(Spoilers?) Something New in the Apartment Dream...?

[Lexford]

Been playing Darkwood on the Switch and I got the dream where the protagonist wakes up in his apartment. Instead of staring at my future self, I open the door and immediately look away. Still looking away from my future self, I make my way to the south end of the hall and there's a door that awaits me in pitch black (wouldn't have noticed it if it weren't for the Switch/console version pointing out nearby interactable things).

I make my way past the door and... Weird stuff happens (don't know if I should spoil the moment but I have a replay of some bits of it on my Switch). Anyone else try something like this and/or encountered the things behind the secret door?

[MazyRun]

That is the alternative ending for that dream, most of the dreams have 2 possible endings (some endings come with rewards).

The secret ending has been mentioned on these forums, I'm not sure if this info has been added to the wiki yet though.

[OwlCowl]

Originally posted by Sir Jackenstire:

Been playing Darkwood on the Switch and I got the dream where the protagonist wakes up in his apartment. Instead of staring at my future self, I open the door and immediately look away. Still looking away from my future self, I make my way to the south end of the hall and there's a door that awaits me in pitch black (wouldn't have noticed it if it weren't for the Switch/console version pointing out nearby interactable things).
I make my way past the door and... Weird stuff happens (don't know if I should spoil the moment but I have a replay of some bits of it on my Switch). Anyone else try something like this and/or encountered the things behind the secret door?

I'd really like to know what do you see beyond the door? For me whenever I try to exit the dream this way all that happens is that the screen gradually gets darker as you head down the corridor until you can't see anything at all and then the protagonist wakes up. I don't know if mine is glitched but I've never got anything interesting - and actually assumed that what I had done was a glitch until I saw this thread.

[MazyRun]

https://steamcommunity.com/app/274520/discussions/0/1489992080520774587/

After sneaking past the guy at the door the trick is to find the next door at the end of the first corridor (which will be located off to one side of the corridor, not directly ahead)..

It is very dark so it's easy to miss it, if you do go past it and you turn around slightly whilst searching for it you can accidentally end the dream..

..(as the OP states, any nearby interactive objects, such as doors, present themselves more clearly when using controller. You can miss things with M+KB if the cursor is positioned too far away from, or too close to, your character)

Once you make it through this door you can no longer accidentally end the dream.. and everything you see from this point is open to interpretation

[OwlCowl]

Originally posted by MazyRun:

https://steamcommunity.com/app/274520/discussions/0/1489992080520774587/

After sneaking past the guy at the door the trick is to find the next door at the end of the first corridor (which will be located off to one side of the corridor, not directly ahead)..

It is very dark so it's easy to miss it, if you do go past it and you turn around slightly whilst searching for it you can accidentally end the dream..

..(as the OP states, any nearby interactive objects, such as doors, present themselves more clearly when using controller. You can miss things with M+KB if the cursor is positioned too far away from, or too close to, your character)

Once you make it through this door you can no longer accidentally end the dream.. and everything you see from this point is open to interpretation

Thank you :D I'll have to play through again to try to find this door, this is something I've definitely missed.

[OwlCowl]

Okay, so I got it now. I still wonder if I missed anything, so it would be awesome if anyone who has ended the dream this way could confirm if anything besides this happens:

So after ignoring the "future protagonist", I followed along the right side of the hall until I found a wooden door and stepped through it, going into another hall. This hall has a chair in it, and as you progress more and more chairs appear. Shiny stones also gradually start to turn up until eventually you reach a TV like the one in your apparment. It says just a few words: "Teddy bear... you are not supposed to be here." At this point for some dumb reason I was trying to drag the TV, and the dream cut off before I could let go of it and continue exploring. I do wonder if there might have been anything else to see beyond the TV if I had just let it be, or if there would have been so many chairs that I would not be able to progress.

Theory time on interpretation: and wow is this dream ending open to interpretation, it just seems so abstract and strange compared to any of the other dream sequences. The TV is talking about bears, just like the one in the apartment was; this doesn't necessarily mean anything, it's just a connection. Time for theories on theories. The Being may be a child (of some sort) as indicated by the first dream sequence with all the shiny stones in the wood, could it be possible that it simply sees all the inhabitants of the woods as its playthings, like teddy bears? Or maybe it is telling the protagonist he is not meant to be in his apartment yet coz it still wants him to keep travelling towards it? The presence of shiny stones indicates it being the Being who is talking. Or could this instead be the protagonist's own inner voice speaking to them, because rather than wake up and face reality, he continues to dream of the apartment, and therefore he is not meant to be there? Not meant to be in the dream? Not meant to be in the woods? Strange dream.

[MazyRun]

Yep, once you reach the TV the dream ends and yes it does always feel like you could have carried on and explored a bit more but I've found that whether you interact with the TV (drag/push) or just walk right past it, either way the dream seems to always end there (within a couple of seconds of finding the TV)... One thing I've never tried is to avoid looking at the TV, maybe that's a thing.