GAT399-F18 McDonald Project 1

GAT399: Narrative Design I

Narrative Analysis

Portal 2

Kai McDonald

Professor Radakovich

DigiPen Fall 2018

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Dramatis Personae

Chel - The last human testing subject in the Aperture Science testing facility. Woke up to a post- apocalyptic facility after being asleep for a long period of time. Has defeated GLaDOS in the past.

Wheatley - An intelligence dampening core designed to inhibit GLaDOS’ mental abilities and slow her down. He is the core who first interacts with Chel when she wakes up and teams up with her to escape the facility.

GLaDOS - An artificial intelligence designed by Aperture Science to test various scientific concepts and devices. Went rogue and killed off almost everyone in the facility. Began testing with Chel before being defeated and killed by her. Is accidentally revived by Wheatley and Chel, and now wants revenge.

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Archetype Analysis Chel – Mythic Hero Last human test subject of Aperture Science. Killed GLaDOS in the past, but has woken up from a long sleep to a place where the only sentient creatures left are all robots. Chel has killed GLaDOS in the past, leading GLaDOS to hate her. Wheatley discovers Chel as the last human in the facility, and sees her as a means of escape. Her motivations are weak, and assigned to Chel via NPCs. This is mostly due to the fact that she is a mute protagonist and as such cannot declare what she wants on her own. Chel wants to find other humans, leave the facility, and be free. Chel’s motivations aren’t clear, and as such, it’s fairly difficult to identify what archetype of hero she is. While it initially seems like she isn’t the hero because of this, she is defined as the hero due to being the player character, being the character who deals with the central conflict, and being declared as the hero by other characters. Chel is the character who gets things done when others can not, as evidenced by her actions during the ride, specifically through time codes 44-48. She represents the change she needs to see in her world, and is the hero because she is the one to change to do it. Unfortunately, she herself does not change much as a character, as there is not much personality or traits to be changed. This makes her a weak hero, and could be fixed if her motivations were more clearly defined as wanting freedom and companionship. If she initially uses others around her during the beginning of the game then learns to not use others for her advantage after the Death, she would be a stronger character who is able to succeed by changing herself for the better. Chel represents the theme of working together vs using one another. Throughout the game, Chel moves forward with a companion. They help Chel progress and move forward through both the story and the literal space. Wheatley sees their relationship as Chel using him because he thinks that he was the one to accomplish everything and that Chel was just along for the ride. He believes this because ultimately, Wheatley and Chel want different things and were both pulling against one another in an attempt to get towards their goals. This is evidenced by time codes 46 and 48, where Wheatley puts more emphasis on claiming to be the one to have solved the respective issues, rather than putting emphasis on making sure the issues are actually solved. Wheatley cares more about power, while Chel simply wants to escape. GLaDOS and Chel work well together because they both want to stop Wheatley. GLaDOS wants this because she wants to take back her facility, but Chel wants this because she wants to escape. Chel and GLaDOS still work well together because the solution to both of their problems is to defeat Wheatley. Chel shows that when people share similar interests, they can work better together as a result, and if they have conflicting interests, it will be harder for them to co-operate. Chel opposes GLaDOS at the beginning, as GLaDOS wants to test with Chel, while Chel wants to be free. Chel later opposes Wheatley, after Wheatley wants to be right and continue testing with Chel, while Chel wants to escape.

