Visual Novel / Hiveswap Friendsim

Meeting friends from every colour of the hemospectrum!^note That's not blood, right?

Hiveswap Friendship Simulator, or Hiveswap Friendsim, is a loosely-canon Ren'Py-based Visual Novel spin-off of Hiveswap, which in turn is a spin-off of Homestuck. While written by a group of various writers, Andrew Hussie oversees the project and wrote the first volume himself. It was made as a means to tide over the wait until the release of Act 2 of Hiveswap. The first volume was released on April 13, 2018. It was initially released on Steam and Android OS, but was also released on multiple game consoles on December 7th 2023.

You play as the MSPA Reader, who has crash landed on the troll home world of Alternia, in need of food, medical assistance, and most of all, friendship.

Eighteen volumes, along with an epilogue, have been released.

Volumes and befriendable trolls

• Volume 1 (released 4/13/18): Ardata Carmia and Diemen Xicali
• Volume 2 (released 4/27/18): Cirava Hermod and Amisia Erdehn
• Volume 3 (released 5/11/18): Skylla Koriga and Bronya Ursama
• Volume 4 (released 5/25/18): Tagora Gorjek and Vikare Ratite
• Volume 5 (released 6/8/18): Polypa Goezee and Zebruh Codakk
• Volume 6 (released 6/22/18): Elwurd and Kuprum Maxlol with Folykl Darane
• Volume 7 (released 7/6/18): Remele Namaaq and Konyyl Okimaw
• Volume 8 (released 7/20/18): Tyzias Entykk and Chixie Roixmr
• Volume 9 (released 8/3/18): Azdaja Knelax and Chahut Maenad
• Volume 10 (released 8/17/18): Zebede Tongva and Tegiri Kalbur
• Volume 11 (released 8/31/18): Mallek Adalov and Lynera Skalbi
• Volume 12 (released 9/14/18): Galekh Xigisi and Tirona Kasund
• Volume 13 (released 9/28/18): Boldir Lamati and Stelsa Sezyat
• Volume 14 (released 10/12/18): Marsti Houtek and Karako Pierot
• Volume 15 (released 10/26/18): Charun Krojib and Wanshi Adyata
• Volume 16 (released 11/9/18): Fozzer Velyes and Marvus Xoloto
• Volume 17 (released 11/30/18): Daraya Jonjet and Nihkee Moolah
• Volume 18 (released 12/14/18): Lanque Bombyx and Barzum and Baizli Soleil
• Epilogue (released with Volume 18): Doc Scratch

Character tropes for the trolls featured in this game can be found here.

A sort of sequel to this novel, Pesterquest, was released on Steam in September 2019.

An unofficial, free Fan Sequel by Studio June, titled Friendsim 2, was announced on April 13, 2021. Its prologue and the first of its fourteen planned volumes were released on Steam at midnight one year later, on April 13, 2022.

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This Friendship Simulator provides examples of:

• Absurdly Spacious Sewer: Where the MSPA Reader takes Diemen to find another hotdog after accidentally stepping on his first one.
• Accidental Murder:
  • One of the possible endings of Diemen's route has his neck snapped after a Heimlich Maneuver gone horribly wrong.
  • In Bronya's bad endings, you either accidentally squish one of the wigglers she was caring for, or you cause a lusii rampage, resulting in the deaths of many lusii and grubs.
  • Can also happen in Tirona's route, if you go to Tegiri's office. It turns out he set a trap for any intruders who enter the wrong password too many times. It doesn't kill you, but it does kill Tirona.
• Actually Four Mooks: Kuprum and Folykl both share a route.
• Adaptational Slimness: Inverted with Terezi, who is drawn the same as the other characters in Homestuck, but is visibly chubby here.
• Affably Evil: Some of the trolls are quite murderous, and may also have Fantastic Racism towards Lowbloods, but can still be quite friendly towards you if the right choices are made. Even their bad endings don't always end in them killing you.
• All Take and No Give: The Reader's friendship with Ardata.
• Alpha Bitch: Ardata, most likely due to the fact that she's a highblood.
• Ambulance Chaser: Tagora's profession, and he's none too subtle about it.
• And I Must Scream: Ardata will decide when you can talk.
• Anti-Frustration Features: The game can be saved at any time, including when you have to select an action that will determine which ending you get. This means you don't have to go through the dialogue and narration all over again should you get a bad ending the first time. And if you forget to save, there's a button that can fast-forward through the route until you reach a choice, and automatically saves for you as well.
• Ascended Extra: Because there are many characters, it's unlikely that Act 2 will give all of them them enough focus, which was even confirmed by one of the (former) staff members. This game serves as not only a way to tide over players who are still waiting for Act 2's delayed release, but also as a way to get to know all the new characters better.
• Ax-Crazy: Quite a few trolls, since this is Alternia:
  • Ardata uses caged trolls in her videos as entertainment.
  • Amisia has a literal axe, which she is not afraid to use.
  • Chahut has blood all over her and can even kill the Reader as a sacrifice for her religion.
  • Lynera gets jealous of anyone who spends time with Bronya and kidnaps the Reader over it.
• Bad Future: Implied to happen on Nihkee's route. If the Reader doesn't let her train them, she'll make them leave, but they'll become determined to befriend her. After exercising with Stelsa for a while, they make the journey back to Nihkee, only to start having visions of previous routes, mostly of the bad endings. Then they'll have visions of Nihkee being angry to see them again, somehow losing her other leg, getting hit by a train, and becoming a cyborg that chases after the Reader for a whole year before finally having them cornered, and it's implied that Polypa and Tegiri were killed by her after the Reader tried to get help from them. It's unknown if it was just the Reader's imaginaton or if it really was a vision of what would have happened had they returned to Nihkee.
• Badass Adorable:
  • When the Reader tries to pick up Amisia's axe, they drop it on their foot. When she picks it up, she acts like it's as light as a feather even though she doesn't have any visible muscles. Though this is justified since she's an Indigoblood, which is a caste notable for its Super-Strength.
  • Remele also counts, as she has a rather cute design and is able to beat a purpleblood to death with their own spiked club, which is almost as big as her.
  • Karako is possibly the youngest Troll Call troll, but he can attack people with knives if angered. Too bad said people are Violetbloods who are much older than him...
  • The Soleil Twins are also young children, but are capable of using quite powerful chucklevoodoos.
• Badass Normal: Skylla stands out for being rather strong on her own; she doesn't use any weapons nor does her blood grant her any useful powers/strength.
• Bait-and-Switch:
  • Sometimes things happen that will make you think you're headed for the bad ending, only for it not to be. For example, on one path of Mallek's route, you impulsively throw his phone into the nearby water, and he responds by throwing you into the water. However, he then rescues you, claiming that he also acted impulsively.
  • This can happen the other way round as well. For example, on one path of Wanshi's route, even though she's just seen a dead body for the first time, you still make it to the convention she wanted to go to, and it looks like she'll be happy enough to be your friend. But before you can enjoy the activities there, an escaped cholerbear shows up having killed a lot of trolls already, and kills you by falling on you when you kill it.
  • A meta example: The game's programmer often announces which trolls are being featured in the latest volume not long before it's release. There have been at least two instances where he shared screenshots from those routes, and players were tricked into thinking they were leading to the good endings. They weren't.
• Battle Couple: Konyyl is an assassin who works with her matesprit Azdaja, although their relationship is somewhat rocky due to disagreements about their work and/or relationship.
• Bears Are Bad News: Wanshi's route has a rampaging cholerbear at a convention. If you happen to be at that convention, you'll try to kill it, only for it to attack and kill you as well.
• Beware the Nice Ones:
  • Skylla may be among the more just trolls, but when her lusus gets dognapped, she manages to kick a lot of ass without any weapons, powers, or Super-Strength. In a later volume she also gets Konyyl to go after the thieves, with the implication that she knows they will be killed.
  • Bronya isn't actually seen fighting, but if you sit on a grub or kill a bunch of lusii/grubs, she gets pissed and appears to be capable of throwing you out of a window.
  • Mallek is surprisingly friendly for a Cobaltblood, but he can potentially abandon you when some drones show up, or throw you into some water after you throw his phone in there, though he'll quickly rescue you and apologize.
  • Zebede. See above.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: Ardata's lusus, which is a giant tick. Cirava's lusus may also qualify, as they mention having a wasp lusus.
• Big Friendly Dog: Skylla's lusus, who is a Rough Collie named Lady.
• Bloodier and Gorier: Act 1 of Hiveswap had no onscreen blood at all (aside from the wounded paw of Dammek's lusus). While it is unknown if future acts will remain the same, Friendsim is not afraid to show blood, no matter what color it is.
