imagine being trapped in the cold isolating void of space dead space but the real monsters aren't aliens they're your co-workers mouthwash is a psychological horror walking simulator that distinguishes itself through its masterful storytelling released in 2024 the game quickly made waves earning widespread praise and carving out a place as one of the year's outstanding titles now naturally I could not resist diving in to see what all the hype was about and from the very first moments it was clear to me as to why mouthwash had captivated so many the game is a Labyrinth of psychological Nuance with five deeply flawed and intricately crafted characters it pulls players into a web of corporate greed and the Twisted pyes of those who perpetuate it offering a disturbing exploration of human fragility and ambition the game takes a bold approach with its disruptive nonlinear storytelling abandoning a straightforward chronological order in favor of fragmented timelines and environmental storytelling players must piece together events by uncovering subtle details woven into the games' world which is a narrative style that I've always is found to be captivating it's the kind of Storytelling where even the quietest background elements add richness to the main narrative demanding attention and rewarding curiosity in this video essay I'm going to delve into the psychology of the Pony Express the Sinister Corporation at the very heart of the story and I'll psychoanalyze each of the games' five characters if you're a fan of psychoanalysis and deep dives into video game and storytelling uh don't forget to like And subscribe this channel is dedicated to exploring the minds behind the madness across a variety of games and with that being said you're going to want to settle in with a cup of bean water for This One spoilers and sensitive topics ahead and welcome to mouthwash however before getting into the psychology I'm going to give a brief summary of what happened in case there's people who don't know the story of mouthwash just so that everybody is on the same page time stamps below mouthwash unfolds aboard the tolpar a Pony Express freighter operating in a universe increasingly overtaken by automation the freighter mission was slated for 382 days but by 147 the crew relationships are beginning to disintegrate tensions simmer just below the surface waiting for the inevitable eruption the ship's Captain Curley is a competent leader with the best of intentions however his passivity his tendency to avoid conflict in order to keep peace renders him ineffective as a great leader his leadership is undermined at every turn by Jimmy his rat bastard no offense to rats co-pilot Jimmy's bitterness and insecurities create a toxic Dynamic that poisons the crew consumed by Envy for Curly's position competence and the respect He commands Jimmy's outward charm masks a Sinister reality he is a narcissistic control freak who thrives on exploiting others' vulnerabilities but nowhere is Jimmy's cruelty more sadistic than his treatment of Ana the ship's nurse already struggling under the pressure of her role Ana becomes the victim of Jimmy's predatory nature and it's not like she's dressed provocatively or suggestive in her behavior she's just a plain you know she's just there working but she ends up suffering from being brutally sexually assaulted and violated by Jimmy and her anguish deepens when she discovers she's pregnant only for Jimmy to cruy dis dism miss her plight and refuse responsibility and his cold response telling her to take care of it leaves her isolated bearing the weight of her trauma alone but we'll definitely spend some time on this ass hat in a bit dauk The Intern his name being Japanese for big help is Young eager and optimistic just the chill dude who wants to help yet his naivity makes him ill-prepared for the challenges ahead and it sucks that he got stuck on the ship with Jimmy swansea's name has swan in it and swans are actually known for being highly protective of their nest viciously attacking anybody who they perceive to be a threat 7 days before the crash Curley receives a confidential fact from Pony Express delivering devastating news the company's plans to replace all human Crews with automated systems effectively ending their jobs despite orders to keep the information secret curle chooses transparency and shares the news with the crew hoping for Unity in the face of adversity instead the Revelation obliterates what little stability remains aboard the tulpar rather than rallying together the crew fractures even further and Jimmy seases this moment to undermine Curley accusing him of prioritizing his interests over the crew's welfare Anya already drowning in isolation trauma and the weight of her unwanted pregnancy withdraws completely unable to see a path forward with no job security to support a future for herself or her baby her despair deepens Swansea who has long struggled to find meaning in his work resigns himself to its futility and meanwhile dauk the newest member of the team wrestles with his own uncertainty struggling to comprehend the magnitude of their shared predicament curle finally reaches a boiling point opting for a drastic and catastrophic Act of sabotage as the ship approaches an asteroid Jimmy disengages the autopilot sending the ship hurdling towards a collision the resulting crash is lethal leaving the freighter in ruins in a final Act of heroism curlyy manages to steer the ship enough to prevent complete destruction saving the crew at the cost of his own safety the burns and mutilations he sustains leave him Gravely injured and