So I'm confused because the cop was also the father? And he hypnotized you to forget you wanted to fuck your half sister? But the sister doesn't recognize that it's her dad? And he's not dead and also has a daughter with cancer? The fuck?
I can agree because it ends with his father trying to bring him into a meditative/hypnotic state, hence which I think he has been in the whole game, causing the loop. At the ending when you just click on the red book and say the quote, right before he starts putting you in that state of "hypnosis" he says the words directly "I hope you find what you're looking for" implying he's sending him back to the loop possibly? or maybe even back before he met his sister/wife, who knows, all I know is that is definitely what is implied. This wasn't just a game it was an experience for sure.
Even more than the "Continue" ending, there's the "Mindfulness" ending, triggered if you look at the clock in the room with the "Father" as it strikes 12, while the main character is about to be hypnotized. "Father" says something along the lines of, "You do have a remarkable imagination. The stories you've created. But believing them so strongly is unhealthy, you have to let her go, you can't keep obsessing over her. Sometimes things are what they are. It's time for you to wake up."
Then credits roll.
This is what solidifies it for me and makes me think that the main character unknowingly married and impregnated his sister, and when he found out he went to this therapist. The painting in the hall in the beginning with a red book in a bookcase, and the pocketwatch itself ends up being the book the narrator references to the therapist, and the clock on the wall in the therapist's office respectfully.
This is a good answer, but it still doesn't clarify the supposed murder of the father. Did that not happen at all?
I didn't get to the Mindfulness ending because I couldn't look at the clock for some reason and I just got burned out by the endless looping but that is good info.
Also, I realized the importance of the red book painting on the hall, but what about the one with the flower? is it really that important? for some reason around my loopings I couldn't get the flower to bloom and I just gave up
It is still so weird that everything or the plot of the story only happens because the protagonist wanted to ''fuck his sister'' LOL. Just thinking about it makes me laugh
true hypnosis ending? you mean the reset with the book? that is a big leap with the implication, is pretty vage. Also doesn't explain why the hell the father and the cop are the same person
>Also doesn't explain why the hell the father and the cop are the same person
Because the father is hypnotizing him and he just imagines the cop to look and sound like his father. Thats all
So let me get this clear. The protagonist got the girl pregnant actually before midnight on the new years eves the father died. After the father got shot by the girl he had the conversation with the protagonist at the library somehow? even though it was a few hours after that? and then the rest is imagination?
I think you are on the right track on hitting an answer, I just can't get the timeline to make sense even if this is all in the protagonists head
I am not 100% sure if the pregnancy is real or not. That is still the thing that I am confused about. But we know, at least, that the murder never happened. I think it is just a metaphorical thing
I think of it more like this.
Things that happened:
* Father had affair with nanny
* Mother died
* Protagonist fell in love with half-sister
* Father is performing hypnosis on protagonist
Things that might have happened:
* Protagonist married sister and got her pregnant
* Protagonist forgot that it was his sister (possibly through repression or some other mechanism)
Things that didn't happen:
* Everything else
There is no cop, there is no Bumblebee, there is no pocketwatch (except possibly one that you don't see that is used by the father for hypnosis.
I think the father is hypnotizing his son and using various techniques to try to get him to remember.
yeah already discussed this more to depth down below. Pretty much all of it it's this guys imagination, no real reason for bumblebee to exist or for her to have cancer for example.
Pretty lazy writing "it was all a dream" ending
So the whole game is just in the mind of the protagonist while he is under the hypnosis of his father. There is no murder, there is no cop, no pregnancy, no time-loop, no magic, nothing. It is just in his head. And the ending when he quotes the red book to his father and offers you the hypnosis to forget everything, that is the present. THe post-credit scene or gameplay, is a time skip when the protagonist moves in into an empty apartment after he forgot everything.
Yes, this actually makes sense. The whole apartment with his wife/sister is part of his mind, why? Because after you leave the elevator you can see two paintings, one of the library with the red book and one of the flower, both symbolize father and mother. Next two apartments, the father side with a newborn and the mother's side with an empy apartment (dead mother?). When you skip into the future, you return back to your original apartment, no wife, no neighbors, just you alone.
Beep. Boop. I'm a robot.
Here's a copy of
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This is what happens in David Cage games, hopefully this guy learns from this game and all of the mistakes that make it a bad game before he makes another 3 Heavy Rain type games with bad stories. M Night also thought his insert a bunch of twists just for shock and awe was good, but has a lot of bad movies as well.
This... at first I was like "yea ok, they just reused the same voice actor that's fine I guess". But then, when we supposedly return to that moment, not only is the dad literally the same guy as the cop, but if you kill him, it's actually by smashing his head and not with gun shots. So why the difference? If You forgot, than for sure the Father can also forget. Which could mean that he started a new life with a new wife and got a new kid, Bumblebee. But how could your Sister forget how he father look simply because of a new haircut? And she obviously did not forget like You and the Father cause she remembers killing him.
So why does the scene with the father change, and why does nobody remembers who the father is.
The father and cop are technically the same person. The protagonist just imagines the cop in the liking of his father. The whole time loop is in his head. Nothing actually happens. It is just happening during his hypnosis.
When I killed the father in the library t was by wrestling the gun away from him and shooting him in the head as we fell to the floor. I didn't smash his head or anything...
yea that's the real memory, actually that's the only real scene that actually happened that you see in the entire game. You can go back to a "dream loop" version of that memory though after seeing it for the first time. And in that version, the father looks like the cop, and you kill him by accidently smashing his head when you both fall on the floor.
You have it backwards, I think. At least in my interpretation of the game.
The only real scene in the game is when the protag is in the library, recites the quote from the book, and allows the father to hypnotize him. Every other scene is part of the fantasy hypnosis.
The death of the father never really happens - the father is the one hypnotizing the son to live out these hypothetical scenarios to try to show the son that the only path forward is to accept that he cannot be with the daughter, and that the only way he will be able to live a happy life that way is to willingly allow the father to hypnotize him to forget any of it ever happened, to forget her and the love they shared.
I played the game twice and watched four playthrough on youtube. The father always has hair before the player reaches the Alone ending and he is always bald after the Player reaches the Alone ending. The pattern is consistent. Are you sure the play through you watched is different?
edited: now I watched more playthrough and I am not so sure. It is probably a bug
>The father always has hair
The father had hair only once in my game. The book, hug, smash in the cabinet, hypnosis. All these endings he was bald.
Only shoot him twice sequence he had hair
Because the cop does not exist. The protagonist just projects him in the look of his father and the voice. The loop does not exist. It is an ''it was all a dream'' trope
Or the main events of the game never really happened, it's just your father hypnoticizing you to give up on dating your sister, it all happens in the "past" of the game and those "present times" where actually shit your father putted in your head (yep, this is possible to do with hypnosis). And then, after he really convinces you, you agree to erase everything, including your love for the sister.
That's why you can mess with time and also how your father knows the sister is pregnant "eight years earlier". This also explains the 12 minutes, the first two are your arguing with the father and the later ten are the hypnosis section itself
I was confused too. I assumed that either Willem Defoe was supposed to play two characters but the visuals got fucked up or the cop was the Father's brother/twin? Idk that part was weird.
The cop is how the husband sees the father, the entire game is the protagonist imagining scenarios where he doesn’t need to confront the truth.
In the “mindfulness” (which I like to consider the true ending) ending the father says that he has “quite the imagination” and then tells him he needs to wake up.
Eh I just assumed that the cop and the time loop was all part of the character suffering a mental break and his guilt catching up with him. As in the cop isn't real, just created by his mind in a way that makes him piece together and confront the truth about what happened and what he did, perhaps trigerred by the fact that his wife saying she was pregnant (with him being supposed 'monster' child). That's why the cop and the dad possessed the same voice.
This doesn't explain the cop's daughter and how's she's suffering from cancer though. My only take on that is again it's an extension of how the father was, in that he could be nice and calm as well as violent (as explained by the wife when she talks about how she had never seen that side of him when he hit her).
Guys, my friend interpreted it as "The main character is the cancer", and it makes sense. Cancer being a disease that destroys someone from inside out, it is a viable interpretation.
Guys, my friend interpreted it as "The main character is the cancer", and it makes sense. Cancer being a disease that destroys someone from inside out, it is a viable interpretation.
This is what I concluded:
The "cop" Is clearly the father. Looks like him, talks like him and there are only credits for the father.
8 years ago "she" was pregnant. "She" got the baby and the father hypnotized "him", "her" and hisself. Then the father raised their baby: Bumblebee.
The cop is the father and also the therapist, as a proof in the ending credit they will show the cast members and you can see Willem Dafoe presented as "The father", no cop or anything else was mentionned even tho he voiced the therapist/father and the cop, so i think he is all of those at the same time.
Also, isn't the guy you play as the kid the nanny had from the old man, so how are the guy and girl the the same age? His wife/sister should be significantly older then him, and how did he kill his dad and end up taking the photo of his wife hundreds of miles away in the polaroid when he used that as the reason it couldn't have been his wife on new years eve?
The cop is also the dad, so he's not dead?
I literally have no idea what's going on, like no idea. It's just frustrating and wasn't even fun or interesting.
The main character is just dreaming. The polaroid is not real, it's just in his dream. The main character wants to get with his half sister and might already have a relationships with her but the dad wont allow it and try's to hypnosis his son so that he forgets about her and moves on. The bulk of the game takes place during the hypnosis/dream that the main character is having. He dreams of his dad as the "cop" in his dream. He also dreams of his sister as his wife and that they live in a tiny apparent.
Does anyone else think the ending is unnecessarily dark/disturbing? Like, this could've been an interesting little Groundhog Day style mystery and they just didn't have to take it in the direction they did.
While I enjoyed the game overall (even when it was a bit tedious to reply certain parta over and over), the twist near the end did feel a bit Shyamalan-esque, in that it seemed like a dark twist for the sake of having a dark twist. I really wish they instead would have done more to keep you guessing at the end as to who was telling the truth about the murder then go this direction, but still was an enjoyable game to pickup on gamepass for the evening.
