It was definitely a chemical strike. There are explosions during the air raid in Frank's ending but we can safely assume those are explosions of gas.
As for the time thing - Kate does mention that it felt as if time came to a stand still when she came in contact with the Pattern so that's a possibility. I mean there are cigars still lit and everything. I didn't think too much about that.
I didn't notice the bunker door thing since I didn't find it until it opened but it seemed as if the light was powering the station so I'm guessing the door required power to open or something?
And I agree that it doesn't seem that the player is anything or anyone - you're just an observer.
I think that the idea that the player is a result of Kate merging with the pattern is valid. You're going around as some kind of a pattern manifestation with Kate's memories. Thus playing these tapes and radios may actually be you remembering stuff and not really playing them back. The game mentions memories several times so it's an important part of the narrative.
As for the time and smoking cigars it seems that you - the Kate-pattern thing - don't feel time as people do. You can rewind it or make it stop - this is happening all the time during the game. So this is another thing that is clearly happened - the time is not how it was prior to the events of the game. Everything is messed up and the game's disjointed non-linear narrative kinda illustrates this further. Maybe the whole idea is for the Pattern (i.e. the player) to understand via Kate's memories of the surroundings and people's relationships in the area the order of what happened because of its appearance?
I also felt that the ending was too abrupt and not really good. They should've explained the whole thing a bit more.
I think that the idea that the player is a result of Kate merging with the pattern is valid. You're going around as some kind of a pattern manifestation with Kate's memories. Thus playing these tapes and radios may actually be you remembering stuff and not really playing them back. The game mentions memories several times so it's an important part of the narrative.
As for the time and smoking cigars it seems that you - the Kate-pattern thing - don't feel time as people do. You can rewind it or make it stop - this is happening all the time during the game. So this is another thing that is clearly happened - the time is not how it was prior to the events of the game. Everything is messed up and the game's disjointed non-linear narrative kinda illustrates this further.
I also felt that the ending was too abrupt and not really good. They should've explained the whole thing a bit more.
When a game goes above and beyond to deliver an exceptionally well thought out and designed world, its breathtaking and amazing, but when the actually gameplay is so dull, so methodical, so repetitious with no variation whatsoever, its puts an extremely strong blunder on what could have been an amazing play through. Instead youre simply moving forward, hoping to initiate a new dialog scene for what feels like the 100th time and your left with only a half amazing experience, a success and a fail.
I can understand folks that do really love this experience, but I think this side of the spectrum has to be known as well for other players that might get the same feelings or thoughts with how the game is designed and plays out.
Put on subtitles and it shows the name of who's speaking at any given time.
The ones you have to "tune" to see are the key ones necessary for unlocking the final cutscene for each story (These are also the ones marked on some maps with the butterfly symbol). The ones that appear naturally are just side stories that aren't necessary.
Is there a particular route one should take. My wife and I were constantly arguing about should we go "this way" or "that way." We saw the ball of light speed in front of us to a certain path, but it just barrels through the area, and we're supposed to follow it and completely ignore the surrounding homes, stores, etc. and not explore?
Has anyone found the best set of "principles" to follow where one can explore the different villager's stories while maintaining on the path to discovering what ultimately went down?
No spoilers please as we're not even sure where the hell in the game story line we're even at.
Is there a particular route one should take. My wife and I were constantly arguing about should we go "this way" or "that way." We saw the ball of light speed in front of us to a certain path, but it just barrels through the area, and we're supposed to follow it and completely ignore the surrounding homes, stores, etc. and not explore?
Has anyone found the best set of "principles" to follow where one can explore the different villager's stories while maintaining on the path to discovering what ultimately went down?
No spoilers please as we're not even sure where the hell in the game story line we're even at.
There's no set path, the quickest way is to find the map of the area which shows the Butterfly Pattern marks on them. These are the key spots needed to complete the area, once you activate and view all these something in the area will change which basically tells you that you're done and you can proceed to the final spot to see the conclusion of that character's arc (Really early spoiler
for example the first area once you see all of the key memories the church bell will start chiming and you need to head there to see the conclusion to Jeremy's part
). You can basically wander around looking for the optional ones, radios, and ringing phones outside of the key ones.
It is possible to wander past the area and activate the next character's story although it is pretty obvious usually... if you accidentally do this and want to see the conclusion to the previous character before proceeding then you can just close the game and reload your save from the last key memory (It auto saves after each of these).
You don't need to be following the light. It'll sometimes point you in the right direction but I usually ignored it, preferring to explore on my own and use the maps whenever I needed to find key spots.
If it's lingering you may have missed something...
Did you get the radio outside the back of the pub?
