Its incredible that Playdead has only 40 employees

Its kinda sad at the end we didn’t get to see the boy one last time :(...

The boy could avoid a lot of troubles, simply by walking around obstacles.

This is the most thought out and fun to listen to theory. It is fleshed out with backstory and reasons behind what went on and WHY the world is the way it is. There is even subtext and deeper meanings. This is a great theory, i thoroughly enjoyed listening to it. I think I will go with this one :)

I find it odd that no one mentions the model that the blob lands on, after it crashes through a few floors. It's an exact replica of the last shot. It has a descending forest and a beach, with a light shining on the same spot the blob eventually stops moving. Makes me wonder if it's all a test, to see how smart this life form is, if it can break out of its tank and escape. They have an end destination for it, which is why the light is planted there, and we never see its source.

Finally, an explanation that makes sense and uses all parts of the game! I think you've got it.

Well done. I finally played this After Little Nightmares 2 and I was amazed. I've never seen the type of real-time animation this game had at the end. It started off so simple and got crazy by the end. I'm really impressed how this, Limbo and the Little Nightmares games can have such deep stories and worlds without a single word said or even a piece of text.

"Never knowing the answer is half the fun." I couldn't agree more

Also the boy that we control is the only thing that has color( red ). Everything else is black and white

i have to admit.. you did a great job, i also prefered from the beginning the idea of a literal story rather than a metaphorical. thats why i m really happy to find your video.. many other analysations start really good (like the one from night mind) but losing their sight into philosophical theories, which for my opinion is going to far. here some more details/possibilities/interpretations: ---- - summary of night minds beginning analysis: bodies get collected outside from insolation pods into trucks, delivered to the complex, where they complete a function test, to be then used for further purpose. eg lower class worker (cleaner at 5:33) as you mention or parasite food or transformation. ---- - there are many research areas (you prefer to call them stages) area 02 (4:07) abandoned fast growing forest of big trees and isolations pods + maybe isolations pods developed here and used later outside in the beginning area of the game. area 03 (4:35) abandoned/flooded water area. + maybe in this area, they researched gravitational water control and underwater breathing till an accident happend and everything got flooded. only this area is flooded, and its not one of the deepest ones. + there exist more than one(, two or three) underwater creatures. first of all, they live in different areas seperated from each other. second, you can tell them apart. one has foot ring with a chain, next has nothing, third has only a foot ring, last again nothing.. + the underwater creature seem to be a neglected boy. it looks identical to the naked inside boy, except of the hair, which is longer. just grown wild since this area is abandoned. maybe underwater boy and inside boy are the same kind. + all underwater boys try to kill inside boy without exception, because this is the simplest explanation. why should the last one be different? they are wild creatures, looking for some prey to capture in the most effective way, so they use a simple strategy, drag it into deep, like mermaids. + there is no reason first to kill inside boy an then to revive him again? it was just a blessing in disguise. when inside boy died, he got attached to the active injection cable during sinking, which saved his life. it doesnt look like as the underwater boy did this in purpose at 4:53 (more likely playdead placed in purpose a pipe in front of this action to hide it). and as soon as inside boy got transformed, the underwater boy lost interest, like inside boy lost the prey status and got a coequal status. + after inside boy is alive again, you can see many corpse connected with a cable to a cube. one of them is even still alive and twitching during eaten by little fish at 5:01, like the head over bodies at 5:15 in area 4. area 04 (5:25) worm cultivation inside bodies + here 5:15 you see a detailed view on the plug of the cube cable. the head over bodies seem like wearing a dismantled version of the mind control helmet. maybe this technique was researched in area 3 and applied in area 4. + when inside boy passes the microfilm reader room (big monitors with side panels)before he reaches the research hall, you can see at the glass wall after the big 4 in small letters the numbers: 33 11 43 15 43 13 42 43 41 also at 5:34 and 4:36 you can see little numbers at the glass, but i cant read them. i need to check that in the game, and see if this has maybe any significance. area 5 - 7 appear too before the blob crashes into the diorama, he passes area 7 on floor higher. area 5 and 6 are shown behind the window in the room where the blob gets the cube, which must be ignited. ---- - the 14 spheres: what exactly (if controlling or observating) they do, i didnt saw a hind. is just interesting, that the last one is a giant version of the others. ---- - finally this brings us to the blob (who is far overestimated as the controlling overmind). + at first sight on the blob in the tank, i scientist with glasses tries to tell inside boy something, when he float at the window, but i cant say what. + the four deactivated helmets on the blob are not mind control plugs, as many think. it seems more plausible that these are the same helmets like for the head over bodies. here a little comparison: A- connected to the helmet, bodies and blob seem to be sedated/paralized. B- for a normal body, they need one helmet to work. for the big blob, they need four. C- as soon inside boy unplugged the head over bodies by let them fall down from the water, they start to follow him. or better to say, he attracts them (remember the 19 bodies part, the stay so close arround inside boy, that you cant see him, like overprotective bodyguards), maybe the same attraction he has on animals (like you state in the video). as soon inside boy start to unplug the blob, he attracts the blob too, so he gets absorbed. you can see, that the blob tries to get inside boy more and more the less helmets are connected. this means, the blob is not controlling anyone. he is just a test subject sedated in the water tank. maybe a first success of a mutated version of the bodies with recombination capabilities. + approching his last resort (ending of the game) at 8:31, the blob reaches a wooden fence, which seem not straigth but konkav. this means it encloses an area. this and the sunny unnatural spot at the beach concludes that his last resort is still inside. this is why i think, its called inside, because when you enter the complex (nearly here 1:13), you stay inside and will never come out again. --- - alternate ending: instead of searching for a complicated metaphorical explanation, which often doesnt satisfy, i tried to keep it simple. so.. what are movie producers doing at the end of a movie to make it more interesting, to create a last shocking moment or to leave an option for a continuation. or should i ask why? compared to them, game producers have far bigger means/possibilities to put a little twist, like a hidden alternate ending. even if you have to jump back in time by loading old save points. --- it should be possible to find some more details. looks like i need to play inside a second time :D

