Paulo wants to meet up with us again. Let’s go see what he’s up to.
: “Now we can breathe a bit easier. Except, not really, since there’s still a murderer on the loose.”
: “All of this has really exhausted me, though. I wasn’t prepared to deal with maintaining such a distant connection…”
: “Overnight, we’ll have to rest. I’ll need you to enter a dormant state.”
: “I doubt there’s much you can do while everyone else on the ship is asleep, in any case.”
Well, we could puppet Alton and force him to toss all of his crappy sound equipment overboard and then find a real job, but whatever you say, kid.
Paulo essentially asks if we’re ready to move on to the next day. There’s actually nothing missable on Day 1 - everything we did was absolutely necessary to make progress, and there’s really nothing else we can do without being able to possess one specific person that we haven’t gained control over… yet.
The next day, we can talk to Paulo about some topics that we couldn’t before. Most of what Paulo has to say here is for the sole purpose of unlocking an achievement for talking to him - however, there is one thing we need to ask him about here in order to obtain the best ending.
: “I saw her a couple of times. She visited me here. She was nice. We… talked about geometry.”
: “Nobody else likes talking to me.”
So yeah, Paulo isn’t much of a character unto himself. Seriously, his defining personality trait is “I’m the kid from The Sixth Sense and also I like geometry kinda.”
There are a couple of other questions we can ask him (“How long had she been captain of this ship?” and “What did everyone else on the ship think of her?”) but we know the answer to the first one from the diary and Paulo doesn’t really have an answer for the second one. There’s a third question, however, that IS important.
: “She never brought it up. Actually, she avoided talking about it.”
: “I guess wherever she was, she didn’t like it. That’s why she was here.”
And just like the diary in the captain’s room, we’ve gained back part of the captain’s identity. We’ll see what that does pretty soon. We could also ask Paulo about why he’s here… though we never get the ability to possess him.
: “I’m on my way back home from boarding school. My parents are at home… probably. They travel a lot for work. It’s hard to say where they are at any given time.”
With that done, let’s go venture out into the ship and see what’s happened since last night. Maybe we’ll find someone else dead and can finally give the ghost captain the friend she’s always wanted.
: “I would like to ask all staff and passengers onto the B1 floor for an important announcement!”
: “I could make the announcement via intercom, but I feel that this is a matter that requires a face to face talk.”
: “Thank you, and I’ll see you very soon!”
So one mistake I made here while taking screenshots was possessing Sunshine (who is right outside Garv’s room) and using Sunshine to walk upstairs rather than going up as the ghost. Do not do this. It softlocks the game after the cutscene. Thankfully, I had saved right before this so it wasn’t a huge deal to regain progress.
Oh wow, everyone’s here… except Paulo and Donovan.
: “As the first mate of this fine vessel, I must inform the crew of any notable events!”
: “And it just so happens that right now, we find ourselves in just such a -”
: “cough cough COUGH”
: “…right.”
: “Yesterday, our lovely captain was not in the pilothouse all day.”
: “In her absence, it is my duty to fill her shoes and pilot the ship. For the time being.”
: “However, rest assured that this is no cause for alarm! I am sure the captain is fine.”
: “She is most certainly on the ship somewhere. Yup. Right as rain.”
: “If the staff would look for her in their off-hours, I’m sure things will be back to normal by nightfall.”
: “Now, I must head to the pilothouse. Enjoy your cruise!”
: “Is that… is that true? The captain is missing?”
: “Actually, I didn’t see her yesterday either. Not that I was looking, but…”
: “We won’t know anything for sure until we’ve searched the ship.”
: “No reason to start freaking out now.”
: “Maybe not, but it does raise a lot of questions, doesn’t it?”
: “…Well, breakfast hours have started. I gotta get back to work.”
: “No matter what happens, people gotta eat.”
: “Sue, you coming?”
: “…Yes! Yes, of course. Sorry.”
: “W… what do you mean?”
: “Given the circumstances, they didn’t seem very worried.”
: “I wonder if they know something they’re not letting on.”
: “But the captain has to be somewhere, right?”
: “…”
: “… I should get to work, I guess. I’m sure this’ll turn out okay…”
: “Where’s Donovan? He’s the only person that didn’t show up.”
: “Yeah, strange. I’m sure he heard the announcement over the intercom.”
: “…That’s okay. He creeps me out…”
: “He is a strange one. It might not be a bad idea to keep an eye on him.”
: “Well, I should go feed my pets. Be careful, everyone.”
: “…”
: “What do you think? What should we do?”
: “Nothing. There’s no point.”
: “We can search the ship, or ask around if anyone saw anything suspicious, or…”
: “…”
: “What is it?”
: “Don’t you get it? She’s dead. And there’s nothing we can do about it.”
: “When they announced the captain was missing, Darryl had a strong reaction.”
: “He looked like he was in pain. What’s going on with him?”
We can grab Quella as she leaves. She’s given us a pretty good idea of what to do - go talk to Darryl using her ability.
: “The captain… a murder… I don’t have the energy to deal with it. And even if I did, there’s nothing I could do about any of it.”
: “I couldn’t help her, and I can’t help anyone here.”
: “She reminded me of… someone I used to know.”
: “It doesn’t matter anymore.”
: “I did notice that some things were missing from my room. Like the key to my journal.”
: “And when I say missing, I mean stolen. Seems like there’s a thief on board.”
A thief, huh? Well, we already know that Xu stole a bunch of stuff… and we know where she kept it. Let’s see if we can have Quella stumble upon it.
