History VideoGame / PathToNowhere

* GameplayAndStorySegregation: You can get any Sinner during [[GachaGames Arrests]], it doesn't mean Chief actually has them or uses them. In fact, Chief finishes entirety of chapter 3-8 in company of just [[StarterMon Hecate and Hella]], with only some additional help of other Sinners. In particular, [[spoiler: EMP, K.K. and Labyrinth aren't mentioned at all during Chapters 1 and 2, despite being "recruited" specifically to aid Chief with Salva incident in a actual mission-stage]]. In more general sense, a good chunk of gacha-arrested Sinners either don't appear in story or specifically [[PutOnABus never recruited]]. [[spoiler: As of Dream Bubble event Langley is still very much Chief's boss and not prisoner, Eirene is borderline enemy nobody can even suspect in being Sinner, Hamel is still trapped under the lake at BR-01 former site and Zoya is still... somewhere in Bai Yi's custody--Bai Yi herself, by the way, is only barely noticed by Chief while losing consciousness back in Chapter 6.]] This, however, may start to change as story goes on. This is because EMP, Labyrinth, and Lisa have more active role in Night of Wonders event.
* HaveANiceDeath: Getting a Game Over during a mission will have a Sinner (that was in your party) comment on your failure - some doing this in a [[YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre nicer]] way than [[WhatTheHellPlayer others]].

* NoodleIncident: A few Sinners have those within their backstory that are often only touched upon their interrogations that explain the reason behind their classification - for example, in spite of being on the surface just a baseball Hooligan, Dolly had some ''affairs'' with The Homeless organization and an agressive and unpredictable streak bad enough for her to get bumped into the A-level threat class.

* PowerEqualsRarity: Crimebrands can range from blue to golden tier, with the golden crimebrands being the rarest and the most powerful.
** Zig-Zagged with the Sinner classification system both in the story and gameplay-wise. In the lore the classes from B to S are given to Sinners according to how much ''danger'' they present to society, but ''danger'' does not necessarily mean power (even if it often does). For example, Labyrinth, a B-Class Sinner, has the capability to hold herself against an S-Class Sinner [[spoiler:Eifer, whose EnemyWithout, Sosia, created through her powers]] can leave the entirety of Dis City in anarchy. This is because that in spite of her fighting capabilities Labyrinth herself is a RobotGirl [[UndyingLoyalty completely submissive]] to The Chief even without the shackles, and is very much in control of her powers outside of very unusual circunstances, which might bring in mind the Website/SCPFoundation and it's "Safe, Euclid and Keter" system.
** As for gameplay, it's a mixed bag, as with many Gachas out there - some S Class Sinners are considered a must-have in meta, while others do little better than their B Class cousins, which can fit into late game teams with no problem at all - though the higher Class Sinners ''do'' tend to have better stats (and higher [[YouRequireMoreVespeneGas promotion costs too]]).

* WretchedHive: The Rust is this within [=DisCity=] itself, already far from a good place to live as noted above. It's a suburb filled with contamination hazards where the homeless and gang members fill the streets and there's more abandoned buildings than living spaces - making it a favorite hiding spot of outlaws and carrer criminals with nothing to lose.

Nightfall 01. Out of nowhere, a giant astronomical object crashes against Earth, plunging the world into chaos, war and an overall collapse of civilization. Fourteen years later [N.F. 14], the Nightfall Declaration is issued, discarding the world order we had grown accustomed to and leaving the survivors to fend for themselves around independent city-states. Meanwhile, on ground zero, a phenomenon later dubbed as Black Ring arises, bringing with itself not only the distortion of the laws of physics, but also a severe mental contamination to any human who approaches said place - nicknamed Mania. In "best" cases, this leads to people acquiring personality-based superpowers at the cost of their mental and/or physical integrity. In worst cases, it causes a total mutation of the victim's body and mind, transforming them into dangerous monsters.

