Cherryessa Farm (Ready or Not Lore)

[@edbrook7088]

Based on the evidence we have so far we can indeed conclude that the USIA has a shitty retirement programme

[@Cheeeseyboi]

Yea. No pension system or anything. Probably no medical or dental or 401K either

[@ScuffedWarden]

Bruh imagine being apart of what is essentially the CIA but in a shittier San Fransisco and not even getting a 401k

[@nevtheskid4579]

Probably a better dental plan than FISA.

[@tonypeppermint5329]

Damn

[@doomslayer2290]

Nah it's fine. A good cabin in the woods, and a bunch of new friends to keep you company. So what if they're all in your mind.

[@IrradiatedLimes]

I’ve heard more than a few 911 calls, and the RoN devs nailed how frustrating a lot of 911 operators can be.

[@Devourer221]

American call takers seem to suck

[@gmoralesmorales9212]

To be fair being in dispatch is a job as bad as being an officer. Long hours in a dark room with only computer and tv screens, and hearing all the fucked up shit one will eventually hear on the phone can be mentally draining. Plus depending on how big the dispatching unit is, or if their short handed on staff then it becomes extra taxing when one has to listen, get the information, and dispatch a unit all at the same time. That's why you'll hear them ask the same or stupid questions to confirm if the info is right or they didn't have time to type it out. Last thing to consider is also how long and experience the operator is.

[@Devourer221]

​@@gmoralesmorales9212I've done it myself, previously police radio and ambulance dispatcher. Can certainly hear some horrific things on the other end of the phone. There's a reason why they try and keep the telephonists to a strict script. Helps them get the information without getting lost themselves

[@EyeSky420]

Where I’m from, you can become a dispatcher right out of high school, so, yeah, not great sometimes

[@maarekstele2998]

I kinda want to have my aunt listen it to see how accurate it is (she was a 911 operator, also a suicide prevention operator)

[@User-gd5un]

The name “Judge” is definitely not random. Really looking forward to seeing where his story leads

[@jackahern4218]

The alpha version where he was “Judge Langley” seems even less random in this context, with Langley being the HQ for the real life CIA, the Judge-USIA connection goes even deeper

[@User-gd5un]

@@Ladis1 Imagine the last mission is a home invasion scenario where Judge is being hunted and killed

[@Ladis1]

@@User-gd5un that'd be horrifying ngl. Switching it around so you're the one being hunted would be scaryyyy.

[@Peter-Slash]

There are multiple layers of symbolism going on here. On the surface, it could be a metaphor for how the lives of the suspects are placed in the hands of the officers that arrive on the scene, and how the officers are ultimately responsible for if they get to live or die. But in regards of the story, it could mean a lot lot more.

[@Captainkebbles1392]

​@@User-gd5un home invasion is the dlc mission...omg

[@copman007]

In the world of Ready or Not, Los Sueños is somewhat like Gotham. After watching the lore up to this point, there is no Batman. Only Judge

[@Cowboycomando54]

At this point LS is Mega City 1

[@tonypeppermint5329]

Damn.

[@caellumrevolta2839]

Or new Mexico.

[@JaBr07]

Because in reality, many things are strange for even Batman to deal with.

[@benschultz1784]

The BTAS finale had a vigilante called "the Judge" who wore judicial robes and a wig and killed criminals. It turned out to be Harvey Dent/Two-Face, who developed a 3rd personality in his DID.

[@gooosay]

I shit my pants when I kick open a door and theres a trip wire, unrelated, but still

[@dobryrusk]

It sits in my mind. Even when i play 4U Gas Station, i automatically check for tripwires.

[@jg2323]

​@@dobryruskIts good practice to check anyway. If you peek the door and then nudge it open without doing the actual interaction button it opens silently. Nice if you don't want to alert hostiles from far away or to get the drop when flanking

[@thekhoifish0146]

Meanwhile my friends who play r6s just kicking every door

[@lorenmax2.013]

-"flash and clear" >Open door * CLINK * -"Was it your grenade o..." *BOOM *

[@Kffofi]

I keep fucking missing them

[@Green0-3]

Hmmm. I just had a thought. If Judge is a sleeper agent, and he's the leader of a SWAT team that just so happens to be coming across so many people involved in the USIA, what if, and hear me out here, his programming right now is taking effect within the game? Ready or Not, I have noticed, is more lenient with shooting suspects dead than other similar games. So, for all intents and purposes, Judge might as well have been planted in LSPD SWAT as a brainwashed hitman ready to kill anyone the USIA wants dead, with the latter engineering situations that would put the suspects in the sights of a SWAT team.

