Shout Out / Identity V

Famous real-life people, obscure movies and Victorian literature seem to be a source of inspiration for the game developers who reference them in the game's storytelling.

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Deduction Star

The Deduction Star skins are all based on classic films.

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• Emma Woods [Gardener]'s Boudoir Dream skin takes inspiration from the 1962 film Whatever Happened To Baby Jane.
• Martha Behamfil [Coordinator]'s Iron Lady skin takes inspiration from the 1950 film Harriet Craig.
• Jack [Ripper]'s Svengali skin is based on the 1931 film of the same name.
• Fiona Gilman [Priestess]' Samara is based on Lana Turner's character from The Prodigal.
• Emily Dyer [Doctor]'s Rhythm of the Rain skin is inspired by the iconic raincoat outfit worn by Debbie Reynolds' character in Singin' in the Rain.
• Eli Clark [Seer]'s Deduction Star skin Recluse is based on Le Samouraï
• Michiko [Geisha]'s Rashomon skin is based on the Samurai's wife from the eponymous movie.
• Wu Chang [Black and White Guards] skins is named after and based on Broken Blossoms.
• Aesop Carl [Embalmer]'s Hamlet skin is based on the Laurence Olivier film of the play.
• Naib Subedar [Mercenary]'s Colonel Dax skin is based on the character from the 1957 film Paths of Glory.
• Vera Nair [Perfumer]'s Red Shoes skin is based on the 1948 film The Red Shoes
• Mary [Bloody Queen]'s Scarlet skin is based on the protagonist of the 1939 film Gone with the Wind.
• Tracy Reznik [Mechanic]'s Just Around the Corner skin is based on Shirley Temple's character from the 1938 musical of the same name.
• Norton Campbell [Prospector]'s Black Tulip skin is based on Alain Delon in his role as both Guillaume de Saint Preux and Julien de Saint Preux in the 1964 film of the same name.
• Patricia Dorval [Enchantress]'s Zouzou skin is based on the main character in the 1934 film of the same name.
• Luca Balsa [Prisoner]'s Ben-Hur skin is based on the main character in the 1959 film, Ben-Hur (1959).
• Joseph Desaulniers [Photographer]'s Faust skin is based on the 1926 film, Faust.

Essences

• Season 7 Essence 1 is based on Peter Pan, with Jose Baden [First Officer] as Captain Hook, Robbie White [Axe Boy] as Peter Pan, and Helena Adam [Mind's Eye] as Wendy.
• Season 8 Essence 2 is based on Alice in Wonderland, with Bonbon [Guard 26] as the March Hair, Kurt Frank [Explorer] as Alice, and Freddy Riley [Lawyer] as The White Rabbit.
• Season 11 Essence 3 is based on Murder on the Orient Express (2017).
• Season 12 Essence 3 is based on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, with Patricia Dorval [Enchantress] as Dorothy, Robbie White [Axe Boy] as The Scarecrow, BonBon [Guard 26] as The Tin Woodsman, Burke Lapadura [Mad Eyes] as The Cowardly Lion, Ann [Disciple] as Princess Ozma and Melly Plinius [Entomologist] as the Wicked Witch of The West.
• Season 20 Essence 1 is based on And Then There Were None, with Vera Nair [Perfumer] as Vera Elizabeth Claythorne. The costume descriptions of a poem about eight little icemen is heavily inspired by the Ten Little Soldiers poem from the novel.
  One little iceman thinking he has won, the sun melted the ice and then there were none

Literature

• Kurt Frank [Explorer] is able to shrink himself by reading Gulliver's Travels and imagining he is a Lilliputian.
• Fiona Gilman [Priestess] shares a surname with the protagonist of The Dreams in the Witch House. Her portal abilities might be a reference to how the protagonist of the story discovered a formula that would allow him to make wormholes. Alternatively, her surname could be a reference to the Gilman Hotel in The Shadow Over Innsmouth where the main character Robert Olmstead stayed. Like Olmstead, Fionna has an interest in studying a town located near a body of water with a possible connection to an Eldritch Abomination.
• Percy [Undead] is based on Victor Frankenstein and his monster and even shares the same first name with the author's husband.
• Robbie White [Axe Boy's] deductions frequently allude to The Juniper Tree, a German fairy tale written by The Brothers Grimm.
• Hastur [Feaster] residing in a lake is a reference to the Lake of Hali from The King in Yellow.
• Leo Beck [Hell Ember's] Aladdin skin is based on the titular character from the eponymous Arabian folk tale.
• William Ellis [Forward]'s Sleeping Mr. Bunny skin is inspired by the classic The Tortoise and the Hare fable, originally recorded in Aesop's Fables.
• Fiona Gilman [Priestess]' Fur Coat skin is based on Allerleirauh, a German fairytale recorded by The Brothers Grimm.
• Martha Behamfil [Coordinator]'s Black Swan skin is based on Odile, the main antagonist's daughter from Swan Lake.
• Kreacher Pierson [Thief]'s Bluebeard skin is based on the titular villain from the Charles Perrault fairytale.
• Tracy Reznik [Mechanic]'s Little Red Riding Hood skin is based on the titular protagonist of the eponymous Charles Perrault fairy tale. When equipped with this skin, her robot's appearance seems to based on the huntsman from said fairy tale.
• Kevin Alonso [Cowboy]'s King's Tailor skin is based on The Emperor's New Clothes, a fairytale written by Hans Christian Andersen.
• Fiona Gilman [Priestess] has the same birthday (February 2nd) as Wilbur Whateley.
• Joseph Desaulniers [Photographer] seems to be heavily inspired by the titular character of The Picture of Dorian Gray as shown by his two forms (inside and outside of the Camera World). In the novel, Dorian made a Deal with the Devil so that he would retain his youth while a portrait of him ages in his place.
• Call of the Abyss III is heavily inspired by Pickman's Model, with both Joker [Smiley Face] and Margaretha Zelle [Female Dancer]'s costume descriptions referencing the titular character.

