Ending discussion (spoiler obviously)

[Blindga]

Again, this is going to contain some final game spoilers. If you haven't beaten the game then shoo.

So after thankfully getting help in finding the last bell, I was able to clear up the rest of the spirits and finish the game. I have to say, I loved the gameplay, but I was very disappointed with both the story and the ending.

To me, the end was terribly cliched and awkward. I went out of my to be nice to everyone and release all the spirits (except Allison's father. He can rot), only to get a blam/shocker ending that tells me "Oh, but it ain't over yet!"

Because horror games can't have happy endings I guess, and the monster always has to win somehow.

I "think", based on what Allison says when you talk to her in the freegame is that she can't bring herself to release the spirit of her sister, and thus you must wait. But it just kind of comes out of the blue. She doesn't even sound like the kind of person who would do that kind of thing to be honest, as her responses to you tend to be practical and respectful rather than emotive and irrational. I mean, don't you think she's generally a nice young woman who MIGHT feel a little bad about keeping strangers in an otherworldy abyss because of her feelings?!

I would consider her actions in the end of the game to be a dramatic collapse of personal ideals if I actually knew anything about her, or even cared about her at all, but its not like the game lets you connect with her in any way.

And the protagonist doesn't even really seem to care that he is essentially prisoner, body and soul, to some girl because she "can't let go". It just felt like it was very forced, and that the game devs went out of their way to make a sad ending even though a normal ending would have probably been more appropriate there.

Maybe I'm being too hard on it, and that's all just a guess. It also makes me wonder what happens if I tell her she has to die with her sister.

I already had some gripes about the story and objective system that I mentioned in a review I posted, but skipping that, what did you think of the ending? Am I the only one that just wasn't impressed with how the whole thing turned out?

[SexyPanther]

So, I completed the game and the ending left me puzzled. The only thing I can seem to guess is the name of the player character, Avery Taverner. Since this is the only note you find in the entirety of the Forbidden Wilds, and I don't believe there is a grave site or character bio for him, it makes sense that he is you. It also makes sense since it implies he was still alive, and perhaps, the only one left alive at the game's end.

However, I can't for the life of me figure out the deal with the Giants, or how the Lady in Red (Allison) betrayed me. I did find it cute that you could give her gifts and select custom reasons for it. Does selecting particular options explain things at the end in some way? Is there an alternate ending if you select the Red Lady texts that don't involve her staying alive?

And yes, I did find all the notes scattered around...

[Sparhawk122]

From my perspective it appears the game is set-up for a sequel.

[Tundra - タンドラ]

I'll totally admit, I understand that the giant ghosts at the end were the giants hinted at in the notes, but I have no idea what the relevance was for them to be there at the end. I do like a good mystery, but there were no clues at all about why they would suddenly appear there for me to speculate as to why they would logically show up at the end; the notes merely indicated that they just disappeared. So why were they suddenly there?

[Blindga]

Sequel talk seems to come up a lot here.

On that note, I wouldn't like to see a sequel to Betrayer as a story, but I would like another old world themed game like this that took place in another setting with a new story and characters. The gameplay was without doubt my favorite part about this game, so more of this certainly wouldn't hurt I think.

[Explicitly Offensive Cuneiform]

How about a donner party themed sequeal?

The colonial peroid has a lot of good potential for sequals. the game play and mechanics would also work for a conquistador or pirate themed game too.

[1997]

To me it felt like the devs had bigger plans story-wise but then were forced to cut it for budget or time reasons. The title already lets you know that the story is about betrayal but I figured that you, the nameless "hero", are actually the bad guy but we didn't really get to know anything about the protagonist. I also expected the merchant to make an appearance.
And what about the Spaniards? It just feels like there's a lot missing, and there's probably a bigger script lying around somewhere.
I guess the main problem for me was the missing antagonist. I heard that some of the devs came from Monolith, is that true? Because Tabitha is totally Alma.
But how do you end a game where you're not really fighting someone? I'm right on the sequel boat.

[Lord Of Change]

This game truly needs a wiki. I would be interesting to have all information in one place.

Also I don't understand why most people assume the protagonist is alive. I figured he is the wraith.

[Blindga]

Funnily enough HouseOfLords, if I can talk about it, in the earlier beta versions there was some different dialogue that hinted at that.

The white ghosts you spoke to were always afraid to talk to you. They said you looked dead to them, like you were the ghost and they were alive, when to you it appeared the opposite. It made for some interesting talk, and kind of hinted at the possibility of confusion between life and death.

Sadly, it doesn't come up in the full version, so I can't call that part of the canon. IMO I'm quite sure the protagonist is alive though.

