Really?? He wouldn't move when I backed off thinking he would escape. Do you have to get really close to him without going through the glass before he moves?
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- Thread starter whatevermort
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Really?? He wouldn't move when I backed off thinking he would escape. Do you have to get really close to him without going through the glass before he moves?
SiegfriedFM
Member
I let him live. He backed off and then ran away.
CitizenCope
Member
I did the same. I saw the results on YouTube if I didn't. Wow!
Bits N Pieces
Member
Game Informer have an article up 10 Things You May Have Missed In Inside
http://www.gameinformer.com/b/featu...al&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
This gif is AMAZING! I did not realise that one of the phots hanging from the ceiling develops over time (its sped up for the purpose of the gif)! o.0
Lots more at the link ...
This game man, this game ..... truly outstanding!!
http://www.gameinformer.com/b/featu...al&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
This gif is AMAZING! I did not realise that one of the phots hanging from the ceiling develops over time (its sped up for the purpose of the gif)! o.0
Lots more at the link ...
This game man, this game ..... truly outstanding!!
Maklershed
Member
Just finished. What a phenomenal game. Its gonna be hard to dethrone this as my GOTY.
EDIT: Does anyone know of any books with this similar tone or story? The Dust/Silo stories came to mind a little bit for some reason but something more similar would be preferable.
EDIT: Does anyone know of any books with this similar tone or story? The Dust/Silo stories came to mind a little bit for some reason but something more similar would be preferable.
Yep, I splatted him and then rolled around in the water to get the blood off.
whatevermort
Member
Graft by Matt Hill. Seriously. Get that.
Played through this in one sitting last night. Amazing game, I liked Limbo a lot but this was just so much better. Every room was just outrageously beautiful.
Gerting into the lab at the end and seeing this nice, fancy building after traveling through the totally ruined rest of the world, and there's just all these scientists or whatever in their suits and lab coats, and seeing what they're doing I was just thinking, like, "God dammit, the world out there is so fucked up, you've got those explosions going off and those Ring girls in the water and all those dead pigs and flooded cities, and you get to live in this nice, normal place and this is the shit you're doing in here? Fuck you guys!"
And then you become the blob and just get to flood the lab just wreck everything and kill the president or director or whoever that was and I was just rolling around like "yeah take that you assholes, you made me, and now you have to deal with me."
And even when they finally kinda get their shit together and set that (hilariously obvious) trap, you're just like, "nope, fuck your trap, I'm out." The really gross, disgusting sense of power you get in that last segment is amazing.
Gerting into the lab at the end and seeing this nice, fancy building after traveling through the totally ruined rest of the world, and there's just all these scientists or whatever in their suits and lab coats, and seeing what they're doing I was just thinking, like, "God dammit, the world out there is so fucked up, you've got those explosions going off and those Ring girls in the water and all those dead pigs and flooded cities, and you get to live in this nice, normal place and this is the shit you're doing in here? Fuck you guys!"
And then you become the blob and just get to flood the lab just wreck everything and kill the president or director or whoever that was and I was just rolling around like "yeah take that you assholes, you made me, and now you have to deal with me."
And even when they finally kinda get their shit together and set that (hilariously obvious) trap, you're just like, "nope, fuck your trap, I'm out." The really gross, disgusting sense of power you get in that last segment is amazing.
Maklershed
Member
Done. Thanks for the suggestion!
Holy shit this game. Just finished it.
Most are focusing on the WTF-ness of the end sequence, but there is so much that's incredible about this game. The sound design of the sequence with the pulsing pressure waves you need to hide from....sheesh.
Also, if anyone here watched Better Off Ted I hope I wasn't the only one that was reminded of the meat blob.
Most are focusing on the WTF-ness of the end sequence, but there is so much that's incredible about this game. The sound design of the sequence with the pulsing pressure waves you need to hide from....sheesh.
Also, if anyone here watched Better Off Ted I hope I wasn't the only one that was reminded of the meat blob.
