The Ending? (spoiler text if necessary)

[Blind Stalker]

So I just finished NaissanceE and I have to ask? What the heck is that ending supposed to be @_@? I don't understand? Devs, what do you mean by "The beginning" ? I've learned that Naissance (without the E at the end) means birth in French. I get though that there wasn't exactly a story that was going to be put out here, the experience was the main focus (and that was time well spent). Now I'm starting to wonder if the final "boss" at the end was some sort of metaphorical image of an umbilical cord trying to chase you ... now I'm oddly thinking Lucy is some sort of Zygote being born. So what's "The Beginning" going to mean? Is Lucy being born? (in some sort of allegory way?) What's other people's thoughts and are there plans for a sequel maybe?

[K▲IYOTE]

I do think it's a birth allegory. That's pretty much a given. I'm not sure what role the giant vacuum tentacle represents, but my guess is that it's supposed to actually be the desire to remain in situ as it were; rebellion against the birth, which is a fundamental change. I don't think it's necessarily supposed to be an unbillical cord - but I do think that the chapter title of "Meet the Host" is a direct reference to the notion of a parasite/host relationship, or mother/fetus relationship. And as a result, I do think that "The Beginning" in this case represents the "end" of the naissance; the logical end of birth is life, a beginning.

I get much less of a mother/child relationship vibe from the game, though. My gut instinct is that it's more of a parasite/host relationship. But that's a bit difficult to put my finger on.

It's a really cool experience - very much open to interpretation. I find that I'm much more readily able to critique it as a piece of artwork than most games.

[Tzvi]

if anything the host is the creator of the game world
you travel in it with the feeling your goal is to reach him or whatever is behind everything in that world
but once you actually reach him he tries to kill you
perhaps because you don't fit in that world

i might need to play it some more times i mainly tried not to die there at the end
might want to play it all again and see if i understand something new

i also have a feeling i missing all kinds of small things along the way
at one point i found a room with a teddy bear watching television and i could barely move
i was stuck in there for 5 minutes
in the desert level i found a platform that gave quite the show with all kinds of moving objects and music

i bet i missed some more like those

[ricky0957]

The game is based on the manga BLAME!, where humanity builds a mega structure as bast as Jupiter orbit, designed to serve of humans, those with the genes to interface with it. But humans lose the capability to control it and the structure enters max alert, becoming hostile towards humanity, eradicating it almost completely. The protagonist looks for genes to be able to interface with it again.

I think that in the story of Naissance, we are inside some sort of mega structure, and we travel through it looking for a way to interface with it, but after reaching its core, well, it doesn't go that well. At least we seem like we survived to live another day.

I haven't read the Manga, so I might be missing some details or subtext of what the story is about, like metaphors, symbolism and deeper stuff that only people who pays attention to details might catch, but overall I think that's what the story is about. A story about man vs. machine, how a civilization can be the architect of its own downfall, the feeling of loneliness, hope vs despair, what is humanity itself and stuff like that.

[Briseti]

I've revisited this game across the years, and find a peculiar joy in my persistent ignorance. Stripped of context and explanation, my understanding of its world is bound only by the limits of my own imagining.