I mean, I think we can all agree that Sidestep is an unreliable narrator, if partly?
They have this false sense of control because of their telepathy, but it’s not a bulletproof strategy + their accumulated anger often takes over (which you can easily see in the interactions with Ortega, since “oops, all white noise!”)
Like they were so sure Ortega was cheating on them because of rumours, and the way the latter interacts with people, but then you go to Hoots and surprise surprise “yeah uhh actually I almost became an alcoholic because I couldn’t get over your death lol but no pressure oh god please don’t run away”)
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In one scene, you can say that MC sometimes hate Ortega or that they are terrified of them (because Ortega, with this closed mind is like people from the Farm). MC can also blame Ortega for not saving them after Heartbreak.. it depends on the choices, tho.
I wouldn’t say MC hating Ortega is canon 
Are there any differences (in book 2) depending on which one you choose??
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No, if you act hostile with Argent, you won’t get to know her at all. It’s essentially enemy vs enemy interaction. You fight her. She fights back. Win or lose situation. Nothing to explore here.
Same with Herald. If you turn down his request to be his mentor, there’s basically zero interaction with him. Here, Sidestep doesn’t get to know them. It’s not about their personality or influence since Sidestep doesn’t interact with them in the first place.
Um, no? That’s not the point I’m making here. Shall we drop this topic since we’re not even talking about the same thing?
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It is not really unreliable narration. It is a matter of perceptions. Where characters’ view of other characters and situations is impacted by their own perceptions. This story doesn’t have a narrator. A narrator is always in the third person.
Also wouldn’t unreliable narrator require that the narrator doesn’t necessarily believe the information they’re giving, or have I mixed up my vocabulary again?
Not necessarily true. For example, Edgar Allan Poe’s classic story “The Tell-Tale Heart” is one of the most predominant examples of an unreliable narrator in fiction and it’s entirely in the first-person.
Unreliable narrator just means we cannot trust the perspective of the voice we’re listening to.
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Awww, the new update means my Sidestep can’t be a murderer anymore. Disappointing. Maybe I’ll have to make her more explicitly evil, or ruin Devereaux.
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Well about Star Wars I think I would rather like a Boba Fett approach about Ortega’s hypothesis that Sidestep is Hollow Grounds brother. What I mean is that they are still “brothers” but not as in they where kidnapped but just like Boba Fett invented a background story just so he could have a more normal life so are all the past proofs actually artificially created by HG. My take is back in the Vat either through telepathy or some talking they heard something about the outside world and imagined how it could be if they grow up there and not in this lab. So now they are out HG brought this in the public just so have he a cover history while at the same time searching for his lost “brother”.
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I haven’t had time to check the update, have there been changes in regards to killer!Step?
Ngl, I originally thought that Hollow Ground was Sidestep’s biological/genetic “parent.” Hearing that HG had siblings though? The plot thickens… and raises existential questions.
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True, but the point is that it doesn’t apply here. Here is the matter of perceptions of how Step perceives the world around him.
Sidestep enjoys taking it out on Ortega.
The most obvious one in book two is where Sidestep’s villain status is revealed automatically in car crash. The way Sidestep responds to Ortega, Argent, Herald, Steel is very different. It’s basically a battleground when Sidestep comes face to face with Ortega.
Herald’s scene is simple. He’s not here to blame or engage in arguments with Sidestep. He’s here to understand Sidestep. Act well and his relationship status shoots to the roof.
Steel’s scene is the most mature here (enemies who have respect for each other).
Sidestep keeps it well when Argent claims her pound of flesh on the hospital bed, just recently woken up after the accident (that breaks both legs preventing the hopes of running), under the pressure of dampeners and drugged. Though this specific interaction has a high chance of mirroring the farm and post Heartbreak capture memories, Sidestep takes it well.
But in Ortega’s case, Sidestep always flinches although Ortega has no intentions to hit them. Ortega makes a slip of word and Sidestep likes to bring it up to start an argument. Sidestep overreacts in Ortega’s presence when it comes to sensitive case like regene status for eg. (Imo, all rangers accept Sidestep’s regene status without fuss. What they can’t accept is Sidestep going bonkers and killing every living being in their path.) Compare Steel’s (whom Sidestep doesn’t trust) and Ortega’s scenes, Sidestep knows how to make it hurt with words for Ortega.
The second one is where Sidestep reveals their regene status voluntarily to Ortega in Ortega’s apartment alone. It explains a lot.
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Not disagreeing, but this is explained in game when Sidestep tells Ortega about the Farm and how Ortega reminds them of the Farm because Sidestep can’t read their mind (and the options after saying that are, “Sometimes I hate you for it,” “Some days it terrifies me,” and “I know it’s unfair, but I can’t stop,” to which Ortega responds, “And so you lash out at me.”)
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You don’t need to hate someone to yell at them though.
I don’t think they respond that in the “I know it’s unfair but I can’t stop” variant, though they’re still quite rattled.
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Ah, I thought I remembered them responding that way regardless of the choice, my bad
I checked Malin’s tumblr to see if I could find again some of the snippets that potentially hint at book 3 stuff. Keep in mind that some of these were supposed to be reworked into book 2 but, given that Retribution was ultimately cut “short” (feels weird saying that about a million words long IF), I’m guessing we can expect similar scenes in the first half of book 3, depending on the path.
I’m sure many of us have already seen these but I thought I’d post them here too just in case so here we go:
Snippet 1 (“Annihilist” was OG Sidestep’s villain name, if it wasn’t clear)
A couple of thoughts:
Now that Retri’s out, I’m pretty sure at least part of the “redacted” section from the second snippet was about the Puppet stoking the flame of Ortega’s theory according to which Sidestep was coerced into villainy by HG, their sibling. It’s likely that because of whatever situation they ended up in the original book, claiming innocence was no longer an option and this was the least incriminating lie. Plus, if you get stuck in the Puppet and are afraid of what Possessed!Step might do, alerting Ortega (or another ranger) that Sidestep’s dangerous might end up being necessary.
I’m very excited for a future Mortum/Ortega meet-up and Mortum capturing them and attempting to make use of their mods is brought up again in another post (though this one’s definitely more on the crackfic side of things and not a snippet of the original book). I’d imagine that originally Sidestep getting stuck in the Puppet’s body and being rescued from the hospital by Mortum was the canon route, leading Ortega to look for them and right into the good doctor’s lab.
On a sidenote, the original story seemed to be more sexually charged than the current version… I understand why COG can only give so much freedom in this regard but, damn, what a loss 
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Maybe sniper is Sentinel . Why they try to kill MC? Mayor’s order? Or they think Sidestep is HG?
Wow that third one had me rolling. I’d already been excited for the Mortum/Ortega poly route and that snippet was everything I wanted it to be
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no words, just applause.i had the same thoughts and views on everythyng, just never been able to sort them properly. so your post is treasure. played both games for 100+ hours each plus code diving. who obsessed? dont know them 
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Did the update change anything major?
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