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Wheatley – Trickster / The Titan Wheatley is a meek robot who must travel around on per-determined rails along the Aperture Facility long after all the humans have died off. He later becomes the power-hungry ruler of the facility who denies that he is completely out of his element, and instead lashes out against Chel with anger and destruction. Wheatley initially was afraid of GLaDOS and wanted to work together and use Chel to escape from the facility. He later looks down on Chel, viewing himself as smarter than her, and despises GLaDOS, convincing himself that he is both smarter and more powerful than her. Wheatley is motivated by power, and will do everything he can to both gain power and appear more powerful. This is evidenced by time codes 46 and 48, where Wheatley convinces himself that the positive events happening were because of him, and not because someone else did them. Later, at time code 53, he claims that everything that has happened so far has been his doing, and that he has no reason to help Chel, as he was the one with the power to make decisions, not her. Initially, Wheatley serves as the Trickster support to Chel. He pushes Chel to go on the adventure of finding freedom during the Intro, allowing her to start her journey as the hero. He is crafty, and comes up with several plans that ultimately work out in the end, such as the plan he comes up with at time code 29 which is ultimately successful at time code 40. He is disobedient, and constantly breaks rules set by others, such as when he breaks off of his rail at time code 11, or when he turns on his light at time code 42. He also changes sides when given the opportunity, showing that he is a shape-shifter. He inspires Chel to take advantage of the chaos he creates to move forward. This is shown when his unpredictable nature surprises GLaDOS, allowing the two of them to escape at time code 40. When he morphs into the antagonist, he becomes The Titan, who is all powerful, destructive, and a force of turbulence that threatens to tear the facility apart. His lack of wisdom and intelligence causes grave danger to the protagonist, as evidenced by the facility slowly being destroyed from time codes 81 to 96. He personifies The Titan with his incredible strength and dominion over the entire facility and all of its functions, and rage when insulted, both shown during his betrayal during time codes 53 and 54. His ineptitude inspires Chel to stop him by balancing strength and wisdom, giving her reason to side with GLaDOS and attempt to reinstate her back into power. Wheatley is a cautionary character against vanity and not admitting fault. Wheatley constantly attempts to steal credit and avoid blame, even when it comes to his obvious detriment. Had he admitted that he wasn’t capable of running the facility, he may not have been left stranded in space. Chel is only able to defeat him because she came to the realization that she needed help to reach her goal, and allies with GLaDOS to defeat him. Wheatley serves as GLaDOS’ foil, showing off GLaDOS’ intelligence and diligence when the state of the facility when she runs it is compared to the state of the facility when Wheatley runs it.

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GLaDOS – The Monarch / Sage GLaDOS is a previously-dead robot who runs the Aperture Science testing facility. She has long since killed everyone there except for Chel, who she keeps around to test with. She later become exiled from her body and the facility into a potato battery, and accompanies Chel on their quest to defeat Wheatley. GLaDOS initially loathes Chel, wanting revenge for Chel killing her in the past, and sees Wheatley as an idiot who isn’t capable of anything. Later, she sees Chel as her only hope of saving both the facility and their lives. GLaDOS sees Wheatley as an idiot who is only capable of destroying everything. GLaDOS is motivated by the desire to test and pursue knowledge, and clutches to the past and events that have previously transpired. All she wants to do is test with Chel for as long as possible. This is evidenced at time code 16, where GLaDOS literally states that she only wants to test with Chel until she dies of old age. She also talks about how she was forced to review the moments in which Chel defeated her in the past for the entire length of her death, showing her obsession with the past. Later, when Wheatley has taken control, she states that she simply wants to save her facility so she can continue testing. This is evidenced by time code 67, where Chel and GLaDOS form an alliance to take down Wheatley. In the first half of the game, GLaDOS serves as The Monarch, using her higher social status as the tester to attack, insult, and force Chel to test. She sees Chel as little more than a test subject, worthy only of solving GLaDOS’ tests. She follows tradition, and continues to test long after she killed those who made her to run tests because it is the tradition to do so, and she is compelled to continue doing so. Once she has the role of the antagonist stolen from her by Wheatley, she adopts the role of the Sage support to Chel. GLaDOS’ wisdom stretches dozens if not hundreds of years into the past, and knows how to run the facility and how best to go about defeating Wheatley thanks to her extensive knowledge on robotics. She motivated Chel forward by giving her information from the past to act on. This is evidenced by GLaDOS coming up with a plan to defeat Wheatley based on her understanding of how robots work at time code 78. GLaDOS personifies the theme of what it means to be human. Her disturbingly hurtful way of verbally attacking Chel feels very human, and almost too personal to be formed by an artificial intelligence. At time code 75, it is implied that “Caroline”, a living being was copied down as a program into GLaDOS in her early conception. This leads one to believe that GLaDOS’ very human-like being is due to Caroline’s influence Later, at time code 106, GLaDOS deletes Caroline, and seems to not be affected at all. Her personality remains the same, even after the copy of a real person was deleted, begging the question of whether or not Caroline was really what was giving GLaDOS her humanity. GLaDOS serves to be Wheatley’s counterpart, showing how cold and calculating she is in comparison to his witty and whimsical attitude and general way of thinking. As such, they are in constant opposition on how to do things, such as operate the facility.

