beta
the myth introduced in the game is true, there’s no other culprit than adrian/satan himself. he HAS to kill to survive and the dr is aiding him on that altho his loyalty lies in the count’s state.
the devil is reborn into the body of adrian. it’s the same as the concept of reincarnation in christians wherein his memories as satan is no more (which was why he doesn’t remember lilith’s curse), however, he retained his other qualities and powers such as being harmed by holy water etc. adrian has an epiphany whether he killed the og adrian and took over or that the count and countess’ child was always satan- bestowed with the name of adrian in his rebirth to earth. he did love his mother but seeing that he was the cause of her madness, he grapples with depression and self-identity. as he had no recollection of his past life, child adrian is as vulnerable as a human child. he endured the curse (described as worse than death itself) and grew up from a loveless marriage + his mother hates him to the point of murder. hilda will try to mend the alr strained mother-son relationship in the future. the mother will try to kill him along the process though.
adrian only seemed more satan-like to the people in the know (the players, hilda, mother, church), however people from the count and the presiding town loves him because he’d aided them in some way. adrian also does not want to take lives meaninglessly. he himself makes up excuses for the count’s residences. he went to great lengths in order to build this medical facility for patients with borrowed lives in order to satisfy lilith’s curse to kill. adrian doesn’t know how to name these emotions and brushes them off as things he does to suit him most.
what pulled me in the story is hilda and how she narrates the story and game mechanics. she would eventually break away from stereotyping the characters of the story as game pieces/lumps of data and with hilda’s appearance, adrian can now break away from the path laid out to him, preventing him to be good. hilda will help adrian break the curse altho there would be human casualties in between which would take a toll on hilda’s mentality. adrian reassures her each time she gets like this much like the scene where she cried after accidentally purchasing the 700G bag- not only that but he gets better (in the released chapter, he only wishes for it to stop but in the novel, he openly communicates with her). they would later start a family together after adrian takes over the count but they’ve alr done it dozens of times before that just with contraceptives