History VideoGame / Strangeland

* YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre: A possible [[AnAesop Aesop]] in one of the MultipleEndings: [[spoiler:such darkness within you requires that there must be some light to cast it -- if you cannot see it yourself, that is because the light is ''you'', the light you are to those who love you.]]

** A man with memory problems searches for the woman he loves through a PsychologicalTormentZone, only to keep watching a version of her die, accompanied by a strain of MedicalHorror. [[VideoGame/SilentHill2 James Sunderland]] might never have entered ''VideoGame/SilentHill''[='s=] Lakeside Amusement Park, but it appears prominently in several of the game's other entries.

** The first two times you ask Eight-Three to "Make me something", he tells you to bring an order and metal. The third time you ask, he declares "I will make you ash" and burns you to death.
** The maskers warn you that looking under their masks will kill you, but "there's Nothing to fear under there" (with that exact capitalization). Looking kills you, whereupon the Stranger respawns muttering, "Nothing... absolutely nothing..."

* GoldenEnding: [[spoiler:Using the light on the Stranger at the very end]] is the only ending that's even vaguely positive.
* GreekChorus: Invoked by the Masquettes, three women wearing grotesque giant masks in the form of old men. They claim to be the peanut gallery and chorus of the stranger's story.

* TheKillerInMe: [[spoiler:It's suggested at one point that the stranger may actually be Alberich, who along with Eitri and Rotta were responsible for turning Nineveh into the monstrous Streammaid -- but in the same breath it's suggested that it may just be symbolism for the stranger's own sense of guilt over the death of the woman, projecting blame on the doctors who couldn't save her and himself. Later, when asked to write his name in the guest register, the stranger can write 'Alberich', but the being in charge of the register rejects it and asks if he really thinks that's his name.]]

* LastSecondEndingChoice: At the very end of the game, the stranger can either [[spoiler:stab himself]], [[spoiler:submit to his shadow]], [[spoiler:jump into the void]], or [[spoiler:accept the light and fly away]]. Only the last one is a GoldenEnding, while the other outcomes are {{Downer Ending}}s.

* ExactWords: The first two times you ask Eight-Three to "Make me something", he tells you to bring an order and metal. The third time you ask, he declares "I will make you ash" and burns you to death.

* TheKillerInMe: [[spoiler:It's suggested at one point that the stranger may actually be Alberich, who along with Eitri and Rotta were responsible for turning Nineveh into the monstrous Streammaid -- but in the same breath it's suggested that it may just be symbolism for the stranger's own sense of guilt over the death of the woman, projecting blame on the doctors who couldn't save her and himself.]]

* KnifeNut: You acquire [[RuleOfThree three]] knives over the course of the game, serving as your primary weapon: Beak, Tooth, and an unnamed third. [[spoiler:The Dark Thing notes that it "always comes back to the knife" with you.]] There's an achievement called "Always Come Back to the Knife" for [[spoiler:giving up and stabbing yourself in the throat at the very end of the game, thus starting the whole cycle over again]].

** Writing [[spoiler:Stranger, which is what the protagonist is called by others]], [[spoiler:Creator/AbeGoldfarb, the name of the stranger's voice actor]] or [[spoiler:Horus, the true name of the protagonist of Wormwood's previous game ''VideoGame/{{Primordia}}'']] in [[spoiler:a guest register]] instead of the correct answer will lead to unique responses.

''Strangeland'' is a {{Surreal|Horror}}ist {{Psychological|Horror}} {{Horror|VideoGames}} [[PointAndClickGame Point-and-Click]] AdventureGame, developed by Creator/WormwoodStudios (developers of ''VideoGame/{{Primordia}}'') and published by Creator/WadjetEyeGames on May 25th 2021. The game cites ''VideoGame/{{Sanitarium}}'', ''VideoGame/DarkSeed'' and the works of Creator/HRGiger as its main inspirations, and it shows.

* ResurrectionDeathLoop: Every time the stranger dies, he just wakes up in front of the sign outside Strangeland once again.

