In case someone might be interested, here is the translation of the texts from the Artifact ending: "And in this days humans will seek for death but won't find it." "It is done, the secret of this god. Like she announced it to her servants, the prophets."
My friend hypothesized that when you get the chestplate from the end of the first fake playthrough, you're actually getting it from the memory ending and redoing it to get the promised ending.
There might be something to that, the endings are achieved through your playstyles more or less if memory recalls, and if i remember correctly Promise is gotten from a more aggressive, "assertive" and speedrun-y playstyle, the kind you achieve replaying the game, while Memory is your sort of more standard playstyle
@@Brian-tn4cd You sure? I got Promise just now on my first playthrough. Spend 18 hours and killed, by game standards, a LOT, while also taking a LOT of damage and cheated death 1 or 2 times. I also took 1300 damage, and healed 11xx. Tried to heal only when necessary. Talked to every NPC, until they ran out of dialogue, and took my damn sweet time reading every text and getting every gun or item. I also only died on Falke's boss fight and it was I believe 2-3 times. From what I'm reading on someone that data mined the game, memory is gotten by speedrunning, while Promise if taking all the time in the world, killing a lot, and taking a lot of damage, but not healing a lot. If I remember correctly, I spend most of the game on yellow and saved ALL the auto injectors because I'm a "just in case I need it later".
@@Brian-tn4cd Not really, the Promise ending is aggressive in the sense that you're more self sacrificial and less concerned about your safety - you have to kill a lot of enemies, but you have to be killed a lot of times. Definitely not speed-runny as that iirc links to the Memory ending instead.
I can't describe the pain that the piano leading up to the endings makes me feel. Visuals, music, gameplay, story, everything is so good. I do have a few small issues with the game but overall this game shook me completely. Still can't get over the level sadness and tragedy that the characters have to go through.
The fact that all characters in the game suffered made me so sad. Expecially Isa... just broke my heart. And it doesn't help that they looks so cute. Oh how i wanted to help them all, even that miner at mines, just like... DAMN just take that repair spray stoopid tin can, it doesn't matter if its a waste of spray i dont want to leave you here.
i totally feel you on this... as for the mynah, unfortunately her hydraulics broke... I think repair spray is only for patching wounds, like bleeidng, but not snapped "tendons" like that...
The scariest part is that the Artifact/Lily ending is probably the true ending. Memory and Leave end with Elster failing to fulfill the promise. The Promise ending has Elster fulfill the promise before dying, but she dies in the same position the Elster that you take the armor and arm from does and it has the eerie red glow, meaning this has happened before and it doesn't end the cycles. The Memory ending is one of the few times English text is shown which possibly means Elster has come to realize the futility of it which possibly leads to the Artifact Ending where she decides to perpetuate the cycle after realizing she can't truly end it because she refuses to do so.
I was genuinely hoping for a secret, actual happy ending for these two.. At least they have each other in the end still, but in an truly never ending cycle. This game actually managed to break my heart. FUCK.
Wow - the whole ripping the arm/armor from the promise ending Elster blows my mind. So in the end... Ariane and Elster just accept their destiny to live in hell it seems?
@@BlueBizen Ariane is most likely an unwilling victim. Ariane wants the cycle to end but she fears of dying. Elster doesnt want to kill Ariane but its the only way to end it all and fulfill the promise. The artifact ending basically takes whatever broken reality they have left and makes them enjoy whatever small pocket of happiness they can enjoy. But considering the model of Ariane in the artifact ending is referred to as Ariane ghost, it might imply her soul is now trapped with Elster forever.
Actually it seems more like the arm comes from memory ending rather than promise. Your entire goal is to fulfill your promise to ariane and kill her which ends the cycle (you can see this as the clock finally hits 00:00:00) Promise to me seems like the best ending and canon one you can get. You, Elster, fulfill your promise and Ariane dies, then you die shortly after, ending both of their suffering and the suffering of everyone trapped within the timeloop.
Just finished the game. Scary kind of ending (in an existential way). Didn't understand how the world is falling apart, didn't understand why they were looping in the first place though.
@@zadovrus1624 SPOILERS BELOW Why world is ending? Ariane is bio resonant, just like Falke. There's a few documents in game that confirm this and explain what it means. Essentially, she has the ability to warp not only reality, but people's perception of reality. How it started? This is more contentious and is up to theory. I hold the belief that the radiation leak right next to her cryotank triggered her dormant bio resonant powers. Ariane then transports you (Elster) into a series of dreamworlds or psuedo realities you must fight through, with the goal of upholding your promise to end her life rather than prolong her suffering or allow her bioresonant powers to become any greater.
@@zadovrus1624 Its like Silent Hill in space. People who are bioresonant are basically psychic. The white hiared girl is a powerful psychic who came into contact with an edrichan god. The nature of which has to do with the red eye and the book the yellow king by Robert W. Chambers(it is real irl.) Through the god and bioresonance a sort of time loop dream world is created. Due to the white haired girls cancer the loops are degrading and memories from other bioresonant people are bleeding together. Also the bioresonant people are noticing the loops and the protag is looking for the wrong person. I am leaving alot out but thats the short of it.
Some Ester's didnt make it, some managed to walk through the gate only to die on the way there, some reached the latch and broke themselves trying to open it, weakening it a little bit every time. Some came too soon and Alina was not yet whole as Ariane yet. But still Elster kept coming back until she kept her promise. But the cycle kept repeating anyway, I see the lily ending as reality finally going beyond the treshold and unspooling to the point where they can remain together under the effects of bioresonance.
@@Jaxrayh I like the art. I like the sound design. I like the story. But personally, I don't like the gameplay. I particularly dislike the level designers' love of compound fetch quests. In Protektors for example, there are 4 of them. Maintenance key -> Fuse Shutter gate handle - > Owl key -> Broken music cassette Island key -> Workshop key -> Adhesive tape Postbox key -> Library key Each of these requires you to navigate through areas that you've likely already seen. Each of these span multiple floors. Each of these require you to pass through enemies. None of these require you to solve puzzles. None of these allow you to decide what order you want to do them in. Why? Protektors is already by far the longest chapter. What necessitated padding it out with this? Did the developers believe that players would get lost if the areas weren't introduced in a linear fashion? If so, then what on Earth possessed them to create Nowhere? Pretty nice game, but definitely not GOTY.
Maybe I'm just optimistic, but I'm willing to believe the cycle eventually ends in the Artifact Ending. My reasoning is that because of all the real world effort it took to figure out how to get it, it means that this was a loop where Elster figured out how to open that safe. Perhaps the white lily was able to stop the loop because bioresonance is funky like that. I think the lily allowed Ariane and Elster to at least have one last dance before it truly ends. Maybe not a happy end, but at least having closure to their suffering.
Yeah, and even if it means that they can now shape this world and have more time, it doesn't matter. Remember the promise. Even that would eventually end in the promise being fulfilled.
From my understanding, given that the text in the cutscene roughly translates to "And in those days where men seek death, they will not find it" I do not think it is a very happy ending. I think the "Promise" ending is supposed to supply the most closure, but maybe even then the loops have not stopped. The "Lily" ending seems to me, to be hell. Any way the story ends, it seems more like a tragic story.
the german screentext in the lily ending says "The horror of this God is complete, just as she announced it to her servants the prophets" so that gives ground to your point that the loop is ending
I also agree that Artifact is an ending that ends the cycle as well. Personally, I think that Artifact and Promise are the only two endings where the cycle truly comes to an end. Promise being much more of a sad, tragic, but definite way for it to end, while Lily ends it much more peacefully. I interpreted them dancing at the end in the wrecked ship as more so their spirits or souls being free from the cycle at long last and being able to spend time together once again without pain or suffering. I just played through the game fully these past few days, it's been a shocking and incredible game; there's so much interpretation to be had with each and every section of the game!
Thank god I’m not the only one who immediately saw the parallel. That fucking scene is so visceral. Absolute masterclass of storytelling, art and animation.
I don't think any single ending is the "true" ending, personally. I think they're all true, and are meant to be taken in sequence. Memory, Promise, Leave, Lily. Memory I think is meant to show that Ariane's mind was starting to deteriorate, making her already deteriorating body even worse. Promise could be a rare time when Ariane is awoken from cryo, this time with a conviction to see Elster's promise fulfilled. Leave I think is the final result of everything, as we get an environment that looks real. No red sky and desert, no black pillars, no cosmic red eye. Lily I think is meant to be a representation of Elster's grief, taking form of the room the pillars are in, Elster's acceptance taking form of the lily she places at Ariane's grave, and Elster's first step to healing in the form of the mysterious object. The eye I believe represents the weight of her grief still pressing on her even after accepting Ariane's death. I think you could easily poke holes in this theory but I don't think this game would just say, "This one single ending is the true ending, there you go" either.
In the Artifact ending, the "altar" or whatever that the artifact is placed on is pulsating though, as if whatever is under the surface is alive. Also, one of the quotes is something like "..people who seek death will not find it". Given all the references to the king in yellow, the artifact could be a reference to "marble" in "the mask" which, though at first is assumed to be deadly, turns out to be the opposite. The description of "marble" and its effects reminds me of the artifact. The lily also points to "the mask". I'm getting a vague impression of a negation of death from all things. Death being one of the major themes of the games and essentially also "the promise". This is all speculation from very vague impressions from ambiguous images but I kinda think the Artifact ending is the opposite of what you say, it's not Elster moving on but rather hanging on, intentionally repeating the loop. The lily is not a symbol of death in the king in yellow, it was preserved by marble so placing it on the altar is not affirming death but life. The "marble" on "the grave" I think represents the cryopod that, just like the marble, preserves life. This is really terrible though because Ariane is trapped inside, hence the fleshy hellish grave prison. The other LSTR units next to the other pillars could represent Elster's inability to move on and to fulfill the promise. Also one of the descriptions of the secret keys is essentially asking the player why they keep replaying the game (and thus repeating the loop) and also stating that there's nothing but heartbreak at the end. Also in this ending, Elster never fights Falke, never faces Adler at the gate which are necessary steps to get to P-512 and Ariane. I also think the red eye referred throughout the game is literally just Ariane so when it appears on the sky that's pretty explicitly saying Ariane is not dead, at least for me. We also see Elster and Ariane dancing at the end which doesn't seem like Elster is moving on but rather stuck in the past. tl;dr I think the Artifact ending is about Elster not being able to move on, thus essentially forcing Ariane to be trapped on life support against her will, as if buried alive. It's the worst possible ending, representing the selfishness of denying someone euthanasia because you love them too much to let them go.
I don't see how Leave should be seen like that. It doesn't build on anything that happens before, and given the context it's far more likely that it's simply Elster refusing to engage with both the promise and the cycle, just to die alone.
leave is the true ending, it is the ending that requires you to do actions associated with healing one self when you look for triggers, and it teaches acceptance
I think of all of the main endings, Memory is my personal favorite ending. By no means is any ending "the best" one, but I feel like Memory makes the story that much more tragic because while Elster ended up remembering her promise, Ariane could not even remember Elster. I'll admit Promise is a more satisfying ending because Elster is able to complete that one last thing before she dies, but Memory I think fits in with the tragedy of Elster and Ariane's story.
@removethatpfp usubhhumanssackoffshiitbbittcchh are you okay? mentally? emotionally? do you need therapy? i think you should really talk to someone about your anger... it's not normal to spend your life just mindlessly hating strangers on the internet because they have an anime profile picture. I'm really worried about your psyche!
I got memory first too and it also holds a special place in my heart. Elster had made it so far, pushed herself to face Ariane, but she couldn't take the final step. She got to see her again, and took comfort in that, despite failing to keep the promise. Promise is more satisfying, but memory feels the most emotionally loaded.
