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I'm also wondering how the book got inside Benedek's bible. I thought it would have been Niko who did it, but he seems unaware that they had it. So I suppose it was Victoria who hid it there, after finding it in the house?
The cult is also very confusing. Everyone links Nermin with the cult, but it seems the whole thing is his plot to take over the cult. Is Hatur the current "cult king", and Nermin wants to take his place? But then we have the cult, Nermin and Nikolay all fighting each-other.
We would probably ruin the excitement if we went explaining everything. All we can say at the moment is that we're planning to create more works related to the background story of the game (in the form of animated and/or interactive comic books), but the most important thing to keep in mind is that we are already at work to develop the DLC of the game. In the DLC you will play as Viktoria and it will cover the events that happened the night before the start of the game. The DLC will definitely give answers to some of your questions :)
Oh for sure, I think we are also just trying to see how far we can get with the info that is in the game. There are many contradictions, and none of the characters seem really trustworthy, so it's hard to know what to believe. For instance it's said you can only see Mother when you have the book, yet Niko sees her at the Lodge, long before he has the book. There might be more than one evil spirit at work here lol
I think Mother tells Niko to go to Udav, when he has the vision in the Church of Skt. Mary. But as you say, then when did he cut her face off?
No doubt that Niko is possesed by a Nermin spirit in some way, but it seems a bit like a circular reference of sorts, if Nermin was born of the Jadwiga spirit, but still needs to collaborate with Mother, who also is a manifestation of Jadwiga? Or is Mother another evil spirit entirely, who is fighting with Nermin/Jadwiga over who will be the new King?
Looked it up on youtube and as you say the ghost/spirit is directing Nico to Udav in the church, i didn't remember this, not sure if i am getting old or if this played out differently in my playthrough. But i also looked it up that Niko was in the basement before the vision in the church and this is where he also talked about Nermin mentioning Udav.
I would say there is a cult (which is mainly represented by Hatur and Kabeer), non-cultist "evil-doers" (Lang brothers, Gregor, the Mojse sub-cult), shady but not evil characters (Noren and Davor Gorski, Mostov) and then the "good townies" (Ida, Arsen, Vera, Lucija, the priest...)
We also have the Merzel family which I don't know where to locate. Hatur was at war with Nermin to control the cult, while Ranko seemed like kind of evil but distanced from the cult.
Then we have the "Dohnany" family. Victoria, Benedek and Joszef seem to fight evil while I was convinced Nikolay was Nermin since the first basement scene in Lucija's house. However In the cave confrontation it seems Jadwiga appeared to Nikolay once they arrive in Sveti Kotar, he kills Nermin and starts losing his mind.
Finally the ending scene (after cutting the rope) was really confusing to me, since it seems to hint the whole Nikolay / Nermin backstory is just a split personality / delusion from Benedek. If you look at the picture of the "crow man" in Lucija's house AFTER you see the child Victoria, Benedek says "he looks like the man called Nikolay or Nermin in my dream", thus establishing Nikolay is not real.
It would mean Sek'vra was always in Benedek power (that would explain why Joszef always told him to keep hold of the "Bible" and why Sek'vra casually appeared inside the Bible of Benedek in the middle of the game) but honestly wouldn't match well with certain events of the story (the priest directly addresses Nikolay while in presence of Benedek..)
Would love an explaination or at least more thoughts on the story.
All in all, I enjoyed the game and the story. It was very interesting. Kudos to Red Martyr for putting together a very enticing game.
Oh, man, we love this thread! It's so interesting to read what you and other players have deduced. We can confirm that your reasoning is very close to the heart and truth of the story, but, even though Benedek has lots of psychological problems, he is not delusional. Nikolay exists.
We're working on adding an additional ending to the main game (there will be 3 in total then) which will contribute to explaining the story a bit better. Of course, we don't want to preach and hand-hold the players, so not every little detail will be explained by it, but it will definitely give a better explanation to the story. Plus, whatever ending you get, there will be a summary screen that will roll before the credits screen, which will summarize (what else? :)) what you did and how your decisions impacted others throughout the whole game.
And, of course, there's also the upcoming DLC Saint Kotar: The Ritual where you will be able to play as Viktoria the night before the start of the main game... Many mysteries will be unraveled in there.
Happy New Year! :)
Maybe the Merzels, including Nermin, are the Jadwiga branch of the cult?
Nikolay kills Nermin in the house? I always wondered exactly where and when Nikolay met/killed Nermin. If there ever was a Nermin other than Nikolay? Nikolay also seems to have been seeing Jadwiga before getting the book. But maybe he was just more susceptible to its influence.
This is another thing I really wondered about. Up front it seems that Victoria placed it in the bible fairly recently, while she was at the church in the forest, where they find the torn leaves later. I wondered if perhaps Victoria had taken it from the house at her earlier visit, and then placed it in the bible before they all travelled together. I guess this might explain why Niko gets infected so early on.
I have a document I wrote while playing, where I tried to write a sort of chronology of events. I'll post it here, see what people think about it
Yes, but does Nermin exist? ;)
Or rather, when did he transition from a human into the evil "Nermin spirit"?
And what is the connection/difference between Nermin spirit and Jadwiga?
I think this is a really good idea. Maybe a bit like they did for Fallout: New Vegas
To add to the discussion:
It seems to me, that Nermin attacked Victoria in the first night in the house (because she tried to fight the curse, like her father), after which Nicolay killed him. By killing him the curse swapped from Nermin to Nicolay, which led him to kidnap Victoria. Nermin must have existed, since so many people refer to him throughout the story, the picture in the sleeping room should be Nermin, I guess.
Nicolay then starts switching between his true self and the monster inside him, without knowing, and becomes the monster more and more.
