A Brilliant Indie Video Game Inspired The Creator Of Severance

Among the game’s many endings, there are ones that mock the idea of safety and comfort, such as the Heaven ending, where Stanley can push buttons as long as he wants in a cruel mimicry of free will. Even when he follows the Narrator’s instructions perfectly, asking pertinent questions about the nature of truth and autonomy can get Stanley killed, which echoes Irving’s (John Turturro) departure from Lumon after the eye-opening fiasco at Woe’s Hollow. Moreover, if the player chooses to be defiant from the get-go (much like Helly’s firm rejection of Lumon since day one), emotional manipulation is served along with harsh reprimands, where the Narrator poses himself as a well-meaning figure of benevolence. At one point, the Narrator tells Stanley that his freedom to make a choice is “killing” everyone, dooming a grand purpose:

“Do you see that I really have wanted you to be happy all this time? The problem is all these choices, the two of us always trying to get somewhere that isn’t here, running and running and running, just the way you’re doing right now. Don’t you see that it’s killing us, Stanley?”

In short, there is no exit. Or at least, the narrator desperately wants you to believe there isn’t one, lest you (yes, you) stumble upon one when he’s not looking. Given what happens in the “Severance” season 2 finale, it seems that the key to escape bureaucratic torture and absurdity is mutiny, and the guts to do everything in your power to save the person you love. Both innie and outie Mark (Adam Scott) choose to rescue Gemma (Dichen Lachman), while Helly (Britt Lower) and Dylan (Zach Cherry) make the brave choice to stand up to Lumon. But Stanley is all alone, and he only has one ally who can turn against him on a whim: the player.

This brings us to the game’s Not Stanley ending, which treats Stanley and the player as two distinct entities, as their souls are completely different yet conjoined due to the nature of the story. This ending is the opposite of the concept of rehabilitation, with the player leaving Stanley to his own devices (basically, abandonment) and transporting alone to the game’s world of code. Conversely, the player can choose to relinquish control to ensure Stanley is free, sacrificing autonomy in exchange for a happy ending.

Such conclusions are hard to achieve in “Severance,” as innies and outies must either work in tandem or trample over the other to ensure survival. Whether the show’s true ending will be one rooted in such cathartic bittersweetness, is something only time can tell.