The INTRIGUING Ending of Returnal Explained: Tower of Sysiphus Ascencion DLC (4k/60 fps)
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- Опубліковано 7 сер 2024
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The tower of Sysyphus and its endless levels have unleashed new possibilities for Selene’s attempt to escape Planet Atropos, but it is inside the Zahariel Memorial hospital that she has found, a new glimmer of hope, a sigh of relief that seems could ease her burden, at least for now. We’ve already analyzed the secrets of the hospital in our latest video, but in this second installment of the Deep Dive Series for Returnal’s Ascension DLC it is time to try to make sense of what is going on in the final cutscene of the Tower of Sysiphus DLC after Selene recovers all the poppies to make an offering for her mother: what does this mean, how do all the clues in the hospital connect, and, most importantly how this may impact our original theories from the 1st explanatory video for Returnal’s endings that was published back in 2021.
0:00 Intro
1:49 The Poppies
2:40 Xaos and Ichor
3:27 Zahariel and Violence Cycle
6:12 Algos
6:52 True Ending Explained
10:47 The Aftermath
11:54 More Great videos!
#returnal - Ігри
![Returnal - Космические Обнуления [Обзор]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/7zn-OKAZikI/mqdefault.jpg)
NEW VIDEO: SELENE'S DARKEST SECRET!!
ua-cam.com/video/JtkpBnouBL8/v-deo.html
Just finished the game
And i think for me parasite are pain killers
They are good but always have side effects
Just like the game
First ending of ascension had me teared up and happy.
Second made me depressed. I know it’s supposed to be a break but…
The second ending felt like a “final resting place”. Despite fighting so hard, dying Xaos knows how many times, actually making it off Atropos, doing ALL of that, all she gets is an empty space.
She doesn’t say anything after the credits, so if I delete the game after that, my headcanon is that the Selene we’ve been following throughout the game earned “freedom”
Maaann the Aftermath part teased the dlc so well, I got goosebumps. I really wish that it does come out. I can't take enough of this game, the story keeps going far deeper than anything I've experienced before
Damn never thought the local man could be her dad :o
I dont know who you are but thank you for this.
Hi, I'm Angel. Glad you liked the video :)!
you really do more views, this is so well written!
Thank you so much, Alex!
I think you've missed the reference to Alex in the child's drawings in the hospital. Possibly aluding to a brother?
If we assume these drawings and the poems associated with them are Selenes from when Theia was in hospital they shed additional light
Hi Adam! I don't know who is Alex, but I will touch on the drawings on my final video. Wait for it next week! Final stages of editing right now.
You are absolutely amazing, loved your returnal endings analysis and theories, loved this one too, not sure if you've covered but I'd like to see your thoughts on Death Stranding, it's my favorite Sci fi game of all time and just such a unique and emotional journey.
Thank you so much! So glad you liked them! I do have only one video, for the story DLC, be sure to give it a look! It is one of my personal favorites. DS is a great game! Kojima is amazing!
Just got the PC port of this and these videos have been awesome to come across to see someone else's perspective . I really enjoy your theories and think, but I do have a note on when it comes to your CTE idea.
The "C" in CTE is not in the report. So this incident with her brain may not have resulted in a physical altercation. I always thought of her reference to having Selena by her throat was metaphorical and the scene at the end was just a representation of this. Encephalopathy can just mean the altering of the brain and this instance was just traumatic, possibly occuring from her head hitting in a car crash.
Another interesting thing I've noticed is the similarity of encephalopathy, cephalopod, and the Greek word Cephas which means rock. Especially the enemies in the Crimson waste that are almost like rock headed squids. Makes me wonder what kind of connections the enemies may have to the story outside of things to make you play the game.
Curious on your thoughts!
I never thought about the connection of the car crash and the encephalopathy! Great finding! And also, that greek word for rock is very interesting.
I love how the developers gave a really DEEP look into the mythology and story structure. Even a couple of years after and literally hundreds of comments later, there is always someone pointing out something new. Thanks for sharing, Brandon!
Great analysis, thanks for making these! Will you cover the hand-written story, found in the hospital, in the last episode?
Man awesome video! I cant wait for the next one. I actually thought the father or man mentioned was the husband/partner of selene
Best analysis of this series!
Thanks Sly! Glad you liked it!
amazing quality 💯
This is the game that make me buy the PS5… forever endless game dark imagination that will transport you. An amazing scary world to explore thanks to the developers . I just discovered your Chanel I’m a new member now. Great analysis.
Thank you for subscribing. This is the best PS5 game so far!
I really enjoyed your cometary.
I finished everything in the game, but there are still some things I can't wrap my head around.
The newspaper, ir read directly and not through the read prompt, has some extra info about another child that survived, besides the one that was missing. But the car scene clearly shows no one else in there besides Selene and Helios.
At times it seems Helios was Selene's son (sometimes it seems to infer it's a girl), other times that it's Selene's brother (including on the myth).
I've watched so many videos and forums, I just hope it's not a "each person has their interpretation" thing and another DLC sheds some light into everything.
