Line #6 Headscratchers/Simulacra


1	* The only issue that bugs me with this game is how you cannot respond to any of the people who call you with any text prompts or anything in the game UI. Why is it that the player character just sits and listens to the convo instead of responding? Did the dev just not think of voice acting a male or female PC?
2	** It would require more coding to come up with conversation responses, having someone record it, different logical responses, and no logical in-universe way of determining gender. A [[HeroicMime mute protagonist]] is the only way to leave it totally up to the player who they are. Also the character might be scared to talk since they have a missing person’s phone and are acting as her.
3	** It's also probable that player character response is implied, leaving the player to fill in the gaps for what's being said and we just don't hear the player character speaking. Evidence that points to this is other characters asking the player character simple questions and acting like they get a response right away as if you'd said something. It could also be played off as the "Ready? No? Ok!" trope where the speaker doesn't care about the listener's response due to their own eagerness, and it could honestly go either way but implied human interaction makes everything flow a bit better. All of this, however, could be excused as sometimes your player character literally isn't talking at all and the other characters mention this quite often.
4	** There's also some sort of technological or otherworldly interference implied by the bizarre sound quality of Greg and Ashley's calls. It's possible that the player character ''is'' responding - they just can't be heard.
5	* Speaking of the player character, who could they be? Who would send a damaged phone to your doorstep, and what do you have to do with all of this? Are you the same person as the player character who found Sara's phone in Sara Is Missing, and interdimensional beings really love to make you in particular find missing people?
6	** This question is more WMG than a headscratcher. The protagonist's identity, as in ''S.I.M.'', is left intentionally unknown so the player can fill themselves into the role. As for the question of how the protagonist came across the phone in the first place, they can either tell Greg that the phone was left on their doorstep or that they just randomly stumbled across it. The game doesn't specify which of these is true, so it's possible the protagonist really did just come across it somewhere and decided to pick it up. Alternately, it's possible that Anna used the last of her consciousness to place the phone somewhere, and that just happened to be the protagonist's doorstep. Either way, how the protag came across the phone isn't really the most important part of the story.
7	* What are those random-ass ambient sounds that happen occasionally? They can't be the phone, they sound real, as if they're happening outside the phone and right next to your in-game ears. And if it's the player getting paranoid and taking a quick anxiety break to release all their nightmare fuel in one huffy set of breaths all at once, then sure, but what about the knocks at the door? Shouldn't you go check to make sure the cops aren't at your door to ask about Anna? Are the footsteps there because your roomie is in a hurry and needs to head off to work because the alarm didn't wake them up? IS THERE SOMEONE IN YOUR HOUSE, WATCHING YOU BREACH ANNA'S PRIVACY?
8	** It's heavily implied those sounds are results of the Simulacra observing you, since Greg hears them too at Anna's house.
9	* When trying to extrapolate the identity of the Pretender, it insists multiple times that it is indeed you by saying "I am you and you are I". When you think about it, saving both of them requires that you manipulate people just like the Pretender did, albeit for a bit more noble of a purpose since you're saving lives and the Pretender is trying to assimilate them, however, you both still use manipulative tactics to see your ends met. The whole game is a competition of overriding the Pretender's influence with your own, so it's not too much of a stretch that for all we know, we COULD be the Pretender, utilizing the exact same tactics to get worms to listen to us to do things we want them to do.
10	* What happens to you in all endings? Does the Pretender assimilate you, or just spook you silly while destroying the phone in the process while you're free to go?
11	** The Simulacra just busts the home screen, the video you get is always over the phone.
12	* Wait a minute, who is "Pretender" referring to - The Player or The Simulacra? Probably important to get our terminology down first.
13	** The Simulacra complements you on your skill, so... [[Main/BluntYes Yes]].
14	*** Yes to what?
15	*** Pretender is supposed to refer to the player in the best ending, in terms of the actual game. Maybe other people have been using it to refer to the Simulacra, but that wouldn't have much point since it already has a title.
16	* How the shit did Aulner text you at the end?
17	** There's no way to know the answer to this question for sure. Best guess is sheer force of will - Anna implies in the good end and in her opening video that [[spoiler: even though the Simulacra has control of her consciousness, a part of her is still inside, fighting to get out.]] It's likely the same for Aulner; even though he's been gone much longer than Anna, he was probably able to fight just hard enough to get the message through to the player, which explains why his text is garbled and written strangely. On top of that, [[spoiler: The Simulacra seems to be aware that this is a possibility, because it doesn't express much surprise, but rather a knowing, "He told you, didn't he?"]]
18	* Why does the home screen increasingly make Anna's face smile and look? Does the Simulacra have a power to manipulate the screen or something?
19	* If the Simulacra can make its victim's bodies just disappear and reappear, then why [[spoiler: does it make James Aulner commit suicide?]].
20	** Perhaps it's so James won't fight so hard [[spoiler:against the assimilation]] as he's implied to do. [[spoiler:He'd have nothing to get back to.]]
21	* If the goal of the Simulacra is to [[spoiler:create a perfected simulation of the physical world, why is assimilating "worms"? Shouldn't it be assimilating those it considers best?]]
22	** The Simulacra may not view ''itself'' as the [[spoiler:perfected simulation, but rather just the instrument in shaping it. The simulation of the real world is the digital one--aka the internet, on with all our "online personas" reside. The Simulacra is removing the weak personas by assimilating them, so only the "good" ones remain on the internet.]]

Context Headscratchers / Simulacra