Dealing With The Dead Is Always Dicey

A few days ago, I managed to be both Echo Night Beyond and Genji: Dawn of the Samurai in one evening. Turns out the boss battle immediately followed by a boss battle was the end of Genji. Which was fine with me, since I was one hit from death myself when I won. I doubt I could have beaten even one ordinary enemy without dying. There's nothing else for me to say about Genji I didn't say back in December.

As for Echo Night Beyond, I was maybe halfway through when I started playing that day. I played for a couple of hours and called it quits right before a difficult bit. A walkthrough I was checking gave me the impression that was the last hard spot in the game, so I went for it. I made it through relatively easily, and the only trouble I had from there on was because I hadn't picked up a piece of paper with an official letterhead in the early stages. At the time, I was more concerned with not being killed by the little girl ghost, and then I was busy being happy I hadn't been killed by the little girl ghost. Looking back, I find it a little funny that the ghost I'd have the most trouble appeasing would be one hung up on bureaucracy.

As I mentioned, the last dangerous point comes not too far after the midway. That's because, as I moved through the station, I used the ventilation systems to clear away the fog. In the fog, all ghosts are angry, attacking the moment they become aware of Richard. Once the fog is dispelled, they cease to be a threat. The upside is as the game progressed, I felt more secure. The downside is the game loses some of its horror feel, because there are fewer and fewer places I need to worry about. I'm still on edge every time I enter those locations (and I make it a point to hustle through them as quickly as possible), especially when the fog is thick and my searchlight can't do much, but the station doesn't seem quite so ominous.

There was one other spot where I was nervous. Near the end I found a room with three bodies trapped behind a frozen door, two of their ghosts standing outside the room. Both ghosts told me, in no uncertain terms, to get out. Even though there was no fog, these spirits were angry at me in particular (turns out my character is heavily involved in what went wrong), rather than being enraged by whatever properties the fog has, and I wondered if they might decide to attack. It would have been a complete reversal of the rules the game had played by up until then, but I wasn't prepared to rule it out. They didn't attack, though, and I was able to give them something that convinced them to move on. It was a tense moment all the same.

I can't tell how many ghosts know they're dead. A lot of them want things of no emotional significance. Food, liquor, proper paperwork. One ghost was seated in a sealed jail cell, awaiting release. You're a ghost, just float out! Additionally, several of them talk about heading back to Earth once they've been helped. Maybe Earth is meant to represent Heaven, with them trapped in Purgatory. Or maybe the bottom level of Hell. It's cold on the dark side of the moon (though we have to be on the lit side, since the Earth is plainly visible), also airless, dead, generally unchanging. I don't have the impression any of them made it to Earth, at any rate, since they vanish in a flash of light. So perhaps Earth is simply a stand-in for a better place.

There are four different endings to the game. Two endings if I don't help all the ghosts (or if I do and don't accept the android's master key to the sub-basement where the Big Reveal awaits), and two if I do help all ghosts and find the Big Reveal. Beyond that, which the ending depends on whether I answered "yes" or "no" to an offer. I wouldn't say any of the endings are terribly satisfactory, since Richard winds up alone or dead in all of them. There is one with the potential to reshape reality, but it'll kill him to do it, so not much point. Which isn't to say he won't do it; the Big Reveal has probably left Richard feeling a little fragile.

I like the multiple endings aspect, but it's a little too easy. Silent Hill 2 had the same idea, but set it up so how I played throughout the game could decide things. Did I show interest in a particular character or not? Did I read all the notes on a certain ritual? Did I take care of James, or play recklessly? It was a more involved process. With Echo Night Beyond, I saved after freeing the last ghost, then went directly to the observatory and chose "yes". Then I restarted from that save, headed to the observatory and chose "no". Then I restarted again, went to get the master key, found the Big Reveal, went to the observatory, said "yes", then restarted once more so I could say "no". It was a little too simple to trigger the different endings, but they were all variations on the same theme, so maybe it didn't matter.