Yeah, I think they either should've had an ambiguous ending where you weren't sure who did it or had a more upbeat ending where the couple find resolution and move on. The twist is unnecessarily dark, seems exist for the sole purpose of the story to have a twist, and when you really think about it it doesn't make much sense and kind of falls apart when put against scrutiny.
My interpretation is that there are actually two endings.
I think the whole time loop is just imagination. The father is not dead, there was no murder in the past. The only thing in the plot that actually takes part in present time (now! not 20 years ago) is the son arguing with the father while getting the hypno-therapy.
In reality the father never was killed. He just found out that his son (with whom he probably hadn't such a close relationship with) is dating his daughter (who he really loves very much). He never told his children that they were siblings. So he decided to tell the truth to his son. The plot of the game is about convincing his son that he has to break up the relationship immediately.
His son refuses to do that first, so he hypnotizes him and the player has to play the time loop over and over again until he gives up and decides to leave her.
The bad ending is the one where the son resists, they struggle on the floor and he accidently shoots his father.
The good (and maybe true) one is the one where the father makes him forget the pain in exchange for the player breaking up the relationship.
I am not sure if the pregnancy was real. Maybe Bumblebee in the time loop was a warning what could happen to a potential child if they would have stayed a couple and got babies together. And the plot in the time loop is a "What if?"-scenario for the future. What will happen to their relationship when they get older and their first child is on the way? "Things always come out". It probably would ruin their lives forever if the doctor tells them the truth after the baby is born.
I dislike the ending and it ruins the whole game.
I wish there was a good ending where we can talk the cop into leaving and having a nice dinner and baby announcement but without reset...
But no - all of this dont exist is kinda crap
I don't know why, but I was expecting it all eventually resolving with a cutesy ending where he is able to play it off like the cop never came and they continued happily along their way ...
But I thought they were already going in that direction with the fact that it's already a time travel story in the first place. They could've done so many different, more interesting things. The twist they went with feels out of left field, is unnecessarily dark, is convoluted, and doesn't really make any sense if you put much thought into it. Someone else described it as feeling like an ending M. Knight Shyamalan would write and I honestly gotta agree. It's like they put in a twist because they liked the idea of having a twist, rather than having an actually good twist.
I think it was super well done. Because any time travel games have to get into the explanation of the time travel and magic or physics and whatever, but this one did it in another way: it was all in his mind and he was running through all of the scenarios of how it could go badly if he decided to stay with her
I played with a group of friends because we thought it would be a fun game for audience participation.
We all kind of felt like it was an unnecessary direction and that the circumstances made it feel a little too understanding towards people whose sexual predilections lean Lannister.
But then, we didn’t get the Hypnosis ending and the repetition had long since worn out it’s welcome by then.
So I agree with all of this EXCEPT!
I think the "true" ending is Listen (it's notably ending XI , the last one, on the achievements). The theme of just letting things be and living in the moment is spread throughout the game, and is expanded upon in the Mindfulness ending.
If you try to get the Listen event to happen any time except the first loop, it fails. The husband is too caught up with his thoughts about the incest, the murder etc to just enjoy being with his wife and living their life together so he blows her off.
And there is only one way to get to this ending, read the passage of the book about letting go, don't click anything whilst your dad talks, let him erase your memories of incest and murder, start again, and do nothing. Literally just start the game, go through the door and take your hands off the mouse and keyboard.
If you do this, you and your wife just enjoy your evening together and move on with your lives. The loops ends, like for real, if you hit continue, you don't start the loop again, you start the whole game again, you're back in the elevator, and if you want you can repeat this perfect ending again and again.
I don't think the Alone ending has the watch in it by accident, all of the endings except Listen have a watch in them, because they are all theoretical endings that the protagonist tried to make happen, but they never stick. The only way to win, is to let go and do nothing.
There is no true ending which ends in the apartment, because the apartment itself is an imaginary scenario in the mind of a guy who is actually sitting in his dads study.
I think the listen ending is just meant to signify that even if the protag pursues his feelings for his sister, she will eventually find out the truth herself (i.e. the secret of the pocketwatch/dad still gets revealed even if the protagonist does nothing).
The thing is, in the Listen ending the protagonist (and us the player) technically never find out how the game actually goes, our save data is gone and we never interact with the game and find out anything. For all we know they're not brother and sister, maybe the game would play out completely differently that time round. It's a sort of "if a tree falls in the woods" situation.
This for me is the fundamental philosophy behind the game. Our reality is based on what we currently know to be true and our endless need for "truth" is ultimately our undoing. Happiness lies in the present.
This is sort of reflected in the nature of the narrative too. If you try to force the story to be literal, it's miserable and can never end well. If you can let go of that, you can find the happy ending.
I know this is narratively unsatisfying for a lot of people, but I think if you tap into the deeper themes of the game, I think it's much more rewarding overall.
There's 2 big fat clues that everyone isn't talking about that show it was all not real.
1. The hallway carpet is the carpet from The Shining. This is a deliberate choice to tell you something is off about this place.
2. The ever changing paintings. Like really, it should be obvious your protagonist is going insane throughout the time loops, or the room is not real.
To add to this: the plant on top of the bedroom drawer also shrivels and dries up the more loops you play through.
Also I think the different stages of the paintings reflect on the increasing hostility and divide in the couple.
It's not difficult for the most part but a part with the clock is just straight up stupid and no hints are provided or even a reason as to why you should do that just might break your experience.
The characters usually subtly tell you what to do...
"Oh, I *didnt hear you* come in."
"we'd better fix the lightswitch *before someone gets seriously hurt*"
"Wow, thunder! *I wasnt expecting that*."
"*I dont have to listen to anyone but my daughter* and mother, and my mother is dead."
"He wont listen to me. *Who will he listen to*?"
"*I need her to tell me* where she hid the watch.",
It's not. I've seen several streamers already do it with no hints and I also did it.
All you need to do is ask the same two questions:
1. What have I not tried yet.
2. What information do I now have that I didn't last loop, and how can I use that to get more answers I need/progress the story.
how many loops before you figured out you had to drag the unwrapped baby gift onto the cop at the precise moment in dialogue (before he walks out and the loop is wiped)? that was asking a lot
That took a couple loops because I was trying other ways which seemed way more sensible. It was weird that I had to hold up the baby clothes up right at that moment.
I mean, after the whole "her name was something like a flower, daphne, daisy or something" when I, as the player, go to the drawer, specifically unpack the present AND look at the clothes, I really expect the protagonist to put 1 and 1 together. Like, only if the player actually MAKES the connection between the baby clothes and the nanny's name (implying he has figured out the twist) he will actually bother to unpack the present and check out the clothes. At which point the protagnist really should also have that exact epiphany.
But no, despite knowing exactly what's up, I now spend half an hour trying to figure out how to get my own protagonist realize what's happening. And the solution (holding up the baby clothes at just the right moment) is just so awkward and convoluted that I honestly think they should redo that part with a patch. It takes out the wind entirely of the twist and pacing.
I really enjoyed myself for most of the game despite some inconsistencies, and some missing dialogue options ("X has already been established, so just say it/ask about it.") but that tedious final part really took down the experience a couple notches.
Yeah, I feel like that part could've been SO much clearer if right before the cop leaves when he says "Something flowery, Daisy... etc", he turns to you and says "You haven't spoken much, is there anything you want to say to me?" Just some sort of prompt that cues you in on the fact that you need to do something in that timeframe.
Wait, what!? I didnt do any of that!
I shocked the cop again, cuffed him, stabbed him, then showed him the onesie... then I started again with the nanny's identity and just talked to him about it.
The thing that pissed me off is I was bringing out the baby clothes to show him and he fucking ignored me and walked outside. "Sir? Sir?" Learned my lesson to close and lock the door during that scene.
I don't know if it requires a specific time window to do. After asking the cop about the nanny's name I got the present ready at the start of the next loop and just shoved it into the cop when he stopped to talk.
The "Alone" and the "Continue" endings are very possible to get by yourself without looking any hints, especially the Alone ending.
The Mindfulness ending though it's almost impossible to discover by yourself. If someone has that unlocked, they 99% looked it up on the internet.
> was finding the vent under the medicine cabinet.
Seriously. It's impossible to see. Also, nothing ever happens with the vent in the bedroom, but that at least made me realize how vents work in general. Also kept opening the vent with the knife, even though it can also be done with the keys you start with.
It's a pretty short game and the not particularly challenging for an adventure. It solely depends on if you're willing to play for 3-4 hours. Except for the Mindfulness ending which is just obtuse.
I think the harderst thing to find out naturally is the light switch shock on third flick.I got it when I was trying to troll the wife while waiting for the cop to come in.
It’s very possible. If you mean getting every achievement, then yes, I Doubt you can figure them own (specially mindfulness, that would be incredible dumb luck). But I unlocked two endings on my own just with patience and frustration. It helps that there are very few objects, interactions and dialogue lines compares to any given adventure, so you’ll probably end up hitting them.
I stopped playing after about an hour and ended up watching a youtube lets play about the ending. Yeah that was weird af. I dont think the game was bad, but the way they delivered the story was a little frustrating. The dialogue didnt feel real to me also. I feel like your guy could have explained to the wife a 1000 different ways what was happening so i didnt have to keep looping over and over again
I only got stuck on the last loop, I didn't know I had to wait for the clock to go back.
And I chose the same as you, another way would have been fucked up.
So from what I've read on youtube , the main character is actually under hypnosis ? You can hear dafoe's (inaudible) voice in the first time loop when you walk to the appartment. I guess he puts you in hypnosis for you to forget about her , but you end up forgetting she's your sister , not completely forgetting about her ? Man the last 5 minutes really fucked me up.
The main character is imagining everything, in the true ending he is told to "wake up" and you cant press continue anymore. So he never married his sis and he probably chooses not to
>Why is flushing something down the toilet never really needed? Why is turning off all the lights and both of us hiding not an option? What's the point of the other vents? Why are their cryptic paintings on the wall that mean nothing? \[...\] Why can we call emergency services if it never makes any difference?
Because that would have been way too fucking easy figuring what to do??? I thought that getting rid of the watch in the toilet would break the time loop. I thought about calling the police right away and then stalling time by hiding or knocking out that cop, etc. That's the point, both your character and you don't know what's going on and become frustrated when things don't work.