You don't need to be following the light. It'll sometimes point you in the right direction but I usually ignored it, preferring to explore on my own and use the maps whenever I needed to find key spots.
If it's lingering you may have missed something...
Did you get the radio outside the back of the pub?
Yep I wouldn't worry about it! Finding all the small interactions isn't necessary and it'd detract from the experience to try and do so imo. It is ideal to get all the key ones in each chapter to see how each story unfolds but that's it. Just go at your own pace.
There's no set path, the quickest way is to find the map of the area which shows the Butterfly Pattern marks on them. These are the key spots needed to complete the area, once you activate and view all these something in the area will change which basically tells you that you're done and you can proceed to the final spot to see the conclusion of that character's arc (Really early spoiler
for example the first area once you see all of the key memories the church bell will start chiming and you need to head there to see the conclusion to Jeremy's part
). You can basically wander around looking for the optional ones, radios, and ringing phones outside of the key ones.
It is possible to wander past the area and activate the next character's story although it is pretty obvious usually... if you accidentally do this and want to see the conclusion to the previous character before proceeding then you can just close the game and reload your save from the last key memory (It auto saves after each of these).
You don't need to be following the light. It'll sometimes point you in the right direction but I usually ignored it, preferring to explore on my own and use the maps whenever I needed to find key spots.
If it's lingering you may have missed something...
Did you get the radio outside the back of the pub?
Thanks for the advice. I'll make sure to do that tonight, I actually found certain stories to be very intriguing, creepy, and overall drawing me more into the game to find out what happened. I've only heard so far
the woman who's husband and kids went upstairs to rest and never came back down,
and also
the doctor who records his symptoms and speaks of a substance described as liquid light
I hope there are more scenarios that pique my interest in the way these did!
To be clear, if you move on to another area and trigger another story chapter, you don't have to reload the game, you can just return to the previous area and finish what you missed. This only becomes more difficult when you reach the final area of the game.
You can't fuck up anything, the story is non-linear, you can run up to the final
Steven
part without triggering anything at all I think. You can go back anywhere at any time as well. The windmill scene is a bit strange because the road to the windmill is closed and you need to go around through the bushes or by the main road. If you do the latter then you'll probably bump into Lizzie story prior to getting to the windmill.
To be clear, if you move on to another area and trigger another story chapter, you don't have to reload the game, you can just return to the previous area and finish what you missed. This only becomes more difficult when you reach the final area of the game.
You can't fuck up anything, the story is non-linear, you can run up to the final
Steven
part without triggering anything at all I think. You can go back anywhere at any time as well. The windmill scene is a bit strange because the road to the windmill is closed and you need to go around through the bushes or by the main road. If you do the latter then you'll probably bump into Lizzie story prior to getting to the windmill.
To be clear, if you move on to another area and trigger another story chapter, you don't have to reload the game, you can just return to the previous area and finish what you missed. This only becomes more difficult when you reach the final area of the game.
Ah that's good that it's completely non linear! Wasn't sure if it was or not since the segway between chapters is so pronounced when you complete them.
If it's the same one I'm thinking of (The entrance is in a field right in front of the windmill) then you can literally just walk over the fence at the right spot. It has weird diagonal steps on each side at the spot you can walk over. There's a couple of fences like this in the game.
Platinum get. Fairly straight forward.
Loved the story in this. Game needed more interactivity though really and a faster walk speed. The r2 rub thing should of been the normal walking pace.
You're definitely right about dissonance between the narrative and gameplay for some games. I get your main point as well. One shouldn't assume that interactivity will automatically make something better. I'll even cite EGTTR with it's motion control stuff. I can't really cite lots of evidence for the advantage of interactivity besides my personal experiences with games like Brothers, Gone Home, Spec Ops: The Line, and The Walking Dead. My experience was enhanced by these being interactive stories, and I wouldn't have had quite the same experience if they were films instead.
I'm merely looking at it from a very basic perspective. Interactivity is what makes video games different from other mediums, therefore people should attempt to use it as an advantage. Even freely being able to walk around is using interactivity as an advantage, though not necessarily a compelling one. My problem with EGTTR is that the original Dear Esther mod came out 7 years ago. EGTTR is definitely prettier, but everything else seemed to stagnate a bit. At worst they took a step backward.
This brings up another point I almost put in my original post. I think this is the first major release of a game like this on a console. The Vanishing of Ethan Carter and Ether One were released before this, but contained adventure game puzzle solving. This is especially true with Ether One. Had this been my first experience with the genre it probably would have blown my mind.
Yeah agree that interactivity is good if it's a videogame.
I liked how both Ether One and Ethan Carter gave you a little more to work with.
With Rapture I kind of feel most interaction is pointless. I'd prefer less of it or more structured interaction (for example triggering each memory sequence could have had an Ethan Carter like puzzle.
