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(5 edits) (+1)

Hi there!

Thanks for playing the game, happy that you enjoyed it, and thanks also for your question(s). :) You're definitely not dumb!

Yes, there are a lot of things going on with the plot in those final parts where everything is revealed! Everything you need to know is in the game, but some things are only hinted at so you'll actually have to piece some parts of it together yourself to get the whole picture. I'm the type of player myself who likes to do that which is why parts of the story is a bit open to interpretation, and you can't be 100% sure which character is telling the truth. 

So my first recommendation would actually be to play it through again and see if you can figure everything out! But if you don't want to do that (which I totally understand), here come the answers below. And thank you again for playing and reaching out! :) <3

- Major spoiler answers to the above questions below! -

God: The Guide mentions another deity who is similar to what we humans would call God, though this thing isn't exactly the same thing as that. Guide sees it as a problem that this God has all the power and is fearful of what it could potentially do with it (as well as probably quite a bit jealous of him not having that power). "God" gets energy from humans in Purgatory; when people deal with the emotions that originally put them there, energy is produced that gets fed directly to "God", making it more powerful. This is how the system of Purgatory, and the game's afterlife, works, and how power is contained by the deities in question.

Items: The Guide has devised a way to contain the above mentioned energy in items, which he has Astrid use on unsuspecting people in Purgatory, proving that it works. Energy from emotions still has to be extracted manually, so he can't just go around stealing it from people. They have to willingly "open up", which is something that Astrid is really good at making people do. As they open up to her in The Guide route, their emotions of distress are channeled into the items, thus ridding them of their negative emotions, making them happy. This is a "cheat" that The Guide has come up with to be able to steal energy from "God".

Café: This is another place, i.e. it's not Purgatory. When in Purgatory, The Guide is constantly busy since he's simultaneously talking to millions of people at once, as he's hinted at before (him being omnipresent). He moves him and Astrid to the café setting, which is "another place", so he can be alone with his thoughts, and her.

Dance: As Astrid says, she pretty much gives in to all the absurd things that's happening and goes "ah well, might as well dance". In that moment she probably believes The Guide too when he says that he's trying to help in his own way, so she feels for him.

Dead boyfriend/Remm etc: This is part of the "Epilogue" in which you play as Vol, not Astrid. This happens at roughly the same time as Astrid's story, but somewhere else (not Purgatory). It's revealed when you get to the café and meet Remm that this place is actually the same café which The Guide took Astrid to, so this is in other words the domain of "God", and "God" is Remm (which is why she has those white eyes). The symbology is that Vol/Remm has a similar dynamic between them as Astrid/Guide, where one is a dead human and the other a deity which grows to like the human in question. So it's like a mirrored situation in a way. 

As for why he's moving in with Astrid, this epilogue takes place in Vol's afterlife, in which he chooses to re-live that day over and over, because that's the day he realized that he loved Astrid. So that scene of them moving in together happened before they died.

Astrid in the end: Astrid decides to join The Guide, feeling like it's the lesser of two evils basically. This way she has a chance to help people get out of Purgatory faster instead of being miserable for hundreds of years (like some people end up doing), and she believes The Guide in that it's not a good thing that "God" has all the power. Time will tell if she's right or not. The reason why this pops up in the end (after the epilogue) is just that I felt it was more dramatic to show it there instead of after The Guide route, so you'd have to wait for a bit for the cliffhanger to resolve.

Phew! I hope that makes things at least a bit more clear. Let me know if there's anything else. :)

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ooo i see i see, thank you for clarifying!! i have a question though, doesn't the energy extraction thingie feel a bit forced? like the people in purgatory weren't really ready to leave yet, and forcing them out feels a bit wrong, is astrid ok with that? ;;

(1 edit) (+1)

You are absolutely right about that (and Astrid also brings that up when they talk about it at the end of Guide Route, that it's an immoral thing to do), so it's definitely a tough choice to make. 

I kinda wanted things to be morally gray like that; is it better to have people suffer for years and years until they figure something out for themselves, or is it better to help them along? Also, do we have the right to help people who don't ask for help?

Questions like that are also there because for The Guide the answers are simple, but for Astrid they're hard, so in a way she does lose part of her humanity when she decides to join him, even if she has good intentions. And while she thinks that it's the better out of two bad choices, we'll have to wait and see if it turns out to be the right thing to do in the end. :)

There's also the fact that The Guide offers to restore her memory, which definitely influences her decision. Like ordinary humans, she isn't perfect, and I do believe that if he didn't offer that then maybe she wouldn't have given in to him.

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aa i see, thank you so much for clarifying! one more thing though, why couldn't astrid just do the same thing she did in the other timelines/save slots? like why couldn't she talk to the people in purgatory, and make them leave willingly? why did she have to use the items instead of talking them out into leaving purgatory? aa i'm sorry if that didn't make sense, and again, thank you so much for answering my questions!! ^^

(8 edits) (+1)

The items are what The Guide uses to steal the emotion/energy from people. When Astrid makes them leave willingly, the energy goes to "God" since that's how Purgatory works. So she can't talk to them normally if she's going to help The Guide.

You can view it like this: The Guide notices that throughout the different timelines, Astrid has a talent for helping people deal with their emotions. So he gets the idea to have her be the one to try out the items, and it works.

The items are all tailor-made for each person (the painting symbolizes Locke's longing for his family, the empty book symbolizes Rahel's conflicted mentality etc), and when a powerful/sincere emotion is triggered close to the item then the person is drained and their energy is put into the item instead, so that The Guide gets it instead of "God".

Oh, and you're welcome! I love talking about my games so this has just been fun, I'm happy that you're interested in wanting to know more. :) 

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oo alright! but i meant why can't she talk to them normally, then before they're about to leave use the items? so they can consent to leaving, and the god person won't get their emotions. aa because i feel really bad about the people in purgatory sharing their problems with us, then we suddenly force them to be happy. shouldn't we wait for them to be ready then use the objects? (if that makes sense :'D)

also why does the guide put people's mind in "the box"?  if i remember correctly, during the "solo route", we have to claim items from each member, and they reference towards "a box" thing?

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again thank you sm for answering my questions! i'll also try replaying the game, since i binged played it at 3 am ;; 

i also want to say congrats on 2000+ downloads! i loved the point and click aspect, it was really cool to see in a visual novel. i grew attached to the characters, like rahel my beloved i would die for her. i've attempted coding before, and it can be really frustrating sometimes, so i just want to say congrats!! ^^

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The Guide mentions to you in the game that he actually uses Locke, Rahel, Smiley and Ezrebeth as test subjects to make sure the items work. Now that he knows that they do, it's definitely better for Astrid to maybe be smart about it and not drain everyone instantly since that will probably make "God" suspicious. At the same time, Astrid and The Guide really can't afford to wait for everyone to just be ready to leave, especially if they take a long time to do so. They're definitely in for a challenge there in how they're going to tackle their little plan. :)

"The box" is a state that The Guide puts people in so that they can't do anything, which is why he calls it a box (even though it isn't literally a box). I like to think that he puts them somewhere in the void. He did that in the solo route to force everyone to help Astrid, and basically to show that he can be a real douche when he wants/needs to.

You're so welcome! :) And thank you so much, I really appreciate that! We put a lot of work into the game and it means so much that people like you enjoy it and ask about it. <3

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hmm then can i ask why The Guide and Epilogue Astrid have white eyes? Are they even different from the "God"'s?

The white eyes are the same for Guide, “God” and Epilogue Astrid, they simply mean that you aren’t human and have “Purgatory powers” of some sort. :) What exactly that means will be explored more in future games.