Executive DLC Discoveries + First Impressions

[MANEATER]

So let me start off by saying this is not a walkthrough, but just some notes I compiled as I've been through so far. These are just comments I jotted down along my way as I found new or alternate content.

Floor 2: Two additional tests past the original first one RE: Chapman raise. The second test is basically just the old game Snake. The third test there's a crowd of happy vacation-minded businessmen trying to head toward a beach at the bottom of the screen, and you have to push them back. I recommend upgrading to the lantern so you can see the left and right sides for any guys who try to sneak by. There's a few 'sprinters' that you should prioritize. I'm not 100% sure how this works, because I must have played the 'beach' test about 15 times and failed each time (always failing probably after shoving 12-15 people), but suddenly I won the game when it felt like it had just started? My win might have been a bug? ALSO GUESS WHAT! In true OSX fashion, my game crashed 5 minutes after I actually completed this tedious task. So I had to do it all over again. Keeping the fun alive! :) I ended up winning fair and square on my next attempt though.

Floor 5: Scene in bathroom where Malone hints at a key in a plant. Said "bloody key" found in plant in main area of Floor 5.

Floor 4: Mr. Swery--hidden bar/room inside cubicle farm (between two plants) on left side of Floor 4. Beer bottle on floor with barcode on it which gives you underwater breathing. IIRC, you used to be able to get this from helping Chapman, who would leave a cigarette pack behind with a barcode on it. In Swery's bar, you can buy cheap soda from the soda machine and he talks about numerology. There's an achievement for buying all eleven sodas. I'm not sure if this whole numerology thing is flavor text or actually serves a deeper purpose. The text for "two" seems to reference when you hold a Witch Paper up to the mirror in the fifth floor bathroom and see the "S" turn into a "2".

Floor 3: After you promote Chapman, you unlock the security room, which is a big core of the DLC. There's two parts here: one where you help an HR woman (she's friendly despite her looks) and one where you collect security cards around the form cumulating in a boss battle. There are some dialogue options during the battle that result in 'positive' responses, but I'm not sure how much it affects the game overall (like saying you're going to there to save the boss + picking "4:3" as your preferred TV ratio). Beating the boss gains you an achievement. Helping the HR woman promotes Chapman to the fourth floor, which is an additional achievement. And bonus! They no longer spit at you on Floor 4. Chapman ends up giving you his cigarette pack, which you can use for a new Goblin contract that heals 1/3 of your health whenever you use a Witch Paper.

The Floor 3 camera monitor for Floor 5 showed two rooms--making me realize there might be another room I hadn't been in. That's where I got the idea to use the Bloody Key, which worked on Room F. Upon entering, I realized I needed the button the Dot Matrix battle. I hadn't done the Dot Matrix part of Floor 4 though, so I went on and did that. Coming back, I was able to do a quest that resulted in getting the Athame early (as well as an achievement). It seems you can do this as early as defeating the Dot Matrix, but before using the R. Corvo card.

Getting the Athame early seems to kick-off the big alternate ending sequence (no birthday party sequence), where the game probably becomes its truest form of survival horror. The ending area seems substantial enough where it could have other secrets hidden in it. The only one I found is a video where you tuned the TV based on a painting (left/right arrows) on Rei's bedroom wall. I don't know if this counts as Lost Tape #3, because I hadn't collected the tape on the 8th floor on this run. I'll try again and see if that gets me the Lost Tapes achievement. I collected some pieces of candy here in this sequence that I ultimately didn't use, and wondered if there was some secret attributed to the candy?

Other random things I found: more 'Zombie Rostov' scenes, including an 'attack' in the elevator. + If you defeat the third floor boss and move onto the normal game (birthday party), sentries no longer appear in the final part.

I tried to go through a normal ending: going to the graveyard to kick off the beginning of the end, and I'm not sure how much had changed by some of the earlier DLC content. Everything by the end seemed standard fare. You also lose access to Room F on Floor 5 at some point.

I didn't get the Control ending, and because the security door lucks after the Birthday Party, it seems that all of those scenes must be done before going to the Graveyard? Can anyone confirm/deny?

I haven't "Ending: The Boss of It All" or "Ending: The Secret of My Success", so if anyone knows the pivot point to kick start those off, holler.

Overall, a stellar DLC. I love the switch to a very 'haunted mansion' type of survival horror in one route. Looking for other things I missed if anyone has tidbits.

[BlueFenixR]

Did you get burn witch burn? missing that one along with the lost tape 3, also the tip for doing those other 2 endings its in the ending sequence, of this DLC, just watch till the end.

