Video Game / Sally Face

Sally Face is a horror point-and-click Adventure Game developed by Portable Moose following the titular character, a boy with a prosthetic face and a Mysterious Past.

The game is broken up into five episodes. In the first, Sally Face and his father move into a new apartment filled with odd tenants and an unfortunate crime scene. But starting from the second episode, things take a far stranger turn as Sal obtains a portable console that seems to detect supernatural activity.

The game is complete with all five episodes available on itch.io and on Steam.

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This game contains the following tropes:

• 100% Completion: It's entirely possible to play through the episodes and only get one or two main plot-related achievements. You have to actively look around and solve puzzles that are harder than the usual ones to get everything. Additionally, most of the side plots from one episode will inevitably turn up in the next one, so getting everything gives you more understanding of the events.
• Adults Are Useless: More like "adults are part of the conspiracy and will probably kill you". And all actual useful adults die like flies or are dead to begin with.
• Advancing Wall of Doom: You have to outrun one (in form of a huge slug-like creature with a television camera for a head) at the beginning of Episode 3 nightmare. Being caught by it, however, doesn't cause a Game Over and simply ends the nightmare prematurely.
• Agent Mulder: Todd, who, despite being heavily interested in science and technology, is already a believer in the paranormal and readily agrees to help Sal's investigation.
• Agent Scully:
  • Dr. Enon attempts to be this while Sal relays the story to him. This goes wrong, however - Sal is so convincing that Enon decides to go look at the treehouse for himself, and finds the ghost of Larry, scaring him and causing him to fall to his death.
  • Ash, who, in spite of helping Sal, Todd, and Larry with their supernatural exploits, always remains semi-skeptical. Becomes very important in Chapter 4 when her skepticism leads directly to Sal's arrest and execution.
• Ambiguously Human: When you use the Super Gear Boy's ghost detector on Mrs. Rosenberg, she blinks between a human and a Body Horror form, implying something odd is going on. You later discover that she's been a ghost this whole time, lingering between the worlds of the living and the dead.
• And Now for Someone Completely Different:
  • At the end of Episode 2, the game switches POV to Dr. Enon and his search inside of Larry's treehouse.
  • Near the end of Episode 3 we get to play as Larry.
  • During the second half of Episode 4 we switch between controlling Larry and Sal.
  • Episode 5 alternates between Ash, Sal, and Larry, and Sal later possesses Ash's arm, making them something of a combined character.
• Art Shift: Episode 5 features several to depict different realities, with a soft cartoon style, Tim Burton-esque style, minimalist 3D polygon style, and clay stop-motion style.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: The Red-Eyed Demon and Kenneth Phelps.
• Big "NO!": Sal, upon finding Larry’s suicide note.
• Bittersweet Ending: Sal, Ash, and Larry have managed to destroy the cult's main temple and save Todd, and have gotten to be together a last time, but Larry departs from the plane, Sal is still dead, and Neil and Maple have been added to the number of victims of the cult's evil.
• Bland-Name Product: Sal's "Gear Boy", a combination of the Game Boy and the Game Gear.
• Body Horror: Many of the ghosts have completely mutilated corpses, and as they materialize, they morph from a mass of re-forming tissue and flesh. Special mention goes to Mrs. Sanderson, whose spirit speaks out of the hole in her neck, and Stacy Holmes, whose spirit is completely embedded in her bed's boxsprings, giving a look of pure horror, and who does not speak at all.
• Break the Cutie: The entire game for Sal. See Trauma Conga Line below.
• Brick Joke: Happens in Episode 2 if you decide to check the washing machine in the basement before visiting David. Sal notices a basket of clothes atop the machine and wonders about the owner, who seems to be continuously leaving their clothes. Later, when he knocks on David's door to ask for a crowbar, David opens the door in his underwear and, if Sal asks him about his pants, mentions that Sara was supposed to collect the clothes. And then, if you visit David's flat, you find out that Sara is a limbless mannequin.
