History VideoGame / Nocturne

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nocturne_cover_us.jpg]]
''Nocturne'' is a [[UsefulNotes/IBMPersonalComputer PC]] survival-horror game released in 1999, made by Terminal Reality (those folks behind ''VideoGame/{{BloodRayne}}'').

Set in the 1920s to the 1930s, Spookhouse is a government-funded organization, [[BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy started by Teddy Roosevelt]], which deals with the occult and monsters, such as vampires, werewolves, Frankenstein's monster-esque mobsters, and dark rituals performed in caverns under small towns. It happens. You play as the mysterious Stranger, a man who likes no one, but hates monsters. Joining him are:
* Colonel Hapscomb – A former colonel in the Army, Hapscomb is the vice director of the Spookhouse. He gives you the missions. Also, he's hook-handed and wears an eyepatch!
* Svetlana Lupescu – A sexy half-vampire with whom Stranger has varying degrees of tension, due to her half-monster nature. However, she is a strong and very capable agent, which has earned her a place as one of the top operatives of Spookhouse.
* Khen Rigzin – A wise old man who was a Tibetan monk. He teaches Martial Arts to the Spookhouse members.
* Moloch - A demon rejected by both heaven and hell, who helped Spookhouse with a mission, though his reasons were to destroy the demon who had cast him out of Hell centuries before. He takes the human form of a GentlemanAdventurer, but he can change into a giant demon whenever needed.
* Scat Dazzle – A voodoo expert possessed by Baron Samedi. Whenever Scat dies, the Baron can be summoned to revive him. Scat has died a lot.
* Hiram Mottra - Medic and man of documents, Hiram is a nervous and husky fellow who can sense people's aggression, especially if it's toward him.
* Elspeth "Doc" Holliday - Sexy and a bit of a snark, she's Spookhouse's top scientist, supplying Stranger with weapons and ammo to face anything. She likes testing her new equipment in the field.
* Vicenzo "Icepick" Gasparro – An undercover agent who was once an enforcer for a Mafia family, he was "sold" to a mad scientist, where he was turned into a giant, lumbering stitched-together zombie. Despite this, Vicenzo remains a nice fellow, with a bit of a temper.

Cutting edge and beautiful for its time, ''Nocturne'' made use of dramatic camera angles in each area, though this was more fashion than function. It also made great use of ambient sounds for its time, along with various sinister [[PublicDomainSoundtrack public domain tracks]].

Unlike almost all other games in the genre, ''Nocturne'' uses 360 degree aiming with the mouse (similar to a FirstPersonShooter), instead of the standard "rotate along a fixed plane" used by the likes of the early ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' or ''VideoGame/AloneInTheDark'' games. This allows a very high degree of free aiming, but can be disorienting due to the game's 3rd person perspective.

The game birthed a spin-off series of games based on ''Film/TheBlairWitchProject'', of all things, as well as the significantly more popular console action series, ''VideoGame/{{BloodRayne}}''. Unfortunately, the story of Spookhouse itself and the Stranger were never revisited by Terminal Reality (largely due to their assimilation by Majesco), despite the game ending on the mother of all cliffhanger endings.

Not to be confused with ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIIINocturne'', though this game is why the game is known as "Lucifer's Call" [[MarketBasedTitle in Europe]]. It's also not to be confused with the 2002 [[FreewareGames freeware]] [[VideoGame/NocturneRPGMaker Japanese RPG]]. Or with the 2007 French/Spanish animated film ''WesternAnimation/{{Nocturna}}'', for that matter.

