History VideoGame / Ripper

** [[SubvertedTrope By contrast,]] [[spoiler: Catherine, if she is the Ripper,]] [[FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse has a far flimsier excuse.]] The reason behind the killings is [[spoiler: one of the Webrunners accidentally murdered her mother and she doesn't know which one specifically, so she's just killing them all off one by one. The murders are all revenge killings by a depraved AxCrazy psychopath who doesn't care who they have to use or kill to get petty vengeance. It's also implied that, more than anything, Catherine is just a {{Sadist}} who simply gets off on the lurid murders she is dishing out.]]

** It is heavily implied this is why [[spoiler: Josie Dorsett died in the original Ripper game]], but the dynamics of it are never explored. [[spoiler: In the novelization/strategy guide, it states that Josey’s death was a once in a lifetime glitch related to the early dangers of decking, but that’s only in the ending where Catherine is the killer. ]]

** It is heavily implied this is why [[spoiler: Josie Dorsett died in the original Ripper game]], but the dynamics of it are never explored.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Quinlan finds Magnotta's personnel file at the police department at one point, which notes his decker abilities are of the highest skill. This is before Quinlan finds out about [[spoiler: the Webrunners and the fact that Burton, Falconetti, and Magnotta were all a part of it together.]]

* GeniusCripple: Soap Beatty, [[WTHCastingAgency played by]] [[Series/GoodTimes Jimmie Walker]]

* GuideDangIt: Some of the more difficult puzzles

* RealSongThemeTune: "Don't Fear The Reaper" by Blue Oyster Cult. [[spoiler:The song's lyrics are the key to the final puzzle.]]

* ThemeMusicPowerup: ''Don't Fear the Reaper'' plays during the final puzzle. [[spoiler: Select words from the lyrics tell you how to solve it]].

** It is heavily implied this is why [[spoiler: Josie Dorsett died in the original Ripper game,]] but the dynamics of it are never explored.

* SolveTheSoupCans: Many, but one of the worst must be the set up in Catherine's apartment which involves crystals that must be put in a certain order in a grid that ''fires a laser'' at a book. You're only given a very vague idea of where to put crystals on a very specific grid to create a constellation, and the payoff is ultimately something Catherine could have just left you in a note: her password. Just to make it worse, the puzzle centers around [[spoiler:the constellations of the horoscope]], and the password is [[spoiler:Horoscope]], meaning that solving the puzzle means you have to already figure out that [[spoiler:Catherine was interested in horoscopes, despite that information alone being enough to make a reasonable guess at the password]].

* AmbiguousSituation: It is never revealed who really killed Josie Dorsett during the original Ripper game. It's lightly implied [[spoiler: it actually was Falconetti, and that Vince got him thrown in prison over it, but it is also implied it was a case of AccidentalMurder. If Magnotta's the Ripper, it's equally-lightly implied that he's the one who did it, possibly to set Falconetti up.]]

* AmbiguousSituation: It is never revealed who really killed Josie Dorsett during the original Ripper game. It's lightly implied [[spoiler: it actually was Falconetti, and that Vince got him thrown in prison over it, but it is also implied it was a case of AccidentalMurder. It's slightly more strongly implied that Falconetti did it if he's the Ripper; If Magnotta's the Ripper, it's equally-lightly implied that he's the one who did it, possibly to set Falconetti up.]]

* AmbiguousSituation: It is never revealed who really killed Josie Dorsett during the original Ripper game. It's lightly implied [[spoiler: it actually was Falconetti, and that Vince got him thrown in prison over it, but it is also implied it was a case of AccidentalMurder.]]

* RevealingCoverup: In the prologue, Magnotta "accidentally" breaks Renee Stein's coffee cup. As it later turns out, the cup is actually a memento of Stein's time with the Webrunners with her old C-Space handle ("Salisbury") written on it; Magnotta presumably broke to keep anyone from learning about the Ripper's connection to the Webrunners [[spoiler: and the fact that Magnotta used to be a Webrunner himself]]... but Quinlan wouldn't have found out about this if Magnotta hadn't broken the cup ''in front of him'' and gotten the reporter curious about his habit of destroying or stealing evidence.

* NightmareFetishist: Falconetti

''Ripper'' is a 1996 {{FMV}} AdventureGame developed by Creator/TakeTwoInteractive.

* NervousWreck: Farley's replacement Bob Epples is one twitchy dude.

