That happened right?

The red shirt kid's entire goal and the reason he broke into a laboratory and nearly died a dozen times was to be absorbed into a giant ball of human flesh and limbs and escape to the outside world.

Can someone please explain what the fuck happened at the end of this insane game?

@willin: I haven't read your post because I still might play this game, I just want to know one thing before going into it.

Are there any instances beyond the pig at the start getting his tail ripped off where there's visual cruelty to animals? I don't need specifics, just a yes or no answer would do. My guess is yes.

@jesus_phish: Not directly.

@willin: Thanks for the response. I watched the QL and got the impression there might be and that's something I'm not interested in seeing. I didn't really like Limbo but it sounds like this game fixes all the problems I had with Limbo so it might be worth a shot.

The overall gist that I got is:

EDIT WITH POST-GAME STUFF:

DOUBLE EDIT:

T-T-TRIPLE EDIT:

@rickrockmann: just beat the game myself and was wondering the same thing! I missed like 5 of the secret mine looking things. Don't know if I should try to get them all or just see if there's already a video on YouTube lol.

Great fucking game though! Brad was on point with his review.

That was one of the weirdest games I've played. Definitely did not expect the gameplay turn. I'm still kind of absorbing the ending - I kind of figured out what was going on, but it'd like a bit more closure on the end. I'd like to find the rest of the secrets and see if that reveals anything.

This isn't a bad way to look at it. My biggest question is

Played this one sitting. That was great. I have collected everything on my own, I need to know what the hell is beyond the door down in the bunker under the cornfield. I'll check that music tip. Spoiler podcast/video please.

Edit:

Here is a guide :

@brad:

@brad:

@brad said:

I just finished it, and I have no idea what the end meant, and what it was symbolizing (at least what the blob is, and the shot of you having finally escaped). Now that I think about it, I guess I can understand what the human blob is. The game was an interesting take on a tired theme to me. I would say it's worth half the price I paid for it, but I don't regret getting it. This does make much sense, and I don't care to give much context as to how I come to this, but if I were to score it, I'd give it a 7.65 out of ten. Main reason it's so 'low' is because I don't see myself playing it again any time soon, or ever. I'd perhaps rather watch someone else play it, so score wise, the replay ability is quite low for me. There's a lot of great aspects in it though.

Did you remember to use protection?

I'm so sorry... I'll be back once I actually play the game.

I'm surprised no one has talked about the theme of it. For me, it's harder to look at it as the world it was created as, and more about the allegory of it all.

Finished the game in a single sitting. Holy shit. Still processing, but HOLY SHIT. As a stray thought, early on there's some dilapidated signage on a building's roof consisting of huge neon letters, evoking the 'hotel' sign from Limbo. There are three letters - R_C - with the middle letter missing. If you drop down a bit, you find the fallen letter E, spelling out REC. Given the catatonic state of the imprisoned people (plus the nature of the device that lets you control them, and the prevalence of tapes/reel-to-reel players littered around) I think this part of the facility is dedicated to imprinting or 'recording' thoughts and personalities onto subjects. Still formulating thoughts on the rest.

As far as the motivation of Red Shirt Boy goes, there's no real evidence to go on but I'm guessing that someone important to him, perhaps a sibling or parents, were taken in to be part whatever insane program the scientists were working on. It's the only reason I can think of for him to be so feverishly determined to break in through constant threat of death.

Another theory I had with little evidence to back it up was that Red Shirt Boy maybe was himself being controlled the entire time. It gets established pretty early on that it's possible for a mind-controlled individual to then also mind-control others. Maybe it's meant to be a form of corporate espionage, or perhaps it's a poke at the fact that we the player are the ones pulling the strings, and the motivation of the boy is merely our own.

Whatever the case may be, it was an excellently designed, immaculately executed, and brilliantly thought-provoking game. It will definitely be finding its way onto my year-end top 10.

spoilers for alternate ending:

What I REALLY want to know about is (spoilers for partway through game)

What's up with that mermaid thing. It doesn't fit in with anything else. And what does it do to you hat lets you breathe underwater? And why?

EDIT: OKAY as I thought about that last part I realized something:

You totally die when the mermaid gets you. I think it converts you into a zombie/blob person, whose being controlled by whatever, and whose goal is to free the blob.

