*plot spoilers* I'm gonna be pretty disappointed in the final game if the story is...

[Gab]

...that Garrett killed a lady and feels guilty over it. It's sooooo overdone to death. At first the way he talks about Dawn it sounds like they just broke up and she's still out there, and that's fine. One more lost connection between him and the world. But the end of the demo implies death and guilt and those themes, and particularly in the form of a man doing violence to a woman and then the story expecting the audience to find that relatable and sympathetic, feel incredibly "I'm doing it because Silent Hill 2 did it" rather than real writing at this point.
I liked a lot of the writing in the demo, and the tone. It's just that final scene in the bedroom at the end of the demo that really cast a sour premonition over the finished game. Please just let Garrett be a depressed doomer instead of a killer. There's so many more interesting ways for a person to be messed up, even to be guilt-ridden, without that person having committed a domestic violence murder.

Please don't write the hundred billionth James Sunderland expy in indie horror gaming. I'm so tired of playing as that guy.

[Walkin Tornado]

I see your point, i for one love James Sunderland expies and wouldnt mind terribly if Garett was running away from his own guilt.

But i kinda have a feeling its also Garretts mom whos haunting him. When he buys the farm he thinks of his promise to his mom, yet he only writes a letter to his dad to come over, implying his moms no longer alive. The diseased couple could be alluding to Garretts parents.

Id really enjoy the story too if it was an exploration of emotional incest and how it handicapped Garretts relationship with his wife

[Warp37]

"that Garrett killed a lady and feels guilty over it", we have no evidence of this, btw where did you get this information.

[MekaDovah]

Originalmente postado por Warp37:

"that Garrett killed a lady and feels guilty over it", we have no evidence of this, btw where did you get this information.

I'm thinking it's more an educated guess based on similar looking tropes in other games, but it could also be colored by bias. I do that a lot myself and make assumptions. They're usually correct, but not always.

Personally, I don't think it's what is done, but how it's done that matters more. I'm willing to take something I've seen before if it's either done in an interesting way or has other interesting aspects to it (like the gameplay/presentation). For me, I think the method by which the protagonist is haunted is right now the most fascinating part. I like this active struggle against madness that is the core gameplay loop.

I agree with the notion that Garret's Mom is more of a factor. We'll simply have to wait and see.

[Gab]

Originalmente postado por MekaDovah:

Originalmente postado por Warp37:

"that Garrett killed a lady and feels guilty over it", we have no evidence of this, btw where did you get this information.

I'm thinking it's more an educated guess based on similar looking tropes in other games, but it could also be colored by bias. I do that a lot myself and make assumptions. They're usually correct, but not always.

Personally, I don't think it's what is done, but how it's done that matters more. I'm willing to take something I've seen before if it's either done in an interesting way or has other interesting aspects to it (like the gameplay/presentation). For me, I think the method by which the protagonist is haunted is right now the most fascinating part. I like this active struggle against madness that is the core gameplay loop.

I agree with the notion that Garret's Mom is more of a factor. We'll simply have to wait and see.

yeah this, it's an educated guess based on experience. I'm not sure about it being Garrett's mom though, pretty sure that final interaction prompt was "talk to Dawn"? I was wondering about his parents since we're introduced to them immediately after a chapter card called "diseased couple," but then Garrett talks about his dad being the one person he told about the farm and expects him to come visit or something.
One story thing that we didn't really get any of in the demo that I'm really hoping for in the full game is for the land to have stories of its own unrelated to Garrett. The closest I could find was a poster advertising a local mining company throwing a party.

[MekaDovah]

Originalmente postado por Gab:

One story thing that we didn't really get any of in the demo that I'm really hoping for in the full game is for the land to have stories of its own unrelated to Garrett. The closest I could find was a poster advertising a local mining company throwing a party.

Given the variety of spooks we can run into, either that is the case and the place is genuinely haunted or Garrett's had an interesting life for his mind to conjure such varied nightmares.

The tone of the game feels like the latter, though. Based on what's in the demo, if "lost love" is a facet of Garrett's psychosis, I have a feeling it probably isn't the only facet. There really isn't anything original that it could possibly be, so how it all comes together will probably be where it gets interesting.

But who knows? Maybe the place is haunted and is feeding off of Garrett's mind or something.

[Okayden]

Or maybe, ...(dramatic pause)... there is, no farm. It is just, a car wreck coma.
↑ ↑
Shatneresque

[superchomps]

Originalmente postado por Okayden:

Or maybe, ...(dramatic pause)... there is, no farm. It is just, a car wreck coma.
↑ ↑
Shatneresque

So many references to death and limbo, the biggest one being Garrett himself saying "So I bought the farm." He also talks about "crossing over" the bridge with Claire, forever, eternity, etc. [\spoiler]

[Gab]

Originalmente postado por Okayden:

Or maybe, ...(dramatic pause)... there is, no farm. It is just, a car wreck coma.
↑ ↑
Shatneresque

I'll accept this only if it's a bad ending and there's a good ending where that DIDN'T happen, ala Silent Hill 1. Not nearly enough games borrow from Silent Hill 1, even 4 is treated as more influential (mostly just the imagery of the chained door tbf) and SH1 deserves to be part of the foundation of horror games imo.

