The Gaming Community Thread! Multiplats and the like are welcome.

[Legend]

I know.

 I have of course, not played the game. I had read this Twitter chain.  

It just left me with questions about some of the interpretations.  

A couple examples:

Spoiler for Hidden:

>the game also frames the maw as specifically lily's fault

How is it blaming Lily, while also blaming her abuser?  


>the uncharitable one is that bloober team thinks people with trauma shouldn't exist

This just feels like a big stretch. The whole protagonist is pushing to save these people.  It doesn't seem to me that the game is showing that killing these people is what's best.  None of his argument even seems to me to point to that conclusion, and yet that's his conclusion.  

A more charitable interpretation could be that people who work in trauma, might get traumatized themselves because there is a lot to deal with.  


Additionally he mentions two possible endings, and yet I've seen about 2 or 3 other endings that were a lot more charitable, that people thought were possible.  

The bit about "you can't save everyone", is something her dad says, and I don't get the impression she believes it even at the end.  

I'm not saying any of this has any merit, just saying it's easy to interpret things different ways.  


>lots of people point it out independently.

Lots of people pointed out that The Last of Us 2 can be interpreted as racist, that doesn't mean that was the intention.  It certainly gives the wrong impression, but that doesn't mean that was the intention.  
But again, it's certainly possible to cause damage even without that intention.

I didn't take notes while playing but I remember feeling a desire to help people like you suggest. I also think that desire supports the idea that the game isn't intended to be analyzed thematically to that level.

In addition to the abused spirits, there are 4 trapped souls that you help during the game. They are traditional horror tropes that need a name and a mask to be released. Each one feels like a side mission from a pacing point of view, but they reinforce that the game views spirits and demons in the traditional Hollywood way: a medium helps spirits and troubled souls.

However as you said, intention doesn't stop something from causing harm. I thought it was pretty apparent that the game ending was standard sacrificing yourself for the people you love, but if people are coming away with the opposite impression that's horrible. It would be great if there was a way to know how many players finished the game and were harmed by it. Online discussions are a notoriously bad way to judge that.