Listen, I like parts of this franchise, but I've almost always admired it more from a "how on earth can this story about robot bears and an evil purple serial killer who has an almost comical ability to retcon every dramatic death scene he's ever in keep introducing weirder ideas" perspective. And, you know, it never disappoints. The bit where the dude got a robot shoved down his throat that replaced all his internal organs and he threw it up a month later and then just kept going about his daily life was my personal favourite.

With that said, as predictable as it is, the main villain reveal of this game was genuinely some top-notch, supremely well-crafted horror. A really spooky monster with a creepy core ability, unsettling design and killer backstory. I imagine this franchise is mostly meant for kids now, and if so, introducing this villain is going from what most kid horror is these days (aka, Haunted Mansion with Danny Devito) to what kid horror was when I was young. It takes me back to every Goosebumps book where some kid's eyes would get melted out by an evil Scarecrow man and I'd pretend it wasn't scary but sleep with my toy lightsaber that night for protection.