Video Game / Killer Frequency

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Killer Frequency is a Freeware first-person horror-comedy puzzle game made by awfindlay, for the PC. Made entirely from scratch in just two weeks, it was released on Gamejolt for the 2019^note Specifically June 22, 2019. AdventureJam. Here's a trailer of the game. A fully revamped and paid version of the game with more callers, a new storyline and more gameplay elements was released on June 1st, 2023 for Steam, Switch and Meta Quest. You can also check out the website here

You step into the shoes of Forrest Nash, a radio talk-show host working the night shift with your producer, Peggy, on the local radio station: 189.16 - The Scream, a struggling drab radio show in the quiet town of Gallows Creek.

While broadcasting the midnight show, the 911 operator and police dispatcher for the town calls in with terrible news; the sheriff is dead at the hands of the "Whistling Man", a serial killer long thought dead. With the police force's already small size, she needs to rally up officers from another town. And while she's away, she's rerouting all 911 calls to your station.

It's now up to you and Peggy to help out the terrified callers escape from the murderous Whistling Man, all live on-air. Are you ready to take the next call?

Killer Frequency contains examples of the following tropes:

• The Adjectival Man: The Whistling Man, a notorious serial killer from the town's past who's seemingly come back from the dead. Unlike most examples of this trope he does have an actual name, Edward Mooney or Marie Campbell and Henry Barrow in the modern day, but no-one uses it.
• Alone with the Psycho: After going through all the callers in the paid game, the power goes out. The Whistling Man is heard after restoring it, and you rush to warn Peggy... but when you get back, the Whistling Man blocks you into the studio... and you receive one last call... from the other Whistling Man.
• Ambiguous Ending: It is unknown in the 2019 AdventureJam version if Forrest and his producer lives in the end as the story ends with a knife slash sound appearing in the producer's studio. In the paid version, Forrest and Peggy can both die based on certain decisions made.
• Ambiguously Bi: After one of the callers, Eugine Stine, starts being pursued by the Whistling Man in the Maize Maze and Forrest needs information on how to get him out safely, Peggy will recount how she was supposed to go with the studio's receptionist- a woman named Barbara- the previous week. Barbara opted to go with another coworker named Brad instead (as revealed separately in a dialogue option). Notably, she resentfully refers to Brad as "that jerk" (though later on, it's implied that he really is an asshole, or at least genuinely likes to bully Peggy), and one of Forrest's following dialogue options will lampshade that the Maize Maze seems to be a popular place for dates (which Peggy affirms). That being said, Peggy will occasionally act flirty and teasingly to Forrest despite the snark they give each other throughout the night.
• Anachronism Stew: Downplayed. While cellular telephones were available to the public in the 1980s, they were extremely expensive and cumbersome. It strains credibility that some of the people who clearly must be using them to call the station (including at least two teenagers and a man who learned martial arts from VHS tapes and one of the killers) could all afford them.
• Artistic License – Medicine: During the Casey and Jason call, Forrest contacts a local nurse for assistance on how to help a stab patient that is actively bleeding out. The nurse gives out several good tips, but one of them is definitely wrong: keeping Jason warm. It's actually much better for bleeding patients to be kept cold, in order to slow the rate of blood loss.
• Anyone Can Die: There are dozens of potential victims in the paid version, and depending on your choices, each one can die. This includes most of the callers, along with Forrest and Peggy. In order...
  • In the first call with Leslie, the game will prompt the player to choose a weapon to defend her and Deputy Martinez from the Whistling Man. The only correct option is the taser, and picking one of the other two will cause the Whistling Man to slit Deputy Martinez's throat.
  • The second call with Sandra requires you to guide her in hotwiring her own car. Telling her the incorrect steps will cause the car to make noise, and one too many mistakes will cause her to get found.
  • Maurice's third call has you guiding him through a building while the Whistling Man is hunting him down. There are multiple ways to get Maurice killed, including luring the Whistling Man to search in an area that he already checked or getting Maurice to hide in the wrong place after hiding the radio.
  • The fourth call is with Virginia, and the correct way to save her is calling Ponty's Pizza and having them deliver a note to the frat house next door to get them to save Virginia. Deviating from this at all will get her killed.
  • The fifth call makes you guide Eugene out of the Maize Maze over the phone with a map, using landmarks to get him out. Losing track of him in the maze will get him killed via chainsaw.
  • The sixth caller that can die is Murphy, after he gets trapped in a burning building. If you don't choose the right person to call and tell them the correct directions to save him, the building will collapse with Murphy still in it.
