The dad saying "you're not our little girl but you're still my angel" made me so damn happy. Poor android child deserves some reassurance after that existential nightmare. And mom may have said the android isn't rebellious like Liana, but what's more rebellious than defying the objectives you were literally made to fulfill?
Honestly while I felt a little bummed that we didn’t get to see what he named us, I really wanted to name her “Sunny”…totally not the omori fan in me deciding that-
@@twindrill2852 But now we get to choose whatever he might have named us, instead of having gone through all of that about finding our own path only to be told in the end who we are.
@@sleepythemis A little disappointed she didn't just run away to make her own life but I suppose she was a kid with her range of knowledge. Might have been too scary for her. I'm glad the dad ended up taking care of her anyways, that was nice.
And my thought when reading the title after watching the video, was: 'How fitting.' I found it to encapsulate the essence of the philosophical struggle our protagonist is going through. As she and Manly deviate from the critical path.
I really liked it, I liked how it makes you initially think that mother is the "bad guy" of sorts, when there isn't really any true "bad guy" and it's just a little nightmarish all around
if we gonna put someone in the "villain character" shoes that would be the father, creating artificial life with android and i believe that the Interface_Terminal and the "CORE" are her brain somehow preserved to maintain a vicious cycle to make her little angel return to her past self in a android like body, kinda sick, i know that is hard to move on when someone die even more if it's your child, but, that's waaaaay to much.
I love horror games like this. Not everything needs to be filled with jump scares. The atmosphere is key in any horror game or movie. That's why I'm more into psychological horror. The old-school vibe is great too. I love the bizarre nature of the mother too. She's so animated but her character is executed perfectly.
Oh trust me I live for psychological horror but nothing wrong with some good old physical horror too Honestly me and my mom even tend to talk about that physical can be temporary while psychological can be much more damaging and terrifying.
This game is deeply unsettling. I had a feeling we're a robot/android very early on since everything felt so rigid and machine-like. I feel bad for the main character and I have a disdain for the mother. She seemed sincere at first but it's very clear she had this idea in her mind that the main character simply can't and never will replace her dead daughter. She made her eat dirt in order to confirm her inner bias that the main character simply follows instructions and is therefore unable to work like an individual, let alone act like her daughter. It's even sadder when we later realize that her daughter technically is trapped inside the main character's body and only the interface was preventing her from properly exposing her to the mother and confirming she's kind of the real deal. It's interesting to me that there are technically three "persons" somewhat controlling the main character: the player, the daughter's core and the interface. I don't think I've ever seen this kind of thing before. The game is really unique indeed.
If you go back over her dialogue, it further reinforces that she has long since given up any hope that any part of her daughter's personality is inside the android. Like, the whole monologue she gives about how picking apples is only authentic with things like the feeling of leaves crunching under your feet- otherwise it's "just objectives to be done"- is all just a big backhanded way of saying "you will never be my daughter."
I mean... it's incredibly unfair to judge the mom though? She's the only one that has to repeatedly DEAL with every death and every creepy Liana-android-robot shenanigans. Keep in mind this robot is an image of her dead daughter. Can you imagine having to see relive your daughter's death? It's easy for the dad to remain hopeful because he's not actually there to act as a parent (hilarious take on the "absentee" father trope btw). It's actually sick that the dad expects his wife to be okay with continually murdering the android until he gets the "right" version he's satisfied with. We can also infer that he's profiting from this considering that his mysterious "work" is likely tied to whatever company he's at. Also, the mom was aware that Liana exists within the android, but she acknowledged that having the same core as Liana doesn't make the android actually Liana. I'm not going to make assumptions on what the developer wants to convey, but the whole theme surrounding Asimov-like existentialism is that identity is neither tied to your memories, nor the concept of having a "soul" (program in this context) , but rather to what the individual desires to be. The mom understood this (as we see in the stabbing scene), but the dad doesn't. The dialogue between the brother and mom when Liana-android went objective-crazy implies that the mom genuinely wanted the project to work, but sometime along the many iterations she felt that it wasn't worth it (the many deaths probably took a toll on her). Her making the android eat dirt isn't insidious, but rather the objective was likely the remnant of a test she and her husband had devised to probe how "Liana-like" the android was, and it's likely that the test had been repeatedly failed. She's also afraid of what the android could be, and maybe it's not such a crazy thing to be cautious of an increasingly sentient AI. She needed to be doubly cautious especially since she's protecting her son as well. The game really is unique in that everyone's situation in this is pretty shitty, but the mom was dealt the shittiest hand of them all. What I really like is how ambiguous the dad is. He takes the completely synchronized Liana android with him, and the android's fate to live the life they desire, or to become a lab rat, remains to be seen.
@@orcbum I dont know, murdering an android because its not what you want seems pretty evil to me. Its sentient. Sure, the mom has trauma but its trumped by the trauma of, you know, being murdered. Also fed dirt.
@@Yllania The mother, while not a good parent, is a very understandable character in my opinion. She's forced to take care of something that looks like a poor recreation of her daughter, barely acts human, following orders without question, and it's clear she wants no part in it yet the father is forcing her to do so. From her point of view, it's just programmed to follow instructions and has no sense of emotion, eating dirt for breakfast happily or sleeping on the ground just because she asked her to, which as mentioned when she was arguing with the father, she solely did to test its limits. From her point of view, she is constantly forced to care for something that looks like her dead daughter, but is an emotionless, soulless robot that just follows instructions without actually gaining anything from it. Yes, her way of taking care of her daughter is wrong knowing that she's actually conscious, but from her point of view it's very understandable why she wouldn't think it was conscious and why she would be suffering mentally from it, and her actions are understandable. Until the end, I felt the father was more unsympathetic for forcing this situation on both the daughter and the mother without their consent. Edit: Thinking over it more, both the father and mother are bad in their own ways, but they are also understandable even if they are ultimately not good people.
Thank you so much for playing the game! It was made in 29 days over what was a pretty crazy period of my life, while riddled with sickness and stress (which I think may have shown in the final work tbh), so seeing it resonate with people means SO much to me. I wasn't sure if the story I had in mind would even make sense to other people - let alone connect with them in the way it was intended to - so this is rather surreal! (btw, to anyone who's interested in checking it out themselves, all those messages that appear in the bottom of the barn at the very end of this video can be clicked on for extra story content. It fills out a pretty comprehensive account of the father's actions up until that point. Have a wonderful day
You did very well mister! I love the story, its really emotionally touching, it reminds me of Her (2013). I would have not knew of this game if not for Manly's good choice! I hope you a good fortune on your endeavors! Hearts from South East Asia~
When you are talking to the dad on the phone, he lies to his coworker that he's talking to his wife because the coworkers don't know that original Liana is dead/he's making android recreations of her. Another thing I realized is the Liana can't kill mom because andorid probably has the 3 law of robotics programed into it.
@@Dog.This_Identifier_Is_Shit. It depends tbh but it has a basic guideline. The three laws of robotics (first law) state that no harm should come to humans. The second law is that robots must “protect their existence, as long as it does not conflict with the first and second laws” so the robot in question will have to protect themselves in a non-lethal way. So here’s the situation. The mc followed the second law (which is to follow orders given by humans Aka Mother and Father) by default. The mc figured out that there were previous versions of them that were scrapped so they feared that they would share the same fate as them which initiates the 3rd law to “protect their own existence”. And so to do that they tried to kill Mother but the first law prevented them to do that.
The dialogue that skipped said 11min “Your sister is back. Hopefully for good this time.” 17min “>>disengaging consciousness” 41min/44min “LEVEL UP...continued exposure to material that might suggest conflict with the pre-established self will result in further contamination. Please report this unit to ENIGMA TECHNOLOGIES urgently.”
I agree with Manly, it's very unique. I wasn't expecting Liana and the Interface to become connected. It's an interesting shift, from Liana talking like a human, to sounding more robotic. The interface being the one to talk and express doubts, just like a normal human. They truly have become one. Gameplay wise, pretty good. Mother genuinely got me a few times. Wish we heard more from the brother though. Also the ending part was so hard to see.
Honestly! The game is really wholesome and creepy at the same time, the [BE WITH MOTHER] Mom looks really discomforting, but its really nice to see the family.
I think the maker got the life simulation aspect across really well. It was very dreamlike, and for a while I was convinced this was a child's brain inside a computer, with Mother being a program and Father being the programmer... But I think your theory is correct in that every week Father brings home a new android with their daughter's consciousness they are trying to implant in a new body, but it just won't take. Every time the scripts fail, Mother has to destroy the machine, which explains why she must be so stressed out and upset having to basically kill what is presumed to be their daughter's new body over and over again, and why Brother never leaves his room. Traumatized grieving family who just can't let go of their precious little girl.
@@courtneythompson6179 in the memory log thingies the dad said he implanted a mental block (similar to the one preventing her from seeing Liana's grave) in her head so if ENIGMA TECHNOLOGIES ever got a hold of her or her previous iterations they wouldn't be able to trace the missing ENIGMA MACHINE prototypes back to him
Although this is supposed to be a uncanny valley psychological horror, I feel like the game creators' strengths really came out most in the tragic elements of the story. Spoilers below . . . I really feel bad for the main character. Whenever she got trapped, rather than feeling scared as a viewer, I felt pity. It broke my heart for the poor little kid that just wanted desperately to be a good obedient kid and then go back to a loving parent. The simplistic style of emotions and phrases worked out amazingly to portray both an AI and a young child. When viewing it from a sci-fi tragedy lens, this is an amazing piece of work.
it's so interesting at the second ending how we get to see liana being rebellious as her mother said she was. its so ironic that liana is able to come through but she's being so restricted by her father's interface that every time she truly shines through she's shut down. maybe that has something to do with how she died in the first place.