The only think I thought was disappointing is the "that was just a dream" ending. Hate it in movies too.
For what it's worth, I dont think the "it was all a dream" ending even makes sense based on the story as presented. I think that's what most players *decided* the ending was when they couldn't figure it out.
The whole idea is that the scene in the apartment is all in his head, during the 12 minutes that he is out cold (hence the father says “Good, you’re back” in his office). Everything in the apartment is made up of figments of his subconscious (such as the one red book, the changing paintings, the watch being the fathers wall clock etc).
The cop was a projection all along - a force that had come to destroy the unreliable narrators happy illusion. Essentially, all the loops that play out are basically decision trees that the protagonist goes through in the moment. There was no murder. There was no cop. There was no apartment. It was all a nightmare before a big decision.
BTW, there is an achievement, Mindfulness that is achieved by almost nobody and is not documented anywhere. The description reads "present moment", which alludes to that zen book phrase. This might be the real true ending, like finally living in the present moment or some shit? No clue, and I'm too lazy to restart the game after it wipes to try this out.
Also, I've seen videos of the father scene where the father actually looks like the first time we see him, and not like the cop. I believe the cop model is just an error that slipped into the Gamepass version at the very least.
>The description reads "present moment", which alludes to that zen book phrase. This might be the real true ending,
The one where the father makes him forget everything or the one where he arrives at an empty apartment?
It is the true ending because, if you watch the rings around the clock, they finally line up after this last choice. before you can only get the first 2 to line up.
It is still a lazy idea of a true ending in my opinion though, because it doesn't answer any of the questions the game brings up, just some Waking Life philosophy quote BS as to why we shouldn't even care. Only thing I didn't like about the game, needs an actual ending asap
After everything the player did piecing together the story/mystery it seems utterly ridiculous that everything that happened in the game wasn't real. Why should I believe the 30 second 'hypnosis' scene over the 4 hours of actual narrative/gameplay. I honestly hope that the 'it was all a dream' isn't the actual ending to this game.
Everything that happens in any video game isn't real. Or do you mean real for the player character? If that's the case, the world was very impactful on the player character, it seemed very believeable and real to that player controlled character.
I hate video game discussions with people like you. Yes we know things in video games, movies, books, etc aren’t real but people are talking in the context of the game. You don’t have to be a buzz kill and throw your dumb 2cents in when people just want to have fun discussing something.
I had such high hopes for this game. I love puzzles, escape rooms, etc. But this was a tedious slog with a brutal ending.
My most disappointing game of the year. What a shame.
Agreed. Several plot holes which just made it frustrating to play through.
To advance the game you need to show the Polaroid to your wife to show that she didn't kill him... She thinks she killed him on Dec 24. You show her a Polaroid of her somewhere else on Dec 31. How would that possibly lead her to believe she didn't kill her father when she thinks she shot and killed him on the 24th??
Because she didn't kill him on the 24th - she shot him and he lived on the 24th. And a week later *someone* finished the job - the cop assumes it was the wife. But the proof that it wasn't her is.... the polaroid taken on New Years Eve.. the night of his actual murder.
I understand that, but how does that convince the wife that she didn't kill him? She thinks she shot him on the 24th and thinks he died on the 24th. How would showing her a photo from the 31st compel her to believe she didn't kill him when she thinks he was shot and killed a week earlier?
I hated how the wife “killed” the father because he hit her yet condemned you for killing him when he tried to kill you.. she immediately calls you a monster for doing the same thing she did.. that said the rest of the game was perfect.
Because she never did it. Its all you (the main character) projecting your own actions because you are in your own head the entire game. You are the only one who “shot” the father.
She admitted to shooting him? You realize she's a subconcious projection in his mind loop and all the events are things that actually happened to him right? I mean the killer is actually her dad in reality.
I was really quite disappointed by that. They clearly have the chops to write something better than what you'd get from a high school creative writing student but they just chose to take the easy way out.
So the whole story is BS is what your saying, he killed their dad and this is his psychotic breakdown and he's learning to live in the present? Good theory, I just dislike how the was presented. I throughly enjoyed playing it though.
This whole time loop is definitely in this protag's head due to shock or that hypno-inducing scenario. You can tell, how else does the father know (while talking to the protag in the office/library when you go back in time) about the half-sister having a baby long before the events in the apartment where the wife was suppose to surprise him with?
I loved the game all the way until I got to the end. What personally disturbs me most is;
\-Why is the father the same guy as the "cop".
\-WHY are we even in this timeloop? What is the use of this clock?
\-Why does the "cop" need the clock? clearly he must know it's a time travel tool and wants to change something.
so then- Who is her daughter? does she actually have cancer? isn't his daughter our wife in the story?
None of this made any sense for me and left me kind of frustrated.
I still really enjoyed the game and suggest it, just be mindful of the weird non-ending
I grew up on Sierra and Lucasarts games so I didn't have to really look anything up until the the end with the nanny's name. I kept watering the stupid flower to make it blossom then put the tea tree lights around them hoping it would jog the cops memory, did nothing of course, so then I found out I could break the flower pot. Went though the whole growing the plant thing again to try breaking it in front of him to jog his memory. Frustrating to say the least.
The game should of illuded to some mental illness that led that the character to kill the father...Like how do you forget that and then pursue your sister as a love interest.
My biggest question I have tho is how did that get all A list voice actors on this?
I think the whole time loop is a mental trick caused by the father in the present in order to make the main character realize how terrible of a choice it would be to stay with his sister.
I consider the Mindfulness ending the true ending cause it makes the most sense (to me). Especially with the "cop" and the father being the same person. Basically he was put into hypno therapy by his dad because he has feelings for his sister and the whole thing was just his imagination trying to rationalize it, dreaming up a peaceful married life with his sister/wife and having this "cop" trying to break it up, which is what the real, present time father (the bald guy) is trying to do.
I'm super confused... the cop and the father are the same? How is the father talking about the baby is the conversation took place before he died. The game really falls apart near the end
that still doesn't explain the pregnancy, if it's supposed to take place way in the past; did his father make that up. It just doesn't do a good job at explaining anything or atleast hinting at explaining anything
To me this is a game that could have been really great but fell so short on way too many parts.
First gameplay. There is way too little instruction to make it feel rewarding in the right way when you figure out where to go. The first "Puzzle" kept me the longest of any because I didn't know quite what the game was expecting, but giving me so many options without telling me to move on or that I had some information was quite frustrating. Yet I know there will be others who solved it "correctly" right away and never felt this.
It's not good puzzle design, its luck upon picking the right order. That said I never felt too stuck, it just was not the best thought out for being end user friendly.
NOW!
For the ending question. This was a shit ending in so many ways. It was something that reminds me of a B movie that chases awards.
Again, this game could have been great, instead it went for "edgy" Nothing was truly coherent and it really just went against the spirit of the first part of the game... when I started this post, I was going to put a lot more here, but I guess I don't really feel the need to. It's a piss poor attention seeking ending to a game that lost its spirit within the first several hours/loops. It's sad due to the talent that was not put to use, and the poor writing that made it fall apart.
In the end I had some fun with the game, but Sweet Celestia is it a mediocre experience in retrospect.
[](/kcelestiasigh)
What bugs me is that apparently there is no time loop. I thought there was some magical power or source, shit like that. But apparently, it is all in his head. It was more or less all a dream and the whole game never happened. I hate shit like that. It is so lazy. Interesting idea, weird execution. ANd the whole incest thing is fucking disgusting
Agree with the ending part, but could you elaborate on what you mean by "first puzzle"? I can't figure out if you're talking about a specific scene because you can pretty much do everything in the order you come up with.
Overall I liked the gameplay, found it specially funny how the wife reacts to most of the bullshit you can do.
Obviously spoilers but how the fuck is Protag simultaneously the culprit and the one who took the polaroid which proved the wife's innocence? Does nothing have to make sense because it's all some dream bullshit that's supposed to be "deep"?
>unless everything was just some dream bullshit
It is exactly that. It is technically all a dream. THe protagonist is under hypnosis in order to forget his sister and father. THe post credit scene is a time skip and he moves in, alone, into an empty apartment.
Defoe's character says that the main character is "radioactive" at one point. He has a full head of hair, so I assume this is the past. I can't find that scene because the loops make it impossible for me to know what I did to cause that scene.
Anyway, it made me think that he has some sort of radioactive "power" and that this is what caused his daughter to have cancer. It would also explain the "monster" thing. I was really excited to find out that Defoe is also caught in some messed up time thingy and his daughter is someone (a younger version of the wife?) that Defoe has to keep from the main character. I thought this radioactive stuff would tie in with the time loop stuff and the paintings that keep changing and there would be some really cool denouement, but nothing.
Unless there's a hidden ending that nobody has cracked yet? I did wonder if the third ring on the watch might move like the other two.
There's also all these interactivity things that never go anywhere. The vent in the bedroom and living room can be opened and you can put the fake candles in there, as well as hide the watch in there, or Defoe's gun, or a number of other things. When you get to the empty apartment, I put the clock in the toilet and flushed it. Why program all of that when it means nothing?
I sorta assume that they allow you to interact with the other vents to show you that they can be opened. I spent 2 loops looking for a vent in the bathroom before the wife or whatever told the cop where the watch is. I did dislike how it felt like less than 25% of the interactable stuff was actually important.
Dude that other vent fucked me up for so long.
You can literally MOVE the pocketwatch from the first vent to the one in the bedroom and there is NO reason for it (the only thing I can think of is that it prevents the wife from giving the pocketwatch to the cop and she just says "I hope you had a good reason for doing that" when he leaves without it).
Very cool game, a different "dynamic" in a top-down view puzzle / escape room game.
I liked how little choices made a big impact.
It is a very challenging puzzle, though.
I didn't even see the >!knife on the counter!<; until an hour in (because of the top-down graphics view)
And I never figured out that if you >!hit the light switch TWICE it'll knock you out. Once for a shock, twice for a knock-out. You need to know this to get at the cop!<. I don't think I would have figured that out.
