The Untold Story of Epiphany [Maximum Spoilers]

[crimsoncantata]

       Just finished Epiphany; loved it to bits. But like other players, a few of the loose threads did nag at me slightly. I have read the developer explanations for why some of these choices made (and I agree that Rosa going up against an Ancient Conspiracy would have made a far less personal game), but I wonder if some of those unanswered questions don't frame a different story.

Specifically: What happened to the Energy Vampires?
Theory: Taken out by Sam Durkin.

       As far I recall, the game gives no explanation for why Durkin disappears just as the main case in Epiphany is going critical, and I think it's because he has even bigger fish to fry. He may not be a Bestower, but there's probably no one better in the city to take on this particular threat. After all, he  was first on the scene when Lauren Blackwell started to Embrace Eternity- who knows what she might have babbled as all the information in the universe coursed through her? He almost certainly remembered her name from a mysterious phone call a few years ago, asking odd questions about his deceased mother, and we know he followed Rosa Blackwell's movements with some interest.

       As a cop, he not only knew about the strange deaths in The Blackwell Deception, but he might have even searched the homes of Janet and Gavin, uncovering any number of ancient records and arcane secrets.

       But real clincher for him would not have been the things he found, but the orders from above to turn a blind eye to them, to watch evidence being stolen away or destroyed outright. Orders from Commissioner Silva. Things come to head during Epiphany, when Rosa, the Bestower,  is arrested, and Durkin has to either turn her over to Silva, or go completely rogue- taking Rosa onboard, drafting a trustworthy young cop as the ONLY policeman she can talk to, and then going after Silva himself. Maybe to just to protect Rosa at first or maybe he already knows that Silva is up to something even worse than murder.  Clearly, there's only one real choice.

And after that, it's Gabriel Knight style race against time to uncover just what Da Silva and her strange cohort are up to. They have defenses against ghosts, Bestowers, and all things supernatural, but maybe they aren't prepared, at this critical moment, for one determined guy with a gun.

[Lyrisath]

I may have to adopt this as headcanon.

[crimsoncantata]

In my mind, the game is called 'In the Shadow of Blackwell', the cover art featuring a ground-level-looking-upward shot of New York City, the buildings lit in weird highlights and stark shadows by Madeline's fissure in the sky*, which is relatively small and distant here. The lighting is more normal at ground level where people lay slumped unconscious on the sidewalk and in cars, save for one figure almost hidden in shadow, a man in a trench-coat peering around the corner of a building.



*Sidenote- Toward the end of Epiphany, I did start to have a few flashbacks to the classic adventure game LOOM. Madeline isn't quite a ringer for Chaos, but there's a vague resemblance, and she one-ups Bobbin Threadbare by Opening the Sky and the Grave at the same time...

[bigbangbilly]

Spoiler: Also the "good ones" with the empiphany project promptly turn themselves due to the side effect of insanty as said revealed the vampire ghost
Also when Rosa sucked in everyone she really meant everyone.

Also Wadjet games does point and click not gratuitous action and also policemen that use excessive gun does not seem to sit well with the public after what happened in real life

[crimsoncantata]

I hadn't for a moment considered it not being point and click, but you're right. The idea of Wadjet Eye making a game centered around a grizzled detective figure going up against a mysterious organization with supernatural-seeming powers and uncanny ties to his own past, seasoned with the occasional gunfight, does seem awfully far-fetched.

http://www.wadjeteyegames.com/games/gemini-rue/

[bigbangbilly]

And Joey can join with the hunt.
That way 5 more games 
Perhaps someone can pluck Rosangela from the Eternity

Edit: and perhaps Russel Stone can be in the background in this new pentology like how Rosangela appeared in The Shivah

[Nowhere Girl]

I don't think Durkin still remembers the phone call from Lauren. Proof: he remembers the case of a woman who went mad and her little niece, but years later doesn't realise that he's talking to the same girl...