Date Warp



A Visual Novel released in English by Hanako Games in 2010. Take a sprinkling of Otome Game, a dash of Speculative Fiction, a lot of sneaky references to a certain movie - and serve over a bed of plot twists that make it hard to describe anything much about the story without giving too much away.

Our heroine is Janet, who is on her first date with a boy named Bradley. A storm leads them off their path, and their car breaks down. They find a mansion and ask to stay until the storm passes. The following morning, when they try to leave, they find a forcefield keeping them inside. You can find the game here.

This visual novel provides examples of:
 * Alternate Universe - Janet discovers that she and Bradley are in an alternate universe where The American Revolution never happened, and the country is called Atlanta.
 * Be Careful What You Wish For: When Janet finds out about how much  she wishes that she was his princess instead.
 * Bi the Way - Linds. You could place him in Anything That Moves, or the Ethical Slut.
 * Camp Straight: used to be like this, when he was a boy.
 * Chekhov's Gun: The gun that plays a key part in
 * Closed Circle: Once the force fields come up, the mansion becomes one
 * Curtains Match the Window - Alben and Bradley
 * Dark Skinned Redhead - Janet. (She's Indian.)
 * Does This Remind You of Anything -
 * Dead Little Sister - Bradley's sister Susan isn't dead per se, just missing.
 * Dreaming of Things to Come: Janet can sometimes dream about herself with pale skin and blue eyes. This foreshadows
 * Driven to Suicide:
 * Earn Your Happy Ending - Before unlocking the true ending, most of the outcomes are bittersweet at best.
 * Equivalent Exchange:
 * Making the tradeoff even worse,
 * Failure Is the Only Option: To get a good end,
 * Fiery Redhead - Bradley, who also has red eyes
 * Forgets to Eat - Linds, according to Rafael.
 * Freaky Friday Flip:
 * Golden Ending:
 * Heroic Sacrifice - This does not lead to a happy ending for everyone else. The theme of what's worth sacrificing comes up multiple times.
 * Ho Yay - Linds and Rafael are... very close.
 * Ill Girl -
 * Innocent Cohabitation: The setup that Linds and Rafael have. Much to Janet's disbelief.
 * Insufferable Genius - Janet used to be one of these.
 * I Take Offense to That Last One: Linds is perfectly fine with being called a creepy pervert, but call him little...
 * I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: In one of the endings, soon as Janet finds out about she decides to give up pursuing him and instead focuses on helping to cure her.
 * Kids Are Cruel: The characters have a long conversation about this. Numerous examples happen in-story, like the kids who bullied Janet  as well as the kids who
 * Like Brother and Sister: The reason why Janet didn't date much at in high school. Because their community was so tight-knit, she regarded most of the boys as bratty siblings.
 * Lonely Rich Kid: Nathaniel's childhood in a nutshell. Even though now he's not a kid, he still qualifies.
 * Love At First Sight: Nathaniel and
 * Moment Killer: Linds in Rafael's route.
 * Morality Pet: Rafael to Linds.
 * Multiple Endings
 * My Girl Is Not a Slut - Subverted.
 * Played straight in that if Janet spends the night with
 * Optional Sexual Encounter -
 * Red Eyes Take Warning - Mostly averted with Bradley.
 * Relationship Values: All of the guys have one.  Word of God states that the reason for this is that Janet isn't in the mansion long enough to establish such a deep relationship with them.
 * Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Linds is sometimes guilty of this.
 * Shout Out - Rocky Horror Picture Show in particular.
 * In one thread, Janet has a dream that clearly echoes The Princess Bride.
 * Shut Up Kiss: Alben plants one on Janet after
 * Techno Babble: Makes up around half of Linds's lines.
 * Teen Idol: Rafael becomes this in his good end.
 * The Messiah: Rafael.
 * The White Prince: Nathaniel
 * Together in Death:
 * Trapped in Another World: Janet and Bradley.
 * Yaoi Fangirl - Linds thinks Janet might be one.
 * You Can't Go Home Again:
 * Yaoi Fangirl - Linds thinks Janet might be one.
 * You Can't Go Home Again: