ALTER EGO/Walkthrough

(This game does not have any sort of titling or naming, I am just naming and reading between the lines to form the story I believe the dev team intended. Also to make this walkthrough easier to understand and read.)

The Beginning
The game starts off with an image of somebody crouched under a yellow spotlight, clearly distraught. That person is you. You walk through the hall to investigate your gut feeling, which is telling you something is wrong. You peer around the corner and spot a woman lying on the floor, stabbed and seemingly dead. You panic and flee the scene, only to be caught by what looks like a giant tiger or fox. This is the embodiment of the legal system, more specifically, the Judge. The Judge accuses you of homicide, and since you have no alibi, (or any form of defense, apparently,) you are thrown in jail. Knowing you didn't commit this crime, you begin your quest to prove your innocence.

The Jail Cell
It seems that you don't recall how you got into the Cell, as you don't know where you are. Examine the bed sheets, then combine your knife and the sheets together to make a short rope. If you look up, you can try attaching the rope to the grate, but your character will say you 'don't have anything to hang the rope up there'. When you look back down, you can examine the mirror if you want, but your character just says you look tired. When you examine it a second time, however, your character reveals that the dead woman's name is Winona, and that you loved her. We can assume Winona is your crush, girlfriend, fiance, wife, etc. by the way you say it. If you examine the mirror again, you say some meaningless dialogue, but you strangely say the "room looks familiar" if you examine it a fourth time. This is the last of the dialogue with the mirror, as it just repeats what you have already said every time you examine it again from there.

If you go left from the main room, you'll just see your eyes behind bars. You can't examine or do anything here, it's just a cool piece of artwork.

Go right, and examine the wardrobe. On it, there are photos of you and Winona on your first date. You must put together the form of a fox to progress the game. It goes like this:



After you solve the puzzle, the wardrobe opens. There is a pink dress inside, hanging on a white clothes hanger. Examining the dress reveals it as Winona's. The dress and its hanger is added to your inventory.

To escape the cell, combine Winona's Dress and the short rope to make a longer rope. Combining these will make you express your hesitation to use your partner's dress, saying you were certain she wouldn't be mad, but you "just didn't know with her". Combine the longer rope and the clothes hanger before looking up and using the rope on the grate to escape.

After Your Initial Escape
At first, your plan works. You successfully hook the hanger onto the bars and hoist yourself up and through them, but you are once again caught by the Judge. The Judge offers you a deal. If you can prove your innocence, they'll let you go free. They then warn us to "be careful of finding a memory".

You are hesitant at first, but then you will exclaim "No! Winona got this necklace for me when we started dating! I can't let it break unless she'll kill me!" and honestly, the way you say it, I can't help but think maybe there is more truth to that statement than initially thought.

The story only expands from there, and we learn that Winona "saved you" in some way, and you feel indebted to her. Because of this, we proceed to the next level to try to find our innocence, risking the possibility of finding a memory, and this time it's specifically "for her".

Winona's Art Studio
Examining the empty paint buckets in the first room tells us we need to mix black paint to escape with red, blue, and yellow paint. Move left.

Examine the palette knife on the table in front of you, then examine the big painting in front of the window. This reveals some more backstory. The painting is of Winona hugging you just after you got kicked out of your parents' house. You remark on how you "don't know what would've happened to me if she wasn't there." This expresses just how much you feel you owe her. Scrape the blue paint off the painting with the palette knife. Once you have the paint, move left.

Examine the first painting and solve the puzzle. Solving will tell us that this is an unfinished painting by Winona of you. Scrape the red paint off this painting before moving to the next one. Solving the puzzle will make you remember the scene in the painting. You baked raspberry pie for Winona for the first time.. but, strangely, the roles are swapped in the painting. Maybe you're just remembering it wrong? Scrape the yellow paint off this painting and move left.

Examine the paint buckets and use the red, blue, and yellow paints to mix up black. It doesn't have to be in any particular order. Click the bucket when you're done to start the next scene.

The Memory
The memory reveals that you, in fact, did do it. The Judge then tells you to visit the scene of the crime and avenge your lover.

Your House
We start in the backyard, and you remark your plans for what you're going to do. You plan to bury Winona and yourself right next to each other, saying you really aren't much without her, anyways. Examine the duct tape on the table in front of you, this adds it to your inventory. Examine the grill to find out it's locked. Going right reveals your dead dog's grave and some depressing dialogue. Going left progresses the story. Examine the wind chimes and complete the puzzle, which makes your character say that the tune might have been Winona's ringtone once. (This really just isn't true considering the fact that the puzzle randomizes every time, but hey) Examining the lock pick that fell from inside the chime adds it to your inventory. Examining the door inspires some meaningless dialogue, and the window is just some more lore-less, depressing stuff. Go right.

Examine the grill and pick the lock. Once it's open, examine the broken trowel to add it to your inventory. Combine the broken trowel and the duct tape to fix it. Doing so gives the player a hint, which basically says "dig up your dog's grave."

Move right, and use the fixed trowel on the gravestone. Apparently you attached an extra house key to the dog's collar before burial, and this made Winona mad.

Move right and open the front door with the house key.

Inside the House
We find out that Winona adored that dog, but you were the one who had to take care of him. This memory gives us a far clearer view of you and Winona's relationship with each other, as it seems Winona is pretty over dramatic and angry all the time. In the vet scene, Winona is, oddly, not showing any emotion at all. She may just have difficulty showing emotion, but that doesn't seem to be it in this scene. It's almost as if she's annoyed at you for crying. Your train of thought is interrupted by the smell of Winona's favourite tea coming from the kitchen. Is Winona alive? The game answers that question pretty quick with a yes, Winona is in fact alive. We learn your name as "Reese" when you enter and attempt to apologize to Winona, as she immediately begins interrogating you. She jumps at blaming you and making you feel extreme guilt to win the argument (that has only really just begun), which shows her manipulative nature. This scene also reveals Winona as a domestic abuser, and Reese as a victim with the line "I'm going to hurt you, and you're going to let me, just like you always do." This stems a memory: you hurt her in self defense from her.

You should fail the mini game by not clicking at all to earn the achievement. This has no repercussions other than a "Game Over" screen and a  'try again'  button.

Winning the mini game progresses the lore. This reveals the first time in the entire game we see Winona show any emotion other than happiness or anger. We learn that Reese was the peacekeeper in their relationship, who tried desperately to make things "go back to the way they were". But after that failed, he thought she would understand if he "spoke to her in her language". Violence. You ran away in guilt and fear, but now you are ready to face this.

You first apologize to Winona for hurting her, but tell her you only did it because she made you feel like you had to. Then, you break things off with her and return her beloved necklace. She tries to beg for you back, telling you she will "never treat you that way again", and if they could just "start over." You thankfully don't cave, and you remark on how you can both start being better people because of your breakup. This scene in general is pretty heavy, but it does inspire some interesting art depicting the characters as people rather than animals.