Fortunately, Xu hasn’t moved the box full of stolen stuff since last night.
: “There’s assorted electronics and jewelry in here. Does all of this belong to Sue?”
: “Wait… that key says ‘Darryl’ on it.”
: “… I think I understand what’s going on here.”
: “I should take Darryl’s key. It unlocks his journal, doesn’t it?”
Welcome to Darryl’s room. It honestly looks like he lives here rather than that he’s just on a short trip from point A to point B.
Entry #1
I’ve been told that reflecting on my thoughts could help. I doubt I’ll end up sticking to the habit, but when I get to that point I’ll try to write. I don’t know why. I don’t believe for a second it’ll do anything.
Several pages have been torn from the journal.
Entry #9
I should be happy. Good career. Good health. Financially sound. Loving parents. The most amazing husband in the world. I shouldn’t be unhappy. I don’t have the right to be unhappy. I have more than I deserve. I would be spoiled or ungrateful not to appreciate what I have. So what the fuck is my problem?
Entry #11
Broke down again this morning. I was able to come up with an excuse so that he wouldn’t see me. I want to tell him how I feel… but he doesn’t need that weight. Don’t be so selfish. Take, take, take, that’s all I can do. No matter how much I’m given, all I can do is bring people down. I’ll do it to him too at this rate.
I don’t deserve him.
Entry #15
I started again. I’m such a fuck up. This time, I won’t be able to hide my wrists. People will see… oh god… I’m so fucking pathetic.
I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I just don’t see any way forward, or any other way out. This was always coming. There was no avoiding it. I just… can’t. I can’t do it anymore.
I want you to know I love you more than anything. Please, forget about me. I know you deserve better.
I love you.
> - Mari
Well, that was some heavy shit. We could go talk to Xu and complain at her for stealing the key, but there’s no real reason to do that - we already know Xu is a thief. What we can do, however…
: “You… what? That was private. Extremely private.”
: “There’s a reason it was locked. How did you get the key?”
: “I got the key from Sue’s room. I think she stole it from you.”
: “Is that right? Well… thanks for letting me know, I guess. But there was no reason to use it for yourself.”
: “I’ll return the key, but we have to talk.”
: “There’s nothing to talk about. You read the journal, so you know what happened.”
: “We were married for three years. Moved out to the suburbs, got a house… had plans for a family.”
: “She was stressed about her work, but she was happy… I thought.”
: “She had combined medications. Lots of them. I guess she wanted to be sure.”
: “I came home from work late, and well… there she was.”
: “There were signs. For a long time, really.”
: “But I never saw them. And she never brought them up.”
: “Why? Why didn’t I notice? For years, she was suffering, and I did nothing.”
: “…Maybe.”
: “But if I did… if I knew. She’d still be here, wouldn’t she?”
: “…A couple times. But I stopped going. I wasn’t getting much out of it.”
: “Far away, I hope. I can’t be sure.”
: “But it doesn’t matter. None of it matters.”
: “…We’re just strangers. There’s no reason for you to care about me. So please… don’t.”
So now, we’ve unlocked Darryl. Darryl is kind of the most useless character on the ship next to Alton. His special ability is, uh…
Remember how when we searched his pockets as Xu, she said he had a ton of empty pill bottles? His special ability is pulling out a pill and swallowing, which causes the screen to go staticky for a few seconds. The only guide I’ve ever seen to this game claims that he moves slightly faster than everyone else while under this effect, but I can’t really see it.
Darryl’s real ability (apart from being depressed and possibly suicidal) is that he can unlock a couple more puppets for us.
She didn’t actually say that, but okay!
: “I know. It sounds really dramatic. I just mean… people who have come to terms with their death act differently. They see the world in a different way.”
: “You struck me as that kind of person.”
: “And how do you know so much about this?”
: “Well, I’ve got several months left to live, so there’s that.”
: “…What?”
: “Yeah, I’ve got cancer pretty much all over my body.”
: “It’s the liver cancer that’s gonna do it, though. Not gonna lie, my liver’s a total mess.”
: “I think I’m looking at three or four months now.”
: “I’ve spent lots of time with them since I first got the news. But I also wanted to spend some time with myself, just writing.”
: “When it comes time, I’ll head back and see everyone again. Say my goodbyes.”
: “Couldn’t afford health insurance. Obviously, without that, couldn’t afford treatment.”
: “Considering that, I’ve had a pretty long run. Cancer is persistent, but it can be slow too.”
: “I can afford it. I’ll help you pay for whatever you need.”
: “Hahaha!”
: “No, I appreciate it, I really do, but… it’s too late for that.”
: “By this point, the cancer must’ve spread everywhere. There isn’t much that can be done now.”
: “…I’m so sorry to hear that.”
: “Aww… don’t get like that. It’s just how life goes sometimes.”
: “You’re so… upbeat about this.”
: “I guess it could look that way. I’ve just gotten used to it. It took a while. At first, I was devastated, of course.”
: “Eventually it sunk in that this was going to happen, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.”
: “That this… is all I have. All I’m ever going to have.”
: “I had to come to terms with that. I had to keep living, and be happy, despite that.”
: “It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but it was worth it.”
And with that, we’ve fully unlocked Quella. Doing this is actually totally optional - in fact, Alton is the only person we need to fully possess in order to finish the game. However, getting the good ending requires that we have every puppet possible.
Next time, we’ll use Quella to begin the process of unlocking everyone else on the ship… and increasing the power of the captain’s ghost.
- Darryl’s Steam trading card.