  • Ironically, the seventh caller, Carrie, is the only one among her friends who can't die. Assigning the wrong kid to the wrong roles will get the kid in question killed.
  • The eighth caller^note The term "victim" would be more accurate, Chuck, will be blown up along with the gas station if you don't call the right place and address them by the correct name.
  • If you let Marie into Roller Ricky's place by giving her the access code, Ricky will become the ninth victim along with his dog, Max.
  • The tenth caller is Casey, and she calls on behalf of Jason, who has gotten stabbed within an inch of his life. If you remember the hospital's first aid advice and send the correct help, Jason will live. If you don't...
  • Finally, after Henry traps you in the soundbooth, you get a call from Marie. If you have failed certain objectives at this point^note You need to make sure that the police have enough time to get to the location where the Whistling Man is hiding, as well as making sure that you identify the correct location, with the three deaths only occurring if you fail at both, Forrest, Peggy, and Teddy will all die. Furthermore, if you guess Marie's location incorrectly, Teddy will blurt out the correct answer and cause Marie to kill him on the spot. Then, if you can't find Marie's card on Peggy's desk to prove that she cared about Marie or if you fail to stall for time in the interview Peggy will die. If you don't clue in the police and fail to stall for time, Forrest will follow suit after Peggy's death..
• Audible Sharpness: The killer's method of murder is a knife. How does the player know this? You can hear the metallic sound of him drawing it when he kills your caller on the air. It's also the last thing you hear before the game ends in the 2019 version.
• Bastard Bastard: It's all but outright said that Marie Campbell's son, Henry, was conceived out of wedlock shortly before George died- Marie uses George's surname, Barrow, as Henry's surname, and George has obviously been dead for twenty years by this point- and he is voluntarily aiding his mother in her vengeful murder spree.
• Being Watched: When Forrest goes outside in order to get Dawn's requested song back, the Whistling Man can be seen at the other side of a chain fence. Thankfully, they are not hostile to Forrest... yet.
• Berserk Button:
  • The "Whistling Night" pranks really anger the Whistling Man. One of the few victims you can't save prank called the station earlier pretending to be the Whistling Man and threatened to cut off Forrest's face, which is exactly what the Whistling Man ends up doing to him.
  • Any time Brian Ponty calls to plug his pizza parlor serves as this for Forrest.
  • "Long Ride Home" by The Barn Finds drove Peggy so batty after repeated playing that the normally perky and pleasant producer pitched the vinyl out the window in a fit of rage. This is apparently her sister's favorite song.
• Bittersweet Ending:
  • Any ending in the Gamejolt version where you fail to save one of the callers. Even if you save all of them, the game still ends on the killer entering the studio, where he'll likely murder Forrest and his producer.
  • In the paid 2023 version of the game, failing to find Marie's birthday card will result in Marie killing Peggy, before ordering her son to kill Forrest as well. If Forrest had saved most or all the callers up to that point, this could be considered a Bittersweet Ending.
    • Alternatively, if you fail to save Peggy, but stalled long enough, Forrest will coincidentally try to talk down The Whistling Man before the police raid the radio station in time, saving Forrest's life. Forrest will check in with Leslie to see if Peggy made it, but will be unfortunately told otherwise. Unlike the good or golden endings, Forrest won't even try to make a sign-off phrase to close the night.
• Casual Danger Dialogue: Forrest Nash isn't technically the one in danger, but he makes a lot of wisecracks and is remarkably calm for someone who has people's lives on his hands. In the Gamejolt version, even when the killer calls in, threatens him, and then tries to cut the power to the station, Forrest keeps chatting with his callers and producer in the same bored, tired tone.
• Chekhov's Gun: Murphy responds to the statement of the Whistling Man actually being a woman by saying he can't imagine that being the case, as he couldn't fathom a woman managing to go toe-to-toe with him. Turns out Murphy was half right, as there are actually two Whistling Men, with one of them being a woman. He fought the other Whistling Man, who was in fact a man as he claimed.
• Continue Your Mission, Dammit!: Only a handful of dialog options in the game are actually timed, leaving Forrest with ample opportunity to fact-check puzzle solutions. Wait too long before shutting music off or accepting a call and Peggy will tell you to get a move on. Try reading your own file on the computer when Jason is bleeding out, and Peggy will chew you out even more... but you still won't run out of time.
• Creepy Basement: In the paid version, Forrest at one point ends up in the basement of the studio, which features dark rooms, creepy sounds and a hidden lair belonging to the janitor, Clive.