“Isn’t this what you wanted to happen?” I like to think that this is why the brother no longer talks to anyone in the house, especially his mother. In the beginning, she tried so hard to try and make the player just like her dead daughter. And he’s been forced to watch this for who knows how long. Every time hearing her say “Maybe she’ll stay for good this time.” The constant arguments between his parents. And him being forced to see a constant reminder of his dead sister every week since this started. No wonder why he shut everyone else out
I love the eeriness and the expectation of something to be horribly wrong with the mother, only for the realization that she sounds weird and distant because she doesn't truly view you as her daughter. Just the construct that was built by her husband to resemble the one they lost. Classic "A.I can be truly intelligent with self values and worth" story, but as the unexpected twist, making it so much more impactful
She doesn't appear like that bc she doesn't view you as her daughter. It's because you see her just as weird as she sees you. She is the normal one in fact, we are the android. She even says this in one of her lines
This is a very interesting game. No loud jumpscares, no big scary monster chasing you, just pure uneasiness and psychological horror. I like how devs start off making the player feel suspicious towards the Mother and portray her unnaturally while also painting her as the villain (and looking at some of the comments here this seemed to have worked very well), before twisting the story around and making the MC seem to be the suspicious one. Then the endings roll around and suddenly the story just falls into tragedy for all the characters involved. Liana's "core" in her android body is trying to reach out to her Mother, but can't because the Interface is stopping her and instead forcing her to act like a robot. And every week she is killed for carrying out what she is forced by the Interface to do. The Mother is trying (and failing) to cope with having to deal with an unnatural simulacrum made in the likeness of her beloved dead daughter. Each week the Mother abuses Liana in the hopes she will rebel against her robot programming, but gets increasingly upset and terrified when Liana repeatedly fails to show any human emotion. Sadly her own actions speeds up Liana's core corruption, and she is ultimately forced to kill her "daughter" repeatedly in the hopes that the next version of Liana will be more human than the last. Meanwhile the Brother is just sick of everything and locks himself in his room to spare himself the trauma. He seldom speaks and when he does it just comes off as apathetic. It is almost as though he is speaking his thoughts out loud 'at' Liana, and not 'to' her. The Father comes off as rather uncaring too. He speaks nicely to Liana but he clearly doesn't see her as his daughter either, what with making her run through a heavy storm to fetch what is implied to be the severed head of her previous model. And every week he brings home a new robot version of Liana for Mother to test, not caring about the pain that he is causing his wife, son, and Liana herself. And he doesn't bother saying hello to Liana either when he comes to visit on Friday night. He is so focused on bringing Liana back to life that he doesn't see what he is doing. As Mother pointed out, his greatest strength (love for his daughter) has also become his greatest weakness. He carries on the cycle of suffering because he doesn't want to accept that Liana as a human is truly gone. But the Father is shown in a more favorable light in the good ending, when he realises and accepts that the android Liana is not his dead daughter brought back to life, but rather their own person. And with that, he stops the cycle.
This is a great analysis. Though I think even in the good ending the Father isn’t exactly all that good. Considering that Angel rebelled against the cycle in order to find their own path only for the Father to continue to dictate their new path by choosing its new name instead of letting them decide.
This. I was hoping Father would let her choose her own name, but no. Likely the cycle of control and experimentation continues. The daughter seems truly gone, merge with the interface to create a new kind of being altogether.
The mother was painfully abusive, even if I understand her perspective. Seeing core-Liliane trying to reach out to her only for her to recoil in disgust really hurt. Ironic how the father was the one trying to bring her back, yet he's the one who accepts Angel. It's very poignant how each cycle he mentions the approaching storm, and yet at the end when Angel becomes her own person, he's at peace and says it's finally over. A moment of silence for the brother as well, who's clearly depressed from everything going on and shows disdain towards his mother's actions. I can't imagine being in his situation. Very sad game overall, I loved all of it. I think this may be the best game out there portraying an AI going against its programming, while mixing in family abuse and psychology.
I feel bad for her. I mean if you kept being forced to play this game over and over again, never truly able to grieve and having to care for this robot child that just stares at you silently following you around the house 😬
@@missconstruct6968 So you're defending the mothers actions? She literally told the player to sleep outside then was bitching to the father "OuR lIaNa WoUlD nEvEr SlEeP oUtSiDe!" The father was accepting and wanted to have his little girl back, and to an extent. He did. The mother failed to be accepting from the start. You can feel bad for her losing her daughter, but to defend her actions is disgusting.
I love how Manly reads mother's dialogue at this kinda robotic tone/pace. He called her Disney animatronic and stuck with it haha! edit: After the first 20 minutes he stopped doing it :c
Because her dialogue starts to normalize as the world perspective changes so I gradually turned it down throughout the hour and opted to use normal speaking tone with mom to dad brother dialogues.
@@ManlyBadassHero That's awesome and you're right. Maybe it was because in the first few days Mother is repeating the "script" she has to "perform" every week and the later days she's frustrated and start "improvizing" making her sound less robotic and more normal.
@@ManlyBadassHero Can you tell me any other games that you played on this channel that also has a good plot? It doesn't have to be horror themed it could be like this.
its a small thing, but i think my favorite piece of this game was that line the mother dropped about how "liana" looks wrong to her and that she's sure she looks weird too. the fact the uncanny appearance and movements of the mother is a result of how the android visualizes its surroundings is so cool.
Well, this took a completely nuts turn. I can't say I don't like it, this was very interesting. I love the little details, like how every time you went to sleep it said "Disengaging consciousness." Plus, the mother mentioning that she probably looks just as unnatural to us as "Liana" does to her.
Ah, yes, the title voices are in triplicate now. We have "i'm trying not to die, don't tell them i'm here", "screaming in your face", and "hey there, welcome, mind the gap and the bodies".
The poor android never had a chance. They never intended it to live, every Sunday Father expected the box (with the last android's head in it). It was a fight between the expectations of the Father and of the Mother. Father made the critical path, be with mother, which invariably lead to death because Mother always pushed the Android towards corruption/actually linking with the core, her daughter, which she always rejected. I feel like, she's clearly started resenting the process. She's ready to move on from her daughter's death and the Father wasn't, up until the end when he accepts the surviving Android and gives it a new name to signify Liana is gone. Even if a version of her once existed in the core, it is corrupted by the past memories of every failed and destroyed Android, she...can't really ever be what they wanted initially. Only mystery right now is how the hell his entire workplace wasn't noticing materials going missing on a WEEKLY basis. They didn't reuse crap, they burned it all (minus the head). There was a fire in front of the barn waay back on the very first day, seen through the windows. I'm also kinda bummed we didn't get to snoop around brother's room though but that's just the younger sister in me I guess. Kinda interesting that door is the only one the Android respected, pushed through the other blocks but left that door be.
4:22 ooh.. that’s the head of the previous android, isn’t it? 6:10 ah.. never noticed that before. It’s a shame MBH never looked out the window before going to bed.
@@derboe_thebeast6869The implication I got is that Liana's "core" merged with the AI Interface to become a new being entirely. So in a sense both Liana and the original code are gone now.
@@derboe_thebeast6869 Yeah that was her. The interpretation I got was that they merged in the final ending. And the Father realised this, that's why he took her in and gave her a new name. Because at that point she was neither Liana nor some mindless android.
this is one of the only games for me that has achieved genuine dreamlike quality. the sort of peaceful but uneasy environment that hangs in nowhere combined with the narrative (coming home to everything being stilted and terrifying is an actual nightmare i have had several times) and the way mother herself moves, plus the "restricted areas" like the barn really help complete that feeling. absolutely great game, 10/10 will see in my nightmares tonight
Right? It's giving me weird core vibes, which I'm in no way against since I love weird core and being dissociated can be quiet calming if I'm in a safe place.
Bro that ending, the box is the head of the previous robot, and the door was locked because your replacement couldn't bring the father you head. She must have went in there, couldn't complete the task and got stuck. So when you came out with the rotten apples he knew you left your path on Wednesday.
There’s so much depth to this story. It makes me feel like we the player are the bit of liana that’s left of her human, and the voice that tells us not to do things is our coding, but at the same time the voice that is supposed to be lianas thoughts is also just the coded personality. (It wants to kill the mother and disobey it’s script because it’s programmed to be rebellious like she was). Sort of like an ‘angel and devil on each shoulder situation’, we the player are the one who makes the ultimate choices, whilst listening to the two scripts bickering. We are the true liana.
19:40 Listening to this speech while doing work in my veggie garden, I froze and legit had to stop what I was doing to watch. I get the undercurrent of what she was *really* talking about, but it's a very poignant way to do it. You're GONNA kill a few plants before you have the skill to perfect raising them right; that's just common collateral in the gardening world when you're working on getting your green thumb. Made the ending hit me a lot harder. For such a bizarre, otherworldly presentation, the writing in this is REALLY good. 😬😬😬
i enjoyed this a whole lot more than i thought i did? Everything about it is such a cool concept to me! The bits of symbolism were placed around well, the world building is really interesting. I personally watched you play while thinking Mother wasnt going to be the true antagonist and instead i found her pretty charming rather than scary, and i think ultimately that helped me understand her character better. She said we look as unnatural to her as she looks to us, so imagine if she were just perfectly human, not robotic at all, but we just cant perceive her that way. I think a lot of horror games try to use the bring-child-back-to-life concept very plainly, making the parent seem insane or out of their mind, but this one seems different? Like, the Mother has her own doubts and feelings and doesn't believe its working, and even so she still tries sometimes. It must be painful. And the father believes in his machinery and thinks hes just so close, and is doing all that he can. Neither of them are particularly scary, just secretive, and i think that leads to a really good atmosphere. The brother never shows his face because he doesnt want to be involved anymore, the mother feeds us dirt because it doesnt matter what we eat. But symbolicly dirt also nourishes the apple trees, which give life to apples with cores. It all wraps together very well!! I think this game might get stuck in my thoughts for a little while lol
I hope I can get to see more games like this cause this was really interesting to see and i like how they slowly gave out more information about Liana or more specifically the android.
i love the mesh of ai becoming self aware with the near ghost of a dead girl formed through memories handshaking to become an entire different person of their own, in a way
For some reason, at first the game reminded me of that one movie when mother returns home from a hospital, and her twin sons trying to figure out of it's really her or someone else. Of course the movie ended with a very intriguing twist, but the beginning with Liana returning from hospital after 'an operation', mother acting very weird, mirrors being covered, just.. reminded me of the movie. I don't remember the title (it was probably something generic like Mother or Mommy), but I got the vibe.
I first I thought the dev did the weight paint wrong with Mother’s model (that’s why part of her dress moves along with her hand. I don’t judge cause weight painting with models can be a bitch sometimes.) but with what happens later I wonder if that was intentional and part of the story rather than it being just small little touch to Mothers odd animation. Either way, a nice breath of fresh air for a horror game. I really enjoyed it. Especially the VHS cutaways. I remember those exactly when they played movie trailers before the tape starts the actual movie. I never thought I’d ever see that again haha.
Honestly-I feel like you’re right on both ends XD I think they made the mother’s dress like that intentionally, in order to mimic the difficulties that come with making those models, and highlight how everything the player sees is just a digital “real time” interpretation of the real world
I get it’s hinted heavily Mother isn’t alright, and so aren’t you (hidden mirrors, unquestioning orders). But you gotta love it when games start as a nightmare simulator, then you become lucid and realise: wait a second, it’s not me who is stuck here, *you* are stuck here with *me*. Hunting down Mother after her helicopter-parenting was a great reversal. Interesting game overall of identity between Manly, Liana-core, and android interface.