Family Fry
Member
Completed three times now looking for all the secrets. Was looking so hard I even found a gameboy in a drawer...
That secret ending though, my goodness puts a whole new spin on the original ending.
Edit- if anyone wants to take a look it's just after the three dogs chase you up and over the fence a few time, through the door you push over a cabinet. Once the dogs stop barking through the gap, jump on the cabinet and the drawers fall out to show a small gameboy/handheld.
That secret ending though, my goodness puts a whole new spin on the original ending.
Edit- if anyone wants to take a look it's just after the three dogs chase you up and over the fence a few time, through the door you push over a cabinet. Once the dogs stop barking through the gap, jump on the cabinet and the drawers fall out to show a small gameboy/handheld.
More_Badass
Member
Oh, I hope the end doesn't overshadow all the other brilliant aspects of the game.Holy shit this game. Just finished it.
Most are focusing on the WTF-ness of the end sequence, but there is so much that's incredible about this game. The sound design of the sequence with the pulsing pressure waves you need to hide from....sheesh.
Also, if anyone here watched Better Off Ted I hope I wasn't the only one that was reminded of the meat blob.
The opening is just tightly wound tension from the first second.
The blending-in segment is clever and kind of subversive, since the game doesn't restrict your movements in any way. It's all the game and the atmosphere making you act as you're supposed to.
The build-up to the shockwaves with the rumbles sounded like a muted heartbeat for a good 10-15 minutes before you enter that area, and the shockwaves being even more brutal and intense than you likely imagined
The "oh shit this is going to be crazy" moment when you use the mind control helmet for the first time
The animations, from your stumbling panicked movement when fleeing or your lemming crew working together to hoist you up or the boy's head down and scared glances when blending in
LukasTaves
Member
You forgot the first time you control someone to get attached to another helmet himself so you could control a third person.
Though that is unfortunately underutilized.
More_Badass
Member
Actually I like that Playdead just uses a mechanic or idea and then moves on. Would Inside have been better if you had to play five or six puzzles that reiterated on that mechanic?
Mr.Fletcher
Member
It takes the Super Mario Galaxy approach - there's no filler or repetition, just a constant stream of new ideas.
More_Badass
Member
Even the ones that seem similar tend to branch into new ideas
Like towards the end, you have the air cubes and the retractable platforms. The first puzzle with them, you need to catch the cubes with the platforms. The second, you need to knock the cube off the pole with the platform
The Dear Leader
Banned
Man what a game, I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the ending sequence and the implications of the secret ending. So many questions. This game for sure cemented it's place on my game of the year list.
I don't think you get an "underwater breathing ability". I think you die, and then become a still-dead reanimated corpse being controlled by something else at that point. Perhaps something that's intentionally trying to free the blob.
You're no longer a boy simply trying to escape. You're a vessel being used by something else to free the blob. You don't drown anymore because you're already dead.
Though the secret ending could negate my theory....
Referencing my Better Off Ted comment from above, the shockwaves seem to be this:
https://youtu.be/uhsKR1zGtmg?t=910
:-D
The yellow cables always lead you to them. There are 2 that don't have visible cabling but one has an obvious tell, and the other is actually just quite hidden, but I found it easily by the end due to the board showing me roughly where it was by the final one.
Which board?
At the last giant sphere, there's a board with lights showing 1-12 that indicates which of the secrets you still need to find. For me they were all lit but 2, so I knew it was between 1 and 3 and had an idea of whereit was because of the achievement name (yeah yeah), that one is kind of well hidden. There is another one that you have to rely on an environmental clue rather than a cable to find as well, much later on.
When you're running through waist deep water and the boy sort of falls in for a moment, like you stepped in a deeper puddle. You can swim down there (The boy never would've stumbled into the water if it wasn't suddenly deeper, but you can't see under the water due to the reflection on the surface, so you just have to dive knowing that that wouldn't have happened by accident
Hibiki Kurosawa
Member
This is what I love about Playdead. No filler. I remember them speaking on Limbo where they never wanted to reuse puzzles. It keeps the experience fresh, mysterious, and facinating all the way through when you constantly have new ideas in the interesting worlds they create.