[Fluffydragon]

Personally I think he f*cked up something, but I don't think he killed his parter. (Also, Dawn? In my game he very much was saying Claire? I don't remember the text prompt at the end though so maybe that was different.)

He openly wonders if she is thinking about him, as much as he thinks about her. This, to me, implies she is alive, otherwise she couldn't be thinking about him. I do think there was an accident where she in some way got hurt. (maybe a car crash. Possibly Garrett swerved to avoid a deer in the road and caused major injuries to his passenger side or someone else?) While I agree this does appear to be a are of immence guilt over something, related to her. I don't feel like there's enough to go on about him _killing_ her. I feel there was just some really BAD accident, perhaps Garrett didn't do proper due diligence, and hurt her badly.

[Fluffydragon]

Originalmente postado por MekaDovah:

Originalmente postado por Gab:

One story thing that we didn't really get any of in the demo that I'm really hoping for in the full game is for the land to have stories of its own unrelated to Garrett. The closest I could find was a poster advertising a local mining company throwing a party.

Given the variety of spooks we can run into, either that is the case and the place is genuinely haunted or Garrett's had an interesting life for his mind to conjure such varied nightmares.

The tone of the game feels like the latter, though. Based on what's in the demo, if "lost love" is a facet of Garrett's psychosis, I have a feeling it probably isn't the only facet. There really isn't anything original that it could possibly be, so how it all comes together will probably be where it gets interesting.

But who knows? Maybe the place is haunted and is feeding off of Garrett's mind or something.

To be honest the latter is my personal, current, interpretation.
This place, the farm, called to him. He didn't really discover it by complete accident. Something FORCED him to arrive, to find it. So I think there is a story in the land itself, that it is haunted. But that it's also using his fears and turmoil. Either it was disturbed by it, or eating it.

Honestly though that's just because I really REALLY enjoy paranormal things so I'm 100% going to be grasping at any straws to justify it actually being ghosts =)

They were directly referred to as "Hauntings" which is very closely tied to ghosts, as opposed to a more general word "events" "incidents" "dangers" "frights" "creatures" "scares" it's specifically "Hauntings"

[[E] Caladus]

Maybe the farm is a SCP and he's trapped by it. Anomaly triggered by emotional extremes and sanity loss.

I'm joking but that's where my mind always goes

[sallyparker237]

the phrase 'bought the farm' really stood out to me, it usually means died at war, doesn't it? He could be an ex-soldier, suffering from PTSD because he committed atrocities while deployed, something like that?

[ArcaBunny]

I'm torn with the idea that Garrett has passed on and maybe doesn't know it, but there are a few contradictions.

In the opening cutscene he says he's using his mum's car
where is his car? was there an accident? the blue pickup truck can be seen when you throw away the gate key in the intro but is missing in the gameplay

He also says he has no-one now
did his mum die? how did he contact his dad, and why is he waiting for him? is Garret in some kind of purgatory waiting for his dad to join him before going to the afterlife?

He says he'll never speak to another human being for the rest of his life
but he also says he doesn't know how long it's been (since he last spoke to someone? since he "bought the farm"?

He wonders if Claire ever thinks about him
this would suggest she's alive?
The spooks seem to be mostly femme presenting:
The face in the rearview mirror
The ghouls watching him
The head in the mountains
The head on the TV
The women above the house
The figures in the field

Also in the painting:
The women peeking out of the door
The woman lying on the floor
The woman leaning in the doorway

And of course the woman in the recliner in the grand finale!

[MekaDovah]

Originalmente postado por ArcaBunny:

I'm torn with the idea that Garrett has passed on and maybe doesn't know it, but there are a few contradictions.

I personally would find it more interesting if he was dealing with his issues in life rather than already being dead or in a coma or something and thus wasn't incorrect/lying when he says he's doing this to spend the rest of his life in isolation.

[ArcaBunny]

Originalmente postado por MekaDovah:

Originalmente postado por ArcaBunny:

I'm torn with the idea that Garrett has passed on and maybe doesn't know it, but there are a few contradictions.

I personally would find it more interesting if he was dealing with his issues in life rather than already being dead or in a coma or something and thus wasn't incorrect/lying when he says he's doing this to spend the rest of his life in isolation.

I'd much prefer that too, the mental health side of things is a much more compelling story, that being said there are some clever hints mentioned by the people above to suggest it could go either way...