#if in their next game we don’t meet the aliens from hoa i’ll be very disappointed

[bucketbender]

HOA is the best game in the whole Dark Anthology Pictures series.

It just has so much the other games don’t have. Like ogres, it has layers. So many details for each character (like the « was Joey dead ? » post ? This shit is brilliant guys, please never stop investigating), the game gives them time to breathe, to exist outside of the horror, to be actual people instead of puppets that move around and react to stuff. Every relationship (even the love triangle, which pisses me off most of the time) feels genuine and earned.

For instance, just take the Checkpoint discussion scene. I know, out of all of them, I chose the most impactful one in the whole game. But there’s just so much to say about it.

First of all, the fact that Jason said this to Salim of all people. Salim. That random Iraqi soldier who almost shot him at the beginning and who he kept on threatening the whole game. The enemy of his state. The enemy of his enemy. I mean, we could be led to believe he would share such deep thoughts with his "official" best friend in the army, right ? Not to mention that Nick was there as well : out of all people, if there’s one person he should talk to this about, it’s him. But no. Every time Nick mentions the checkpoint, Jason shoots him down. He can have one moment to admit that this incident did mess with his head, saying that if they die down here, maybe that’s what they deserve, but that’s it. He refuses to talk about this any longer. Why should he ? It’s done. It’s over. They fucked up. Dwelling on it won’t make things right.

But then, after spending roughly two hours making his way down the place with Salim, slowly getting to know the human being behind the Iraqi, learning about his personal life that Salim isn’t afraid to share, his son, the only reason he fights, even as a single parent, how proud he is of him, how Salim just wishes he would stop stealing. How much he misses him. Only when Salim asks him if his conscience is clear, if he has anything weighing on his soul, now that they’ve reached the end of the world. Only then does Jason finally crack.

There’s just so much going on on screen. His voice wavering and breaking. The way he interrupts himself and Salim has to gently say « Tell me » to give him enough courage. The way he hesitates as the guilt of making the call weighs on him : « I order… I ordered her to stop, loud and clear ». The way he feels like he has to justify the way he called for the woman, to Salim and to himself, that he wasn’t really in the wrong for ordering Nick to shoot her. The way he just spills out that he joined the army out of desperation because his life was going nowhere. The way he laughs humorlessly at Salim’s try to make him feel better : « We all have our reasons, they don’t have to be profound ». The way he tells him how miserable and pathetic he was, stoned enough to only hear about the towers after a week later. The way he admits he has no idea what he’s even doing here, in the catacombs as well as in the army.

Salim assures to him that right now, in his life, he’s doing something worthy, something good : « You’re serving your country ». But Jason just summarizes this whole situation in a single thought : this woman had her whole life ahead of her, and they just took it all away with a bullet ; « I mean, what the fuck ? ».

But then Salim gives him a new goal, a present goal : hurt the vampires. Make these abominations pay for everything they’ve done. And Jason approves. Yeah, these things did try to kill them, didn’t they ? and they will pay for it. And you know what else ? « Start believing, Salim. We’re gonna get out of here and see the sun again ». And then, the Oorah scene. Jason just completely accepted Salim as one of his pack. (You see the meme « [BLANK] will now die for you » ? Yep that’s Jason).

In Nick, Jason has a friend. A great friend, even. Maybe a best friend. A brother in arms. A member of his pack. They often talk together and joke lightly. It’s obvious that they’re close. They are sincere towards each other, but there’s still this "toxic masculinity" thing going on with them. Jason not wanting to talk about his feelings // checkpoint, Nick telling Rachel if he dies down there, at least he would make things clear and go down « like a man », Jason calling Salim a pussy for not wanting to touch a freaking fossilized vampire, etc.

In Salim, he has a confident. The man’s a father, and a particularly reluctant solider. He didn’t want to serve in the army, he never had a choice in the matter. Salim has a perspective far larger than his, and Jason comes to understand this. This isn’t about the war. This isn’t about the Americans he’s trapped with underground. This is about going back to the surface to hold his son and celebrate his birthday. When everyone around him remains fixated on their war, Salim never loses sight of his own goal.

« Seeing the sun again » isn’t just literally. They were going to get out to find their purposes.

#hoa #house of ashes #the dark pictures anthology #salim othman #jason kolchek #eric king #rachel king #nick kay #checkpoint scene. green zone #i can count on my fingers the number of games which made me care for the characters this much #except for rachel. screw her. #if in their next game we don’t meet the aliens from hoa i’ll be very disappointed