History VideoGame / WhosLila

** In William's apartment hangs a painting of John Collier's [[spoiler:Lilith, aka Lila]].

* AbusiveParents: Will's mother was a smothering woman who felt the need to be in control of Will's life and know every intricate detail of his life. She was also emotionally abusive, once berating him and a girl he brought over due to his showing interest in girls before the age of 16.

* AncientConspiracy: There are numerous allusions to the government's controlling what people think. In the Hierophant ending, [[spoiler:Will is approached by FBI agents]].

** Even the player's own attempts to answer the core question of "who's Lila?" ultimately leads to this.

** When Will and Tanya dance, an image of an owl is shown, which are associated with [[spoiler:Lilith]].

* JigsawPuzzlePlot: The mystery of who Lila is and what exactly happened to Tanya Kennedy, as well as the general plot and timeline surrounding everything. The surreal, [[Creator/DavidLynch Lynchian]] presentation, AnachronicOrder, and branching paths make figuring out what is going on very confusing at first, but the more that is experienced, the more things begin to come together.

* IncriminatingIndifference: One of Will's problems is that he often outwardly show little-to-no emotion in a tense or emotional situation, making him coming off as strange to other people. One of the player's tasks is trying to prevent him from doing this.
* InterfaceSpoiler: Signs that we haven't been playing as [[spoiler:Will]] are when he's referred in the third person and the dialogue box identifies him as the speaker.

** Also discussed with Chet Murie and his Dada Dog.

** Ending II- The High Priestess: After provoking Mark into pushing him off of the school roof by repeating Tanya's words to him, Will awakens, unharmed, in a completely empty hospital. As you go up and up each level of the place, Will watches as he and [[spoiler:Lila]] have a series of conversations about perception and the self, with each conversation making her less and less human until she turns into something looking like an ophanim and the staircase leading you up the hospital breaks down. Will climbs a nearby ladder, goes through a veil of fabric, and exits into a forest with a film projector showcasing an image of [[spoiler:Lila.]]. You ignore, before discovering a boat that takes you down a river that begins to disappear until the game resets. This ending is almost identical to the game's "The Hanged Man" and "The Fool" endings, with the lack of interference with the film projector being the only real difference.
** Ending III- The Empress (Reversed): Seeking out the second caller from earlier, Will discovers Strupnev, a remnant of Father Lawrence's cult. When Strupnev, sensing that [[spoiler:Will is still in contact with Lila,]] attacks him, Will traverses a series of boiler rooms and eventually reaches a room that Lawrence was said to [[spoiler:have left for Will]] and unleashes a being referred to only as "The Empress," who seemingly [[spoiler: devours Strupnev and chides Lila for releasing her, before leaving the player with a set of numbers: 43033.]]
** Ending IV- The Emperor (Reversed): Taking the bus to Father Lawrence's apartment, Will finds a book of instructions left for him and by following them, stares into the center of a mandala-like image, which transports the player to a dream-like dimension. After interacting with a wax statue that [[spoiler:Lila]] describes as a mirror to Will, [[spoiler:a member of Lila's kin]] advises you to download the DAEMON DLC, and to interact with the phone in the front room with it as soon as you get the chance.

** Ending XII- The Hanged Man: After provoking Mark into pushing him off of the school roof by repeating Tanya's words to him, Will awakens, unharmed, in a completely empty hospital. As you go up and up each level of the place, Will watches as he and [[spoiler:Lila]] have a series of conversations about perception and the self, with each conversation making her less and less human until she turns into something looking like an ophanim and the staircase leading you up the hospital breaks down. Will climbs a nearby ladder, goes through a veil of fabric, and exits into a forest with a film projector showcasing an image of [[spoiler:Lila.]]. With the wheel you received from the "Wheel of Fortune" ending, you replace the reel to one of Will, before discovering a boat that takes you down a river that begins to disappear until the game resets. This ending is almost identical to the game's "The Fool" and "The High Priestess" endings, with the new reel and interference with the film projector being the only real differences.
* MushroomSamba: The Teth mushrooms the player finds early on are implied for in the ritual of summoning [[spoiler:Lila]].

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Detective Yu and his men [[spoiler:burn down Father Lawrence's base of operations, seemingly killing all of the cultists in the process]]. However, what he didn't count on was [[spoiler:Lila's warning Will not to be there ahead of time]], thus giving her a remaining host to inhabit.

* OhCrap: During the interrogation, it's possible for Detective Fisher to inform Will that [[spoiler:a female torso was found outside his apartment]]. Will's reaction is a BigWhat and an immediate wide-eyed look of terror (by comparison, other times Will's face moved on its own during gameplay had it assume an expression over several seconds -- here, it's almost instant).

* RiddleForTheAges: [[spoiler:The question of "Who's Lila" itself.]] The game presents many, many conflicting and vague solutions, and lampshades that fact in the dialogues with Detective Yu. It's outright explained in one of the endings that the entire purpose of the game's world is to [[spoiler:make the player feel like they are figuring things out, but remain unclear if any of them is the truth]].

