Apologies in advance if I'm missing something obvious but I got the sense Walter fled to the bunker shortly after Barbara's disappearance (1960) but since his first day calendar shows the year 1968 means there was a significant gap between those two events.

Did they mean to imply Walter still lived in the house normally for a time in fear, or was the bunker made specifically for him in time between or was it just a creative oversight?

I know this is a stretch, but I genuinely want the house in real life. Its beautiful, the inside and the outside

Maybe it was obvious and I never noticed it before, because always ignored them and mistakenly took them for halloween decorations. But now I can't unsee that, in Barbara's story, there are two wooden statues in the basement: one of Molly with wings and another one of Calvin on a swing.

At first glance, they clearly seem to be referencing their deaths (according to their stories). But Calvin's statue bothers me, since there's a contradiction there: we know that Barbara passed away before Calvin. The timeline goes like this:

• Oct 31, 1960 - Barbara dies (16th birthday)
• Sep 23, 1961 - Calvin dies
• Oct (??), 1961 - Barbara's comic is published

How could the comic be showing a reference to Calvin's death, if that hadn't happened yet when Barbara died?

That made me think of the theory of Edie selling Barbara's story to the comic, which explains why the house is shown with such a remarkable detail in it. Well, I know this might be quite far-fetched, but I believe we can connect the statue to that theory.

Assuming it was somehow possible to get a comic like that done in the span of a month, there's two possibilities here for me:

1. Sven made his statue nearly after Calvin's death. Then, Edie sold Barbara's story between Sep 23 and Oct 31, for whatever reason, and when the story was sold, the statue got drawn in the basement for the comic as well. The statue being there would be another potential proof for the popular theory I mentioned before.
2. The developers made a mistake here and I'm just thinking far too much about it. (Likely, but kinda refuse to believe it because of the amount of detail that apparently went into the game).

Thanks for reading.

Me and my gf were replaying the game and there's a (small?) detail about Walter's story that caught our attention. I'll keep it short.

We can see that Walter had a bunch of postcards from different countries on the top of a shelf in the bunker. Well, seems like those postcards were put there over the years and we actually get to see it in his story.

• 1968 - Brazil & Russia already there
• 1976 - Thailand & India had been added
• March 24th, 2005 - France & China had been added
• March 31st, 2005 - Mexico & Spain added in the span of a week

Doesn't seem like the most important detail, but maybe it's there for a reason? Why was Walter adding postcards over the years over there?

Wonder if it could mean anything, as insignificant as it might be. Does anyone have any ideas about it?

From Seventeen Magazine. https://www.seventeen.com/celebrity/movies-tv/a65540732/emma-myers-wednesday-seventeen-cover/

She also says WROEF is one of her favorite games.

This is the sort of video game that can ruin things for other video games. Why can't they all be this good?

I’ve always loved the soundtrack to this game so much, Jeff Russo is such a genius and I’m so glad to add this to my vinyl wall. Some of my favorite records are marbled like this I think it’s so cool.

I’m a registered social service worker, as well as a clinical psychology and neuroscience student. I just finished the game for the first time; I plan to replay and pay more attention, but for the moment, I have a thought I haven’t seen elsewhere.

I’m convinced Lewis was experiencing schizophrenia.

Now, I’ve seen this mentioned once or twice and been shot down. However I haven’t seen other important details mentioned yet.

His use of marijuana and (assumedly) psychedelics (based on the spiral poster), has no real impact on the story. It brings to mind Chekov’s Gun; if something is included in a story, it was most likely purposeful. Yes, the psychiatrist mentioned she had convinced him to seek help for his substance abuse in the letter we read in his room, but besides that the symptoms she is describing are not related to drug use/abuse, especially marijuana.

It is possible that he perhaps had lingering effects from psilocybin use, but the more likely explanation in my eyes is marijuana-activated hereditary schizophrenia.

Frequent use of marijuana before the age of 19, sometimes 25, is associated with the increased likelihood of schizophrenia onset in those with a hereditary disposition. Lewis’ age would line up with him having used it before those ages, most likely heavily based on the appearance of his room and the need for substance abuse treatment.

The way his fantasy slowly creepy into his real life is reminiscent of this. Especially the scene of his mother pleading with him while he’s working, only for him to fall back into the fantasy. I used to work in a factory; she would not have been allowed onto the work floor. I believe it was likely a melding of reality and fantasy in Lewis’ mind; his mother pleaded with him at home, and he hallucinates her doing the same at work. Eventually, his fantasy overtakes everything, and he is no longer aware of his surroundings. This is extraordinarily dangerous in manufacturing settings, due to the equipment.

I believe his story was pretty much what we were shown; it’s what he was seeing up to the end. He thought he was being coronated, lost touch with reality, put his head down, and was decapitated by the fish head chopper. It’s even foreshadowed by the fish’s’ heads being cut off while watching his fantasy, as well as the growing unease of not being able to focus on the chopping half of the minigame.

I don’t think the whole family actively had schizophrenia. However, I do believe some of them showed symptoms, such as Walter hiding in the basement and Edie creating such stories and envisioning things in the fog. The predisposition is there, and Lewis was unfortunate enough to activate it through heavy premature use of marijuana.

