Wraith

"''Dusk's requiem comes to an end,

Twilight's shadow takes First Breath,

Where passes Terror's Embodiment?

The hallowed halls tremble in silence...''"

"''Cradling the soul, and all around,

Past becomes lingering Present.

And I wander, and wonder that,

Maybe one day, looking around,''

I'll find

you haunt me"

- no more.

Wraith is an indie computer game made by Neo Kuriyo, or Neok as he is known on the RPGmaker.net forums. It's a horror-based Adventure Game made with RPG Maker 2003, and was Neok's first game on the site.

According to the developer's description:

"During a 3-day workshop in Australia, a girl named Kana discovers a dark secret hidden beneath the manor she is staying at. Now she must work against time to save her friends from a fate worse than death. There are two objectives: Solve the mystery behind the existence of the wraith, and live to see the morning sun. Dawn is only a few hours away..."

The object of the game is to peruse the darkened manor, tracking down the servants and students before the titular wraith can get to them, then discover a way to destroy the soul-sucking entity on the loose.

The game features both a good and a bad ending, complete with unlockable cutscene CGs for certain events in the game. It features an overhead retrogame view and a First-Person Shooter-like battle screen. In terms of RPG Maker games, it is short, with around 4 hours of playthrough for those well-versed in the game. The game is on its third and final update (the second version accidentally caused the Good Ending to be impossible to achieve as it did not allow for some of the characters to be rescued). Apart from the inability to speed up text, the game is quite enjoyable.

While still a relatively unknown game, it is making headway in the gaming community. Upon the creation of this trope page, one Let's Play had already been added to the fan fray. The game can be found here.

There is also a short sequel, Sainth. It shifts the focus of the story to Lily, Kana's best friend, and takes the plot in a very different (and oftentimes confusing) direction. It can be found here. A third game, Candice, was originally planned, but seems to have been cancelled.

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Wraith provides examples of the following tropes:

 * Action Girl: Kana.
 * A House Divided: Kana's believes that the story of an escaped wraith is too incredible to believe by word of mouth, so she takes Lily to another portion of the mansion to prove it. Kana then has to round up the servants and other students in order to save them, often having to retrieve Lily from another floor and traverse back over the mansion in order to get them all.
 * And if Kana takes too long,.
 * Almost Dead Guy: Supposedly dying people are able to say an awful lot before finally kicking the bucket in this game.
 * Always Night: Almost the entire game is set during the night.
 * Ancient Tomb: The Wellington mausoleum, to a degree.
 * And I Must Scream: It's alluded to that anyone, including Kana, has the potential to suffer this fat, as if s/he spends too long around the Wraith, s/he may.
 * This happens to.
 * Apocalyptic Log: Some of the notes from the scientists found throughout the underground labs have the feel of this.
 * Also,, to a degree.
 * Attack of the Killer Whatever: This would be the wraith itself -- a menacing supernatural entity that you can only temporarily frighten off, but not kill.
 * To make matters worse,.
 * Technically,.
 * Big Bad: Cases can be made for both and, though both are somewhat tenuous.
 * Bigger Bad:
 * Big Screwed-Up Family:.
 * Black Comedy: Though the game advertises itself as horror, there are so many comic relief moments that it often feels more like this.
 * Blind Without'Em: Ryan.
 * Body Horror: Poor.
 * Book Ends: Sort of. The poem quoted at the beginning of this article is displayed on the title and save screens (and is therefore the first thing the player sees), and its final two lines make up The Stinger.
 * Bottomless Magazines: Sort of. Kana's supply of ammo never runs dry, though her gun does need to be reloaded.
 * Although, when
 * Cessation of Existence: What is implied to happen to a wraith that is destroyed by light.
 * Child By Rape: Orvince Wellington, one of Victor's ancestors.
 * Cliff Hanger: In the good ending,
 * Cruel and Unusual Death: If you make it to the good ending, you'll see that fits this description, as.
 * Cryptically Unhelpful Answer: Victor's meaning behind why he.
 * Although,.
 * Curiosity Killed the Cast: Kana, on her trip to the bathroom, forgoes her bladder's urges to follow Ristof and Cyrus into the underground labs, where the wraith gets loose and she is sent on a mission to find a way to destroy it.
 * Dare to Be Badass: Inverted, in a way. Everyone says that they won't blame Kana if she just waits out the night (and it is entirely possible for the player to do so if they desire), but she takes it upon herself find out the truth behind the wraith.
 * Description Porn: Pretty much anything says in his "reveal all" speech about the Wellington family background, the wraith, and random other factoids the player is yet to encounter.
 * Eleventh Hour Superpower: Using in the final battle allows Kana to use  as a weapon, which basically functions as an infinite-use lightstone.
 * Evil Is Visceral: The mutants look very disturbing because of this.
 * Averted with the friendly mutant, who still has her hair and clothes. She's also not evil, though.
 * Failure Knight:, who tries to , but ultimately fails.
 * The Family That Slays Together: In a sense, . They only kill supernatural beings, though.
 * Fate Worse Than Death: The gamepage's summary (and the sequel) say that having your soul sucked out by a wraith is this.
 * Though apparently,, so one wonders how it's actually worse than death.
 * Guide Dang It: During the final chapter of the game, one of the spare part boxes you need to find is guarded by a massive cluster of mutants that is practically impossible for Kana to get through without spamming lightstones (which renders the game practically Unwinnable). What the game doesn't tell you (or make any indication that it's even possible) is that
 * The game also doesn't tell you how many available lightstones there are in the game, nor that you need to save them up to have even the slightest chance of surviving the final battle.
 * Heroic Sacrifice:
 * Hold the Line: The final battle simply requires you to survive as long as possible.
 * Knife Nut:.
 * Lineage Comes From the Father: In this case,
 * Made of Iron: survives being hit point-blank with, then falling two stories. Later, they proceed to survive being shot four times.
 * Why Won't You Die?: says this line exactly to the aforementioned character after.
 * Most Writers Are Male: Neo Kuriyo, fits this trope...but only in the sense he is male. Unlike many male developers, his female characters are all fully developed and are believeable, not just dainty or overly busty damsels. Though there's several jokes that appeal to both genders throughout the game.
 * Multiple Endings: Two.
 * In the "bad" ending,.
 * However, if you go through a certain chain of actions to, then you'll be on track for the "good" ending after the point where the game normally ends.
 * Nerd Glasses: Ryan has these.
 * Non-Action Guy: Todd and Ryan, as well as the male servants.
 * No Sell: Members of the Agency (and ) are completely immune to the wraith's soul-draining touch. In fact, the sequel reveals that their souls are so powerful, the wraith will be consumed if it tries to drain it.
 * Oh Crap: Kana.
 * This is likely the reaction of the player every time the wraith shows up, as it appears without warning throughout the game.
 * During the spare parts box quest, this happens big time when.
 * Our Wraiths Are Different
 * Self Made Orphan:.
 * The Stinger: It's nothing big, but after the "End" message comes up, the screen displays the final two lines of the title screen's poem ("Maybe one day, looking around, I'll find...you haunt me...no more"), which makes the story end on a pretty positive note.
 * The Stoic: Eugene.
 * The only case in which he shows any emotion is and after.
 * Timed Mission: Sort of, though it's a very lenient one. You have six (real-time) hours before daybreak, at which point the game ends.
 * A straighter example is.
 * Unwinnable: If you have less than 5 lightstones by the end of the game, have taken heavy soul damage, or both, say goodbye to your chances of surviving the Final Boss.
 * Wanton Cruelty to The Common Comma: Since this was Neok's first game, it has a large number of typos and grammar mistakes. Most frequently, there are quite a number of commas in places they shouldn't be, and some commas missing from places they should be.
 * Weakened By the Light: Wraiths, which is why lightstones are so effective against them.
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist:
 * Your Soul Is Mine: The wraith's soul-draining touch is the type 2 variant. It's revealed midway through the game that the reason wraiths do this is because
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist:
 * Your Soul Is Mine: The wraith's soul-draining touch is the type 2 variant. It's revealed midway through the game that the reason wraiths do this is because

Tropes used in the sequel, Sainth:

 * And I Must Scream:
 * Art Evolution
 * Balance Between Good and Evil:
 * A similar mechanic is at play with
 * Back to Front: When you begin the game by the World Tree, you are only given the starting cutscene and one memory to go off of. The narrative slowly connects the present to the past as you find more and more memories.
 * Beautiful Void: Though the memories are quite wordy, the actual game world itself is quite bleak and empty, with only a few ghosts to talk to here and there.
 * Dare to Be Badass: Inverted again.
 * Darker and Edgier: So very much.
 * Flash Back: The vast majority of the storyline unfolds through these. The object of the game is to uncover all of Lily's memories.
 * Fridge Logic:
 * In that same vein,
 * Lily's
 * God:
 * Grumpy Old Man: Barnes Etcher, taken Up to Eleven.
 * Heroic Mime: Sort of. Being our narrator, Lily can be described as quite the chatterbox in the Flash Backs, but the only time she speaks during the actual game portion is in the Golden Ending.
 * Heroic Sacrifice:
 * Mid Air Bobbing: and.
 * Multiple Endings: Two, one good and one bad.
 * Palette Swap: Sainths have the same sprites as wraiths, but with the colors inverted.
 * The Reveal: The final memory reveals that.
 * Visual Novel: There's much less actual gameplay to be had than in the first game.
 * Visual Novel: There's much less actual gameplay to be had than in the first game.

"...Maybe one day, looking around, I'll find...you haunt me...no more."