This is one of the better theories I've seen. Well done.

Seems legit. I’m gonna play Limbo next, I hope you’ve got videos on it too 🤞

This theory about the flood rising is probably the best way to explain why the government became the way they are in game.

I love your interpretation of the ambiguous nature of the game. I think you’re spot on and I’m thankful that you took the time to explain your interpretation. When I tell people about the ending, I’m lost for words as it’s hard to fully describe the emotion felt when seeing what you’ve uncovered at the end. Inside plays like a dramatic indie film that leaves you breathless. Now that I’ve beaten it, I want answers. And your video is the closest plausible explanation that I’ve come across. Again, thanks. I’ll be subscribing to your channel. Thank you.

i was looking for a literal interpretation like this, thx!

The ending of the video was perfect. Good actually, AMAZING job with it

I saw the one max did and his makes sense too but yours is spot on. The way you explained this game made more sense than what max said in his video. To me, you have the right explanation or at least the closest to what this game really stands out to be

Your explanation of the story is still my favorite.. Wish your video would have way more views

the sleeping state part is spot on! I always thought it was weird that you can hear the drones snoring when their not being controlled.

As the ending takes place in a forest down hill, it would have had potential to create a loop to the very beginning of the game

Loved playing this great game, if only it was longer.

Jesus man! The way you interpreted the meaning of this game is masterfull! I would love to see a movie like what you described! Thank you so much!!

Honestly this whole theory gave me chills after having just successfully completing the alternate ending. This is so compelling!

The only thing is noticed wrong is during the fish theory, they don't disconnect the air breathing plug, your body weight does. For the rest, you are right. Chicks and fishes eat worms and you can see fishes poking the pig/worm/human hybrids in bags under the water.

Love this video. So damn well analyzed.

The ending shoreline is built within a chamber. You land on a model of it during your rampage as the Huddle. Also, in the room where everyone is watching you fall into a vat, there are multiple kids sitting in the front row, all with coloured shirts like the protagonist. How do these fit in with your theory?

Best theory I've seen so far. The other theories rely heavily on meta-narratives with the player controlling the agent and they get really weird with a metaverse discussion of free will and mind control without ever explaining most of the things that show up in-game like the creepy mermaids or the pigs controlled by parasites. The human meatblob serving as the master node makes a lot of sense in my head. The player choosing to free it and attempt to escape is a sensible thing to do as well. Great video. Well narrated and well edited.

I loved this video and analysis !!!!