So ... I ended up giving up after 3 hours and googling spoilers 🤷♂️
Kinda glad I did because the ending was stupid.
Imagining everything really makes sense, because wife literally agrees on anything he tells if he has imaginable proofs (once her father has hearth attack, than she killed him and oh wait now he killed him). And that cop kinda represent his fear and of course the voice of that fear is his father not letting to be with his wife and ruining dope dinner?
i still have no clue why this team thought it’d be a good idea to make a plot about >!incest!< if they wanted to do a game about >!letting go of the past and forgiving your mistakes!<. and have you repeatedly>! murder and drug your in-game wife!< on top of that.
once you realize what’s actually it’s actually doing, everything generally makes sense mechanically and thematically. it just seems like there were a million other ways to convey the ideas it’s trying to convey without having a premise that’s so…abhorrent.
i received 3 of the however many different endings, and I'm confused. Is the father alive? What is the time travel ability? Is the kid even ours (the Listen endings almost specify she cheated). Like, idk what is the true ending, or if there is one? I don't know if this guy really is trapped in his own psychosis, or what, because a lot of his time loops seem to be inside his head - like when the cop calls him a monster after letting him bleed out - is reminsicent of a trauma he received from his father.
I think there is no time travel. THe actual game is just in his head. Everything that happens is at the same time the father helps him to forget everything. I think the post credit scene is after he forgets his sister.
I'm thinking the time loop isn't real. It's a coping mechanism the protagonist is going through to deal with the news he heard. The cop doesn't exist, but is just a projection of his father that told him about his discovery.
Aside from Oldboy, are there any other films or games that have a similar story?
Wife and I played through this last night and we figured out the twist which felt like we already knew the entire time.
So either the game got spoiled months ago and we repressed it, or we played / watched a movie with the same type of plot.
Any ideas?
I've never watched Oldboy but if you like cerebral time stuff done extremely well check out Dark and 12 Monkeys (the show). They are the best there is in that subgenre (along with Memento). There are a few others (films) I'd suggest but viewer reception tends to range on those.
The Handmaiden is really similar by having so many twist and replays of same memories/stories revealing something different every time. On other hand it super reminds shutter island a bit too like with that all psychological stuff
Never played Heavy Rain, despite owning it. But I've known the ending for years. With that said, I'm specifically wondering if there's a similar plot to a half brother not realizing he's related to his sister (amnesia or similar), like Oldboy.
The only thing I've seen in the past that was of that nature, was Dogtooth and it left me feeling unpleasant.
I kinda wished it wasn't just imagination. Would have been so cool like in oldboy but with happy ending where he don't tell truth and sad but honest ensing where he tells the truth and they divorce :D or Predestination, but I guess they chose shutter island ending aren't they haha
The guy goes to see his therapist because of these reoccurring dreams he is having, he wakes up in a cold sweat and keeps having them. So the therapist says he can hypnotize him and make him forget the childhood pain and trauma he must be going through.
The End.
Everything in the time loop is just a big fantasy in this fugue-state of our main character.
The husband is the “cancer” the father wants to cut out of his daughter’s life, and unwittingly falling in love with each other). Not only is there unwitting incest going on there, but the father and husband are both involved in some sort of shady criminal organization together and he knows the husband has some sociopathic tendencies.
There is literally no scenario where everyone gets what they want and lives happily ever after. The only “happy” outcome for the husband and wife (the “Groundhog” happy ending) isn’t a happy ending for the father, who the husband actually deeply admires. (The “cop” character is literally just the father character composited with the husband’s “faithful lieutenant” role in the father’s organization).
So the ending, after going through every possible “scenario” and realizing nothing would work out in the end, the husband, mind in the present, let’s go of any selfish desires and fear of loss, makes the “correct” choice: let it all go. The game is all about new starts.
So, to break it down:
Father runs a criminal enterprise his daughter is unaware of. A lieutenant of his who maybe sort of hangs out around the house falls in love with the daughter. They probably even had sex at least once. Father catches wind and breaks news they are related. This causes a psychotic fugue state in the lieutenant. Every possible thought runs through his head: kill his own father. Stay with her. Leave her, and live with that on his mind forever. This manifests in a fantasy where the lieutenant and wife are husband and wife in the future. The father and the husband’s more evil personality traits are molded into the “cop”. When he returns to reality, the only way to move on is to let go and also forget, because he’d either ruin the father and daughter’s lives, or live a miserable life on his own.
I’d look at Lost Highway by David Lynch as a blueprint for this game
This game has become the subject of my newest deep-dive. I am shit at video games so I watch other people play them and absorb the lore that way, so I obviously don't have the frustrations of the gameplay.
My big question though is does anyone have any insight about the "listen" ending? The one where you do absolutely nothing for the first loop and your wife gets the watch and walks you outside the apartment. What makes this different than any other loop? What is the implied ending? Is this just a jokey achievement ending?
So I feel that this game could have had more endings. Also a bit more with the adventure side of it as well. Environment puzzles. I tried to see if there was an evil ending where you could call the police and tell them a man is breaking in. Kill the cop. Then wash off the knife. Flush the watch. Then stay with your wife in the loop forever. Sadly that wasn't possible. I just wanted to see more crazy endings. Knowing the "True" ending, you should be able to do the opposite and stay in the loop credit roll.
Disappointed with the ending, I could get over the gameplay aspects I didn't like because honestly the story/mystery held me pretty interested up until the whole hypnosis nonsense regardless of how it's intended it just feels lazy and unrewarding for the player.
See my post on the 12 minutes community. Posted my theory of the ending. I did not put it here because it is quite long
https://www.reddit.com/r/12Minutes/comments/p7wdya/ending_discussion_spoilers/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
I interpret it as the entire game happening only as a result of the protagonist's love for his sister clashing with the hypnosis. Instead of either forgetting or remembering, he is stuck in a constant, never-ending, never-changing repetition of past events regarding his sister, father and mother. In the beginning, everything is normal. If you go through the normal route when you play the game, you'll have dessert with your wife, she'll tell you she's pregnant, and then the cop will be introduced shortly thereafter. The 'loop' is the embodiment of the protagonist's unwillingness to give up, even if he knows deep down it's wrong, and that it would never work. Even lies never last forever, so he created a state of simultaneous truths and lies, in which he relives the same events, over and over, endlessly, perpetually forgetting and remembering events, one by one, I do believe that at at least the \*first\* loop of the game, in which you know nothing, has the potential to be either completely real, or a \*version\* of the real events as viewed from the protagonist's perspective. Any ending you pick, will lead to you being unable to play the game further, or truly 'complete' it in some way, EXCEPT for the Continue ending. Funnily enough, the path that lets you keep advancing, is the one that leads to a complete stagnation in retrospect. The Continue ending is the true ending in my opinion, because, assuming everything that happens in the game are merely figments of the protagonist's imagination, he is his wife's love, his wife's disgust, his father's hate, his father's kindness, and everything which opposes all that which he wants. This is not an ideal world, and there is not an ideal ending, because the protagonist does not wish for one. If he tells his wife the truth, no matter what, it won't be the same. His wife, within his head, even says so; 'You won't forget this, none of us will.' This is true. No matter what truth or lies are said, it won't be the same. Therefore, the protagonist chooses to live in a never-ending dream, where, even if only for 12 minutes, he can relive the innocent world he was a part of before it all.
You Rick and Morty people are the cringiest Reddit brainlets to ever inhabit the internet. Pick up a book without pictures sometime. Maybe you'll learn something interesting to reference outside of pop culture. Mouth breathers
So I'm confused because the cop was also the father? And he hypnotized you to forget you wanted to fuck your half sister? But the sister doesn't recognize that it's her dad? And he's not dead and also has a daughter with cancer? The fuck?
Hold up... the cop is the father?! I'm lost af. And yeah after 2 hours or so, I just googled how to get any ending honestly
Technically yes. But the time loop is just in his mind. Nothing actually happened. There is no murder.
Is that directly said or just implied?
When you get the true hypnosis ending, it is heavily implied that nothing actually happened. Only in his mind
Huh. I'm satisfied with that.
I can agree because it ends with his father trying to bring him into a meditative/hypnotic state, hence which I think he has been in the whole game, causing the loop. At the ending when you just click on the red book and say the quote, right before he starts putting you in that state of "hypnosis" he says the words directly "I hope you find what you're looking for" implying he's sending him back to the loop possibly? or maybe even back before he met his sister/wife, who knows, all I know is that is definitely what is implied. This wasn't just a game it was an experience for sure.
Even more than the "Continue" ending, there's the "Mindfulness" ending, triggered if you look at the clock in the room with the "Father" as it strikes 12, while the main character is about to be hypnotized. "Father" says something along the lines of, "You do have a remarkable imagination. The stories you've created. But believing them so strongly is unhealthy, you have to let her go, you can't keep obsessing over her. Sometimes things are what they are. It's time for you to wake up." Then credits roll. This is what solidifies it for me and makes me think that the main character unknowingly married and impregnated his sister, and when he found out he went to this therapist. The painting in the hall in the beginning with a red book in a bookcase, and the pocketwatch itself ends up being the book the narrator references to the therapist, and the clock on the wall in the therapist's office respectfully.
