Dalisclock said:
Interestingly, I'd consider the "Jason stays on the island" to be the real ending considering just how well it completes his descent into madness that seems to characterize the islands inhabitants so much.
I think there's two levels on which the final choice operates.
Firstly, I don't think the narrative paints the islanders as crazy. Even if we dismiss the actual magic and mysticism as just drugs, they still have a way of life and a culture which is obviously working out for them. They're generally presented to us as noble savages, as people who can offer a kind of meaning and realness which the modern, civilised world has lost. I mean, imagine Jason going home and going back to photocopying or flipping burgers. The island gave him a purpose and a chance to express a part of his nature which his own civilised society was never going to tolerate.
One of the people who worked on the game described the story as "anti-Avatar", James Cameron's Avatar being another noble savage/white saviour narrative. The ending is clever (or cleverish, there's a lot of things wrong with the game's weird messaging and politics which kind of prevent me praising it too highly for having some woke anti-colonial message) because it subverts expectations. We've seen this kind of story before, we know it ends with Jason being heralded as some kind of saviour and superior being, combining the best qualities of civilisation and savagery. Instead, Jason dies, because he is still an outsider. He is just another outsider wanting to control and rule this society to satisfy the inadequacies of his own civilised life. Maybe achieving that should not be something which is narratively assumed.
Secondly, there's a meta level to this because the player is put into the role of Jason. The player is playing this game to escape their civilized life, to murder virtual people and to generally indulge fantasies which would be horrific to ever act on in reality. The player will likely end up identifying with Jason because they have similar motivations, they're both enjoying the power fantasy.
I think it says a lot that the game can present you with a choice to murder your character's friends simply because they stand in the way of your power fantasy and have that appear reasonable. Escapism or not, I'm not sure that's something a player should ever be allowed to feel entirely comfortable with, so I sort of enjoyed it on that level too.
