True…Until we get to kick’em again, and this time they will have a meeting between their face and step’s heavely armored foot
7 Likes
That gonna be ‘Crunchy’ 
2 Likes
It would be an interesting option, but I agree HG wouldn’t be at all happy. Meeting you in person, showing you their face, is a risk on their part. One that’s worth it partly because they’re trading their secret identity for yours (as they say, “When you’re in my position, you need to weigh risk versus gain carefully. You see my face. I see yours. Tit for tat.”), but mostly because they’re planning on “threading” your mind. Showing up as a puppet would be as bad as coming in power armour: you get everything, they get nothing. They’d probably rather you send a lackey than that.
21 Likes
I’d love the chance to see that though, I guess. Anyway, all in all the gripe is small, considering the scope of the game having one or two minor nitpicks is normal I think. The game is still a 10/10 in my books. 
I’m not looking forwards to my Dr. Mortum playthrough where puppet wakes up and makes the evil Doctor sus of Step when I just want them to kiss and make up. 
Does Ortega always intervene after meeting HG btw? Or is it possible for Mortum to do so?
2 Likes
its always Ortega. Dr.Mortum didn’t even know the auction building was HG’s lol
6 Likes
I was also really (pleasantly) surprised with Steel’s character development in this game. As far as turning him…in one of the endings, if MC ends up in their own body and the puppet is the one that got hurt, MC can go to Steel’s appartment and, at the end of the scene, just flat out ask why Steel hasn’t arrested them yet and admit to being the villain. (Dunno if the option for this is dependent on Steel’s suspicion level). And, at least for my hero hunter MC, who is hunting heros to train them/make them stronger and wants the truth out, Steel says he’ll help. This appartment scene is also where you can sleep with Steel, though he may not let you if you’re also romancing Ortega (I’ve had playthroughs where I was romancing Ortega where he did and ones where he didn’t and I’m not sure what the difference was).
12 Likes
I didn’t get exposed a villain by Steel but after the puppet crashed, Steel invited Sidestep into his apartment to go into his mind to deal with hollow ground’s thread. Honestly, I was surprised. I wasn’t even in a relationship with him. He already knew Sidestep was a regene. That ending hit me different because unlike the crash where the involuntary reveal was traumatic, that scene was a strong bonding of trust for Sidestep.
Btw, the bad ending gonna be where the puppet in the hospital sent one of the rangers to retrieve Sidestep’s body, right?
7 Likes
Being evil is a lot more fun when you do it with your friends and love ones
13 Likes
Speak for yourself. One of my Sidesteps ain’t kill nobody (Batman Style).
3 Likes
Nudge Nudge Let’s steal a bus! Ortega at the wheel, Mommy Ortega get shotgun 
Harold can buzz around like a mosquitos from above. Steel…stay home. (He is too heavy). We can also race Argent, and Dr.Mortum can make coffee! And just like that…murder and mayhem await 
4 Likes
A phone call?
I’ll have you know I sent my puppet to meet HG to send a message of “This could have been an email.”
17 Likes
I always thought that the real reason HG wanted Sidestep to come in person was less about respect and more to give himself an opportunity to, cough, shake your hand cough.
And that’s why he’s upset when you send your puppet and string him along instead.
23 Likes
Ok but can we talk about how ridiculously gentle with Sidestep Argent is if you reveal yourself with the suicidal tags and try to goad her into finishing you off? Its such an adorably gentle, heartfelt moment that it makes it hard to do that scene trying to romance her because instead of cradling Step’s face and gently letting them go, she just bites their lip.
10 Likes
Can I ask to clarify what the hell a “gate” even is because there is an entire guide on it and I have no idea what it means lol
Also, by what method do you become aware of the regenerator on anarchist playthrough? Being a techy, I’m surprised Sidestep would be unaware of it to begin with once they are going there but I suppose that it is fair.
2 Likes
I went to the auction as a villain and chose “I take a look around at the displays”
1 Like
Where can I see this scene?
Regenerator: If you have the ‘life’ motivation, or are a boss or a thief, you’ll have researched ahead of time. Otherwise, you can find out by following Argent into the sewers, or a tech-savvy Sidestep can notice it while looking around at the auction displays.
The gates are a deeper mystery, something normal not to notice and less than half revealed: The short version is, there’s something in your head, something dark and dangerous, and the gates keep it – him? – from getting out. “You’d be lost otherwise. You keep it in your mind, always. No cracks. Not letting anything in. Ever.” “They won’t fall. Two doors closed. No cracks. No leakage. Solid hinges and locks and chains, and you told him ‘no,’ and your world changed. Like making fire for the first time. Tearing off your face, you shed your skin and turn to where he cannot follow.”
The gates aren’t refered to by name in Retribution, but they were in Rebirth. The doctors experimenting on Heartbreak activated nine gates, apparently trying to put HB’s mind into contact with… something. Only it worked too well, and whatever it was followed the connection back. When Heartbreak invades your mind, your first thought is that “You recognize this. This is what failure tastes like. You relaxed too soon, you thought you had killed it, you let your guard down, and now it is inside and you can’t close the gate again, all nine of them are open, and it’s coming for you”.
The doctors also mention having tried the same experiment before on someone else – someone who specifically matches your assigned-at-birth gender – only to have it fail when the subject moved in their sleep. Is that why ‘you recognize this’? Was moving in your sleep you telling him ‘no’? The experiment seems connected to sleep/dreams – it could only be done on a subject in REM sleep, dreaming, and in Retribution you mention how “you’re asleep in your body, and you promised yourself to stop doing that because it’s dangerous in ways you don’t entirely understand.”
36 Likes
Also if you’re a thief (mob boss too I guess? But I’m not sure in this one)
Malin said in a post that they have to do with Step running into more traumatic telepathic events and for what they will do nobody knows yet but it probably won’t be good. The most popular theory is that Step turns into Heartbreak 2.0 when you unlock all of them which you can’t do in Retribution. There is also a lot of connections between gates and HB in both books like Pseudo_Nym talks about in their post
9 Likes
Probably more than one way, but my Step was openly going out with Ortega, flirted with Argent as a villain, triggered the suicide tag with the therapist, then got to the point in the heist where she was helping argent move things, then showed tattoos and revealed who she was and backed down from the flirting. Was ashamed of taking over her mind, and you pick the “it wont be hard now” option when Argent says she should kill you.
3 Likes