There are so many grey areas in this. The "Annihilation" ending doesn't really feel like that to me. From what we learn from the Narrator, the world was already doomed from the start, and so was he. The Narrator couldn't accept his own death, so he created this entire scenario to cheat it. The thing is... she's not just Death. She is also Change. Without change, the world becomes stagnant. Also, we don't know if there is anyone else outside of the narrow story the Narrator made. For all we know, it could just be the Hero and the Princess left. Plus, the MC sees her as what he believes her to be, but... every new form she takes is based on what he thinks she is. In (almost) every ending, the idea is pretty clear: the MC and the Princess are locked together, whether in love or suffering, and they can share their mortality, immortality, or the endless loop that binds them together.
I agree. I don't think there's really a "bad" ending here. Releasing the "princess" is basically just returning the world to the way it already functions (i.e. death exists and everything comes to an end eventually, including the inevitable end of the universe).
@@reddragonpressnah, releasing the princess in her godhood is not returning everything to the way it was. It would be like all the death is sped up 100x. You and her leaving in mortal form is to keep everything as it was
@@maaax5092 The creator (the person the Narrator is an echo of) was the one who put her in her mortal form in the first place. The creator disrupted the natural order of things-which is the continual cycle destruction and rebirth of universes. Escaping the construct is simply returning things to the way they were (for better or worse), undoing the creator's meddling.
Can't the protagonist IN theory... Hear me out, bypass everything nand perceive her, see her as a normal person and all, not being able to kill an entire world, dimension or universe so everyone stays alive including the main characters? I guess if that was the case we would not have a game though and would take all of the tragedy and fun of it, idk
@@lucas096br4 I'm still trying to wrap my head around this, but I think it'd only work on the princess, not necessarily the Shifting Mound. That being said, this could theoretically be bypassed simply by perceiving the princess as an entity willing and effortlessly capable of doing that to the Shifting Mound. I mean, if he can change his perception of the princess in the eternal loop ending to be that powerful, he can theoretically just change his perception of her to do other things. The only thing holding him back is his imagination/intelligence/personal desire. Uh, so yea, this is why you usually don't want to give your main character literal god-tier powers -- they tend to break all stakes.
My favorite ending is the Strange Mound leaving. The love ending but with the Shifting Mound having the look of the Stranger. The Stranger is my favorite princess and the fact is the shifting mound takes her look if you play right is just amazing
I don't think the Narrator is given enough credit. "I'm sorry, I have to fight for a better world." To release the Princess is to accept impermenance. Ultimatly we must all accept change and death on some level, but if you do accept these most basic conditions of existence, what is there really to live for? Why not just roll over and die right this instant? If you aspire to improve life in any way, then you are ultimatly trying to resist impermenance. It's not enough to accept death but you must also accept the struggle against death; the struggle for life. So if releasing the Princess is to accept that there really isn't anything fundementally wrong with life as ti is, then the Narrator's point of view is necessarily part of that state of everything beign alright. If you get rid of the impetus to resist impermenance then there's nothing to strive for and you're back in disequilibrium. It's not that the Narraor or the Princess is right or even just right on their own terms. Both are necessary. To clarify: defeating death is bad, but the effort to defeat death is part of life as well.Because ti's the interplay of struggling to survive and the inevitability of failure that constituites existence.
@@Ahmed_ElSayed01Death does not grant life meaning nor appreciation. When we eat an apple, does the fact it will one day rot and decay make it sweeter? If it never decayed, if it lasted eternally, would you enjoy its taste less? But this misses the inherent point. Death isn’t something that exists as apart of life. It’s something that exists against life. When you die, it is not a variation, it is not a change, not from your perspective. From your viewpoint, you as the living person, it is the end of change. All change, all variation, all reality. It all falls away. Because there is no longer a “You” to experience, no one to see change. That’s why the narrator despises the princess, they’re the end of that perspective, their perspective, and the experiences and thoughts and life of everyone else. The narrator had to fight against heat death, no amount of biological extension or otherwise would aid the salvation of his world. You can’t use change to prevent change, and when it involves the end of you, it’s unacceptable. The existence of permanent stagnation was thereby preferable, especially as that stagnation contains near endless variety, not purely endless, that would involve death. The narrator says as such. It’s an easy concept to accept til you realise you cannot be the one to benefit from it. No one can. Not forever.
I fundamentally disagree. Permanence is death. Life is a search of something new, a creation, a growth. The only way change is impossible is in death. What done is done No fixing or changing it. Narrator is wrong. His idea of "good ending" is challenged and shuttered, since mortals are hard wired fight permanence.
@@Lendarry Permanence is not fully life nor death, but all of us seek permanence. You do not want to die. Neither do i. We do not accept the impermanence of our lives, we want to live, we use medicine, we eat food, we fight against our impermanence because our death is inherently bad to us. We fight to change impermanence. The narrator didnt perfectly split the 2 as he says, he made the split rough, a small fraction of change lies in permanence and likewise a small permanence in change. As such, killing the princess would prevent immense change, such as death, but would still allow for such things as changes of mood and feeling and action and movement. Think about being someone in the narrators world, sure, by killing the princess you eliminate all major change, but you will live forever, and based upon the narrators description of the world will do so quite happily. If the princess lives, sure change lives on, but you nor no one else will remain alive to exist in it. If the princess dies, you will be alive and happily forever, for eternity. Its death or an eternity of feeling (which, when totaled out, is positive feeling overall despite sadness still existing).
Intrusive thoughts also works you know... especially if they're outside. Just one moment some child thinks of her as a monster because of the dark she will turn into a monster. Or the protag might just cross the thought of her true form and that's it. Everyone would die
He could/ But it doesn't change what she is. She'd try to get out. You can be killed violently or you can be killed softly, but the outcome is the same.
@@sebastienbusque2312 Yeah, that's a big miss with this game for me. There was a huge opportunity for your set of five vessels to shape the ending in profound ways, but they just... don't.
interesting thing about the 0 vessel ending; the achievements for each trip back to the feelers are named after the stages if grief, denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. and what the feelers talk to you about also seems to reflect those notions somewhat
Wow! When I saw people play this game, I only saw two endings. One where you chose to slay the princess or go with her as all powerful beings. This is the first time I saw someone just drop the knife and leave the cabin with her. This game is truly amazing.
I feel like this game is a lovecraftian metaphor for love. True love, not the fake love you see in movies. True love means you are both imperfect people and you are both going to hurt each other but you still love each other despite all of that and you still choose to stay together. That is true love. Humans are not perfect so it's impossible to have a perfect relationship. It's impossible to live your life without hurting someone you love. Sometimes you do it on purpose, sometimes on accident, sometimes out of sheer thoughtlessness. But hurting them is inevitable, as is them hurting you. But true love isn't conditional. I really like this story where it's actual real true love between a princess and a hero not like fake love. Great writing. I think that's why this game is so beloved. I hope the Creator makes another game
love ending is the best. literally "just me and you and nothing else", no more loops no more complicated choice just let's be together forever couldn't get any simpler
@@en2336, it's not really unrealistic in itself because love is really the thing that keeps us going in life and fulfills us, it's which makes us resist and be stronger, what pushes us forward, it's what makes us feel "full", whole, that kind of thinking and the lack of love and compassion in life is what makes us suffer so much, love indeed conquers all, to conquer all doesn't mean to necessarily win or overcome something in the sense that you and I and any other human may think, it doesn't mean to win everything in the sense of what humans would consider failures but really aren't, you may lose a loved one to an illness (or any other thing like even natural death from old age, it's an example), that doesn't mean that that person has lost the battle against that illness or that you have also lost in your love for that person and in helping them, it doesn't mean that your love for that person was meaningless or that it didn't and won't conquer anything, first of all love doesn't die, it's the most everlasting and purest thing that exists, you'll always love that person and you'll always hold them in your heart, and second to die surrounded by love, by your loved ones, is a blessing, there are people that sadly don't even have that and die alone, it must be terrible to not feel any love from others towards you and feel and be so unloved and utterly alone, to be and feel loved is the best thing that a person could feel and have, it's the greatest of blessings
@@en2336 None of us would be here if it wasn't due to some form of love. Especially us humans, complicated as we are beyond simple animal instinct (though sadly not devoid of it).
i feel like anihilation and love endings are the only two where the protagonist really end happy, maybe not for the world, but for them. the reset ending is the saddest, because its actually the only one where they have a happy part but never an ending.
I always interperted the story on my first run about the "annihilation" endinf just being about keeping the cycle of life and death in order. You cant have true life without death, so the world where you slay her feels the worst
@@noobymooby-ty8gh it is therefore to live as mortals is best to be god is to be a slave to the whims of those so called believers of yours…… might aswell live mortal and happy and truly free
Ya know, when I first heard about this game, I didn't expect the plot to be about to be about a tragic love story of two Lovecraftan gods who are doomed to be in an endless cycle of pain until they figure out how to break it. But I actually really dig it.
