God is often said to have “a plan for everything”. Sounds intimidating, but its relevance to this episode’s plot is pretty shakey. “Forever and Ever” would have been a much more fitting title here.

The last flash is accompanied by a shattering sound effect, and sure enough, we get a shot of Ros falling out of her tank. I have to say this looks pretty ridiculous – where are her arms? Why is her tail sticking up like that? It looks like the developer just rotated her floating sprite 90 degrees.

Fortunately, Marie and Ros show up to revive her just in time for an emergency announcement to say the Inquiry is kaput and everyone needs to evacuate. Rami explains that they’re under attack by super-powerful MODs that punched through their defenses effortlessly.

Marie: “Ros. Everyone else is already gone.”

Okay so you waited for everyone else to evacuate before checking on the person who was completely helpless and didn’t know what was going on? Thanks Marie, you’re a great friend. They inform me I need to depart with my personal craft instead of the evac pods for some reason, then run off to do one last sweep for stragglers.

A special track plays during this sequence, “Lights”. I like it. A lot of ESCAPE!!! tracks are tense and energetic, but this one is very subdued and almost melancholy, which is an interesting perspective. Crises can certainly evoke feelings of action and panic, but numbness and dissociation are common reactions too, and ones that aren’t portrayed as often, I think. The more melancholy take makes sense, since this location is so important to us. It reminds me a bit of the final hours music from Majora’s Mask.

The Inquiry also gets scuffed up a bit, and for some reason the door labels disappear. I guess ’cause they were powered? I’m not sure what the gas in the corridors is supposed to be, since if they’re damaged air should be leaking out, not in. Still, it’s impressively frightening.

When I reach the final ring, Ros notices that the door to the command center is jammed open and rushes in to check on Sorenson.

Sorenson: “This is how it ends, Ros. This is how everything ends.”

That sounds very dramatic but doesn’t seem to have much to do with this situation.

He says that all their power lines are busted, including the craft launchers. In order to launch Ros, he has to stay behind to manually divert the remaining backup power. What about the evacuation pods, are those still working?

Ros: “I know who’s behind this, but I won’t be able to stop him alone. I still need your support.”

Oh huh, that’s interesting. I wonder if she always says this or if it’s triggered by reading the databanks?

Sorenson uses this opportunity to wax philosophical about how it doesn’t matter because humanity is terrible and there’s always someone causing havoc. He then gets really mushy over how great Ros is and how he’s sorry for using her.

Sorenson: “People will try to use you, and manipulate you. Like Thomas, and… me. They will never stop trying.”

Oh really? You sure weren’t trying very hard. Their relationship only went sour when he inexplicably stopped trying to use her, at which point she still chose to help him of her own free will. And despite dropping Secret Villain flags all over the place, he turned out not to have any ulterior motives at all, so how was he manipulating her? He was totally honest about what he wanted from beginning to end, and what he wanted wasn’t something any reasonable person would be opposed to.

This only carries weight if Sorenson really was up to some shady business that Ros wouldn’t approve of, and if he was a lot more callous and abusive towards her. It’s enough to make me wonder if he really was planned to be a secret villain originally but the developer chickened out for some reason. He’s just so, so shady right out the gate and continues to be sinister and obfuscating for a long time but then… he was never actually hiding anything? The story really feels like it has a giant gaping hole where Sorenson’s secret evil agenda is supposed to be. I never minded being used by him, so this apology has no catharsis. Just like Skint, he’s making huge apologies and admissions for things that weren’t at all villainous, but at least Skint was actually antagonistic. This is just really bland.

It’s weird. It’s obvious the game is trying really hard to make this a deep and emotional scene, but I dunno, maybe my heart’s shriveled up but it’s just not doing anything for me, not like Skint’s death did. It’s going through the right motions but it never bothered to set up the emotional attachment it’s trying to cash in on. Sorenson just wasn’t as interesting of a character as the game is trying to make him out to be.