I love the dichotomy where like…from the mother’s perspective, this is HORRIFYING. She can’t predict how the program will really work, she can only go off of the order/objective system, and when it suddenly stops obeying she realizes she has no power over this inhuman thing living in her home. But from the player’s perspective, we’re only doing what we can and what we know. All we want to do is to be with mother, and it’s all we CAN do, and even when the core begins to protest and wants to speak up, it is unable to. It’s so sad how there is a bit of “Liana” left in there (at that point, the core believed it was still the original Liana), but it couldn’t communicate that, leading to more rejection. And it’s only with that repeated rejection and failure where the android was finally able to break free from its programming
Holy crap the use of lighting is insanely good, right from the start Really kept me on edge throughout! Really great CORE theme to the game, was not expecting for it to be as nuanced as it ended up being The whole part about two different realities was interesting, and really showed why everything seemed so off
The “mother” made me feel quite uneasy. I was having breakfast while watching Manly plays but I have to stop eating to watch or the other way around because of the uneasiness it gave me. The game did a great job on the design of the mother in terms of the creepiness it gave.
How is the older brother not even phased?? I'd be broken by now as an older sister. Also you're getting *SO* close to 1M subs Manly, I'm so proud!! Keep it up!
Well if my dad constantly brought home a replica of my dead sister that acted nothing like her and occasionally breaks down and attempts murder, I’d just shut myself off in my room too
@@tinyflyingdragons9432 That’s literally your fault. It’s not his responsibility to put a spoiler warning on comments that are intended to be read after the video. You’re basically complaining about a movie review spoiling the movie you were actively watching.
This one is so good game I actually like the plot alot We are IA made with their daughter core but as we go along we discover we aint their daughter and forge new identity of ourselves Also love how we are not only one Because the core is talking with the interface as the core have more understanding about what's going on ordering the interface till they start working out together
this made me cry a river lol. i love the story so much, when you begin to realize what's happening it's really just heartbreaking instead of scary. big props to the devs!
It’s sad how the mother is in disbelief that her child is in there. She thinks that the robot will hurt her for giving it no objective but in reality it’s trying to receive love and affection from its mother. It went from a story about a sick daughter to a robot who’s family doesn’t truly love it and is using it to “replace” their daughter.
39:09 i like how its the first time when liana doesnt think that 'nutrients' aren't her favourite food, but instead that her mother says so (and its right after her mother makes her sleep outside...)
Oh man, this was a wild ride. Honestly, i feel like the mom got it the worst, being emotionally manipulated by an absent husband to take care of a homunculus lodged in some realdoll of her late baby girl that she must put down, week after week, lest it could possibly hunt the family down in some cyber-psychotic malfunction. Being there's a mountain of ash from the multitude of attempts, it's safe to say that *did* happen at least once before the parents came up with the "End It" failsafe.
Y’know, based on the video’s title and thumbnail, I was 100% expecting the mother to be a control freak who was the “villain” of the game. But I actually never got that vibe from her in the game, even in the beginning. She seemed like someone who had plenty of her own troubles to deal with, but actively tried to avoid taking them out on Liana, despite how easy that would be. Oh, and the way Manly said “nutrients?” every time he went near the kitchen? A++ comedy, subtle but tickled my funny bone every time.
"No, that was, something else." Manly: How ya doin'. Hahaha! That caught me by surprise. Everything about this game has been weird and meta, but that moment when Manly acknowledges his part in it is hilarious. Perfect 4th wall break. Well done.
A beautiful game, exquisite script and excellent handling of the graphics issues. I think the ending needs a _lot_ more work and extending, and they definitely needed to use the brother more and flesh out each day a lot more. Already good, massive potential... I hope they expand on it.
Now this is how I imagine the "AI" movie actually going. A beautifully haunting story of trying to retain what has been lost by defying nature and yet even though its working, that fear of the possibility will frighten someone and eventually impede that progress. The dynamics are amazing, the Father sees the progress and knows if the family could just act normal Liana may return, the brother is the only one who has somewhat matured and moved on from their loss and acting indifferent, almost pitying the android's existence because its playing a role with the world against it, the Mother could use this opportunity to move on and find something new but instead she thinks its better to mistreat and alienate an AI, rather than give it that new experience she claims she would hope for it. I think what helps so much is how realistic it is with an Android and AI technology. Clearly its not the same little girl and its learning to function and speak as a human but only briefly can it properly activate a sound, then we have the obvious thing that if it saw itself it would restart, so there's already this tension of hiding the truth rather than introducing her as their new child. Its just so well thought out, and it really adds a chilling factor with how the game glitches, acts static at times and changes your perception to impede deviating. Every time you had to roam after that first day my skin was full of goosebumps and absolutely uncomfortably on the edge of my seat. I don't think I've ever had an experience like that at least in the last 2 decades. What an amazing game.
This was so well done, I am quite impressed. I felt genuinely creeped out throughout this, at first because of the "mother" and eventually just the entire situation going on with our protagonist. Great stuff, the ending has my attention. If this actually links to the developer's other projects, I'm intrigued.
This game does actually have a direct continuation into The Enigma Machine, this one is sort of a prequel / origin story, is the best way I can put it. Enigma Machine's plot is already pretty dark and messed up, but playing this one and knowing what happens in it just makes that game's story even darker. Though there are some things that dont seem quite explained even after playing both (like what the "core" is) so I'm hoping the next game after that gives some more answers once it releases.
When the mother said to “stay away” I started crying, by then I’d already read the comments and I knew what the lore was then it was so sad that the mother is scared
This game turned out far different from what I was expecting, and I'm not disappointed. From my experience at least I felt like I was learning things with the character, and I think this is greatly needed in a game, it often feels frustrating or disillusioning when the player figures things out far before the character. I think that with the context of story the retro graphics really helped blend this, as I could easily pass the robotic objectives as meta scares or a stylistic choice
10:02 BOY AM I GLAD SHE'S COOKING IN THERE AND THAT WE'RE OUT HERE, AND THAT SHE'S THE MOTHER, AND THAT WE'RE CHILDREN OUT HERE AND THAT WE'RE IN THERE AND I JUST REMEMBERED WE'RE OUT HERE. What i wanna know is where's the caveman?
The Mother was being abusive towards the child. Feeding the child dirt and making them sleep outside. The Mother looks cold and distant and robotic because that’s the way she is acting towards the child because she’s not recognizing the child as a person. Because the child is not acting the way ‘it’ is programed to act as. If the child doesn’t act as programmed their humanity is disregarded. Meanwhile all the child was trying to do is reach out to their mom. But the mother is so obsessed with the idea of Liana as she was that she does not recognize the humanity in the child in front of her. Well, Liana as she was before is gone and the child is still an angel just with a new path and a new interface and they deserve a new name. Incredible game. Truly great storytelling if you look at it literally it’s a fascinating sci-fi story but if you read into the metaphor it elevates itself even further. Cheers to the devs. 🍻
The mother came off as her being outright upset at how "programmed" Liana was, as she said when talking to the father, she's saying that she is creeped out by how it obeys everything she asks for a while, even sleeping on the ground, she's not upset because it's not following her orders, she's upset because she feels like it's a fake version of her daughter with no humanity in it. The mother, while not a good parent, is a very understandable character in my opinion. She's forced to take care of something that looks like a poor recreation of her daughter, barely acts human, following orders without question, and it's clear she wants no part in it yet the father is forcing her to do so. From her point of view, it's just programmed to follow instructions and has no sense of emotion, eating dirt for breakfast happily or sleeping on the ground just because she asked her to, which as mentioned when she was arguing with the father, she solely did to test its limits. From her point of view, she is constantly forced to care for something that looks like her dead daughter, but is an emotionless, soulless robot that just follows instructions without actually gaining anything from it. Yes, her way of taking care of her daughter is wrong knowing that she's actually conscious, but from her point of view it's very understandable why she wouldn't think it was conscious and why she would be suffering mentally from it, and her actions are understandable. Edit: Thinking over it more, both the father and mother are bad in their own ways, but they are also understandable even if they are ultimately not good people.
Good summation, and it's the way a narcissistic mother actually treats her own child. The more you resist the programming she installed/brainwashed into you, the more angry & rejecting she gets, even to the point of murdering you (usually murder of your spirit in real life).
Wow this was fantastic! Quite loved it; kept me engaged and has an interesting plot! Super unique, and definitely a fan. I love how there's so much to unpack; -The father's inability to realize that his obsessive attempts to bring his daughter back do more harm than good. -The mother's cold and abusive tendencies towards the android, despite Liana's core still being there. (It's understandable as to how she's gotten to that point, but still very difficult to fathom.) - The brother's complete disengagement from his surroundings most of the time. He knows what's going on but is distracting himself from it. It also seems like the parents failed to help support the brother as well in a time of need after Liana's death. As a result he's shut them out, relying on pure online interaction, struggling on his own. It's quite a dark and heartbreaking plot, where a family can't properly recover from their young girl's death.
They kinda do get to live on as their own person. Dad is going to give her a new name. The Dad doesn't seem as inhumane as the mom. He didn't like that she made not-Liana sleep on the side of the road or that she was feeding her dirt and thinking of her as an "it". Which doesn't help integration. What is more sad is that the original Liana core had to experience being murdered over and over again even if she was following all the protocols. What is also more ironic is that the Mom doesn't connect with not-Liana BECAUSE she is following all the objectives, yet as soon as she behaves in an unpredictable manner, she doesn't seem to allow herself the possibility to think that just maybe her daughter is trying to get through to her by going against her programming. Since that's a hard thing to do. Like a real kid breaking the rules. Either way not-Liana is better off with the Dad.
@@Nianiabe I figure I just. I got kinda sketch vibes from him if I’m honest. Like he’s taking you and he made you and like what. Is he gonna take you back to the lab and run tests? That’s what scares me Also the way the robot goes ‘We dont need you anymore’ but still ends up the car just. Mmm
@@moosenman Yeah it's an ending that leaves things up to the imagination. Though I get the feeling that "we don't need you anymore" was breaking the 4th wall since the week was coming to an end. Who knows. Maybe they will make a break for it after they get a name, we just won't be around to see it.
I think "our dear angel" is refer to us, the player, and the message "we don't need you anymore" is between not-Liana (+ Interface) and us the player to tell us that they don't need our help anymore to continue moving forward. I just think it kinda sweet.
