🔥 HOT: Id/ArentReal - Full Archive

Short game that leaves a greater impact than I expected. It has that etherane charm alias a lot, I mean A LOT of religious imageries, so if you aren't into that I suggest you close this game right away. There aren't any gore (which I'm surprised with because you can't play the dev's other game for 5 sec without stumbling upon any gorey arts), so don't be afraid! No jumpscares or chase scenes, only some flashing images that you can turn off.

The story itself is pretty decipherable. I've only played this once (I might replay, though) but I get what etherane is trying to convey. Overall, if you like a commentary on the importance of always questioning why the world works the way it does, you'll like this game. Oh also the plot twist is insane I stared at my screen for at least a few seconds just having my jaw dropped to the floor.

I wrote my interpretation below, if anyone is curious about how I interpret this game!

The Death of Self-Expression Under Oppression

You wake up as Orifiel (shortened as Ori) in an unknown hotel. Your purpose as a Chorister is to find the source of the ever-present noise and silence it for good. You then meet Remiel (shortened as Rem), who reluctantly gets dragged by follow you around because you promise him lavender-scented cleaning products.

twc* is a short game that is layered by numerous religious imageries and symbolisms as well as Greek mythologies. I learned a lot by trying to make sense of this game, so please, if there's any misinformation in this post, do tell me.

I believe the overarching theme of twc* is the death of self-expression under oppression. There's this part where you need to choose between two doors— one has a picture of white, clean hands while the other has the nails painted in purple. You can only continue by choosing the former one.

The whole Chorister part—and the Conductor—is a metaphor for oppressive government. Their whole purpose is to silence noise. Noise comes from celestials which infect humans and turn them into "Polluted". Government always paints people who speak up against them as "extremists", "terrorists", all the bad words you can find in your dictionary. Also, the noise in particular is called Dithyramb, which is a poem used to praise Dionysus, whose "wine, music, and ecstatic dance were considered to free his followers from self-conscious fear and care, and subvert the oppressive restraints of the powerful."

Ori was a child who dreamed. But his sister, Mari, noticed how they would be unsafe if they didn't fit in with the others. So she told Ori to "pretend you're ignorant and can't think for your own good". In society, even if it betrays your own feelings, sometimes it's better to pretend like you don't know better just so you wouldn't get targeted by your oppressors.

Rem (which isn't actually Rem since he's actually been infected by a celestial since the beginning of the game) is a metaphor for social activists. Throughout the whole game, he criticizes how they oversimplify the Polluted as this black, inky figure. He also mentions that he's the last one— probably because all the other celestials have been erased by the Chorister or run away from the Earth. That's why he puts so much hope in Ori, believing the other would understand his view. His name actually comes from Ramiel, a fallen angel who lived amongst humans and shared forbidden knowledge with them, leading to him getting punished by God (ahem "Silence" ending).

I also find it interesting that in response to the statue of Rem breaking apart, depending on which route you're going after, Ori will give a different response. In "Noise" route, he'll say "Try to write a story to make yourself feel better. That statue broke so that we can proceed further. It doesn't matter if they're just made up lies". While in "Silence" route, he'll say "Try to write a story to make sense of things. That statue broke because it was always meant to be broken. It's just a puzzle to solve."

In this apocalyptic world, logic is placed above anything else. The rosary given to Ori is also built to answer anything based on factual facts (though this is hella suspicious because it's given by the Conductor, and with the nature of the game, some might even be lies to keep Ori obedient). Personal feelings are seen as a burden and an error, something abnormal that needs to be erased.

In the end, in the "Noise" ending, Ori remembers his life when Mari was still around. He realizes that the noise comes from Rem, yet he goes out of his order and doesn't erase the celestial. He would later be seen with a large wound, heaving in the bathtub. It can probably be inferred that he got punished because of his disobedience. Yet, he tells Rem—now his true form, an alien—that he doesn't want the noise to ever stop and that he doesn't want to be Enlightened. He becomes one with Rem, and in the world of etherane, love is the loss of individuality. He discards the Sunday Classes, his rosary, his whole being— to be filled by noises from Rem. To be filled again by critical questions and independent judgement.