However, the secret ending for the game drops a strong, almost bulletproof hint that he is a mindless zombie, too. [18], A more metafiction interpretation of the game from its alternate ending, and considered the most popular among players,[20] is based on the notion of player agency. This is where the second theory regarding Inside‘s secret ending comes into play – perhaps the boy is actually being controlled by the blob he becomes swallowed by later in the game. You’re likely to stumble on a few of them your first time through (I found three), but walkthroughs might be required to catch ‘em all. To me, this ending is about a choice, and it feels important that this ends your journey only partway through the previously established story. Because you can see, like other scientist inside the lab, these girls is also moving independently and are not “zombie”. [34], Microsoft announced Inside during its E3 2014 press conference. I'd say Inside is one of the best examples of how to use a game to highlight a problem in society. So, if you haven’t played Inside, here’s your last warning to turn back. The Inside Explained The secret ending suggests the boy is being controlled, too. This suggests that the boy hasn’t been fighting towards the end of the game of his own volition, but rather because you have commanded him to do so. The boy pulls the plug from the socket, upon which the character takes the same stance as the zombies, and the game ends moments later.[18]. This would then explain why the boy is so keen to venture into the factory and sacrifice himself in order to rescue the blob, with him unplugging it from the cables holding it in place, before it promptly envelopes him and begins rampaging through the factory. Inside developer Playdead has remained silent, as they did with Limbo, another game with an ambiguous conclusion. I don't have a good grasp of human biology, but I would guess that the dogs and humans each represent different facets of … This is the Walkthrough page for IGNs guide to the game, Inside. We encourage you to read our updated PRIVACY POLICY and COOKIE POLICY. Now this theory is sort of cobbled together based on two parts of the game that most can’t make sense of in any other sense. Procreation. But I can’t make the connection with any of those theories. But others think the boy was being manipulated by “the blob”: We’re unlikely to hear anything definitive from Playdead. Inside already established that these non-humans can controls others of their kind, so why couldn’t that be what’s happening with the blob? [22] Prior to this, the game had been planned for release on non-Microsoft platforms, including the PlayStation 3 and OS X. He even has audible reactions to the events around him, exhibiting shock and fear when confronted by enemies. While running through a forest, he encounters masked guards with flashlights, as well as vehicles with mounted spotlights, and fierce guard dogs. Well…. Inside is the second title from PlayDead, creators of the breakthrough game Limbo. There are some, potentially, crazy people out there who think Inside is all one big metaphor for life’s number one purpose. Well, at least it doesn't tell you who the boy is, what his motivation is, why people are looking for him, why he is heading for the creature (he's not escaping -- he's breaking in), and what the creature is. [47], Inside has a close integration of the game-play and audio, with some puzzles set directly to visual-aural cues. The whole scene is being directed by one of the oppressors, but while he looks on he’s holding the hand of a child, who's watching, and learning. The Huddle, also called the blob or the meatball, is a mass of combined human flesh and organs. Things Ghost of Tsushima Doesn't Tell You. Similarly to Playdead’s last game, Limbo, much of the story of Inside is left up to interpretation of the player, and things are often left intentionally ambiguous. Either version offers isolation and, in a somber way, peace. The secret ending can be revealed by first finding all of the hidden orbs scattered throughout the game, with you then able to return to the cornfield segment near the beginning of your journey, clambering into a hidden vault tucked away beneath the ground. And, to me, it’s ironic that the blob’s only means of escaping the complex is by mind controlling the boy using the same devices the ruling body used to create it, to eventually reach the tank and start the chain of events that led to its escape. I just spent quite a bit of time peicing together an explanat Senior reporter at Kotaku, streaming Mario deaths at youtube.com/patrickklepek. Limbo wasn’t the most straight forward game out there, but he still wishes he left less clues to the game’s real meaning. Inside contains a peculiar Secret Ending for those willing to solve one of the game's hardest puzzles.. Despite them physically controlling the events of the game, they are also being controlled by the game itself by way of being forced to follow the game’s instructions in order to continue their progress. At the end of the game, the quest is finished, the spell is broken and the player is "awake" -- aware, once again that there is a world "outside. Mind control is a feature at the forefront of Inside. [13] Kirk Hamilton of Kotaku called the game an "evolution" on what Playdead has succeeded to do with Limbo. The "blob" reached out and got "inside" his mind to get rescued. Theories about the secret ending are even crazier. As Justin Bieber might ask after playing one of their strange, dreamlike art-romp games. monitoring_string = "f4e9a55d2640cb37b28a2b021fc63f8b"monitoring_string = "d597bbac21cf40e24fffa6cecdf4d8c5 ", Inside’s Ending and Why it Puts Other Video Games to Shame. The use