incapacitated a drift in Dead Space the tulpar is a wreck engines destroyed supplies critically low and rescue is a hopeless dream the ship's emergency foam system has sealed off much of the Interior forcing the crew into the cramped confin of the lounge leadership Falls to Jimmy the co-pilot but instead of rising to the challenge he weaponizes the disaster to further his own agenda blaming Curley for the crash he positions himself as the crew's only savior under his increasingly unstable leadership the group's cohesion unravels desperate for supplies the crew debates breaking in to the cargo hold clinging to the hope of finding something to sustain them but but what they uncover is a cruel twist of fate the hold contains nothing but mouthwash the discovery crushes their morale for Swansea a recovering alcoholic the presence of alcohol in the mouthwash proves too tempting to resist dauk would join him and Ana overwhelmed by the weight of everything going on Retreats into the medical Bay locking herself inside cutting herself off entirely Jimmy's manipulations take a tragic turn when he forces dauk into crawling through a damaged vent in order to reach Ana fully aware of the danger the vent collapses leaving dauk Gravely injured he doesn't die immediately but instead writhes in agony apologizing profusely he apologizes to the crew for his perceived failure with no medical supplies to ease his suffering his condition begins to worsen swans overwhelmed by the sight of DA's torment makes a heartbreaking decision he euthanizes dauk with an axe to the face in an act of Mercy however with the med Bay opened they find Ana who would owe Dion some pills the emotional toll was unbearable and she succumbed to despair taking her own life and curly was in the medbay with her watching this happen unable to do anything the situation aboard the freighter has spiraled into a bottomless pit with no chance of Escape Jimmy's mental state crumbles as well but instead of confronting his guilt instead of taking responsibility he plunges deeper into delusion hallucinations plague him he sees ghostly apparitions of a giant Pony endlessly warping corridors and corporate propaganda posters plastered all across the walls his paranoia consumes him he interprets these Visions as external threats rather than manifestations of his own mind in one chilling hallucination he imagines that Swansea is attacking him with an axe in a graveyard only to snap back to reality and find Swansea dead and tied up before him but Jimmy's lunacy reaches its most grotesque point when he cannibalizes Curly's leg twisting the ACT into a narrative of survival he rationalizes it as a necessary sacrifice refusing to acknowledge the horror of his actions and even this monstrous act doesn't shatter his delusions instead Jimmy clings to the belief that he is the hero that he is the only one capable of salvaging what's left the tragic conclusion unfolds when Jimmy forces curly into the ship's last cryopod claiming it's to preserve him for eventual rescue and in truth this is yet another Act of manipulation a final effort to rewrite the narrative in his favor without verifying if the cryopod functions properly Jimmy would end his own life now if the Pod fails Jimmy is going to be trapped in a living tomb staring at the unmoving walls as he dies an excruciatingly slow death but if he does survive wakes up later into the future is rescued the crew's bodies are going to paint a horrifying picture with Jimmy's calculated madom framing him as the selfless savior who gave his life for curly the Pony Express The Intergalactic delivery Corporation epitomizes the worst traits of profit-driven organizations that prioritize efficiency and profit over an employees well-being it's the quintessential Corporation their exploitative practices reveal a systemic disregard for worker safety and mental health treating employees not as individuals with inherent values but as disposable tools how much can they accomplish before they die what can they give to the company how much can I extract from them this dehumanizing philosophy creates an oppressive Culture of Fear and stress eroding the crew's mental resilience and ex exacerbating the already volatile conditions aboard the freighter and one of the most glaring examples of pony Express's exploitative policies is their approach to penalizing employees workers face pay deductions for injuries delays or even minor infractions fostering a climate of fear that discourages them from even trying to seek help or report issues think Anya this policy isolates individuals preventing open communication and forcing crew members to endure mounting challenges in silence which fractures the team further the crew is already under immense psychological strain from even being on this deployment and these penalties deepen their sense of vulnerability and helplessness cost cutting measures by Pony Express further undertone their indifference to employee welfare for an example adding dauk as a fifth crew member without accounting for the ship's limited resources such as food or cryostasis pods exemplifies their recklessness yes the ship is equipped with only four cryopods ensuring that one one member of the team would inevitably be left behind in an emergency and this blatant oversight demonstrates how little companies value the lives of its workers even basic safety features like locks for sleeping quarters are neglected and Ana would best highlight this asking the question why would the company put a lock on their medical supplies but not on the sleeping quarters of the worker it's dangerous being