I'm really enjoying the Silent Hill 2 remake, but one small detail is sticking in my teeth: the narrative implications of the Wood Side Apartments coin puzzle.
The Silent Hill 2 remake takes the coin puzzle from the original game and expands it, adding a few steps and turning it into a little allegory for Mary's death. In most respects, I think this is cool and fun!
In the story of the coins, a man approaches a woman with a sword; she flees from him towards a snake, which bites and kills her. (It's not a perfect allegory for Mary's death, of course, assuming the snake here is the illness, but it definitely evokes it.) At the end of the puzzle, you're asked who was responsible for what happened. I placed the man coin in the 'who do you blame?' slot, solving the puzzle.
I'd assumed at first that 'who do you blame?' was a question with a correct answer, but it occurred to me a day later: what if I'd tried to blame the snake or the woman instead? Would it just be considered incorrect, or would it be an alternate solution to the puzzle, possibly influencing the ending you get?
So I looked up whether who you blame during the coin puzzle impacts the ending. And it does; the game recognises and reacts to your choice to blame the man (i.e. James), the woman (i.e. Mary) or the snake (i.e. Mary's illness)! I also think this is cool and fun!
HOWEVER:
blaming the snake - symbolically blaming Mary's disease for her death - apparently gets you points towards the Leave ending, in which James reconciles with Mary and leaves the town safely.
But James can only reconcile with Mary if he acknowledges his own guilt! Mary was terminally ill, yes, but James nonetheless murdered her, and he needs to recognise that that was his own choice. If he still tells himself that the illness was the cause of her death, he cannot be absolved!
Blaming the woman gets you points towards the Maria ending (in which James and Mary cannot reconcile and James learns nothing), which makes perfect sense. Blaming the man gets you points towards the In Water ending (in which James and Mary reconcile, but James, unable to bear the weight of his guilt and loss, drives his car into the lake), which also makes sense, although I'm sad to have received those points because I'm hoping to get James out safely. But blaming Mary's illness absolutely should not get you points towards Leave.
I propose revising the coin puzzle as follows: blaming the man, suggesting that James is prepared to recognise the weight of his own actions, gets the player points towards both of the 'reconcile with Mary' endings, i.e. In Water and Leave. Blaming the woman gets you points towards Maria. Blaming the snake also gets you points towards Maria, but not as many; blaming Mary's illness for the fact that you murdered her is pretty bad on the self-awareness front, but it is at least better than blaming Mary for the fact that you murdered her.
Please acknowledge receipt of my suggestion, Bloober Team. I look forward to seeing it patched in.