Let's Talk About the Ending (SPOILERS naturally)

So just finished this, and can't help but be a bit disappointed by the end.

I know that everyone involved with making the game has been very open with saying they would love to have a sequel, and that they need support to make that a reality, but I also feel like so much of the momentum of the final moments of the game are wasted. Everything from the Mirror Room to the ceremony in the woods all seems to be building to something very significant. But then it turns out the jealous wife did it, and was caught when she lied about the tape. It just feels very anti-climatic, and as much as I DO want more Hi-Jenks, the resolution felt so sudden and unrelated to what seemed to be the main thrust of the game. That is not an uncommon mystery trope, to build up some greater conspiracy over here which turns out to be irrelevant, but it just felt like a big let down for a game that I otherwise thought was a lot of campy fun.

Anyone else feel the same way?

I was a little bummed out that the game did not go fully into the supernatural/satanist route, but the actual murder solution was a decent one. It seemed a bit of a waste to have the Lisa character show up once and then not become a bigger factor, and I thought the self-opening doors was going to turn into a bigger demons-among-us storyline. I wondered if maybe a limitation on time/resources forced Mr. Follin to have to wrap things up without exploring those things further.

The ending/epilogue did leave the door open for an even zanier sequel, which I am a-ok with.

The creator(s) has pretty much admitted it was the only way they could give it closure on the budget they had. The bit with Paul and Ryan closing the door I feel was him saying "I have so many more ideas! please help me make them realised!". In some way the stumping of the plot and all the loose ends is a good thing...means a sequel might happen ;)

Agreed. I was hoping that it would just go overboard with the pagan, oculist and devil worship elements. The jealous wife was a satisfactory conclusion but I did like the end where the camera zoomed in on a level 5 Atlas Prime stick man's face to reveal a hidden pentagram.

I hope for/look forward to future installments in the series. I just know if those never happen (which seems unlikely with the ground swell of support the game has gotten here and elsewhere), the ending of this game would feel fairly hollow, IMHO.

I mean, I was disappointed at first too, especially after the scene in the woods with the sacrifice or whatever it was.

But then I remembered that Jenks was only there to solve the case of Kate. He did that. Yes, Atlas was shady as fuck but...he did what he came to do.

I wasn't all that disappointed. I had read that they ran out of resources and had to wrap things up quickly, so I expected an abrupt ending. That and I had correctly guessed who it was from the start and why she did it, so I was pretty happy about that. If I was disappointed about anything, its that the whole cult/satanist angle wasn't fully developed in this game. They seemed to be leaning pretty heavily into it and then it just kinda stops after they get caught in the woods. Hopefully more can be built on that in a sequel though.

The thing that I just realized about the ending is that it completely ignores the question of what happened to Liam. Did Rebecca think HE was fucking Ryan, too?

Granted, @donchipotle brings up a good point, that Jenks was only there to investigate Kate's death. But still...

Contradiction felt like the beginning of Assassin's Creed in a way, in which there is a set up and the ending adds a mystique that brings into question a lot about what is actually happening in the big picture. It definitely sets up something more, and maybe with luck of a sequel, they can capitalize on some of the subject matter.

@bbalpert: Liam's case had already been investigated and closed, a year prior; and may be completely unrelated to Kate Vine's murder. Now, if Jenks had/could find enough evidence to re-open the investigation, then something would likely happen there.

I think what bothers me is that the affair is revealed so early and suddenly, but then just shoved aside until the very end. There just wasn't enough there to make that conclusion very satisfying. Some sort of build up related to the affair throughout the game would've gone a long way.

Remember the affair was between the girls friend and her husband. She got the wrong person. Jenks didn't know whether Rands wife knew or not and promised Kate(?) that he wouldn't talk about it.

I actually like how the story began as a simple murder investigation, took a crazy turn as the inner workings of this shadowy organization were revealed, and concluded with a simple arrest that didn't have anything to do with them. It left perhaps the biggest mystery still in the air in a cool way.

I'm fine with it. I figured the affair stuff had to have some pay-off. Short of sticking Jenks in a Wicker Man whilst the hint system just says, "There must be a contradiction somewhere!" It was executed well enough. Hopefully a sequel does land and gets fully realised. To be fair, the other candidates for the murderer had some credible motives as well. Well, maybe not Ryan. You don't bump somebody off you're intending to bribe. Simon seemed fairly passionate about the Atlas course and could've come off as a jealous student.

I was expecting the occult stuff to be front and centre but that wound up being a little bait and switch because, like every episode of Midsummer Murders ever, Satan has nowt to do with it.

I finished the game today and I'm still pondering on whether or not I would call it a good game or not. I don't regret my purchase, but I can't say it was $10 experience.

Perhaps this all sounds...ehem...contradictory, but I found the story brilliant in the way it does manage to wrap things up, but I felt just a little disappointed that there wasn't really much else to it. It's offers both a sequel hook *help us fund our next project* ending along with leaving a good payoff. Every character seemed off in different ways to the point where I almost thought that ALL of them were involved in Kate's murder. Considering that the game manages to end with all of that intrigue intact, I can't help but want a sequel. So I guess the game did its job...

It's because I knew that the game wasn't going to answer all of its questions that I left the game content with what it offered me, but a hint of disappointment still lingers because I do want that sequel soon. It doesn't offer much for its $10 asking price, so I can't really recommend it now. If it does come out with a sequel that puts all of its intrigue to good use, I would have no problem calling it a good game. As it stands, it's a good prologue, but it needs the sequel in order for it to be considered anything more than a novelty.