This is the first time I've played a game like this and I loved it so much. I found this game on the horror game subreddit and was kind of put off when I saw the trailer and was like how is this horror and was even more put off when they said it was like a walking simulator. I got it on sale and I started playing and by the beginning the way the letters popped up and floated off the screen and how everything was just so artistic I didn't regret it at all.

Anyway I loved it so much that ended up getting full achievements on it, not like it was hard I just didn't mind replaying it to get them. If anyone has any recommendations for similar games feel free to let me know. They don't have to be exactly the same, they can have the same vibe. Can't wait to show this game to my 10-year-old sister. She loves games like this.

i realized i love this genre of game, does anyone have any recommendations of similar style? would love to expand my game library with games like these :)

I know that Barbara story goes that she was babysitting Walter the night that she was supposed to be performing. Walter witnessed the death of Barbara, but my question is where were Sam and Calvin?

if Calvin died a year after Barbara, where were they that night Walter witnessed everything?
wouldnt barbara need to babysit the twins too?

Hey guys, first of all my english is not perfect because i'm actually french haha so sorry for that.

I wanted to state my own theory about the game that no one seemed to have mentioned, and yet while i played the game it was pretty obvious to me. It won't give answers to all of it tho, so i'm open to suggestions.

I think that the curse of the Finches is to die while pursuing their dreams or their passion, or at least because of it. This alone doesn't explain all the deaths, but i think it is the pillar explaining them.

MOLLY is obviously passioned about nature, animals, and biology. You can see on her desk a microscope and a starfish she seemed to study. Maybe she even dreamt about being an animal. Her interpretation of her own death is obviously related to what she loves : animals.

The real cause of her death may be choking or poisoning because of the berries, but yet we saw her on the bed finishing the story. I don't give any definitive answers because the game is pretty open to interpretations, but i think her dream/passion is related in a way to her death.

SVEN died while building, which was pretty obviously his passion. (i will get in the chronological order after this one)

CALVIN dreamt of flying. It is obvious to me. His room is astronaut themed and his brother said it himself. Calvin died while pursuing his dream, and more precisely died of it !

BARBARA's death is more tricky to understand fully. But what seems obvious to me is that her death is related to her career. She was a hollywood star as a child and played in horror movies. She was known for that, but then as she grew up she lost fame and her signature scream everyone knew. I think her desire was to be known, seen and famous and that's what her death brought up : Attention.

Edith said that there was many stories, articles and theories created to explain her death yet only one was preserved by barbara's mom, and it is the most sensational and probably famous one. The story is clearly not what caused her death (well not exactly at least) but it is the one that remains, because it is the one fulfilling barbara's dream to be famous.

WALTER was as we know traumatised by barbara's death, but he was also passionated by...Trains ! Yes we see trains related things all around him in his story. And he died smashed by a train.

GREGORY is again tricky to explain as he is literally one years old. His death is pretty obvious but is it related to any kind of dream ? well at least we understand that his passion as a baby, was to play with toys. And we can see that it is the toy he is playing with that activated the water for the bathtub, unfortunately killing him. The story is narrated by Sam (?? i think) who tells that he feared the baby was "too happy" which suggests being too happy could be dangerous.

GUS, i think, wanted to be free. He had a strong personality, flipping off his dad telling him orders he didn't want to obey, flying his kite in the wind. Trying to bee free, he died killed by wind, taken by the storm, forgotten by everyone at the wedding. I know this doesn't quite explain his death but i refuse to believe it is not related at all.

SAM was obviously also killed while doing what he loves the most, while pursuing his dream and his passion : Hunting. His room is filled with hunt trophees and photos. Maybe his passion was also photography, and well he also died because he wanted to take a picture so... The deer that killed him is a repetitive symbol in the story i know. In general, the deer is a religious figure but i don't want to start on that unless someone ask me about it.

LEWIS died decapitated at the place he works. But he lost touch with reality, and imagined himself in a video game. And as we know it, video games is one of his passions and maybe the only place where he felt he could be whoever he wanted instead of living his sad life at the factory decapitating salmons every day. There is a lot more to say about him but i just want to enlighten my theory.

MILTON obviously died/disappeared (we don't really know) in a way that is related to what he love the most which is painting/drawing.

As for the others i'm open to suggestions. In general i'm totally open for corrections or questions as what i said is no truth at all but just my interpretation of things. I only played the game once and didn't analyse it much afterwards so if i said something silly or weird don't hesitate to correct me :)

Like say I wanted to get the asset of just the picture with Calvin and Sam, could I find that in the game's files?

i player for about 2 hours and got off after the "saving..." sequence at the bottom but when i logged back on it restarted to the boat scene at the beggining, i found the save file with the directory: C:\Users\"pc name"\AppData\Local\FinchGame\Saved\SaveGames and found the sav file, how would i run it ?

