wait so..what was the mystery then?

[fishinabox]

gay sister?

[Sphinx of Black Quartz]

"Where is my family?"

The answer is complicated.

[The Snacrifice]

Originally posted by Sphinx of Black Quartz:

"Where is my family?"

The answer is complicated.

It wasn't very complicated.

[Alex]

What was the deal with the uncle? drug addiction? is that why he decided to leave his pharmacy?? I mean the letter in the safe is a bit hard to read, but he is speaking of some "evil" he's done without really specifying... cheers

[The Snacrifice]

Originally posted by Alex:

What was the deal with the uncle? drug addiction? is that why he decided to leave his pharmacy?? I mean the letter in the safe is a bit hard to read, but he is speaking of some "evil" he's done without really specifying... cheers

It's a fakeout meant to make you think he was like summoning demons or something.

It's purposefully vague exactly what he's done, but IMO Oscar either came out of the closet to one of his family members or got caught being gay in the early 60s(possibly by abusing Terrence, the MC's father).

There's a lot of little signs that Terrence used to hang out at his uncles house a lot, and it suddenly stops around the same time as the letter, which means the rest of the family didn't let Terrence visit anymore.

[Sphinx of Black Quartz]

Originally posted by The Snacrifice:

Originally posted by Alex:

What was the deal with the uncle? drug addiction? is that why he decided to leave his pharmacy?? I mean the letter in the safe is a bit hard to read, but he is speaking of some "evil" he's done without really specifying... cheers

It's a fakeout meant to make you think he was like summoning demons or something.

It's purposefully vague exactly what he's done, but IMO Oscar either came out of the closet to one of his family members or got caught being gay in the early 60s(possibly by abusing Terrence, the MC's father).

There's a lot of little signs that Terrence used to hang out at his uncles house a lot, and it suddenly stops around the same time as the letter, which means the rest of the family didn't let Terrence visit anymore.

More specifically:

Uncle Oscar sexually abused Terrence over Thanksgiving weekend 1963, when Terrence was 11 or 12 (Note this is when the notches on the basement wall stop.) This is also when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated — note the adult Terrence's series of novels centered on that event, and on undoing the past. Worse, Terrence's parents knew about the abuse and hushed it up. It's possible they even blamed Terrence for the abuse — at the time, it was not uncommon to blame and shame the victim of sexual abuse.

But word gets around in small towns, even if nobody is ever explicitly told what the word is. Neighbors warn each other about Mr. Masan without ever quite mentioning why he's dangerous; their children are told to stay far away from his house, without being told why. Thirty years later, the careful circumlocutions have utterly erased the details, and all that remains is the story of The Psycho House.

Ol' Uncle Oscar was also a smack addict, by the way; his basement safe contains morphine, works for fixing up, and laxatives. (Opioids make you constipated.) Further, a newspaper clipping in the game implies his assistant may have blackmailed him for ownership of his pharmacy, over the child abuse or the drug addiction or both.

[Alex]

Originally posted by Sphinx of Black Quartz:

Originally posted by The Snacrifice:

It's a fakeout meant to make you think he was like summoning demons or something.

It's purposefully vague exactly what he's done, but IMO Oscar either came out of the closet to one of his family members or got caught being gay in the early 60s(possibly by abusing Terrence, the MC's father).

There's a lot of little signs that Terrence used to hang out at his uncles house a lot, and it suddenly stops around the same time as the letter, which means the rest of the family didn't let Terrence visit anymore.

More specifically:

Uncle Oscar sexually abused Terrence over Thanksgiving weekend 1963, when Terrence was 11 or 12 (Note this is when the notches on the basement wall stop.) This is also when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated — note the adult Terrence's series of novels centered on that event, and on undoing the past. Worse, Terrence's parents knew about the abuse and hushed it up. It's possible they even blamed Terrence for the abuse — at the time, it was not uncommon to blame and shame the victim of sexual abuse.

But word gets around in small towns, even if nobody is ever explicitly told what the word is. Neighbors warn each other about Mr. Masan without ever quite mentioning why he's dangerous; their children are told to stay far away from his house, without being told why. Thirty years later, the careful circumlocutions have utterly erased the details, and all that remains is the story of The Psycho House.

Ol' Uncle Oscar was also a smack addict, by the way; his basement safe contains morphine, works for fixing up, and laxatives. (Opioids make you constipated.) Further, a newspaper clipping in the game implies his assistant may have blackmailed him for ownership of his pharmacy, over the child abuse or the drug addiction or both.

Oh yes, that makes sense, thank you. Also, having played another time, I have found a secret compartment on the top-left drawer in the MC'dad office, left to the type writer, there is a torn letter somewhat put back together with tape... I missed this and some other older paper clips you mentioned...

[themonsterofthenet]

Originally posted by Sphinx of Black Quartz:

Originally posted by The Snacrifice:

It's a fakeout meant to make you think he was like summoning demons or something.

It's purposefully vague exactly what he's done, but IMO Oscar either came out of the closet to one of his family members or got caught being gay in the early 60s(possibly by abusing Terrence, the MC's father).

There's a lot of little signs that Terrence used to hang out at his uncles house a lot, and it suddenly stops around the same time as the letter, which means the rest of the family didn't let Terrence visit anymore.

