The Most Logical Interpretation? My Theory

[hermanJnr.]

So I've played the game through a couple of times and I've always found the open nature of the story kind of intriguing yet frustrating at the same time. Here are my thoughts.

First of all: Rachel's Husband has killed someone. I think this is pretty much unavoidable - the thing that is open to debate is *who* he kills.

Obviously the nature of the protagonist varies with how you play the game: if you pick the gun/knife up and do reckless things such as leaping off the high ledges, I'd argue that it paints the picture that Rachel's Husband is prone to psychotic, violent behaviour and may well be responsible for all the dead bodies you encounter...he just doesn't remember it, having had a mental breakdown.

However, I'd say there's a fair bit of evidence that the protagonist did not murder Rachel, or the myriad corpses you encounter. First of all, he seems to express a disgust for weapons and the violence he encounters along his journey. You have to choose to go against his natural dislike for violence if you pick the weapons up.

Secondly, I think the torture tools you find in the basement of the old man's house at the start (not to mention paper clippings describing a serial killer) are a pretty damning indictment that he has been killing people (including his wife).

Next, the two dead girls (and the list of female names) you find in the woods: the names match those apparently scratched on the old man's table.

Okay, you say: this all seems to absolve the protagonist of some guilt. BUT he has still been at all these crime scenes and looks guilty as sin - well:

Finally, and most important, the videotape in the sewers shows the maintenance man being killed by two assailants. This leads to my theory that the murder of Rachel (and the other people) was performed by Norman and the Old Man, who were working together.

After Rachel told Norman she was leaving, he became insane with jealousy. He may have met the Old Man by chance and started talking about how much he resented Rachel, perhaps how he wanted to kill her. At some point (presumably after the murder), the Old Man killed Norman in his living room after a disagreement...perhaps Norman felt guilty.

The protagonist arrived home, found his wife dead, and mentally snapped after becoming depressed and distant from his joblessness and waning relationship over the years. He hid her body in the basement and wandered around town in a daze, frequenting places like the Water Tower where Norman had been (losing items from his wallet in the process).

After a brief period of time he figured out that the Old Man was the murderer (see the clippings in the basement and later, in the sewers near the Old Man's place, surrounded by booze bottles) and killed him in revenge, collapsing from exhaustion afterwards.

The mental trauma caused him to repress him memories of the night.

Of course, this leaves some holes: who killed the guard and maintenance man in the sewer? For that, I blame the Old Man again, who perhaps committed the forest murders the same evening Rachel's Husband killed him, and was caught by the guard mid-way through...

Thoughts/ideas? :P

[MassConnect]

A lot of that sounds good, but I can't suspend my disbelief when it comes to things like losing his items in the process. They're valuable items, and they're VERY spread out. I need to play it again before I form an opinion.

[VeiledInsanity]

What about the creepy shadow man that follows you in the woods? Who is that in this explanation?

[Stigma]

Huh? I didn't encounter anyone stalking me in the woods..