SPOILERS! A in-depth analysis of Neversong

[srossiter81]

WARNING! This post contains spoilers for Neversong. Read on only if you've completed the game. I felt like there was a lot going on “underneath” the surface of this game that is only hinted at and worth a discussion.



Where does Neversong take place?

Neversong takes place inside the mind of an adult man in a catatonic state. Everything that happens from the moment you start the game occurs in his head. The games ends when the man “wakes up”.

Who’s the man? Why is he in a coma?

His name is Peeter Smile and he has fallen into a coma after the death of his wife, Wren. He was unable to deal with the death of his wife, the stress it caused, and the guilt he feels.

How did Wren die?

As pointed out very early in the game by the character Preston, Wren had epilepsy. She most likely died of an epileptic seizure on the night of their wedding anniversary. She may have also been depressed and drinking due to neglect from Peeter. In the scene showing her death, there is a spilled glass of wine by her body.

Why does Peeter feel guilty for the death of his wife?

Peeter and Wren were childhood sweethearts. They went off to college together, and after college got engaged. After college, Peter became a doctor, most likely of Psychiatry at Blackfork Asylum. After marriage, Peeter’s priorities changed. He became a workaholic and began to neglect his wife. On the night of her death, their marriage anniversary, she calls him multiple times at his office, but he does not come home. In her last phone call to him, she tells him that “something feels wrong”, most likely she was beginning to experience an epileptic episode and may have died of SUDEP.

Who is Peet?

Peet is literally Peeter Smile’s inner child. The player experiences the game from Peet’s point of view. In the world of the coma, Peet has crafted a beautiful, endless summer, filled with friends & adventures, and Peet would probably be happy to go on living there, but for the fact that even he is aware that Wren “is missing.” The inner child version of Peet has blocked out of all of knowledge and grief that comes with adulthood but isn’t quite able to escape his own subconscious and still is aware enough to realize that something has happened to Wren. Naturally, this version of Pete sets out to find and save her.

Who is Dr. Smile?

Dr. Smile isn’t just the “dark side” of Peter, he’s also his Adult side. Unlike Peet, who is ignorant of the nature of the Coma, Dr. Smile is fully aware. Dr. Smile is the adult Peet who was obsessed with work, who stayed holed up at Blackfork Asylum. To Dr. Smile, Wren was simply a possession, A doll with no agency that he kept in a cage.
Most importantly, Dr. Smile is filled with guilt, and is obsessed with turning back time. The adult Dr. Smile wants what young Peet has, to go back in time and forgot the hardships & disappointments of being an adult.
Through out the game, you’ll see Dr. Smile is obsessed with Time. One of the first things you see when starting the game is a clock on the wall running backward. A giant clock is the center piece of the grand hall in the asylum, and the pendulum of a grandfather clock is the symbol of Dr. Smile’s lair and also hangs over the piano in Wren’s house.
Finally, Dr. Smile’s grand scheme is to “consume” the children so that he can go back to being one, all in the hopes that he will forget his guilt and return to a time with things were simple and happy.


Did Dr. Smile kidnap Wren?

No. All he had was a doll in a cage, symbolizing his "possession" of her in the real world.

Then what was the "face of white" that took Wren?

Death.

Are Dr. Smile and Peet enemies?

Dr. Smile is the antagonist of the game for sure, but in order to wake up from the coma and move forward, Dr. Smile and Peet actually need other. Peet, the inner child, can’t see or understand the true nature of the coma and seeks knowledge of what happened to Wren. Dr. Smile wants a return to childhood innocence so he can forget his guilt. Together, only through the union of the two halves of his psyche can Peeter become whole again and wake up from the coma. There shared love of Wren is ultimately the force that reunites them and causes integration.

What’s with the music notes?

Wren’s favorite activity was playing the piano. Wren taught Peeter how to play when they were kids, and they wrote songs together about their love. It’s the remembering of these songs that are the bridge between young Peet and Dr. Smile and help them to “remember” Wren.

Where are the other Adults?

The adults are gone because both young Peet and Dr. Smile wish them to be gone. Remember that this is all in Peeter’s head and ultimately, he’s in control of his inner world.
For young Peet a summer without adult supervision is part of the childhood wish fullfillment, where as Dr. Smile wants to take the adults, turn them into monsters and use them to consume the children.

Why do all of the children end up with terrible lives as adult? That’s so bleak. This game is depressing and sucks!

Yes, its fairly bleak. Wren dies, Simone becomes addicted to plastic surgery, Gomboyse becomes handicap and can no longer do the physical activities he loves, Punky ends up in jail and medicated.
I think as adults, it’s easy for us to look at other people on social media and think they must be so happy, living a perfect life. Most people learn to hide their pain and problems, and I think we in society often try to hide unhappy facts out of sight. I feel like the message here is that there are a lot of adults out there who are secretly suffering. I believe a big theme of the game is that most of us lose our childlike sense of imagination and wonder, and that losing that connection starts us down a path to a much less happy adulthood. We may feel like we are “not kids anymore”, we have responsibilities, and take the world seriously, but when hardship comes, and it will, we don’t have any defense against it. Keeping that childhood wonder alive means living a richer, more creative life, and helps cope with the bad times.

To put it another way, young Peet would never have left Wren’s side or left her alone to suffer. Adult Peeter lost sight, changed priorities, didn’t make the time, and was almost destroyed by it.

What’s with the heart monitors outside the Asylum?

Reality creeping into the dreamworld. Peeter subconsciously being aware of the heart monitor in his hospital room.

What’s with the monster design? Why do all the monsters look like insects and spiders?

The closest I got was that the “Spiderian Sewers” where once a favorite place for the gang to play, so the imaginary monsters come from that childhood fantasy.