LukasTaves
Member
I thought of that as the breaking point as well. But then it hit me that he wasn't trying to escape in the first place, he was breaking in.
Salz01
Member
Hmmm. Don't know what to make of it. At times it gave me half life 2 vibes. I liked the beginning the most, because it felt more of an escape, and I wanted to know what I was escaping from. But the world mid way through with the creepy ring girl and upside down water rooms, pulled me out of the experience. I'm irked that nothing is explained. I don't mind open interpretation, but nothing is explained here. It's not even normal earth it's like an alternate reality I guess. I'm just annoyed that the longer I played the more nothing made sense. Smashing through the bldg as the blob was cool, even though I have no clue how or what even happened.
Completely agreed. I would not have enjoyed this game more if it was longer only because of some mechanics being repeated a few extra times.
The thing that unsettles me the most are the children shown throughout the game living alongside the adults. The impression I got from the trailers and early game is that this is a generic dystopian society that's oppressive to children who want to enslave or do whatever the hell with them.
Yet, we see them wearing the same masks as the adults during the marching sequence and we see one kid in the warehouse near the upside down water gravity and near the end where the scientists don't really care that you're running around them.
It's just something I noticed and I don't know what to make of it.
Yet, we see them wearing the same masks as the adults during the marching sequence and we see one kid in the warehouse near the upside down water gravity and near the end where the scientists don't really care that you're running around them.
It's just something I noticed and I don't know what to make of it.
More_Badass
Member
Maybe you were one of the children. Would explain why the scientists didn't really react to you
So I just beat it 10 minutes ago... still trying to comprehend what the fuck just happened.... what the hell kind of company is this kind trying to infiltrate anyways lol. Mind controlling, reverse gravity, underwater breathing, shockwave testing, crazy blob developing organization.
I need to go back and find the rest of the orbs... but yeah that was something else.
Oh yeah fuck the dogs in this game!!!
I need to go back and find the rest of the orbs... but yeah that was something else.
Oh yeah fuck the dogs in this game!!!
Just noticed the weirdest thing.
The second time you encounter The Ring girl, and you hop in the water right behind her and it takes her a minute to wake up, I noticed that the colors of her "umbilical chords" are red and green. And when she's floating there dormant, there's a sort of tape player and something that looks like an amp right below her. Made me thing very strangely of audio in/out chords.
Maybe the colors of her chords was well known knowledge, if so, whoops. Just food for thought, have no idea what it might mean
The second time you encounter The Ring girl, and you hop in the water right behind her and it takes her a minute to wake up, I noticed that the colors of her "umbilical chords" are red and green. And when she's floating there dormant, there's a sort of tape player and something that looks like an amp right below her. Made me thing very strangely of audio in/out chords.
Maybe the colors of her chords was well known knowledge, if so, whoops. Just food for thought, have no idea what it might mean
I agree.
And I'm honestly surprised by the incredible reviews: it's not a bad game AT ALL (as I was saying here in the OT), and on the contrary it's absolutely stunning from a technical point of view... but it's still hard for me to understand why it got so many praises.
It's certainly thought-provoking, but also far too obscure and even a bit pretentious to me (exactly like some modern art you can't really understand).
Don't ask me how I would have rated it anyway, because I don't have a fucking clue.
Savinowned
Member
while i know the lab diorama has been discussed, its literally set up exactly like the end. like, down to the lighting placement. that can't be coincidence...
Woah..... I completely missed that.
More_Badass
Member
Execution is a big factor. Pacing, atmosphere, animations, sound, music, art, lighting, the design of the puzzles...it's a masterfully designed game that feels carefully crafted in every single facet. That elevates an experience
Also you have to remember how reviewers played this versus how we did. We had expectations going in, they didn't. They just had the game dropped in the laps, zero expectations.
