[MoriartyL]

Originally Posted by Luna Sevithiainen

I just noticed something that strikes me as really interesting. I have a hunch we will have to encounter this only much later in the game (so I don't know whether I should speculate as much as I do now, the speculation on its own maybe spoiler-ish)

Spoiler:

If you enter the name Oliver Metcalf in the computer there is actually a record of him! All fields (except for his name) are classified so there is nothing you could learn from that...but it is interesting. Oliver as a patient? Why? Is he actually delusional and is everything what is happening now only in his mind? Or is he falsely diagnosed?

I saw that too. I figured the reason it was classified was because it was Malcolm's personal file. He related to Oliver as a patient more than as a son, but he wasn't really a patient so he's not in the regular database. I was disappointed to see that Oliver's sister is not in the database.

[Luna Sevithiainen]

Or Malcolm classified it so Oliver can't in an easy way find out about himself, only by experience (exactly what Malcolm wants).
Also a bit to my surprise Josh is not in there...
I'll go do some speculating, and if anything interesting pops up, I'll write

[Fien]

Was Marilyn pregnant or wasn't she?

If you dragged me to Hydrotherapy and threatened to lock me in that awful heat thing unless I said yes or no, I'd scream YES!! SHE WAS PREGNANT! Because Marilyn said her parents were mad at her and they put her away without ever visiting her and I'd think pseudopregnancy would be a reason for concern, not anger. Because the museum info says Dr. Metcalf was known for his "discretion". Because she sounds so innocent.

But I like that the game takes care to make both possibilities equally plausible. For me, not knowing is perfect. This mysterious detail underlines the already pitch black atmosphere. At the same time it's not really important. What matters is that she suffered terribly at the hands of Malcolm, the devel incarnate (who is without a doubt capable of doing the worst of the worst to any patient and to any baby). So we can choose to believe what we want to believe and still have this nagging doubt in the back of our head.

It's also entirely in keeping with the open question why, how and where these events are happening to Oliver and Josh (how is it possible that we see and hear Josh, who's not supposed to be a ghost, and why is that dragon lighter still in the furnace after 5 years? When you discuss your unpleasant experience in the heat thing afterwards with Malcolm, he repeats that objects can take on evil power. But he also suggests that Oliver is going insane and it's all his own doing, taking place in his imagination. Worse, Oliver starts wondering if he hasn't set the trap for himself. Do we know the truth here?

BTW, for those of you who read my earlier rant: I haven't changed my mind about the Blackstone Chronicles. IMO, it's a good but totally disgusting game.

PS: I like the atmospheric sliding from node to node, but when backtracking I use the right mouse button.

[inm8#2]

I think the real horror is not knowing for sure if Marilyn was pregnant or not. Either way, it's a tragic end.

[Fantasysci5]

Originally Posted by Fien

YES!! SHE WAS PREGNANT! Because Marilyn said her parents were mad at her and they put her away without ever visiting her and

I'd think pseudopregnancy would be a reason for concern, not anger.

how is it possible that we see and hear Josh, who's not supposed to be a ghost,

why is that dragon lighter still in the furnace after 5 years?

Well, I think she's convienced she is pregnant, and tells her parents that. They don't know about pseudopregnancy, and take her word for it, so being angry and not visiting her, etc.

It's not until she's actually put in the asylum until the doctors make a ruling that it's pseudopregnancy, but it does sound like a good excuse for them to 'experiment' on her.

I completely agree about how are we hearing Josh? It's only to remind us he's there, I guess. I didn't like that we got to see him, since it broke the immersion, but oh well.

Actually, you bring up a good question. Once Oliver gave the 'presents' out to the people of Blackstone-which happened in the books and they touched on it briefly in the beginning of the game, where did these evil things go? My guess is Oliver collected them back up (discreetly so they didn't know it was him), and put it back in the asylum. Then maybe once he was there, the memories of his father came back alive, and Malcolm told him to put it in their. But I don't believe Oliver would have come back willingly if not threatened with Josh's life; so how did the objects get back there?! lol You bring up a good point I hadn't thought about.

[MoriartyL]

Vis a vis the questions about the lighter and Josh's scenes, I just had a crazy idea. What if there are no ghosts here? What if it's all in Oliver's head, and he's the craziest person in the whole story? He's lived by this asylum his whole life; it's not implausible that somewhere in his head he knows all the inmates' stories intimately and is imagining how they'd act?

Wow, I'm getting shivers just thinking about this. I strongly suspect that this theory is going to be definitively proven wrong by the end of the game, and I wouldn't be surprised if the books totally contradict it, but it's really creepy to think about.

Let's say that Oliver has multiple personality disorder. His misguided guilt over not making his father happy led to him manifesting a personality based on his father. Oliver, as Malcolm, took Josh and locked him in a secret room, then walked back to the entrance and switched personalities. The purpose of this exercise is to prove to himself that he can live up to his father's expectations. At first Oliver has conversations with a painting of his father, imagining his father to be talking back. And then he finds a little toy that looks like his father, and then he just has conversations with the toy.

You know what that reminds me of? It reminds me of Marilyn and the teddy bears standing in for her absent family.

The "Oliver" personality doesn't remember anything about the asylum, because all that information was assigned to the Malcolm personality and the personalities of the dead patients. He interacts with these "people" by looking at photos and rooms and deluding himself into thinking that he's talking to ghosts.

This would explain many things. It would explain why he thinks he's hearing Josh. It would explain how Josh was taken to begin with. It would explain why we hear so many people, but never see anything but the empty building. It would explain how all the supposedly-evil objects got placed around the asylum, and it would explain how they can "possess" Oliver to do things to himself.

So while I'm pretty sure none of what I'm saying here is true, it would kind of fit, no?

[Fantasysci5]

Hey anything's possible, Mory. You know, Malcolm said at the beginning, it may be all going on in Oliver's head. That's another great idea.

Another poll-Do you think this is really happening-with the ghosts, his son, etc-or do you think it's all in his head?

Malcolm did really mess Oliver up, and in the books, Oliver was the "bad guy"-the dark figure, and didn't even know it. So you never know, maybe he did. I think it would kind of take away from the story, at least for me, if it was all in his head, but I do like the idea. I think I'm going to go for the "really happening", but only because I find it more interesting that ghosts would lurk. But I really appreciate the idea it's all in his head.

[Intense Degree]

All in the head? It's an interesting concept (as this guy must have some imagination if this is a delusion!) but on the whole I think not. To be honest, partially because I hope it isn't! This allows me to sympathise with Oliver (for the moment at least ) and also concentrate more on the main personality so far, which in my book is Dr Metcalf.

To me one of the most interesting things so far has been finding out about what Dr Metcalf, and those in his employ/under his control, were doing to the patients and whether it was warrented/necessary or well intentioned (and generally discovering that it probably wasn't!). Therefore, the controlling mind behind this is that of Dr Metcalf and it is his influence we are seeing all over the asylum and his personality that is being revealed. I'm sure that this was the intention of the author as Dr Metcalf has had the most to say about items around the asylum (except rooms where other ghosts are present) whereas Oliver, the "main character" has said comparatively little, except when he is talking to others. Therefore it is the doc we are getting to know rather than Oliver.

So, if it is all in Oliver's head then even the Doctor is an imagining of Oliver and I lose my interesting character study of him!

Also I agree with Fantasy, to me it's simply a better story if it's not all in Oliver's head.

[AFGNCAAP]

I was only able to skim through the last batch of verbose posts for now, but I just wanted to say that I am not a big fan of "AFGNCAAP's theory" myself. Mainly because I think the notion that people who really needed help were treated in such inhumane ways is disturbing enough. Having someone mentally healthy (= more relatable) suffer, somehow, I dunno, cheapens the effect? (Not to mention is a bit cliche, even though I am sure things like that happened/happen all too often.)

Or at least I am reserving judgment until there are clues that other patients we'll be meeting could also have been institutionalised on false pretenses.

[MoriartyL]

Originally Posted by Intense Degree

All in the head? It's an interesting concept (as this guy must have some imagination if this is a delusion!) but on the whole I think not.

Yeah, I don't really think so either. It's just a neat possibility, that's all.


Are we continuing today? I'm eager to get back to the asylum.

[Intense Degree]

Originally Posted by MoriartyL

Yeah, I don't really think so either. It's just a neat possibility, that's all.

Agreed!

Are we continuing today? I'm eager to get back to the asylum.

Me too!

[Fantasysci5]

Originally Posted by AFGNCAAP

Having someone mentally healthy (= more relatable) suffer, somehow, I dunno, cheapens the effect? (Not to mention is a bit cliche, even though I am sure things like that happened/happen all too often.)

Or at least I am reserving judgment until there are clues that other patients we'll be meeting could also have been institutionalised on false pretenses.

