The raw idea seems more like something that was chosen for aesthetic value than any kind of logical sense. I don't mean that as a strict insult, though getting the best of both worlds with both logic and aesthetics would be preferrable. It's an anomaly that manifests out of thin air and anomalously compels onlookers to activate it… not exactly a winning combo.
The description strikes me as a bit lacking in information; the nature of the structures is only described once in the very first sentence and not elaborated on until the logs. More pressingly, the line within the final paragraph, "in most cases this will ultimately result in the death of the person in contact with RPC-431" is jarring in context. It's alluding to missing information that should've come prior. Overall, it's hazy what the anomaly actually is.
Exploration logs steal the show with little competition. Their dialogue is creaky—starting the very first log off with a CSD "doc" mention is pretty ugly and sadly a fair indicator of how the characters talk for the rest (gotta love "feels like it's the middle of June back in Texas")—but the events within them are by far the most substance this article has. It grabs similar freaky funhouse vibes to RPC-508, which are always welcome, especially dialed up with how mystical the location is as a whole.
I have to say, I wish it went harder into the vibes, because I cannot make sense of whatever this article is hinting towards with the Gitchi Odjig references. It's all masked by a guy going "I can't make it out, it's too dark" and the opaque, completely arbitrary delivery method chosen for all the messaging. It definitely still helps to think there's a meaning behind the scenes, but beneath the clumsy delivery I can't be asked to uncover it further. I've never heard someone try to tell a story through the medium of secondhand description of dark ride scenery before, and frankly, this doesn't convince me it works.
If we can't use that, the whole story is reduced to some surface-level events. The ending is quaint, setting up the expectation that the CSD is headed to a stereotypical death only for the researcher to be the one to die. It's a shocking moment, but hinted at from the beginning in such a way that you can't argue it didn't come organically.
Stepping back a bit, I'm not sold on this as an event article, though I said that with a ton of articles from Missing RPC, so make of it what you will. Upon closer inspection, the influence from local folklore is admirable given the theme, but the lack of justification for how this fits into the conspiracy-hunt timeline as opposed to just a vague recognition of the setting isn't.
This reflection was more negative than I anticipated. Really, I'd be perfectly content with the article's quirks if it made a more competent presentation. Dramatic, believable character dialogue and richer visual detail more than anything else would make it a respectable entry instead of the sock puppet theatre it more closely resembles. 2/5
I haven't seen one of these in a long time, my pops used to have a couple of these old fuse boxes. I guess it makes sense it would be here considering how old these things probably are.
This dude is a convict. Even if he weren't, this sounds more like an expository cartoon character than any real person. I just can't get past it. And though I do like the effort to show organic character details through revealing lines like these, when there's no actual character to build, it's aimless.
