"Lorna McCabe vanished on June 25th, 1996. During my month at the summit, I discovered two things. Shadow Point Observatory doesn't merely view the heavens. And Lorna McCabe is still alive."
— Edgar Mansfield
Shadow Point is a 2019 virtual reality puzzle adventure game developed by Coatsink for PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows, and Meta Quest.
Twelve years ago, a schoolgirl named Lorna McCabe went missing on a field trip at Shadow Point Observatory. Search parties failed to turn up anything, and Edgar Mansfield, the detective assigned to the case, ended up disappearing as well.
In the present day, Alex Burkett goes to the observatory, armed with the journal of Edgar Mansfield, whose entries serve as narration (voiced by Patrick Stewart). There, Alex discovers a portal to a fantastical world and enters to search for Lorna.
Puzzles in the game revolve around projecting shadows on surfaces to match shapes.
This game provides examples of the following tropes:
- Action Girl: Lorna in the Huntress fragment has taken up this role.
- Anachronic Order: The story is from Alex's perspective and happens in the order he sees it. He visits Lorna at several points in time, and they are not all in order.
- And I Must Scream: Your job is to save Lorna. From what? From living the rest of her life in isolation in her own Pocket Dimension.
- Arc Words: "I've got time."
- Cutscene: When it's time to interact with Lorna, a circle appears on the ground. You enter it, get an in-engine cutscene, and cannot exit it during the cutscene. This is, presumably, to make sure the cutscene is viewed from a good perspective, that you're paying attention to it, and to prevent you from reaching out and trying to interfere with the cutscene.
- Deity of Human Origin: Lorna is the god of her world.
- Dual-World Gameplay: Several examples, most notably the "green" and "true" worlds, where one is sunny and full of beautiful gardens and the other is dark and disintegrating.
- Fisher King: As Lorna grows and changes, her world changes with her.
- Foreshadowing: Early on in the story, Lorna mentions she wanted to be a cop. In the ending, after she stays in the real world, she becomes one.
- Gravity Screw: Many puzzles involve visiting the same area with different gravity. Items keep their current gravity until you carry them through a portal.
- Imaginary Friend: In her loneliness, Lorna creates a doll that she comes to believe is you, Alex. In a disturbing scene, when you arrive, she refuses to look at you, saying, "Alex is right here!"
- Loyal Animal Companion: Lorna's bird friend, who goes everywhere with her.
- Minimalist Cast: Similar to other early VR games like Lone Echo, only one human character is ever shown on screen. This helps reduce cost of production, and much of the story is built around this limitation.
- Pocket Dimension: Portals scattered through Shadow Point Observatory provide access to a pocket dimension.
- Our Wormholes Are Different: Portals are integral to every part of the game, in some parts a shimmering oval, in some parts an archway. You and anything you're carrying can pass through.
- Small, Secluded World: Taken to the extreme of only one person.
- The Maker: Everything in the Pocket Dimension is Lorna's creation.
- The Power of Creation: Lorna, in her Pocket Dimension - but she can only create places and monsters, not people.
