The Prologue

The Prologue is the first chapter of the game, accessible from the moment gameplay begins. It is only present in Version 2. In the Prologue, you play as E rather than ., making this the first instance where the player controls a different character.

Gameplay
The Prologue begins with E waking up after having a nightmare. You then gain control of her and have to walk to the wardrobe to change. Then E goes to get D, who is already awake despite E's remarks of it being early. D isn't in her room, instead she's in the kitchen downstairs. Upon finding her, the game takes control of E for a cutscene, in which D greets E, then gets concerned as she looks like she had a rough night. The conversation devolves into an argument about the situation that they're in, and the fact that they're going to die eventually, which D doesn't seem to think is the case. E complains that D is too stupid to realise the gravity of their situation, then snaps at D, who doesn't snap back, instead taking herself out of the situation, reassuring E that she doesn't hate her for the argument that just happened. Here the player regains control, but upon leaving the Kitchen, you aren't transported back to the living room, instead to E's Mind.

E's Mind resemblances a maze, slightly hard to navigate. Here, E meets a glitchy figure who tasks E with destroying the hearts on the pillars of The Heart Room. This requires solving 4 puzzles around E's Mind, one for each of the 4 hearts on the outer pillars. As the hearts are destroyed, the glitchy figure begins to take shape, eventually materialising after destroying the 4th heart and revealing itself as a bloodshot copy of E. Bloodshot E congratulates E, then explains that the hearts symbolised major aspects of her life, and destroying them meant deteriorating E's mental state. Bloodshot E destroys the final heart, telling E that her 'escape' is finally ready, before emitting a distorted laugh. E is left to slowly walk to the exit of E's Mind, and doing so plays the ending of The Prologue.

Ending
The Prologue ends in the same house that the first part took place in, but at night. E leaves her room, then opens her inventory to place a note, revealing that she is also in possession of a knife. E puts the note outside of D's room, then leaves the house. The screen darkens, revealing a monologue that tells that this was the day they lost their best friend after failing to save her. The monologue then states that 'they became relentless' after this event, and Chapter 1 begins.