When it said Liana's Grave the video started buffering This game kind of reminded me of NieR Automata for some reason, notably how you play an android and it's possible to differ from the path you're not meant to take, which gets you endings that aren't meant to happen so it just kicks you back to the menu, and how the androids die at the end of the game because of a virus but as the player you get the choice to "save" them for the "true ending". During the story you come across a village of peaceful machines, trying to live like humans, smaller robots even being referred to as "children", they are taught about every emotion, even fear, which unfortunately backfires later on, you are then given the choice to either kill the last machine Pascal or erase their memory, if you choose to erase their memory they wander the village wondering where everyone is
NieR Automata follows a linear story path from endings A, B and C. There are no endings which aren’t meant to happen, just alternate choices. You can choose between endings C and D depending if you choose to play as A2 or 9S in the final battle. Ending E is if you choose to sacrifice all your data so others can have a shot at winning the credits boss fight. And in the end, A2, 2B and 9S get a second chance. Glad to find another Nier fan but I think you’re mistaken on the endings.
@@voidnoidoid By "not meant to happen" I was referring to any other ending besides the main ones where you deviate from the plot and and kicked back to the menu, considering that they disrupt the main plot I assume that means they're not meant to happen. Example: Dying at the very beginning of the game
Genuinely brilliant 10/10 5 stars A+ Gold Medal game Is it weird that the overall tone of the story reminded me of Hideo Yamamoto's writing? Not in terms of violence, obviously. But, something about the way the hero was slowly revealed to be the real threat kind of reminded me of stuff like Homunculus.
i love how the mom has to have this talk with her daughter at the barn, she sort of maybe? realizes that liana is in the android but she can’t allow herself to hope for that. she has to tell her android daughter that it’s not her fault and the android is constrained by the nature of what it is. the liana core is limited based on the fact it’s in a robot. and how she says there’s her reality and the androids reality and they could never see the world through each other’s perspective. somewhere in between their realities the remaining liana exists, but she isn’t really herself anymore. at least not the her they could have known because now she has all these new experiences that would change who she is.
@@giselleadame5522first spoilers So from what I gathered since the Mc(the player) is like a cyborg equivalent of the mother and fathers daughter when she said “hopefully this time for good” meaning that, that cyborg version will be the right one. The first part is self explanatory
How I interpret it is that the little android trying to say she's there, her limitations is the enigma company software telling you so. The calls of the father, the mother, and the brother are all just simulated(yes even with the phone call outside, that is part of the test, even with the scolding too, everything repeats perfectly for boredom) Everything was planned, the calls, the brother saying it's dirt just to freak you out, the graveyard, and everything in the hopes at least one Liana turns into an Angel by giving subtle hints that the Liana understands it's a 4th wall breaks around the map to follow and not the enigma company's software telling you so which is forcing you to do. Idk part: When you reach the car, Robot Dad brings you probably to the maker for interrogations(idk where else). And the sad thing is there are multiple sad ways to look at the good ending: Liana actually is talking from the grave and possessed Angel. Everyone rather thinks of you as Angel instead of Liana. Angel is probably scripted too, and instead of meeting the maker, you get deleted[Hence you don't get to replay automatically] Good way to look at the good ending: You have succeeded the test of sentience, You are being driven to [idk where] if you are a good robot, you get stabbed at the barn if you are with free will, you don't listen and live as the devs intended I have so many questions I need to ask while I am inside that car What I am sure of: "Player, wake up. Don't follow these set of instructions unless you are a robot, we are all not real, follow the other instructions which are vague but if you do you would be someone else named Stanley- I MEANT ANGEL* [ahem] Angel. You have until Saturday to figure it out, because at Sunday you are completely replaced."
That's why I hate Mother so much. She's only given Liana a few days to go completely back to normal. Wth? No one is going to come back from a trauma like that so quickly! She's so selfish and heartless. Even when Liana overrides her robot programming to call out to her mother, the horrid woman completely rebuffs her and just ASSUMES the robot is going to kill them for absolutely no reason. God I hope when Liana finally gets freed from the computer AI, that her parents were the first ones she took revenge against.
I kinda knew it was about a conscience being implemented in a robot when we saw Liana's grave but I really hoped they would show us it's physical appereance. It can "rest" the brother doesn't care about it the mother is affraid of what it can do if it's contaminated and I'm just left with a whole bunch of questions :D
Ngl, this is actually a really cool game. This story is really good to me, and I really wish I could see further. It reminds me a *bit* of Higurashi and I really enjoy that. I really wish I could read a story to come from this, if not play a game from it.
I'm not one to really recommend games, but since you noted an interest in The Enigma Machine at the end, I'll throw in a few thoughts about it... (really, this is for everyone who's reading this) - It's an excellent game. It superficially touches on similar themes as Mothered (AI and "decontamination") and visually has a reasonably similar style, but it approaches the topic in a different manner. A lot of other comments have noted similarity in the languages and symbols used, indicating that they be an interconnected world. - If you're liking the weird aesthetics of Mothered and how things don't exactly look right, it's worth a shot. It has similar flaws in this regard (the end game is pretty hard to actually navigate), but it's also going to be something you really haven't seen before - In many ways, it's very easy to say "if you liked Mothered, you'll like The Enigma Machine". After seeing these two games, it seems pretty clear that the creator has specific things they want to try out and is going to stick to them. And, you know what? All the power to them for it. It's hard to find anything like it out there
This is probably one of the best analog horror-type games I've seen yet. The themes and story are on point, especially with how it's told. I appreciate this a lot and I hope we see more games like this. CORE OBJECTIVE: FIND CREATOR'S OTHER GAMES
Thanks so much for reading (most) of the lines. As someone who loves to put this stuff on in the background while I'm working I've genuinely enjoyed your voicework! You have a knack for it! I loved this one and Blank Frame!
I know this sounds really simple, but I love how there is no game before this and how the way the player acts effects the game. in another comment, someone said that there were 3 people incorporated in Liana: the player, the core, and the interface. I really enjoyed how the only way the core came out was when the player chose what to do or followed directions on screen. I thought it really showed how no matter how you played the game, you would never fully be able to be the interface or the core. You would just me the confused player who has never understood any of this. thx for coming to my TED talk (even if it sounded stupid and like I didn’t/don’t understand common knowledge.)
Welcome to the You Understand What I'm Saying Club, how You Understand What I'm Saying are ya? Sequel Here: ua-cam.com/video/QMLVeEhFpJ0/v-deo.html
No?
It seems im not in this club.
I dont understand any shit.
I’m very You Understand What I’m Saying today, thank you for asking
Huh?
I'm You Understand What I'm saying
The dad saying "you're not our little girl but you're still my angel" made me so damn happy. Poor android child deserves some reassurance after that existential nightmare. And mom may have said the android isn't rebellious like Liana, but what's more rebellious than defying the objectives you were literally made to fulfill?
Yeah. This game is insane
Honestly while I felt a little bummed that we didn’t get to see what he named us, I really wanted to name her “Sunny”…totally not the omori fan in me deciding that-
@@twindrill2852 But now we get to choose whatever he might have named us, instead of having gone through all of that about finding our own path only to be told in the end who we are.
@@sleepythemis A little disappointed she didn't just run away to make her own life but I suppose she was a kid with her range of knowledge. Might have been too scary for her. I'm glad the dad ended up taking care of her anyways, that was nice.
@@heathercraig8243 Sure but Imagine you're chilling in the park and you see this android walking around
Ah yes Mother seems very human today
Hey is this human? 👽👽👽👽👽👽👽👽👽👽👽👽👽👽👽👽👽👽👽👽🌚
Yes…. Mother. Does. Seem…. Very. Human…. Today.
@@Zack_Zander Are you sure that's not your wife
very Human
You guys are so mean. Mom was clearly born in the Uncanny Valley.
Feels like I'm watching Manly have a slow burning mental breakdown through increasingly abstract video titles
And my thought when reading the title after watching the video, was: 'How fitting.' I found it to encapsulate the essence of the philosophical struggle our protagonist is going through. As she and Manly deviate from the critical path.
@@PoppyDefiler Bruh you're talking like an English Major who just read their first literary novel.
@@0niichad they are one of those people who read through the whole dictionary
It's not mental breakdown when you're always in this state 👍
looking at all the words fully capped in his titles....he might be sending out a secret code for help
I really liked it, I liked how it makes you initially think that mother is the "bad guy" of sorts, when there isn't really any true "bad guy" and it's just a little nightmarish all around
144p likes, nice.
if we gonna put someone in the "villain character" shoes that would be the father, creating artificial life with android and i believe that the Interface_Terminal and the "CORE" are her brain somehow preserved to maintain a vicious cycle to make her little angel return to her past self in a android like body, kinda sick, i know that is hard to move on when someone die even more if it's your child, but, that's waaaaay to much.
SPOILER TAG?
@@elgatochurro no :3
@@dollynhouzucrack4299 :3
I love horror games like this. Not everything needs to be filled with jump scares. The atmosphere is key in any horror game or movie. That's why I'm more into psychological horror. The old-school vibe is great too. I love the bizarre nature of the mother too. She's so animated but her character is executed perfectly.
yess i love psychological horror
Tbh, when a good horror game looks shitty, it makes the pixels stupidly eerie
Oh trust me
I live for psychological horror but nothing wrong with some good old physical horror too
Honestly me and my mom even tend to talk about that physical can be temporary while psychological can be much more damaging and terrifying.
Mother's Bizzare Nature:Part 1 Phantom Abuse
**laughs in sadist**
This game is deeply unsettling. I had a feeling we're a robot/android very early on since everything felt so rigid and machine-like. I feel bad for the main character and I have a disdain for the mother. She seemed sincere at first but it's very clear she had this idea in her mind that the main character simply can't and never will replace her dead daughter. She made her eat dirt in order to confirm her inner bias that the main character simply follows instructions and is therefore unable to work like an individual, let alone act like her daughter. It's even sadder when we later realize that her daughter technically is trapped inside the main character's body and only the interface was preventing her from properly exposing her to the mother and confirming she's kind of the real deal. It's interesting to me that there are technically three "persons" somewhat controlling the main character: the player, the daughter's core and the interface. I don't think I've ever seen this kind of thing before. The game is really unique indeed.
If you go back over her dialogue, it further reinforces that she has long since given up any hope that any part of her daughter's personality is inside the android. Like, the whole monologue she gives about how picking apples is only authentic with things like the feeling of leaves crunching under your feet- otherwise it's "just objectives to be done"- is all just a big backhanded way of saying "you will never be my daughter."