I agree, having it all in Oliver's head and having Marilyn with no problems is kind of cheap to me.

And actually, we do meet other people who feel they are "wrongly imprisoned", but with them, it's kind of an easier thing to tell that there is something legitamitely wrong with them.

And I love how you're the "spokesperson" of the playthrough!

And yes Mory, we'll continue today!

My Thoughts;

Sorry it took me awhile to post my thoughts, guys, but I really feel the discussions have been awesome and thought-provoking!

Of course, like everybody, I love the atmosphere of the game! I've always been drawn to insane asylums, especially after playing this game, and learning all of the details is interesting for me. Malcolm is amazingly menacing and clinical at the same time, and I love his off-hand comments about what he thinks about different objects.

It was so ironic if you click on the animal heads in the main room, Malcolm comments how he "never understood the cruelity to animals"...and I just stare at him like he's crazy. He thinks that about animals, but he does all of these horrible things to people?!

The beginning of the game intro scene deals with what happens in the book, about how the decendents of people related to the asylum were given the "evil gifts" and their lives ruined.

I love the touch screens, and how much information you can learn from them. And I absolutely love meeting the inmates. They are so well-rounded and realistic, and so easily characters you feel sorry for and want to help. I also like how they opened up new areas by the patients saying which keys opened what. It helps cut down on extra keys in inventory-and picking which one's right.

I feel so sorry for Jane, because at least Marilyn is upstairs, with her own items around and everything. Poor Jane is stuck down there, in that dark basement full of bad memories. I forget if they say it later in the game, but

Spoiler:

I believe we find out she dies from an ordilie forgetting she was in the steam bath we ourselves were locked in during the timed sequence, and she died there.

The treatments seem so inhumane in today's society, that it's sickening that these people actually thought they were helping the patients like this.

The action sequences seem to be a favorite, although I usually get too stressed when faced with timed puzzles, but what I love about this game is that it'll let you redo the sequence as much as you like. You have to go through those when you pick up the "evil items".

Final thought-It was so sad when Marilyn remembered, because she seemed so innocent and happy at the beginning, but then you can kind of feel a numbness when she remembers, like how she felt when she burned herself, and didn't even notice because she was so numb. The voice actress put the emotion perfectly into that part.

Okay, there are my thoughts. We'll continue today, let me play through a bit more, and see where we should stop.

[Luna Sevithiainen]

Originally Posted by Fantasysci5

I forget if they say it later in the game, but

Spoiler:

I believe we find out she dies from an ordilie forgetting she was in the steam bath we ourselves were locked in during the timed sequence, and she died there.

I also remember something about that, but I can't find it back quickly. I thought it was said in a more general sense of ordilies sometimes forgetting you. She herself tells you that she was released eventually, although that does not seem likely at all, since she is connected to the heat chamber with a sense of dread. So I think what you said is indeed what we found out eventually (if only I'd remember when...)

Originally Posted by Fantasysci5

...but you remember when you first talk to Malcolm at the beginning, Oliver said he tortured him? It's talked about in the books, but I'm not sure if the game covers it. Malcolm says he has to "train" Josh, like Malcom once trained Oliver to give those gifts to people to get revenge. How do you think he did? I'm not sure if I want to spoil your speculations or not...

Also based on what Mory said about Malcolm relating more to Oliver as a patient, I can imagine him putting Oliver through all the torture he put the inmates through as well. Also, as Malcolm said in the intro, he was only using pain as a motivational device, it was pure rational...it sounds a lot like the reasons for using the treatments on the inmates, all for their own good, maybe a bit painful, but that was only necessary to achieve the greater good...

Really bad things happening to you can cause you to dissociate from what is happening, maybe even to actually forget what has happened. I diagnose Oliver as having dissociative amnesia (memory impairment about a traumatic event). Because of all the traumas he had during his "training" he may have forgotten most about what actually happened (hence the revisisting is needed to trigger his memories that must be still lurking somewhere), but he also knows a lot about his youth, so he has not dissociated from everything.

I wonder why the gifts were really distributed...In the intro Malcolm says something about giving the gifts as a revenge to those who ruined his life work, or something like that. Oponents of the asylum? Those who dared to speak up against the atrocities done? In the intro, you see that one of the victims of the gifts is Jules Hartwick. Related to Louisa Hartwick, teh leader of the woman's group in the asylum? I am almost certain they are related. Maybe Louisa told Jules about what really happened in the asylum and maybe he tried to do something about it, in that way ruining Malcolm's life work of treating mental patients the way he wanted/thought to be right?
But then...Malcolm had a reason to send out Oliver for the gifts, but why the other descendants? Maybe they had opponents against the asylum as well, or maybe those reasons were more personal...