• Blue/Orange Contrast: The fourth volume features Tagora and Vikare, a tealblood (a shade of blue) and a bronzeblood (a shade of orange), respectively. The same goes for the eighth volume, which features Tyzias and Chixie, who are likewise also respectively a tealblood and a bronzeblood.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: Alternia's generally lax view on murder translates into a very violent population. Ardata's... interesting... way of treating her friends is just one example of this.
• Blue Blood: The highbloods are an almost literal examples of this. Trolls with "indigo" (dark blue) and "purple" (dark purple) blood colors are the two highest land-dwelling castes on the hemospectrum, and as such, they're viewed as nobility. It applies to a lesser extent to "cerulean" (slightly pale blue) trolls; they're technically considered upper-middle-class and can't get away with as much as the highbloods, but most lowblooded trolls consider Ceruleans to be basically highbloods as well.
• Brain in a Jar: Wanshi's route reveals that the library has a room full of these. There is no explanation for why it's there, or why it's so heavily guarded.
• Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: When looking in Tyzias' office with Tirona in Volume 12, you find "us33l33ss schoolf3333ding assignm33nts, copi33s of court transcripts" and... "a bunch of nud33s." According to Tirona, these are things that Tealbloods normally have in their offices.
• Break the Cutie:
  • In contrast to Xefros, Diemen is a lot more prone to crying when talking about his life issues, namely his dead lusus.
  • This is implied to have happened to Polypa after her hive was attacked, her lusus was killed, and she was left for dead.
  • Most likely happens to Wanshi in her bad route after the Reader gets killed by a bear. In fact, she might have already started going through this when she sees a dead body for the first time.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: Sometimes the narration references the fact that this is a game, and the later volumes also mention that it's getting close to the end.
  • Nihkee's route has the narration describes her as having a "Fully illustrated sprite". Later on she's wearing an exercise outfit that looks exactly the same as her previous outfit so that "The artists don't have to draw a second set of sprites for it."
  • This happens a few times on Lanque's route. The first time is when Lynera is wearing her normal outfit instead of being dressed up for a party because "We would've had to pay someone to redraw all her sprites." The second time is when Ardata warns you that the volume contains mature content, and if you choose to accept it, she'll tell you she doesn't want you to complain online about it. The third time is on the NSFW path when Lanque gives Lynera a "The Reason You Suck" Speech and she runs off crying. The narration says you feel like going after her, but decide not to because it isn't "her volume of the friendsim."
• Bridal Carry: Ardata mind controls the Reader into doing this to her. Despite THE LARGE NUMBER OF OBVIOUS injuries.
• But Thou Must!: Sometimes you will be given just one option that you have to click to progress. There are also several instances where you're given multiple options that, despite offering extra or different dialogue depending on which one you choose, will still lead to the same thing.
  • Subverted in Elwurd's route, however; both choices at one point say "Fake date" with different levels of enthusiasm, implying that they'll lead to the same thing, but if you choose the more enthusiastic version, you'll end up with the bad ending.
  • A scary version happens in Barzum and Baizli's route. The Reader comes across a creepy-looking house. If they choose to ignore it, they'll move on, only to come back to it. And later, if they escape, they'll end up lost and keep coming back to it again.
• Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp": As with Homestuck proper, there are many, many examples of this: to name a few, pancakes are called "grubcakes", cats are "purrbeasts", houses are "hives" (and similarly, libraries are "bookhives"), and lawyers are "legislacerators". Humorously averted, however, with coffee; the Reader makes a guess for an equally convoluted name for it, only for Skylla to inform them that, no, trolls also call it "coffee".
• The Cameo: Several trolls are referenced either indirectly or by name on other routes. Azdaja, Konyyl, and Tegiri are alluded to on Polypa's route, while Chixie is mentioned by name on Zebruh's. Some trolls can even show up on other's routes.
  • Though it's within the same volume, if you accidentally kill Diemen on his route, Ardata shows up to get rid of his body for you.
  • Bronya appears on Elwurd's good route, where it's revealed that they were ex-lovers.
  • In volume 7, Marvus Xoloto can be seen on Remele's route admiring some art. In the same volume, Skylla shows up at the beginning of Konyyl's route and asks her to go after the lusus thieves that almost kidnapped Lady.
  • Volume 8 has Zebruh appear on Chixie's route, much to her dismay. Meanwhile, Tyzias says that Tagora has told her about you, and he appears on one path of her route. The other path has her mention the Condesce, and allude to the Signless/Sufferer and the Summoner.
  • Amisia makes an appearance in Volume 9, and is initially presented as having a second route. However, people quickly noticed the faint image of Chahut behind her, and realised it was actually her route. Amisia is still there in person, though, and Marvus is implied to be attending the clown church at the same time you are, thanks to the description of a purple-blood with a large top hat. Also, the church has an image of what appears to be the Grand Highblood. He is strongly implied to be the troll who video calls the church. Meanwhile, Konyyl is mentioned and can potentially show up on Azdaja's route, and he leaves with her to participate in a Deadly Game if you refused his earlier offer.
  • In volume 10, Cirava is mentioned a few times on Zebede's route, as he is shown to be a fan of them. You can also answer a video call from them. Tegiri's route has quite a few cameos, for example, a scalemate (Specifically Lemonsnout) can be seen in the East Alternian Media store, and Polypa shows up at near the end of his good route. In fact, the latter's route can be seen on a computer in the background at one point, translated into Alternian.
  • Volume 11 has Diemen show up on Mallek's route as one of the lowblood trolls the latter paid to bring you into his vehicle. Cameos are downplayed in Lynera's route, where no other previous trolls show up, but Bronya is talked about a lot and appears in some pictures while her relationship with Elwurd is remembered by the Reader. Also, both routes have various signs from the Extended Zodiac in the background.
  • Mallek shows up in Volume 12 when Galekh wants to experience new things and decides to get a tattoo. Meanwhile, Tirona's paths have appearances of some kind from all three of the previous tealbloods: Tagora makes a second cameo in should you choose to look in his office, where he will call you; if you go to Tegiri's office, he won't be there, but there will be a voice recording of him that he left with his trap; and if you choose Tyzias's office, she'll show up in person after you send her a message.
  • On Boldir's route in volume 13, the Reader finds Ardata at a cafe. If they choose to go pickpocketing with Boldir, they'll try to steal her poison, only to accidentally steal her antidote instead...which Boldir ends up needing. Stelsa's route, on the other hand, doesn't have any of the previous trolls show up in person, but, it's revealed that she is Tyzias's matesprit, and one path of her route involves her going to see Remele as a client for her job, though she never makes it there because the car crashes.
  • Volume 14 has one path of Marsti's route involve the two of you going to Galekh's hive, where his goat lusus appears. Galekh himself arrives just as you find that his lusus has eaten some of his important books, and he can faintly be seen approaching in the ending screen. In the other path of her route, you'll find Folykl (but not Kuprum as he went off to get food), and Marsti will comment on her lack of cleanliness. Meanwhile, Karako's route has the Reader look at his necklace and see a message to return him to Bronya, though neither she nor anyone else show up in person.
  • Volume 15 has Konyyl and Azdaja show up on one path of Charun's route, and Bronya, Lynera, Tegiri and Polypa are mentioned on Wanshi's route, of which one path has text messages from the latter two, while Lynera shows up in person towards the end. Vikare is mentioned too when the Reader realizes they haven't talked to him in a while. Wanshi also mentions that she only has one other friend at the caverns to talk about her interests with who she refers to as "he," so it's possible he may be Lanque.
    • The backgrounds in Volume 15 also have a few cameos. Lil Cal can be seen in Charun's cave, while the convention in Wanshi's route has troll versions of some of the staff that worked on the game, such as James Roach and Toby Fox, who has a small dog for a lusus.
  • Zebruh appears again in Volume 16, making him the third character who's appeared in 2 other volumes beside their own. This time, he takes the Reader to a concert in the hopes that he'll get the attention of Marvus, though the Reader does have the option to not go through with his plan once they get there.
  • Tyzias appears in both routes in Volume 17 (the good route for Daraya, and the bad route for Nihkee). Daraya's route also has Chahut show up, possibly going to a party Elwurd is having, and in the good path Tagora and Galekh can be seen in the background at one point. Nihkee's route starts with Amisia having taken the Reader to see wrestling with some tickets she won, and the bad path has Stelsa appear with Tyzias when the Reader visits the former's hive.
    • One of the trolls in the audience of the wrestling match resembles Mr. Mime. The hotdog juggling troll from Marvus' route is also in the background.
    • The bad path of Nihkee's route also has screenshots of previous routes with most of the other trolls. Polypa, Tegiri, and Mallek also appear in what is possibly the Reader's vision of a bad future.
  • Lanque's route in Volume 18 starts with Lynera taking the Reader to a party Ardata is having. While there, Skylla can be seen in the background, as can the hotdog juggling troll (again), Diemen, and Elwurd, the latter two of which can show up in sprite form and receive dialog on the "NSFW/Problematic" path. Bronya also appears in this path.