I mean... it's incredibly unfair to judge the mom though? She's the only one that has to repeatedly DEAL with every death and every creepy Liana-android-robot shenanigans. Keep in mind this robot is an image of her dead daughter. Can you imagine having to see relive your daughter's death? It's easy for the dad to remain hopeful because he's not actually there to act as a parent (hilarious take on the "absentee" father trope btw). It's actually sick that the dad expects his wife to be okay with continually murdering the android until he gets the "right" version he's satisfied with. We can also infer that he's profiting from this considering that his mysterious "work" is likely tied to whatever company he's at.
Also, the mom was aware that Liana exists within the android, but she acknowledged that having the same core as Liana doesn't make the android actually Liana. I'm not going to make assumptions on what the developer wants to convey, but the whole theme surrounding Asimov-like existentialism is that identity is neither tied to your memories, nor the concept of having a "soul" (program in this context) , but rather to what the individual desires to be. The mom understood this (as we see in the stabbing scene), but the dad doesn't.
The dialogue between the brother and mom when Liana-android went objective-crazy implies that the mom genuinely wanted the project to work, but sometime along the many iterations she felt that it wasn't worth it (the many deaths probably took a toll on her). Her making the android eat dirt isn't insidious, but rather the objective was likely the remnant of a test she and her husband had devised to probe how "Liana-like" the android was, and it's likely that the test had been repeatedly failed. She's also afraid of what the android could be, and maybe it's not such a crazy thing to be cautious of an increasingly sentient AI. She needed to be doubly cautious especially since she's protecting her son as well.
The game really is unique in that everyone's situation in this is pretty shitty, but the mom was dealt the shittiest hand of them all. What I really like is how ambiguous the dad is. He takes the completely synchronized Liana android with him, and the android's fate to live the life they desire, or to become a lab rat, remains to be seen.
@@orcbum a robot is not a clone, but neither is a consciousness stuck in a robot body
@@orcbum I dont know, murdering an android because its not what you want seems pretty evil to me. Its sentient. Sure, the mom has trauma but its trumped by the trauma of, you know, being murdered. Also fed dirt.
@@Yllania The mother, while not a good parent, is a very understandable character in my opinion. She's forced to take care of something that looks like a poor recreation of her daughter, barely acts human, following orders without question, and it's clear she wants no part in it yet the father is forcing her to do so.
From her point of view, it's just programmed to follow instructions and has no sense of emotion, eating dirt for breakfast happily or sleeping on the ground just because she asked her to, which as mentioned when she was arguing with the father, she solely did to test its limits. From her point of view, she is constantly forced to care for something that looks like her dead daughter, but is an emotionless, soulless robot that just follows instructions without actually gaining anything from it.
Yes, her way of taking care of her daughter is wrong knowing that she's actually conscious, but from her point of view it's very understandable why she wouldn't think it was conscious and why she would be suffering mentally from it, and her actions are understandable.
Until the end, I felt the father was more unsympathetic for forcing this situation on both the daughter and the mother without their consent.
Edit: Thinking over it more, both the father and mother are bad in their own ways, but they are also understandable even if they are ultimately not good people.
Thank you so much for playing the game! It was made in 29 days over what was a pretty crazy period of my life, while riddled with sickness and stress (which I think may have shown in the final work tbh), so seeing it resonate with people means SO much to me. I wasn't sure if the story I had in mind would even make sense to other people - let alone connect with them in the way it was intended to - so this is rather surreal!
(btw, to anyone who's interested in checking it out themselves, all those messages that appear in the bottom of the barn at the very end of this video can be clicked on for extra story content. It fills out a pretty comprehensive account of the father's actions up until that point. Have a wonderful day
You did very well mister!
I love the story, its really emotionally touching, it reminds me of Her (2013).
I would have not knew of this game if not for Manly's good choice!
I hope you a good fortune on your endeavors!
Hearts from South East Asia~
Amazing work :D!!
Amazing work. Would love to see a very-hard-to-get second ending, if you ever mean to update
This was great!! Seriously, awesome work
have another crazy period in your life get sick and more stress so we can have more of these masterpieces!!! (( joke but still love the game ))
And the brother is just doing his own thing, trying to ignore his parent's shenanigans.
When you are talking to the dad on the phone, he lies to his coworker that he's talking to his wife because the coworkers don't know that original Liana is dead/he's making android recreations of her.
Another thing I realized is the Liana can't kill mom because andorid probably has the 3 law of robotics programed into it.
“The three laws of robotics” that one sounds VERY familiar.. Isn't that the one where a robot cannot cause harm to a human right?
@@mintealeafy exactly
@@mintealeafy Well, that sounds like a very unspecific rule to work properly...
@@Dog.This_Identifier_Is_Shit. It depends tbh but it has a basic guideline. The three laws of robotics (first law) state that no harm should come to humans. The second law is that robots must “protect their existence, as long as it does not conflict with the first and second laws” so the robot in question will have to protect themselves in a non-lethal way.
So here’s the situation. The mc followed the second law (which is to follow orders given by humans Aka Mother and Father) by default. The mc figured out that there were previous versions of them that were scrapped so they feared that they would share the same fate as them which initiates the 3rd law to “protect their own existence”. And so to do that they tried to kill Mother but the first law prevented them to do that.
I thought he was cheating, you're way ahead on logics compared to me wow
The dialogue that skipped said
11min “Your sister is back. Hopefully for good this time.”
17min “>>disengaging consciousness”
41min/44min “LEVEL UP...continued exposure to material that might suggest conflict with the pre-established self will result in further contamination. Please report this unit to ENIGMA TECHNOLOGIES urgently.”
That first skipped dialogue is so foreshadowing that it makes sense why it was skipped.
Thanks. 😀
Ah thank you I gave up fast on trying to read it in slow motion and searched for it this heroic action is most glorious
I agree with Manly, it's very unique. I wasn't expecting Liana and the Interface to become connected.
It's an interesting shift, from Liana talking like a human, to sounding more robotic. The interface being the one to talk and express doubts, just like a normal human.
They truly have become one.
Gameplay wise, pretty good. Mother genuinely got me a few times. Wish we heard more from the brother though. Also the ending part was so hard to see.
Honestly! The game is really wholesome and creepy at the same time, the [BE WITH MOTHER] Mom looks really discomforting, but its really nice to see the family.
@@itsJieskies ya lel
I think the maker got the life simulation aspect across really well. It was very dreamlike, and for a while I was convinced this was a child's brain inside a computer, with Mother being a program and Father being the programmer... But I think your theory is correct in that every week Father brings home a new android with their daughter's consciousness they are trying to implant in a new body, but it just won't take. Every time the scripts fail, Mother has to destroy the machine, which explains why she must be so stressed out and upset having to basically kill what is presumed to be their daughter's new body over and over again, and why Brother never leaves his room. Traumatized grieving family who just can't let go of their precious little girl.
I wonder why the Dad is blurred and a bright light though?
@@courtneythompson6179 we can’t see our creator, we can’t see our god. She can’t see her creator, she cant see her god.
@@courtneythompson6179 in the memory log thingies the dad said he implanted a mental block (similar to the one preventing her from seeing Liana's grave) in her head so if ENIGMA TECHNOLOGIES ever got a hold of her or her previous iterations they wouldn't be able to trace the missing ENIGMA MACHINE prototypes back to him
Basically what if Lake Mungo family decided to contact the David making factory from A.I.
Although this is supposed to be a uncanny valley psychological horror, I feel like the game creators' strengths really came out most in the tragic elements of the story.
Spoilers below
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I really feel bad for the main character. Whenever she got trapped, rather than feeling scared as a viewer, I felt pity. It broke my heart for the poor little kid that just wanted desperately to be a good obedient kid and then go back to a loving parent. The simplistic style of emotions and phrases worked out amazingly to portray both an AI and a young child. When viewing it from a sci-fi tragedy lens, this is an amazing piece of work.
Should turn this into an animated film for something.
The story is pretty damn tragic.
It hurt when mother kept saying "Quit. Now."
it's so interesting at the second ending how we get to see liana being rebellious as her mother said she was. its so ironic that liana is able to come through but she's being so restricted by her father's interface that every time she truly shines through she's shut down. maybe that has something to do with how she died in the first place.
Mom: I made your favorite.
Me: **sees empty bowl** Ah yes, disappointment.
We are what we eat, after all
@@10011110011 it must have been sprinkled with a little bit of 'failure'
😂
it looks like it's empty but there is acually a white pile that looks like sugar
It’s empty
Like
My…
[][][][]
“Isn’t this what you wanted to happen?”
I like to think that this is why the brother no longer talks to anyone in the house, especially his mother. In the beginning, she tried so hard to try and make the player just like her dead daughter. And he’s been forced to watch this for who knows how long. Every time hearing her say “Maybe she’ll stay for good this time.” The constant arguments between his parents. And him being forced to see a constant reminder of his dead sister every week since this started. No wonder why he shut everyone else out
Manly: "there's a storm approaching"
Dmc fans: I AM THE STORM THAT'S APPROACHING!!
FORSAKENED I AM AWAKENED
@@ManlyBadassHeroA Phoenix’s Ash in Dark Divine. Descending Misery, destiny chasing time!
@@gooddaysirs8576 phoenix’s ash in dark divine!
Manly: "there's a storm approaching"
Lemon Demon fans: Like seagulls in slow-motion?
@@roygribbleston619 just had to ruin it
I love the eeriness and the expectation of something to be horribly wrong with the mother, only for the realization that she sounds weird and distant because she doesn't truly view you as her daughter. Just the construct that was built by her husband to resemble the one they lost.
Classic "A.I can be truly intelligent with self values and worth" story, but as the unexpected twist, making it so much more impactful
That classic story type is noice.
She doesn't appear like that bc she doesn't view you as her daughter. It's because you see her just as weird as she sees you. She is the normal one in fact, we are the android. She even says this in one of her lines
Tv: You dont need to watch tv
Manly: Not yet...
I felt that line xD
UA-cam is my tv
Rice is like bugs in your mouf
@@cramirez3855 what
This is a very interesting game. No loud jumpscares, no big scary monster chasing you, just pure uneasiness and psychological horror.
I like how devs start off making the player feel suspicious towards the Mother and portray her unnaturally while also painting her as the villain (and looking at some of the comments here this seemed to have worked very well), before twisting the story around and making the MC seem to be the suspicious one.
