Rewind. Rewrite history.
- The War of Apothesis ended, yet peace has not returned.
As lives evaporated into dust, resentful ghosts runs amok.
The cycle has collapsed, monsters and spirits has risen...
——
The Rewinder is a Point-and-Click puzzle / adventure game developed by Misty Mountain Studio, with inspirations derived rooted in Chinese mythology.
After the wars from ancient China left legions of restless spirits roaming the earth, leading to an excess of disturbed souls disrupting the cycle of reincarnation, the Chinese underworld took action by summoning young children with special, psychic abilities, from communicating with spirits to mental projections to explore the memories of people and alter their pasts, recruiting them to help the souls right whatever wrongs when they were mortals and attain inner peace.
Centuries have passed ever since the Rewinders served the gods, and in the present, the last Rewinder, Yun, is summoned to a rural Chinese village to fight a brewing netherworld threat.As Yun, players can infiltrate the minds of spirits, travel through time and solve mysteries no mortal could. Assisted by a ghost girl, Light, who serves as Yun's liaison to the spirit realm, Yun encounters a whole plethora of mythological creatures from the Chinese underworld.
The game was made available for the PC and Nintendo Switch.
They were chosen to bring order to chaos...
- Artifact of Doom: The Jade Pendant in possession of Ying. Deconstructed in that Lu Wan's entire plan hinged on everyone believing that the pendant was one, while instead it was a powerful, evil-repelling talisman.
- Bazaar of the Bizarre: The level players get to control Light have her entering one filled with nature spirits, ghosts, and benevolent supernatural creatures. From the Ox-Head and Bull-Face playing chess, to andromorphic plants smoking in an opium joint, a purple ghost with an oversized head selling candied dolls, an Oni-like creature in a gambling joint, a Chinese Vampire in a storytelling parlor, ghost children running about and all that.
- Belly Mouth: The first demonic entity Yun exorcises is the pregnant ghost, whose stomach womb is now a set of jaws who expands and attempts to chomp Yun on sight.
- Big Bad: Lu Wan, an agent of the White Lotus and disciple of the evil, fallen Rewinder Immortal Zhao.
- The Cavalry: In the final act, Rusty, Cliff, June and Faith come to Yun's rescue and help him slaying the spider demon once and for all.
- Cute Ghost Girl: Yun's sidekick and assistant Light, a ghost resembling a teenage girl.
- Everybody Hates Hades: Subverted big time, most of the denizens of the Underworld may look creepy or monstrous, but they're all very helpful, kind and friendly. Ox-head and Horse-face even invite Yun for a drink, while Lady Meng express concern over his and Light's health.
- Eye of Newt: The ingredients required in the ritual to revive Yun from the dead, a hibiscus flower for his body, Soul Wine for his soul, the hair of a "Yin" woman to restore his Yin, and the feather of a "Yang" bird to restore his Yang. Naturally it's up to Light to venture into the underworld for the ingredients.
- The Gambler: There's a gambling oni in the netherworld who attempts scamming Light when she tries makign a bet for Yun's life. She managed to out-smart the ghost, however, by noticing the game is rigged and using her discovery to co-erce the ghost into giving her what she wants.
- Giant Spider: There are giant spider-ghosts in the last stage, who can be banished instantly by a ritual.
- Golden Ending: Successfully completing Sage's flower-collecting sidequest allows you to unlock his memory shard: completing the surprisingly easy secret memory resets the entire events of the game, putting an end to Lu Wan's plans before they even started.
- Heroic Sacrifice: The ritual to revive Yun can only happen if someone sacrifices himself to complete the ritual, having his name erased from the Book of Life and Death and vanishing from everyone's memories. Light is seemingly ready to endure this sacrifice, only for Willow to take her place at the last moment.
- Hopeless Boss Fight: Yun faces Lu Wan's monstrous daughter, Moon, who turns out to be a massive, powerful Jorogumo creature. He'll need to evade her Advancing Boss of Doom attack or die instantly; if he survive, Moon instead catches him in a cutscene and kills him anyway. The main difference though, is that the second death can be revived.
