The Silver Lining (video game)
A Fan Sequel to the King's Quest series produced by Phoenix Online Studios. Formerly known as King's Quest IX: Every Cloak Has A Silver Lining, The Silver Lining brings back the characters from the old series and attempts to bring some closure to the story of the first family of Daventry. Currently, four of the five episodes have been released.
The game is probably more well known for the story behind its production than the actual gameplay. After announcing their intentions and gain a lot of hype, they received a cease and desist order from Vivendi Universal (who owned the rights to King's Quest). After a strong effort from the community, they were able to continue producing the game, provided that they remove the words "King's Quest" from the name. They continued their work only to receive another cease and desist right before they were ready to release the game, this time from Activision (who had gained the rights to Sierra games from Vivendi). After much discussion, they were able to get that one overturned as well.
The story of the game is as follows. During the wedding of Rosella and Edgar, a stranger in a black cloak crashes the party and casts a spell which puts both Rosella and Alexander in a coma. Graham decides that he must don his adventurer's cap one more time to undo the curse. During this, he uncovers a much deeper plot related to the Black Cloak Society.
Tropes used in The Silver Lining (video game) include:
- Anime Hair: Lampshaded by the narrator if Graham attempts to take more than one lock of Alexander's hair.
- Arc Welding
- Beard of Evil: Shadrack.
- Better Than a Bare Bulb: The narrator (and sometimes Graham himself) are very fond of Lampshading stuff.
- Big Bad: Shadrack.
- Black Cloak: The Black Cloak Society.
- Black Widow: A literal black widow spider.
- Broken Bridge: Standard stuff in the series.
- Captain Ersatz: The narrator is female and seems to have intimate knowledge of the game world. Of course, she is so totally not a stand-in for Roberta Williams.
- Card-Carrying Villain: Shadrack and the Black Cloak Society in general. Seriously, their motto is "May you walk in shadows."
- Continuity Porn: The game references the hell out of previous installments.
- Cool Old Guy: King Graham.
- Darker and Edgier: Doubtlessly the darkest of King's Quest games. It even continually tops itself: the game's episodes get progressively grimmer with each new release, with the third one being downright scary.
- Deadpan Snarker: The narrator.
- Elemental Powers: The dream amulet.
- Even Stuck-Up Snobs have Standards: In Episode 1, Lord Azure states that Graham can travel the Winged Ones's city if he could fly there. In Episode 4, he can. It takes some prodding from Graham and Ariel, but he holds up to his promise.
- Everything's Better with Princesses: Rosella. Inverted with Lady Celeste.
- Evil Is Hammy: Shadrack.
- Evil Laugh: Shadrack.
- Failure Is the Only Option: In Episode 4, you play Valanice and have to open Pandora's box, otherwise Shadrack kills Rosella.
- Fanon Discontinuity: Averted. While the game is clearly following up on the events of King's Quest VI and King's Quest VII, it does reference (in Broad Strokes) King's Quest: Mask of Eternity, the franchise's installment that is most reviled by fans.
- Fan Sequel
- Fantasy Kitchen Sink: By virtue of being a King's Quest game.
- Genie in a Bottle: Shamir Shamazzle.
- Gory Discretion Shot: One of The Many Deaths of You in Episode 3 or 4, at the guillotine...
- Gratuitous French: The Quebecois guard dog at the castle entrance. Seriously. Surprisingly averted with Prince Cocteau on the Isle of the Beast.
- The Guards Must Be Crazy: The guard dogs are often either lax in their duty or adhere to it in a most unreasoning way.
- Hyperspace Arsenal
- Info Dump: The developers wanted to make sure that people who hadn't played the original series would still be able to pick it up and enjoy it. This is their usual solution. The game goes into a lot of detail about the history of things in the world.
- Insurmountable Waist-Height Fence: Standard stuff in the series.
- Interface Screw: In Episode 4, when Shadrack rocks the boat, your amulet (who also act as your attack/defend icons) spin out of control.
