What Happened in the Ending? (Spoilers)

[❀Fight Milk❀]

I was so excited about winning I didn't really pay attention to what happened. WTF was that at the end?

[DG Dobrev]

The devs explain it to you mid-game and very much spoil the whole ending.

The object you find on the Tharsis region on Mars unleashes a huge amount of energy that puts your crew and the orbiting ship in a temporal/causal loop, forcing you to replay everything, hence the journey we have never made before/will make forever and so on and so forth.

[❀Fight Milk❀]

oh dayummmmmmm ty sir, that does make sense!

[Doctor Entropy]

Yeah, but does the fact that such an object event exists in the first place on this one remote point feels like an entire plot centered around a lazy maguffin, or like the developer is trying to make a point with that ending? While yes, the idea of it somehow causing the void events makes a little sense, as does the video loop, but all in all is there a reason behind it? Is it saying that the choices we made to get to that point, to save all the crew we could, to maintain our humanity and not eat each other, was ultimately pointless? Can there be no aversion to this fate? Do the ends justify any means? Or was that just a cheap ending decision like "It's magic, we don't have to explain it" to justify multiple playthroughs and cash in off the Undertale meta? Also, what about the rotating roster of possible crew members? Does this loop extend back to Earth and the rest of the would be crew are also stuck in the loop, or can only 4 (really 6 counting the ones without a choice in the matter) be trapped in the loop?

[DG Dobrev]

I believe this will be either answered in the upcoming Missions, or you might be right. Either way, I don't mind, I didn't buy the game for the story anyway :P As if FTL's run away from the enemy and then engage them was overly original...

[Doctor Entropy]

Very true, but FTL felt like there was more to it gameplay wise. I've unlocked all but the cannable and the shrink (the last one nearly there) and I've only played 3 hours.

[sarrowquand]

I wonder how the destruction of your ship before it reaches Mars affects the time loop. Is that the only way out, to never get there, and thus the true ending is the one where you fail? Or does the artifact just expose you to all possible alternate voyages that could have been with only some of them leading to you activating the artifact. I also wonder What the artifact was originally intended to be when it was made (assuming it isn't natural) and why it is on Mars.

[ChaosEsper(Jakx)]

Once I got the scene where you see the suits that were "designed for the Iktomi" I started thinking that it was some sort of time loop deal. Made me think of the WH40K Imperial Guard Novel Desert Raiders. Similar idea is the plot twist at the end of the novel.

[HungryHunter]

can it be that in the 3 badending the crew get resets for beeing not nice and human and in the 4 crew ending been free of this loop (bay may never exsist in the first place)?
Is there a 4 crew badending with all the red flashes and damatic music?
Did enyone understand the game the dev made bevore this? Is kinda related for some reason. But we may need the next part of the story to understand.
To the origen of the artefact... its seen broken and old. May it grands wishes and the old owner done some mess and killed all marslife in the progress. And after this the dice goes roghe and trys to find a new owner... the crew of the Iktomi! Sadly they are busy with all the aktion on bord so its "trys" to make them better humans so it can be owned agien.
Or its just a holy dice been a ♥♥♥♥ to all kinds of life

[Rikolus]

Wait.... is there More than one ending? I have won the game twice and saw same ending both times. The last comment from H/H has me wondering if there is another ending. Perhaps if I had a better score, heh-heh, I would see something a bit more optimistic or understandable?

[pinback]

Three different endings:

1. 1 survivor
2. 2-3 survivors
3. 4 survivors

You may find some of them more optimistic. Less likely you'll find any of them more understandable. ;)

[One Busy Barber]

I have given this much thought and I believe I may have an understanding.

First the meaning of the endings and then my take on the nature of the anomaly.

A unifying feature of all three endings is our crew approaches the anomaly and it glows brightly with a bluish light. I believe this is the final defense mechanism of the anomaly and it is using it to destroy their minds.

When you finish with only one crew member, you will see the anomaly effortlessly mindskull you with direct blue glowing light punches to the head. The character will express doubt about whether any of the crew made it and say "The anomaly - it knew." Then the anomaly will take a prevalent position on the screen displaying it's dominance and make creepy anomaly noises. The one final crew member was defeated easily.

In the 2-3 person ending you see the crew members approach the anomaly and its defense mechanism triggers - bluish light glowing everywhere this time. Crew state "All the pain and horror of the journey washed over us." Again the anomaly is trying to mindskull you. The crew will be mentally stuck in a PERCEIVED time paradox, focusing intently on whether, how or how many times they have, will and did make the trip to Mars. There is no conclusion to this but the camera pans out to a distant shot of mars. The ubiquitous beeping (more on that later) peppered throughout the game is featured and blood spatters are slathered on the distant mars suggesting the death of your crew. It was close, but they got mindskulled.

When you finish with all 4 crew members you get the happy ending. Notice this is the only ending starting with the phrase "Mission Accomplished." In this ending, again the anomaly emits its bluish glow. You can see your crew are affected by it and it is visually very similar to the 2-3 ending. This time, however, the anomaly does not quite have enough power. One of the crew has just enough of their marbles together to grab a rock and hurl it at the anomaly. As this is happening you hear their final thoughts - a recollection from the mission briefing, "Do not expect survivors." The anomaly explodes and you watch a large crater appear on Mars. The anomaly was defeated. Mission Accomplished...

What was the anomaly?

My take is it was a beacon left by scouts from a distant and active alien civilization looking for ripe planets to plunder. They left it on Mars, a planet they thought us unable reach even if we were able to detect the signal being sent by the anomaly. The signal is ever present in the game. The relentless beeping in the title screen, in the 2-3 crew ending, and of course you hear it and cringe when you lose the game for any reason. It is the signal sent by the anomaly and the crew's mission is to stop the signal at all costs. A mid-game quote confirms this - "when we finally came, it was to answer a call."

The call was not being made to earth.