A very nice theory! Though some parts of it don't feel quite right to me - if this really was some sort of an attempt to destroy the experiments from the inside, why are the scientists very clearly going with it in the last third of the game? No one makes an attempt to stop the kid as they look at the blow in the window, they just let him walk amongst them as if waiting what he does next. There are more people watching throughout the entire blob escape scene - and at points they even help it progress. They're clearly doing it just to trap it as shown in the scene with the dangling box, but would they really come up with that at the spur of the moment - and moreover, intently watch the whole thing happen instead of focusing on evacuating? There's also that miniature recreation of the ending screen in one of the rooms the blob escapes through... It all feels too controlled to be a random sabotage... even if the entire game is just some sort of an experiment, how does that fit into everything else?

Thanks for this. Found myself surprised by all the footage you highlighted. Lots of stuff I didn't notice. Haven't seen any quick videos like this highlighting so much (eg. the masked families hinting at an upper society, the behaviour of wild animals, the numbers...) Perhaps the shockwave is a part of the blob's power? The office workers could be using it to broadcast to zombies everywhere at this point. The boy could be an escaped experiment, like the underwater girls. As you say, someone could be sending the boy back in. And when the boy is drowned and revived... that could be the blob taking control of the boy? Who knows. Thanks for your thoughts.

Really good theory, I love it!

Are you sure you're not a dev of the game? this is so in-depth and easy to understand yet so mind blowing that I had the same feeling as progressing through the game as I watched this.

I love you theory, it's the one that makes more sense and it bothers me SO much how blind i was while playing the game. I didn't notice when i spent half of the game underwater, with all those sunken installations, the condition of the world. I was so distracted with the mind control debacle i never stopped and asked myself... where the fuck i'm at right now!? Or why are those guys are running to check on the blob! At this point i'm still wondering if it was all planed from the beginning and the engineers and leaders worked together to get the blob outside (following the matrix theory, a controlled escape to keep the blob docile with a hope for escape), or if there was a secret group of people who wanted to free you (unknown reasons) and with the help of people inside came up with a plan but got cock-blocked at the last second by the leaders who trapped you unsuccessfully in that water tank.

Still the best review of the story of this fabulous game. I come back and listen every once in a while.

Really interesting idea that the ending scene is a man-made cavern. I think given that the blob lands on a diorama replica of the ending scene, maybe this is a showcase model for the project. The great wooden wall that the blob smashes through to reach the end scene reminds me of walls that you see surrounding huge building project sites. I also like the idea that we as the player are responsible for controlling the boy, its a subtle detail but why do we always seem to be running to the right? The whole game could have had us running in the other direction. Ahah sometimes I think that maybe the blob in the chamber is controlling us players, bringing the boy inwards to free it.

Dude, you need more subscribers. This was a beautiful and very well thought out video. I'd forgotten this was a theory and not the official Lore. I think you're very close or correct though :)

Finally someone who talks about the world and not the metaphors!

Thank u for thinking about and sharing it with us :)

Excellent interpretations!

Its nice to see lore about multiple games! This may seem like im lying but ur one of my favourite youtubers, cause i feel like these videos have tought behind them. keep up the good work!

love the outro

What a fantastic theory. I love it.

Bravo Sir! You have noticed some of the more specific detail in your analysis. Yet I so wonder how to explain why the scientists seem to want to help direct the blob out of the facility at the end?

Its funny that the fact you did not notice the sample design of where the scientist leads the blob in the ending. In short, the blob or the boy went 'Inside' per se the title of the game. They created the blob to trap the blob on their created stage/cage to further the study. If you see, the scientists are leading the blob to move right always where the stage is.

This is the best theory I've read so far

This is a great theory which still has holes in my opinion. However I do think this has possibly captured most of what was going on in terms of the totalitarian upper class and the mindless lower class and the advancement of the different levels of experimentation. I think if you think about it in terms of “I’m sorry you don’t have the clearance level” you can see how the experiments could be more and more advanced as the level numbers go up. I am loving all of the back story you have given and is very believable. For me though I’m not sold on the “water child” explanation and the whole issue with the blob ending up at the same place as the diorama spotlight. I think partway through, where the water child drags the boy down the blob takes control of the boy in an attempt to escape. On his way to the blob the boy sees the diorama and then mostly frees and merges with the blob enabling it to escape. When the blob rolls down the hill and sees he is in the same place as the diorama he realises he is still in the facility, weary he sees there is no escape and lays on the shore in despair. That or potentially the bright light stops him (a la the mind worms from limbo) I realise my theory also still has holes though.

