July, 1935. A murder has been committed aboard the SS Hook, eight hours out from New York.
Only one problem: you did it.
Overboard! is a 2021 Reverse Whodunnit narrative game from Inkle. The player fills the shoes of Veronica Villensey, a former West End star, who throws her husband overboard during their trans-Atlantic jaunt on the SS Hook and must spend the final day of the journey desperately scrambling to cover up any evidence of her crime, all in the hopes of collecting the insurance payout. Lies, blackmail, drugging, seduction, betrayal - anything goes onboard the SS Hook. But every choice has a consequence, and committing the perfect murder isn't as easy as just tossing somebody over a railing. When the cards are down, who among the ship's passengers and crew can be trusted?
Of course, if you fail, you can always try again...
Not to be confused with the 1997 PS1 game known as Shipwreckers! in the United States, nor with the films released in 1987 and 2018.
Oh, there are tropes playing in the wake of the ship! Quick, look!
- Animal Motifs: Dolphins.
- The game opens with Veronica tricking her husband into leaning over the railing by telling him she sees dolphins swimming by the ship, only to push him over the railing to his death. She can pull this same trick on other members of the cast as well, with almost everyone else falling for it.
- The heavy paperweight in the Villenseys' cabin - which Veronica can use to bludgeon the steward to death - is shaped like a dolphin.
- Veronica notes that the Major's knife (which she can steal from him to stab him with) is shaped rather like a dolphin.
- A newspaper report on Veronica suggests that she might be suffering from delfiniphobia after she has a breakdown in a theatre filled with carved dolphins. Comments from Veronica over the course of the story seem to confirm this.
- Notably, real-life dolphins are often considered sweet and beautiful creatures, but they can also be vicious and dangerous predators - an apt description for Veronica, ironically enough.
- Taken to its illogical conclusion in the Joke Ending, where Veronica stabs Anders with the Major's knife, only for him to start transforming into a dolphin, along with Veronica herself. The two of them fall into the ocean and swim away to freedom.
- Asshole Victim: Malcolm Villensey was not, by most any account, the most charming man. A cheater and gambler who couldn't or wouldn't pay his debts, a faithless husband, and a fascist sympathiser, to boot. The only character in the game who seems to have any positive feelings towards him is Clarissa, whom he was having an affair with. It's left ambiguous as to whether or not he truly cared for Clarissa in return - Veronica can spitefully (but perhaps truthfully) tell Clarissa that he would have eventually abandoned her for another woman the way he did his wife.
- Given the Grey-and-Grey Morality of most of the cast, this can apply to most anybody else who Veronica murders onboard the SS Hook. Lady Armstrong is a rude and mean-spirited old woman who is fond of blackmailing whoever she can get her claws into. The Major spies on the people around him and leaves scathing comments about them in his journal. Anders can very easily be persuaded into becoming an accomplice to murder. And Clarissa happily has an affair with Malcolm behind Veronica's back and later brags about it to her face after telling Veronica that Malcolm never loved her.
- Blackmail: One of several tactics Veronica can use to buy another character's silence. Typically, she will need to break into their cabin to find the incriminating evidence, first.
- Lady Armstrong has evidence proving that Commander Anders is an imposter, and has been holding that information over his head for some time to force him into ferrying her back and forth across the Atlantic. Should Veronica frame Clarissa for Malcolm's murder, Armstrong will start blackmailing Veronica, too. The only way to obtain the True Ending is to find the incriminating evidence on Anders in Armstrong's cabin, give it to him, and then work together with Anders to frame Armstrong for the murder instead.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance: Veronica regularly takes sleeping pills in a day and age when using such medication was frowned upon. If she doesn't hide the tablets or take them with her, they'll be discovered by the maid when cleaning her cabin, and will be brought up as evidence in the final confrontation. The other passengers and crew will dismiss Veronica as being insane if this happens, leading to her arrest for Malcolm's murder. However, Veronica can also exploit this trope by planting the pills in another person's cabin, thereby placing suspicion on them instead.
