Don't get too attached.
Can you escape the Death Room?
— From the official website
You wake up in a white room with countless weapons and four strangers – the brooding Anti-Hero with tsundere tendencies, Dev Hanshin; the chatty and outgoing Plucky Girl, Evie Olive; the sweet and elegant lady in red, Ambrosia of the Phoenix; and the Handsome Lech, Dominic Eld.
Is this the work of a kidnapper? Some twisted Batman Gambit? Or is it All Just a Dream?
Through a bucket-load of choices, you can search for the answers to your bleak situation, get to know your roommates and, most of all, try to escape alive.
Originally released for Halloween, this Ren'Py-based English Visual Novel closely follows the Gamebook format and serves as a short introduction to the rest of Dreamgazer's games. It can be downloaded for free on itch.io. The walkthrough can be found on the official blog here.
Death Room provides examples of:
- Action Girl: Evie can rock a gun. If you’re female, you can also be one.
- Ambiguously Human: Everyone. Despite looking like one, Dev clearly isn’t human, being able to seemingly come back from the dead. Ambrosia (who has a similar ability) doesn’t even know what the word means, and claims to be a Lady of the Phoenix (which gives her magical healing powers). Dominic is outright accused of being a ghost by Evie, who is about the only character that seems to be human for sure.
- Backstory: The characters all try to figure out what they were doing before they woke up in the room. Some are more forthcoming than others.
- Barrier Warrior: Ambrosia can create shields with just a wave of her hand.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: If you’re a female, it’s possible to have this with Dev and Dominic.
- Big Bad: Depending on the route, Dominic, Evie, and/or You will end up trying to kill everyone else to escape the room. The captors, on the other hand, are never revealed, making them a Greater-Scope Villain.
- Bittersweet Ending: Even in the endings where you survive, everyone else has to die first, assuming you do not kill yourself to let one of the others live.
- Blame Game: Pointing the finger at each other is one of the characters’ first go-to reactions (at least, for some of them, mainly Evie).
- The Casanova: Dominic, to the point that he, in the Love Room, suggests everyone should start sleepover it with each other and actually manages to charm Evie into going along with it.
- Cruelty Is the Only Option: Even if you choose to act like a good person, you will eventually reach a point where the only way to survive is to kill the two people trying to murder you and Ambrosia.
- Deadpan Snarker: Dev and, depending on the choices you make, you.
- Distracted by the Sexy: If you’re female, you can win in a fight against Dev and Dominic this way.
- Divide and Conquer: It’s possible to work together with Dominic or Evie, divide your targets, and attack them that way. You may or may not succeed.
- Diving Kick: You can use one on Dev.
- Diving Save: You can rescue Ambrosia this way.
- Downer Ending: It’s impossible for everyone to get out alive, but the most depressing ending is the ending wherein you murder the others.
- Easily Forgiven: You can choose to forgive Evie for shooting you in the beginning.
- Escape from the Crazy Place: A mild version. The only crazy in the room is Dominic, Evie, possibly Ambrosia, and maybe even you.
- Evil All Along: You can invoke this by pretending to be trustworthy and then killing the others later. Otherwise, Dominic and Evie will do so instead, although both fall under Ambiguously Evil.
- Featureless Protagonist: Since you're the main star, you don't get an in-game picture.
- Forceful Kiss: You can give Ambrosia one during the mock fight with her, and later when having killed everyone else.
- Foreshadowing:
- The title alone should be enough to tip you off on how to escape successfully- kill everyone else.
- Ambrosia tells you to burn her body before she dies. If you don’t, no matter what relationship you have with her, she inexplicably kills you.
- Despite waking up in a strange room, everyone’s remarkably calm. Ambrosia and Dominic are also dressed rather unusually, and there are some odd hair colors present. Make the right choices and you’ll learn that everyone comes from a different world.
- Gamer Chick: You can ask Dev whether he’s a gamer. Given how you are the protagonist, it’s quite possible that it takes one to know one.
- Gender-Equal Ensemble: Besides you (who can choose your gender), there are two men and two women.
- Good Is Not Nice: Dev.
- Groin Attack: If you’re a male and you fight Evie, she can do this to you.