Also, once again the ominous premonition is obviously toothless. Going off of my idea at the end of last episode, wouldn’t this be so much more powerful if Ros really had spent eons getting jerked around people? That would make this so much more poignant of a finale, if we’ve experienced for ourselves the truth of the claim that someone will always be causing problems and someone will always be manipulating Ros, if we’ve seen for ourselves the futility and meaninglessness of an endless cycle and this is the first time someone’s acknowledged it.

Anyway, he says Marie and Rami have already launched (somehow; they said they were behind me) and there’s only enough power left to launch Ros. I then get a dialogue choice:

“You go instead.”
“Go where?”
“Thank you, Sorenson.”

…Okay I lied, this is making me tear up a little. I’m not selfless enough for the first option, second option is stupid, but the third one is, I think, very poignant in all the things it leaves unsaid. Saying this actually makes Sorenson display the personal trust boost icon, which I thought was really tacky when I first played but I now think is a nice touch. He’s spent the whole game as a cold, stern authority figure, so it’s sweet to see him warm up and have a genuine emotional connection with you in his final moments.

Sorenson: “Even after all the things I’ve done, you still trust my judgment. I’m sorry for ever doubting you.”

:’)

See, THIS means something because doubting her is something he actually did. Unfortunately he then drinks Lazarus’ kool-aid and goes into some weird protagonist sycophancy about how Ros is a superior being and too valuable to lose. Uh, okay?

Sorenson: “I’ll contact you again soon. I promise. Now, hurry.”

Hello death flag.

We cut to Ros launching, but the camera stays with her while she’s floating in space, which means we’re getting an actual cutscene! Amazing. Some of the MODs fly past her, and #0001 informs us that he’s a complete idiot:

“…Excellent. You are here. I had to be sure you fled to safety in time. Now, stay clear…”

Yes, you read that right: the sole purpose of this attack was to smoke Ros out. He accomplishes this goal by cutting the power lines and making her escape exponentially more difficult, because we are in opposite land today. Sorenson even says that they knew exactly where to hit to disable the ship, so he had to purposefully command them to do this. He could have easily left the craft launchers unmolested if that was his real goal. Why can’t anyone’s actions make sense in this game?

And now that he’s gotten what he wants, surely he’ll leave the Inquiry alone, right?

No, he proceeds to destroy it for absolutely no reason, because he’s a villain and villains have to make things hard for the heroes.

I mean, I can understand this, in theory. Villains destroying the hero’s home is a classic in fiction, and for good reason. This demonstrates the villain’s overwhelming power, hits the heroes with a major setback they need to overcome, and makes the conflict personal. But it has to make sense. The villain has to be doing it for a reason, even if that reason is just mustache-twirling evil. But not only is this absolutely pointless for him to do, it’s completely at odds with his motivation. From the databanks we know he’s trying to save all of humanity. How does wanton murder fit in with that? He should consider every life precious. This kind of behavior only makes sense from his polar opposite, someone who believes averting the apocalypse is futile so it doesn’t matter that people die now instead of later.

Also, I find Ros’ Big No worth comment. I mentioned way back in the prologue that it doesn’t make sense to give Ros an antagonistic relationship with the Inquiry, because this is where she inevitably ends up: totally devoted to the cause, to the point she’s just as heartbroken as the rest of the crew when this happens. Maybe the developer originally wanted a more interactive story where the PC could have a less favorable relationship with her superiors, but backpedaled when he realized how much work that would be and just went for a standard let’s-all-be-friends plot.

The crew is devastated of course, but Tez notices Mahk has run off somewhere. We cut to him getting trailed by Ivoronus. He’s discovered that the Machinatorium is under attack too, and he wants to rush to the rescue.

Ivoronus: “So help me, if you don’t stop, I will shoot you down myself.”

Uh, won’t that kill him now that the Inquiry’s gone and he doesn’t have a regroup point?

