Honestly, I haven't played it either, but from what was posted I believe the story is about violence being horrific and infectious. The game mechanics include

Honestly, I haven't played it either, but from what was posted I believe the story is about violence being horrific and infectious. The game mechanics include both things that make you paranoid by limiting your perception (increasing violence and reactivity) and a variety of nasty things that do awful things to the non-player characters (the pictured flame and barrel are apparently a good example). That's also pretty certainly what he means about the ending betraying that message, while the rest of the game supports it.