The other thread really is for people still playing or just non-spoilery reflecting, but I wanted to discuss this game more deeply here and see what people thought. Also, just general reflecting on the game here without avoiding spoilers.
It took me a week to beat the game(real life time), but I played it a TON over that time. Too much to admit, but I did reach an ending today. I was kind of stunned when the credits rolled to be honest.
Here is what I learned in my playthrough and I’m wondering if this is consistent with what you all learned. Also, do you believe this to be the case, like can we rely on this information as true?
The murderer was the deserter out on the island. He shot the hanged-man out of kind of jealousy and because he’d been picking people off from there for awhile.
Harry was a gym teacher before, but did join the police force and was a real cop. He lost his memory because he drank so much.
In my ending, I did not see Kim again after he got shot in the big shoot-out outside Whirling-In-Rags. What happened to him?
Are there extensive multiple endings to this game? Like Harry himself, I basically stumbled to the ending that I got. I pretty much “proved” the deserter was the murderer, but I could not do ANYTHING with the giant stick insect. I looked at it and it ran off.
I….had no post-credits scene. It went back to the menu to start again. I was hoping for a kind of “fallout style” epilogue, but that must have been too cheesy for them.
Anyway, my game played out that everything was basically real. I mean, it did not have a massive twist where we learn Harry is in a psych-ward, is really Cuno, Kim doesn’t exist, or any other thing I was wildly speculating on.
Was your ending similar? What did you think of the story in the end?
Same; other people recognized me as a cop but I had amnesia
Kim was with me the last day; I guess in your session he got hurt worse and had to receive medical treatment
I had an extended sequence in which I communed with the stick insect; Kim said he could “see it too”
At the end I was intercepted by other cops who discussed me a bit and also had a couple of visions like of the fate of the spy, but IIRC that was all pre-credits
I think it was implied that politically things were still volatile and people were not simply going to live happily ever after.
OK - Instead of Kim, I ended up taking Cuno with me for the rest of the game. I know, it was weird. Cuno went with me on the island and also came back and spoke with me to the cops at the end.
Cuno could also see the insect, but I would not call it an extended sequence. I tried to approach it slowly, but it ran off. I had not used any insect-perfume on me when it was offered. I had checked all the traps, though.
Yes, it ended with a kind of longish sequence talking to police officers who knew who I was. I tried to convince them to take Cuno into the youth-cop program.
Kim dies in the shootout if you don’t warn him of the guy behind him in time. If Kim does die Cuno becomes your new “partner” for the rest of the play through. Side note: half-blind Kim shooting the guy through the eye hole in his armor was about the most badass thing ever.
There was more going on with him losing his memory than just drinking too much. Did you do the side quest where you help the musicians create a dance club in the church and a scientist is doing experiments there? That part sheds some light on the larger story.
Yes, you had to pass an ability check to have the full interaction with the insect. This also enables you to find the insect’s nest and get the helmet part of the armor.
Does he definitely, for-sure die, or just get taken to the hospital?
The scientist experimenting with precise placement of speakers reminded me of Maryanne Amacher, who did the same and was able to make you hear sounds that exist only in your head, and other effects.
I was disappointed he dropped off at the end of the game. I didn’t actually realize it was the end of the game until the title screen hit. I mean…I thought I’d see Kim again and there would be more twists and so forth.
I loved the game, but I am not sure I like the final “post shootout” section of the game all that much. Felt rushed compared to the first 90% of the game.
I agree about the post-shootout part being a bit of a letdown.
If/when you play through again if you pay close attention to the wacky responses the protagonist can make you’ll notice most of them now do make sense in terms of the larger story.
For example, in the beginning with the girl one of the possible responses is to call himself the 'Cop of the Apocalypse." Part of him remembers the world is ending (this is what you discover in the church side-quest) even though you, his conscious thought, doesn’t remember it.
Probably related to Harry letting his former partner down over and over (the guy who shows up later in the sunglasses). He used to be a super-cop but after his wife left he devolved into a complete screw up & the laughing stock of his police department.
In my “mind’s canon” Harry discovered the world was ending before his binge. That was what pushed him over the edge and drove him to kill himself with drugs & alcohol. I can’t remember if that was ‘hard canon’ in the story or something I surmised from the clues.