[MANEATER]

I did get Burn Witch Burn, but don't realize how I got it. Perhaps it's something to do with executing parts of the Domori 'chase' sequence properly? I recall I picked up her ball and took a tip of the pool water, and just kept running away trying to avoid enemies until paths opened up.

I also just realized the two endings I was missing: at the end of the 'haunted family apartment' sequence, you can us the athame on the 'fake vanity' that Kate!Mom mentioned. It opens a hidden room, that you can't do anything immediately in. But after the endgame, Hugo will give you Rei's head which you can us to turn the machine on. You get to choose if Brian or Chapman should become CEO.

I see the Chapman ending more of a silly joke ending, but Brian's is curious, as it implies he took the same lengths as Rei's father and history begins to repeat itself...

[BlueFenixR]

Did you get bitten by the snake?

[trainee]

I can confirm I didn't realize you could talk with the Devil and get a sequence of tasks. However, I skipped getting bitten by the snake but found the ball, the pool, and the grave and got the burn witch burn achievement.

So that mini task in the fire maze seems to be completely pointless.

[trainee]

From Maneater's response

That ending with Brian being CEO makes way more sense now. It's basically another Doromi.

To anyone that has beaten the games. Is there a way to see those additional scenes after the ending? They're not cutscenes but like in game play movies? Like with Hugo's final fate and the one that occurs after Goodbye Sinatra?

[MANEATER]

I'll have to replay the entire 'Sintra apartment' sequence again. I only played it once, and the game did a very good job of making the haunted house experience feel uncontrolled and hard to pin down. I was operating on pure adrenaline because of the Rei!Monster, so I'm not quite sure what I did to get the achievements I did.

BTW, did everyone become Mr. Devil in the apartment sequence? I wondered if that was mandatory or not. When it comes time to kill Domori (inside Rei's body), you can pick YES or NO. But both answers lead to Mr. Devil killing her. I wonder if there's a way to keep Brian 'uncorrupted' so he actually can choose NO?

I feel like there's 1-2 secrets left to be discovered with the apartment area. I want to get the Control achievement, then I'm going to explore around there some more.

Semi-related lore question: who or exactly what is the 'monster' Rei? Assuming Domori and Rei switched bodies at one point, and Rei's soul was burned at the stake inside the apartment, what part of Rei was left to 'haunt'?

[BlueFenixR]

The whole part in the apartment its due to the curse most likely, what exactly the monster was im not sure, i remember reading something in Dad study about cloning something maybe its that?

For Mr.Devil just gonna ask a question, did any of you did the bit with the Witch paper and the mirrors (There are 2 mirrors in the game btw, i did both just cause)? If no, probably its forced specially since you need the costume to look the part for the photo.

Edit: Also no, in game cutscenes can't be seen again unless you finish the game again, only the movies.

[tipsyConfection]

Personally, i liked the resulting content a lot, even if it's pretty damn sad, very bittersweet and kinda painful. Can't explain the whole Haunted Appartment myself, it's very out of the blue... Unless i've missed on some lore bits, because with my speedreading i definitely could. I guess there always was something in the blocked off appartment, we just never got to see what was there before Executive Edition. And it was most likely sealed back then, way back then, but after the ritual cremation.

BTW, i keep seeing people being disappointed in Brian in his personal secret ending, but i dunno, it makes some sense. Yes, you may assume that he just went the same route as with the previous CEO and all, but from this cinematic alone i think it's pretty obvious that Brian is doing a much better job and is being a much better father figure for the new Kitsune thingy, looking at how they lovingly embrace Brian and all. At least, that's my wishful thinking. I personally think it does make some sense for Brian to become new CEO, it's another moment of Taking the Opportunity and Trying not to return home with nothing, this is pretty much the best chance for him. And of course at first he fails, and of course he considers the ways of his predecessor, but knowing what happened with Sintra family, he used this info and done a much better job.

You know, it's ironic that the only route/ending where we actually Do Our Job is the one that is hella sad, bittersweet and kinda unfulfilling, like we dialed the wrong number. We never meant to do this after all, i guess. This was never the point of Witch Hunters, ironically.

[MANEATER]

I did the "hold up Witch Paper to get Mr. Devil" sequence in the Floor 5 bathroom pretty early on in the game. I'm wondering how much that impacted during the hidden apartment sequence—if at all.

I personally loved the apartment sequence. It felt very reminiscent of RPG Maker Horror games like Ao Oni. I mean, it also mostly felt like an excuse for Baroque Decay to lean into survival horror + Halloween, since I don't 100% buy the lore of creepy chubby faceless Rei roaming around in a baby carriage stabbing people. Despite the furniture pushing puzzle being tedious at times, I enjoyed it. I don't know if I fully "get" the backstory at this point, having played everything, but it was nice to spend time in the past with the family where it all started.

