Devil's Bargain Bin is a series of episodic Retraux Survival Horror games by Jupiter Lighthouse Games (comprised of 2 indie developers). So far, the series consists of Prototype Mansion - Used No Cover released on July 19, 2018, and Garden Variety Body Horror - Rare Import released on October 31, 2018. The games have Super-Deformed style character models and are a parody of the Resident Evil series, specifically the early 1990's Playstation 1 games in the series.
Players take the role of Cass and Hank, a pair of police officers who have been assigned to investigate weird activity on an island off the coast. On the island the pair find a large mansion and soon find themselves knee deep in zombie shenanigans. Cass serves as the main character of Prototype Mansion, while Hank is the main character of Garden Variety Body Horror.
A third game in the series which will conclude the story, Paranormal Precinct - Last Copy of '99, was announced in October 2023.
Devil's Bargain Bin contains examples of the following tropes:
- Action Girl: The (fake) jewel case back cover of Prototype Mansion describes Cass as "Detective Lady Detective".
- And Now for Someone Completely Different: In Prototype Mansion there's a section in which you play as the small child, Muriel. Being unarmed and slower than the zombies she's reliant on stealth to survive.
- Botanical Abomination: The zombies in Garden Variety Body Horror largely have a "plant-human hybrid" theme.
- Expy: Cass and Hank are parodies of Jill and Chris from Resident Evil. The fake jewel case back cover of Garden Variety Body Horror even describes Hank as an "Idiot B-story partner" whose primary skills are "SOLVE, PUNCH, and HEAL".
- Final Boss: Parodied in Prototype Mansion. The "final boss fight" is playing an air hockey game with Muriel and it's possible to miss it entirely on your way out of the mansion.
- Framing Device: The games are presented as old, forgotten used CD-Roms from the 1990's of obscure Survival Horror titles, found in the Devil's Bargain Bin. Prototype Mansion is apparently a prototype disc for a game called Murder Mansion, and Garden Variety Body Horror is a Japanese import disc of a game called Garden Variety, with "Body Horror" being a Japanese descriptive subtitle.
- Genre Shift: Prototype Mansion uses classic Survival Horror fixed cinematic cameras, while Garden Variety Body Horror uses more of a third-person platformer camera (closer to Super Mario 64 than Resident Evil 4).
- Hartman Hips: As a result of the Super-Deformed art style, Cass and the female zombies have these.
- Healing Herb: You heal health by eating potted plants whole, parodying Resident Evil's green herbs.
- Inventory Management Puzzle: Garden Variety Body Horror has limited inventory space, though you can store items in safe boxes that are unlocked with fuses (which are limited in supply and can be hard to find).
- It Can Think:
- The giant boss monster you fight about halfway through Prototype Mansion is revealed to be the building's Caretaker, who's been caring for Muriel and bringing her food and water in her room (which explains how a small child has survived so long in a zombie-infested mansion) and even leaves you a note saying that shooting him was rude and that the place is dangerous and you need to leave. He presumably only attacked you because you're an armed intruder who surprised him waking up from a nap.
- The nurses on the second floor of Prototype Mansion appear human, die in only a couple of shots, and are intelligent enough that they will back away from you if you point your pistol at them, though they have glowing red eyes and otherwise act like zombies.
- Jerkass: Cass tries to nope out of taking care of a kid (even trying to leave her behind in the zombie-infested mansion and promising to not return) and saves by shooting cats. Hank, in contrast, saves by feeding cats tuna.
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Nintendo Hard: Despite the deliberately goofy plot and presentation, the games themselves aren't fucking around. Prototype Mansion is reasonably generous with ammo in the first half, but if you waste it all clearing out all the zombies instead of avoiding some of them, you'll discover the second half of the game is pretty stingy with ammo and you really should have saved some of those bullets. - Older Than They Look: The games seem to take place in the 1990's, while documents you find indicate Muriel has been a small child as far back as the 1960's.
- Respawning Enemies: Garden Variety Body Horror has enemies respawn randomly when you re-enter an area, so killing enemies that aren't directly in your way is a waste of ammo.
- Shoot the Dog: Done almost literally; saving in Prototype Mansion is accomplished by shooting cats (regular ones, not zombie ones).
- Shout-Out: At the beginning of Prototype Mansion, Cass and Hank have a conversation speculating as to what could be causing the commotion, with references being made to The Island Of Dr Moreau, Cannibal Film in general, and The Wicker Man.
- Skewed Priorities:
- In Prototype Mansion, Cass finds the mansion being infested with zombies to just be mildly annoying. However, when she discovers a small child who wants to be rescued, Cass freaks out and wants to escape the mansion rather than be saddled with an Escort Mission.
- Towards the end of Prototype Mansion, Cass realizes her step-counter is about to roll over before she's met her daily goal, which triggers the "final escape countdown" (of course, if the countdown runs out before you can escape the mansion, all that happens is that Cass is disappointed).
- Stylistic Suck: The games copy the lo-fi, low resolution appearance of old 3D Playstation 1 games, and the graphics options are even labeled "Ugly", "Uglier", and "Ugliest".
- Super-Deformed: The character models are in this style.
- Top-Heavy Guy: Hank has a huge chest and little tiny legs.
- True Final Boss: After completing Prototype Mansion, you unlock a Dead Rising style "Overtime" mode in which a super-zombie Hank chases you through the mansion and you have to assemble four components of a weapon capable of killing him.
- Unique Enemy: The skinless, leaping quadruped creature that smashes in through a window is only fought once in Prototype Mansion.
- Vague Hit Points: The game has no health meter (not even something like Resident Evil's EKG meter), and the only indicator of your health is that your character starts limping and the pause menu turns bloody red when you're close to death.
