Line #13 VideoGame/StillLife2


1	''Still Life 2'' is an adventure game developed by Microïds. It is the immediate sequel to ''VideoGame/StillLife'' and the final entry in a trilogy that includes spiritual predecessor ''VideoGame/PostMortem2002''.
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3	A couple years have passed since the end of the Chicago Ripper murders. FBI agent Victoria [=McPherson=] is tracking down a new serial killer; the East Coast Killer, a man in a gas mask and long-coat who abducts women and forces them into a sadistic death course while filming their suffering, which he then sends to the media and authorities. Vic pursued him while fighting off the ghosts of her past. She runs into Paloma Hernandez, a television reporter chasing the story, and the two do not get along. But when the killer captures Paloma, she and Vic must work together to escape.
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6	!!This game provides examples of:
7	* ActionGirl: Vic is a gun-toting police detective hot in active pursuit of the second serial killer of her career. IntrepidReporter Paloma exhibits ingenuity and courage in her attempts to escape the traps.
8	* AloneWithThePsycho: For starters, this is what Paloma wakes up to after being kidnapped.
9	* AnyoneCanDie: [[spoiler:Virtually every character seen on screen is ''guaranteed'' to die. Even saving one of the leads is plot-optional.]]
10	* ArcWords: Repeated at several junctures, including by the East Coast Killer: "You only get one chance." [[spoiler: it's a reference to the fact that the player only has one chance to solve the final puzzle, with no reload allowed.]]
11	* BigBad: The [[KillerGameMaster East Coast Killer]] is the murderer who Victoria [=MacPherson=] is hunting down, and he kicks off the plot by kidnapping Paloma Hernandez, forcing her to brave his death game. The killer is [[spoiler:a CollectiveIdentity between three people; Terence Curtis, David Karson, and former FBI agent James Hawker, the latter of whom seeks revenge on Vic and the law for firing him after he killed a suspect]].
12	* BoobyTrap: The East Coast Killer's house is rife with these, from improvised electrical circuits to full-on land mines.
13	* BorrowedBiometricBypass: The East Coast Killer has a fingerprint lock on his PC. [[spoiler:After Curtis dies, Vic is able to cut off his finger and use it to access the PC.]]
14	* BringIt: How Vic [[HoistByHisOwnPetard takes down the killer.]]
15	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Vic and Paloma can beat the East Coast Killer(s) and escape, but Vic's new partner, Garris; her old partner, Hawker; former lover Richard; the sheriff, and at least five deputies are all dead. Paloma doesn't take it nearly as hard.]]
16	* ColdBloodedTorture: The East Coast Killer is known to torture his victims before actually killing them, usually on tape. No motivation is given beyond sadism.
17	* CreepySouvenir: The East Coast Killer keeps locks of hair from his victims.
18	* CriminalMindGames: Between purposefully leaving evidence to taunt police, booby-trapping the house the clues point to, leaving an apparent escape route for prisoners that offers several death traps, and playing to the hero's phobia, they run all the way to the end.
19	* DeadlyGame: The East Coast Killer forces his victims into a twisted obstacle course where they must solve puzzles to escape, all while their suffering is filmed on camera. At the end, when he gets bored with his victims, he shoots them dead.
20	* DisposableSexWorker: Several of the East Coast Killer's victims were street prostitutes targeted for their disposability.
21	* DistressedDamsel: Paloma is captured early on and held hostage as the East Coast Killer's newest victim. She tries to escape on her own, but even that's just part of his plan- he films her doing so in order to send it to the media and for his amusement.
22	* ElaborateUndergroundBase: For an atomic bomb shelter, it's got an extensive network of internal surveillance cameras. And a few prison cells. And really only one room intended for living in.
23	* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:Hawker, originally a heroic FBI agent, was discharged for needlessly killing a suspect and decided to throw in with the East Cost Killer.]]
24	* FaceYourFears: Bizarrely, Vic is confronted with a flamethrower trap, which forces a flashback demonstrating how she got her pyrophobia- including her conquering said pyrophobia, which allows her to re-conquer it in the present.
25	* FalseInnocenceTrick: [[spoiler:One of the killers, David Karson, introduces himself as a prisoner in the fallout shelter and asks for help getting free.]]