It all depends on the perspective and who you think each ending correlates to. Falke wanted to become whole, possibly through remembering her Gestalt memories or that of the Elster who was with Ari; but finding closure is another way one could "become whole."(Artifact ending takes place in her room, skipping the boss fight) Adler wanted you to leave, but it doesn't seem like it stops the cycle from restarting, rather preserving it and keeping Ari encased in the meat sack cryo chamber, until she is eventually born anew. I don't think the Artifact ending necessarily means the creation of a new universe, like in Evangelion, I think it means Elster managed to make herself and identical Replikas whole and joined Ari in her dream, still dancing inside the Penrose. There's still a lot to think about, like Ari being the daughter of the Empress or a possible reincarnation. Why would she be subjugated to bullying and ridicule? Maybe the Empress was the leader of the rebels instead, and all information regarding them has been redacted.
I got the memory ending. I'm not sure why and how tho. Well, i really liked the game. Truly spesial experience. I haven't experienced such ecstasy from the game for a long time
Извиняюсь если где-то ошибся, но сюжет я понял следующим образом: Есть некая звёздная система которая колонизирована человечеством. В ней идёт война между Империей и народным флотом Юсана. Планеты Империи: Буян, Китеж Планеты Народного флота: Ротфронт, Ленге, Винета, Хеймат. Между фракциями идёт война. Империя сторонники империализма, идеализма - из чего такой вывод: присутствие религиозной литературы, управление монархическое (правит императрица - как приводилось в одной из записок). Народный флот Юнуса сторонники коммунизма или социализма - следует из названия фракции, планеты (Ротфронт - на немецком красный фронт), а также из некоторых записок и плакатов видно борьбу с религией и верой во всё антинаучное и антиматериалистическое, аллюзии в плакатах на ГДР и СССР. У борющихся сторон паритет, никто не может добиться окончательной победы, про распределение между фракциями людского ресурса ничего сказать не могу. Однако козырной картой Народного флота Юнуса являются реплики (биокибер роботы или андроиды с собственным самосознанием взятым у мёртвых людей оригиналов - гештальтов). Таких типов реплик несколько поколений: 1. ARAR реплики ремонтники второго поколения 2 2. EULE реплики обслуживающего персонала 4 поколения 3. KLBR реплики 6 поколения, являются обычными репликами охраны способными управлять остальными (по средствам биорезонанса) 4. МNHR реплики шахтёры 3 поколения 5. SAPR теже MNHR только для сражений (в игре отсутствуют, есть только упоминания) 6. SAR стандартные реплики охраны 4 поколения 7. STCR боевая реплика диспецера 5 поколения 8. KNCR элитная версия STCR 9. FALKE реплики начальники безопасности и командиры 6 поколения 10. LSTR реплика борт инженера для космических миссий (собственно та за которую мы играем LSTR-512) Все реплики имеют некоторые диффекты или особенности типа: сбивания в кучу, любовь к музыке, неприязнь к военным фильмам и т.д.. Эти особенности могут пагубно сказаться на их работоспособности.
И так приступим к событиям игры: В роли гг у нас выступает Ариан Ен пилот-гештальт и LSTR-512 (Элистер) её борт инженер и реплика на миссии по освоению космоса Пенроуз-512. Играть нам предстоит за Элистер которая ищет Ариан. Кто такая это Ариан Ен - это пилот гештальт родившаяся на планете Ленге, прожившая жизнь на Ротфронте. Сначала она жила с мамой на отдалённой станции связи Ротфронт-06 (это следует из записок и момента когда мы попадем на станцию и получаем листок и сигналами кодов). После того как Ариан подросла, мама по совету отправила её учиться в школу в городе Мандельброт. Там наша юная особа познакомилась с сёстрами Ито, Эрикой и Изо (будет попадаться по ходу игры, и в конце умрёт? или растворится?). Ариан не очень ладила с другими людьми в школе из-за чего случались конфликты (возможно потому, что мала общалась с людьми в раннем детстве). Закончив школу наша беловолосая красавица, работает в фото магазине семьи Ито на полставки, и в это время она решила записаться в миссию Пенроуз (тут я забыл упомянуть,что в какой-то момент жизни к ней попало фото Алины Сео). Что за Алина скажите вы, это та девушка с фотографии в начале и дневники, которой мы находим на С-23. Но всё же причём тут она, лично я считаю что она является идеалом для Ариан (поэтому она старается себя ассоциировать с ней и именно поэтому мы ищим её вначале), а сама эта особа скорее всего какой-то солдат Народного флота, герой войны. Тут я упомянул объект С-23 - Серпинский это место альтернативной работы для Ариан если её не возьмут на миссию Пенроуз (я думаю Ариан никогда не была на Серпински и сам объект нарисован её воображением, так как она является техническим специалистом и вовремя обучения могла видеть подобные объекты и как они работают в учебных курсах, присутствие же там Изо Ито говорит о том, что моя теория верна. Так почему именно Изо, она её лучшая подруга и защитница). И вот нашу красавицу Ен выбрали пилотом и дали в помощь реплику LSTR-512, так началась их космическая одиссея которая закончилась ничем или провалом, но об этом позже. Путешествие по плану должно проходить 3000 циклов (дней), по факту займёт по последним записям 6541 день (присутствует записка о 262144 днях, я думаю это сознание Ариан после ухода в криосон в конце миссии если она жива и мучается от боли вызванной лучевой болезнью). За это время они успели сдружиться во всех смыслах, но так как Ариан лень было читать все документы или ей не сказало начальство, что это миссия скорее всего в один конец. Конец миссии ознаменовали поломки корабля в результате превышения времени его эксплуатации, и то он прослужил в двое больше чем планировалось, из чего это следует: поломка воздушных фильтров, мусор, конец продовольствия и рем комплектов, утечка радиации. Утечка радиации повлекла за собой лучевую болезнь, а так же пагубно сказалась на Элистер (так как LSTR-512 является репликой она погибла раньше чем Ариан хоть и дала обещание её убить( концовка обещание) как та не сможет выносить такую жизнь). Ариан приняла решение заморозить себя в криосне. Именно отсюда берёт начало игровой процесс (замечу вся игра по моему мнению с момента начала игры это приходы, проблемы с мозгом Ариан из-за лучевой болезни, её красочный последний сон). Почему начинаем играть именно за Эрику, я считаю это связано с желанием Ариан что бы её спасли, LSTR её любовь и единственное близкое и ближайшее существо которое теоритически могло спасти героиню. Первая часть это С-23. Объект в печальном состоянии: свирепствует зараза в виде каких-то опухолей, мяса и зараженных реплик (я считаю это аллюзией на организм Ариан который умирает от лучевой болезни). Что же означает падение корабля, это его поломка и выход и строя, но он никуда не падал (это сознание Ариан дорисовало такую картину мира, свою мысль по этому поводу я описал выше). Локация представлена скорее всего типичным горнодобывающим объектом этой вселенной в представлении каким бы он мог быть если бы ГГ туда попала. Вторая часть Нигде. Это пожранные заразой и воспроизведённые в фантазии воспоминания Ариан о её детстве, тут вам школа, уроки, какие-то музеи и истории (к примеру история Императрицы). Локация представлена сшитыми кусками воспоминаний из детства. Третья часть Мандельброт. Это воспоминания её юности, когда она жила и работала в этом городе. (к примеру фотомагазин семьи Ито, где когда мы туда попадаем погибает Изо не найдя сестры, это по моему мнению понимание Ариан того что для Изо её сестра всё таки ближе чем лучшая подруга, и остаётся надеяться на спасение только от Элистер). Сама локация это скорее всего место где именно жила Ариан на планете Ротфронт.
И так пройдёмся по некоторым персонажам о которых я хотел бы сказать своё мнение: 1. Адлер единственный персонаж мужчина, это связано скорее всего с тем (с повесточкой токо тссс) что Ариан мало общаласть с мужчинами и заключительный этап своей короткой жизни провела с репликой женского типа. Лифт в который Адлер столкнул Элистер забит трупами других Элистер, это как мне кажется предыдущие попытки сознания Ариан на спасение не увенчавшиеся успехом (не само спасение, а нарисовать себе мирок в котором её спасут, чтобы было не так страшно и одиноко умирать одной в бездне бескрайнего космоса). 2. Фальке главный босс игры олицетворяет всё зло системы отправившей Ариан в самоубийственную миссию (представлена самым прогрессивным типом реплик) и рассеянность созная самой Ариан (из-за лучевой болезни и побочных эффектов ей трудно собрать мысли в кучу, чтобы взять себя в руки и принять реальность). К слову о книге которая попадается нам во время игры, это по сюжету запрещённая литература которую Ариан хотела прочитать и скорее всего прочитала ( не уверен, что прочла), в которой описывается идеалистический мир идущий в разрез с материализмом и реальностью, отсюда и все вот это "божественные" сущности, мотивы, карты таро и правило 6, 3 и так далее и тому подобное. В заключении о концовках. 1. Фейк - неудачные попытки Ариан собрать своё сознание в единую конву. 2. Побег - побег от реальности (если Ариан осознавала что это она, а не Элистер) и сон как смерть в конце (может криосон). 3. Обещание - надежда на обещание данное Элистер Ариан, убить ту в конце (но так и не выполненное) и смерть в муках (или криосон). 4. Память - потеря воспоминание и блуждание в уголках памяти, Ариан не узнаёт саму себя, но подсознательно хочет быть с Элистер из-за чего та остаётся рядом (здесь можно увидеть труп Элистер в каюте, что говорит что та погибла раньше Ариан из-за того что радиация на неё действует сильнее чем на человека) и смерть (криосон). 5. Артефакт (Лили) - это последнее и самое яркое воспоминание перед смертью (криосном). Да финал получился грустным в любом случае, ну что ж космос это опасное место и ещё не один миллиард людей там погибнет прежде чем мы сможем им пользоваться как своим домом это будет трудный и тяжёлый период нашей истории, но как говорится " такова жизнь". П.С. Не люблю грустные концовки о безпросветном будущем, но игра мне зашла, жалко что в России не доступна или всё же ....
@@kamikadsekolbas5372 В игре есть записка где говорится, что ненадо убивать реплику, чтобы ей пропитаться, и просто её не убивайте, потомучто шанс того, что реплика выполнит операцию на 860% больше чем гештальт. Либо это такая "забота" партии, либо в игре небольшая дыра, в том, что Эльстер погибает раньше. Если реплики умирают раньше Гештальта, то откуда шанс на успех на 860% больше? П. С: не помню какие точно там % на успех, но либо 86 или 860 ( да разброс тот еще, но всё же)
I Got "Memory" ...and I decided to look up the rest cuz I have no Idea how to get the different endings nor do I have the willpower to replay this but.....really good game.
I just finished it a few minutes ago. I got the "Promise" ending. Watching the other ones, I think I got the most romantic one. The truth about Ariane and her desire to end it all along with Elster's promise being accomplished. I think it's a nice ending. "Lily" ending is the other one I would go to. Awesome game. Enjoyed a lot.
Promise ending is the end of the cycle. The room is red because it comes after Memory, where Elster failed and let Ariane turn into a pulsing red creature. The cycle is all because of Ariane's immense powers, so if Ariane dies, that is the end.
Bro I got the fake ending. I didn't understand the story at all. Good ass game though. 💀💀 Edit: damn nvm didnt realize there was more lmao. Thought i just misses some side shit that caused the other endings but no. The game pulled an uno reverse card and keeps going after the end credits. Guess I'm not done yet. Edit part 2: i got memory. That shit was sad as hell.