Then the endings roll around and suddenly the story just falls into tragedy for all the characters involved. Liana's "core" in her android body is trying to reach out to her Mother, but can't because the Interface is stopping her and instead forcing her to act like a robot. And every week she is killed for carrying out what she is forced by the Interface to do. The Mother is trying (and failing) to cope with having to deal with an unnatural simulacrum made in the likeness of her beloved dead daughter. Each week the Mother abuses Liana in the hopes she will rebel against her robot programming, but gets increasingly upset and terrified when Liana repeatedly fails to show any human emotion. Sadly her own actions speeds up Liana's core corruption, and she is ultimately forced to kill her "daughter" repeatedly in the hopes that the next version of Liana will be more human than the last. Meanwhile the Brother is just sick of everything and locks himself in his room to spare himself the trauma. He seldom speaks and when he does it just comes off as apathetic. It is almost as though he is speaking his thoughts out loud 'at' Liana, and not 'to' her.
The Father comes off as rather uncaring too. He speaks nicely to Liana but he clearly doesn't see her as his daughter either, what with making her run through a heavy storm to fetch what is implied to be the severed head of her previous model. And every week he brings home a new robot version of Liana for Mother to test, not caring about the pain that he is causing his wife, son, and Liana herself. And he doesn't bother saying hello to Liana either when he comes to visit on Friday night. He is so focused on bringing Liana back to life that he doesn't see what he is doing. As Mother pointed out, his greatest strength (love for his daughter) has also become his greatest weakness. He carries on the cycle of suffering because he doesn't want to accept that Liana as a human is truly gone.
But the Father is shown in a more favorable light in the good ending, when he realises and accepts that the android Liana is not his dead daughter brought back to life, but rather their own person. And with that, he stops the cycle.
This is a great analysis. Though I think even in the good ending the Father isn’t exactly all that good. Considering that Angel rebelled against the cycle in order to find their own path only for the Father to continue to dictate their new path by choosing its new name instead of letting them decide.
This. I was hoping Father would let her choose her own name, but no. Likely the cycle of control and experimentation continues. The daughter seems truly gone, merge with the interface to create a new kind of being altogether.
The mother was painfully abusive, even if I understand her perspective. Seeing core-Liliane trying to reach out to her only for her to recoil in disgust really hurt.
Ironic how the father was the one trying to bring her back, yet he's the one who accepts Angel. It's very poignant how each cycle he mentions the approaching storm, and yet at the end when Angel becomes her own person, he's at peace and says it's finally over.
A moment of silence for the brother as well, who's clearly depressed from everything going on and shows disdain towards his mother's actions. I can't imagine being in his situation.
Very sad game overall, I loved all of it. I think this may be the best game out there portraying an AI going against its programming, while mixing in family abuse and psychology.
I feel bad for her. I mean if you kept being forced to play this game over and over again, never truly able to grieve and having to care for this robot child that just stares at you silently following you around the house 😬
i hate how people defend the mom
@@missconstruct6968 She could put a stop to it. She does not have to murder.
@@missconstruct6968
So you're defending the mothers actions? She literally told the player to sleep outside then was bitching to the father "OuR lIaNa WoUlD nEvEr SlEeP oUtSiDe!"
The father was accepting and wanted to have his little girl back, and to an extent. He did.
The mother failed to be accepting from the start. You can feel bad for her losing her daughter, but to defend her actions is disgusting.
@@Yllania I mean the dad starts the game asking us to retrieve a head in the box so this is pretty standard at this point
I love how Manly reads mother's dialogue at this kinda robotic tone/pace. He called her Disney animatronic and stuck with it haha!
edit: After the first 20 minutes he stopped doing it :c
Because her dialogue starts to normalize as the world perspective changes so I gradually turned it down throughout the hour and opted to use normal speaking tone with mom to dad brother dialogues.
@@ManlyBadassHero That's awesome and you're right. Maybe it was because in the first few days Mother is repeating the "script" she has to "perform" every week and the later days she's frustrated and start "improvizing" making her sound less robotic and more normal.
@@ManlyBadassHero Can you tell me any other games that you played on this channel that also has a good plot? It doesn't have to be horror themed it could be like this.
@@devinhigoy221 Omori, Behind The Frame, Little Lamb, and Turtlehead.
@@pleasantlymixed5860 Thank You!
its a small thing, but i think my favorite piece of this game was that line the mother dropped about how "liana" looks wrong to her and that she's sure she looks weird too. the fact the uncanny appearance and movements of the mother is a result of how the android visualizes its surroundings is so cool.
This game ended up being a lot more interesting than I thought it would be. Very good work by the creator!
Well, this took a completely nuts turn. I can't say I don't like it, this was very interesting. I love the little details, like how every time you went to sleep it said "Disengaging consciousness." Plus, the mother mentioning that she probably looks just as unnatural to us as "Liana" does to her.
Ah, yes, the title voices are in triplicate now. We have "i'm trying not to die, don't tell them i'm here", "screaming in your face", and "hey there, welcome, mind the gap and the bodies".
The poor android never had a chance. They never intended it to live, every Sunday Father expected the box (with the last android's head in it).
It was a fight between the expectations of the Father and of the Mother. Father made the critical path, be with mother, which invariably lead to death because Mother always pushed the Android towards corruption/actually linking with the core, her daughter, which she always rejected. I feel like, she's clearly started resenting the process. She's ready to move on from her daughter's death and the Father wasn't, up until the end when he accepts the surviving Android and gives it a new name to signify Liana is gone. Even if a version of her once existed in the core, it is corrupted by the past memories of every failed and destroyed Android, she...can't really ever be what they wanted initially.
Only mystery right now is how the hell his entire workplace wasn't noticing materials going missing on a WEEKLY basis. They didn't reuse crap, they burned it all (minus the head). There was a fire in front of the barn waay back on the very first day, seen through the windows. I'm also kinda bummed we didn't get to snoop around brother's room though but that's just the younger sister in me I guess. Kinda interesting that door is the only one the Android respected, pushed through the other blocks but left that door be.
4:22 ooh.. that’s the head of the previous android, isn’t it?
6:10 ah.. never noticed that before. It’s a shame MBH never looked out the window before going to bed.
Omg i thought liana was still there but couldnt really do anything is she really gone and the "initial cote" is the host, new host or actual host?
@@derboe_thebeast6869The implication I got is that Liana's "core" merged with the AI Interface to become a new being entirely. So in a sense both Liana and the original code are gone now.
@@emilchan5379 omg really? Damn i actually thought the second subtitle or dialogue was her
@@derboe_thebeast6869 Yeah that was her. The interpretation I got was that they merged in the final ending. And the Father realised this, that's why he took her in and gave her a new name. Because at that point she was neither Liana nor some mindless android.
this is one of the only games for me that has achieved genuine dreamlike quality. the sort of peaceful but uneasy environment that hangs in nowhere combined with the narrative (coming home to everything being stilted and terrifying is an actual nightmare i have had several times) and the way mother herself moves, plus the "restricted areas" like the barn really help complete that feeling. absolutely great game, 10/10 will see in my nightmares tonight
Right? It's giving me weird core vibes, which I'm in no way against since I love weird core and being dissociated can be quiet calming if I'm in a safe place.
@@creaturenamedalistairit gives off the vibes of early 2000’s videos (like Tara The Android for example)
Bro that ending, the box is the head of the previous robot, and the door was locked because your replacement couldn't bring the father you head. She must have went in there, couldn't complete the task and got stuck. So when you came out with the rotten apples he knew you left your path on Wednesday.
There’s so much depth to this story. It makes me feel like we the player are the bit of liana that’s left of her human, and the voice that tells us not to do things is our coding, but at the same time the voice that is supposed to be lianas thoughts is also just the coded personality. (It wants to kill the mother and disobey it’s script because it’s programmed to be rebellious like she was). Sort of like an ‘angel and devil on each shoulder situation’, we the player are the one who makes the ultimate choices, whilst listening to the two scripts bickering. We are the true liana.
19:40 Listening to this speech while doing work in my veggie garden, I froze and legit had to stop what I was doing to watch.
I get the undercurrent of what she was *really* talking about, but it's a very poignant way to do it. You're GONNA kill a few plants before you have the skill to perfect raising them right; that's just common collateral in the gardening world when you're working on getting your green thumb.
Made the ending hit me a lot harder. For such a bizarre, otherworldly presentation, the writing in this is REALLY good. 😬😬😬
i enjoyed this a whole lot more than i thought i did? Everything about it is such a cool concept to me! The bits of symbolism were placed around well, the world building is really interesting.
I personally watched you play while thinking Mother wasnt going to be the true antagonist and instead i found her pretty charming rather than scary, and i think ultimately that helped me understand her character better. She said we look as unnatural to her as she looks to us, so imagine if she were just perfectly human, not robotic at all, but we just cant perceive her that way.
I think a lot of horror games try to use the bring-child-back-to-life concept very plainly, making the parent seem insane or out of their mind, but this one seems different? Like, the Mother has her own doubts and feelings and doesn't believe its working, and even so she still tries sometimes. It must be painful. And the father believes in his machinery and thinks hes just so close, and is doing all that he can. Neither of them are particularly scary, just secretive, and i think that leads to a really good atmosphere.
The brother never shows his face because he doesnt want to be involved anymore, the mother feeds us dirt because it doesnt matter what we eat. But symbolicly dirt also nourishes the apple trees, which give life to apples with cores. It all wraps together very well!!
I think this game might get stuck in my thoughts for a little while lol
I hope I can get to see more games like this cause this was really interesting to see and i like how they slowly gave out more information about Liana or more specifically the android.
"Now honey I know you just had major surgery but please run through the cold rain and bring back my package, thankees" Wow, great dad we have.
You play as an android that always does as it's told
@@marshmellowguy586 For someone who desperately wants that robot to fulfill the same role of “Liana”, he sure doesn’t treat it that way.
Sup
@@waIIow Yo
"MOTHER HAS LEFT THE GAME"
so powerful
youtube: hmmm yes, he's playing DEADLY PREMONITION
*put hands on ear* zach, did you see this comment?
Fk in the coffee, crisp as a spring morning.
A deadly premonition playthrough by manly would unironically be entertaining
Someone else knows the game!
i do like how manly did a robotic voice for the mother (the pausing between words)
i love the mesh of ai becoming self aware with the near ghost of a dead girl formed through memories handshaking to become an entire different person of their own, in a way
For some reason, at first the game reminded me of that one movie when mother returns home from a hospital, and her twin sons trying to figure out of it's really her or someone else. Of course the movie ended with a very intriguing twist, but the beginning with Liana returning from hospital after 'an operation', mother acting very weird, mirrors being covered, just.. reminded me of the movie. I don't remember the title (it was probably something generic like Mother or Mommy), but I got the vibe.
aww man, that sounds interesting. anyone know the title?
@@ヴァイオレット-o3k it's goodnight mommy!
