Serena
Ending Discussion (SPOILERS obviously)
So I just finished the game. What a beautiful game. Good graphics, great music, awesome and mind-blowing short story. It's one of those games that'll gives you unique experience that you will remember for the next 10 years or so. Thank you for all the people who made this (free) game.

Now with that being said, let's talk about the mind-blowing ending. But before that, let me tell you now that this is going to be SPOILERS ALERT! Don't even think to read this before you finished the game unless you want your Serena experience to be a little bland.

So what really happened? Is Serena cheated on him? Is he dead? Who's the dead body? I didn't see the last photo, but I heard that his face changed? Is it just a dream? Did he have stroke? Why did he forgot about her in the first place? Share your thoughts below.
Last edited by geraldvincentt; 1 Feb, 2014 @ 12:35am
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Showing 1-15 of 87 comments
Cytox 1 Feb, 2014 @ 12:28am 
I think the entire time you're supposed to basically think you offed her. If you read the newspaper clipping in the drawer with the heart medicine, the title reads along the lines of "Mental Hospital [shuts down]..." maybe leading you to think there's something... off about our protaganist. Then, head down the story path and his rage builds as he "uncovers" more and more about what she did (Hint: pressing Space allows you to see what you can interact with, which allows you to hear the whole story in each segment as it changes). When he finds the dead body, he is aware. He 'knows' he killed her. If you look about the room, you'll see time stopped. He repents about what he's done to her, and how he deserves what comes. But there's really no evidence it's her. So you take a look at the photo again and notice you're the one who looks... well dead (and I dunno if it's me, but the hand icon you interact with the game world also seems to turn 'ghoulish' as you progress). Protaganist attributes this to his 'guilt'. Then the conversation at the end is between a woman, Serena and her lover. They had a 'plan' but she went and did something to ruin it and she forgot 'something special she couldnt bear to wear anymore' and planned to grab it from the ashes after they razed the house to the ground and you found a wedding ring in a safe box.

TL;DR: She killed him in a fit of rage. He's wandering the cabin, his own personal 'limbo' before realizing what his untimely end was.
geraldvincentt 1 Feb, 2014 @ 12:43am 
Originally posted by Ohmalerd:
I think the entire time you're supposed to basically think you offed her. If you read the newspaper clipping in the drawer with the heart medicine, the title reads along the lines of "Mental Hospital [shuts down]..." maybe leading you to think there's something... off about our protaganist. Then, head down the story path and his rage builds as he "uncovers" more and more about what she did (Hint: pressing Space allows you to see what you can interact with, which allows you to hear the whole story in each segment as it changes). When he finds the dead body, he is aware. He 'knows' he killed her. If you look about the room, you'll see time stopped. He repents about what he's done to her, and how he deserves what comes. But there's really no evidence it's her. So you take a look at the photo again and notice you're the one who looks... well dead (and I dunno if it's me, but the hand icon you interact with the game world also seems to turn 'ghoulish' as you progress). Protaganist attributes this to his 'guilt'. Then the conversation at the end is between a woman, Serena and her lover. They had a 'plan' but she went and did something to ruin it and she forgot 'something special she couldnt bear to wear anymore' and planned to grab it from the ashes after they razed the house to the ground and you found a wedding ring in a safe box.

TL;DR: She killed him in a fit of rage. He's wandering the cabin, his own personal 'limbo' before realizing what his untimely end was.
I re-read your sentences over and over again because I personally like your theory. Too bad I didn't know that you can press space to see what item you can click. And I didn't checked the entire room when there are noises of people mumbling, I just straight ahead to listen to their conversation. But why did he forgot about her in the first place?
Anderson 1 Feb, 2014 @ 1:31am 
Is it me or Serena in the photo isn't exactly... beautiful?
SaintlyHyena 1 Feb, 2014 @ 1:38am 
Originally posted by Anderson:
Is it me or Serena in the photo isn't exactly... beautiful?
Not really pertaining to the storyline/ending/discussion... She's sort of an average-looking person, sure, but why does she have to be beautiful? The MC isn't more than average, either.
Anderson 1 Feb, 2014 @ 1:41am 
Originally posted by bombazinedoll:
Originally posted by Anderson:
Is it me or Serena in the photo isn't exactly... beautiful?
Not really pertaining to the storyline/ending/discussion... She's sort of an average-looking person, sure, but why does she have to be beautiful? The MC isn't more than average, either.
True, it's just that I imagined someone else from all of the descriptions.
Anderson 1 Feb, 2014 @ 1:41am 
Also, for some reason I expected her face expression to change from angry to something else in the end.
geraldvincentt 1 Feb, 2014 @ 2:16am 
Originally posted by Anderson:
Also, for some reason I expected her face expression to change from angry to something else in the end.
Define "something else". And yes, she's not the most beautiful character in video games I suppose.
Anderson 1 Feb, 2014 @ 2:39am 
Originally posted by Virtual Gee:
Originally posted by Anderson:
Also, for some reason I expected her face expression to change from angry to something else in the end.
Define "something else". And yes, she's not the most beautiful character in video games I suppose.
Well, most likely if she got angrier then maybe it could be back to happy when the main character started to accuse himself of all the bad things in the past.
A lot of stuff seems subject to change, at some point it's easy to think that depending on the things you interact with, you get different cutscenes! Which apparently is not true.
SQHistorian 1 Feb, 2014 @ 6:33am 
Originally posted by Anderson:
Also, for some reason I expected her face expression to change from angry to something else in the end.

