History VideoGame / Stasis

* ApocalypticLog: [=PDAs=] and terminals contain lenghty entries by crewmembers that document how the situation abord the Groomlake went from bad to worse.

Another game set in the same universe and set parallel to ''Stasis'', ''Cayne'', has been released.

* AbandonShip: The Groomlake has been hastily abandoned, with John deducing that the ship has been evacuated. [[spoiler: Turns out this is due to the clone growing experiments going the exact opposite of what they wished for.]]

* AutoDoc: Being a primarily medical research vessel, the Groomlake has a few examples:

* BloodstainedGlassWindows: [[spoiler: The ending of the game takes place in a partially-renovated visitor center for the Groomlake, which is styled with elaborate arches and even stained-glass-like windows, [[RuleOfSymbolism making it resemble a cathedral nave]].]]

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:John's daughter is killed, everyone on the ship turns out dead, and Te'ah is shot following a FaceHeelTurn. John sends the ship containing his wife's stasis tube to Earth only for her to turn out DeadAllAlong, with John remaining on the Groomlake knowing that he will eventually die.]]
** ''Cayne'' isn't any better. [[spoiler:Hadley makes it to the evac elevator, but there are...''complications'' with her birth, which leave her screaming in terror. And then the camera pulls out, and we see the research vault she's been trying to get out of- with the Groomlake crashed nearby.]]

* GoneHorriblyWrong: [[spoiler: Cayne Corporation attempted to grow clones in the Groomlake as a less questionable way of getting organs. Unfortunately, the clones ended up looking like mutated {{Humanoid Abomination}}s that act based on instinct which has lead to people getting killed and eaten.]]

* ItIsDehumanizing: A variation. [[spoiler:Company policy aboard the Groomlake seems to be to refer to its victims as "products".]]

* MadScientistLaboratory: The Groomlake was designed and utilized as a giant Josef Mengele-style mad science funhouse, with every sort of unethical and horrifying type of research imaginable being pursued with zero oversight or constraint. Much of the revolting or nightmare-inducing things you'll encounter in the game aren't things GoneHorriblyWrong, but things operating ''exactly as designed''.

* MeaningfulName: The Groomlake. "Groom Lake" is one of the alternate names of Area 51, and the ship is designed to be a long-haul deep-space vessel far from human civilization and prying eyes, so its inhabitants can conduct all sorts of unethical research that nobody can question. The vessel was formerly named "The Tower" (you see old markings and an older AI in charge of the older parts of the ship) and "The Tower" in Tarot represents a downfall.

* MegaCorp: Cayne Corporation is a trillion dollar, multinational company which has played a pivotal role in human technological, medical and scientific advancement for decades. The Groomlake is operated by this conglomerate and provides [[spoiler: a secret platform for horrific experimentation and illicit research.]]

* MileLongShip: The Groomlake, originally christened as "The Tower", is over six kilometers long. Its original purpose was as a deep space mining vessel, hence all the size for equipment, processing, and hauling ore. Fifteen years of atmospheric exposure degraded its hull integrity and made it no longer suitable for its original mission. After decommissioning, [[MegaCorp Cayne Corporation]] converted it into a research ship.

* OrganTheft: [[spoiler:It turns out The Groomlake was used to snatch people in stasis from other ships to extract their organs and harvest their skins.]]

* RaisedCatholic: John, who crosses himself on multiple occasions when encountering the Groomlake's victims.

* RoboSpeak: Most living people are dead as hell, but there's tons of different robot voices for all the devices you find in the game. John's suit, several different automatic medical devices, announcement systems and other things, all with their own icons. The oldest parts of the ship have an older AI still referring to the ship by its old name, "The Tower."
* SequelHook: ''Cayne'' has one for both games. [[spoiler: The last sight we're treated to is an outside shot of the research vault Hadley's been struggling to escape...with the Groomlake crashed nearby.]]

* StarshipLuxurious: [[ZigZaggingTrope Zig Zagged]] by the Groomlake. On the one hand, the ship's original mission required much more room than its current purpose does, so it has plenty of room to spare on things like a dance club for crew recreation, and a deluxe visitor center that resembles a cathedral nave. On the other hand, those extravagances aside, Cayne [[CuttingCorners cuts so many corners]] that things like fire axes are not placed in emergency containers. [[EpilepticTrees Maybe the ship renovation started going over budget partway through?]]
* TheyWouldCutYouUp: [[spoiler:The Groomlake has been used to mass-abduct innocent people in stasis and cut their organs. Even worse is the fact that most of the staff is unaware of what is happening, as they are told that the people they are cutting up are criminals]].
* YouWakeUpInARoom: John awakens remembering details about who he is and his family, but he has no idea of how he ended up on the Groomlake.

The Groomlake, a rundown and seemingly abandoned spacecraft, circles the lower orbit of Neptune. Constantly losing altitude, as the planet's gravity has a firm hold on the derelict ship, the vessel is constantly getting ever closer to meet an unceremonious destruction in the swirling blue methane clouds of the gas giant. However, in the bowels of the ship, a man by the name of John Maracheck stirs uneasily in his induced sleep.

* PregnantBadass: ''Cayne's'' protagonist Hadley becomes this over the course of the game. Given that she's in a research vault run by the game's namesake MegaCop, it's not necessarily a good thing.

Another game set in the same universe and set parallel to Stasis, Cayne, has been released.

* [[spoiler:ShaggyDogStory]]

* RaisedCatholic: John, who he crosses himself on multiple occasions when encountering the Groomlake's victims.

* FutureSpandex: John wakes up wearing a plug suit, a kind of chemical-resistant, skin-tight, one-piece coverall with biometric monitors and a simple onboard A.I. that [[RoboSpeak repeatedly announces]] changes in his physical or mental state ([[ThatMakesMeFeelAngry which would not necessarily be obvious to the player]].) Apparently all the "products" in storage are fitted with them, as a kind of high-tech hospital gown.

* MileLongShip: The Groomlake, originally christened as "The Tower", is over six kilometers long. Its original purpose was as a deep space mining vessel, hence all the size for equipment, processing, and hauling ore. Fifteen years of atmospheric exposure degraded its hull integrity and made it no longer suitable for its original mission. After decommissioning, [[MegaCorp Cayne Corporation]] bought it up and converted it into a research ship.

* MileLongShip: The Greenlake, originally christened as "The Tower", is over six kilometers long. Its original purpose was as a deep space mining vessel, hence all the size for equipment, processing, and hauling ore. Fifteen years of atmospheric exposure degraded its hull integrity and made it no longer suitable for its original mission. After decommissioning, [[MegaCorp Cayne Corporation]] bought it up and converted it into a research ship.

* CuttingCorners: The Groomlake didn't have a budget for fire axes, as a friendly note in the emergency box explains.

* RevengeBeforeReason: Turns out that [[spoiler:Te'ah has very good reasons for wanting to bring Cayne Corporation down, which in itself would be a noble motive, but to do so she callously uses John, ultimately causing him to kill her at the end. Was she open to him from the beginning, things would have gone much better.]]

* LateToTheTragedy: John wakes up long enough time after the disaster happened for a layer of dust and grime to have settled over everything.

* GoneHorriblyWrong: [[spoiler: Cayne Corporation attempted to grow clones in the Groomlake as a less questionable way of getting organs. Unfortunately, the clones ended up looking like mutated {{Humanoid Abomination}}s that act based on instict which has lead to people getting killed and eaten.]]