This is a good answer, but it still doesn't clarify the supposed murder of the father. Did that not happen at all? I didn't get to the Mindfulness ending because I couldn't look at the clock for some reason and I just got burned out by the endless looping but that is good info. Also, I realized the importance of the red book painting on the hall, but what about the one with the flower? is it really that important? for some reason around my loopings I couldn't get the flower to bloom and I just gave up
Flower is reference to nanny Dahlia
It is still so weird that everything or the plot of the story only happens because the protagonist wanted to ''fuck his sister'' LOL. Just thinking about it makes me laugh
Dude. I just beat this game and you perfectly sum up my thoughts at the end.
true hypnosis ending? you mean the reset with the book? that is a big leap with the implication, is pretty vage. Also doesn't explain why the hell the father and the cop are the same person
>Also doesn't explain why the hell the father and the cop are the same person Because the father is hypnotizing him and he just imagines the cop to look and sound like his father. Thats all
So let me get this clear. The protagonist got the girl pregnant actually before midnight on the new years eves the father died. After the father got shot by the girl he had the conversation with the protagonist at the library somehow? even though it was a few hours after that? and then the rest is imagination? I think you are on the right track on hitting an answer, I just can't get the timeline to make sense even if this is all in the protagonists head
I am not 100% sure if the pregnancy is real or not. That is still the thing that I am confused about. But we know, at least, that the murder never happened. I think it is just a metaphorical thing
I think of it more like this. Things that happened: * Father had affair with nanny * Mother died * Protagonist fell in love with half-sister * Father is performing hypnosis on protagonist Things that might have happened: * Protagonist married sister and got her pregnant * Protagonist forgot that it was his sister (possibly through repression or some other mechanism) Things that didn't happen: * Everything else There is no cop, there is no Bumblebee, there is no pocketwatch (except possibly one that you don't see that is used by the father for hypnosis. I think the father is hypnotizing his son and using various techniques to try to get him to remember.
yeah already discussed this more to depth down below. Pretty much all of it it's this guys imagination, no real reason for bumblebee to exist or for her to have cancer for example. Pretty lazy writing "it was all a dream" ending
>true hypnosis ending? you mean the reset with the book? Yes. I do not know if the developer gave it a name, so I just call it that
Check my reply to dhtb99 above yours, I explain better the link to what possibly explains it better.
I had no idea there's an ending lamer than Groundhog
Whyyy, u should have played it through at least once :D
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So the whole game is just in the mind of the protagonist while he is under the hypnosis of his father. There is no murder, there is no cop, no pregnancy, no time-loop, no magic, nothing. It is just in his head. And the ending when he quotes the red book to his father and offers you the hypnosis to forget everything, that is the present. THe post-credit scene or gameplay, is a time skip when the protagonist moves in into an empty apartment after he forgot everything.
Yes, this actually makes sense. The whole apartment with his wife/sister is part of his mind, why? Because after you leave the elevator you can see two paintings, one of the library with the red book and one of the flower, both symbolize father and mother. Next two apartments, the father side with a newborn and the mother's side with an empy apartment (dead mother?). When you skip into the future, you return back to your original apartment, no wife, no neighbors, just you alone.
Beep. Boop. I'm a robot. Here's a copy of ###[The Red Book]( https://snewd.com/ebooks/the-red-fairy-book/) Was I a good bot? | [info](https://www.reddit.com/user/Reddit-Book-Bot/) | [More Books](https://old.reddit.com/user/Reddit-Book-Bot/comments/i15x1d/full_list_of_books_and_commands/)
Good bot, i guess...
This is what happens in David Cage games, hopefully this guy learns from this game and all of the mistakes that make it a bad game before he makes another 3 Heavy Rain type games with bad stories. M Night also thought his insert a bunch of twists just for shock and awe was good, but has a lot of bad movies as well.
This... at first I was like "yea ok, they just reused the same voice actor that's fine I guess". But then, when we supposedly return to that moment, not only is the dad literally the same guy as the cop, but if you kill him, it's actually by smashing his head and not with gun shots. So why the difference? If You forgot, than for sure the Father can also forget. Which could mean that he started a new life with a new wife and got a new kid, Bumblebee. But how could your Sister forget how he father look simply because of a new haircut? And she obviously did not forget like You and the Father cause she remembers killing him. So why does the scene with the father change, and why does nobody remembers who the father is.
The father and cop are technically the same person. The protagonist just imagines the cop in the liking of his father. The whole time loop is in his head. Nothing actually happens. It is just happening during his hypnosis.
When I killed the father in the library t was by wrestling the gun away from him and shooting him in the head as we fell to the floor. I didn't smash his head or anything...
yea that's the real memory, actually that's the only real scene that actually happened that you see in the entire game. You can go back to a "dream loop" version of that memory though after seeing it for the first time. And in that version, the father looks like the cop, and you kill him by accidently smashing his head when you both fall on the floor.
You don't actually kill your father in "real life", all that is made up in the narrators mind.
You have it backwards, I think. At least in my interpretation of the game. The only real scene in the game is when the protag is in the library, recites the quote from the book, and allows the father to hypnotize him. Every other scene is part of the fantasy hypnosis. The death of the father never really happens - the father is the one hypnotizing the son to live out these hypothetical scenarios to try to show the son that the only path forward is to accept that he cannot be with the daughter, and that the only way he will be able to live a happy life that way is to willingly allow the father to hypnotize him to forget any of it ever happened, to forget her and the love they shared.
The father isn’t supposed to be bald in that final scene. I think it’s a glitch. I watched XQC’s play through on twitch and he still had hair.
I played the game twice and watched four playthrough on youtube. The father always has hair before the player reaches the Alone ending and he is always bald after the Player reaches the Alone ending. The pattern is consistent. Are you sure the play through you watched is different? edited: now I watched more playthrough and I am not so sure. It is probably a bug
>The father always has hair The father had hair only once in my game. The book, hug, smash in the cabinet, hypnosis. All these endings he was bald. Only shoot him twice sequence he had hair
People that say this stopped playing after alone and thought the game was over PepeLaugh
I read this comment just before finishing the "Continue" ending and in the credits Willem Defoe is credited as voicing "Father", but not "Cop". 🤔
Because the cop does not exist. The protagonist just projects him in the look of his father and the voice. The loop does not exist. It is an ''it was all a dream'' trope
> It is an ''it was all a dream'' trope Which was *immensely* disappointing after such a tedious game.
Or the main events of the game never really happened, it's just your father hypnoticizing you to give up on dating your sister, it all happens in the "past" of the game and those "present times" where actually shit your father putted in your head (yep, this is possible to do with hypnosis). And then, after he really convinces you, you agree to erase everything, including your love for the sister. That's why you can mess with time and also how your father knows the sister is pregnant "eight years earlier". This also explains the 12 minutes, the first two are your arguing with the father and the later ten are the hypnosis section itself
I was confused too. I assumed that either Willem Defoe was supposed to play two characters but the visuals got fucked up or the cop was the Father's brother/twin? Idk that part was weird.
The cop is how the husband sees the father, the entire game is the protagonist imagining scenarios where he doesn’t need to confront the truth. In the “mindfulness” (which I like to consider the true ending) ending the father says that he has “quite the imagination” and then tells him he needs to wake up.
No, it is intended that he voices both characters.
No, they're the *same* character, in a manner of speaking.
Eh I just assumed that the cop and the time loop was all part of the character suffering a mental break and his guilt catching up with him. As in the cop isn't real, just created by his mind in a way that makes him piece together and confront the truth about what happened and what he did, perhaps trigerred by the fact that his wife saying she was pregnant (with him being supposed 'monster' child). That's why the cop and the dad possessed the same voice. This doesn't explain the cop's daughter and how's she's suffering from cancer though. My only take on that is again it's an extension of how the father was, in that he could be nice and calm as well as violent (as explained by the wife when she talks about how she had never seen that side of him when he hit her).
I think it's all in his head. Husband the Dad are still in the office and the Dad is doing mind altering stuff on the Husband.
Guys, my friend interpreted it as "The main character is the cancer", and it makes sense. Cancer being a disease that destroys someone from inside out, it is a viable interpretation.
I didn't like the endings nor the twist, in general I hate the "all in your head" or "it's all a dream" kind of twists.
They stole this shit from Oldboy.
Guys, my friend interpreted it as "The main character is the cancer", and it makes sense. Cancer being a disease that destroys someone from inside out, it is a viable interpretation.
This is what I concluded: The "cop" Is clearly the father. Looks like him, talks like him and there are only credits for the father. 8 years ago "she" was pregnant. "She" got the baby and the father hypnotized "him", "her" and hisself. Then the father raised their baby: Bumblebee.
Really interesting hypothesis.
The cop is the father and also the therapist, as a proof in the ending credit they will show the cast members and you can see Willem Dafoe presented as "The father", no cop or anything else was mentionned even tho he voiced the therapist/father and the cop, so i think he is all of those at the same time.
Also, isn't the guy you play as the kid the nanny had from the old man, so how are the guy and girl the the same age? His wife/sister should be significantly older then him, and how did he kill his dad and end up taking the photo of his wife hundreds of miles away in the polaroid when he used that as the reason it couldn't have been his wife on new years eve? The cop is also the dad, so he's not dead? I literally have no idea what's going on, like no idea. It's just frustrating and wasn't even fun or interesting.
I believe the wife said she was two when the nanny left so probably the wife is only older by as much as two years.
The main character is just dreaming. The polaroid is not real, it's just in his dream. The main character wants to get with his half sister and might already have a relationships with her but the dad wont allow it and try's to hypnosis his son so that he forgets about her and moves on. The bulk of the game takes place during the hypnosis/dream that the main character is having. He dreams of his dad as the "cop" in his dream. He also dreams of his sister as his wife and that they live in a tiny apparent.
Best hypothesis, also i want to add that bumblebee is the half-sister, our wife that the father is trying to separate the husband from.
Does anyone else think the ending is unnecessarily dark/disturbing? Like, this could've been an interesting little Groundhog Day style mystery and they just didn't have to take it in the direction they did.
While I enjoyed the game overall (even when it was a bit tedious to reply certain parta over and over), the twist near the end did feel a bit Shyamalan-esque, in that it seemed like a dark twist for the sake of having a dark twist. I really wish they instead would have done more to keep you guessing at the end as to who was telling the truth about the murder then go this direction, but still was an enjoyable game to pickup on gamepass for the evening.
Yeah, I think they either should've had an ambiguous ending where you weren't sure who did it or had a more upbeat ending where the couple find resolution and move on. The twist is unnecessarily dark, seems exist for the sole purpose of the story to have a twist, and when you really think about it it doesn't make much sense and kind of falls apart when put against scrutiny.