!!Tropes present in this game:
* ActionGirl: Svetlana to a T. Doc Holliday, too, but that's off-screen and in the semi-sequel.
* AFateWorseThanDeath: Icepick wouldn't exactly wish his situation on anyone.
* AntiHero: While the Stranger does go out of his way to help people, he does not discriminate when it comes to killing monsters, and even has to be talked out of it. He's even to be known to have committed genocide that wiped out entire races of vampires, werewolves, and changelings, which is still genocidal slaughter despite the targets being monsters. He can also be pretty blunt and isn't very sociable when it comes to some of the people he interacts with.
* AintTooProudToBeg: Instead of attacking The Stranger, Count Voicu's newest bride Nadia cowers behind a tapestry and tearfully begs for her life when he rousts her from her hiding place, which clues him in that she hadn't yet fed on the Count's blood and been brought fully under the vampire lord's control. [[PetTheDog The Stranger lets her live.]]
* AllThereInTheManual: The official site gives some background info on the characters, monsters, and even an official timeline. The actual manual itself has oodles of backstory for both the Spookhouse itself, its operatives and various monster types.
* AllTheWorldsAreAStage: Episode 4 features most of the enemies from the previous 3 episodes all in a single dungeon. [[spoiler: This is because Hamilton Killian essentially turned his mansion into a giant prison for torturing monsters, resulting in a very diverse population of "inmates".]]
* ArbitrarySkepticism: Despite having spent the prior chapters fighting vampires, werewolves, zombies and the inhuman servants of an EldritchAbomination (with the assistance of a Dhampyr and Baron Samedei himself), not to mention a whole career of fighting these sorts of supernatural threats, The Stranger scoffs at the idea of Al Capone reviving his dead men ala ''Literature/{{Frankenstein}}''.
* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachother: Despite the Stranger insisting he hates monsters and is reluctant to work with Svetlana, when he hears she's under the thrall of Count Voicu, he makes it a special mission to free her, insisting he's not leaving without her.
* BadassBoast: The Stranger has quite a few, made all the more effective for his blunt way of phrasing them.
-->'''Minion:''' "You cannot harm the Count! He is immortal!"\\
'''The Stranger:''' "If you only ''knew'' how many 'immortal' creatures I've killed..."
* BadassCreed: "The world is a dark place. Who will protect the world from darkness? We will." It doubles as a password to entering Spookhouse Headquarters.
* BadassNormal: The Stranger is a seemingly normal man whose career revolves around going up against all manner of monsters, with little more than mundane weapons. Of course he does sometimes require supernatural weapons and help, against the likes of Count Voicu.
* BadassPreacher: Reverend Maynard from Act 2. One of the few townsfolk in Redeye to survive long enough to meet The Stranger despite being unable to barricade up his church and losing the Spookhouse agent originally sent to protect him.
* BatPeople: Vampires are humanoids with bat-like features such as spear noses and elongated, winged arms. Humans converted by them, such as Vampire Brides, look more like your typical undead bloodsucker.
* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: The game's backstory explains that Theodore Roosevelt founded the Spookhouse after killing a werewolf when he was hunting one time.
* ChildProdigy: Holliday started her career AT ELEVEN.
* TheChosenOne: According to the official site, Stranger was born under "impossibly strict, specified circumstances", kidnapped as a baby, and raised by crazy strict monster hunters.
** The manual adds that Spookhouse is not sure if this actually is Stranger's background. They had heard of such a specially raised monster hunter, and when Stranger came along with seemingly no past, they seemed to match. Nobody has dared to actually ask him.
** Scat Dazzle was marked as a special boy, raised pretty much solely to be occupied by Baron Samedi. Despite his reluctance, this has worked out in his favor.
* CoolOldGuy: Khen is more than a hundred years old, and a far superior hand to hand fighter than anyone else in the Spookhouse. Consequently he is the organization's main trainer, and [[WarriorTherapist helps everyone with their psychological and spiritual wellbeing]].
* CutShort: The game ends on one ''hell'' of a painful (and fairly horrific) cliffhanger, and probably will never be resolved. Before their eventual closure, the guys at Terminal Reality still wanted to do a proper sequel to address this. In fact, WordOfGod says this game is Terminal Reality's ''real'' baby, and they created ''VideoGame/{{BloodRayne}}'' just to give Majesco a brand they could keep in case their partnership ends.
** [[WordOfGod One of the devs]] has since stated that the villain behind the cliffhanger ending was supposed to be from the demon underground which Moloch helped Spookhouse to demolish.
* DeadpanSnarker: Stranger has a go at most everyone, and Doc Holliday loves to snark right back.
