No dogs die on screen, but in an email in episode 2 you read that the mill from episode 1 was actually a puppy mill and a fire burned it all down, dogs included. There is a puppy later, and that dog is fine.
Indigenous themes are frequently and heavily misappropriated in this franchise. In this game they mention “Indian” burial grounds, which is corrected by Rachel to “native peoples”. This is a racist trope that downplays the atrocities of colonialism on the Indigenous peoples or to frighten non-native audiences by othering native culture. A Dreamcatcher is worn by a non-native person, which is a closed culture item, but it depends on outfit you choose to wear. “Spirit animals” is a canon thing in this universe, which is a closed Indigenous practise, Rachel having the “spirit animal” of the doe and Max of the butterfly. When/if they die, their soul appears as this animal. The G slur against Romani peoples is used in a song that plays during the final cutscene, in England this is the correct community name for Roma peoples but this game is American made and voiced, with a American-assumed audience. A black character wears a turban in a play, not being south Asian or Sikh and the play character being a trope of south Asian/middle Eastern white washing and confusing the two distinct cultures. “Slaves” and “wench” are terms used in a period play. “Crippled” misused. Cultural (but whitewashed) Native American costumes used in a historic play, many of the actors not being Native. The term “real mom” is used to refer to someone’s own biological mother, which could be seen as minimising the role her non-bio mother had in raising her. This is said by the adopted child herself when she finds out her mother isn’t her bio mother, but the writers could’ve definitely put a “she’s still your mother, she raised you” line in or something. But it’s complicated by the fact her mother and father don’t tell her until she’s a teenager and the father has been manipulating everyone and trying to kill the bio mother.
Chloe's mother's boyfriend is emotionally and mentally abusive. Rachel's father lies to her for most of her life and is involved in loud arguments with her, as well as attempts to get a hit on her birth mother.
The addiction is to heroine. There is also a lot of stigma towards the person who is addicted, such as notions that she's not a "safe person" to be around, as well as a dangerous/bad mother
There’s a section where you’re instructed to select dialogue options where Chloe demeans a Samoan man for having a cultural flower pattern on his motorcycle and make insults at the perception of this being “feminine.”
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infrequent suggestive dialogue and writing, such as: a joke about losing the v-card, visual of & mentions of condoms, writing in a journal about masturbation, and a fairly long/ passionate kiss scene between the main characters. nothing stronger than these mentions.
Chloe gets daydreams where she imagines herself talking to her father, who died in a car crash. One of her daydreams includes the actual crash, while another has it set as a stage-play.
Chloe's father died in a car accident where he was hit by a truck. Through flashbacks Chloe experiences throughout the game, his death is relived. From intricate detail in the car with the truck, to more abstract where his death is reenacted on a stage with no car or truck, but sound, lights, and blood spatter.