• But Thou Must!: There is no way to avoid killing everyone at the end of Episode 4. No exits, no other options, and your only objective is "kill."
• Call-Back:
  • When Ash freaks out upon seeing the ghost of Larry in Episode 4, he tells her not to fall out of the treehouse like Dr. Enon did.
  • The shed at the beginning of Episode 4 contains no less than 15 items from the previous episodes, which makes sense since it's where the gang keeps all their findings. Additionally, the password to the shed's lock, 4035364, is a combination of two callbacks to Episode 1 - Mrs. Sanderson's flat number and the password to the door from Sal's dream.
• Catapult Nightmare: How Sal wakes up at the beginning of Episode 2.
• Character Title: The game is named after Sal's nickname.
• Cheated Angle: The pink side of Sal's mask is always further from the camera than the white side.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Mr. Addison. Seemingly the building's harmless, tea-selling landlord, but in actuality, the real Terrence Addison is long dead; his body, or what remains of it, has been taken over by a massive beast of oozing slime.
• The Cloudcuckoolander Was Right: David, a recovering addict from 302, is married to Sara, a mannequin, talks to her all the time and generally treats her as a living being. Then Episode 4 gives us 1) talking limbs belonging on the third floor - the ones that Sara's missing - telling Sal how a certain person finally saw her for what she was, 2) black goo, which covered all other residents of apartments, covering the space where Sara's limbs would be, and 3) Sara being semi-translucent in ghost world and blinking softly like all other souls.
• Companion Cube: David's girlfriend Sara is actually a mannequin. There's more to her than meets the eye.
• Continuity Nod:
  • The factory fire is mentioned several times: in Episode 2 as a reason for Greg's family dying, in Episode 3 on a newspaper clip mentioning Mr. Packerton's death, and in Episode 4 during a TV news report.
  • In Episode 2 Sal mentions never having been to a concert. In Episode 4 he has Sanity's Fall autographs in his room.
  • Todd gets some more school awards between episodes 2 and 3, which can be seen on the wall in his room.
  • A cult member in Episode 5 warns a fellow member to not end up like the Packertons did.
• Contrived Coincidence: Mrs. Packerton's death. Sal and his friends had already vowed that, in order to protect everyone, it was necessary to kill her. However, before they were even able to put a plan together, she turns out to have died in a drunk driving accident on her way home. The journalist interviewing adult Sal lampshades this by remarking, "Wow, that's quite convenient."
• Couldn't Find a Pen: In Episode 1, Sal walks by a wall with "IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT" written over it in huge bloody letters.
• Creepy Basement: Exaggerated. To save Ashley, Sal, Larry and Todd go down into one, only to find out that it is actually an absurdly spacious cultist temple.
• Creepy Child:
  • Downplayed with Sal. His only creepy part is his prosthetic face.
  • Played Straight with Megan. She's a ghost girl who is innocent and friendly, but is, of course, a ghost.
• Creepy Good: Most of the ghosts. Some of them may look scary due to injuries that caused their deaths, they appear in what looks like a mass of flesh and tissue before they take their actual form, accompanied by a Hell Is That Noise, but they are simply unfortunate souls stuck in Addison Apartments.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: Stacy Holmes's death, which somehow led to her body being completely embedded in her bed's boxsprings.
• Cryptic Conversation: Seems to be Mrs. Rosenberg's specialty. While you might at first write off her words as old lady's ramblings, it gradually becomes apparent that her words hold much more meaning than it initially seems.
• Cult: One used to operate in the Addison Apartments called the Devourers of God, but it seems like their activities aren't yet finished.
• Cutting Off the Branches: A minor case. When visiting Charley's flat after Episode 1, Sal will refuse to enter the bathroom due to lingering stench, which means that the option of Sal spiking Charley's tea with laxative was the canon one, not the option to use sleeping pills.
• Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You: Through doing a complete play-through of Episode 3 and finding all the paper scraps, we learn that Larry's dad, Jim Johnson, was actually an alien who fled his home planet after an attack by the Red-Eyed Demon. He came to Earth with his sister who later disappeared, and later made a family with Lisa and had Larry. But when the Red-Eyed Demon came to Earth, he joined the secret cult to gain more information. What happened to him after that and how he died, we don't yet know.
• Dead All Along: The real Terrence Addison.
• Dead Person Conversation: Frequently occurs throughout the game, but is eerily averted for the first half of Episode 4, as no ghosts can be contacted for some unknown reason. This unnerves Sal and Larry to no end.
• Death by Falling Over: Dr. Enon, who is so startled by seeing the ghost of Larry that he faints and rolls out of the tree house, snapping his neck.
• A Death in the Limelight: At the end of the second chapter, Dr. Enon becomes playable as he arrives at the apartment building and searches Larry's treehouse before finding Larry's ghost and faints, falling out of said treehouse and snapping his neck upon landing.
• Death of a Child: Megan is a ghost of 7-year-old girl who was killed prior to the events of the game, and in Episode 4, one of the people you have to kill is Soda, Chug's baby daughter.
• Demonic Possession: Happens to Luke Holmes before the events of the game, when he allows the Red-Eyed Demon to possess him to kill his cheating wife, Stacy, as well as his daughter, Megan. Happens again to Todd at the end of Episode 3, and is expanded on at the end of Episode 4; the cult kidnapped him in order to use him as a host for the Red-Eyed Demon. This is also strongly implied to be why Charley killed Mrs. Sanderson — he was being used by the demon. This is most clearly hinted at when Sal has a nightmare about his face unzipping to reveal the red eyes and skull of the Demon beneath.
• Despair Event Horizon: Happens to Sal in Chapter 4. The event which triggers this is either Larry's suicide or Sal having to murder everyone in the apartment complex.
• Downer Ending: For each episode so far.
  • Episode One ends with the player discovering that Sal is on trial for murder, and seems to have a massive amount of evidence against him.
  • Episode Two ends with Dr. Enon, on the behest of Sal, going to Addison Apartments and discovering the ghost of Larry, who begs the doctor to help Sal. Dr. Enon, shocked by seeing a ghost, passes out and falls out of the treehouse, snapping his neck and taking with him the last bit of Sal's credibility.
  • Episode Three ends with Sal finding out that Ashley is going to testify against him, and a shot of Todd in a straight jacket and locked in a mental hospital, possessed by Red-Eyed Demon.
  • Episode Four ends with Sal getting the death penalty after Ash testifies in his trial. On the day of Sal's execution, Ash goes to the treehouse and encounters Larry, taking a clear picture of him to prove that Sal was telling the truth. She's too late, however, and she makes it to the building just in time to see Sal executed before her eyes.
• Dramatic Irony: When fake Dr. Enon puts the last nail in Sal's coffin by stating that Sal was absolutely lucid when he killed everyone in the apartments, he is actually correct...it's just that Sal's reasons were different from the implication of cruelty.
• Dreaming of Things to Come: In his nightmare at the start of Episode 2, Sal sees the Red-Eyed Demon.
• Driven to Suicide:
  • Luke Holmes, after relinquishing his body to the Red-Eyed Demon out of rage after finding out that his wife had been unfaithful. He butchers her and his daughter, but hangs himself in remorse.
  • Larry in Episode 4.
  • In the last tour of Addison Apartments in Episode 4, we find that this is why Herman Sanderson wanted to be left alone in the room where his wife died, and his body is found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot to the head.
• Empty Eyes: Ghosts have these.
• Episodic Game: The game will have five episodes, each about under an hour in length. The creator mentions that he wanted to do it like this to "essentially parallel a dark cartoon series that would air on TV."
• Everybody's Dead, Dave: Everyone in Addison Apartments is dead by the end of Episode 4, with the exception of Sal, who killed almost all of them, and Todd, who was possessed by the Red-Eyed Demon and escaped. And by the very end of the chapter, only Ash, Todd, Neil, and Maple seem to still be alive among the established cast. And in Episode 5, Neil and Maple are murdered by the cult while Sal stays dead.