Yet, despite all the pain and suffering, the seeds of a new era start to bloom. Amidst the ruins of the meteor crash, humanity discovers a new power source, the Hypercube, which becomes a key element in the collective struggle to adapt and survive. With the guidance of Dr. [redacted] the surviving and emerging powers sign the EDGE accord, laying the foundation for the rise of the last megalopolis on Earth: [=DisCity=] - the city that rises over Hell.

It's N.F. 112, and all hell breaks loose at the Minos Bureau of Crisis Control [MBCC], the underground organization tasked with the capture, surveillance and reformation of Sinners. A hostile, known only as Suspect R, invades the Bureau's prison complex with a group of rioters. Interrupting a shady memory restoration process, and awakening you as a collateral, Suspect R uses her power to take on your appearance and free every Sinner held by the MBCC. It will be a long, long and confusing night for you...

Made into the new Chief of MBCC and given the ungrateful task of pursuing, capturing and managing every Sinner - you are thrown into a dangerous path of deception and betrayal. There are, of course, several problems attached to this mission: a) [[AmnesiacHero you don't seem to remember who you are or where you come from]]; b) after an encounter with [[MysteriousWaif one prisoner]] who voluntarily stays in her cell, you awaken a strange power - dubbed Shackles - that allows you to empower, control and manage the abilities of Sinners; and c) you get the impression that your shady superiors and the overall organizations involved in the Mania business are hiding a few skeletons on their closet, and might be less interested in the overall survival of the city than they are on their hidden agendas. What starts as a police thriller will rapidly escalate into a calamity that not even you can control.

!!This game provides examples of:

* ADayInTheLimelight: The Interrogations are essentially this for each individual Sinner, where The Chief will discuss and talk to a Sinner about the case that brought them into incarceration and (hopefully) have them come to terms with their actions.

** The outside and surrounding areas of [=DisCity=] - the so-called "Outlands", aren't much better - [=WhiteSands=] for one is an inospitable desert full of sand worms, roaming raiders and constant dust storms that makes travel impossible without proper precautions taken beforehand.
* EldritchLocation: Black Rings. Black Rings are places of disastrous explosions of Mania, where laws of physics and logic are all subverted in favour of Black Ring's master's whims and desires. Black Rings are so dangerous, that even information of them can cause minor Mania outbreaks in otherwise safe conditions, which made FAC to be very secretive about everything, that is somehow related to Rings. Black Rings are supposedly created, when S-class Sinner lose their marbles because of inhumanly high M-values, basically turning in walking Mania, [[spoiler: however, Chief's investigations showed, that for Black Ring to emerge a collective wave of Mania may be enough, and to make Black Ring truly dangerous Parma must introduce Patient Zero to their corruption in form of Inheritance and create Corpseborne]]. By Chapter 8 Chief [[spoiler:managed to destroy the latest one, created by Zoya, before it got out of control, and neutralize the second - BR-01, that existed for more than 20 years]].

** Eastsiders and Syndians don't see into each other's eyes at all, the former considering the latter to be region where the worst gangs gather together and where criminality runs rampant on the street, barely any better than The Rust, while the later thinks of the former as a bunch of snuck-up bastards who look down and stereotype the average syndian simply based on their societal status. Not helping matters is that there's a movement restriction law between the two regions, acting like a [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything pseudo-segregationist measure that only fosters animosity between the two]].
* GameplayAndStorySegregation: You can get any Sinner during gacha-Arrests, it doesn't mean Chief actually has them or uses them. In fact, Chief finishes entirety of chapter 3-8 in company of just [[StarterMon Hecate and Hella]], with only some additional help of other Sinners. In particular, [[spoiler: EMP, K.K. and Labyrinth aren't mentioned at all during Chapters 1 and 2, despite being "recruited" specifically to aid Chief with Salva incident in a actual mission-stage]]. In more general sense, a good chunk of gacha-arrested Sinners either don't appear in story or specifically [[PutOnABus never recruited]]. [[spoiler: As of Dream Bubble event Langley is still very much Chief's boss and not prisoner, Eirene is borderline enemy nobody can even suspect in being Sinner, Hamel is still trapped under the lake at BR-01 former site and Zoya is still... somewhere in Bai Yi's custody - Bai Yi herself, by the way, is only barely noticed by Chief while losing consciousness back in Chapter 6.]] This, however, may start to change as story goes on. This is because EMP, Labyrinth, and Lisa have more active role in Night of Wonders event.