  • On the Soleil Twins' route, one of the pictures in the creepy house appears to be the hotdog juggling troll's ancestor.
• Character Development: The MSPA Reader themself gets this throughout the Friendsim:
  • Zebede's good route gives the Reader a mild Jerkass Realization when recalling times that they lied to other trolls they'd met just to attempt to please and befriend them. They resolve to try to be more truthful in the future, and are shown feeling genuinely guilty about future occasions when they are forced to lie. In Mallek's route, choosing to continue lying to him instead of confessing the truth causes them to feel ashamed of it, and leads to his bad ending.
  • Marsti's good route has both her and Folykl calling the Reader out on some of the insensitive things they've said in an attempt to gain approval, and the Reader apologizes to Marsti for it at the end, which she accepts. The friend-box description for Marsti even says "You cleaned up your attitude."
  • In general, the Reader becomes relatively less of an Extreme Doormat as time goes on; this trait doesn't completely disappear, but it becomes more and more downplayed. In the first bad ending of Chahut's route, they become so fed up with her and Amisia's behavior that they ditch the friendship of their own accord and storm off, and they generally become more willing to speak their mind. This also reflects in the available dialogue options; in early volumes, chickening out of things or just passively following the troll's desires was more likely to result in the good ending, while in later volumes, showing hesitation, uncertainty, or lack of confidence and conviction has a far greater chance of leading to the bad ending.
• Chekhov's Boomerang: In one of Azdaja's bad ends, he mentions that the MSPA Reader has a criminal record despite not being Alternian in origin. Later, during a bad ending in Tegiri's route, he is informed of the Reader's criminal deeds, and decides to take them down. Not too long after that, one of the first things Tirona does in her route is take them to her office and delete said record using her computer.
• Chekhov's Gunman:
  • Tagora's route has him become flustered when a blue-blooded troll who he is implied to have black feelings for shows up. Galekh's route reveals that he was that blue-blooded troll.
  • In the bad ending of Polypa's route, she and the Reader break into a lowblood's apartment, only for him to arrive home with his purpleblood matesprit, who attacks them before they successfully flee. Later, in the good ending of Remele's route, that purpleblood sees the Reader again, somehow remembers them, and tries to kill them.
  • Tirona's route has her mention a guy she runs errands for, who told her about the Reader and asked her to spring them from jail. The Reader assumes it's Mallek, but Nihkee's bad route heavily implies (and the epilogue all but outright confirms) that she actually meant Doc Scratch.
• Clown Species: Almost the entire purpleblood caste of trolls follows an unnamed religion; they wear juggalo makeup, drink faygo, have honks in their theme music, and are otherwise very clown-adjacent. Apart from background characters, every one so far has been a member of the church.
• Cold-Blooded Torture:
  • Ardata does this to the Reader, as well as many, many trolls.
  • Happens to the Reader in the Soleil Twin's route in many different ways in what appears to be a Ground Hog Day Loop. It turns out to be all just an illusion caused by their psychic powers.
• Conditioned to Accept Horror: Despite the obviously horrifying life Diemen lives, he's still pretty damn cheerful.
• Contrived Coincidence: The poison Boldir is dosed with is the exact same one the Reader pickpocketed the antidote for. They even lampshade this.
• Crapsack World: Once again, Alternia, being ruled by an absolute tyrant, filled to the brim with Fantastic Racism, and having a violence-loving culture. Notably, we get to see the effects of how crappy Alternia is with the first two trolls; Diemen got his house blown up, his lusus killed, and is often ostracized due to his blood color, while it's implied that Ardata is as violent as she is because otherwise she would probably be outcasted or even killed.
• Cruel and Unusual Death:
  • An unnamed troll is fed to Ardata's lusus.
  • Quite a few of the Reader's deaths in the bad ends count, too; see The Many Deaths of You.
• Cute and Psycho:
  • Amisia: Cute, artsy, and violent. She carries her huge axe easy and the bloodstains on her smock are numerous.
  • Lynera also counts. Yes, she's rather pretty and wears big purple glasses, but she's also very clingy about her red crush and even kidnaps the Reader and threatens them with a knife. However, she has slightly more sanity than Amisia, not appearing to want to kill people for fun.
• Darker and Edgier: While it’s nowhere near the amount of blood and swearing in Homestuck, still got much more blood and intense swearing than Hiveswap. This is particularly evidenced by its ESRB rating; it was rated M, which is a far cry from the E10 rating that Hiveswap ACT 1 got.
• A Day in the Limelight: Each troll's route serves as one of these, as Word of God has said that not every character in Act 2 will get that much focus since there are so many of them and Joey and Xefros don't have time to stop and talk to all of them, especially not the more dangerous ones that would actually kill them.
• Deadly Game: Featured in Azdaja's route. He was supposed to be in a team with Konyyl, but she's running late, so he asks the Reader to join him instead. If they don't, Konyyl will eventually show up and join him, but that means they miss out on befriending him.
• Death of a Child: Given this is Alternia, pretty much every death that occurs is that of a child or teenager, seeing as the planet is populated by nothing but the Troll young.
  • Numerous troll larvae are trampled over, sat on, and killed in Bronya's bad routes.
  • Heavily implied in one of Tirona's bad routes where, after the Reader activates a booby trap connected to Tegiri's office door, Tirona presumably gets impaled or slashed by a katana and dies. If the look of horror on the Reader's face in the bad end screen is anything to go by.
  • A very frightening instance of this occurs on Karako's bad routes; in the first one, the Reader runs away from a drone and accidentally leaves him behind, then can't find him afterwards, heavily implying that the drone carried him away for culling, and in the second one, Karako angrily attacks some violetbloods after they make fun of him and the Reader, only for them to fight back, killing him. And he's implied to be the youngest troll in the Troll Call.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Quite a few of the trolls the Reader befriends go through this:
  • While normally the resident Alpha Bitch, Ardata does slowly warm up to you (provided you don't screw up), and it's implied that she's the way that she is simply due to how awful Alternia and its culture is.
  • Tagora, an Ambulance Chaser who's Only in It for the Money, clearly doesn't care about the Reader at first and is just hoping to make a quick buck off of them after they tell him they're rich^* (especially since, as he alludes to on his bad route, the Kangaroo Court system of Alternia means that the Reader would have lost their lawsuit case regardless). However, a combination of being grateful to them for helping his social life, impressed by their lying skills, and possibly attracted to them after they borrow his Rainbow Drinker body wash has him decide to forego treating them as a client in favor of making them an "associate" (i.e. befriending them).
  • Polypa starts off as almost a Perpetual Frowner, but she smiles much more towards the good ending of her route as the two of you get to know each other more.
  • Lynera initially kidnaps the Reader out of jealousy of their friendship with Bronya, but after they almost fall on her knife while attempting to comfort her when they're tied up, she saves them, and goes to a café with them. Lanque's route shows her (and also Ardata) defrosting further; Lynera invites the Reader to accompany her to a party Ardata is having, in an effort from both of them to make more friends.
  • Marsti is a very sarcastic Deadpan Snarker who doesn't hesitate to snap at the Reader about their attitude problems and call them out on their bullshit whenever she sees it, but by the end of her route, she accepts their apology and assures them that she doesn't have any hard feelings over the stuff they said.
  • Daraya is an Emo Teen who struggles with depression and nihilism, and as a result, she acts like a bit of an ass towards Tyzias, who's grappled with the same issues. However, Tyzias's words eventually get through to her, and the two of them decide to start working together to do what they can to improve life on Alternia.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance: Most humans would agree torturing your new friend isn't a very good way to get to know them. Highblood trolls would disagree.
  • By the time the MSPA Reader meets Tagora, they've gotten used to the violent, spiky Organic Technology vibe that Alternia has. Then you see the inside of his house, which is completely normal if extremely expensive and pretentious by human standards, and you're actually creeped out. This is the appropriate reaction, as fancy and harmless is the Alternian equivalent of menacing and disturbing and thus something of an emo design choice, as seen with Kanaya in Homestuck. (Unsurprisingly, Tagora is, like her, very interested in rainbow drinkers.)
  • Eventually, the Reader gets so fed up with how murderous trolls can be that they leave after Amisia and Chahut kill a random Bronzeblood that the former caught in a trap.
• Denied Food as Punishment: Whether or not Ardata is punishing the Reader for trying to run by refusing to let them eat or just doesn't care is up to the Reader.
• Developer's Foresight:
  • By Volume 5, the developers appear to be aware that fans will rummage through the files with every new update to find who the newly befriendable trolls are. In said volume, the developers remarked in the code that the mysterious Goldblood actually being Polypa will make for a nice surprise... for those who don't immediately go digging into the files.
