BattleBlock Theater

Story

Almost all of the game's cutscenes are in the style of a stick puppet. The game begins with the narrator (played by Will Stamper) recounting the adventures of the hundreds of friends aboard the S.S. Friendship, as well as Hatty Hattington, known as "everyone and everyone's best friend." After a severe storm, the S.S. Friendship is shipwrecked on a mysterious, seemingly deserted island, and the crew themselves disappear. After waking up from the wreckage, the player character seeks shelter from the storm in a dilapidated theater. Shortly thereafter, the player discovers technologically advanced, sophisticated cats holding the trapped Hatty while a menacing glowing top hat is placed on him. The hat seems to alter him, and he warns the cats of the player's presence, attacking them and rendering them unconscious. When he regains consciousness, it turns out that the entire crew of the S.S. Friendship is being held captive by the cats and Hatty is their new leader. The player is then freed from his cell and forced to play deadly games by the cat overseers. The cats, who force their captives to put on deadly theatrical performances, watch in amusement as the player struggles to survive. As the player completes challenges, he finds gems that he can spend to unlock other crew members to play in these theatrical performances. Hatty, who seems to be possessed by the unknown powers of the hat, starts working for the cats and against the player. As the game progresses, the narrator reveals more about the theater. Hundreds of years before the player was shipwrecked on the island, Purrham Furbottom, a theater lover, was trying to build the greatest theater in the world. The opening night featured the most breathtaking feats and thrills ever seen, and the theater became an overnight success. However, Furbottom did not allow any breaks in the theater and died after an interminably long performance after pooping himself to death on the way to the toilet. Since then, his top hat has been passed down to various others who were revered by the cats as their leaders, each suffering their own cruel fate. The narrator theorizes that the hat is haunted by the grief and sorrow of its former wearers, and that Hatty is its current victim, sunk in depression while surrounded by the many gems the player has accumulated without doing anything for the state of the theater. Eventually, the cats get fed up with Hattie's inaction and start rioting, striking and more, while the challenges for the player become more and more difficult. As the theater's condition continues to deteriorate, the narrator encourages and educates the player about the cats' state of mind, which becomes more unstable as time goes on. The narrator also instructs the player to enter the vault where Hatty and all the gems the player has spent are kept before the cats kill Hatty and the rest of the crew and the madness starts all over again. After completing the final tasks in the vault, the player breaks into Hatty's throne room. Hatty doesn't budge, so the player carries him out of the dilapidated theater while the crew of the S.S. Friendship stages a mass breakout. Amidst the chaos, everyone makes it back to the ship and escapes the island and the cats that live there. While celebrating with hot cocoa, the player tries to cheer up Hatty, who the narrator suggests has sunk into a catatonic state from prolonged contact with the hat. The narrator sings a sad song as the credits roll before quickly recovering and singing a happier song, rocking the boat and throwing Hatty into the sea, where he sinks to the bottom. The hat lands on his head and begins to glow green instead of the usual red. He shoots a beam into the sky that sends the boat into the air and on into space, where it vaporizes a bear that appeared during the narrator's happy song. The narrator claims to know what just happened, but doesn't explain it and sends the game back to the title screen.