• The Hero Dies: Despite Ash's best efforts, Sal is executed at the end of Episode 4.
• The Faceless: Sal is always depicted either with his prosthetic face on, or with his Eyes Out of Sight, with the exception of the dream/flashback at the start of episode two, as it's set before his face injury. However, it is still too shadowed to make out features, and in the latter section, his face is covered with copious amounts of dripping blood. The closest we get to seeing his face is a quick shot of its lower half at the end of Episode 4 - it looks like Sal lacks a nose and a part of chin.
• Fictional Video Game: Several. The seemingly-haunted cartridge Sal finds contains House of the Wretched and In Seeking Providence, which tell the stories of the previous tenants of Addison Apartments. Clumpy: The Mutant Monkey, on the other hand, exists purely for fun (and an achievement).
• Foregone Conclusion:
  • Stacy Holmes's chapter of In Seeking Providence revolves around Stacy and Mrs. Rosenberg trying to stop the cultists's evil ritual. Given the fact that this chapter is only unlocked when the player finds Stacy's ghost, completely mutilated and embedded in the springs of her bed, it's obvious that they failed.
  • Episode Two ends with the player seeing the ghost of Larry in the Flash Forward, confirming that he dies at some point in the story.
  • Episode Three ends with Todd in a mental hospital, having been possessed by the Red-Eyed Demon, showing that the demon possesses him sometime in the story. Indeed, judging by his red dialogue text, he seems to be hosting it ever since being captured by the cult in Episode Four.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Early in the game, you can check one of the apartments, and you'll hear sawing noises and a goat bleating. In Episode Three, it's revealed that this is where Mrs. Packerton lives and cuts up people to serve as lunch meat. The goat is seen as a ghost, and turns out to have been a ritual sacrifice.
  • In Episode 3 you can find a guitar amp on Todd's table, which Todd says can be used for upgrading Sal's guitar - exactly what happens in Episode 4.
• Framing Device: In the first two episodes, Sal is relaying the story of what happened at the Addison Apartments to a therapist, Dr. Enon, because he is on trial for murder. In Episode 3 he is recounting his story to a journalist, Clare Nettles. Episode 4 shows Sal on trial, telling his story to the court, with Ash testifying as well to fill in some of the details.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: Sal's inmate number is the birth date of Steve Gabry, the developer.
• Fuzz Therapy: A more literal example - episode 5 reveals that Gizmo was assigned to Sal as an emotional support animal following his mom's death.
• Game Within a Game: Clumpy: The Mutant Monkey is a game you can play in Episode 3 for an achievement. Good luck finding the cartridge first.
• Ghostly Death Reveal: The end of Chapter 2 has Larry's ghost appear to Dr. Enon in the present when he visits the treehouse, while Sally's recollection of the past had yet to reveal that Larry ever died. Chapter 4's events of the past show Sally texting Larry in his final moments before running to the treehouse to confirm the worst, but we never see the body, despite Larry being able to help from the other side.
• Gone Horribly Right: At the end of Episode Two, Sal is finally able to convince Dr. Enon to believe his story, causing him to return to Addison Apartments and find the treehouse, where, Sal says, he'll "find all the proof he needs." Inside the treehouse is the ghost of Larry, whose appearance surprises the doctor so much that he faints and falls out of the treehouse, snapping his own neck.
  • This has another consequence later in the story: Dr. Enon's death lets the cult place an impostor in the courtroom at Sal's trial to condemn Sal and get him convicted.
• Gory Discretion Shot: Averted. We get to see all the lovely details: if the corpse is seen during a cutscene, there will be a closeup, and if it's seen during the interactive parts, you can stick around and take your time looking at the body.
