Can we please discuss the ending? It made me a little angry. *Spoilers*

[AnxiousLore]

I love this game so much, but the ending really bothered me. It felt SUPER rushed. My problem with it began as soon as Alex entered The Black Lantern in Chapter 5. What I want to know, is why Alex wouldn't tell them "Jed pointed a gun at me, and I fell down the mine shaft." Instead when trying to make her case to people she just met, and have known Jed for years she says "I went down to the mine last night" making it seem like SHE WENT ON HER OWN. Then at the end chimes in with "Jed tried to kill me too." Like yeah, she' s bloody and really beat up, but why not TELL THEM what he did?! It blew my f@#king mind! Also, if you leave Haven to play music with Steph, why does Alex go on stage alone? If you Stay in Haven Springs, why is Alex walking away ALONE. Whoever you romanced should have met her at the end of the dock and they should have walked through town together. Okay rant OVER. Lets discuss

[acrosouls233]

It was really ridiclous to me for jed to shoot alex....what lol. I get that he abandoned those men and saved himself. Fine he is selfish and a bad person. But that doesn't make him someone who would go and shoot someone. In reality jed could have let it go because without literally falling into the mineshaft, she would never have been able to go in. They also could have figured out another way for her to end up failing in or even someon from the company pushing her in....poorly written.

[Dupmeister]

Agreed. it also feels forced that the same scene plays out even if you sign the papers at the police station.

[Ruuku]

covid hit in the middle of development, they rushed it with people working from home

[Annamatopoeia]

Conciliator lähetti viestin:

This game is great except for the nonsensical plot and ending and the fact it's absurdly short.

The problem is the story beats of this game just make no sense and it’s baffling. For starters, killing Gabe off on the first day in the town is just the dumbest thing I could ever imagine. From a narrative perspective it’s dumb because it’s hard to accept that literally the day Alex finds her brother again is also the day he is murdered. However, it’s also dumb because the game gives you no time to establish your relationship with him and make his death more meaningful to the player. It works in LiS1 with Chole dying…because she doesn’t really die…you rewind time and spend the whole game with her before you make a final decision at the end…here he’s just dead and gone and you have no real chance to connect with him.

Given the ludicrously short length of this game at around 9hrs…it’s an even larger unforced error. Why not add another 5 hours of gameplay where chapter 1 actually takes place over the course of an entire year before this tragic murder. It could just be you getting to know the town and the people in it and you really creating a life for you here and then facing this horrific tragedy after the player and even the character actually has some emotional attachment to these people and this town. This could also have given the developers time to expand the town, have more stores to go in and people to interact with…but nope…instead they cut everything short for some nonsensical reason.

After Gabe’s murder there is a time skip…but only of about 1 month…so the time frame of this entire game is basically 5-6 weeks…yet in that time period the game makes pretty clear their feelings that the true ending is you stay in the town and make a life for yourself there…despite the fact the most loved person in the town murdered your father, attempted to murder you, and the regional head of the mining company that lives in the town murdered your brother and attempted to cover it up…this is the town the game wants me to stay in? It’s absurd. I said f this and left immediately with Steph and the game sure indicated this was the wrong decision. It’s weird enough that after Gabe’s murder that only a month later you have essential become Gabe: you’ve taken his job, his apartment, his friends, and his murderous father figure. 1 month is just way too short for these things to happen and it’s nonsensical that they do, it makes the whole situation seem improbable to the point of reality breaking.

The problems don’t stop there though. The overall mystery doesn’t even make any ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ sense. So the mining company had to detonate explosives to further bury the bodies of miners that Jed murdered a decade prior? First, I don’t understand how he covered up those deaths to begin with…this is not a large town…what none of these people in the Town realized like 6 miners were literally missing after this mining accident? OSHA never investigated this mining incident and wondered what happened to 6 miners? Why were they even trying to hide this fact in the first place…the deaths of 6 miners was not going to stop any mining company from mining in this town. Especially, when what they are mining is literally uranium…we aren’t talking about a coal mine. The whole game I was expecting it turn out that they were actually doing something that was slowly poisoning the land and that Jed was aware of it and was trying to cover it up…but no…instead it’s something utterly nonsensical.

Then the turn that Jed is literally a monster who not only murdered your father and a variety of other people, but then just straight up decided to murder you…is quite frankly one of the worst plot twists of all time. It turns him into a Scooby doo villain for no reason. Sure, I guess you can do that…but this is a game that came out in 2021 and deserves far more nuance than a Scooby doo mystery…and a bad one at that.

Why not instead tell a story where Jed caused the death of your father. Then Gabe and you together throughout the game piece together clues of this mining accident and eventually at the end confront Jed about this. Not with some idiotic over the top confrontation where he literally tries to murder you…but instead just a regular emotional confrontation where depending on your relationships and decisions you’ve made in the game you and Gabe can either forgive Jed or not and maybe even your decisions can be counter to each other. If you wanted a further confrontation, why not have the mining company exec (Grace) be the crazy person that tries to keep the cover up going by destroying evidence and blackmail…and not by her literrrrrrally threatening to murder you.

At the very least, if your game is going to be 9hrs long make more of the decisions massively affect the story. How about set it up so the start of the game has three paths: Ryan dies, Gabe dies, or Ethan dies. Depending on choices you’ve made. If Ryan dies make the game have Jed be on your side, if Gabe dies it can play out as it does, if Ethan dies then have a different mystery where Charlotte ends up being murdered by Grace because she won’t let it go and let that be the mystery. If you’re game is only going to be 9hrs at least create multiple paths…but nope…that was I guess too much for them.

If they wanted this to be a 9hr game they should have taken away this entire plot and just had you hang out in the town for 9hrs reconnecting with your brother. Because all the best parts of this game are the parts that have nothing to do with this absurd mystery.

This pretty much says it all. This is as true today as it was in Oct 2022. I came here wondering if anyone else was totally disappointed in the game and its ending. Nice to know I'm not the only one with these thoughts.

[Dupmeister]

Conciliator lähetti viestin:

If they wanted this to be a 9hr game they should have taken away this entire plot and just had you hang out in the town for 9hrs reconnecting with your brother. Because all the best parts of this game are the parts that have nothing to do with this absurd mystery.

Ok not for nothing but I cant say I would have complained at that. The Game's mystery plot was rather weak, and Alex connecting with the people and learning to accept that she is not broken could have been a story in itself. and 9 hours of just chill vibes hanging out in a beautiful peaceful town in the mountains, a lot of times this is exactly why I load this game, just walk around and chill in town.