For the part of the "Love Ending" around 14:00, when you said that if you don't pick up the knife, she notices it and is surprised about it, in my playthrough it was actually the opposite. When I didn't took the knife, I think I've been so nice with her that she was glad to see me and cared about what would happen to both of us if we try to leave together, wondering if it was alright to just leave like that and love the protagonist without worrying about anything else. When I reloaded and took the knife, on the opposite, she was surprised and became a llitle bit wary to see me with it, still asking for a chat despite everything. And that's where you need to decide between the two other endings. On that part of the game, if I still choose to slay her, she said she understands why I'm doing it, but all the voices I had dormant in me, will always hate me for all eternity because of that. And the last ending you presented should be almost the same for everybody, with probably some slight changes in what she's telling us to get there, so there's not much to tell other than what you've already told us here. In any case, it was a wonderful game, and I hope the Shifting Mound can change and evolve enough to get Her Game all the praises it deserves ^^ !
@@domnulcanieActually to get that ending, you need to be cruel to them and tell each and every one of them that they'll die before heading into the long quiet. Basically, after you slay the princess, or more specifically the Shifting Mound's heart, you become the sole god of a universe without change. But once you escape the confides, the voices you gain through the run will return. (If you want all the voices, either go for the razor route or Moment of Clarity)
The princess you meet there is reflection of your first meeting. So you probably were kind on first meeting an OP not. Interestingly enough if your first meeting was contrarian one (strange beginings) then this will be reflected in this ending
6:26 The Shifting Mound being a princess isn't the Narrator's doing even he himself says "I didn't make her a princess but I wove the idea of her into something your scattered mind could fathom. You chose for that something to be a princess" so he seperated stasis and change and it was us who imagined her to be a princess just fyi
I view the Protagonist and the Princess as Uncertainty and Death respectively. Living is essentially a philosophy of reducing risks taken to ensure a longer life span and depending on how things go, in theory, even death itself isn't certain depending on how one views death itself. Because of the Power of Uncertainty, patterned off what sounds like someone who's remarkably human, death can be a looming, hulking, titan or cold and merciless, possibly savage depending on the manner of death, or possibly soft, gentle, and inviting, and all of this reflected by how violently the Protagonist struggles against her. The Narrator and the Prison I would combine into the fallacies of both sides of Predestination and Morality, where all roads, even good ones, lead to possible horrible options being taken because of options withheld or discouraged. Some options feel withheld based on past experiences, an indication that you can't change your perceptions about a problem even if you intend to change your ways, as the lens of Bias is always dogging you. I'm probably really overthinking it tho
The Shifting Mound represents change, thus death is part of her nature, and so is birth, pain, healing, innovation, and so many other things, hence shifting. The Long Quiet represents stagnation, which is why every encounter with it is blankness and...quiet. They are two parts of one whole, one god split in two and pitted against each other.
Wow, what a game! I just finished the game and I got the 'Love ending', which I'm personally happy with. I did see in your video different iterations of the princess, so I'm wondering how many types of princesses there are.
I can say that I also had the Love ending on my first play through but it was with the goddess form which after seeing this video intrigues me what different steps I took to get there
So for me "Forget Ending" proves, that Narrator is another of the voices. If we assume Narrator is another one of the voices with the similar power we can now understand why we can't set the Princess free in 1st chapters. We have only to voices who want completely opposing things and as we believe Narrator is much more powerful than he is similar to how our thoughts affect Princess they affect him. In the 2nds and 3rds chapter we are getting leverage over him 2 or 3 against 1 narrator. He is overvoted and we can control the world even tho he opposes it, which let us set the Princess free. If we decide to slay her anyway it's completely our action he can't force it anymore. That's my theory
He doesn't qualify as one of YOUR 'voices' because he can't remember loops and he was made in a different way, but he's still A voice in your head - and in chapter 1, you're at your most malleable, and him describing something to you is enough to make it happen without some of your own voices to drown him out, because he knows that your perception creates reality and you don't.
I thought the Annihilation Ending was a good ending. A world without death or change isn’t a world where new life, growth, or creativity can exist. My interpretation was that the Narrator was scared of death so he locked us and the Princess in a pocket dimension. It was just us, the Princess and the eco of the Narrator there. If we kill her and keep her dead, then death and suffering die in the universe outside the bubble. However, that also kills any form of change, both good and bad. If the Narrator had succeeded in his plan, it would have been the true death of the world because he would have robbed it of any way to change. Yes, us leaving together at the end does mean the universe will end eventually but not necessarily immediately and it means the people in that universe get to actually live first, rather than being a static unending frozen moment where nothing changes. Together with the Princess, we are a compost heap; dead things truing into the fertiliser of new growth and new life.
The hero represents the opposite of change. He is "The Long Quiet" where nothing happenes. They are Yin and Yang. Also, the final form of the princess seems to be that of Vishnu.
It's not just simple plain death, it's oblivion. In the way I interpreted it, if the princess got out, all the stars, all the matter, would decay, everything will cease to exist and nothingness would come. Im not sure if im right but I remember hearing something like that.
@@jp-teichon9154no. Its explicitly stated that if the Shifting Mound gets out the cycle continues. The universe that was close to death dies as it was going to and a new one will be born. Eventually it will die and another one will be born and so on. She isnt just death, she contains death but death was a thing before the creator trief to trap and destroy it.
I think you got some of the concepts wrong here. You mentioned the Shifting Mound is death itself, and would wreak unspeakable destruction to any world she would go to, cause it's in her very nature, but she's a concept more than a godly being. She's not the concept of death, she's the concept of CHANGE. Death is contained within that concept, as is life and every other thing in the universe. So in truth, she would absolutely bring death and decay to the universe, but that is just part of the package deal that comes with change. Think about it: A universe fully devoid of change would cease to exist. Every single thing we do, every thing that happens or even doesn't happen needs some sort of change, even if in a subatomic level: Sight? Needs light to travel to places and bounce around and into our pupils, and that's change. Walking? Needs muscle tissue to contract, and that implies in a shit ton of biological transformations, and transformation is change. Any biology really, is obviously requiring constant and uninterrupted change to exist. Love, Hate, Any emotion? Even ignoring the fact that there wouldn't even be a 'you' to feel, it wouldn't be possible anyway since it also required the ability to perceive, grow and cultivate a relationship, which absolutely involves change. Wind? Air moving around, and movement implies change. The very passage of time? Even time being also a concept, it would be completely irrelevant, not only cause there would be no one to count it, but there's also no change to anything, so the passage of time wouldn't even make sense. It's pretty clear to me that the true end of the world is achieved not by letting the Shifting Mound free, but by keeping it away from the universe. The protagonist Long Quiet was said to be made from the same "materials" as the Shifting Mound, and conceptually they are similar. If she's Change and Transformation, the opposite of the same spectrum would be Stagnation and Constant. Which is why the Long Dark (constant) captures the Shifting Mound (change) with a repeating looping of different realities with the same constants: cabin, pristine blade, path in the woods. If things are the same, she's properly captured within the Long Quiet. If things start to change, her 'influence' spreads, and the scenery and chapters change.
I teared up at the end. That last ending was so sad. Question though. Are you planning on showing all of the possible routes to get to the endings? If not that's fine, I was just curious! Love your videos!
I haven't played the game but I've watched a bunch of different people play it. Here's what I gathered: The princess is not Death, but change incarnate. And the player is another part of her, twisted by the narrator into a puppet for his will. This is why she loves him, they're practically cosmic Adam and Eve. Even if the maker was malicious, the protagonist is made for her and from her. This is also why the Narrator is dispelled by the protagonist achieving godhood-- the narrator is an echo frozen in time, and either the player or princess achieving godhood will force him to accept change and reach his natural end. The narrator's influence is why we have the avian form-- when you eventually find the Echo in its last moments, it's a black bird-like creature. As we break our confines, the form breaks down and we achieve our true self. Most of the endings have the same meaning as the video. But the Annihilation ending doesn't really have the negative connotation (the only thing the princess brings death to is things that avoid death by denying change), and the Love ending is more of a weird compromise between the initial goal of the now-dead Narrator and the protagonist. We turn both the shifting mound and ourselves into powerless shards of godhood like we were in the beginning, and cast those shards into a new cabin outside of the scenario. I guess it's happy in that both of them live, but both the player and the princess are spiritually maimed for the rest of their now-seemingly-mortal lives. It's like if the overt happiness of the leave-as-gods ending is replaced with unanswered questions.
The hero is the absence of change, the Long Quiet. They are Yin and Yang. Also, the princess takes the forms of Vishnu, Shiva, and Brahma from Hinduism.
I like how you can say to her final form that you wont be the part of this violence and for every next vessel you get an additional option, the one that calls each of them out by pure logic and arguments, it feels like it must lead to another ending where you convince her to something, sadly there is nothing after that
@@mochiandturtles5642She's not arrogant though. Words are difficult for her. The only part of her that's arrogant is the Tower. Plus she has a part of us inside her that wants everything to carry on as it did.
They've changed it so the "I won't engage with violence" and every subsequent one is labelled with "Reject her perspective". They also added ones labelled "Appeal to your shared humanity", "Reject her authority" and "Argue your independence", while all options for the vessels themselves are placed in an "address this vessel directly" tab.
Yeah, I see what you mean. I don't think the good ending is meant to be a good ending though. Since to get it you have to follow what you are told and just slay the princess and then just agree to stay. Just following the narrative. It's when you go against that narrative that we get more insight.
I feel like the only truely neutral ending is the one where you continue the loop Good, bad, or somewhere in between, the other endings are actually endings This one is just moving forward, waiting for something to shift us to a different end
I think Annihilation is my favorite ending because there is basic truth in it: the theoretical worlds that knew no life and no suffering will now get to experience both and now 'are', and that is the fundamental truth of creation itself. Simply not existing to avoid either one is meaningless.
