Without question, this was a very sad ending.... [SPOILERS]

[Eindacor_DS]

For some background, this game might have hit me harder than the average player. My brother passed away almost 6 years ago very suddenly, completely unexpected. The bit about losing a brother, and the scenes about their relationship and their interactions were so incredibly heart-wrenching for me that I nearly stopped playing, but I'm so glad I didn't.

In the real world (....in the game world) River passed away, she's gone. So really whatever happens to John in the end has no effect on her. John, however, gets his memory manipulated so his brother still lived, AND he met River and presumably lived happily ever after. The story itself has an "everybody wins" ending, but that in itself is very sad in a meta sort of way. For those that say this ending is "happy and sad," I completely disagree.

In life, things don't always work out. Bad things happen, and I think it's vital in shaping our experiences as people to live to deal with these things. To wipe our memory of these things, either by beta blockers or some future technology, does the beauty and complexity of our existence a disservice. You can't enjoy the sweet without the sour. That's not to say I'm somehow glad or thankful of what happened in my life. If I could turn back time and undid what happened, I would in a heartbeat. But I would never in a million years want to wipe it from my memory. It's a completely selfish, almost solipsistic relationship to someone that is so close to you. It's not really John's fault, it's Eva's fault. Her letting John live an alternate reality where Joey survived and he still met River is a complete disregard for Joey. John's final thoughts were lies, and his memory of Joey was vandalized because she wanted to fulfill a contract.

To me the ending really is the most brilliant part about this whole game. It's a powerful commentary on the human condition that's thinly veiled in an "everybody wins" sort of story. I think the pain killers further emphasize the point that people sometimes think a quick-patch to a problem, or even thinking the problem never existed, is a way to solve those problems. That's not how life works. Horrible things happen to good people, and to live through that pain helps us appreciate what it is to be human.

I admittedly started this game just to get a steam card or two. A few hours later this is one of the most powerful experiences I've ever felt from any sort of media. Bravo, devs.

[Dario]

Fortunately I haven't lose any family or close friends yet, but I still came to the same conclusion. The ending was kinda bittersweet for me, story-wise and "satisfaction"-wise (if that makes sense). It was a nice ending, but I didn't like the fact that they simply replaced John's memories with what Eva thought was best for him, like I said in this thread.

Thanks for sharing your experience and thoughts. :)

[JaggedMallard]

Its bittersweet. John dies happy but at the end of the day River still died unable to tell her husband that she loved him and John still spent the last part of his life miserable.

I do agree that Eva shouldn't have done what she did, it was insulting to River and Joey for them to be effectively erased although the alternative wasn't the nicest either. Personally I would have prefered it if they allowed John to realise why she made all of the rabbits.

I too only played this for the steam cards but I ended up playing long past I'd gotten all of the cards and cryed buckets of manly tears throughout (even act one was heart breaking watching him make plans that end up failing and I cried buckets at the wedding) and the bit where his memories changed was pretty heartbreaking as you thought she'd simply been erased.

You're points are really valid though, it would be one thing to simply change his dying dreams to those of being an astronaut but changing his remembered life so much wasn't fair.