This game man. So, so beautiful. I'm streaming it at the moment if anyone wants to take a look. First time I've ever bothered with the share button! http://www.twitch.tv/hugzinator
Some story thoughts/observations. Still mulling themes but curious as to how I've interpreted some of the narrative threads matches up to others.
The Event Narrative
In the end this seems fairly straightforward unless I'm missing some key memories. Stephen and Kate are conducting some experiments focusing on some data Stephen has found, something stellar that they will record and investigate one specific night. Turns out they've found what may be an intelligent transmission of some kind and then it turns out they've literally received an entity of some kind
. At this point multiple narratives specific to this play out:
Stephen
leaves Kate when he realizes the entity may not be confined to the observatory but is somehow "escaping" into the Valley. He works on trying to track and trace the entity and then when he realizes they're always one step behind it he uses his connections to initiate a chemical air strike on the valley killing everyone and everything within it, essentially killing all the host/conduits for the entity and hoping to kill it or completely contain it in the process. Stephen hides himself away planning to survive the destruction, emerge to check the results then kill himself as the last possible host. It's important to note Stephen acts pretty much right to the end on the assumption the entity must be hostile due to its noted actions that essentially kill birds and completely burn out or dissolve larger creatures leaving nothing but odd dust traces and dancing motes of light. Right at the end he does wonder if he's got it all wrong. If he's misjudged the entity and it may be harming people and animals by accident. He wonders if he's killed everyone by mistake. Unable to be sure. Alone apart from a form of the entity, he decides to immolate himself as he'd planned. At the last second he believes he senses a communication through the entity from Kate. He moves to investigate and drops the match, immolating himself after all and apparently by accident.
Kate
meanwhile stays at the observatory after Stephen leaves. She becomes convinced the entity is trying to communicate. That it's lonely and is trying to establish contact. She quickly decides any effects its having are unfortunate side effects of this, she notes when it infects smaller creatures like butterflies it doesn't harm them. Birds it burns out, killing them and leaving their remains. Larger animals like cows and people something very different happens. They seem to form a tumor, suffer headaches and nosebleeds and then there is a moment of metamorphosis when they transmute into what is described as an odd dust residue and tiny points of floating light. Kate works to teach the entity it is doing harm. She believes she's making progress with that and she works diligently to create a bridge that will allow a full connection and communication between herself and the entity. She too survives the air strike and most likely survives Stephen's immolation. At the end she finally connects with the entity although it is not clear if this is a full connection as she's aiming for or she is simply the last to transform and vanish truly leaving the valley empty. There are some hints that this time the connection may be true communication. It's worth noting that Kate is American, confident and and ethnic and does not fit in well in this small country village filled with white English people with longtime roots in the area This might explain her push to want communication with something that understands her and is interested in her.
Across the valley the residents react to this event in various ways that are perceived
via the memory (quantum imprints?) of key moments that for reasons I'll come to (I hope!) remain as signals that can be perceived by whoever (or whatever) is wandering the valley during the game representing the player.
Mostly these wrap up certain threads of their lives. The key one's (beyond Kate and Stephen) seem to be:
Wendy,
Stephens mother, tries to find him, convinced he'll know what to do. She's distraught about the death of the birds in the valley and troubled by the fact people seem to be disappearing. She misses her husband who seems to die relatively young and is troubled that her son is married to someone she believes he shouldn't be - Kate - and not married to someone she believes he should be - Lizzie. In the end she finally makes her way to Stephens house and dies watching the planes fly overhead thinking they've come to rescue them when they're in fact dropping canisters of deadly gas.
Frank,
Wendy's brother, goes about his day as normal but becomes troubled by what's going on in the valley and concerned about Stephen's part in it. Frank doesn't like Stephen and he mourns terribly for his wife who died recently from an incurable disease. He's hiding his guilt that at the end he couldn't stay with her when she died despite her asking him too. Aware of Stephen's plan to have everyone gassed he at first thinks to warn everyone, using the air raid siren Howard mentioned to him to try and warn them. Then, realizing it's futile, he decides to stay and die with everyone and this time he'll watch it happen. He won't abandon them like his wife. He stands up by the windmill and asking for his wives forgiveness watches the planes fly over and drop their deadly cargo.
Jeremy,
the village priest, is troubled by his involvement of what is strongly implied to be the assisted suicide of Frank's wife to prevent her suffering further. Wendy is aware of this and has accused him of betraying his faith. Jeremy tries to be a good priest despite his misgivings of faith and is clearly aware of the balance between science and faith the juxtaposition of his faithful parishioners represent vs the looming presence of the observatory and its representation of science. He reacts with fear and doubt to the event, trying to help everyone but troubled as to what's going on. Ultimately he feels something evil has come to the valley that is taking everyone from him. At the end, fearing he is all alone he rings the church bells to call anyone left to the church, but nobody comes. Bereft and feeling like he has failed to protect his flock from the entity he sees as evil he prays while challenging it to get it over with. He transforms and vanishes before the alter of his church with the entity in attendance.