• Deadly Prank: Ultimately what caused the Whistling Man, Marie Campbell, to go on her rampage in the game. Her lover, George, was one of the victims of a prank where someone dressed themselves as the Whistling Man. George ended up running through the forest in terror, and presumably accidentally fell off a cliff, drowning him in the waters below.
• Dead Man Writing: In the paid version, Clive has left a bunch of tapes in the basement, documenting an autopsy. On the final tape, he says that he is likely already dead as you're listening to the tape.
• Dialogue Tree: The game has a branching dialogue tree, searching for clues in the station can give you a good idea on how you can help your current caller.
• Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?:
  • In the Gamejolt version, the last caller, unlike the other two callers who are noticeably concerned about the killer, seems to actively engage the killer directly, telling him to "take a walk" and generally talking to him in an aggressive tone.
  • In the paid version, there is also Murphy, who challenges the killer to a fight at a waste disposal plant, calling himself a "True Warrior" while on air. It doesn't end well for him, though thankfully, you can save him from his folly with the right string of decisions.
• Double-Meaning Title: At least four interpretations. A killer stalking callers who are live on a radio frequency. The frequent scenarios of having to deal with the killer. The killer seemingly returning after many years, thus being habitually frequent. And the killer themselves being literally frequent (as in occurring multiple times), since there are actually two of them.
• Do with Him as You Will: Failing to protect anyone in the paid version will cause the main Whistling Man, Marie, to allow her son to do whatever he wants to Forrest at the end of the game, complete with a "He's all yours".
• Earn Your Happy Ending: You have very little means of knowing what to do to get the best ending possible, without a walkthrough at least. But it is worth it in the end. The police finally arrive to arrest the two killers; however, only Henry is caught by the police. His mother Marie jumps off Whistling Point just like the original killer, and George.
• Egopolis: Gallows Creek is an Iowa town named after the Gallows family, who have a long history building the town's industrial side. Teddy Gallows Jr. is shown to be a blowhard about this fact, using this a hook for his mayoral campaign. His father Teddy Gallows Sr. wasn't any better. The Gallows men care so much about their family's legacy in the town, that they are willing to cover up their involvement with George Barrow's death to avoid tarnishing it.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Marie Campbell. Not only is her murderous rampage towards the end of avenging her lover George, who had been killed in a Deadly Prank, but in the Golden Ending where the cops manage to close in on both Whistling Men, her first priority is to urge Henry to escape, expressing no fear for her own potential capture.
• Evil Sounds Deep:
  • In the Gamejolt version, the killer's voice is extremely deep. Although since you only hear it when he calls in to your show, his voice could be distorted to hide his identity.
  • Subverted in the paid version. A prank caller early in the game puts on a fake menacing voice while pretending to be the Whistling Man, clearly referencing the Gamejolt version of the killer with his over-the-top growling voice and heavy breathing. Meanwhile, Marie, the only killer whose voice we actually hear, is a woman in her mid-thirties and does nothing to hide it when speaking to Forrest and Peggy.
• Expy: Naturally, given the 1980's slashers that the game is inspired by, Marie Campbell and her son Henry could be seen as mirrors to Pamela and Jason Voorhees from the Friday the 13th movies, as a woman and her son who stalk and brutally murder people at night with knives (although the son isn't a supernatural being like Jason is, although the notion is toyed with by Forrest and Peggy for a while). The parallels between Marie Campbell and Pamela Voorhees are particularly strong, as both are seeking revenge for the deaths of loved ones who drowned as a result of other teens being careless.
• Face Death with Dignity: Implied with the 2019 Gamevolt iteration. That version of Forrest doesn't seem to be fazed upon hearing the killer in the studio, as it can be assumed that he is content with his fate since he died as a hero. This isn't the case with his 2023 counterpart, who pleads for his life in the bad ending, before being killed by The Whistling Man.
• The Faceless: Mostly subverted in the paid 2023 version. Despite never actually meeting any of the callers face-to-face, the player gets to see photos of them in the credits/epilogue sequence of the game. This includes Peggy, who up to that point was only visible as a silhouette in the studio window, and Forrest himself. The only people whose faces never get shown are the two Whistling Men, Marie Campbell and her son, who despite having met the player face-to-face has always covered their face with a mask, and Carrie and Leslie (who are guaranteed to survive in all playthroughs).