I honestly am starting to think that Leave is my favorite ending. I think it breaks the cycle for real. I don't feel like explaining in detail right now but... maybe it was the best for everyone?
As I saw a video point out, the Elster unit you see leave the ship doesn't have white armor on. That isn't the Elster you play as. That's one of the many, many Elster units that failed to fulfill her promise to end Arianne's life, told non-linearly.
@@cabellocorto5586 While it's true she's not wearing the armor, you can see it on the ground right next to her in the ending. She just took it off before she went to curl up. There are several other pieces that make the ending feel final to me though because of how I interpret the content of the game.
Got the memory ending. I've died 2 times, maybe thats why. For me "Promise" is the best ending, because Ariane remebers you und you remember the promise to kill her and you die together as a couple. But to be honest, I don't get the whole story :D.
Promise requires an aggressive playstyle. Leave requires a passive or more pacifist playstyle. Memory is a mixed playstyle. 115 kills netted me the Memory ending.
The color theory in This game its Increible, 16:53 The Site its Red for The Love Beetween Elster And Ariane Also Elster Take A Suit Blue For Why Blue It is also usually associated With Love :D THIS IS ART 😢
Got the promise ending... truly heartbreaking albeit the most ideal ending, at a surface level it would seem to be the breaking of the cycle; with the promise finally "fulfilled." but something about it doesn't give the vibe and feeling of a cycle ending, rather, just the end of one of the many cycles yet to occur over and over.
ive got the Promise ending on my first playthough and it broke me ngl. seeing that and realizing what the promise was, just killed something inside of me
I think the promise one is the best one. Tried to get it on stream but failed (getting the memory ending again). Apparently times died 14, damage taken 1089, enemies killed 109 doesn't work if your total playthrough is under 7 hours or something like that.
@@FallenTako i only had 40 kills and still got Promise ending. Saw one guide that mentioned that playing without healing to max and tanking as much damage as possible might help in getting this ending, which is exactly how i played The playthrough took me 8 hours total
Taking damage, killing enemies, waiting more than 5 minutes to heal between taking hits, and taking more than 12 hours to the game add to the score for getting the Promise ending
The game is obviously a 10/10, but those endings... like damn, I got 3/4 endings(except the memory one 'cause its too hardcore to achieve), and none of them are giving you any "reward". Maybe it was supposed to make me feel like I am trying to achieve the unachievable over and over again, like Elster, and I am supposed to suffer everytime, but man... that's too sad to be implied as "game"...
@@ZeroRetroVideos I haven't achieved memory, but I've read that it requires at least three following steps: 1. Beating the game within 6 hours(my third run at Lilly took me 9 hours, tho I've been speedy af). 2. Avoiding enemies(this looks kinda easy, but THE NEXT ONE IS HELL). 3. TAKING THE LEAST POSSIBLE DAMAGE AMOUNT(like, I don't know how to dodge all the enemies without killing them).
@@pnorik I got Memory: took me about 10 and a half hours but it did specify that I only had about 8 hours active, I did try to save ammo by avoiding but if I traveled a path often I'd kill, I think I took just below 2100 damage. Felt like I was kinda tanking my way through. From what I've seen Memory requires a balance between avoiding enemies like Leave and massacring like Promise
@@pnorik I played a mixed style and got the memory ending. Allowed my character to die only a few times, avoided the enemies I could, failed to talk properly with around 3 out of all the survivor npcs, didn’t let health go below yellow, still had a lot of pistol ammo at the end.
Just finished the game and got the Memory ending. I honestly came for this game expecting to get a fun little shooter for fun and sh but ngl chief.. that was so much more than I originally thought lol. Love this game with all my damn heart. Will def replay it a couple times.
I got "Promise" as my first ending and i'm happy with it. At least Elster has slight smile in the end. I don't understand the Artifact ending like whthell?
Thanks for sharing, do you have an interpretation of the artefact ending? I have no idea what happened? What do the lilies signify? How are they both alive? Why were the different modes lying by the pillars? Such a great game..
Lilies are seen everywhere that Ariane is "happy," at her childhood home in Leng(or Rotfront? I don't remember) and on the Sierpinski with Elster before everything went to shit. The several versions of Elster might represent the many Elsters that have taken the journey in the time loop. The artifact ending is very ambiguous, but the dancing scene seems to be implying that a happy moment has been preserved forever, but that it's not the same as it one was, given that the Sierpinski is in disrepair in that scene,
I didn't die once, took a decent amount of damage, and didn't kill very many enemies either. Got the Fake ending, which seems to be the only one where Elster isnt wearing armor. Did I miss something?
@@joinsideke Jesus Christ it actually fooled me. I thought I was just restarting, but then I noticed I had a little hat and that we weren't crashed. Wow! It got me!
It nearly fooled me too. I was about to close the game in disappointment and mild annoyance, but then I noticed the eye on the main menu looked almost "dead" or something, and didn't follow the cursor, so I knew fuckery was afoot lol.
Wondering the same thing. I scoured this game, not sure how I could've missed 3 keys somewhere. Could they open depending on psyche eval at the time of entering the room?
It was a community wide search for a while. The locations have been found, and you need to turn on your radio at certain frequencies in certain spots to get them. You should be able to look up the key locations.
I just spend the last 11 hours going through the game how i normally would... playing really safe, talking/interacting with everything and getting the full experience... and boy am i glad i was able to get the promise ending! So much work and it all paid off in it's own way... (I haven't seen the secret ending yet, so i'll come back once i have)
I think it's The Shining Trapezohedron from a HP Lovecraft short story (we find from a few places that Ariane reads "banned" material; The King in Yellow is the other Lovecraft specific reference). The Trapezohedron serves as a window on all of space and time. This makes me think this could be an easter egg ending, a bit like the UFO dog in Silent Hill 2 (there are lots of references to SH2 in Signalis), where we're looking into a pocket dimension/alternate reality. A coming to peace with the events/what needs to be done; a place where Elster & Ariane are dancing in the stars forever. The Promise ending being the "true" final ending to the grief cycle Elster's going through.
For me the order that makes the most sense is Memory > Leave > Lily/Artifact > Promise. Memory: Elster tries to keep the promise, but when Ariane doesn't remember anything, she finds she can't do it and dies. This ending happens many times before the loop progresses. Leave: Perhaps now able to remember the previous loops, or at least being able to reasonably deduct what happened in them, Elster finds herself unable to even go into the ship. What if Ariane doesn't remember her again? It is all pointless, and she would rather save herself the pain. Artifact: Elster remembers what happens last time (at a meta level, you cannot get this ending unless you know what happens in the game), likely a result of her leaving and not actually meeting Ariane in the last loop. She regrets leaving, and desperately just wants to spend more time with Ariane. She loses herself in a facade of reality, dancing with Ariane's ghost, but - "remember our promise" - things are not over and the promise is not fulfilled. Promise: Elster knows there is only one way to end the cycle. Holding on to ghosts did nothing - she must keep the promise. She aggressively slaughters her way through her enemies and is not willing to let any amount of pain stop her - "I'll do anything". This time, Ariane remembers - maybe due to the ritual Elster performed last time, maybe just because Elster has resolved to put a stop to this no matter what, prepared to end Ariane's suffering even if she doesn't remember this time. Elster keeps the promise and kills Ariane, ending the cycle, and with her last dying breath Ariane thanks her. There's two main big implications that Promise ends the loop - the first being that the ship is in the greatest state of disrepair and corruption in this ending, and we know for certain that the world gets worse the more it loops. A more intact world necessarily means it is in an early loop, and a more destroyed world means it is far along the cycle. This means the end of the cycle, if there is one, must either be Artifact or Promise; Memory and Leave *cannot* break the cycle because the world is quite intact in these endings but we see it continue to degrade in the others. However, there's no indication that Artifact ends the cycle. On the contrary, the game telling you to remember the promise is clear evidence to me that nothing has ended. The red eye that has been corrupting the world glares down at them from above, very much still alive. The second implication is that there are suggestions that Ariane is powerfully bioresonant and that she is the reason why this time loop is taking place and why the world is corrupted. I doubt that she herself is the cause, it's her interacting with some unknowable force or entity deep in the planet. If this is the case - which is not absolutely certain, but I think very likely - then killing Ariane would definitely end the cycle, and it would be the only thing capable of ending the cycle. This is reaching pretty far, but there MAY also be a parallel to the Empress' Hand here. There is a credible theory that Ariane is descended from the Empress somehow, and that may be why she is strongly bioresonant in the first place, as we know that the Empress had the most powerful bioresonance ever seen. If we look at the order of events with the Empress, it closely follows the chain of events that I believe takes place. On the first day she was crowned - this has no clear parallel and is where the comparison is weakest, but you could say that the cycle being established and continuing in Memory is "crowning" Ariane as the "ruler" of this dark reality in a sense. On the longest day nothing was done - this could reference the Leave ending, as Elster doesn't meet Ariane in this one and does nothing. I don't believe the "longest day" has any significance here, it's for solving the puzzle, the main thing we care about is the order of events. On the next day she was wed - this matches the Artifact ending, Elster dancing with Ariane's ghost in a futile effort to spend a little more time with the one she loves. On the last day she took her life - this is the Promise ending, the cycle ending with Elster killing Ariane before she dies as well. Though the wording of this implies suicide, the actual words just say "she took her life", not "she took her OWN" life. She and Her could easily be different people; Elster taking Ariane's life. The serpent ring that corresponds with this day is also an ouroboros, a snake eating itself, a symbol of cycles. You could posit that this means the cycle just continues, but to me this symbol of cycles being directly related to death and ending signifies the end of the cycle - not to mention that a snake eating itself realistically does end in the cycle being broken as the snake dies because of it.
Bit late, but apparently it's your playstyles, game tracks how you play (you can check status screen for how it tracks you) what influences it is a bit unknown in many specifics, but for Leave you have to play in a very cowardly manner, running away from enemies, not killing stuff, for Memory you achieve a balance of cowardice and aggressive, almost your standard survival horror playstyle, and for Promise you have to be ultra aggressive killing as many things as possible, time played and deaths is appearantly an influence too. Artifact is an exception and is gotten by finding the keys to the safe in the room at the end of nowhere, found by tuning the radio to specific frequencies in specific rooms throughout the game
In my first playthrough, I got the Fake ending. I didn't understand how or why I got it. I wanted to get the Promise ending but I didn't. Are there any tips or guidelines on how to get different endings? If there is, please let me know.
If you like my content and want to support me, please like and subscribe to my channel. You can also make a donation by clicking on the "$" icon below the video. All this will help the development of the channel and the purchase of a new computer. Thanks 00:00 - Fake 04:09 - Leave 07:37 - Promise 12:43 - Memory 16:45 - Artifact (Lily)
It's easier to watch a guide but you utilize your radio-module to collect 3 keys throughout the game. KEY OF LOVE is in the first level of the game in the room with the cages. Input radio to freq 96:000 and move to the right of the room. KEY OF ETERNITY is on the eight floor, right from the room with the astral map. Freq 65:000. KEY OF SACRIFICE is in the back of the bookstore (the dark room before the Isa cutscene). Freq 240:000. Then when you do the final puzzle (the one with the tarot cards and the dials on the wall with planets) you bring the keys to the locked box in the corner of the first-person-view room. The cutscene from the beginning plays and then you just enter the digits that the ACHTUNG message tells you (39486 60170 24326 01064). Grab the lily and the final ending plays.
Does anyone know what kind of music is playing at the end - Artifact (Lily), during the dance? A very familiar melody, but I can't remember, and I can't find it in ost.
