I just finished all the routes and I gotta say, Im loving the eldritch vibes here. I especially love how when you know so little, for example by doing the William route first(which is what I did), the being seems like a force rather than a physical manifestation. Then between the Nik route and the Murdoc route, you get to see that its kinda both? It seems to be a physical being, inhabiting the mines, that has an aura that affects the town of Echo, which is really interesting! I havent checked out what this is a prequel to, but I almost dont want to. I like how this creature has all the eldritch unstoppable devil vibes....until Murdoc tears the photo. Clearly this beast was manifesting through the imagery to affect Sam, but by doing something as simple as ripping up a photo he destroyed that avenue of influence. This is a beast that has great power, but only in the shadows, and can absolutely get its ass beat. I love those kinds of stories, and Im really excited to see where this goes in terms of taking on that creature and destroying it and its influence.