• Foil: Carrie and Marie Campbell. On Whistling Night, both women were pranked by their high school friends and schoolmates into thinking The Whistling Man was after them. Upon learning the truth, they were naturally peeved off, but things turned tragic when one of their closest friends was killed by the prank's unforeseen consequences. Where they differ is how they rationalize what to do next. Marie's quest to avenge her deceased boyfriend George leads her down a dark self-righteous path, willing to kill everyone related to the event years later. By contrast, Carrie opts to save her remaining friends from the real modern-day Whistling Man, even selflessly leaving herself behind and bracing for the worse.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Right after the prank call by Jimmy about being the Whistling Man, Penny reveals to Forrest it's actually a rather common prank for teens to pretend to be the Whistling Man in Gallows Creek. It turns out the current Whistling Man's spree was sparked by one of these very pranks that caused someone to actually die.
  • There are some hints about there actually being two Whistling Mans.
    • In general, there's the large amount of distance the killer seems to cover with impossible speed, especially if you take note of the town map.
    • If Maurice survives (where with Forrest's help, he locks the Whistling Man in the secret archives), he'll return with armed men to find the Whistling Man gone, despite there being no way to unlock the door except from the outside.
    • If Murphy survives, he'll later call stating that the Whistling Man can't be a woman because the one who beat him up certainly was strong enough to overpower him.
  • For Dawn being the Whistling Man.
    • When Dawn calls in after Carrie's scenario, she will express relief that the girl was spared. Because she was the one who spared her, due to also being a victim of a prank.
    • There are several details that spell out her true intentions in the last call she makes. First, she mentions she's locked out of her apartment by the Starling Security 4000 System. However, according to documentation next to the security system's manual, that system hasn't been installed into the apartments yet. Second, a train audibly passes by and a dog is heard barking. On the town map, there's no place for a train to pass by near the apartments... but a train does pass by Roller Ricky's place, and his dog Max loves to bark at the trains. Thirdly, her "neighbor" starts blasting music of Ricky's own taste. Fourthly, if one comes across the Wood Side Apartment advertisement at KFAM's receptionist area, it states that the building hasn't opened for residents yet due to being newly built. Fifthly, the premise also specifically prohibits pets, yet Dawn treats pet ownership in the area as an annoying, but normal occurrence.
  • For Dawn in general:
    • When you first get a call from Dawn, she asks for you to play a specific song, and then it turns out that you don't have the record because Peggy threw it outside the day before. When Dawn calls back and asks for the song to be played again, only to be told that it's not available, she specifically says that it's outside and you can just go out and get it, surprisingly certain that you'll be able to find it. Because she's watching the station, and very clearly wants to get you outside, where the only person you might see is the Whistling Man.
    • Later in the night, she says she has information about the Whistling Man, but will only tell you if you help her. She certainly does have information about the Whistling Man, but she has no intention of telling you, and unlike everyone else, explicitly says that she won't help you until you've helped her, while everyone else willing helps you after you've helped them, with no mention of a reward or exchange of favors. By the time she (optionally) does reveal the information, which is Chuck being the next planned target, it's already too late as the gas station had already been blown up in an attempt on his life. Even then, Dawn doesn't sound to concerned when talking about this and, rather casually, changes the subject.
    • Finally, in the last call, she mentions that she herself is in danger of being killed by the Whistling Man, however... Listen carefully. In the last call with Dawn, the Whistling Man's signature whistle is never heard even ONCE.
• Good All Along: Clive the janitor is suspected of being the Whistling Man due to his hidden lair in the basement, featuring mannequins, newspaper clippings all over the walls and a board seemingly listing his planned victims and their possible whereabouts. It turns out that he's not the Whistling Man, but rather trying to find out who the Whistling Man's victims are going to be and save them.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Teddy Gallows Sr. was the one who ordered Clive to bribe and blackmail the entire town to cover up the real circumstances behind George Barrow's death to hide the fact his son accidentally caused his death from a Whistling Man prank that got out of hand. He's long dead by the events of the game, but these actions are the motivation behind the Whistling Man's spree.
• Harassing Phone Call:
  • After you handle the second caller in the free version, the killer calls into the show and starts his call by breathing into the phone, before threatening you to stop trying to help his victims.
  • Brian Ponty's constant calls into the station to try and get free advertising for his business definitely qualify for this as well for the paid version. Frustratingly, you can't even cut him off early, even when you know it's him.
• Heroic Sacrifice:
  • In a way in the free version, Forrest and his producer have saved the three callers from their deaths but not themselves. However, it can be assumed that they've accepted their fates and knowing they died as heroes to the callers.
  • To keep the gate open for her friends to ride to safety, Carrie leaves herself behind as The Whistling Man closes on her. Luckily, this sacrifice is defied as The Whistling Man opts to spare her.