I'm probably biased because of my own philosophical dilemmas, but I think the plot is a reflection of the author's attempt to reconcile the problem of eternal existence that is probably the case for this reality that we inhabit. In order to not go insane with this idea there needs to be either a loop of forgetfulness & experiences (the ending where they keep resetting), or some sort of system in place that keeps adapting and providing unique experiences to take the mind off the fact that all of this is just unexplainable, perpetual madness (princess & hero go out towards the infinity together).
You’re right. We are the protagonist. We are on an adventure with the princess for all eternity. We choose not to know what we are right now. We will remember one day but we are having fun right now with the uncertainty and surprise that this life gives us.
Just leaving this here just in case people haven’t seen it, but on my first play through I got the love ending but it wasn’t the princess shown here, mine was with the goddess form. Ik in the dialogue she and I were excited for the unknown but don’t recall the whole thing. Idk if others have had endings as such so figured I’d comment my experience here!
actually upon looking at other videos it may be the “leave” ending. ik I could have chose to say ily but with how she and i interacted entering the unknown felt more appropriate
maybe the princess is time and the narrator/character is matter. I could bevwrong but I thought before the big bang all of the matter in the universe existed as a small point, it had to before the big bang right? not much of an existence, but still technically possible
Something like that, yes. Depending on the specifics, outside of the construct might essentially just be a frozen multiverse where nobody is dying but also nobody is living.
Funny how I can't find the endings anywhere as even after watching the part 1, I see some parts or aspects of the princess I never saw before. I really wish we could see all of them. Even looking at stuff like for the Tower, it feels like this video show some alternate versions of her.
I did some looking around and there is so many versions of her to run into! I don't know the exact number, but it's quite a bit. Going through the game once only gets you a portion of these, since you only need five vessels. I admit I am hoping for another video that dives into all of them.
@@peachymiku6432 if you manage to find one please link it, i've spent a bit of time on the game but i know i haven't gotten every possible route, and i especially couldnt get that one where you leave with her and she has multiple heads
I got (or chose, rather) the “Slay Ending” a week ago, and ever since then it has critically tested my values on a fundamental level. It’s hard for me to expect anyone to understand why, but it’s been worse trying to grapple with it alone, attempting to justify to other people who don’t need my explanation. A lot of people consider this to be a bad ending. But I chose it because I couldn’t stop thinking about the people the Narrator mentions. People with lives. Passions. Life. It has and has always spoke to me. I was put into a position where I could save the lives of not just millions, but of everyone. Was I really going to choose my fondness for the princess over that simply because I had never seen them? After all, as the Narrator said, we cannot grasp the abject horror of dying. Was I really to subject others to that simple because I couldn’t feel their fear of death myself? And although I understand that many of those people would accept death, I just don’t see the point in it. If I chose the princess and ended the world, then another would show up anyways. Again and again. Knowing that I keep a part of the princess- that things will still change- transforms this dynamic (at least for me). Life can still go on and people will continue to flourish. It’s just that now people get to choose their own endings. Everything will be so much more consequential, because it won’t all be wiped away in the end. I’m sure that death will eventually come for that world I created, too. But I didn’t want to keep making people needlessly suffer over and over when it was unnecessary to their happiness and fulfillment. It’s probably been that way for eternity any way. The cycle of life and death, of worlds of people ending and being reborn anew, is beautiful. But I had to do something. That’s arrogant to say, of course. I can’t be sure that defeating death is worth it to anyone. But to me, it was never about being a God, or about being a Hero. I just wanted to choose people. And for the chance that my choice could be worth it to everybody, I chose to break the cycle over doing nothing. Things needed to change. What a brilliant game. ❤
The correct ending is the Love ending.. with that they get out of the Cabin. and has to actually face all the errrors and potentially the other thems in other realms until they slay the Gods which themselves and free them from the game.
From what the princess explained, If they get out of the cabin they could be alocated to any part of the universe (wich is them), not that they would be stuck in the eternal black void forever, if you look at the windows of the love ending you'll notice you are in a planet with stars above, so no void.
For me, the best ending is when you leave with the princess into reality itself. If you leave the cabin with her, you're denying your natures. It feels anticlimactic. If you slay her, you get trapped in hell. Leaving with her allows you both to fulfill your potentials. Not to say we get to where we are. Life and death, locked in an eternal embrace, everlasting battle.
A game where every character is a literal metaphor for metaphors and everybody arguing about which metaphor they are. They're just metaphors. You fill in the blanks with your... wait for it... perceptions. What a fun story this game packed hahaha
So the whole game is embodiment of Princess as a Death and Hero as a Life.And game describes that theres no Death without Life but also Life which still can exist without Death yet is still incorrect. So for me the annihilation ending seems like the reasonable ending as their awakening and union reflects the world we live in.And love ending reflect actual relations between people which is endless despites and not all of them can be overcomed but if theres still understanding theres a close relations to grow.
I think the princess is literally just death and change. Freeing the princess literally just makes the world normal like how we experience it. Universe are born and eventually dies just like it is irl. She “destroys” universes by her being but it’s not like she just fucking blows shit up.
Killing her is the worst option. Leads to a "happy" completely stagnant world. Bleh. Feelers is choosing to not choose anything, resulting in erasure of individuality and ego. Bad. Forget is neutral. You either run in circles forever or you just delayed making a choice. Annihilation. No. Its just life and death in their eternal dance. neutral-good ending, both understanding what they are... and consciously choosing to accept it. Love. Undeniably the best ending. You chose freedom and uncertainty over your supposed purpose. Tomorrow is a mystery, and that is a good thing. Thanks for reading, internet stranger.
I really like the game's concept and its narrative. I kind of wish we got to learn more about the world beyond the story, given how self contained it is and my affinity to not alter the laws of nature, I preffer any ending where we dont slay the princess, but now i cant decide whether being a god with her is the better choice or not, i kind of like the version where they just exist as mortals as its all the happy romance without the massive death toll... at least for a while!
there an ending where the protagonist accept his godhood but all his voices hates him and kill the protagonist when he's going to embrace a new world without suffering
Yep that was the first one I stumbled upon. Good lesson from that though. Goes to show the promise of apotheosis is a bait for bullcrap. After careful consideration and additional playthroughs I feel that "Love" ending is the best.
She carries death with her and he has to choose to destroy her or keep her. Does this not sound like an allegory for depression and suicidal thoughts. Inside the protagonist's mind, he is struggling with the idea of destruction or living.
Not really, since if you want to constantly reject her, you dissolve into nothingness. She is more like Life, and Death. Changes and chaos, which is the total opposite of Depression. The options to "do nothing" is rare in this world, so it's not an allegory for Depression.
@@Twinklethefox9022 she doesn't really seem to want destruction, just that she is ever changing and so the thought of destruction just means forming something new from the remains. The Princess in her godly form, the Shifting Mound, seems to just have death as a result of how she is, not necessarily what she intends though
There's some support for the idea that the "forget" ending happened before. Each new voice only appears after a death; however, the Hero is there from the beginning. In one route, we learn that a new voice comes after every death.
At Love Ending 12:02 and 17:00 An addition... Hero: Yeah! Up course! You can do everything I can think you can! What if I do you? After some time... Then a new narrator fills up the void... a new presence... Narrator: Their knowledge in each other developed... love... Then they did that again... Narrator: The Beautiful Princess gave birth again after some time... then the cabin expanded into a vast sky... Narrator: And they did that again... and after some time again... then the cabin expanded into a vast land... Narrator: And they did that again... And again... until there's so much beings that roams the vast sky and land of the previously small and cramped cabin... Narrator: And they did it again... until the world has become like our world today... full of creatures existing and dying for they are the sons and daughters of death and existence. Narrator: And to this day... they are doing each other... and producing many living and non-living things... so much days that humans continue on discovering things in this world and beyond... the former home called cabin... The end? Nope... they will do each other for eternity... and will continue to exist and bound to never be alone again... for they are with their childrens. The Hero so much love the Princess for the Princess is from the Hero's concept of beauty and molded her to his liking, every bit of the Princess. And the Princess so much love the Hero because he saved her from nothingness and loneliness for eternity. They will never be apart together again for they are accustomed to loving each other for the rest of their infinite lives. No scenes like this? Kidding! Me: That was pretty good... Wow!!! Nice writing and art!!! I forgot the world now and enamored in their tragic story and love. #IKnewIloveYouBeforeIMetYou 🤔🦥 Slay the Princess is a good experience and story that let you question your very existence in this world. Me: What is your purpose existing? Other people: To selfishly survive. Kill others for food. Love. Make children. Die. Other People's Children: To do the same as our parents. Until the world ends. Me: Why don't we make a paradise that all beings live in peace and expand that to other worlds? I'm sure you want that too? A paradise... Let's start by planting trees that bear fruits and vegetables all over our planet so animals have foods too and they will surely thrive... making sure they won't get extinct? 'Cause their extinction means ours next. Plenty of food over population means our survival is highly sure, right? 🦥🤔 #SlayThePrincess:WithLove #InfiniteEhem #LoveNeverEnds:ding #StoryIsGreat:SurelyNotLinearTragicAndOverwhelmingLoveThatSpansAcrossSpaceTimeAndMemories
I just finally understood the game and about this story. The person that made the construct and the gods had a perspective and belief, his world was at an end and he was afraid that everything he knew and loved would fade into obscurity and become nothing as a new world begins (cycle of life and death) and he didnt accept that so he tore the cycle of life and death roughly and made them into gods, but the tear was rough so both gods had a part of each other and he wanted to get rid of death. Without death, his world and everything else has no end except for his own existence. So he removed "death" and kept "suffering" for the world but he expects the world to be happy and light forever. I dont exactly know how the world is without death and only life because the Long Quiet has a part of the shifting mound and i dont know how that affects the world. Could be forever and infinite suffering, joy, torture, happiness, etc. without change or maybe has change because the long quiet has a part of the shifting mound. But if the long quiet doesnt destroy the shifting mound and exists together to leave the construct, then the world will indeed end but begin a new one. And everything from that world will fade into nothing, no scraps, doesn't matter how great it is, it will eventually end. For me, i believe that the shifting mound has both creation and destruction as part of her being "change" so if she's truly gone then the world will not end but instead become stagnant though i dont know how the part of the shifting mound in the Long Quiet affects the world still.. will it have creation or destruction? How does that small peice of "change" in the long quiet shape the world? From the narrator's perspective, he wanted the world to experience his dream, a world without death and everyone is with their loved ones, a world with only suffering and no end. (He split suffering and death too the narrator said) If it was your choice, would you let the world have no death but have it not change? Seems like a wish for a paradise right? But think it through because it can sound like the complete opposite. Or would you let the cycle of life and death continue, and exist with the love of your life and let go of the uniqueness of that that shaped the world to create a new one? That is what the narrator doesn't want, I think he feels the world too special to be lost and forgotten, he wants it to be forever the same and not die, He won't let go of what he is holding on to but at the expense of new things never coming, think of all the new things we could have but out of reach. Thats the catch to his dream. Did it make sense? This is what I understand from the game.
