[SPOILER] Plot Discussion Thread *Spoiler Alert*

[Streetboat]

The story was very bioshock infinite-esque. Oswald was driven mad by the death of his wife as she gave birth to his twin children, and his personality was split between a driving desire to destroy all of mankind and to also feed mankind. This allowed him to build the machine (with the help of the Orb, I believe), and an amnesia of sorts was induced on him (hence him being both the saboteur and the savior of the machine) at the beginning of the game. He was unwittingly activating the machine that he had both built and sabotaged, and was now repurposing again. In the end, he brought about the downfall of London, and upon seeing this, was brought to his senses and went back down and destroyed it all by killing himself. He was a manifestation of himself.

I find it funny that everyone is confused by TCR removing the insanity meter, when in reality, they never did, they just made it more pervasive. The character you play as is completely insane; the voices you hear are supposedly played over speakers in the facility, but no, that is your alternate personality (dubbed "the machine" in the voice acting credits) speaking within yourself. This also explains why you would have "flashbacks" like in the first Amnesia game. You are remembering your own personal memories of building and activating the machine for pigs. Your intentions for the machine, however, changed once the evil personality was made aware of its potential for wiping out humanity.

That's what I gathered from the story. It's a solid narrative because it keeps you guessing until the end. I knew the kids were dead from the beginning, but I only had an inkling that Mandus killed them himself. Supposedly, he did it in an effort to save them from witnessing the horrifying things he had witnessed humanity was capable of. Fairly misguided, if you ask me, further shows how insane he was.