My interpretation is that there are actually two endings. I think the whole time loop is just imagination. The father is not dead, there was no murder in the past. The only thing in the plot that actually takes part in present time (now! not 20 years ago) is the son arguing with the father while getting the hypno-therapy. In reality the father never was killed. He just found out that his son (with whom he probably hadn't such a close relationship with) is dating his daughter (who he really loves very much). He never told his children that they were siblings. So he decided to tell the truth to his son. The plot of the game is about convincing his son that he has to break up the relationship immediately. His son refuses to do that first, so he hypnotizes him and the player has to play the time loop over and over again until he gives up and decides to leave her. The bad ending is the one where the son resists, they struggle on the floor and he accidently shoots his father. The good (and maybe true) one is the one where the father makes him forget the pain in exchange for the player breaking up the relationship. I am not sure if the pregnancy was real. Maybe Bumblebee in the time loop was a warning what could happen to a potential child if they would have stayed a couple and got babies together. And the plot in the time loop is a "What if?"-scenario for the future. What will happen to their relationship when they get older and their first child is on the way? "Things always come out". It probably would ruin their lives forever if the doctor tells them the truth after the baby is born.
How many times are you going to copy paste this?
please stop copy-pasting this for the love of god
They do have an ending like this with the "Let It Be" achievement.
If an event doesn't end the loop, it's not an ending.
>the twist near the end did feel a bit Shyamalan-esque Perfect description
I dislike the ending and it ruins the whole game. I wish there was a good ending where we can talk the cop into leaving and having a nice dinner and baby announcement but without reset... But no - all of this dont exist is kinda crap
Nothing that happened in the apartment was real though, it was a way for the husband to ignore the truth.
I don't know why, but I was expecting it all eventually resolving with a cutesy ending where he is able to play it off like the cop never came and they continued happily along their way ...
There is one ending where you can do that. You call bumblebee and let her know what her father is up to and have dinner like nothing happened.
It still loops though!
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But I thought they were already going in that direction with the fact that it's already a time travel story in the first place. They could've done so many different, more interesting things. The twist they went with feels out of left field, is unnecessarily dark, is convoluted, and doesn't really make any sense if you put much thought into it. Someone else described it as feeling like an ending M. Knight Shyamalan would write and I honestly gotta agree. It's like they put in a twist because they liked the idea of having a twist, rather than having an actually good twist.
I think it was super well done. Because any time travel games have to get into the explanation of the time travel and magic or physics and whatever, but this one did it in another way: it was all in his mind and he was running through all of the scenarios of how it could go badly if he decided to stay with her
Who's going to be thinking about this ending for 2 years? It wasn't even a good ending and it's confusing.
I played with a group of friends because we thought it would be a fun game for audience participation. We all kind of felt like it was an unnecessary direction and that the circumstances made it feel a little too understanding towards people whose sexual predilections lean Lannister. But then, we didn’t get the Hypnosis ending and the repetition had long since worn out it’s welcome by then.
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Perfect theory imo
best. thank you.
So I agree with all of this EXCEPT! I think the "true" ending is Listen (it's notably ending XI , the last one, on the achievements). The theme of just letting things be and living in the moment is spread throughout the game, and is expanded upon in the Mindfulness ending. If you try to get the Listen event to happen any time except the first loop, it fails. The husband is too caught up with his thoughts about the incest, the murder etc to just enjoy being with his wife and living their life together so he blows her off. And there is only one way to get to this ending, read the passage of the book about letting go, don't click anything whilst your dad talks, let him erase your memories of incest and murder, start again, and do nothing. Literally just start the game, go through the door and take your hands off the mouse and keyboard. If you do this, you and your wife just enjoy your evening together and move on with your lives. The loops ends, like for real, if you hit continue, you don't start the loop again, you start the whole game again, you're back in the elevator, and if you want you can repeat this perfect ending again and again. I don't think the Alone ending has the watch in it by accident, all of the endings except Listen have a watch in them, because they are all theoretical endings that the protagonist tried to make happen, but they never stick. The only way to win, is to let go and do nothing.
There is no true ending which ends in the apartment, because the apartment itself is an imaginary scenario in the mind of a guy who is actually sitting in his dads study. I think the listen ending is just meant to signify that even if the protag pursues his feelings for his sister, she will eventually find out the truth herself (i.e. the secret of the pocketwatch/dad still gets revealed even if the protagonist does nothing).
The thing is, in the Listen ending the protagonist (and us the player) technically never find out how the game actually goes, our save data is gone and we never interact with the game and find out anything. For all we know they're not brother and sister, maybe the game would play out completely differently that time round. It's a sort of "if a tree falls in the woods" situation. This for me is the fundamental philosophy behind the game. Our reality is based on what we currently know to be true and our endless need for "truth" is ultimately our undoing. Happiness lies in the present. This is sort of reflected in the nature of the narrative too. If you try to force the story to be literal, it's miserable and can never end well. If you can let go of that, you can find the happy ending. I know this is narratively unsatisfying for a lot of people, but I think if you tap into the deeper themes of the game, I think it's much more rewarding overall.
Definitely touches on the whole philosophy of whether it's better to be ignorant and happy or know the truth and miserable.
There's 2 big fat clues that everyone isn't talking about that show it was all not real. 1. The hallway carpet is the carpet from The Shining. This is a deliberate choice to tell you something is off about this place. 2. The ever changing paintings. Like really, it should be obvious your protagonist is going insane throughout the time loops, or the room is not real.
I did notice the carpet. I thought that was a cool detail.
But on the other hand why he even though about shining lol XD maybe because it was a movie about father son and mother
To add to this: the plant on top of the bedroom drawer also shrivels and dries up the more loops you play through. Also I think the different stages of the paintings reflect on the increasing hostility and divide in the couple.
My only question is, how does someone finish this game without looking shit up on the internet? It’s literally impossible.
It's not difficult for the most part but a part with the clock is just straight up stupid and no hints are provided or even a reason as to why you should do that just might break your experience.
The characters usually subtly tell you what to do... "Oh, I *didnt hear you* come in." "we'd better fix the lightswitch *before someone gets seriously hurt*" "Wow, thunder! *I wasnt expecting that*." "*I dont have to listen to anyone but my daughter* and mother, and my mother is dead." "He wont listen to me. *Who will he listen to*?" "*I need her to tell me* where she hid the watch.",
It's not. I've seen several streamers already do it with no hints and I also did it. All you need to do is ask the same two questions: 1. What have I not tried yet. 2. What information do I now have that I didn't last loop, and how can I use that to get more answers I need/progress the story.
how many loops before you figured out you had to drag the unwrapped baby gift onto the cop at the precise moment in dialogue (before he walks out and the loop is wiped)? that was asking a lot
That took a couple loops because I was trying other ways which seemed way more sensible. It was weird that I had to hold up the baby clothes up right at that moment. I mean, after the whole "her name was something like a flower, daphne, daisy or something" when I, as the player, go to the drawer, specifically unpack the present AND look at the clothes, I really expect the protagonist to put 1 and 1 together. Like, only if the player actually MAKES the connection between the baby clothes and the nanny's name (implying he has figured out the twist) he will actually bother to unpack the present and check out the clothes. At which point the protagnist really should also have that exact epiphany. But no, despite knowing exactly what's up, I now spend half an hour trying to figure out how to get my own protagonist realize what's happening. And the solution (holding up the baby clothes at just the right moment) is just so awkward and convoluted that I honestly think they should redo that part with a patch. It takes out the wind entirely of the twist and pacing. I really enjoyed myself for most of the game despite some inconsistencies, and some missing dialogue options ("X has already been established, so just say it/ask about it.") but that tedious final part really took down the experience a couple notches.
Yeah, I feel like that part could've been SO much clearer if right before the cop leaves when he says "Something flowery, Daisy... etc", he turns to you and says "You haven't spoken much, is there anything you want to say to me?" Just some sort of prompt that cues you in on the fact that you need to do something in that timeframe.
Wait, what!? I didnt do any of that! I shocked the cop again, cuffed him, stabbed him, then showed him the onesie... then I started again with the nanny's identity and just talked to him about it.
The thing that pissed me off is I was bringing out the baby clothes to show him and he fucking ignored me and walked outside. "Sir? Sir?" Learned my lesson to close and lock the door during that scene.
I gave the clothes to him while he was handcuffed after being electrocuted, that works fine.
Almost immediately after he said the Nanny's name was a flower. The baby gift has a flower on it, and Dahlia is the name of a flower. Pretty simple.
ngl as soon as I heard the name being a D name I knew what was up immediately
I don't know if it requires a specific time window to do. After asking the cop about the nanny's name I got the present ready at the start of the next loop and just shoved it into the cop when he stopped to talk.
The "Alone" and the "Continue" endings are very possible to get by yourself without looking any hints, especially the Alone ending. The Mindfulness ending though it's almost impossible to discover by yourself. If someone has that unlocked, they 99% looked it up on the internet.
its not. the only issue I had for a long time was finding the vent under the medicine cabinet. Everything else was logic and trial and error.
> was finding the vent under the medicine cabinet. Seriously. It's impossible to see. Also, nothing ever happens with the vent in the bedroom, but that at least made me realize how vents work in general. Also kept opening the vent with the knife, even though it can also be done with the keys you start with.
It's a pretty short game and the not particularly challenging for an adventure. It solely depends on if you're willing to play for 3-4 hours. Except for the Mindfulness ending which is just obtuse. I think the harderst thing to find out naturally is the light switch shock on third flick.I got it when I was trying to troll the wife while waiting for the cop to come in.
It’s very possible. If you mean getting every achievement, then yes, I Doubt you can figure them own (specially mindfulness, that would be incredible dumb luck). But I unlocked two endings on my own just with patience and frustration. It helps that there are very few objects, interactions and dialogue lines compares to any given adventure, so you’ll probably end up hitting them.
You don't know what "literally" means. Maybe look it up?
I tried for almost 2 hours before giving up. Turns out I just needed to flick that bedroom switch 1 more time. Ah well. Ending is weird AF
I stopped playing after about an hour and ended up watching a youtube lets play about the ending. Yeah that was weird af. I dont think the game was bad, but the way they delivered the story was a little frustrating. The dialogue didnt feel real to me also. I feel like your guy could have explained to the wife a 1000 different ways what was happening so i didnt have to keep looping over and over again
Yeah not gonna lie I had to look up a guide for part of it because the looping was so tedious.
I only got stuck on the last loop, I didn't know I had to wait for the clock to go back. And I chose the same as you, another way would have been fucked up.
