History VideoGame / KingsQuest2015

** Chapter 3 reinforces the notion that the events of ''[=KQ2=]'' as players remember them are only legend and fairy tale, and that the real story of Graham's meeting with Valanice in Hagatha's tower is far more complicated. This is literally a subversion of ''King's Quest'''s general FracturedFairyTale approach. The reimagined scenario is similar to the conceit behind the story in ''Film/{{Maleficent}}'', which tells the viewer that the stories they heard is not what happened in actuality.

* AbortedArc: Early chapters imply that we will see the dragon again, especially Chapter 3, where we learn that [[spoiler:Manny]] is attempting to train the dragon. Sadly, the dragon does not make an appearance in Chapter 5[[note]]It's implied that the dragon is the one that ends up terrorizing the kingdom in ''VideoGame/KingsQuest3'', but there's no confirmation[[/note]].

* AbortedArc: Early chapters imply that we will see the dragon again, especially Chapter 3, where we learn that [[spoiler:Manny]] is attempting to train the dragon. Sadly, the dragon does not make an appearance in Chapter 5.

* MagicMirror: Rescued in the prologue of the game. Once again, it predicts Graham becoming King. You can look at it in later chapters, but it just shows his reflection unless the plot demands it. It also serves to display Graham's story as he recounts it to Gwendolyn. At the beginning of Chapter 3, it shows Graham that his love is at the top of a tower in Kolyma.

* InSpiteOfANail: Gwendolyn's scenes change based on your decisions, as she tries to emulate her grandfather. However, the scene where she confronts Mr. Springbottom will always result in Valanice's vase getting broken.

** Chapter 2 completely replaces ''King's Quest II'', with Graham suggesting the original story is a fabrication.

* {{Deconstruction}}: In Chapter 1, the townspeople are introduced, each one representing one of the "paths" Graham can follow to complete his tale - Wits (The Hobblepots), Compassion (Wendle), Strength/Bravery/Aggression (Amaya). In Chapter 2, each of those characters is forced to adopt the virtues other than the one they prefer to free themselves: Amaya needs to learn to use Wit (by feigning Compassion) to trick the goblins into coming within range of her; when Compassion fails, Wente first tries to be Witty and make poisoned cakes before he gets aggressive and Bravely chucks them at the guards; and the Hobblepots get angry and brew a bone bomb (Brave), but learns Compassion by sharing their concoction as a soup with the guards, gaining their loyalty.

** Averted by Graham's family, which has many different personality types: the adventurous, eccentric Graham, the compassionate and devoted Valaniece, the brash, hot-headed Rosella, the calm and collected Alexander, the bratty but caring Gart, and the imaginative and courageous Gwendolyn. Despite the many personalities among them, it's clear that they ''all'' care for each other, without reservation, as best exemplified at the end of chapter 4, where [[spoiler: Gart is much more upset about the fact that Graham is dying than by the fact that Graham's last official act as king will prevent Gart from taking the throne]].

*** Not true, Superman puts his clothes in his cape. [[http://ws.fortress.net.nu/nightwing/nightwing/adventures/memory/memory-3.jpg]]

*** Not true, Superman puts his clothes in his cape.

*** Not true, Superman puts his clothes in his cape. [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/memory_3.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:some caption text]]

** Averted by Alexander, who seems to find puns more confusing than anything. He finally makes one, to his father's delight, near the end of Chapter 4.

* RiseToTheChallenge: In "Once Upon a Climb," Graham must scale the outside of the tower. [[spoiler:Twice. The second time he's being chased by ice.]]
* RuleOfThree: A theme to the game is deciding to show compassion, think your way around a problem, or go for the direct route. As such, many puzzles have three results. The end game screen shows you the decisions you made, and with two exceptions, all of them have three possibilities.

** Averted in Chapter 4. Despite the bulk of the game taking place after the events of ''[=KQ3=]'', Alexander enters the castle without having saved Rosella. Even when Rosella and Valanice get separated from Graham and Alexander and are said to have been escorted to the tall tower, [[spoiler:they just casually show up after the guys discover that the Sphinx is really Manny]].