More specifically:

Uncle Oscar sexually abused Terrence over Thanksgiving weekend 1963, when Terrence was 11 or 12 (Note this is when the notches on the basement wall stop.) This is also when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated — note the adult Terrence's series of novels centered on that event, and on undoing the past. Worse, Terrence's parents knew about the abuse and hushed it up. It's possible they even blamed Terrence for the abuse — at the time, it was not uncommon to blame and shame the victim of sexual abuse.

But word gets around in small towns, even if nobody is ever explicitly told what the word is. Neighbors warn each other about Mr. Masan without ever quite mentioning why he's dangerous; their children are told to stay far away from his house, without being told why. Thirty years later, the careful circumlocutions have utterly erased the details, and all that remains is the story of The Psycho House.

Ol' Uncle Oscar was also a smack addict, by the way; his basement safe contains morphine, works for fixing up, and laxatives. (Opioids make you constipated.) Further, a newspaper clipping in the game implies his assistant may have blackmailed him for ownership of his pharmacy, over the child abuse or the drug addiction or both.

Are there any clues in the game pointing to this interpretation? I feel like it came out of nowhere. I mean sure, Terry stopped visiting his uncle in 1963, but that can just mean that Terry's parents cut off Oscar because of his drug habit and that's why they didn't let Terry visit.

[Sphinx of Black Quartz]

Originally posted by themonsterofthenet:

Are there any clues in the game pointing to this interpretation? I feel like it came out of nowhere. I mean sure, Terry stopped visiting his uncle in 1963, but that can just mean that Terry's parents cut off Oscar because of his drug habit and that's why they didn't let Terry visit.

It's implied more than stated. For example, there's a letter to Terrence from his father that alludes darkly to the JFK assassination and Terrence's personal life and fears. There's also a letter from Uncle Oscar to Terrence (torn up, but taped back together, and with what may have been Terrence's name torn out; besides the tear speaking to a very personal betrayal, it implies that Oscar thought he'd screwed up Terrence for good, but he was then relieved to hear of Terrence's (heterosexual) marriage. And, of course, there's Sam's father's reaction to the news that his daughter is gay; while anger and denial weren't unusual parental reactions to queer kids in the 1990s (and, sadly, aren't all that rare today), seeing his daughter's queerness through the lens of his own abuse as a child makes the situation more painful, and his reaction more extreme.

[themonsterofthenet]

I didn't take Oscar's letter to imply that Oscar had done anything to Terrence personally. Oscar was rejected by Terrence's family, who wanted nothing to do with him for unstated reasons, and Oscar was concerned about the welfare of the nephew he could no longer contact. Terrence tore the letter because that's what you usually do with a letter you've read, but then decided it was worth keeping so he taped it back.

What's more interesting to me is the torn portrait of Terrence's father. This is the most clear indication of hate in the whole game. Terrence's feelings about Oscar are unclear (I mean, he did keep all those newspaper clippings about Oscar) but at some point after Richard sent Terrence that letter, Terrence had reason to hate him so much that he destroyed his father's portrait (assuming it was Terrence who destroyed it). So... what did the father do?

[The Snacrifice]

Originally posted by themonsterofthenet:

Are there any clues in the game pointing to this interpretation? I feel like it came out of nowhere. I mean sure, Terry stopped visiting his uncle in 1963, but that can just mean that Terry's parents cut off Oscar because of his drug habit and that's why they didn't let Terry visit.

I personally interpreted it as they cut off Oscar because they found out he was gay, and stopped letting Terry visit because of it, and being cut off from his own family and being outed publicly led to a spiral into drug abuse.

[The Snacrifice]

Originally posted by themonsterofthenet:

So... what did the father do?

Terrence's father is an incredibly successful author and a very distant, ♥♥♥♥♥♥ parent by all the lore, it makes sense he's unhappy with him.

[juanlucasprandi]

I played the whole game, but the only thing that i don't understand is what happened with the parents of the main character? The sister 'dissapeared' with Lonnie, but the parents?

[The Snacrifice]

Originally posted by juanlucasprandi:

I played the whole game, but the only thing that i don't understand is what happened with the parents of the main character? The sister 'dissapeared' with Lonnie, but the parents?

They were having marriage issues they were patching up and were out on a date/going to couple's therapy iirc, because the mom was having an affair with a hot younger man from her office.

[Meep]

Originally posted by The Snacrifice:

Originally posted by juanlucasprandi:

I played the whole game, but the only thing that i don't understand is what happened with the parents of the main character? The sister 'dissapeared' with Lonnie, but the parents?

They were having marriage issues they were patching up and were out on a date/going to couple's therapy iirc, because the mom was having an affair with a hot younger man from her office.

It's implied that the affair may have been emotional & one-sided, as there's no evidence the guy was ever actually interested in her & he got married. Some time after that happened her parents go on a couples retreat & it honestly sounded to me like they might be on the upswing, at least relative to the lows their at in most of these journal entries & notes throughout the house.

[The Snacrifice]

Originally posted by Meep:

It's implied that the affair may have been emotional & one-sided, as there's no evidence the guy was ever actually interested in her & he got married. Some time after that happened her parents go on a couples retreat & it honestly sounded to me like they might be on the upswing, at least relative to the lows their at in most of these journal entries & notes throughout the house.

That's why I said they were patching up and were out on a date. It's also improving because the Dad managed to sell a book recently..