[@davidchapman1243]

This is exactly where my mind went

[@aconite72]

But this isn't actually the case, though. I've re-played the level yesterday, and to get an S-tier in both Carrier of the Vine and A Lethal Obsession, you MUST take all the USIA-associated suspects alive. Else, you'd fail one of the soft objectives. So, assuming that all the objectives (and an S-tier result) are what'd happen in canon, Judge actually arrested them all alive. If VOID had actually intended for Judge to be a sleeping hunter-killer, they'd have to leave the objectives blank. It'd be a curious way to tell the story and hint that something's amiss. But again, that's not what happened here.

[@xLeeroycranex]

​@@aconite72 Could be the opposite, where they want Judge to be goody-good Captain America so they can apprehend various assets/sleeper agents/traitors that they need for whatever reasons (ex. want to cover traces, want to Epstein certain people, put some assets back to sleep, etc). Of course, Judge isn't supposed to be a Pawn, according to Gerard, so we'll see what future DLCs have in store for these theories and for what Judge is supposed to be.

[@tonypeppermint5329]

Oh damn.

[@badco27]

Fun fact, if you shoot the goddess carving there’s creepy ass whispers you hear. Gives a supernatural twist to it even if it’s just an Easter egg.

[@tjlinw]

"Hans get ze flammenwerfer"

[@Murabitoo_]

​@@tjlinwreasonable reaction

[@Palash-mo4d]

@@Murabitoo_fr

[@arthurcallahan4735]

SOUNDS LIKE HERESY TO ME BROTHER TIME TO PURGE.

[@herusolares5320]

I said it before, and I say it again: Los Sueños. City of sleepers.

[@declanjones8888]

How did it take me this long to realize that? Thanks for pointing that out.

[@Lightwolf_VR]

That'd be closer to 'the dreamers' than the sleepers

[@aimilize3518]

Los Suenos in Spanish means ''the dreams'', so it's the ''City of Dreams'', which is ironic considering that the city is a literal nightmare for residents and LSPD officers alike.

[@Mateo-oq7ui]

@@aimilize3518 yeah but you have to be sleeping to have dreams and los sueños seems to be full of sleeper agents

[@santoscopywriting4130]

Sleepers is “durmientes”. “Sueños” means dreams idk what you’re on

[@nevtheskid4579]

Also, about who the Goddess is, the cult symbol's three points on a circle probably represent the three phases of womanhood. Morrigan/Morigu is a triune goddess of Macha (war/sovereignty), Nemain (bloodlust/chaos), and Badb (death/fear), which also points to the three points on the symbol. The whole watering-the-tree-with-blood and giant wooden effigies bit is very druidica-esque, as is the concept of warrior women which isn't seen much in Hellenistic cultures except for the Amazons, mostly thanks to Plato. I don't think the cult is Dionysian, I'm pretty sure it's a cult of Morrigan.

[@MrJHM007]

Like the classic idea of a witch coven, meaning The Maiden, The Mother and The Crone? That seems logical.

[@declanjones8888]

I agree the Cult has more of a Morrigan vibe than a Dionysian one.

[@alejandrodiaz7402]

The cult's symbol is meant to invoke a broken chain link with the alchemical symbol for Venus, (the female gender symbol) being the one of the links of the chain. There is a plethora of different paintings and sculptures of different cultures and mythology depicting either divine womanhood, or scenes of male castration. Some of the female suspects don't have any underwear and some dialogue and text implies there is lesbianism within the commune, as well as motifs of nature and agriculture all around the design of the building. Their cult is an amalgamation of various pagan aspects of femininity, including their reverence to nature and the harvest. Their goddess is in my opinion a blend of Morrigan, Nemesis, and Gaea, and perhaps a dash of Athena as she was famous in Greece for being the virgin goddess that hated men, each goddess having aspects that reinforce the beliefs of the cult.

[@declanjones8888]

@@alejandrodiaz7402 I think your right. After reading your comment, it makes the most sense.

[@SouthernRex-1994]

Didn't the devs confirm they worship the image of Medusa?

