SPOILERS: The men in the masks

[Tyrant]

That's your only warning, I'm going to be discussing big story spoilers in here, about the men first mentioned at the beginning of the game and some other things towards the end.

The men in the masks play an odd role in the game. I like their duality as characters, it's very pleasant and adds a lot of dramatic flair. You can also see one of the masked men in the entry to hotel, another nice bit of foreshadowing, as the game seems to like throwing around.

Thing is, they are very supernatural. This alone isn't too surprising just because they seem to play some sort of otherworldly, almost god-like role in the game - as if they aren't real, almost. But what grounds them in actual reality for me is the scene in Chinatown, where you're surrounded and choose between life or death. When you choose to live, they turn and cause all the cops to die around you. This could just be our character's perception of events, but I would expect another flashback or something on the spot to glitch and show us reality. Instead I'm really inclined to believe that they are real, physical beings that can effect the world, just because when you look at them after they die, it doesn't look like the kind of killings our character performs, and we aren't shown any other order of events - they really did just kill those cops.

So if they outright killed the cops for us, then does that mean they're drugged up on other experimental war drugs? Psychotherapy shows us that other drugs were indeed in the works. Snow is a prime example of this, from V's exclamation after she teleports away, leaving all the petals: "Those are sharp!"

So, with all this considered, I believe the masked men to be other drugged-up superpowers in the world. What other role they fulfill, any motivations they have, and how they came to be how they are might be found out in future updates. I just wanted to share this thought I had and see if anyone had additional details that might point to them being more grounded in the world instead of being some form of hallucination, as up until I thought this through it was somewhat in the air.

[Mira! 🩷]

That sounds like a pretty good theory, actually!








but her name is Snow, not Rose

[Tyrant]

Originally posted by <color=purple><u>SFPL Myriad:

but her name is Snow, not Rose

Sometimes I'm retarded
totally spaced her name

[Mira! 🩷]

oh haha

it's fine, everyone makes mistakes

[Old Master Fudo]

really interesting read, i believe them to be real as well but i dont think there is any possible way to ground them, picking the death ending in chinatown shows that the surrounding cops cant see are mysteries masked man, they must be god like with those kind of powers but its odd they focus on zero, maybe they have some personal tie?

[Leoscar]

When you first face V, there are time glitches, during a short frame tragic can be seen where V stands.

If you refuse the medication tragic calls you at the beggining of the prison stealth level (not 1000% sure as I KIND OF interrupted the call thinking it was the psy). However at the end of the mission tragic says he's pleased if you butcher every cop.

[Tyrant]

Originally posted by Leoscar:

When you first face V, there are time glitches, during a short frame tragic can be seen where V stands.

If you refuse the medication tragic calls you at the beggining of the prison stealth level (not 1000% sure as I KIND OF interrupted the call thinking it was the psy). However at the end of the mission tragic says he's pleased if you butcher every cop.

That must be a brief shot because I never noticed the one about V. I'll double back for that bit later.

If you refuse the drug it's obviously Tragedy. Nobody else calls you Errant Heart. I just don't know why. We don't have any motives for these characters yet (except Comedy? He just likes ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ with us lmao) so I really just wish we had more answers.

[Acqua Sabre]

I don't know.

I had the impression the police notices the masked men showing up before they stop time for you to choose.

But when you slash Comedy, there's nothing. You get shot.

-

If they are real, why would withdrawal from refusing medicine affect the phone call?

It looks like the psychiatrist calls, but you hallucinate with Tragedy instead, in that moment — just as when reading the dossier.

-

I'm really confused about them.

I wish they were real, it would make the story more meaningful

But there appears to be more evidence they're hallucinations

[MadHatter]

I would assume it all to be hallucinations, the little girl, comedy, tragedy and how the police look like they have died. We ARE on drugs the entire game remember and they have had strange effects before.

[HighLanderPony]

I think they're the potheads V visits.