itch.io

I totally agree with this. Also, the whole "Woww, I'm communicating to you through my psychic powers." Just... Doesn't fit Echo.

And, the worst of all. Cameron's bulge got nerfed. :(

I may perish./s

While I agree with Cameron obtaining psychic powers from drugs is incoherent and illogical to the rest of the echo series, I don't agree with how this compromises Howly's writing in the future. 

Of course, I get this is all up for speculation and we'll only be able to fully criticize this further once the plot continues on.

Honestly, I never thought about it this way

I love the story and I think it's better than the smoke room. It's no better than the original Echo, and probably nothing will be better than the first game. But I'm still very excited about the sequel in the form of Arches. The game very well shows the relationship of two people, where one struggles with a serious mental problem that affects both of them. Where both people genuinely love and care for each other. The game also has something of philosophy. It's not a philosophy I particularly support, but it's just shown in a good way. I can really feel the relationship between the main characters. They are just credible to me. The game can also scare me, not only with monsters, but also with good tension. But back to what you're talking about.

The psychic powers theme itself is acceptable in the story based on the events of the echo. In the first game, it was normal for a character to see things they shouldn't. Chase sees a ghost fox hanging himself. All over the Carl route, everyone sees ghost stuff they shouldn't. They literally talk to spirits in this part of the game. Every now and then something paranormal happens.

However, you're kind of right about taking drugs to see ghosts. Characters in the previous game didn't have to do this to interact with spirits. So something has been added. Something new in the game.

We can discuss whether that's a good thing. I think the final punch line of the story is important. We can't evaluate it now.

In Echo, drugs were shown rather as something negative. Theoretically, in Arches, it is mentioned that the main character has a problem with the drugs he was given to fight his mental illness. There is a moment of criticism of this, as the main character talks about unpleasant experiences in the past related to drugs. He also says that the treatment of mental illness should not consist of stuffing patients with powerful mental drugs.

However, there is also the thread you are talking about. That is, taking drugs to communicate and perhaps get out of a bad situation in which the characters are. This may suggest that the game says: "drugs are good because they help you escape from a bad situation where the lives of the characters are really in danger." Cameron, however, does not want to take drugs. They are given to him by Brian. He is aware that drugs are hurting him.

Much depends on how the thread will be continued. If the game shows that in the end, taking drugs is not the solution to the problem of two main characters, everything is fine. However, if it helps to get them out of bad situation, we have a problem here. A very bad message in my opinion. 

Ultimately, we don't know the ending of the story and a lot of the story is probably ahead of us, so I don't think we can judge anything at this point.