"I found this website with an alpha test for some shooter game. i'm pretty sure they stopped development on the game, BUT... the download link is still up so we can play it!"
No Players Online is a horror-themed FPS game developed by Adam Pype, with sound design by Victor Kraus. The premise of the game is fairly simple; you open an old PC Capture the Flag game full of old servers, but aside from you, there are no players online. Going in, it's time to uncover just what horrors await you in this experience. The game was released on November 2019 and can be downloaded here
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In 2024, it was announced that the game would be receiving a complete remaster that swaps out the original Alternate Reality Game elements with some brand new interactivity and gameplay to divulge in. The demo for the full game can be downloaded here.
Tropes:
Tropes applying to both versions
- The Most Dangerous Video Game: Aside from the fact there's literally nobody around, it quickly becomes apparent that things are not as they seem in the CTF map.
Tropes applying to No Players Online Classic
- Alternate Reality Game: Aside from the FPS being haunted by the wife of John (the game's in-universe developer), several parts of the game require you to go to different websites and even play an entirely separate game to get the code needed to access the final area. And even then, a bit more workaround needs doing to know the code needed to start up the soul transfer machine, via phoning up a number figured out from the ammunition your gun has.
- Bittersweet Ending: Completing all the requirements leads to the player transferring their soul into the game, presumably freeing the soul of John's wife and filling the server with players again. The bitter part is that the player had forfeited their freedom for their sakes, but at least John's wife can finally rest in peace.
- Developer's Foresight: When playing the CTF game normally, John mentions that he had been able to keep his wife's soul calm using her favorite music. If you shoot the gramophone it's coming from before reaching that point, John will call you out for doing so."She might come off as aggressive, but she's just scared and confused. Can you blame her? You destroyed the record player with her favorite music. I used that music to keep her calm."
- Konami Code: After getting the completion ending or shooting the eye in the sky, all the servers completely vanish, but inputting the Konami Code resets them all back to normal, which is vital to get the rest of the content in the game.
Tropes applying to the full game
- Death Is a Slap on the Wrist: Falling out of bounds in the beta map before meeting the major requirements or getting caught by the killer eel simply leads to you respawning back in the map no worse for wear.
- Digital Piracy Is Evil: Trying to play 20 Summer Days, even with the cracked serial code, will cause it to end partway through, with Seo-jun calling you and the protagonist out on believing you'd ever score a date with her through criminal actions."You gain no love, only prison."
- Equipment Upgrade: Getting enough points during "Fishing with Knives 2" lets you upgrade your blade to deal more damage, as well as your oxygen meter to let you stay underwater longer.
- Fusion Dance: A unique variant in that, through the Soul Transfer application, you can fuse different applications together to make some truly bizarre variations, such as dating mixed with Minesweeper, or trying to swim through underwater mines. The final point of the demo involves you going into a beta version of the FPS with point-and-click mechanics, flooded rooms, and by no-clipping out of bounds, you have a monstrous eel standing between you and the map's exit, and fusing two of the applications together (20 Summer Days and Fishing with Knives 2) is vital to unlocking this.
- Game Within a Game: Aside from the CTF shooter that the game centers around, the computer interface also includes Mine-Friend (a version of Minesweeper), "Fishing with Knives 2" (a swimming action game), and "20 Summer Days" (a dating simulator).
- Player Nudge: If the player's having trouble accessing John's account after the Guest part of the game, then letters start forming to spell out the password, "sentimental", which had popped up during the error message glitch.
- To Be Continued: In the demo, after reaching the end of the modified beta, an unknown person tells you that "the game is just a window" and urges you to look within this window and find them there. As they state that, a glitchy hand emerges from the wall before the game closes, the final window after that asking the player to wishlist the game on Steam if they enjoyed it so far.