[Bivoj]

I have just finished the game and it was great experience! I bought it only because of the use of the blackpowder weapons (I like military history, especially horse&musket era), but the story was really great and appealing.

Anyway, I lack proper explanaition of what is happining on the island. I would really appreciate some hints:
- what happened to the spaniards?
- who is the merchant and what is he doing on the island?
- what happens if I let Allison die? (have not tried the option and will not go through the game again)
- what are the ash&amber statues?
- what happened to all people on the island? (we know what happened to some sinister people, who became wraiths, especially Allison's family, but what about the rest of the colonists and natives?)

[Bivoj]

And to forget: what about the expedition for the "haunted" indian tresure? It was mentioned in some notes, but at the end of the game, this line of story was abandoned and replaced by the Allison's "family issue". Was the expedition successful? Did it trigger some curse? Or is it just a misleading clue?

[Explicitly Offensive Cuneiform]

Yes, this game deserves a sequel. the devs are awsome. I would gladly pay 19.99 for any early access game that they make. It is clearly not an earth 2066.

[Rand]

My theory:

First of all, the game is clearly not 100% finished, at least story wise, so plenty is left over for interpretation. Also, I actually view this game as heavily influenced by Japanese horror movies and games, think say, The Grudge, The Ring, Silent Hill, Fatal Frame etc. so themes of betrayal and corruption are abound.

So anyways, what we have here is a person (Tabitha) betrayed (really, you should have expected that based on the title of the game) by her own family in the worst possible way, killed for honour of all things, and her anger and hatred at her betrayal corrupt the island and its inhabitants, it’s also the likely source of the mysterious plague killing people.

This is where you get the Spaniard and Native enemies in the ‘light’ world, people twisted in body and soul through Tabitha’s hatred. The game isn’t exactly clear here, but they may be zombies/zombie like or perhaps ghosts that are just not that far gone. The enemies of the ‘dark’ world however seem to be the souls of the dead (and apparently a few dead deer) too far gone to have any semblance of sanity, leaving only a few wraiths behind with any sort of humanity left. Perhaps only those who feel they somehow deserve their fate or those who have unfinished business, the rest driven to madness by what must seem like hell.

I also believe that you are dead, brought back to life by the influence of the Island, or perhaps a life barely sustained by it, leaving you to piece together what happened before you become a wraith (or worse) in time, the ability to cross between worlds and to directly affect the dead (or mostly dead,) hint at this. Allison is also most likely dead, given her apparent lack of memories like the other Wraiths and ability to force you into the dark world at the end of the game. Perhaps the descent from light world <whatever the hell your are> to a dark world Wraith is simply a matter of time (and resistance,) the more time spent in Tabitha’s sphere of influence the further you devolve, eventually into the enemies you see throughout the dark world.

I don’t really fully understand the shocker ending though, other than it plays into the theme of Betrayal, in that you help Allison to redeem her Sister (and a sizeable chunk of her community really) only to have her betray you in the end. The only thing I can think of is that by forcing you into the dark world she dooms you to eventually becoming a mindless wraith, which is probably a kinder fate that roaming the island for eternity as a ghost (there is sadly no one with the ability to redeem your soul after all) and Allison doesn’t want anyone to redeem her, choosing instead to suffer for her perceived crimes (mainly her failure to save her sister.)

I really don’t get the giant spirits though, other than them being alluded to in an earlier note, there really isn’t anything in the game to tie them to you other than thatn.

[Edmund Kemper]

I'm at the deep forrest right now. How far away am I from the ending? Also, where is the bell in the deep forrest?

[SexyPanther]

I like the second paragraph of Rand's theory as it succinctly states what I was missing from the term "betrayer."

However, a few other ideas have crossed my mind:
1) Why make Allison and Tabitha twins? My gut feeling was that the one who was burned was the wrong twin, but nothing in the game makes this very likely.
2) Only you, the protagonist, can see the dead. Allison early on says as much. Why is this? Is it because one, or both of you, are dead? If you are dead and Allison isn't, why does the ending imply Allison knows more about the afterlife than you do?
3) Why was Allison holding Tabitha back from finding peace? Rather, how was she doing this?

[1D10t]

I'm a bit irked as well, although Dead Space ended the same way, which was crucial to Dead Space 2. So it works as long as it feeds into the sequel. If not, then it's a standard horror cop-out.

I'd love to hear details from the other script drafts and how they were pared down to the final story.

Random side note, Black Sabbath's The Dead (After All) would have been great credits music given the ending, because of the first two lines of the song.