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Pacing Analysis ACT I – INTRO

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Intro Analysis The Intro introduces the three main characters of the game, albeit all through Wheatley’s actions and dialogue. Wheatley is a nervous robot who tries to convince others he knows more than he actually does. He briefly panics when the intercom in the room announces an emergency evacuation, and makes it sound like using the room Chel, the protagonist, is standing in as a battering ram is a technical maneuver. It introduces Chel as a silent protagonist who has apparently been here for a very long time, and has miraculously survived every other human dying. Unfortunately, a lot of Chel’s character isn’t revealed until the break. This is done to make the reveal more dramatic, but it would be better to reveal more about how Chel was this incredible human who survived a lot of crazy tests. It doesn’t have to be revealed that she was the one to originally kill GLaDOS, but it still gives the player insight into who they’re playing. Unfortunately, as Chel doesn’t ever speak, the game has a hard time establishing what Chel’s motivation is, and as a result, Chel spends most of the game following around the supporting characters, rather than making choices for herself. To improve this, it should explicitly be established that Chel wants to escape the facility and reconnect with other humans. This should be done by having Wheatley or GLaDOS interpret Chel’s actions as wanting freedom and to meet other humans. This can occur here in the intro when Wheatley tries to speak with Chel. He should also come to the revelation that Chel wants to escape and find other humans. This allows Chel to have explicit motivation without compromising her character and forcing her to speak. The world is also explored during the Intro, as Chel and Wheatley move through the wasteland that is the Aperture Science facility. The place is in ruins, and completely falling apart. There are no other living humans around, and the only sentient beings seem to all be artificial intelligence. This trend continues on throughout the entire game, and gives us a feel for what we can expect from the game moving forward. There is also an overarching theme presented through the pre-recorded messages that play during the tests that Chel goes through that push the idea of testing despite any catastrophe or apocalypse that has happened. The lines are comical, but establish the idea of placing science above all else as a theme that continues throughout the game.

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ACT I – REVEAL

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Reveal Analysis The Reveal starts off very strong, with the dramatic down moment and literal reveal that GLaDOS is both still alive, and Chel, the player, was the one who killed her. This works as a Change of Fortune, because up until this point, Chel and Wheatley have been moving through the facility fairly easily and without resistance. GLaDOS awakening changes everything, and serves to be a powerful antagonist against Chel. Wheatley wants to escape, and drags Chel along for the ride, which is fairly weak, as Chel has no real motivation for why she also wants to escape. GLaDOS doesn’t want Chel to escape, and instead wants someone to test with, putting the two in direct, but weak conflict with one another. To improve this, Chel’s motivations should instead be clearly defined as wanting to escape the facility to freedom. This puts Chel and GLaDOS in direct conflict with one another. Later on in the reveal, it is revealed that Wheatley is still alive after GLaDOS crushes and throws him off screen. He appears several times, peeking through cracks in walls and around corners at Chel, but always darts out of sight before Chel can have dialogue with him. This can be seen as a Hint of Mystery, as it’s not immediately obvious how Wheatley survived, or why he isn’t talking to the player. This is later revealed, but there isn’t any negative emotional payoff to give the reveal the continued burn it could have gotten from this mystery. It would have been better if the mystery was revealed to be something darker, rather than used for a joke. To fix this, Wheatley could reveal that he is incapable of dying, and will be brought back by GLaDOS every time he is destroyed to serve her, eternally suffering under her reign. This would explain how he “survived” and would give us a reason to connect with Wheatley and sympathize with him. It would also give the Reveal the darker emotional feeling it needs to contrast against the coming break. Unfortunately for both the Reveal and the Break, there’s never a moment where Chel makes a conscious decision to move forward as the hero, and the beat slowly becomes less and less narratively cohesive as time goes on. There’s never a point of no return that the player chooses to move past. This can be fixed by giving Chel the opportunity to escape at the cost of leaving Wheatley to the mercy of GLaDOS. The problem there is that it’s still too early in the game for the player to truly attach themselves to Wheatley. The best fix would be giving Chel actual explicit motivations, such as wanting to reunite with humanity. Perhaps the choice Chel could be given is that she could go back into sleeping safely in her resting center, where GLaDOS can never get to her. Chel abandoning that in favor of stopping GLaDOS, saving Wheatley and reaching freedom would cement Chel as the hero.