• In Spite of a Nail: Certain story events will happen regardless of the player's success or failure, though their context or execution will be changed or lost:
  • Leslie Harper, the player's first caller, will always slip away from her encounter with The Whistling Man. She's crucial in kickstarting the plot: getting help from the neighboring town of Henderson and transferring 911 duties to Forrest and Peggy. This isn't guaranteed for Deputy Sara Martinez, whose life is on the line.
  • Even if the player successfully saves Maurice and traps The Whistling Man in the Archive Room, the killer still manages to mysteriously escape much later. This becomes important later to explain their "supernatural" teleporting - there are two of them. Naturally, The Whistling Man killing Maurice never raises this question.
  • Regardless of whether or not you save Dr. Virginia Sullivan, she'll still fearfully utter, "Clive, I didn't talk!" This gets Forrest and Peggy thinking about the implications. On that note, much later in the game, they will always follow up on Clive's origins by investigating the basement.
  • Whether or not the player saves all, some, or none of Carrie's friends, she will always be the surviving Final Girl of her group. The Whistling Man will spare her, and if you manage to get Carrie trapped in the car wreck, even free her before leaving.
  • Whether or not the player managed to call Chuck Brody at his gas station to save him, the place will still detonate into flames. Crucially, this always gets rid of Gallow's Creek's only ambulance, which directly comes into play regarding Casey Moore and Jason Parker's situation.
  • Whether or not the player managed to save Jason Parker's life, what he knows about George's girlfriend will still be relayed to Forrest and Peggy, before the phone line's cut off at the big name reveal. If he dies, it would be told by Casey.
• Irony: If you play your cards carefully enough in a specific way, Scott, one of the teens in Carrie's entourage, might be the only person- among those that you are capable of saving, anyway- that ends up dying on Whistling Night after escaping the Whistling Man's clutches. It's implied that it wasn't even because either of them managed to find him again (as his death doesn't prevent you from getting the Golden Ending); Jeanie's friendship quiz assigns him as "the most likely to get into a car crash", and Scott is only marked dead if you assign him as the getaway driver, suggesting that he crashed the van in such a way that got himself, but nobody else, killed.
• It's All About Me:
  • Teddy Gallows Jr., the running mayoral candidate for Gallows Creek. All of his political drivel about his adherence to American values and wanting the best for Gallows Creek's citizens, and all of his claims that the current mayor is failing to provide on both fronts, only thinly hides the fact that he's really just a self-important blowhard who thinks he's entitled to be mayor because his bloodline founded the town, a fact that becomes abundantly clear when he calls in after the Whistling Man encounters start and, in short order, tries to hijack the conversation to further his mayoral campaign. Even his loyalty towards the town his family founded isn't unconditional, as it's implied towards the end that he'd ditch Gallows Creek without a second thought if it meant moving on to bigger things and being all the more successful for it. Which isn't even getting into the fact he doesn't have any remorse about how he accidentally caused someone's death with a mean-spirited prank gone horribly wrong that caused the entire events of the game to happen.
  • On a similar (albeit more comedic) note, Brian Ponty is certainly quite overzealous about advertising his pizza parlor, considering that people's lives have been on the line all night. Not even choosing him as the takeout option meant to distract the Whistling Man and divert him from Virginia is enough to satisfy him for one night.
  • As tragic and worthy of sympathy as her motives are, it's nonetheless abundantly clear that the only thing that Marie Campbell is more concerned for than her own sorrows is her son Henry. She doesn't care about the fact that several of the people involved in the Deadly Prank that killed George have spent the rest of their lives remorseful for it, and that they have family, friends, and loved ones of their own (particularly Roller Ricky, whose dog she'll kill first if she manages to break into his house and, should he survive instead, will reveal that he had no idea that the Whistling Night that George died on was even a prank, at least until it was too late), or that the bulk of the people behind the cover-up regarding his death were in dire or tough straits themselves (with many of them being outright blackmailed into submission when they couldn't be bribed), nor is she above committing Revenge by Proxy against the son of two of the now-deceased people involved in the prank, or even her own little sister. During her interview, Forrest has several options to express sympathy for all that's happened to her and even agree with her on a handful matters, but still overall call her out on the fact that, no matter what she's suffered, what she and her son are doing to avenge her is still horrible.
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Whereas everyone else who was involved in the first Whistling Night prank that caused George's death felt remorse and sorrow, along with the various people who were bribed and blackmailed into staying quiet, Teddy Gallows Jr. was more worried about his future being ruined than his teammate's death. He goes so far as calling him a "blip" and insulting George for not realizing it was a prank.