Compare it to watching a movie blindly and then slowly gradually realizing it's a stealth sequel, versus seeing it after all the reviews are hinting that the movie is something more than it seems, can't say much but it's really great, whatnot. Context matters
The reason why "it's a 10/10 game" is because the reviewer thought it was 10/10. You should read their reviews to understand why. There are thousands of words behind those scores.
It's really that simple. There's nothing objective to explain here or some universal truth that will make any sense to you if you personally don't think it's that amazing.
For me, I'm still digesting it more than a day after finishing it, but I'm coming around to the idea that it's one of the most perfect executions of a clear and specific vision I've ever seen. The developers had an extremely specific and unique idea they wanted to pull off, they worked for 6 years to perfect that vision, and the end result shows. It's expertly crafted in every technical sense, it's clearly exactly what the developers wanted to do from the very beginning, they avoided traps of bloating it further for any arbitrary sense, and it left me thinking for hours after it was over.
I then had a friend over last night and he was interested in the game but wanted to try it first. So I just sat silently while he played the first 30-45 minutes. Seeing things from that perspective was even more eye-opening to me - everything I did that I thought I was a genius for figuring out on the first try, he did too. That's expert game design.
And watching his face has he kept discovering new horrors, while keeping silent because I knew what was really coming was just amazing. It made me appreciate the game on a completely different level.
Maybe you disagree, and that's perfectly fine. But that's why reviews are (and should be) a subjective opinion and a telling of one's own experience with the game. Because the second you try to assume what someone else will think, and try to review a game from their hypothetical perspective instead of sticking to your own, you've failed at your job.
It's really that simple. There's nothing objective to explain here or some universal truth that will make any sense to you if you personally don't think it's that amazing.
For me, I'm still digesting it more than a day after finishing it, but I'm coming around to the idea that it's one of the most perfect executions of a clear and specific vision I've ever seen. The developers had an extremely specific and unique idea they wanted to pull off, they worked for 6 years to perfect that vision, and the end result shows. It's expertly crafted in every technical sense, it's clearly exactly what the developers wanted to do from the very beginning, they avoided traps of bloating it further for any arbitrary sense, and it left me thinking for hours after it was over.
I then had a friend over last night and he was interested in the game but wanted to try it first. So I just sat silently while he played the first 30-45 minutes. Seeing things from that perspective was even more eye-opening to me - everything I did that I thought I was a genius for figuring out on the first try, he did too. That's expert game design.
And watching his face has he kept discovering new horrors, while keeping silent because I knew what was really coming was just amazing. It made me appreciate the game on a completely different level.
Maybe you disagree, and that's perfectly fine. But that's why reviews are (and should be) a subjective opinion and a telling of one's own experience with the game. Because the second you try to assume what someone else will think, and try to review a game from their hypothetical perspective instead of sticking to your own, you've failed at your job.
DagnastyEp
Member
One thing I noticed was that the player character bleeds and has guts, same with the CEO. The followers (controlled beings) don't bleed or seem to have guts; when they become dismembered, the separated body parts remain animated. Leading me to believe the Boy and Observers are people/humans, while the followers are something else, or maybe mutated in such a way as to no longer be human.
Yea, it was definitely regular intervals, which leads me to believe that it's mechanical and deliberate. Also, in the area where you need 20 bodies on the pad to open the door, the room with the "dead" body (that has to be dragged onto the pad) has a generator type thing connected to the outside. As the shockwaves hit, a gauge on the generators rises.
I wondered about this area as well. Looked like a forest built in a warehouse. For some reason It gave me the sensation that it was a set/stage where Limbo took place.
Something definitely happened with the village/farm area. There's also a metropolis area you enter before the actual facility. Seems like the Observers/Controllers maybe enslaved everyone, adapting the mind control worm seen on the farm to the helmet like devices or something? I really like you idea about the masks in the beginning.
IV - It definitely looks like there's a crowd watching as the blob falls into the tank. And the diorama of the end game scene is just to strange for coincidence.
That kinda makes sense. Especially with how the secret ending turns out - losing connection to the boy and he collapses.