- Hidden Depths: There’s clearly more Beneath the Mask for just about everyone, but it is rather hard to figure out.
- Humans Are the Real Monsters: It’s clear that Dev and Ambrosia aren’t quite human. If you choose to slaughter everyone, then that makes them the only two who won’t try to kill to survive.
- I Have You Now, My Pretty: You can do this to Ambrosia if you charm her and kill everyone else.
- The Ingenue: Ambrosia is sweet, innocent, and optimistic, in contrast to the other characters, except for when you fail to burn her body after she dies, in which case she kills you.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: As a female, you can do this with Dominic, and as a male with Ambrosia, by choosing to off yourself and let them escape instead.
- Knight in Sour Armor: Dev tries to keep the peace, but he is quite the snarker when he isn’t giving one-word answers
- Lady in Red: Ambrosia’s title when you don’t know her name, but she doesn’t act like the trope. Only in the ending where she dies and wakes back up.
- Locked in a Room: Except there is no lock…at least, we think so.
- Longhaired Prettyboy: Dominic keeps his hair in a braid, but it’s clear that it falls far past his shoulders.
- Love Redeems: If you act head over heels for Dominic as a female, he will kill himself in the hopes that you can escape the Death Room.
- Meaningful Name: When put in order like in the image above, the first letter of each name spells out "Dead."
- Mind over Matter: Ambrosia has telekinesis and can resurrect barriers.
- Minimalist Cast: You won’t see anyone else in the Death Room except for those 4 people.
- Multiple Endings: There are 6 endings, each with variations depending on your choices.
- Not in the Face!: When the characters are holding the mock fights, Dominic makes it clear that he doesn’t want his face injured. Evie feels the same way.
- Perpetual Frowner: You can go through the Death Room without seeing Dev smile once.
- Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: Ambrosia.
- Rescue Romance: If you’re a male and you rescue Ambrosia, you can get a kiss from her.
- Replay Value: There’s an insane amount of choices, and it’s worth it to play the Special Version at least once.
- Screaming Woman: Evie wakes up screaming almost all the time.
- Shaming the Mob: More than once, Dev and Ambrosia attempt to convince the others not to resort to violence. Sadly, it doesn’t work.
- Ship Tease: Dev looks after Ambrosia on more than one occasion, while Dominic flirts with both Ambrosia and Evie, whom he partners with in an attempt to kill everybody else.
- The Stoic: Despite being trapped in a strange room with a bunch of strangers and weapons, Dev (and potentially you) is remarkably calm about the whole thing.
- Tattooed Crook: Dev is accused of being one. Whether or not he’s telling the truth, he claims that he has a tattoo for no particular reason.
- The Tease:Evie: Getting tattoos, maybe? Do you have any more that you’re hiding?Dev: No.Evie: You sure? Why don’t you show us?
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Evie and Ambrosia, respectively. Evie does have quite a bit of femininity, but can also be a gun-toting Action Girl, while Ambrosia is a Proper Lady.
- Trapped in Another World: As it turns out, everyone comes from a different world. So, if you aren't the one trapped in another world, then one of the others is.
- Troubled, but Cute: Dev.
- Twist Ending: There’s more than one, but the most notable one is when Ambrosia dies and you choose not to burn her body. She inexplicably comes back to life and murders you. This is never explained.
- Unlockable Content: If you beat the game, you’ll get to play a Special Version that gives the characters comedic costumes (Ambrosia wears a pair of bunny ears, for example). You’ll also unlock the bonus scene titled “The Love Room,” which is a more lighthearted spin on the game, and a preview for War: 13th Day.
- White Hair, Black Heart: Evie is definitely not to be trusted. When you work together with her, she admits that she’s killed someone before. If you’re a female and you work together with her and Dominic, she also implies that she’s willing to commit torture.
- With Us or Against Us: If you choose to say that you’re a wizard, Evie and Dev think you’re crazy, while Dominic believes you. Meanwhile, when Ambrosia seems confused about the term of magic:Evie: Good. Come on over and join our side.Dominic: The oblivious side.
Congratulations. You’ve escaped the Death Room.