@itsmensch: Did you notice that during the fall after the mermaid gets you that some kind of cable connects and then disconnects from the boy? Also after that point it's possible to mind control the pawns without the use of a helmet. Pehaps whatever that cable was connected to imbued the boy with the attributes of mermaids and pawns.

@kreeztoff: I noticed that he got breathing powers but didn't notice the mind control. So many layers to this game.

Spoilers!!! Sorry, typing from a phone doesn't allow me to cover it up.

Just finished the game too. Went back and got the secrets as well. I'm enjoying reading everyone's thoughts and opinions. This game is really something. A rare thought provoking journey. I sat and stared at the end as the credits rolled. Look at the blob. It looked almost lifeless. Gave me the impression that you died at the end so close to the ocean and freedom.

It really made me think. It's not often games do that for me. So much water!!! I NEED to know why!?! Why is everything flooded and why are there so many parts that look like ships!? Were they planning on floating away at some point and it all went wrong? The whole game was a giant question mark in terms of this dystopian environment. I kept asking: What brought them to this!? Was it ever normal like we're accustomed to or is this the only way this world knows of? I love games and other media that make me think like that. Ask how humanity progressed to this point and allow me to form my own conclusions. Let's me write my own prologue book in a way.

A brilliant game. One that I would put up there with Portal. A short experience but better for it. Just amazing. Loved it.

@brad:

NOTE, SPOILERS AHEAD:Im on mobile and cant figure out how to post the normal spoiler tag!

It seems the facility was a farce. It seems that the higher ups were experimenting with mind control to create an effectively free work force. Unless you were an employee, you were a slave.

If the non employees are slaves, though, then why do they need the soundwave machine and all of these traps? Well they divide the city with the institution. So there must not have ALWAYS been a lack of free will and total mind control. People used to live in the city, but it probably got to a point where they deemed it easier to just integrate all of the lower citizens. So now all that is left in the walled off lands we explored are zombie like slave workers, and the upper class citizens.

As to the turncoat scientists, youd have to think that not all of them agree with what is being done, but know that the are privileged and lucky to not be one of the zombie citizens. They show their true, rebellious nature in the final act, though.

@brad

And make note of the Blob section for GotY "Best Moment" category. The animation, sound, and physics are so well done for the Blob. Even the way the environment was laid out and how the employees were reacting was amazing. Never seen anything come together so well. It was incredible to watch and play through that moment.

@seikenfreak: Agreed wholeheartedly. My mouth was agape through that entire sequence.

I can't believe only one person in this thread has acknowledged the title.

So just a few thoughts of my own, many echoing or developing what others have said.

As a starter, I don't believe there has to be a meaning, and - as with Limbo - I think the developer has actively decided against being definitive on this front. One person's 'allegory' is another's 'open to interpretation', is another's 'you're missing that this is the thing', and I think all are valid.

That being said:

• Herding people into trucks hopefully needs no further elaboration; nor the experimentation upon, and enslavement of, the victims.
• The various times that non-participants simply watch you and / or the drones (see the section where you have to step in time) clearly shows that the rest of society is at least non-interventionist, if not complicit in the whole affair.
• Nor am I certain the boy is innocent in all this. He's not enslaving anyone, but quite happy to mentally control the drones when it suits him. Aside from the general removal of their free will, he drops them from great heights, even when this clearly causes them pain and in some cases dismemberment. Quite happy to do what he needs when he thinks it's all to 'the greater good'.
• Again, the 'conscientious objector' theme could be an answer to @brad's question over why some scientists apparently have a different motivation to their co-workers.

I could go on - and might in a future post - but in the meantime, I completely agree this has to be pencilled in for some Game of the Year 'Best Moments' lists. This gave me two or three of my year to date, and I would be surprised if at least one of them didn't last through to December.

Hive Mind.

Tell me I am not the only one that was thinking "Blitz Ball"! At the point where everybody runs over to the window of the spherical chamber and you wonder what they are watching in there.