Yea, it was definitely regular intervals, which leads me to believe that it's mechanical and deliberate. Also, in the area where you need 20 bodies on the pad to open the door, the room with the "dead" body (that has to be dragged onto the pad) has a generator type thing connected to the outside. As the shockwaves hit, a gauge on the generators rises.
I wondered about this area as well. Looked like a forest built in a warehouse. For some reason It gave me the sensation that it was a set/stage where Limbo took place.
Something definitely happened with the village/farm area. There's also a metropolis area you enter before the actual facility. Seems like the Observers/Controllers maybe enslaved everyone, adapting the mind control worm seen on the farm to the helmet like devices or something? I really like you idea about the masks in the beginning.
IV - It definitely looks like there's a crowd watching as the blob falls into the tank. And the diorama of the end game scene is just to strange for coincidence.
That kinda makes sense. Especially with how the secret ending turns out - losing connection to the boy and he collapses.
Well said. That's how I feel about it too. It's such a joy to play such a polished and quality title like this. I really have trouble finding any fault with it.
Iva Demilcol
Member
I'm actually waiting for the Steam release so people check the game files and see if there's another well hidden secret ending.
More_Badass
Member
The impressions from the main OT are right. That finale are like a playable dream.
"I had a weird dream last night. Was a kid in this strange facility, and then I got sucked up a pipe and absorbed by this weird flesh thing made of arms and legs. And the thing escaped and destroyed the place, and then got out into the forest and died"
"That's one weird dream. What does it mean"
"Fuck if I know"
"I had a weird dream last night. Was a kid in this strange facility, and then I got sucked up a pipe and absorbed by this weird flesh thing made of arms and legs. And the thing escaped and destroyed the place, and then got out into the forest and died"
"That's one weird dream. What does it mean"
"Fuck if I know"
I wish I knew how to make gifs but I saw something tonight in this game that blew me away.
You guys know the gigantic door near the "place 20 bodies here" puzzle, just outside the area with the big mechanical rhythmic "thumper"?
Playdead have programmed four different "reaction" animations depending on how close the boy is to the door. Try all these:
*touching the door, and facing the door
*touching the door, with your back to the door
*near the door but not touching, and facing the door
*near the door but not touching, and with your back to the door
In all four scenarios the boy has a different animation. When touching the door he falls whenever a thump occurs (falling differently depending on where you're facing). And when near the door he doesn't fall, but the boy braces himself (with a slightly different animation depending on which direction you're facing).
There are so many little touches like this that make you say "Okay, it makes complete sense that this game took 6 years to build".
You guys know the gigantic door near the "place 20 bodies here" puzzle, just outside the area with the big mechanical rhythmic "thumper"?
Playdead have programmed four different "reaction" animations depending on how close the boy is to the door. Try all these:
*touching the door, and facing the door
*touching the door, with your back to the door
*near the door but not touching, and facing the door
*near the door but not touching, and with your back to the door
In all four scenarios the boy has a different animation. When touching the door he falls whenever a thump occurs (falling differently depending on where you're facing). And when near the door he doesn't fall, but the boy braces himself (with a slightly different animation depending on which direction you're facing).
There are so many little touches like this that make you say "Okay, it makes complete sense that this game took 6 years to build".
Haven't had a chance to read the entire thread. Was this article on Crave already posted? Imagine folks here have likely come up with similar theories, but just thought I'd share.
http://www.craveonline.com/entertai...theory-limbo-sequels-brain-bending-conclusion
Goes a bit into theories of it being set in the same universe as Limbo, who the boy might be, who's controlling who, and so forth.
I particularly enjoyed this bit at the end:
I don't mean to present this as the only plausible theory, just one I found pretty interesting in terms of tying in the name of the game with the notion of 'is the player really in control the game, or is the game controlling the player with this blob symbolizing that connection'.
I've also heard alternate theories about what the 'rebirth' scene that seem just as valid. I also liked this comment from the same article interpreting the entire game a bit more symbolically:
Don't know if I can make an obvious connection between each area of the game correlating to a specific part/system of the body (beyond what was already mentioned), but I like the interpretation nonetheless.
