What's the mirrors symbolic of?

[Alex Helders]

This video explains the story of the game (obvious spoilers), but the author is unsure of why mirrors are used to visit the safe place at around 8:25

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RZsY2GyWfM

Is there any confirmed lore on this?

[stonersunshine]

Take everything in that video with a pinch of salt, there's a lot of stuff he should know but doesn't. It's very rough.

Stopped watching that video when he said Ruvik wanted you out of the machine and for Seb to be dead. There isn't much evidence of that and a lot of evidence to the contrary. Ruvik's goal with people inside the machine isn't to kill them but to bend them to his will, to make them like him or manipulate them into accomplishing his goals for him. People that simply die in STEM are considered failures. He want's to break Seb down by pushing him to his limits.

Couple of ways to look at it with the mirrors.

1) The upgrade chair is not a good thing. You pick up goo from people that are possessed by Ruvik and you are essentially injecting Ruvik's conciousness into Sebastian for a false sense of power. The first time you use the chair you sit down in a chair from Ruvik's mansion and are set aflame as you experience Ruviks own childhood trauma. You have to use it to progress through the game, which is itself a collection of Ruvik's memories. Don't use it and you never progress, you "unlock" Seb's brain and allow Ruvik access.

The mirror that should reflect Sebastian then effectively shows a reflection of Ruvik. When Seb tries to gather himself he instead becomes more like his antagonist. You are a mirror of Ruvik as he intended.

If you are going down that route it's important to remember that Seb's own life story strongly mirrors Ruvik's. Sister died in a fire, daughter died in a fire. Ruvik isolated himself, Seb is in that process. Both mistrust others. Both view the general populace as less than human. Both use brutal means to accomplish their goals. Both are seeking vengeance, against the same people even.

All the puzzles are a means of dehumanising Seb and indoctrinating him into Ruviks way of thinking. You perform brain surgery as Ruvik did in order to progress in the mansion, you sacrifice others in the dungeons of the church and you study Ruviks drawings to progress through the asylum.

Nothing you do in the game adversely effects Ruvik. You usher Leslie through a dangerous and unstable landscape to ultimately be used by Ruvik as a vessel to escape. The enemies you fight are all Ruvik's own hated would-be murderers, you are another tool in his continued torture of them. The bosses are largely symbols of his own fears and guilt. You destroy STEM terminals for him. When you finally kill him at the end of the game you are in fact releasing him from his own torment inside STEM, where he does not want to be.

Leslie's mirror face is the same thing. It's a little sign that Leslie and Sebastian are in the same situation.

2) Upgrade chair is good. It makes you stronger.

Mirrors are unlocked by Seb picking up his old diary, he looks into the mirror and is reminded of who he is. Memories are vague things you must be careful not to let them be distorted by others.