#rottenbonethief

I absolutely loved this teaser.  Especially the way it was presented.  It’s pretty short, so I’ve decided what I’ll do here is make a bullet list of any little thing that caught my eye.  Once that’s done, I’ll decide what I want to talk about more (I may not address every single bullet point).

1.      Rory Stryker is a kind person at least to Syndey and Tyler.

2.      Tyler might possibly get his drugs from his mother (not clear if she got him into drugs or if she just provides- the phrase “drug abuse” is stated though).

3.      It sounds like…Sydney has trouble being nice with his blood family usually (like his mother and Tyler)

4.      Something is VERY wrong with Sydney.

5.      Sydney may have an obsession with either blades or using them (or both…possibly blood too).

6.      Getting to hear the knives’ “songs often now” implies that he is becoming more active (possibly to hurt or kill people).

7.      Quill, similarly to how he was portrayed in the demo, has a huge ego.  And yes, even his friends think he’s a d*ck.

8.      Sydney considers Quill, Chase and Kinley as family.  Possible even more so than his blood family from what I can tell.

9.      There are romantic relationships among the four.  It’s implied they all may love each other.  Outlaw has a lot of polyamorous and pansexual characters, so this isn’t unusual.  That’s why Sydney’s description for each of the three feels like a genuine love confession. I might say from these depictions they do share, but there are favored partners for each person (Chase-Quill and Syndey-Kinley)?  But I need to be careful about what I say since I’m not familiar with this dynamic. (Btw creators, if this is rude for me to comment on, I’ll try to avoid the topic in the future and edit this part out).

10.   Chase is nonbinary and used to be mute.  They were also abandoned when they were younger.  [Note: I actually knew this already from some Patreon notes, but I thought it’d be good to make that clear here]

11.   All four characters, happily engage in “hunting.”  Obviously, they’re not talking about game hunting here.  If you’ve played the Misfits: First Blood demo, it was mentioned that these guys DO go after people as a pack sometimes.

 One of the biggest things about this game is it’s the first time I believe we’ve gotten to see a glimpse into Sydney’s personality.  Even better, we get a direct look into his psyche since this is POV.  Syndey’s character has been around, but before this game we’ve only had artwork and Quill mentioning his name briefly in the demo.  There weren’t any clues for what this guy was like.

Right off the bat we can see Sydney is very off.  It sounds like he usually puts in the bare minimum when it comes to functioning and interacting with others.  He sounds very out of it.  He only gets more lively and emotions once Quill and the rest of his friends come into the picture.  Let’s not forget either the sinister urges we see invading his mind at an alarming rate. This is apparently a dangerous trait he’s had for a long time.  It’s almost like he can’t help himself.

What was really interesting to me was the very beginning actually.  I’m really curious what kind of relationship Sydney has with his family.  Compared to his friends, his blood family is either a lot lower on his priority list or he just has a lot of issues connecting with any of them.  We still don’t know what the Stryker family does yet, but that could play a part in this.  I wonder, since he seems slightly disconnected from his immediate family, if any of them are aware of Sydney’s “hunting hobby.”  His parents are part of “The Professionals” group, so they’re not innocent themselves.  But I don’t know how much each party influences or is involved with the other here. Unlike with Quill and his father Alchemy (another “Professional”) where we do know from the demo that Quill learned from Alchemy.

I’m also more curious now about Tyler.  We got a good introduction to Tyler in the Rumors of Rockland Article 1 that was released.  He seemed pretty chipper and easy going there.  But I don’t know if he has his own problems.  He’s a drug dealer and…yeah it’s very possible that he’s also addicted to drugs as well.  Sydney specifically uses the phrase “drug abuse,” but I can’t quite figure out if he means Tyler is abusing drugs, or it’s some kind of influence by his mother. Like I said, she could be a dealer herself.  There’s something twisted there.  

Whatever the case, Tyler and his mother seem to be much closer to each other than Sydney is to either of them.  It doesn’t FEEL like Sydney has any malice towards either of the two, but I’d need more information to be sure.  Sydney’s apparently not always nice to Tyler, but Sydney doesn’t seem to pay attention to this fact in his daily life.

One thing I loved about this game is how it progresses.  We start off with Sydney clearly not having a wonderful morning (he’s very distracted).  Then we slowly meet up with Quill, Chase and Kinley.  The minute Quill comes into the picture, Sydney becomes more emotional and thoughtful.  We get to meet Chase and we’re distracted by the depiction of this small character with a sad past.  Then we’re suddenly reminded something.  These people are monsters.  Despite the casual setting at the arcade, once Quill brings up “hunting,” we the audience see the wolves hiding beneath these playful characters through wonderfully dark visuals.  Even cute little Chase has a wicked grin on their face.

There’s even a brief moment where Kinley is introduced and Sydney is able to return to a calm, loving state for a moment (after getting excited over the thought of blood).  Kinley’s a psychologist who took care of his unwell mother at a young age.  He seemed to be picking up on Sydney’s excitement here. So for a brief moment…you think MAYBE Kinley has come over to calm Sydney down and drive away his more murderous thoughts?  NOPE. We’re quickly shown that this man is no different from the other three.  They ALL crave a hunt.  No matter how beautiful you paint a picture of each on the outside, they all have thorns underneath like a rose.

And in a twisted way, Sydney feels more connected with these three because he DOESN’T feel like a monster here.  They are all the same.  Which of course, is horrifying as a viewer. They’re probably far less likely to feel remorse for their actions if they know there are other people like themselves around to share their sick hobbies with.

It’s a chilling and perfect teaser for the inevitable Misfits game.  The message is clear:  Don’t trust any of them.