[@javierdominguez8547]

If the information here remains true for future expansions, it will be interesting to see what they do with Judge. It could either result in an unsanctioned mission to discover the truth or a mission to capture judge for plot related reasons. Another idea is a plant or situation within the PD itself as mentioned by another commenter on the Port Hokan video. It's all very cool to think about, and despite the horrible realities of the vineyard, it still doesn't creep me out as much as Port Hokan and all of it's arachnid darkness.

[@alphabravo424]

True this mission seems tamer than Port Hokan

[@rybybgvgvubghnhn]

the new dlc is called home invasion, maybe the last misson in said dlc would be judge having to fight usia/spider pepole trying to breack into his house

[@mattofdeath6668]

According to Ready Or Not Fandom Wikia, there is a theory which implies that Carriers Of The Vine are responsible of disappearance of one of Mindjot Employee - Keith Arnold. 1. Evidence from Sinuous Trail (Mindjot) - ransom note with picture in background (picture in the back is in similar style to evidence of Eve Nader FOIA) 2. The Missing Hikers stated in ransom note (Mindjot) is a bit confusing - 5 missing hikers but 4 graves - so it excludes each other 3. Pretty obvious - but in painting room there is a newspaper with Voll - but it's unconfirmed whether cult does know about Mindjot Anyway, 30 min video is fire 🔥🔥

[@X-SPONGED]

Maybe the fifth hiker got indoctrinated into the cult and severed all connections to the outside. Would explain the missing grave.

[@Hunter-zn2hx]

The graves are the missing Mindjot employees.

[@DeadManSinging1]

Yep, they were the ones who were kidnapping them

[@Turtle3000]

VOID’s like, “Here’s a cool SWAT GAME…. On the surface, and below WOW. Just wow! Loving the lore and the breakdowns. So excited to see what comes next!

[@Skipper-iv3nd]

New intro goes hard 🔥🔥🔥

[@NICK....]

28:57 that's interesting, i can see the story mode going from the game we're familiar to a much harder one when Judge defects, what if you play as judge and whatever group of rebels end up being there, Having extremely limited resources and intel

[@AverageHomelessMan]

"The radio reception out here is terrible, I couldnt call for backup" *Not even 15 seconds later* "Did you try radioing for assistance?"

[@noobguy9973]

Holy shit the lore went deep with this one. I like this approach to the lore it makes is different from SWAT 4 where you were essentially a SWAT team encountering not or barely related incidents that required a tactical team and just had a organised crime family with the Strechkov Syndicate DLC. But ı really dig this way Ready or Not is going kinda wished more people cared about it.

[@Calhounlaw12]

This is so good I want Shayne to review SWAT 4 someday.

[@SOBEKCrocodileGod]

Fairfax residence lore episode when

[@Calhounlaw12]

@@SOBEKCrocodileGod The entire expansion pack is also great.

[@untiff7169]

see new intro: happy see the video is 30 minutes long: happier

[@scottyboiwashere]

Real

[@nevtheskid4579]

Interesting to me that the middle English grammar is terrible. Probably not intentional, but if it is, it definitely adds to the fish out of water vibes of the civvies on the map. The text *should* read "Thou art not the darkness thou hast endured. Thou art thy light that refuseth to surrender."

[@Pagajewsky]

That intro is a GOAT

[@wolfensniper4012]

One correction is that the "we built monsters" line is said by agent brody, not Raskin. Besides, it might be the continuation of the dialogs between brody and Raskin, so at the time Raskin was given the Mariposa mission, the first cohort already failed. First Cohort might also be a reference to 3rd Echelon of Splinter Cell, a NSA black Ops tean that had the permission to assasinate individuals that poses threat to national security.

[@coughsyrupconnoisseur]

from the way the message is structured, it looks like it’s not being said by agent brodie but rather directed at him; it ends with “-E,” as if being signed off by “E,” which is probably meant to be short for elaine (raskin)

[@gatewayofboredom]

honestly the music you picked for this is fittingly unnerving huge upgrade over the original map imo - here's hoping beaumont gets through okay

[@lobaandrade7172]

My boi Judge better survive 😤

[@koboldengineering7687]

My main problem is the lighting is kinda shit

[@sorthweast3030]

Yeah I've noticed other good choices in the past too including the spec ops the line soundtrack.

[@alexcover1348]

THANK YOU FOR MAKING THE ANNIHILATION CONNECTION!!! That was the first thing that came to my mind when I saw those flower people and haven’t heard anyone comment on it. Also Alex Garland is a fantastic director and I agree, fantastic film.