• Kick the Dog: If Forrest fails to protect Roller Ricky, the Whistling Man will shoot and kill his dog Max before killing a heartbroken Ricky. It particularly stands out considering that this was after they spared Carrie (implicitly for being a prank/bullying victim), and that Ricky had clarified over the radio beforehand that Max was his emotional support dog.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Jimmy prank calls the radio station pretending to be The Whistling Man, which takes time away from callers that actually need help, and later scares a teen named Carrie, which she, Peggy, and Forrest are dismayed about. He ends up being one of the REAL Whistling Man's victims. Even more karmic, Jimmy ends up with his face sliced off, exactly how he threatened Forrest when he pranked called the station.
• Logical Weakness: The Whistling Man wearing a mask means that pepper spray is not effective on him and batons can only do so much in the hands of someone who hasn't been trained. However, tasers certainly will stun him long enough for Leslie to get away safely with Martinez in the police cruiser.
• Long-Lost Relative: Peggy mentions that she had a sister that went missing long ago. Fortunately it turns out she is alive! Unfortunately she's also the Whistling Man, and is planning to kill her own sister.
• Locked Room Mystery: If Forrest successfully protects Maurice, the latter will end up locking the Whistling Man in the secret archives. After Maurice comes back with armed men in order to beat the Whistling Man up however, he's astounded to see that the killer is no longer in the room, despite the room still being locked from the outside. This is another hint at there actually being two Whistling Mans and that the locked up one was freed by the other.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Over the course of the game, there are ambiguous hints that the Whistling Man might be the ghost of the original Edward Mooney, seemingly appearing and disappearing at will, with various characters siding for and against the idea. it isn't. Everything has a mundane explanation, and there's no sign of anything supernatural in the game.
• The Maze: In the paid version, one of the callers, Eugene Stine, finds himself lost in the Maize Maze with the Whistling Man chasing after him.
• No OSHA Compliance: The fire door in the radio station has to be unlocked with a key. Peggy realizes how unsafe this would be in an emergency and comments to Forrest that they should consult with their boss, Reggie about it.
• No Full Name Given: Of all the named characters, only Casey along with her friends, Reggie (Forrest and Peggy's boss), Roller Ricky and Murphy don't have their surnames revealed.
• Not Quite the Right Thing: There's multiple opportunities when you can choose something that seems like it should work, but was actually a terrible idea.
  • During the effort to save Maurice at the newspaper office, if you try to send the killer to a room they've already checked, they won't be fooled and will ignore everything else to kill Maurice.
  • During the effort to save the kids at creepy mansion, you have to be the tie-breaker when it comes to assigning roles. The most likely one to trip you up is choosing who will pick the lock for the gate. It might seem like Seth, the "most likely to end up in prison", would be the best choice, since he's clearly got criminal leanings, but you actually want to choose the one "most likely to break out of prison" instead.
  • When trying to save Virginia, you have to call a delivery place to get the assistance of a group of fraternity brothers. Turns out two of the locations are offering free beer with delivery, and one is offering a free six-pack, which would clearly be the priority of a bunch of drunken frat bros. But it's the wrong choice: While the six-pack is a good deal, Ponty's Pizza is offering a free beer for every point that Gallows High won by in their last game, requiring you to find a newspaper showing that Gallows High won by eight points. If you go too fast, you'll miss the details.
• The Paranoiac: It's implied that Chuck Brody has become this in regards to Whistling Night, if his distraught reaction about it "being the one year [he] chose to forget" is any indication. In the case of this particular Whistling Night, it's justified.
• Period Piece: In the 2019 Gamevolt version, the exact date isn't shown in the game, but the final caller is peddling home theatre equipment (including a VCR set) as the "technology of the future," and calls cellular phones "new-fangled" implying it's a couple of decades in the past. The paid 2023 version outright confirms it's set in 1987, between September 2nd to September 3rd. This is deliberate, however, as the game was inspired by the slasher films of the 1980s.
• Pet the Dog: The Whistling Man spares Carrie regardless of which choices you pick. Makes sense, considering that the identity of one of the current Whistling Men is a victim of a prank involving someone pretending to be the Whistling Man during Whistling Night, which caused the death of her lover.
• Phone-In Detective: In the 2023 version, Forrest and Peggy use information gathered from the phone calls, as well as clues scattered around the studio, to piece together the identity of the Whistling Man and the motive for their murder spree.