  • The reveal that what appeared to be Amisia's second route was actually Chahut's route was so easily worked out by fans that by the time Volume 9 was available in the Steam store, they decided to not even bother keeping it a secret anymore, and showed her in the preview images.
• Disposing of a Body: If you accidentally kill Diemen, Ardata suddenly appears to take care of his body for you, most likely by giving it to her lusus.
• Disproportionate Retribution: The majority of the trolls' bad endings have them simply leaving the Reader or sending them away, often for quite understandable reasons. A few of them, though, don't let you off so easily; these are often jarring because of how differently these same trolls will act towards you on their good routes.
  • Choosing to let Cirava pick out your look for you results in them picking something similar enough to their own outfit that, after they post your picture online, you start to overshadow them in popularity. They blame you for this, and write a callout post so scathing that the Reader is Driven to Suicide by it.
  • If you refuse Tagora's offer of a bath, when you later go outside, you'll accidentally embarrass him in front of a highblood troll that he's implied to have a black crush on. He responds to this by siccing drones on the Reader to cull them.
  • Telling Kuprum and Folykl that they need to get their shit together is indeed rather rude and judgmental to say to two people whose relationship you know nothing about, but them responding to it by first both making out with the Reader non-consensually (in which Kuprum funnels his energy into them and Folykl sucks it out) and then draining their energy and leaving them for dead is rather extreme.
• Dominatrix: Ardata shows some subdued traits of this trope.
• Driven to Suicide:
  • Cirava's bad ending has the Reader doing this after Cirava writes a callout post about them.
  • Implied to happen in the bad ending of Daraya's route. After being convinced that nothing matters and everything should be destroyed, she sets the abandoned mall on fire and refuses to leave.
• Drowning My Sorrows: You can encourage Chixie to do this in her route after her song gets stolen. She goes a bit too far and passes out.
• Earn Your Bad Ending:
  • Since there's no way of telling which options will lead to the good or bad endings, sometimes you may find the option that seems like it will lead to the bad ending will actually lead to the good ending, and if you want to see the bad ending you will have to choose the other option and go through the other path.
  • Conversely, there are some options, most often for the first, early bad ending of a route, that has an obviously very bad choice; if you select it anyway, you're punished accordingly.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Similar to above, sometimes the option that seems like it will lead to the good ending will lead to the bad ending, meaning you have to choose the other option and go through that path before getting the good ending. Some of the trolls are initially cold or mean towards you, and it can take a while for them to warm up to you.
• Eats Babies: Downplayed with Ardata's tick lusus, who sucks trolls' blood until they are dry.
• Erotic Eating: At one point, you can combine this with Spaghetti Kiss when you eat a hotdog with Diemen.
• Establishing Series Moment: Both routes in the first volume serve to show not only more information about life on Alternia, but also what kind of events the different choices can result in. The latter is best demonstrated on Diemen's route, where you can accidentally kill him.
• Everyone Has Standards: Despite MSPA Reader's desire for friendship, even they find Amisia laying traps for other trolls to walk into and be decapitated for paint too disgusting for them in Chahut's route, leading them to dump the two of them.
• Extreme Doormat: The MSPA Reader to quite a few characters. Often, the good endings are caused from the choice which involves doing what they want. However, sometimes this can be misleading, and you may have to do the option you think they wouldn't like you to do instead.
• Extreme Omni-Goat: Galekh's lusus is a goat that sometimes eats his books and papers, to the extent that he had to install a metal baby gate in front of the library. Galekh is still fond of his lusus despite this.
• Eye Cam: Sometimes used when the MSPA Reader is Waking Up Elsewhere, just deciding to close their eyes for a moment, or even dying.
• Eyes Do Not Belong There: Most people would expect a psychic third eye to be in the middle of the forehead, not in the middle of the right cheek.
• Fantastic Racism: Takes place In-Universe in regards to Alternian films. When the Reader is watching a movie with Polypa, a bronzeblood is portrayed as clumsy and not very smart just for laughs.
• Foil: The first set of possible friends, Diemen and Ardata, are foils to each other. Diemen has red blood while Ardata has blue, and as such both are on opposite ends of the Fantastic Caste System, with Diemen being at the absolute bottom and Ardata being close to the top. Diemen is kind-hearted and welcoming (as long as you don't try to take his hotdog), while Ardata is (initially) cold and bitchy, while also being a bit off the handle. Diemen is in a bad place, as he has to forage for food due to his house being destroyed and his lusus being killed. Meanwhile, Ardata has a relatively nice hive and enjoys internet fame due to her violent online shows.
• For Want Of A Nail:
  • The different endings can be gained by choosing options you might not always expect will get you that particular ending. For example, choosing to comfort Diemen by patting him instead of hugging him results in the two of you attempting to eat his hotdog together, which leads to him accidentally getting killed. Playing without a guide will leave you clueless as to how to get the good ending on your first try. Good thing you can save at any time, so you don't have to play the route all over again.
  • Two choices that seem fairly similar and/or have roughly the same intent behind them can lead to drastically different endings. Some examples include the above-mentioned Diemen, where you comfort him by either patting him on the back or hugging him, and Elwurd, where both dialogue choices are the same words, but with different levels of enthusiasm ("Fake date." or "FAKE DATE!!")
  • This also particularly applies to bad endings where, instead of the prospective friend simply leaving you or sending you away, something more extreme happens, like the Reader's death. A particularly notable example is Tagora; despite his not particularly welcoming personality, after you befriend him in his good ending, he is actually implied to be one of the friends that the Reader hangs out with fairly often. Get his bad ending and upset him, and he gets you killed by the drones in a major case of Disproportionate Retribution.
  • Probably the biggest example is Lanque's route, where one option at the beginning causes the nature of Ardata's party and Lanque's entire personality to differ depending on your choice:
    • If you choose to accept Ardata's terms and conditions (the "NSFW/Problematic Route"), the party is hardcore, with loud music and illicit drug deals. Lanque is The Casanova who Really Gets Around, acts like a pushy, sleazy, sex-crazed Jerkass to the Reader (on par with Zebruh), and gives Lynera—whom he invited to the party in the first place—a brutal "Reason You Suck" Speech that sends her running out of the party in tears. He later claims to be a virgin when he quite clearly is not, and attempts to seduce the Reader; if they choose to let it happen and see where it goes, the two of them have sex, only for Lanque to callously refuse to add them on Chittr afterwards, make it clear that this was a one-night stand, and tell the Reader that their skills in bed are subpar.
    • If you refuse the terms and conditions (the "Safe Route"), the party, though it still has alcoholic beverages, is much more chill and relaxed, consisting mostly of mingling and chatting. Lanque is instead a Nice Guy almost to the point of being a Mary Sue, leading a poetry read with a few other trolls that he invites the Reader and Lynera to join him for. He also invites Lynera to share her own poem, gives her encouragement when she does so, and asks the Reader to see her home safely. This version of the route seems to be less about Lanque himself and instead continues Lynera's story, as the victory title card features the Reader and Lynera together rather than Lanque.
• Foregone Conclusion:
  • Possibly the case for Ardata. She believes she'll most likely be killed if she doesn't maintain her violent ways. However, her Troll Call profile states that she's close to execution, meaning that she most likely slipped up and is not long for this world regardless.
  • Played a bit straighter in Tirona's route; when she tells the Reader about the Pro-Empire memes she makes to sway potential rebels back to the Heiress's side, she says that when Trizza reaches adulthood, she will defeat and replace the current Empress, the Condesce. We know from the events of Homestuck—where the Condesce is still alive and kicking as one of the major villains of the series, Feferi is her Alternian heiress, and Trizza is never mentioned by name—that this won't happen.
• The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: At the end of the epilogue, Doc Scratch wants the MSPA Reader to read a little webcomic to make things clearer. The first page of Homestuck will be suddenly opened on the player's browser.
• Gainax Ending: Several bad route endings can come off as this.
  • In Boldir's route, she gets poisoned, and as the Reader helplessly watches her die, they start to have unusual thoughts about what's implied to be previous bad endings. There's also some first person narration after the ending screen.
  • Karako's route has him getting killed by some Violetbloods, and his body is taken away by a carousel that appears from the sky. The Reader once again has some unusual thoughts before deciding to avenge his death, only to also get killed and then taken away by the carousel.
  • Marvus’s bad ending. If the Reader agrees with Zebruh's plan, it will go horribly wrong, and get Zebruh killed. Marvus rescues the Reader, but many bad things start to randomly happen, implied to be because it has become a doomed timeline, and things keep getting worse and worse as Marvus tries to protect them from it. In the end, the Reader seems to realize that everything is doomed and a time paradox is happening.
  • Nihkee's bad ending involves the Reader remembering the bad endings of previous routes, and having visions of Nihkee losing her other leg, getting hit by a train, and ending up as a cyborg who chases after them for a year before killing them, and it's unclear if it was just imaginary or a vision of a bad future. Either way, the Reader decides not to return to her.