** In [[spoiler:the warped version of the carnival inside the Stranger's head]], one of the masquers suggests that "Beneath all those overcoats, there's only a dead rat!", something that happens in one of the ''Literature/{{Wayside}}'' books.

** To ''VideoGame/DarkSeed 1'' and ''2'' and ''VideoGame/{{Sanitarium}}'', among others. A dark carnival features prominently in ''Sanitarium''[='s=] "Circus of Fools" chapter and is a central location in the latter ''Dark Seed''. You can also catch occasional glimpses of a [[DarkWorld dark(-er) world]] of the dead while using the torch to capture spirits, the art style of which is heavily influenced by the art of Creator/HRGiger, with its hideously organic monochrome shapes, which both ''Dark Seed''s licensed for their background art. [[spoiler:The second half of the game takes place in that dark world, Deadland.]] Writer Mark Yohalem said he wasn't consciously inspired by ''Sanitarium''[='s=] carnival level (he remembered the other levels more clearly), and that it was artist Victor Pflug's idea to shift from the gothic mansion Yohalem originally envisioned -- but that the comparison was inevitable, and flattering to the devs.

* DeliberatelyMonochrome: Strangeland is depicted mainly in sepia tones, with yellow, purple, and red showing as the only colors that shows up outside them. [[spoiler:Deadland takes it even further, being actually monochrome, with purple and occasionally spots of yellow being the only SplashOfColor.]]

* EasterEgg: Writing [[spoiler:Stranger, which is what the protagonist is called by others]], [[spoiler:Creator/AbeGoldfarb, the name of the stranger's voice actor]] or [[spoiler:Horus, the true name of the protagonist of Wormwood's previous game ''VideoGame/{{Primordia}}'']] in [[spoiler:a guest register]] instead of the correct answer will lead to unique responses.

* DeliberatelyMonochrome: Strangeland is depicted mainly in sepia tones, with yellow, purple, and red showing as the only colors that shows up outside them. [[spoiler:Deadland takes it even further, being actually monochrome, with purple and occasionally spots of yellow being the only DashOfColor.]]
* EasterEgg: Writing [[spoiler:Stranger, which is what the protagonist is called by others]], [[spoiler:Abe Goldfarb, the name of the stranger's voice actor]] or [[spoiler:Horus, the true name of the protagonist of Wormwood's previous game ''VideoGame/{{Primordia}}'']] in [[spoiler:a guest register]] instead of the correct answer will lead to unique responses.

''Strangeland'' is a {{Surreal|Horror}}ist {{Psychological|Horror}} {{Horror|VideoGames}} [[PointAndClickGame Point-and-Click]] AdventureGame, developed by Creator/WormwoodStudios (developers of ''VideoGame/{{Primordia}}'') and published by Creator/WadjetEyeGames on May 25th 2021.

''Strangeland'' is a [[PointAndClickGame Point-and-Click]] {{Horror|VideoGames}} AdventureGame, developed by Creator/WormwoodStudios (developers of ''VideoGame/{{Primordia}}'') and published by Creator/WadjetEyeGames on May 25th 2021.

* DarkIsEvil: Played straight. The BigBad is a spiky, shrieking cloud of darkness known as the Dark Thing. [[spoiler:TheReveal is that it is quite simply your own inner darkness, your shadow, following you all the days of your life. It cannot be escaped -- but it can be lessened.]]

->''"If a man writes "death" a thousands times, he starts to wonder:'' [='=]is that even a word?[='=] ''But it is, oh how it is."''

* IronicName: The old sage in the park gives his name as Fimbul Fambi -- Old Norse for "mighty fool". In truth, he knows very little about your current situation and cannot give a straight answer about anything, with various quotes that sound wise but often serve as more of a guide about what not to do.

* VideoGameCrueltyPotential: Several puzzles have alternate solutions which allow the stranger the choice of whether to be crueler or [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential kinder]]. You only need five spirits of the dead to relight the spirit lamps [[spoiler:of the Valkyrie's engine after it is destroyed by the Dark Thing]], for example. In doing so you are shown to have interrupted the peace some of those beings found in death, and there is no benefit to gathering more -- other than an achievement unlock for having all possible spirits collected at the same time before putting them to work.