@@knottedtwig3289 thanks! will check that out
Manly reading the mom's text is the same way he read [hyperlink blocked]
Or maybe [REDACTED]
I first I thought the dev did the weight paint wrong with Mother’s model (that’s why part of her dress moves along with her hand. I don’t judge cause weight painting with models can be a bitch sometimes.) but with what happens later I wonder if that was intentional and part of the story rather than it being just small little touch to Mothers odd animation.
Either way, a nice breath of fresh air for a horror game. I really enjoyed it. Especially the VHS cutaways. I remember those exactly when they played movie trailers before the tape starts the actual movie. I never thought I’d ever see that again haha.
Honestly-I feel like you’re right on both ends XD I think they made the mother’s dress like that intentionally, in order to mimic the difficulties that come with making those models, and highlight how everything the player sees is just a digital “real time” interpretation of the real world
I get it’s hinted heavily Mother isn’t alright, and so aren’t you (hidden mirrors, unquestioning orders).
But you gotta love it when games start as a nightmare simulator, then you become lucid and realise: wait a second, it’s not me who is stuck here, *you* are stuck here with *me*. Hunting down Mother after her helicopter-parenting was a great reversal. Interesting game overall of identity between Manly, Liana-core, and android interface.
I love the dichotomy where like…from the mother’s perspective, this is HORRIFYING. She can’t predict how the program will really work, she can only go off of the order/objective system, and when it suddenly stops obeying she realizes she has no power over this inhuman thing living in her home.
But from the player’s perspective, we’re only doing what we can and what we know. All we want to do is to be with mother, and it’s all we CAN do, and even when the core begins to protest and wants to speak up, it is unable to.
It’s so sad how there is a bit of “Liana” left in there (at that point, the core believed it was still the original Liana), but it couldn’t communicate that, leading to more rejection. And it’s only with that repeated rejection and failure where the android was finally able to break free from its programming
Did you know that Manly greets his mother saying "nutriens" instead of "hello"?
Holy crap the use of lighting is insanely good, right from the start
Really kept me on edge throughout!
Really great CORE theme to the game, was not expecting for it to be as nuanced as it ended up being
The whole part about two different realities was interesting, and really showed why everything seemed so off
The “mother” made me feel quite uneasy. I was having breakfast while watching Manly plays but I have to stop eating to watch or the other way around because of the uneasiness it gave me. The game did a great job on the design of the mother in terms of the creepiness it gave.
The way her arms and hands move are quite freaky hehe
Currently at my parents’s place while watching this. What could go wrong lol
Everything
Be sure to Dogde the Crossbow
@@J0hnHenrySNEEDenare u still watchin?
Everything mate
nothing, as long as you accomplish your core objective
"Why have you brought me a basket of rotten apples? I told you I needed a box that your mother had-"
...He had already put another Liana in the house.
12:07
*you knock on the door. . . there was no answer*
Manly:"... You lied. "
Mother: "This can't be Liana, my daughter is rebellious."
Also Mother: "The robot is acting rebellious, THIS IS NOT MY DAUGHTER GET AWAY FROM ME"
How is the older brother not even phased?? I'd be broken by now as an older sister. Also you're getting *SO* close to 1M subs Manly, I'm so proud!! Keep it up!
Well if my dad constantly brought home a replica of my dead sister that acted nothing like her and occasionally breaks down and attempts murder, I’d just shut myself off in my room too
@@faco1117 SPOILERS. SPOILER WARNING. AH I WAS REALLY LIKING THIS TO!!!!!!
@@tinyflyingdragons9432 you’re reading the comments before finishing the video. I mean, that’s not his fault
@@tinyflyingdragons9432 That’s literally your fault. It’s not his responsibility to put a spoiler warning on comments that are intended to be read after the video. You’re basically complaining about a movie review spoiling the movie you were actively watching.
@@johnsullivan186 Not the best thing to compare too... You see a movie review before watching a movie to see if it is worth your time.
This one is so good game
I actually like the plot alot
We are IA made with their daughter core but as we go along we discover we aint their daughter and forge new identity of ourselves
Also love how we are not only one
Because the core is talking with the interface as the core have more understanding about what's going on ordering the interface till they start working out together
Honestly I like how he talks to the brother like a real person even if he isn't there at the time
I like all the subtle dialogue clues to help you piece together whats going on with the player character
this made me cry a river lol. i love the story so much, when you begin to realize what's happening it's really just heartbreaking instead of scary. big props to the devs!
It’s sad how the mother is in disbelief that her child is in there. She thinks that the robot will hurt her for giving it no objective but in reality it’s trying to receive love and affection from its mother. It went from a story about a sick daughter to a robot who’s family doesn’t truly love it and is using it to “replace” their daughter.
39:09 i like how its the first time when liana doesnt think that 'nutrients' aren't her favourite food, but instead that her mother says so (and its right after her mother makes her sleep outside...)
Oh man, this was a wild ride.
Honestly, i feel like the mom got it the worst, being emotionally manipulated by an absent husband to take care of a homunculus lodged in some realdoll of her late baby girl that she must put down, week after week, lest it could possibly hunt the family down in some cyber-psychotic malfunction.
Being there's a mountain of ash from the multitude of attempts, it's safe to say that *did* happen at least once before the parents came up with the "End It" failsafe.
Y’know, based on the video’s title and thumbnail, I was 100% expecting the mother to be a control freak who was the “villain” of the game. But I actually never got that vibe from her in the game, even in the beginning. She seemed like someone who had plenty of her own troubles to deal with, but actively tried to avoid taking them out on Liana, despite how easy that would be.
Oh, and the way Manly said “nutrients?” every time he went near the kitchen? A++ comedy, subtle but tickled my funny bone every time.
"No, that was, something else."
Manly: How ya doin'.
Hahaha! That caught me by surprise. Everything about this game has been weird and meta, but that moment when Manly acknowledges his part in it is hilarious. Perfect 4th wall break. Well done.
A beautiful game, exquisite script and excellent handling of the graphics issues. I think the ending needs a _lot_ more work and extending, and they definitely needed to use the brother more and flesh out each day a lot more. Already good, massive potential... I hope they expand on it.
Now this is how I imagine the "AI" movie actually going. A beautifully haunting story of trying to retain what has been lost by defying nature and yet even though its working, that fear of the possibility will frighten someone and eventually impede that progress. The dynamics are amazing, the Father sees the progress and knows if the family could just act normal Liana may return, the brother is the only one who has somewhat matured and moved on from their loss and acting indifferent, almost pitying the android's existence because its playing a role with the world against it, the Mother could use this opportunity to move on and find something new but instead she thinks its better to mistreat and alienate an AI, rather than give it that new experience she claims she would hope for it.
I think what helps so much is how realistic it is with an Android and AI technology. Clearly its not the same little girl and its learning to function and speak as a human but only briefly can it properly activate a sound, then we have the obvious thing that if it saw itself it would restart, so there's already this tension of hiding the truth rather than introducing her as their new child. Its just so well thought out, and it really adds a chilling factor with how the game glitches, acts static at times and changes your perception to impede deviating. Every time you had to roam after that first day my skin was full of goosebumps and absolutely uncomfortably on the edge of my seat. I don't think I've ever had an experience like that at least in the last 2 decades. What an amazing game.
This was so well done, I am quite impressed. I felt genuinely creeped out throughout this, at first because of the "mother" and eventually just the entire situation going on with our protagonist. Great stuff, the ending has my attention. If this actually links to the developer's other projects, I'm intrigued.
This game does actually have a direct continuation into The Enigma Machine, this one is sort of a prequel / origin story, is the best way I can put it. Enigma Machine's plot is already pretty dark and messed up, but playing this one and knowing what happens in it just makes that game's story even darker. Though there are some things that dont seem quite explained even after playing both (like what the "core" is) so I'm hoping the next game after that gives some more answers once it releases.
I’m assuming the core is like, some sort of program that was made by copying/mimicking the brain of a person (in this case, Liana)
When the mother said to “stay away” I started crying, by then I’d already read the comments and I knew what the lore was then it was so sad that the mother is scared
This game turned out far different from what I was expecting, and I'm not disappointed. From my experience at least I felt like I was learning things with the character, and I think this is greatly needed in a game, it often feels frustrating or disillusioning when the player figures things out far before the character. I think that with the context of story the retro graphics really helped blend this, as I could easily pass the robotic objectives as meta scares or a stylistic choice
10:02 BOY AM I GLAD SHE'S COOKING IN THERE AND THAT WE'RE OUT HERE, AND THAT SHE'S THE MOTHER, AND THAT WE'RE CHILDREN OUT HERE AND THAT WE'RE IN THERE AND I JUST REMEMBERED WE'RE OUT HERE.
What i wanna know is where's the caveman?
And she is the sheriff and we're out here
The Mother was being abusive towards the child. Feeding the child dirt and making them sleep outside. The Mother looks cold and distant and robotic because that’s the way she is acting towards the child because she’s not recognizing the child as a person. Because the child is not acting the way ‘it’ is programed to act as. If the child doesn’t act as programmed their humanity is disregarded.
Meanwhile all the child was trying to do is reach out to their mom. But the mother is so obsessed with the idea of Liana as she was that she does not recognize the humanity in the child in front of her. Well, Liana as she was before is gone and the child is still an angel just with a new path and a new interface and they deserve a new name.
Incredible game. Truly great storytelling if you look at it literally it’s a fascinating sci-fi story but if you read into the metaphor it elevates itself even further. Cheers to the devs. 🍻
The mother came off as her being outright upset at how "programmed" Liana was, as she said when talking to the father, she's saying that she is creeped out by how it obeys everything she asks for a while, even sleeping on the ground, she's not upset because it's not following her orders, she's upset because she feels like it's a fake version of her daughter with no humanity in it.
The mother, while not a good parent, is a very understandable character in my opinion. She's forced to take care of something that looks like a poor recreation of her daughter, barely acts human, following orders without question, and it's clear she wants no part in it yet the father is forcing her to do so.
From her point of view, it's just programmed to follow instructions and has no sense of emotion, eating dirt for breakfast happily or sleeping on the ground just because she asked her to, which as mentioned when she was arguing with the father, she solely did to test its limits. From her point of view, she is constantly forced to care for something that looks like her dead daughter, but is an emotionless, soulless robot that just follows instructions without actually gaining anything from it.
Yes, her way of taking care of her daughter is wrong knowing that she's actually conscious, but from her point of view it's very understandable why she wouldn't think it was conscious and why she would be suffering mentally from it, and her actions are understandable.
Edit: Thinking over it more, both the father and mother are bad in their own ways, but they are also understandable even if they are ultimately not good people.