** A very similar puzzle is used in Chapter 4, except Valanice is your archer character.

* SuperDrowningSkills: Graham can't swim. This is actually relevant to solving one of the puzzles in the first chapter.

In 2015, Sierra[[note]]A new Sierra banner created by Activision, who holds the rights to the original Sierra Entertainment's stuff[[/note]] published a new game in the long running ''VideoGame/KingsQuest'' series as a five-part episodic game. Simply called ''King's Quest'' and developed by "The Odd Gentlemen", the game recounts King Graham's adventuring career in the form of stories told to his granddaughter Gwendolyn. The games are a reimagining/reboot of the series, with each chapter taking place in between the original games. While the versions of events from original games canonically happened in the new series, just how these events took place may differ, and may differ quite a bit (see Chapter 3). This series represents its own 'new canon' ("reboot canon'), but is very different than the original 'canon'. There are three main play styles for Graham which emphasize either bravery, wisdom, or compassion, and which style the player chooses may alter events and dialogue.

The fifth and final chapter, "The Good Knight," was released on October 25th, 2016. Graham is almost done telling his stories, and it's time to reveal the details of his final confrontation with Manannan.

The epilogue, which is available to those who purchased the Complete Collection, was released on December 20th, 2016. Gwendolyn takes over for her grandfather as the protagonist, and the player guides her on her first adventure - tracking the fabled yarblesnoofs in order to earn a Wedzel Wolf patch.

** The main ending is this. [[spoiler: On the one hand, Graham indeed dies at the end. On the other, Graham lived a good, long life, created a legacy, ensured the survival of his kingdom, found a worthy heir to continue looking after everything, and spends his last waking moments in the presence of family as he hears his story being recited back to him.]] Meanwhile, Gwendolyn sees adventure in her future, and eagerly grabs her grandfather's old cap to seek it.
** ''All'' of the chapters end on bittersweet notes.

* BigNo: [[spoiler:Graham lets out one when he sees Achaka die by the dragon.]]
** Graham lets out another one when he watches Manannan kidnap his son.

** Subeverted by later chapters as Graham goes off track from the 'story of dragons' he promised in the first chapter as the 'rippling consequences' form his 'choice' with the dragon simply disappear following chapter 3. While vaguely hinted at in the end of Chapter 5 Gwendolyn the "dragon slayer", and epilogue, the fate of Hornswoggle is never revealed.

* TheFaceless: Queen Valanice is only seen from behind in shadow, at least until TheReveal at the end of the third chapter.

** However it is also fully endorsed in that Chapter 1 is essentially a fractured fairy tale version of events from The Princes Bride, Chapter 2 is Fractured Fairy Tale version of The Goblin and the Princess/Pied Piper of Hamelin, Chapter 3 is largely Fractured Fairy Tale version of Rapunzel, chapter 4 is Fractured Fairy Tale version of Han Christian Anderon's The Snow Queen.
** In a sense if the original King's Quest are seen as 'fairy tales' of this universe. Then the real stories are the "Fractured Fairy Tales", the 'true events'.

* GenerationXerox: Many of Gwen's interactions with Achaka's granddaughter mirror that of Graham and Achaka.

* HammerSpace: The pockets in Graham's cape somehow manages to store items that are twice as big as Graham himself.
** In Chapter 2, he manages to fit ''a whole person'' in one of the pockets!
* HeelFaceTurn: In Chapter 5, [[spoiler:Mordack turns on Manny when the later begins torturing Graham, remembering how Graham saved him when he was being bullied by goblins.]]

