Penumbra (Requiem) Ending General Discussion

[Wayter]

I can't imagine the Overmind allowing Philip to escape, after telling someone about the facility. And throughout both games, Philip constantly foreshadowed his own death. "The last time I would see civilisation", "the last flight I would ever take", etc. Not to mention, when you're in the boat, it's that crazy mental-hurdle boat, with that recursion picture, like in Black Plague, not the boat from Overture.

With this in mind I have my own theory. I think the last portal of the game is where Philip loses consciousness, and The Overmind kills him sometime after that. After that last portal everything is in Philip's mind, and Depending on what Philip is thinking about: his past before the game (represented by the weird version of the boat), or the horrible guilt about killing Red (represented by going into the incinerator), is what he dies thinking about, and what we see is a physical representation of that.

I'de like to think choosing the door is more canon. First Philip is thinking about Red and the guilt (being in the incinerator room), but then he chooses to look back on his life and be in relative peace before he dies.

P.S It's late, I hope this makes sense

[JKO]

But a friend with the power to "kill them all" would probably have a boat that is higher in caliber than the small fishing boat on which he arrived.

Maybe that friend decided to be the best of humanity (he he, Doctor Who), what Philip couldn't be, and extracted him quickly and silently from this place, leaving the Tuurngait forever behind, as they are the only 2 who still knows about it. Don't forget that the Tuurngait is "happy" when you learn from your mistake during its challenge. Maybe it offered him one last ultimate chance.

And throughout both games, Philip constantly foreshadowed his own death. "The last time I would see civilisation", "the last flight I would ever take"

This can simply be a symbolic representation of his life. It happens a lot in movies and stories: his old self as died. The one who wanted so much revenge for his father is dead, leaving only the "new" Philip. The Silent Hill-ish boat could be the remnant of his old self, a bit like Clarence (or whatever is his name) said in that room: "No order without chaos". He won't have his new self without the chaos of the old one, he is marked from it, but he decided to move on and not to die with his guilt about Red.

[Dren]

Just to clarify, the artefacts don't seem to have anything to do with the ending. I only found 2/9 artefacts in Requiem (yeah, I suck that badly), and I still had the option to turn and leave, ending up on the ship.

Yes, but if you collect all of them, you get something little extra. Same thing works with Black Plague's artifacts.

Oooooh... Guess who has two games to play through again?

It's just a little something after the end credits and statistics. I don't think it's worth it to re-play the entire game just for that (it could be worth it to re-play the game, but not just for the extra). So here's how you can cheat your artefacts together:

Spoiler below!

Find your savefile. On Linux, it's in ~/.frictionalgames/Penumbra/Requiem/save/spot. I don't know the locations for other platforms. Open the save from the incinerator (most recent one if you just finished the game) with a text editor. gedit worked for me, notepad would probably do the job as well. Somewhere at the beginning of the file there is a line:
<var type="2" name="mlStat_Collectables" val="N" />
where N is the amount of artefacts. Guess what, you can change this number to nine (or higher. I've got 10!). Save the file, start the game, load the save and finish once more. After the extra you'll also get a password.

[Tintin]

I found the ending to be seriously disturbing but at the time I didn't realise you didn't have to enter the incinerator. The ship ending is more redemptive but there's some raw and terrifying about the incinerator ending. Still, I like to think Philip forgave himself and left his guilt behind.

[Googolplex]

@BAndrew

No, this is not about this artifacts.
In Requiem, there are two different ends.

If you operate the furnace button, Red will be burned and he is free (or so)...
And if you exit the furnance chamber through the woodern door, Philip get out to the boat cabin.

[sarah]

For some reason I had a different view on it.

Although I didn't realize that you could turn and leave and be on the ship,
I kind of get the feeling that the whole time (the radio & burning etc.) was himself. Red turned out to be himself because he was infected so his view on what was real was messed up. Similar to that of the trial where you had killed yourself and walked by yourself again. Also I kind of wonder if it was himself who sent him the letter since you are playing from his point of view and throughout the game you get the letter. I don't know I kind of think its a he screwed himself because he was mentally altered kind of thing.

[Goja]

I'd say it might have been just a dream. He just felt asleep in the boat and dreamed about what will happen after his arrival... Nothing was real hehe! Sarah, your letter thing sounds like Silent Hill 2...

[BAndrew]

I'd say it might have been just a dream. He just felt asleep in the boat and dreamed about what will happen after his arrival... Nothing was real hehe! Sarah, your letter thing sounds like Silent Hill 2...

If that is true Philip is insane.....
Come on who could possibly even in his dreams have thought these kind of things.

I don't think that's true because after all how do you die? You can't explain that...

[Goja]

He could be insane, why not? Personally, i have nightmares that can be compared in term of madness i think (even though it's not same kind)... You can everyone experience it too, i'm sure

The thing is most of the time we forget them partially or totally. If the game was not a dream, then i suggest after discovering that, he killed himself out of despair.

[BAndrew]

He could be insane, why not? Personally, i have nightmares that can be compared in term of madness i think (even though it's not same kind)... You can everyone experience it too, i'm sure

The thing is most of the time we forget them partially or totally. If the game was not a dream, then i suggest after discovering that, he killed himself out of despair.

Yes it could be a dream of course, but I don't think it was. It didn't look like a dream it felt very real and scary. After all if that's only a dream then what the reality be? I think he killed himself because he of despair. If you remember he could exit this place, but he stayed because he didn't want all this have been for nothing. He wanted answers. I think he didn't killed himself. He just wanted to end all these "things". He knew Tuurngait (sorry if I spelled that wrong) would kill him if he sent a e-mail, in which he asks to kill Tuurngait than saving him. We can't be sure for anything, though. We must wait for the sequel to Penumbra (if there is going to be any someday -->I hope so ).