[Fantasysci5]

Originally Posted by Luna Sevithiainen

In the intro, you see that one of the victims of the gifts is Jules Hartwick. Related to Louisa Hartwick, teh leader of the woman's group in the asylum? I am almost certain they are related. Maybe Louisa told Jules about what really happened in the asylum and maybe he tried to do something about it, in that way ruining Malcolm's life work of treating mental patients the way he wanted/thought to be right?
But then...Malcolm had a reason to send out Oliver for the gifts, but why the other descendants? Maybe they had opponents against the asylum as well, or maybe those reasons were more personal...

Every person in modern time who was given a gift, had an ancestor connected to the asylum. Some were opposed to what he was doing, but most of the people of his time were patients there. I believe Jules was the son-in-law of Louise, although my timeline may be wrong, but I know she was slightly before his time. Malcolm gives these gifts out to the descendents of people who were associated with the asylum, as Louise was. Actually, in the next segment, I can tell you more about the next patient, who has another connection with Louise and a somewhat-surprising revelation. Muahaha. Now you want to know, don't you?

And my apologies to Fien.

[The Doctor]

Hi! Glad this one has started, will try and join in on this; sorry if I disappear halfway through, hopefully will get a chance to sit this one through (one day I will turn up unfashionably late like Sophie and Rebecca, sneak into the thread and post a few more thoughts on the rest of Last Express - sorry, Fien!).

I've not read the book(s?) but I have played Blackstone Chronicles before and my main non-spoilery memories are that it's a great game but also that it's quite unsettling. I remember very clearly a couple of the patient's stories, including Marilyn's - certain of the stories are so very tragic and cruel, they stay with you long after you've finished the game...

Gameplay wise, not too much new to add. The conversations are handled well, I like how you choose the option you want and the voice acting continues things from the next sentence along, rather than simply reading that same line aloud. Also the voice acting is great and unusually for me, I'm not yet tempted to read subtitles instead and click on through the acted dialogue to speed it up. The one exception is perhaps when Oliver speaks to Josh as in those exchanges Oliver comes across as a bit too calm and controlled, and somehow that's a little creepy given the situation (the one thing that makes me think he did perhaps unknowingly put Josh there himself!).

A couple of minor points. It can be a little too easy to bring up the options menu if you're checking for hotspots nearer the top of the screen. Plus the movement arrows tend to flick away from 'door you can enter' into 'turn left/right' too quickly so it's sometimes easy to mis-click, but to be fair it just takes a moment or two to turn back round again if, like me, you keep missing the doors I don't mind the animated transitions as you move forwards, to me they work quite well. But I'm also not keen on the photos of Josh appearing, as that tends to throw you out of the feeling of exploring wherever you were on-screen; it might have worked better to just hear the dialogue in those sequences, at least after the first time, or even to use a smaller image on screen.

I have a feeling I'm missing an opening cutscene; just looked back, and yep, I was! Don't think I saw that when I first played this either, although most of that gets explained again pretty quickly within the game. I guess it does open up the potential for 'is it in Oliver's mind?' a lot more as that cutscene is a bit inconclusive, and arguably puts some question marks over Oliver's sanity. My own take on the story is that it's intended as real and that things are being manipulated by Malcolm's spirit, rather than Oliver delusionally imagining all this, but that's an interesting theory. Josh himself effectively says that he was taken by his Grandpa, so those conversations would have to be imaginary if it was Oliver who kidnapped him (if indeed, he's been kidnapped at all and that isn't just something Oliver's imagining too; you know, I think it's just easier to assume this is 'real'! ). Regardless, it's a fascinating set up and one that makes me want to track down the book.

Marilyn's story is very sad; I also think she really was meant to have been pregnant. The family covering that up would make sense, and it'd be easy for Dr Metcalf to say that they gave the baby away for adoption, as presumably their parents would have instructed (and I'm guessing they wouldn't have asked to see it). Unknown to the parents, Metcalf diagnoses a delusionary pregnancy so that there's no record of the baby existing and no murder to cover up. The fact her parents were so angry at her and even stopped the sisters visiting, suggests it's more than a simple mental delusion; I think they'd care about her a lot more if she wasn't pregnant. In that scenario I don't think Metcalf would have risked telling the parents his diagnosis, as that could have reconciled them somewhat and in turn could risk them discovering that she was pregnant. I should add that's just a theory (I have no medical/ professional knowledge backing it up, ignore the user name ).