Cool video. I love this game

Your theory is amazing. zD

Such an awesome explanation! I definitely prefer a literal meaning over metaphorical.

Awesome video for an awesome game!

Very very well said!

if you're planning to do this with more games one I can suggest is "the final station" the story and that game is ripe with theory crafting with an interesting World built around it

Your theory is sound, except for the fact that the scientists evidently were testing the Huddle (the biomass of people) to see if it would escape. That's why they were going through the motions, and why they were helping the Huddle perform tasks in the final stage of the game. In fact, if you look at the diorama in noclip mode, you can see the Huddle in its final resting place, which suggests they had everything planned out from beginning to end.

5:41 Where is that scene from?

I just finished playing this game on my Nintendo switch and I love it

I didn't think I would like this game. Got it on an Xbox disc as a combo with Limbo for a Christmas gift in like 2019. The games looked boring so I stuffed it behind my other discs and it was left untouched for a few years. I only just played it recently for the first time durind the summer of last year just because I was bored of my other games and I loved it! So much so that I played it two more times after that. Loved the puzzles you had to solve because it required a lot of brainpower. It took me a long time to figure out a lot of them. Though I wish Playdead would release another game like Inside, maybe even a sequel that takes place in the same universe, but they have disbanded sadly. I tried playing Limbo, but I hate it. The graphics are too dark to see, literally EVERYTHING kills you, and just doesn't have the same ominous feeling that Inside gives you. Also, I got to a certain point in the game and it didn't save my progress! It picked me up like at some point in like the sixth puzzle.

Hey StallordD, it may be something but in inside those tones or music are also in a game called antenna.... im starting to think it might be related...

I think this is my favorite theory

I believe the game is about childbirth. The little boy is the sperm which must make its way through a difficult area (with ones getting killed along the way so it can be the one sperm that makes it). The little girl in the water is a stillbirth. The little boy gets absorbed into the cells, is the sperm meeting the egg. The scientists either watching the egg or the sperm. The mind control leaches are the manipulation of genetics (simple things like hair color, eye color,etc or bigger things like controllability). The scientists do their best to break it out of its cage, but alas, it ends up free, but unmoving and dead.

i really like this game,

This was a very fun small game

Question: What happened to the kid when the game end with you in a giant organic mass and ended up in a showlight gaze

i watched twice. (listend) the way you explain and the voice is nice to listen to. good theorie as well.

That footage at 5:40 where is it from??? I don't remember seeing that anywhere in the game! By the time you reach that area all the people area heading to watch the blob.

One piece I thought was that in the alternative ending, the protagonist appears to be dead after he pulls the plug. I'm taking it to mean that he was under some form of mind control too. I'm thinking that the true mastermind might we within the company, and is in control of our protagonist. Either that, or that child is really smart....could be the successful portion of the experiment.

Thank you!

Great analysis. I really appreciated the meta-narrative angle. Reminds me of the allegory of the cave a bit.

So you don't control the boy, you control the thing who's in the mind controlling device at 7:15. With the secret ending you gain the option to free the boy from the mind control, thus ending the game.

I love these type of games because they get right to the point like Little Nightmares, Journey and RiME

good theory

What's mind boggling is that the title itself was the ending. Whoosh~

That Natzi walk though

StallordD, a great piece of work, as always! Though, while watching (and enjoying) the video, a thought came up in my mind - have you ever considered making lore videos about other games (other than Warframe, and the recent INSIDE) as well? It would be cool to watch your ideas and explanations on other games.

Very well argumented theory! nice ^^

8:38 the final shot outside is seen in the lab itself as a diorama.

The automatons seemed to be being cultivated.

This game is awesome but I’m mad. I paid 10$ for the game to last 2 days...

"Because the ground is unsafe for travel, except for government officials." Don't know if that was meant to be tongue-in-cheek, but clever if it was.

So the blob dies in the first ending but in the secret ending the final node gets to it and finally controls all other nodes and the upperclass thrives and the lowerclass continue to be mind controlled OR the final node never appears and everything remains the same?

really good therioes, gotta say.

