Masks of lies

THE FOLLOWING PAGE IS JUST A DRAFT AND WORK TO EXPAND IT IS CURRENTLY UNDER WAY. THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IS HIGHLY FRAGMENTED AND FOR THE MOST PART INCOMPLETE. VIEWER DISCRETION IS THUS A MUST, ALSO BECAUSE OF THE INEVITABLE SPOILERS.

The masks of lies are a special power featured in the videogame Dry Drowning. Though the real nature of such power hasn't been clarified yet at least two characters possess it, the most important one being the protagonist himself, Mordred Foley.

## Extracts from the psychic evaluation of Mordred Foley:

"I'll try to be as clear as possible, professor.

Everytime someone lies to me an animal-shaped mask appears on their face, twisting space and reality. I never understood where this waking nightmare came from and honestly I don't care. Right now I just want you to stop pulling my leg by saying no one is ever going to listen to this conversation.

How do I know you've been lying to me?

Take a guess."

[...]

"What... what happens to me is not the result of some superpower, like in those stupid comics. This is nothing but the final consequence of some degenerative psychological condition that keeps dragging me down to the very bottom, forcing me to witness the true face of people I meet.

Stress just makes it worse, causing my visions to become unreliable and extremely dangerous.

Keep breathing and get a grip, Mordred. Stop worrying, or everything will be for nothing.

Don't mess up.

Never. Again."

## Overview:

   As of now, the real nature of this "power" hasn't been clarified yet. Assumptions based on the forementioned in-game details would suggest the "power" is actually nothing but a mental illness vaguely similar to schizophrenia that causes Mordred to instinctively project in form of visual hallucinations any sign of tension or behaviour change he spots in a liar. Regardless of its nature Mordred seems to trust this "power" of his own almost unconditionally, effectively allowing his hallucinations to influence many crucial choices he makes throughout his investigations (in particular who to suspect). The effective conclusions encountered within the main plot have shown that Mordred was actually right most of the time, however both the in-game details and some specific parts of the story clearly suggest that at least under certain circumstances this "power" stops being as reliable as it usually seems. Severe psychological stress in particular can confuse Mordred's perception hard enough to scare him into making very questionable decisions (the most important one being the instance that caused his professinal demise).

Instead of showing a fixed mask, some characters feature a continous rotation of various animals (the most notable example being Pandora). This probably represents the encounter, from Mordred's perspective, of an extremely twisted and unpredictable mind. Based on the two instances shown in the game, it could however also be speculated that what causes this "rotation" is actually the already mentioned mental breakdowns of Mordred (with the consequential crumbling of his perception).

Masks also carry a very strong symbolical meaning on the aesthetic level: they embody the boiling and instinct-driven behaviour typical of individuals who find themselves cornered and compulsively lie to protect themselves, disregarding any social prescription. This wild themed imagery aims to express a harsh dichotomy in opposition to the cold, artificial and order driven technoir flavor that naturally permeates Nova Polemos and its locations. This is also strongly emphasized in the three different soundtracks that play during Living Nightmare mode, which purposefully attempt to reenact physical changes usually associated with lies (such as an increased heartbeat rate).

## Living Nightmare:

Upon spotting a mask Mordred cannot usually press its wearer right away: at this point the mask serves only to let the player know said character is lying and he's supposed to collect evidence to expose him. Once said evidence is found, interrogating the liar again will trigger "Living Nightmare" mode. In this mode the game graphics become twisted in order to resemble what Mordred is seeing, up to a point the player himself can witness the dissolution process of a mask (that is, as long as he keeps showing the correct evidence). Guessing wrong three times will however result in a Game Over. Since Dry Drowning doesn't feature choices that are inherently right or wrong, failing during a Living Nightmare sequence is effectively the only way to obtain a Game Over screen. Doing so will allow the player to unlock the "Learn from your mistakes" achievement on Steam. Below follows a list of Game Over scenarios as well as the Living Nightmare sequences that can cause them to occur.

## Game Overs:

* Failing during Baker's interrogation in Chapter 1 will make him upset at Mordred's stupidity, prompting him to conclude hiring him was a mistake. He will then proceed to fire Mordred.
* Failing during Abigail's interrogation in Chapter 1 will cause her to feel insulted by Mordred's allegation. She will then leave, promising she would testify in court.
* Failing during Dean's interrogation in Chapter 2 will have him suspect Mordred is trying to frame him on purpose. He will then demand him to leave, threatening to call the police otherwise.
* Failing during Eugene's interrogation in Chapter 2 will cause Mordred to panic and draw his gun at him. Eugene will reply it's pointless since the police is already on its way and his plan can't be stopped anymore regardless.
* Failing while trying to convince Maximilian to cooperate in Chapter 3 won't trigger any cutscene but a simple game over screen.
* Failing during Mery's interrogation in Chapter 3 will cause her to lose her temper and demand Mordred and Hera to leave, threatening to call the police otherwise.
* Failing during Lee's interrogation in Chapter 3 will cause Mordred to lose his patience and shoot him. Lee will then reveal he was wearing a bulletproof vest as a safety measure and escape, promising Mordred he would retaliate on Hera and let his legend live on.

## David Casey as the second owner of this power:

The very first scene of the game features Pandora directing a monologue to the viewer, actually addressing another character that is being held captive in front of him. In Chapter 4 (regardless of the narrative branch) this prisoner is revealed to be David Casey, implying the player was actually living the scene through his eyes. Since Pandora is shown wearing a mask (or rather, the same rotation of masks later seen by Mordred at the end of Chapter 1) this implies David is capable of seeing them in a very similar fashion, also opening up the possibility of other characters possessing the same power too.

## Trivia:

* The three eyes that float over Mordred's head and represent the health bar during a Living Nightmare sequence are probably a reference to the third eye, an esoteric concept found in many religions that implies the owner's ability to perceive things beyond ordinary sight.
* The human/animal dichotomy, dreadful flavor and oniric theme of the Living Nightmare sequences are strongly reminiscent of elements featured in the videogame Hotline Miami.
* Conversely, the gameplay mechanic that demands the player to progressively press the NPCs' lies by presenting refuting evidence was directly inspired by the Ace Attorney series.