[Games] I N S I D E

INSIDE is a 2.5D puzzle-platformer adventure game. There are no dialogues, no info, only you, who plays as a young boy without face or identity and travels from point A to point B. There is no clear destinction where the boy came from, we only know that his starting point is him stepping out of woods and sliding off the rock, and there is no explanation why he goes to his point of destination before he finally arrives. And with several endings the fate of the boy also becomes unclear, raising several questions like: should he end up where he ended, was he the one who controlled his path or he was the one being controlled?

The starting point of adventure begins in the woods, the boy slides off the rock and travels further seeing vague things in the fog that look like cabins, he also sees the back of the truck with people leaving. These people are obviously vigilant and you can also see and hear guarding dogs that rush to hunt and kill the boy without any mercy, whenever they notice him.

If you're noticed by people, you'll be chased and subdued with a stun gun and presumably taken away. Your only choice is only to run and jump into water to hide. You not resurfacing for some time makes people lose their attention. But when you dive for some weird reason there is a yellow cable between the rocks. That is a Hidden place and a yellow cable leads you to a strange small spheric mechanism from which you can pull out the core and the lights of this mechanism will be extinguished.

Swimming underwater makes you invisible in the eyes of guards and under the vail of thick gray fog you enter a small corn field before you see some presumably abandoned farm. It has living creatures like chicks and pigs, but there are no living people around. There is also another hidden place, under the rooth of the pig den, for this you need to pluck one of the planks and get inside, climbing to the beams and jumping at a small wooden platform. Surprisingly, the pigs around you aren't making any fuss when seeing an intruder, it also is obvious that no people are around since the pigs are so malnourished and thin. Passing this delapitated farm and climbing the fence, passing a huge pool of water from the never-ending rain it's the first real open space that shows a stepe and mountains in the background, what is surprising are bodies of pigs lying around. One of which gets agitated and tries to attack the boy, but when you lead it to the wall it smashes into the wall like a no-brain, then the boy pulls out something that reminds you of a worm, getting rid off it also changed the pig's attitude, it instantly becomes docile. You use it to reach a helmet that hangs on a cable, but you're too small to reach it.

Using the helmet makes the dormant people in the background move and they do all the moves you make them do, helping you to move the support that make the boards collaps, but the moment you disconnect from the helmet, people enter the dormant state again, being unmoving and forgotten in this place. They won't be last puppet people you will meet on your way that will follow you whenever you wear the helmet. Moving further you see a truck that load people, they do move, but have this robotic and puppet feeling like previous people, this is their only difference. They are also dressed in an office attire, making them look like a cannond fodder office workers, an unedning free labour that never talks and never asks questions, always resolutely and blindly following. Are they same puppets or people who just gave up under the iron watch of the armed guards is also unknown. But what is evident is their obedience and almost always bowing posture.

The boy follows his path to half-built empty warehouses that have strange cages of unknown use on the background, smashing the planks on the floow with a safe he can now jump down again seeing a yellow cable and another machine in a hidden place on his way. There is again a helmet and puppet people for your use to solve the puzzle and open the door to move up and from the roof you can see the familiar trucks and guards and also people marchin in unison. The buildings you pass through look half-destroyed, some look like they were office building in the past, some may be living quarters, but everything looks abandoned. Only endless marching of puppet office workers keep resounding on a big road. The boy moves to a building that has nothing but several robots and few bodies dressed in an office attire, but unfortunately to move up you have to turn the switch on, which also turns the robots on and if you enter the beam of light you are caught by them and they stun you. Passing the next location the boy is unfortunate to step on a rotten board and he falls down ending in a row of puppet people who march, because of your abnormality the camera moves to follow you, but if you move like everyone else it won't ring the alarm. This is one of the sections where you see not only guards, but other types of workers, they also wear same black office clothes and surprisingly have children among them, few take notes ahile looking at the marching people. Only at the end of the line where guards who don't mind you, the dogs who are more keen to emotions feel your fear and your staggering breathe and start to chase you. Your only choice is to make a dangerous jump and trick the dog to stay alive. Once again you have a chance to connect to the helmet that controls a puppet on rails. But when you move further you see that above rails is another helmet and you make the puppet under your control to connect to it, which with a change of music wakes another puppet human from the box. You use this chain control to move to the next place. And with the latch open you jump into the water. This is the first place that has water and more than that it has controls to fill the sections with the water or on the contrary - release it. You pass this abandoned experimental area and being on the rooftop can see in the distance a railway, one is has opened carriages that carry the countless number of puppet people.

And again you encounter robots that use a light to detect any moving living object, but also you see pretty familiar cage, now filled with several puppet people. The cage is not closed, but they don't move away from the cage. Going down you enter a huge underground place that has many abandoned train cars and also several mad dogs. The only thing you can do now that dogs detected you is run and use your witts, because if dogs catch up it's an instant death. Blocking their path and leaving dogs behind you move on, seeing one lit room among the darkness of half delapitated buildings and water. It is unknown how this water came to be. To get a glimpse of the answer you enter a small submarine and travel underwater, but what seems to be the end is just a hole covered by wooden planks, breaking them you enter a huge space that feels never-ending.

