Psychopomp (2024) - TV Tropes

Psychopomp is a Dungeon Crawling Action-Adventure PC game released in 2024 by Fading Club. The game has a simple premise: every government building has a labyrinth underneath it, and your none-too-stable Conspiracy Theorist protagonist is going to explore all of them with nothing more than a hammer and the cover of night.

Well...OK, there's more to it than that.

Your protagonist, introduced as clearly suffering a nervous breakdown, has had enough of people keeping their secret powers from her. Thus, she constructs the Machine that Lets Me Read People's Thoughts When I Want To, or "Psychopomp" for short. While the helmet doesn't let her read minds, it does something far more important - it reveals the part of the world deliberately hidden from her, a world filled with monsters and other strange creatures, a world where every government building has an underground labyrinth. Determined to see what else has been hidden from her, and why, the protagonist sets off in the dead of night to discover the truth... assuming she hasn't lost her sanity.

Psychopomp Gold, an updated version, released on Steam on October 25, 2024. It is twice the size of the original and contains several new levels, updated versions of old levels, additional lore, Mind Keys as hidden collectibles, a new secret ending, and more.

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Psychopomp provides examples of the following tropes:

• The All-Solving Hammer: Almost literally. The protagonist needs to break into a government building in the dead of night to explore its labyrinth? She uses her hammer. Needs to convince some uncooperative NPCs into letting her use a plot-critical switch? She uses her hammer. Acquire a key for a door from an NPC? Hammer. Need to destroy primordial representations of universal Concepts to absorb them into herself? HAMMER.
• Achievement Mockery: Gold has the achievement "Generational Trauma", earned by getting yourself pasted by the Factory's giant crushing pistons that are guarding an important switch.
• Alien Sky:
  • The Moon is shown to be bleeding from a particular vantage point in the Children's Hospital labyrinth. This is because it's a part of the Bleeding Earth.
  • A bleeding version of the Earth is visible from the Earth the King of Mercury is on, explicitly called the Bleeding Earth by the King of All Dogs.
• Ambiguous Situation:
  • Given the protagonist's clearly-broken mental state, much of what is shown and heard in the game - not to mention the plot itself - is real or merely a product of the protagonist's delusions. Though it takes a bit of sifting through official information scattered through Steam and the official Fading Club Twitter and Discord, the basic plot is very real, the labyrinths and everything in them are real, and the protagonist really did ascend into godhood as C'venash Vishneri, the Queen of Venus.
  • Which Earth is the main player protagonist from? Is she from the same Earth as the King of Mercury? Or is she from the Bleeding Earth, which would make her the "terrible threat" the King of All Dogs tells the King of Mercury about?
• Apathetic Citizens: Implied, given it's The Conspiracy, not the general populace, who were preventing the protagonist from seeing the world as it truly is, and yet no-one sees fit to stop the murder of dissenting children at schools or hospitals from literally feeding off its patients to keep their rich and famous clients alive forever.
• Artificial Human: Humans as they currently exist on the Bleeding Earth are made from ash and clay in birthing facilities. They used to be born, but, if the Natural History Museum is to be believed, those kinds of humans died in captivity.
• Big Bad: The King of All Dogs is the main representative of The Conspiracy controlling the world of the Bleeding Earth, overseeing the murder of adults and children alike to benefit the rich and powerful, and thus opposes the protagonist, who is the Queen of Venus they are trying to keep dormant to use her body for their plans, though it is also hinted he is using her as well for some hidden goal of his.
• Blood from the Mouth: The protagonist, as shown by the Expressive Health Bar, increasingly bleeds more and more from the mouth as her health drops.
• Camera Perspective Switch: Completing the Epilogue for Gold allows the player to switch to a third-person perspective, altering their perspective and letting them see the protagonist.
• Capital Letters Are Magic: The subtitles of the narration of the Natural History Museum make a point of differentiating "humans" from "Humans".
• Cigarette of Anxiety: The protagonist smokes one in the opening as she suffers her nervous breakdown.
• The Conspiracy: The protagonist built the Psychopomp because she believes she is/was the target of one by everyone, and wanted to read their minds to see what they are hiding from her. It's implied that her world's reality was specifically hidden from her and her alone by an actual conspiracy to prevent her powers as the Queen of Venus from awakening. The epilogue also confirms all knowledge regarding a twin Earth, along with the the true nature of the stellar phenomenon known as the Caldman Four, is being suppressed in order to maintain the conspiracy - as well as to allow the conspirators to hide in plain sight.
• Conspiracy Theorist: As shown through various loading screen 'tips' labeled "Real-World Tips" as well as in-game monologues, the protagonist clearly believes in some bizarre things, such as the backside of all government schools being required to have 30 rows of teeth sourced from kaiju for "structural and safety reasons". It doesn't help there's an actual conspiracy against her to prevent her from accessing her full power as the Queen of Venus.
• Covers Always Lie: The official cover art on Steam (and this very article) shows the player protagonist as far more composed and contemplative than she ever is in-game. Thankfully, the game's screenshots and trailer are accurate to how she really is. Psychopomp GOLD 's cover averts this by accurately showing the protagonist as she acts in-game.
