Finally finished the game, took me 24 hours which means I missed a lot of things (didn't find the gun) because I didn't realize that shiver check was point of no return.
This game reminds me of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude (the bleak yet not hopeless atmosphere, and the sensation of a decrepit land that has been existing in multi generations), Pynchon's Inherent Vice (drug culture and some light hearted occurences) and Irvine Welsh's Filth (the dilemma that working class has to face, and fun dialects
).
Ubiquitousness of the past is probably the strongest theme of the game and also my most favourite. People try to get over it, some try to fight against it, some succumb to it. The Deserter erased himselves from reality so it can't haunt him and he came back to prove that the past doesn't forget.
The past leaves wound and heal them at the same time. Had there not been conflicts, there would have been no existential empathy. Had people not been lost and broken, there would have been no reason to celebrate life. That's probably the reason why Rene's off screen death hit so hard, whether you agree with his ideology or not, he was a pillar of a nearly long lost generation that's seen it all.
The entire game feels like a grand, imposing example of why we romanticize scars. We taste cruelty and heartbreak so the sun at the entrance of Elysium shines brighter. And ultimately, it's a testament to both how strong and fragile a human can be. Until now I still wonder if my Harry's sorry ass is still indulging in cheap alcohol every night, waiting for a right moment to off himself for good.
And god damn it the Dolores Dei thing. Nothing since Flowers for Algernon made me drop tears, I don't want to encounter that feeling again please
This game reminds me of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude (the bleak yet not hopeless atmosphere, and the sensation of a decrepit land that has been existing in multi generations), Pynchon's Inherent Vice (drug culture and some light hearted occurences) and Irvine Welsh's Filth (the dilemma that working class has to face, and fun dialects
).Ubiquitousness of the past is probably the strongest theme of the game and also my most favourite. People try to get over it, some try to fight against it, some succumb to it. The Deserter erased himselves from reality so it can't haunt him and he came back to prove that the past doesn't forget.
The past leaves wound and heal them at the same time. Had there not been conflicts, there would have been no existential empathy. Had people not been lost and broken, there would have been no reason to celebrate life. That's probably the reason why Rene's off screen death hit so hard, whether you agree with his ideology or not, he was a pillar of a nearly long lost generation that's seen it all.
The entire game feels like a grand, imposing example of why we romanticize scars. We taste cruelty and heartbreak so the sun at the entrance of Elysium shines brighter. And ultimately, it's a testament to both how strong and fragile a human can be. Until now I still wonder if my Harry's sorry ass is still indulging in cheap alcohol every night, waiting for a right moment to off himself for good.
And god damn it the Dolores Dei thing. Nothing since Flowers for Algernon made me drop tears, I don't want to encounter that feeling again please