* HiddenDepths: Achaka, Acorn, Manny, and Whisper all have more layers to them than their stereotypical aspects would imply. Acorn acts like a big dumb jerk, but would rather be working on [[spoiler:his knitting]] and princess Madeline; Achaka can't communicate very well to convey his sentiment, and is actually rather straightforward in wanting to help others, he just can't ''explain'' to Graham very well what he means; Whisper is an arrogant blowhard [[spoiler:but only because he's very fearful of everything in life, and is so good at running ''away'']]; and Manny, as the intelligent friendly one, [[spoiler:turns out to be the biggest jerk out of the five initial knight hopefuls, actively using Graham as muscle to rid himself of the competition, manipulating his emotions, and then poisoning him for their final match]].

* InsistentTerminology: The Sphinx calls Graham "Mr. Majesty."

* {{Leitmotif}}: Fans will recognize the song "Girl in the Tower" while courting the princess in "Once Upon a Climb". It plays a couple times in the chapter. It even receives a [[VariableMix tense action scene variation]].

* MoonLogicPuzzle: Subverted in Chapter 3. At a certain point, Graham start sinking in quicksand. [[spoiler:You can grab an umbrella, a bucket and a wheel, then make the skeleton next to you hold the umbrella and use the wheel and the bucket to make some sort of watermill to drain the sand]]. Graham looks proudly at his invention for a few seconds, and then [[spoiler:Vee just throws him a vine while commenting that such logic would never actually work]].
** Called out by name by Gwendolyn in the epilogue when using an item in a nonsensical location.

* OnlyOneName: Subverted. Graham has a last name, and repeatedly tries to give it in Chapter 1, but can never get past "Cr-".
** Subverted Whisper's name is an anacronym for his much longer full name.
** Acorn is an alias, not even his 'real name', neither was 'Cumference'. Some fans think he might be the Hobblepots missing son, others think its Mordon/Manny (via a baby swap).

* PerspectiveFlip: In particular, Chapter 3, where the original ''King's Quest II'' is hinted at being a simplified retelling - a 'fairy tale' - while Chapter 3 is the real story. In a sense, this also happens to Hagatha, who goes from being an evil character to a sympathetic one.

* PungeonMaster: Graham is this, much to Gwendolyn's annoyance, although she gradually warms up to it.
** In fact, everyone in Daventry seems to like to use puns in their conversations and greetings.
** Princess Vee seems to be especially bad, making it one of her defining character tropes.

* PuzzleBoss: The Duels of Speed, Strength, and Wits all fall under this.
** Making it to the Goblin King is a dumbed-down PuzzleBoss.

* SadisticChoice: Both Bramble and Mr. Fancycakes are sick in Chapter 2, but there is only one bottle of remedy to be found. No matter who you choose to save, Old Graham will make you feel guilty for it. [[spoiler: Giving the medicine to Mr. Fancycakes unlocks an achievement, and the Merchant will be so happy he gives you a Hatchet. The hatched is needed to cut down a mushroom, in order to get the third 'story' page ("Page of Wisdom") (for another achievement), and the page is needed to get Gwendolyn's Bravery ending (yet another achievement).]]

* SmartPeoplePlayChess: The final challenge, the Duel of Wits, is a chess-like board game between the two finalists.
** Gart and Gwendolyn are playing this during the first break of Chapter 3. Gart manages to kill his avatar with his own arrow.

* WellExcuseMePrincess: Graham literally says this line, (in the same way as from [[WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfZelda the Zelda cartoon]]), if Graham lets Neese fall through thorn bushes and she complains at the end.

* YouShouldntKnowThisAlready: In the first chapter, if you use [[spoiler:the path Manny takes to cross the river and enter the tournament, which you would only know about if you've played the game before, old Graham will halt the story and say he's forgotten how it's supposed to go. The game then deposits you back on the far shore to retry the puzzle as normal. There is an achievement for doing this.]]

* RefittedForSequel: A section of Chapter 5 consists of some ideas that were developed for earlier chapters (according to some concept art) but cut, among them a goblin riding on a rat and an entire song by Whisper. They surface here when old Graham becomes confused about the earlier stories he had told Gwendolyn, with her correcting him on the details as a meta-commentary (she literally says that the Whisper song, in particular, would've "made that chapter too long.")