  • The game as a whole can end this way, in the epilogue. The MSPA Reader is asked if they want to understand. If they say yes, they'll walk around until they find the area where Fozzer was digging holes, and find a hole with a fenestrated wall, and a voice inviting them to come through. It takes them to Doc Scratch's home, where he explains that he was the reason the Reader wanted to make friends with everyone and how they could understand and speak their language as part of an unknown plan. The Reader seems confused and angry about this, and Scratch directs them to a computer, telling them that reading a "brief webcomic" will help to explain things. This will actually open the first page of Homestuck in the computer's browser.
• Get Out!: Some of the bad endings, usually the first of the two bad paths, involve this.
• Given Name Reveal: The unknown Purpleblood's name is Karako Pierot.
• Gory Discretion Shot: Happens a lot when someone is killed or injured, usually their injuries will not be seen but there will still be a lot of blood covering the screen. Averted in Nihkee's route when the Reader has a vision of her losing her other leg.
• "Groundhog Day" Loop: The Soleil Twin's route has the Reader continuously being tortured by them, only to wake up back in the room they started in, with the twins acting as if the previous stuff never happened, and then go through it all over again, being hurt in a different way from before. It's eventually revealed that it was all a trick and the "Torture" was actually an illusion they made with chucklevoodoos, explaining why the Reader was never killed by it when they should have been.
• Guide Dang It!: There are no clues towards which options will get you which endings, and there's no way to learn from other volumes either. Sometimes you'll find that doing the unlikely option will get you the good ending, but doing so in other volumes could lead to the bad ending instead. It's very unlikely for you to get both good endings of a volume on your first try without looking for the answer online.
• Have a Nice Death: Some of the bad endings where the MSPA Reader can die can be quite amusing, most notably on Stelsa's route, if they decide to run back to the car instead of getting her attention, and get killed by acid rain. The ending screen says "Well, that didn't work..."
• He Knows Too Much: Implied to be the reason why someone poisons Boldir.
• I Lied: At the end of his good route, Tagora, grateful to the Reader for helping him out of an awkward social situation, admits that he lied earlier about having represented aliens before in his work as a legislacerator, and that they are actually the first alien he's ever met. In turn, the Reader, who was only able to get this far in the route by pretending they're completely loaded, admits to not actually being rich. Tagora is impressed enough with their lying skills that he doesn't really mind, and decides to forego billing them for his services in favor of teaming up with them, resulting in their friendship.^note It probably helps that Tagora, who is interested in/attracted to rainbow drinkers, is implied to be a bit taken with the Reader after they borrowed his rainbow drinker skin formula that causes them to look like one.
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Each volume title starts with "Of" and usually contain references to what the routes in each volume will involve.
• In Spite of a Nail: Sometimes, similar things can happen on the different paths of routes.
  • In Boldir's route, if you choose not to go pickpocketing, she'll get attacked and die from poisoning. But if you do go pickpocketing, she'll still get attacked and poisoned, but you happened to steal an antidote that luckily works.
  • Wanshi's route has a rampaging bear at a convention. This happens whether or not you actually take her there. It ends better for you if you don't.
  • In Marvus's route, regardless of whether or not you choose to go along with Zebruh's plan, Marvus still ends up saving the Reader from being torn apart by other trolls in the audience, and for the same reason both times, too: he felt sorry for them because they were at his concert with a sleaze like Zebruh. He also, in both scenarios, takes you back to his dressing room with him and becomes pals with you. Unlike most bad endings, where you fail to make friends with the featured troll because you alienate them or one or the other of you dies, none of the above happens with Marvus, who remains friendly with you in both versions; instead, his bad ending occurs because Zebruh dies as a result of you choosing to go along with his plan, creating a doomed timeline as the result of a time paradox (since Zebruh has to be alive to appear in Hiveswap Act 2).
• Innocent Innuendo:
  • Diemen's frequent mentions of his hot dogs often end up sounding rather erotic, with mentions of his warm sausages and people wanting his sweet meat.
  • The Reader also does this when Mallek is giving Galekh a tattoo, saying that it's something the latter can cross off his bucket list. Now remember what buckets mean for trolls...
• Interface Screw: Whenever a troll gets killed or injured, or when the Reader gets injured, blood is likely to appear on the screen.
• Interface Spoiler:
  • Volume 5 has Zebruh and an unknown Goldblood. However, if you look at the "5" icon, you'll see that the colours are Blue and Olive, not Gold. And those bigger horns look suspiciously like Polypa's...
  • Averted in Volume 9, where it was announced that Amisia would apparently be having another route, but people quickly noticed the hidden image of Chahut behind her, and by the time the volume was available in the store, they decided not to keep it a secret any longer and show Chahut in the preview images.
  • When the trolls featured in Volume 14 were announced, the post revealed the first name of the unknown Purpleblood. The volume itself shows his surname on the selection screen.
  • Some people who scrolled too far after buying Volume 18 accidentally saw a button for the epilogue, spoiling the appearance of Doc Scratch.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: The MSPA Reader's motivation. It’s revealed in the epilogue that this entire drive was artificially created by Doc Scratch.
• Iron Butt Monkey: The MSPA Reader gets many injuries, some of which are healed, others of which are not. Despite this, they survive and don't let it stop them in their quest for friendship.
• Know-Nothing Know-It-All:
  • Lynera was initially thought to be this about her intelligence, but her route reveals that she's actually this way about her friendship with Bronya.
  • Volume 12 is called "Of know-nothings and know-it-alls," but surprisingly, both trolls involved seem to know a lot.
• Left for Dead:
  • Happens to the Reader in the bad ending of Tegiri's route: when a drone shows up and informs him of their crimes, he chases after them with the intention of killing them, until they end up falling. Since the fall caused a lot of injuries, the drone is still after them, and it's almost daytime, he just walks away.
  • Possibly also the case in Kuprum's and Folykl's bad path; if the reader offends them by implying their relationship is messed up, they both start making out with the Reader without the latter's consent, using them as a medium for his energy transfer to her; Kuprum channels his energy into them while Folykl drains it out. She then has Kuprum stop, and sucks the rest of the their energy out, then both of them leave them there. The Reader themself isn't sure whether they're dying or just passing out from it.
• Locked in the Dungeon:
  • There are several unnamed trolls in Ardata's dungeon and/or basement and/or torture chamber.
  • Happens to the Reader at the beginning of Tirona's route after being caught by a drone, but taken away rather than killed instantly. She bails them out and clears their offences because someone she knows asked her to (A later volume implies that this was Doc Scratch).
• Loser Protagonist: Although many of the trolls are quite cheerfully open that they think you're this, it's probably because you naturally lack social skills for an alien world, and are also physically weaker than most trolls, especially in the earlier volumes where the Reader has sustained numerous injuries and broken bones.
  • Galekh spends most of his route lampshading it: the entire reason he asks you to come to his hive in the first place is because he wants to figure out what makes you so magnetic to all the trolls you've befriended so far despite being this trope by all appearances, not sure whether you're very socially skilled or just getting very lucky, but heavily suspecting the latter.^note Though he's primarily trying to figure out what, specifically, Tagora—his kismesis, who is implied to be one of your closer friends you've made—sees in you, clearly a bit jealous of the time you spend together offscreen. He admits that, after meeting you, you're not exactly doing a great job of convincing him otherwise, but you still manage to befriend him anyway.
  • Your own comments indicate this as well:
    You try to think of times in your life when you've been conscientious, considerate, or competent. You're drawing a bit of a blank, but hey, new planet, new you.
• Loose Canon:
  • Lampshaded in Tegiri's route: "[letting your friends do what they want] probably isn't a healthy way to live, but hey, it's gotten you one to nineteen friends so far."
  • The whole game itself counts as one. In the canon of Hiveswap, it's unlikely that any humans came to Alternia before Joey, however, the troll's personalities and backstories are mostly the same.
  • Completely turned on its head in the epilogue. Turns out, the game is ABSOLUTELY canon and everything loose so far has been the result of Doc Scratch’s manipulations.
• Makes Just as Much Sense in Context:
  • At one point, you ride upon a giant, swollen tick and slap its ass with your broken arm, all while yelling "yeehaw".
  • Apparently, when a Purpleblood dies, a carousel appears out of nowhere and takes them to some kind of afterlife.
  • The library's brain room.
  • In Marvus's good route, when he's about to fake your execution in front of his entire audience and raises his sword in the air, you're given the option to lean in and sniff his armpits. Choosing to do so gives a few extra pages of monologue and nets you an extra achievement on the "Friends" collage in the game's main menu, but Marvus doesn't comment on it at all (maybe doesn't even notice), and the rest of the route plays out the same way as choosing not to.
