Spoiler I should have mention this, but it is just a thought rolling around inside my head. Comparing Daniel's year walk to Theodor is important because of one thing, the goals. Daniel wanted to see the future, in doing so he sealed his own fate. However if we are to say Theodore Year Walked multiple times, has it ever been said he year walked to the future? Theodor changed the past, but he never looked into the future. Spoiler However we need to also think about how time works in Year Walk. If Theodor succeded in Year Walking, Daniel would have died in the forest. But this means that Theodor would never found the box, since it was only by researching Daniel did he begin his path to madness. Spoiler Theodor seemed to think in one of the pictures, by Year Walking, you can 'rise above it all' but still be doomed He then underlines how. Theodor broke the rules, but by choosing the goal, he found a loophole. Spoiler Finally, I noticed something that may or may not make the second ending even more depressing, if you look at it in that way. Daniel says in the newspaper clipping, "I should have killed my self, then none of this wouldn't have happened." What if Daniel unlocked the box, but even after the reading the contents, he continued the Year Walk? After all, it's still just a few pieces of paper. If I had read that, I wouldn't want to believe it.
Spoiler The box's origin point is in the future, when the Watchers give it to Theo. It's unlikely the box was there, in the middle of the forest, for years after David's Walk, especially since we know people visited and used the cabin, not to mention the weather. Spoiler We're being given sight into multiple timelines here that we wouldn't wouldn't normally have. The timeline where Daniel kills Stina, and Theo finds out about him, and the alternate timeline, where after Theo sends the box back - therefore changing events - Daniel kills himself. It's also partially a time paradox.
Spoiler That really depends on how you look at it. If Theodor was able to cheat the Watchers, then he is still may be in rift, basically rising above God, and the rules of this universe. Spoiler But if Daniel still year walked even with the information known, Theodor might be trapped in a endless cycle of year walking, trying to change the future. And if you think about the Walk Again? line in that perspective when you restart the game, it gets even more depressing. Heck, maybe that's the entire point of the game. Just like Theodore and Daniel, we want a better future, but when we the player try to break the rules of the game, in a way we make it even worse. While depressing, I think it's quite poetic if you see it in that perspective.
In the end I believe that this is my conclusion to the question "Is there more?" Spoiler There is more, but like they implied, the rest is in thought. Unable to come to terms with the two endings, unable to ever know for sure that there isn't something we can do to change it, we are haunted with the leftover emotions of one of the most immersive games that we've probably seen in some time. That lingering feeling that we could have done something different to prevent an outcome that we cannot quite stomach, that is our true ending. A piece of this game is sticking with us long after it is finished. That is the ultimate victory for a game developer who has poured their soul into this for months. In the end, the watchers always win. Clearly quite an immersive game for me to have actually spent so much time in thought. Well done, Simogo.
Joined and unlurking because I didn't see anyone having my first impressions of the ending, and was hoping someone could show me I'm wrong? Spoiler I'm not entirely convinced that it was Daniel who killed Stina. The only thing she said at the end that I thought could be specifically for Daniel was "I don't love you anymore", but that's still a bit shaky to me. The only explicit thing we see is that before the end of next year, Stina will be killed. DANIEL may have interpreted the vision to the 'you will kill her' end, and so of course he wouldn't put up a fight when it goes to trial/execution when he's implicated in her murder . I'm open for correction, but did want to get that out in case there was even one other person who's as big of a Pollyanna as I am.
Spoiler I suppose that's a theory, but it's most likely that David kills her, not someone else. The knife and Almstein's obsession with him don't point to that.
And you can at least say one thing about Simogo, at least we know how they feel about cheaters, right?
