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討論區規矩與守則
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When Alex is at the party onboard the train, there are several times she describes events not yet having taken place. This idea, of Alex reliving past events as a means to deal with her suppressed 'angst' could be logically projected onto the character Lydia, for whom I believe is her younger self. In their chat regarding ballet, Alex states something to that effect in pointing out their similarities. I'm not convinced Lydia is indicative of Alex being Rob's lost daughter, nor I am I convinced that Lydia is a real person at all. What I am suggesting, however, is that Lydia, serving as a mental construct of Alex in regards to Rob's perceived motivations (I agree with a previous poster in regards to Robs actions being fabrications of Alex's mind), is the embodiment of Alex's younger self and a metaphor for her loss of trust in people. Afterall, Lydia 'went missing' only after having trusted the supposed friend of her father whom she claimed possessed a doll of his.
My only other point of note is a mystery around the inhaler. It could have easily been described in-game as having belonged to Alex and yet, it was not. The inhaler came into Alex's possession at her birthday party, given to her by her friend for no other reason than a simple handoff. The motive for the handoff does not seem apparent, nor does the fact the inhaler's origins lay with her 'diplomatic' friend seem unimportant in pursuit of answers.
To AIndalecio who posted above me, I find your point #7 particularly intriguing. For you and everyone else, please continue posting should you have any more ideas.
All in all, this games was very fun food for thought. I spent a couple hours after playing in bed, thinking over all I had taken in and replaying it, analyzing it, trying to understand.
Okay so I don't know WHY this is happening (it's happening to me too), because we haven't updated the game or anything, so I can only assume it's something to do with Steam or Windows. You can fix it by running setup when you launch, and changing the dropdown to DirectDraw 5 instead of Direct3D 9. Then select your resolution, windowed mode etc as normal.
Hi! Any chance you have a news about sequel?
The connection between 'augur' (one who reads divine patterns/prophecies) and 'author' (one who creates a narrative) is already made in-game the moment we see that Louis Cassel - author of the Charnel Burial - went to Augur Hill to become a hermit.
Both ravens and crows were regularly used by multiple cultures to augur events, but the Classical tradition states auguries are carried in their songs. Depending on which direction they come from, the news could be good or bad. A crow on the left is a bad omen and one might recall that Robert Crowe regularly appears on the left side of the screen with Alex. The crow Don killed before entering the train landed on his left shoulder. I believe the crow/raven is meant to be a physical representation of foreshadowing. Foreshadowing, after all, is when the author specifically gives signs for readers to try and predict or navigate the plot - like literary divination. (Perhaps more obviously, Alex's phone - a literal message device - has a crow on it).
In Alex's story, flashes of a strange figure appear right before specific plot elements, as though showcasing its influence. Most notably, it appears before the phone call signalling the loss of Alex's father. We later see this figure on the train as Grub, but at the very end of the game, this person is referred to as Cassel - as in Louis Cassel. Knowing that this figure appearing in Alex's story is the author, one could inferr that he is making these 'plot points' happen to the protagonist.
The author is invading his own story, which is causing problems. He appears to be forcing it into a direction, but we don't know why. Cassel hid himself in the baggage of either Alex, Harold or both, which may indicate his dependency on these characters to keep the plot progressing, despite his powers as an author. Humorously, when Cassel starts to fuss in one of the bags, Don says "If you start causing a scene now..." which could be read as: "Don't start a new scenario yet". At the end of the story, we know he physically intervened on Alex's behalf, effectively providing her with plot-armor. Both Don and Floyd speculated that Alex wasn't going in the right direction, but didn't seem to approve of Cassel's interference either.
There are a few scenes that might imply this is all a meta-narrative. For instance, the way Alex describes the scene outside her window in an elaborate monologue, or the way we (the player) can always hear what the protagonists are thinking. Harold also introduces himself awkwardly in his chapter, reciting his name, occupation and goal out loud. Before this, immediately upon waking up, he actually starts quoting some rather ominous sounding lines, but completely out of context. It's reminiscient of quotes one might read in a movie or book before the start of a major scene or chapter to help provide a theme, mood or even foreshadow conflict.
One of the (admittedly silly) things that struck me when I played was that Alex is wearing the exact same outfit that she did on her birthday, according to her desktop photo. The fact that she doesn't wear anything different in freezing temperature also struck me as odd - as though she weren't a real person, but an idea.