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ACT I – BREAK

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Break Analysis While the narrative was doing alright until this point, it completely stagnates once it reaches the break, doing nothing to drive the plot forward. There are memorable character moments abound, but they are presented against a plot that has completely stopped progressing. The biggest issue with the break is that nothing notable ever happens. There aren’t any points at which the player feels any strong emotions, and there definitely isn’t a rise of emotions to set us up for the ride. Ideally, the break should bring us back from the emotional negative that was meant to be set up during the reveal. Unfortunately, even if the Break was set up correctly, the last notable negative moment we had was within the first minute of the Reveal, meaning the player has probably already recovered from this by simply getting bored or outright forgetting it happened. What would have been far stronger is if the Reveal lingered in negative moments for longer, as mentioned previously. This negativity would make the Break shine brighter in contrast. All revisions that will be suggested are assuming that previous suggestions were made to make the narrative as a whole fit better. The closest thing to an emotional high in the Break is a surprise party that GLaDOS is throwing for Chel. It is implied to be something bad and potentially involving Chel meeting her parents, and GLaDOS constantly teases Chel, telling her that she is getting closer and closer to the surprise as she moves through the levels. Once Chel finally gets to the surprise party, it is revealed that GLaDOS made the part about Chel’s parents up, and that there is also no bad surprise either. This short surprise plot thread could actually be more powerful if it was moved back to the Reveal, and actually given a negative payoff, like showing Chel her parent’s corpses. It gives the Reveal emotionally negative anticipation and payoff, which is something the narrative beat desperately needs. As mentioned in the suggested changes for the Reveal, giving Chel a decision as to whether or not she will continue her quest to gain freedom would work best here. This could be done by having Chel need to retrieve something from her original sleeping chamber that can be used to fight against GLaDOS, such as a damaged core. Once she reaches this point, Chel should be tempted to simply go back to sleep, away from where GLaDOS can harm her, forever in safety. Rejecting this, Chel would take the core, take the orange jumpsuit she forgot in her room, and tie it around her waist before setting off to stop GLaDOS. Returning back to her sleeping chamber, then deciding to instead press on towards freedom allows Chel to Leave her Home, putting her above others who would have instead taken the easy path and retreated to their familiar life. The jumpsuit also serves as a sort of Hero’s Mantle, as her putting the suit on solidifies her as the hero, almost like a cape.

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ACT II – RIDE

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Ride Analysis While the Ride should be building on the emotional highs that the Break was supposed to set up, the actual Ride in Portal 2 takes some time to actually get going, and once it does, it falls apart in the last two minutes, seeming to rush through both the turn and the fall. The first five minutes are boring for a ride, and should be replaced with something more exciting. Player’s shouldn’t be doing the same old tests during this time, and should instead be facing much more dangerous and threatening tests in order to have Greater Stakes. GLaDOS should be getting bored with Chel and start throwing more and more dangerous stuff at her, putting pressure on Chel to remain strong until Wheatley arrives. Once Wheatley finally arrives, the Ride starts to get back on track, as Chel and Wheatley literally break out of one of GLaDOS’ test chambers. This leads us on an Exciting Chase Sequence, and is exactly the kind of high-speed, high-energy scene the Ride needs to give the player the emotional lift they need to prepare for the Turn, Fall and Death. The chase also leads to Exciting Combat, which further adds to the energy of the scene. After this, the player is given a chance to breath as Chel and Wheatley get away, allowing the emotional valence to level out somewhat before rising again, as not to overstimulate the player. When Wheatley cannot figure out how to disable the turrets or stop the gas, it is up to Chel to be the one to get things done. These New Locations serve to give Chel a chance to Do The Hero’s Job, and continues the Ride’s upward trend of making Chel and the player feel and seem powerful. Before, GLaDOS was always a far-off threat, mocking Chel and Wheatley from origin-less intercoms. Now, after being built up for the entire game so far, Chel and Wheatley are face-to- face with her, and The Stakes Have Never Been Higher. The fight is exciting and continues the upward, feel good trend of Chel being a successful hero. GLaDOS even comments on how Chel was the one who did everything when Wheatley claimed to be responsible, showing that even the other characters are seeing Chel as the hero. Wheatley’s sudden change of heart ruins the pacing of this beat, the next, and the beat after that. None of his actions fit with the rising theme of the Ride. The Ride should instead continue with Wheatley beginning to help Chel on her way out of the facility.