[@FartlebySockchuckerThe4th]

You can also find BD Rick's phone number on the cork board in the coat check of Neon Tomb

[@AngryBones-]

IM SO HAPPY ITS OUT, this map is by far my favourite and shayne is by far my favourite youtuber to ever talk about RoN. ever since he re-went over all the maps i have been waiting so long for this video 🤠

[@Foxtrot19]

gerard has a tape explicitly directed at eve the PVP era Dam map is the attack on the dam

[@n.e.o5334]

Me: What is this weird church place back here? A few dead cultists later Me: WHAT THE FU-

[@youremyjam]

Amazing video! Love the new intro and all the references and real life connections. + the 30 minute video was perfect for my lunch break 😂

[@zandyphy9130]

Im pretty sure they worship Medusa

[@mattofdeath6668]

Could be, the masks these women were are similar to "medusa rondandini" recreation, also this "cult" symbol is nearly the same as Medusa. Good point :D

[@cjckdbdhx]

Medusa is also a symbol used by survivors of sexual abuse so it'd make sense

[@Fr3nchFrise]

Damn that Judge twist

[@perloudgamingchannel5371]

Finally the Cheryessa farm!God damn... That's soooo much lore here

[@justincholos.balisang6884]

Jesus Christ, it's Judge Beaumont.

[@lobaandrade7172]

Judge is played by Matt Damon 😮

[@justincholos.balisang6884]

USIA is Treadstone confirmed

[@silvadagga]

I love your lore videos so much! They give meaning behind each mission and how they allude to a bigger plot. During my commander mode playthrough of the game, I viewed each mission brief as a SWAT officer would. Briefs would be quick and to the point since officers are usually getting the brief as the situation is ongoing and time is of the matter. Watching your series gives me a completely different look on why missions played out the way they did, and it's refreshing to watch you dig in the lore. Anyways, please don't shut up Shayne.

[@-unusual-]

wow, the new intro, and the production quality went up! i also really liked your analysis part, it was very insightful on how much the USIA has a role in RoN, and how Judge might be a sleeper agent.

[@stevendavis6128]

Something that a different video on Cherryessa I saw made the argument that the Goddess of the cult is Medusa. Who in English translations of Hesiod's version of the story, was a priestess or something of Minerva that was desecrated by Poseidon (As stated, English versions falsely add sexual abuse. In most versions she willingly bedded him instead), And due to the rivalry of Minerva and Poseidon was apparently punished or gifted with her powers and appearance in response by Minerva.

[@DraftTheHippies]

0:18 Old intro captured the intensity of RoN, the new intro captured the suspense and horror of RoN

[@nseven1117]

I like how she's going on a comicbook villain monologue and the 199 operator is just being as professional as she can

[@appletree4222]

New intro is sick

[@andrewdiaz3529]

I like watching these videos for a lot of reasons, one of ehich is to mine ideas for Cyberpunk 2020/Red games. I really like the idea of fleashing this group out into a full faction

[@jestergodfield690]

His name being "Judge" reminds me of the book "Blood Meridian" not that there's any relation between the two that I can see

[@qbass6171]

Always great to see another Cormac McCarthy fan sharing an interest in a great video game. 🙌

[@qbass6171]

“That which exists without my knowledge…Exists without my consent!”

[@kelvingriffiths6017]

Man this game could be an amazing tv series.

[@ClaymoreM18]

I well remember playing this map for the first time, I felt fear like few times before, I asked myself laughing why I was so scared, my heart rate was high, and then... I got one tapped by the last suspect. I must say this map is insane, the moment you open the front door of the chapel, holy....

[@joshdelmundo5899]

15:43 I WAS WONDERING what happened to the downed officers :(

[@operationblackout2511]

To be honest Shayne I'd see the Goddess Artemis as more like their Goddess. She is often depicted as outright hostile to men, and has a group of followers called the Hunters of Artemis. She is also a protector of women, and takes revenge against men who see her naked or who r*pe women. She is also the goddess of Hunting meaning she knows how to fight. Also the statue almost looks like it has antlers, and Artemis is the goddess of wild animals, and sometimes depicted as having such.

[@mrcurry5262]

Love the new intro Shayne.

