had a chance to sleep and reset my brain so here's more thoughts on Until Dawn 2 than the tags from yesterday
in general, I dislike the idea of a sequel to the game. I know the original always had the shot of Josh turned at the end should that have happened to him (and i maintain that was the 'canon' outcome for him), but I don't think a sequel was ever going to live up to the lightning in a bottle that UD was, and there's a reason they didn't do anything with it for a decade (plus I doubt they could get a lot of the actors back tbh)
that being said, I would be able to tolerate a sequel, DPA style, if it did a couple things:
Completely different setting entirely removed from the original game and its story, besides like. same wider universe connecting them
Completely new cast of characters, with at most brief reference or cameo of past characters that has no impact on the new plot
and those things are things that I Can see in the trailer for the new game - the island setting, the new cast of teens/young adults to kill off, the ghost hunter set-up, and as long as the graphics and animation can improve a bit in the year or so they have until release - we all remember how the UD remake looked when it was first revealed - and the story is decent, i would be. Fine? with the sequel existing
but they had to have the movie and the remake's end credit scene.
he's this glaring shadow hanging over the whole thing, and it has soured the sequel entirely from the very beginning for me.
this interpretation of Hill Really feels like someone watched a speedrun of the game that ignored all clues while playing, and ignored the context of the therapy sessions, and figured Hill really was just a big scary entity haunting Josh
I was fine with the UD movie when it was announced, excited even, but after watching it, I can only tolerate it when picturing it as entirely removed from the IP as a whole. because they just Had to have the Dr Hill connection. and the game remake just Had to have that Sam credit scene.
I'll be completely honest, I don't even remember what Dr Hill's movie motivation was - I feel like it was studying something with the time loop? - but it made Zero sense in the context of who Dr Hill was in the original game. which was him being a literal hallucination. the Hill we see in UD is Not the real person. we only ever see the real Hill through Clue 27 of the Mystery Man clueline, Josh's Cellphone. the transcript for those messages is this:
Dr. Hill: Hi Josh, it's Alan. I hope you don't mind me texting you, but this is important. I got your email. I don't think that your plan is going to help. I think you need to stop what you're doing and come to see me.
Dr. Hill: Please, pick up your phone. I'm getting worried.
Dr. Hill: Are you still taking your meds?
Dr. Hill: It's very dangerous to stop taking your drugs mid course Josh.
Dr. Hill: Contact my office to make an appointment, please.
Dr. Hill: Josh, please respond.
The only other mention of him is Clue 30, the Psychiatric Report, which includes this:
After 2 weeks, patient's symptoms and mood were greatly improved.
Discharged on 16th May after final consultation proved satisfactory.
It also includes the date Josh had begun meeting with Dr Hill - the end of 2013, meaning he'd been with him for a little over a year by the main events of UD in February 2015.
I suppose you Could make an argument from this stuff that Hill didn't really do anything to stop Josh, as the messages are dated a little less than a month before the events of the game, and that Could lead to an interpretation of him studying Josh and using him for his own gain, but there is so little to support that take besides the other entries into the franchise, and also really feels like it detracts from Josh's role in the story, if his plan becomes Dr Hill's doing. Hill is a manifestation of all of Josh's fears, insecurities, pain and guilt. he's a filter for Josh to direct those ideas and feelings at himself - he blames himself for what happened to the twins, so everyone else must do too.
another thing is that making Hill the big villain of the movie and the one pulling the strings was so nonsensical because he doesn't Actually impact the story of the original. yes, the choices in the sessions change things in the game - scary things you see, certain dialogues and items, and decides Josh's fate in the remake. but that isn't actually Hill. that's the player, i.e. Josh. Hill isn't actually present like the Stranger or Hannah or the Psycho or the miners are to be a Real part of the events happening, if that makes sense.
this leads us to the Sam credit scene. in the context of the game, it makes Zero sense for this to happen. None. Hill is a hallucination that Josh is having because Josh was his patient, and he's having a breakdown where his own specific fears and struggles have manifested into Hill in his mind. unless Sam has become Hill's patient since the game's events, she shouldn't know who the guy is.
if we take the movie canon Hill, which it looks like we are, then Sam is his next target, and she's being dragged into the events of the sequel. the mark that appears on her arm in the credit scene has already shown up in the trailer for UD2 from the looks of it:
the scene with Hill in the trailer also has the same lighting as the credit scene, that pink-red glow.
and I definitely hate this direction, because there's no way with all of the new characters that Sam gets enough time to explain both what events of the first game have been made canon for this (i'm assuming sole survivor, with maybe Josh surviving, though that opens the can of worms that Chris also Has to live for Josh to be redeemed) and how her character is Now, years later and called to the events of this game for Whatever reason.
I've been writing way too long so to sum it up - I think trying to connect the games with the movie interpretation of Dr Hill is a massive disservice to the original game, and to the sequel as well. for those that know who Hill was before, the game is already soured with them taking this direction that makes no sense. for those that didn't, it forces a connection to the other game that is already a Big hurdle for this sequel to succeed in its own way.
in an attempt to be more positive, we really don't know anything about the game yet - none of the characters are full established yet, we've barely seen the story, and it's entirely possible that the villain we saw in the trailer is like the Psycho/The Stranger, and there'll be a more supernatural threat later in the game like Hannah and the miners. i'm going to remain skeptical until we see more, but i personally don't have high hopes.
turnnoffyourmind
blakekathryn
theartofmadeline
ellievsbear
yousharknotpass