I don't think the princess is purely the embodiment of death and destruction. I think she is the god of rebirth and change whether it be bad or good, as destruction is merely are perception of change. As a birth of a planet or star is the destruction of their previous states. In my opinion, a universe without the princess would be worse than one with her.
Im not sure if it's already been done but is it fine if you explain "my eyes deceive"? Its not really horror and instead psychological i guess you can call it but i just think itll be nice.
Its a matter of speed and scale. Her existence and freedom does doom everything to destruction in the end. She is the concept of change, with death being just another form of it. She is not death, but its contained in her multitudes. I think there is a huge jump that people assume that because she embodies this concept that everything will instantly die. No, the order of life and death will simply be maintained as I saw it. That which begins must end, and without that ending there is nothing to appreciate. Just like without bad times we can not appreciate the good. In theory her existence dooms all life to death, but it also adds meaning to all things.
It’s love The journey of love Loving someone with all of your heart Defining against all odds just to be with her No matter what happens everything is all right as long you have each other
soo, basically, The protagonist is the consciousness of the gods and the universe, and once he dies, he wakes being everytbhing surrounding him reseted?
I'd sum it up as someone took the concepts of Change (The Shifting Mound) and Constancy (The Long Quiet) from their reality, took a little piece from each and put it in the other, and embodied them into the Princess and the Player, before binding them inside an artificial Construct. That same person then embedded a reflection of themself into the world as the Narrator, in an attempt to get the The Long Quiet to destroy the Shifting Mound so that a world without death can be created. This pulls into philosophical questioning about the intrinsic connection of change and death, and how a world where the inhabitants are truly immortal would likely also be unchanging, or conversely how a finite existence could give meaning to what is within it.
I find it odd how this game treats death like some horrific immoral thing, when in reality, death is the natural order of things and if death doesn’t exist, then life doesn’t have any value. If there is no suffering, then there is no joy. It’s empty, like the player after you slay the princess for the first time to spend all eternity in a boring room. The princess’s survival is crucial for the natural order of things
You are life she is death. You hold the key out of the cabin because death has no purpose without life but the moment you create life, it gives purpose to death once again freeing her out of the cabin. If you decide to kill her, it means you refuse to create life which results in a lifeless void. The narrator is your guilt of the suffering of life, it doesn't want you to kill death, it wants you to stop creating life, as a result ending suffering, which is why it wants you to sit in the cabin for all of eternity. "Good ending" looks silly because it is, you basically sat for eternity in stagnation. "feeler and forget endings" are the same, both of you lose meaning, the cycle is ended and both of you cease to exist. "Annihilation and Love endings" are the same, both of you exit the cabin continuing the cycle of life and death. "slay ending" You try to create a world without life and death, resulting in most likely a lifeless world.
Nope, but I'm here from a guy who is often referred to as Russian Markiplier lol (aka Windy31, they don't really look similar to each other, it's their style of jokes and the atmosphere that are similar)
Annihilation and the love endings are the most sensible (mostly love) , without death you wouldn't have A life, like the idea without light there is no darkness and without darkness there is no light, Death is simply a change in my opinion a transformation from something to another, and without death everything would Rot in a coffin just observing the Abyss that spreads around which is a worst fate than death, not dying whilst everything is transforming. Without dying we would just be left in elden ring style of life, and of course sweetness is nothing without bitterness or nothingness
There is a slight issue that the whole narative is built around the fact that death is bad(not the princess just the phenomenon of death). Or at least that is how I see ais perceived by the audience. Also another person in the comments also mentioned that she is not only Death but also looks a lot like Change. And well what is Existence without Death? Do you really wish to know? Honestly if the world was built in such a way that even the creator of the world had to made some absurd scheme to go around this rules, is it worth slaying the Death? Eh idk, I am not willing to make hours long video talking about life and death, just because it is interesting. Interest doesnt pay.
Such an amazing game! I wish more adventure/VN games would put the effort into having such good voice acting, as the voices sell the emotional states and uncertainty for the player to trust or not to trust the narrator or the princess. It seems like one of the few games where not sure if there is reallly a “good” or “bad” ending, just several shades of grey to each & that there is an ending to all.
The last ending was so bittersweet and Iconic, its a tried and classic but I love it when characters realize they're in a loop and accept it.
Not going to lie, I cried when it came up.
tried and classic does not equate to bad if anything it would not have lasted through the eras if people didn't like them
Reminds me of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Deathloop moment
It’s the epitome of accepting the bad with the good
There are so many grey areas in this. The "Annihilation" ending doesn't really feel like that to me. From what we learn from the Narrator, the world was already doomed from the start, and so was he. The Narrator couldn't accept his own death, so he created this entire scenario to cheat it. The thing is... she's not just Death. She is also Change. Without change, the world becomes stagnant. Also, we don't know if there is anyone else outside of the narrow story the Narrator made. For all we know, it could just be the Hero and the Princess left. Plus, the MC sees her as what he believes her to be, but... every new form she takes is based on what he thinks she is.
In (almost) every ending, the idea is pretty clear: the MC and the Princess are locked together, whether in love or suffering, and they can share their mortality, immortality, or the endless loop that binds them together.
I agree. I don't think there's really a "bad" ending here. Releasing the "princess" is basically just returning the world to the way it already functions (i.e. death exists and everything comes to an end eventually, including the inevitable end of the universe).
@@reddragonpressnah, releasing the princess in her godhood is not returning everything to the way it was. It would be like all the death is sped up 100x. You and her leaving in mortal form is to keep everything as it was
@@maaax5092 The creator (the person the Narrator is an echo of) was the one who put her in her mortal form in the first place. The creator disrupted the natural order of things-which is the continual cycle destruction and rebirth of universes. Escaping the construct is simply returning things to the way they were (for better or worse), undoing the creator's meddling.
Can't the protagonist IN theory... Hear me out, bypass everything nand perceive her, see her as a normal person and all, not being able to kill an entire world, dimension or universe so everyone stays alive including the main characters?
I guess if that was the case we would not have a game though and would take all of the tragedy and fun of it, idk
@@lucas096br4 I'm still trying to wrap my head around this, but I think it'd only work on the princess, not necessarily the Shifting Mound. That being said, this could theoretically be bypassed simply by perceiving the princess as an entity willing and effortlessly capable of doing that to the Shifting Mound. I mean, if he can change his perception of the princess in the eternal loop ending to be that powerful, he can theoretically just change his perception of her to do other things. The only thing holding him back is his imagination/intelligence/personal desire.
Uh, so yea, this is why you usually don't want to give your main character literal god-tier powers -- they tend to break all stakes.
The amount of effort they put into the art is amazing.
I am glad people are giving attention to a game that put in so much effort into it
if you like stories with nice art, check out "Tiny Bunny", has amazing art i think
My favorite ending is the Strange Mound leaving. The love ending but with the Shifting Mound having the look of the Stranger. The Stranger is my favorite princess and the fact is the shifting mound takes her look if you play right is just amazing
I don't think the Narrator is given enough credit.
"I'm sorry, I have to fight for a better world."
To release the Princess is to accept impermenance. Ultimatly we must all accept change and death on some level, but if you do accept these most basic conditions of existence, what is there really to live for? Why not just roll over and die right this instant? If you aspire to improve life in any way, then you are ultimatly trying to resist impermenance. It's not enough to accept death but you must also accept the struggle against death; the struggle for life.
