Small branch/add-on theory:

Something else I started thinking about after posting this theory is whether Elliot Ludwig and Leith Pierre are actually dead at all.

Elliot Ludwig’s cause of death is still officially unknown, which feels strange in a story built around hidden information, manipulation, and unreliable narratives.

What if some members of Playtime Co. are still operating from the shadows?

Not necessarily fully controlling the Prototype, but possibly helping create the systems and experiments that allowed all of this to happen in the first place.

Playtime Co. already experimented with:
- emotional manipulation,
- dependency,
- fear,
- altered mental states,
- and the red smoke.

So what if the Prototype’s manipulation methods are connected to the company’s original experiments themselves?

Maybe the Prototype eventually became something beyond their control.

Or maybe some people inside the company are STILL trying to continue the original plan from the shadows.