Part 7: Act I - You Heartless Bastards

Act I - You Heartless Bastards

Well it was a close vote, but...

Rex Deckard posted:

Shoot him.

It takes a few shots, but the big guy finally goes down. We can search his body for a photo:





What we're starting to get into here is the moral ambiguity of a Blade Runner. These Replicants - NEXUS-6 models - they're physically and psychologically almost indistinguishable from normal humans. They've been implanted with false memories, so in their own minds, they're not doing anything wrong. "More Human than Human" is their creator's motto.

So at what point does an android that walks and talks like a human, started being considered a human?

Instead, what they have is a police unit dedicated to finding these people and shooting them down in cold blood. At the same time, killing an animal, any animal, is considered monstrous and unthinkable, and warrants the strongest police response. This is a society that has put animal life above that of a near-human, which is where the irony comes in when a couple of Replicants slaughter a pet store at the beginning of the game.



As we're leaving the scene, we run into the man in the red coat again. He must have heard everything that went down.







Outside, Gaff is on the scene already.



In the movie, Gaff was the other Blade Runner trailing Deckard and leaving origami everywhere. He was played by a much younger Edward James Olmos, who these days is probably known better as...



This guy.









That's some good advice, Commander Adama, sir.



Speaking of which, we should check that alley one more time.



I think we're going to get away with this for now. Hopefully the body doesn't turn up anywhere.

The hobo was a, "Haha, fuck you!" thing the designers threw into the game, by the way. It was the first combat sequence, so most players were eagerly pursuing the suspect around the alley. Then they saw a guy shuffling around in a dark corner, the reticle on their gun turns red, and it was easy as fuck to accidentally shoot the guy in the heat of the moment.



We'll check in at the police lab one more time to check with the paint samples we collected at the scene. We still have two more suspects to pursue, remember.



Where would we find leads on a 24 year old car? Hmm.

We may want to look into a used car dealership when we get a chance.



Time to go home for the night.



If you weren't fast enough to catch Zuben in the alley in Chinatown, he turns up on this rooftop and attacks you with his butcher's knife. He knows how to tie up loose ends. Problem was, the perspective was drawn back and the people are smaller here, so it's hard to as fuck to shoot him accurately here.





Welcome to McCoy's sad, sad domestic life. Living alone in a tacky apartment with nobody but a dog to talk to.

Apologies in advance if you're reading this and you live alone in a tacky apartment. With a dog.



According to Ray, Maggie's a real dog. The developers threw a bit of effort to give you some toys to click on so you can play with Maggie as well, as they wanted the players to get attached to her as well.

You'll find out why later.





Hmm, the answering machine is blinking.



Some joker's misquoting William Blake's A Poison Tree in a vaguely threatening manner. I wonder who it is...

Here's the rest of the poem, if you wanted some foreshadowing:

I was angry with my friend:
I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
I was angry with my foe:
I told it not, my wrath did grow.

And I water'd it in fears,
Night & morning with my tears;
And I summoned it with smiles,
And with soft deceitful wiles.

And it grew both day and night,
Till it bore an apple bright;
And my foe beheld it shine,
And he knew that it was mine,

And into my garden stole
When the night had veil'd the pole:
In the morning glad I see
My foe outstretch'd beneath the tree.

Thus ends Act I.