So if releasing the Princess is to accept that there really isn't anything fundementally wrong with life as ti is, then the Narrator's point of view is necessarily part of that state of everything beign alright. If you get rid of the impetus to resist impermenance then there's nothing to strive for and you're back in disequilibrium.
It's not that the Narraor or the Princess is right or even just right on their own terms. Both are necessary.
To clarify: defeating death is bad, but the effort to defeat death is part of life as well.Because ti's the interplay of struggling to survive and the inevitability of failure that constituites existence.
I always get told to "accept death" by doomers and that really does nothing for my mental health. Thank you for this.
@@bungiecrimes7247accepting death to a certain extent makes you appreciate life
@@Ahmed_ElSayed01Death does not grant life meaning nor appreciation. When we eat an apple, does the fact it will one day rot and decay make it sweeter? If it never decayed, if it lasted eternally, would you enjoy its taste less?
But this misses the inherent point.
Death isn’t something that exists as apart of life. It’s something that exists against life. When you die, it is not a variation, it is not a change, not from your perspective. From your viewpoint, you as the living person, it is the end of change. All change, all variation, all reality. It all falls away. Because there is no longer a “You” to experience, no one to see change. That’s why the narrator despises the princess, they’re the end of that perspective, their perspective, and the experiences and thoughts and life of everyone else.
The narrator had to fight against heat death, no amount of biological extension or otherwise would aid the salvation of his world. You can’t use change to prevent change, and when it involves the end of you, it’s unacceptable.
The existence of permanent stagnation was thereby preferable, especially as that stagnation contains near endless variety, not purely endless, that would involve death. The narrator says as such. It’s an easy concept to accept til you realise you cannot be the one to benefit from it. No one can. Not forever.
I fundamentally disagree. Permanence is death. Life is a search of something new, a creation, a growth. The only way change is impossible is in death. What done is done
No fixing or changing it. Narrator is wrong. His idea of "good ending" is challenged and shuttered, since mortals are hard wired fight permanence.
@@Lendarry Permanence is not fully life nor death, but all of us seek permanence.
You do not want to die. Neither do i. We do not accept the impermanence of our lives, we want to live, we use medicine, we eat food, we fight against our impermanence because our death is inherently bad to us. We fight to change impermanence.
The narrator didnt perfectly split the 2 as he says, he made the split rough, a small fraction of change lies in permanence and likewise a small permanence in change.
As such, killing the princess would prevent immense change, such as death, but would still allow for such things as changes of mood and feeling and action and movement.
Think about being someone in the narrators world, sure, by killing the princess you eliminate all major change, but you will live forever, and based upon the narrators description of the world will do so quite happily. If the princess lives, sure change lives on, but you nor no one else will remain alive to exist in it. If the princess dies, you will be alive and happily forever, for eternity. Its death or an eternity of feeling (which, when totaled out, is positive feeling overall despite sadness still existing).
I wonder if he could imagine the princess as a compassionate and merciful entity that keeps her from being evil.
I feel like if you give the Shifting Mound the "better" vessels, she could be. But then again, I doubt it would truly affect the outcome.
Intrusive thoughts also works you know... especially if they're outside. Just one moment some child thinks of her as a monster because of the dark she will turn into a monster. Or the protag might just cross the thought of her true form and that's it. Everyone would die
He could/ But it doesn't change what she is. She'd try to get out.
You can be killed violently or you can be killed softly, but the outcome is the same.
@@amanofnoreputation2164the steam page said the game is a love story
@@sebastienbusque2312 Yeah, that's a big miss with this game for me. There was a huge opportunity for your set of five vessels to shape the ending in profound ways, but they just... don't.
interesting thing about the 0 vessel ending; the achievements for each trip back to the feelers are named after the stages if grief, denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. and what the feelers talk to you about also seems to reflect those notions somewhat
Wow! When I saw people play this game, I only saw two endings. One where you chose to slay the princess or go with her as all powerful beings. This is the first time I saw someone just drop the knife and leave the cabin with her. This game is truly amazing.
Why are you on every new update Slay the Princess video?
@@TryinaDi assume they enjoy the style of the game
@@nothing7666 no, I mean they put the same two comments on every video.
@@TryinaDYeah I feel like I read these comments more than once elsewhere.
@@TryinaD its a bot
You need to toss her the knife in The Witch chapter to unlock maybe the best chapter in the game.
What is the name of the chapter?
Thorn princess
There’s more?!
I feel like this game is a lovecraftian metaphor for love. True love, not the fake love you see in movies. True love means you are both imperfect people and you are both going to hurt each other but you still love each other despite all of that and you still choose to stay together. That is true love. Humans are not perfect so it's impossible to have a perfect relationship. It's impossible to live your life without hurting someone you love. Sometimes you do it on purpose, sometimes on accident, sometimes out of sheer thoughtlessness. But hurting them is inevitable, as is them hurting you. But true love isn't conditional. I really like this story where it's actual real true love between a princess and a hero not like fake love. Great writing. I think that's why this game is so beloved. I hope the Creator makes another game
@@mustafao09008the thorn. Try to get Smitty instead of the other voice, leads to a few unique interactions.
love ending is the best. literally "just me and you and nothing else", no more loops no more complicated choice just let's be together forever couldn't get any simpler
I agree, but these types of "the power of lurve conquers all" endings always feel cheesy and unrealistic
@@en2336 purpose of a game is to escape reality anyways
@@en2336, it's not really unrealistic in itself because love is really the thing that keeps us going in life and fulfills us, it's which makes us resist and be stronger, what pushes us forward, it's what makes us feel "full", whole, that kind of thinking and the lack of love and compassion in life is what makes us suffer so much, love indeed conquers all, to conquer all doesn't mean to necessarily win or overcome something in the sense that you and I and any other human may think, it doesn't mean to win everything in the sense of what humans would consider failures but really aren't, you may lose a loved one to an illness (or any other thing like even natural death from old age, it's an example), that doesn't mean that that person has lost the battle against that illness or that you have also lost in your love for that person and in helping them, it doesn't mean that your love for that person was meaningless or that it didn't and won't conquer anything, first of all love doesn't die, it's the most everlasting and purest thing that exists, you'll always love that person and you'll always hold them in your heart, and second to die surrounded by love, by your loved ones, is a blessing, there are people that sadly don't even have that and die alone, it must be terrible to not feel any love from others towards you and feel and be so unloved and utterly alone, to be and feel loved is the best thing that a person could feel and have, it's the greatest of blessings
@@en2336 None of us would be here if it wasn't due to some form of love. Especially us humans, complicated as we are beyond simple animal instinct (though sadly not devoid of it).
But you lose the voices. By this point i loved the boys more than the princess
i feel like anihilation and love endings are the only two where the protagonist really end happy, maybe not for the world, but for them. the reset ending is the saddest, because its actually the only one where they have a happy part but never an ending.
I always interperted the story on my first run about the "annihilation" endinf just being about keeping the cycle of life and death in order. You cant have true life without death, so the world where you slay her feels the worst
I honestly felt the same way. From what the Narrator said, he died long ago, and the world would inevitably die as well.
Same here, becoming god and continuing the cycle of life and death seems very cool
@@g.c.4824 On the contrary, i think it's overrated.
@@noobymooby-ty8gh it is therefore to live as mortals is best to be god is to be a slave to the whims of those so called believers of yours…… might aswell live mortal and happy and truly free
@@augustuslunasol10thapostlethete is no suggestion at all they need, want or care about believers. Its a thing in some settings but not jete.
Ya know, when I first heard about this game, I didn't expect the plot to be about to be about a tragic love story of two Lovecraftan gods who are doomed to be in an endless cycle of pain until they figure out how to break it. But I actually really dig it.
For the part of the "Love Ending" around 14:00, when you said that if you don't pick up the knife, she notices it and is surprised about it, in my playthrough it was actually the opposite.
When I didn't took the knife, I think I've been so nice with her that she was glad to see me and cared about what would happen to both of us if we try to leave together, wondering if it was alright to just leave like that and love the protagonist without worrying about anything else.
When I reloaded and took the knife, on the opposite, she was surprised and became a llitle bit wary to see me with it, still asking for a chat despite everything. And that's where you need to decide between the two other endings. On that part of the game, if I still choose to slay her, she said she understands why I'm doing it, but all the voices I had dormant in me, will always hate me for all eternity because of that.
And the last ending you presented should be almost the same for everybody, with probably some slight changes in what she's telling us to get there, so there's not much to tell other than what you've already told us here.
In any case, it was a wonderful game, and I hope the Shifting Mound can change and evolve enough to get Her Game all the praises it deserves ^^ !
Thx for this comment. I watched a playthrough and didn't understand the ending where the voices hate you but this explains a lot
@@domnulcanieActually to get that ending, you need to be cruel to them and tell each and every one of them that they'll die before heading into the long quiet.
Basically, after you slay the princess, or more specifically the Shifting Mound's heart, you become the sole god of a universe without change. But once you escape the confides, the voices you gain through the run will return. (If you want all the voices, either go for the razor route or Moment of Clarity)
The princess you meet there is reflection of your first meeting. So you probably were kind on first meeting an OP not.
