[SPOILER] The protagonists

[Anamon]

This post contains spoilers of the story and ending of the game!


I'm writing this because after a particular thought, I'd like to know how other players interpreted Maquette's story.

I initially really didn't care for the love story, in the first half of the game I found it pretty trite and the dialogues implausible. I fully expected to end up enjoying the puzzles but hating the story. But then, in the second half, as the relationship started to break apart, I felt the writing became a lot better and more realistic.

Figuring out that the lines of monologue are part of a post-breakup letter, one of those that often aren't sent, felt like a nice, gradual reveal. And I ended up really liking the writing of that letter, it had some wonderful lines and thoughts that felt much more authentic than the boring, actual love story that came before.

I liked it enough that when rummaging around in the game files and finding the actual letter pretty much just lying there, I read it again. And I realized that while I just naturally assumed I was playing Michael in the game, and reading a letter he was writing to Kenzie some time after "the exchange", there doesn't really seem to be anything in the game explicitly stating who wrote the letter, or who we're playing the game as. Not in the floating letter lines, not in the dialogue cutscenes, and not in the actual gameplay.

You can read the entire game's script as being told from the perspective of Kenzie, writing the letter to Michael after having moved back east, thinking back at their time together. In fact, I'd even argue that the only somewhat specific clue as to who is supposed to be writing the letter would point towards Kenzie, because it starts with "Dear Sunflower" and ends with "Goodbye Sunflower". If I'm not mistaken, Kenzie uses the nickname "Sunflower" for Michael twice in the game, but it's never used the other way around.

Even more, I don't think the game even contradicts the interpretation that the person writing the letter actually sent it, and we're playing the game from the perspective of the one who received it (where again both directions work). I like that interpretation as I always find it a very sad thought that some people lose touch for good 😊

Anyway, I found it neat to realise that the story is open that way, and wanted to ask around how others interpreted it when they first played the game.

Maybe this was obvious to most people? I doubt it, though, because I read several reviews and every single one that took one specific interpretation took the "Michael writing to Kenzie" one. In my case, I guess I just naturally assumed the same because I'm a straight male, but I like the idea that maybe a woman playing the game could have just as naturally assumed the opposite.