So I finally got home after spending my evening at a friend who's got an Xbox One (after all the reviews and GAF opinions I realised I couldn't wait even for the Steam version). Well, we finished the game from beginning to end in one sitting and I need to congratulate Playdead for another wonderful game. As people previously mentioned this game is on another level from a (definitely and especially) sound design and visual point of view. If I have to think about the entire game, I personally prefer Limbo and that might have to do with the long-lasting incredible impression that game left on me and also because of my already big expectations for Inside being pushed over the edge by reviews and people who have been talking about it as if it was the second coming (which for me proved to be a tiny bit overrated... but it's an understandable reaction with an experience like Inside in a medium that is drowned in non-unique experiences).
I also felt it was much shorter than Limbo, even though How Long to Beat shows Inside as longer. Maybe it's because it really wasn't challenging at all and even though it was beautifully crafter it always managed to make me feel like I always need to keep pushing forward without a moment of pause (and yes, we did do all collectibles... as a huge Limbo fan I was also a bit disappointed with the "secret ending" after collecting all the secrets... but was still a nice addition).
Now I'm sure there will be for a long time interpretations and speculations for the bigger meaning of it and I don't think Inside is built into providing one specific conclusion. That being said there are definitely a lot of elements that can give clues about the world.
The E3 trailer is much more interesting now, since it seems to show the facility during its everyday routines
https://youtu.be/E0V2rPVQWfM
I also looked at this and besides it proving to be a fantastic (one of the best) trailers for a game like this (giving nothing away, being very intriguing and creating incentive to rewatch it after finishing the game), I think it can bring up quite a few speculations. For once... one of the rooms we actually pass in the game is shown in the trailer as a sort of completely windowed doctor cabinet with an audience. There are 2 people inside... I believe, a doctor and a pretty normal looking patient. However that same room in the game is filled with two naked mindless beings (they don't react to the blob when it breaks through). I'm not saying they might be the doctor and the patient, but it does raise a question of what this room actually is/was, especially considering there's a very similar room on it's left (also with chairs outside of it and a video camera) and a bloody armless being kind of mindlessly bumping into the window. Here are some comparison photos:
Trailer
Game - Same Room
Game - Room on the left
Also, the last shot from the trailer we see two people and a camera observing the blob, or the inside chamber of the blob, most likely keep track of progress. Now obviously something happens when you get there, because that same moment people are running towards it looking at the blob. I don't know if it started to "live" then, if it "mutated" then, but something definitely happened.
Also this brings me to another detail I find very interesting. The attitude of the guy running into the chairs when he sees you and of all the other people looking at the blob but not paying attention to you.. I personally don't think this has anything to do with the "post-drowning" second life. I actually think you're in an area where intruders are not considered likely and the look of the guy is more like "why is a kid here?". Add that to the extraordinary event that brings everybody to the windows facing the blob and indeed nobody will pay too much attention to you.
Now this could be interesting because (as we've seen in other parts) there are other kids around. In fact given the trailer and some of the earlier parts of the game, I believe an entire "society/city" lives in this contained fortress. And I think it has something to do with protecting themselves from something that happened outside of it... Maybe the same thing that happened to the pigs, killing them. But the "village" outside of the fortress is definitely abandoned (we can see the piles of dead animals, the crashed car, the empty slaughterhouse).
Abandoned Village - Crashed abandoned car
Better view of the Fortress (Credits to More_Badass)
I also think the "masks" in the beginning are used for protection as they're only used in the outside and close to outside (dealing with the "newcomers" from the forest). I also think the part where you have to pretend you're one of the "newcomers" you catch a glimpse from an actual tour from the society visiting (as you can do/have in many real factories and companies).
Glimpse of the Visiting Tour - we can see several children and even a woman with a baby (far right)
Small Glimpse of the "Newcomers being "loaded" in the truck"
Anyway I wanted to write more but it's past 3 AM here and I'm beat. Will post more hopefully in the next few days. It's frustrating I can't play this yet at home. Also sorry for the different sizes and quality of the images... i tried to do quick screen grabs of different youtube windows.
) and had some help from the Unity team as well.