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ACT II – TURN

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Turn Analysis The Turn feels more like the death than anything else, but lacks any real emotional direction. The only narrative moments revolve around Cave Johnston and the backstory of Aperture. This story has nothing to due with Chel at all, and serves only to set up a plot thread for GLaDOS, who has morphed from major antagonist to the protagonist’s supporting character. As such, the story should probably be cut or at the very least drastically reduced in order to further develop Chel’s story. Instead of Wheatley’s betrayal in the Ride, it should have begun here, in the turn. While helping Wheatley escape, he should become more and more selfish and power hungry. His dialogue with Chel should start out happy and bubbly, then slowly decline to become more and more bitter towards Chel, claiming to have been the one to have gotten both of them here. He should start attacking Chel verbally, accusing her of using him to escape without actually providing anything of use herself. Chel would be traversing back through the facility during this time, trying to get to the exit using Wheatley’s help. In this way, his slow descent would still hit all the major points of his immediate snap that’s currently present. The only change is that the transition is more built up, allowing the player to slowly process what’s happening. This allows the Betrayal that occurs in the Ride to instead occur here, where the negative feelings are needed. To make room for this, the Cave Johnson sections could be cut down tremendously, if not entirely. Stretching Wheatley’s betrayal out over the course of the entire Turn allows the story to hit several common beats, such as the Sudden Reversal, Betrayal, and False Victory. Chel’s world would be flipped upside-down, as her ally would become her foe and the victory she had just had against her greatest foe would have all been for nothing.

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ACT II – FALL

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Fall Analysis From the point in which Cave Johnson is introduced at minute 01:14:00, the narrative of the game seems to shift towards his story and the story of Aperture, rather than Chel’s story. This story is interesting in its own right, but it ultimately detracts from Chel’s story. The Fall does a good job of detailing Aperture’s decent into insignificance, but does little to tie itself back into Chel. As such, it would be best to cut the story entirely in favor of a Fall that focuses more on Chel. The cost of knowledge is a recurring theme in Portal 2, and is highlighted in the Fall. The pursuit of strange technology and bizarre innovations ultimately leads Aperture to ruin as the facility stopped at nothing to reach their desired goals. As such, there are several moments where common Fall events happen to Cave Johnson. Aperture faces Repeated Loss over the years, showcasing their fall from being the pioneers of modern technology. Johnson is later Badly Injured by his own company, showing the folly of his actions and casting doubt on him. The new Minor Villain of Black Mesa is even mentioned. The only problem is that Johnson is not the protagonist, so these negative elements, while better than nothing, are not as strong as if they were happening to Chel, the protagonist with whom we’ve spent more time with and invested in. To improve the Fall, it would be better to have Wheatley accept the mantle of the villain and completely stop helping Chel, and instead having him begin hunting Chel. This would cause Chel to continuously Flee from him, trying her best to escape the facility alive. Chel should eventually be Badly Injured by Wheatley as she tries to escape, and a similar scene to the one at 01:10:35 should occur, where Wheatley smashes Chel down an elevator shaft, giving us a Literal Descent towards the Death.

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ACT II – DEATH

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Death Analysis Like other problematic beats, the main issue of the Death is that nothing with any emotional weight happens. The closest thing we have to an emotional negative moment is Wheatley’s continued lack of ability to keep the facility running. The problem is that the facility slowly falling apart is a the only thing that happens. This is weak, as players will likely become bored as nothing new happens narratively, and has not progressed negatively or positively in some time. One of the most notable moments in the Death is actually a scene that should belong in the plan. GLaDOS coming up with the paradox plan to defeat Wheatley is a beat too early. I would argue that this plan should be moved back to the Plan beat, but the plan immediately is executed and does not work. The plan serves to work as a joke rather than as an actual narrative element, and should be cut. Instead, continuing off the previous suggestions where Wheatley’s descent is slower, Chel should fall down the pit to the bottom of Aperture after the Fall beat, and end up at the bottom here, during the Death. Once she hits the literal Rock Bottom, she should find that she’s lost her orange jumpsuit and portal gun, leaving her powerless and stripped of her hero’s mantles. This shows the Symbolic Death of Chel as the hero. After wandering through the bowls of the facility, when all seems lost, Chel will come across a damaged and broken GLaDOS, who was thought to be dead. She could initially berate Chel, insulting her for having lost her gear and her way. This would serve both to lower the mood of the scene and to serve as a Vision Of The Dead. This should be paced out against Chel losing her equipment, as to give the player time to experience the negativity of that loss before dealing with the negativity of this interaction.