• Guide Dang It!: Played with when you are trying to get certain achievements outside of the main plot. Most of the time the clues are present, you just have to be observant or use your regular brand of logic. Sometimes, however, there's no apparent link between the action and the result. Like the case mentioned below: the code lock in the Episode 1 nightmare. You can get the correct code with mild difficulty - the trickiest number is the first one, which is written on the key and easy to miss if you simply unlocked the door without looking at the key closer, while the other ones are written in the backgrounds. However, there is no explanation for why entering the correct code causes the Gear Boy batteries to appear among Henry's purchases on the kitchen counter. It's even worse if you bypass the door without the correct code and later find the Gear Boy in your room. The description says that Gear Boy needs batteries, but aside from vague "*batteries not included" written near the code lock, you will get no hint whatsoever about what you're supposed to do to get them. A more classic Guide Dang It! example is the Clumpy achievement (one of the rares among Steam players), which requires, among other things, that you get a certain item and not use it when it would be perfectly logical to.^note However, it is entirely possible to stumble upon this one through pure dumb luck.
• Haunted House: Haunted apartment building, to be precise. In Episode 1, Sal can meet a ghost girl in one of the abandoned flats, and in Episode 2, he discovers that Addison Apartments are filled with ghosts of previous tenants.
• Haunted Technology: The mysterious game cartridge turns Sal's Gear Boy into a ghost-detecting device, and contains a game detailing the events that led to the deaths of many of the apartments' former tenants.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Travis, of all people, gets one in episode 5.
• The Hero Dies: Sal in Chapter 4, executed in the electric chair after a damning trial.
• Hidden Depths: Mrs. Rosenberg apparently had a history with the cult, and even tried to help Stacy and Megan escape from Luke.
• Hikikomori: Mr. Addison, the owner of the apartment building the game takes place in, apparently hasn't left his apartment in years, and only communicates with Sal through a mail slot (the fact that he even has a mail slot, while everyone else has to go to the mailboxes by the entrance, supports this). Turns out, his reclusiveness is because he's been killed and puppeted by a huge unknown monstrous being for who knows how long now.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: The cult’s attempt to kill Sal is what caused him to move to Addison Apartments and meet Larry, therefore setting in motion the prophecy they were trying to prevent in the first place.
• Honorary Uncle: Sal is this to Chug and Maple's baby daughter, Soda.
• Hope Spot:
  • Dr. Enon is compelled by Sal's story to go to Addison Apartments to find out the truth for himself. He finds the ghost of Larry, who begs him to help get Sal out of jail and bring him to the tree house. For a moment, it seems that Sal finally has some footing and additional assistance... then Dr. Enon faints from the shock of seeing a ghost and falls out of the tree house, snapping his neck and killing himself instantly. Larry's response sums it up best:
  Larry: Shit.
  • Another one in Episode 4 when Ash manages to capture a picture of Larry's ghost, and races to the site of Sal's execution to show the proof in order to save him. She arrives too late.
• Human Aliens: Jim Johnson, Larry's father, turns out to have been one.
• I Did What I Had to Do: Ash hears Sal muttering this to himself after he is forced to murder everyone in Addison Apartments.
• Interface Screw: Several.
  • Interacting with strange metal boxes causes the screen to glitch out.
  • In the Episode 3 nightmare the screen becomes more static-y when the Advancing Wall of Doom is getting closer.
  • The screen glitches out whenever you pick up tapes in Episode 4.
• Jacob Marley Apparel: All ghosts look exactly like they did at the moment of death, and bear their mortal wounds, though, judging by Larry's appearance as a ghost, their clothes are more disheveled as spirits.
• Insistent Terminology: Sal wears a prosthetic, not a mask.
• Jump Scare:
  • In Episode 1, you can find a small hole in the wall (that has no action prompt) on the 5th floor. If Sal takes a peek, he'll say that he can't see anything...and then a single dead eye with milky-white iris will pop up and stare right at you. Sal promptly gets the hell away. By the way, you'll need this one for one of the achievements.
  • Red-eyed Todd at the end of Episode 3.
• Kill the Ones You Love: Sal is forced to do this to everyone in Addison Apartments to prevent the spread of the cult's influence.