The other thing that makes me think that she really was pregnant is the change in Marilyn halfway through this segment; she starts off as mildly delusional, or perhaps to be more kind, she's simply not remembering the various traumas she went through (both with Tommy and her parents, and those at the asylum). When you see her again after you've entered Hydrotherapy, she's become totally depressed - that's a really horrible change to hear, incidentally. I remain impressed at how much this game gets you to care for the stories that are told by a disembodied voice and a photograph! Anyway, when depressed Marilyn does now remember exactly what happened; most importantly, she is very realistic about Tommy and even questions whether he ever loved her at all, or was just using her from the start. Yet she still absolutely states she was pregnant and that Metcalf killed her daughter. Why keep that fantasy going when all the motivations behind it seem to have gone - she doesn't seem to be deluding herself that it might have brought Tommy back or made him love her, and it's no longer bringing her any comfort or happiness. I think at that point, everything she says is truthful.

Malcolm is certainly sick and twisted enough to do that, although this time round I find it interesting that even he is given a possible trigger for his own actions, through losing his wife and then his daughter a few years later. I think playing this before I'd missed that and had just assumed he was intended to have been an evil figure throughout his life and career, now I think that he's perhaps just experiencing his own form of madness brought on by the tragedy, and perhaps only became this evil character for the last few years of his life - perhaps in the years before he was a genuine Doctor attempting to heal, not torture, his patients.

Another thing that's unclear at the moment is whether the orderlies had any part in the asylum's evil, or if they simply didn't care. Perhaps they were happy to do as instructed and never questioned whether the treatments were cruel, believing they were doing good, or maybe they knew they were wrong and enjoyed torturing people with water jets etc. Either thought is pretty horrible. Having not read the book, there's also an interesting suggestion that the various objects are what carry the evil, and triggered townspeople to kill themselves - the intro scene mentions something of this, and likewise it's said about the lighter Marilyn used on herself. Perhaps the building itself creates it's own evil (perhaps in turn, it corrupted Malcolm). I'm wondering when the lighter become cursed in this way - was it already cursed when Marilyn's sister bought it, did it only become an 'evil' object because of what happened at the asylum, or did the asylum corrupt it as soon as it was brought there? And another thought, was Marilyn's fate therefore induced by the lighter (as I gather the other townsfolk who received these objects were forced to kill themselves/ others?), or did she choose to do that to herself? Is it even possible Metcalf burned her to death - we know he took her to the furnace and burnt belongings which has a nasty kind of connection to her fate, and perhaps he could have set her alight and claimed she'd done it herself. It sounds as if the book rules out that last possibility at least.

The timed sequence I again got stuck on; I remember doing exactly the same thing before, and finding this a little irritating and illogical (shame I couldn't just remember the solution!).

Spoiler:

I spent several attempts through this trying to find a hotspot around one of the visible bolts/nuts on either side of the lid, knowing I had a wrench - I'd not thought to use the lighter again on the thermostat and eventually resorted to a walkthrough for this one bit. Wouldn't be so bad, but this sequence crashed the game on my PC a couple of times, so took a good few goes before finally getting past it. Grr.....

One of the more unsettling notions in the story is that the madness and evil continues on after death, perhaps even more strongly than in life; I suppose you hope that everyone finds their own peace, or at least is stopped from causing more harm. Curiously I don't mean the patients, certainly so far they don't seem mad at all; I mean Malcolm. Horrible idea that he's keeping the others there and continues to commit more evil, with no remorse and nothing to stop him.

Just noticed AGFNCAAP and Fantasysci5's posts about the patients being sane or not; I agree totally with that, it does cheapen things if it turned out that everybody we meet was sane and had been wrongly diagnosed as mentally ill. However, I don't think it's as clear cut in this game; personally I think some patients are wrongly diagnosed, and some of them do have genuine mental issues or illnesses to one degree or another. I do think in Marilyn's case she had nothing mentally wrong with her at all. Or at least not when she entered; the depression caused by her treatment and potentially murdered baby, on the other hand... The other patient so far, Jane, says she had a nervous breakdown. Again she comes across as very rational, and with modern eyes if it was a breakdown then an asylum is probably not the most suitable method of rehabilitation. I only remember enough about two other patients - the one I believe we're meeting next who is clearly stark bonkers delusional (and rather charming!), and one later on who's heartbreaking, and I would argue forever not in any way mentally ill, just punished through societal attitudes and ignorance of the time. I'd say it's a mix of cases of both people who were and weren't mentally ill, all of whom are connected by being tragic and treated unforgivably.

