Infinitap Games

Does anyone want to make guesses about the story of Neverending Nightmares? I won't say what is right or not, but I think it might be interesting to guess and see how close people get. The next build should have more story elements, so you'll be able to get some confirmation about your theories soon.

I was hoping to get the next build out before I go to GDC... We'll see if that happens. Things are taking shape but not quite as fast as I'd like.

Thomas believes he drove his pregnant sister to suicide and feels responsible for the death of her and her baby. He is tormented by the sight of her toys and his feelings of guilt.

Hmmmm well I'm feeling a sense that there's a much darker side to Thomas, something that we don't really know about yet. It's kind of hard to guess what it is but if I had to guess then maybe it's that he murdered (intentionally or unintentionally) his sister/family and is subconsciously guilty about it, hence why he's having these nightmares.

Or perhaps he's actually on his deathbed himself and in a sort of balance between living and dying, the visions in this nightmare world are just dark entities that have occurred in his life like maybe he saw his sister being murdered and I would actually agree with Harry in that the baby monster is a direct result of a fear of pregnancy. I'm not sure in what light the pregnancy would fit though, maybe it's just he was going to be a father and was afraid of the sheer level of responsibility he would endure, fearing that it would juist take over his life. Maybe (Alluding to that darker side of him I mentioned earlier) he's done something to a child and is subconsciously guilty about it which in turn envisions these creatures in his nightmares.

It's hard to say! There are so many questions that are yet to be answered hahaha
But I'm definitely intrigued to see where the story shall go

I've always thought that Thomas and Gabby were both children, thought since we're talking about stylized dream imagery, I guess I can't be certain about much of anything. It seems too literal for Thomas to have actually murdered her, though he could definitely be blaming himself for her death. Perhaps he was involved through some sort of negligence, or maybe it's just an obsessive thought with no basis in reality. Or maybe the paths you take through the game will actually change the reality revealed in the ending, and we're all correct.

Hard to speculate with so little info as yet, but I had figured that Gabrielle died in an accident that Thomas feels partly/largely responsible for (whether he was is a different question). That said, I did buy the implication that they are siblings at face value. Perhaps they are not, but the way I got it was that they are siblings, Thomas being older than Gabrielle, but they are both adults at the time of the dream. The reason Gabrielle looks so young in the intro and the reason there are so many toys, especially dolls, around, is because Thomas thinks of her as his wee little sister, even later in life when she's actually a young adult (which is how I would say she looks in the nightmares/the levels themselves). The location of the wound (both on Gabrielle in the intro and on Thomas "corpse" in level 2) may have some significance. It's located over the area of a human's liver, so maybe that will be relevant. I can see the idea that the wound on the belly might be connected to pregnancy (especially considering the Baby Monster), but I don't see why the wound would be off-center then. Also, in the usual depiction of a bloody miscarriage (which is what this might also refer to) the blood is generally depicted around the lower pelvis, not so high up on the stomach, so I doubt it's connected to pregnancy.

These are all very good ideas! While I'm not going to comment on what is right and not, I think it is really helpful to read impressions. Finding the balance between straight up inference and just leaving hints is always a challenge, but it seems like we are on the right track.

The next build will have some VO that confirms some stuff. I am really interested to see how that is received. The actual VO actors are temp (and not very good), but I'll be interested to see if people feel like it's too much. I'm on the fence about cutting it down a little. It seems weird to say when the conversation is only like 20 seconds long, but I am really trying to keep a mystery about everything.

Does anyone else have any ideas? I'd love to read them!

Honestly, at this point, I have no fucking clue. I know it involves guilt and babies somehow, and I think it involves death and church.

I love ambiguous stories, but my brain isn't trying really hard to process and interpret the things it's receiving right now. The way I usually handle ambiguous stories is to go through it once on autopilot, and then reflect on the experience and try to interpret it after. Then I go through it again, and, with the whole thing still in mind, I start looking for specific clues and symbols and stuff.

That was one of the reasons why I loved Dear Esther so much. The story is so ambiguous to the extent that certain elements of it are randomized, so my usual method didn't work and I had to be a lot more attentive and spend more time with it. And with the multiple story paths you talk about, it looks like the same thing is gonna happen with this game!

There does seem to be an element of spiritual crisis about it--especially with the "My God, why have you forsaken me?" bit. Whatever experience Thomas is going through, it must be pretty horrendous, so it's understandable that he would ask why a loving God would allow it to happen.

ranger_lennier wrote:There does seem to be an element of spiritual crisis about it--especially with the "My God, why have you forsaken me?" bit. Whatever experience Thomas is going through, it must be pretty horrendous, so it's understandable that he would ask why a loving God would allow it to happen.

That, plus the bible and the dolls dressed as nuns. I thought one of the wallpapers had upright and inverted crosses on it, until Matt pointed out in a dev diary that they're supposed to be daggers.

All very insightful! Fortunately, I sill have a lot of surprises up my sleeve, so I think I'll still be able to keep you guessing.