Was there something supernatural? (SPOILER ALERT)

[MrLEWXIII]

For all of us that played the game, we found out that ''Manchurian gold'' was a chemical weapon that made people hallucinate the ''ghosts''. But after several playthroughs and different endings, I seriously question whether it was just a simple chemical mishap.

When it comes to the ''ghosts'', I do believe they were just hallucinations but when it comes to Manchurian gold i feel that it has a mind of it's own or something is controlling it. Throughout the game the gas seems like it's following the characters and sometimes lingering in places it shouldn't be. Another theory I have is that the Curator might be death himself. He always appears in the background during a life or death decision, and he might be the one who is manipulating everything on the Medan.

What made me backtrack and question everything was the ending where Conrad finds the Medan and the moment he steps on the ship, a door swings open for him. Almost like the ship itself or something else is welcoming him, to claim another soul.

What does everyone else think? I'm interested to see other theories.

[halfmonkey]

As you say (and I myself observed) there are several unexplained things that happen outside the ship, including underwater, before anyone is even exposed to the gas.

The Curator as Death idea is interesting, but I'll reserve any thoughts until the next game.

I appreciate that it isn't clear-cut even at the end, though. It adds to the 90's horror movie (with a questionable twist) vibe.

[droggen]

I think it's less a Supernatural thing going on and more based on the fact all the death and decay you see on the ship was all done by human hands it's unerving to know all that you see on this ship was done by other humans and not something supernatural even more unerving to know the whole story is lost to time like the Medan lost to the ocean.

As for the other endings like Conrad coming onto the ship and the door opening you can get quite a few endings where it implies Ghost or Supernatural things going on but only in the endings where the characters don't find enough clues to patch the events together. For example I was confused who kills Conrad in that ending everyone is off the ship right? Then we in fact find out Danny survives most endings.

[Smith]

It was all the gas, all the inconsistencies are just bad story-writing. As for the Curator, he appears just at some random scenes, not necessarily during life or death decision, just to make it look more mysterious and to escalate the suspense.

[Fear2288]

I thought I spotted the curator at the end of a hallway in the late game!

And yes, I do believe the curator is supposed to be the physical manifestation of either death, the grim reaper, or maybe even fate.

[さゆみ]

i like the idea, that there beside the allmighty curator, that there is no supernatural elements in it. i like this idea, like i liked the idea from the tomb raider movie, where it was also no supernatural stuff like it was in the game.
i think it was really good explained and at the end i think everyone was a victim by his greatest fears that he sah as a vision. I think its hard to understand everything, when you do not find all of the clues, so it can feel like bad storytelling. I really like this game, and because of the style the story is tells, its the first interactive movie game with decisions that motivates me to play more than one time. because more plays really let you understand the story better

[Smith]

Originally posted by Fear2288:

I thought I spotted the curator at the end of a hallway in the late game!

And yes, I do believe the curator is supposed to be the physical manifestation of either death, the grim reaper, or maybe even fate.

He appears very often throughout the game.