Getting the good ending requires deleting the Kimera accounts of the characters, which was also what a previous near-victim, Charlie Asther, did to escape- he gave up all technology and fled to the woods. This same thing is also what happened to many other victims of the Ripple Man. Said deal led to the death of Maya, as it always includes a sacrifice. The whole mess happens because the four friends become so obsessed with keeping their social media presence, particularly on Kimera, fully positive that they fall prey to the deal offered by the Ripple Man to eliminate all criticism. Celebrity Is Overrated: The central Aesop of the game.Call-Back: Early in the game, the player can read chat logs from Maya talking about a Spark date she went on with a creepy guy named Taylor.Also seems to fall under Rule of Symbolism - after all they've been through, the friendship between the group members is stronger than ever, and their newfound understanding of the consequences of their shallow lifestyle has truly provided them with a 'new beginning'. Bookends: The game begins and ends with all of the members of New Beginnings gathering together to take a group photo, although the ending photo has the deceased Maya absent.

Body Horror: What happens to victims of The Ripple Man where their face tears open leaving a reddish black void.He's even willing to doxx victims of his fraud for attempting to expose him. a pyramid scheme created to scam 'employees' out of their money. His business is an MLM (Multi-Level Marketing) company - i.e. He claims to be running a legitimate business that can make people successful and let them play by their own rules. Rex, the 'entrepreneur', is perhaps the worst of the four.One example we see is her claiming to have lost her friend in a hit-and-run, which motivated her to pursue her music career, when really she was just a witness who had no personal connection to the victim at all. Mina, the aspiring musician, makes up stories about hardship and loss to milk sympathy from her fans.Arya preaches friendship while being willing to throw her friends under the bus at the slightest opportunity if things go wrong.Maya, the victim whose death you are investigating, is a vegan vlogger who preaches honesty to her fans but eats meat and cheese while being the one who encouraged her friends to fabricate personas for attention.On the surface, they seem alright, but as you venture through the game, you see that their online personas are utter lies: Bad Influencer: It revolves around a group of four of these and the deal they made with the Ripple Man to erase all negative comments and increase their fame, which led to one of them dying.It is the one responsible for killing Maya, and seeks to make her friends into its next victims. Big Bad: 'The Ripple Man' is the Simulacrum of this game who preys on Kimera's influencers desperate to get rid of the controversial posts they've made to boost their reputations.Bad 'Bad Acting': Invoked in the Kimera videos of the four main characters they deliberately exaggerate and come off as incredibly fake with their content, especially where their posts about Maya are concerned.Only when they delete their accounts do they finally find peace. The remaining three friends have done some questionable things in the past to get fame, and they destroy themselves over it. Maya died because she and her three friends, all of whom are influencers who became addicted to praise and keeping a good image, made a Deal with the Devil to delete controversial posts out of existence and give themselves more followers and praise, but Maya was taken afterwards as payment. An Aesop: Celebrity Is Overrated, and being a social media star is not as glamorous as it may seem- the lifestyle can become a destructive addiction if one is not careful.The Ripple Man shares similar motives to the Simulacra, but has a more malevolent personality and different tactics from Simulacra. Ambiguous Situation: The Ripple Man's connection to Simulacra, whether they are the same or different entities.Advert-Overloaded Future: Kimera is absolutely rife with obnoxious ads, although some of them are plot relevant as they come directly from The Ripple Man.

Simulacra 2 gameplay