The ending that is best is leave this game is about learning to give up at first it is about fighting for that perfect ending that never comes but when you think, its 5 stages of acceptance memory is bargaining and depression promise which requires a lot of killing and getting hurt is anger and denial but then leave, talk to people, heal yourself, spend time on reflection(game time) arianne is half dead, elster is dead, falke is being used as mirror. The game wants to tell you its time to give up, you cant do anythign left, who died has died, all you can do is accept your inevitable fate. after all everything that comes with ilness of the mind is counterintuitive, mental tornment requires you to do opposite thing you wish for to achieve any semblance of happynes signalis wants you to learn to accept things that were done, to accept loss because that is hard to do
Брат братан братишка, ответь пж - я буквально на днях прошёл Сигналис и выбил плохую концовку "Das ende". Можно пожалуйста пояснить - а каким образом выбиваются остальные концовки??? Я вроде выпылесосил каждую комнату, вроде всё прочитал, но так и не понял, как выбиваются остальные... Тут НГ+ какой то? Есть что то после титров? Можешь ответить пж, а то я в инете чёткого ответа на данный вопрос так и не нашёл.
Это фейковая концовка. А то что вы написали, это название достижения. Вам надо нажать на начать игру и игра продолжится и тогда вы сможете получить одну из других концовок, когда дойдёте до финала.
@@SearchGames I thought the point was they were both completely wore down by their negative experiences from society, abandoning the oppressive world they grew up in to create their own little world instead, but even their own little world is unsustainable and Ariane says she has become tired of everything. It reminds me very much of a particular double suicide tale. In interviews they mentioned oppression and "otherness" as themes so I think the ending they went for makes sense. The world, from their perspective especially, is pretty much doomed. Ariane is an outcast who can't find a place in her society. She was thoroughly rejected and distrusted by the others for her individuality. Her hair being white reinforces this. She breaks social norms and rules made by the state. Her story was intentionally fatalistic, she signed up for the mission to explore outer space because she was basically suicidal and saw no hope for herself based on her past experiences. And who can blame her? The society she grew up in is objectively awful with no hope for redemption.
@@CloudShepherd This makes the entire situation bleaker. An outcast and a replikant who finds love and a purpose outside their pre-determined existence doomed to die and possibly suffer in an endless loop.
The fake ending is not an ending. After the credits roll and you go back to the main menu, you need to start a new game, then you will continue playing the final chapter and get one of the real endings. Its confusing, I know. I wonder how many folks quit the game at that point and never looked back.
Друг, можешь ответить, как ты получил пятую концовку? Я её упоминание в принципе нигде не видел, или это продолжение какой-то другой, простоя я вышел на Память, с одной смертью, 5 загрузками
Yeah i got super confused by that at first too, I wish the game gave a little more effort to show you that you have to hit play on the title screen again. It was a good story piece but a bit annoying
@@Ghoulicus My experience with the fake ending was more of anger and annoyance, when the credits started to roll for the first time I said out loud "Is that it? 20€ For this?" Then I clicked begin again just to see if anything would be different, and I calmed down a bit when I noticed it was different.
Im maybe an idiot, ma i didn't understand the relationship between Alina Seo and Ariane or Elster. In the first part of the game, i was sure you were searching for your missing Gestalt, Alina. But then the game completly forgets about Alina and concentrates on Ariane. So my question is: Other than Ariane's comrade, who was Alina Seo and what was her purpose in the end? And who was the girl next to her in the photo with the eye patch? Sorry for any gramatical errors, i'm italian.
@@kjaerling159 finished playing the game a couple hours ago and in the last zone prior to the falke boss you can see the full picture with alina and the other girl in the picture was one of the itou sisters, from the picture you see in the intro of the game there is one picture of Ariane thats almost identical to alina´s picture, one of the documents written by ariane talks about ariane meeting alina and saying that they were almost like twins, so in conclusion i think that the whole point of the journey was for elster to remeber ariane and the promise they made, in the first hours of the game she confuses alina with ariane but thats just my interpretation
@@adrianluces8935 Yeah, it makes sense. But i still don't understand why Alina knows Elster. In one of Alina's diary pages you can read "I didn't see Elster for a couple days, i hope she's okay" or something like that. If Elster was the Replika that joined the exploration mission with Ariane, a Gestalt, why does Alina know Elster? The end of the game just left me with more questions than before
@@kjaerling159 The same way Elster has managed to make this journey countless times before. Again, and again, and again, a new body each time, until she succeeds. The King In Yellow is probably the biggest hint at the cyclical nature there. Just like the Yellow Sign, replicants get 'infected' with this memetic brain tumor, it spreads like wildfire likely because of bioresonance. And so replicant after replicant goes searching for her. The original Elster died long ago, but Ariane has been cryogenically frozen. The endings are the Elsters that, well, made it. In a sense each death you have is canon that way.
I think the story is quite simplistic, in the end it's just a love story with sad teenage twists, but overcomplicated by a convoluted world building with way too many influences, like sci-fi time loops, cosmic horror, resident evil zombies and even mecha anime. I'm not saying it's a bad game, I wanted to love it, but I ended up just loving the aesthetics, the visuals and music are immaculate.
It's about how well these elements compliment each other. You can do any story a massive understatement by pointing out just the gist of the plot For this game: story is simplistic, just a love story with sad teenage twist For Neon Gen Eva (huge inspiration here): story is simplistic, a mecha anime with a sad teenage twist For LOTR: story is simplistic, just a fantasy adventure to defeat a dark lord For Soiaf: story is simplistic, just medieval noble assholes struggle for a throne For Inception: story is simplistic, just criminals planting bad ideas into people's mind So on and so on. Let's just take what you consider convoluted as an example. Take that away and any elements of the game and the plot will fall apart. Elster and Ariana were meant to treat each other very differently. And that wasnt because lol edgy, but due to how flawed the replicant technology is. They werent just flawed to be grimdark either, but because their nation need to mass produce a workforce and cannon fodders for an interplanetary war. Their computer tech dont just look but act old, so Ai and autonomous robots are out of the questions, biomechanical replicant is their solution. To top it off, Elster was intentionally manufactured as a loner type to survive space travel, while Ariana was selected due to her antisocial record the government kept. So the fact that the main characters overcame all challenge from within and without to form their bond explain why Elster found it so hard to do the right thing even when given the time loop to retry infinitely.
@@criticalcoffee I think they meant none of endings had a positive outcome, regardless of which ending the suffering continues. The PROMISE ending with how Elster dies implies that it doesn't matter because she dies in the same position the Elster you take the armor and arm from does.
I feel like this game is really overrated. Yes even when taking it's an indie game into consideration. When something is cryptic it can absolutely be myserious and interesting however, in this case that's far from it. An inferior 2022 copy of resident evil 1. Weak 3/5 stars well deserved.
I agree. Covering a simplistic story in tons of edgy pretentious anime finale trope doesn't make it interesting or mysterious. It's just showing how hard you're trying to make it deep when in reality it's just a lesbian fanfic.
love the slight smile Elster has in the end of the promise in contrast to memory. Beautiful.
I never noticed it, my heart 😭😭
In case someone might be interested, here is the translation of the texts from the Artifact ending:
"And in this days humans will seek for death but won't find it."
"It is done, the secret of this god. Like she announced it to her servants, the prophets."
Ngl that kinda sums it up now the land where it all red is the fruit of forbidden knowledge. It'll cause heavy consequences like Falke
My friend hypothesized that when you get the chestplate from the end of the first fake playthrough, you're actually getting it from the memory ending and redoing it to get the promised ending.
There might be something to that, the endings are achieved through your playstyles more or less if memory recalls, and if i remember correctly Promise is gotten from a more aggressive, "assertive" and speedrun-y playstyle, the kind you achieve replaying the game, while Memory is your sort of more standard playstyle
@@Brian-tn4cd You sure?
I got Promise just now on my first playthrough. Spend 18 hours and killed, by game standards, a LOT, while also taking a LOT of damage and cheated death 1 or 2 times. I also took 1300 damage, and healed 11xx. Tried to heal only when necessary. Talked to every NPC, until they ran out of dialogue, and took my damn sweet time reading every text and getting every gun or item.
I also only died on Falke's boss fight and it was I believe 2-3 times.
From what I'm reading on someone that data mined the game, memory is gotten by speedrunning, while Promise if taking all the time in the world, killing a lot, and taking a lot of damage, but not healing a lot. If I remember correctly, I spend most of the game on yellow and saved ALL the auto injectors because I'm a "just in case I need it later".
@@Brian-tn4cd Not really, the Promise ending is aggressive in the sense that you're more self sacrificial and less concerned about your safety - you have to kill a lot of enemies, but you have to be killed a lot of times. Definitely not speed-runny as that iirc links to the Memory ending instead.
@@boba3331 my gaming style guaranteed me that on the first playthrough. Fan of a bladerunning and minmaxing, no deaths except for falke fight
@@ViHtorDid you miss the part where you have to die a lot?
I can't describe the pain that the piano leading up to the endings makes me feel. Visuals, music, gameplay, story, everything is so good. I do have a few small issues with the game but overall this game shook me completely. Still can't get over the level sadness and tragedy that the characters have to go through.
The fact that all characters in the game suffered made me so sad. Expecially Isa... just broke my heart. And it doesn't help that they looks so cute. Oh how i wanted to help them all, even that miner at mines, just like... DAMN just take that repair spray stoopid tin can, it doesn't matter if its a waste of spray i dont want to leave you here.
My sister in christ beo
i totally feel you on this...
as for the mynah, unfortunately her hydraulics broke... I think repair spray is only for patching wounds, like bleeidng, but not snapped "tendons" like that...
@@zaxolotl Yeah, she had a broken hydraulic. I don't think some duct tape is fixing that.
@@nevinmyers1245 why can't I even try :(
@@RM-- you can try i'm just saying don't get you hopes up
The scariest part is that the Artifact/Lily ending is probably the true ending. Memory and Leave end with Elster failing to fulfill the promise. The Promise ending has Elster fulfill the promise before dying, but she dies in the same position the Elster that you take the armor and arm from does and it has the eerie red glow, meaning this has happened before and it doesn't end the cycles. The Memory ending is one of the few times English text is shown which possibly means Elster has come to realize the futility of it which possibly leads to the Artifact Ending where she decides to perpetuate the cycle after realizing she can't truly end it because she refuses to do so.
I was genuinely hoping for a secret, actual happy ending for these two.. At least they have each other in the end still, but in an truly never ending cycle. This game actually managed to break my heart. FUCK.
Wow - the whole ripping the arm/armor from the promise ending Elster blows my mind. So in the end... Ariane and Elster just accept their destiny to live in hell it seems?
@@BlueBizen Ariane is most likely an unwilling victim. Ariane wants the cycle to end but she fears of dying. Elster doesnt want to kill Ariane but its the only way to end it all and fulfill the promise. The artifact ending basically takes whatever broken reality they have left and makes them enjoy whatever small pocket of happiness they can enjoy. But considering the model of Ariane in the artifact ending is referred to as Ariane ghost, it might imply her soul is now trapped with Elster forever.
Actually it seems more like the arm comes from memory ending rather than promise. Your entire goal is to fulfill your promise to ariane and kill her which ends the cycle (you can see this as the clock finally hits 00:00:00)
Promise to me seems like the best ending and canon one you can get. You, Elster, fulfill your promise and Ariane dies, then you die shortly after, ending both of their suffering and the suffering of everyone trapped within the timeloop.
@removethatpfpusubhhumanssa3819 Catch anything yet?
Gonna have to go with Promise on this one. It's the ending that mirrors the menu screen and the fake end. Gives the most closure for a conclusion.