I think it's comparison of Selene's childhood/relationship with her mother and her own motherhood. There were 2 car crashes, where Selene's mother got crippled but Selene survived. So she is that another child that survived. From what I understand that this constant feeling of judgement that developers were trying to implement through the gameplay and story comes from the fact that Selene's mother got crippled because she was trying to save her child after the incident, so she is crippled because of her kind of. And additionally to that - when Selen got to a similar situation - she saved herself, not a child. So even more judgement from her mother...
Foi a melhor teoria que eu assisti … parabéns!!!
Thank you very much! Glad you liked the video.
Thanks for making these videos. I really enjoy them
The more I play, the more I'm thinking that Selene represents Theia's mind as she's suffering from traumatic encephalopathy (brain damage) / dementia. Still a lot that is unclear though.
Soon after Selene crashes on Atropos, she finds her own corpse and an audio log that of a version of herself that clearly has been through the cycles multiple times, but has no recollection of recording it. After your first death however, she remembers where she is. This to me is very intriguing.
Then there's the screen on the flight control system when the game starts: it states "Entry Log 001 - //Cycle#14" and "Hostiles Terminated: 185".
Has she already had 14 previous 'cycles' before the game starts? Has the version of herself that the recorded the previous audio logs been though 14 cycles?
The bodies, battles with malformed versions of herself and the audio fragments symbolize her struggle with her condition and the true gravity of her injuries. The events that created the severed are the moments when her dementia started progressing and she started to lose touch with herself (this can be particularly upsetting and can cause aggression/hostility). She is essentially trapped in her own body/mind and slowly sinking deeper and deeper.
In the final scene of the Ascension DLC Selene is ported into what she sees as " just an empty space where she should be...". She doesn't seem to see the dozens of kneeling bodies surrounding her. To me that symbolizes her not remembering anything anymore. There's nothing left of her to remember / remind her of her condition and she is finally free.
Of course this is all explained in a nutshell and there is so much symbolism though out the game that can be interpreted in multiple ways.
Thank you for watching! This was a great explanation too! I didn't realize the thing about the space ship log! Loved the theory!
My assumption for why Selene can't remember some of the earlier cycles is because she's been going through this for who-knows-how-long, and eventually her mind must have regressed in order to cope with the stress (since death itself could not free her). Her psychological state is severely damage and irreversible.
Also, I am pretty sure Selene is Theia's daughter, and Helios is Theia's son, but after the first car-crash (it is widely believed there were 2 separate crashes), Theia became unable to care for herself or anyone else, really, so Selene took up the role of raising Helios while also dealing with the verbal and physical abuse from Theia... while ALSO trying to train as an Astronaut.
This is a cool theory, but the poem making the distinction between Selene and Theia as two different people with Selene being jealous of Helios showing more love to Theia than her makes it seem pretty unlikely.
@@100organicfreshmemes5 Unless you think of Selene as Theia's idolized version of herself, her potential. Helios got all of Theia's love, while her own future and dreams (Selene) were neglected.
@@zackogle That could explain it, yeah. Seems impossible to lock down a true explanation for everything in the game though.
I agree there is likely to be a 3rd DLC since there is no mention of a father, or male partner. I still lean towards the concept Theia is Selene's suppressed part of herself that she has refused to face or feel, and with regard to the Russian dolls, this could represent the layers of facade we have in general, Helios being the smallest because Helios being light is the truth, being the part that we feel love, which is why Selene mentions about them being hollow because she feels hollow herself as she continues to deny what the truth is in her search into herself. But I haven't analysed everything yet.
Edit: Just found this in researching the name Theia: The name Theia has a fascinating origin. It is derived from the Greek word θεά (thea), which means “goddess”. In Greek mythology, Theia was a Titan goddess associated with light, glittering, and glory. She held the title of Titan of sight and was considered the shining light of the clear blue sky. As the consort of Hyperion, she bore three significant celestial offspring:
Helios: The sun god.
Selene: The moon goddess.
Eos: The dawn goddess.
This strongly pulls me towards agreeing with you now about Selene being a daughter... I mean it is literally word for word there in black and white that Selene is the daughter of Theia, brother to Helios, and Hyperion being the father, which the game says very little about at this point.
I might have mentioned it in another video of yours but another theory I have, which you're welcome to elaborate on or discard is that Selene is actually commando from the game Risk Of Rain, and Xeos, and their species are actually the characters referred to in Risk Of Rain as Providence and Mithrix. This is just speculation right now, as I am building a diary of similarities and facts that link the 2 games together, but at this point, to say the least, the similarities are stacking up enough now to make me feel excited about whether or not the devs here might one day release downloadable content that might reveal indeed this whole game is perhaps some type of prequel to the Risk Of Rain story.
Something to note that wasn't mentioned, Selene saying "tokens, for the crossing." when looking at the coins by the phone is most definitely a reference to the Ferryman of Hades, Charon, where the coins would be placed in the mouth of the dead person. To me this implies that Theia went to hell.
With all the theming of being trapped in a loop/cycle it could contribute to the theory that the game is all taking place in the afterlife and Selena is now trapped in her own personal hell, endlessly being tormented by her literal and metaphorical demons. The lines "And still I fall, further, lower, deeper, to that place below all else." in the poem reinforce this.
