Possibly one of my favourite things about AAI2 is how well they handled morally grey characters. Barely anyone was completely innocent, or completely bad.
Horace Knightley was a murderer, but also became framed for something he didn’t do, and was brutally murdered for it. He betrayed Simon when they were little kids, but only because he was clearly being bullied into it by his awful father, and he ended up orphaned as a result.
Patricia Roland was a criminal, but truly tried to make life better for the inhabitants of her prison, by letting them bond with animals, bringing in entertainers for them, and teaching them skills that would help them when they could return to the outside world. She murdered Knightley, but she was driven to it by relentless threats and blackmailing from Dogen.
Sirhan Dogen was an assassin and blackmailer who made Roland’s life a misery, but he still decided to save two innocent children when he found them trapped in the freezing car. He also truly cared about Simon, and was willing to break out of jail and confront another younger and probably fitter assassin to ensure his safety. It’s implied that he intends to provide Simon with a sense of family and home he’s never had before at the end of the game, even if that home is a prison.
Katherine Hall was prepared to kill to get her beloved father figure out of prison, but only because the legal system had failed her so completely, leaving her with close to no other choice, and she was desperate to prove his innocence and put an end to his suffering.
Sebastian was a spoilt brat, but his character development arc is stunningly written and will probably get its own post from me later.
John Marsh was innocent, but lied and hid evidence because he thought it might point to his mother.
Simon Keyes was responsible for a lot of pain, but he went almost exclusively after the people who had ruined his life, and he was pushed to extreme methods for exacting his revenge because he too had been failed by the legal system. His inability to trust others clearly stems from being betrayed by his best friend and abandoned by his father when he was just a child, and having to be on the run from such powerful and influential figures as the president of a foreign country and the chief prosecutor would scar anyone.
There’s a stunning range of understandable and believable motives across the board. Between Simon, Knightley, Roland and Dogen, the Imprisoned Turnabout doesn’t even have any innocent characters in it, unless you count Regina.
So many of the supporting characters are wonderfully human, villain or not, which is what makes the game such a joy to play in my opinion.
The exceptions to this are Blaise, Gustavia and the body double because frankly, fuck ‘em. They can go die in a hole, lol
descalled
