"This is the hub. Or, as some people call it, the Markihub. Hey, I'm staying on brand, alright?"
— Markiplier
Blue is just an ordinary girl from an ordinary school.
Or so she thought.
One night, her life takes a turn from ordinary to extraordinary when she finds herself in a mysterious place and Markiplier himself materializes in front of her. With no time to explain, he takes her to a Hub where it turns out he's leading a group of heroes who save people from their own nightmares. The creatures in the nightmares, called the Terrorlings, well, terrorize everyone. And it's up to Blue to find and rescue her own group of new heroes. Will Blue be able to rescue them all?
Developed by a small team over two years, Hearts and Heroes is a Markiplier fan game that was released in August 2017 and was an instant hit with the Markiplier community.
The game is available for free on Gamejolt
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This game provides examples of:
- Abandoned Area: This game has a lot of these. Aside from the Terrorlings and Blue's companions, other characters are rarely seen and a lot of these areas involve wandering around, looking for a way out with no one with whom to interact.
- Always Night: Given the fact that the game takes place almost entirely during the night in real life, this shouldn't be too surprising. However, several areas fit this trope.
- Beast in the Maze: The Vanish area seems to evoke this a lot, as you can frequently find enemies while wandering around.
- Big Bad: Darkiplier.
- Bittersweet Ending: Blue and her team rescue Mark from Darkiplier and they meet up in real life. But the fact remains that Teal couldn't be saved, a fact which upsets Blue greatly. That being said, the final shot of the game is implied to be Teal in the real world so maybe there's some hope for her after all.
- Dark Is Evil: Many of the Terrorlings are dark in color or are portrayed in dim lighting. Darkiplier, a dark version of Markiplier, is the Big Bad of the game and the Final Boss.
- Darkness Equals Death: A lot of the areas have dim lighting. Fortunately, they're never too dim to make out. This might be an allusion to the fact that it's always night time during the events of the game.
- Evil Laugh: Darkiplier does this when he's about to fight the team at the end of the game.
- Failure Is the Only Option: It is impossible to save Teal.
- Final Boss: The fight with Darkiplier.
- Hello, [Insert Name Here]: It is possible to name the party.
- "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Blue and her team when they have to fight Mark, who's been possessed by Darkiplier.
- Lean and Mean: A lot of Terrorlings fit this trope, as does Slender.
- Now, Where Was I Going Again?: Several areas of this game have simply massive maps and don't necessarily point the player in the right direction. This is particularly true for the Slender and Vanish sections of the game, in which the player can easily get lost. Fortunately, the developers did put in a few Anti-Frustration Features to combat this, such as having players refuse to go in a certain direction until an event has occurred.
- No Time to Explain: Mark doesn't say this exact quote but he does make it very clear that he doesn't have time to explain much before taking Blue to the Markihub.
- One-Hit Kill: Almost all of the Terrorlings who engage in a chaser challenge can do this. Until the chase is over and it's time to fight them.
- Scare Chord: Invoked every time Slender appears on screen.
- The Blank: Several Terrorling designs and Slender himself.
- Took a Level in Kindness:
- Jade. Though they insist on working alone and even antagonize other team members, they definitely do care quite a bit more than they let on. By the end of the game, they're a valued member of the team and have learned the value of teamwork.
- Red as well, starting out as angry and bitter but apologizing for lashing out and hurting Mark and his team members by the end.
- True Companions: Everyone bickers with each other but, when the cards are down, they always come through for their team. Their bond becomes so strong that they decide to try meet up in a convention in the waking world.
- You Are Not Alone: A core message of the game, and the heroes' job. It's also used to help Mark at the end of the game.
