True Meanings Behind These Confusing Video Game Endings

Inside

Playdead’s Inside is the journey of a young, nameless boy as he stumbles upon people being controlled. The boy subsequently has some powers to control them as well but eventually finds himself freeing some giant blob.

However, Inside is actually about the same experimental blob manipulating you, the player (who then controls the boy) to obtain freedom. The boy possesses some incredible powers that can set the blob free and as such, everything – including the ambiguous instructions the player receives – is all according to the blob’s plan.

It’s possible to <em>not </em>follow the blob’s instructions though. Collect the hidden orbs in the game and you’ll find a vault that allows you to shut down the boy, thus ending the control on him and keeping the blob sealed forever. Inside is essentially a commentary on thought control, especially as it pertains to video games. How much control do we actually have? Is the happiest ending achieved by not fulfilling the game’s objective? Was the boy much like the others but some how more “gifted” and thus an excellent tool for manipulation? And how much of that “gift” was because you, the player, was controlling him?

Inside won’t tell you the answers anytime soon but of all the theories, the “blob that controls everything” is the most reasonable.