• Madness Mantra: What Sal is doing when Ash finds him in Episode 4. See I Did What I Had to Do above.
• Man Hug: Sal gives Larry one at the end of Episode Two after Larry realizes that the demon predates his father's disappearance, and getting rid of it won't bring him back.
• Men Don't Cry: Averted. Sal, Larry, Todd and Travis each cry at least once through the course of the game, and they have good reasons to.
• Miscarriage of Justice: At the end of episode one, Charley is found guilty of murdering Mrs. Sanderson, and in the Flash Forward, is revealed to have been innocent all along. Subverted in episode two when Mrs. Sanderson's game is unlocked and we see that Charley most likely did murder her, but seemed to be possessed by a demon or the cult at the time. This implies that the cult fudged some proof of innocence and put the crime on another person.
• Missing Mom: It's implied in the first episode that Sal's mom is dead. Confirmed in Episode 2.
• Mystery Meat: The plot of Episode 3 kicks off when Sal and his friends decide to find out what the bologna served at school cafeteria is made of.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: When Todd calls Ash crying following his possession by the Red-Eyed Demon, she calls the police to the apartment building, not knowing that Sal has just mercy killed everyone in the building and is still there, covered in blood. This decision directly leads to all of the present day events of the game - namely, Sal's arrest and execution.
  • Happens again in Episode 4 when Ash testifies against Sal, believing him to have been driven insane by Larry’s suicide. Her testimony ends up being a major part of what leads to his execution.
• Nightmare Sequence: Each episode starts with one. Interestingly, Sal's actions in his nightmares affect the real world, sometimes in unexplainable ways (like entering a correct code in the Episode 1 nightmare causing batteries for the Gear Boy to appear among Henry's purchases).
• Once per Episode:
  • Sal can headbang to a new Sanity's Fall song. Played with in Episode 4 - a new song can be listened to, but Sal and Larry don't headbang and simply stand still while listening.
  • Sal can interact with his cat, Gizmo, with increasingly humorous results.
• Only Known By His Nickname: No, his name is not actually Sally Face. It's really Sal, but he took on the name after a couple bullies from his old town tried to use it as an insult against him.
• Outliving One's Offspring: Imagine coming home only to find out your husband and baby daughter were killed by your mutual friend. Poor Maple.
• The Pastor's Queer Kid: Travis Phelps is a school bully who flings homophobic remarks at protagonist Sal Fisher and his friends, but Sal easily sees through it, realizing Travis is deeply closeted due to his preacher father.
• Point of No Return: Near the end of episode two, the player is informed that entering a particular room is a point of no return, as it triggers the episode's endgame.
• The Power of Rock: How Sal defeats The Endless One. Though having some magical necrolamps installed in the guitar certainly doesn't hurt.
  • He uses the guitar against the Endless One once again in episode 5, vanquishing it for good with the help of his friends.
• Rag Tag Bunch Of Misfits: By Episode 3, Sal and his group of friends could be considered this. You have a boy with pigtails and a prosthetic face, a guy who loves heavy metal, a girl who's an artist, and a science nerd. It's implied that they frequently investigate weird things happening around the school, referencing a "hot dog incident." It's also implied that they're frequently picked on by bullies (or at least by Travis), and they stand up for each other when that happens.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: The demon has these eyes, and is objectively the most evil spirit lingering in the building.
• Repetitive Name: The "Classic Classical" version; the oldest tenant is called Rose Rosenberg. Subverted later on: in Episode 3 we find out (via Jim's diary) that her name is actually Alyson - "Rose" is what everybody calls her instead.
• Scare Chord: Accompanies moments when Sal discovers something disturbing, like Mrs. Sanderson's corpse.
• Schmuck Bait: In the beginning of Episode 4 you are told specifically that you cannot enter the door #5. Trying to do so anyway results in a loud Hell Is That Noise with the screen shaking violently.
• The Secret of Long Pork Pies: Inverted. The bologna at the school cafeteria is discovered to be human meat because it tastes wrong.
