- Negative: We follow from Torque’s point of view as he enters his apartment.
Carmen is there in his bedroom, smiling at him. Torque gets close to her and
then savagely starts pummeling her with his fists. She falls to the ground and
he smashes her skull against the frame of the bed. Soon we see that she is not
moving and is apparently dead. We hear Torque breathing heavily over her
dead body for a second. Then, keeping with Torque’s POV, we go into the
bathroom and Malcolm looks at him from the tub, saying: “Daddy, what’s
happening?” Torque takes his hand and shoves his son’s head under the water.
Bubbles flow out of his mouth as his body writhes and, shortly, Malcolm is
dead. Now Cory is in the bathroom, asking, “What’s going on, what’s
happening?” Torque grabs Cory under his arm and carries him into the child’s
bedroom where he opens the window with his free hand and hurls him out to
the pavement below. We see Torque breathing heavily for a few seconds,
looking out the window at his dead son.
Back-story
The following sections provide reasonably detailed accounts of the back-stories of
some of the elements in the game. These are included here to give the places and peo-
ple a history so that they will be consistently and compellingly portrayed in the game,
though the specific details of these accounts will never be fully revealed to the player.
Carnate’s History
Situated several miles off the mid-Atlantic coast, Carnate is an island that has been a
home to evil for centuries. People who have come to the island have found themselves
committing acts of brutality and cruelty beyond what they would have done elsewhere.
The precise nature of this evil is never explained in the game.
In 1681, a small agrarian community of puritanical settlers is living on the island. In
this small village, a nine-year-old girl decides to seek revenge against her strict parents
and others who have upset her by proclaiming them witches. She enlists two friends as
part of the scheme, which ends up leading to the burning alive of 11 “witches” as the
town becomes hysterical over the satanic forces in their midst. Fearing being caught,
the girls flee to the woods and, as the concluding act of their pact together, fling them-
selves off a cliff into the ocean.
In 1732, a slave ship sailing from Africa ran aground on the northern end of the
island. Few were injured in the crash. However, the slave traders were frightened to let
the slaves out of the holds, since they might join together and revolt against the traders.
Instead the slave traders left the slaves trapped in the ship, where they slowly starved
to death and were eaten alive by the rats. The slave traders themselves were never
able to make it off the island alive.
[...]
Torque’s History
Torque is an extremely tough and “street smart” individual who, when in the company
of strangers, puts up an outward facade of extreme confidence, strength, and intimida-
tion. Torque developed this persona over the course of his life as a protective shield
against the harsh world he grew up in. When around the people he is friendly with,
Appendix B: Sample Design Document:The Suffering 635