Theresia: Dear Emile



""The dignity of the dead or our own lives. Which do you think is more important?""

- Maylee

You wake up inside a dark, creepy, abandoned facility. You've lost your memories, there are traps everywhere, and bodies are turning up left and right. The only starting clue you have to your identity is a single name, ominously written in red: Theresia.

Theresia: Dear Emile is a Survival Horror game for the Nintendo DS. Players take the role of the story's protagonist and must navigate through a complex facility, progressing further by solving puzzles and utilizing various tools, all while avoiding numerous hidden traps. In addition, players must gather clues that will help them recover their lost memories.

The game is split into two parts. Dear Emile puts you in the role of a young girl and her tragic relationship with her foster mother. Dear Martel places you in the role of an adult male and his path to atonement.


 * The Alcoholic: Franz and the protagonist of Dear Martel are drinking buddies. Maylee join them, and even gives booze to her plants.
 * Apocalyptic Log: Written by both protagonists (in their respective stories) and other characters. Finding the scattered pages is fundamental in recovering their memories.
 * Armies Are Evil: The behaviour of the army Emile is a member of. Also, the army who came to collect samples in Dear Martel.
 * The Atoner: The main protagonist of Dear Martel.
 * Ax Crazy: Emile and played literally with.
 * The Baroness: Emile. Also fits Evil Is Sexy.
 * Blue Eyes: Martel and the protagonist of Dear Martel both have blue eyes. . The protagonist seeing his blue eyes calms him down. Martel's eyes are of the innocent variety, the latter's
 * Body Horror: One orphan infected with Epicari attempts to sew every hole in his body.
 * Break the Cutie: The protagonist of Dear Martel. He returns to his grandfather's orphanage after ten years at the behest of his little sister. He becomes foster father to the children there, becomes friends with the other doctors, fixes his relationship with his sister, and continues research for treating illnesses. Everything seems picture perfect. Then it all goes south...
 * Chekhov's Gun: A beautiful melody often plays during flashbacks of Dear Martel. It is from Martel's music box, which was playing
 * The name "Theresia" is introduced very early in both chapters. Neither character knows what it means until they learn that it is
 * Conveniently an Orphan: The war claimed the lives of Leanne's parents when she was barely a year old. Subverted when Emile (who was part of the enemy nation) finds her in the rubble and adopts her.
 * Country Mouse: Franz never felt at home in the city, and jumped at the invitation to work at the orphanage in the country.
 * Dead All Along: We never find out how or why she died, either.
 * Dungeon Master: Quite literally,.
 * Earn Your Happy Ending
 * Everybody's Dead, Dave: Aside from the protagonist, there is not a single person alive inside the facility.
 * Everything Trying to Kill You: The facility you're trapped in is covered from head to toe in traps.  In addition, the normal disrepair of the buildings in both settings is quite hazardous.
 * Evil Redhead:
 * The Faceless & Hidden Eyes: Everybody. Moreso for the protagonist of Dear Martel, whose face is never shown even in flashbacks (occasionally, we see an arm, but that's it.)
 * Flashback Effects: Red static indicates that a flashback is about to happen.
 * Gorn: It's a text game with limited pictures, but when either protagonist gets hurt, the descriptions are pretty graphic.
 * Hate Plague: Epicari
 * Heel Face Turn : Emile, when . Also a Crowning Moment of Awesome.
 * Hot Mom: Somewhat subverted by Emile. She doesn't seem to have typical Hot Mom qualities other than being...well, hot.
 * Hot Scientist: Maylee.
 * If I Can't Have You: Emile decided that she'd rather have Leanne dead than away from her.
 * Insane Equals Violent:
 * Laser-Guided Amnesia: A symptom of the Epicari virus, and.
 * Love Makes You Crazy: Or in Emile's case, crazier.
 * Love Makes You Dumb: Maylee says this word for word  During the end of Dear Martel, and later during Dear Emile, she still holds to this philosophy, though she did end up loving two people,
 * Malevolent Architecture
 * Malevolent Masked Man:
 * Mama Bear: Emile, oh god Emile...
 * Meaningful Name: Theresia is
 * My Beloved Smother: Emile with Leanne, where she forbids her from leaving home as well as talking with other people.
 * Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Maylee develops a treatment to a combat a fever that has struck the orphanage that she's working at. Guess what emerged from that.
 * Nightmare Fetishist: Leanne loves Emile as if she were her real mother, and loves things that remind her of Emile.
 * The protagonist of Dear Martel is only 'slightly' less depraved, but he loves and wants to hug a corpse covered in the Theresia beads.
 * No Name Given: The protagonist of Dear Martel.
 * Only Sane Man: The only character who isn't completely insane is Maylee and possibly Sacha.
 * Ontological Mystery: The entire premise of the game.
 * The Pollyanna: Martel. She prays for the dead and buries them even as others burn around them. Never once does she falter
 * Posthumous Character:, particularly during Dear Emile, which takes place after Dear Martel.
 * Orphan's Plot Trinket: Leanne's pendant, given to her by Emile, gives her insight on what to do next whenever she clutches it.
 * Torture Technician: Emile's job with the army. She uses Electric Torture, fire, ice, and more.
 * Too Dumb to Live:
 * The Virus: The Epicari virus. The first stages include memory loss. From there, it worsens to peculiar behaviour, varying on the individual's own nerouses. It soon culminates to suicide, but not without mindless murder. To make things worse, the bodies of the victims will turn purple after death, meaning the virus is spreading and is now contagious. Burning the bodies helps to prevent the virus from spreading.
 * Would Hurt a Child:, as finds out the hard way.
 * Would Hurt a Child:, as finds out the hard way.