Meaning

[Adamisinthehouse]

Does anyone know the meaning of this game at all

[Rowan Hawthorpe]

The only real meaning in anything is what you make of it. What did you see and feel while playing? Out of all the characters in the game, who do you think the One Who Remembers is?

[Mögbär]

The dogs.

[Vost]

Originally posted by aatl9812356:

Does anyone know the meaning of this game at all

as others have said, I think this game is built from the ground up to be deliberately vague and open to interpretation, but here's my take on it for anyone who's interested [SPOILERS BELOW]

Your companion, the creepy scientist with the shades, was once part of an expedition to this Arctic/Antarctic/cold AF region of the world that hadn't yet been explored. Once they arrived, they discovered the strange mushrooms that make you trip balls and make the local wildlife very aggressive (hence the deer attacking you). Everybody sampled the mushrooms and the scientist developed some sort of messiah/religious complex from the experience. He then either killed his companions or they succumbed to starvation/exposure/tripping.

The scientist decides that the visions these mushrooms grant are a divine gift that must be shared with the world, so he exits the region, hires an outsider (you) and brings you back to the region to become acquainted with the mushrooms and undergo his trials to see whether you'd be a good apostle. He keeps you going by lying that you're in pursuit of his companions when in reality they're either recently or long dead.

You succeed in beating the trials and kill the scientist in the final showdown. And even though the scientist is dead, he still succeeds in his goal of getting an apostle (you) back out of the region to hopefully tell others about the mushrooms or bring another outsider to the region. Thus perpetuating this cycle that the mushroom-addled scientist derives some sort of spiritual or divine meaning from.

That's my two cents, anyways.

[Scrumpet]

Originally posted by Vost:

Originally posted by aatl9812356:

Does anyone know the meaning of this game at all

as others have said, I think this game is built from the ground up to be deliberately vague and open to interpretation, but here's my take on it for anyone who's interested [SPOILERS BELOW]

Your companion, the creepy scientist with the shades, was once part of an expedition to this Arctic/Antarctic/cold AF region of the world that hadn't yet been explored. Once they arrived, they discovered the strange mushrooms that make you trip balls and make the local wildlife very aggressive (hence the deer attacking you). Everybody sampled the mushrooms and the scientist developed some sort of messiah/religious complex from the experience. He then either killed his companions or they succumbed to starvation/exposure/tripping.

The scientist decides that the visions these mushrooms grant are a divine gift that must be shared with the world, so he exits the region, hires an outsider (you) and brings you back to the region to become acquainted with the mushrooms and undergo his trials to see whether you'd be a good apostle. He keeps you going by lying that you're in pursuit of his companions when in reality they're either recently or long dead.

You succeed in beating the trials and kill the scientist in the final showdown. And even though the scientist is dead, he still succeeds in his goal of getting an apostle (you) back out of the region to hopefully tell others about the mushrooms or bring another outsider to the region. Thus perpetuating this cycle that the mushroom-addled scientist derives some sort of spiritual or divine meaning from.

That's my two cents, anyways.

This is pretty much it. If you read all of the notes then it pieces together what is going on.

[Vost]

This is pretty much it. If you read all of the notes then it pieces together what is going on. [/quote]

Admittedly, this theory does have a few holes in it, like why the scientist hires a third party to coast back into the region instead of just taking the mushrooms to the outside world himself. But, as previously mentioned, he's tripping the entire time, as you realize when you finally take a drink from his flask and it's distilled mushroom juice rather than booze, as I'd assumed up to that point. He also seems intent on somehow purifying the player character with this arduous journey and sees it as imperative to somehow understanding meaning in the tripping. A lot of his dialogue reads like a sermon imo

[Sidewinder]

I thought it was a case of The Mushrooms being some kind of "hive-mind" consciousness, hence why the Reindeer were able to navigate the whiteout & "find each other" even if separated. He talks about mutilating their senses etc, but they still can find each other. Much like how we are able to find him after the Cave.
The Botanist succumbed to the infection. The mushrooms (it) wanted to spread, but "it" didn't know the way out, and I guess maybe the Botanist didn't after tripping...so an outsider was needed? But then...we wouldn't know the way out after taking the mushrooms... so maybe the Dogs were the key.

