I'm scrapping the Lobotomized ending:
While I've been redoing the paths in Re Education, I've realized that I have little desire to redo the Lobotomized path.
In fact, I have little desire to even play through that path.
So I thought back to why I had included that path to begin with. The answer is that I wanted to show a realistic outcome of using a mind control helmet on somebody without knowing how it worked. I wanted to show that, yes, I can go that dark. I'm not afraid to go there. I am not afraid to call out the very tropes that I am using.
However, one of the best tools a writer can employ is to let something that they created sit for awhile, then come back to it later with a fresh set of eyes. Now with the benefit if time and hindsight, I think the Lobotomized ending is too dark, and actually doesn't make much sense.
I think the Lobotomized ending is so dark, that it taints the rest of the paths. I see now that it is possible to go too dark, and actually cripple the rest of the experience.
There is also the fact that as I have fleshed out who Zach is, I've realized more and more that the Lobotomized ending makes no sense.
Zach is not prone to impulsive actions. You can see his well thought out, and calculated approach in the way he uses a burner laptop with no hard drive to access anything that could get him in trouble. He would have taken the time to learn as much about the Re Education helmet as he could. Mistress Red is his fantasy woman. He would have likely rehearsed this scenario over and over, double-checking and triple-checking the helmet's settings.
So the Lobotomized ending is being scrapped, but have no fear! There is going to be plenty of new sexy content to make up for it. ;-)