• Self-Made Orphan: Sal becomes this at the end of Chapter 4, killing his dad and stepmom along with everyone else in the apartments.
• Serial Escalation: Episode 1: a mild murder mystery with a single shot of the dead body at the end. Episode 2: lots of ghosts, some of which have horrible mutilations and equally horrible backstories, and an actual demon. Episode 3: a friendly neighbourhood serial killer who has been feeding people human flesh for who knows how long. Episode 4: a first degree mass Mercy Kill and deaths of two main characters through suicide and execution, respectively. Makes one wonder just what awaits in Episode 5.
• Shout-Out:
  • "My Glitter Ponies: Rainbow Spectacular" is an obvious parody of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.
  • On the bottom row of Charley's second shelf are two teddy bears with the mustaches and eyes of Mario and Luigi, complete with tiny red and green propeller caps, while on the top shelf there are a couple of Funko Pop! figurines.
  • There's a Crowman and Wolfboy poster in Larry's room.
  • If you go to the left at the start of the sewer section of episode two, you can see Jacksepticeye's mascot Sam in the bottom left corner.
  • If you talk to Chug in the basement, he'll ask if Sal saw the new Ricko's Modish Wife episode.
  • You can see posters of Vampire Hunter B, Twine Parks and Edward Shovelhands in Sal's room.
  • There are The Misfits and The Evil Bread posters in Robert's flat.
  • There's a photo of Sal, Larry, Todd and Ashley cosplaying Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for Halloween, found in Sal's and Larry's lockers.
  • In Larry's locker you can also find Immure poster and Portable Moose logo.
  • There's a small My Neighbor Totoro frame, a Wednesday The Homicidal Maniac poster and a small Origami Unicorn frame in Sal's room in Episode 4.
  • Gizmo has a collection of stickers, most of which are Youtube icons of various Letsplayers.
  • Gizmo himself is named and patterned off a certain gremlin. For added irony, over the course of the game you can see him watching TV and taking a bubble bath.
  • Robert calls Sal and his friends "the real life Ghostnabbers", and in the same episode a "Ghostnabbers" poster can be seen in his room.
  • Ashley Campbell's name is a combination of Ash Williams from the Evil Dead series and Ash's actor, Bruce Campbell.
  • Charley Mansfield's name is a combination of Charlie the Unicorn and Charles Manson.
  • Looks like Larry is a Zelda fan: an ocarina and a Master Sword poster can be seen in his room, and there's a little Triforce scribbled on his backpack.
  • Travis' father is a homophobic and oppressive preacher, which sounds awfully like a certain other Phelps.
  • In the treehouse there's a small poster of corn - of course, with "COЯN" written on it.
  • Larry's backpack has a bunch of metal bands shout-outs: "At The Grates", "COЯN", "Meatalica", "Deadtones", "Type O- positive", "Slay", "S.O.D.".
  • In Episode 3 there's a newspaper clip on the 5th floor which tells a story about a "Boy Who Shouldn't Be Alive" who survived an accident that killed his parents.
  • In Episode 4 a keen-eyed player might notice that one of Todd's document drawers is labeled "X-Files".
  • In Episode 4 there's a single note on the bulletin board on the first floor of the apartments that says "it can't rain all the time".
  • One of Soda's toys is a Furby.
  • At one point Larry refers to his room as his personal batcave.
• Stealth Pun: Charley is obsessed with a show about miniature horses.^note Though the developer later stated that it's a coincidence.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Larry looks a lot like his mom.
• Suddenly Voiced: Ash and Sal in Chapter 4, screaming their frustrations out at the lake.
  • Later in the chapter you also hear Sal crying after finding Larry had killed himself.
• Switching P.O.V.:
  • At the end of Episode 2, the game's POV switches to Sal's therapist, Dr. Enon, who goes to Addison Apartments at the behest of Sal.
  • At the end of Episode 3 the POV switches to Larry, then to Sal again, as they have to complete two parts of the maze to meet in the middle.