The train to me is a place where characters confront their personal conflicts. It might be a literal train of thought the author uses to help think out character development, which is why things appear squashed together and even rushed. But if we disgard the meta-narrative theory altogether, it still seems as though something about the train either wants or requires its passengers to resolve their inner struggles.
A charnel house, we know, is a place for disposing or storing bones. The train ride focuses a lot on burial, as in "The Charnel House Burial", which is the in-game book by Cassel. There's another clever line about Harold having 'skeletons in his closet', which is to say that he has a sort of charnel house of his own. Everyone does, in a way. Speaking of burial, it seems ironic that the archeologist who spends his life unearthing the past ends up getting buried by his, right? Even when he is doing that awkward character intro, he begins to say why specifically he's going to Augur Hill. We, the player, know he's going to excavate, but it's on the word 'excavation' that he fails. ("They called me to...") At the same time, the first message Alex receives on her machine is about an exhibit on Augurs Hill, which implies that the excavation already happened - wibbly wobbly timey wimey on this train.
Normally 'burying ones past' is seen like a bad thing, but I believe it's meant more as a send-off to the personal baggage that's weighing you down. Notice how we didn't ever see Alex get together a bag at her apartment? She also waits until the very last second to pack anything, despite being well-prepared enough to order tickets ahead of time. The baggage is just the stuff she's carrying with her. Instead of burying it, we can say that it needs to be given a funeral of sorts - closure. Harold was unable to let go and was symbolically buried along with his baggage. Alex was going to lose her life too, but was saved.
So who or what are Don and Lloyd? In many cultures, psychopomps are included as those who guide the soul to the afterlife. In Freudian psych, they are the links between the conscious and unconscious. Structurally, one character (Don) is designed to provide mystery and suspense (he provides atmosphere, but no real information), while the other (Floyd) is designed to provide the fear and surprise. These are four basic principles in writing any horror novel and often authors will use characters to embody these elements. Both Don and Floyd are old trope characters familiar in many horror stories (though as they said, never quite the same).
Other things of interest:
Dogs - Hindu culture in particular refer to dogs as liminal animals, capable of walking the line between life and death, divine and mundane. That Cassel is twice given dog miniatures is an interesting link.
Fire - Another form of augury is fire (pyromancy), which Cassel is also seen playing with. Fire may also refer to cremation, especially in reference to Harold's concern about a fire emergency. As Don states "This [train] would be a steel coffin if the unthinkable happened."
"It looks like... Benwood?" - When reading the signature of the person who took her package, Alex says it looks like 'Benwood' or something. Even misreading it, it's a far cry from Robert Crowe. I actually have no clue about this one - might be an inside joke.
Unless I managed to miss the sequel, I have a bad news for you.
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I noticed that everybody seems to have missed the fact that Harold and Alex aren't passengers of the train, they are called guests instead by Don who also says that they will change the situation for them.
Both the protagonists have a reason to willfully go to Augur Peak, one to visit a friend (who may be dead, you can visit always tomb after all) and the other to do his work aka identifying old stuff found there.
Harold also cannot access to the food which is meant to be eaten by the passengers.
Harold seems to be cycling, when he wakes up and rummages through his belongings he reads his museum ID like he didn't remember who he is.
He speaks to Floyd like he already met him, because he simply may have to, also he states that Don looks familiar.
Harold is coughing from the beginning to the end like he's lacking of air and it seems like his ending is a failure, as in not fulfilling his tasks properly which leads Don and Floyd to die, then his own cycle finishes with his own death.
As for Alex, Don, Floyd and Cassel are all present at the end, I think she breaks the circle and allows the train to move on to its destination.
Don and Floyd may be trapped in the train, Don says his wife is living in Augur Peak and he will take the ferry to go there with Alex and Harold.
I think the drinks may contain a drug which allows to live pasts events again and discover what really happened.
It works for Alex as she takes only one drink, but not for Harold who is apparently drunk after his stop by the bar. Maybe a high dose is lethal too.
---
I hope we'll see the sequel soon or that someone will point it at me if it had been released!
I'm afraid the sequel hasn't been released, but it's still in development with a much bigger budget, and involving my new employer.
This is a very good and interesting post. Only read if you don't mind spoilers/sequel hints:
It's not entirely correct in that a few details are missing that explain more they whys than the hows, but this is the closest theory to correct that's been posted on here. Nice work.
