After being hit by the brick that was the last devlog, I think Iâve finally gone through all of the stages of grief to accept that Burial may be coming out before the Decay finale. My newfound lucidity has also made me notice a couple of trends, both from the author and from the fandom, as well as gain a little better understanding as to why weâre getting Burial for the next update. So... letâs talk about it.
In my long analysis post that I made about Decay last year, I mentioned a trend I was beginning to notice from the author regarding overcorrection. To quote my original take:
The author, as offline as she appears to be, is keenly aware of peopleâs opinions of the game and takes quite the contrarian attitude to people who miss the point of the story (something I canât blame her for entirely, and seems to be the reason why things escalated so much in this chapter)...
Iâm glad the author is aware of peopleâs criticisms and takes the time to sort through them, but part of me wishes she didnât try to over-explain some plot points. The thing that I originally loved about the game was the subtle storytelling, how it takes you a couple of playthroughs to fully understand everything lying beneath the surface. It plays tricks with you and makes you think about the charactersâ true intentions, goals and desires, all the way until they spiral out of control and pretenses canât be kept anymore.
This was in response to the changes made in episode 2, especially regarding the rephrasing of the choices leading to the Burial route, as well as a comment from one of the NPCs in the high school Decay flashback.Â
I was hoping this wouldnât continue, but it seems like the authorâs doubling down on it, even expanding the comment from the high school NPC to be a clear call-out to people who seem to project their kinks onto Andrew and Ashleyâs relationship. I understand what she was meaning to get at, asking for people to look deeper into the story rather than taking it as mindless goon bait, but my question is⌠was this really necessary? The original NPC dialogue was already crossing the line between cheekiness and annoyance, but now itâs a straight up steel bat beating me in the face black and blue.Â
Iâm aware that the literacy levels are plummeting right now, and I too have seen one too many dumb takes about this game, but thatâs the nature of writing anything remotely transgressive these days. You canât create a story like this and expect everyone to get it when even the average adult struggles reading anything above high school level. Some people take things at face value, and thatâs okay. Some people simply want to goon to anything they find on the internet, and thereâs nothing you can do about that. Ultimately, you canât police who will enjoy the game or their motivations behind it. If thatâs not who youâre writing for, then the quality of the writing itself will make it obvious. But scolding your audience and beating any bit of subtlety to the ground is not only doing a disservice to the fans, but to the game itself by cheapening the storytelling and sending mixed signals. Cuz yeah, itâs totally not inconsistent to complain about people projecting their kinks onto the characters, while also creating promotional material like this:
I know it may sound harsh, but she reaped the gooner audience by sowing the seeds. And thatâs not to say the game doesnât have value beyond that, hell Iâm here because I see the value, but just because the game alludes to sexual taboos doesnât mean it canât also be profound. Itâs a misconception I often see, perhaps as a result of purity culture, where believing that any piece of content with a strong sexual element is vapid and devoid of value, when those traits arenât mutually exclusive. I believe the author is aware of this, or should be given her story is a prime example of this, but itâs something she should own rather than negate.Â
Now, I know thatâs a lot to say for a small NPC comment. While it may be an insignificant piece of dialogue now, if she keeps doubling down on the overcorrections and trying to placate a holier than thou audience, thatâs only going to take away from the story and hinder the actual message. Itâs inconsistent, and also an unnecessary slap to the face to many of the fans who support her.Â
And speaking of inconsistencies⌠we have the new Burial at Sea ending.Â
Just to clarify, I actually like this ending, but I like it in the same way that I like the brain tumors vision; theyâre both mock endings, ridiculous, but funny and entertaining if you donât take them too seriously. That said, there are a couple of glaring inconsistencies in the writing of this ending, namely Ashley being disgusted at Andrew for wanting sex from her, when previously in the route she said she wouldnât mind indulging him if that meant using it as leverage. More importantly, is the sudden drop of Andrewâs mask, suddenly going from deep denial and aversion to the vision to full-on hitting on Ashley. This I find more glaring than Ashleyâs disgust, because at least that can be explained by Ashleyâs disinterest in sex and fear of tipping the odds in Andrewâs favor by pushing the issue further. However, the change in Andrewâs attitude is so stark, so aggressive, it almost feels like whiplash. And thatâs not to say Andrewâs above being nasty, as weâve clearly seen in the Decay route, heâs capable of that and so much more. But itâs more so that I fear the overcorrections extend to Andrewâs attitude.Â