deployed on a ship with nowhere to go with four men by the way one of whom Jimmy clearly slipped through inade psych evaluations sure swans dauka and curly probably wouldn't have done anything but still the company should have thought about this and tried to prevent it the possibility of it happening because it is always a possibility that you know some bad stuff can happen while sleeping quarters are unsecured the medical Bay with its valuable supplies is securely locked protecting corporate assets and yet not the people who need them this contrast speaks volumes about where Pony Express's priorities lie profit over protection money over people the consequences of these decisions are dire Ana's trauma and eventual death are a direct result of the company's negligence the corporation's disregard for safety and psychological support ultimately sets the stage for the crews unraveling and Jimmy's horrific actions the company's dehumanizing policies focused on cutting costs and maintaining efficiency at any cost underline the sense of expendability their workers feel even without catastrophic events such treatment would inevitably lead to burnout so the psychological toll of pony Express's practices is profound stress anxiety and a pervasive sense of helplessness plague the crew and all of this aligns with Carl Marx's concept of alienation which describes how workers become disconnected from their labor their Creations their colleagues and even themselves you see in such a system work ceases to be meaningful or fulfilling and instead becomes a means of survival and existence defined by extraction not by contribution the company's cold efficiency prioritizes how much value it can squeeze from its workers leaving them emotionally and mentally drained as somebody who's experienced the grind of a quote unquote real job I can't help but reflect and admit how much more fulfilling creative work doing YouTube Feels in comparison I spent over a decade working a quote unquote real job I served in the United States military for 5 years and then after that I was able to explore my passion for psychology and I ended up working in a clinic a role that I largely enjoyed but nothing compares to the freedom of working from home and being Your Own Boss well technically my wife is my boss I I love her I love my wife um but this contrast only highlights how Soul crushing corporate systems can be when they treat workers as Expendable cogs in the machine and all of this Echoes realworld corporations that sacrifice human well-being for profit the mental harm caused by such systems is immense leading to things like alien ation Despair and catastrophic consequences like those aboard the tar you see if Pony Express had prioritized their workers well-being instead of their bottom line they could have prevented the horrific chain of events that unfolded as a result of Jimmy becoming an absolute nightmare Jimmy is a character defined by his overwhelming unreliability his manipulative Tendencies and his insatiable thirst for control making him one of the most vile and detestable figures probably in like a lot of games from his assault on Ana to the deliberate sabotage of the ship Jimmy's actions reveal a man consumed by selfishness jealousy and cruelty his decisions unravel the crew's fragile Unity turning the mission into hell and leaving a trail of Destruction in his wake rooted in narcissism savior complex and a refusal to accept responsibility Jimmy's character embodies weakness and unchecked destructiveness the basis of Jimmy's toxicity lies in his festering resentment towards curly incapable of tolerating Curly's leadership or the respect that He commands Jimmy's Envy grows into a destructive inferiority complex his jealousy drives his need to undermine curlyy at every turn framing him as incompetent or self- serving while presenting himself as the crew's true advocate he would even accuse Curley of abandoning his crew for personal gain saying things like oh we're going to be so but you're going to be fine and you don't care Alfred Adler's theory of inferiority complex provides valuable insight into Jimmy's Behavior his actions reflect a classic overcompensation for deeply rooted feelings of inadequacy It Is by manipulating others and sewing Discord and trying to put other people down that Jimmy attempts to boost his selfworth at the expense of those around him even the way that he opens and closes Curly's mouth when he's giving him pain meds feels like a tool of manipulation his actions become increasingly violent and unhinged highlighted by the brutal beating that he inflicts on curly a man who's incapacitated already on the edge of life and unable to defend himself he still beats him the sound of Curly's helpless whimpers show the sheer cruelty of this act as Jimmy uses his physical dominance to quote unquote affirm his power this is all just his desperate need to tear others down so that he can feel like he's in control further emphasizing his complete disregard for everybody else around him Jimmy's savior complex compounds his destructiveness he sees himself not just as an indispensable figure but as the crew's sole hope for survival despite being the architect for their suffering following the to part's crash he reframes the disaster as a chance to elevate himself bringing himself up and declaring to others that he is the captain now ensuring that they call him Captain this delusion blinds him to the harm that he's caused reinforcing his manipulative behaviors the psych ology of a savior complex often stems from the deep need for external validation in order to mask the