• Mama Bear: Fittingly for a Jadeblood, Bronya is very protective of the grubs and lusii. And she gets absolutely pissed if you kill any.
• The Many Deaths of You: There are a decent number of bad endings where the Reader dies and/or is grievously injured and Left for Dead. Some of them involve being Driven to Suicide or murdered by one of the more Ax-Crazy trolls, while others are particularly ridiculous, including but not limited to:
  • Staying out in the sunlight for too long and being burned to death. (Skylla's first bad ending)
  • Having all their energy sucked out in a three-way makeout session they didn't consent to. (Kuprum & Folykl's second bad ending)
  • Getting psychically thrown off a cliff. (Azdaja's first bad ending)
  • Being melted down to their bones by acid rain. (Stelsa's first bad ending)
  • Falling off a bridge onto the street below and breaking nearly every bone in their body. (Tegiri's second bad ending)
  • Successfully managing to kill a cholerbear with a katana using skills they learned from Tegiri...only for the bear's corpse to fall on top of them and crush them to death. (Wanshi's second bad ending)
  • Getting run over by a scooter. (Marvus's first bad ending)
  • Being stabbed to death and taken to clown-heaven. (Karako's second bad ending)
  • Probably the most extreme example: being told that they're not a good sexual partner and dying of shame on the spot. (Lanque's bad ending)
  • A few bad routes also invert it and feature of the death of the troll instead of the Reader, such as Diemen, Tirona, Karako, Boldir, and probably Daraya, as well as Zebruh on Marvus's route.
• Mix-and-Match Critters: Tegiri's lusus is a dog combined with a monkey, and has visibly sharp claws. He's the first troll in Hiveswap apart from Dammek to be shown with this kind of lusus instead of a normal animal (Or in Xefros's case, an unusually-designed animal).
• Multiple-Choice Past: The MSPA Reader appears to have this, as most routes will refer to previous ones and imply that the good endings are canon, however, a few routes also call back to the paths that lead to the bad endings. In one instance, the Reader remembers that Bronya had a relationship with Elwurd, as seen on one path of the latter's route, but later visits the cafe that Elwurd took them to on the other path. When one of the game's staff was asked which endings were canon, they replied "All of them."
  • It's later implied that the Reader does remember some of the bad endings, even the ones where they die. But that still doesn't explain how the Purpleblood from Polypa's route recognises them...
  • The Epilogue reveals how this was possible, but still leaves the Purpleblood incident unexplained.
• murder.com: Ardata likes to film the trolls she imprisons and tortures and stream them online.
• My Name Is ???: How Polypa is shown on Volume 5's selection screen. Averted with Elwurd, who is just referred to by her last name on Volume 6's selection screen.
• My Parents Are Dead: Diemen reveals that his lusus is a goner, most likely dying in the same attack that destroyed his hive. Polypa also mentions that her lusus was killed when some trolls attacked her in her hive.
• Mythology Gag:
  • After having some unfortunate circumstances take place, the MSPA Reader runs off, happens to find a lone tree stump with a gun underneath and... well...
  • In Chixie's route in Volume 8, the Reader changes into a dress and hat that resembles the Nervous Broad's outfit.
  • When Galekh takes the Reader to his home in Volume 12, the Reader is surprised by how many stairs lead to the front door, saying that he could have warned them.
  • One of the bad endings in Volume 13 has the Reader getting killed by acid rain if they try to go back to the car instead of getting Stelsa's attention. The text on the ending screen says "Well, that didn't work..." which could be a reference to Andrew Hussie's tweet about how the release of the Cascade flash broke the servers it was hosted on.
• Noblewoman's Laugh: Ardata does this occasionally, though due to her Ax-Crazy tendencies, it also veers a bit into the Evil Laugh territory.
• Non-Standard Game Over: Happens in the Epilogue. You are asked "Do you want to understand?" Choosing "No" will do nothing more than take you to an immediate game over screen.
• Not Quite Dead:
  • The Grand Highblood is strongly implied to have been the one video calling the church in Chahut's route, meaning that he is still alive around the time the game takes place.
  • According to Tirona's route, His Honourable Tyranny was either not killed by Mindfang and only injured enough for her to escape, or there is more than one of whatever kind of creature he is.
• Odd Name Out: Of the five tealbloods you meet in the game, Stelsa is the only one whose name doesn't start with a "T". She's also the only tealblood seen whose profession doesn't seem to be closely related to law, and instead works in a different form of business.
• Official Couple: There are a few relationships that were hinted at in the troll call and confirmed here:
  • Flushed (Matesprits): Konyyl and Azdaja; Tyzias and Stelsa. Subverted with Bronya and Elwurd, who are confirmed to have been this type of couple in the past, but have since broken up.
  • Pale (Moirails): Kuprum and Folykl.
  • Caliginous (Kismeses): Tagora and Galekh become this at or soon after the conclusion of Galekh's route.
• Only Friend: You become this to a few different trolls:
  • Despite your friendship outwardly seeming like an All Take and No Give pseudo-BDSM relationship, Ardata considers the Reader the only person who's ever actually tried to be her friend.
  • In the past, Cirava's friends turned out to have been False Friends who betrayed them to the Heiress, and since then, they've only had internet followers rather than actual friends, not unlike Ardata. The Reader becomes the first person since then that Cirava has considered a genuine friend.
  • Downplayed with Tagora, who does at least associate with other people; he is Tyzias's classmate and has a caliginous romance with Galekh. However, he and Galekh hate each other (erotically, since that's the point of a blackrom), and he and Tyzias don't really like each other either. At the end of his good route when he befriends the Reader, calling them his "associate", he outright states that he's never had a "legitimate partnership" before.
  • Though Zebede talks to people online, he doesn't seems to be close with anyone because his hive is too far away for anyone to come visit him. The Reader becomes the first person to make the effort to come out to his hive and spend time with him in order to befriend him.
  • As a less-positive example, the Reader seems to be the only person who even semi-willingly spends time with Zebruh and calls him a friend, though they clearly still don't like him much and consider him to be a piece of shit.
  • There also several trolls who seemed to be this to each other before meeting the Reader and befriending them as well (and sometimes other trolls as a result), including Polypa and Tegiri, Konyyl and Azdaja, Kuprum and Folykl, and the Soleil Twins, plus Mallek for Diemen, Bronya for Lynera, and Chahut for Amisia.
• Original Generation: Volume 5 introduces a never-before-seen Goldblood as one of the potential friends, with a sign that is not part of the Extended Zodiac. Ultimately subverted, as it's actually Polypa Goezee, an oliveblood, in disguise.
• The Outsider Befriends the Best: The main goal of the game is the MSPA Reader's friendship with trolls, both highblooded and lowblooded. And they do manage to make friends with many highblooded trolls, including Zebruh Codakk, Ardata Carmia and Marvus Xoloto. Subverted, as Doc Scratch brainwashed the characters and changed the timelines so that this could happen.
• Palette-Swapped Alien Food: Alternian hotdogs don't look much different from regular ones, with the only differences being that they have green buns and have some sort of blackish spikes/hairs protruding out of them. Later on, normal looking hotdogs are seen with no explanation.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: While the mask Chixie wears when confronting the band who stole her song with a rap does a good job at hiding her face and disguising her horns, the rest of her outfit is still visible, as is her sign. Another troll even points this out to her, but doesn't intend to harm her.
• Professional Killer: Polypa. Konyyl and her matesprit Azdaja also qualify.
• Powered by a Forsaken Child: The way Alternian ships work. In an attempt to avoid this fate, Cirava gouges their own eye out.
• Recursive Canon: It's a very brief moment, but a screencap from Polypa's Friendsim route can be seen on the computer in the background of Tegiri's hive in Volume 10. The text, although too small to read, is even translated into Alternian.
• The Reveal: Some of the mysteries about the trolls that were brought up by the Troll Call are revealed in their routes:
  • Konyyl and Azdaja's relationship is a matespritship (though it's implied the latter sees the former as both his matesprit and his moirail).
  • If that's not coffee in Tyzias' mug, then what is it? Water.
  • In volume 13, we finally find out that Tyzias' matesprit is Stelsa.
  • In volume 14, we find out what the deal is with the unknown Purpleblood, including his name.
  • The epilogue, where it turns out that Doc Scratch was behind the Reader's motivation for friendship, and that the memories of bad endings were memories of other timelines that he reset.
• Revisiting the Roots: Friendsim is more similar in tone to the early MS Paint Adventures and early Homestuck than it is to Hiveswap. The playable character even resembles the protagonist of Jailbreak.
• Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: Played horrifyingly from Volume 13 onwards, as the Reader makes brief references to the bad endings of previous routes, but dismisses them as either nightmares or intrusive thoughts and feelings.
  • Nihkee's route even has a montage of them, combined with what could possibly have happened in the future if the Reader decided to return to her after turning down her offer to train them.
