[SPOILERS] Questions about ending

[skullsandlace]

So David destroyed the artifact in the end and based on the last few scenes in this chapter, when David was seeing the black figures, are we to assume that the people on the island never really disappeared but were both invisible and intangible as a result of the artifact's energy, so they were able to see David the whole time he was there? My assumption is based off of the picture that showed someone had been watching him, (but how is that possible if the people could not interact with physical matter?) and the descriptions of live rats disappearing when getting close to the artifact AND the sick patient having black spots on him that sucked up all the light. If they could interact with physical matter, the people standing on the platform with the artifact would have been able to shut it down like David did. But if they couldn't interact with physical matter, how is it that one of them was able to pull David up and save him from falling to his death?Is my theory here correct or am I way off? Another theory is that time has something to do with it all, since in the end we see David back at his little cabin again, as if none of it ever happened

[H'Sishi]

As for David being in his cabin at the end ... is it David or some spectator?
It could be possible the artifact teleported him back on his island before the bomb blows the artifact up.

As for the people ... maybe they are able to interact with someone after an energy burst from the artifact or if the artifact's energy emission exceeds or falls below a certain level.

[Frl. Petronella]

I don't believe that anyone survived. The last squence ist like in a cinema film when the camera shows the scene from the off to let us know what happend. The black peoble I think has more power and become more real the nearer to the artifact the are. In the beginning, when David is very far away from the object, they can only appear for a few seconds. Directly besides the artifact they are more phisical, more connected to the real world. But maybe they could'nt activate the bomb because they couldn't solve the last puzzle. ;)

[GiediPrim]

The last sequence in the cabin after the bomb exploded just shows how the tracker that tracked the energy of the anomaly disappears due to a (supposedly) successful detonation of the bomb and destruction of the artifact. Since the protagonist was likely killed in the detonation, the last camera moves inside the cabin are just the "movie spectators", not David anymore.
What the black people are/were, why their ability to interact with "reality" differed so much, and what actually happened before the protagonist's appearance on the island (someone got "possessed" by the artifact, bypassed/ignored the safety guidlines in the facility and triggered the accident in order to create a mass destruction, but why?) - I have no clue...

[fredling192]

A bit late to the party, but... my take is that I'm not sure whether or not David survived, but he could have. The picture of his boat might have been something taken during the study of the artifact, which acted as a wormhole warping both space and time, and allowing the researchers to get a snapshot of his boat from the future. And if so, then the artifact may have transported him there right before the explosion. We see lights working on the island, which would be weird if the bomb had already gone off. I think it's likely that he survived. He probably left the island before the explosion, and got home by the time it went off, seeing the anomaly effectively vanishing from the monitor. It's my take at least. About that phantom guy being able to lift him but not work the explosive thing, maybe they can only interact with living matter, much like the artifact itself. I believe there are other loopholes here and there though, it's not air-tight logic, but I really enjoyed the game regardless xD

[shingo]

I will join the discussion of the plot. Recently passed the last part. I thought a black man, one of the base personnel, was able to pull him out of the sinkhole, because according to the documents, the artifact could have been in contact with physical objects. Black people were part of the artifact anomaly, so one was able to help the main character.
The last frame with David's place of residence is either: He died and we are shown the consequences of the explosion on the island. Either the artifact moved it back 5 seconds before the base was destroyed. There is a third option. He's back in time and space. That is, he saw events from the future on his monitor. The future that he himself created, and now he will experience the same events again and again.
PS. I am personally delighted with the quest.