of pigs in early prototyping for mind control seems logical; they’re used in our every day pursuit for scientific advancement. It left me with the question of, “Now what?” – a question I believe the game is asking all of us. Let me preface this by saying that everyone else’s theories will be better/more interesting than mine, and also that I’m almost certainly totally wrong. As in the predecessor game Limbo, these deaths are presented realistically and are often graphic. There is irony in that we control a character who controls others - that we, are the true controller, and the boy finds the innards (inside!) The game was released for iOS in December 2017 and Nintendo Switch in June 2018. Independent gaming studio Playdead Games followed up their critically acclaimed 2010 hit, Limbo, with another atmospheric puzzle-platformer called Inside, which hit store shelves in 2016.Inside is another 2.5D puzzle game, and it … If the boy is an escaped test subject, as has been suggested, then it’s curious as to why he’d want to return to the factory he has escaped from. You can be controlled by the blob and be a part of its escape, or you can choose autonomy and end your story on your own terms. The boy’s ingestion by the blob, and eventual escape from the complex represents literally and figuratively breaking free of these confines. Kind of sounds like my career with commenters at IGN.- Destin Legarie, Editorial Producer. [74], "Inside, Overwatch & Firewatch lead GDC 2017 Choice Awards nominees", "Watch The Game Developers Choice Awards Right Here Tonight", "Inside, upcoming game from Limbo developer Playdead, delayed past 'early 2015, "Stuff's Best Games Ever: The 50 greatest games of all time", "The 100 Greatest Video Games of All Time", "Xbox One Inside is a Superlative Platform Puzzler", "E3 2016: Inside is Super Limbo in the Best Possible Way", "How To Find All Of Inside's Hidden Rooms And The Alternate Ending", "Inside's Ending and Why it Puts Other Video Games to Shame", "Huddle up! This is institutional classicism to the most extreme, enslaved dystopian-nightmare. It’s striking imagery and I can certainly see where some might draw that comparison, but it’s a leap. It was too hard for me to get over the mess of people you end up getting sucked into. It is the successor to Playdead's 2010 game Limbo, and features similar 2.5D game-play. And is the player compelled by his or her own free will to rescue the creature and finish the game? The game reflects this in the regimented march into the factory, and then the hordes of brainless drones who mimic you and follow you around. Inside's ending is by far one of the most confounding conclusions to a game in recent memory, which is why explaining the Inside ending can be quite tough. We first see evidence of it as the boy wanders through a farm littered with dead pigs. Limbo wasn’t the most straight forward game out there, but he still wishes he left less clues to the game’s real meaning. [23] Playdead had purposely waited four years so as to give little time between the announce event and the launch. As with most games, all they know is that they must keep running towards their vaguely outlined objective. Hey Playdead, what do you mean? Genres : Adventure You can watch the secret ending play out by clicking the video below: The ending shows the player lifting a grate, pulling a cord, and slumping over dead. [3][49][50] Critics favorably compared the title as a worthy successor to Limbo. If you have just played INSIDE and are completely blown away and are like "wow ... what did I just play", then you're not alone! So, knowing that mind control is a product of Inside’s world, it’s entirely plausible that it’s an on-market product, available to the highest bidder. It’s therefore quite easy to theorize that the blob shares a telekinetic link with each of the experiments in Inside‘s world, with it able to manipulate them for the sole purpose of freeing itself from the factory. The Huddle escapes confinement, crashing through offices, killing some of the scientists in its path. In this case, the scientific search for what’s next has corrupted the morals of this ruling class and allowing these experiments and creations that can only be sustained by the work, lives, and organic matter of the people they treat like cattle. The most downright terrifying enemy you encounter throughout the duration of Inside is undoubtedly the long-haired, naked creature that chases you underwater throughout the latter half of the game. It isn’t made clear what the swine died of, but attached to their lifeless bodies are writhing slugs, not dissimilar to those that feature in Limbo. What’s it mean? In the background, there’s a computer monitors and a mind control device, the same one the player uses to control others in the game. Is there a personal stake? Throughout the game, we see a great many nullified, brain dead drones hunched over in a slumber, on the ready to be stirred into action by anyone wielding a mind control helm. And the meeting of the boy and his blob, to subscribers of this theory, is simply the sperm penetrating the egg. If this is the case, then this would suggest that the switch located in the vault buried beneath the cornfield doesn’t disconnect the boy from the player, but rather from the blob. This is a prequel to Limbo, they are testing mind control worm on pigs and gravity manipulation on water. Think about it: the player is given little insight into what they are doing throughout the game. [5][6][7][8][9][10][11], Inside is a puzzle platformer. I’ll let smarter people than we talk about that. Voyeurs aren’t uncommon as white-coats often take notes while simply observing the boy. He prefers to leave it to the player to interpret.