You feel absolutely insignificant in this vast space. Swimming further you see an entrance with a mark '2' on the road and everything around you feels like a tilted building of unimaginable sizes. Countless gates, countless sections, countless stairs, countless offices and premises you pass through, before see something lurking in the water.

When your light light on it you see something that looks like a child with a really long hair, but it is afraid of light, most certainly it spent so much time in this underwater darkness that any light hurts its' eyes, but this child that can freely breath underwater will forcefully break your submarine and pull you out making you drown from the lack of oxygen, but maybe it is just too lonely in this darkness and doesn't want to be alone anymore. Only with the help of light you can pass and outsmart the underwater child taking your chance to escape and blocking its' path. You finally see a shore and leave the submarine seeing a tall black wall in front of you. It's thick and when you try to enter you actually fall down. Surrounding you are half-destroyed mines, the rails are half-swallowed by sand, it has several levels and in front of the upper one there is a switch that shows number 19, if you enter the platform the number changes, so you have to have 19 people on the platform. All you have to do is collect them, for which on the lower leve there is a controlling helmet you acquire, but unlike previously, it disconnects from the cable yet continues to work. When you wear it, all puppet people who were standing without moving in miners work clothes start to crowd around you and help you in places you can't reach. Going around all three levels which show unimaginable size of those mines you collect all puppet people to move forward.

Standing in front of the gate the obvious vibrations hit the walls, but when the gate opens you can finally feel the shock waves, first ones smash your helmet off, next you take cover otherwise the shock wave will smash you into minced meat. Only cover of hard metal and rock can protect you. The shocks waves are never-ending, you can see the places it is originating from. At this point the music intensifies indicating danger and you have to use everything around you to pass this section, also passing a room with test objects that were destraoyed by the shock wave. Reaching the end of this section the music become more serene as you finally escape. 

Later you enter the underwater section, a laboratory that definitely studied the children that could swim underwater without air supply, like sirens. The siren can instantly indicate you underwater, but loses your trail when you exit it. The space taken for these labs is gigantic.

And when you think you outsmarted the siren not to become its' playmate, there is again a creeping music and in the next pool of water the siren find you again, indicating that it knows fully well all the areas that are opened to it. You have to direct the siren to have time and escape it. And when you think you finally succeeded you have an accident and fall into water and the siren takes this moment to grab you and drag into deeper waters. You think her actions are malicious, because the boy definitely drowns, but moving lower the siren takes the cabel that usually is connected to control helmets and plugs it into the boy.

The boy drowns deeper and deeper before reaching the bed of this sea and suddenly wakes up, being able to also breath and swim underwater. The boy again enters a ginarmous space filled with water, with huge constructions fully drowned, it is obvious that these areas was once inhabitated and served as some sort of research institute, there is also a number '3' on the floor. The boy enters another are through scavanging system. The constructions aound him are huge, but what is more importantly are working. Here boy enters something that is like a lab, but what is different is that the water is above him, not complying with any law of gravity.

There are also people in the water, all connected to helmets, but having their bodies parasitized by worms. The boy has to open a huge hatch inside the water to get out of this place. 

This is not the last place where the water doesn't comply with the law of gravity and can be manipulated and used to cross the areas, but it also gives you the idea why the many areas are underwater. You also free another crowd of puppet people who, feeling the boy's presence, follow after him and huddle around him. With their help you enter a new area that seems to be a core area at the moment. It is fully operating, there are working places, thought ampty, you can see that there is a phone receiver not being hung up as if someone rushed somewhere.

It is hard to tell what time of the day it is, it feels like this area is under the ground. Passing through you see number '4' printed on the wall and the path. There are also see-through boxes with obvious experiemnts being held, but no viewers in sight. All viewers are actually standing in front of a huge reservoir, what is inside is unknown to you right now, some people notice the boy who is so out of place, but they do nothing.

As if leaving you to yourself to act however you want. The boy goes around and finally enters the reservoir finding a huge blob-like creature - the Huddle - which is made of humanoid limbs. But if you swim to the window where you can see researchers someone will point at the Huddle behind you, pointing that you should go there. Disconnecting the Huddle the boy is sucked in inside of it and becomes its' part and escapes the reservoir. This is the only place where you need to move backwards to proceed. Previous mines had several layers to explore, but it only had one door that led you to exit. Here, the Huddle goes back to fall through the elevator shaft and fall exactly at a place that looked like a diorama. What is surprising, this diorama is surrounded by people, as if they were waiting for your arrival, knowing that this is the only place you can go to. They all watch rather closely, exclaiming but not running away, some even accidently get under Huddle's many feet.

You run through the institute with many people either watching or following you, they are afraid of being crushed by the Huddle, but if looking closer they do help the Huddle to move forward (like the person who helps the Huddle to open the door, one opens the hatch). It gives you the idea that you're led on your way. Or you're controlled on your way and people just see the results of their experiment. Because when you enter a large auditorium you can see the single spotlight on a device, but below it is an obvious way down, a hatch.

The vague silhouettes when the Huddle falls down come forwards and you can see clearly that the circle of silhouettes before were people obviously waiting for the Huddle in this large area. The hatch is closed above, leaving no way out but only to swim in the dark and look for the way out.