In the early stages of the game, many people were quick to point fingers at Ashley as the sole cause of everything toxic in their relationship, while babying Andrew for being a victim of her manipulation. We know thanks to Decay that this isnât the case, and that their issues carry an equal amount of weight in the relationship. As S&S Andrew puts it, her issues are all tangled up with his, some even caused by him, which is why introspection is needed in order to amend their relationship. When their problems escalate and canât be ignored any longer, they each resort to their own violent ways, Andrew more so than Ashley due to his growing frustration, and also because he's much stronger than her. Itâs important to bring this up because it explains why we may be seeing more of Andrewâs abusive nature in Burial. Nemlei has previously said that true âchaos and mayhemâ can only be achieved by unearthing the rot within, meaning that burying their issues is not conducive to an improvement in their relationship. That being saidâŚÂ
It feels like more and more of the content weâve been getting lately regarding Burial is hinting at a big escalation towards Andrewâs abusive tendencies, akin to his attitude in Shots and Such. What I fear, and truly hope isnât the case, is that itâs a result of overcorrection, to really drive home the fact that Andrew isnât simply a victim of Ashley. Itâs still too early to say, but seeing this growing trend from Nemlei isnât giving me too much confidence.Â
Iâm aware though that she has said each route, Burial and Decay, will have their respective good and bad endings, and I donât think this has changed. Decay has shown us the absolute worst from Andrew and Ashleyâs relationship in S&S, but has also hinted at a positive outcome for the main route, so I imagine something similar will also happen in Burial. Though it would be a little redundant to have two endings so similar in nature to one another, but who knows what Nemlei has in store.
I will say that the latest devlog has had a lot of people doomposting about the game, saying things like âweâll never get a good ending,â âtheir relationship is doomed to fail,â âthe only good ending will be them separating since Nemlei is mocking shippers,â and worst of all, people legit thinking Ashley will be getting with Six Eyes romantically. Ashley âIâd rather let him kill me than live without himâ Graves. While I donât discard a possible ending where the cult manipulates Ashley into becoming their leader and somehow getting rid of Andrew, I donât see it as more than a fail state or a bad end like S&S. As much as Ashley may threaten to leave and latch onto someone else, sheâs incapable of it. All bark no bite.Â
She doesnât want to shoot Andrew in Decay, much less let him kill himself and leave her all alone. She feels empty without him, since heâs all sheâs ever had. You can try to replicate that dynamic with someone else, as we see briefly in Decay where Ashley tries to banter with the entity, only for it to not reciprocate. You can try, but after your entire life has been shaped around a single person, itâs near impossible to grow out of that habit. Ashley knows this, and would be miserable without him. Itâs why she doesnât leave. So any ending where she leaves Andrew out of her own volition to join Six Eyes would ultimately be a dead end, as sheâll feel empty and alone no matter what, not to mention leaving him still doesnât address any of her underlying issues with being incapable of growing up and moving on. (side note: I have a hc where an ending like this is called Leyley and Leyley alone. Itâs a phrase used in Burial and sounds cool, so thereâs that.)
Anyway, all this to say that, despite the concerns I voiced earlier, I havenât lost hope on seeing their relationship improve, as I find that the game would feel kind of pointless without an ending that allows us to break the cycle of abuse. I know that these are supposed to be horrible characters doing horrible things, but thereâs a particular line in Decay involving one of Andrewâs theories that I always draw back to:
Have these horrible people really crossed the line of no return, or is there hope that something good, even a sliver of it, can be built from the heaping pile of garbage that is their lives. To me at least, thatâs what the game has always been about, and perhaps thatâs the reason why weâve been seeing so much of the abusive side of their relationship as of late (and possibly why weâre getting this side of Burial before Decay Pt. 2). Leaving the true resolution of their issues for last, the calm after the storm if you will.Â
It explains why the sudden change in development. If we get to see them together working past their issues in the final Decay ending, itâll kinda cheapen the experience going into Burial, since you already know how itâs gonna end, or rather how it could end if these two actually addressed their issues. I donât think Nemlei is actually sending the shippers of the fandom to go fuck themselves after all the lead-up sheâs created to a potentially good ending between them. That would be shooting herself in the foot and completely contradicting everything weâve seen in the game so far (not to mention hella dumb, like, brain tumors Andrew level of dumb). Now, this still doesnât explain why Burial got developed so quickly in comparison to Decay (yeah, Iâm still not over that), but at least this speculation of mine kind of appeases my search for answers. Thatâs all from me for now, until the next progress report.
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