Mirror Man (Game)

Who’s that man in the background?

Warning: Contains spoilers.

Mirror Man is a story about Julian Torres and his encounters with the Mirror Man (almost) every decade.

## Synopsis

Julian Torres, an ordinary boy in the sleepy town of Ardenville, stumbles into a living nightmare that will torment him the rest of his life. Who is Mirror Man? What can stop him?

## Characters

* Julian Torres
* Mirror Man (person)
* Officer McCay
* Beth Yozamp
* Greg Fernhaber
* Summer Hammonds
* Priti
* Patric
* Hazel
* Kristen

## Plot

OIn 1976, Julian Torres, a 6-year-old boy, is left with his babysitter, Beth, while his mother and father go out to dinner. After playing hide-and-seek and a new board game that Beth brought over, her boyfriend Greg comes over uninvited. After Beth leaves to get a snack, Julian is threatened by Greg to open the liquor cabinet. After he does, Beth comes back and Julian heads to the kitchen to call his parents. Then, Beth returns and opens the basement for him. Julian heads down and decides to play a video game. After he wins, Julian hears fighting upstairs. He runs up the stairs to find Beth nearly dead and begging him to hide. After hiding from the attacker, Julian rushes to the front door and discovers Greg dead. After hiding again, Julian hastily unlocks the front door and opens it, only to see his parents dead and the attacker driving away in their car. Later, officers arrive and detail that Julian is the sole survivor, with him stating that the attacker was a mirror man.

In 1986, Julian, now 16, works at Taco Hut with Summer. After Julian’s friend Shawn leaves, Julian and Summer clean up and put the money in a vault, though Julian hallucinates Beth’s dead body when they open the vault. Then, they arm the burglar alarm. Suddenly, a stain appears on a tablecloth and Julian pulls it off to reveal a salsa stain. After cleaning it up, carved runes are revealed and Julian decodes it, realising that it says ‘All must die tonight, our work complete’. Suddenly, Mirror Man breaks through the front door and they topple a stack of chairs and the pillar with condiments before heading to the kitchen. Julian pours oil into the overheating fryer and rushes into the office with Summer, resulting in the fryer exploding near Mirror Man. They then barricade the door, but Mirror Man cuts Summer’s neck before Julian stabs his right arm. Julian then open the first-aid kit and bandages Summer as well as out a blanket on her before calling the police. Officer McCay then arrives and chases Mirror Man with Julian monitoring the cameras. Officer McCay then catches up to Mirror Man, and Mirror Man runs at Officer McCay before he manages to shoot Mirror Man. Then, Officer McCay rushes to try and save Summer, but Julian informs him that Summer is dead. After that, Officer McCay goes to arrest Mirror Man, but Mirror Man seems to have disappeared.

In 1996, Julian, now 26, is called by Priti to Wormhaven Manor, as she says there is an emergency. After Julian opens the gate, Priti states that she and Patric are holding a horror-themed party, and asks Julian to help restore the power that was knocked out by the storm. Julian then turns on and refuels the generator before Patric comes out, dressed in robes, asking Julian to help turn on the stage lights and the fog machine for his act. Soon after Julian turns them on, the party guests arrive and the act starts. Midway through the act, Priti asks Julian to come out, stating that it would be a cathartic experience for him. Patric then introduces Julian to everyone, before he tells Julian that the guests are fans of him and Mirror Man. Suddenly, Patric collapses, blood pouring out, and Mirror Man steps out of the crowd. Priti swiftly opens the door and everyone rushes out. After regrouping them, Priti and Julian ushers them to the front door before realising that Mirror Man had padlocked it. After Julian unlocks it, everyone rushes out and an ambulance arrives. Priti then asks Julian to help get Patric out but Julian refuses, storming off.

In 2006, Julian, now 36, has a nightmare about being at a graveyard. He breaks off the gate and uses it to reach his house’s floating front door. After that, he digs up the graves of Summer, Beth, and Greg and cleans their tombstones before unlocking Summer’s grave. She asks Julian to hand her a phone and gives him a pin that he uses to unlock Greg’s grave. Greg then tells Julian to help him play his guitar one last time before he passes on, leaving behind a skull ring that Julian uses to unlock Beth’s graves. Julian then helps Beth untangle some worms on her face before she passes on, leaving behind his house’s phone. Julian then gives the phone to Summer, who orders a flyer. After Julian gets it from the front door and gives the flyer to Summer, she passes on. With all three passing on peacefully, Julian unlocks the front door and enters another cemetery filled with Mirror Man’s clones. After evading them, Julian enters his parent’s station wagon, where he reverts back to when he was 6. He then fixes the radio and inserts a cassette that plays Mirror Man smashing the keys of Julian’s piano. His parents then hand him a map to help guide them to the restaurant, but Julian makes them take the longest route. After correctly guessing what they looked like, his dad hands him a key to unlock his mother’s bag. Julian then puts the door handle back and jump out as his parents drip with blood and reach out to grab him. He then suddenly wakes up on a plane, about to land in Ardenville.

