Ruvik's psychosis created a hellscape drawn from his traumas and desires. Sebastian experienced re-enactments of Ruvik's life, and he fought the remains of former subjects whose suffering added to the whole, snowballing the virtual environment into a shared nightmare. Amid the tumult of lost control, Sebastian fought Ruvik for the sanctity of his own mind.

Environmental instability underscored Sebastian's uncertain mental footing. Reality's axis wrenched. Gravity shifted flow at right angles and turned walls into floors, bruising him. Even in a no-damage run through The Evil Within, the world body-checked him regularly.

Sebastian endangered himself whenever he used self-protective violence. Sebastian needed to stop to attack, and stopping increased the likelihood of a quick death. Stalker enemies had one-hit-kill attacks and discouraged direct confrontation, forcing him to flee rather than fight. The anxiety of nearness defined combat.

A safe room within Beacon, to which Sebastian teleported via mirrors, provided refuge against the chaos. Sebastian's ability to enter and leave the safe room gave him a shred of control in STEM. However, even this control was ambiguously good. Tatiana, a Beacon nurse and Sebastian's ward, described his frequent returns as serial self-committals into the hospital. Asylum, literally and figuratively, became an admission of weakness and dependency.

All of these elements — insulation against Ruvik's invasion, nearly unbeatable stalkers, and refuge as Sebastian's one act of control — decided the terms of Sebastian's success. He won by escape.