Lizzie,
Stephen's former fiancee, is an intelligent, strong woman who feels trapped both by an accident that has left her crippled and her marrige to Robert who is apparently an alcoholic and who it is implied she's carrying with her business sense and strong will. She wonders how her life would have been if the accident never happened, if she's married Stephen instead and left with him instead of staying in the village. She handles the events pragmatically and it emerges she loves both Robert and Stephen and has been having an affair with Stephen when his marriage to Kate stumbles when relocated back in his small home town. At the end she watches over the people staying on her camp as they keep to themselves according to the emergency guidelines. She learns indirectly that Robert has been killed in a car accident. She is distraught and decides to try and leave the valley, telling one of her staff she has "something to do". She gets to the station, then hears the planes. She's hopeful of rescue unaware they are dropping deadly gas. I think she may have gotten word from Stephen to leave but it wasn't clear - perhaps a missed a memory of this. It also seems she might be pregnant with their child at the end.
Various other more minor characters are introduced and hints of their fates are given too.
Ultimately everyone in the valley is "taken" by the entity and vanishes via the transformation of its attempt to communicate (or to infect if Stephen it correct and it really is hostile either deliberately or by accident).
The event seems to occur
in a very short time, possible one or two days. It starts with the entity "arriving" in the observatory in a light-show that many residents see and marvel at. Soon afterwards the birds start dropping out the sky as they die under it's influence. Then the cows and other large animals disappear, then finally the people themselves. Of note the entity seems to most immediately effect the elderly people who - Wendy aside - are the first to vanish. Then others vanish until there are only two main small huddles of people left, those in the summer holiday camp and those in the sport's hall by the rugby field. Soon after they vanish the final events for Jeremy, Lizze, Frank and Wendy play out. Stephen and Kate are the last survivors, the married couple who came to the valley, found their marriage struggling and their professional careers threatening to tug them apart, then made contact with something from "beyond" and who them react to it very differently until their own respective ends.
Beyond this the
memories tapped into during the game reveal much of the background lives of those involved, their state of mind and the back-story that informs their actions. So we learn about Stephen and Lizzie's affair, about the death of Frank's wife, as well as minor beats in the unfolding event - the initial gentle quarantine quickly giving way to total containment, Jeremy's involvement in the assisted suicide of Frank's wife, Dr Wade's realization that there is no flu outbreak and his revelation of the symptoms of the entities communication (or infestation).
The player character.
You start early morning outside the gates of the Valis Observatory. But who are you?
My current reading is you are
the entity, replaying the last day after Kate's communication attempts, making sense of the events that took place and the humans that you assimilated. At the time of their occurrence you as the entity had no understanding what was going on. But now you do. At the end, you return to the observatory to final meld/transform Kate.
Couple of motifs/observations.
Butterflies as motif for short, beautiful lives and the idea of metamorphism. Referred to directly a number of times by Kate and the infinity symbol shown many times representing the entity is a butterfly infinity loop. Interesting they are unaffected by the entity. Kate gives a scientific rationale but could also be to note they are already transformed hence beyond need of entity.
Infinity loop - all over the place. Used to show central "pattern" of the entity and to make clear it represents another plane of existence.
The Universe - all key memories triggered switch time of day to night and we see the hugely bright night sky I believe was visible the night the entity arrived. Also signifies the connection of the entity to infinity/The Universe.
Transformation to light - all key memories show people transform to beads of light and you walk through their remains as they float upwards, away from Earth and into the sky that shows the infinite Universe.
The memories - I believe are the entities memories etched into it when it observed them (or absorbed/transformed people). The whole game you are replaying the events since the entity first escaped the observatory and moved out into the valley. This is backed up by the abrupt changes of time as you move from locale to locale. You're viewing the world via the senses and abilities of the entity.
Devil's Advocate stuff:
The balls of light. If they represent the entity then are you playing as the entity? Or are you just a floating observer, neutral and simply allowing the player to unravel the events that took place? Or do the balls of light represent the "souls" of the key people transformed? I think they might.
Is the entity good, bad or neither? Hard to say at the moment. I lean to good/neutral - a mix of Kate and Stephen's reactions.
And the message - pretty simple and focused into the
final Kate sequence. Embrace your moment in the light. Live your life to the fullest no matter the challenges. Don't give up. And don't be afraid of the end, don't let fear and doubt of the dark hold you back
.