Miscellaneous

• The Red Church map contains a reference to Corpse Bride.

Mythology

• Wu Chang [Black and White Guards] are based on the Heibai Wuchang, a duo of Chinese mythological deities tasked with escorting spirits of the dead to the Underworld.
• Hastur [Feaster]'s Nian skin is based on the Chinese mythological creature of the same name, said to live under the sea or in the mountains, only coming out at the beginning of each Chinese New Year to feed.
• Robbie White [Axeboy]'s Pam skin is based on the famous Satyr Pan from Greek Mythology.
• Both Eli Clark [Seer] and his fiancée Gertrude make references to characters in Math, fab Mathonwy, a myth that was recorded in the Mabinogion. Specifically Lleu Llaw Gyffes and Blodeuwedd (mistransliterated as Raven Jefferson and Brooke Rose).
• Joseph Desaulniers [Photographer]'s Azrael skin is named after the angel of death from Jewish folklore.
• Robbie White [Axe Boy]'s Death of Eurya skin has an insignia on it that represents Yggdrasil, The World Tree from Norse Mythology.
• Fiona Gilman [Priestess]' Morgan the Fairy skin is based on Morgan Le Fay from Arthurian Legend.
• Eli Clark [Seer]'s Longing Tiger and Tracy Reznik [Mechanic]'s Bear Girl skins are references to two characters from the Korean creation myth.
• Galatea [Sculptor]'s name and abilities are references to the Greek myth of Pygmalion.
• The Time of Reunion loading screen reads "Don't look back", a reference to the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice.

Real Life

• Emily Dyer [Doctor], is named after Amelia Dyer, a prolific British serial killer and former nurse, responsible for killing several infants under her care (which is alluded to in-game through the implications that Emily performed abortions on wealthy women).
• Kreacher Pierson [Thief] shares a surname with Arthur Pierson, while his backstory contains many similarities with George Mueller, a former thief and liar who went on to become a born again Christian responsible for founding a large number of orphanages (and whose biography Arthur Pierson wrote).
• Margaretha Zelle [Female Dancer], who is named after Margaretha Geertruida Zelle, a Dutch exotic dancer better known by the stage name Mata Hari. Both her and Joker [Smiley Face's] backstories are also loosely based on The Last Circus.
• Patricia Dorval [Enchantress] is based on Marie Laveau, a Louisiana voodoo practitioner, rumoured to possessed supernatural powers.
• Murro [Wildling]'s deductions mention Kaspar Hauser, a German youth (called "feral child") who claimed to have spent his life in isolation. His origins as well as death became a mystery to the people of Bavaria in the 19th century.
• Luca Balsa [The Prisoner's] backstory is potentially based on the life of Nikola Tesla, as well as his feud with Thomas Edison.
• Joseph Desaulniers [Photographer] is based on Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, who was a French inventor credited with inventing photography.
• One of the songs Jack [The Ripper] hums is The Swan from Camille Saint-Saëns' Carnival of the Animals.
• Volcker and Darren Berglund are potentially named after Edward P. Berglund, a writer of the Cthulhu Mythos.
• Michiko [Geisha] will occasionally hum the traditional Japanese song, Sakura Sakura. In addition, when she enters her 'Prajna' form, her face turns into (or she at least puts on) a Hannya mask, which is used in Noh theater to represent women who became demons due to intense jealousy or obsession.
• Fiona Gilman [Priestess] has a skin based on and named after Vincent van Gogh's famous painting The Starry Night.
• Leo Beck [Hell Ember]'s Leonidas skin is modelled on Leonidas I, warrior king of Sparta, most famous for his role in the Greco-Persian Wars.
• Mary [Bloody Queen] is based on Marie Antoinette, and her deductions reference people and incidents from the life of the real-life queen. One of her letters says that she wasn't "the only Mary", but this does not mean she was not really Marie Antoinette. Rather, this references the fact that she had many older sisters, all of whom were also named Maria (they were all referred to by their middle names).

Urban Legends

• Mary [Bloody Queen]'s mirror abilities are a reference to the urban legend of Bloody Mary. However, Bloody Mary is a reference to Mary I of England, a completely separate person from Mary's basis, Marie Antoinette.
• The map for Eversleeping Town has a reference to the Japanese urban legend of Teke Teke, a young woman who was cut in half by a train when she fell onto a railroad and became a vengeful spirit as a result, crawling on her arms of hands and dragging her upper torso, she attacks her victims and kills them by slicing them in half at the waist so they resemble her.
• Yidhra [Dream Witch]'s Shadow Doll accessory is a reference to the Slender Man.