** [[spoiler:William/Lila]] hiding in Martha Jenning's closet is inspired by a similar scene in ''Film/BlueVelvet'', of which the player finds the movie poster there. [[spoiler:Lila]] outright calls it the only good thing in the room.

** An alternate color palette that is unlocked from the start is named "Blue Rose", a term important for the ''Series/TwinPeaks'' series.
** There is a couple of others in the palettes:
*** A trash can outside the entrance of the school is described as being empty before doubling back and unlocking the "Manful Soul" palette, a reference to Manly Badass Hero, who played the game's demo (and the full version as well). Manly has a RunningGag in his playthroughs noting that trash cans were "empty, like [his] soul".
*** The player can find the skull of Nowak from ''VideoGame/BrutalOrchestra,'' which grants a palette named after him.

* WhamLine: In the school route, which you are encouraged to explore first, Will, when confronting Martha in her apartment, says something near the end that delivers TheReveal.

** The High Priestess: After provoking Mark into pushing him off of the school roof by repeating Tanya's words to him, Will awakens, unharmed, in a completely empty hospital. As you go up and up each level of the place, Will watches as he and [[spoiler:Lila]] have a series of conversations about perception and the self, with each conversation making her less and less human until she turns into something looking like an ophanim and the staircase leading you up the hospital breaks down. Will climbs a nearby ladder, goes through a veil of fabric, and exits into a forest with a film projector showcasing an image of [[spoiler:Lila.]]. You ignore, before discovering a boat that takes you down a river that begins to disappear until the game resets. This ending is almost identical to the game's "The Hanged Man" and "The Fool" endings, with the lack of interference with the film projector being the only real difference.
** Wheel of Fortune: Achieved by successfully traversing the looping boiler room puzzle. You eventually reach a large machine, which addresses both Will and [[spoiler:Lila]], before gifting you a large metal wheel, at which point the game resets.
** Strength: After returning to his apartment post-[[spoiler:murdering Tanya's friend Martha]], Will winds up being interrogated by the police. If you appear distressed enough throughout the interrogation, Will cracks under the second officer's questioning, [[spoiler:confessing to murdering Tanya.]]
** The Empress (Reversed): Seeking out the second caller from earlier, Will discovers Strupnev, a remnant of Father Lawrence's cult. When Strupnev, sensing that [[spoiler:Will is still in contact with Lila,]] attacks him, Will traverses a series of boiler rooms and eventually reaches a room that Lawrence was said to [[spoiler:have left for Will]] and unleashes a being referred to only as "The Empress," who seemingly [[spoiler: devours Strupnev and chides Lila for releasing her, before leaving the player with a set of numbers: 43033.]]
** The Hanged Man: After provoking Mark into pushing him off of the school roof by repeating Tanya's words to him, Will awakens, unharmed, in a completely empty hospital. As you go up and up each level of the place, Will watches as he and [[spoiler:Lila]] have a series of conversations about perception and the self, with each conversation making her less and less human until she turns into something looking like an ophanim and the staircase leading you up the hospital breaks down. Will climbs a nearby ladder, goes through a veil of fabric, and exits into a forest with a film projector showcasing an image of [[spoiler:Lila.]]. With the wheel you received from the "Wheel of Fortune" ending, you replace the reel to one of Will, before discovering a boat that takes you down a river that begins to disappear until the game resets. This ending is almost identical to the game's "The Fool" and "The High Priestess" endings, with the new reel and interference with the film projector being the only real differences.

** The Fool: After provoking Mark into pushing him off of the school roof by repeating Tanya's words to him, Will awakens, unharmed, in a completely empty hospital. As you go up and up each level of the place, Will watches as he and [[spoiler:Lila]] have a series of conversations about perception and the self, with each conversation making her less and less human until she turns into something looking like an ophanim and the staircase leading you up the hospital breaks down. Will climbs a nearby ladder, goes through a veil of fabric, and exits into a forest with a film projector showcasing an image of [[spoiler:Lila.]]. You remove the reel from the projector, before discovering a boat that takes you down a river that begins to disappear until the game resets. This ending is almost identical to the game's "The Hanged Man" ending, with the lack of the wheel from the "Wheel of Fortune" ending being the only real difference.

** The Hanged Man: After provoking Mark into pushing him off of the school roof by repeating Tanya's words to him, Will awakens, unharmed, in a completely empty hospital. As you go up and up each level of the place, Will watches as he and [[spoiler:Lila]] have a series of conversations about perception and the self, with each conversation making her less and less human until she turns into something looking like an ophanim and the staircase leading you up the hospital breaks down. Will climbs a nearby ladder, goes through a veil of fabric, and exits into a forest with a film projector showcasing an image of [[spoiler:Lila.]]. With the wheel you received from the "Wheel of Fortune" ending, you replace the reel to one of Will, before discovering a boat that takes you down a river that begins to disappear until the game resets. This ending is almost identical to the game's "The Fool" ending, with the new reel being the only difference.