Interestingly enough if your first meeting was contrarian one (strange beginings) then this will be reflected in this ending
6:26 The Shifting Mound being a princess isn't the Narrator's doing even he himself says "I didn't make her a princess but I wove the idea of her into something your scattered mind could fathom. You chose for that something to be a princess" so he seperated stasis and change and it was us who imagined her to be a princess
just fyi
Yeah, honestly with this video's takes I don't think he was paying much attention to the game at all
Do we know why the protagonist is depicted as a crow person?
@@paledrake it's not mentioned in the game afaik
I view the Protagonist and the Princess as Uncertainty and Death respectively. Living is essentially a philosophy of reducing risks taken to ensure a longer life span and depending on how things go, in theory, even death itself isn't certain depending on how one views death itself. Because of the Power of Uncertainty, patterned off what sounds like someone who's remarkably human, death can be a looming, hulking, titan or cold and merciless, possibly savage depending on the manner of death, or possibly soft, gentle, and inviting, and all of this reflected by how violently the Protagonist struggles against her. The Narrator and the Prison I would combine into the fallacies of both sides of Predestination and Morality, where all roads, even good ones, lead to possible horrible options being taken because of options withheld or discouraged. Some options feel withheld based on past experiences, an indication that you can't change your perceptions about a problem even if you intend to change your ways, as the lens of Bias is always dogging you.
I'm probably really overthinking it tho
The Shifting Mound represents change, thus death is part of her nature, and so is birth, pain, healing, innovation, and so many other things, hence shifting.
The Long Quiet represents stagnation, which is why every encounter with it is blankness and...quiet.
They are two parts of one whole, one god split in two and pitted against each other.
Wow, what a game! I just finished the game and I got the 'Love ending', which I'm personally happy with. I did see in your video different iterations of the princess, so I'm wondering how many types of princesses there are.
I can say that I also had the Love ending on my first play through but it was with the goddess form which after seeing this video intrigues me what different steps I took to get there
So for me "Forget Ending" proves, that Narrator is another of the voices.
If we assume Narrator is another one of the voices with the similar power we can now understand why we can't set the Princess free in 1st chapters. We have only to voices who want completely opposing things and as we believe Narrator is much more powerful than he is similar to how our thoughts affect Princess they affect him.
In the 2nds and 3rds chapter we are getting leverage over him 2 or 3 against 1 narrator. He is overvoted and we can control the world even tho he opposes it, which let us set the Princess free. If we decide to slay her anyway it's completely our action he can't force it anymore.
That's my theory
He doesn't qualify as one of YOUR 'voices' because he can't remember loops and he was made in a different way, but he's still A voice in your head - and in chapter 1, you're at your most malleable, and him describing something to you is enough to make it happen without some of your own voices to drown him out, because he knows that your perception creates reality and you don't.
I thought the Annihilation Ending was a good ending. A world without death or change isn’t a world where new life, growth, or creativity can exist.
My interpretation was that the Narrator was scared of death so he locked us and the Princess in a pocket dimension. It was just us, the Princess and the eco of the Narrator there. If we kill her and keep her dead, then death and suffering die in the universe outside the bubble. However, that also kills any form of change, both good and bad.
If the Narrator had succeeded in his plan, it would have been the true death of the world because he would have robbed it of any way to change. Yes, us leaving together at the end does mean the universe will end eventually but not necessarily immediately and it means the people in that universe get to actually live first, rather than being a static unending frozen moment where nothing changes.
Together with the Princess, we are a compost heap; dead things truing into the fertiliser of new growth and new life.
The hero represents the opposite of change. He is "The Long Quiet" where nothing happenes. They are Yin and Yang. Also, the final form of the princess seems to be that of Vishnu.
It's not just simple plain death, it's oblivion. In the way I interpreted it, if the princess got out, all the stars, all the matter, would decay, everything will cease to exist and nothingness would come. Im not sure if im right but I remember hearing something like that.
@@jp-teichon9154no. Its explicitly stated that if the Shifting Mound gets out the cycle continues. The universe that was close to death dies as it was going to and a new one will be born. Eventually it will die and another one will be born and so on.
She isnt just death, she contains death but death was a thing before the creator trief to trap and destroy it.
I think you got some of the concepts wrong here. You mentioned the Shifting Mound is death itself, and would wreak unspeakable destruction to any world she would go to, cause it's in her very nature, but she's a concept more than a godly being. She's not the concept of death, she's the concept of CHANGE. Death is contained within that concept, as is life and every other thing in the universe. So in truth, she would absolutely bring death and decay to the universe, but that is just part of the package deal that comes with change.
Think about it: A universe fully devoid of change would cease to exist. Every single thing we do, every thing that happens or even doesn't happen needs some sort of change, even if in a subatomic level:
Sight? Needs light to travel to places and bounce around and into our pupils, and that's change.
Walking? Needs muscle tissue to contract, and that implies in a shit ton of biological transformations, and transformation is change.
Any biology really, is obviously requiring constant and uninterrupted change to exist.
Love, Hate, Any emotion? Even ignoring the fact that there wouldn't even be a 'you' to feel, it wouldn't be possible anyway since it also required the ability to perceive, grow and cultivate a relationship, which absolutely involves change.
Wind? Air moving around, and movement implies change.
The very passage of time? Even time being also a concept, it would be completely irrelevant, not only cause there would be no one to count it, but there's also no change to anything, so the passage of time wouldn't even make sense.
It's pretty clear to me that the true end of the world is achieved not by letting the Shifting Mound free, but by keeping it away from the universe. The protagonist Long Quiet was said to be made from the same "materials" as the Shifting Mound, and conceptually they are similar. If she's Change and Transformation, the opposite of the same spectrum would be Stagnation and Constant. Which is why the Long Dark (constant) captures the Shifting Mound (change) with a repeating looping of different realities with the same constants: cabin, pristine blade, path in the woods. If things are the same, she's properly captured within the Long Quiet. If things start to change, her 'influence' spreads, and the scenery and chapters change.
I teared up at the end. That last ending was so sad.
Question though. Are you planning on showing all of the possible routes to get to the endings? If not that's fine, I was just curious! Love your videos!
The great part of going into the unknown with your beloved is that you write your own future together!
The fact the only custom princess you can truly rizz up is the stranger and not the thorn or damsel is hilarious to me
Actually you try to rizz the witch wich leads you to being able to kiss thorns
@@BioMatic2 you can rizz the thorns that is true but unlike the thorns you can let the stranger out
@@BioMatic2Or if you try to appeal to your shared pain
I haven't played the game but I've watched a bunch of different people play it. Here's what I gathered:
The princess is not Death, but change incarnate. And the player is another part of her, twisted by the narrator into a puppet for his will. This is why she loves him, they're practically cosmic Adam and Eve. Even if the maker was malicious, the protagonist is made for her and from her. This is also why the Narrator is dispelled by the protagonist achieving godhood-- the narrator is an echo frozen in time, and either the player or princess achieving godhood will force him to accept change and reach his natural end.
The narrator's influence is why we have the avian form-- when you eventually find the Echo in its last moments, it's a black bird-like creature. As we break our confines, the form breaks down and we achieve our true self.
Most of the endings have the same meaning as the video. But the Annihilation ending doesn't really have the negative connotation (the only thing the princess brings death to is things that avoid death by denying change), and the Love ending is more of a weird compromise between the initial goal of the now-dead Narrator and the protagonist. We turn both the shifting mound and ourselves into powerless shards of godhood like we were in the beginning, and cast those shards into a new cabin outside of the scenario. I guess it's happy in that both of them live, but both the player and the princess are spiritually maimed for the rest of their now-seemingly-mortal lives. It's like if the overt happiness of the leave-as-gods ending is replaced with unanswered questions.
The hero is the absence of change, the Long Quiet. They are Yin and Yang. Also, the princess takes the forms of Vishnu, Shiva, and Brahma from Hinduism.
I like how you can say to her final form that you wont be the part of this violence and for every next vessel you get an additional option, the one that calls each of them out by pure logic and arguments, it feels like it must lead to another ending where you convince her to something, sadly there is nothing after that
Right? I thought I could convince her to see a middle road but alas, there's nothing.
So I'll settle on the looping.
Yeah... The Shifting Mound is relentless, firm in her beliefs and divine arrogance.
@@mochiandturtles5642She's not arrogant though. Words are difficult for her. The only part of her that's arrogant is the Tower. Plus she has a part of us inside her that wants everything to carry on as it did.
They've changed it so the "I won't engage with violence" and every subsequent one is labelled with "Reject her perspective". They also added ones labelled "Appeal to your shared humanity", "Reject her authority" and "Argue your independence", while all options for the vessels themselves are placed in an "address this vessel directly" tab.
I think feelers ending is better than good ending, wouldn’t you want to lose consciousness if you had to spend eternity in a void?
Yeah, I see what you mean. I don't think the good ending is meant to be a good ending though. Since to get it you have to follow what you are told and just slay the princess and then just agree to stay. Just following the narrative. It's when you go against that narrative that we get more insight.
I feel like the only truely neutral ending is the one where you continue the loop
Good, bad, or somewhere in between, the other endings are actually endings
This one is just moving forward, waiting for something to shift us to a different end
I wonder if there is a secret ending in this game that would have you to do all the endings before it in a specific order before unlocking it
I wish
I think Annihilation is my favorite ending because there is basic truth in it: the theoretical worlds that knew no life and no suffering will now get to experience both and now 'are', and that is the fundamental truth of creation itself. Simply not existing to avoid either one is meaningless.