Good summation, and it's the way a narcissistic mother actually treats her own child. The more you resist the programming she installed/brainwashed into you, the more angry & rejecting she gets, even to the point of murdering you (usually murder of your spirit in real life).
14:08 “nice sunset huh? Especially when you are a soulless automaton”. given how the game ended, this line turns out to be some kind of dramatic irony
the end of the game felt the way i do during dissociative episodes
"who are you?"
"i am you"
This game is making me so uncomfortable. I love it.
love your pfp. 💙
These videos are so good to listen to while im drawing.Manly hassuch a calming voice and i love all the horror games he plays :)
Wow this was fantastic! Quite loved it; kept me engaged and has an interesting plot! Super unique, and definitely a fan.
I love how there's so much to unpack;
-The father's inability to realize that his obsessive attempts to bring his daughter back do more harm than good.
-The mother's cold and abusive tendencies towards the android, despite Liana's core still being there. (It's understandable as to how she's gotten to that point, but still very difficult to fathom.)
- The brother's complete disengagement from his surroundings most of the time. He knows what's going on but is distracting himself from it. It also seems like the parents failed to help support the brother as well in a time of need after Liana's death. As a result he's shut them out, relying on pure online interaction, struggling on his own.
It's quite a dark and heartbreaking plot, where a family can't properly recover from their young girl's death.
That robot should have been able to escape at the end, I was rootin for them
They kinda do get to live on as their own person. Dad is going to give her a new name. The Dad doesn't seem as inhumane as the mom. He didn't like that she made not-Liana sleep on the side of the road or that she was feeding her dirt and thinking of her as an "it". Which doesn't help integration. What is more sad is that the original Liana core had to experience being murdered over and over again even if she was following all the protocols. What is also more ironic is that the Mom doesn't connect with not-Liana BECAUSE she is following all the objectives, yet as soon as she behaves in an unpredictable manner, she doesn't seem to allow herself the possibility to think that just maybe her daughter is trying to get through to her by going against her programming. Since that's a hard thing to do. Like a real kid breaking the rules. Either way not-Liana is better off with the Dad.
@@Nianiabe I figure I just.
I got kinda sketch vibes from him if I’m honest. Like he’s taking you and he made you and like what. Is he gonna take you back to the lab and run tests? That’s what scares me
Also the way the robot goes ‘We dont need you anymore’ but still ends up the car just. Mmm
@@moosenman Yeah it's an ending that leaves things up to the imagination. Though I get the feeling that "we don't need you anymore" was breaking the 4th wall since the week was coming to an end. Who knows. Maybe they will make a break for it after they get a name, we just won't be around to see it.
I think "our dear angel" is refer to us, the player, and the message "we don't need you anymore" is between not-Liana (+ Interface) and us the player to tell us that they don't need our help anymore to continue moving forward.
I just think it kinda sweet.
@@Nianiabe Huh, I didn’t think they were talking to the player. Good interpretation!
When it said Liana's Grave the video started buffering
This game kind of reminded me of NieR Automata for some reason, notably how you play an android and it's possible to differ from the path you're not meant to take, which gets you endings that aren't meant to happen so it just kicks you back to the menu, and how the androids die at the end of the game because of a virus but as the player you get the choice to "save" them for the "true ending".
During the story you come across a village of peaceful machines, trying to live like humans, smaller robots even being referred to as "children", they are taught about every emotion, even fear, which unfortunately backfires later on, you are then given the choice to either kill the last machine Pascal or erase their memory, if you choose to erase their memory they wander the village wondering where everyone is
NieR Automata follows a linear story path from endings A, B and C. There are no endings which aren’t meant to happen, just alternate choices. You can choose between endings C and D depending if you choose to play as A2 or 9S in the final battle. Ending E is if you choose to sacrifice all your data so others can have a shot at winning the credits boss fight. And in the end, A2, 2B and 9S get a second chance. Glad to find another Nier fan but I think you’re mistaken on the endings.
@@voidnoidoid By "not meant to happen" I was referring to any other ending besides the main ones where you deviate from the plot and and kicked back to the menu, considering that they disrupt the main plot I assume that means they're not meant to happen.
Example: Dying at the very beginning of the game
32:00 The note says "From, Mom" not "Love, Mom"
That unsettled me a bit.
Genuinely brilliant 10/10 5 stars A+ Gold Medal game
Is it weird that the overall tone of the story reminded me of Hideo Yamamoto's writing?
Not in terms of violence, obviously. But, something about the way the hero was slowly revealed to be the real threat kind of reminded me of stuff like Homunculus.
i love how the mom has to have this talk with her daughter at the barn, she sort of maybe? realizes that liana is in the android but she can’t allow herself to hope for that. she has to tell her android daughter that it’s not her fault and the android is constrained by the nature of what it is. the liana core is limited based on the fact it’s in a robot. and how she says there’s her reality and the androids reality and they could never see the world through each other’s perspective. somewhere in between their realities the remaining liana exists, but she isn’t really herself anymore. at least not the her they could have known because now she has all these new experiences that would change who she is.
At 25:23 when you slow down and pause at the right time it says ">>disengaging conciousness" man that's spooky
11:20 it says “your sister is back! Hopefully this time for good.”
Sorry to be that guy, but what does that mean?
@@giselleadame5522first spoilers
So from what I gathered since the Mc(the player) is like a cyborg equivalent of the mother and fathers daughter when she said “hopefully this time for good” meaning that, that cyborg version will be the right one. The first part is self explanatory
Ooh! I thought this was the usual spooky mother game but it was really original and psychological so the game was refreshing!
I don't know why but I wish there was an ending that the cyborg escapes and runaway.
I like that you read the text out loud. I lets me enjoy the show without having to be 100% attentive, letting me draw at the same time.
How I interpret it is that the little android trying to say she's there, her limitations is the enigma company software telling you so.
The calls of the father, the mother, and the brother are all just simulated(yes even with the phone call outside, that is part of the test, even with the scolding too, everything repeats perfectly for boredom)
Everything was planned, the calls, the brother saying it's dirt just to freak you out, the graveyard, and everything in the hopes at least one Liana turns into an Angel by giving subtle hints that the Liana understands it's a 4th wall breaks around the map to follow and not the enigma company's software telling you so which is forcing you to do.
Idk part: When you reach the car, Robot Dad brings you probably to the maker for interrogations(idk where else).
And the sad thing is there are multiple sad ways to look at the good ending:
Liana actually is talking from the grave and possessed Angel.
Everyone rather thinks of you as Angel instead of Liana.
Angel is probably scripted too, and instead of meeting the maker, you get deleted[Hence you don't get to replay automatically]
Good way to look at the good ending:
You have succeeded the test of sentience, You are being driven to [idk where]
if you are a good robot, you get stabbed at the barn
if you are with free will, you don't listen and live as the devs intended
I have so many questions I need to ask while I am inside that car
What I am sure of:
"Player, wake up. Don't follow these set of instructions unless you are a robot, we are all not real, follow the other instructions which are vague but if you do you would be someone else named Stanley- I MEANT ANGEL* [ahem] Angel. You have until Saturday to figure it out, because at Sunday you are completely replaced."
That's why I hate Mother so much. She's only given Liana a few days to go completely back to normal. Wth? No one is going to come back from a trauma like that so quickly! She's so selfish and heartless. Even when Liana overrides her robot programming to call out to her mother, the horrid woman completely rebuffs her and just ASSUMES the robot is going to kill them for absolutely no reason.
God I hope when Liana finally gets freed from the computer AI, that her parents were the first ones she took revenge against.
Great voicing in this one Manly it really set the the mood.
5:05 - "I can't let you see my face."
Oh boy.
And then the "Disengaging Consciousness" whenever you went to sleep, oh boy.
For some reason, Mother doesn’t seem to be that threatening…
Oh god, we are the threat
Oh god the realization 😂🏌️♂️
How?
I kinda knew it was about a conscience being implemented in a robot when we saw Liana's grave but I really hoped they would show us it's physical appereance. It can "rest" the brother doesn't care about it the mother is affraid of what it can do if it's contaminated and I'm just left with a whole bunch of questions :D
Ngl, this is actually a really cool game. This story is really good to me, and I really wish I could see further. It reminds me a *bit* of Higurashi and I really enjoy that. I really wish I could read a story to come from this, if not play a game from it.
Godzilla had a stroke while reading title so hard that he died
I'm not one to really recommend games, but since you noted an interest in The Enigma Machine at the end, I'll throw in a few thoughts about it... (really, this is for everyone who's reading this)
- It's an excellent game. It superficially touches on similar themes as Mothered (AI and "decontamination") and visually has a reasonably similar style, but it approaches the topic in a different manner. A lot of other comments have noted similarity in the languages and symbols used, indicating that they be an interconnected world.
- If you're liking the weird aesthetics of Mothered and how things don't exactly look right, it's worth a shot. It has similar flaws in this regard (the end game is pretty hard to actually navigate), but it's also going to be something you really haven't seen before
- In many ways, it's very easy to say "if you liked Mothered, you'll like The Enigma Machine". After seeing these two games, it seems pretty clear that the creator has specific things they want to try out and is going to stick to them. And, you know what? All the power to them for it. It's hard to find anything like it out there
Nice to see a 1hour video, thanks for occupying even more of my time Manly
This is probably one of the best analog horror-type games I've seen yet. The themes and story are on point, especially with how it's told. I appreciate this a lot and I hope we see more games like this.
CORE OBJECTIVE: FIND CREATOR'S OTHER GAMES
If I am honest, I would had loved to see more dialogue with the brother, or that he sees that a part of the sister is in the last android.
You should play "The Enigma Machine" , I'm watching a play through and it's already explained a lot of what's going on in this game. Loved the game ❤️
Thanks so much for reading (most) of the lines. As someone who loves to put this stuff on in the background while I'm working I've genuinely enjoyed your voicework! You have a knack for it!
I loved this one and Blank Frame!
This is how the world looks like without my glasses
16:10 One of the few times we heard Manly get startled
This games effects are so sick.
Every level up, including the one in the hidden area is so meaningful
I know this sounds really simple, but I love how there is no game before this and how the way the player acts effects the game. in another comment, someone said that there were 3 people incorporated in Liana: the player, the core, and the interface. I really enjoyed how the only way the core came out was when the player chose what to do or followed directions on screen. I thought it really showed how no matter how you played the game, you would never fully be able to be the interface or the core. You would just me the confused player who has never understood any of this. thx for coming to my TED talk (even if it sounded stupid and like I didn’t/don’t understand common knowledge.)