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ACT III – PLAN

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Plan Analysis The Plan is utterly weak, as Chel and GLaDOS stumble through the game with no real direction until Wheatley decides to escalate the situation and progress the plot. Neither the player nor Chel has any agency in the plot at this point. There isn’t even an emotion attached to Chel and GLaDOS’ wandering. It is simply gameplay to fill the time. Wheatley realizing that he doesn’t need Chel anymore can be seen as a Sudden Revelation. The Sudden Revelation is usually used to pull the protagonist out of the emotional pit they were in during the Death, but here it is used to steer the plot back into something with a defined end. Before this point, Chel and GLaDOS had no plan, but are now forced to instead come up with something to deal with Wheatley. As such, this scene is fairly unexpected and doesn’t seem to fit. Instead, the Plan should continue from the previously listed changes, with Chel speaking to GLaDOS. GLaDOS could let up on her insults to legitimately compliment Chel on having survived up until this point. This small gesture would allow us to begin easing out of the Death without completely jumping back to action. It is important to allow the player to feel the pain of the Death and survive in order for them to become stronger after death. GLaDOS should then inform Chel as to where her missing gear is. Chel would go on a short quest to retrieve it, before returning to GLaDOS who has the idea that she may be able to interface into Wheatley, and kick him out the same way he kicked her out. The plan would rely on Chel, as she is the only one who has fought against both GLaDOS and Wheatley and lived. GLaDOS’ anger at Wheatley for destroying her and her facility has corrupted her, allowing Chel and GLaDOS to use that Instrumental Anger to their advantage. After forming their Literal Plan based off of GLaDOS’ Sudden Revelation, Chel takes GLaDOS with her to Assemble the Team. Using her recently reacquired Equipment, the two set off to take on Wheatley. Having all of these moments happen ensure that Chel is able to recover from the Death and become stronger from it as a result. The steady increase of energy of meeting GLaDOS again to regaining her old gear to coming up with a final, direct plan allows us to move up from the emotional low of the death towards the final excitement of the Climax.

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ACT III – CLIMAX

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Climax Analysis While the events of the climax work well, there is a bit of a pacing issue. Rather than worrying about how Chel and GLaDOS actually get from Wheatley’s trap to Wheatley’s lair, the transition should be quick. It’s worth keeping GLaDOS’ final talk with Chel, as it establishes that the Stakes Have Never Been Higher. You’re allied with GLaDOS, not because you want to, but because you have to. Everything else between the trap and this moment isn’t worth keeping. As a result, the final fight, which drags into the resolution, can be pulled back into the Climax. Everything else works. The game has been building to this moment since the beginning, and it’s time for the protagonist to finally face the antagonist in one last fight. In my version of the game with the changed suggestions, not much change is needed from the original. GLaDOS should still have the conversation with Chel, but Wheatley should be surprised that Chel is still alive, and not have a trap ready. Wheatley will have underestimated Chel, and will now pay for it as Chel has become stronger after death. This way, the Stakes are still Raised, and there is Action abound! Chel will still remain Triumphant, and the ending to the fight doesn’t need to change.

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ACT III – RESOLUTION

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Resolution Analysis With Wheatley defeated and GLaDOS’ power restored, the facility is saved. The side-plot of GLaDOS being a copy of Cave Johnson’s wife Caroline is resolved. Chel is finally given freedom and her precious companion cube. The main problem is that the resolution is a bit too short due to the Climax cutting into it. Using the previously mentioned changes, the Climax can be contained into its own beat. This leaves us with some time to spare. Thankfully, there is a slightly morose after-the-credits scene of Wheatley monologue about how he wishes he could take everything back and apologize to Chel. The scene is only a minute long, but can be placed at the beginning of the Resolution before we move to GLaDOS and Chel. This gives us closure on what happened to Wheatley and how he feels about the events of the game without being separated by the credits. The scene would cut away to Chel waking to GLaDOS as normal. GLaDOS could speak for a little while longer about her struggle with Chel and Caroline before letting her go. The rest of the Resolution works well to wrap up the story. The final scene of Chel leaving the facility with the companion cube gives Chel the only two things she ever wanted in the game: companionship and freedom.

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