The whole game explained *Spoilers*

[Adi]

Hi Lazoriss,

Nice that you joined the discussion. Hope that will be more. Anyone comment on the open questions?

Your Questions

> My biggest question with this game is exactly where, when, and how the twins died.

I would say that it happend on the altar that is visible in the very end (and in the intro, too!). He sacrificed them in November. Also see O11. Mandus, being the tinkerer he is, built a machine to sacrifice people Aztec style. He may even have anticipated that he would sacrifice himself eventually. The machine in the game is the same as in the end and there were 2 smaller and 1 larger chairs.

> The journal entries really throw me off.

As I refined my theory I primarily used the journal entries and I find they make for a pretty consistent story.

> There's so much emphasis on the twins having been killed in Mexico and it's treated as such an essential part of Mandus' development. But at the same time, no one mentions the twins being missing, and they're still writing journal entries. idk

Actually, the killing is never stated explicitly. There are multiple hints that the children were not killed in Mexico:

• The most peculiar sentence is "went into the garden and buried those tiny shattered skulls". However, I do not think that they are the skulls of the twins as he mentioned having something re-crafted in the same sentence.
  
• A "shabby fellow" is his guide and he certainly would have witnessed the killing.
  
• There are notes from the kids in October.
  
• Mainly the professor and the father hinted at something significant having happened in Mexico. However, with his Orbs, he easily found new investors and it is perceived by others that something must have happend in Mexico. At least with his mind anyway.
  
• Something I just noted: I assume in some of the notes he addresses Lily directly as "My Darling" and he speaks about the twins as "My Darlings". The note from February 17th mixes in a lot of direct speech. The last sentence is "Perhaps, my darling, [...] their tragedy was they could simply not spill blood enough"
  

> I also wonder how much of the ending section of the game is a hallucination. Things get really loopy near the end, so a lot of the imagery is symbolic rather than literal. I also have no clue what the heart is about, or who the guy in the container is.

You are right... Quite fancy and bizarre. But I guess some form of portal is opened when standing below the heart. He seems to be transported to the "other world", whatever that is. (He describes the tesla pigs: "They live sporadically, torn from one world to the other and back again in violent, unpredictable bursts")

> Mandus having a split personality makes sense, though. It seems the most plausible theory concerning who you play as physically in the game.

Absolutely! I am very sure of that. ;-)

More

FYI, I gathered all texts from the game and posted it online.
As I said, I find the journal entries quite clear, but reviewing all texts, I am a bit confused about the hints and Mandus' memories... (Tags: clockwork soul, jaguar, rhododendrons)

Actually, randeh has a very nice theory about the twins, too. It is fun and creepy to read, but I think it is too complex. I think the story would be easy to understand, but the perspective we are being told it from, makes it hard to figure it out.