I'm probably biased because of my own philosophical dilemmas, but I think the plot is a reflection of the author's attempt to reconcile the problem of eternal existence that is probably the case for this reality that we inhabit. In order to not go insane with this idea there needs to be either a loop of forgetfulness & experiences (the ending where they keep resetting), or some sort of system in place that keeps adapting and providing unique experiences to take the mind off the fact that all of this is just unexplainable, perpetual madness (princess & hero go out towards the infinity together).
You’re right. We are the protagonist. We are on an adventure with the princess for all eternity. We choose not to know what we are right now. We will remember one day but we are having fun right now with the uncertainty and surprise that this life gives us.
Just leaving this here just in case people haven’t seen it, but on my first play through I got the love ending but it wasn’t the princess shown here, mine was with the goddess form. Ik in the dialogue she and I were excited for the unknown but don’t recall the whole thing. Idk if others have had endings as such so figured I’d comment my experience here!
actually upon looking at other videos it may be the “leave” ending. ik I could have chose to say ily but with how she and i interacted entering the unknown felt more appropriate
Honestly, could NEVER even think that the story of it could be THAT complicated
The princess is Time, not Death. Just as the darkness is the absence of light, the hero represents a word without time, where nothing changes.
maybe the princess is time and the narrator/character is matter. I could bevwrong but I thought before the big bang all of the matter in the universe existed as a small point, it had to before the big bang right? not much of an existence, but still technically possible
Oh here we go. “HOW DOES KING CRIMSON WORK YOU CANT ERASE TIME YOU CANT KILL THE PRINCESS!”
Something like that, yes. Depending on the specifics, outside of the construct might essentially just be a frozen multiverse where nobody is dying but also nobody is living.
Time is just a man-made concept to measure change. Ultimately she represents change and with change comes decay and with decay death.
Funny how I can't find the endings anywhere as even after watching the part 1, I see some parts or aspects of the princess I never saw before. I really wish we could see all of them. Even looking at stuff like for the Tower, it feels like this video show some alternate versions of her.
I did some looking around and there is so many versions of her to run into! I don't know the exact number, but it's quite a bit. Going through the game once only gets you a portion of these, since you only need five vessels. I admit I am hoping for another video that dives into all of them.
@@peachymiku6432 if you manage to find one please link it, i've spent a bit of time on the game but i know i haven't gotten every possible route, and i especially couldnt get that one where you leave with her and she has multiple heads
I want this man to explain other games like rouge legacy 2 or some other games with complex stories.
I think you can make a part 3. All the different versions of the Princess.
I got (or chose, rather) the “Slay Ending” a week ago, and ever since then it has critically tested my values on a fundamental level. It’s hard for me to expect anyone to understand why, but it’s been worse trying to grapple with it alone, attempting to justify to other people who don’t need my explanation.
A lot of people consider this to be a bad ending. But I chose it because I couldn’t stop thinking about the people the Narrator mentions. People with lives. Passions. Life. It has and has always spoke to me.
I was put into a position where I could save the lives of not just millions, but of everyone. Was I really going to choose my fondness for the princess over that simply because I had never seen them? After all, as the Narrator said, we cannot grasp the abject horror of dying. Was I really to subject others to that simple because I couldn’t feel their fear of death myself?
And although I understand that many of those people would accept death, I just don’t see the point in it. If I chose the princess and ended the world, then another would show up anyways. Again and again.
Knowing that I keep a part of the princess- that things will still change- transforms this dynamic (at least for me). Life can still go on and people will continue to flourish. It’s just that now people get to choose their own endings. Everything will be so much more consequential, because it won’t all be wiped away in the end.
I’m sure that death will eventually come for that world I created, too. But I didn’t want to keep making people needlessly suffer over and over when it was unnecessary to their happiness and fulfillment. It’s probably been that way for eternity any way. The cycle of life and death, of worlds of people ending and being reborn anew, is beautiful. But I had to do something.
That’s arrogant to say, of course. I can’t be sure that defeating death is worth it to anyone. But to me, it was never about being a God, or about being a Hero. I just wanted to choose people. And for the chance that my choice could be worth it to everybody, I chose to break the cycle over doing nothing. Things needed to change.
What a brilliant game. ❤
The correct ending is the Love ending.. with that they get out of the Cabin. and has to actually face all the errrors and potentially the other thems in other realms until they slay the Gods which themselves and free them from the game.
From what the princess explained, If they get out of the cabin they could be alocated to any part of the universe (wich is them), not that they would be stuck in the eternal black void forever, if you look at the windows of the love ending you'll notice you are in a planet with stars above, so no void.
What a roller coaster of a game really enjoy play it to be honest even if I don't understand what happen while playing it but it really good
For me, the best ending is when you leave with the princess into reality itself.
If you leave the cabin with her, you're denying your natures. It feels anticlimactic.
If you slay her, you get trapped in hell.
Leaving with her allows you both to fulfill your potentials.
Not to say we get to where we are. Life and death, locked in an eternal embrace, everlasting battle.
I think you could make another episode where you explain all versions of the princess
A game where every character is a literal metaphor for metaphors and everybody arguing about which metaphor they are. They're just metaphors. You fill in the blanks with your... wait for it... perceptions. What a fun story this game packed hahaha
I befriended the princess everytime until the end.
what do you mean until the end?
@@MonkeyDLuffy-ne2yn until the ending triggered
Thos video wad really well done. Thanks op
luv ur vids
So the whole game is embodiment of Princess as a Death and Hero as a Life.And game describes that theres no Death without Life but also Life which still can exist without Death yet is still incorrect. So for me the annihilation ending seems like the reasonable ending as their awakening and union reflects the world we live in.And love ending reflect actual relations between people which is endless despites and not all of them can be overcomed but if theres still understanding theres a close relations to grow.
This is like if bad end theater and Stanley Parable had a child but there's only two people
I think the princess is literally just death and change. Freeing the princess literally just makes the world normal like how we experience it. Universe are born and eventually dies just like it is irl. She “destroys” universes by her being but it’s not like she just fucking blows shit up.
Love ending it is then
Alexa play Racing into the Night by Yoasobi
this is beautiful and melancholic story
Killing her is the worst option. Leads to a "happy" completely stagnant world. Bleh.
Feelers is choosing to not choose anything, resulting in erasure of individuality and ego. Bad.
Forget is neutral. You either run in circles forever or you just delayed making a choice.
Annihilation. No. Its just life and death in their eternal dance. neutral-good ending, both understanding what they are... and consciously choosing to accept it.
Love. Undeniably the best ending. You chose freedom and uncertainty over your supposed purpose. Tomorrow is a mystery, and that is a good thing.
Thanks for reading, internet stranger.
I really like the game's concept and its narrative. I kind of wish we got to learn more about the world beyond the story, given how self contained it is and my affinity to not alter the laws of nature, I preffer any ending where we dont slay the princess, but now i cant decide whether being a god with her is the better choice or not, i kind of like the version where they just exist as mortals as its all the happy romance without the massive death toll... at least for a while!
there an ending where the protagonist accept his godhood but all his voices hates him and kill the protagonist when he's going to embrace a new world without suffering
Yep that was the first one I stumbled upon. Good lesson from that though. Goes to show the promise of apotheosis is a bait for bullcrap. After careful consideration and additional playthroughs I feel that "Love" ending is the best.
If new endings come. Do make a video on them too
She carries death with her and he has to choose to destroy her or keep her. Does this not sound like an allegory for depression and suicidal thoughts. Inside the protagonist's mind, he is struggling with the idea of destruction or living.
The princess takes the form of the Hindu God of creation and destruction. I doubt this is about suicide.
Fun thing about art is each person will see something else in it. So that is completely possible
Not really, since if you want to constantly reject her, you dissolve into nothingness. She is more like Life, and Death. Changes and chaos, which is the total opposite of Depression. The options to "do nothing" is rare in this world, so it's not an allegory for Depression.
Wait, so she doesn't want to cause destruction?
@@Twinklethefox9022 she doesn't really seem to want destruction, just that she is ever changing and so the thought of destruction just means forming something new from the remains. The Princess in her godly form, the Shifting Mound, seems to just have death as a result of how she is, not necessarily what she intends though
7:36 You describing the core essences being realized as death, is absolutely wrong. It is Change. Change can be anything.
For some reason I feel that the forget ending is like the undertale fan games community. Always repeating never stopping
There's some support for the idea that the "forget" ending happened before. Each new voice only appears after a death; however, the Hero is there from the beginning. In one route, we learn that a new voice comes after every death.
@@cparks1000000 thanks for the lore I guess
The voice of the Hero is the real MVP here.
At Love Ending 12:02 and 17:00
An addition...
Hero: Yeah! Up course!
You can do everything I can think you can! What if I do you?
After some time...
Then a new narrator fills up the void... a new presence...
Narrator: Their knowledge in each other developed... love...
Then they did that again...
Narrator: The Beautiful Princess gave birth again after some time... then the cabin expanded into a vast sky...
Narrator: And they did that again... and after some time again... then the cabin expanded into a vast land...
Narrator: And they did that again... And again... until there's so much beings that roams the vast sky and land of the previously small and cramped cabin...
Narrator: And they did it again... until the world has become like our world today... full of creatures existing and dying for they are the sons and daughters of death and existence.