But wouldn’t that mean that when you start a new game you continue the cycle yourself thus giving a meta meaning to why you would replay this game?
Just finished the game. Scary kind of ending (in an existential way). Didn't understand how the world is falling apart, didn't understand why they were looping in the first place though.
@@zadovrus1624 SPOILERS BELOW
Why world is ending? Ariane is bio resonant, just like Falke. There's a few documents in game that confirm this and explain what it means. Essentially, she has the ability to warp not only reality, but people's perception of reality.
How it started? This is more contentious and is up to theory. I hold the belief that the radiation leak right next to her cryotank triggered her dormant bio resonant powers. Ariane then transports you (Elster) into a series of dreamworlds or psuedo realities you must fight through, with the goal of upholding your promise to end her life rather than prolong her suffering or allow her bioresonant powers to become any greater.
and then in the end leave is the ending that is best
@@zadovrus1624 Its like Silent Hill in space. People who are bioresonant are basically psychic. The white hiared girl is a powerful psychic who came into contact with an edrichan god. The nature of which has to do with the red eye and the book the yellow king by Robert W. Chambers(it is real irl.) Through the god and bioresonance a sort of time loop dream world is created. Due to the white haired girls cancer the loops are degrading and memories from other bioresonant people are bleeding together. Also the bioresonant people are noticing the loops and the protag is looking for the wrong person. I am leaving alot out but thats the short of it.
Some Ester's didnt make it, some managed to walk through the gate only to die on the way there, some reached the latch and broke themselves trying to open it, weakening it a little bit every time. Some came too soon and Alina was not yet whole as Ariane yet. But still Elster kept coming back until she kept her promise. But the cycle kept repeating anyway, I see the lily ending as reality finally going beyond the treshold and unspooling to the point where they can remain together under the effects of bioresonance.
Just finished it and got the Promise ending. Sad but beautiful game.
@removethatpfpusubhhumanssa3819 i hate anime just as much as the next guy but this game is actually fucking awesome
Тоже самое
@@Jaxrayh I like the art. I like the sound design. I like the story. But personally, I don't like the gameplay.
I particularly dislike the level designers' love of compound fetch quests. In Protektors for example, there are 4 of them.
Maintenance key -> Fuse
Shutter gate handle - > Owl key -> Broken music cassette
Island key -> Workshop key -> Adhesive tape
Postbox key -> Library key
Each of these requires you to navigate through areas that you've likely already seen.
Each of these span multiple floors.
Each of these require you to pass through enemies.
None of these require you to solve puzzles.
None of these allow you to decide what order you want to do them in.
Why? Protektors is already by far the longest chapter. What necessitated padding it out with this? Did the developers believe that players would get lost if the areas weren't introduced in a linear fashion? If so, then what on Earth possessed them to create Nowhere?
Pretty nice game, but definitely not GOTY.
@removethatpfpusubhhumanssa3819 This game is actually really good what are you talking about?
@@Jaxrayh stop fucking feeding the trolls
Maybe I'm just optimistic, but I'm willing to believe the cycle eventually ends in the Artifact Ending.
My reasoning is that because of all the real world effort it took to figure out how to get it, it means that this was a loop where Elster figured out how to open that safe. Perhaps the white lily was able to stop the loop because bioresonance is funky like that. I think the lily allowed Ariane and Elster to at least have one last dance before it truly ends. Maybe not a happy end, but at least having closure to their suffering.
The ending and game itself is what you make it. Make it as happy or sad as you like
Yeah, and even if it means that they can now shape this world and have more time, it doesn't matter. Remember the promise. Even that would eventually end in the promise being fulfilled.
From my understanding, given that the text in the cutscene roughly translates to "And in those days where men seek death, they will not find it" I do not think it is a very happy ending. I think the "Promise" ending is supposed to supply the most closure, but maybe even then the loops have not stopped. The "Lily" ending seems to me, to be hell. Any way the story ends, it seems more like a tragic story.
the german screentext in the lily ending says
"The horror of this God is complete, just as she announced it to her servants the prophets" so that gives ground to your point that the loop is ending
I also agree that Artifact is an ending that ends the cycle as well.
Personally, I think that Artifact and Promise are the only two endings where the cycle truly comes to an end. Promise being much more of a sad, tragic, but definite way for it to end, while Lily ends it much more peacefully. I interpreted them dancing at the end in the wrecked ship as more so their spirits or souls being free from the cycle at long last and being able to spend time together once again without pain or suffering.
I just played through the game fully these past few days, it's been a shocking and incredible game; there's so much interpretation to be had with each and every section of the game!
3:18 This is the sickest GITS reference I ever saw.
Quick, stunning, and perfectly timed. Much like a liver punch.
Thank god I’m not the only one who immediately saw the parallel.
That fucking scene is so visceral. Absolute masterclass of storytelling, art and animation.
I haven’t played the game but I instantly thought of that when I saw that scene.
Hit me in an instant and earned this game my nod of approval.
ghost in the shell is one of my favorite films ever, and that scene is nothing short of animation perfection. Very cool reference.
that fake out ending was actually so mean, i thought i lost my save file and quit
I don't think any single ending is the "true" ending, personally. I think they're all true, and are meant to be taken in sequence. Memory, Promise, Leave, Lily. Memory I think is meant to show that Ariane's mind was starting to deteriorate, making her already deteriorating body even worse. Promise could be a rare time when Ariane is awoken from cryo, this time with a conviction to see Elster's promise fulfilled. Leave I think is the final result of everything, as we get an environment that looks real. No red sky and desert, no black pillars, no cosmic red eye. Lily I think is meant to be a representation of Elster's grief, taking form of the room the pillars are in, Elster's acceptance taking form of the lily she places at Ariane's grave, and Elster's first step to healing in the form of the mysterious object. The eye I believe represents the weight of her grief still pressing on her even after accepting Ariane's death.
I think you could easily poke holes in this theory but I don't think this game would just say, "This one single ending is the true ending, there you go" either.
imo this is the best interpretation and by the far the one that makes the most sense
Except weren’t they in an icy planet in the start?
In the Artifact ending, the "altar" or whatever that the artifact is placed on is pulsating though, as if whatever is under the surface is alive. Also, one of the quotes is something like "..people who seek death will not find it". Given all the references to the king in yellow, the artifact could be a reference to "marble" in "the mask" which, though at first is assumed to be deadly, turns out to be the opposite. The description of "marble" and its effects reminds me of the artifact. The lily also points to "the mask". I'm getting a vague impression of a negation of death from all things. Death being one of the major themes of the games and essentially also "the promise". This is all speculation from very vague impressions from ambiguous images but I kinda think the Artifact ending is the opposite of what you say, it's not Elster moving on but rather hanging on, intentionally repeating the loop.
The lily is not a symbol of death in the king in yellow, it was preserved by marble so placing it on the altar is not affirming death but life. The "marble" on "the grave" I think represents the cryopod that, just like the marble, preserves life. This is really terrible though because Ariane is trapped inside, hence the fleshy hellish grave prison. The other LSTR units next to the other pillars could represent Elster's inability to move on and to fulfill the promise. Also one of the descriptions of the secret keys is essentially asking the player why they keep replaying the game (and thus repeating the loop) and also stating that there's nothing but heartbreak at the end. Also in this ending, Elster never fights Falke, never faces Adler at the gate which are necessary steps to get to P-512 and Ariane. I also think the red eye referred throughout the game is literally just Ariane so when it appears on the sky that's pretty explicitly saying Ariane is not dead, at least for me. We also see Elster and Ariane dancing at the end which doesn't seem like Elster is moving on but rather stuck in the past.
tl;dr I think the Artifact ending is about Elster not being able to move on, thus essentially forcing Ariane to be trapped on life support against her will, as if buried alive. It's the worst possible ending, representing the selfishness of denying someone euthanasia because you love them too much to let them go.
I don't see how Leave should be seen like that.
It doesn't build on anything that happens before, and given the context it's far more likely that it's simply Elster refusing to engage with both the promise and the cycle, just to die alone.
leave is the true ending, it is the ending that requires you to do actions associated with healing one self when you look for triggers, and it teaches acceptance
I think of all of the main endings, Memory is my personal favorite ending. By no means is any ending "the best" one, but I feel like Memory makes the story that much more tragic because while Elster ended up remembering her promise, Ariane could not even remember Elster.
I'll admit Promise is a more satisfying ending because Elster is able to complete that one last thing before she dies, but Memory I think fits in with the tragedy of Elster and Ariane's story.
@removethatpfp usubhhumanssackoffshiitbbittcchh are you okay? mentally? emotionally? do you need therapy? i think you should really talk to someone about your anger... it's not normal to spend your life just mindlessly hating strangers on the internet because they have an anime profile picture. I'm really worried about your psyche!
lol Ok boomer, go back get your Karen haircut somewhere else instead of wasting everyone’s time.
@removethatpfpusubhhumanssa3819 no
I got memory first too and it also holds a special place in my heart. Elster had made it so far, pushed herself to face Ariane, but she couldn't take the final step. She got to see her again, and took comfort in that, despite failing to keep the promise. Promise is more satisfying, but memory feels the most emotionally loaded.
@removethatpfpusubhhumanssa3819 ligma balls
Got the memory ending. Now I really want to dig in the game's lore to understand more about what exactly happened there, if it's even possible.
not worth it in a mediocre game
@@BlackSkyZ2 Nah, it's hella good.
Had a lot of fun eviscerating every piece of this game's lore and story. Lots of care and attention to detail.
@@BlackSkyZ2 Ice cold take, or bait
@@BlackSkyZ2 Interesting bait.
It seems like the Lily ending is the aftermath of the Memory ending, makes me wonder which outcome was favorable from the story perspective.
It all depends on the perspective and who you think each ending correlates to. Falke wanted to become whole, possibly through remembering her Gestalt memories or that of the Elster who was with Ari; but finding closure is another way one could "become whole."(Artifact ending takes place in her room, skipping the boss fight) Adler wanted you to leave, but it doesn't seem like it stops the cycle from restarting, rather preserving it and keeping Ari encased in the meat sack cryo chamber, until she is eventually born anew.
I don't think the Artifact ending necessarily means the creation of a new universe, like in Evangelion, I think it means Elster managed to make herself and identical Replikas whole and joined Ari in her dream, still dancing inside the Penrose.
There's still a lot to think about, like Ari being the daughter of the Empress or a possible reincarnation. Why would she be subjugated to bullying and ridicule? Maybe the Empress was the leader of the rebels instead, and all information regarding them has been redacted.
Why are we still here? Just to suffer?
I don't know.
It's just like that.
And all we wish is just for the lesbians to be happy.
I got the memory ending. I'm not sure why and how tho. Well, i really liked the game. Truly spesial experience. I haven't experienced such ecstasy from the game for a long time
the endings are soooo sad man i feel bad as hell
Извиняюсь если где-то ошибся, но сюжет я понял следующим образом:
Есть некая звёздная система которая колонизирована человечеством. В ней идёт война между Империей и народным флотом Юсана.
Планеты Империи: Буян, Китеж
Планеты Народного флота: Ротфронт, Ленге, Винета, Хеймат.
Между фракциями идёт война. Империя сторонники империализма, идеализма - из чего такой вывод: присутствие религиозной литературы, управление монархическое (правит императрица - как приводилось в одной из записок). Народный флот Юнуса сторонники коммунизма или социализма - следует из названия фракции, планеты (Ротфронт - на немецком красный фронт), а также из некоторых записок и плакатов видно борьбу с религией и верой во всё антинаучное и антиматериалистическое, аллюзии в плакатах на ГДР и СССР.