- I See Dead People: All Rewinders can see, and communicate, with the dead. Including the protagonist, Yun.
- Last of His Kind: Yun is the last of the Rewinders from ancient generations.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Yun claims to be doing this job exclusively for the massive gold nugget promised by Mr Black. In truth, while he enjoys watching gold shine,he's move by more altruistic reasons.
- Mental Time Travel: How Yun alters the past, by entering the minds of restless souls, investigating what caused their deaths in the first place, and prevent their demises. It's up to the player to unravel the mysteries and decide actions to be taken, however.
- Multiarmed Multitasking: The pipa ghost has three arms, and uses all three when playing his instrument.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Ying's memory ends up with Yun actually breaking the evil-repelling Jade Pendant, letting Lu Wan and Moon kill everyone in the village.
- Our Hero Is Dead: Yun was seemingly killed by Moon, the daughter of Lu Wan who assumes a monstrous Jorogumo form and rips out Yun's heart. But then there's a way to revive Yun by obtaining a number of special ingredients for a revival ritual, and it's up to Light to enter the underworld to collect them all.
- Outliving One's Offspring: The Beggar Ghost dies before his mother, as he reveals after Yun tries prodding his past. Turns out said ghost used to be from a wealthy family before he's kicked out after an argument and dying penniless, an act regrets even after he's dead.
- Paper Talisman: During the last portion of the game, Yun has to craft a set of magical talismans to defeat the Yaoguai, blue freezing talismans and red explosive ones. He also need to place them in the right order for the final trap.
- Plant Aliens: The spirit bazaar has a giant ginseng spirit who assumes an andromorphic humanoid form, with an equally-andromorphic lingzhi sitting on the ginseng's scalp Head Pet-style. What's even weirder is that they're selling plants.
- Ret-Gone: Whenever Yun completes a task in the past, causing a timeline to be altered, when returning to the present the restless spirit he's exorcising will vanish instantly, having their fates changed so they either doesn't die, or passes in a different, more peaceful way. This somehow even affects non-living objects - one of Yun's quest have him trying to prevent a tree from collapsing in the past; returning to the present, the collapsed tree fades away from sight!
- Slashed Throat: This is how Yun's father, a legendary Rewinder, died in the hands of the villainous spirit shapeshifter Lu Wan, a fact he learns during a flashback.
- Spider Swarm: One area in the first stage is a path blocked by a spider horde, and while they're a lot smaller than the Giant Spider enemies in the last stages they're still numerous enough to block a path Yun needs to cross. He'll need to obtain coal and a lighter to start a fire.
- Spirit World: Yun gets to explore the land of the dead after his apparent death in the claws of Moon. He even meets his father in there.
- Tragic Monster: Moon, as revealed by her dying memory, gave her unflinching trust to Lu Wan/Auntie Huang after learning from her that her husband left her for another woman. In truth, Lu Wan orchestrated Sage's death to manipulate Moon into being her puppet.
- Treants: The Tree Sage, a spirit inhabiting a tree who assumes a humanoid shape. He serves as The Smart Guy who provides advice and prepares crucial items for Yun's quest.
- Tsuchigumo and Jorogumo: Moon, one of the demons, calls the mythical Japanese monster to mind, appearing as a beautiful pale woman sprouting from the head of an enormous orb weaver spider. She dwells in a hidden cave and a Hero Killer who impales Yun with her claws.
- Those Two Guys: Mr. Black and Mr. White, better known as Heibai Wuchang ("Black and White Impermanence"), the two Deities in Chinese folklore tasked with escorting spirits to the underworld are always seen together. Just like their real-life counterparts.
- Together in Death: Ming and Ying in the standard ending.
- Vengeful Ghost: A number of the spirits Yun has to exorcise are malevolent, due to suffering tragic, untimely deaths, and attacks Yun on sight.
- Will-o'-the-Wisp: Floating flames are a common sight in places containing spirit activity, although despite appearing in large numbers they're merely part of the background.