Ivoronus: “Your brothers and sisters are evacuating as we speak. They will be fine. You’re only endangering yourself.”
Mahk: “You’re lying, old man! I can see the distress logs right now! They are fighting for their lives!”

Even the Inquiry crew were allowed to evacuate. Is #0001 really this bloodthirsty, or are the Sikohlon purposefully choosing to die defending the Machinatorium?

They argue for a bit more, but suddenly Mahk gets a message saying the Machinatorium’s signal was lost, so he’s already too late. The rest of the crew catches up and Mahk agrees to regroup.

Back with the main group, everyone receives a message consisting of nothing but a string of repeated coordinates. Everyone flips out because broadcasting on multiple signal bands is apparently impossible. While I’m no physicist, I’m pretty sure that’s not actually that difficult. The hard part is maintaining the signal over such long distances – and given that this presumably came from far away, it’d be totally reasonable for them to be amazed by that instead.

Tezkhra: “A signal of that strength is unheard of. No known technology could broadcast with that kind of energy.”

Also, last-minute foreshadowing. Do we know of any other massive energy broadcasts that might require this kind of tech?

The crew decides they might as well investigate, but suddenly NOTICE: Manual control has been revoked. Autopilot override docking sequence initiated.

It’s Thomas. How did he get their override codes? Was he the Typelog spy? Those spinning rings are also very well-animated, though sadly they are also lag-tastic. I’m pretty impressed how much effort the developer is putting into these cutscenes; like with The Reconstruction, I just wish he’d have made earlier events as interesting.

Thomas: “You’re welcome. You rather I let you and your crew die out there? You should be on your knees.”

Uh, what? Why would they have died out there? This isn’t like the modern era where people need constant food and shelter to survive, they have no physical needs. Possibly he’s referring to the MOD threat, but the crew was already running away from them. Staying in one place is a greater danger.

Because he’s incompetent, he still hasn’t finished Ros’ holding tank. The MODs have been wreaking havoc and destroying stuff, so he’s had to suspend construction.

Thomas: “The Inquiry, the Sikohlon Machinatorium, various other safe places you’ve called home… All destroyed. It’s almost as if you were the one being targeted.”

He’s technically right, but this makes no sense given we know that #0001 wants Ros alive. What reason does he have to continue the attacks once he knows where Ros is? And if he destroyed these areas before he knew Ros was at the Inquiry, that’s incredibly stupid and wasteful of him – for all he knows, Ros was at the Machinatorium and didn’t get out before he blew it up. (And if he did know Ros’ true location, why was he wasting resources killing people for the lulz?) Once again, his actions make no sense given his stated goals – this is an operation that calls for surgical strikes, not mass destruction.

(I’m also not sure what “various other safe places” he could be referring to. Hab Zero?)

Ros just quips back that for all he knows this makes him the next target.

Thomas: “You still don’t understand, do you? That is a risk worth taking to keep you alive a little longer. If you die out, that’s it. Your traits are lost forever. You can’t hide, you can’t be cloned… you are it.”

Now this is interesting. Is Thomas actually saying he’s willing to die to preserve Ros? That actually makes him pretty selfless in a weird way, but it also casts even more suspicion on his motives. In episode 4 he claimed he only cared about neutralizing the threat Ros posed and he was going to lock her up forever. If that was true, he shouldn’t care about Ros’ survival – if he never plans to use her, there’s effectively no difference between her being dead and her being sealed forever. The only reason he could have for not washing his hands of this mess is if he does see a use for her.

He then toddles off and gives Ros free reign of the place because he is the most competent villain.

We then get a walkaround section, and there are actually quite a lot of NPCs to talk to. No treasure boxes, though, as this guy explains. There’s also unique music for this area, “Waiting”. It’s nothing spectacular, but it’s nice to see the developer putting the effort in when he could have just reused the Hab Zero track.

Ros gathers everyone in the room to plan their next move. She says Sorenson’s dead and they’re on their own, but she knows who’s behind everything and wants to stop him.