I'm typing this on my phone and I don't know how to black out the text, sorry!! @broddity: I definitely get the biological themes, It felt like a game about birth or even abortion. The boy combining with the blob or 'egg' and then it is dropped into a dark water tunnel. At the bottom where you end up peeling the wall away, the floor even looks vaguely like a vagina... Very weird to me, but such an amazing gaming experience with a lot of symbolism. It's about time a game got people asking questions haha!

What a wild ride. Very enjoyable and I love all of the theories I'm reading here - lots to mull over.

Why is this game called Inside?

Yeah, this is definitely something I considered. I also thought that perhaps it was all another stage of a grand experiment? But it's probably more that they were trying to recapture LIMB-O.

Here's a dumb idea: Inside is a prequel of sorts to Limbo, and Limbo is the boy's experience in the afterlife, or perhaps a dreamstate entered once he joined the hive-mind. This doesn't match up with Limbo boy's sister, though. :P

The alternate ending is interesting. I wonder if it's just a fun metaphor for the player playing the game, or if it's straight up meant to tell you that the boy was just another mind-controlled zombie. Perhaps the boy was an escaped experiment in living human mind control gone wrong as the boy battles the mind control with his own free will?

Perhaps this world is post-apocalyptic alien invasion with scientists trying to replicate the abilities of alien organisms. Or instead could the world be being run by these aliens as they experiment with organisms from their own world, significant portions of the human population being their guinea pigs (perhaps those that're dead? With those that survived working for them lest they become dead mind-controlled zombies?) Maybe the boy was fighting said mind control and had the goal of getting inside and freeing LIMB-O.

But then what happened with the boy being pulled under by the underwater creature? It's probably safe to assume at that point the boy died, and was then granted the technology to use mind control without a cap. If the boy is dead at that point, though, he's probably not exhibiting any more free-will. If he's being controlled by those running the experiment he probably wouldn't be breaking in to free LIMB-O. Was it all some sort of rebellion controlled from the safety of the alternate ending's vault?

Whatever we're supposed to make of the story, Playdead certainly enjoy commenting on the player's role of control in a videogame.

Sorry if none of this makes sense, it's all written off the cuff as I think about it, with little time given to flesh things out or make sense of it all.

@themasterds:

Why indeed.

Finished the game last night/this morning. Had planned on going to bed as I was getting kind of tired and then I hit "that part". I was definitely wide-awake for the rest of the game. Took a screenshot of my TV using my phone and something about the shot just captivates me:

http://imgur.com/RNohvkG

Almost looks like something that would be in a Tool music video.

I played this all in one sitting yesterday. I really liked it a lot. I love all the speculation and trying to piece together just what in the world was going on. I made an audible yelp type noise a couple times while playing. Totally into this game.

@boyinred said:

Well, you do end the game Outside, as opposed to Inside. And you go Inside people's minds.

@bezerker285 said:

So I wasn't tired, but I did need to empty my bladder right around THAT point.

And I didn't get off the sofa 'til I was done.

Honestly, the whole final sequence is astounding.

I'd just like to bounce my thoughts off you guys as to the entire theme of the game:

Just wanna see what others who have beaten the game think as well.

Yo that Mermaid thing reminded me of the girl from F.E.A.R.

@broddity: great post

Thanks duder!

(I'm going to assume you mean the 'some readings' one, and not the 'my bladder' one).

The end part was pretty empowering after spending the entire game having to run from everything. HA HA HA TINY PUPPIES!

For what it's worth my favourite portion / puzzle of the game was the shockwaves. I turned up the subwoofer all the way up for that.

@bradI'm also intrigued by the people helping out the blob. Same with the scientists who see you right before you get blobbed but don't do anything about it. Did they want you to go in there? I'm also intrigued by how aggressive that the soldier/security/dogs are in stopping you in the beginning of the game, but after your rampage there's no security that tries to take you down or anything. Just strikes me as odd that an organization who is so hell bent on taking down one little kid and have no qualms about being lethally violent about it are not violent in containing the blob. Did the scientists want the blob to survive? Did they want it to be free? One of the things I kept thinking was "Maybe they want to see what it can do." Like the corporation is so corporationy that they are more concerned with getting data from the blob than they are the safety of their employees.

The Steam description for the game is amazing once you've completed it: Hunted and alone, a boy finds himself drawn into the center of a dark project.

So this is all just a sequel to a boy and his blob right?