У борющихся сторон паритет, никто не может добиться окончательной победы, про распределение между фракциями людского ресурса ничего сказать не могу. Однако козырной картой Народного флота Юнуса являются реплики (биокибер роботы или андроиды с собственным самосознанием взятым у мёртвых людей оригиналов - гештальтов). Таких типов реплик несколько поколений:
1. ARAR реплики ремонтники второго поколения 2
2. EULE реплики обслуживающего персонала 4 поколения
3. KLBR реплики 6 поколения, являются обычными репликами охраны способными управлять остальными (по средствам биорезонанса)
4. МNHR реплики шахтёры 3 поколения
5. SAPR теже MNHR только для сражений (в игре отсутствуют, есть только упоминания)
6. SAR стандартные реплики охраны 4 поколения
7. STCR боевая реплика диспецера 5 поколения
8. KNCR элитная версия STCR
9. FALKE реплики начальники безопасности и командиры 6 поколения
10. LSTR реплика борт инженера для космических миссий (собственно та за которую мы играем LSTR-512)
Все реплики имеют некоторые диффекты или особенности типа: сбивания в кучу, любовь к музыке, неприязнь к военным фильмам и т.д.. Эти особенности могут пагубно сказаться на их работоспособности.
И так приступим к событиям игры:
В роли гг у нас выступает Ариан Ен пилот-гештальт и LSTR-512 (Элистер) её борт инженер и реплика на миссии по освоению космоса Пенроуз-512. Играть нам предстоит за Элистер
которая ищет Ариан.
Кто такая это Ариан Ен - это пилот гештальт родившаяся на планете Ленге, прожившая жизнь на Ротфронте. Сначала она жила с мамой на отдалённой станции связи Ротфронт-06 (это следует из записок и момента когда мы попадем на станцию и получаем листок и сигналами кодов). После того как Ариан подросла, мама по совету отправила её учиться в школу в городе Мандельброт. Там наша юная особа познакомилась с сёстрами Ито, Эрикой и Изо (будет попадаться по ходу игры, и в конце умрёт? или растворится?). Ариан не очень ладила с другими людьми в школе из-за чего случались конфликты (возможно потому, что мала общалась с людьми в раннем детстве). Закончив школу наша беловолосая красавица, работает в фото магазине семьи Ито на полставки, и в это время она решила записаться в миссию Пенроуз (тут я забыл упомянуть,что в какой-то момент жизни к ней попало фото Алины Сео). Что за Алина скажите вы, это та девушка с фотографии в начале и дневники, которой мы находим на С-23. Но всё же причём тут она, лично я считаю что она является идеалом для Ариан (поэтому она старается себя ассоциировать с ней и именно поэтому мы ищим её вначале), а сама эта особа скорее всего какой-то солдат Народного флота, герой войны. Тут я упомянул объект С-23 - Серпинский это место альтернативной работы для Ариан если её не возьмут на миссию Пенроуз (я думаю Ариан никогда не была на Серпински и сам объект нарисован её воображением, так как она является техническим специалистом и вовремя обучения могла видеть подобные объекты и как они работают в учебных курсах, присутствие же там Изо Ито говорит о том, что моя теория верна. Так почему именно Изо, она её лучшая подруга и защитница). И вот нашу красавицу Ен выбрали пилотом и дали в помощь реплику LSTR-512, так началась их космическая одиссея которая закончилась ничем или провалом, но об этом позже. Путешествие по плану должно проходить 3000 циклов (дней), по факту займёт по последним записям 6541 день (присутствует записка о 262144 днях, я думаю это сознание Ариан после ухода в криосон в конце миссии если она жива и мучается от боли вызванной лучевой болезнью). За это время они успели сдружиться во всех смыслах, но так как Ариан лень было читать все документы или ей не сказало начальство, что это миссия скорее всего в один конец. Конец миссии ознаменовали поломки корабля в результате превышения времени его эксплуатации, и то он прослужил в двое больше чем планировалось, из чего это следует: поломка воздушных фильтров, мусор, конец продовольствия и рем комплектов, утечка радиации. Утечка радиации повлекла за собой лучевую болезнь, а так же пагубно сказалась на Элистер (так как LSTR-512 является репликой она погибла раньше чем Ариан хоть и дала обещание её убить( концовка обещание) как та не сможет выносить такую жизнь). Ариан приняла решение заморозить себя в криосне. Именно отсюда берёт начало игровой процесс (замечу вся игра по моему мнению с момента начала игры это приходы, проблемы с мозгом Ариан из-за лучевой болезни, её красочный последний сон). Почему начинаем играть именно за Эрику, я считаю это связано с желанием Ариан что бы её спасли, LSTR её любовь и единственное близкое и ближайшее существо которое теоритически могло спасти героиню.
Первая часть это С-23. Объект в печальном состоянии: свирепствует зараза в виде каких-то опухолей, мяса и зараженных реплик (я считаю это аллюзией на организм Ариан который умирает от лучевой болезни). Что же означает падение корабля, это его поломка и выход и строя, но он никуда не падал (это сознание Ариан дорисовало такую картину мира, свою мысль по этому поводу я описал выше). Локация представлена скорее всего типичным горнодобывающим объектом этой вселенной в представлении каким бы он мог быть если бы ГГ туда попала.
Вторая часть Нигде. Это пожранные заразой и воспроизведённые в фантазии воспоминания Ариан о её детстве, тут вам школа, уроки, какие-то музеи и истории (к примеру история Императрицы). Локация представлена сшитыми кусками воспоминаний из детства.
Третья часть Мандельброт. Это воспоминания её юности, когда она жила и работала в этом городе. (к примеру фотомагазин семьи Ито, где когда мы туда попадаем погибает Изо не найдя сестры, это по моему мнению понимание Ариан того что для Изо её сестра всё таки ближе чем лучшая подруга, и остаётся надеяться на спасение только от Элистер). Сама локация это скорее всего место где именно жила Ариан на планете Ротфронт.
И так пройдёмся по некоторым персонажам о которых я хотел бы сказать своё мнение:
1. Адлер единственный персонаж мужчина, это связано скорее всего с тем (с повесточкой токо тссс) что Ариан мало общаласть с мужчинами и заключительный этап своей короткой жизни провела с репликой женского типа. Лифт в который Адлер столкнул Элистер забит трупами других Элистер, это как мне кажется предыдущие попытки сознания Ариан на спасение не увенчавшиеся успехом (не само спасение, а нарисовать себе мирок в котором её спасут, чтобы было не так страшно и одиноко умирать одной в бездне бескрайнего космоса).
2. Фальке главный босс игры олицетворяет всё зло системы отправившей Ариан в самоубийственную миссию (представлена самым прогрессивным типом реплик) и рассеянность созная самой Ариан (из-за лучевой болезни и побочных эффектов ей трудно собрать мысли в кучу, чтобы взять себя в руки и принять реальность).
К слову о книге которая попадается нам во время игры, это по сюжету запрещённая литература которую Ариан хотела прочитать и скорее всего прочитала ( не уверен, что прочла), в которой описывается идеалистический мир идущий в разрез с материализмом и реальностью, отсюда и все вот это "божественные" сущности, мотивы, карты таро и правило 6, 3 и так далее и тому подобное.
В заключении о концовках.
1. Фейк - неудачные попытки Ариан собрать своё сознание в единую конву.
2. Побег - побег от реальности (если Ариан осознавала что это она, а не Элистер) и сон как смерть в конце (может криосон).
3. Обещание - надежда на обещание данное Элистер Ариан, убить ту в конце (но так и не выполненное) и смерть в муках (или криосон).
4. Память - потеря воспоминание и блуждание в уголках памяти, Ариан не узнаёт саму себя, но подсознательно хочет быть с Элистер из-за чего та остаётся рядом (здесь можно увидеть труп Элистер в каюте, что говорит что та погибла раньше Ариан из-за того что радиация на неё действует сильнее чем на человека) и смерть (криосон).
5. Артефакт (Лили) - это последнее и самое яркое воспоминание перед смертью (криосном).
Да финал получился грустным в любом случае, ну что ж космос это опасное место и ещё не один миллиард людей там погибнет прежде чем мы сможем им пользоваться как своим домом это будет трудный и тяжёлый период нашей истории, но как говорится " такова жизнь".
П.С. Не люблю грустные концовки о безпросветном будущем, но игра мне зашла, жалко что в России не доступна или всё же ....
Wow, this is the best theory I have come across so far! Amazing ideas and you put the story together really well.
@@kamikadsekolbas5372
В игре есть записка где говорится, что ненадо убивать реплику, чтобы ей пропитаться, и просто её не убивайте, потомучто шанс того, что реплика выполнит операцию на 860% больше чем гештальт.
Либо это такая "забота" партии, либо в игре небольшая дыра, в том, что Эльстер погибает раньше. Если реплики умирают раньше Гештальта, то откуда шанс на успех на 860% больше?
П. С: не помню какие точно там % на успех, но либо 86 или 860 ( да разброс тот еще, но всё же)
Наконец-то кто-то дал лучшее объяснение тому что происходит.
Спасибо большое.
I Got "Memory" ...and I decided to look up the rest cuz I have no Idea how to get the different endings nor do I have the willpower to replay this but.....really good game.
I feel the same way. It really is a good game.
I just finished it a few minutes ago. I got the "Promise" ending. Watching the other ones, I think I got the most romantic one. The truth about Ariane and her desire to end it all along with Elster's promise being accomplished. I think it's a nice ending. "Lily" ending is the other one I would go to. Awesome game. Enjoyed a lot.
Promise ending is the end of the cycle. The room is red because it comes after Memory, where Elster failed and let Ariane turn into a pulsing red creature. The cycle is all because of Ariane's immense powers, so if Ariane dies, that is the end.
Bro I got the fake ending. I didn't understand the story at all. Good ass game though. 💀💀
Edit: damn nvm didnt realize there was more lmao. Thought i just misses some side shit that caused the other endings but no. The game pulled an uno reverse card and keeps going after the end credits. Guess I'm not done yet.
Edit part 2: i got memory. That shit was sad as hell.
😂
I'm crying too rarely, but... Elster, sorry me
I've got the memory ending... What an amazing game!
@removethatpfpusubhhumanssa3819 So edgy, lol.
@removethatpfpusubhhumanssa3819 you alright
@removethatpfpusubhhumanssa3819 ?
@removethatpfpusubhhumanssa3819 whatever, boomer
@removethatpfpusubhhumanssa3819 grow up
the Memory ending is the darkest one. Elster gone through all that hell just for nothing
This game fucked me up, finished it for the first time last night and i can't stop thinking about it
I honestly am starting to think that Leave is my favorite ending. I think it breaks the cycle for real. I don't feel like explaining in detail right now but... maybe it was the best for everyone?
As I saw a video point out, the Elster unit you see leave the ship doesn't have white armor on. That isn't the Elster you play as. That's one of the many, many Elster units that failed to fulfill her promise to end Arianne's life, told non-linearly.
@@cabellocorto5586 While it's true she's not wearing the armor, you can see it on the ground right next to her in the ending. She just took it off before she went to curl up. There are several other pieces that make the ending feel final to me though because of how I interpret the content of the game.
especially since triggers for leave are centered around healing of self, and then it is all about acceptance from 5 stages of grief
Got the memory ending. I've died 2 times, maybe thats why. For me "Promise" is the best ending, because Ariane remebers you und you remember the promise to kill her and you die together as a couple. But to be honest, I don't get the whole story :D.
