The Works of Mercy is a Psychological Horror game released on Steam in 2018, produced by Pentacle.
The game centers around the protagonist receiving calls from a psychopath ordering them to murder people- or else they'll torture the family members they've kidnapped. Primarily taking place in the protagonist's apartment, gameplay involves responding to other characters, choosing whether or not to try and save lives, and exploration of the increasingly-creepy apartment.
Available for download here
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Tropes present in this game:
- Arc Words: "Monsters don't have reflections in the mirror". And neither does the protagonist.
- Anti-Hero: The protagonist, regardless of whether or not you decide to commit acts of murder, is still a very flawed person who's cheating on his wife and might be abusive to his daughter. Then it turns out they're the very psychopath they were listening to on the phone, cementing them as an outright Villain Protagonist.
- The Chain of Harm: The protagonist has a brief discussion with his father in what appears to be the afterlife. The dialogue options allude to the father being abusive, but he insists he was just copying his own father- before pointing out that the protagonist themselves broke their daughter's arm.
- Disposable Sex Worker: The first person slated to be killed is a random prostitute. If you refuse to call, one still ends up trapped in your closet to be murdered later.
- Driven to Suicide: In the bad ending, The protagonist hangs themselves in the bathroom.
- Finger in the Mail: If the first prostitute isn't killed, the psychopath sends you your daughter's finger. Later, he sends a head.
- Gainax Ending: The good ending. If you take the more moral option at every turn and find a way to check off every bullet point of the "Works of Mercy" picture on your wall, after a rather trippy experience, you wake up, have the same call with your co-worker that you had the previous night (but this time while hearing your own voice which is clearly the same as the killer's voice), then you receive a call from your daughter, telling you that she and your wife are on their way over, then you lie down on your bed and go to sleep. Fade to black.
- High-Voltage Death: An electrician tied up in the basement can be electrocuted with the push of a button, portrayed as murder. This is subverted. The electrician was already dead before the button was even pressed.
- Ominous Knocking: Creepy knocking occurs several times throughout the game, always jarring the player as it's never clear who is behind the door. In one instance, the protagonist gets trapped in the bathroom as someone tries, very desperately, to get inside.
- Sound-Only Death: A man briefly enters the apartment looking for some protection against a scary, eyeless female demon who keeps chasing him. When he sees a picture of her, he runs out in horror. The door closes behind him, and then there's violent noises and screams before things go silent.
- Through the Eyes of Madness: The game gets very trippy at points, such as displaying odd, changing colors or having eyes mysteriously appear around the house. Then it turns out the protagonist was actually the psychopath on the phone, making it clear just how crazy they really are.
