The Several Journeys of Reemus
In the kingdom of Fredricus, there is a man. A mighty dragonslayer renowned throughout the lands for his deeds. A hero unlike any other. This is his brother's story.
Reemus is an exterminator living in the kingdom of Fredricus. He yearns to be recognized as a hero, but he lives in his brother's shadow. Trying to help him with his goal is Liam, a small purple bear, who isn't much good in a fight, but has a good head on his shoulders, and is a talented musician; he's Reemus' chronicler, balladeer, and closest friend. Together they take on all manner of bugs and beasts that cause as much trouble (if not more so) than a dragon, but are much lower profile.
There are currently four installments - the prologue, and chapters one, two, three and four. Chapter four was previously only available to those who preordered the premium installment, the Ballads of Reemus: When the Bed Bites, but was released at the same time as Ballads was released to the general public.
- Big Creepy-Crawlies: Reemus' specialty. He prefers to deal with them, too, as he feels that being hired for infestations of mundane bugs hurts his reputation.
- Brilliant but Lazy: Reemus is a fairly smart guy, and a pretty heavy hitter when the chips are down, but given the choice he'd rather use the low-brainpower violent option over more thinky methods, and the let-it-solve-itself method over the low-brainpower violent option. Liam is an interesting application of the trope; although he's considerably more proactive than Reemus, as bears go he has more in common with a teddy than a grizzly, so much of his "proactivity" involves motivating Reemus to do the heavy lifting while he does the brainwork Reemus isn't interested in.
- Crossover: The Death Slugs from The Visitor are a major antagonist.
- Exposition Fairy: In the prologue, Liam would stand at the entrance to the room and give advice about the puzzle when clicked. In later games, he takes a more active role in puzzle solving. In-universe is the All-Knowing Parasite; a prescient leech with a giant eyeball, it knows all and will tell you what you need to know. But it lives and feeds on the tail of the Devouring Worm, which is also Exactly What It Says on the Tin, so you're probably better off saving it for something damn important.
- Gaiden Game: Although it stars Liam and Reemus, Ballads is a separate story from The Several Journeys, canonically happening before the latter in the series timeline.
- The Ghost: Reemus' brother Raymus is mentioned once or twice, and is more or less the source of Reemus' histrionic tendencies, but doesn't really appear in the games.
- Multiple Endings: Every game has at least two different endings; usually a canon ending, and a gag ending (or, in the case of Chapter Two, a full-on bad ending). Normally the choice is down to the last scene, but in Chapter 3 there's a full-blown split path branching from the second scene. In this chapter, both endings technically lead into the next chapter.
- In the recently-released chapter 4, the three endings all lead into the next chapter, because the only difference between them is the method by which Reemus reaches the goal of the final puzzle.
- Refused the Call: Reemus is so rattled by the incident at Castle Fredricus that Liam has to talk him out of going home and drinking away his troubles. Fortunately, he gets over his apprehension, or else the series would be a lot shorter.
- Tastes Like Diabetes: [in-universe] A literal example. The Sugar Bees make a honey so sweet that ingesting it (or, for the impatient, filling a hollow dart with it) causes a temporary diabetic coma while the body tries to deal with all this sugar.
- Tranquillizer Dart: Chapter two, Reemus is shot from offscreen by a dart so loaded with sedative that it actually sprays a considerable amount on Liam when it hits. Liam has just enough time to identify the sedative before he, too, is shot and goes under. Later on, they have to collect a sample of it (it's a type of honey made by a particular bee, which is so potent that even a small amount contains enough sugar to induce a temporary diabetic coma) to exploit it's faux-sedative properties.
- Violation of Common Sense: In the prologue, the easiest way to defeat the Ant Queen is to jump into her mouth.
- Weird Trade Union: The plot of Chapter Four: The Beastly Black Hole of Bureaucracy. Reemus and Liam must lay claim to the death slug quest through Danricus' hero regulations board before anyone else gets their hands on it.