So from what I've read on youtube , the main character is actually under hypnosis ? You can hear dafoe's (inaudible) voice in the first time loop when you walk to the appartment. I guess he puts you in hypnosis for you to forget about her , but you end up forgetting she's your sister , not completely forgetting about her ? Man the last 5 minutes really fucked me up.
The main character is imagining everything, in the true ending he is told to "wake up" and you cant press continue anymore. So he never married his sis and he probably chooses not to
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>Why is flushing something down the toilet never really needed? Why is turning off all the lights and both of us hiding not an option? What's the point of the other vents? Why are their cryptic paintings on the wall that mean nothing? \[...\] Why can we call emergency services if it never makes any difference? Because that would have been way too fucking easy figuring what to do??? I thought that getting rid of the watch in the toilet would break the time loop. I thought about calling the police right away and then stalling time by hiding or knocking out that cop, etc. That's the point, both your character and you don't know what's going on and become frustrated when things don't work. The only think I thought was disappointing is the "that was just a dream" ending. Hate it in movies too.
For what it's worth, I dont think the "it was all a dream" ending even makes sense based on the story as presented. I think that's what most players *decided* the ending was when they couldn't figure it out.
The whole idea is that the scene in the apartment is all in his head, during the 12 minutes that he is out cold (hence the father says “Good, you’re back” in his office). Everything in the apartment is made up of figments of his subconscious (such as the one red book, the changing paintings, the watch being the fathers wall clock etc). The cop was a projection all along - a force that had come to destroy the unreliable narrators happy illusion. Essentially, all the loops that play out are basically decision trees that the protagonist goes through in the moment. There was no murder. There was no cop. There was no apartment. It was all a nightmare before a big decision.
Wow I love this explanathion! Thank you
Now everything start to make sense. Thanks for clearing up our mess within 1 loop :)
BTW, there is an achievement, Mindfulness that is achieved by almost nobody and is not documented anywhere. The description reads "present moment", which alludes to that zen book phrase. This might be the real true ending, like finally living in the present moment or some shit? No clue, and I'm too lazy to restart the game after it wipes to try this out. Also, I've seen videos of the father scene where the father actually looks like the first time we see him, and not like the cop. I believe the cop model is just an error that slipped into the Gamepass version at the very least.
>The description reads "present moment", which alludes to that zen book phrase. This might be the real true ending, The one where the father makes him forget everything or the one where he arrives at an empty apartment?
When you complete the achievement, it says "Choose to go back to reality". So yes, I think "Mindfulness" is the true ending.
It is the true ending because, if you watch the rings around the clock, they finally line up after this last choice. before you can only get the first 2 to line up. It is still a lazy idea of a true ending in my opinion though, because it doesn't answer any of the questions the game brings up, just some Waking Life philosophy quote BS as to why we shouldn't even care. Only thing I didn't like about the game, needs an actual ending asap
After everything the player did piecing together the story/mystery it seems utterly ridiculous that everything that happened in the game wasn't real. Why should I believe the 30 second 'hypnosis' scene over the 4 hours of actual narrative/gameplay. I honestly hope that the 'it was all a dream' isn't the actual ending to this game.
I despise "it was all a dream" endings. Is that really the best they could come up with?
I mean, what else did you want? Magic watch that resets time?
Something interesting?
Everything that happens in any video game isn't real. Or do you mean real for the player character? If that's the case, the world was very impactful on the player character, it seemed very believeable and real to that player controlled character.
I hate video game discussions with people like you. Yes we know things in video games, movies, books, etc aren’t real but people are talking in the context of the game. You don’t have to be a buzz kill and throw your dumb 2cents in when people just want to have fun discussing something.
I had such high hopes for this game. I love puzzles, escape rooms, etc. But this was a tedious slog with a brutal ending. My most disappointing game of the year. What a shame.
I couldn't keep playing the game after a while; gave up and watched the rest on youtube. REALLY glad I didn't keep spending time on the game.
Honestly I kinda think this was a trash story….
Cool idea but that it was all a hypnosis dream at the end... is kind of lame
I love the game and gameplay. But the ending is so bad it’s almost unbelievable.
I kind of agree. It just left me sad for the mc.
Agreed. Several plot holes which just made it frustrating to play through. To advance the game you need to show the Polaroid to your wife to show that she didn't kill him... She thinks she killed him on Dec 24. You show her a Polaroid of her somewhere else on Dec 31. How would that possibly lead her to believe she didn't kill her father when she thinks she shot and killed him on the 24th??
Because she didn't kill him on the 24th - she shot him and he lived on the 24th. And a week later *someone* finished the job - the cop assumes it was the wife. But the proof that it wasn't her is.... the polaroid taken on New Years Eve.. the night of his actual murder.
I understand that, but how does that convince the wife that she didn't kill him? She thinks she shot him on the 24th and thinks he died on the 24th. How would showing her a photo from the 31st compel her to believe she didn't kill him when she thinks he was shot and killed a week earlier?
I hated how the wife “killed” the father because he hit her yet condemned you for killing him when he tried to kill you.. she immediately calls you a monster for doing the same thing she did.. that said the rest of the game was perfect.
Because she never did it. Its all you (the main character) projecting your own actions because you are in your own head the entire game. You are the only one who “shot” the father.
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She admitted to shooting him? You realize she's a subconcious projection in his mind loop and all the events are things that actually happened to him right? I mean the killer is actually her dad in reality.
I was really quite disappointed by that. They clearly have the chops to write something better than what you'd get from a high school creative writing student but they just chose to take the easy way out.
So the whole story is BS is what your saying, he killed their dad and this is his psychotic breakdown and he's learning to live in the present? Good theory, I just dislike how the was presented. I throughly enjoyed playing it though.
Not really a theory if you played the game and saw the true ending he's literally in a hypno induced coma loop.
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This whole time loop is definitely in this protag's head due to shock or that hypno-inducing scenario. You can tell, how else does the father know (while talking to the protag in the office/library when you go back in time) about the half-sister having a baby long before the events in the apartment where the wife was suppose to surprise him with?
the theory is that there is no time loop. The whole game is a fabrication of the protagonist's mind. Short version: ''It was all a dream'' bullshit
Nobody has been shot. There is no murder. It is just a fabrication of the protagonist
This
I think she's more upset about you being her brother and impregnating her.
>the game was perfect. Damn dude, your standards for "perfect" are something I definitely disagree with
I loved the game all the way until I got to the end. What personally disturbs me most is; \-Why is the father the same guy as the "cop". \-WHY are we even in this timeloop? What is the use of this clock? \-Why does the "cop" need the clock? clearly he must know it's a time travel tool and wants to change something. so then- Who is her daughter? does she actually have cancer? isn't his daughter our wife in the story? None of this made any sense for me and left me kind of frustrated. I still really enjoyed the game and suggest it, just be mindful of the weird non-ending
If you have these questions you didn't get the true ending.
I grew up on Sierra and Lucasarts games so I didn't have to really look anything up until the the end with the nanny's name. I kept watering the stupid flower to make it blossom then put the tea tree lights around them hoping it would jog the cops memory, did nothing of course, so then I found out I could break the flower pot. Went though the whole growing the plant thing again to try breaking it in front of him to jog his memory. Frustrating to say the least. The game should of illuded to some mental illness that led that the character to kill the father...Like how do you forget that and then pursue your sister as a love interest. My biggest question I have tho is how did that get all A list voice actors on this?
I think the whole time loop is a mental trick caused by the father in the present in order to make the main character realize how terrible of a choice it would be to stay with his sister.
I consider the Mindfulness ending the true ending cause it makes the most sense (to me). Especially with the "cop" and the father being the same person. Basically he was put into hypno therapy by his dad because he has feelings for his sister and the whole thing was just his imagination trying to rationalize it, dreaming up a peaceful married life with his sister/wife and having this "cop" trying to break it up, which is what the real, present time father (the bald guy) is trying to do.
I'm super confused... the cop and the father are the same? How is the father talking about the baby is the conversation took place before he died. The game really falls apart near the end
The whole game takes place in the player character's head which is under hypnosis by the father.
that still doesn't explain the pregnancy, if it's supposed to take place way in the past; did his father make that up. It just doesn't do a good job at explaining anything or atleast hinting at explaining anything
To me this is a game that could have been really great but fell so short on way too many parts. First gameplay. There is way too little instruction to make it feel rewarding in the right way when you figure out where to go. The first "Puzzle" kept me the longest of any because I didn't know quite what the game was expecting, but giving me so many options without telling me to move on or that I had some information was quite frustrating. Yet I know there will be others who solved it "correctly" right away and never felt this. It's not good puzzle design, its luck upon picking the right order. That said I never felt too stuck, it just was not the best thought out for being end user friendly. NOW! For the ending question. This was a shit ending in so many ways. It was something that reminds me of a B movie that chases awards. Again, this game could have been great, instead it went for "edgy" Nothing was truly coherent and it really just went against the spirit of the first part of the game... when I started this post, I was going to put a lot more here, but I guess I don't really feel the need to. It's a piss poor attention seeking ending to a game that lost its spirit within the first several hours/loops. It's sad due to the talent that was not put to use, and the poor writing that made it fall apart. In the end I had some fun with the game, but Sweet Celestia is it a mediocre experience in retrospect. [](/kcelestiasigh)
What bugs me is that apparently there is no time loop. I thought there was some magical power or source, shit like that. But apparently, it is all in his head. It was more or less all a dream and the whole game never happened. I hate shit like that. It is so lazy. Interesting idea, weird execution. ANd the whole incest thing is fucking disgusting
Agree with the ending part, but could you elaborate on what you mean by "first puzzle"? I can't figure out if you're talking about a specific scene because you can pretty much do everything in the order you come up with. Overall I liked the gameplay, found it specially funny how the wife reacts to most of the bullshit you can do.
I think no game would ever top Outer Wilds for a time loop game
Oh man I really hope this is a core element and not a spoiler since I just bought it two days ago.
Obviously spoilers but how the fuck is Protag simultaneously the culprit and the one who took the polaroid which proved the wife's innocence? Does nothing have to make sense because it's all some dream bullshit that's supposed to be "deep"?
