That quote from Returnal
In September, I watched Jacob Geller's (excellent) video essay on Returnal, and this recurring line from the game (which I haven't played) lodged in my brain. Yesterday I wanted to recall the exact line. Amazingly, I couldn't find it anywhere online, so I am re-posting it here (source):
White Shadow... You were how I escape.
It seems like an excellent through-line for the story as interpreted in the essay. If I recall correctly, it's repeated in meaningful ways in several different interconnected scenes, so connects you back to those and to the story through them.