After Benedek kills Nicolay, the curse swaps over to him, which is why he starts seeing the "cursed world" and Jadwiga takes up the role of little Victoria to persuade him into doing evil (same way as she took the role of mother to persuade Nicolay).
Benedek then (at least I hope so) chooses to refuse and kills himself (as Ivan Kotar and Ulrich have, whenever the curse swapped to them).
If all that is true, I wonder how the curse swaps, whenever somebody chooses to kill himself, or how it can return anyway.
By the way I really loved playing this game. Its so great to play a game that is not set in America (or other overused places), and even though its far from perfect, you can tell how much love you guys put into it. Setting, story and narrative are really awesome. And I really like how much moral, ethics, religion, etc. you put into it. My kind of game. Keep up the good work, Ill get all the follow ups.
I'm guessing Viktoria wasn't at the asylum and that Nermin escaped either unaided or with the help of someone else.
I'm also guessing that, as soon as Nermin escaped, he set out in search of the Sek'vra. He knows where it is and goes there. It is not clear whether or not he has met Viktoria before up to this point, but I'm thinking he didn't. She just happened to be there - at the place where Nermin knew the book to be. Whether Viktoria knew it was there or not, I also don't know. But she tries to stop Nermin from getting the book, leading him to attack her and Nikolay killing Nermin to save Viktoria's life.
We never get to see what is hidden in that carpet upstairs in the house. I think it's Nermin's body.
I agree that Nermin's spirit possesses Nikolay immediately after Nikolay kills him.
It seems to me that Viktoria took the Sek'vra and deliberately hid it inside Benedek's bible because she thought he would be the best person to "fight the evil" and be the least susceptible to its temptations. I agree with an earlier comment saying that Benedek's family fights evil.
Somehow, Nikolay sees a vision of "Mother" even before he has the book in the game. That's if I understand the situation correctly. And if so, it implies that he somehow saw its contents before he became in possession of it.
My theory - perhaps at the time Nikolay killed Nermin, Viktoria had not yet hidden the Sek'vra. Perhaps Nikolay looked inside and saw some of the contents before Viktoria had time to take it and hide it. Whether Nikolay tried to stop Viktoria hiding it, or knew about it, in this scenario, is unclear. He could have collapsed and fallen asleep after reading the book or something, and then maybe Viktoria hidden it while he was asleep.
If you visit Ida when playing as Nikolay, she mentions that Nikolay dragged Viktoria away while they were talking (an event before the game). Ida thinks (rightly) that it was rude and nasty for him to do that. I think Nikolay was possessed by Nermin at that point and that he dragged Viktoria away to ask (demand more like) where Viktoria hid the book.
Somewhere along the line, Nikolay (possessed by Nermin) kidnaps Viktoria and takes her to the mountain. Presumably he tries to find out where she hid the book and she doesn't tell him. "Nermin" then decides to lay a trap for Benedek, and that's basically where the game starts. The entire game is a journey into a trap, with the intention of Benedek being murdered with the ritual knife. Nermin wants Benedek to find his way to the mountain, but he doesn't count on Vera's involvement.
The things Vera tells Benedek are things which Nermin obviously doesn't want him to know, yet Vera is not silenced before getting a chance to do this, which is a mystery. Did Nermin consider the witch expendable? Did he merely use the spirit of the witch to help guide Nikolay until Nikolay and Benedek got to the mountain?
Along the journey, Nikolay tries to fight Nermin's spirit, which is influencing him. Sometimes it works to a degree, and he is calmer and less impatient than he is at other times. In the early part of the game, he doesn't seem possessed at all. Maybe that's because he's strong-willed initially, and that perhaps a descent into madness is what's happening due to his trying to resist the evil spirit's will.
I agree that there is a competition to become cult leader between Nermin and Hatur. Hatur has control of the asylum and is using Mostov to do his bidding. Where Dr. Kabeer fits in isn't entirely clear. Did he become the new cult leader after Hatur died? He just disappears from the game after the scene in the church and we don't find out what happens to him. That's a pity because I was expecting and hoping he would appear again later on and probably turn out to be the main antagonist.
I don't know where the Lang brothers fit into the story or why Bogdan Lang was murdered. What happened to the other brother?
Reading all the above again, Viktoria may have told Nikolay that Bogdan Lang had the book, leading Nikolay to go after, and subsequently, murder him. Why she would this is unclear. Maybe she was intending to leave Sveti Kotar and tried to stall for time or something by deliberately misleading Nikolay on a false quest.
I don't need to repeat the events of the game itself, except for the ending.
In the ending I got on the second playthrough, Benedek says he is possessed by Nermin even though I burned the witch's corpse this time (the first time I didn't burn the corpse and the game ended in the house basement with Benedek getting killed by the cult). It would seem that Nermin's spirit cannot be banished at all, and that it merely moved from Nikolay to Benedek at the point where Nikolay dies (or maybe just before). The destruction of the Sek'vra and the burning of the witch don't make any difference in that respect, although it does seem to be the case that the witch (who appeared to Nikolay as "Mother") is never to be seen again if her corpse is burned.
It makes me wonder if the developers are planning for Nermin's spirit to reappear in a sequel/DLC.
And finally, yes I agree with Clays13 that it is refreshing to see an adventure game set somewhere we've never been to before (and surprisingly with no long catacombs to explore - a first surely lol), made with such great care, time and thought.
As for Mostov, he wasn't evil, was he?
It would seem from your playthrough, Versalico, that we do learn the fate of said characters in the good ending. I got the good ending in the second playthrough, but forgot to denounce anyone.
As for Mostov, I think he was being used, as I said. Whether he was part of the cult or not is, I think, never made clear. But he is in the house in the bad ending, which does make me wonder...