Create your own paradox, for the love of pie.
The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom, created by The Odd Gentlemen, is a puzzle platformer about Gentleman Thief P.B. Winterbottom, a notorious pie thief whose antics have caused much havoc in his hometown. Winterbottom is obsessed with pie and is willing to go to any lengths to get it. So the Universe decides to give the little man what he wants. Winterbottom comes across the coveted Chronoberry Pie, a unique pie that entices Winterbottom with its amazing aroma, causing him to follow it into a tunnel through time. Thus begins Winterbottom's journey through time as he steals pies and chases after the Chronoberry Pie, using his new ability to create time-clones to aid in his deeds.
The game sets forth 75 different challenges that cause the player to think strategically of how they use their number of time-clones. The animation and music are based on silent film, with the art looking like something out of an Edward Gorey story and the soundtrack using a lot of old-timey piano and dramatic organ and harpsichord.
This game contains examples of:
- Absurdly Spacious Sewer: The main location of the fourth chapter, Spelunking for Sweets.
- All There in the Manual: The Chronoberry Pie is not named in-game.
- Always Night: Every level.
- Batman Gambit: The Chronoberry Pie gets Winterbottom to undo some of the things he's done in search of pie...by guiding him with a trail of pie. It works, except for the final stage of the plan, getting Winterbottom to repent when he sees the good he can do. The thought strikes him, but he doesn't really care.
- Big Bad: The Chronoberry Pie seemingly. Subverted. He's only the Big Bad to Winterbottom, to everyone else however, he's the Big Good.
- Big Good: The Chronoberry Pie is seemingly this by the final chapter after revealing his true intentions.
- Cloning Gambit: Winterbottom's clever use of time-clones allows him to nab as much pie as possible.
- Deliberately Monochrome: Used to create the atmosphere of an early silent film circa the early 20th Century.
- The one time color is used serves as a warning. When your clones appear red, they'll destroy you on contact unless you ride on top of them.
- The Dog Bites Back: Winterbottom's time-clones begin to retalliate towards his actions after abusing them one too many times.
- After Winterbottom refuses to change his ways and outright attempts to kill the Chronoberry pie, it decides to re-steal all of his stolen pies that he collected throughout the game, prompting one of Winterbottom's clones to go after him.
- Eldritch Location: The Cosmos' backstagenote . At surface, it just seems to be a regular old-fashioned theatre. In truth, it's a dimension where Winterbottom's actions are reenacted in play form. The laws of time have no meaning in this world, giving Winterbottom's time-clones the ability to break out of their pre-recorded pattern and attack the titular thief.
- Expendable Clone: The time-clones of Winterbottom have little to them apart from continually doing what Winterbottom recorded them to do. Once they have served their purpose, the clones are gone in a puff of smoke.
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Follow the Leader: The basic mechanic is the same as in The Company of Myself and Braid: record your actions and create duplicates of yourself to solve puzzles. - Gentleman Thief: Winterbottom's chosen profession.
- Heel–Face Turn: Subverted. Winterbottom looks like he's about to change his ways, but decides not to. He likes pie too much.
- Ignored Epiphany: The Chronoberry Pie attempts to sway Winterbottom into using his powers for good. Winterbottom stops for a second to think about and immediately decides that he just wants pie.
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Winterbottom only cares about himself and his love for pie.
- Living MacGuffin: Something of a subversion, since the Chronoberry Pie does have some sentience about it (being a direct creation of the Universe itself), but is still a pie.
- Me's a Crowd: Winterbottom's time-clones are only there as a means to an end, being erased without a care when the man is done with them. The clones eventually become hostile towards Winterbottom, and break out of their pre-recorded pattern.
- Narrative Poem: All the narration (shown via cue cards between scenes) is in rhyming verse, almost as if the game is telling a children's story.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Look at what you've done, PB! You've caused the water tower to break, burned down the bakery, and broke the clock tower—meaning children won't get their dessert!
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Winterbottom unintentionally fixes all of the problems he caused.
- Not Quite Dead: The Chronoberry Pie. Not even exploding into several bits can kill it.
- Parasol of Pain: Winterbottom's weapon, allowing him to float through the air or smack around time-clones.
- Parasol Parachute
- Public Domain Soundtrack: The levels where the soundtrack is based on the Westminster Chimes, and in Movie 5 where the soundtrack is sort of a minor key version of the Can-Can.
- The Reveal: The young orphan, Percy was actually Winterbottom when he was young.
- Send in the Clones: Though some levels have a limit on the number of time clones you can make, others can let you make an absurb number of copies to do whatever.
- Set Right What Once Went Wrong: Winterbottom is given the chance to go back in time and fix the mayhem he created.
- Silence Is Golden: Combined with Deliberately Monochrome to evoke the atmosphere of a silent film.
- Stable Time Loop: Implied by some of the cinematic scenes, but rarely used in gameplay (see Time Paradox below).
- Time Paradox: The explicit goal of the game is get pie by any means possible, the Laws of Time be damned.
- Too Dumb to Live: "For that mysterious Pie, that untouchable Tart, P.B. leaped through the portal (which wasn't too smart)."
- Trademark Favorite Food: Guess.
- Unstuck in Time: What happens to Winterbottom upon entering the time portal. This is what allows him to create time-clones.
- Victorian...Somewhere: The game's setting is described as a Victorian city, but never specified beyond that.
- Weakened by the Light: How Winterbottom tries to stop the Chronoberry Pie.
- Wham LinePercy: Stuff this moral, Dear Mum! I JUST WANT TO EAT PIE!
- Westminster Chimes: The soundtrack for the levels that take place in the clock tower are based on this.
- Villain Protagonist: Winterbottom only does good when he's being manipulated by the Chronoberry Pie.
