Isochronism by FireSlash 2020-04-23T01:07:35Z
I loved the game, the art is nice, the music is ambient perfection, the puzzles are just up my alley and the fact that I can't rate this game is a stab at my chest but the mystery still mystifies me, so I'm sharing a few thoughts below in the hope that we can find secret or maybe unlock more of the game. I know this is just a ludum dare game but still, I'm hopeful and I enjoy excessive theorizing, so...
[HEAVY SPOILERS BELOW]
I thought I finished the game, but I feel I'm missing something, based on some things: why is there is a connection from the second to the fifth that is never used?
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Is the design above the final door that resembles the layout possibly hinting at secret rooms?
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What is the cylinder-like thing beside the calendar in the first room that appears to be interactable? Why does the game reset and quickly puts you in a hard-lock state where Shara's dialogue changes? Who did Rune save with a defibrilator?
Thinking that the game title "Isochronism" could be a hint, I tried inputting a year in the first puzzle that would be congruent with the current date Shara's claim that she's 22 and the Rune is 24 and the current date (April, 2020, a calendar page of April even appears on the first room and could imply that Shara already celebrated her birthday the current year) - so Rune's birthday would be 1996 and Shara's would be 1998. I thought I was on to something, considering Shara's new dialogue and the fact that the player can define Rune's birthday, which looks kinda unnecessary at first, but inputting those years led to the same ending.
Current theories: a) I am guessing from ARASH's name meaning that it is a system that simulates a virtual reality on Rune's mind while he is in stasis to aid in him healing whatever put him in a disabled state. The Shara we see in the game is part of this system but this Shara doesn't want Rune to heal and leave her so she hates ARASH, the part of the system that wants to Rune to get better. There are a few things that corroborate this: ARASH is a anagram for SHARA; Shara's image gets progressively distorted when she gets more stressed; the ending's image; the fact Rune is related to the medical area and electrical engineering means he is able to build such machine; and probably more texts I missed.
I imagine there is a real Shara in the real world and she and Rune are married, one of the scenes heavily hints at that. I think that either Rune saved Shara from mercury poisoning and they fell in love and Shara is alive in real life OR... Rune accidentally poisoned Shara with mercury and she died then Rune built ARASH out of regret, the machine makes Rune forget he did that and he had used it before, but whenever he remembers the truth he ends up wanting to come back to it. The scenes' titles could kind of hint at that (Entry, Disorder, Wilderness, How soon is now, Dead souls, Rebirth). Also, mercury poisoning can cause cardiac dysrhythmia which might require the use of a defibrillator.
So the game resetting and not progressing is just to insinuate that Rune is repeating this cycle or he just decided to be stuck with virtual Shara forever and that's all there is to the game. Still doesn't explain the unused pathway, the useless interactables or the symbol above the door. This makes sense with the theme of the game jam: Rune built ARASH trying to keep Shara alive somehow, and the virtual Shara is trying to keep him alive by protecting his soul from the harsh truth.
b) Shara is a hottie the fact she says she "doesn't like cold stuff" could be a hint.
Any ideas?