History VideoGame / TheCaseOfTheGoldenIdol

Be warned that the spoilers here are even more extreme than usual for a murder-mystery game -- due to the nature of the gameplay (which revolves around identifying individuals), it's impossible to even mention people's names without potentially major spoilers. '''As such, all spoilers on this page will be unmarked.'''

* YoungerThanTheyLook: Implied to be the case with Sutul Vaito. As the Sentinel is actually the chosen victim whose lifespan is being stolen, under the auspices of protecting the villagers from the Tower Dweller, he's had his life robbed from him 36 years at a time, so while he looks to be an old man, his actual chronological age is presumably much younger than he appears.

* ScoobyDooHoax: The Tower Dweller isn't real; it's an ancient Lemurian automaton which operates the Golden Idol. Lavu Mata figured out everything about it except how to get the automaton to give her the Idol itself, so she created the myth of the Tower Dweller to trick the villagers into willingly surrendering their lifespan so that she could extend her own life indefinitely. The incantation the villagers think supposedly subdues the Tower Dweller is actually a voice command which translates as "take matter lifespan 36 (years)". By this point the player should be familiar with how the golden idol works and knows once it takes it cannot do it again without giving, meaning Lavu has been sneaking over to the tower after these sacrifices, speaking the command which translates to "give matter lifespan" and retaining her eternal youth.

* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: Lavu Mata, on account of stealing the villages' lifespan using the power of the Golden Idol.
* ScoobyDooHoax: The Tower Dweller isn't real; it's an ancient Lemurian automaton which operates the Golden Idol. Lavu Mata figured out everything about it except how to get the automaton to give her the Idol itself, so she created the myth of the Tower Dweller to trick the villagers into willingly surrendering their lifespan so that she could extend her own life indefinitely. The incantation which supposedly subdues the Tower Dweller is actually a voice command which translates as "take matter lifespan 36 (years)".

* BaitAndSwitch: Surely the figure in the tower using the 'take lifespan' command on people is the Lemurian Vampire, right? Ha ha ''no''.

* {{Leitmotif}}: The title theme shows up in the final part, now that Geller has his hands on it, kicking off the main campaign's plot.

* EvilMatriarch: Lavu Mata, the Lemurian Vampire herself. In her role as Guardian of Children, she has shaped the villagers' culture and psychological development towards a single goal: maintaining absolute control over them forever. She teaches them not to ask questions about how things work (so she can retain control over mysteries such as the signboard and the Tower Dweller itself) or even ask each other what their age is (so no one will ever catch on that the Sentinels are much younger than they appear after repeatedly having their lifespan stolen). She even votes against Kruplu's horticultural experiments out of sheer obsession with maintaining her utopia ''precisely'' as it currently is. In addition to stealing the lifespan from generations of Sentinels, by the end of the DLC story, she's also personally murdered Tissa Gamini in order to thwart Zubiri Kerra's effort to destroy the Tower Dweller.

* StrippedToTheBone: Tissa Gamini, though not in the way that Lavu Mata made it appear. She faked a supernatural cause of death courtesy of the Tower Dweller by stealing the bones of a long-dead Sentinel from one of the burial urns and placing it in Tissa's bed after killing him; as for Tissa himself, she disposed of his body by throwing it into the lake, where it was quickly shredded by flesh-hungry red snappers.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: After Tissa Gamini's death, Zubini Kerra reveals the secret of how to defeat the Tower Dweller for good - by giving the override command, then the commands "destroy tool / destroy self". Unfortunately, the person he tells this to is Lavu Mata, who uses the override command, but then tells the Tower Dweller to give her the Golden Idol instead of destroying it.
* OutsideContextProblem: First the arrival of Zubiri Kerra, who knows enough of the Lemurians' technology to realize what the Tower Dweller actually is and how to deactivate it, and secondly, the arrival of Albert Cloudsley and Oberon Geller, who have not only the motive but the means to destroy the Tower Dweller entirely. Both of these events pose an existential risk to Lavu's plans, and while she succeeds in thwarting Zubiri by killing Tissa Gamini, only Zubiri's unwitting assistance allows her to claim the Golden Idol before Cloudsley and Geller destroy the Tower Dweller.

* OutsideContextProblem: First the arrival of Zubiri Kerra, who knows enough of the Lemurians' technology to realize what the Tower Dweller actually is, and secondly, the arrival of Albert Cloudsley and Oberon Geller, who have not only the motive but the means to destroy the Tower Dweller entirely. Both of these events pose an existential risk to Lavu's plans, and while she succeeds in thwarting Zubiri by killing Tissa Gamini, only Zubiri's unwitting assistance allows her to claim the Golden Idol before Cloudsley and Geller destroy the Tower Dweller.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: After Tissa Gamini's death, Zubini Kerra reveals the secret of how to defeat the Tower Dweller for good - by giving the override command, then the commands "destroy tool / destroy self". Unfortunately, the person he told this to was Lavu Mata, who uses the override command, but then tells the Tower Dweller to give her the Golden Idol instead of destroying it.

* EvilMatriarch: Lavu Mata, the Lemurian Vampire herself. In her role as Guardian of Children, she has shaped the villagers' culture and psychological development towards a single goal: maintaining absolute control over them forever. She teaches them not to ask questions about how things work (so she can retain control over mysteries such as the signboard and the Tower Dweller itself) or even ask each other what their age is (so no one will ever catch on that the Sentinels are much younger than they appear after repeatedly having their lifespan stolen). She even votes against Kruplu's horticultural experiments out of sheer obsession with maintaining her utopia 'precisely' as it currently is. In addition to stealing the lifespan from generations of Sentinels, by the end of the DLC story, she's also personally murdered Tissa Gamini in order to thwart Zubiri Kerra's effort to destroy the Tower Dweller.

* YoungerThanTheyLook: Implied but not explicitly said to be the case with Sutul Vaito. As the Sentinel is actually the chosen victim whose lifespan is being stolen, under the auspices of protecting the villagers from the Tower Dweller, he's had his life robbed from him 36 years at a time, so while he looks to be an old man, his actual chronological age is presumably much younger than he appears.

* EvilMatriarch: Lavu Mata, the Lemurian Vampire herself. In her role as Guardian of Children, she has shaped the villagers' culture and psychological development towards a single goal: to maintain control over them forever.

* OutsideContextProblem: First the arrival of Zubini Kerra, who knows enough of the Lemurians' technology to realize what the Tower Dweller actually is, and secondly, the arrival of Albert Cloudsley and Oberon Geller, who have not only the motive but the means to destroy the Tower Dweller entirely. Both of these events pose an existential risk to Lavu's plans, and while she succeeds in thwarting Zubini by killing Tissa Gamini, only Zubini's unwitting assistance allows her to claim the Golden Idol before Cloudsley and Geller destroy the Tower Dweller.

* CultureChopSuey: The Lemurians have elements of Abrorigenes and Indian culture, the latter being more pronounced with their influence in Lanka island being a nod to their influence among Tamils of Sri Lanka and Southeast Asian kingdoms.