Metanarrative is challenging to apprehend. When we are part of a story, we naturally pay attention to our experiences first. To understand how the player matters, we must understand the base story pattern — the story archetype — that recurs in The Evil Within 2.

A defintion of terms is useful, here. A story archetype is a recurring narrative pattern. Its characters, settings, and events are changeable, but the same story beats persist. Metanarrative refers to the devices through which a game calls attention to itself as a game. Sophisticated metanarrative supports a game's themes through such self-awareness. Story archetypes and metanarrative are separate storytelling devices that work together.

Metal Gear Solid 2 is a good example of how this works. Players already knew the story archetype from Metal Gear Solid. A specially trained soldier arrived out of obscurity onto a battlefield. Betrayals from supporting characters and revelations about his past undermined his self-assurance, but he emerged with new confidence after the mission's final obstacles. Raiden's story featured different characters, locations, and revelations than Snake's, but the game organized these elements in a familiar pattern. Because we knew the story archetype, we could appreciate the player's role in the game's metanarrative — its self-awareness as the sequel to Metal Gear Solid.

However, The Evil Within doesn't provide the The Evil Within 2's story archetype in the same way. To understand the player's role, we must look to similar material in The Evil Within 2 that excludes the player. Once we observe the archetype apart from our inclusion, we can understand how it uses the player's experiences.

Fortunately, the game provides such an example. Sebastian's guilt resolves with little participation from the player. The character arc starts with given information, develops through cutscenes and occasional dialogue tree selections (which do not affect the story), and resolves in dramatic sequences outside the player's control.

This arc contains all of the archetype's beats. Sebastian labors under delusions fueled by his low self-image. After several failures, he reaches an epiphany that unclouds his perception. He then encounters an emotional situation exactly like the ones he overcame, challenging him to apply the insight to new experiences. He stumbles by defaulting to his old habit, but he realizes midway that he is repeating an mistake. Finally, he applies his epiphany and overcomes the obstacle.