Tales of the Neon Sea is a 2019 Adventure Game developed by Palm Pioneer and published by Zodiac Interactive. It was funded via Kickstarter and is available on PC via Steam and the Epic Games store. The game follows Rex Mist, ex-cop turned private investigator, and his unusually intelligent cat William (who does a lot of his own detective work) in Starlight City, a former shining example of progress, now figuratively and literally overshadowed by Sky City, a utopia for the rich to live away from the common rabble and the robots. Together they try to do what they can in a society where humans and robots live side-by-side.
The city is a dark place, lit only by holograms, and neon signs.
Unrelated to the Tales Series.
Warning: Spoilers below.
Tales of the Neon Sea contains examples of the following tropes:
- Benevolent A.I.: Most of the sentient robots, remembering the tragedy of the Robot War that wracked the planet years before, just want to get along with humanity - so much so that they'll willfully accept a first-rule-like restriction that makes them unable to harm a human. Emphasis on "most"...
- Body Horror: And how! It starts with sculptures made out of human and robotic body parts sewn together after their original owners have been brutally murdered, and only goes downhill from there.
- Broken Ace: Rex's skills, and past work as a police detective, are still respected by some members of the police force. But he's clearly not the man he used to be, though he can still solve a murder he stumbled on in an alley.
- Children Are Innocent:
- Averted with Lola, Robin, and Nanco. While not criminals, they're a product of the environment they're growing up in, the heavily gang-controlled Underbridge district.
- Subverted with Jenny, she murdered Mrs Perry in seeming cold blood, the real question is why did her robot butler dump the body out the window?
- Cyberpunk: Gritty future urban environments. Crime syndicates can grow large enough to claim near-sovereign status over parts of the city in all but name.
- Destroy the Evidence: Happens twice. Once in the first half when you find a Bson ceremony room, only for it to get destroyed by an automated explosion and then again at the end when Noa destroys himself and his lab complex when his plan fails.
- Disposing of a Body: Happens twice to the same body. When you find Mrs. Perry's corpse, it's hidden among the trash. Only to later find out that it was initially thrown out of a window by the killer and then dragged to the trash by an unrelated homeless guy.
- Donut Mess with a Cop: The highest award for squad performance is the Donut Trophy, awarded to the best performing detective squad. Rex and his former squadmates lost the contest for one, but were awarded it when they proved the detectives who won the award were corrupt; taking bribes for letting criminals go free, padding their stats, and stealing donuts.
- The Future Is Noir: You're a burnt-out, half-robot, ex-cop with an infamous drinking problem, a nose for trouble, and a (cybernetic) eye for the smallest detail.
- Grand Theft Me: The entire reason for everything that happens in the game. All was set up so Rex - the perfect merge between human and robot - would be vulnerable and obsessed with Bson, so Noa can delete Rex' conscience and implant himself into his body.
- Guide Dang It!: Most of the puzzles can go on for a while, but they are at least somewhat logical - however, a couple of them really go too far. Notably, the most complete guide available for the game outright tells you that one of the levels is really confusing, and assures you there's no shame in having looked up the solution.
- Hardboiled Detective: Rex Mist has seen a lot in his time; excluding flashbacks to Noa, there isn't anything that throws him off.
- Hideous Hangover Cure: Rex has a recipe that immediately removes all effects of a hangover. It's made with assorted solvents and powders of unspecified composition, worry-free herb and salt.
- Insistent Terminology: It only comes up a few times, but Rex is "half-robot" and not a cyborg, the difference being that his prosthetics are emergency grafts taken from his former robot partner and include robotic source-code which humans aren't meant to have in their implants.
- Mad Scientist: There are three introduced:
- Edward who has done experiments on nano-liquids, conscience transfer and cloning to revive his dead wife.
- Noa who not just inspired and helped Edward, but is additionally also a religious fanatic who has murdered countless people before the game even started.