Another un-lurking, just to avoid adding to any conspiracy theories Just a couple of thoughts: Regarding the main character: Spoiler Has anyone wondered who Stina is talking to? Daniel is a miller's apprentice and that's the local mill so he'd have worked there, but Stina says they're from different worlds. Does she mean in social class, or literally? Why would she ask if anyone saw him coming when he worked there? Regarding the final messages: Spoiler What if Stina was telling Lukas that she didn't love him anymore? She's already put him off for a year and she's said she'd fond of our character. Maybe the tragedy is that the watchers allowed Daniel to see her future knowing he'd assume it was directed at him. Remember that he year walked at midnight and she was heading home so the future could be anywhere from that moment on. The issue is that he did say he saw himself kill her... although I suppose the watchers don't actually have to show you your true future. If you break the rules, what's to say anyone else has to play fair? The Grim inscription: Spoiler Theo translates the first and last words on the Grim's headstone on his notepad - they're 'my' and 'close', but in Swedish. That leaves two inbetween. Did we get those yet? I may have missed that, apologies The box: Spoiler I still think this is pretty broken. There's no logical way the box would fit into the story so that Daniel could make use of it. The only way I can see that it wouldn't be redundant is if Daniel saw it and decided he was going to year walk, because he couldn't believe what he read. In a strange way that would make Theo responsible for the whole thing... assuming he left the box unlocked when he dropped it off. I'm sure I had more thoughts, but my brain's a bit melted EDIT: Oh yeah - I meant to ask. Spoiler Who is E.S and why does he seem in the right place to wind up our man theo with information but then step back?
OK, but what are the websites vedtorp.se and almsten.se for? Why was Simogo putting so much effort into them?
It's simple really. It's an important rule of Alternate reality games. Make it feel as real as you can. THe website have additonal detail and more likely some other hints to flesh out the story, but these websites I would say would be used to make this idea seem real. One of the trailers came made it clear that it wanted the players to see this world was really. They made those websites in order to make it feel like Year Walk could take place in a reality. A alternate reality, but there's your answer right there. There may be some secrets hidden, and I'm not saying there isn't. I just think that the websites main purpose is to make this world feel real. But then again, I'm a idiot. What do I know?
That's actually pretty good. Bear with me as I wrestle with it just a little longer? Spoiler Isn't the knife in the box Daniel's though? Why would the Watchers give (through middleman Almstein) Daniel his own knife? Now, in my thinking they could have arranged for Lukas the fiance to get it, as proof of Daniel's guilt. Actually, did the vision have us see Stina dead in the spring or summer or was that just artistic? Because if she was killed the night of the Year Walk, I'm inclined toward my theory (since he'd have to have the knife to kill her, but can't have the knife unless he opens the box in which case he kills himself) but if she was killed later then it's stronger evidence for Daniel killing Stina I think.
Speaking of details...is your username inspired by Simogian lore or just a big coincidence, Church Grim! *gasp* Are you a henchman of Simogo?
Spoiler It can't be Daniel's knife. You see, it's a trick. They put the intials D.S. on the blade, so it must be Daniels. But why would it have a goat head on it? Spoiler Also, I might add, your need to think differently. It is never stated Daniel kills himself. At first we think that Almstein succeded. But if you look at the little details, you see something. Lets say you go to the church in the game and you begin the final puzzle. It is continually stated by the voice(Stina? God? It's very confusing) that you cannot change this future. Spoiler But your right. In the first ending, Daniel may have not killed Stina. This could be considered the orginial timeline. While we don't know, it's doesn't matter to the Watchers, Daniel in the end is punished. But Almstien does something Daniel didn't. He tries to change the past. Almstien wants to defy the rules and surpass the Watchers. While he can't save Daniel, he can save Stina? But there is always a price for year walking. Spoiler Daniel year walked to see if he could be with his love? His punishment? Losing the love of his life and dying for it. The Watchers ironically destroyed his dream. But Almstein wanted to change the past, to defy the rules. His punishment? Instead of changing the past, he enforces the past. In the first timeline, it's ambigious. Daniel has no knife. But when Almstein goes back, he gives Daniel the tool to end Stina. The ambigous facts are gone. He's enforced the will of the Watchers. Spoiler That is the Watchers grand joke. The punishment is ironic and cruel, and depressing. It's an endless cycle. Don't think about it in the terms of time travel, think about in terms of punishment. And once you do, it makes sense.
Nope, like I said, I joined this forum because I loved the game so much. And if any creature in Year Walk would be a henchman, it would be the crow.
Spoiler I think it's implied Daniel killed her during his Year Walk. I think Stina tells you early in the game she's going to Lukas's parents. And in the companion it says she was killed on her way home from Lukas's parents. Daniel never had the guts to kill himself...