[Banake]

Originally posted by Sidewinder:

I thought it was a case of The Mushrooms being some kind of "hive-mind" consciousness, hence why the Reindeer were able to navigate the whiteout & "find each other" even if separated. He talks about mutilating their senses etc, but they still can find each other. Much like how we are able to find him after the Cave.

My take away was that the mushrooms give who ates it a 'six sense' or 'intuitive/spiritual awereness' (think The Doors of Perception type of belief.)

[Vost]

I dig both of these takeaways, hadn't considered the sixth sense/hive mind thing.

[ZombieKef]

I enjoyed the game, but would have preferred a more straightforward presentation: because it was often confusing, the end result for me was being pulled out of immersion, not feeling I was the game character, just someone playing a game. Still, great atmosphere in many sections.

[Monstro]

Originally posted by aatl9812356:

Does anyone know the meaning of this game at all

Basically it is DO NOT EAT MUSHROOMS

[Ramble Calidaho]

Originally posted by Sidewinder:

The Botanist succumbed to the infection. The mushrooms (it) wanted to spread, but "it" didn't know the way out, and I guess maybe the Botanist didn't after tripping...so an outsider was needed? But then...we wouldn't know the way out after taking the mushrooms... so maybe the Dogs were the key.

Oh I like this because the Botanist was designated as the person to draw the maps but canonical was an awful mapper and wouldn't have known the way out. The reason the scientist didn't just take the mushrooms out himself may be because they require a host, hence why he implants them into you in the cave. He's obviously not going to risk himself doing that, which is why he is returning.

[Zhnigo]

Originally posted by Sidewinder:

I thought it was a case of The Mushrooms being some kind of "hive-mind" consciousness, hence why the Reindeer were able to navigate the whiteout & "find each other" even if separated. He talks about mutilating their senses etc, but they still can find each other.

We only learn that from the scientist's words, and he's an unreliable narrator and perpetually tripping.

[E.M.J. ㋛]

The shrooms giving hive mind to the deers (and extra sense to whoever consume them generally) is a very interesting idea. How do they keep track of each other and survive out here?

[Vost]

Originally posted by E.M.J. ㋛:

The shrooms giving hive mind to the deers (and extra sense to whoever consume them generally) is a very interesting idea. How do they keep track of each other and survive out here?

I chalked the deer keeping track of each other up to animal instinct or some such. I hadn't considered the hive mind idea until I saw it here, I think there's a lot of credence to it

[Somarinoa]

I kind of ended up seeing it that the expedition got lost — or perhaps since they were all hand-picked by the Great Leader, were intentionally lost by him. Half of the six died along the way through to the final cabin (this being the 3 hidden posts and why when you listen to them you see a spirit standing next to them — they're actually grave markers.)

The thing with the mushrooms I had originally assumed was going to be some sort of maybe Cordyceps infection but with the mention of still seeing "whorls and tentacles" in a note in that last cabin, I think what may actually be happening is that there is a sleeping Cosmic Horror beneath the ice floes that is influencing the local creatures by producing mushrooms that hijack the consumer's mind. I hadn't thought about a centralized hive-mind going on but that makes sense for the caribou and I will assume that is how that works. It was content (or perhaps simply stuck) with its caribou herds until the expedition arrived and then it received its opportunity — however whether this was with the 1892 Expedition or before I think is debatable. Like taking notes from John Carpenter's The Thing I think that maybe the botanist (if it started with the expedition) first consumed the mushrooms as some scientists are known to do weird risky stuff like that for better understanding of what they are studying (like the guy who licked an anemone and nearly choked to death). Having connected himself into the Cosmic Horror it began to influence him to influence the others into eating the mushrooms too, like he eventually does with you where you don't have any choice but to consume it when he hands it to you (why would you? The dude's obviously disturbed at this point and openly telling you that he is deceiving you.)

TLDR: I believe Cosmic Horror uses mushrooms to take control of others. It (possibly?) took over the Expedition Leader before 1892, then had him go get new followers including the Scientist; Scientist becomes a follower but kills remnants of his expedition; Scientist recruits and infects the Musher with mushroom indoctrination but gets killed in the process; Musher ultimately goes on to bring others back to the cave for indoctrination (after the game.)