Ok, this guy works for Playdead!

Imagine this game in POV. Would be pretty cool

Am I the only one that remembers the worker with the hard hat that helps you escape when you are the blob? You have to toss him the box and he helps you throw it at a button, and you have to run out the door quickly

I need the devs to tell us what their interpretation is. Since they made the game, that could be called the true theory. The community may be creative but every theory has some plot holes in it, so only Playdead knows the actual story.

I wanted to comment on the connection of limbo to inside. Its possibly from what i read the the kid is basically dead and in his mind actually going thru limbo. And inside is the kids body being ran by the blob his sister ( rest of dead mind controled ppl thing.) The machines and spiders signify the web of consciousness and the machine his connected to. Etc ya probably get where i going with this.

Another hypothesis might be that the developers made a world based around som basic ideas: mind control and a hive mind, water, and so on, made a storyline that binds these elements more or less vaguely together, with a few obvious conclusions. (Like the idea that the player controlls the boy (and so on), but who controlls the player? Some major event must have flooded things.) There might not be a true solution. The whole game might be made half vague to make people engage and come up with their own interpretations. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if they put in some biblical elements to season things, but I havent seen anyone even mention that. I'm thinking of the flood and what could be seen as the boys sacrifice.

Wow, man! You are very smart! Do you know the successor of inside?

...sounds good to me 👍❤️

Jesus that was deep

how do you get that scene... 5:41

what if the secret ending is actually the bad ending? those worms had probably taken over the human race but people were able to stop it by using the mind control device. So when you shut down the power that means the mind control is gone, meaning the worms are free including the blob, so you basically get the bad ending, plus I think the spider was some experiment that got released after the power shut down

Question is, if the kid was being mind controlled all the time, why did the dogs bark at him while he was in the line of other mind controlled individuals 3:53? I mean, it they must have sensed somehow that the boy is different from the other zombies. If he himself was a zombie all the time, there would not have been a way for them to smell the difference. Maybe the episode with the mermaid lead to his actual death and turned him into something else?

I don't think the Nymphs have mind control powers. When Red gets the control helmet stuck on his head he can lightly influence the husks to do stuff like mimic him and toss him to a ledge. When the Shockwave Machine blows off the helmet he keeps that ability. The thing that controls the husks must've embedded itself into his head.

I don't know if i agree with the flood theory. I sort of believed the ruined facilities of the depths are flooded with water because they were previous experiments in transhumanism that had a cataclysmic failure causing the entire facility to be destroyed and fall into ruin and submerged under the sea level.

Great analysis, although you did get some things wrong. For example, the fish didn't disconnect the cable from you. If you look closely, it is ripped off of you by becoming taut from reaching the wire's maximum length. A simple understanding of gravity and physics will make that obvious. Though I can see how you'd mistaken it for the fish freeing him, considering how close the fish were to the wire at the moment of disconnect.

Just finished this as the game with gold, really enjoyed it!

For my theory, inside mean inside the body and the boy with red shirt maen danger virus or something harming body. He try to penetrate to each part of body the fisrt part may from the nose (forest and tree is the nasal cavity, black guy is the hair that try to protect) and next corn farm may be the brain part that the 2nd ending mean attack the brain and when the brain die, virus die too. But if we go away from this part the boy will pass to the other part of the body such as the dead pig mean the pork eaten remaining there in stomach. Virus some time can control body function or copy cell function like the boy copy other people action. The hidden orb that have yellow cable is the main organ connect to the brain. And white blood cell and body try to destroy the virus boy with many way like the blood pressure. The girl in the water like immunity in the lympic system that try to kill virus too. But then after that the girl take the boy down until the boy can breathe in the water that may be the boy pass through reach some body liquid like blood that cannot kill virus any more. And in the big tank with the blob which meaning ovary that have egg just fertilisation and many people interesting and glad there. Finally the boy can go into the blob, why people help him and open the way to some where. It's about fertilized ovum that having cell division to be zygote moving to the womb and in the end when the blob boy reach there at the beach is embryo implantation and rest there for 9 month until born to be boy (may be infected).

Tal cual!!! Pense lo mismo!

It could be that they are underground *and* there's a flood issue. I could see that happening in a post-nuclear world

i like watching videos labeled as an explanation only to get jebaited at the end of the video with "its up for interpretation"