Larry is Gone?

First off: I do not know every single detail of why this series and it’s writing are problematic. So I am most certainly not the person you need to rely on for this information.

Now that you understand that, let’s continue shall we?

The game is torture porn for starters.

Definition: “informal, censorious a genre of horror media in which sadistic violence or torture is a central aspect of the plot.”

From chapter 4 onwards many characters die in graphic and disturbing ways, many of which had no point in the plot other than the edge factor. Leaving dead bodies and gore on the screen for much longer than what was ever necessary.

Second: the creator killed off 2 confirmed members of the lgbtqai+ community, and reinforced a harmful stereotype by having Todd, the third and last member of the community, be the character that is possessed by the red eyed demon. It could be taken many ways on why he specifically was the one who got possessed, being “sinful” by being gay and so forth being easier to possess is a common one.

Todd has no real character traits other than he’s a nerd and he’s gay, that is the entirety of his personality that we see in game.

Todd’s boyfriend, Neil is horrifically sacrificed at the end the game. He apparently did not put up a fight in doing so, because he’s polite and he’s gay. Just like Todd, those were also his only character traits.

Gabry also reinforces the stereotype that homophobes are just closeted people, which they almost never are. This is what happens with Travis Phelps.

Third: Gabry decided to throw in horribly butchered native american stereotypes into his story because; “oooooh spooky native american cult!! Better watch out!” Was a good idea for a plotline. All of the content about them was very generalized and incorrect. Such as cave paintings and the girl with tattoos talking about her ancestors painting them. Not every native American tribe did these things, and Gabry generalized it to fit his mish mosh of a story. He killed off the few POC in the game as well. Travis, His father, Neil, Azaria, and Robert Silva were all killed or died at some point in the story. Many of which, once again, weren’t necessary at all.

Finally: Ash and Sal, two cis and white characters, were the saviors of Nockfell and it plays into the basic “white hero saves the day and brings righteousness to the minorities” stereotype. Not to mention Ash almost had to die for Sal to come back from the dead, which was horribly triggering for some people to watch.

These are a rough collection of thoughts. I do not know everything, but I know enough to be wary of how I consume this content. I am in no way coming after any people who are fans of Sally face. Just please understand there are many problems with the writing of this game, and no matter how much you liked the content there are harmful things you are consuming by watching or experiencing said content.

The game was always a horror story or at least a dark story that deals with death and showed uncomfortable images. The wrist cutting part was actually done very smartly, imo. It had pauses in there so you knew what was coming and could look away if you wanted to.

Killing everyone in the apartments in episode 4 was crucial to the plot. They were all infected.

Why should LGBT or POC be saved from violence in a story that centers around it? That doesn’t make any sense. Now, if it were ONLY minority groups being killed, then that would be very different story but that’s far from what we have here.

I personally love Travis and his storyline. Sometimes when an LGBT person grows up in a very religious household, they can become very angry and self loathing. It’s realistic and does happen. Just because one person is like that in the game doesn’t mean that the dev is saying that is the standard. It’s simply part of that one character’s story.

I have an entire post about the Grey Tribe. I would recommend people to read it. You definitely cannot call information about a fictional group of people “incorrect” and overall, I don’t believe their inclusion to be racist at all, if you pay close attention (see my post for more detail on this).

[Sally Face Episode Five Spoilers ahead]

I’ve seen some people saying that inclusion of natives was racist. I will just say that I am not native so I can’t really speak to that claim. I don’t fully agree with the reasoning I’ve seen but I could be missing something? Anyway, I just wanted to point out some things that it seems like people have missed: 1. The tribe in general was not normal. Outside of the fact that this is fictional story, there were other things that are pointed out that suggest something more going on that just natives. The whole origin legend with the “owl form the sky” or whatever it was… That sounds like more alien stuff to me! Tala also mentions some odd things about how the cave paintings are not normal and how there isn’t much recorder history on them

2. The tribe themselves weren’t evil or bad. Some of them just got caught up in a bad situation with that monster in the woods. They saw that light in the distance (another alien reference maybe?) and were lured in by the “creature”. The creature changed them, just like the darkness infected or possessed others.

3. Travis is part Native American!! (I love this boi) In Jim’s notes it says the Grey family mixed with the Rosenberg and the Phelps families. I do wish Travis had a little bit more screen time but he was bad ass in this chapter! I hope that Steve explores him more in the future (even though he’s probably dead now). But Travis struggled with his identity and his abusive father and rose up to save the day! He finally stood up to his dad and sacrificed himself for the greater good.

4. Tala Grey seems cool. I liked her character, even if it was just a small part. She didn’t seem like a bad guy and I like that she wasn’t the stereotypical native type character. My theory on this part is that her grandfather was caught up in the cult and that’s why he was missing that day. Either he got killed by them or was part of the cult. I’m hoping that she survived and will be in the next Sally Face game.

5. I saw one person saying that the cult was just “evil Native Americans” but that is not really the case. The thing that started the cult was that creature in the woods who changed the Greys. Also the Rosenberg and Phelps families helped form the cult as well and probably other white settlers too. For instance the dickhead cop in Episode One is very white and was confirmed to be part of the cult. So we know that the cult is mixed.

6. Also I just realized this while typing these out. The “Greys” are also a name for a common alien type. The little dudes with big heads and long arms. Similar to that Tim Burton style…hhmmmmm ALIENS lol This one could be a stretch but just an interesting thought.

oh my God bro there’s so many

Episode One:

1: so this doesn’t match up with Jim’s journal and it’s definitely not a mistake, but also, not answered! (i do have a theory about this tho)

2. Who is this mans?

3. Where did this highly informative game come from? Did Jim put it here for sal to find? I bet it was jim.

4. Why tf does Larry have art of Sal’s nightmare/memories of his mothers funeral??

5. Who is this person that finds Meghan and her parents? Why are they in a house and not the apartments where they died? Is this the same person who we played in the previous levels as a skeleton? (I plan to make a separate post thats purely about these games cause most of it makes sense but I still have a few questions) also what is the significance of this painting? It shows up a lot and I don’t really understand why.

2. No idea haha but I don’t mind that guy being left kind of a mystery.

3. I agree, I think Jim made that. He talks about his love for building things and seems to like games/puzzles in general

4. It wasn’t that larry had paintings of Sal’s dream but that Sal was dreaming of Larry’s paintings. Rememer that he’s telling about the dream in the future

5. That person is Megan’s sister, it says so in the game itself. Definitely the same character as she is narrating things becoming clear when she “finds herself” in the end part. I think the house is either where they lived before the apartments or maybe just symbolic