Part 18: Epilogue
Time passes. Jack and Karen are safe. No new murders have been reported. Things seem to be getting back to normal.
Until.. one last email appears in the inbox I set up for this investigation.
From: ----- Phoenix <xinoeph@hotmail.com>
Subject: (no subject)
quote:
Everything was planned right from the beginning. Everything.
Except for Jack's stubbornness. His dogged determination to following my trail initially drove me to distraction. But I didn't take long to realize that he and his girlfriend could help to achieve the Work, or at least play a part in making people aware of it. Because those two were not Chosen Ones.
Everything was planned. Everything.
I knew one day or another that someone would manage to decrypt the Work. If not you, it would have been someone else. I knew that they'd come and set them free one day or another. They came, but they didn't find me. When they went there to free them, I was already long gone. Far away. They won't find me. Ever. His Work achieved, the Phoenix spread his wings and flew towards to the sun. The black, invincible sun.
His ritual completed, is the Phoenix really gone? What does a serial killer do when his Great Work has been fulfilled?
Time will tell.
-----
So ends the LP for Missing: Since January / In Memoriam. Keep an eye on this thread though for when I start the expansion "Missing: The 13th Victim." I'm tentatively planning to start this next week after Thanksgiving, but I really don't want to take a break midway through it for Christmas, so if I can't get it off the ground in time I'll hold it for January. The good news is that the expansion almost entirely ditches the skill puzzles/arcade game ripoffs of the main game in favor of more in-depth investigative puzzles. The difficulty will ramp up considerably!
For more info on Missing / In Memoriam in the meantime here's a video the developer produced going into the making of the game:
There are also some developer diaries here. here, and here.
Some interesting factoids:
- The film shoot for the game took place over the course of 2 years. They made a point of matching both location and time of year that the events took place.
- Not only were original websites created for the game, but they also worked with partners to insert the story into existing websites such as newspapers and media outlets.
- One of the game characters is changed between versions of the game. In Missing (US) she is referred to as Kristin Lark from Indiana, but in In Memoriam (EU) she is Julie Massinet out of France. Julie was based on one of the game's researchers, but it's not known why she was changed for the US version of the game.
That's it from me for now! Back to post-game discussion
SSNeoman posted:
I couldn't get the video to work, but were J&K really in danger? Explosives seem out of character for the Phoenix.
And in addition to The Phoenix still being at large, we never did discover who killed Karen's father. I mean yes, we know it was Manus Domini, but who in particular?
Speaking of them, I bet they want revenge now, considering the Phoenix just publicly exposed them and their crimes. How big of a deal was the Phoenix's CD "in universe"?
If I had to guess, I'd say that Jack and Karen weren't in true danger. But when you're dealing with a delusional serial killer, you don't tempt fate.
It's also never really made clear what the fallout from the case is. I would presume 12 murders occurring across international borders would be enough to draw media attention. (Which, by the way, I wish there was a news report or something in the game ending to show that it mattered.) But I don't think we ever get a sense of the aftermath..