- Igor, the emergency scientist for the electric torture/killing machine of the King.
- Mercy Kill: You get the option to end the real Lulu's suffering.
- The Mole: The cats suspect that there is a mole among them that is a biocat. You hear of three suspects and test them. You do find the mole: its none of the suspects, the leader of the cats himself is one.
- Neon City: Most of the outdoor backdrops are breathtaking pixel art examples of this. Exceptions being the industrial side of Underbridge.
- Non-Human Sidekick: William, Rex's cat, is usually around to help save his skin.
- People Puppets: In the last third, it is revealed that the nano liquid allowed Noa and Edward to remotely control robots. And in the final lab, we find plans to extend this technology to human brainwaves, too.
- Post-Cyberpunk: Despite the grittiness things are looking up. Sentient Robots are granted their own rights and are viewed as responsible for their individual actions, interfering with the functioning of a sentient robot's mind is considered a serious offence. The crime syndicates play by a rather bureaucratic set of rules that ensures order is kept on their turf, and maintenance on publicly used facilities is conducted.
- Private Detective: Rex currently works as a private detective after burning-out on the Noa case. Prior to resigning from the police department he was considered The Ace.
- Red Light District: Underbridge is known internationally for two things: its Miracle Street red-light district that outshines anywhere else, and being an almost independent sovereign district ruled by gangsters under "The King" with more power than the police.
- Returning to the Scene: Rex considers for a moment to go back to where he found Mrs. Perry's body, only to realize that the police would assume he is the killer because of it.
- Robot Religion: Roverism is popular amongst robots and the working class, it's a polytheistic pantheon with its own tarot for interpreting events.
- The God of Destiny, Lark: Has his own form of Tarot cards that seem depict the same figure with slight variations, seems to be the leader of the pantheon.
- The God of Oath, Smoff.
- The God of Fusion and Communication, Pussen: His followers are believed to have engaged in human-robot combination experiments.
- Goddess of Mystery, Ailanio.
- unnamed God of Sleep: Is never named, seems to be one not spoken of lightly.
- Bson: Possibly a new addition to the pantheon, possibly its Satan figure. Bson isn't officially recognised by most mainstream Roverites and is heavily associated with the infamous serial killer Noa.
- Robot War: Happened in the past between robots and humans. A peace treaty exists that expressly grants sentient robots citizenship, hard-codes into robots a restriction on violence against humans, and also forbids any human intervention or alteration to the code or brain of a robot recognised as sentient.
- Secretly Dying: The daughter in the Hotel case was suffering from a severe hereditary disease and only had a few months left to live. Her parents kept this from her and even organized staying at a dolphin aquarium to ensure she is happy in her final days.
- Sequel Hook: The adventure ends with Rex receiving a message from his old partner, who everybody believed to have died up until then, and embarking on a new quest.
- Serial Killer:
- Noa, an infamous murderer, was the last case Rex was pursuing before his accident during the raid on Noa's hideout. Even several years later, Rex is haunted by the case.
- Edward; unknown how many he's killed for Noa, but he was responsible at least for the corpse sculpture in Underbridge and the abductions of Underbridge robot citizens.
- Three Laws-Compliant: Sentient Robots are required to have a form of these hard-coded as part of the peace treaty. Emphasis is on the "sentient" part, non-sentient robots are treated as just hardware by humans and their sentient counterparts. This has a secondary effect of bumping the majority of robots into blue-collar work and service jobs. Though it remains to be seen how much the robots working for the criminal syndicate follow that programming.
- Through the Eyes of Madness: Rex when he suffers from Noa's hallucinations.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Since the special forces take over, we never find out if Jenny got punished for having murdered Mrs. Sherry and what had happened to the servant robot for having disobeyed one of the Three Laws.
- The World Is Not Ready: Charles explains at the end that while they were definitely useable for good purpose, ultimately the world is not ready for nano-liquid. It's implied that he has the research about it, but doesn't intend to use it.