• Crapsack World: Schools are nothing more than factories which force-feed children whatever knowledge the government wants them to know, with any dissidents turned into raw material for said factories (and recursively creating more knowledge from said children), and hospitals serve no real purpose other than ensuring the rich and famous live forever by literally feeding off others and turning people into giant parasites. The worst part? The public is implied to know all this and don't care.
• Cryptic Conversation: You get to listen in on one via a call between two conspirators in a transient location, with the speakers represented as eyes. You're only able to witness this call because their line is unsecured. The conversation itself has the speakers unwittingly reveal themselves as the King of All Dogs and the Child.
• Deity of Human Origin: The main protagonist is actually the Queen of Venus, and her powers awaken at the end of the game. The Playable Epilogue's protagonist is implied to be this as well, given the King of Mercury, in both description and symbology, has been associated with the Queen all game, and given the epilogue's protagonist is male.
• The Dog Was the Mastermind: Invoked literally. The King of All Dogs is the dog in the very first area of the game, and is a major player in the big conspiracy concerning the King of Mercury and the Queen of Venus. He's initially on the protagonist's side, and will only reveal himself at the beginning if you Talk to him six times or in the Epilogue, but afterwards he helps out the King of Mercury prepare against a terrible threat all but stated to be her, with implications that he is Playing Both Sides.
• "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: The game's creator sings the post-credits version of the title theme.
• Electronic Telepathy: The intended purpose of the Psychopomp. Subverted in that the helmet instead lets the protagonist see the world's true nature. The protagonist is implied to get actual telepathy once her powers as the Queen of Venus awaken at the Center of the Earth.
• Entertainingly Wrong: The protagonist's journey begins because she believes everyone has special powers and this is being actively hidden from her. In reality, only a select few have special powers. The protagonist, along with the members of The Conspiracy, just so happens to be one of them - and said powers are deliberately being suppressed by the conspirators until the end of the game, by which point the protagonist is beyond their control.
• Evolving Title Screen: In a minor example, once the game is beaten, whenever you're at the title screen, the protagonist will sing along to the title song.
• Expressive Health Bar: In addition to a traditional health bar and an exact listing of your HP in your inventory, the protagonist's portrait is used to visualize your current health. The portrait will become more and more bloodied as your health drops, and if it falls dangerously low, the protagonist will stop smiling.
• Foreshadowing:
  • A mural of a humanoid dragonfly which closely resembles the protagonist is seen in a temple hidden off the main path in the Waste Management's labyrinth. The protagonist becomes such a being at the game's end.
  • A hidden note in the Waste Management labyrinth documents a researcher's frustration at their superior's refusal to even acknowledge her findings that there is a second Earth orbiting nearby. As it happens, the Playable Epilogue takes place on this second Earth.
• Futureshadowing: An automated PSA found in the "Dad's Bad Place" transient location describes a giant, human-like flying insect which can read your thoughts emerging from the earth at dawn, which exactly describes the protagonist after her powers as the Queen of Venus awaken.
• Heroic BSoD: The protagonist having one, spurred by the obsessive belief that everyone is hiding their secret powers from her, kicks off the events of the game.
• Hidden Elf Village: One of the transient locations is the local Thrait village, where the inhabitants live in wooden and cloth tents within the confines of what appears to be a sewer.
• Immortality Immorality: In the Children’s Hospital, it’s revealed that the underground facility has been keeping historical figures alive for centuries by sacrificing normal hospital patients, including children, as nourishment to their transhuman bodies.
• Is This Thing Still On?: At the end of the Cryptic Conversation in the transient location, one of the speakers realizes their line of communication may be unsecure and asks the other speaker. The other speaker replies it doesn't matter.
• Last Episode, New Character: The Playable Epilogue has you briefly play as the King of Mercury, who has a Psychopomp-like device of his own.
• Ludicrous Gibs: Everyone you can kill with the protagonist's hammer explodes into bloody gibs when killed. This even extends to false walls when destroyed.
• Mad Eye: The protagonist's irises are, effectively, frozen at a huge size compared to the rest of her eye ever since her nervous breakdown. Not helped by the bizarre truths she witnesses thanks to the Psychopomp.
• Never Trust a Trailer: Averted. Unlike the cover art, the trailer accurately showcases the game and its protagonist.
• Non-Indicative Name: The "Machine that Lets Me Read People's Thoughts When I Want To"'s shorthand name, Psychopomp. Not only does "psychopomp" have nothing to do with telepathy, but it doesn't even work as an acronym since the helmet's full name doesn't contain all the letters required to spell "psychopomp"!
