Could somebody explain the ending for me? (ENDING SPOILERS INSIDE)

[markoh00]

I realized that this game tries to tell us that the main character has travelled back in time several times already to try to save her sister ... but in the end her sister is missing from the OP in which she was killed and instead she is out at the tree were she probably has been taken in the past. Also I wonder if the main character travelled back into the past why wasn't she there multiple times? Many seem to understand this story from beginning to the end but I have some problems because of the little explanation we get. So a simple recap of what happened would be very appreciated.

[BlueRaja]

Presumably the circle Ludwig kept talking about breaking is a time loop. Like, the events of the game are happening over and over.

Unfortunately, while that's a really cool plot twist, it doesn't really fit in with the rest of what happened in the game. It seems like the devs had intended on having more story, but ended it there prematurely.

[detheagle666]

I think the time loop actually started when Rose received the letter that brought her to the Helios. The part that drove Ludwig insane is that he seems to be able to perceive the loop, somehow, and saw Rose at the masquerade ball when that first time bleed happened (the one in chapter 2). This time loop broke when Rose and Nikolai destroyed the Tesla Tower at the end, killing Ludwig and Aubrey. I think that certain events happened outside of the time loop, in the future, that you are only peripherally aware of, things like that Radio coming on in the theater, or the Pnuematic Messages sent with that 3-looped symbol. To summarized this, after looping X times Rose finally gets the it right and the loop collapses?, and afterwards figures out Ada's research and goes back to fulfill the things that happened without her past self's knowledge, like carrying Ada to that tree, painting warnings on the wall, etc. I have to assume based on the existence of that first letter that Ada was revived at some point, or maybe existed outside of the time loop, in essence creating 2 Adas at once.

Of course, This is all guesswork, really, because like BlueRaja said, the end feels very rushed. I mean, pretty much once you reach Aubrey things come to the end quickly and don't really answer anything. If anything it feels like the game was cut in half, I feel like there should have been a part 2, the alternate time-loop, featuring Nikolai or Ada or Rose alternate.