26	* GasMaskLongcoat: The East Coast Killer's public face is this, as it allows him to both hide his identity and scare his victims.
27	* GuideDangIt: A few, despite the fairly straightforward puzzles. Most spectacularly, the fact that [[spoiler:allowing Paloma to die can't be fixed if you reload]].
28	* HarassingPhoneCall: The East Coast Killer sends these to Paloma as she ventures through his torture dungeon, and later text messages to Vic when she is trying to navigate his traps.
29	-->I've kept you a place in my cold room, [=McPherson=].
30	* HistoryRepeats: [[spoiler: The granddaughter of private detective Gus [=McPherson=] and the grandson of SerialKiller Mark Ackerman mirror the roles their grandparents found themselves in years ago.]]
31	* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler:Vic succeeds in killing the East Coast Killer by baiting him into running over his own land mine.]]
32	* HyperspaceArsenal: As is typical for an adventure game, Vic and Paloma each routinely carry a dozen or more items despite lacking any bags or large pockets. Of course, your inventory is not infinite and you do have to place items inside storage spaces if you do not have enough space for more.
33	* IntrepidReporter: Paloma is brash and aggressive in chasing the East Coast Killer story, and displays similar attitude in her escape attempts from captivity.
34	* InTheBack: [[spoiler:Each of the six sheriff's deputies apparently meet this fate before being dragged out and arranged in the front of the farmhouse.]]
35	* LeaningOnTheFourthWall:
36	** You can find a copy of VideoGame/StillLife late in the game. Vic comments that the main character looks and acts just like her.
37	** [[spoiler:Hawker during the final puzzle also mentions that ''"if this were a video game, I would program it so you can not try again"'' referencing how the game employs a non-SaveScumming feature during this puzzle, and whatever outcome you get is final.]]
38	* OhCrap: Great work, you've tracked the killer to his hideout and even found enough evidence to name a suspect! Now with the underground base open, all the secrets will be known to you--and only in the fifth chapter! [[spoiler:Until the sheriff sprouts a crossbow bolt in the chest and you suddenly realize the killer has already hunted down all five of the gun-wielding deputies and dispatched them silently ''with a knife''.]]
39	* PixelHunt: Two chapters specifically revolve around ''CSI''-style investigations of crime scenes.
40	* ThePlan: The East Coast Killer targets our heroes, imprisons/taunts them separately, and lets them attempt to escape and outthink him on the assumption that he's covered all the angles. [[spoiler:His backer Hawker has one as well, with different objectives.]]
41	* RedShirt: The sheriff's deputies are given no characterization, but do drive up the body count when they're taken out by the killer.
42	* {{Revenge}}: [[spoiler:Hawker claims this as his motivation for betraying Vic after he was kicked off the FBI for firing needlessly on- and killing- a suspect. He blames everyone, including Vic.]]
43	* SerialKiller: The East Coast Killer has already claimed multiple victims when the game opens.
44	* ShootOutTheLock: Vic tries this on a door in the farmhouse.
45	* SteelEarDrums: Vic can set off several pounds of C4 literally ten feet away in a concrete-enclosed space and walk away just fine.
46	* SurprisinglySuddenDeath: [[spoiler: The sheriff takes an arrow in the chest in the middle of a conversation summing up your investigative findings.]]
47	%%* TheKillerBecomesTheKilled: [[spoiler:Although Vic says she'd prefer it any other way.]]
48	%%* ThePasswordIsAlwaysSwordfish: Played straight with the first few, and averted after that.
49	* TimedMission: A few puzzles have active timers and explode if you fail to solve them quickly.
50	* TimeBomb: The final puzzle in the game is an attempt to deactivate one.
51	* TortureCellar: The atomic bomb shelter has been converted into this for the East Coast Killer's victims, where they have to solve puzzles to survive. For example, the victims wake up poisoned and have to hurriedly search for the antidote among four identical-looking tubes, and one puzzle involves intentionally shocking yourself in an electric chair with just the right voltage.
52	%%* TroubledBackstoryFlashback: Used to resolve [[SavedForTheSequel the plot of the previous game]].
53	* YeOldeNuclearSilo: Exploring the atomic bomb shelter is a central element of the later chapters.

Context VideoGame / StillLife2