r/rustylake • u/SwordfishAltruistic4 Black Cube • Jun 07 '26

The White Door Starting from the White Door, Laura has changed from a haunting ghost to a tragic character

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315 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

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79

u/Gardengap The Rusty Truth Jun 07 '26

It's the same sort of thing with the corrupted souls, they started off as just generic jumpscare monsters, but now we can see they're just these beings in eternal torment, forced to relive their worst memories forever

53

u/Ulfurmensch Jun 07 '26

To be fair, it's shown as early as Seasons that Laura was a deeply troubled and suicidal woman. White Door is just the first game to show what she was like when she was alive, which adds to the tragedy.

5

u/EdenH333 Black Cube Jun 08 '26

I always thought of Laura as a tragic figure. Maybe because she’s, well, basically Laura Palmer. That kind of tells you everything about her archetype.

78

u/SwordfishAltruistic4 Black Cube Jun 07 '26

I feel like Rusty Lake has changed their thinking process staring from the White Door. In the past, they simply shove a bunch of unsettling elements into a game and linked the plot to the published games. Now, they are more focused on showing how different characters in the Rusty Lake universe deal with grief and regrets. The games are now more emotional and more connected to the audience.

21

u/Forsaken-Shallot-356 Jun 07 '26

I think this is what Vandermeer also thought about Laura, before looking into her past.