  • In fact, this happens as early as Volume 7, where the Purpleblood from Polypa's bad route shows up and the Reader remembers him, yet later volumes show that the Reader had befriended Polypa. Strangely, the Purpleblood also remembers the Reader.
  • Eventually, it's revealed that the resets are real, and were caused by Doc Scratch whenever something went wrong with his plans to get the Reader to befriend everyone. But that still doesn't explain how that Purpleblood remembered...
• Romantic Spoonfeeding:
  • Ardata makes you do this for her. No, not by using mind control. She just sits there and waits for you to do it yourself.
  • In the good path of Marvus's route, in which the Reader has had practically all of their bones broken by a rowdy concert audience, Marvus hand-feeds them some bread.
• Running Gag:
  • A meta example with the announcements made on the game programmer's Tumblr. Whenever there's a purpleblood route, the Purpleblood won't be featured in the announcement in person. For example, Volume 9 has Amisia show up instead of Chahut, Volume 14 has Karako having run off, and Volume 16 has Zebruh show up instead of Marvus, which is then "corrected" with a drawing of Marvus being pasted where he should be. The announcement for Volume 18 instead had Lanque being missing at first, with one of the Twins being in his place, but eventually he showed up and both Twins were where they should be.
  • Starting about halfway through the Friendsim, the MSPA Reader's legs (which are apparently sexy and awesome) become this. In Chahut's good route, a mysterious purpleblood implied to be no less than the Grand Highblood himself comments that the Reader isn't particularly special or much to look at, but concedes that they do have excellent legs, prompting all the other churchgoers present to check them out as well. The Reader references their great legs many more times (such as on Galekh's route), and when Nihkee trains them and rates the strength of various parts of their body, most are comparable to the strength of lowbloods, but their legs are "surprisingly cerulean!"
• Scary Stinging Swarm: Zebede, despite being one of the nicer and more awkward trolls, manages to chase off a rather intimidating troll with his bees.
• Scenery Porn: Most of the backgrounds are just so beautiful to look at.
• Schmuck Bait: Some of the choices you're given may seem like obvious choices to avoid, but you can be tricked into choosing them, only for them to go wrong anyway. For example, Marsti's route starts with her being complained at by a Purpleblood for cleaning some graffiti on a wall. Your options are to stand up for her, or do nothing. Standing up for her results in the Purpleblood punching you in the face. You asked for it. The other option does have you tripping them over instead.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
  • One path of Chahut's route involves her and Amisia killing a Bronzeblood who Amisia trapped. The MSPA Reader is so annoyed at this point with how murderous trolls can be that they decide to leave.
  • This can also happen in Volume 11. In Mallek's route, if the Reader hesitantly greets him, they will be worried that he might harm them and jump out of the moving vehicle, harming themself instead. Meanwhile, Lynera's route gives the Reader the option to cut the ropes Lynera has tied them to a chair with. If they do this, they will run off after getting her to give them their phone back.
  • Marsti's bad ending has her leaving Galekh's hive after his lusus eats some important books, and also leaving you to deal with him when he returns.
  • Wanshi also does this when you see her at the library. If you choose to mention Bronya, whom she is hiding from, she does a "Youth Roll" which gets away from you.
  • The Reader does this again in Nihkee's bad ending after having visions of the bad ends of previous routes, combined with what appears to be visions of would happen if they returned to her.
  • The Reader tries to do this in the Soleil Twin's route after seemingly being stuck in a repeating time loop. They manage to escape from the house, but no matter where they go, they keep coming across it again.
• Self-Deprecation: The music track for Kuprum and Folykl is called ">tfw another james roach track". Of course, it's composed by James Roach.
• "Shaggy Dog" Story: In Nihkee's route, if the Reader hesitates to let her train them, she'll send them away, but they'll refuse to let the Game Over screen happen. So they get Stelsa to train them until they think they're strong enough to try to gain Nihkee's friendship again. On the way there, they start to have visions of previous routes and their bad ends, as well as visions of Nihkee losing her other leg and getting hit by a train, and somehow becoming a cyborg who spends a year chasing them until she finally has them cornered. It's unclear if the Reader is overthinking or having a vision of the future, but they're scared enough to decide not to see her again after all. Cue Game Over screen.
• Shout-Out:
  • Diemen can possibly share his hotdog with you, "Lady and the Tramp-style".
  • Ace Attorney gets another reference in the title of Volume Four, "Of Wright and Wronged" (Tagora being a lawyer, as is Phoenix Wright). Though this could also be a reference to Vikare and the Wright Brothers, who have been credited as pioneers in flight.
  • Also, Tirona's route shows that Amoral Attorney Tagora's online username is "BetterCallGorGor".
  • In Azdaja's good ending, you find a convenient cave to hide in. The narration notes that you could say that "this hole was made for you."
  • Wanshi's favorite series, Soldier Purrbeasts, is a reference to Warrior Cats. She gives you one of the books, and the cover◊ is clearly based on the cover of the Warriors book The Darkest Hour.
• Skewed Priorities: Your arm is mangled, you're starving and worst of all, you're on a highly dangerous alien planet. What's your main priority? Making friends, of course!
  • You're watching wrestling, but it is much more violent than it is on Earth, and you need to go and use a bathroom. On your way, a Violetblood asks you if you want to take part in the next match, promising you money, fame, and friendship. You still have some of the money Azdaja gave you, and you don't want to become too famous since you're an alien. But for friendship? You'll do it.
  • This is justified in the epilogue, as it’s revealed this priority came from Doc Scratch messing with the Reader.
• The Snack Is More Interesting: On Diemen's route, you initially pay more attention to his "delicious-looking" hotdog than him, much to the troll's chagrin. If you keep it up, he ends up ditching you.
• Spaghetti Kiss: Can possibly happen on Diemen's route, complete with the Trope Maker being referenced by name. It turns out to be fatal for Diemen.
• Special Edition Title: An easy to miss one is in volume 13 with the number icon. In other volumes it's in the blood colours of the featured trolls, but instead of teal being used in this volume, it's the bright pink from Stelsa's outfit.
• Spoiler Title: The titles of the next volumes are often either announced or found through datamining before their release. This gives players enough time to guess which trolls will be involved. Some of them were guessed right, however, a few of volumes did feature trolls that were not expected based on the titles.
• Stalker Shrine: Lynera's "Study Cave" has pictures of Bronya all over one of the walls.
• Stepford Smiler:
  • Diemen may have an adorable smile, but he's gone through a lot of crap, given that he's ostracized due to his blood color as well as his love of hotdogs. Additionally, his hive was destroyed and his lusus was killed.
  • Chixie is a well known singer with loads of fans. However, she's also a lowblood who could be culled for almost anything, and some of her fans flirt with her, which makes her uncomfortable.
• Stripped to the Bone: This happens to the Reader as a result of spending too long out in acid rain with no protection.
• Sudden Anatomy: Mallek's sprite has visible ears, while his Hiveswap sprite does not. Elwurd's sprite doesn't have visible ears despite having a partially shaved head like him, so it's possible he's only an exception to show off his piercings. Lanque also has visible ears, and is one of the few trolls to be drawn with a visible nose too.
• Sudden Downer Ending:
  • Happens on Wanshi's route if you agree to take her to a convention. Yes, she ends up seeing a dead body on the way, but she is still excited to arrive at the convention... only for you to get killed by an angry bear that escaped and went on a rampage.
  • Daraya's route can also end this way. If you let her decide where to go, she takes you to an abandoned mall that she likes to visit sometimes, and opens up to you about her depression over Alternia's caste system and how it affects Jadebloods, making her feel like she has less choices than other blood colours. Your attempts to get her to feel better and rebel against this result in her deciding that she should just destroy everything, breaking the nearest objects, setting the mall on fire, and refusing to leave.
  • Friendsim as a whole seems to end this way in the epilogue. The MSPA Reader finds a fenestrated wall and is told to go through it, where they meet Doc Scratch, who tells them that their desperation to make friends was caused by him as part of some kind of plan, before taking it away. It's implied that the MSPA Reader is starting to lose their memories of ever having befriended any of the trolls, and that those trolls may also lose them. This is somewhat confirmed but also mitigated by Pesterquest: the Reader at first does still remember their friends and tries to return to them, but ends up having the memories almost entirely erased, before eventually getting many of them back.
• Take That, Audience!:
  • Cirava's overdramatic declaration that they would write a callout post and their obsession with social media is an obvious parallel to many, many, many similar people in the fandom. The Reader's reaction can also be seen as this.
  • At one point, the Reader wonders if they should wear a symbol to blend in with the Alternian population more, but then realises they would also have to paint their skin and wear some horns, leading to this line:
  Who would do something like that? Sounds like a huge pain with absolutely no benefits.