• No Name Given: The game never gives you the main protagonist's or the Playable Epilogue's protagonist's names - unless if you do enough out-of-game research. Based on an official hint, it turns out the document that's out in the open in the Children's Hospital labyrinth which discusses the discovery of C'venesh Vishneri, the Queen of Venus, and Crusnr Colven, the King of Mercury, is actually about the main player protagonist and the Playable Epilogue's protagonist, respectively.
• Notice This: Fake walls tend to make breathing noises or have a patch of blood visibly going under them, and can be interacted with by the protagonist unlike every other wall.
• One-Hit-Point Wonder: All non-hostile NPCs and secret walls explode into Ludicrous Gibs when struck by the protagonist's hammer. Actual enemies require multiple hits.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When the protagonist's portrait loses her constant smile, that's your cue to find and use a health syringe before you die.
• Permanently Missable Content: Gold's secret ending can only be accessed after finding all hidden keys, one in each level. But since each level can only be played once, if you reach a level's end without finding the key, you have to start the game over again to get the ending.
• Perpetual Smiler: Once she puts on the Psychopomp, the protagonist only ever stops smiling when she's down to her final hitpoint.
• Playable Epilogue: If you load your save after you've completed the game, you gain access to a forbidden location (a library) that reveals the existence of the Caldman Four space phenomenon, as well as brief segment where you play as the King of Mercury, who's on the other Earth alluded to in a secret note. Psychopomp Gold adds a full level where the King must gather the three collaborators of the King of All Dogs to meet up.
• Properly Paranoid: The protagonist is some flavor of mentally broken, and kicks off the game's events by deciding that if everybody is conspiring to hide the truths of the world from her, she'll find what they're hiding with the Psychopomp. She's wrong about her "everyone having special powers and hiding them from her" conspiracy theory, but there is absolutely a conspiracy to stop her from learning the truths about the world and her own powers as the Queen of Venus.
• Punny Name: The Head of Production from the Public School level is just a giant head.
• Rule of Funny: Strafing not consuming stamina was initially a bug that the developer left in, because they realised it would mean speedrunners would have to spend the whole game running sideways like a crab to save time, and that was funny.
• Sanity Slippage: The protagonist's Heroic BSoD at the game's beginning, combined by the revelations provided by the Psychopomp and her natural Conspiracy Theorist nature, have clearly eroded her sanity, as demonstrated by the strange monologues and 'Real-World Tips' she gives.
• Schmuck Bait: One of the sentient meat chunks in the Waste Management labyrinth is keeping watch over a key gifted by her Queen, and if you talk to her, she says she'll explode if someone takes it. She isn't kidding - she'll literally explode if you take the key without killing her first, with the blast either killing you or, if you have full health, bringing you down to your final hitpoint.
• Sequel Hook: Completing the Epilogue in Psychopomp Gold ends with something, heavily implied to be the newly awakened C'venash, crashing down to Earth and interrupting the meeting between the conspirators, which will briefly bring you to a title screen of Psychopomp 2, complete with the King of Mercury singing a snippet of his own song, before you get pulled away.
• Title Drop: The shorthand for the protagonist's helmet, Psychopomp. Also doubles as Non-Indicative Name.
• Transformation Sequence: The protagonist sprouts dragonfly wings when her powers as the Queen of Venus awaken.
• The Unmasqued World: One of the main protagonist's goals upon awakening her powers as the Queen of Venus. What this masquerade is remains unknown to the player.
• The Un-Smile: Whatever emotion the player character is feeling, it can't be happiness as most know it.
• Video Game Cruelty Potential: The player can kill any peaceful NPCs at will, from the little girl in the game's tutorial level to the peaceful Thrait scattered throughout the game.
• Video Game Cruelty Punishment: In Gold, unlike the original where all Thraits could not defend themselves if the player kills them, some Thraits will turn aggressive and fight back against the player, and take a lot of hits to go down.
• Violence Is the Only Option: Killing is almost always the only way to progress the plot. Whether it's because the plot-relevant characters explicitly request it, an NPC has a key you need and won't let go, or simply because the plot-relevant characters in question are rich and famous assholes being kept alive through nonconsensually draining the life out of those lesser than them, violence truly is the only option. The only subversions are at the Center of the Earth, where the player character, as part of her powers as the Queen of Venus awakening, sprouts the life-seed found there, ending the game, and during the Playable Epilogue, where all progression can be achieved non-violently.
• Written by the Winners:
  • The natural history museum found in an Ephemeral Location implies this happened in regards to the evolution of intelligent life on the Bleeding Earth. According to it, humans evolved first, then the Thrait... and then humans again. Given the Thrait are still around, despite the insistence by the prerecorded narration venomously claiming they died in captivity, and that humans as they exist on the Bleeding Earth are made, not born, it's implied that history as it's known on the Bleeding Earth was rewritten by the conspirators after their conquest, while leaving ambiguous whether this Earth's original humans still exist.
  • As stated by a Thrait woman in the only village of theirs you can access, the world's very name was renamed by humans, who forced them underground. Whether she means the Bleeding Earth's original humans or the ones which came after them is left ambiguous.