Tezkhra: “And individual did all of this? How do you know?”
Ros: “He won’t leave me the hell alone. He talked to Lazarus too.”
Tezkhra: “He spoke to you? Who is this person? And why did you say nothing of it before?”

NOT SO FUNNY NOW, IS IT TEZ? He does bring up a good point, so of course Ros ignores it and just skips to the next point of conversation. She says she thinks he’s responsible for the Shine. Again, not sure if this is influenced by the databanks or not; if it isn’t, that’s one heck of a logical leap.

Neff and Kara say they think the coordinate broadcast was an invitation and all their enemies are gonna show up for a battle royale. Ros says she doesn’t care, learning why everything’s happened so far is worth the risk. Neff says it’s obviously a trap and asks why they’re playing along.

“To get revenge.”
“To learn more.”
“To prove ourselves.”

Third option is stupid, and the second one is thematically appropriate over the first right now for reasons you’ll see in a minute. Unfortunately what Ros says is actually unrelated to what I picked: “He is clearly unmatched in force and technology. Maybe he can be reasoned with. And, if not…” If not… what? You’ll futilely throw yourself against his unmatched technology? This sounds like an argument for staying away.

Then everyone mopes about Sorenson being dead. Everyone gets a token line to remind you they exist (though not Alicia – I guess she doesn’t care). Most of them are generic and unremarkable, but…

Luke: “Y-you know, I never really signed on for all this, but… damn it, he took me in anyway!”

I know I’m being a broken record about this but YES LUKE YOU DID SIGN ON STOP LYING.

Deirdre: “He really cared about us more than himself. But still, it was a selfish thing he did. We still need him.”

On a more positive note, I like this one. This is a continuation of the theme of people becoming so insulated from death and suffering that they don’t know how to deal with it, and are still learning. This includes Sorenson himself – Deirdre’s right, could he have done more good if he had made a better effort to save himself instead of being so quick to throw in the towel? It’s nice to see her grappling with a more complex issue, and it makes her line stand out among everyone else’s.

Of course, this whole theme of how Sorenson was so important however will we go on without him is undermined by his staggering incompetence and plot-stalling throughout the rest of the game, as I’ve already mentioned. We’ve never seen him do anything but hold Ros back, so it’s hard to see this as a darkest hour moment. Ros is now free to come into her own as a commander without being constantly locked down by an obfuscating imbecile. That’s a good thing! Every time she’s subverted Sorenson and done something on her own, it’s produced great results! They never really needed Sorenson, Ros was always capable of leading them to victory – as she will now. This isn’t an actual setback.

It is true that Sorenson was ostensibly overseeing the whole “reconstructing society” thing, but, again as I’ve already mentioned, that amounted to jack. I see no reason why Ros couldn’t do better at that too; it’s not like there’s a high bar to clear.

After this they head to the final battle, so this seems like a good place to cut it.

I will say, though, that while this is the most engaging and exciting sequence we’ve seen so far and I wish the rest of the game could have been like this, it lacks the oomph of The Reconstruction’s finale. In a way I think it’s actually an inverse. The Reconstruction’s finale invoked the horror of general chaos: civilization as a whole collapsed and countless people we didn’t know died and suffered… but everyone we knew and cared about was totally fine. Here, the tragedy is very personal: the hero’s home is destroyed, but only one person dies in the process. Even the Machinatorium massacre is mostly framed in how it affects Mahk. Both approaches have issues, but in terms of pure shock value I felt The Reconstruction’s depiction of widespread destruction had a stronger impact. Maybe it helps that we actually got to see the devastation instead of being told that it totally happened somewhere just take our word for it. But I just don’t feel particularly attached to one featureless gray spaceship over another, I didn’t feel particularly dependent on Sorenson, I still know barely anything about the Sikohlon despite the game constantly acting like there was going to be a big reveal about them, and everyone else is fine. It’s a game-changer, certainly, but not a game-ender. It feels more like something that would separate the first and second acts of a story, rather than representing the darkest hour before the ending.

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