* SadisticChoice: Both Bramble and Mr. Fancycakes are sick in Chapter 2, but there is only one bottle of remedy to be found. No matter who you choose to save, Old Graham will make you feel guilty for it. [[spoiler: Giving the medicine to Mr. Fancycakes unlocks an achievement, and the Merchant will be so happy he gives you a Hatchet. The hatched is needed to cut down a mushroom, in order to get the third 'story' page ("Page of Bravery") (for another achievement), and the page is needed to get Gwendolyn's Bravery ending (yet another achievement).]]

** In a sense if the original King's Quest are seen as 'fairy tales' of this universe. Then the real stories are the "Fractured Fairy Tales" the 'true events'.

* EpicFail: How you could describe Graham's attempt at courtly love in "Once Upon a Climb." He travels to the other side of the world to rescue a princess from a tower and marry her. When he climbs the tower he finds ''two'' princesses, attempts to propose to one, and she immediately rebuffs him on the not entirely unreasonable grounds that ''she has no idea who he is''. He attempts to propose to the other ,who rebuffs him for the same reason, with the added biting comment that [[ImStandingRightHere she was standing right there when he proposed the first time]] and that she's mildly offended by the thought of being his "Plan B." Then Graham offers to simply rescue them, only to remember that he forgot to bring rope and so is stuck with them. Not Graham's finest moment.

* CanonDiscontinuity: ''VideoGame/KingsQuest2015'' is an AlternateContintuity which features stories set between the main entries of the original series, and is not intended to mesh with the original series. It retells a number of the original games stories.

** Chapter 3 reinforces the notion that the events of ''[=KQ2=]'' as players remember them are only legend and fairy tale, and that the real story of Graham's meeting with Valanice in Hagatha's tower is far more complicated. This is literally a subversion of ''King's Quest'''s general FracturedFairyTale approach. The reimagined scenario is similar to the conceit behind the story in ''Disney/{{Maleficent}}'', which tells the viewer that the stories they heard is not what happened in actuality.

* AncestralWeapon: Achaka's bow, which is famous enough in his homeland for his granddaughter Taskia immediately recognizes it. It manages to be this for both Achaka and Graham's families. Graham inherits the bow from Achaka which he uses on many adventures, he bequeaths it to Gwen, who in turn returns it to Taskia.

** The main ending is this[[spoiler: On the one hand, Graham indeed dies at the end. On the other, Graham lived a good, long life, created a legacy, ensured the survival of his kingdom, found a worthy heir to continue looking after everything, and spends his last waking moments in the presence of family as he hears his story being recited back to him.]] Meanwhile, Gwendolyn sees adventure in her future, and eagerly grabs her grandfather's old cap to seek it.
** ''All'' of the chapters end bittersweetly.

*** "Once Upon A Climb" ends with King Graham finding true love with either Vee or Neese, a love that continues to this day, but the lady that Graham didn't pursue [[spoiler:is a victim of the Frost Tonic spell and she tries to hide it in the end]].
*** "Snow Place Like Home" ends with Graham and Alexander patching their relationship up and the family being reunited and strong, but [[spoiler:the consequence of your choice of wife in Chapter 3 comes back to bite you when it's revealed that the one you didn't pick has now turned into Queen Icebella... and just when it seems like things will be okay as she's redeemed, Manny pounces on her and she shatters and dies instantly.]]

** At one point, Graham needs to set a badger on some squirrels to solve a puzzle. When Gwendolyn asks if the squirrels will remember that, Graham says they most certainly will. [[KillerRabbit They do.]] This is actually a reference to the [=TellTale=] "choice system" in which characters remember a choice that the player makes. There are two of these references in the game, the other being the rescue or kidnapping of the Merchant of Miracles, to which Graham replies that the merchant likely won't remember it[[note]]The end of game image doesn't show whether you saved him or not, suggesting that there truly isn't a consequence to this decision[[/note]]. [[spoiler: He actually ''does'' remember it in Chapter 2. But except for some minor changed dialogue, and a whole chunk of optional dialogue choices, this doesn't have an effect on puzzle solving.]]