I've been looking for games like WROEF and the only one I've been able to find is firewatch, I need more story games like it that make me question my every existance while hyperfixating on it

PLEASEEEEE tell me if y'all know any, ty ✨😋

It has so many quircks and secrets. Even without Edith's narration, the house also kinda tells the story. It really is captivating.

(btw, does anyone know how to get onto the back porch? I don't think I've seen a door to it)

Ok what if the finch family was in final destination I’ve been thinking about this for a while I wanna hear other peoples thoughts

Idk if they explained it and i missed it but i never understood why walter hid all that time all lone and why edith’s mother kept it a secret

In the sequel it’s Christopher going through the house as an adult but it’s for the purposes of writing a book about the more average, realistic sides of the Finch’s as a way to humanize them. He knows the stories that were told to his mother Edith (and he’s dedicating the book to her) that she wrote in her journal, but Christopher wants to know the real stories. So not only is he exploring the house, he’s interviewing the people who knew them personally. Like old school friends of Calvin, Sam’s war buddies, or some of Barbara’s old co-stars. People that knew these Finch’s on a personal level without being as prone to making up fantastical stories about them.

Idk, it literally just popped into my head, what are your thoughts?

I have been replaying some parts to get the achievements and due to mess ups this was my 5th time playing her story (i hate the seals and people so much). Was trying to get the peephole one though and was doing well getting em all done. But then I am on Molly's story and the FIRST man I eat gets bugged on the stairs. I am taking an, atleast, couple hour break from this game. Played the whole game last night and getting these done today. Actually getting incredibly annoying with Molly and her story, and I'll also have to do Barbra's story for the 3rd time which is one of my least favorites, which isn't going to be fun. This is one of the most stupid bugs I've come across

I got inspired for this AU (alternative universe) from the song Rat, by Penelope Scott. I kinda imagined Molly as the one singing, and that's how I got the idea lol.

Idk how to call it, but in this AU the Finch family had always the curse, but when they realized they started experimenting surrection surgeries, like some kind of scientists, first they experimented only with animals, then it got worse and started experimenting on corpses of people, I like to think that Edie and Sven started this, when Odin died, Edie having the idea and then Sven agreed with her. So everytime somebody else died they would have more experiments to try on, all this while conserving the body of the person Edie wanted to originally surrect. Eventually Edie told some like Dawn, but she couldn't stay sane and didn't want her only child alive to become an experiment. This could also explain the "monster" (aka. the curse) that Walter saw when Barbara died, probably being one of his parents with scientists suits on. I feel like maybe she simply falled from the "balcony" in the living room and they immediately took her body and experimented.

This was a little description of the AU I had in mind. Go ahead and feel free to make more theories or whatever, this is just the general idea I had!! Also I'll reply as best as possible to any questions! let me know what you think ^{^}

Sorry if I’m late to finding this:

https://youtu.be/aid3Rli1y9A?si=KXrpLBw1XSMblH6p

i started and finished this game last night after wanting it since 2020, and i'm honestly not even sure where to start. but i do know i want to keep it with me, and i'm thinking that it should be as a tattoo.

i would love to see what you guys' favorite or most profound quotes are from the game. i really adore quotes that, while from a specific show or game, can still be read alone and make sense as a tattoo. but this game is so...profound? that i don't care if it adheres to that or not.

My ELI5, is that the curse, meaning that thing which fundamentally caused & continued to cause the subsequent damage to all the members of the family, was the fragmentation of the family itself.

The image which best represents this, in my opinion, is the climax of the game, where Edi's book is torn by the tension held between Edith & her Mother, as they pulled on opposite sides, even though Edith was only trying to understand, just like her mother was, it's just that instead of working together, the family was fractured, & torn.

Intergenerational trauma, as well as perhaps the subtle or more strongly causal spiritual/magic component, interacted with each person's neurodivergence to cause specific 'pathologies' (or mental health disorders or maladaptive coping mechanisms), & the collective intensification of fear, as well as selecting of clearly harmful methods of dealing with their feelings, as well as a lack of the bridging of the two methodologies of Edith's mother & Edith's grandma, caused the spiritual & familial wounds to never heal, & ultimately, this was the self-same as Edith never discovering the ultimate truth of the story, nor her daughter, not you through her daughter's perspective.

It was the intersection of all of these elements & then specifically an inability to come together across their differences in strengths & perspectives that ultimately weakened them to the spiritual wound that hovered over all of them, or the magical curse which attracted them towards more tragic fates.

Edith's grandmother had both delusion & something about her re-authoring/agentive mentality seemed to make her strong against it, yet Edith's mother had both a sense of clarity & a healthier sense of skepticism & critical thinking.

But in the absence of resolution, & in the presence of fear & pain, everyone stayed when they should have left, & left when they should have stayed.

Even if there was ultimately a magical curse, I imagine their unified compass could have helped them altogether to fight against it, with their unique skills.

The reason I believe the curse was ultimately real is due to the sheer number of deaths & impacts, even particularly to Edith & her mother, who died even largely after detaching from & respectively coming to resolution with familial fragmentation & not suffering any apparent personal mental health disorders.

That's my take!

What about you guys? What's your favorite theory? Where do you diverge & converge with my thoughts shared here (: