Video Game / Lil Guardsman

Lil' Guardsman is a point-and-click puzzle game developed by Hilltop Studios released in 2024.

In this deduction adventure, you play as Lil - an unlikely 12-year-old hero - covering your dad's shift at the guard shed and are tasked with deciding the fate of over 100 unique characters. You will question humans, elves, goblins, cyclopses, and other fantasy creatures using your powers of deduction to determine who to admit or deny based on how they respond to your questions and your trusty tools. Sending visitors to jail, inadvertently zapping them to smithereens, or letting them go on their merry way are all part of the job. But be careful: who you let through the castle gates will determine the kingdom's fate.

The game is similar to Papers, Please, but with a fantasy twist.

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The Royal Tropes:

• Added Alliterative Appeal: In Signor Capello Fantastico's Day 2 4* epilogue, most of the hat stores he went to are alliterative. The names are Henry's Hats, Linda's Lids, Homer's Haberdashery, the Chapeau Shack, Mind Your Millinery, and Yiddle's Yarmulke Yurt. The only ones not following alliteration are Hats Hats Hats, and ALL CAPS.
• Advanced Tech 2000:
  • The Wicket 3000 is what allows Lil to admit or deny visitors entry into the Sprawl, and later allows her to send people to jail.
  • The Chronometer 3000 is the Time Machine that gives Justified Extra Lives, and later becomes central to Tyronius' plot to put mages in control.
• Amazon Brigade: The Marvagh Empire is made up of buff warrior women, where their leader is determined by combat ballet.
• Anime Hair: Lil sports a gigantic head of hair almost half the size of her body.
• Awesome, but Impractical:
  • The "inside the park home run" bomb that Wilbur "Kaboose" Orville has in his plane. Sure, it can blow up a massive area, but it's also a Hair-Trigger Explosive and is extremely heavy. He'll perform much better in the air battle if you confiscate it due to no longer being weighed down, but if you let him keep the bomb, it will explode while on the runway, sabotaging the Sprawl's efforts. It's also impractical for yet another unmentioned reason — the battle is an air-to-air battle, and bombs are air-to-ground weapons.
  • Downplayed with the little Primaris Dragon Rider. She rides a huge and powerful dragon Peaches, but if you simply let her into the war with a whistle, Peaches will be unable to be properly disciplined due to the loudness of combat and run away in the air battle. However, if Lil lends the rider the bullwhip, she will be able to control her dragon to deal serious damage in the battle.
• Beware the Silly Ones: Malcolm is a complete kook who acts just as silly and nonsensical as you'd expect from a Court Jester. He's also a charismatic master of trickery and deception, allowing Lil to bend certain rules set by Stryker/Ashe if he's called upon, and he also manages to force Lil into working for the three advisors by using Loophole Abuse and Metaphorically True to make a bet she couldn't win.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: Lil sports these, which she gets from her father. Various other characters have these as well.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: There are quite a number of characters who embody this:
  • Chloe on Day 2 appears to be like Belle from a Disney musical, being overly cheery and speaking in a sing-song voice. She's also a ruthless criminal hiding a blowtorch on her and is seeking to kill and commit crimes. If not handled properly, she can even burn down the Guardhouse and kill Lil.
  • The kindly old woman on Level 10 appears to be a cheerful pie seller... except that she's also a Wicked Witch and if the truth spray is used on her, she'll tell Lil that those pies are made from children she puts to sleep with drug-laced candy. She'll also try to offer Lil a poisoned apple if denied, which will kill Lil if she confiscates it.
• Bookends: The first visitor Lil faces (outside of Mrs. Abernathy in the tutorial) is Tyronius. He ends up being the Big Bad and is the final enemy to face.
• Bullying a Dragon:
  • Day 2 has Mayala, a heavily armed woman from a Proud Warrior Race who are quick to violence. Trying to confiscate her weapons or use the whip against her will have Mayala sternly warn Lil that doing so will be considered challenging her in combat, and pressing on in both cases will end up with Lil being killed.
  • Day 9 has a little Dragon Rider and her massive dragon Peaches try for enlistment in the war. A literal example of the trope occurs if Lil unwisely teases Peaches over her name, who gets enraged and kills Lil, leading to a Game Over.
    Game Over screen: Do be careful not to antagonize the thousand-pound, fire-breathing, flying, killing machine.
• Bureaucratically Arranged Marriage: Downplayed. The Royal Council convinced Desdemona to marry politically for the good of the kingdom, though it is her choice which of the suitors to marry ( though for the story to end properly, she ends up abandoning whoever it is at the altar for her goblin lover). Uniquely, this ends up forming a Bisexual Love Triangle (sans the love), with Desdemona choosing between male Prince Finius and female Praetor Kargan.
• Composite Character: In Level 10, one of the entrants is named Stabitha Grieves, a Gender Flip composite of Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger. She wears Jason's mask and has his machete in her left hand. Her right hand has Freddy's claw glove and wears a dress patterned after his red and black sweater.
• Conviction by Contradiction: The end of Day 9 requires Lil to find a nonhuman spy in the GLA Headquarters and Lil has to question the possible suspects for their alibis. The Cyclops is the spy, as his alibi mentions going to the Goblinball Arena to watch the day's match... on the day the Brawlers played an away game.
• Ditzy Genius: Echo might appears to be some kind of silly and drunken old wizard, but he's surprisingly knowledgeable about the history of the Sprawl and a pretty wise old man, on top of Foreshadowing the plot of the game several times.
• Dragon Rider: On day 9, one of the entrants for drafting into the air battle is a little dragon rider from Primaris, alongside her massive dragon Peaches. She and her dragon are best friends, and Peaches is a powerful asset to the war. However, the dragon rider's method of discipline is a questionably-effective whistle. If Lil doesn't give her a better discipline tool, Peaches will run off during the battle due to being unable to hear it over the loudness of combat, but if Lil gives the rider her whip, she'll be able to get Peaches to deal serious damage to the enemy forces. It also turns out that the dragon rider is really not so different from Lil, being a young girl whose father tends to be off betting on Goblinball.
• Exactly What It Says on the Tin: The "Lightning Round" of the gameshow consists of having somebody struck by lightning. Only Articulus will survive if chosen, since being an elemental mage allows him to resist almost all of the lightning strike.
• Explosive Stupidity:
  • If Elmer alone is drafted into the land war on Level 8, he will cause a defeat for the Sprawl by holding onto a live grenade without throwing it, blowing himself up with a bunch of Sprawl soldiers.
  • If Lil has the Bullwhip and uses it on Wilbur "Kaboose" Orville, it will cause him to bump into his plane, knocking the extremely volatile "inside the park home run" bomb into the fuel tanks and gunpowder barrels. This causes it to detonate Lil, Wilbur, and a huge portion of the Sprawl, leading to a Game Over. Letting him keep the bomb while drafting him will also cause it to explode on the runway, sabotaging the Sprawl's efforts.
• Expy: A number of the minor characters have a strong resemblance to existing characters, as a joke:
  • Chloe, the last entrant in Level 2, is one for Beauty and the Beast, who alternates between singing like she's in a Disney musical and speaking.
  • On day 11, a Not-Mandalorian comes to your booth, as well as Captain Jane Pigeon, a Gender Flip Captain Jack Sparrow.
  • You also have a Tiny Tim goblin, and the dialog is almost entirely in amusingly butchered Dickens quotes. One of his 4-star rating ending also has him joining a gang called the Lil Rascals, whose members include Buckwheat, Alfalfa, and Spanky.
  • Level 10 features a Gender Flip Freddy Krueger and the "Ghost Finders".
  • If you meet the ghost of King Oswin in Level 11, he is essentially an Expy of the king's ghost from Hamlet, directly quoting the play. He was killed by the same means of poison in the ear (which Lil thinks is a weird way to kill someone)
  • In Level 9, air balloonist Professor Phogg is one of Phineas Fogg from Around the World in Eighty Days, down to the motivation.
• Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon: Chloe on Level 2 has the beautiful face of a Disney Princess, more specifically Belle, but is a ruthless murderer and psychopath who wants to be let in so she can commit theft, forgery, smuggling drugs, piracy, and arson. She even has a blowtorch on her to commit arson, and if Lil angers her, she'll throw a molotov and burn down the guardhouse, causing a Game Over.
• Fictional Sport: Goblinball is a competitive sport that's played around the game's setting, and it contains several odd rules that involve random objects including wagon wheels, spiked pits, flaming gates, wiggly pigs, slingshots, glistening gargoyles, and more. It's never mentioned how the rules actually work alongside this random assortment of objects.
• Fighter, Mage, Thief: The council of Stryker, Ashe, and Malcolm respectively. Stryker is the no-nonsense war Lieutenant, Ashe, while not a mage, is the intellectual of the three, and Malcolm, despite his silliness, is adept at trickery. Fittingly enough, the champions they selected to save the princess are respectively a barbarian, a wizard, and a thief.
• Gratuitous Latin: At the end of Level 6, the Chronometer 3000 malfunctions and takes Lil to a dimension where a Big Red Devil is waiting at the guardhouse. He speaks entirely in Latin with a gruff baritone, and if Lil doesn't use the Chronometer 3000 to get out of there in time, he kills her. The resulting Game Over screen will even be entirely in Latin, including the death quote and retry button.
• "Groundhog Day" Loop: On the second visit to the Digsite in Level 1, Bea says she used the Chronometer 3000 to repeat the same day for a month and learned to play the oboe.
• Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: Inverted. The Petrardians use male troops that mostly wield guns, due to having sulfur deposits which allow them to easily produce mass amounts of gunpowder. The Marvaghians are an Amazon Brigade of Proud Warrior Race Girls who specialize in brutal melee combat.
• Hair-Trigger Explosive: The "inside the park home run" bomb that Wilbur "Kaboose" Orville has in his plane is extremely unstable. If you use the Bullwhip on him, he'll collide into his plane, causing the bomb to slide down into the fuel tanks and gunpowder and explode, leveling a huge area of the city and causing a Game Over. Letting him keep the bomb in his plane while drafting him is also a terrible idea, as the bomb will explode on the runway and greatly sabotage the Sprawl's efforts in the air battle.
• Hidden Depths: The Ent "Scary Tree Monster" during the first night shift appears to be a standard temperamental monster that's prone to "stomp and thwomp" anything that angers them (mostly people who litter the forest and step on their roots). However, by listening to it, Lil will learn that Ent society is surprisingly rather democratic, and by deciphering the runes written on Scary Tree Monster, Lil can convince it to run for an official governmental position. Judging by later days, they actually succeed at becoming mayor.
  4-star score judgement: You diverted the life path of a violent monster towards a life of politics and public service. Vote Scary Tree Monster!
• Hypno Trinket: Using the X-Ray on Tyronius will reveal his family heirloom pendant. Trying to confiscate it will cause it to hypnotize Lil into giving it back to him. Later on it gets put onto Queen Desdemona, subjugating her mind to Tyronius' bidding. Lil is quick to realize Tyronius' pendant and deduce that she's Not Herself.
• I'll Pretend I Didn't Hear That: At the start of Level 2, Hamish's boss says "I'll pretend I didn't just hear that." after Hamish says he needs his job at the guardshed for gambling.
• Interspecies Romance: In a world of various sentient creatures, this comes up quite a bit:
  • Offscreen, Heinrich Von Pyre romances and marries human Myrna (though his murder at the wedding reveals she was under Von Pyre's influence the whole time).
  • Desdemona and Chuck the Goblin are revealed to be secret lovers, who end up marrying.
  • Grumpkin T. Dankworth is revealed to have been in a romantic relationship with his goblin lackey, Whelp. One of the options for Lil in his second appearance is for her to get the two back together.
• Impostor-Exposing Test: On Level 5, the Monster Manual mentions that Doppelgangers/Shapeshifters can be exposed by showing them an item that they should recognize, as Truth Spray has no effect on what's essentially a Blob Monster. You need to show the fake Mrs. Abernathy the award-winning bun the real one gave to you. The fake one won't recognize it, giving its true nature as a shapeshifter away.
• I Regret Nothing: In Level 9, a halfling comes to the booth with her dragon, Peaches. If Lil chooses Tease, she says Peaches' name sucks, causing the dragon to burn her, and the shack, down. Just before she dies, she says "I regret nothing!"
• Justified Extra Lives: At the end of day 1 (where it's impossible for Lil to get killed), Lil receives the Chronometer 3000, which allows her to turn back time in the case of something bad happening. It's also attuned to her and it's implied it allows her to redo the previous portion of the game should she get a Game Over.
• Karmic Death: In the end, Tyronius Athanatos is overpowered by Hamish and defeated by Lil, possibly erasing him from time. Both Lil and Hamish are Muggles, the very category of people he wishes to oppress.
• Killer Rabbit: Dennis is a fierce-looking pet fish who is a candidate to be drafted in the sea battle. Despite being a small fish, Dennis is as vicious and deadly as he looks — if Lil bullwhips him, he'll kill Lil. Furthermore, he can single-handedly win the sea battle if he's drafted by himself, but if he's drafted alongside anyone else, the battle will be lost because he will eat your other drafted members, then go to sleep.
  Game Over screen: THE PET FISH KILLED YOU. STOP AND READ THAT AGAIN: YOU WERE KILLED BY A PET FISH. GAME OVER.
• Land, Sea, Sky: The three battles that are fought in the war consist of a land battle on Level 8, an aerial battle on Level 9, and a naval battle on Level 11.
• Literal Metaphor: At the start of the fourth night, Lil is on a The Dating Game-like show interviewing three potential heroes to go and save the missing Princess Desdemona: a barbarian, a mage, and a thief. After the three rounds of questions, she has to pick one for the "Lightning Round", and freaks out if her chosen hero is then turned into an ash pile by actual lightning (though if Articulus is chosen, he'll be immune due to being an elemental mage and Lil would totally deny it being a random lucky guess).
• Little Miss Snarker: Lil is usually sporting at least one sardonic quip towards everyone she meets. It's even part of the gameplay where she can tease people she encounter when the choice given.
• Long-Lived: The Duchess of Scarborough's pet cat Sprankles was 43 years old before it died. Most domestic cats in real life don't live past 22. This is likely because the cat's actually a lycanthrope, and it passed the affliction to one of the Duchess' men.
• Lyrical Dissonance: It's possible to get the psychopathic Belle-lookalike Chloe to confess to a frightening variety of crimes, which she sings in the style of a Disney "I Want" Song.
• Medium Awareness: Lil and by extension, her father Hamish, seems to aware that they're in the game. With the latter even serves as the tutorial guide a few times, much to the former's annoyance.
• Mercy Lead: At the end of Level 6, Lil's Chronometer 3000 malfunctions and she ends up in a Latin-speaking Big Red Devil's dimension. Using a proper translator (not the in-game one) on his words reveals that he's actually giving Lil a head start of ten seconds to flee instead of immediately killing her, as she is an unprotected child, and he's killed people for less than this.
• Missing Reflection: The obvious vampire Count Heinrich Von Pyre lacks a reflection in the score screen where the characters' faces are normally shown.
• Multiple Endings: Your choices on certain days as well as the war will effect Tyronius' speech before he uses the Chronometer 3000 to go back to the wedding. Furthermore, the ending also changes depending on whether the Sprawl won or lost the war, and to a lesser extent, whether Lil decides to keep being a Guardsman or not.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: On the final day, Tyronius Athanatos uses the guardhouse system to send Stryker, Ashe and Malcolm to jail. Unfortunately for him, as he didn't know what each lever did, he accidentally denied them entry instead. By not letting them into the Sprawl, the three end up bonding with each other over their plans to get back in, and Lil becomes the one to save the day. While both Stryker and Ashe return (Malcolm ran away with the money to set up a circus), they never manage to regain a position where they are in control of the Kingdom, allowing Queen Desdemona to act as the rightful ruler instead of a Puppet King.
• Non-Standard Character Design: Buttface the goblin on Day 4 appears to look like a 16-bit character, and the background music even changes to an 8-bit unique theme when he's around.
• Obviously Evil: Tyronius Athanatos wears dark clothing, has an evil scowl on his face, has a surname that includes the Greek god of death Thanatos, is racist towards Muggles, and is secretly planning a mage uprising on day one, which is something that even Lil herself picked on. He's the second character that Lil meets at the guardhouse on Day 1, intended to show the player an obvious example to Deny in contrast to the sweet old lady Mrs. Abernathy before him. Sure enough, Tyronius turns out to be the ultimate villain of the game, being responsible for King Oswin's murder, brainwashing Desdemona into serving him, and trying to use the Chronometer 3000 to Make Wrong What Once Went Right.
• Our Vampires Are Different: The Monster Manual on Level 5 has vampires as one of the listed monsters. They're usually evil and have vulnerabilities to UV light (and the X-ray will kill him), garlic, being forced to count bags of small grains, and wooden stakes. The one you meet, Count Heinrich Von Pyre, constantly keeps requesting to be invited into the Sprawl, and can be dealt with by showing him the bag of rice you confiscated from Buttface, forcing him to count until near-dawn. He also has a Missing Reflection during the score screens.
• Our Werewolves Are Different: The Monster Manual on Level 5 has lycanthropes as one of the listed monsters. Academics in-universe are split on whether it's a Curse or a medical affliction. It's also mentioned that most individuals are unaware of the transformation, but there are a few who desperately seek asylum to save their loved ones from their Enemy Within. One of the Duchess of Scarborough's consorts was turned into a lycanthrope by her cat Sprankles, and begs Lil to quickly send him to jail before he turns. Take too many turns or use the Bullwhip on him and he transforms, killing Lil and causing a Game Over, while immediately sending him to jail will net you a 4-star rating.
