If you think about it, the guardians are still dead, but they are trapped in hell. Why do I say this? They are told they are brought back from the dead, the world has been destroyed and the human race is on the verge of extinction. But the guardians are given new powers and they are promised glory. However, they are forced to kill the same enemies over and over again. No matter how many times they defeat Sepiks Prime, or Atheon, they always come back to life. Slowly but surely, they begin to see the dull existence they have been brought into. The tower authorities do just enough to give the guardians hope and to keep them fighting, by promising rewards. But often those rewards are insignificant and they slowly but surely break the guardians' spirit. Some of them lose their sanity and begin to rant and rave about how amazing this world is, while silently weeping on the inside at the dull, repetitive grind. To make matters worse, even if you do make a lot of progress, it is rendered obsolete when new area of hell are added. It's kind of like the story of Sisyphus and the rock he had to push up the hill, only to have it roll right back down.. Another fact that supports this theory is that the guardians cannot die. The ghost always brings them back to life. Even in the "darkness" zones, they will "respawn" after a few seconds. After all, you can't kill something that's already dead. Another amusing thing is that the story of the traveler somewhat parallels the story of Adam and Eve. The traveler gives humanity the gift of power. But soon after, this act brings devastation upon the human race in the form of the "darkness". The traveler is struck down, forced to remain immobile and "asleep", much how the serpent's legs were removed and he was forced to crawl on his belly. But now he is the overseer of hell, tricking evil souls into doing his bidding and torturing them with false hope and the endless grind. So there you have it, you are in hell, the traveler is Satan, and you are doing his bidding when you play this game.