it's probably pretty debunkable, it might be a little unfinished, but I think it's good
also a lil note, I only based the theory on the game, nothing outside of the game was used (like posts from the creator of the game)
psychopomp is basically how Venus perceives the world
the game might show us the vision of Venus on the things around her, that is different from what we considered normal due to some possible metal illness.
More possibly, psychopomp is about Venus diving into her mind.
only after creating the helmet she starts seeing "things" unknown before. an important thing to note, these creatures are only spotted after going down on the elevator.
The elevator might be an allegory to going deeper into the brain, into the mind. let me elaborate. before entering the elevator, the levels are normal, even on the "symbols" level, it looks just like a simple hallway. the main action is when we enter the elevator. all thats under the actual, "normal" part might just be thoughts of the main character, the depiction of what is happening in her brain. also interesting here, that the helmet was supposed to read other people's minds in the intents of Venus, however, (following my theory) ended up letting her read her own mind.
with each level, Venus possibly processes her thought on different topics: education, healthcare, (idk what about the sewers tbh), DNA, posiibly illnesses (level 4: hard structure), possibly poverty (thrait village)
another thing that might be an argument for the "weird" perception of reality is the achievement "generational trauma", while the name might be a joke that I just kinda don't understand, this might show that some level of brain/head damage might be generational to Venus. another thing to notice is quote "Head like DOA" from one of the NPCs in Home. DOA can stand for "dead on arrival".
Venus might also be trying to perfect herself. in one of the ephemeral locations (the one with humans) in the end of the level we are shown a clay copy of Venus, "the perfect copy" of her. maybe it references that she was getting compared to someone (like the other clay humans, "ordinary" and "normal" humans) for her imperfections. here I should mention that the npc on the left when we leave the house in Home might be someone like her guardian or a parent, who, in her monologue, describes that Venus makes their life gray, makes them tired, which might indicate that said person is tired of taking care of Venus with her mental issues.
going to level 6, where Venus finally "understands" flesh, people, symbols and concepts, which might be a sign of progression in learning and organizing the knowledge. the symbol person in front of the locked doors might be a reference to the words Venus might have heard due to her level of development, that she "doesn't understand anything", and the locked doors might symbolize the things she needs to understand before going out and socializing.
the ending might be showing that she finally understands the things around her, becoming "free", but it's complicated, we'll get to that. one thing that's probably worth noting here, she thanks the helmet in the ending, and maybe, she thanks it for helping her realize/think through some of the things, for the ability to dive into her mind.
but where's the actual story that is described in the game? the queen and king thing?
well, it is more than likely that these things are still real, after all we've seen the catastrophe in the end of playing as Mercury. however, that might not what Venus goes after.
let's see. Mercury, after meeting with the King of dogs, does the job, bringing the three people together. in the two locations Mercury visits (the hotel an his level) the king of Dogs is present. however, with Venus, we can only see him in the tutorial, saying how much we have to do. there are two ideas I have thought of. either Venus took a completely different path, trying to kinda organize or walk through the things in her brain, or it was all going as planned. the ending is where it gets confusing. was Venus finally turning into the Queen intentional? was it supposed to happen, but what about the "disconnection from subject"? was that planned? because If it wasn't supposed to go like this, then my theory about "freedom" might be right. Maybe, just maybe Venus was also supposed to act on the situation, but she chose not to. Possibly due to her opinions, like "stupid, there are no stars" text (if we consider that she wrote that).
I would love to hear your opinions
kianamaiart
snowghoul
gummygunk
blakekathryn
theartofmadeline
