Explanation of the ending of Lost Records

[ElexOne]

Tape 2: "Rage", due to its limited runtime, ends rather abruptly — which, I think, left many (myself included) somewhat confused about the game's ending. After spending a few hours lying in a deck chair out in the fresh air, alone with my thoughts, I present to you my own interpretation of what happened. I’m not saying I’m 100% right (or right at all, really), but I believe this is what the writers had in mind:


THE DAY BEFORE THE OATH

Understanding that she is going to die soon, Kat decides to leave something behind for her friends to remember her by. On one of the days (the exact time is hard to determine, but some of the items from the package were still in the cabin when Autumn returned for her things), Kat writes a farewell note, in which she mentions that after her death, the package should be sent by Dylan — after which she leaves it at her house.

UPD.
I have some serious doubts about the stuff from the cabin. Kat wrote the letter on the very same day (morning or afternoon) they went to free the reindeer. But Swan's Tamagotchi, the troll figurine, and Kat's knife were definitely in the cabin at the exact moment Cory set it on fire. So either the devs just forgot to remove those items from the cabin, or Kat is way more powerful than we think.


THE OATH DAY

A few minutes before the Abyss takes Corey, Kat makes a deal with it (perhaps without even realizing it at the time), and then pushes Corey — effectively offering him as a sacrifice. Corey is both the reason for the deal (for the fear, and the harassment, and the harm that he did) and the sacrifice itself.

The friends, realizing what happened, decide — for their own safety (and Dylan, at Kat’s request) — to strike one final deal with the Abyss. Kat sacrifices herself for the sake of her friends and her sister, so they would forget what happened and avoid further trauma or consequences (murder at 16 isn’t the kind of memory you want to keep, especially when it happens right in front of the victim’s girlfriend). The Abyss, having done what was asked of it, closes.


SOME TIME BEFORE THE 2022 REUNION

The Abyss opens once again — hungry for new victims. Kat, who’s been inside it this whole time, gets a chance to interact with our world again, though no longer in a physical form. Realizing that her friends are finally safe, she sends out the package she had prepared before her death — the one that had been sitting in her room (or elsewhere) all these years — thus kicking off the game’s events.


SOME TIME AFTER THE MEETING AT THE BAR

Swan, having seen Kat’s recording from the Abyss, goes into the forest and finds it open once again. Wishing to see Kat again (and, possibly, to seal the Abyss for another 27 years), she jumps into the Abyss, thereby offering herself as a sacrifice.


Q&A

1. Why wasn’t the package sent earlier, and why exactly 27 years later?

Kat planned to send it right after her death through Dylan, but either she never got the chance to ask her, or the Abyss erased that memory from Dylan’s mind. After 27 years, Kat gets another opportunity to reach her friends, and she takes it. Judging by the timing, the Abyss seems to be a reference to Stephen King’s "It", which also wakes up every 27 years to seek out new victims.


2. How did the camera and other items that were lost in the Abyss end up in the package?

Kat placed them in the box herself before sending it to Autumn’s mom. She seems to have the ability to retrieve objects from the Abyss, though, being a victim herself, she cannot leave it completely. It’s possible the Abyss doesn’t really care about objects — they have no value to it. What it wants is human life.


3. But what if the Abyss never existed at all, and everything that happened is just a metaphor?

Nope. Both Kat and Corey were truly taken by the Abyss — this is supported by the missing persons flyer for Kat. Also, Kat somehow managed to record a video from inside the Abyss, where she has her old hairstyle with long hair (while in the final scenes of the game, she already had a short haircut).


4. Does Pam know about the Abyss? What does she actually know?

Most likely, Pam doesn’t know anything about the Abyss. The girls opened it themselves, and it stayed dormant for the next 27 years. I think Pam, like many residents of Velvet Cove, has heard stories about strange happenings in town — but she’s less skeptical about them than most people (that’s what makes her “weird,” after all).

UPD.
There’s an official ARG for Lost Records that reveals more information about the Abyss and Pam. Apparently, the girls aren’t the only ones who know about the Abyss.


That’s my take on the ending. Let me know what you think — maybe you’ve got a theory that challenges mine, or something cool to add? I’d love to read it.

See you in Hell!

[LadiesMan4Ever]

I truly loved these two tapes and love the developer itself. The soundtrack was on point too!

[ElexOne]

Originally posted by LadiesMan4Ever:

I truly loved these two tapes and love the developer itself. The soundtrack was on point too!

Me too!!!

[Rivereyes]

That's an interesting take on things you've got there.

One thing that doesn't track was that in my game, Kat never fell into the Abyss. She faced down Corey and along with her friends, pushed him, creating a 'happy ending' of sorts.

So there is some cognitive dissonance when it comes to accepting that 'Oh yeah, Kat also decided to jump in, off camera/screen' particularly when the narrative is built in such a way that I was left thinking that she died of cancer shortly after the events of the game.

[ElexOne]

Originally posted by Rivereyes:

That's an interesting take on things you've got there.

One thing that doesn't track was that in my game, Kat never fell into the Abyss. She faced down Corey and along with her friends, pushed him, creating a 'happy ending' of sorts.

So there is some cognitive dissonance when it comes to accepting that 'Oh yeah, Kat also decided to jump in, off camera/screen' particularly when the narrative is built in such a way that I was left thinking that she died of cancer shortly after the events of the game.

Yeah, in my case too, she didn’t exactly jump into the Abyss, but she was still consumed by it.

As far as I remember, Kat literally says that the Abyss wants us to be free, but it needs a sacrifice. I assume by "sacrifice" she meant herself — that’s why she disappeared after the vow.

If Kat does fall into the Abyss before the vow, then it’s Swan who says that line instead: “Kat sacrificed herself for us. We can’t let that sacrifice be in vain” (or something like that). Kat still takes the vow with the girls, but without a physical form — as a ghost.

And the post-credits scene (the recording and the jump into the Abyss) also adds some confusion to the story. I really don’t think Kat could’ve lived another couple of months without chemotherapy (in the video, her hair is long like it was at the beginning of the game).