• Police Are Useless:
  • The reason why your callers are calling you instead of the town's sheriff in the Gamejolt version; he won't pick up, with the very strong implication he's already a victim. The police do start to come towards the station at the game's end, but evidently too late to save Forrest.
  • In the paid version, Forrest learns that there are only three police officers total in Gallows Creek, which he's rightfully astounded by. The sheriff gets killed, the deputy gets knocked out and tied up, and the third officer is on leave in another town, leaving Gallows Creek with no police. Furthermore, because of the phone lines being cut and unable to call outside local numbers, Leslie is forced to drive to Henderson, which is roughly 3 hours away from Gallows Creek, to get help, so police help isn't able to arrive until near the end of the game.
• The Reveal: The Whistling Man that's targeting people is actually two people: Marie Campbell, who is Peggy's missing sister and the person pretending to be "Dawn," and Marie's son Henry Barrow.
• Revenge by Proxy: In the paid game, Eugene Stine is targeted by the Whistling Man in place of his parents, as they had already died in an accident beforehand. Peggy is targeted at the end of the game for a similar reason.
• Room Full of Crazy: Clive has a room full of mutilated mannequins and red string about the Whistling Man's victims hidden behind a secret door in the basement. He's not as dangerous as this makes out, though.
• Running Gag: Brian Ponty of Ponty's Pizza calls several times trying to promote his store for free. Forrest gets more and more upset every time as he falls for Ponty disguising his voice to get him to lower his guard.
• Samus Is a Girl: Zigzagged. One of the biggest breaks in the case is the apparent reveal that the Whistling "Man" is actually a woman, which does explain a lot of things. However, several survivors can mention that they're sure they were attacked by a man, and if you ask the victim immediately after the reveal to clarify the killer's gender, she's got no idea. As it turns out, what's going on is that there's two killers, one male and one female, hence the confusion.
• Schmuck Bait: In order to save Maurice, who's trapped in his office building with the Whistling Man, Forrest and Peggy instruct him to place a decoy radio in the Archive Room. Ideally, Maurice will be given enough time to hide away, before Forrest pretends to sound like Maurice over the radio, attracting and trapping the serial killer inside the one-way room. However, the game can trick the player into exposing Maurice too early. After Maurice sets the radio, a rare timed dialogue box with options appears. Clicking on any of them, instead of letting the time pass, will be too soon and Maurice will be killed. Just the set up the impulse, the game had an earlier timed dialogue box for Forrest to urgently remind Maurice to turn down the radio's volume, or else Maurice blows his cover and gets killed.
• Shout-Out: All over the place, quite appropriate for a game based on 80's and 90's horror flicks.
  • The studio's janitor is named Clive, the pizza parlor owner's name is Brian Ponty, and one of the people the Whistling Man terrorizes is named Carrie.
  • According to KFAM's Gallows Creek map, the streets in the town are named after various fictional killers, final girls, Mystery Inc members, and horror creators. For example, there's a street known as Myers Lane, Dinkly Drive, and Jackson Street.
  • On the Achivement/Trophies side, we have Master of Unlocking, Keep Talking and Nobody Dies, and Child of the Corn Maze.
• Sins of Our Fathers: This is Marie's MO for targeting Eugene Stine, and later her sister Peggy. Eugene's parents were present on the first Whistling Night where her boyfriend George Barrow was killed, but they had died in a bus accident prior to the current night. Likewise, Marie and Peggy's parents already died, and Marie is still hurt about them kicking her to the curb, pleading about Barrow's true cause of death when they never liked the guy. Therefore, she'll settle for killing their kids, with Peggy also being accused of "forgetting" her too.
• Skewed Priorities:
  • Played for laughs in the Gamejolt version, where Forrest can get upset if the final victim is killed because now he won't get the video cassette deal the victim promised him for his help. There's also how the Radio Shed employee will give a brief "we only sell the best equipment" spiel while he's calling in for advice about how to escape a serial killer.
  • In the paid 2023 version, Ponty regularly calls in to try to advertise his pizza shop for free, active serial killer be damned.
  • A downplayed example, also in the paid version: When Eugine Stine first phones in and the Whistling Man is searching for him in the Maize Maze (where he was waiting on someone for a date), he's exactly as concerned as you'd expect about a serial killer potentially coming to end him... but he also makes it a point to say that "[he's] about to die a virgin."
• Stealth Pun: Marie Campbell, one of the murderers behind the Whistling Man, picks the name "Dawn" as an alias to ring into the radio station with. Presuming she's named after b-movie all-star Bruce Campbell, then her chosen name is a nod to Evil Dead, in that just like that story by the end of the game many characters will probably be dead by Dawn.