* DrJerk: Claire Burton is notorious for being cold, unsympathetic, and curt to the point of being insulting. Even the receptionist tells Jake not to stand to close to her as she's "a little chilly."

** Joey, the supposedly infamous criminal hacker, is never seen doing anything involving computer crime apart from assaulting Quinlan in his intro. [[spoiler: This is only averted if he turns out to be the Ripper.]]

* FatSlob: Farley

** A big part of the reason Falconetti turned out the way he has is that [[spoiler: Magnotta forged evidence to get him convicted of Josie Dorsett's murder even though the death was most likely an unintentional case of YourMindMakesItReal, just because Magnotta was in love with Burton, who was with Falconetti. He eventually walked after the evidence against him apparently fell apart.]] It's completely understandable that he is maladjusted and bitter, especially given the fact that [[spoiler: his marriage fell apart, his reputation would have been destroyed, and that's not even getting into the whole WeUsedToBeFriends angle.]]

* RabidCop: Magnotta

* RetiredMonster: Falconetti

* AmbiguousCriminalHistory: Falconetti admits that he's a RetiredOutlaw at one point, but it's never stated what he did that was illegal. [[spoiler: He was jailed for 2 years over Josie Dorsett's murder, but let go later because Magnotta faked the evidence.]]

* BrownNote: Apparently in her spare time, Dr. Burton records the mental "death resonances" of monkeys she's tortured to death in cyberspace, and sends them to Vigo Haman, who sells them on the black market, for who knows what purpose.

* CigarChomper: Magnotta. However, he never seems to smoke them.

* CowboyCop: Magnotta and ''how''. Somewhat justified in that it's revealed that policemen have become more like [[BountyHunter bounty hunters]].
** He's cited as a 'typical New Breed cop,' but apparently one who has a bad reputation even among them.
* CrapsackWorld: Cyberpunk future New York City is a ''dump.'' It has an oppressive red sky, (maybe due to pollution?) the cops are mostly [[PoliceAreUseless useless]] or [[DirtyCop corrupt,]] cyberspace is ''also'' shown to be a dystopian hellhole filled with shady characters, and the people live in fear of a depraved SerialKiller who can butcher you seemingly without leaving any trace.

* DirtyCop: Magnotta. He's not explicitly on the take, per se, but he's about as unethical as you can possibly get, seems more interested in covering up the Ripper case than actually solving it, and is one of the possible suspects. It's also stated that he gets away with his more questionable actions by giving a piece of his bounties to the police chief.

* DrJerk: Claire Burton

* ForTheEvulz: In three of the four endings, you're left with no real idea of the killer's motivation, and Quinlan says he has no interest in trying to put it together.

* FlippingTheBird: For some reason, Quinlan's avatar does this after he defeats a giant robot rat in cyberspace.

* VerbalSaltInTheWound: Early in Act 3, reporter Quinlan is brought in for interrogation, giving Magnotta]] an opportunity to assault him at length in an attempt to get information out of him, finishing up by just slugging him in the face. When they meet again, Magnotta sneers at Quinlan for not publishing the incident in the ''Herald'' and mockingly asks, "how's your face, asshole?"

* FutureSlang: There are a lot of computer-related terms, many of them taking a page from ''Literature/{{Neuromancer}}'' ("decking" referring to going on-line with your brain, "ICE" to anti-hacker security measures); "smoke" being some kind of drug or tobacco product. "Data angel" refers to the avatars of people in cyberspace, "Grepping" replaces "searching" [[note]]referencing the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grep grep]] utility on UNIX and UNIX-like systems[[/note]], and "Cyberspace WELL[[note]]The Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link was quite the thing on the Internet in the 1990s, having been around since 1985[[/note]]" is a term for a programmer's self-designed little pocket dimension of cyberspace.

* FutureSlang: There are a lot of computer-related terms, many of them taking a page from ''Literature/{{Neuromancer}}'' ("decking" referring to going on-line with your brain, "ICE" to anti-hacker security measures); "smoke" being some kind of drug or tobacco product. "Data angel" refers to the avatars of people in cyberspace, "Grepping" replaces "searching" [[note]]referencing the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grep grep]] utility on UNIX and UNIX-like systems[[/note]], and "Cyberspace WELL" is a term for a programmer's self-designed little pocket dimension of cyberspace.

