MASSIVE YAP ABT ROT IN PARADISE (SPOILERS OBV)
THIS WILL CONTAIN
-my theories
-honest opinions/criticisms
-wishes I had for the game
-prob a whole section about Ryan bc I love him
OK LETS GO
MY INTERPRETATION
first off I love this game to death. As someone who recently cut out two extremely toxic “friends” only 3 days before getting hyperfixated on this game, I resonated with June ALOT. So I may include my own personal experiences.
Imo, I think the game is supposed to represent losing friends to substance and or alcohol abuse, using water/seafood to represent that. All of the traits That McCoy, Carmen and Vonnie show throughout the game represent symptoms of alcohol and drug abuse.
McCoy gets hostile and even violent when June tries to stop him from drinking the water jug in that one scene and instantly snaps out this haze and apologizes, similar to people getting violent when drunk and or under the influence and apologizing when sober.
In the scene when June sees Vonnie overeating the seafood and Vonnie gets aggressive toward June when she’s concerned about it, the next day Vonnie admits that she didn’t even want to overeat that much, only did it to appease “her”. This represents how after a while, addicts sees consuming alcohol/substances as a chore rather than an option.
In the scene when June sees Carmen in the bathtub covered in water, Carmen dismisses June and is aggravated when June tries to pry. Carmen also blames Ryan because he quote on quote, “freaked out” at her earlier (even tho ryan confirms later on SHE was the one to freak out bc he was concerned bc she was acting drunk). It represents how addicts close themselves off and blames everyone else for their problems.
I love how it’s subtly shown that McCoy, Carmen and Vonnie each represent different types of toxic friends.
-Carmen pushes her problems onto everyone else- (the scene where vonnie says Carmen gave her tons of cocktails to finish that Carmen herself ordered)
-Vonnie is controlling and passive aggressive- (basically her the whole game)
-McCoy is a bystander and refuses to help- (the scene where McCoy avoids helping the old guy who was drowning despite being a lifeguard so June had to help the dude and him making excuses)
But it’s presented to make them seem nice at the start of the game, because that’s how toxic friends work. Trust me, I would know. They seem nice and amazing at first, you feel like they care about you, but slowly, they show their true nature.
What I also love is how June doesn’t stop them and constantly makes excuses, gaslights and blames HERSELF for their behavior, and it’s Ryan who near the end of the game, shows her that it’s NOT her fault at all.
CRITICISMS
my two biggest criticisms are
1. The pacing
2. Ryan’s death(?)/him going insane
First off the pacing. I don’t blame studio investegrave FULLY for the pacing, as I am like 99% sure this was a gamejolt game with a deadline from what I remember. So I understand the fact that this game is rushed story wise, but that still doesn’t mean I don’t have criticisms with the pacing. Such as…
1. The story moves in LIGHTNING speed, it’s like one day everyone is all happy and normal and then the next day, people are already starting to go crazy…LIKE LET THE STORY MARINATE
2. ZERO backstory on the resort. Like, why did it all go to shit only after June and her friends showed up? LIKE WHY DIDNT JUNE AND RYAN TRY FIND THE OWNER/S???
3. OK ILL TALK ABT IN A SEC BUT WHY THE FUCK DID RYAN GO INSANE??? IT MADE LIKE ZERO SENSE
4. WHO IS “HER??” IK THE GAME IS MOST LIKELY A ALLEGORY, BUT I WISH WE GOT SOME ACTUAL REASONING ON WHY EVERYONE WENT INSANE AND WHO WAS THE “HER” PPL WERE ON ABOUT
5. I’m sad we barely got any actual interactions with Vonnie, Carmen and McCoy before they went crazy. I feel like I couldn’t really get attached to characters that weren’t June and Ryan because they got TONS of screen time
Overall, I really hope this game gets popular enough so it can get remade to make it longer and have more endings, so it can be a “proper game”. Like how dead plate has multiple endings and stuff (even tho I’m not into dead plate but I know that fact hehe) it could be similar how Amanda the adventurer turned from a gamejolt game into a full game franchise. SO PLEASE CAN WE MAKE THIS GAME POPULAR!!!
Now onto Ryan going insane in the ending. This makes sense…IF WE GOT FUCKING CONTEXT ON WHY!!!
IM SORRY BUT IMA FEEL FULLY HONEST ON WHEN I SAY…IT. MAKES. ZERO. SENSE. THROUGHOUT THE GAME, IN THE PROMOTIONAL MATERIAL, THERE WAS ALWAYS SIGNS RYAN WAS THE “ODD ONE OUT.
LIKE LOOK
IN THE GAME HE IS THE ONLY ONE BESIDES JUNE THAT KNOWS SOMETHING IS UP, AND HE IS OFTEN RARELY PRESENT IN THE FRIEND GROUP/GAME UNTIL NEAR THE END, AND HE NEVER GOES INTO THE WATER UNTIL THE END AFTER HE GOES INSANE BC HE CANT SWIM.
RYAN IS ALWAYS PRESENTED AS THE ODD ONE OUT. IT MAKES SENSE THAT HE DIDNT GO INSANE. BUT HE DID??? I FELT LIKE IF WE GOT ACTUAL SCENES THAT SHOWED HIM SLOWLY LOOSING IT, IT WOULD MAKE SENSE
I FOUND THIS REALLY GOOD FIC ON AO3 THAT GIVES CONTEXT TO WHY HE DID GO INSANE (author’s interpretation at least) it’s called “I’ll walk into this landscape (and won’t come back)” by kowritings
IM HONESTLY REALLY SAD HE WENT INSANE WITH NO CONTEXT :( ESPECIALLY DUE TO THE FACT THE GAME IS SUPPOSED TO REPRESENT TOXIC FRIENDS, AND RYAN STOOD OUT BC HE WASNT TOXIC, SO WHY DID HE GO INSANE/TURN TOXIC??? (I mean I do believe that the game is supposed to also represent addiction so maybe it’s supposed to be giving into peer pressure??? But it still makes no sense >:|)
MY HOPES/WISHES IF IT WAS MADE TO BE LONGER AND A “PROPER GAME”
MORE ENDINGS!!! Such as:
* good ending where nothing goes wrong (maybe you just stand still for a certain amount of time at the beginning of the game or smth)
* Ending where June somehow saves Ryan and they leave together bc Ryan deserves it ☹️☹️☹️
* Ending where June and Ryan swap places in the ending (so June is the drowning one and Ryan tries to save her, and I KNOW Ryan can’t swim but let me be silly ok 😔😔😔)
* Ok this isn’t really an ending but follow up scenes to the two official endings from the actual game, like, what happens after June joins her friends??? What happens after June goes back to shore???
OVERALL THINGS I WANT
* slower story progression
* Paths you can take that gives you different endings
* More scenes with Carmen, Vonnie and McCoy before they go insane so u can get attached to them
* Scene near the end of the game where Ryan is actually vulnerable and cries pls I need it for my angst please please please please
* backstory on the resort, it would make sense that the resort opened the day June and her friends got there, so it was possibly like a trap or smth
* Scenes where WE ACTUALLY SEE RYAN SLOWLY LOOSING IT SO HIM GOING INSANE MAKES SENSE
* MORE RYAN PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE-
Overall, these are issues I have for this game, bc I want it to be the best game it can be <3 I love this game to death after all lmao
RYAN IM YAPPING ABOUT RYAN BC I LOVE HIM LIVE LAUGH RYAN
RYAN IS MY FAVORITE CHARACTER IN THE WHOLE FKN GAME OMG I LOVE HIM SO FUCKING MUCH <3
IDK WHY, BUT THE SCENE WHERE HE COMFORTS JUNE TRIGGERED MY DADDY ISSUES AND IN THAT MOMENT HE BECAME MY NEW FAVORITE COMFORT CHARACTER
HES COOL, HES FUNNY, HES NICE, AND I GENUINELY STARTED CRYING AT ONE AM THE OTHER NIGHT BECAUSE OF THE ENDING MY BOY NEEDS TO LIVE OMG HE DESERVES HUGS AND CUDDLES AND LOVE :(
CURSE YOU RACHEL (the creator) FOR LEAVING MY BOY TO DIE :( IM NOT USED TO HAVING A (technically) DEAD COMFORT CHARACTER BC ALL MY OTHER ONES ARE ALIVE AND WELL
but OH MY GOD IM FINALLY DONE WITH THIS POST YAYYYYYYY!!!!