• Our Zombies Are Different: Level 10 has a small pack of zombies appear at the front gate. The Monster Manual considers them slow-moving to the point where they're relatively harmless and can be herded up like sheep. They're harmless enough to the point where you'll still get the full 3-star rating for them if you admitted them in.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Some characters will disguise themselves as important-looking figures, although it can be pretty easy to tell that they're fakes from first glance. Level 2 has Sir Beverly's "horse", which can be revealed as two nerds who only joined him on the promise of $10.
• Physical, Mystical, Technological: The Sprawl is the Mystical, being the only one of the three important countries with a prominent mages' guild which a fair bit of the plot centers around. Petrard is the Technological with its massive sulfur mines which allows them to make gunpowder and weapons of war en masse. Marvagh is the Physical, run by combat-happy, Proud Warrior Race women who are adept at melee combat. In terms of (potential) villains, Prince Finius of Petrard is the Technological, Praetor Kargan of Marvagh is the Physical, and Tyronius Athanatos of The Sprawl is the Mystical.
• Placebo Effect: Confiscating or convince Saruna Goodfoot to give away her lucky sweatband before admitting her in will cause her to perform poorly in the Goblinball match against the Sprawl, allowing the Sprawl to defeat the Kaladar Lightning team.
• Puppet King: The council of Ashe, Stryker and Malcolm would prefer if Princess Desdemona is kept in a ceremonial position while they control the kingdom. This is in fact one of the reasons why Princess Desdemona disappears on Day 4, and why she decides to confide in Lil over her disappearance.
• Running Gag: Senor Capello Fantastico is always seen with a different hat each time as he's trying to find one that's as fantastic as the old one he lost, but none of them come close. He'll also spout the same lament, too:
  Fantastico: This hat... it is not as fantastic as my previous hat. My journey... it continues.
• Run or Die: At the end of Lil's shift on Level 6, the Chronometer 3000 malfunctions and sends her to an alternate universe where a Latin-speaking Big Red Devil is waiting at the guardhouse. He'll monologue a bit and start a countdown, killing Lil with a sea of flames if he finishes, and the only way out of this is to use the Chronometer 3000 to book it out of there.
• Schizo Tech: The plot is set in a medieval era, yet there are modern objects like electric lights and clock radios. Justified by the existence of magical power crystals, which power these tech advances in lieu of modern electricity.
• Short Teens, Tall Adults: Or "tweens" in this case. Lil is twelve years old, yet she's only tall enough to roughly reach the adult characters' waists at best.
• Shout-Out:
  • Catering Corp offers to provide "Soylent Beige" nutrient bars to the starving population on Day 9. Needless to say, using the decipher will reveal that Soylent Beige is made from people.
  • The tutorial description for the Bullwhip is just Lil humming a knock-off of the Raiders of the Lost Ark theme.
  • Inside the Digsite, examining the computer has Lil notice the words "Commander Keen" mixed in with the technical jargon.
  • Chloe's blowtorch is named Fosse, after Bob Fosse.
  • The description of witches in the Sprawl Monster Manual includes testing to see if they weigh the same as a duck.
  • During the Level 3 intermission, the Goblin Whelp quits his job for Grumpkin T. Dankworth. When he told someone at a bus stop, they gave him a sock. In Harry Potter, giving house elves clothes, even so much as a sock, is enough to release them from their duties to their masters.
  • In Level 10, going to the dock has signs pointing to Monkey Island. Examining the sign has it give some snark back about its references.
    "Monkey Island? Arstotzka? We get it, you don't need to literally point to your influences."
• Sliding Scale of Gameplay and Story Integration: Most of the time, the gameplay affects the story, with people reference past events and the entire story changes based on your actions. However, there are some times where the ending narration of the day contradicts the later parts, and numerous people are in the city even if you denied them.
  • The shapeshifter and fake Praetor are in the city on day 7 even if you denied them earlier. However, this is justified due to the fact that they could gain entry through another gate.
  • If you get a 4-star with Gary on day 11 his wand is taken and he is explicitly cast out of the mages guild and put into rehab by Chuck, so he shouldn't be in the city at all. However, he is present every time in day 12 no matter what you do.
• Squishy Wizard: Tyronius is an evil wizard with some deadly spells, considering what he can do to Hamish if he isn't equipped with a weapon in the finale. However, if Hamish is equipped with a weapon, he holds it to Tyronius' back and stops it. Tyronius then tries to go back via the Chronometer 3000... only for the muscular Hamish to easily push him down and allow Lil to grab it.
• Story Branching: The antagonistic faction that attacks the Sprawl and starts the war will be the one whose representative doesn't get picked as Princess Desdemona's suitor. If Prince Finius is chosen, the enemy will be the Mavarghians, if Praetor Kargan is chosen, the enemy will be the Petrardians.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
  • Trying to instigate a fight against armed people or psychopaths will not end well for Lil, who's a 12 year old girl with no combat skills or proper weaponry.
  • In Chloe's 4* epilogue, she tries to pickpocket a guard, but since she was singing loudly while doing so, she was caught immediately and sent to prison.
  • During the land battle, putting Elmer and/or Bosco alongside Glory Ann, the three of which are in a complicated Love Triangle, will not end well for the Sprawl due to Love Makes You Dumb. Elmer will bicker with Glory Ann and distract the Sprawl forces while Bosco will try to be macho and impress her by taking down a dozen soldiers... on his own side.
  • The little Primaris Dragon Rider uses a whistle to discipline her dragon Peaches. However, this is not adequate for a battle, as battles get very loud. If Lil drafts her but fails to provide a better discipline method, Peaches will not be able to hear the whistle through the loudness of combat and will flee in a confused state instead of helping out.
  • Dennis may be a powerful and extremely vicious Killer Rabbit of a pet fish, but he's still an animal with the mindset of a ferocious beast that hunts down the first edible things it sees. If he's drafted alongside any other troops, he won't fight alongside them in a Rule of Cool scenario, but will instead attack and devour them before going to sleep, causing a defeat for the Sprawl.
• The Talk: In the beginning of the game, Hamish wants to give Lil "the talk" about taking up the guardshed. She thinks he means the other one, after having just had a nightmare about the kingdom on fire.
  Lil: Out of one nightmare and into another.
• Team Killer: Drafting certain characters into the battles under specific circumstances will cause them to attack your own troops, resulting in a defeat:
  • Drafting both Bosco and Glory Ann in the land war will cause Bosco to try and impress the latter by taking down a dozen troops... on his own side. This will shatter morale so badly that the Sprawl surrenders.
  • Dennis the Sarcastic Fringehead is a Killer Rabbit of a pet fish that will attack and eat the first things he sees when deployed. If he's drafted alongside anyone else, he'll devour your own drafted forces then go to sleep, leading to a defeat. He will otherwise achieve a victory, since he will focus his vicious ferocity on the enemy.
• Temporary Substitute: The plot revolves around the usual gatekeeper's daughter filling in for him while he is away attending to other matters, and her friends end up in similar situations later on during the war.
• Treants: One of the monsters that appears on Level 5 is an Ent named Scary Tree Monster. He's territorial and quick to anger, and will Stomp and Thwomp Lil to death if she angers him. Ent society is also surprisingly democratic, picking Scary Tree Monster to go to the Sprawl because he was the scariest, strongest and best at walking. With the right dialogue options and tools, Lil can even use his democratic nature to help him run for a position as mayor.
• Totem Pole Trench: In Level 4, Magnus the Magnificent is suspiciously whispered to by his lower half. Doubting his story reveals they're two goblins, Gary (the head) and Julian (the legs), trying to get into the Sprawl during a "No Goblins Allowed" order to join the Goblin Liberation Army.
• Uncertain Doom: It's heavily implied that Bea, despite being pushed into the hole by Tyronius and presumed dead, may not actually be dead. Her body was never found and she appears in Lil's dreams trying to tell her something.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom:
  • Lil may be this if she lets in or leaves out the wrong person. Even if she doesn't get a game over from an action, it can still have bad consequences down the line.
  • The council, in pressuring Desdemona to marry for political gain, unwittingly brings war to the Sprawl's doorstep, since, no matter which suitor the princess chose, the rejected one is always offended enough to start a war with the Sprawl over it.
• Wacky Parent, Serious Child: Hamish spends his time in the guard shed barely doing a competent job and spending his money gambling away at goblinball. Lil on the other hand may be a snarker, but she can take her job much more seriously than her father.
• "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: The end of each level tells what happened to all the characters who were let in or turned away, while the end of the game tells what happens after the final day that is played.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: In the Werewolf's 4* epilogue, he's cured of his condition when a prisoner stabs him with a shiv made out of a silver spoon. After he's released, he gets bit by another werewolf, cursing him again.

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"And that's how you tropes your way to success!"

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