Inside - Story Explanation and Analysis

These are just some of my thoughts on what was happening throughout the course of this great game. If you have any dissent or extra thoughts to offer along with my analysis, please leave them in the comment section below!

[sprocket]

If the diorama at the end implies that the final resting place of the meatball is actually another manufactured part of the facility, then is it possible that the rest of the outdoors segments at the beginning of the game were in a similar setting? That would mean that every part of the game takes place in the facility.

In other words: Inside.

[pokemongo-uprq]

What do you mean there's no dialogue? The Dogs clearly say "Bark Bark Bark!" several times.

[TheParanormalist]

Inside, Limbo and Little Nightmares are excellent games because of the silence and no dialogue. You mind creates the story and you imagine what the story is.

[SaltedMC]

what's more mindblowing is that someone created this game....

[Brindlebrother]

This has been said in the comments, but I do love the idea that the game breaks the fourth wall, in that you are in fact the one controlling the boy. At the same time, the developers have created the game for you, the player.



The blob represents the path most players will take. You, like the majority of players, will collectively reach the blob ending. The blob is all the players and you doing the same thing. The developers knew this. The diorama shows that they planned this. The group of people standing in the background as that box is dangled in front of you, again, represents the developers knowing what most players would do.



When you roll down the hill at the end, most players might think they are free, but you're still "inside" the game. Most players will think the light is the sun shining through the clouds, but others will realize that it's a spotlight because the whole ending is manufactured.



To "beat" the game, so to speak, is to go out of your way to find all the orbs and disconnect from the game. Beating the system.



So I think it's cool to speculate as to the in-game story, but I think it's really just an allegory meant to connect you, the player, and the game itself. Of course there's a lot of interpretation, but that's what makes it great!

[bravebooce]

hold on let me pick the pieces of MY FUCKING MIND off the floor.

[NamaJeff]

I find it quite interesting the the mermaid characters instead of trying to snap your neck to kill you, they just start dragging you down further under water. Its kind of like they are trying to show you something.

[elipter]

I can understand the logic behind most of this, but I have a different theory about the alternate ending. I believe that Playdead were hinting at the fact that even though it may feel like the boy is trying to escape from being controlled and being part of a twisted society, no matter how hard he tries he will still always be under the control of someone; the player. The boy, if you think about it, doesn't have any free will throughout this whole story. He is always being controlled by you, the player. Playdead did a fantastic job on this, so much is left up to us and our interpretation of the game.

[LightingInvoker]

I also like how at first we're all relieved the meatball makes it outside in his final resting place, but when you think about the journey you went on, the boy has been consistently going deeper and deeper underground since he got in the submarine. You're not actually outside, you're just in a fabricated area meant to trick you into thinking you were.

[LeisdogOP]

OK, I think you play as the meatball the entire time. In the game they show that a drone that is controlled can use the mind control helmets like a chain of command. The boy is a drone the entire time and the meatball is controlling it. It is using you like you use the drones: to escape. The alternate ending supports this because he unplugs the entire system that has been there throughout the game and he is left lifeless, much like the other drones without the mind control thingies.

[ThatShyGuyMatt]

I seen alot of theories but came up with one thats easy and doesn't really have any flaws (given what we know).

Near the end when the blob crashes through the elevator shaft he lands in a "display" type glass room. In it is the end scene. A mountain side, the light shining and even a tiny blob where you would end up. Keeping that in mind my belief is while you were controlling the kid to free yourself, you didn't realize the humans (or whatever they are) actually set you up. Look at how they helped you out at the end. And when it ends you roll down into the very same place as that in that display room.

But heres the thing. Notice it seems more like a light then the sun? No real background despite being outside. Just the typical greyish mist. A fake moutain with wood behind it. You are in fact... just in a bigger cage now. The display was a model of your cage. So you did exactly what they hoped you would do and went there thinking you were free. But upon landing you don't bother getting up because you realized it was all for nothing. You escaped one cage only to end up in one bigger that doesn't seem escapable.

About the only flaw that I could think of is in that display you do see a building right off to the right. Not sure if thats what it was or maybe some object in the display case not related to the room you end up in. Either way I think the cage theory is the most plausible.

This of course doesn't explain pretty much everything else like who they are. What you are. How they built what they did. If your on earth and all that.

[John-uwje]

In the secret room in the cornfeild, the picture room with red lighting, you can see the pictures develop over time. Its a nice secret image that will spook you.

Also, i find it weir how the majority if the game, you go down, but escape onto a beach.

[FahdRiyami]

I think we're forgetting something. Someone built that underground bunker, installed that PC there, and intentionally put a trap door in the middle of a cornfield to hide it all. Was it the farmer who only built the farm as a guise. Could the farmer have been an ex-Evil Corp employee who didn't agree with what the company was doing? This would explain the song required to enter the bunker. A song only a long time employee would remember so well.

If you look closely at the mind control computer in the bunker, you'll see a seat. It seems the ex-employee was once the one controlling the boy (or children before him), guiding them through the facility to try and disrupt the experiment and put an end to it.

The farmer was probably captured at some point and thrown into the hive mind, where he guided the boy back to the bunker to unplug the mind control computer,  in the hopes of stopping any further attempts at playing this game and ending the experiment.

[behnamplays]

one good thing about 2020 quarantine is that I discovered this masterpiece after 4 years!

[KarlRock]

Now I feel like I was never even controlling the boy. I was being controlled by the ball. And then the facility.

[zippy]

it's weird the CEO got killed by the meatball. maybe only the scientists were in on the experiment, and chose not to tell their boss?

also, just wanted to point out that before you enter the final out doors scene, the wooden wall you knock down is set up to obviously look like a back drop. reminds me of the Truman show LOL

[johnhowardz]

I don't know if your theory is true or not, but this game gives me all the chills.I love these kinds of games.

[Shaarapollo]

You completely failed to touch upon one of the most fascinating and brutal parts of the facility. The pulsating sound area. Why does no one pay attention to that part of the game it obviously has some meaning.

[JDRos]

The plate that counts 20 drones somehow counts the boy in.

[TheStephenm]

For me the moment that had me highly suspicious that I was actually doing what the people/facility wanted me to, was when all the people gathered around the window, completely ignoring me, even though I was right in front of them, being hardly inconspicious.

Some of there glances at me, even appeared to be that of watching me, as if evaluating my movement, seeing what I was doing. Though, perhaps I imagined it.

Inspires much thought and speculation, indeed.