History VideoGame / Tacoma

** Californio-America: An independent California crossed with parts of Mexico, having expanded southward and containing cities today located in Mexico like Hermosillo, Guadalajara, and Mexico City. The name is likely based on the name of Meso-America.

* BalkanizeMe: By 2088, the United States of America no longer exists, having split up into about five different countries over time, with the five countries known being:

** [[FlyoverCountry Confederacy of North American AgriPower Producers]] (CNAAPP): Consisting of agricultural powers concentrated between the coasts of North America. The only state explicitly said in-game to be part of the CNAAPP is Wisconsin.
** [[EverythingIsBigInTexas Freedom Republic]]: A sort of revitalized Republic of Texas that consists of seven other unknown states.

** [[UsefulNotes/TheOtherRainforest Cascadia-First Nations]] (C-FN), based on the popular bioregional movement in the Pacific Northwest. For the most part it follows the traditional map for Cascadia, consisting of Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and Alaska, but diverges a bit by including Alberta; with Edmonton and Calgary being mentioned as part of the country.
** Californio-America, a revitalized California Republic that has expanded southward, containing cities today located in Mexico like Hermosillo, Guadalajara, and Mexico City.
** [[FlyoverCountry Confederacy of North American AgriPower Producers]] (CNAAPP), consisting of agricultural powers concentrated between the coasts of North America. The only state explicitly said in-game to be part of the CNAAPP is Wisconsin.
** [[EverythingIsBigInTexas Freedom Republic]], a sort of revitalized Republic of Texas that consists of seven other unknown states.
** Democratic Eastern Coalition (DEC), an east coast republic that encompasses Quebec and New Brunswick, New England, and the Mid-Atlantic. It has two capitals, Washington D.C. and New York City.

* HasTwoMommies: Nicholas, Andrew's son, has two fathers: Andrew and his partner, Marc.

** [[VideoGame/AssassinsCreed This is not the first time ]][[spoiler: a Juno is trying to control everything again.]]

* IllGirl: [[spoiler: Natalie has a heart murmur and lacks any of the genetic filtering her colleagues have. She blames it on being raised by HippieParents.]]

* SpotOfTea: Part of Clive and E.V's courtship included him preparing a proper high tea for her. He claims knowing such things is a natural part of being a Brit.

* BigBad: At first, this seems to be [[spoiler: Sergio Venturi, who stages the Tacoma "accident" in order to gain support for his line of automated outer-space bungalows]]. However, the ultimate threat is [[spoiler: JUNO, Venturis' corporate strategic AI, who originates the idea of killing the Tacoma employees and staging the tragedy as an accident. JUNO also takes control of the station in a last-ditch effort (complete with deadly threats) to ensure that Amy does not stray from her mission near the end of the story, thus serving as the FinalBoss (and only boss, really)]].

* IllGirl: [[spoiler: Natalie has a heart murmur and lacks any of the genetic filtering her colleagues have. She blames it on being raise by HippieParents.]]

* HappilyMarried: Nat and Bert.

* CouldSayItBut: [[spoiler:This is how ODIN circumvents his strict directives not to inform the Tacoma crew of the cruel fate VT has in store for them and cut off outside communications. Instead of telling them what to do, he simply states that there is a normally-inaccessible door in the Network area that is now open. He emphasizes that they ''could'' investigate the room behind the door, and adds that while he is obligated to tell them that doing so would be a breach of their contracts and would legally be considered trespassing on corporate property and accessing confidental information, he cannot physically stop them from doing so. This leads to them discovering the plot, and manually overriding the block on external communications.]]

* CouldSayItBut: [[spoiler:This is how ODIN circumvents his strict directives not to inform the Tacoma crew of the cruel fate VT has in store for them. Instead of telling them what to do, he simply states that there is a normally-inaccessible door in the Network area that is now open, that he is technically incapable of stopping them from entering it, and that they ''could'' investigate said door. This leads to them discovering the plot, and overriding his directives.]]

* CouldSayItBut: [[spoiler:This is how ODIN circumvents his strict directives not to inform the Tacoma crew of the cruel fate VT has in store for them. Instead of telling them what to do, he simply states that there is a normally-inaccessible door in the Network area that is now open, and that he is technically incapable of stopping them from entering it. This leads to them discovering the plot, and overriding his directives.]]