[@alix.144]

Love the new intro

[@andrewdiaz3529]

I don't think he covered the old version of this map. Anyways, whats interesting about this cult is that while its symbol obviously uses the symbol for female, it is also a mix of a fertility symbol and the wiccan triple moon. Combined with all the artwork of female greco-roman deities, mythological and historical figures, it creates a very interesting cult reminiscent of some real life movements that co-opted feminist symbols and phrases and used them to create extremely repressive and dangerous high control groups, some that led to extreme violence towards members, including trafficking and sexual abuse

[@gregfrohwein5579]

I didn't play this map before the 1.0 release, and it's the only map I did without doing a practice run. To say I was surprised by what I saw would be a massive understatement. Bravo to void for making such an interesting level

[@supernate760]

9:02 He’s expected to be found WHAT?!

[@rubenthekid]

I'm gonna say what nobody else is willing to say; the red scare was completely valid.

[@7cuils567]

You are so on point, I don’t think this is even a theory anymore. Just setting up the rest of the game!

[@HAZMAT10BRAVO]

I hear ‘Red Rising’ and my impression of Shayne as a man of culture is 100% confirmed.

[@Jarod-vg9wq]

8:38 hope they got him.

[@Frosty_43]

Fr

[@ruinwolf495]

This cult is pretty based tbh

[@alfredoelias4760]

This is the one map I was very hyped for

[@RandomAccounte11]

Back for another fire video🔥

[@justanothermedic953]

Great Video! The thing that triggers me the most tho is that we don't know what happened to the two officers...

[@chugachuga9242]

I saw it suggested in another lore video about this map that the two officers were extracted by LSPD just before the mission actually starts.

[@iicustodianlaw]

@@chugachuga9242 wierd to see the 2 officers being extracted but not reported to D Platoon.

[@niemand5126]

new Intro goes hard

[@grimpaipear]

OH MY GOD THE NEW INTRO I MEAN THE VIDEO ITSELF IS A BANGER BUT THE INTRO IS PERFECT FOR THE LORE SERIES

[@ironwolf4273]

New intro goes hard! Great work

[@jts0221]

The environmental storytelling in this game is phenomenal

[@Steam_rolled]

Somebody probably told you this already but when you shoot the tree some spooky music starts to play, there apparently is also a bug where one of the women will spawn in a wall. I found this out after running around for 30 minutes in co-op looking for the last suspect and decided to shoot this tree, turn around when the music started and see one of them pop out of the wall and blast me, fun times.

[@pastaking8777]

Man I love these videos, I use em to play the man in the chair when my buddy plays the game

[@ConnerVain]

25:09 A better example of Mk ultra agents are Mike Howell and Cx troopers.

[@JessFromMead]

Poor judge lol. Dude can't catch a break without someone knowing him.

[@halliwedge]

New intro really poppin', Good job!

[@RAPTOR18B]

Love the new into!

[@thecheck968]

This map is actually the one that disturbs me the most from the game. The cult is objectively evil: indoctrinating women at their lowest points while benefitting when these victims never heal and, instead, spiral further into violence and sexism. But that hatred of someone who wronged someone so deeply is intoxicating. You can see it in this very fandom. How many players decided to enact vigilante justice after finding out what Vole did to those kids? How many people in real life have seen the justice system fail them or someone they love? This game got me to empathize with a cult with a murder board, and that's pretty scary looking inwards.

[@24Ippo]

Maybe that's why they don't send reinforcements to the unit, maybe the unit was built to deal with the loose ends of the agency. Meaning in the future we could be fighting different groups of other agencies that wants to stop them meaning this is how they're going to implement PvP mode

[@Oliver-ld3ei]

Why does the guy on the left look like gigachad Schlatt? 7:30

[@Mr._Zook]

they finally got to him after what he did in '99...

[@DeadManSinging1]

The story telling on this mission is insane. This is the most sympathetic faction in the game, apart from the trans brothers. Doing this non lethal was a challenge, but I felt like I needed to do it.

[@TheJohnmarston72]

7:26 KEITH IS GONNA BE SO PISSED WHEN HE FINDS OUT WHAT ELLIS HAS BEEN UP TOO

[@basementdustproductions1069]

New into is sick

[@SmileyXY]

Am I the only one who noticed that the missing report for Eve Nader by her "husband and child" was made when she was 16 years old? Holy crap, what's going on there?

[@isaacrhodes4617]

Have you done a theory vid specifically about the alt history Vietnam and repercussions on Los Suenos? I find that super fascinating

[@jonfletcher4811]

What bothers me is that you can hear a distinct heartbeat come from the tree when you're in the church building

[@aceofspades0074]

Loving the new intro

[@neoneinar5761]

Love the new intro dude!

