After âHell is Emptyâ
We are in the darkroom, my friends. Stripped of the promises, tied with an uneven product, and angry. Let me explain why. Politely.
A lot of people hope and care about next potential BTS or any other game, that would fix the mistakes already done. I donât. I'm not sure what went wrong, who decided to make their spoke people look like idiots, but I donât care if they wanted to do good or not. They simply didnât deliver. Some people, who are not in the fandom, who didnât bond over this story, who didnât hope as much as we did, reading every line of every interview and even contacting the devs ourselves might not understand and thatâs fine too.
They promised a lot of things - that we will cry from joy, the episode will be happy but sad for Amberprice, because itâs âsimply the end of storyâ, that they wonât touch the events in the original game or leading to the original game, that Steph will make an important impact on Chloe and Rachel, I can go on and on. I didnât imagine those words; those sentences were said. It was promised with the fire and passion in their eyes in many interviews, podcasts, and videos. We believed you. We were stupid. Trust is hard, you wrote. It is. Itâs not there anymore.
Some people believe in an additional story, more episodes, more seasons. More explanation. The small glimpse of hope. I donât want another promise, you wonât be able to deliver. I donât need another 6 months of promises, smiles, and pride that turned out to nothing.
We believed and We felt betrayed. Not because of the dark room scene, not because of removing the whole romance out of the picture, not because of trashing Max on every single step (and believe or not, some Amberprice fans do like Max and care about her). Because we got unfinished, sloppy and - mind me - expensive product.
Thatâs why we let our younger friends play it because it was promised to be safe. Of course, with a touch of dark irony, of some lines here and there that might be upsetting, but you knew, you knew very well how people reacted to your âburning treasureâ joke. Was it fun? Do you understand the impact on the community? This beautiful, fierce, fragile and sometimes broken inside community? It was your first game and we all rooted for you, even if deep down we knew it was too good to be true.
Dontnod never promised us a happy story, Deck Nine did.
That is the difference.Â
Beyond the horizon of product, a sea of money and the swamp of industry there is something called honor. You called yourselves fans. You said you were one of us. You are not. Not a single word of warning was spoken. We wouldnât do it to ourselves.Â
Now, dear fandom brace for impact because who knows how hard they will fuck us over - especially Pricefield shippers already divided because of Amberprice â with âFarewellâ. It supposed to be fluffy and nice, just like âHell is emptyâ. Do you trust this? Itâs the same fandom and even if we argue, we are the same family. Some fan fiction writers refuse to write any more after the journal entry, that was so harsh and unnecessary after the whole story.
Donât beg them, people. Donât ask. They wonât release a single statement. They donât understand people who were throwing money at them for the last 6 months and they wonât. And I don't believe in any promises at the end.
And remember Iâm always here to support you.Â