The Huddle follows the light and resurfaces, seeing the wooden enclosure, breaking through it the Huddle suddenly falls down and rolls down the cliff before it stops in the single spot of light among the withered yellow grass.

Alternative Ending: Can be triggered if you find all the hidden places that are indicated by yellow cables and de-activate all the spheres you can then enter a final hidden place with a bigger sphere, this hidden place surprisingly is right next to the reservoir with the Huddle. Sphere's hatch only opens after de-actiovation of all sphere devices. And on the board in the background only one light is left, this is one of the hidden places that had a lever you could have not opened without a correct combination.

The secret hatch in the corn field right at the beginning of the game has a spheric device on the left and a closed hatch on the right. In this underground like place there is a helmet with an empty chair in the background in front of many screens and on the right wall there is a huge cable, that if unplugged completely turns off the energy and all lights disappear. You can see how the boy kneels down on the ground, unmoving.

To me it never mattered that the game itself has quite easy to solve puzzles. What builds INSIDE into unique experience is the atmosphere of the game itself, supported by incredible music and a story opened to interpretation, giving birth to many theories.

Because in the end, you as a player might sit and think - who is controlling who in the end? And only playing it twice can give you this idea. Because the first time, you go the obvious way and the boy is absorbed by the Huddle, but the second time you open the hidden sphere and you can get rid off control by unplugging the cable. There is also a theory that many gamers support - is that the boy is controlled by a player. My personal theory coincides with it, but it sounds more like - the boy is controlled from above, because he is given a choice, either to become the Huddle or disconnect the sphere, because someone left the sphere out there.

World of INSIDE from given elements:

• AREAS. The size of the town, institutes and experimental area is unimaginable. It is hard to say is the city was built underwater to later have so many areas drowned or the water was channeled in. But what makes me believe that these areas are still divided comes from this type of thinking. On the way you see distinct numbers like 2, 3 and 4. I haven't seen indication of Area 1, but it makes me believe that no one expected for Areas 2, 3 and 4 to ever appear. The Areas are also separated by their certain experimental directions. It is also possible that Areas 2, 3 and 4 were built simultaneously with how close and interconnected they are with Area 4 being the core we try to reach. The forest the boy goes through gives you an idea that it is used by the main organization or research institute, so the reach of them is far and wide, all of the farms look abandoned and the city we enter feels like it went through some type of major event. Most of the city is obviously built above and below the sea level and feels very strange with many underground houses that were once living quarters. The second Area is the most destroyed one, although the world is 2,5D and the angle shifts, but the obvious tilt makes you think of some serious catasptrophe that happaned and made such a huge structure tilt. When one reaches the final stage it also feels unrealistic and artificially created with how the wooden boards built look like a stage decorations, just large in sizes. Plus the diorama that the Huddle passes by identically reflects where the Huddle ends up.
• HUMAN / EXPERIMENTS. Throughout the game you realize there's at least several human experiements going on. It is unknown what came first, but it feels right to say that the results of the previous ones were carried out to the next one. 1) Worms. This is an actual reference to Inside's predecessor, Limbo, it also had these controlling type of worms. We see them implanted into pigs, but later when your reach the puppets in the water area you can see that some are implanted with those too; 2) Sirens/mermaids. They appear several times. One that follows the submarine and the other follows you underwater. One mermaid is shown to be still connected with the cord floating alone in the long abandoned area, only reacting when the boy comes around. The mermaid experiment turned out a success, presumably, but maybe not really used, yet if the mermaid was controlled and was given the task to implant the boy with the cord, then it explains a lot; 3) Humanoid puppets, unlike humans, that do appear in the game, humanoid puppets don't really feel any pain or any emotions, they can easily be torn apart. This experiment is the most successful, since countless numbers of those puppets are used as free labour and also numerous transparent boxes show experiments being help on them; 4) Mind control. It is obvious that there can be a mind control via the helmet as well as a chain control of host - puppet - puppet; 5) The Huddle. It differs from the rest of the humanoid puppets in size. The reason why the Huddle was create is unknown, one of the theories is to intensify its' controlling power and call for the boy from far away. There are also traces of other experiments, but the most the institute is interested in is the Huddle with obvious lead and control; 6) Shock wave. The poligon for the shock wave is an are that follows the mines, but throughout the next areas you can also see the special covers that are used there; 7) Gravity. The water that is on the ceiling and defies all laws of gravity.
• BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU. This theme is pretty obvious. In some point in time the research and military took over any other form of living. The research is the core of it all, deeply connected to the military. The population of real people feels scarce in comparison to humanoid puppets. Maybe that was the reason for their creation in the first place, but it made a turn on its' way. But despite that the cameras on the walls, detecting cameras, robots, they all work for one purpose only, detect the anomaly, which makes this world absolutely tyrannical. Even the whole interpretation of the ending can have this notion attached to it.

Playing this game several times throughout years, I was immersed in its' incredible world and atmosphere each time. The vastness of the world, the openness to interpretation of its' elements made it one of the best games for me. I can never get enought of its' ambience.

RATE: 10/10