Ah I was hoping it wouldn't fall under such a trope BUT at the same time what's given to us seems vague enough for an interpretation as her being already dead and in the process of "healing" as only one of many possible stories. Plus the gameplay is super fun and I like the symbolisms. I'm not familiar with all of it but I'm glad there are vids like this to help me understand more. It's hard and tedious for me to piece together lore bits from various sources in the game to create a more cohesive lore.
Awesome ❤
At 1:24 she looks like that Enemy type from the new upcoming Remnant 2 game. I wonder if the devs played returnal and took inspiration from it
You need more views man
Thanks Ty! Hope I get lucky one day :D
I love this game. But the story is so deep, it is deeper than the abyss. 😂
can't wait anymore for the final video of this saga 😀
Script, done; voice recording, done; editing, starts today!
Oh, BTW, 20 minutes long!
@@thev-side1331 you want to make me Happy man 😁
what does it mean that she became the white shadow?
wasn't that just the light of the moon on the water's surface?
Please please make more.
I wish I could!!!
Godamn, full circle
Hey man where is the video bro
Hey Kratos! Still working on it. Should be ready at the beginning of next week. Follow me on Twitter for more updates @mrtequilavoice
How the hell do you have just 600 subs?
Waiting for the lucky strike!
Thanks for watching the video, hope you enjoyed it!
?where is the next one?
Still cooking my friend! Probably end of this week or beginning of next one. It's going to be a long one!
Thanks for making this, I wanted to see what other people thought of the ending. Have to admit I understood something completely different and your video helped me to solidify my opinion. Wouldn't know who's right, but I think that's not important. Games like this are the reason I love video games :)
Glad you liked it! That's the beauty of this game, the interpretation is open for anyone :)
can you TL:DR this game endings?
Mmmmm, difficult, but....
Dementia.
1 person, 2 stories.
Lovecraft space doom
Murder.
There's a lot of theories. It really is impossible to do so.
GREAt analysis man, but i have my on theory That Selene actually Selene suffers from schizophrenia and She Is allucinating After the violent traum of her mother
Some things i found were: Psyco medicine, some synthomps of the basic Sh.paranoidal form like Delirium or the fact She returned to atropos (Meaning the medicine was stopped)
Not to mention all the reference to her striking down helios, meaning that her gave herself the Nightmare of atrops, After killing the infant Theia wanted to steal
There’s a ton of interpretations that all could be right… BUT we do have confirmation from devs that Atropos is real. We don’t know what is actually real or what is warped by her mind, but the planet exists (to an extent).
I personally think Xaos brought her here and the planet is influenced by her trauma and memories. Like a Severed is now her ‘father’ as Hyperion. Ophion as mother. Desert has shattered spinal columns.
Act 1 and 2 is her freeing Xaos. Act 3 and Tower is Xaos returning a favor to Selene, giving Selene a chance at absolution/forgiveness/redemption all that.
At the very least, Xaos seems to be trying to drive Selene into… something good? Inner peace? Acceptance?
@@wr5488 where did you find confirmation that devs confirmed it’s real ( atropos )
@@tornikevadachkoria4823 It was in a reddit thread a couple weeks ago discussing the story, someone was saying Atropos was all in her head and someone else posted a developer interview against it where the developers said Atropos is real or parts of it were. But they confirmed that its not entirely a dream or "life flashing before my eyes" thing. I will look for that thread and the video!
Hyperion video asap
I cant get past the 5 phase lol
It wasn't intriguing. It was disappointing.
The box says Break the Cycle, but you never get to. Chances are it's all in her head.
And no ending offered any more explanation other than maybe a lit bit more explanation of the kinds of things that actually happened in her life.
We still don't know what year it actually is, if the alien planet is real, etc.
jesus, youre clueless. why would Selene abuse her mother? she is in the wheelchair because of the car accident. Theia was pregnant with Selene during the accident and Helios (also sibling of Selene in greek mythology) died during this. later in life Selene got pregnant and aborted her baby, which is why she has major problems with her psyche combined with her traumatic abusive relationship with her mother.
She (Selene) didn’t abort Helios? Unless you’re talking about a different pregnancy. But we know Theia met Helios (Selene’s Helios), we know Selene resented having Helios, etc. The whole Theia resentment where Theia dove into the water to save her children despite being ducked up from the car injury (no more being an astronaut), whereas Selene abandoned Helios and didn’t even try to save him causing a rift between them. (Hospital notes + first hospital sequence)
Also I might be wrong here, but didn’t Selene kill Theia? “Accidentally” burned her home down and then wouldn’t say if anyone was still inside.
Great analysis, thanks for making these! Will you cover the hand-written story, found in the hospital, in the last episode?
Thank you for watching Rebekah! Do you mean the drawings of the girl in the woods? Or the poem?
@@thev-side1331 Right, the drawings. Though now that I think about it, you don’t have to answer; I can handle the suspense. In any case, I’m looking forward to your next video!
Ok! I'm working on the script these days. Hope I can get the new video out in the following weeks! Be sure to subscribe and click the bell so you don't miss it!