You play as Ade, a Villain Protagonist who has crashed a yuppie party, and must go out of your way to ruin their fun, just because you can. Keep abusing partygoers until Ade is the only one present.
How to be a Complete Bastard provides examples of:
- Bedsheet Ghost: Not actually shown, but implied. When the player picks up a bedsheet they can make Ade do ghost impressions, which will cause everyone to leave the room screaming (very useful if you want to set up a practical joke).
- Comedic Sociopathy: Pretty much the entire point of the game. The player must become so obnoxious that all the other guests leave.
- Cruelty Is the Only Option: The player can inflict all manner of atrocities on hapless guests, including electrifying them with a battery charger, stabbing them with a pen and nailing them to the floor.Game: The guest screams in agony.
- The '80s: The game was released in 1987, and is set at a yuppie party.
- Extreme Omnivore: Ade can eat or drink almost anything with no ill effect, including a furry animal. Be warned, though, that even he can't survive drinking bleach or weed killer.
- Forced Transformation: Opening an umbrella indoors is bad luck. If Ade does so he turns into a cooker and will remain that way for the rest of the game.
- Sliding Scale of Gameplay and Story Integration: Deliberate Integration. The idea of the game is to become such a nuisance that all the other guests leave. When all but the last few letters at the bottom of the screen are lit up, guests spawn in very infrequently which actually makes it more difficult to get over the line.
- Liquid Courage: Some actions require Ade to be sufficiently drunk.
- Schmuck Bait: One of the bedrooms has a computer. Selecting "Reset the computer" will reset the actual Spectrum/CPC/C64. For context, loading the game from tape took several minutes, so this is a really mean trick from the developers.
- Spelling Bonus: Each time you annoy a guest, or better yet make them leave outright, one letter of the phrase COMPLETE-BASTARD will light up (yes, the hyphen counts). The player wins when all the letters are filled up.
- The Prankster: Filling up the last letters before the first ones burn out pretty much requires that Ade becomes this. Pranks include putting a Thumbtack on the Chair and a variant of Pulling the Rug Out (using the hammer to remove the carpet tacks on the stairs).
- Video Game Cruelty Punishment: In spite of all the awful things the player can do to other guests, the game is over if Ade actually kills anyone.
- Villain Protagonist: Ade has crashed a party and will stop at nothing to ruin it for everyone else, just because he can.