Protagonist Question (SPOILERS)

[ancientsalami]

Just finished the game recently. My question is if the protagonist was already a sleeper in the Epilogue, then was the entire game just about him dreaming? Or Did it only happen in the tunnel in the Radio Tower where you would destroy the fungus blocking the lever then you passed out and start the "One Chance" dream sequence, right? Was he captured then put to sleep before the start of the Road Home? Also, the protagonist's face was deformed but when we get to see him naked in the "Burn Them all Ending", he looks normal.

[Gangleri]

This is open to interpretation. I think the being didn't want him to leave the forest, so somewhere between the burnt tree (or the area after finishing the radio tower dream) and the road it influenced him somehow and took him to the place with all the other sleepers. The Epilogue starts and I think that's a dream again because there is a clear cut/transition and he looses all his equipment. In this dream he then walks the road home, talks to a few neighbors and finds the roots under his bed. Then he awakes again.

Edit: I just rewatched the true ending and at the very end there comes some text what happened after burning the being. There it says: "The fire consumed the last road leading to the heart of the woods.". So the being is the heart of the woods and you were not on your way out of the forest - you went even closer to the center and the being caught you in another dream. The lore is super interesting because they also mention helicopters flying over the burnt forest, looking for survivors.

[Eschorg]

I would say the entire game is you unknowingly going to the being while it makes replicas of everyone else, and if you stayed too long not reaching the being you get stuck into the wood as a crazed monster. However, What i could not understand is why does the replicas attack you? like the lizardman and the centipede while the others are non-hostile?

[ExeRiot]

The game doesn't draw many clear lines, so if we're splitting hairs (which I guess, by virtue of the conversation, we are), there's no meaningful difference between which parts of the game are dream sequences or are reality. A case could be made whichever way you want to slice it, but I find that in practical terms that satisfy me, the most meaningful interpretation of the story is the one that is most meaningful to you.

[⎛⎝ casedistorted™ ⎠⎞]

This question still bugs me as to when the final dream sequence begins and how you get to the Being through that last tunnel. There must be a starting point to that tunnel that becomes closed off (where you start naked and wake up), and it must be somewhere before the Road Home begins, or it could even be right when you get into the woods after that first piece of the road home, but before you exit and see the power lines.

[Fallen King]

Originally posted by ancientsalami:

Just finished the game recently. My question is if the protagonist was already a sleeper in the Epilogue, then was the entire game just about him dreaming? Or Did it only happen in the tunnel in the Radio Tower where you would destroy the fungus blocking the lever then you passed out and start the "One Chance" dream sequence, right? Was he captured then put to sleep before the start of the Road Home? Also, the protagonist's face was deformed but when we get to see him naked in the "Burn Them all Ending", he looks normal.

A lot it's left open to interpretation, but this guide did a nice work on piecing together info scattered through the game and trying to explain it ; )
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1735392239

[Greix]

The detail that stuck with me was during the Road Home, there was an area on the road where the white substance had spilled all over. Several people were ensnared by it, absolutely trapped. If we want to believe that the dream starts at the very end, it would suggest the Protagonist was trapped there but didn't realize it.

From a storytelling perspective, the Outsider camp and their scientific notes seemed to serve as a foreshadowed warning of this. From a gameplay perspective, it's a last minute tip to the player that something might be up. To give them the paranoia to really inspect the dream, to trust nothing.

What bugs me about the "everything was a dream" theory is... why? If the Being could give folks peaceful, enjoyable dreams as indicated by the Sleepers unwillingness to wake, why have the Protagonist suffer? It was willing to give him a pleasant dream at the end, so why force him through a nightmare? Especially one that gives the protagonist the knowledge to defeat the Being?