Julian then leaves the plane and heads to his old house, with Officer McCay investigating with him. Julian tells Officer McCay that he remembered Mirror Man smashing his piano’s keyboard. Eventually, he manages to play the correct tune and opens the top of the piano, revealing a key that was stuck inside of the piano. After reaching it, the key is revealed to belong to the Doyles. Shortly after, Shawn Doyle comes in, and Julian quickly realises that Shawn is Mirror Man. Shawn then stabs McCay before chasing after Julian. Eventually, Julian seeks refuge in the parent’s bedroom, and soon manages to get into the attic. After building a ladder, Julian tries to escape through a boarded-up window, but Shawn kicks the ladder down before Julian could escape. After clarifying some things, Shawn prepares to kill Julian, but Officer McCay manages to knock him out and arrest him.

Later, Officer McCay and Julian are outside a courtroom, preparing cups of tea and Julian’s witness statement. Soon after Julian prepares his statement, the television in the hall cuts out. Officer McCay thinks that the wiring had a problem, so he goes into the courtroom alone. However, he does not come out in a while, so Julian enters the courtroom to find both Officer McCay and the bailiff dead, as well as the courtroom set ablaze. He then unlocks the door to the hall and gets the fire extinguisher from there to put out a small fire near the steps. Soon, Julian enters the judge’s chamber but finds the judge bound and gagged. Shawn then knocks out Julian, and Julian wakes up soon after handcuffed to the judge’s desk and the judge dead. After Shawn leaves, Julian manages to remove his handcuffs and soon escapes out a secret passage. After he escapes, law enforcement tells Julian that he would be declared dead and living under a completely new identity.

In 2016, a 46-year-old Julian, now under the name Steve is at an escape room waiting for his blind date. Kristen, his blind date, then arrives. After letting her in, Julian and Kristen unlock a case to ring a bell. Hazel then appears behind a curtain, and introduces them into an escape room named ‘The Marvellous Mariel’. They decide to play it, despite Julian feeling slightly on edge. After finishing the first room, Julian looks under a crack in the door. He hallucinates his mother’s dead body when he discovers a similar-looking mannequin that represents Muriel, but decides not to tell Kristen. After entering the third room, Julian feels uneasy when he discovers that the room contains various mirrors. After fixing the plastic mirror, Julian hallucinates blood and warns Kristen, though she thinks that the unintentional creepiness of the escape room is getting to him. After a while, Julian and Kristen traverse a mirror maze, all while Julian seems to hallucinate pictures of Mirror Man in robes. After finding the exit, Hazel scares Julian and Kristen, and Julian seems to pass out, though it is later implied he attacked Hazel. After that, he finally confesses to being Julian to Kristen. Kristen is okay with it, and tell Julian about Emery. They then connect over their trauma, seeming to be able to leave behind their worries.

In 2026, Julian, now 56 and living together in a farm with Kristen and Emery, hear news about Mirror Man attacking a postman nearby. Worried, they hastily arm the burglar alarm and hide Emery in a secret room behind their bookcase. They then leave, hoping to finally stop Mirror Man and taking Emery’s baseball bat with them. They then try setting up a trap for Mirror Man, but Kristen is attacked trying to get the basement key. Luckily, she manages to run away, and soon they open the trapdoor and lower some mirrors. Julian then makes sure that Mirror Man’s only path is where they want him, and eventually, Mirror Man enters. They stand behind Mirror Man as he threatens Julian, stabbing their reflections in the mirrors. He then breaks through the final mirror, and falls into the trapdoor. Julian and Kristen hug, feeling that they have defeated Mirror Man. Suddenly, he rises from the trapdoor, and Julian finishes him off with Emery’s baseball bat, knocking off his mask. The game ends, as it zooms into the shattered mask of Mirror Man.

## Trivia

* The dialogue boxes used are cracked near the names, fitting the theme.
* Mirror Man’s name is inspired by Julian’s description of him.
* This is the only game published on AE Mysteries that spans over a lifespan.