* PowerIncontinence: Newly "Awakened" Sinners often have little control over their powers, and that's if they [[HowDoIShootWeb even ''know'' how to use them]], which is often what leads to them causing a crisis that leads to them being outed as a Sinner and taken in by the MBCC in the first place. More experienced ones can usually keep them under control, but since the most powerful of Sinners are often the ones [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity with the most volatile capabilities of them]], even they aren't safe from unleashing destruction.

** Zig-Zagged with the Sinner classification system both in the story and gameplay-wise. In the lore the classes from B to S are given to Sinners according to how much ''danger'' they present to society, but ''danger'' does not necessarily mean power (even if it often does). For example, Labyrinth, a B-Class Sinner, has the capability to hold herself against an S-Class Sinner [[Eifer, whose EnemyWithout, Sosia, created through her powers]] can leave the entirety of Dis City in anarchy. This is because that in spite of her fighting capabilities Labyrinth herself is a RobotGirl [[undyingLoyalty completely submissive]] to The Chief even without the shackles, and is very much in control of her powers outside of very unusual circunstances, which might bring in mind the Website/SCPFoundation and it's "Safe, Euclid and Keter" system.

* GameplayAndStorySegregation: You can get any Sinner during gacha-Arrests, it doesn't mean Chief actually has them or uses them. In fact, Chief finishes entirety of chapter 3-8 in company of just [[StarterMon Hecate and Hella]], with only some additional help of other Sinners. In particular, [[spoiler: EMP, K.K. and Labyrinth aren't mentioned at all during Chapters 1 and 2, despite being "recruited" specifically to aid Chief with Salva incident in a actual mission-stage]]. In more general sense, a good chunk of gacha-arrested Sinners either don't appear in story or specifically [[PutOnABus never recruited]]. [[spoiler: As of Dream Bubble event Langley is still very much Chief's boss and not prisoner, Eirene is borderline enemy nobody can even suspect in being Sinner, Hamel is still trapped under the lake at BR-01 former site and Zoya is still... somewhere in Bai Yi's custody - Bai Yi herself, by the way, is only barely noticed by Chief while losing consciousness back in Chapter 6.]] This, however, may started to change as story goes on. This is because EMP, Labyrinth, and Lisa have more active role in Night of Wonders event.

** Zig-Zagged with the Sinner classification system both in the story and gameplay-wise. In the lore the classes from B to S are given to Sinners according to how much ''danger'' they present to society, but ''danger'' does not necessarily mean power (even if it often does). For example, Labyrinth, a B-Class Sinner, has the capability to hold herself against an S-Class Sinner [[Eifer, whose EnemyWithout, Sosia, created through her powers]] can leave the entirety of Dis City in anarchy. This is because that in spite of her fighting capabilities Labyrinth herself is a RobotGirl [[undyingLoyalty completely submissive]] to The Chief even without the shackles, and is very much in control of her powers outside of very unusual circunstances, which might bring in mind the WebOriginal/SCPFoundation and it's "Safe, Euclid and Keter" system.
** As for gameplay, it's a mixed bag, as with many Gachas out there - some S Class Sinners are considered a must-have in meta, while others do little better than their B Class cousins, which can fit into late game teams with no problem at all - though the higher Class Sinners ''do'' tend to have better stats (and higher [[YouRequireMoreVespeneGas promotion costs too).