I have to say I enjoyed the ending quite a bit. I don't always appreciate stories that are ambiguous purely for the sake of ambiguity, but I also appreciate when stories leave behind just enough clues to set off all these different theories and discussion of what the story means to them. I love it when literature sparks a discussion about its interpretation and meaning, and it's fantastic when a game is able to create the same sort of curiosity.
http://www.craveonline.com/entertai...theory-limbo-sequels-brain-bending-conclusion
Goes a bit into theories of it being set in the same universe as Limbo, who the boy might be, who's controlling who, and so forth.
I particularly enjoyed this bit at the end:
Crave said:
I don't mean to present this as the only plausible theory, just one I found pretty interesting in terms of tying in the name of the game with the notion of 'is the player really in control the game, or is the game controlling the player with this blob symbolizing that connection'.
I've also heard alternate theories about what the 'rebirth' scene that seem just as valid. I also liked this comment from the same article interpreting the entire game a bit more symbolically:
jords merle said:
Don't know if I can make an obvious connection between each area of the game correlating to a specific part/system of the body (beyond what was already mentioned), but I like the interpretation nonetheless.
I have to say I enjoyed the ending quite a bit. I don't always appreciate stories that are ambiguous purely for the sake of ambiguity, but I also appreciate when stories leave behind just enough clues to set off all these different theories and discussion of what the story means to them. I love it when literature sparks a discussion about its interpretation and meaning, and it's fantastic when a game is able to create the same sort of curiosity.
supernormal
Member
The blob controlling the boy theory has been presented in this thread, and I agree that it seems to make the most sense. It's a trope used in many games before, where the player is unknowingly playing along to some instructions within the story without knowing. This is just a different take on it, and it's interesting that it lays out the mechanic of mind control as commonplace within the game world.
From this theory parallels can be drawn as to whether the other marching humans/vessels in the game are meant to represent players unknowingly following linear paths ultimately controlled by the game designers which from their perspective would seem like they're free and actively making their choices, but from the current Player's (which is not bound to their path) it's obvious they have no freedom at all. Yet one layer above (outside the game) you can see how the Boy (the player) is pretty much in the same predicament and is also just a mindless drone on a linear path. So the game own meta-narrative on gaming is applied inside the game's universe.
Interesting read, thanks for sharing.
Yeah I like thinking about it that way. It reminds me of the puzzle in the game where the boy has a mind control helmet controlling a husk who in turn also has a mind control helmet controlling yet another husk. Feels like there is no end to the number of levels deep the "mind control" can go.
Branniganz Love
Member
Finished the game last night, I haven't read any other theories and I'm sure I missed some of the ball things you get achievements for finding but after one play through this is my impression. Kinda long, sorry.
Well there is obviously a whole bunch of testing going on inside the facility. The experiments seem to deal with a few different concepts. Mind control is one, we see mind control with the helmet and also the rhythm based sections, the people are very clearly trained or conditioned to do certain things. You as the player also display some passive control as well, the chicks on the farm near the beginning seem to be drawn to you, there are places in the water where fish are also drawn to you. I think that passive mind control is the goal here, they are trying to figure out how to be able to control other people without the use of the device we wore in the game. Controlling the clones as we see in the problem solving lends extra strength to the player to push, pull or open and we also get access to higher places with the ability for the clones to toss you up, the clones can also catch you to create a soft landing from high places, all very useful extensions to our own power.
Problem solving is another, even though the facility seems to be in a very poor state there are things that are very specifically set up for you to figure out. I don't think the puzzles exist solely as a gameplay element I think it is meant to be a story element as well. There were times near the end when I felt that I was no longer being threatened but watched with interest and hope. When you get to the part where you have to throw the box up to the group of people for them to activate it felt like they were helping and watching with interest. I also got this feeling at the part where everyone is rushing to the window of the water tank, once I got in the water and was on the other side of the glass I felt like they were waiting for me and were excited.