Why were some of the adults in cages in the forest?

Dr. Smile was capturing them, and brainwashing them for his army. Others he was turning into monsters. His plan was to capture, kill, and eat the children so he could recapture their youthful innocence.

What where the themes of the game?

Time, how you can’t go back to simpler times, keeping part of your childhood alive to stave off becoming a “boring adult”, the struggles and hardship that come with age, the power of love, overcoming guilt.

That’s it! That’s all I got. Hopefully you found this analysis interesting!

[Download]

Good read! Thanks for sharing.

[Z]

Wow, amazing analysis! I love this. Very thoughtful and I'm glad you picked up on so many details!

[silwi80]

Great analysis my friend but you forgot to mention the fact that bird was Wren all along.

[Power Supersport]

Thank you so much for explaining this in-depth. I was a bit confused in the ending and didn't catch the meaning. But all of this now explains everything.

[Haryy0o]

Very good analysis, pleasant and heart touching at the same time

[TemmieNeko]

i want n in depth analysis on why that fat kid swells up, and requires ppl to periodically pop him.
I joke, but the pint of the joke is that I don't think people should deconstruct games like this, you take a lot of the fantasy and fun away from it, imo.

Like a magic trick being performed can be entertaining, until maybe you are shown how it works, and that it had no magic; was just a cheap trick.

I'd liek to give the dev team the respect for creating such unique world and game, but trying to attach meaning to every single facet of the game feels empty and soulless to me.

Maybe the enemies are insect like bc the art team thought they looked neat? That's one thing that has remained pretty consistent since the first versions.

maybe the fat kid is just a weirdo they created to have a thing you can roll, you know' because it's fun to roll the fatty around, and make him boucne, and then argue with him when he complains, lol. I mean, the point of a game is often to have fun, so my philosophy is " IS the game fun? And did they do " x or Y " bc it was fun, and aybe for no other reason?

I mean why does MArio jump/ Nobody jumps irl like this, you jump - it's HIGHLY contextual - count the nu,ber of times you jumped in 2019 haha.

But why does MArio jump? Bc it's fun ♪

[Turtle Sandvich]

Originally posted by TemmieNeko:

i want n in depth analysis on why that fat kid swells up, and requires ppl to periodically pop him.
I joke, but the pint of the joke is that I don't think people should deconstruct games like this, you take a lot of the fantasy and fun away from it, imo.

Like a magic trick being performed can be entertaining, until maybe you are shown how it works, and that it had no magic; was just a cheap trick.

I'd liek to give the dev team the respect for creating such unique world and game, but trying to attach meaning to every single facet of the game feels empty and soulless to me.

Maybe the enemies are insect like bc the art team thought they looked neat? That's one thing that has remained pretty consistent since the first versions.

maybe the fat kid is just a weirdo they created to have a thing you can roll, you know' because it's fun to roll the fatty around, and make him boucne, and then argue with him when he complains, lol. I mean, the point of a game is often to have fun, so my philosophy is " IS the game fun? And did they do " x or Y " bc it was fun, and aybe for no other reason?

I mean why does MArio jump/ Nobody jumps irl like this, you jump - it's HIGHLY contextual - count the nu,ber of times you jumped in 2019 haha.

But why does MArio jump? Bc it's fun ♪

Don't gotta bash people like that dude, let people enjoy something how they want to enjoy it. :/

[Junuh]

Phenomenal analysis!! Thank you so much for typing this up. I just finished the game myself from the Itch.io version, and I was trying to put the pieces of the story together. I *just* about figured out what was going on, but this helped clear up all of my questions. Thanks!

[janner66]

Yeah makes more sense now. Thanks for your thoughts.

[pee pee bridgers]

I thought Wren was just drunk and passed out, not dead.

[Cerulean]

Good analysis! I just finished the game, and there were some loose ends I wasn't sure of.

[Graeme]

Originally posted by TemmieNeko:

i want n in depth analysis on why that fat kid swells up, and requires ppl to periodically pop him.
I joke, but the pint of the joke is that I don't think people should deconstruct games like this, you take a lot of the fantasy and fun away from it, imo.

Like a magic trick being performed can be entertaining, until maybe you are shown how it works, and that it had no magic; was just a cheap trick.

I'd liek to give the dev team the respect for creating such unique world and game, but trying to attach meaning to every single facet of the game feels empty and soulless to me.

Maybe the enemies are insect like bc the art team thought they looked neat? That's one thing that has remained pretty consistent since the first versions.

maybe the fat kid is just a weirdo they created to have a thing you can roll, you know' because it's fun to roll the fatty around, and make him boucne, and then argue with him when he complains, lol. I mean, the point of a game is often to have fun, so my philosophy is " IS the game fun? And did they do " x or Y " bc it was fun, and aybe for no other reason?

I mean why does MArio jump/ Nobody jumps irl like this, you jump - it's HIGHLY contextual - count the nu,ber of times you jumped in 2019 haha.

But why does MArio jump? Bc it's fun ♪

If you're not interested in this sort of thing, then don't read it. Nobody is forcing you to.

[Blue Pyramid Thing]

Originally posted by TemmieNeko:

words

Every design choice in this game was made for a reason. You don’t play a game like Neversong and go ‘nothing means anything guys it’s just meant to be a funny jumpy game lol’.
It’s fine if you want to completely ignore the story; what’s stupid is then going and telling other people that they have to ignore the story as well because you want to pretend it doesn’t exist.

[Tlalocman]

does anyone know what happened to preston? was he the only "successful" one as a grown up?

[Liberator]

It is deeper than the small intestine of a giant reticulated python. I ejaculated thanks.