internal insecurities and Jimmy embodies this perfectly Jimmy's character is a portrait of unchecked Envy little man syndrome insecurity and delusion his refusal to accept responsibility coupled with his Relentless need for control ensures that his actions not only Destro destroy the crew but also leave him trapped in his own spiral of self-destruction he's not the savior he imagines himself to be he is the ruin Jimmy is the type of guy who is willing to bring himself down as long as it means everybody else comes down with him his actions are deeply intertwined with Freud's concept of death drive his deliberate sabotage of the ship conveys his death Instinct choosing destruction over facing responsibilities such as the child he forced in to Ana or the uncertainty of losing his job after the pony Express's automation announcement his unhinged and erratic yet calculated decision to crash the ship reflects an unconscious desire for self-destruction and at the very end we even see him going through with this putting some eye into his head and pulling the trigger in order to avoid accountability [Music] again the cryopod and curly he's framing it so that it looks like he's the guy who sacrificed himself and saved everybody and saved curlyy and another calculated move that I just kind of thought of right now is his tying up and killing of Swansea he probably did that to make it appear like Swansea went mad and started killing the crew again framing Jimmy as the Savior who sto stopped him his insistence on being the hero exposes the fragility of his mental where destruction becomes a distorted path to Redemption Karen horn an accomplished German psychoanalyst openly challenged Freud's theories including his views on Neurosis unlike Freud who attributed Neurosis to unresolved psychosexual conflicts horn argued that it actually stemmed from interpersonal and social relationships she would emphasize self-realization and personal growth over Freud's focus on suppressed and unresolved issues Horn's 10 needs outline the basic psychological requirements for self-actualization and healing her psychosocial Theory explains three fundamental coping styles for dealing with Neurosis also Neurosis is an outdated psychological term it's not called Neurosis anymore today we're referring to it as anxiety disorders Hornet's three Styles moving towards people compliance moving against people aggression and moving away from people withdrawal and for Jimmy the focus is squarely on Horn's style of moving against people that aggression and it explains his desperation for power and control over others I mean this guy is just desperate to hurt people Jimmy needs to exploit people like he needs to breathe and we can see this evidently in his treatment of Ana who he reduces to an object for his depravity I'm pretty sure that it wasn't even really about him being attracted to her I think he just had this need to feel control and power over somebody else and that's how messed up this guy is in the head he is sick Jimmy's interaction with Ana epitomizes objectif if ation he doesn't respect her consistently undermines her competence and disregards her Humanity after assaulting her he refuses to take responsibility for the resulting pregnancy coldly telling her to take care of it in this callousness leaves Ana isolated and emotionally shattered driving her into despair culminating in her death and even Ana's destruction isn't good enough for Jimmy because he needs everybody to view him as super Superior he takes every opportunity to belittle Ana feeding his insatiable need for validation Horn's concept of the neurotic need for admiration explains Jimmy's behavior and again this rises from Jimmy's deep insecurities to put plainly he just feels inadequate and so he needs to overcompensate for what he feels insecure about and you've probably seen this in real life with people that you've interacted with if somebody feels inadequate or or feels insecure about something they're going to more than likely if they're emotionally immature they're going to overe exaggerate that aspect of them trying to pump themselves up so it seems like they don't have that weakness or self-perceived weakness Sigman Freud's defense mechanisms particularly displacement and projection further explain Jimmy's Behavior you see Jimmy displaces his insecurities and guilt by projecting blame onto others particularly curly his open condemnation of curly and fostering of paranoia ensures that the crew remains divided allowing him to try and assert control positioning himself higher while the crew will eventually see that Jimmy is the monster this realization comes far too late to stop the damage characters like Jimmy thrive on pushing boundaries testing Waters and exploiting in action curly and swansey who might have been the ones to put put a hard stop to him failed to intervene effectively and in time enabling his behavior to spiral out of control a warning shot a firm boundary or even direct confrontation might have stopped him but by the time his hallucinations begin to blur reality and delusion it's far too late for anything Carl Young's concept of the Shadow provides a great way to understand Jimmy's descent into madness the shadow is all of the darker repress parts of somebody's psyche the guilt fear and moral failings that don't fit in with how they want to see themselves so they bury that Jimmy is a good example of this denial and suppression his hallucinations for an example the Labyrinth with the poly posters the ghostly horse of ply chasing him the monsters crawling through the vents swans trying to kill him