[@degenasis]

Red Rising Harmony Cosplay, LOL. Great new intro btw

[@tyranttracergaming]

I know I'm extremely late to this, but during the debrief, when the Lead Officer says "There's been plenty of shit shows over the years in situations like this," he is referencing either Waco or Ruby Ridge. I'm inclined to say Waco, due to the extreme similarities of the map design and the design of the Waco compound (large central courtyard, tall watchtower, church). I wonder if this confirms anything timeline wise. We know the game isn't obviously set in a 1-1 retelling of our currently timeline, due to the Vietnam lore stuff and the 56 presidents or something along the lines of that. I know the Attorney General came under a load of fire due to these incidents in real life, so I wonder if that's what the Lead is referencing, and if Attorney Generals are affected by the large presidential turnover + issues with America.

[@SYDN3Y.]

"Send them all to the slaughter" meanwhile me leaving my bots at spawn and clearing the whole map

[@joeyakathug5215]

100% unrelated to the most shit in this video, but as a guy who is heavily interested in LAPD, I have a theory that Sergeant Perez patrolling with Officer Garcia is a sign of LSPD's manpower shortage. Real life LAPD patrols in 2-officer teams most of the time, while supervisors (Sergeant I) patrolling alone most of the time. Sergeant Perez should be patrolling alone to respond to supervisor requests, which in LAPD is pretty frequent compared to other agencies imo because of their teamwork tactics. Los Suenos is primarily based off of Los Angeles in real life, and LSPD uniforms, vehicle liveries and 90s SWAT gear shows off LSPD is based off of LAPD. Sergeant Perez patrolling with officer Garcia might be a case of lack of rank and file officers to be paired in 2-men team. So a supervisor have to fill in the position. Or, if Officer Garcia is still in field training, then they might lack Police Officers III, or Field Training Officers (If you watch LAPD bodycam footages, they have corporal insignia) and a supervisor have to do FTO duties on top of being a supervisor. Pretty much a meh theory, but I thought it suited well with Los Suenos and its crumbling police department.

[@Storm_Dev]

Hell yeah! Diggin' the new intro; love these videos!

[@gothsato]

you deserve so many more subs

[@Jarod-vg9wq]

9:16 this city makes LA & Chicago combined look nice.The😮

[@sleeping.helper]

This level is the True Detective game I was waiting for ❤

[@djartyom924]

that spec ops the line music

[@yamon1968]

some delta green shit going on with the cave paintings and the whole tree symbolism

[@andrewdiaz3529]

It calls for a Night at the Opera

[@swelldritch2774]

Do we know if theyre planning to add more maps to RoN? Id love to see where they go with the lore

[@escopetadebronce]

I pass my filter exam so wooooo and more wooooo for more lore and theories

[@pyrrhocratic]

6:39 Was that a gorydamn RED RISING MENTION??

[@thegamingshadowyt284]

The intro sequence is amazing but the intro card should be the old one imo

[@errorist3716]

Red Rising Harmony? Are you a Howler?? A Howler in the wild???

[@Theintoxicatedsniper]

Dude I thought this was a sim version of siege…..na not only that it has a lore and backstory to rival that of the peak of trayarchs zombies maps……..I’m in might have to buy this

[@Potato-lad]

20:11 umm dialysis’s colt is just about getting drunk and putting on play so just a average day in Dublin

[@PantherCat64]

The further we get into the literal story of ready or not and what could be happening, the more I want to try and find a symbolic meaning in it. With the issue being, well, the story is not finished so I can’t make anything.

[@nfwrambo]

Look up the arg for ready or not, it’s called the sepulcher, lots of symbolic meaning in that

[@kennethracoma6409]

The wine cellar may have a bit of lore. If you look carefully you'll see alot on mens clothing; What they are doing there we can only speculate. Personally I believe the women strip the men before they perform their "rituals" and they keep their clothes as some time of memento.

[@DeadManSinging1]

I think the goddess is meant to be Gaia, the Mother Goddess, which is why she is a tree. There have never been blood sacrificed associated with her, but likely that is just part of the fabrication on Raskin's part

[@Whatf80]

The new intro is awesome ! Great video :)

[@AterNyctos]

25:32 Gordon Freeman smiling on the bottom right