  • Forrest can find a flier in the basement for a school play. Marie stars, but not as the lead. The actual female lead character in the play? Dawn. Meanwhile, the male lead was played by George Barrow. His character's name? Henry.
• Stereotypical Nerd: Fitting for a game that's inspired by late 1980s culture, there are two examples that fit the era:
  • Eugene Stine is vocally introduced as a nerdy hopeless romantic, who never seems to pick up on his date Molly most likely stood his invitation up in the Maize Maze. If the player makes one or two wrong extra directions, it becomes quickly clear he's pretty out of shape, for a situation that requires him to outrun a killer in a big maze. The player can see Eugene's oval glasses wearing, swept hairstyle headshot picture in the post-game.
  • Dudley, from the Brotherly Fraternity of Engineers, can give Eugene a run for his money. While we never get to see an image of him, his nasally voice, precise formal language, and cheesy "yeepers" paint enough of a picture. You have the pleasure of listening to him if you guess the wrong fast food joint that served a fraternity tonight, sealing Virginia's fate for the worse.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Several actions will result in death for unexpected but entirely justified reasons.
  • While helping Maurice, you need to distract the Whistling Man three times. The first time isn't difficult, but if you don't pay attention and try to distract the Whistling Man by sending him to a room he's already searched, he'll ignore the distraction and kill Maurice; he already knows Maurice isn't in the room you've selected and realizes that it's a ploy.
  • If you do everything right in helping the Carrie and the other teens escape the cabin, except opening the gate, everyone will die: the driver will smash through the gate, lose control of the vehicle and crash. Carrie will survive due to plot armor, but all of the other teens in the van will be very dead. Turns out that the kids didn't put on their seatbelts in the panic and they all get killed in the crash.
  • When trying to help Murphy in the burning building, you have a number of people that you can call to go help him. The most qualified and the closest can't make it there in time due to road construction. The second closest seems like the logical choice, but, as Peggy warns you, he's a little old. He's actually the worst choice, because he doesn't even make it to the factory before it burns down. Old people aren't really great choices for emergency situations.
  • The nurse on the phone line correctly tells you that someone that's been stabbed needs to get medical help quickly, but no matter how much you think it will help, do not remove the stabbing implement. If you forget or ignore this and tell Casey to pull the knife out of Jason, no matter what else you do, he'll die from massive blood loss.
• Survivor Guilt: If you manage to save him, Roller Ricky will later reveal that he knew George back when he was alive and before the Whistling Night prank that got him killed, and felt for the longest time that he should have died instead; aside from his previously-mentioned alcoholism, it's implied that this is why he joined a support group and adopted Max.
• Two Dun It: The Whistling Man trying to kill people during the game is noted to have escaped a room locked from the outside, and attacking very frequently despite distances between each potential victim, which is explained as being due to the Whistling Man being two people, Marie Campbell and her son, Henry Barrow.
• Uncertain Doom: In the Golden Ending, Marie Campbell becomes cornered at the top of Whistling Point and jumps off from it into the river. This fall is presumed to have previously killed Edward Mooney, the original killer, as well as actually killing George Barrow, but nothing is explicitly confirmed about her fate.
• Video Game Cruelty Potential: When saving the second caller in the Gamejolt version, you can lure the killer elsewhere by speaking to him over a radio. There's also, however, a dialogue option to tell the killer where his victim is.
• Villainous Mother-Son Duo: At the end of the game, it's revealed that there are two Whistling Men, them being a mother and her son.
• Where Are They Now: At the end of the Gamejolt game, you get to see what happened to the possible victims if they survive the night.
• Youth Is Wasted on the Dumb:
  • After Leslie manages to barely escape the Whispering Man, Forrest's next call is a boy named Jimmy who pretends to be the killer, whom Forrest quickly hangs up on. He reappears later as part of Carrie's friend group, once again pretending to be the Whistling Man as part of a prank on Carrie. Unfortunately, the real Whistling Man sneaks up on them while they're busy laughing at Carrie, who kills him shortly thereafter and forces his terrified surviving friends to hide.
  • All of the Whistling Man's attempted victims, with the exception of Eugene Stine, Roller Ricky, and Peggy, were guilty of this twenty years prior, being directly involved in a prank that ended up getting their friend George Barrow killed. Teddy Gallows Jr. in particular had a lot to lose if word got out that he was guilty of manslaughter, which led to his father bribing or blackmailing the entire town into covering up the real circumstances behind George's death in order to keep his son's future in politics secure.