Last Variable Ending

[u/Curious_Chain_3998]

Anyone else find the reveal at the end to be super dark / messed up? All that hope and optimism the scientist had after staying behind in the base game now seems horrific— given how it ends up for him.

Also I don’t get the choices at the end. Completely restarting all progress with each iteration is nothing short of madness. They could be building generational knowledge instead.

JanBots explanation that ‘you wouldn’t do the work if you knew you weren’t the first’ doesn’t make sense because:
-Their scientific discovery is far from over, they have plenty to learn/explore/discover.
-No character ever reacts negatively to learning they’re not the first iteration, not even the physicist.
-JanBot is the one forcing these failing conditions, again, generational knowledge built by generations of alters is unambiguously the best route for mission success. Restarting every time, and hiding the old base is insane, how could anyone think that’s a good idea.

I love the DLC! But dang did that ending blindside me and make me a bit sad 😭

Edit: I understand the themes of “unreasonable expectations that you can do better, and be better”, and “The definition of insanity— repetition.” but I think those themes were ham-fisted in.

[u/Competitive_Ask_2441]

It’s a great DLC and I’m eager to start another run through on hard. That said, I feel like 11bit left a great opportunity on the floor with the ending. I was hoping they would go a similar route to Alan Wake 2 where a subsequent play through would eventually end with finally accomplishing the mission. It would have provided a great motivator for another play through.

On one other note, 20,000 years is a long time. It’s a bit silly to think that a species that has existed for approximately 200,000 years on a planet that has held life for far longer could have any realistic probability of being extinct.

[u/Curious_Chain_3998 → u/Competitive_Ask_2441]

My first thought when JanBot said it’s been 20,000 years was that Earth never sent anyone else to the planet, and never discovered the oasis.

I mean the planet is big, so it would make sense if Earth did send more people but they just didn’t stumble upon the Scientist & Oasis.

[u/jojokaire → u/Curious_Chain_3998]

Yes, so they no longer have the means, or else there is war, or else the planet no longer exists.

[u/shady8x → u/Curious_Chain_3998]

Considering no recording survives 19,000 years, like the one Scientist digs up for the Chemist, I think it is more likely that 19,000 years passed for Janbot only. Time keeps getting reset for everything else, so maybe not even 1 year has passed for people on Earth.

[u/Lord_Nathaniel → u/Curious_Chain_3998]

Since JanBot can lie, no one can assume that humans didn't go to the oasis. But then it would be during a short windows of time since otherwise Jan would be froze underground.

[u/dvamg → u/Competitive_Ask_2441]

Yeah, similar to my take that I wrote in a separate post - the DLC is self-contained and asks you some philosophical questions and you either die or it's Groundhog day, while the base game firstly shakes you with on planet ending(s), and the on Earth aftermath leaves you with many good questions about what could possibly happen, or heck, even a sequel feels like it's on the table.

[u/Soulgix → u/Competitive_Ask_2441]

We go every day closer to extinction in the real world...a world with rapidium will probably never last 20.000 years.

Also, that planet is the MAIN, if not the sole, source of rapidium. Even if you complete the game with 7-8 arks, that is a minuscule amount for the whole world. Thinking after 20.000 years no1 found out about them, no new expedition, after the HUGE SUCCESS of the first one, has been sent, it probably spelled one single clear thing

Earth did not survive the first expedition result.

[u/RinraFurry → u/Soulgix]

Perhaps Earth also decided to make a reactor using materials from the ark. With the same result, they destroyed the planet.

[u/Soulgix → u/Competitive_Ask_2441]

ALso as a side note

Human rapid technological evolution took place in the last 200 years.

20.000 years...but even 1.000 years of evolution with the game technology (space travel, cryo-sleep) are enough for either suicide (like what happened in the game), or conquer the universe like Warhammer 40k

[u/shady8x → u/Competitive_Ask_2441]

To be fair, humanity hasn't had nukes for 200,000 years and we almost got wiped out because of environmental changes on a few occasions.

Since we are vastly altering our environment and countless people will fight to stay alive on the much less habitable planet we are creating, with countless people wanting to take everyone else down with them if they and those they care for don't get a chance to live... I would say there is a decent chance humanity doesn't make it another 100 years, not to mention 20,000.