We actually discussed during development whether we should change her facial expression to a smile for the final sequence/end video, but decided it was more effective to keep it the way it was.
geraldvincentt 1 Feb, 2014 @ 6:40am 
Originally posted by TorbenFrost:
We actually discussed during development whether we should change her facial expression to a smile for the final sequence/end video, but decided it was more effective to keep it the way it was.
Now that's some fun fact right there.
Miko0 1 Feb, 2014 @ 9:14pm 
(sorry my bad spellings) So of all that the person could be a ghost from the deadof that body,Crazy guy got in lose his mind or he related to the dead guy.And anyone notice the cabian look burn't in the start and abanned like really he would of fix stuff he has hands and fingers really..
geraldvincentt 1 Feb, 2014 @ 9:31pm 
Originally posted by Omg_ItS_Meo:
(sorry my bad spellings) So of all that the person could be a ghost from the deadof that body,Crazy guy got in lose his mind or he related to the dead guy.And anyone notice the cabian look burn't in the start and abanned like really he would of fix stuff he has hands and fingers really..
I think I get what you're trying to say. The cabin kinda looks burnt indeed but there's no way the books, paintings and stuff can stay in place like that.
Chruebert 2 Feb, 2014 @ 1:52pm 
Another interesting fact: he lies in the drawer for weeks and noone notices his death? Wouldn't this be the first spot to search for him?
But i know it would ruin the story otherwise...
The Big Sneeze 3 Feb, 2014 @ 2:16am 
Originally posted by Chruebert:
Another interesting fact: he lies in the drawer for weeks and noone notices his death? Wouldn't this be the first spot to search for him?
But i know it would ruin the story otherwise...

This is something that's bugging me about other theories The general consensus seems to be that she has just recently killed him. Now, there is a bit of misdirection after you find the body, but overall there are many signs which point to it having been months if not YEARS since the death of the body in the armoire. As you examine the lamps you comment multiple times on just how much dust has piled up. And the body is described as being being dry and whithered.The poem on the wall tells the story of Oisin who is spirited away to the land of the fey by a faerie woman Niamh Chinn Óir. He identifies himself with Oisin, who is mortal, and who returns from the faerie realm after three years only to learn it has actually been three hundred years and as his feet touch mortal ground he is suddenly overcome by all those years, withers away, and dies.

All of this evidence is then sharply contrasted by the, rather strong, idea that the conversation of the two figures outside pertains to Serena having comitted the murder herself. They had a "plan" and Serena did something that ruined it.

I would submit, however, that what ruined the plan was not Serena comitting murder, but Serena actually going into the cabin and looking around. The plan was for Serena to come to the cabin and get her ring and leave, and instead she looked around, found the body, and now what? If she reports it this becomes a crime scene, there are papers signed! bulldozers are coming! Whatever project is going on would have to be halted for an investigation and money would be lost.

After he finds the body the protagonist becomes very preoccupied with the potential of comitting suicide. Throughout the story he makes continued references to the fact that he has high blood pressure and is at high risk for a cardiac episode of some form. He even wonders two or three times if he's had a stroke.

My personal theory is that he either killed himself or had a heart attack/stroke. So why is he in the armoire? in his final moments he might have chosen to shut himself in the armoire with the last of her clothes that he still had. Otherwise, Serena and her boyfriend might have found his dead body and shut it up where they couldn't see until they could decide what to do wth the situation.
kebukai 3 Feb, 2014 @ 3:42pm 
Originally posted by ReisDular:
My personal theory is that he either killed himself or had a heart attack/stroke. So why is he in the armoire? in his final moments he might have chosen to shut himself in the armoire with the last of her clothes that he still had. Otherwise, Serena and her boyfriend might have found his dead body and shut it up where they couldn't see until they could decide what to do wth the situation.

I like your theory until this part, because then there's an incongruency with the bloodstain on the floor that appears when you find the body.

My theory is that she killed him long time ago after finding a lover and that he's been reported missing since then, no one finding the body in the cabin. The final conversation may sound a bit incongruent, but they actually say the bulldozers are about to come to tear the cabin down, and presumably they fear the body will be found. So they burn it down so the body is found but police think he had come back and had an accident that started the fire. Probably nobody would buy it, but they couldn't prove otherwise either.

So, what happened is probably that she killed him in a fit of rage while arguing and hid the body in the closet, then went back and filed a missing claim, while being free to be with her lover, who was upset because he had planned something else but serena was too impulsive. when talking before the window, he's just reminding her it wouldn't have happened if she followed his plan, all those years before
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Date Posted: 31 Jan, 2014 @ 10:47pm
Posts: 87