in the graveyard or the hallucination of him turning wheels on Curly's arms those are all just reflections of his psyche his guilt his fear his need for control his insecurities it's all turned into something that he could physically confront but instead of facing what they truly represent Jimmy keeps on projecting it outward letting the shadow take over and pulling him further away from reality oh and the hallucination of being in the vents where he sent dauk to die and the encountering Monsters there probably reflects his deeply like really deeply buried and suppressed guilt for killing dauk as well as the paranoia and self-perceived vulnerability his fear that his actions left him exposed and hunted however in regards to the graveyard I think this is more of Jimmy rationalizing his killing of Swansea who he perceived to be hunting him when we see swans standing in the hall with the axe we kind of have to wonder is this actually happening did that happen or did Jimmy convince his mind to see Swansea a symbol of Retribution going full shining on him so he had to defend himself by tying him up with a rope and killing him I mean after he had to euthanize dauk he kind of hinted to Jimmy that he knew what he did to Ana that Ana told him and this would naturally kick Jimmy into defense mode Jimmy had the gun and when we first see Swansea tied up and alive there doesn't seem to be any signs of struggle in fact Swansea even had a whole monologue however after that we see him dead slumped over with the gun smoking on the floor and then there's explanations to be had about potential mental health disorders that Jimmy could have explaining his hallucinations psychosis often triggered by extreme stress trauma or guilt could account for his experiences I'm not trying to exonerate Jimmy he's still an absolute demon with no redeemable qualities I'm just trying to help understand but Jimmy's repressed guilt could have finally erupted and led to some sort of psychotic break or substance induced psychosis is another possibility the crew's discovery of mouthwash consumed by Swans and dauk to get drunk suggests the potential environmental Factor while it is unclear if Jimmy intentionally or even at all consumed mouthwash it's possible right maybe the mouthwash which again in this universe is kind of odd supported his hallucinations and I say it's odd because I mean the entire freighter is moving just mouthwash it's stacked to the nines with it so you have to ask is it normal mouthwash or does its properties contain something else another thing the label on the mouthwash claims to kill 99.9% of germs Jimmy is the .1% of germs that can't be killed he even hallucinates and sees that specific thing the 99% the .1% and then there's another scene where Ana is talking about the fake screen in the lounge she's talking about one broken pixel and does it ruin the entire screen the entire image I would argue that that one broken pixel is Jimmy also and yes it does ruin the entire screen it it spreads it permeates like a disease but I digress then there's the possibility of dissociative and delusional disorders that also provide a lens for understanding Jimmy's hallucinations however I think you guys get the point at this point now that was a whole bunch of Jimmy talk and I didn't even touch on everything I still have questions and theories about the entire situation why was Ana's card in the locker in the cockpit in the beginning of the game or what about the scene of Swansea banging on the cockpit door trying to get Jimmy is that what's actually going down because I don't think he got the Rope to tie the door shut I think that white blob that we see in the inventory had to be the gun I think this scene is part of the hallucination that Jimmy has right when he's killing Swansea but you know we just can't blame Jimmy for everything we really can't it's not all on him because it's Curly's fault too these two are toxic for each other Curly's tendency to smooth smoth things over plays a pivotal role in his passivity curlyy is just not him he's not that great leader that Jimmy credits him for nor the one that curlyy pretends and deludes himself into being I mean sure he might get the job done he's probably not that bad of a leader but when push comes to shove when he needs to step up he just isn't there heck even Ana basically tells him that when she psych evals Jimmy that he gives inappropriate and sexual remarks further showing that Jimmy doesn't take her or her profession seriously she's just there for his needs as a quote unquote man when Anya tells Curley that Jimmy sexually assaulted her in her sleeping corridors bro this dude curly man all he does all he does is go to Jimmy and is like hey bro can you not like dude no wonder Jimmy keeps going and pushing boundaries and and and doing worse things because he's not being held accountable for it Curly's Behavior reflects psychological patterns tied to conflict avoidance A desperate desire to keep the peace Karen Horn's theory of neurotic needs helps to explain this through her moving toward people style where individuals prioritize compliance to main Harmony curle embodies this avoiding confrontation with Jimmy even when the situation absolutely demands decisive leadership especially after Ana openly says yeah he awarded me standing by and doing nothing in a moment like that is just not acceptable it is bad leadership it is moral failure his reluctance to stand against Jimmy's manipulation and violence enables Jimmy to keep escalating and this leaves the entire crew vulnerable to his schemes his behavior is just avoidance disguised