• Technicolor Eyes: Justified, in Cirava's sake. Powerful psionics appear to have two different colored eyes— although they only have one now. Kuprum and Azdaja have them too. It is unknown if Folykl would have had them if she didn't have voidrot, and Zebede has normal troll eyes, implying that he doesn't have the same kind of psychic powers.
• Televised Torture: Apparently torture videos on troll youtube are a huge deal.
• Third Eye: Ardata has one of these. May or may not be connected to her psychic abilities. Vriska from Homestuck, another cerulean blood, has eight pupils and the same psychic powers. Whether or not there is a direct correlation is unknown.
• Telepathy: One of Ardata's abilities.
• Torture Cellar: Doubles as Ardata's basement.
• Torture Technician: Ardata does this to the trolls she keeps in her basement, either by using her mind-control or by letting her lusus drink all their blood. Later on, she comes up with the idea to poison the trolls and make them look for the antidote.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Diemen loves hotdogs. In fact, the end of his route has you and Diemen finding a glorious locker filled with various sausages.
• Turns Red: A variation, combined with The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You. When Cirava gets angered, the entire game window is tinted red.
• The Unreveal:
  • Elwurd's first name remains unknown. Some of the trolls’ lusii are also not seen or mentioned.
  • Tirona's route also has her say she saved the MSPA Reader from certain death because of someone she knows, but we don't find out who it was, only that he's male (They think it's Mallek, but some narration in Nihkee's bad route when the Reader has visions of previous routes and some of their bad endings heavily implies him to be Doc Scratch).
    The puppet’s strings stretch toward the moon.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight:
  • The trolls acknowledge that you're an alien to them, and news even spreads around, but somehow, you don't seem to get into too much trouble for it unless you do the wrong thing or come across the wrong people.
  • In Volume 13, the people in the cafe are seemingly unfazed by a troll dying from poison. In fact, they're more interested when the troll doesn't die from poison.
• Unwitting Pawn: The epilogue reveals that the MSPA Reader's desperation for friendship was caused by Doc Scratch, and that befriending all the featured trolls are somehow part of a bigger plan. It's also implied that Scratch is the person Tirona runs errands for, with some narration in Nihkee's route referring to her as a puppet.
• Urine Trouble: Apparently, wearing "concert diapers" to concerts is standard practice among trolls because they can't leave the crowd to go pee or they'll lose their spot. Since Zebruh invites the Reader to Marvus's concert without telling them this until after they've already gotten their spots, the Reader doesn't have one, much to their chagrin when, in both routes, they meet Marvus personally after previously wetting themselves.
• Video Game Cruelty Potential: This can happen completely by accident if you choose one of the bad routes, since some of them are depressing for and/or cruel to the troll involved. However, since the writers have claimed that all of the routes are canon, and some later routes reference the bad paths of earlier ones, many players choose to play through every single one, meaning that, if you got the good ending on the first or second try, getting the bad ending will involve going back and purposely making a choice that potentially subjects the troll, your player character, or both to an abysmal fate.
• Villains Out Shopping:
  • Volume 13 has the Reader finding Ardata at a cafe, who seems angry with the staff for not getting her order right. She can also literally go shopping, and make you carry all her stuff.
  • Chahut seems to be interested in visiting Elwurd's party in Volume 17, and doesn't show any signs of wanting to murder anyone there.
  • Ardata does this again in Volume 18, where she hosts a party.
• Violation of Common Sense: Sometimes the good endings involve you having to choose the option that seems least likely to lead to the good ending. For example:
  • Bronya offers you a substance that will heal your injuries. The sensible thing would be to take it, right? No. It has a painful reaction to the Reader's skin, and as they flail around in pain, they accidentally sit on one of the young troll grubs, killing it. Bronya is not happy about this.
  • In Tirona's route, to repay the favor you owe her, she wants you to help her get some "dirt" on one of her coworkers (i.e. one of the 3 Tealbloods featured in previous volumes) that proves (s)he is secretly plotting against the Empire, in order to force her other coworkers to respect her. Since the Reader wants to befriend Tirona without getting any of their other friends in trouble, you'd think going to the offices of Tagora or Tegiri would be a better idea than Tyzias, but choosing Tagora or Tegiri will lead to you ending up in a lot of debt and Tirona getting killed by a deadly trap respectively. Choosing Tyzias is what nets you the good ending, since not only is Tyzias not stupid enough to leave incriminating files in her office, but the Reader actually warns her before they get in.
  • Sometimes, you'll be given similar choices for multiple different trolls, but with opposite results. E.g. in Skylla's route, choosing to stop her from confronting her lusus's kidnappers results in a particularly depressing bad ending, while helping her fight them gets an awesome and heartwarming good ending. Karako's path is pretty much the complete reverse: if you hold him back from confronting the seadwellers, he eventually sends them running anyway with his chucklevoodoos and you successfully befriend him, whereas if you decide to help him fight them, you both die.
• Walking Spoiler:
  • It's hard to say anything about Polypa without revealing that she's the "Goldblood" in Volume 5. It's also hard to talk about the unknown Purpleblood without revealing his name, or what happens to him in the bad ending.
  • Nihkee. Not necessarily because of any mysteries about her, but because of the visions the Reader has on the bad path of her route, both of previous bad routes and what appears to be the future of the current route.
  • Doc Scratch, for certain. Especially when he appears in person in the epilogue.
• Was It All a Lie?:
  • Happens with Tagora on Tirona's route if the MSPA Reader chooses to break into his office. He video calls them, and realizes where they are. Then he asks if their friendship really meant anything or if they were just using him, breaks off the friendship in favor of returning to their original business relationship, and accordingly leaves them with a large debt to pay.
  • In the epilogue, the Reader feels this way about themself, after Doc Scratch reveals that he somehow altered their mind and made them motivated to make friends, which he then takes away. They are left feeling confused and angry that they may not have really wanted to be friends with anyone after all, and they are also sad and scared about it.
• Wicked Wasps: Downplayed with Cirava. Their lusus is a wasp, but they're not actually dangerous, just a massive Jerkass.
• Wham Episode:
  • Boldir's route, especially her second bad end, irreversibly impacts the game's narrative, opening the gateway for the philosophical questions and meta mindfuckery that were present in its predecessor Homestuck. MSPA Reader is also changed by the events surrounding Boldir's death, which causes them to question their role in the universe.
  • Fozzer's route involves a strange glow coming from the ground in the distance. When the Reader gets close to it, there is the sound of a scratch, and they find themself having been taken a few minutes back in time. And Fozzer's outlook on Alternia has changed significantly.
  • Nihkee's second bad ending also counts. The Reader starts to have visions not only of previous routes and their bad endings, but what appears to be the future of the route they are already on and what will happen if they return to Nihkee after she sent them away. Said visions involve Nihkee losing her other leg, then getting hit by a train when chasing the Reader, somehow being turned into a cyborg, quite possibly killing Polypa and Tegiri when the Reader tries to get help from them, and finally having them cornered after a year of hunting them. And if that wasn't bad enough, it's implied that the person Tirona runs errands for is Doc Scratch.
  • The epilogue, where Scratch himself appears in person.
• Wham Line:
  • The second bad ending of Boldir's route has a box of narration appear after the ending screen that says "Again? Must I do everything myself?" It is unknown why the narration suddenly turned into first person, or who said it. The epilogue hints that it was Doc Scratch saying it about having to reset so the Reader can befriend her without her dying.
  • The bad path of Nihkee's route shows a montage of some of the previous routes and their bad endings, with the narration no longer being contained in boxes. And, combined with Wham Shot, when it gets to Tirona's route, it specifically focuses on her line about the unknown person she runs errands for, and the narration that references her death in one of her endings also implies that said person is actually Doc Scratch.
  The puppet's strings stretch toward the moon. The flash of a blade-the spray of blood. Her strings are cut.
• Wham Shot:
  • During the above montage of visions, they soon change from previous routes to what appears to be the future of the current route.
  • The image from Tirona's route during said montage. See above.
  • In the Epilogue, the MSPA Reader ends up at the area where Fozzer was digging holes, and discovers that one of the holes has a fenestrated wall that takes them to Doc Scratch's place in it.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: In Wanshi's route, the Reader realises they haven't spoken to Vikare in a while, making it seem as if they plan to do so in a future volume. They don't, at least not onscreen; the Reader does imply that they plan to pay Vikare a visit after dropping Wanshi off at home, so it presumably happens offscreen, but it's never brought up again before the end.
• World of Action Girls: Many of the trolls:
  • Skylla fights off some lusus thieves quite well.
  • Polypa is an assassin. Quite a good one, actually.
  • Remele manages to kill a Purpleblood who was most likely much stronger than her.
  • Konyyl is a Professional Killer.
  • Nihkee is a wrestler who has never lost a match.

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