The game begins as we see Steven
Bauchwitz enter a psychiatrist’s office at Briar Falls, complete with couch and
office desk. Steven enters and sits on the couch as Dr. Cardone begins asking
him how he is, how he feels, etc. Steven answers “as well as I can be after
what happened to me” and remarks he has been having anxiety attacks. Cardone
asks him to recount what has happened. Steven becomes hesitant to retell his
story, opening up the main storyline/scenario of the game.
We see Steven flashback to a past, but
undisclosed time period in which he receives a phone call in his empty bedroom
in the middle of the night. We do not hear the caller’s voice, but we see
Steven’s eyes widen with fear as he listens. He then begins shouting “You’re
not her! No, you’re not! My wife is dead!” and slams the phone down. He then
huddles on his bed, trembling, and hearing audio hallucinations of news reports
(“Fire at Ignis Lake claims three lives”) before finally resolving to go
outside in investigation of the phone call. When he opens his door, it is
apparent that the dark outside offers very little vision. After taking a few
steps, the player gains control of Steven.
The streets outside Steven’s residence
are abandoned and in terrible states of disrepair. Audio from Steven reveals he
is bewildered at the vacant and dilapidated state of town, and wonders exactly
what is going on. Steven is frightened by various things in the streets, such
as noises. Suddenly, Steven is accosted by massive flames that engulf the
streets.
At this point, it shifts back to the
psychiatrist’s, and Cardone discusses Steven’s loss of his wife, which Steven
(in tears) elaborates that his children too, were killed. Dr Cardone asks him
to remember what his wife was like. Steven describes her, her favourite things,
her background, and their life together, before switching back to Ignis Lake.
Steven is on the ground, in shock at
the raging flames. The town begins to deteriorate rapidly and uncontrollably,
crumbling debris to ash and scorching the buildings black. The player is put
back in control, as you must navigate through the broken, ablaze streets. After
a certain point, a woman’s screams are heard and a feminine monster with
charred skin, begins to pursue Steven, trying to grab him. The player is unable
to fight back and will succumb to flames if the monster grabs him too many
times. Focus will be on fleeing from the monster and losing its pursuit. Once
done so, the flames disappear and the crumbled, decayed town ‘reapplies’ to the
environment, confusing Steven and forcing him to question his sanity.
Back in Briar Falls, Steven explains
that he saw his wife after she died, referring to her monster, which he
believes came back to haunt him. The doctor explains that he was probably
hallucinating under stress, which Steven vehemently denies, saying “the heat
was real, I felt it! It’s not just in my head!”. Cardone recounts Steven’s
story so far and expresses disbelief at his ramblings. Steven then begins to
explain more.
Steven makes his way through more
streets until he happens upon an abandoned school, still periodically being
pursued by Dana’s monster. When Steven enters the assembly hall, the school is
set ablaze and a new monster emerges, which resembles Steven’s deceased
daughter, Sunny, clad in medical braces. Dana also appears and the two monsters
stalk Steven through the charred school halls. After escaping the school, the
flames again dissipate as if nothing had happened.
The game carries on in this fashion,
with Steven encountering one more monster (Tristan, his deceased son) and
perspective switching back to Cardone’s psychiatry office to further the
doctor’s appointment with Steven.
The two storyline’s eventually
converge when Dr. Cardone gives Steven an artefact from his shelf (the
Pyramid), which contain strange scientific symbols that apparent focus one’s
thoughts. It is through this examination that Steven recalls the truth behind
his ordeal.
Steven was the one who caused the fire
that haunts him. His financial situation became desperate and he set fire to
his hotel in a desperate bid to claim the insurance. Unfortunately, he was
unaware that his family were spending the night at the hotel after he had an
argument with Dana, and she left the family home. Steven assumed she went to
Briar Falls to see her parents with the children. His entire family perished in
the fire, and the fire destroyed most of the street in Ignis Lake, causing
Steven to become mentally unstable from the shock. He was placed on trial for
the murders and arson, but was mentally incapable of testifying. He was then
sentenced to rehabilitation in a mental institution, revealing that Dr. David
Cardone is in fact Steven’s carer at the institution in Briar Falls. The whole
experience in the streets of Ignis Lake was in fact an intense hallucination
brought on by Steven’s repressed guilt.
The game then ends in several ways:
- Steven fully realises the extent of his actions, and the end scene depicts Dr. Cardone discharging him from his treatment following successful rehabilitation.
- Steven realises what he has done, but succumbs to his despair and stabs Dr. Cardone to death in a blind rage.
- Steven wakes up strapped to a chair, just before a lethal injection is administered to him. Its revealed that he was convicted for his crimes and sentenced to the death penalty, and the entire game was the last vision he experienced before he dies.
- Steven realises what he has done, and is suddenly stricken with a violent flashback of the burning demon (which has haunted him throughout the whole game) and it is revealed that the demon is a product of the town's past and is in fact the real culprit behind Steven's actions, using Steven as a conduit for its horrific intentions.
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