Part 12: Extra 1

BGM: Anomalous Sepulchur (This is the main menu theme! )
As we have gotten our first ending, before we begin the next route, I wanted to do a sort of supplemental update. This one will cover the first set of dialogue options that were missed back in Update 1; the end of this update will also give a choice for where we go next, as we now have access to the flowchart.

First, I wanted to quickly show a comparison of what some of the locations looked like in the old version, and compare it to the new version, because I think these kind of glow-ups are neat to look at

The infirmary:



The library:



The laboratory:



The church:



I'll show some more of these in future extra updates (as well as stuff like the old cast art and such) as we visit more of the stations we didn't see this time.

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There are three other groups you can talk to before Smiley's recording plays, and we'll start with Jasmine and Marco.

BGM: Algorithm Simile


...so he woke up, and he asked me what was going on, and then followed up with a bunch of angry questions. Obviously, I couldn't answer any of them.

Hey. Figured something out yet?



Yeah, we all woke up at different times... Given, we couldn't have all come here in the same train if only one compartment opens its doors.

We easily could have. But... we wouldn't have been in pairs, then.

Yeah, speaking of Ray... I know him, I've seen him before...

So yeah, if you talk to them here, you find out Marco recognized Ray ahead of time.

That was interesting to me. Maybe this was a link between all of us. I knew Jasmine and Marco, then the twins knew each other and both A and E knew each other too, apparently. If Marco knew Ray...



What's going on there? The screen's full of noise.

I took a glance at it and noted he was right. Everyone was gathering to see what was going to appear on it, so I figured his explanation about Ray would have to wait until later.

Let's go. It's probably super important.

We went for it, joining the others standing in front of the screen.

And that's it for if you talked to those two. Next up, we'll do Agnos and E.



No, no, I was just wondering... what do you think of this situation?

Ah... it is somewhat hard to say for now. I cannot hide the fact I would be, like everyone else, much happier outside. Until then, though, I can impart some of my thoughts on our companions, perhaps?

This conversation's going to be a lot more ironic after seeing the first ending, isn't it?

That might be good.



Let's see... from an outsider perspective, the ones known as J and M are pretty normal people. I get the feeling M will be the one to uplift everyone's mood, but J... she seems a little difficult to read. There may be a certain duality to her that I have yet to understand.

I wanted to interrupt him and defend my friend, but I also considered his words. He wasn't... wrong.



As for Ray, I can already see him becoming a bit of a nuisance against the integrity of everyone in this strange gathering. It is such a strange gathering, in fact, it reminds me of when I was a little younger...

I had to stop his monologue before he gave me his life story.



I had to stop him anyway, because the screen behind everyone had begun giving some loud static. Silently, we split up, heading towards the screen to see what was happening.

And that's it for Agnos and E. Lastly, we have the twins, who have probably gotten the least screen time of the cast so far.



Yep, that's me. I came by to check on what you two think we should do.

Um... I don't know. I don't want to go into the tunnel, though. It seems too dangerous.



Yeah, I guess that makes sense. I think the same way about my friends too...

No way! You couldn't understand that kind of link.

I frowned, crossing my arms.

Well, maybe I have a sister that I want to protect too.



No.



Then why bring it up?! You're not making any sense at all.



The others are moving back... they're going towards the screen. What's going on?

Huh... the screen is all sorts of noisy. It's full of white noise.

Now that she mentioned it, I could hear it too. I turned around and went to join the others, followed by the twins.

And that's it for the last conversation we could have at this point.

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BGM: Anomalous Sepulchur
So, you may have noticed that we did not make any real notable decisions during that route, but there were multiple points that felt like they should've been one. That's because, technically, they WERE choices! Simon just chose what to do for each of those points without any input from us, the player.

It's automatically directed for the first route- you always will get that ending first in Head AS Code. (There's even a Steam Achievement for it called “What do you mean, Good?” ) From here onwards, it's closer to the standard Zero Escape formula- that is, hopping around a flowchart running into locks and gradually piecing things together. The current state of the flowchart is as follows:



As you can see, there are four branch points to choose from for where we go from here, so I'm taking a vote on which one. The last one has two options, one of which has a lock, but I'm going to exclude that as an option this time around. The other three options are as follows:

-The first time teams are assembled, when we chose to go with Marco
-When we decided to prioritize how everyone is connected rather than who could be the odd person out
-When we chose to go for a walk with A instead of staying at the lounge