Dramatic tone shift in Act 5. A really strong way to convey insanity
ISAT is really about building the characters up and having you really attached to them. The game goes deep into unraveling its characters and their personalities making you attached to them in a very indeering way.
The quirkiness of the game and its lighthearted tone disappears in Act 5. And even though I knew that at some point I would have to go through the house alone I did not anticipate the fights Siffring has with his family members and when I watched the cut scenes it was in an uneasy feeling of everything that Siffring holds dear falling apart. This feeling of being rejected by those who you though are your friends is so deeply traumatizing no wonder what happens in Act 5 in a house feels so surreal.
I think what game makes you experience in a house in ACT 5 is a very good way of conveying the feeling of going insane. Seeing ghosts, rooms being mirrored and long corridors and same doors leading to a different places items being not where they need to be. All that adds up to create a very convincing and real experience of losing the ground.
Ironically I believe this surreal experience is pretty unique for that particular way.
Ironically this is the part of the game which I relate to the most. The sense of losing the ground and connections to something you hold dear is very unsettling and very familiar. I really sympathize with Siffring because at the end of the day Siffring haven’t done their friends wrong in a significant way. He was more distressed than flawed in my opinion.
That’s why I was really happy for him when he broke the loop and got his happy ending.
What are your thoughts on Act 5? What part of it resonated with you the most?
*Here’s a little drawing of how the gameplay of Act 5 felt for me