I got memory and I didn't die.
i think for the promise ending you have to do the achievment die 16 times i guess
Promise requires an aggressive playstyle. Leave requires a passive or more pacifist playstyle. Memory is a mixed playstyle. 115 kills netted me the Memory ending.
Thanks for the requirements
@@sabinekine2737 Also need to talk as much as possible with all the NPC survivors for the leave ending.
The color theory in This game its Increible,
16:53 The Site its Red for The Love Beetween Elster And Ariane
Also Elster Take A Suit Blue For Why Blue It is also usually associated With Love :D
THIS IS ART 😢
I loved the GITS reference in the Fake ending.
You forgot the 6th ending with Gabriel, V1 & Hatsune Miku
Got the promise ending... truly heartbreaking albeit the most ideal ending, at a surface level it would seem to be the breaking of the cycle; with the promise finally "fulfilled." but something about it doesn't give the vibe and feeling of a cycle ending, rather, just the end of one of the many cycles yet to occur over and over.
most ideal ending is leave, it sounds very counterintuitive but when taking in all the factors thats the best ending
ive got the Promise ending on my first playthough and it broke me ngl. seeing that and realizing what the promise was, just killed something inside of me
I think the promise one is the best one. Tried to get it on stream but failed (getting the memory ending again). Apparently times died 14, damage taken 1089, enemies killed 109 doesn't work if your total playthrough is under 7 hours or something like that.
I've also heard that you may need 125 kills to achieve the ending, but that could be wrong.
I have to kill that much to get that ending
@@FallenTako i only had 40 kills and still got Promise ending. Saw one guide that mentioned that playing without healing to max and tanking as much damage as possible might help in getting this ending, which is exactly how i played
The playthrough took me 8 hours total
@@aezira that's great to hear! hopefully at some point we'll have a more structured idea of what the requirements are for each ending
Taking damage, killing enemies, waiting more than 5 minutes to heal between taking hits, and taking more than 12 hours to the game add to the score for getting the Promise ending
Dude the Halo 3 Believe trailer music 🔥🔥🔥
The game is obviously a 10/10, but those endings... like damn, I got 3/4 endings(except the memory one 'cause its too hardcore to achieve), and none of them are giving you any "reward". Maybe it was supposed to make me feel like I am trying to achieve the unachievable over and over again, like Elster, and I am supposed to suffer everytime, but man... that's too sad to be implied as "game"...
Why memory is too hardcore? Is the one that I got (I don't know yet how)
@@ZeroRetroVideos I haven't achieved memory, but I've read that it requires at least three following steps:
1. Beating the game within 6 hours(my third run at Lilly took me 9 hours, tho I've been speedy af).
2. Avoiding enemies(this looks kinda easy, but THE NEXT ONE IS HELL).
3. TAKING THE LEAST POSSIBLE DAMAGE AMOUNT(like, I don't know how to dodge all the enemies without killing them).
@@pnorik I got Memory: took me about 10 and a half hours but it did specify that I only had about 8 hours active, I did try to save ammo by avoiding but if I traveled a path often I'd kill, I think I took just below 2100 damage. Felt like I was kinda tanking my way through. From what I've seen Memory requires a balance between avoiding enemies like Leave and massacring like Promise
the beauty of art is that it can make people feel the full range of emotions, and sometimes these emotions are grief and despair.
@@pnorik I played a mixed style and got the memory ending. Allowed my character to die only a few times, avoided the enemies I could, failed to talk properly with around 3 out of all the survivor npcs, didn’t let health go below yellow, still had a lot of pistol ammo at the end.
Just finished the game and got the Memory ending. I honestly came for this game expecting to get a fun little shooter for fun and sh but ngl chief.. that was so much more than I originally thought lol. Love this game with all my damn heart. Will def replay it a couple times.
This game was an absolute vibe. Reminded me of the first time I watched Neon Genesis Evangelion
i've got the fake ending...
my life is meaningless now
It's not the end of the game. Start a new game and you'll see it's totally different.
@@arafel4893 I sure will.
Played the whole game with the CRT filter enabled. This looks wrong somehow. Too clear.
I got "Promise" as my first ending and i'm happy with it. At least Elster has slight smile in the end.
I don't understand the Artifact ending like whthell?
Thanks for sharing, do you have an interpretation of the artefact ending? I have no idea what happened? What do the lilies signify? How are they both alive? Why were the different modes lying by the pillars? Such a great game..
Lilies are seen everywhere that Ariane is "happy," at her childhood home in Leng(or Rotfront? I don't remember) and on the Sierpinski with Elster before everything went to shit. The several versions of Elster might represent the many Elsters that have taken the journey in the time loop.
The artifact ending is very ambiguous, but the dancing scene seems to be implying that a happy moment has been preserved forever, but that it's not the same as it one was, given that the Sierpinski is in disrepair in that scene,
I didn't die once, took a decent amount of damage, and didn't kill very many enemies either.
Got the Fake ending, which seems to be the only one where Elster isnt wearing armor.
Did I miss something?
Keep playing.
@@joinsideke Jesus Christ it actually fooled me. I thought I was just restarting, but then I noticed I had a little hat and that we weren't crashed.
Wow! It got me!
@Randy Zuniga x3
It nearly fooled me too. I was about to close the game in disappointment and mild annoyance, but then I noticed the eye on the main menu looked almost "dead" or something, and didn't follow the cursor, so I knew fuckery was afoot lol.
@Li F What a lovely detail! I tried using the radio a lot but never found anything like that
Literally had to spoil myself because the dread was making me physically sick.
A Dream About Dreaming.
How did you manage to remove the safe's locks? where are the keys located?
Wondering the same thing. I scoured this game, not sure how I could've missed 3 keys somewhere. Could they open depending on psyche eval at the time of entering the room?
Looks like it could be 127 frequency on the radio while looking at the safe.
It was a community wide search for a while. The locations have been found, and you need to turn on your radio at certain frequencies in certain spots to get them. You should be able to look up the key locations.
I got "Promise" ending
I just spend the last 11 hours going through the game how i normally would... playing really safe, talking/interacting with everything and getting the full experience... and boy am i glad i was able to get the promise ending! So much work and it all paid off in it's own way...
(I haven't seen the secret ending yet, so i'll come back once i have)
In the "Lily" ending, what is that color-shifting box in the center?
I think it's The Shining Trapezohedron from a HP Lovecraft short story (we find from a few places that Ariane reads "banned" material; The King in Yellow is the other Lovecraft specific reference). The Trapezohedron serves as a window on all of space and time.
This makes me think this could be an easter egg ending, a bit like the UFO dog in Silent Hill 2 (there are lots of references to SH2 in Signalis), where we're looking into a pocket dimension/alternate reality. A coming to peace with the events/what needs to be done; a place where Elster & Ariane are dancing in the stars forever. The Promise ending being the "true" final ending to the grief cycle Elster's going through.
There's multiple endings?
For me the order that makes the most sense is Memory > Leave > Lily/Artifact > Promise.
Memory: Elster tries to keep the promise, but when Ariane doesn't remember anything, she finds she can't do it and dies. This ending happens many times before the loop progresses.
Leave: Perhaps now able to remember the previous loops, or at least being able to reasonably deduct what happened in them, Elster finds herself unable to even go into the ship. What if Ariane doesn't remember her again? It is all pointless, and she would rather save herself the pain.
Artifact: Elster remembers what happens last time (at a meta level, you cannot get this ending unless you know what happens in the game), likely a result of her leaving and not actually meeting Ariane in the last loop. She regrets leaving, and desperately just wants to spend more time with Ariane. She loses herself in a facade of reality, dancing with Ariane's ghost, but - "remember our promise" - things are not over and the promise is not fulfilled.
Promise: Elster knows there is only one way to end the cycle. Holding on to ghosts did nothing - she must keep the promise. She aggressively slaughters her way through her enemies and is not willing to let any amount of pain stop her - "I'll do anything". This time, Ariane remembers - maybe due to the ritual Elster performed last time, maybe just because Elster has resolved to put a stop to this no matter what, prepared to end Ariane's suffering even if she doesn't remember this time. Elster keeps the promise and kills Ariane, ending the cycle, and with her last dying breath Ariane thanks her.
There's two main big implications that Promise ends the loop - the first being that the ship is in the greatest state of disrepair and corruption in this ending, and we know for certain that the world gets worse the more it loops. A more intact world necessarily means it is in an early loop, and a more destroyed world means it is far along the cycle. This means the end of the cycle, if there is one, must either be Artifact or Promise; Memory and Leave *cannot* break the cycle because the world is quite intact in these endings but we see it continue to degrade in the others. However, there's no indication that Artifact ends the cycle. On the contrary, the game telling you to remember the promise is clear evidence to me that nothing has ended. The red eye that has been corrupting the world glares down at them from above, very much still alive.
The second implication is that there are suggestions that Ariane is powerfully bioresonant and that she is the reason why this time loop is taking place and why the world is corrupted. I doubt that she herself is the cause, it's her interacting with some unknowable force or entity deep in the planet. If this is the case - which is not absolutely certain, but I think very likely - then killing Ariane would definitely end the cycle, and it would be the only thing capable of ending the cycle.
This is reaching pretty far, but there MAY also be a parallel to the Empress' Hand here. There is a credible theory that Ariane is descended from the Empress somehow, and that may be why she is strongly bioresonant in the first place, as we know that the Empress had the most powerful bioresonance ever seen. If we look at the order of events with the Empress, it closely follows the chain of events that I believe takes place.
On the first day she was crowned - this has no clear parallel and is where the comparison is weakest, but you could say that the cycle being established and continuing in Memory is "crowning" Ariane as the "ruler" of this dark reality in a sense. On the longest day nothing was done - this could reference the Leave ending, as Elster doesn't meet Ariane in this one and does nothing. I don't believe the "longest day" has any significance here, it's for solving the puzzle, the main thing we care about is the order of events. On the next day she was wed - this matches the Artifact ending, Elster dancing with Ariane's ghost in a futile effort to spend a little more time with the one she loves. On the last day she took her life - this is the Promise ending, the cycle ending with Elster killing Ariane before she dies as well. Though the wording of this implies suicide, the actual words just say "she took her life", not "she took her OWN" life. She and Her could easily be different people; Elster taking Ariane's life. The serpent ring that corresponds with this day is also an ouroboros, a snake eating itself, a symbol of cycles. You could posit that this means the cycle just continues, but to me this symbol of cycles being directly related to death and ending signifies the end of the cycle - not to mention that a snake eating itself realistically does end in the cycle being broken as the snake dies because of it.
I think they are all canon, just happening at different times. Artifact the first, Promise is the end to the cycle and nightmare
What are the biggest contributing factors that determine what ending you get?
Bit late, but apparently it's your playstyles, game tracks how you play (you can check status screen for how it tracks you) what influences it is a bit unknown in many specifics, but for Leave you have to play in a very cowardly manner, running away from enemies, not killing stuff, for Memory you achieve a balance of cowardice and aggressive, almost your standard survival horror playstyle, and for Promise you have to be ultra aggressive killing as many things as possible, time played and deaths is appearantly an influence too. Artifact is an exception and is gotten by finding the keys to the safe in the room at the end of nowhere, found by tuning the radio to specific frequencies in specific rooms throughout the game
Wish they got a happy ending. Including Adler. I just felt bad for everyone in the game.
now i get all of the memes and why they are as such
Just finished and I'm depressed. I'm depressed as f__k, what the hell!
What the hell, people?
Damn...
and then game is all about acceptance of ones fate, in the end that was happiest ending
IMO "promise" is the best ending to get on a first playthrough. Its the easiest to wrap together with the story as you understand it by then.
My goofy ass pressed quit game right after the fake ending cause i was too mad about what just happened.