as keeping the peace American psychologist Martin Seligman would talk about repeated exposure to situations where somebody feels powerless and that could lead to inaction this is what he would call the theory of learned helplessness as the captain of a mission that's falling apart curle is overwhelmed for sure by the crew's deteriorating morale and the escalating chaos that happens aboard the tulpar I will admit being a leader isn't easy to do but you have to make the hard choices and you have to go down the difficult paths sometimes the sense of helplessness builds paralyzing curly in critical moments when strong leadership is most needed instead of confronting Jimmy directly curly leans into appeasement retreating into a passive role that only worsens the situation this pattern of inaction allows Jimmy to just keep doing what he does the bystander effect also sheds light on Curly's behavior in group settings individuals are often less likely to intervene because they just will assume somebody else is going to step up this is also known as group diffusion of responsibility perhaps on some subconscious level he believes that other crew members like swans or dauk well maybe not dauk swans will confront Jimmy allowing him to avoid having to take responsibility himself however this Detachment creates a leadership vacuum one that Jimmy eagerly exploits with nobody to stop him and the lack of boundaries curly inadvertently reinforces Jimmy's delusions of grandeur giving him free reign to consolidate power to dominate and manipulate the entire situation spiraling towards chaos but to be honest there's something kind of poetic about the way that the game frames the situation curly finds himself in I mean look at the guy he can't move he can't talk he doesn't even have eyelids so he's forced to watch everything unravel while he does nothing just like he's been doing transitioning over to Ana and her psychological State we see that throughout the game it's one of the most profound traumas that we see she's in an environment where she's not receiving support or help in any form so she's left with despair it's oppressive and dehum iing it is through Ana's perspective when we look at her and her character and the entire situation when we focus on her that we see the illustration of the devastating effects of trauma and the psychological mechanisms that she is forced to employ in order for her to cope with the extreme stress Central to understanding Ana's psyche is the profound impact of the assault that she suffers because of Jimmy compounded into the the resulting pregnancy and then the hostile environment aboard the ship plus the looming dread that she has waiting for her whether she makes it out or doesn't from the psychoanalytic perspective of trauma Theory Ana's Behavior reflects the classic symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD Judith Herman's work on trauma highlights how overwhelming events disrupt normal coping mechanisms leading to things like hyper vigilance emotional numbing and withdrawal Ana's isolation in the med Bay is both a physical and an emotional Retreat it becomes her Sanctuary for a little bit shielding her from the crew and the chaos but it also underscores her inability to reconnect with others this withdrawal signifies a profound disconnect from not just her crewmates but from herself because she struggles to process the violation and the helpless that she had to endure consequently where she had no power or control choosing to lock herself in the medbay was just one way in which she could dig her feet in the ground and take control It's just sad that it had to come down to that where she understandably withstood utter destruction on multitudes of levels I guess Jimmy did end up getting what he wanted because Ana took care of it and curly in the med Bay with her watched Ana's interactions with Jimmy and the rest of the crew further undertone the objectification and dehumanization she endures feminist psychological theories such as those proposed by Sandra bem shed light on the systemic dismissal of Ana's agency Jimmy's treatment of Ana reduces her to an object of control tearing off her individuality and Independence her pregnancy becomes this physical manifestation of this loss of agency a constant reminder of her entrapment in circumstances and she can't escape it and this is further worsened by the indifference and the lack of meaningful support from some of her crew mates as a result of Jimmy's perversion Ana would even be able to administer Curley's pain meds and I think that it has to do with what Jimmy did to her maybe it's the sound of the pills going in or Jimmy's cries but her PTSD does become prevalent she's not able to do anything I don't think that she was incapable of Performing her job in the way that Jimmy Paints the picture but it's the crippling result of being invaded and destroyed and it's not like she's unaware of this she is aware of the internal conflict that she has between her professional identity and her ability or her inability I should say to meet the crew's needs this creates a profound sense of failure and guilt and you can see this with Ana the weight of the unfulfilled responsibilities deepens her despair adding to another layer of her psychological torment her story is undeniably harrowing shedding light on the devastating consequences of neglect exploitation and violence her tragic Journey not only critiques the oppressive environment that failed her but also highlights the profound psychological toll that such circumstances can inflict on somebody it's a sober reminder of the