Well that's enough War & Peace for the moment.
I enjoyed it, it's clicked a little less with me than Dear Esther but I found much to enjoy.
As an aside the game clearly channels a ton of classic British SF with a lot of nods/tone of Wyndham, and Kneale among others.
I just finished it. Holy shit, what a game, loved every second of it, probably my personal GOTY if P5 doesn't release on Europe this year or LiS doesn't end with a 11/10 ending.
Just finished it, really beautiful. It's not really a game, more an interactive story, and clearly that's going to be divisive. But personally I found it to be a great experience. Well done The Chinese Room.
Some story thoughts/observations. Still mulling themes but curious as to how I've interpreted some of the narrative threads matches up to others.
The Event Narrative
In the end this seems fairly straightforward unless I'm missing some key memories. Stephen and Kate are conducting some experiments focusing on some data Stephen has found, something stellar that they will record and investigate one specific night. Turns out they've found what may be an intelligent transmission of some kind and then it turns out they've literally received an entity of some kind
. At this point multiple narratives specific to this play out:
Stephen
leaves Kate when he realizes the entity may not be confined to the observatory but is somehow "escaping" into the Valley. He works on trying to track and trace the entity and then when he realizes they're always one step behind it he uses his connections to initiate a chemical air strike on the valley killing everyone and everything within it, essentially killing all the host/conduits for the entity and hoping to kill it or completely contain it in the process. Stephen hides himself away planning to survive the destruction, emerge to check the results then kill himself as the last possible host. It's important to note Stephen acts pretty much right to the end on the assumption the entity must be hostile due to its noted actions that essentially kill birds and completely burn out or dissolve larger creatures leaving nothing but odd dust traces and dancing motes of light. Right at the end he does wonder if he's got it all wrong. If he's misjudged the entity and it may be harming people and animals by accident. He wonders if he's killed everyone by mistake. Unable to be sure. Alone apart from a form of the entity, he decides to immolate himself as he'd planned. At the last second he believes he senses a communication through the entity from Kate. He moves to investigate and drops the match, immolating himself after all and apparently by accident.
Kate
meanwhile stays at the observatory after Stephen leaves. She becomes convinced the entity is trying to communicate. That it's lonely and is trying to establish contact. She quickly decides any effects its having are unfortunate side effects of this, she notes when it infects smaller creatures like butterflies it doesn't harm them. Birds it burns out, killing them and leaving their remains. Larger animals like cows and people something very different happens. They seem to form a tumor, suffer headaches and nosebleeds and then there is a moment of metamorphosis when they transmute into what is described as an odd dust residue and tiny points of floating light. Kate works to teach the entity it is doing harm. She believes she's making progress with that and she works diligently to create a bridge that will allow a full connection and communication between herself and the entity. She too survives the air strike and most likely survives Stephen's immolation. At the end she finally connects with the entity although it is not clear if this is a full connection as she's aiming for or she is simply the last to transform and vanish truly leaving the valley empty. There are some hints that this time the connection may be true communication. It's worth noting that Kate is American, confident and and ethnic and does not fit in well in this small country village filled with white English people with longtime roots in the area This might explain her push to want communication with something that understands her and is interested in her.
Across the valley the residents react to this event in various ways that are perceived
via the memory (quantum imprints?) of key moments that for reasons I'll come to (I hope!) remain as signals that can be perceived by whoever (or whatever) is wandering the valley during the game representing the player.
Mostly these wrap up certain threads of their lives. The key one's (beyond Kate and Stephen) seem to be:
Wendy,
Stephens mother, tries to find him, convinced he'll know what to do. She's distraught about the death of the birds in the valley and troubled by the fact people seem to be disappearing. She misses her husband who seems to die relatively young and is troubled that her son is married to someone she believes he shouldn't be - Kate - and not married to someone she believes he should be - Lizzie. In the end she finally makes her way to Stephens house and dies watching the planes fly overhead thinking they've come to rescue them when they're in fact dropping canisters of deadly gas.
Frank,
Wendy's brother, goes about his day as normal but becomes troubled by what's going on in the valley and concerned about Stephen's part in it. Frank doesn't like Stephen and he mourns terribly for his wife who died recently from an incurable disease. He's hiding his guilt that at the end he couldn't stay with her when she died despite her asking him too. Aware of Stephen's plan to have everyone gassed he at first thinks to warn everyone, using the air raid siren Howard mentioned to him to try and warn them. Then, realizing it's futile, he decides to stay and die with everyone and this time he'll watch it happen. He won't abandon them like his wife. He stands up by the windmill and asking for his wives forgiveness watches the planes fly over and drop their deadly cargo.
