Longshot: The A in C&A is a human intellect that Caine treats as his “AI.” Like the plan was for Caine to play dungeon master while that unseen director, a deliberately silent partner, controls all the PvE stuff. But at some point Caine forgot why only one of them was embodied.

The really dark long-term question is, if Gummigoo returns, will he remember anything? And is that better? If I was writing it for neon existential horror I would say it’s like Socko. “I’ve been where I always am when you’re not wearing me on your hand: in a frightening, liminal space between states of being! Not quite dead, not quite alive! It’s similar to a constant state of sleep paralysis.”