* EldritchLocation: Black Rings. Black Rings are places of disastrous explosions of Mania, where laws of physics and logic are all subverted in favour of Black Ring's master's whims and desires. Black Rings are so dangerous, that even information of them can cause minor Mania outbreaks in otherwise safe conditions, which made FAC to be very secretive about everything, that is somehow related to Rings. Black Rings are supposedly created, when S-class Sinner lose their marbles because of inhumanly high M-values, basically turning in walking Mania, [[spoiler: however, Chief's investigations showed, that for Black Ring to emerge a collective wave of Mania may be enough, and to make Black Ring truly dangerous Parma must introduce Patient Zero to their corruption in form of Inheritance and create Corpseborne]]. By Chapter 8 Chief [[spoiler:managed to destroy the last one, created by Zoya, before it got out of control, and neutralize the second - BR-01, that existed for more than 20 years]].

* GameplayAndStorySegregation: You can get any Sinner during gacha-Arrests, it doesn't mean Chief actually has them or uses them. In fact, Chief finishes entirety of chapter 3-8 in company of just [[StarterMon Hecate and Hella]], with only some additional help of other Sinners. In particular, [[spoiler: EMP, K.K. and Labyrinth aren't mentioned at all during Chapters 1 and 2, despite being "recruited" specifically to aid Chief with Salva incident in a actual mission-stage]]. In more general sense, a good chunk of gacha-arrested Sinners either don't appear in story or specifically [[PutOnABus never recruited]]. [[spoiler: As of Dream Bubble event Langley is still very much Chief's boss and not prisoner, Eirene is borderline enemy nobody can even suspect in being Sinner, Hamel is still trapped under the lake at BR-01 former site and Zoya is still... somewhere in Bai Yi's custody - Bai Yi herself, by the way, is only barely noticed by Chief while losing consciousness back in Chapter 6]] This, however, may started to change as story goes on. This is because EMP, Labyrinth, and Lisa have more active role in Night of Wonders event.

* GameplayAndStorySegregation: You can get any Sinner during gacha-Arrests, it doesn't mean Chief actually has them or uses them. In fact, Chief finishes entirety of chapter 3-8 in company of just [[StarterMon Hecate and Hella]], with only some additional help of other Sinners. In particular, [[spoiler: EMP, K.K. and Labyrinth aren't mentioned at all during Chapters 1 and 2, despite being "recruited" specifically to aid Chief with Salva incident in a actual mission-stage]]. In more general sense, a good chunk of gacha-arrested Sinners either don't appear in story or specifically [[PutOnABus never recruited]]. [[spoiler: As of Dream Bubble event Langley is still very much Chief's boss and not prisoner, Eirene is borderline enemy nobody can even suspect in being Sinner, Hamel is still trapped under the lake at BR-01 former site and Zoya is still... somewhere in Bai Yi's custody - Bai Yi herself, by the way, is only barely noticed by Chief while losing consciousness back in Chapter 6]].

* PersonOfMassDestruction: Even weaker Sinners can be a walking hazard if they aren't able to control their powers, with EMP, a B-Class one, being able to cause a power shortage lasting week in the entirety of Syndicate when she awakened.

* ArmyOfThievesAndWhores: As the Chief of the MBCC, you use a variety of criminals in your armed forces, using your shackles to control them. While some of them are [[BadPowersGoodPeople relatively good people]], Mania contamination aside, who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time when they "awakened" as Sinners, others under your control are outright carrer criminals and mass murderers.

* FantasticRacism: People suffering from mania contamination, and Sinners in particular, tend to be regarded by society as potential threats to public security at best and as dangerous criminals at worst. To make matters even more grim, this tends to lead to otherwise upstanding citizens to turn to shady elements for support after being rejected by others, which often leads to them [[ThemLetMeBeEvil becoming the aforementioned "dangerous criminals" they were regarded as by others]].

