#Inmost endings how to#
#Inmost endings full#

The knight cannot jump, but has a sweet grappling hook to grab different areas and encounter shadow creatures, who seem to represent a whole bunch of horror in the world. The knight has the most action oriented moments, which, of course, he’s a goddamn knight.

You can’t jump more than a small hop, echoing the helplessness you feel as a young person struggling to make changes or to control life.

#Inmost endings full#

Instead, it acts purely as a platform for you to see the helplessness of this kid inside a home that’s full of shadows, sadness and, awful as it seems, resentment from all parties. With the child, there are no pickups to be found or tools to be rendered to help achieve the best ending (which is something of a kick in the teeth to deal with). You can pick up a few things, move them around, check out items, and eventually trigger moments to move to the next round, or to exit the chapter and enter another character’s perspective. These were, technically speaking, the most boring parts of the game in raw gameplay aspect. You have almost no end states within the child’s chapters: you just keep exploring and interacting until the game is done. The child’s moments are the ones that have the most weight in terms of the overall story, and, as a result, their chapters are also the lightest in terms of gaming. Over time, as the stories begin to overlap and eventually culminate into a singular explanation and ending, which is, at once, stunning and heartbreaking.īefore we get too deep in the weeds of the psychological impact of INMOST, let’s dissect the actual gameplay. The man’s story is one that’s told entirely by others that he encounters, be they fleeting ghosts, sinister witches, or a very strange and almost affable turkey/turtle who lives in a tree. With the child, it’s almost entirely told from their own perspective, shot through with childlike ideas of grandeur (both fantastical and horrific) and, later, accompanied by the thoughts of a stuffed animal (to whom the child gives identity and life). The knight’s tale has a fantastic voiceover to help explain the tale as it unfolds, giving light to the fact that there is Pain within his world, and The Keeper is a shadowy entity whom the knight serves and may (or may not) be a saviour to the people. All three stories are interconnected (as one might gather) and presented in very different ways. Most of the journey takes place from the vantage of the man, and each of the three characters has a very unique and different approach to gameplay.

It’s a fragmented exploration told through three perspectives a fallen knight fighting darkness both outside and within a young child living in a broken home with some serious demons and a man who ventures through a shattered castle, trying to find answers and salvation. Hidden Layer Games created INMOST and partnered with Chucklefish (who previously brought Stardew Valley to the masses) to conjure up a very complex but compelling story within this world.

As a result, you end up with a game that’s a little bit Braid, a little bit Lisa the First, and a bit of something else I can’t quite place, but it’s 100% its own journey and adventure. On the other hand, when a game attempts to properly intermingle actual gameplay elements instead of just presenting as a walking simulator, there are inherent risks and rewards that come along. On the one hand, there is always, always something to be said for a game that goes out of its way to try a new approach at delivering a message or a feeling, or even just striving to connect with the world. An indie game that strives to marry exploration platforming with deep, serious storytelling, INMOST has a bit going on within, and it can be a lot for a player to experience.

#Inmost endings how to#

I struggled a bit with finding the proper voice for how to convey my experience with INMOST.