- Driven to Suicide: An option the player can have Veronica take at almost any stage of the game by having her jump over the railing into the ocean.
- Clarissa believes that Malcolm threw himself over the railing, and that his loveless marriage with Veronica was what drove him to it, leading to Clarissa blaming Veronica for his demise.
- One potential ending results from Veronica tricking the rest of the cast into thinking that Malcolm's death was indeed a suicide. Unfortunately for her, the insurance company won't pay compensation, meaning that she'll have to try again with another scheme.
- Finally, under certain circumstances, Veronica can torment Clarissa with Malcolm's death until she throws herself over the railing in her grief and despair.
- Evil Laugh: Veronica lets one out before pushing Malcolm into the ocean.
- Good Morning, Crono: The first scene is Veronica murdering Malcolm, but the game only begins properly the next morning when Veronica is woken up by the steward knocking on her cabin door.
- Multiple Endings: By nature of the game's Story Branching. There are three main endings: Freedom, Money, and No Loose Ends. There's the Non-Standard Game Over that occurs if Veronica is caught. And finally, there's a hidden Joke Ending.
- Banged Up - Non-Standard Game Over. Veronica fails to hide her guilt and is arrested for the murder of her husband, resulting in her imprisonment. By far the easiest "ending" to obtain, and the player will almost certainly get it on their first go.
- Freedom - The Standard Ending. Veronica manages to convince the other characters that Malcolm's death was a suicide, and successfully escapes imprisonment. But insurance companies don't pay compensation for suicides, so she arrives in America just as broke as she was when she left England.
- Money - The Good Ending. Veronica frames Clarissa for Malcolm's murder, meaning that she not only avoids jail but receives the insurance money she so desperately wanted. However, before she can begin enjoying her newfound freedom and riches, she discovers that one of the SS Hook's passengers knows the truth, which they will use to blackmail Veronica.
- No Loose Ends - The True Ending. With Anders' help, Veronica frames Lady Armstrong for Malcolm's murder, avoiding jail and receiving the insurance money as in the previous ending. Since Lady Armstrong was the blackmailer, Veronica successfully gets away with committing the perfect murder.
- Septuple Homicide - The Joke Ending. Veronica kills everyone aboard the SS Hook, but when she attempts to stab Anders to death, he instead begins to transform into a dolphin before her eyes. To Veronica's horror, the same starts happening to her, and the two of them topple over the railing into the ocean, where they swim away to freedom.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: Clarissa is convinced that Veronica killed Malcolm, and insists when confronted that she "saw what happened". Veronica is of course Malcolm's killer, but Clarissa only saw him fall into the ocean past her cabin porthole, and has no idea Veronica pushed him. No, she instead believes that his loveless marriage with Veronica drove him to suicide, and blames Veronica for causing his death in a less-direct sense.
- Romance Sidequest: Veronica can pursue a love affair with the ship's handsome commander, Anders, leading to an Optional Sexual Encounter between the two. In fact, doing this is almost a requirement in order to see the better endings of the game, as Anders was a witness to Veronica's murder of Malcolm. Securing Anders' affections will encourage him to cover for Veronica after the crime is uncovered.
- Running Gag: Veronica pushing people over the railing to their deaths by telling them there are dolphins playing in the water below. It works every time, too, at least, until she tries it on Anders, who has already seen her perform this same trick multiple times. Instead, she has to stab him to death, at which point he, of course, turns into a dolphin.
- Something Only They Would Say: The blackmail letter that Veronica receives in the Money ending is naturally unsigned, but the writer concludes with Lady Armstrong's distinctive Catchphrase - "Toodles!"
- Sympathetic Murderer: Veronica is entirely forgivable for hating her husband to the point of killing him. How sympathetic she remains is up to the player.
- Villain Protagonist: Veronica Villensey, naturally. Not that many of the other people onboard the SS Hook are saints, either.
