The story in very short ?

[☢LordMiki☢]

Just finished the game, i don't remember ever i was this confused, have 0 clues what is the story and the point of the game ?
Can anyone give me like short summery ?
Thx

[DarkFox]

Copy paste from wiki about ending.

The game's ending depends on if Paul either kills or spares Despair, Corruption and Pain, monsters correlating with his mother, father and brother respectively. If he fails to kill or save at least one of the monsters, he is chastised by The Officer, who tells him "there's no such thing as half a victory" before shooting him; Paul, having fallen into madness, wakes up in an asylum, where he now permanently sees his family as monsters. If Paul kills all three monsters, it is revealed that all of Paul's family is dead, with Johannes dying from neglectful malnutrition and the depressed Madelein killing Karl before throwing herself down a well (some dialogue hints that Paul himself may have killed his family, seeing them as weaknesses that needed to be culled); The Officer congratulates Paul by giving him an Iron Cross, saying that the battlefield is his home now. If Paul saves all three monsters, he sees that his mother has risen above her despair to embrace and accept both her sons, his father has let go of his foolish pride and worked to close his war factories, and Johannes tells him through a painting that his disfigurements are not his fault. Paul returns to the battlefield, following Johannes' trail from the game's introduction to find him suffering on the wire. The Officer appears and furiously berates him for both not dying with his company as well as showing mercy to his "enemies"; Paul then hugs The Officer, finally learning to forgive himself, as The Officer is the dark interior reflection of him. Paul then finds himself at home, emerging from his room to meet with his family, who quietly embrace each other.

[Fear2288]

A majority of the game is a vivid manifestation of Paul von Schmidt’s PTSD.

The actual story is told throughout via letters and notes.

I’ll try to summarize but it can’t be explained in one paragraph…

Paul and Johannes von Schmidt are brothers born in the late 1890s in Germany. Their father - Karl - is an industrialist who owns a paint factory and their mother - Madeleine - is a French woman.

At some point in the early 1900s Karl’s father Lothar comes to live with them until his death in the mid-1910s.

Lothar was a high ranking officer in the German military in the mid/late 1800s and led a number of successful campaigns in Africa and other German colonial territories. He’s incredibly proud of his military service and holds very nationalistic views about Germany.

In his advanced age, he doesn’t hold back his resentment of and disappointment in his son Karl. When Karl was born, complications ended his mother’s life, and a physical deformity would later exclude him from being able to serve in the military. Compounding his father’s disappointment, Karl would go on to marry a French woman (the French being rivals and enemies of the early German state).

Lothar’s presence hung like a shadow over the von Schmidt household. Karl’s mood and behavior changed as he found himself carrying the burden of Lothar’s constant criticism, and this caused Madeleine to fall into a deep melancholic state - straining their marriage.

Lothar would eventually take Paul under his wing (regarding Johannes as “too much like his mother”), and began grooming the boy to become a model German citizen-soldier worthy of carrying on the von Schmidt legacy.

Having developed a hatred for Lothar, this caused Madeleine to become cold and bitter towards Paul, and brought her closer to Johannes whom she gave all her motherly love and affection to.

By the time the Great War began, the brothers had reached their teen years.

In an effort to earn his father’s favor, Karl has his paint factory devoted to producing munitions for the war effort and later on begins to experiment with different chemical compounds in order to give Germany an edge over their enemies. He also resolves to send both Paul and Johannes to a military academy and then off to war when they come of age.

By this time, Paul is entirely immersed in his grandfather’s influence, but Johannes has become a bit of an eccentric artist - spending his time painting, writing, and acquiring a number of like-minded Bohemian friends.

Tensions in the household eventually come to a head when Johannes invites a friend - Christian - over and the two go to the attic where Johannes paints a nude portrait of him before the two engage in sex. Knowing what his brother is up to, Paul tells Karl to check on Johannes, and he discovers them in the act.

Overcome with disgust and shame at his son’s homosexuality, Karl all but disowns Johannes and he’s shipped off to the military academy where he eventually graduates and becomes a junior officer in the German army.

Ashamed of him, neither Paul or Karl respond to letters Johannes sends them from the academy or the frontline, and when Johannes visits the house on leave one time, only Madeleine welcomes and spends time with him.

Near the end of the war, Paul comes of age and is also enrolled in the academy and graduates. Using his influence and favor with the army, Karl has Paul promoted to a higher rank and he’s given command of a frontline company - the same company Johannes is in.

Paul’s youth and inexperience earns him the mistrust of his men, and his immature behavior and tendency to show favoritism inspires some to be insubordinate and even consider desertion.

One day, Johannes learns from another soldier that German High Command intends to give the order to launch an all-out assault on the French position. Given their current state, Johannes believes such an attack is suicide. He pleads with Paul to either speak with High Command and dissuade them from giving the order, or refuse it if it is issued.

Paul does neither.

When the order comes to attack, he carries it out and sends his company “over the top” and headlong into French artillery and gunfire - annihilating them.

Wandering out into No Man’s Land, Paul finds Johannes tangled up in barbed wire and missing both his legs, an arm, and half of his face. Surprisingly, Johannes is still alive and extends his hand toward Paul while letting out an agonizing scream.

In shock and horror, Paul recoils from his brother and retreats back to the trenches to hide where he’s eventually found and taken prisoner by the French.

Johannes is found as well and ends up surviving his injuries - having his missing limbs replaced with prosthetics, but being confined to a wheelchair and unable to speak.

He’s returned to Karl and Madeleine who struggle with the horror of his condition. Madeleine seems to take it especially hard and appears to have a psychotic episode wherein she refuses to accept him as her son and refers to him as a “cuckoo” - as if Johannes has been replaced by someone else. She treats him harshly, keeps him in the attic alone, and seems to even consider murdering this “pretender”.

Some unknown time later, Paul is released from the POW camp and returns home.

If the “good” choices were made during the “boss battles” with Despair, Corruption, and Pain the following occurs…

At first, Karl doesn’t recognize Paul but when he does he breaks down and admits how foolish he was to ever believe that sacrificing his sons to the war was an honorable thing.

When Paul goes to find his mother, he catches her as she’s about to throw herself into the well in the garden and drown herself. When she sees him, she too breaks down and embraces him - letting go of her years of resentment towards him for being like Lothar.

Finally, when Paul visits his brother’s bedside, Johannes communicates to him that he forgives him for everything.

The closing scene is the family reunited, eating breakfast out in the garden, moving forward through their experience together.

The events which take up the game then are dreams and subconscious manifestations of Paul’s PTSD that occur presumably while he’s a prisoner of war and when he first returns home and begins to adjust.

[Killy, the Explorer]

Thank you very much for that detailed summary. I just played through it and missed some of these, so I appreciate the effort!