cost of dehumanization and the failure of those around her to stand up and again I really wish that Swansea did something about Jimmy when he found out what he did to Ana to me he seems like a paternal protective figure I mean his Gruff demeanor does hide his deeply rooted sense of responsibility and we see this mostly pronounced with dauk however throughout the story swansea's actions reveal man grappling with his own past demon in a bottle it's revealed that a major aspect of swansea's character is his ongoing battle with addiction as a recovering alcoholic his years of sobriety represent his strength and resilience however the catastrophic events following the crash push him back into older coping mechanisms leading him to drink the mouthwash in absence of other substances it could also be that Swansea figured there was no chance of surv survival so he was just going to get drunk because why not if you're already going to die but then again that would mean that the relapse isn't simply a personal failure but a stark reflection of the overwhelming situation he finds himself in but despite all of this Swansea still displays his deeply paternal Instinct with dauk his initial harshness towards him reads as tough love as a means of preparing the young man for the brutal realities of their situation in a lot of ways I feel like he probably saw dauk as a way to redeem himself if it meant that he could teach dauk to become a better man than he ever was I hope I explained that relatively well enough for you to understand um but this protective nature shines most clearly in his secret attempt to secure the ship's only functional cryopod left for dauk it's a selfless act aim at ensuring that the young man survives in a world of scarse resources and uncertainty his quiet compassion stands out as a rare glimmer of humanity but that glimmer would be muted by Jimmy's Darkness Swan's most heartbreaking moment comes when he performs a mercy killing on dauk but again dauk is an unimaginable pain Swansea has to make the gut-wrenching decision he knows it he needs to and his suffering it's an act of compassion but it's born from despair it's likely that swans would highlight this as a failure on himself adding to the guilt and grief that Define his character his final confrontation with Jimmy is a powerful Testament to swansea's moral integrity and self-awareness because unlike Jimmy who clings to delusions and manipulations Swansea openly acknowledges his flaws and regrets he even admits that for a long time he found God at the bottom of a bottle his best days he confesses were with a drink in hand and that kind of honesty even something about something so destructive is disarmingly real and you might not agree with it but you got to respect it he owns his past his flaws and all and for me this level of self-awareness makes him one of the most based characters abroad all of gaming he doesn't run from his failures he doesn't hide behind grandiose justifications or tries to twist anything instead he reflects accepts and tries to do the best he can with what's left even as the world collapses around him Swansea remains anchored in reality a stark contrast to Jimmy's spiraling into self-serving delusion and then there's the psychology of dauk the youngest member of the crew and he stands out as a rare source of youthful optimism and eagerness In The Bleak environment of the tul par his desire to prove himself and contribute meaningfully shapes his actions and interactions with the crew this idealism is both his greatest strength and his biggest vulnerability because it leaves him exposed to the harsh realities of being on a ship with a Jimmy basically and it sucks because you got to think this is one of his first introductions to the real world and Jimmy's here and this results in his death in DA's death as an intern dauk views the mission as a stepping stone towards establishing himself and finding his place in the world his journey aligns with Eric Ericson's theory of psychosocial development particularly the stage of identity versus role confusion where young adults grapple with defining their purpose and answering the fundamental question who am I for dauk taking on task s especially challenging or Dangerous Ones like crawling through the vent the damaged vent is his way of proving his Worth to others and to himself but most importantly for dauk at least to swans but DA's vulnerability becomes his undoing his Readiness to place himself In Harm's Way in pursuit of recognition ultimately leads to his fatal injury a tragic outcome that underscores how a hostile environment can exploit even the purest intentions not just Jimmy but the company as a whole turned DA's optimism into a liability however for dauk his relationship with Swansea was special it was through him through his guidance that dauk would feel like he could achieve his goals and although Swansea did have a tough and harsh exterior it's clear that he saw potential in dauk and I think dauk could sense that and this Dynamic gave him that level of connection and encouragement that he wanted something rare and valuable in an otherwise isolating universe and if Jimmy hadn't killed him dauk would have been such a positive force the brightest light capable of shining blindingly in a dark World his potential to grow into a Beacon of Hope and Leadership is what makes this loss so deeply tragic not just for Swansea but for the players as well it's the loss of what could have been if you enjoy psychological horror games in deep space you might also enjoy this one so click the video that you see on screen thank you