T w e n t y S i d e d

At the start of the episode I referred to the fact that Emily ought to be dead, but then I blanked on what specific event should have killed her. Now I remember: It was the part where she was on top of a massive metal tower that collapsed, fell into a hole, and landed on top of our quarrelsome lovebirds. I’m sure they survived because they were under the effect of movie physics, where you’re only impacted by acceleration happening within your local frame of referenceYou can ask people who have been in airplane accidents why this isn’t true. Or rather, you can’t ask them. Which is kind of the point I’m making..

One details that’s confusing me: There’s a grave marker for Beth. But Beth wasn’t buried. And she’s not terribly close to the sign. If the game is saying that Hannah made the sign for her sister, then why didn’t she put the sign near the body? And Beth’s body isn’t eaten, which is confusing considering what’s lurking down here.

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

This episode was really frustrating for me. We got to the part of the game where it’s begun to reveal stuff, but because I’m not playing I can’t tell what’s going on, and every time I asked the other hosts they were cryptic.

I thought we agreed that Chris wouldn’t shoot anyone and he would simply wait for the sawblade scenario to play out. But then right at the end he pointed the gun at himself and there was a gunshot sound. I couldn’t tell if the game forced that to happen, or if Josh Viel did that. Then later we get a tape recording of the killer rehearsing, but because we were talking over it I couldn’t hear the voice. (Watching the episode now, it sounds like Josh to me, which the “cut in half” gag sort of already gave away.)

So yeah. This is a really sub-optimal way to experience the game. There’s a week (or even a month!) between chapters, I can’t quite hear everything, and I can’t always tell player action from events mandated by the developer.

Despite all of this, I’m still pretty into it. I’m seriously doubting all of this will make sense in the end, but I’m genuinely invested in these characters and I want to see what happens to them. Also, I haven’t completely rejected the world. I haven’t gone through story collapse. Maybe the big reveals will work and maybe they won’t, but after such an interesting journey I’m still invested enough that I want to see them for myself.

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

Chris sees some freaky stuff on a Ouija board, gets ambushed by a psycho in a clown mask, saws his friend in half, and walks through a madhouse where doors open and close on their own.

Ashley: OH NO I SAW A SPOOKY THING!

Chris: Now, let’s not be too hasty.

Apparently the killer transferred digital footage into 35mm black and white film? I get that our killer is probably insane, but nobody’s THAT insane. A hope they AT LEAST edited the footage digitally before transferring to film, because otherwise that’s going to give me nightmares.

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.