[SPOILERS AHEAD] Story/Ending discussion

[Declan "Sandvich" Riordan]

So, as you know if you finish the game, he says "I don't know how I died." What are your theories?

[Ћ Abomination Jones]

I hate to be this sort of person but:

How did the player character get to the point you start from, when the game has dozens of 'you cannot go back this way' drops and slopes. You also seem to break your legs real dang easy at some parts (there's a segment close to the end where you can feasiby jump to but its a kill zone so you inexplicably die) too.

[Declan "Sandvich" Riordan]

Originally posted by Ћ Abomination Jones:

I hate to be this sort of person but:

How did the player character get to the point you start from, when the game has dozens of 'you cannot go back this way' drops and slopes. You also seem to break your legs real dang easy at some parts (there's a segment close to the end where you can feasiby jump to but its a kill zone so you inexplicably die) too.

That's a good point i've thought about myself a couple times.

[michael_kuerbis]

What about all those crates and bags in the tent? They could contain climbing gear.

[SurelyYouJest]

Originally posted by Ћ Abomination Jones:

I hate to be this sort of person but:

How did the player character get to the point you start from, when the game has dozens of 'you cannot go back this way' drops and slopes.

Originally posted by michael_kuerbis:

What about all those crates and bags in the tent? They could contain ciimbing gear.

Yes, it appears that you set to explore the cave with plenty of gear. (How you carried that huge tent so far in on your own, I'm not quite sure :)

I didn't mind the "You were dead all along" ending - it's certainly not very original, but at least they didn't pretend it was a clever surprise twist, or even make any particular attempt to mislead us. It's foreshadowed more and more obviously as you go on:

1. When you learn that the cult believed that the dead relive their last moments forever here;
2. When your scanner shows things that should not reflect light, specifically the ghosts of falling bodies;
3. When the lake shows "reflections" of your LIDAR dots, clearly establishing that what you're seeing is not the helmet's recreation of the LIDAR data, but something essentially supernatural in origin;
4. In the beautiful and totally impossible boat sequence, particularly when the LIDAR dots "fall off" the ceiling;
5. The player character figuring it out as you approach the elevator, and explaining it gradually

[SurelyYouJest]

I have a theory on the question: How did the player die?

First, the evidence: When we find our body in New Game+, it's in a very weird, awkward position - lying on the ground, face up, near a wall, with the feet facing a low ledge. Notably, not wearing the LIDAR helmet. The tent has been set up at a dead end at the furthest possible point in the cave. What possible sequence of events could result in this?

(Note also that the interior of the tent is brightly illuminated, and there is a small light on the LIDAR scanner at the beginning, but there's no light source anywhere that would explain this illumination. That suggests to me that the light is not "real" - we can assume the room is actually pitch black.)

The only explanation that makes sense to me is: The player character has been exploring for many hours. (We probably took our time, since the whole point was exploration and discovery.) After a day of exploring, we reached this dead end and set up camp to rest before heading back. But somehow, at this point, the LIDAR scanner failed completely.

We removed the scanner and helmet and placed them on a rock (where we find it intially), and then began trying to find our way out of the cave, against all odds, in pitch blackness. We found the general direction of the exit to the room we were in - presumably following the wall to keep track of our location, climbing precariously amongst the stalagtites. But we didn't get very far before slipping off a ledge, falling backwards, and hitting our head hard on the ground - in pitch blackness, not knowing exactly where the ground is, it's hard to fall safely.

This fits with the previously mentioned theory that the scanner upgrades we find along the way are actually broken scanners - buggy prototypes, perhaps - which we left behind on our way into the cave.

[evildrganymede]

I wonder about the mine section. As I wandered about up there I saw all these statues of miners in various poses everywhere, and what looks like placards in front of them too. Then I realised that they look for all the world like dioramas in a museum.

So where the heck is this all taking place? It looks like a museum that was commemorating the mine disaster (there's a big statue of a miner outside the cave entrance as well as another couple of big signs), but it seems really strange for a museum to have all these broken railings everywhere...

EDIT: Never mind, I wasn't looking at the map during that part and didn't realised that it said it was a Memorial Museum :)

[Xelloss [FR]]

I actually found out about the MC dying as soon as we get the material scanner. I opened the map and saw at in the beginning area a corpse, and immediatly suspected what happened.

My theory about the scanners : there is only one scanner, but it progressively failed and lost one feature after the other. During the game, the MC make his travel in reverse, and progressively regain what was lost in the reverse order, symbolized by copies of the scanner.

[Bombay]

my theory is that at your campsite you go further down only to find that a small section of the cave is a one way trap. this actualy happened on my first new game + atempt.

also when you scan the miners in the museum they aren't actualy made out of rock or metal but seem to be made out of organtic material.

[magpie0315]

Originally posted by Ћ Abomination Jones:

What I want to know is the deal with the water. You can scan moving, living entities that spawn and despawn if you goad the deep water segments after getting to the 'Witch Hunt' parts of the cave. They kept spawning closer and closer, as I left the water they'd slump over dead. They had the same material as the rocks, too...

I never saw anyone in the water- accidentl splashed in there a few times- had the visor distort and heard horrible noises but didn't see anything esle in there with me.

[unwaveringresolve]

I propose a fear-induced heart attack, brought on by an encounter with that one screaming statue that appears on the bridge. That's what nearly did me in...

[Red]

this bugs me :MC said something about being the 1st. Seems pretty straightforward to go from the witches area to the cultist area. Guess he died for his own hubris

[Pip]

I believe he went down there to die, or didn't expect to return. He knew no one would venture that far into the caves so why would he carry on exploring past the Cultists when he specifically said he had been searching for the Cult all his life? I also don’t believe he expected the monster, but I don’t believe the monster killed him.
When you find the body in NG+ he’s in T pose. You can say that this was done by the developers to save time modelling something different but I believe that he may have slipped, fallen and broken his neck. We see throughout (or hear) that the lower cave stones are wet and slippery. Not only that but nothing dramatic/terrifying happened which the cave could simulate so it gave the man the memories of his family.
That might also be why you die repeatedly in the lake; not because there is a monster because water killed you (However, I will admit I saw a figure stand up in the water while I was wadding through it once… so there is a humanoid creature, probably not a monster. Should have taken a screenshot of it)

[Pip]

Originally posted by magpie0315:

Originally posted by Ћ Abomination Jones:

What I want to know is the deal with the water. You can scan moving, living entities that spawn and despawn if you goad the deep water segments after getting to the 'Witch Hunt' parts of the cave. They kept spawning closer and closer, as I left the water they'd slump over dead. They had the same material as the rocks, too...

I never saw anyone in the water- accidentl splashed in there a few times- had the visor distort and heard horrible noises but didn't see anything esle in there with me.

They exist but you need to look around and keep an eye out. They rarely spawn in sight. I only managed to catch one breifly for a few seconds. I'm going to see if I can get a screenshot.

[Pip]

Screenshots of monsters in lake for anyone who hasn't seen them yet (two spawned for me):
https://imgur.com/a/D9VM3

[An Irate Capybara]

The protagonist's original cave exploration must have taken days. After falling asleep and waking up the first time, his look settings were reset, causing him to accidentally swing his head up and slam it into a cave ceiling, killing him instantly.