Twelve Thirteen

1213 is a freeware game in three parts by Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw. Yes, it's him again.

Somewhat inspired by Flashback with some System Shock thrown in for good measure, 1213 is an action-adventure platformer complete with gun combat. Not bad for a game engine specifically designed for point-and-click adventure games. The title character, 1213, manages to escape the cell in which he has lived for as long as he can remember (Which isn't that far back) into something much worse.

As with the Chzo Mythos games, Yahtzee made a special edition of 1213. Originally donationware, it is now free to download.

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Tropes used by the game:

• Advancing Wall of Doom: 1213's entire perception of reality breaks down on several occasions, leaving you to keep him ahead of the breakdown.
  • Subverted. The inky blackness doesn't kill you, and doesn't advance on its own, only advancing when you reach a certain point.
• Apocalyptic Log
• All Just a Dream: Word of God suggests this as a possible interpretation of the game. But he also points out that it is probably not the case.
• Attack Drone: Security drones, one of the tougher regular enemies in the game (Out of a pool of three).
• Back Tracking
• Bandaged Face
• Bottomless Magazines: 1213's gun never runs out of bullets, while the same applies for the security guards.
• But What About the Astronauts?: The horrible truth learned just in time for the player to realize just how badly every last source of hope has been destroyed.
• Conspicuously Selective Perception: Guards will only shoot at you while you're on the same level as them, completely forgetting about you as soon as you drop out of their limited vision. Zombies only move in similar circumstances.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: In a sense, Westbury.
  • Otherwise subverted by Westbury's downright hatred of these sorts of people and how they go about doing things - this is the entire basis of his Motive Rant. When Petrovitch asks Westbury "Do you know how much that costs?!?" when 1213 destroys the final boss, Westbury snaps, and shoots the poor guy in the head. Westbury despises bureaucrats. In fact, in the Special Edition commentary, Yahtzee makes a point that this piece of dialogue has the only example of profanity in the game to demonstrate how absolutely pissed off he is.

Westbury: "How much these things cost? Is that all you have to say? You... You... YOU FUCKING BUREAUCRAT!" *BANG*

• Death Course
• Downer Ending: And how. Even the comparatively silly hidden ending is equally depressing when you think about it.
  • Not really. Death by chocolate sounds positively divine
• Edge Gravity: While walking, you'll stop at a ledge. Run, and you'll just run right off. There's even a Lampshade Hanging at the beginning of the game, when Westbury says "Don't worry, if you keep walking you won't walk right off the ledge. That would be silly, now wouldn't it?"
• The Faceless: 1213 and the rest of his brothers and sisters all wear full-face masks to help heal the facial sores that the Yellow Death causes.
• Heal Thyself: Showers can cure bullet wounds, zombie bites, being stabbed, electrocutions, heart conditions brought upon by sheer exhaustion, and painful landings.
• Insecurity Camera: Mostly averted; most cameras are decorative, and only two will impede your progress if they see you.
• Insurmountable Waist-Height Fence: Hundreds of doors, few accessible. Pretty much every elevator fails to respond to 1213, requiring him to haul himself between floors.
• The Ishmael: 1213 towards Westbury.
• Late to the Party
• Mad Scientist: Westbury, according to Yahtzee's commentary.
• Mission Control Is Off Its Meds: Westbury, Westbury, Westbury.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: By generally shooting everything that moves, 1213's considered a threat by the crew of the facility, which is a damned shame, considering what his purpose is...
  • Not to mention releasing the zombies from the first chapter to spread throughout the remainder of the facility when he blasts his way through the quarantine. Oops.
• Nobody Poops: Shower blocks exist, barracks exist, there's even a small mess room and an entire food court, but not one toilet.
  • They could very well be behind those doors in the background.
• Ontological Mystery: Stop me if you've heard this one: you awake in a room with no memory. Through exploration, you learn a backstory of horror, and ultimately fight to liberate yourself from your condition of ignorance.
  • Yahtzee happily lampshades this in the special edition commentary.
• Precision F-Strike: As demonstrated above.
• Puzzle Boss: The final boss.
• Redemption Equals Death: Westbury's last orders saves 1213's life, even though his attempt at reconciling is in the middle of Jerkass territory.
• The Reveal: Maybe he could've done something differently if he hadn't been brought up to speed in the very last scene... but maybe not.
• Scary Shiny Glasses: Westbury. You even get to fight them.
• Take That: In the second episode, Croshaw included a "sprint" function, which allows 1213 to run faster at the risk of making his heart explode, by request of the fan-base. He then did not include a single puzzle in the game that requires the faster speed imparted by the sprint function.
• Tastes Like Diabetes: In-Universe The secret silly ending. Quite literally, actually.
• We Will Have Perfect Health in the Future: 1213 and his clone brothers have been designed to be immune to every known serious disease and highly resistant towards poisons gas. Ironically, this also causes them to be especially vulnerable to the zombie virus.
• You Wake Up in a Room