* LetThemDieHappy: Sareh Hasmadi was supposed to tell [[spoiler: Natali Kuroshenko that she might not survive cryogenic sleep due to her heart murmur. She decided against it, citing this trope.]]

* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: [[spoiler:The management at VT has, under the advisement of their corporate planning A.I. JUNO, concluded that there needs to be an accident in space that results in the death of a crew to reverse a legal ruling that is spelling disaster for their future finances. They determine that the crew of the ''Tacoma'' will be the one most likely to have the least impact on families likely to look closely into the accident while also being public enough to sway opinion into re-opening the court ruling for further examination and overturning. However, for that to work their deaths ''must'' look like an accident to all other authorities. The problem is, that doesn't actually ''happen'', and the plan unravels when the crew escape alive and unharmed, but with full knowledge of what VT was planning.]]

* PartingWordsRegret: Andrew is quite consumed with this, as his last mail exchange with his husband was a heated arguement with him about his future working situation, that ended with Andrew accusing him of emotional sabotage. Andrew was attempting to send out an apology mail when Tacoma lost connection, and from his personal exchanges, the player will learn that he since been desperate to try to get his apology out. In a private moment with ODIN, he asks him to send a message to his family if he doesn't make it out alive, though he admits has to think about what to say first.

* TheMole: [[spoiler: Amy, the player character,]] is actually [[spoiler: working for the AI Liberation Front and has stolen ODIN from right under VT's nose.]]

* HeKnowsTooMuch: After it becomes public that [[spoiler:the Tacoma crew survived and was rescued by a rival corporation, VT immediately sends a specialist to retrieve ODIN's core so they can wipe its memory and hide all evidence of their sabotage of the station. [[GoneHorriblyWrong This backfires spectacularly]], as it turns out [[ReverseMole Amy]] is an AI rights activist who promptly takes ODIN to a refugee station.]]

* TheReveal/ ReverseMole: [[spoiler: Amy, the player character,]] is actually [[spoiler: working for the AI Liberation Front and has stolen ODIN from right under VT's nose.]]

* FunWithAcronyms: ODIN's name is officially an acronym that stands for Operational Data Interface Network. This also doubles as a references, as ODIN's full name and acronym is nearly identical to RODIN, the Rapture Operational Data Interpreter Network, a.k.a. The Thinker, from ''[[VideoGame/BioShock2 BioShock 2: Minerva's Den]]'', created by Steve Gaynor and Karla Zimonja who went on to form Fullbright and make ''Tacoma''. Moreover, ODIN is voiced by Creator/CarlLumbly, who voiced Porter, The Thinker's creator, in Minerva's Den.

* FunWithAcronyms: ODIN's name is officially an acronym that stands for Operational Data Interface Network. This also doubles as a references, as ODIN's full name and acronym is nearly identical to RODIN, the Rapture Operational Data Interpreter Network, a.k.a. The Thinker, from ''[[VideoGame/BioShock2 BioShock 2: Minerva's Den]]'', created by Steve Gaynor and Karla Zimonja who went on to form Fullbright and make ''Tacoma'' (Moreover, ODIN is voiced by Creator/CarlLumbly, who voiced Porter, The Thinker's creator, in Minerva's Den).

* FunWithAcronyms: ODIN's name is officially an acronym that stands for Operational Data Interface Network. This also doubles as a references, as ODIN's full name and acronym is nearly identical to RODIN, the Rapture Operational Data Interpreter Network, a.k.a. The Thinker, from ''[[VideoGame/BioShock2 BioShock 2: Minerva's Den]]'', created by Steve Gaynor and Karla Zimonja who went on to form Fullbright and make ''Tacoma''.

** The developers have been fairly upfront about being inspired by the immersive theater company Punchdrunk. When exploring E.V.'s room, there's an optional scene of E.V. singing Peggy Lee's "Is That All There Is?" on guitar: this is a reference to Punchdrunk's flagship show ''SleepNoMore'', which uses the song in a notable scene.