Further Installments: Theories on what could happen to Outlast storyline now
I decided to write something new as I haven’t written something in a while. I was thinking about stuff and was wondering where Outlast II will be headed now. A friend of mine told me that Red Barrels expressed a desire to take a break from the franchise when the second instalment came out. Though, it may sound disappointing I hope they do some things to keep us satiated. There is always comics and other things that can be done. Novelisations of events are also welcomed I believed by a majority of the fandom who have taken a good interest in the fandom. So, aside from the medium of distribution, what can happen in subsequent chapters of Outlast? This is a question I think needs addressing. There are certain things about all the games and even the comics that aren’t resolved. What happened to the Walrider is still ambiguous, also what happened to Miles. We are not sure what also made Simon Peacock the way he looks in the comics. In the games, Waylon encountered her perfectly fine so either this is a continuity issue or at that moment he was fine. Pauline Glick and Paul Marion went to his funeral. It was implied that Murkoff had desperately wanted to get rid of him. This means Peacock has more information than we know off and even what Glick and Marion understand. It could be related to Zeichner Facility, Wernicke and also the mysterious Helen Granat.
That is just one question. There is still question of the Lucid Dreamers and Zeichner facility. We do not know what Lucid Dreamers are but we know they are somewhat successes of the Morphogenic Engine Program. I had speculated before that Blake may have also become a lucid dreamer. It could be someone who potentially opens and activates the gateway as we played as Blake as opposed to just seeing illusions. Wernicke stressed this gateway was important. So, Blake going back to it at the end. Being “blind” to the reality around him may be part of the process of indoctrination.
The third question is that subtle conversation that Pauline Glick had with the executives. We are not sure why she states that Paul Marion was her target. That he always was her target. This is a very suspicious statement and makes us wonder why Murkoff had paired them up in the first place. It is not resolved or explained in the comics so I am hoping that later additions elucidate on this. The altercation between Glick and Marion are an integral part of the storyline that has set in motion a few events.
Here are some theories that I have come up with, give the information and events we have been given:
Theory 1: The rare blood condition that Alice, Marion’s daughter, has is actually a side effect of something Murkoff did. Or, could have been directly done. Marion is a loyal and hard working. He is the sort of person that Murkoff would want in their payroll to get the jobs that litigators did to go smoothly. He knows how to keep his mouth shut and follows orders. Making his daughter sick and making him ‘a loyal servant’ is something that Murkoff would not be above doing, This would explain certain things like how Murkoff came to know about Alice’s rare blood disease and offer Marion a job. It also makes me wonder if this blood disease is also an experiment in progress.
Theory 2: The rare blood condition is an anomaly and does not concern Murkoff. Peacock had kidnapped Paul’s daughter forcing him into a standoff with Pauline Glick. When Paul goes to the FBI building he doesn’t look like he is fearful for his daughter. Either Marion had gotten the information that Peacock wanted thus knows his daughter is safe or that he feels the FBI are able to track her down better. Either way, this means Peacock is becoming aggressive and almost as bad as Murkoff if he sliced off one of Alice’s fingers. It could mean his condition has been desperate enough to do this or his condition affects his mental abilities and he shows a more edgier and grislier side because of it. This is unknown at the moment, but I think it can be a possibility.
Theory 3: Murkoff has kidnapped Alice and made it look like Peacock did it. This means they did feel either a) Pauline was expendable now or b) that Marion wouldn’t harm her as much and she may come out alive. Perhaps, by making a situation like this Murkoff knows that they can use Paul to lead them to Peacock. Perhaps, this is what they are hoping. They sadistically have left a severed finger as “bread crumb” and see where the other crumbs would lead to. The situation is not above Murkoff. It would probably also get them into a position to find out where Waylon had fled to. This is a sort of scenario where Murkoff is using people. It works well with the sort of corporation they are.
Theory 4: Alice may be the protagonist of the DLCs. Her rare blood condition may allow her immunity against tampered frequencies and even provide a cure for Peacock’s condition. The next game may even have Alice wake up amongst the Scalled and try to escape from them and realising the white light doesn’t affect her. This is an interesting phenomenon which would make Murkoff try to experiment on her. It would also make us know Alice and try to see and understand things from her point of view. Having a young female protagonist in a horror game is not necessarily new but it would a new take for Outlast. The context will also be new seeing Alice would be an empowered and strong character in the show because of the very thing she considered a disability. This path interests me.
Theory 5: As mentioned before on another post we may take control of Jennifer Roland in the next game. This will allow us a crucial perspective on someone who actually works for Murkoff, not as just a contracted person like Waylon Park, but who understands the internal aspects of what happened in Temple Gate and the Walrider Project. In both this and the above scenario, the game may start out at Temple Gate but lead elsewhere. We have the mysterious Towers and the game will be interesting if it started there. We may be able to know secrets and certain things about the mythology and science of the world we were not aware of. Playing as Jenny may ultimately lead us to Lucid Dreamers and face them. Who knows perhaps we may encounter the hypnotised Blake and the Walrider carrying Miles. We may meet Waylon again. This route also seems feasible for those reasons.
Theory 6: We play an agent who has been sent to investigate Murkoff. This agent could be female or male. It doesn’t matter. It would just be interesting to see other company info with this agent and if Murkoff has allies or not. Playing as an agent may change some of the dynamics of the game but it could be that the agent cannot directly engage with the sort of people he is dealing with. An example, Glick shoots Peacock and it doesn’t necessarily hurt him. Rather, he retaliates strongly and flees. In this scenario, guns are pointless so only the agent’s stamina, intelligence, ability to handle stress and athleticism would help traverse the horrid environment.
I guess these are certain scenarios I came up with now. In all of them, we may run into Pauline Glick and also Helen Granat, and other characters. It also allows us to meet Val again. I do think that Val may come back in the next installment. Their death is in unused game files but there is a chance they may change that and have Val live, which is good for the fans and also the story. Well, I hope you enjoyed this piece. Hopefully, I will write other things soon relating to the series. Thanks for reading.
