Rich who killed Gigs because he wanted him to inherit the company.Waldo: "Dearest dad" spent years throwing money at me and calling it parenting, and suddenly he turns around and wants to control every part of my life!
- Patricide: The victim was killed by his own son.
- Phoneaholic Teenager: As mentioned before, Eugene believes one of the reasons why New Technology Is Evil is because young people can't be away from their cellphones for five minutes, leading to far less socialization among them.
- Rags to Riches: One-Tooth Sam, who went from being a homeless man to the wealthiest landowner in The Greens and one of the richest men in Grimsborough.
- Reformed, but Rejected: Marconi cites this aspect of him as the reason why he kept Hawk Eye Security, his security company, as secret as possible, since he didn't want people to defame him due to being a former mobster.
- Research, Inc.: DreamLife, a tech firm specialized in developing augmented virtual reality and whose CEO, Rozetta Pierre, had a rivalry with Gigs.
- School Is for Losers: Due to being the son of a millionaire CEO of a tech giant, Waldo dropped out of college to pursue and focus on his hobbies, although this led to Gigs forcing him to get a job.
- Shameless Self-Promotion: After hearing the news of Gigs' death, the first thing Rozetta does is stand in front of the iPear store he perished to celebrate and advertise DreamLife.
- Shaming the Mob: Gloria and the player do this with an angry mob outside of the iPear store demanding answers for Gigs' death.
- Shout-Out:
- The victim, Paul Gigs, is a parody of Steve Jobs.
- Jon Benson resembles Dwayne Johnson.
- Eugene Goffman is a parody of Erving Goffman.
- Rozetta Pierre resembles Nyané Lebajoa.
- In the iPear Showroom scene, there is a Playstation controller.
- In the Laptop Display scene, there is artwork of a clownfish resembling Marlin, and a chameleon-shaped tape dispenser resembling Pascal.
- In the HIP Dining Room scene, there is a Golden Ticket.
- iPear is a parody of Apple.
- DreamLife's name and symbol are a combination of Dreamcast and Second Life.
- Skewed Priorities: When you inform Eugene about Gigs' death, he says he'll be more fascinated to see what sort of ripple effect his death has on the community.
- The Social Expert: Eugene Goffman, one of your suspects, is a sociologist (and a pretty famous one too, according to Gabriel).
- Stealing the Credit: Gigs apparently had a penchant for doing this, as not only he stole the credit from Rozetta after she wrote the code for his iPear phone, but also wanted to do the same with The Greens by claiming it was his company that gentrified and modernized the district when most of it was Sam's job.
- Take Over the City: Gigs left clear he wanted total control of The Greens to Sam, claiming that it was him who made The Greens what it is today.
- Tampering with Food and Drink: The victim was killed by ingesting a pear filled with raccoon poison the killer left in a basket at his store.
- Tech-Demo Game: During the Additional Investigation, Amir and the player attend a party where Rozetta will showcase the demo of her virtual reality game, which is DreamLife's's next big project.
- Themed Party: During the Additional Investigation, Amir, Rupert, and the player attend a party organized to promote DreamLife's virtual reality game, where guests are required to wear VR goggles for this.
- Touché: When Amir attempts to convince Rupert to attend Rozetta's virtual reality party.Rupert: I've never understood the appeal. If it's "virtual" reality, that means it isn't real!Amir: Rupert, you think trapping tiny boats in glass bottles is a more logical way to spend one's time?Rupert: Touché, Amir. Very well, let's see what this virtual reality thing is all about.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Gloria berated Jon Benson for letting Gigs die on his watch, as he was supposed to be his bodyguard.