Narrator: And to this day... they are doing each other... and producing many living and non-living things... so much days that humans continue on discovering things in this world and beyond... the former home called cabin... The end?
Nope... they will do each other for eternity... and will continue to exist and bound to never be alone again... for they are with their childrens.
The Hero so much love the Princess for the Princess is from the Hero's concept of beauty and molded her to his liking, every bit of the Princess.
And the Princess so much love the Hero because he saved her from nothingness and loneliness for eternity.
They will never be apart together again for they are accustomed to loving each other for the rest of their infinite lives.
No scenes like this? Kidding!
Me: That was pretty good... Wow!!! Nice writing and art!!!
I forgot the world now and enamored in their tragic story and love. #IKnewIloveYouBeforeIMetYou 🤔🦥
Slay the Princess is a good experience and story that let you question your very existence in this world.
Me: What is your purpose existing?
Other people: To selfishly survive. Kill others for food. Love. Make children. Die.
Other People's Children: To do the same as our parents. Until the world ends.
Me: Why don't we make a paradise that all beings live in peace and expand that to other worlds?
I'm sure you want that too? A paradise...
Let's start by planting trees that bear fruits and vegetables all over our planet so animals have foods too and they will surely thrive... making sure they won't get extinct?
'Cause their extinction means ours next.
Plenty of food over population means our survival is highly sure, right? 🦥🤔
#SlayThePrincess:WithLove #InfiniteEhem #LoveNeverEnds:ding
#StoryIsGreat:SurelyNotLinearTragicAndOverwhelmingLoveThatSpansAcrossSpaceTimeAndMemories
I’m lucky to have had the love ending (without the 3 headed princess) on my first play through today
I just finally understood the game and about this story. The person that made the construct and the gods had a perspective and belief, his world was at an end and he was afraid that everything he knew and loved would fade into obscurity and become nothing as a new world begins (cycle of life and death) and he didnt accept that so he tore the cycle of life and death roughly and made them into gods, but the tear was rough so both gods had a part of each other and he wanted to get rid of death. Without death, his world and everything else has no end except for his own existence. So he removed "death" and kept "suffering" for the world but he expects the world to be happy and light forever. I dont exactly know how the world is without death and only life because the Long Quiet has a part of the shifting mound and i dont know how that affects the world. Could be forever and infinite suffering, joy, torture, happiness, etc. without change or maybe has change because the long quiet has a part of the shifting mound. But if the long quiet doesnt destroy the shifting mound and exists together to leave the construct, then the world will indeed end but begin a new one. And everything from that world will fade into nothing, no scraps, doesn't matter how great it is, it will eventually end.
For me, i believe that the shifting mound has both creation and destruction as part of her being "change" so if she's truly gone then the world will not end but instead become stagnant though i dont know how the part of the shifting mound in the Long Quiet affects the world still.. will it have creation or destruction? How does that small peice of "change" in the long quiet shape the world?
From the narrator's perspective, he wanted the world to experience his dream, a world without death and everyone is with their loved ones, a world with only suffering and no end. (He split suffering and death too the narrator said)
If it was your choice, would you let the world have no death but have it not change? Seems like a wish for a paradise right? But think it through because it can sound like the complete opposite. Or would you let the cycle of life and death continue, and exist with the love of your life and let go of the uniqueness of that that shaped the world to create a new one?
That is what the narrator doesn't want, I think he feels the world too special to be lost and forgotten, he wants it to be forever the same and not die, He won't let go of what he is holding on to but at the expense of new things never coming, think of all the new things we could have but out of reach. Thats the catch to his dream.
Did it make sense? This is what I understand from the game.
I don't think the princess is purely the embodiment of death and destruction. I think she is the god of rebirth and change whether it be bad or good, as destruction is merely are perception of change. As a birth of a planet or star is the destruction of their previous states. In my opinion, a universe without the princess would be worse than one with her.
I watched this because i really wanted to know what was going on with these stories.
The love ending seems like the best ending.
Im not sure if it's already been done but is it fine if you explain "my eyes deceive"? Its not really horror and instead psychological i guess you can call it but i just think itll be nice.
just completed lovers ending.
would have been so much easier if it was like "hey, go step on an ant"
wait would she destroy the world or simply add the concept of death to it?
Its a matter of speed and scale. Her existence and freedom does doom everything to destruction in the end. She is the concept of change, with death being just another form of it. She is not death, but its contained in her multitudes. I think there is a huge jump that people assume that because she embodies this concept that everything will instantly die. No, the order of life and death will simply be maintained as I saw it. That which begins must end, and without that ending there is nothing to appreciate. Just like without bad times we can not appreciate the good.
In theory her existence dooms all life to death, but it also adds meaning to all things.
It’s love
The journey of love
Loving someone with all of your heart
Defining against all odds just to be with her
No matter what happens everything is all right as long you have each other
the long quiet reminds me of the beast from over the garden wall.
This game is phenomenal.
soo, basically, The protagonist is the consciousness of the gods and the universe, and once he dies, he wakes being everytbhing surrounding him reseted?
I'd sum it up as someone took the concepts of Change (The Shifting Mound) and Constancy (The Long Quiet) from their reality, took a little piece from each and put it in the other, and embodied them into the Princess and the Player, before binding them inside an artificial Construct. That same person then embedded a reflection of themself into the world as the Narrator, in an attempt to get the The Long Quiet to destroy the Shifting Mound so that a world without death can be created.
This pulls into philosophical questioning about the intrinsic connection of change and death, and how a world where the inhabitants are truly immortal would likely also be unchanging, or conversely how a finite existence could give meaning to what is within it.
Man, this game was so friggin satisfying to play. I have been playing for last 2 days straight and finally managed to fix her. I regret nothing
Who's here after Markiplier's playthrough?
I find it odd how this game treats death like some horrific immoral thing, when in reality, death is the natural order of things and if death doesn’t exist, then life doesn’t have any value. If there is no suffering, then there is no joy. It’s empty, like the player after you slay the princess for the first time to spend all eternity in a boring room. The princess’s survival is crucial for the natural order of things
“Love Ending”, “Annihilation ending”, and “Forget Ending” are my favorite.
You are life she is death. You hold the key out of the cabin because death has no purpose without life but the moment you create life, it gives purpose to death once again freeing her out of the cabin. If you decide to kill her, it means you refuse to create life which results in a lifeless void. The narrator is your guilt of the suffering of life, it doesn't want you to kill death, it wants you to stop creating life, as a result ending suffering, which is why it wants you to sit in the cabin for all of eternity.
"Good ending" looks silly because it is, you basically sat for eternity in stagnation.
"feeler and forget endings" are the same, both of you lose meaning, the cycle is ended and both of you cease to exist.
"Annihilation and Love endings" are the same, both of you exit the cabin continuing the cycle of life and death.
"slay ending" You try to create a world without life and death, resulting in most likely a lifeless world.
I got some real The Good Place vibes from the Good Ending attempt; She is just a princess. Slay the princess. Everything is fine.
Let me guess, your here because of Markiplier just finished his first playthrough.
…..
maybe
Nope, but I'm here from a guy who is often referred to as Russian Markiplier lol (aka Windy31, they don't really look similar to each other, it's their style of jokes and the atmosphere that are similar)
18:06 I think i fall in love. I'm in love with a multiversal goddess of Death... Well, she is cute 😅
so, the voice of the hero knows the truth in every iteration just faking he doesn't know?
Annihilation and the love endings are the most sensible (mostly love) , without death you wouldn't have A life, like the idea without light there is no darkness and without darkness there is no light, Death is simply a change in my opinion a transformation from something to another, and without death everything would Rot in a coffin just observing the Abyss that spreads around which is a worst fate than death, not dying whilst everything is transforming. Without dying we would just be left in elden ring style of life, and of course sweetness is nothing without bitterness or nothingness
Basically just "I can fix her"
This is the craziest love story i ever saw. I mean, she freaking ATE HIM!!!
Pristine cut will be released this year and it adds more content❤
There is a slight issue that the whole narative is built around the fact that death is bad(not the princess just the phenomenon of death). Or at least that is how I see ais perceived by the audience. Also another person in the comments also mentioned that she is not only Death but also looks a lot like Change. And well what is Existence without Death? Do you really wish to know? Honestly if the world was built in such a way that even the creator of the world had to made some absurd scheme to go around this rules, is it worth slaying the Death? Eh idk, I am not willing to make hours long video talking about life and death, just because it is interesting. Interest doesnt pay.
guys PLEASE tell me the dlc is out 😭😭
Who else wants Gamersault to make a video about My Eyes Deceive? (The og one, not the roblox one)
16:56
19:10
holy fudge this game is a bloody masterpiece
Man why the hell am I still single
Wow, so its...in fact... Princes of Schrödinger??
DORMAMU! I've come to bargain.
WELL this was a long ride.....but what ending really is the true one? what i think the mc deservs is the love ending GOOD WORK gamersault
You don't get to kiss her???
Such an amazing game! I wish more adventure/VN games would put the effort into having such good voice acting, as the voices sell the emotional states and uncertainty for the player to trust or not to trust the narrator or the princess.
It seems like one of the few games where not sure if there is reallly a “good” or “bad” ending, just several shades of grey to each & that there is an ending to all.
Cried during the last one😭
I thought I heard Mumbo Jumbo at the last part
We can call it twisted love...But it's still love.