* NoodleIncident: A few Sinners have those within their backstory that are often only touched upon their interrogations that explain the reason behind their classification - for example, in spite of being on the surface just a football Hooligan, Dolly had some ''affairs'' with The Homeless organization and an agressive and unpredictable streak bad enough for her to get bumped into the A-level threat class.

* GameplayAndStorySegregation: You can get any Sinner during gacha-Arrests, it doesn't mean Chief actually has them or uses them. In fact, Chief finishes entirety of chapter 3-8 in company of just [[StarterMon Hecate and Hella]], with only some additional help of other Sinners. In particular, [[spoiler: EMP, K.K. and Labyrinth aren't mentioned at all during Chapters 1 and 2, despite being "recruited" specifically to aid Chief with Salva incident in a actual mission-stage]]. In more general sense, a good chunk of gacha-arrested Sinners either don't appear in story or specifically [[PutOnBus never recruited]]. [[spoiler: As of Dream Bubble event Langley is still very much Chief's boss and not prisoner, Eirene is borderline enemy nobody can even suspect in being Sinner, Hamel is still trapped under the lake at BR-01 former site and Zoya is still... somewhere in Bai Yi's custody - Bai Yi herself, by the way, is only barely noticed by Chief while losing consciousness back in Chapter 6]].

It's N.F. 112, and all hell breaks loose at the Minos Bureau of Crisis Control [MBCC], the underground organization tasked with the capture, surveillance and reformation of Sinners. A hostile, known only as Suspect R, invades the Bureau's prison complex with a group of rioters. Interrupting a shady memory restoration process, and awakening you as a collateral, Suspect R uses her power to take on your appearance and free every sinner held by the MBCC. It will be a long, long and confusing night for you...

* AllegedlyFreeGame: The game can be played for free, but you can pay for more hypercubes and warrants to roll the gacha for desired sinners.

** When raiding for materials to upgrade your sinners, it will automatically stop after you gather the required amount.

* ArbitraryHeadcountLimit: You are limited to a maximum of six sinners per stage. This number drops to even less in some special stages.

* CrapsackWorld: [=DisCity=] is riddled with many crime organisations, and many of the more malevolent sinners pose a huge threat to civilian safety.

* ImprobablyFemaleCast: Becoming a sinner has not been mentioned to be gender specific. Yet, a large majority of the cast are female.

* RagtagBunchOfMisfits: The Chief has to work together with Sinners, who are unintentionally dangerous at best or outright criminals at worst, for the good of humanity as a whole.

* VictoryQuote: Every sinner has one that is displayed after battle if they were part of your party.

* BadPowersGoodPeople: Several of the sinners remain kind at heart despite the mania in their bodies. For example, these include Ariel and Kawa-Kawa.

* RagtagBunchOfMisfits: The Chief has to work together with sinners, who are unintentionally dangerous at best or outright criminals at worst, for the good of humanity as a whole.

* SuperStrength: Every sinner is much stronger than the average human. If not for the shackles, the Chief would be massively out of their depth. Even then, they usually let Hecate and Hella do most of the fighting.

* ArmyOfThievesAndWhores: As the Chief of the MBCC, you use a variety of criminals in your armed forces, using your shackles to control them.

** The outside and surrounding areas of [=DisCity=] - the so-called "Outlands", aren't much better - [=WhiteSands-] for one is an inospitable desert full of sand worms, roaming raiders and constant dust storms that makes travel impossible without proper precautions taken beforehand.

* 20MinutesIntoTheFuture: It's not explicit how far into the future Path to Nowhere is set (and thanks to the Nightfall callendar's difference, it's impossible to truly know), but it's far enough into it that holograms and walking fortresses are a common ocurrence.

* CrapsackWorld: [=DisCity=] is riddled with many crime organisations, and many of the more malevolent sinners pose a huge threat to civilain safety.