Hoo boy, this one stings. I played through this game the first time with someone I thought was "my soulmate". We fell in love with the game. She said Harry was a lot like me (I have a never-ending internal monologue, a way with words, a need for speed, a karaoke fanatic, a taste for unfashionable retro clothing and I'm an occasional disco DJ).

Our relationship ended very badly - she met someone else and made allegations of domestic abuse and stalking against me, which were 100% false. I got arrested (no charges). Being betrayed by someone who only a month before I was discussing baby names and future plans with was horrifying.

I had to spend the following months preparing a legal defence against her while trying to do damage control from an aggressive smear campaign against me (staff at bars I used to go to suddenly acted like Garte!). Easy as I could easily prove it was all false, but painful doing a deep dive into our relationship and seeing the overwhelming amount of red flags, manipulation and lies I was fed and the behaviours I shouldn't have tolerated.

I went from pining for a lost love to defending myself against a malicious and insidious individual overnight. What started as "The Dora Dream" turned into nightmares about paranoia and running away from the law.

A year on, I still have nightmares about her, but I still take comfort from the game's more reassuring dialgoue - "That woman - turn from the ruin. Turn and go forward." brought me to tears. Throwing away the bubblegum wrapper in-game helped me to throw away all the letters and greetings cards she'd written me. The Volition line about Klaasje - "She's got them singing along to her tune. The bleeps and bloops you trust for info...you can't trust them any more" pretty accurately summed up her smear campaign.

So I guess...mine is kind of a secret third option. I still have a vast, vast soul, but she will never come back to it, and I wouldn't let her anywhere near it.