This whole thing is an imperial eursa psychological op
trust me ive never touched this game at all
In my first playthrough, I got the Fake ending. I didn't understand how or why I got it. I wanted to get the Promise ending but I didn't. Are there any tips or guidelines on how to get different endings? If there is, please let me know.
Don't worry, just press play again, kill and don't fear death
Anybody knows how tf get the endings? i do all the guides tell me and always end up with memory
Why the artifact ending has the "lily"? what does that means?
After getting the PROMISE and MEMORY ending, I decided to cheat a little...
I feel so angry at myself.. got the fake/fail ending. Great game, might warrant a future replay. That piano track towards the end is majestic.
You should totally continue playing 👌
@@rejectedkermit1220 dudeeee you were so right!! thank you!
This game messed me up SOOOOOOOOOO MUCH...
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00:00 - Fake
04:09 - Leave
07:37 - Promise
12:43 - Memory
16:45 - Artifact (Lily)
Great work 👍 What affects the endings? Notes? Number of defeated enemies? What exactly?
Спасибо!!! 👍
Пожалуйста)))
How to unlock the 5th ending?🤔
It's easier to watch a guide but you utilize your radio-module to collect 3 keys throughout the game. KEY OF LOVE is in the first level of the game in the room with the cages. Input radio to freq 96:000 and move to the right of the room. KEY OF ETERNITY is on the eight floor, right from the room with the astral map. Freq 65:000. KEY OF SACRIFICE is in the back of the bookstore (the dark room before the Isa cutscene). Freq 240:000.
Then when you do the final puzzle (the one with the tarot cards and the dials on the wall with planets) you bring the keys to the locked box in the corner of the first-person-view room. The cutscene from the beginning plays and then you just enter the digits that the ACHTUNG message tells you (39486 60170 24326 01064). Grab the lily and the final ending plays.
@@criticalcoffee Already got this ending last month, but thanks for your reply anyway.
Thanks for the video. No biggie but you mixed up promise and memory on the timeline.
Does anyone know what kind of music is playing at the end - Artifact (Lily), during the dance? A very familiar melody, but I can't remember, and I can't find it in ost.
Schubert - Serenade
@@worekarolis Thanks.
The ending that is best is leave
this game is about learning to give up
at first it is about fighting for that perfect ending that never comes but when you think, its 5 stages of acceptance
memory is bargaining and depression
promise which requires a lot of killing and getting hurt is anger and denial
but then leave, talk to people, heal yourself, spend time on reflection(game time)
arianne is half dead, elster is dead, falke is being used as mirror. The game wants to tell you its time to give up, you cant do anythign left, who died has died, all you can do is accept your inevitable fate.
after all everything that comes with ilness of the mind is counterintuitive, mental tornment requires you to do opposite thing you wish for to achieve any semblance of happynes
signalis wants you to learn to accept things that were done, to accept loss because that is hard to do
Брат братан братишка, ответь пж - я буквально на днях прошёл Сигналис и выбил плохую концовку "Das ende". Можно пожалуйста пояснить - а каким образом выбиваются остальные концовки??? Я вроде выпылесосил каждую комнату, вроде всё прочитал, но так и не понял, как выбиваются остальные... Тут НГ+ какой то? Есть что то после титров? Можешь ответить пж, а то я в инете чёткого ответа на данный вопрос так и не нашёл.
Это фейковая концовка. А то что вы написали, это название достижения. Вам надо нажать на начать игру и игра продолжится и тогда вы сможете получить одну из других концовок, когда дойдёте до финала.
The lily ending seems like the true end
In my opinion, there is no particularly good ending. A really good ending would have been if they stayed alive together.
@@SearchGames I thought the point was they were both completely wore down by their negative experiences from society, abandoning the oppressive world they grew up in to create their own little world instead, but even their own little world is unsustainable and Ariane says she has become tired of everything. It reminds me very much of a particular double suicide tale. In interviews they mentioned oppression and "otherness" as themes so I think the ending they went for makes sense. The world, from their perspective especially, is pretty much doomed. Ariane is an outcast who can't find a place in her society. She was thoroughly rejected and distrusted by the others for her individuality. Her hair being white reinforces this. She breaks social norms and rules made by the state. Her story was intentionally fatalistic, she signed up for the mission to explore outer space because she was basically suicidal and saw no hope for herself based on her past experiences. And who can blame her? The society she grew up in is objectively awful with no hope for redemption.
@@CloudShepherd Hmm, a very interesting story, but this makes it even sadder.
Hey. Search Games. How did you unlock the safe for the lily ending?😊
@@CloudShepherd This makes the entire situation bleaker. An outcast and a replikant who finds love and a purpose outside their pre-determined existence doomed to die and possibly suffer in an endless loop.
Damn, i try so hard then get Fake ending. Very sad. BTW what this ending mean?
The fake ending is not an ending. After the credits roll and you go back to the main menu, you need to start a new game, then you will continue playing the final chapter and get one of the real endings. Its confusing, I know. I wonder how many folks quit the game at that point and never looked back.
@@HrimstalBased on how many players got the steam achivements, roughly 3% of players did not realise it is a fakeout and stopped playing.
Where is the Thumbnail art from? I'd really like to add it to my collection, not enough SIGNALIS art out there.
from the leave ending
How many languages one need to know in order to start to understand this game?
Got the Memory ending. The anticlimax made me feel like I f-ed up somewhere. Welp, Ariane now can get her '5 more minutes' of sleep
Друг, можешь ответить, как ты получил пятую концовку? Я её упоминание в принципе нигде не видел, или это продолжение какой-то другой, простоя я вышел на Память, с одной смертью, 5 загрузками
Привет. Надо открыть сейф в конце, перед последним боссом.
@@SearchGames А где найти ключи от замков? Или надо с помощью радио?
where is the ship?
is it on the planet? or in space?
6:37 seems like on some planet
I just finished after trying for like a month on and off, THERES 5 ENDINGS HOW????
Also I got the fake one
@@Kppilone you got fooled
@@Tino216 :(
I've never scream so much at two low poly characters killing each others...
So I got the fake ending but is that all? Am I supposed to start a new game after Elster dies? I'm so confused?
this is not the end, keep going you will see
@@SuperJohnWho thank you
roblox is cool for me
I got the fake ending. I had no clue what was going on.
Click "Start Game" in the main menu and you will continue to play.
Yeah i got super confused by that at first too, I wish the game gave a little more effort to show you that you have to hit play on the title screen again. It was a good story piece but a bit annoying
@@Ghoulicus
My experience with the fake ending was more of anger and annoyance, when the credits started to roll for the first time I said out loud "Is that it? 20€ For this?"
Then I clicked begin again just to see if anything would be different, and I calmed down a bit when I noticed it was different.
The eye on the screen is the give away. It no longer tracks the menu movments. Implying something had changed.
@@SearchGames yeah I just left the game and went to sleep thinking I beat the game.
I rather like rhe Artifact ending. Ariane enjoyed art, and that Lily probably would have made her happy.
Im maybe an idiot, ma i didn't understand the relationship between Alina Seo and Ariane or Elster. In the first part of the game, i was sure you were searching for your missing Gestalt, Alina. But then the game completly forgets about Alina and concentrates on Ariane. So my question is: Other than Ariane's comrade, who was Alina Seo and what was her purpose in the end? And who was the girl next to her in the photo with the eye patch? Sorry for any gramatical errors, i'm italian.
I mean, she was probably just a "Decoy" for the true ending. But i'm not sure, am i missing something?
@@kjaerling159 finished playing the game a couple hours ago and in the last zone prior to the falke boss you can see the full picture with alina and the other girl in the picture was one of the itou sisters, from the picture you see in the intro of the game there is one picture of Ariane thats almost identical to alina´s picture, one of the documents written by ariane talks about ariane meeting alina and saying that they were almost like twins, so in conclusion i think that the whole point of the journey was for elster to remeber ariane and the promise they made, in the first hours of the game she confuses alina with ariane but thats just my interpretation
@@adrianluces8935 Yeah, it makes sense. But i still don't understand why Alina knows Elster. In one of Alina's diary pages you can read "I didn't see Elster for a couple days, i hope she's okay" or something like that.
If Elster was the Replika that joined the exploration mission with Ariane, a Gestalt, why does Alina know Elster? The end of the game just left me with more questions than before
@@kjaerling159 The same way Elster has managed to make this journey countless times before. Again, and again, and again, a new body each time, until she succeeds. The King In Yellow is probably the biggest hint at the cyclical nature there. Just like the Yellow Sign, replicants get 'infected' with this memetic brain tumor, it spreads like wildfire likely because of bioresonance. And so replicant after replicant goes searching for her. The original Elster died long ago, but Ariane has been cryogenically frozen. The endings are the Elsters that, well, made it. In a sense each death you have is canon that way.
@@DaFieFie That basically explains everything. Thank you, you're my hero, i've been thinking at this for the past 2 days
What the deal with Falke and Ester dying? Was she a boss in the other ending except fake??
I got the fake ending !!! 😢
Oof. You can continue the game to get another ending
damn dude I'd be pissed if I got the "Fake" ending lmfao
Everyone gets the fake ending. It's fake because the game keeps going afterwards.
Holy shit this game is terrible
Promise is the correct ending.
lol gay robots are hilarious
I think the story is quite simplistic, in the end it's just a love story with sad teenage twists, but overcomplicated by a convoluted world building with way too many influences, like sci-fi time loops, cosmic horror, resident evil zombies and even mecha anime.
I'm not saying it's a bad game, I wanted to love it, but I ended up just loving the aesthetics, the visuals and music are immaculate.
It's about how well these elements compliment each other. You can do any story a massive understatement by pointing out just the gist of the plot
For this game: story is simplistic, just a love story with sad teenage twist
For Neon Gen Eva (huge inspiration here): story is simplistic, a mecha anime with a sad teenage twist
For LOTR: story is simplistic, just a fantasy adventure to defeat a dark lord
For Soiaf: story is simplistic, just medieval noble assholes struggle for a throne
For Inception: story is simplistic, just criminals planting bad ideas into people's mind
So on and so on.
Let's just take what you consider convoluted as an example. Take that away and any elements of the game and the plot will fall apart. Elster and Ariana were meant to treat each other very differently. And that wasnt because lol edgy, but due to how flawed the replicant technology is. They werent just flawed to be grimdark either, but because their nation need to mass produce a workforce and cannon fodders for an interplanetary war. Their computer tech dont just look but act old, so Ai and autonomous robots are out of the questions, biomechanical replicant is their solution. To top it off, Elster was intentionally manufactured as a loner type to survive space travel, while Ariana was selected due to her antisocial record the government kept.
So the fact that the main characters overcame all challenge from within and without to form their bond explain why Elster found it so hard to do the right thing even when given the time loop to retry infinitely.
bad endings across the board
hard disagree! I think they all have something very interesting to say about the narrative
@@criticalcoffee I think they meant none of endings had a positive outcome, regardless of which ending the suffering continues. The PROMISE ending with how Elster dies implies that it doesn't matter because she dies in the same position the Elster you take the armor and arm from does.
@@freshlymemed5680 that's fair. I probably misread
I feel like this game is really overrated. Yes even when taking it's an indie game into consideration. When something is cryptic it can absolutely be myserious and interesting however, in this case that's far from it. An inferior 2022 copy of resident evil 1. Weak 3/5 stars well deserved.
No.
I agree. Covering a simplistic story in tons of edgy pretentious anime finale trope doesn't make it interesting or mysterious. It's just showing how hard you're trying to make it deep when in reality it's just a lesbian fanfic.