Your interpretation of the game's plot/ending? *SPOILERS!!!*

[cyricsservant]

While some reviewers (e.g. Destructoid) tore Anodyne apart for "having no meaning" and for being pretentious, I thought it told a very compelling (if somewhat obtuse) story.

I interpreted the game as being the main character's struggle with clinical depression. Most of the bosses seem intrinsically linked to Young (being the manifestations of his imagination), and they all touch upon disturbing themes such as self-loathing, apathy, and the desire to commit suicide.

Young also has a bit of a repressed violent streak to him. At one point in the game you murder an innocent fisherman and jump into a vortex of the man's blood, which transports you to a different realm. At another point when you visit a sleepy suburb community your weapon (a broom) transforms into a knife, and instead of being able to talk to the harmless-but-vapid suburbanites you can only stab them to death. Despite the title, there's some dark stuff here.

At the end, the final boss is a doppelganger of Young that gets overtaken by "the darkness." The doppelganger laments that he's tired of "the cycle" continuing and that "this is all there is." When you beat him, we're not treated to some really grandiose finale with a bunch of bells and whistles. We've merely warded off a dark mood (i.e. depression) for a time, and it'll come again as depression is cyclical.

Personally, I liked that the ending was so anti-climatic, because you didn't succeed in curing Young. Just pulling him out of his funk. I also enjoyed how dying would merely wake you up, and you find yourself alone in a dark room/apartment. Those were nice touches.

Anyone else have the same interpretation, or a different one you feel like sharing?

[Katemare]

I'm surprised I haven't seen the following explanation before... It seems that "Briar" is just a mispronounced "Brother", like kids do with difficult words. The Briar's treatment of Young in the end is also much like that of an older brother to his kid sibling.

If the real name of the hero is Ying, but he won't accept it and instead uses Young - that, too, is a how kids do it with "meaningless" words to make sense of them.

Another revealing wordplay is "concentric circles" as a promise to _concentrate_ and get things done. This swap of words is either artistic or a very common product of a failing brain.

Other than that... I have no idea. Young isn't necessary a kid. The images can be from his childhood. "Get things done" is not really what a child would say. His "home" what he "wakes up" in after "death" doesn't look like a family house - or a gamer's lair. It's clearly a one-person house or apartment. Is that a drawing board packed out first thing, before a TV or a PC? Is he a struggling independent comic artist? The beginning of the game can be interpreted that he was hit by a car or was in a car (driving it?) and got into an accident.

Maybe his brother has died ("That's what we will always be [brothers]" - this could be said by a person on his dying bed). Other family members may have died or abandoned him, and Young doesn't seem to have good memories of them. Were they cultists? Were they victims of a serial killer? As a kid, he probably lived in a town (and played "Young's town"), then moved to a crowded city. His most light-hearted, kind mind images are that of a village, but they may have come from video games.

[Melos Han-Tani]

Hmm, it's always interesting to see what everyone thought and got out of it. Thanks for posting.

I don't think any one interpretation is correct over the other. Biggles' is quite close to what I think I was getting at , but I like everyone else's as well.

Actually surprising enough after reading that interpretation I realized something about myself that may have motivated making that post-game stuff last December. Weird how that works ...

[FlamboyantMongoose]

so i recently replayed this game and revisited my four major gripes which included an incoherent story that blatantly intermittently told you its meaning (the jumping, the one save slot which i worked around by playing on a different computer, and the card inventory screen glitch being the the three others)

but the second time around the story seemed more coherent, albeit still blunt at times
i remember playing the circus level the first time and thinking "what the hell does this have to do with anything?"
but the second time i noticed if you read the message rock in the 8bit dungeon and talk to the guy in the upper left beforehand, the dungeon's meaning suddenly makes sense (and is also probably the most depressing part of the game) because you understand the background and motivation for the acrobats' actions
i thought the area which was a metaphor for an internet forum was the most amusing both times
anf the mountain area which seemed more drawn from final fantasy adventure instead of link's awakening was still nice also

but when you guys wrap up the next game: instead of sometimes asking people to interpret the allegory and sometimes blatantly spoon-feeding the meaning i ask that you keep it more allegorical and expect some amount of thinking
just dont do what happened in braid where the guy made a thomas pynchon wannabe story that eventually implodes (sure i will get some flak for that one)