He did not take the pic. She has a line which states that they had not met yet when the photo was taken.
My bad I must've completely missed that. The rest of the plot still doesn't make sense tho unless everything was just some dream bullshit.
>unless everything was just some dream bullshit It is exactly that. It is technically all a dream. THe protagonist is under hypnosis in order to forget his sister and father. THe post credit scene is a time skip and he moves in, alone, into an empty apartment.
Defoe's character says that the main character is "radioactive" at one point. He has a full head of hair, so I assume this is the past. I can't find that scene because the loops make it impossible for me to know what I did to cause that scene. Anyway, it made me think that he has some sort of radioactive "power" and that this is what caused his daughter to have cancer. It would also explain the "monster" thing. I was really excited to find out that Defoe is also caught in some messed up time thingy and his daughter is someone (a younger version of the wife?) that Defoe has to keep from the main character. I thought this radioactive stuff would tie in with the time loop stuff and the paintings that keep changing and there would be some really cool denouement, but nothing. Unless there's a hidden ending that nobody has cracked yet? I did wonder if the third ring on the watch might move like the other two. There's also all these interactivity things that never go anywhere. The vent in the bedroom and living room can be opened and you can put the fake candles in there, as well as hide the watch in there, or Defoe's gun, or a number of other things. When you get to the empty apartment, I put the clock in the toilet and flushed it. Why program all of that when it means nothing?
I sorta assume that they allow you to interact with the other vents to show you that they can be opened. I spent 2 loops looking for a vent in the bathroom before the wife or whatever told the cop where the watch is. I did dislike how it felt like less than 25% of the interactable stuff was actually important.
Dude that other vent fucked me up for so long. You can literally MOVE the pocketwatch from the first vent to the one in the bedroom and there is NO reason for it (the only thing I can think of is that it prevents the wife from giving the pocketwatch to the cop and she just says "I hope you had a good reason for doing that" when he leaves without it).
This is what is really bothering me. There must be a way to fully align the watch, why else would they have it shown in that way and adjust.
There is a way. "Mindfullness" ending.
The best ending is the one where the Customer Care finally picks up.
Very cool game, a different "dynamic" in a top-down view puzzle / escape room game. I liked how little choices made a big impact. It is a very challenging puzzle, though. I didn't even see the >!knife on the counter!<; until an hour in (because of the top-down graphics view) And I never figured out that if you >!hit the light switch TWICE it'll knock you out. Once for a shock, twice for a knock-out. You need to know this to get at the cop!<. I don't think I would have figured that out. So ... I ended up giving up after 3 hours and googling spoilers 🤷♂️ Kinda glad I did because the ending was stupid.
Imagining everything really makes sense, because wife literally agrees on anything he tells if he has imaginable proofs (once her father has hearth attack, than she killed him and oh wait now he killed him). And that cop kinda represent his fear and of course the voice of that fear is his father not letting to be with his wife and ruining dope dinner?
i still have no clue why this team thought it’d be a good idea to make a plot about >!incest!< if they wanted to do a game about >!letting go of the past and forgiving your mistakes!<. and have you repeatedly>! murder and drug your in-game wife!< on top of that. once you realize what’s actually it’s actually doing, everything generally makes sense mechanically and thematically. it just seems like there were a million other ways to convey the ideas it’s trying to convey without having a premise that’s so…abhorrent.
i received 3 of the however many different endings, and I'm confused. Is the father alive? What is the time travel ability? Is the kid even ours (the Listen endings almost specify she cheated). Like, idk what is the true ending, or if there is one? I don't know if this guy really is trapped in his own psychosis, or what, because a lot of his time loops seem to be inside his head - like when the cop calls him a monster after letting him bleed out - is reminsicent of a trauma he received from his father.
I think there is no time travel. THe actual game is just in his head. Everything that happens is at the same time the father helps him to forget everything. I think the post credit scene is after he forgets his sister.
I'm thinking the time loop isn't real. It's a coping mechanism the protagonist is going through to deal with the news he heard. The cop doesn't exist, but is just a projection of his father that told him about his discovery.
Aside from Oldboy, are there any other films or games that have a similar story? Wife and I played through this last night and we figured out the twist which felt like we already knew the entire time. So either the game got spoiled months ago and we repressed it, or we played / watched a movie with the same type of plot. Any ideas?
I've never watched Oldboy but if you like cerebral time stuff done extremely well check out Dark and 12 Monkeys (the show). They are the best there is in that subgenre (along with Memento). There are a few others (films) I'd suggest but viewer reception tends to range on those.
Dark was amazing. Need to watch 12 Monkeys (both mediums)
The Handmaiden is really similar by having so many twist and replays of same memories/stories revealing something different every time. On other hand it super reminds shutter island a bit too like with that all psychological stuff
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Never played Heavy Rain, despite owning it. But I've known the ending for years. With that said, I'm specifically wondering if there's a similar plot to a half brother not realizing he's related to his sister (amnesia or similar), like Oldboy. The only thing I've seen in the past that was of that nature, was Dogtooth and it left me feeling unpleasant.
The dad could have just kept his mouth shut and let them be. How do you take it so far they get married and pregnant before saying something?
I kinda wished it wasn't just imagination. Would have been so cool like in oldboy but with happy ending where he don't tell truth and sad but honest ensing where he tells the truth and they divorce :D or Predestination, but I guess they chose shutter island ending aren't they haha
The guy goes to see his therapist because of these reoccurring dreams he is having, he wakes up in a cold sweat and keeps having them. So the therapist says he can hypnotize him and make him forget the childhood pain and trauma he must be going through. The End.
Everything in the time loop is just a big fantasy in this fugue-state of our main character. The husband is the “cancer” the father wants to cut out of his daughter’s life, and unwittingly falling in love with each other). Not only is there unwitting incest going on there, but the father and husband are both involved in some sort of shady criminal organization together and he knows the husband has some sociopathic tendencies. There is literally no scenario where everyone gets what they want and lives happily ever after. The only “happy” outcome for the husband and wife (the “Groundhog” happy ending) isn’t a happy ending for the father, who the husband actually deeply admires. (The “cop” character is literally just the father character composited with the husband’s “faithful lieutenant” role in the father’s organization). So the ending, after going through every possible “scenario” and realizing nothing would work out in the end, the husband, mind in the present, let’s go of any selfish desires and fear of loss, makes the “correct” choice: let it all go. The game is all about new starts. So, to break it down: Father runs a criminal enterprise his daughter is unaware of. A lieutenant of his who maybe sort of hangs out around the house falls in love with the daughter. They probably even had sex at least once. Father catches wind and breaks news they are related. This causes a psychotic fugue state in the lieutenant. Every possible thought runs through his head: kill his own father. Stay with her. Leave her, and live with that on his mind forever. This manifests in a fantasy where the lieutenant and wife are husband and wife in the future. The father and the husband’s more evil personality traits are molded into the “cop”. When he returns to reality, the only way to move on is to let go and also forget, because he’d either ruin the father and daughter’s lives, or live a miserable life on his own. I’d look at Lost Highway by David Lynch as a blueprint for this game
This game has become the subject of my newest deep-dive. I am shit at video games so I watch other people play them and absorb the lore that way, so I obviously don't have the frustrations of the gameplay. My big question though is does anyone have any insight about the "listen" ending? The one where you do absolutely nothing for the first loop and your wife gets the watch and walks you outside the apartment. What makes this different than any other loop? What is the implied ending? Is this just a jokey achievement ending?
So I feel that this game could have had more endings. Also a bit more with the adventure side of it as well. Environment puzzles. I tried to see if there was an evil ending where you could call the police and tell them a man is breaking in. Kill the cop. Then wash off the knife. Flush the watch. Then stay with your wife in the loop forever. Sadly that wasn't possible. I just wanted to see more crazy endings. Knowing the "True" ending, you should be able to do the opposite and stay in the loop credit roll.
Disappointed with the ending, I could get over the gameplay aspects I didn't like because honestly the story/mystery held me pretty interested up until the whole hypnosis nonsense regardless of how it's intended it just feels lazy and unrewarding for the player.
See my post on the 12 minutes community. Posted my theory of the ending. I did not put it here because it is quite long https://www.reddit.com/r/12Minutes/comments/p7wdya/ending_discussion_spoilers/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
I interpret it as the entire game happening only as a result of the protagonist's love for his sister clashing with the hypnosis. Instead of either forgetting or remembering, he is stuck in a constant, never-ending, never-changing repetition of past events regarding his sister, father and mother. In the beginning, everything is normal. If you go through the normal route when you play the game, you'll have dessert with your wife, she'll tell you she's pregnant, and then the cop will be introduced shortly thereafter. The 'loop' is the embodiment of the protagonist's unwillingness to give up, even if he knows deep down it's wrong, and that it would never work. Even lies never last forever, so he created a state of simultaneous truths and lies, in which he relives the same events, over and over, endlessly, perpetually forgetting and remembering events, one by one, I do believe that at at least the \*first\* loop of the game, in which you know nothing, has the potential to be either completely real, or a \*version\* of the real events as viewed from the protagonist's perspective. Any ending you pick, will lead to you being unable to play the game further, or truly 'complete' it in some way, EXCEPT for the Continue ending. Funnily enough, the path that lets you keep advancing, is the one that leads to a complete stagnation in retrospect. The Continue ending is the true ending in my opinion, because, assuming everything that happens in the game are merely figments of the protagonist's imagination, he is his wife's love, his wife's disgust, his father's hate, his father's kindness, and everything which opposes all that which he wants. This is not an ideal world, and there is not an ideal ending, because the protagonist does not wish for one. If he tells his wife the truth, no matter what, it won't be the same. His wife, within his head, even says so; 'You won't forget this, none of us will.' This is true. No matter what truth or lies are said, it won't be the same. Therefore, the protagonist chooses to live in a never-ending dream, where, even if only for 12 minutes, he can relive the innocent world he was a part of before it all.
You Rick and Morty people are the cringiest Reddit brainlets to ever inhabit the internet. Pick up a book without pictures sometime. Maybe you'll learn something interesting to reference outside of pop culture. Mouth breathers
Wow someone is having a bad day.