Jeremy,
the village priest, is troubled by his involvement of what is strongly implied to be the assisted suicide of Frank's wife to prevent her suffering further. Wendy is aware of this and has accused him of betraying his faith. Jeremy tries to be a good priest despite his misgivings of faith and is clearly aware of the balance between science and faith the juxtaposition of his faithful parishioners represent vs the looming presence of the observatory and its representation of science. He reacts with fear and doubt to the event, trying to help everyone but troubled as to what's going on. Ultimately he feels something evil has come to the valley that is taking everyone from him. At the end, fearing he is all alone he rings the church bells to call anyone left to the church, but nobody comes. Bereft and feeling like he has failed to protect his flock from the entity he sees as evil he prays while challenging it to get it over with. He transforms and vanishes before the alter of his church with the entity in attendance.
Lizzie,
Stephen's former fiancee, is an intelligent, strong woman who feels trapped both by an accident that has left her crippled and her marrige to Robert who is apparently an alcoholic and who it is implied she's carrying with her business sense and strong will. She wonders how her life would have been if the accident never happened, if she's married Stephen instead and left with him instead of staying in the village. She handles the events pragmatically and it emerges she loves both Robert and Stephen and has been having an affair with Stephen when his marriage to Kate stumbles when relocated back in his small home town. At the end she watches over the people staying on her camp as they keep to themselves according to the emergency guidelines. She learns indirectly that Robert has been killed in a car accident. She is distraught and decides to try and leave the valley, telling one of her staff she has "something to do". She gets to the station, then hears the planes. She's hopeful of rescue unaware they are dropping deadly gas. I think she may have gotten word from Stephen to leave but it wasn't clear - perhaps a missed a memory of this. It also seems she might be pregnant with their child at the end.
Various other more minor characters are introduced and hints of their fates are given too.
Ultimately everyone in the valley is "taken" by the entity and vanishes via the transformation of its attempt to communicate (or to infect if Stephen it correct and it really is hostile either deliberately or by accident).
The event seems to occur
in a very short time, possible one or two days. It starts with the entity "arriving" in the observatory in a light-show that many residents see and marvel at. Soon afterwards the birds start dropping out the sky as they die under it's influence. Then the cows and other large animals disappear, then finally the people themselves. Of note the entity seems to most immediately effect the elderly people who - Wendy aside - are the first to vanish. Then others vanish until there are only two main small huddles of people left, those in the summer holiday camp and those in the sport's hall by the rugby field. Soon after they vanish the final events for Jeremy, Lizze, Frank and Wendy play out. Stephen and Kate are the last survivors, the married couple who came to the valley, found their marriage struggling and their professional careers threatening to tug them apart, then made contact with something from "beyond" and who them react to it very differently until their own respective ends.
Beyond this the
memories tapped into during the game reveal much of the background lives of those involved, their state of mind and the back-story that informs their actions. So we learn about Stephen and Lizzie's affair, about the death of Frank's wife, as well as minor beats in the unfolding event - the initial gentle quarantine quickly giving way to total containment, Jeremy's involvement in the assisted suicide of Frank's wife, Dr Wade's realization that there is no flu outbreak and his revelation of the symptoms of the entities communication (or infestation).
The player character.
You start early morning outside the gates of the Valis Observatory. But who are you?
My current reading is you are
the entity, replaying the last day after Kate's communication attempts, making sense of the events that took place and the humans that you assimilated. At the time of their occurrence you as the entity had no understanding what was going on. But now you do. At the end, you return to the observatory to final meld/transform Kate.
Couple of motifs/observations.
Butterflies as motif for short, beautiful lives and the idea of metamorphism. Referred to directly a number of times by Kate and the infinity symbol shown many times representing the entity is a butterfly infinity loop. Interesting they are unaffected by the entity. Kate gives a scientific rationale but could also be to note they are already transformed hence beyond need of entity.
Infinity loop - all over the place. Used to show central "pattern" of the entity and to make clear it represents another plane of existence.
The Universe - all key memories triggered switch time of day to night and we see the hugely bright night sky I believe was visible the night the entity arrived. Also signifies the connection of the entity to infinity/The Universe.
Transformation to light - all key memories show people transform to beads of light and you walk through their remains as they float upwards, away from Earth and into the sky that shows the infinite Universe.
The memories - I believe are the entities memories etched into it when it observed them (or absorbed/transformed people). The whole game you are replaying the events since the entity first escaped the observatory and moved out into the valley. This is backed up by the abrupt changes of time as you move from locale to locale. You're viewing the world via the senses and abilities of the entity.