Looking forward to part 2!

[MoriartyL]

Originally Posted by Fantasysci5

Okay, there are my thoughts. We'll continue today, let me play through a bit more, and see where we should stop.

I couldn't wait, so I continued a bit. Sorry.

If you talk to Malcolm again,

Spoiler:

the game suggests the same thing I did: that it's all in Oliver's head. I was pleasantly surprised by that.

I feel like the game's kicking into high gear here. Suddenly there are so many more characters, each providing a different angle on the asylum experience. The item-hunting seems to be less obtuse, there's constant access to new areas, some of the problems you come across can be solved quickly as opposed to left for later.

[Luna Sevithiainen]

Originally Posted by Fantasysci5

Spoiler:

I believe we find out she dies from an ordilie forgetting she was in the steam bath we ourselves were locked in during the timed sequence, and she died there.

I found back what she said on that, it is said when you look at the heat chamber after finishing the timed puzzle. She says she knows a woman who died in there because the ordilie forgot she was in there, so not herself. Alhough, of course, she may still mean herself. After all, she is connected to the chamber (even though she tells you she is released...a bit odd). Do we know her last name? The computer doesn't know 'Jane'

[MoriartyL]

Originally Posted by The Doctor

Josh himself effectively says that he was taken by his Grandpa, so those conversations would have to be imaginary if it was Oliver who kidnapped him.

Well, yes, it is imaginary. I mean, wouldn't it have to be? It's not like Josh is a ghost, and it's not like Oliver's literally in the room with him. So unless there's some telepathic link between the two of them, we haven't actually spoken with Josh. (This is true whether or not the rest of the story is real.) We've heard Oliver imagining what Josh is going through, that's all. For all we know, the real Josh could already be dead.

(To those who've played the game before: please don't confirm or deny that. I want to see where the story goes.)

[The Doctor]

Originally Posted by MoriartyL

Well, yes, it is imaginary. I mean, wouldn't it have to be? It's not like Josh is a ghost, and it's not like Oliver's literally in the room with him. So unless there's some telepathic link between the two of them, we haven't actually spoken with Josh. (This is true whether or not the rest of the story is real.) We've heard Oliver imagining what Josh is going through, that's all. For all we know, the real Josh could already be dead.

(To those who've played the game before: please don't confirm or deny that. I want to see where the story goes.)

Hi MoriartyL! That's actually more or less what I meant; I honestly can't remember this point from before, but my take was that - if this is indeed real, and not in Oliver's mind - then the contact between them is some kind of ESP/ telepathy, near definitely facilitated by Malcolm. I assumed he was letting Oliver see Josh every so often in order to increase the pressure on Oliver, using some kind of supernatural power. Hey, if as a spirit he can kidnap and imprison a boy, and initially make the asylum appear derelict to Oliver, then setting up the esp/ psychic connection should be a doddle

I guess I just view it as either all real, or all delusional - either the whole lot is imagined and Oliver's walking around an empty building haunted by his own mental ghosts, or else Malcolm is behind all this (in which case I just accepted that we are really meant to be seeing and talking to Josh). If Oliver's unstable enough to imagine that part, he might as well have imagined the lot.

[MoriartyL]

Originally Posted by The Doctor

I honestly can't remember this point from before

I actually meant not to confirm or deny whether Josh is dead.

I guess I just view it as either all real, or all delusional - either the whole lot is imagined and Oliver's walking around an empty building haunted by his own mental ghosts, or else Malcolm is behind all this (in which case I just accepted that we are really meant to be seeing and talking to Josh). If Oliver's unstable enough to imagine that part, he might as well have imagined the lot.

Is it possible that Malcolm's spirit temporarily possessed Oliver into kidnapping Josh and setting up the items? That strikes me as the most plausible explanation for what's going on. All the scenes so far with Josh (including the first one) are scenarios Oliver's imagining; the rest is all real.

Edit: The problem I have with saying it was Malcolm in his own body kidnapping Josh is that so far none of the ghosts have been visible. And Malcolm's actual body is presumably buried somewhere, no? So how the heck did he appear to Josh? Which suggests that the conversation between Josh and his grandfather is just how Oliver imagines that it happened when he finds out that he's been kidnapped.