I think my problem with most of the endings is there's a type of unfinished business? In the traditional endings, you save Rei, and it's implied that they switch souls again... leaving Rei's soul in her human body and Domori's soul in the Rei robot. But there's no proof that Rei is actually a good person, not to mention... the snake and Domori still live.

Pretty much in all of the canon endings you "one-up" Hugo, who is a huge ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ and deserves his due, but the bigger issues are never really addressed. Even in the new DLC ending, you successfully kill Domori (it's somewhat unclear what happens to the Snake and how much magical power/influence the snake has over Domori)... which also sucks because Domori is basically a victim of human trafficking and was used by all the adults in their lives.

Truly, IMO, the only 'good' ending is the one where Brian either quits the job immediately, or the one where Hugo fires Brian. At least in terms of Brian washing his hands clean of the mess.

This isn't me saying I need a perfectly happy ending or one that retcons the sins of the past, but just that none of the endings really seem to address some of the more outrageous plot points.

I think at the end of the day, Baroque Decay is really excellent at nailing certain aesthetics and elements of worldbuilding, but in terms of a cohesive or rewarding/enriching story, the narrative takes the backseat to the visuals and atmosphere-building.

[tipsyConfection]

One thing i still don't get.
What the absolute hell does Mr. Devil has to do with all those shenanigans? Because apparently it was also him who executed Doromi's burning in the end. At least, that's how i understood that sequence.
We never get any kind of explaination what are his motives, if he has any. Why help us, even. Why be determined to Kill the Witch? And WHY is Daddy Sintra is also constantly linked to him as well as Brian? I don't get it.

[tipsyConfection]

Originally posted by MANEATER:

But there's no proof that Rei is actually a good person, not to mention... the snake and Domori still live.

There's litearlly no reason for Rei to be evil, at all. She's a child, nothing else. Nothing malicious here. Neither is Doromi herself malicious or evil, she was misguided and lured into a trap all the same, it was all the treacherous familiar, which, in the end, was conquered and put back under complete control. So, those endings were always meant to be pretty good from the beginning, there's nothing to doubt here, it's straightforward.

[MANEATER]

Originally posted by tipsyTentaclist:

Originally posted by MANEATER:

But there's no proof that Rei is actually a good person, not to mention... the snake and Domori still live.

There's litearlly no reason for Rei to be evil, at all. She's a child, nothing else. Nothing malicious here. Neither is Doromi herself malicious or evil, she was misguided and lured into a trap all the same, it was all the treacherous familiar, which, in the end, was conquered and put back under complete control. So, those endings were always meant to be pretty good from the beginning, there's nothing to doubt here, it's straightforward.

I never really read Rei as "evil" (except if we're talking about the Monster!Rei in the baby carriage)...more-so that it's unclear who or what she knows or what her end-goal is. It's heavily implied that in the original endings that after the Human!Rei (with Domori's soul inside) is awakened by the bell, they do a swamp again: Robot!Rei's consciousness ends up in Human!Rei's body and Domori's soul ends up in Robot!Rei's body. It's unclear how much she knows or what her desires are. Her consciousness has been basically plugged into the internet. I don't think any version of Rei or Domori are "normal" children by the end of any storyline.

Yuppie Psycho definitely is aware of tropes from movies like Rosemary's Baby (which I'd argue is an inspiration). So I think the moral ambiguity of what the characters wants is still there, especially with the teasings of those who have potentially made a 'deal with the devil.'

At the end of the day, the easiest explanation is that the writing is just messy and impressionistic, and there probably aren't clear answers for who Rei is as a character, who Domori is, what the Snake wants, and what the Devil wants. Playing the game is more like looking at a painting and taking it all in to come up with your own meaning.

[BlueFenixR]

I saw as:

- Rei a Child that was growing up and wasn't interested in being stuck in the house with her Sister Domori.

- Domori a innocent creature you could say, she doesn't really lash out against the family or anything, everything happening in the company its due to the familiar.

- Snake: Domori familiar, with resentment against the family due to their treatment of her master.

- Devil: The Devil's gonna Devil.

[Blattdorf]

I feel there is a bit more to the whole Witch business than the game is letting on. The Witch could literally just be the snake that needs to attach itself to a host. I haven't played the normal route in years, so I might be horribly wrong about it.

[tipsyConfection]

Originally posted by MANEATER:

At the end of the day, the easiest explanation is that the writing is just messy and impressionistic, and there probably aren't clear answers for who Rei is as a character, who Domori is, what the Snake wants, and what the Devil wants. Playing the game is more like looking at a painting and taking it all in to come up with your own meaning.

Definitely gotta be that, personally thinking. Plus, whole story ain't that serious mostly, so...