Devil's Advocate stuff:
The balls of light. If they represent the entity then are you playing as the entity? Or are you just a floating observer, neutral and simply allowing the player to unravel the events that took place? Or do the balls of light represent the "souls" of the key people transformed? I think they might.
Is the entity good, bad or neither? Hard to say at the moment. I lean to good/neutral - a mix of Kate and Stephen's reactions.
And the message - pretty simple and focused into the
final Kate sequence. Embrace your moment in the light. Live your life to the fullest no matter the challenges. Don't give up. And don't be afraid of the end, don't let fear and doubt of the dark hold you back
.
Well that's enough War & Peace for the moment.
I enjoyed it, it's clicked a little less with me than Dear Esther but I found much to enjoy.
As an aside the game clearly channels a ton of classic British SF with a lot of nods/tone of Wyndham, and Kneale among others.
One thing I didn't quite get a sense for was the time period from
the initial event through the evening of the airstrike. It's implied both Stephen and Kate are burnt in some way. Does Kate ever leave the observatory after that night?
As far as interactive stories go (which I am very open to) I was really disappointed by this for several reasons:
This is a linear story set in an open world that feels terrible to move around in. I understand making the walking speed slow is there to make the player take it all in, but having to force the player to take it in for 5 hours is not a good idea. Holding R2, which I found out by googling half way through the game, didn't help it all that much.
I don't know whether the light orb was bugged or like that by design but it was the most frustrating guide I have ever seen in a video game.
Constantly flying back and forth, having to wait or crawl around in a circle for 5 minutes until it moves on even after triggering all the events in that area are not good characteristics for a guide. It would also disappear randomly when triggering events in buildings it pointed to, never to be seen again until i randomly find it 30 minutes later in an area like 20 miles away.
There was one point where I came out of a pub called the Seventh Whistler (these pseudo English pub names are terrible btw), and the light orb was just stuck on a hedge. It seemed like something strange enough for the game to do on purpose so I wandered around for an hour trying to find what to do next, only to realize it was actually bugged and restarting the game actually made it fly again.
Needless to say, getting lost in a game that is this slow paced and big is a no go.
As for the story itself, the grounded backdrop of the village felt like it had potential, but too often felt like an english prime time tv soap opera akin to Eastenders or Coronation Street. Not to mention the ridiculous juxtaposition of the awesome choir music kicking in after two people bicker about their mundane relationship struggles. Jim Sterling already said it but those scenes were not deserving of that beautiful music, and more often than not it felt like a very jarring mix that actually made me laugh.
I usually enjoy metaphysical themes in storytelling, but this felt a little weak and out of place.
One thing I didn't quite get a sense for was the time period from
the initial event through the evening of the airstrike. It's implied both Stephen and Kate are burnt in some way. Does Kate ever leave the observatory after that night?
And then the LORD David Bowie saith to his Son, Jonny Depp: 'Go, and spread my image amongst the cosmos. For every living thing is in anguish and only the LIGHT shall give them reprieve.'
To the complaint up a couple posts, I really don't think you have to follow the ball of light strictly for things to progress, you can set the scenes off anywhere you go, the light just kinda points you in a general forward direction.
I tried following the ball of light through the farm and had a much worst time with that area as a result. I really enjoyed slowly -- uh -- parsing the environment by myself. Following the orb and giving myself an explicit objective made the game feel super slow, whereas trying to put things together myself and taking in the tiny details in many of the environments was really evocative. ymmv -- I feel like I swing back and forth on things like this.
I do think that the initial town centre about the park is by far the best area in the game, but probably for superficial reasons. Honestly, I wasn't a huge fan of the lighting they used in the latter half of the game.
The camp was much flatter because of the storm and the eerie sunset was striking to start with, but didn't do the game any favours in the long run.
I looked through three or four pages and didn't find an answer to this. Does Remote Play work well with this game? I am specifically talking about where you have to move your controller to move the energy balls or whatever they are. Will that work on the Vita?
The more I play the more disappointed I get. The narrative/audio/presentation is sublime but the level design as a whole, relative to the method of narrative they're trying to present, isn't very good. It's inconsistent, meaning your mileage will vary. Areas are often too large and aimless, yet frustratingly empty (backyard simulator) and even lacking on proper visual story telling. There's a lot of negative space that does little to service the mood and story. It's too easy to lose track of some characters, the characters also seemingly getting "stuck" and thus providing little assistance as to your direction, while also offering a weird semi-openness in triggering new character stories without finishing old ones.
