On January 16th, 2021, Cishshato finally released the Freelance Heists expansion.
There's a lot of content to talk about, but there's one thing that stood out to me the
most.
Normally, in a play, there's an invisible wall that stands between the audience and
the actors on the stage, where, the actors pretend like the audience isn't there and
act out their script as if it were an actual story happening in real-time.
This generally has the effect of making the characters feel more real and genuine.
However, sometimes a character might acknowledge that their role is fictional or address the
audience.
When that invisible barrier between audience and character is violated, it's known as breaking
the fourth wall, and that's exactly what Cishshato did in the Freelance Heists.
There are many examples of Dialogue in the Freelance Heists where the characters essentially
acknowledge that they're part of a fictional story within a video game.
Here's a compilation of several examples:
One purpose of this dialogue is humor because it's amusing to see the characters joking
about the game's mechanics.
However, I don't think that humor is the only purpose.
In fact, I believe that by breaking the fourth wall, Cishshato is trying to tell us something
very fundamental about the game's story, which I'll get to later in the video.
If you were to take the main plot points of the story and put them in a timeline, then
you'll see that there's a clear, logical progression of events.
With the exception of the Killhouse and arguably Project Onyx, which I won't get into in this
video, the story of Entry Point is, at its heart, a realistic one.
At any point in time, you can expect the story to follow the laws of reality.
It feels like something that really could've happened in the real world.
However, the same cannot be said about the gameplay.
There are several gameplay mechanics that wouldn't make sense in the real world.
One of the best examples is the level system because there's obviously no such thing as
levels or perks or a skill tree in real life.
Imagine how ridiculous it would be, if a real life agent were to say, "Whoops!
I already learned too many skills!
I guess my brain doesn't have enough space left for any more," or, "Whoops!
I already learned how to hack and pick locks, so, I guess I must be physically incapable
of using C4."
Basically what I'm saying is that because the story is realistic, and certain game mechanics
aren't, we can only conclude that those mechanics don't exist within the story.
The reason Cish implemented the level system is to make the gameplay more balanced, since
having a character with every perk would be extremely overpowered.
The same concept applies to the mission difficulties because the very idea of difficulty scales
doesn't exist in the real world.
Factors like detection rate, health points, and damage points aren't real, tangible things.
These features only exist to give the player more options and create a better game experience.
Basically what I'm saying is that most game mechanics don't define the story in any way,
and there isn't necessarily a correct canon answer.
They have nothing to do with the story and everything to do with gameplay.
There are actually a few choices that seemingly impact the story.
For instance, in the Scientist, the player's choices decide whether Rivera lives or dies.
This seems like a pretty significant difference, and it might lead some to falsely conclude
that Rivera alive is canon while Rivera dead isn't, or vice versa.
However, this ignores the fact that this choice is ultimately inconsequential.
The background for the Scientist is that Rivera contacts Phoenix, offering intel on Halcyon
in exchange for protection, and the Freelancer raids the safehouse in London with the goal
of extracting Rivera and getting the intel.
The conclusion is that Phoenix gets intel on the bunker holding Project Onyx.
These points are what I call nodes.
They're plot points that are fixed in place and not changed by anything.
For the story to properly flow, there has to be a thread connecting each node to the
next, but there isn't just one way to connect them.
If Rivera survives, then she can give Phoenix the intel, but even if she dies, Phoenix can
get the intel from the control room anyway.
Thus, there isn't really a correct answer as to whether Rivera dies or not.
Both scenarios are equally correct, and there isn't anything to put one over the other.
Overall, only the nodes are definitively canon.
Everything in between is up to the player, with every scenario being equally correct
so long as it manages to connect the nodes.
You can think of the timeline as being like a thick rope that occasionally subdivides
into its individual strands, but all those strands eventually join back together, making
their divergence only temporary.
The Departure cutscene in the Freelance Heists is one of the best examples of this concept.
In this cutscene, the player has the choice to either kill or spare Harvey, with each
scenario playing out slightly differently.
This is a divergence in the timeline, and so, one might initially believe that one scenario
is canon while the other isn't.
However, this is only a temporary divergence because both scenarios lead back to the same
node.
The Freelancer learns the same lesson and goes on to do the same things.
Ultimately, whether Harvey lives or not has no effect on the rest of the story, and I
guess you could say that he stops existing in the canon after Departure.
Thus, both scenarios are equally valid, with neither of them being definitively canon.
Most video game stories fall under one of two main structures.
The first structure has a single timeline, where the player has no real impact on the
story and plays through a predetermined set of events.
The second structure has several branches, where the player's choices have a major impact
on the story.
Entry Point is unique in that it combines both of these structures.
The player has a lot of freedom in terms of how they carry out the missions, with their
actions also determining the status of several characters.
However, because the nodes are fixed in place, it's as if there were a single timeline even
though there's a virtually infinite number of different scenarios.
Thus, I would consider the Entry Point timeline to be a paradoxical and complex one, as it
implements two totally different models at the same time.
Before I get to the final part, it's time for some Entry Point memes.
The
fourth wall breaks in the Freelance Heists add an interesting layer to the timeline.
In the Setup, the Freelancer infiltrates a security company and tags the armored trucks
with the hopes of being able to hijack them later.
In the Score, the Freelancer successfully steals the gold from the trucks, so the success
of this operation is a canon fact, or a node.
I already established that several scenarios can be simultaneously canon so long as they
connect the nodes.
However, if a scenario doesn't connect the nodes, then it can't be canon seeing as it
contradicts a fixed plot point.
In the Setup, killing a guard would lead to the shipment getting canceled, which would
make the rest of the expansion impossible.
Therefore, killing a guard in the Setup would make the run not canon.
Normally, contradicting the canon would instantly fail the mission, but in lower difficulties,
Cish allows you to keep playing.
This illustrates the separation between gameplay and story: although this scenario isn't canon,
the game lets you keep playing because Cish wants the lower difficulties to be easier.
Seeing as these runs aren't canon anyway, Cish decided it would be funny to make the
characters break the fourth wall by joking about the game mechanics.
This further highlights how the game is just a flexible adaptation of the story, and how
it doesn't always define the story, since it would be absurd for the characters to know
they're part of a video game.
Thus, rather ironically, by breaking the fourth wall, Cish is actually emphasizing the existence
of the invisible wall between gameplay and story.
If we go back to the timeline model, then non-canon runs would look kind of like a strand
that falls off, starting from one node but failing to connect to the other.
Another example of a dead end in the timeline would be the Black Dusk loud.
Doing this mission in loud contradicts the node that is the Epilogue cutscene, which
would make it not canon.
However, Cish still gives us the option to do it in loud, not only because it's a fun
gameplay experience, but also because it gives insight on Project Onyx by revealing the Onyx
Unit.
The run itself may not be canon, but the different gameplay structure allows the player to see
a different piece of lore.
Overall, the Entry Point story has a pretty complex structure, but I hope this video helped
to explain its seemingly paradoxical nature.
Also, if you're 13 or older, then I would recommend joining my Discord server, which
is linked in the description below.
It's the best place to get in contact with me or hang out with the community.
Anyway, I'll see you guys next time.