* {{Dhampyr}}: Svetlana is one of these, causing a bit of tension between her and Stranger. [[spoiler: It does work in her favor, though, when she's been hypnotized by Count Voicu: Her half-vampire nature makes her strong enough to shake it off in the end.]]
* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: The second chapter has the Stranger find out that an EldritchAbomination is the source of a zombie outbreak. With some help of Baron Samedi, the Stranger has no problem putting a stop this entity by sealing it underground. Just another day as a Spookhouse agent.
* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: The Stranger arrives for another day at Spookhouse only to find most of the staff (with the identifiable remains being Icepick, Haystack, Moloch, Doc Holliday's assistant, and the Colonel) ripped to bloody shreds and strewn about the place, Doc Holliday missing, and a message written in his co-workers' blood directed to him that whoever caused it all "finally found you, Stranger".]] ToBeContinued, never.
* TheEmpath: Hiram was a psychic who could sense the thoughts and emotions of anyone aiming their focus on him. This ability allowed him to sense a great danger while he was on a train to Texas with the Stranger. [[SurprisinglySuddenDeath Didn't help him much when that danger made a beeline for him, though.]]
* EnemyMine: The Stranger mostly considers monsters his enemies, but grows close to the ones he works with like Sventlana and Icepick. There is the exception however as he insists his alliance with Moloch is purely pragmatic.
* EvilerThanThou: Being AffablyEvil aside, Count Voicu's father is described as making his son, who mentally controlled Svetlana earlier, look like "a frail degenerate" compared to him. He was mentioned to be powerful enough that even the Stranger and Svetlana facing him together would be suicide for them and that they were better off just leaving when he offered the chance. In ''Bloodrayne'' he ends up being on the receiving end of this from Hedrox, an even more ancient, powerful, and eviler vampire.
** Hamilton Killian is this to Moloch. The fact that Moloch is a demon who was banished from Hell, should illustrate how bad Killian is.
* ExpositionFairy: Colonel Hapscomb and Holliday.
* {{Expy}}: Funfact: Rayne of ''VideoGame/BloodRayne'' fame was originally supposed to be Svetlana, but this was scrapped. Still, Svet is basically a nicer, longer-haired Rayne.
* EyePatchOfPower: Colonel Hapscomb.
* FireKeepsItDead: Because of how damage is applied, fire can kill ''anything'', even otherwise immortal creatures like skeletons (though getting a flame weapon in most areas requires a cheat code). Once any actor (NPC or player) catches fire, the flames slowly spread and engulf them until they inevitably break apart into smoldering chunks.
* FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire: Svetlana is a sweet, friendly person when not slaughtering things for the sake of justice.
* GenocideBackfire: In 1924 the Stranger exterminated a tribe of wild werewolves. Years later, the Alpha male of the pack comes back to have his revenge.
* {{Ghostapo}}: Surprisingly averted. Despite the time frame fitting and one of the missions even taking place in Germany, the game does not contain a single reference to Nazis.
* GoodIsNotNice: The Stranger is blunt, gruff and described as having the social skills of Attila the Hun. Of course he gradually mellows over the course of the game.
* GoodThingYouCanHeal: Scat Dazzle. The Stranger's annoyed tone after resurrecting Scat implies that it happens quite a bit.
* GunsDoNotWorkThatWay: The shotgun Stranger uses is a double-barreled boxlock, which he handles and fires like a pump-action.
* GutturalGrowler: The Stranger has a voice that's so deep and gravelly that most types of inflection appear to be outside of his vocal range.
* HenpeckedHusband: Pa in Act 2.
* HeWhoFightsMonsters: This is the central plot point of the final chapter and, arguably, an overarching theme of entire game. Hamilton Killian, the BigBad of Act 4, is a former Spookhouse agent who grew to hate the monsters so much that he eventually brought himself down to their level. He currently lives in a mansion which he turned into a giant death trap, just so he could torture monsters... and occasionally even human beings whom he lured there, for [[InsaneTrollLogic whatever reasons]]. He subjects Stranger to this fate, on the grounds that working side by side with monster allies (like Svetlana or Moloch) supposedly makes him no better than them. Other characters express their worries that Stranger, with his hatred towards monsters, could walk the same path as Killian someday.
* HookerWithAHeartOfGold: There's one in act two, by the name of Dixie Buttercup.
* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: The final chapter shows this with Hamilton Killian, who devoted an entire mansion to the point of torturing and killing monsters and amuses himself by putting the Stranger through all the traps and puzzles he created.
** There is also TheMafia in the third chapter. Besides being reanimated through Frankenstein science, they're still essentially people and behave pretty much the way they would when they were alive. Doesn't stop them from trying to pump you full of lead, since they're criminals.
* ImplacableMan: Smiley, the toughest Frankenmobster ever created. He comes back after being bisected by an elephant gun, then he's burned to a crisp and reappears ''again''; he dies only after [[spoiler: plunging in a vat of boiling/acid resurrection chemicals]].