And I think that's my key problem with this; when it works, you're heading into the right areas, briefly picking up side stories while keeping focused on the main character story, with the occasional light divergence to hit a radio or memory, it all comes together astoundingly well. But this experience is easy to lose due to the arguably excessively open design, when simply trying to navigate the world and get back on track becomes a chore. They've aimed for an emptiness and aimlessness and sense of discovery for the narrative and that's a great direction, but in my opinion they well overshot their intentions with execution by making the areas too large, your player too slow (even with the weird runs), and the triggerable narratives too open ended. If you do get lost in an empty, useless area or feel like you've missed an important trigger, the game is very unforgiving towards backtracking and unwelcoming towards developing the character narratives. It really, really hurts the moment-to-moment immersion, which goes from "This is gorgeous and intriguing, I wonder what's over there?" to "I cannot be bothered ambling about to find what I think I'm supposed to find".
I'm still not finished, and I will finish it, because I'm enjoying it as a whole, but yeah. Great idea, execution still needs quite a bit of work.
Great summary of everything! I actually need to read some more classic scifi novels. I read a good portion of the ones listed on that popular NPR chart, but would like to read some more PKD.
As a side note and possible spoiler:
I'm thinking that the guiding balls of light might actually be the characters that are part of the main story pieces trying to show you their story. I may be wrong, but I could swear that I saw one of those orbs have a smaller one orbiting it. I didn't notice it with any other ones as far as I remember, and I'm not quite sure where this one was located. Maybe it was Lizzie's because of the baby.
Great summary of everything! I actually need to read some more classic scifi novels. I read a good portion of the ones listed on that popular NPR chart, but would like to read some more PKD.
As a side note and possible spoiler:
I'm thinking that the guiding balls of light might actually be the characters that are part of the main story pieces trying to show you their story. I may be wrong, but I could swear that I saw one of those orbs have a smaller one orbiting it. I didn't notice it with any other ones as far as I remember, and I'm not quite sure where this one was located. Maybe it was Lizzie's because of the baby.
Finished. Short thoughts: thoroughly enjoyed the writing, themes, setting, characters, music, general presentation, and so on.
Liked-to-loathed the level design and overall structure of the game, along with your navigation of the journey. When it worked it was glorious, but I firmly believe as a whole the "design" was a misstep and does the otherwise excellent narrative more harm than good. It's a huge disservice.
I get what they were going for and I think they definitely had the right idea, but the overall scope of each area, available play space, how they interconnect, density of visual story telling, pacing of movement, and the way the narrative is spaced out does not come together well enough to do the narrative justice. Funnily enough I'm usually the first person to cry for more open, agency driven narrative and design, but I really don't feel the extent they've gone with that for Everybody's Gone to the Rapture was worth it or the best design choice. Tighten up your play space, bottleneck your stories (there should be zero possibility to move forward without finishing) and you've got yourself a far better walking simulator narrative.
Otherwise the story was exceptionally well written, deeply humanised, and when it worked (in that the story didn't over explain itself, and collated narratives together slowly over time piece by piece) it was really beautiful. Very touching. As for analysis, I'm not going to do too much here, but I take a firm stance of not trying to over think or overcomplicate things when the narrative as a whole is very, very deliberately
ambiguous. Trying to find a true, concrete answer as to what the entity is, is utterly pointless. There is no answer, not presented in the game, as far as I'm concerned and that is the point. It's basically Hindu philosophy 101 with a science fiction presentation, telling a stories that hinge on the weight and ultimate pointlessness of regret and baggage and overcoming these things.
I want to start by saying that I loved the experience immensely. I've been waiting eagerly for this game since it was announced, and I enjoyed every second, painfully slow walk speed and all. I've been a fan of Dear Esther forever, and played through it many times, and it's nice to feel its echoes in EGttR.
That said, I'm curious to know what others thought of the order the vignettes and, moreover, the pacing and length of each. I realize that
Stephen and Kate
needed to come at the end regardless, but I definitely feel as though
Jeremy's
was one of the most emotionally taxing of all the storylines. That was definitely one where I had to step away after playing, especially since wandering around that part of the map gave you
Dr. Wade coming to an understanding about the nosebleeds and Jeremy visiting the house of the woman whose husband and children had died upstairs.
There was also that scene in the
spooky basement of the community center where ( and I wish I could remember who this was--I think it was Howard ) fell down the stairs and seemed to witness The Pattern up close? Maybe I missed something there.
In any case, I'm not sure if I feel the other vignettes had quite the same emotional payload throughout. Each of the characters' ending arcs are exquisite and impossibly human, tragic moments, but overall, started to feel kind of plodding from one point to the next, though I'm not sure if this is a question of pacing as much as content. I don't think I would have asked for anything to be left out by any stretch of the imagination, but it felt like so much was given up front that it was difficult to spread that feeling as thickly throughout the entire experience.
But I think this is very much a personal preference thing. I'm curious if people felt like they connected to one character and their story better than others. I still can't help the chills I get when
