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About the Author: Night Mind

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  1. I've been able to ask Lexel Studios a few questions in the past, they are pretty much high school seniors (17-18) in Sydney who are able to putting out work of this caliber. It's actually quite amazing, and they've been swell people who communicate with their audience a lot behind the scenes.

    Rooting for them despite how intricate and complicated their narrative is

  2. Does it bother anyone else how she aimlessly slams her hands against the door even though she knows it's not doing anything?

  3. Gotta be honest, this one never got it's hooks in me. Just felt awkward. Guess I'll watch this and see if my opinion comes around..

  4. Another episode of 'I'm going to watch the video but absolutely not be able to follow anything that's going on at all'

    Not that your explanations were confusing, I'm just so bad at understanding things

  5. I had no idea what to expect going in, but TRDNE certainly offers a hell of a premise. And considering the state of the outside world, whatever this "rabbit" is, it doesn't sound like a nice person to do business with. If anything, it's giving me the same vibes I got from the Moon in the Local58 series.

  6. the acting really is only just mediocre…barely. story seems great. spoopy distortions a bit excessive. but still not too bad considering the amount of time and effort they must have put into this.

  7. I think the biggest and most important question is this: how many layers of the simulation are there, and what layer does each character belong to?
    The thing that stood out the most to me is that the two internal management members who talk about shutting the system down speak of this screwed-up world that they would have to sit the clients down and explain it to, but Caleb and Abbigail actually have 'thinking you're outside the simulation but still being in it' as part of their experience. Kiara and Jasper prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the 'outside world' we might have believed Caleb to be working in is most likely just another layer.
    It makes sense that if Caleb (who I believe has not interacted with Ryan until the fourth wall break) jumps from the layer he's supposed to be on (assisting Abbigail on layer 2) to a layer he's not supposed to be on (interacting with Alex and Tessa) that would cause an internal error that could be major enough to start the 'beta repair loop' and the 'multiple clients in the same instance' phenomena.
    My theory:

    Layer 1: Ryan #1 (who is the only one we know for sure is a client and now understands he's in a simulation thanks to System), Abbigail #1. This Ryan wears denim, which is significant thinking about his interview.
    Layer 2: Abbigail #2 (we see both her and #1 in the greenhouse area after Caleb's 'jump,' introducing multiple clients), Caleb (jumps to layer 4 where he hasn't been written to be in, starting the major errors).
    Layer 3: Kiara and Jasper, who exist as beta testers in an independent layer of the simulation. They don't interact with any other characters. The fact that they were terminated suggests either they were forced to participate or it's another instance of
    Layer 4: Alex (Ryan #2, not wearing denim) and Tessa (Abbigail #3) (we understand Alex is still not the 'real Ryan' in the interview in which he says "why would I wear denim?") (Additional fun fact: 4 layers could correspond to the 4 servers from the official website)
    Layer ??: Any other possible layers we aren't aware of currently.
    Outside world: The two agents discussing a shutdown of the entire system and explaining everything to everyone who is inside. From the fact they've used the word "them" we know it's more than just Ryan who is in there currently.

    Misc: Tyler and System (Amy) are both artificially created. Assuming System is isolated to inside the simulation, that would make Leo most likely another client.
    The timeline is so chaotic it's hard to make sense of it, but you can infer the story has been very roughly chronological. There are some fucked up possibilities you can think about that really give you a brainache such as:

    – If Caleb believes he's outside of the simulation (but that's just a part of his experience), then the VR demo Ryan and Abbigail #1 visited that he mentioned is also part of the simulation.
    – 'Client Ryan' (the Ryan in the interviews) is not the Ryan that existed outside of the simulation (i.e. the interviews are after the simulation has already begun).
    – Ryan #1 isn't actually Ryan but an additional construct. The 'real' Ryan is played by Alex, because Alex doesn't wear denim. If the 'real' Ryan planned his own VR experience then most likely they wouldn't make him wear denim if he didn't want to. Additional suspicion is cast when the unknown character walks into Room 2 in the hotel and turns into Ryan #1 (it's possible this unknown person is just an AI agent that switches personas).
    – Ryan #1 is actually Ryan and Alex is a construct that formed from the Sunrise executable in order to give Caleb, who wasn't written into the layer he jumps to, a sequence that stops him from understanding he was never out of the simulation.
    – When Caleb is said to have 'jumped,' it wasn't from one instance to another, but instead a real suicide caused by his adverse reaction to moving to a new instance. This would explain why we never see him again after the appearance of Alex, who explains Caleb was wandering around without crying out or asking for help (indicative of severe shock).
    – System might actually know what makes kids love the taste of cinnamon toast crunch.

  8. I'm finding this one a bit pretentious. (Not your coverage but the ARG itself) The acting isn't great but that distortion on the sound and the static jump cuts etc are annoying and ear-rapey 🙁

  9. Thank you so much for what you do on this channel. My ADHD makes it difficult to get/stay engaged in ARGs and webseries, which sucks because I absolutely love them. It always sucked when I couldn't get into something, even when I wanted to, because I couldn't keep myself focused on the content long enough to get invested.

    Thanks to your videos, I'm able to engage in all the spooky series I love. A lot of times I end up ding a bit of my own watching/exploring, jumping around and being able to stay engaged because I've already been told what to look for and pay attention to.

    I always felt so guilty for being unable to stay hooked on things that I loved, but your channel lets me be a part of these worlds without having to fight my desire to multitask or fidget while watching.

  10. This is a gift, a mind boggling gift. You found something pretty remarkable. Good uploads have been pretty sparse from Nightmind so I'm glad you found another great series. Between this and Echo Rose it looks like we got some great projects to keep an eye on, can't wait to see how they turn out. I think Post-Content is also still going. Great upload!

  11. Man, I just noticed you have 371,000 subs! When I started watching you, you had like 50,000 subs. I can't believe how much your community has grown. Congratulations! Here's to a million. You've done well my friend.

  12. I wonder if the creators were inspired by We Can Remember It for You Wholesale by Philip K. Dick or, for those who've only seen the movie, Total Recall. It really feels like that was a heavy influence. Either way, damn… those shots were better than a lot of Hollywood summer flicks they've churned out in recent years. Really gorgeous to look at with an engaging and intriguing plot to unravel. I don't normally set my expectations too high for most things these days but at the rate these guys are going, I feel fairly confident that the end will be satisfying.

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