A LetsPlay / MSTing of the game done by WebVideo/TheSpoonyExperiment can be found [[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpaNqz1vDmSgmiBZ-9_VapqqixzYKLkZG here,]] and WebVideo/{{Retsupurae}}'s MST of it can be found [[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGHuf1yHMzN7yQts2EWVgckwOXCoyiHnY here]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLo4M1tlpv9rtrpAhuPV9fEV1QqBQgJGJj here.]]

* BlackComedy: One of the most hilarious, if not twisted moments in the game stands out at the beginning of the second act, between Quinlan and Viv. Even [[WebVideo/TheSpoonyExperiment Spoony]] and WebVideo/{{Retsupurae}} found it worth a laugh.

* ExtremeGraphicalRepresentation
-->Spoony: In the future, you won't just enter in a text web address, you'll be forced to wander around the hellish virtual landscape of MORDOR!

* ItsASmallNetAfterAll: As Spoony highlights, the Internet in this game seems to consist only of a dozen websites.

* MilkingTheGiantCow: Magnotta simply can't stand still when he's [[{{Pun}} talken]]. Spoony makes fun of this.
--> '''Quinlan''': "What's happened to you?" (Referring to Magnotta's bandaged arm)
--> '''Spoony''': (Imitating Walken) "Gesturing too much."

* OralFixation: Walken's character is chomping on a cigar in almost every scene he's in. Literally. Spoony explicitly points out "oral fixation" and adds a "NOM!" every time Walken chomps away at the cigar.

** And Spoony learns the hard way that they too fall under GuideDangIt; in one of them, it's not enough to shoot the pop-up targets once, but to shoot them as many times as possible in order to get the qualifying score, even though the game fails to tell you that little detail.

** And, as Spoony points out, ''it wouldn't have worked anyway.''
--> '''Magnotta''': Self defense, man. I mean, why'd you hit me, Quinlan? What are you, stupid? Hitting a cop?!
--> '''Spoony''': With a knife, while handcuffed?

* MultipleEndings: Curiously enough, the identity of the Ripper is actually randomized at some point of the game, with some elements changing accordingly. Disappointingly however, the endings are mostly the same regardless of the culprit. It can be inferred that only one of them is the "true" ending, due to the way it's differently handled than the rest (and that that one person was the only one with a specific grudge against all the victims) but, again, unlocking that ending is randomized. It's likely the others were just thrown in at the last moment.

* LargeHam: Magnotta. Even by Creator/ChristopherWalken [[UpToEleven standards]].

* NiceHat: Magnotta can rock a fedora like no other.

A LetsPlay / MSTing of the game done by WebVideo/TheSpoonyExperiment can be found [[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpaNqz1vDmSgmiBZ-9_VapqqixzYKLkZG here]], and WebVideo/{{Retsupurae}}'s MST of it can be found [[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGHuf1yHMzN7yQts2EWVgckwOXCoyiHnY here]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLo4M1tlpv9rtrpAhuPV9fEV1QqBQgJGJj here]].

* KnifeNut:
** Falconetti loves his knives, and regularly practices throwing them.
** Magnotta pulls a WoundedGazelleGambit by ''cutting his own forehead.''

This game is mostly notable for [[AllStarCast the sheer number of Hollywood actors]] involved in this game. The list is a sight to behold: Creator/ChristopherWalken, Scott Cohen, Creator/BurgessMeredith, Ossie Davis, Creator/KarenAllen, Creator/JohnRhysDavies, Jimmie Walker, Creator/DavidPatrickKelly, and Creator/PaulGiamatti, and features licensed music from Music/BlueOysterCult.

Not to be confused with Creator/JKRowling's [[Literature/CareerOfEvil murder mystery which also prominently features the music of Blue Öyster Cult]].

* ItIsPronouncedTroPAY: A RunningGag over the French pronunciation of Café [=DuChamp=].

* [[spoiler:DisproportionateRetribution]]: [[spoiler:In the ending where Catherine is the killer. Let's see; she wasn't sure which Web Runner killed her mother, so she just decides to kill them all. She also kills a cyber architect who built the virtual Whitechapel for her, tries to kill said architect's twin brother, brutally murders a coroner who had just figured out her murder method, and even murders her own friend in the bad ending.]]

* CrapsackWorld: Cyberpunk future New York City is a ''dump.'' It has an oppressive red sky, (maybe due to pollution?) the cops are mostly [[PoliceAreUseless useless]] or [[DirtyCop corrupt,]] cyberspace ''also'' shown to be a dystopian hellhole, and the people live in fear of a depraved SerialKiller who can butcher seemingly without leaving any trace.