-->[[PreMortemOneLiner "I see you're not smiling anymore."]]
* InformedAbility: Haystack is a secondary character you can meet in the gym of the Spookhouse HQ, but you never get to see him in action on the field. Word of God says he's a boxer so powerful he can kill supernatural monsters ''with his fists'', and a little help from specially crafted gloves.
* InformedFlaw: According to the official site, Icepick is a sadistic, unpredictable machine. In game, he's actually quite polite and even earns Stranger's sympathy, and you eventually see him palling around with Svetlana.
* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: The stories of Hamilton Killian tell of a monster hunter who suffered a great and tragic loss at the hands of a vampire and has since then become a far more vicious individual, with a special hatred for monsters that has been described as "evil". He angrily quit Spookhouse when they started recruiting monsters, and has since then devoted himself to torturing monsters and even his human visitors for little more than his amusement.
* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:Count Voicu's father, who is stated to be much ''worse'' than his son, manages to walk away. Of course this is because he's too powerful for the Stranger and Svetlana to face, and they're forced to accept a truce.]] He is mentioned as having eventually been overthrown and killed by Hedrox, an even more powerful and eviler vampire, in ''Bloodrayne''.
** Likewise Al Capone doesn't receive any on screen comeuppance for creating an undead army in the third chapter. Not only is he TheUnfought, he doesn't even ''appear''.
* KillEmAll: [[spoiler:The game ends with Stranger entering Spookhouse headquarters to find it smashed open, with the body parts of most of the supporting cast strewn across the base (including Moloch, a super-powerful demon who was established to be TheJuggernaut). He finds a message written in blood addressed personally to him essentially saying "we've finally found you, ha ha ha", then the game ends.]]
* KillItWithFire: The mobster-zombies in act III are extremely flammable thanks to all the chemicals pumped into them. Also, the only way to keep skeletons down.
* MalevolentArchitecture: Hamilton Killian's mansion. Every other room contains a trap, some monsters, or both.
* MugglesDoItBetter: Doc Holliday as the head scientist of Spookhouse and provides mundane weapons to its agents, mostly Stranger, but a lot of the special weapons are her own inventions.
* NintendoHard: Zombies with guns that can chew through your health in seconds? Chapter 3's waiting for you. Tricky platforming segments that result in instant death? All over the place. Puzzles that can be made {{Unwinnable}} or also instantly kill you for failure? Hope you had a non-screwed quick save ready for SaveScumming. Even worse, playing the game on modern hardware results in the Stranger's falls [[GameBreakingBug being accelerated]], so nearly ''any'' fall is either highly damaging or outright fatal - even running down stairs may cause him to glitch out and then [[DeathByFallingOver explode his kneecaps or something.]]
* NoodleIncident: When Baron Samedi is called to the corpse of Scat Dazzle, he ironically salutes the Stranger, adding that he knows a lot of things about his past. The Stranger rebukes him, telling to drink, smoke and please go fuck himself. This is the deepest (and only) mention of the Stranger's youth.
** Sometimes, the Spookhouse agents will drop a line about ''Horucides'', a mix of genocides and scorched earth operations that could totally eradicate a group of monsters. It seems that the Stranger participated eagerly in this operations.
* OneWingedAngel:
** Count Voicu, the BigBad of the first episode, turns into a giant bat-like monster to fight you.
** Smiley, Capone's top Frankenmobster enforcer in the third episode, is a RecurringBoss who keeps returning in increasingly tougher and more gigantic forms as Capone's scientists keep rebuilding him as you keep killing him.
* PostModernMagik: What would you expect from a secret government agency fighting supernatural threats in the 20th century?
* RuleOfCool: ZOMBIE. MOBSTERS! MADE BY THE MAD DOCTOR LOATHRING. COMMISSIONED BY AL CAPONE!
** The game could be defined as '''Resident Evil + 1930 pulp books + a sprinkle of humour + liberal amounts of Cool'''
* TheStoic: The Stranger isn't exactly the type to show emotion in his facial expressions or tone of voice.
* TragicVillain: The game makes it clear that Killian has become worse than the monsters he fought against. That said it's made equally clear that what happened to his wife (being raped, impregnated and turned into a vampire, forcing Killian to kill her and the child) drove him over the edge.
* YoungerThanTheyLook: Holliday's hair is starting to grey a bit at the temples. She's 26.
* ZombieApocalypse: The second chapter focuses around a zombie outbreak in a small Wild West town.

* FireKeepsItDead: The skeleton enemies will constantly reassemble themselves after being shattered unless set on fire.