** The press release comments for Chapter 3 state that we as fans are to essentially see the original games as simply 'fairy tales' and 'legend', and that the new series shows 'what' really happened, the 'truth'. In regards to events of ''[=KQ2=]'', for example, the choice of princesses in Chapter 3 determines the personality and appearance of Valanice in the present.

** [[spoiler: There's also a strong implication that Graham is just dying of old age, not any kind of magical elixir of Samhain as shown in the last episode, and that the story was concocted only so that he could have "one last adventure"...in Gwen's eyes.]]

* CanonDiscontinuity: ''VideoGame/KingsQuest2015'' is an AlternateContintuity which features stories set between the main entries of the original series, and is not intended to 'mesh' with the original series. It retells a number of the original games stories.
** Prologue of Chapter 1 replaces much of King's Quest I
** Chapter II completely replaces King's Quest II, with Graham suggesting the original story is a fabrication.
** Chapter IV mostly replaces the events of King's Quest III.
** Elements of King's Quest V and VI are different.

** Subeverted by later chapters as Graham goes off track from the 'story of dragons' he promised in the first chapter as the 'rippling consequences' form his 'choice' with the dragon simply disappear following chapter 3. While vaguely hinted at in the end of Chapter 5 Gwendolyn the "dragon slayer", and epilogue, the fate of Hornswaggle is never revealed.

* CliffHanger: Gwendolyn and Gart are both called by a guard to their grandfather's side at the end of episode 1.

** Lots of name drops and nods to material from the classic games, and even the The King's Quest Companions these are often largely out of context of their original source material however, or in some cases anachronistic (mentioned before the character would even know about it), but are thrown in as fun references for old time fans who might be keeping track (examples include Serenia, Eldritch, Tanalore, Avalon, Llewdor and Great Mountains, as well as many of the spells from ''[=KQ3=]''). Some of these nods include 'alternate' visual adaptations of the box art from the original series (''[=KQ6=], [=KQ4=]'', and the 2006 ''KQ'' collection) which give Alexander a different and more cartoony appearance, including a goatee, and reinterpreted outfit, place Rosella riding on a horse (rather than a unicorn, not that she ever actually rode the unicorn in the actual story), and a much older Graham fighting a dragon (in the original artwork it shows a much younger Graham, and was apparently intended originally as a reinterpretation of the ''[=KQ1=]'' dragon encounter), or the re-imagined appearance of the magic treasures (and the importance the magic mirror over the others, and the order they were collected).

** The wedzel wolves are said to migrate to the [[VideoGame/KingsQuestVAbsenceMakesTheHeartGoYonder hills of Serenia, likely enough to the domain of Queen Icebella]].

** Chapter 2 was more serious than any of the other chapters (with the exception of perhaps Chapter 4 and Chapter 5), with all the citizens captured and potentially starving to death.
** Chapter 4 covers everything from kidnapped family members, betrayal by friends, and loss of close friends.
** Chapter 5 everyone in Town is dead, and an elderly Graham starts contemplating his own mortality.

* EpicFail: How you could describe Graham's attempt at courtly love in "Once Upon a Climb." He travels to the other side of the world to rescue a princess from a tower and marry her. When he climbs the tower he finds ''two'' princesses, attempts to propose to one, and she immediately rebuffs him on the not entirely unreasonable grounds that ''she has no idea who he is''. He attempts to propose to the other who rebuffs him for the same reason with the added biting comment that [[ImStandingRightHere she was standing right there when he proposed the first time]] and that she's mildly offended by the thought of being his "Plan B". Then Graham offers to simply rescue them, only to remember that he forgot to bring rope and so is stuck with them. Not Graham's finest moment.