One thing I can say, cos it'll be revealed in the marketing, is that Alex, Lang, Don, and Cassell are all playable in the sequel, as is Kat (who serves as the main character, she's the chick voiced by Ashly Burch at the end), and a brand new character who's an NYC police detective. And it all takes place on Augur Peak.
*Edit* Sorry that's a lie, the very first scene takes place in Alex's apartment block following the events of Charnel House.
*Edit* A character being playable doesn't mean they came away from Old Gloria scot-free, mind. Nor does a character NOT being playable mean they died. ;)
Oh since we're talking the sequel, the new game won't be in AGS and will be playable on Mac, Linux, probably mobile and, ideally, Switch. It'll also function standalone if you haven't played CHT, although it'll obviously be enriched if you do.
The voice acting could have been better at some points, but it was sufficient, imo and more than most people would have done - like, I'm happy and was pleasantly surprised to hear it even has voice acting and then seeing it fully voiced, well, nice work :)
Aside from that; can't wait for the sequel. Take your time and good luck and success. I'm just glad it's not cancelled or anything since someone on Reddit wrote a long time ago nobody knows anything about it and it might be in "development hell." So glad you are still active here, developer. Keep it up and thanks for the wonderful experience!
I don't think Old Gloria / The Sepulchre is some sort of train to the afterlife. I think acts as a sort of gateway into Auger Peak. The Train itself seems to make the guests on it confront their own problems on the way, and makes them overcome them.
The train itself seems to have a system where if you fail that trial and manage to not overcome what's been haunting you, you get sent back to the start with only the vaguest memories of what happened last time. It seems like during these different loops, the staff may take different approaches to solving people's issues.
I believe that Harold has been trapped in a loop for the duration of Sepulchre, with several iterations having happened previously. I believe this for a couple reasons:
In Sepulchre, Harold Lang seems to be very familiar with Louis Cassell, and seems to be able to recite a quotation from memory. Despite this, at the end of Exhale, he hasn't even heard of the guy. Harold may be a doctor, but he's not gonna be able to memorize a book in a short time.
In addition, Harold seems oddly familiar with the people there, although this rarely comes out. In particular, he says "♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, Floyd, you always were a preachy ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, weren't you?". This isn't something you say to someone you've just met.
Lastly, at the beginning he seems awfully confused. He seems to be trying to re-collect his thoughts. Something like 'Why am I on this train, and where am I going?' would usually be immediately obvious, but for how long Harold's probably been there and how many cycles he's gone through he's kind of lost this.
I think Alex was probably stuck in a loop, too. Despite her getting farther along in her journey than Harold, by actually figuring out what happened with Gavin and confronting the Rob in the train. However, it seems like Alex wasn't able to overpower Rob and would end up ultimately failing the first time this loop happened. However, Cassel intervenes and kills Rob, ending the loop.
It seems like until the people manage to overcome their problems, the train continues travelling and never reaches Auger Peak. I feel like that's what Don meant when he said that Alex and Harold were special, he thought they would be able to break the cycle and manage to finally let the train arrive. By Alex overcoming her trial, everyone else was also allowed to exit.
However, an outside force seems to have interfered with this. Rob seems to somehow be able to influence what's happening by 'eaching through', as Don put it. Only by Cassell also interfering was the train finally able to arrive, and the cycle was able to be broken
That's mainly what I believe happened during the trilogy, but here's some tidbits I also found interesting about Don and the Staff:
Many people think that Don and Floyd are manifestations of the train itself and not really guests. I'm not sure about Floyd, but it honestly seems to me that Don was a person who had a life before becoming one of the staff.
For one, he actually talks about his past with Alex, remarking that he used to be a Mudlarker. He even talks about how he lives on Auger Peak, and how he has a wife. He seems to have a lot of things going on that aren't related to the trian.
Don generally refers to pretty much everyone as 'kids', which I think I'd place due to him gaining a large amount of longevity from becoming part of the staff of the train. He stated that the train has been running 'Well over a hundred years', which would place the thing to the early days of railroads. I'll assume Don stopped aging when he became part of the staff, which would place his birth around the 1820's and 1830's.
I believe Louis Cassell may be a part of the 'Staff' on the train, but this is mostly because he, like the rest of the staff, have been one of the few people to travel on the train multiple times. He seems to be a new addition, if he is, and doesn't seem to be entirely willing as he often breaks the 'rules' of being a part of the staff.