Fitting SotL into a "perfect" paythrough order (please read the explanation)
Hey, guys! A long-time theorist here and an important question I once asked was In what order should you play Rusty Lake to understand the story the best and hopefully get a better experience?
For your info, I 1st played mostly out or order and it was fine. I was lucky though cause it could be worse and even then I didn't grasp a lot until I replayed the games several times.
The indended release order is fine too. The devs have a plan, they reveal secrets gradually and often build upon older games. It's just not perfect. The more games come out, the less focused it gets and it's harder to remember the details once they suddenly become important again.
Analysing the games and remembering my 1st experience, I've came to a conclusion that the release order is tweakable. Not all games and reveals are equally important all the time as long as there's no outright spoilers. You can still get a full picture no matter the order you get the pieces in.
So for the sake of newcomers I've engineered my order, you are welcome to use it next time you replay the series. It may look intimidating but it's just me being meticulous with details. Nerdy options are totally skippable.
https://www.reddit.com/r/rustylake/s/OEoiYhKzYz
But now we have Servant of the Lake to add and the only game it has strong ties to is Roots and I don't know how to arrange them. Both have pros and cons.
!!!!SPOILERS!!!!
Roots -> SotL
+ It's the intended order by the devs.
+ Roots introduce the elixir of life and death that unexpectedly kills James to our shock.
+ Roots introduce the alchemist brothers as mysterious scheamers pulling all the strings.
+ It's harder to figure out that one of them is Crow and the other is the real MC. If you do that early, it feels rewarding.
+ SotL deconstructs the brothers, shows them as young stupid and petty morons that reconcile in the end and eventually become great.
± SotL introduces Alexandra as an obvious afterthought. We know something's probably gonna happen to her.
- SotL tries to kill lil James but we know he's alive in Roots so it kills the suspense.
SotL -> Roots
+ It's a chronological order easy to follow
+ SotL introduces Alexandra and James and it feels more natural.
+ The endgame suspense is preserved and the final twist hits harder.
± SotL works as the elixir introduction just fine. It's not as powerful but it isn't clear about the elixir being able to kill, so no spoilers for Roots here.
± You meet the brothers with no context. You still get to see their growth but you care slightly less and get no deconstruction.
± Minor vague spoilers about their fate. Easier to recognize Aldous as Mr. Crow, and thus easier to piece together the true story of Roots early when he calls us his brother. The story becomes more clear but less mysterious and probably less rewarding for big brains.