History VideoGame / IExpectYouToDie

* OperationBlank: Every mission uses naming convention.

--> '''Robot:''' (agent Phoenix activates a giant drill) Hey, you found some nickel, do that again and you'll have ten cents.

* FleshVsSteel: The plot of the 3rd game. The agency's former GadgeteerGenius wants to prove she can build a robot agent better than agent Phoenix by sending her robots after him and using the data to improve them.
--> '''Dr. Roxanna Prism:''' Once you're dead everyone will see how superior my robots are to human agents. Every time we encounter, agent Phoenix, we get stronger. It's simply a matter of time and iteration.

** [[DownplayedTrope Though he's nowhere near this level]], the Handler himself isn't that great of a boss either in the first game. He takes from the Agent's paycheck to pay for breaking the window ''of a Zoraxis lab'', and often strings them along with false promises, such as telling them about a winter lodge reward program for infiltrating Zor's own lodge only to tell you they cancelled it years ago when finished, or finally letting the Agent go on a vacation... only for said "vacation" to actually be another mission. He grows out of it in later games, though, to the point that [[spoiler:when Agent Phoenix is left on a beach at the end of ''Cog in the Machine'', he tells them to enjoy the beach, and come back to HQ soon... "But not ''too'' soon.]]

** [[DownplayedTrope Though he's nowhere near this level]], the Handler himself isn't that great of a boss either. He takes from your paycheck to pay for breaking the window ''of a Zoraxis lab'', and often strings you along with false promises, such as telling you about a winter lodge reward program for infiltrating Zor's own lodge only to tell you they cancelled it years ago when finished, or finally letting you go on a vacation... only for said "vacation" to actually be another mission.

* AppropriatedAppellation: [[spoiler: After stopping the missile in "Operation: Jet Set", John Juniper realizes the agent who destroyed the Death Engine is still alive and decides to warn Dr. Zor that "a pesky phoenix has risen from the ashes".]] From then on, the player is referred to as "Agent Phoenix".

** After the credits of the first game, [[spoiler:the Handler observes that the Agent is ''assumed'' dead after the Death Engine blew up while they were on it, and admits that "I really did expect you to die."

* GivenNameReveal: In ''The Spy and the Liar'', while partially garbled, [[spoiler:the handler's post-credits "Operation: Rising Phoenix" after-action report to the Universal Agency Board of Directors reveals that his first name is Mason]].

** For ''The Spy and the Liar'', [[InMediasRes the Agent wakes up after an attack]], and the Handler is making sure the Agent still ''remembers'' how to use their telekinetic implants.

* TitleDrop
** Narrowly averted in Operation: Safe and Sound in ''The Spy and The Liar'', where Juniper says that he expects the agent to... but stops, and says that he actually expects them to find a way out.

--> '''John Juniper:''' Gibson. Walk me through your thought process here. You took a bottle you know perfectly well I ''absolutely despise'', [[Beat *short pause, most likely having just noticed the label*]] [[SuddenlyShouting AND YOU TOOK THE TIME TO WRITE "JUNIPER HATED IT" ON THE LABEL, AND THEN YOU SENT IT TO ME!?]] Are you drunk?!

--> '''John Juniper:''' Gibson. Walk me through your thought process here. You took a bottle you know perfectly well I ''absolutely despise'', [[SuddenlyShouting AND YOU TOOK THE TIME TO WRITE "JUNIPER HATED IT" ON THE LABEL, AND THEN YOU SENT IT TO ME!?]] Are you drunk?!

* TitleDrop: Narrowly averted in Operation: Rising Phoenix in ''The Spy and The Liar'', where Juniper says that he expects the agent to...but stops, and says that he actually expects them to find a way out.

* NoodleIncident: In ''The Spy and the Liar,'' [[spoiler:while attempting to fend off the missiles that Juniper sends in an attempt to bring down the plane that Agent Phoenix is inside of,]] the Agent's handler mentions an incident last summer when they "met an alien with the Russians," before stopping himself and tells Phoenix to never mention the incident again.

* VillainTakesAnInterest: The agent's continuous interference eventually gets the direct interest and attention of Dr. Zor himself.

* IdenticalStranger: Based on game art [[https://ieytd.fandom.com/wiki/The_Fabricator The Fabricator]] and [[https://ieytd.fandom.com/wiki/Roxana_Prism Dr. Prism]] have pretty much identical facial features and ScaryShinyGlasses with the only difference being that the Fabricator wears a fancy hat, it is entirely possible that they might be the same person.

** The first of Dr. Prism's robots who Agent Phoenix encounters is Robutler, who affably tends to them during their visit to Prism's home inbetween attempting to kill theml Agent with a poison gas trap and their chest lasers.

* AlternateHistory: In ''The Spy and the Liar'', [[https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/804007526080184340/867104150381789224/image0.png a map of the world]] seen in your [[SpiesInAVan mobile office]] shows the divisions of the world in this timeline. A close-up map of Europe reveals that the Soviet Union is still active and Germany is still split between East and West, suggesting that the game is either set pre-1990 or that the countries did not dissolve/reunite in this timeline. While the celebratory cupcakes and a close-up map of Europe shows that the countries still exist, they've banded together in four unions that make up the world powers:

* BattleButler: [[spoiler:John Juniper's butler Gibson gives the agent a mean left hook during their infiltration of Juniper's castle in "Operation: Party Crasher". He left a bruise significant enough that it caused the agent's handler worry.]]

* BookEnds: If the trailers and opening credits are anything to go off of, I Expect You To Die 3 will have a lot of book ends. In the teaser trailer there is a level in a car, similar to the first level of the first game, and in the opening credits there is a scene underwater, similar to the submarine escape pod level, and a scene taking place in a blizzard inside a ski lodge, which is almost identical to Operation: Winter Break.

* XRayVision: Professor X-Ray developed a set of goggles which grant this, which can be used to spot and disarm booby traps.

* OrphanedPunchline: During the credits of ''Cog in the Machine'', the Handler starts to tell a story, but it gets cut off by [[spoiler: Dr. Prism's final message for Agent Phoenix]]. When it ends, it goes to the Handler, who states "and that's why I don't trust chickens anymore!"

** Throughout ''Cog in the Machine'', Agent Phoenix starts experiencing a series of blackouts in missions. [[spoiler: This is due to Dr. Zor's plan to unstabilize the kinesium in every agent's brain, which would kill them all.]]

** Throughout ''Cog in the Machine'', Agent Phoenix starts experiencing a series of blackouts in missions. [[spoiler: This is due to Dr. Zor's plan to unstablelize the kinesium in every agent's brain, which would kill them all.]]