So, am I the only fool who thought New Wirral was purgatory, or...?

[plutopos]

Minor spoilers ahead.

The starters both being themed about death immediately brought my mind there. Add that we are mysteriously stranded onto an island in our pajamas, and I was sure it was going to be a "you're all actually dead" thing. Not to mention the whole vibe I got from Wherever We Are Know as soon as I entered the plaza.

So again, am I really the only one who thought that? What were your theories when you began playing?

[Desperado]

I think of the initial transportation to New Wirral as entering the infinite Ikea SCP or clipping into "The Backrooms" but instead of an off-yellow empty office space, it's an island with fantasy monsters. People on New Wirral being from different years and different versions of Earth contributes to this. New Wirral would be a converging point for the multiverse.

I think you're in your pajamas at the start because you were asleep in bed before unintentionally falling through a wormhole into New Wirral. You weren't prepared to intentionally step through a portal. Maybe you were on your way to bed and groggily stumbled into a wormhole.

The feeling of being in town is melancholy for not being able to go home but making the most of what you have. You miss home and so does everyone else in town, their own version of home. While we're all stuck on New Wirral people continue to live on and build what we can to be as comfortable as possible. The amount and scale of the buildings are pretty impressive for how few people are there but we're not here for authentic city building.

As for the starters, I think of the "spooky" theme as edgy or cool while "sweet" theme as cutesy. The potential remasters have similar stats and variety of type to offer some variety.

[HUNTER1-0]

i came here to enslave abominations and marry kayleigh, and im all out of abominations .

[Ivy Bug]

me too me too

[plutopos]

Late addition but I just recalled Felix's wound disappearing was what sold me

[wurmtoken]

Definitely leaned in that direction since you have people from different time periods all showing up (even greek philosophers and stuff). The only real evidence to the contrary was the alternate reality versions of people. Not because of any lore reason but just because writers rarely mix afterlife with alternate timelines, lol (although a plot where all timelines share the afterlife would be super cool).

[Viktor]

Originally posted by plutopos:

Late addition but I just recalled Felix's wound disappearing was what sold me

I believe that is supposed to indicate, along with the phenomena of the tapes allowing people to record and transform into monsters, that New Wirral warps reality to an individual or the collectives perspective.

Someone thought the tapes would work, they ended up working, and now they just work because everyone believes they do. Recording certain monsters gives you superpowers outside monster mode because someone thought they might.

People transform into more ideal versions of themselves upon entering the island as well, scars disappearing, becoming more physically fit if they were otherwise not, all according to the persons own perception of themselves.

[SirPanty]

Not saying who to avoid spoilers ofc, but there's also a few made up/fictional characters 'living' in New Wirral so there's more to this 'world' than just it being a purgatory.