- Invisibility Cloak
- Jerkass: Practically all of the Winged Ones except for the guards and Lady Ariel, particularly Lady Celeste. In King's Quest VI, they used to be aloof and haughty, but here, they are outright assholes.
- Lawful Stupid: The female guard dog that won't let Graham into the throne room "for safety reasons".
- Or Properly Paranoid, given that you can actually die if you go too far into the throne room...
- Legion of Doom: The Black Cloak Society.
- Lemony Narrator: The narrator could become this at times.
- Let's Play: Toegoff is doing a Let's Play as the episodes come out.
- The Many Deaths of You: In Episode 3, you can die in many different ways. There's even a contest to find them all!
- The Maze: There's a giant hedge maze on the Isle of the Beast.
- Medium Awareness/No Fourth Wall: The narrator and Graham are very well aware that they are in an adventure game, and often engage in amusing banter. Sometimes they will even address the player.
- It's also pretty amusing to make Graham sit down on a chair and listen to what the narrator says.
- Modest Royalty: Discussed and lampshaded. Both the narrator and Graham note that the protagonist feels much more at ease in adventurer's garb than in royal regalia.
- Both used and averted by Prince Cocteau and Beauty. Although they prefer privacy and solitude, the narrator points out the Prince's taste for luxury and comfort.
- Nostalgia Level: Valanice's nightmare in Episode 3.
- Odango Hair: Rosella's hairstyle.
- One-Man Band: In one part of the game, Graham has to simultaneously play four instruments: a lute, a drum, a harp, a horn and fly at the same time.
- Our Banshees Are Louder: When you first encounter The Guardian of the Forest, he takes the shape of a banshee-like hag that can kill you with its loud wail!
- Our Genies Are Different: Shamir Shamazzle.
- Plot Coupon: Spell ingredients you must collect to advance the plot.
- Purple Prose: When the game came out, people complained about the wordiness of the narrator, so the developers added the option of short narration.
- Ravens and Crows: Morrigan, the Guardian of the Forest, takes the shape of a huge raven.
- Rebellious Princess: Conversations in the game portray Rosella as this. At one point, she convinced Cassima to steal the ferry and travel to the Isle of Mist, but Alexander and Edgar stopped her.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Shadrack.
- Rousing Speech: Cassima delivers one to calm the fear of her people.
- Royal Brat: Lady Celeste.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: Pandora's box.
- Shout-Out: "'Tis beyond his reach!"
- There are many references to classic Sierra quests, especially in Episode 3. For example, you solve one of the puzzles by whistling the Leisure Suit Larry theme, and looking at one of the items in the pawn shop triggers an amusing dialogue about Space Quest.
- The references to Gabriel Knight are... impressive in number.
- Shown Their Work
- Something Completely Different: Episode 3 features an arcade action sequence involving a horse and two smoke-dragon monsters.
- Spinventory
- Trailers Always Spoil
- Troubled but Cute: Alexander, as mentioned by Cassima, Jollo and Saladin. Incredibly antisocial due to living most of his life as a slave.
- Unexpected Gameplay Change: The action sequences in Episode 3 and 4.
- The Unintelligible: Hole-in-the-wall.
- Unwinnable by Design: Unlike old Sierra games, The Silver Lining consciously avoids this trope.
- Video Game Cruelty Potential: It's a G-rated game, but Graham can be incredibly cruel to the some of the creatures he meets. He lights a walking-cup creature on fire to evaporate salt water to get salt, and against Mag-Gnat, you lure him into a trap that involves him getting smacked in the head with a key.
- Video Game Cruelty Punishment: Another of The Many Deaths of You (although it really isn't You, per se...) in Episode 3. You can actually murder Rosella in her sleep.
- Villain Takes an Interest: Graham has a vision where Manannan claims this toward Alexander.
- The Wise Prince: Conversations between Graham and both Cassima and Saladin portray Alexander as this, although he is a King.