  • In the second half of Episode 4 you have to switch manually between Sal and Larry to solve puzzles.
• Sympathetic Adulterer: Stacy Holmes, who is implied to have been cheating on her husband Luke with her friend, Greg, due to Luke becoming increasingly abusive and violent. As Luke was involved with the cult and seemed to be under the influence of the Red Eyed Demon for quite a while, it's hard to fault Stacy for being too frightened to leave - but unfortunately, her getting caught is what led to the deaths of both her and her daughter, Megan, and possibly Greg, too.
• Take That!: The news station interviewing adult Sal is called "Faux News", a reference to the conservative Fox News. Given that the game expresses some liberal viewpoints and that the news station is implied to be another puppet of the cult, the comparison is not intended to be flattering.
• Theme Music Power-Up: Ash gets one when she's riding her bike to the jail to deliver the evidence that will save Sal...which then gets cut short when the executioner flips the switch anyway.
• Torture Cellar: One of the rooms in Mrs.Packerton's flat turns out to be a miniature meat-processing plant, complete with various instruments, a grinding machine, tools adorning the walls, and a suspiciously bloody refrigerator.
• Trauma Conga Line: The entire game is this for Sal.
  • Episode 1 reveals that Sal may have potentially gotten an innocent man arrested for murder, and is himself on trial for murder, with a massive amount of evidence against him.
  • Episode 2 shows Sal's only hope for an ally quashed; when he sends his therapist to the treehouse to see the ghost of Larry, he falls out of the treehouse in shock and snaps his neck, dying instantly.
  • Episode 3 shows that one of Sal's best friends, Ash, is going to be testifying against him in the upcoming trial.
  • Episode 4 turns this up to eleven, both in the past and present day segments - in the past, we see that Sal's best friend and brother Larry killed himself, that Todd is kidnapped by the cult and possessed by the Red-Eyed Demon, that the entire apartment has become overrun with the evil presence of the cult, and that Sal has no choice but to kill everyone inside to prevent the spread of the infection, including his friends and family. In the present day, Sal is given the death penalty, and Ash's attempt to save him with proof of the ghost of Larry comes too late - she arrives in time to see Sal executed by electric chair.
• Unexpected Gameplay Change: The final supernatural hotspot in Episode 2 takes over the Gear Boy, and the player then plays a retro game on it that explains some backstory to the Addison Apartments building and its residents.
• Wham Episode: Episode 4, oh so much. Sal did indeed kill someone. Namely, everyone in Addison Apartments. And he wasn't even possessed...however, he literally had no choice. And then Sal himself gets executed.
• Wham Line:
  • From Episode 1, two in rapid succession:
    Dr. Enon: Next week will be our last meeting before your trial. So I hope you'll help me help you. I don't think you are a murderer, Sal.
  • From Episode 4:
  Mr.Addison: You must kill all those who have been tainted by the Dark.

  Prosecutor: Dr.Enon.
• Wham Shot:
  • Sal in handcuffs and an orange jumpsuit at the end of Episode 1.
  • Larry's ghost at the end of Episode 2.
  • Red-eyed Todd at the end of Episode 3.
  • Mr. Addison's true form at the end of Episode 4.
    • Dr. Enon "reappearing" at the trial in the same episode.
• "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: Episode 5 has a secret one that is unlocked by getting all the story secrets in previous episodes.It shows that even though the trio managed to stop the cult, the plague of shadows still managed to be partially summoned and wipe out 33% of the human population. Todd still has traces of the evil corruption in him but fortunately can manage with the hope of someday even controlling it. Sal gains greater control over his "plane shifting" powers and he and Ash used them to help rid of the corruption left behind. And finally despite continued searching Larry still hasn't been found.
• Where the Hell Is Springfield?: Nockfell's location is never stated outright; however, some small contextual clues are pointing to somewhere in the vicinity of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
• You Are What You Hate: Travis the bully most frequently expresses homophobic opinions about Sal and company, but Sal easily sees that it's due to insecurities about his own apparent homosexuality.

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