I believe cloning is also a major part to this. There very clearly seems to be different groups of people. We see people that we would deem "normal", the people that are trying to catch you at the beginning, the people that are involved in running these experiments and also the man and boy we see dressed in black that seem to be supervising the forklift picking up the cage of clones. Another main group are the clones, upon first encountering them they seem like empty shells waiting for commands and once we start controlling them we see that is true. I believe they are clones because of the deformed group we see later in the game, they could possibly be from earlier experiments before the technology was refined and also their rather featurless appearance makes me believe they are clones as well. When we encounter the water creatures we see they are small and similar size to the player character. We also gain the same ability to breathe underwater and when your character is stripped naked under the water with the crowd of people watching through the glass we see that we are very similar to the water creatures minus the long hair. Are the water creatures previous clones of ourself that have failed? Maybe they exist because they were used to refine the ability to breathe underwater? As mentioned earlier we see a man and boy in black that are retrieving a cage of clones, I think it is possible that the boy is an earlier clone of ourself that has already passed the test.
In summary, I believe that the boy is being tested for viability. You have to have the intelligence to escape and navigate the puzzles, learn skills like controlling the clones and breathing underwater. The boy is a clone that is actively being refined and tested. To what purpose I can not tell but the baseline goal seems to be to create people that are smart enough and powerful enough to pass the testing.
What a great game though, I rarely put this much though into games but when I do it is usually because it is pretty special.
Well there is obviously a whole bunch of testing going on inside the facility. The experiments seem to deal with a few different concepts. Mind control is one, we see mind control with the helmet and also the rhythm based sections, the people are very clearly trained or conditioned to do certain things. You as the player also display some passive control as well, the chicks on the farm near the beginning seem to be drawn to you, there are places in the water where fish are also drawn to you. I think that passive mind control is the goal here, they are trying to figure out how to be able to control other people without the use of the device we wore in the game. Controlling the clones as we see in the problem solving lends extra strength to the player to push, pull or open and we also get access to higher places with the ability for the clones to toss you up, the clones can also catch you to create a soft landing from high places, all very useful extensions to our own power.
Problem solving is another, even though the facility seems to be in a very poor state there are things that are very specifically set up for you to figure out. I don't think the puzzles exist solely as a gameplay element I think it is meant to be a story element as well. There were times near the end when I felt that I was no longer being threatened but watched with interest and hope. When you get to the part where you have to throw the box up to the group of people for them to activate it felt like they were helping and watching with interest. I also got this feeling at the part where everyone is rushing to the window of the water tank, once I got in the water and was on the other side of the glass I felt like they were waiting for me and were excited.
I believe cloning is also a major part to this. There very clearly seems to be different groups of people. We see people that we would deem "normal", the people that are trying to catch you at the beginning, the people that are involved in running these experiments and also the man and boy we see dressed in black that seem to be supervising the forklift picking up the cage of clones. Another main group are the clones, upon first encountering them they seem like empty shells waiting for commands and once we start controlling them we see that is true. I believe they are clones because of the deformed group we see later in the game, they could possibly be from earlier experiments before the technology was refined and also their rather featurless appearance makes me believe they are clones as well. When we encounter the water creatures we see they are small and similar size to the player character. We also gain the same ability to breathe underwater and when your character is stripped naked under the water with the crowd of people watching through the glass we see that we are very similar to the water creatures minus the long hair. Are the water creatures previous clones of ourself that have failed? Maybe they exist because they were used to refine the ability to breathe underwater? As mentioned earlier we see a man and boy in black that are retrieving a cage of clones, I think it is possible that the boy is an earlier clone of ourself that has already passed the test.
In summary, I believe that the boy is being tested for viability. You have to have the intelligence to escape and navigate the puzzles, learn skills like controlling the clones and breathing underwater. The boy is a clone that is actively being refined and tested. To what purpose I can not tell but the baseline goal seems to be to create people that are smart enough and powerful enough to pass the testing.
What a great game though, I rarely put this much though into games but when I do it is usually because it is pretty special.