Dead Synchronicity (released April 10th, 2015) is an Adventure Game about a man named Michael, who awakes in a Crapsack World after a disaster that destroyed most of his city, possibly the world; military forces are now in control and there is an epidemic of "Dissolved". The main objective of the game is to find out who Michael was and the story behind what happened while he was in coma.
The game was developed by Fictiorama Studios and published by Daedalic Entertainment. The official website can be found here
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Dead Synchronicity provides examples of:
- Affably Evil: The Hunter is a very dangerous man, but will always be very calm and polite during conversations, even when threatening you with physical harm, and may be really convinced of serving an higher purpose. Near the end, however, if you decide to talk to him one last time, he becomes very angry when Michael calls him out as the rotten person he is.
- After the End: The game is set after the Great Wave, which created a large shockwave that destroyed the Old World civilization after the appearance of a large hole in the sky.
- Armies Are Evil: Initially, they were Well-Intentioned Extremist before they took over the city under martial law. Now their ranks are filled with Sociopathic Soldiers.
- Apocalypse How: Laying between Class 1 (military as sole authority) and Class 2 (most of the government has collapsed. By the end of the game, Class Z.
- Black-and-Gray Morality: A given with the setting. Michael will have to perform some very questionable actions to go forward, but with few exceptions like Rod and his old friend Chris, who helps him recover his lost memories, most people around have become absolutely horrible to survive in the new world.
- Crapsack World: Oh boy.
- The starting area of the game is a refugee camp, which is now a Gulag for dissidents and homeless people. To make matters worse, there is an epidemic of "Dissolved" where the infected people are captured by the Cleanup Brigade with the aid of Army Moles, who were given better accommodations and supplies in exchange for their cooperation.
- The city isn't in good shape either. Anyone there who is either homeless or out in the streets during curfew hours will be sent to refugee camp, which its intake has been significant due to decaying structures causing people to unable to find shelter. The city park is filled with people Driven to Suicide and has not been cleaned up since then. In addition, it also houses a facility for "Dissolved" patients who are forced to suffer until their expiration due to the lack of a cure for them.
- To make matters worse, the entire world also suffered from the Great Wave, and time itself is coming to an end.
- Cosmic Horror Story: The world is coming to an end due to the Dead Synchronicity: the universe is experiencing the end of time itself.
- Cliffhanger: Michael is a "dissolved" and trapped in an Underground Highway.
- Darker and Edgier: Compared to any other game by Daedalic Entertainment, especially Deponia.
- Driven to Madness:
- The preacher in the city church. He used to be quite sane - and apparently knew how to stop Dead Synchronicity - but the aftermath of the Great Wave slowly drove him mad. Now, he recites pseudo-prophetic words which are actually from the presentation he was to give had the Great Wave not hit when it did.
- Rose who became a female variation of Manchild after the Great Wave left her as a wanderer and being raped by the drunken guards before receiving the "help" of two thugs who made her into a prostitute in her child-like state. All of this ended in her catatonic state after Michael gave her a gun to kill her two tormentors.
- The End of the World as We Know It: Reality itself is coming to an end.
- Find the Cure!: Heroic example. Rod Atkinson asks Michael to find one for his son in exchange for Michael's returned memories. Justified in that Rod doesn't know where such a cure is and needs to stay and support his wife. Subverted when Michael discovers the cure is another of the government's lies.
- Foreshadowing:
- Michael being one of the "Dissolved" in his frequent hallucinations where he sees the surrounding environment at various points in the past or future, or the sensitivity to the timelessness of The Dead Synchronicity.
- Despite the subway entrances in the city being bricked up and power being at an extreme premium, the subway system is fully-powered and actively used. This is one of the early signs of the Government Conspiracy, the only people affluent enough to afford that much power.
- Government Conspiracy: The New Truth is investigating one. They're of the evil One World Order type and are implied to be behind the gulag, the careless soldiers, and many of the ills of the world not caused by the Great Wave in order to preserve as much power as they can before Dead Synchronicity strips them of it all. They also know of the forces driving reality to Dead Synchronicity.
- I Did What I Had to Do: Michael had to disfigure Reverend Blake's face in order to fabricate a story to save two children from execution.
- Intrepid Reporter: Michael worked for Chris and The New Truth, serving as this trope, as a photographer
- Manchild: Rose, a prostitute who acted in child-like manner after the Great Wave.
- Papa Wolf: Rod Atkinson is protective of his son who is infected with "dissolved".
- The Plague: The increasing number of "Dissolved", which causes victims to become sick and red-eyed along with visions from other worlds.
- The Reveal: Michael: was a photographer who was married to his wife, Emily. Things went sour when Emily suffered a miscarriage that led to Michael becoming The Alcoholic. Later, both Emily and Michael went to Japan to investigate the rift in the sky before the Great Wave, to fulfill an assignment from The New Truth and repair their marriage. However, Emily became "Dissolved" and Michael suffered an amnesia from the Great Wave. Also Michael turning out to be a "Dissolved" in the ending.
- The Great Wave and the "Dissolved": the latter had existed before the Great Wave, and they multiplied exponentially after that event. The victims of the plague became aware of the Dead Synchronicity and contact with people from Underground Highway, which included a few "Dissolved" like Emily. The Great Wave is also a precursor to the Dead Synchronicity, which will end the reality of the universe along with physics and time.
- Title Drop: The Dead Synchronicity is an event where time itself is coming to an end. All hope lies within the Underground Highway.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Rod, thanks to hitting the Despair Event Horizon after being told that there is no cure for the "Dissolved".
