I thought I made sure people were safe in the Museum myself. Blew it up, but made sure people were not in danger. Injuries may of occured.
I get why I am a villain. The Farm is cruel and evil. Becoming a villain to stop the Farm is a goal can’t do as a hero.
My run is chaotic but not so. I keep making sure innocents are safe if able. I could been broken out by anyone in any path at end of 2 or joined the heroes by force? Everyone had positive thoughts on me and my actions. Even the Doc whom was the one that freed me first.
Spoilery? Well, this is book 3 and should be known by time get to this one.
Step is a villain. What changes is where on the villain scale you fall.
The “nicest” Steps are what are typically referred to as “Anti-Villains.” Villains with enough standards they’re more a shade of grey, than being a shade of black on the moral scale.
That said, don’t think for a moment Step is a “good” person. Literally your first act in the series is traumatizing Argent by possessing her; regrets or not, you’re absolutely a bastard.
They can be probably argued to be an anti-hero on the far-end of the cynical scale, depending on their goals. Anti-heroes aren’t above shooting puppies (or people who attack them), briefly possessing a person is small potatoes in comparison.
I think what you’re asking is whether Sidestep became Sidestep of their own volition or if it was implanted in their head by the farm. To me I believe it was of their own volition to become Sidestep and then the villain after escaping the second time. But if this is some kind of long game being played by the farm then that’s terrifying tbh. I don’t really see that being the case tho.
My Sidestep has no clue why he is doing all that shit. He just wants to be happy in the puppet body. He has gender dysphoria and feels happy as a woman. My puppet Step is also afraid of the main Body Sidestep. He(She?) is a hot mess gender dysphoria / schizo powers gooo!!!
I feel like that’d undercut the main themes of the story, so I don’t think it would ever be true, but it’s definitely something I could see a paranoid Sidestep wondering after several nights of little to no sleep.
I just dislike when some folk turn a blind eye to Step’s more… morally dubious actions. Step isn’t necessarily “bad,” but at best, they’re a shade of grey.
It really depends on your choices really, but even the “good” route has you do things which fall into a specific gray area. Just because your intentions are good it doesn’t mean you’re a hero, ergo why Sidestep can either be a villain or an anti-hero at best imo. Which I love, because the concept of achieving good things while breaking the rules is appealing.
Do you think farm people will come after Sidestep before their legs heal? I mean, the version where they’re hiding in Ortega/Daniel/Chen’s place/at the ranch.
Thinking about this a little more, I’d tweak this as: can you afford to have principles when you’re working in and around broken and exploitative systems? The systems serve selfish masters and have no principles themselves, so what does the “high road” get you?
Also, does the player consider having principles as a personal choice that reinforces Sidestep’s assertion of personhood or are those principles simply holding them back from what they need to do to achieve their ultimate goals?
Or you could take this thought in the direction of: Why should Sidestep owe anyone mercy, when the world shows no mercy to them? Which is a totally understandable mindset for the character to have at the start, though this could naturally shift to something less hardline as they develop personal relationships with their chosen crew.
Full disclosure, I have four different Sidesteps and not a single one of them has allowed anyone to die when it was in their control. I am that weenie, lol.
I don’t think they will. I think one of the prologues describes how the farm seems to be only observing for now, afraid that you might slip away if they aren’t careful.
