I theorize that this is actually what happened during the Artifact ending. Which is all the more tragic. :,)
Never thought a game I bought for Halloween that looked like a classic survival horror like Resident Evil 1 or 2 would get me so engrossed into its esoteric narrative.
I know that the ending and narrative are all very open to interpretation, and that the meaning of it is personal to each and every player, but this is what I think happened:
What I think happened is that most, if not all of the game is the combined memories of both Elster and Ariane shaped by their feelings and state before death. The flesh underneath Leng is representative of the radiation induced cancer Ariane was dying of rather than being real, mixed with elements of cosmic horror from her memories (Ariane was a big fan of cosmic horror if the King in Yellow and quotes from Lovecraft are any indication). Falke is a living representation of the fears Elster has, being that Ariane no longer loves her for failing to keep their promise.
Elster is very likely a Replika of Lilith Itou (They both look very similar, LSTR units are based off a Vinetan soldier from the war which Lilith fought in, and Lilith knew Alina Seo whom Elster is looking for in the beginning), and because of that Elster has Liliths memories in addition to her own. It’s possible that either after or before the war, Lilith and Alina worked at Sierpinski (Adler recognizes Alina as one of their workers, although whether he was telling the truth or just playing along with Elster we don’t know for sure). We’re going through Elsters memories of Lilith in Sierpinski, with all the Replika being mixed with memories of the people Ariane used to know on Rotfront.
In one scene, we see Lilith placing a pot of lilies on a pedestal just like in the Artifact ending, which looks very similar to a funeral/memorial. I believe that Alina Seo died at some point, and Lilith placing the lilies on the pedestal shows her coming to terms with Alina’s death.
(Also, in the Bible -the same book where the main character is definitely an overpowered self-insert, with all their ridiculous plot armour and being adored by every other character. 0/10 Fanfic in my opinion- Lilith was created by god to serve man, but she disobeyed and was banished to the Red Sea. This parallels a lot with Elster, being created by god (the Nation of Eusan) to serve man (just like all the other Replika), but she disobeyed (falling in love with Ariane) and was banished to the Red Sea (The red desert)... Minus the whole turning into a succubus part, but who knows? Maybe Elster had a lot of sex with Ariane… Also, I think the Red Sea/Red Desert is a sort of afterlife. The Isle of the Dead has a red doorway, which may lead into the Red Sea.I also think the main 3 endings aren’t actually real. Ariane died after Elster but her Bioresonance was able to revive Elster somehow, placing her within some sort of endless dream/purgatory made of their combined memories. But because Elster wasn’t able to fulfil her promise before death, she tried vainly over and over again to do so within her dream, unwilling to pass on until she fulfils their promise.The first 2 endings (Leave and Memory) are the fears Elster had before death; She’ll be unable to fulfil her promise and the woman she loves will no longer love her. Promise is the one where she does fulfil her promise, but as this is happening inside her mind she doesn’t truly kill Ariane so she doesn’t fulfil it (If the promise was to actually kill Ariane).The Artifact ending I think is real. The keys to the safe we get from specific radio signals while the code is the same code from the beginning of the game while inside Arianes room on Rotfront. Ariane is sending the radio signals to guide Elster to open the safe, and inside is a pot of lilies. Elster places them upon a pedestal just like her memories of Lilith, before falling over as the Artifact does something.This has parallels to ‘The Mask’ (No, not the movie… but that’d be really funny if it was…), which to very quickly summarize has a big bathtub full of liquid that turns whatever’s put in into marble, which eventually wears off after a very long time. Two items turned to marble are some lilies and a woman, both perfectly preserved for years before returning to normal where the woman and main character are able to reunite. This parallels the lilies and Ariane. The lilies were perfectly preserved inside the safe while Ariane was perfectly preserved inside the cryopod, and opening the safe reunites Elster with Ariane.I believe in the Artifact ending, Ariane guides Elster to the lilies (the lilies are the only item in the game with blue text, and blue text is also only used for Ariane, so the lilies represent Ariane) which she places upon the pedestal. Just like how Lilith did so to come to terms with Alina Seo, her Replika does the same to come to terms with the death of Ariane. Unlike the other 5 Elsters before, the 6th and final one is finally able to accept that Ariane has passed away. Because of that, she’s able to move on and escape the dream where she reunites with the spirit of Ariane within the Red Sea. The red eye (the Nation of Eusan) who banished both of them to the Red Sea, can only sit and watch as the 2 lovers dance once again, powerless to stop them. Both free from the tyranny of the Nation, the same nation that banished them both to die out in space, the same nation that used them up before discarding them, the same nation really hates robo yuri (it’s their fault for making tall attractive robots and pairing them up with gestalts).Despite being told over and over again to remember our promise, we’re never actually told what the promise exactly was. When we beat Falke, we see Elster and Ariane embracing on the Penrose before the word promise shows up on screen. I think this shows us what the promise truly may have been, to be with each other until the very end rather than kill Ariane. In the promise ending both Elster and Ariane die by each other's sides, together in death. While in Artifact, Elster exits the dream and joins Ariane, both together in the afterlife, truly fulfilling the promise for real this time.So in conclusion, robosexual psychic space lesbians beat authoritarian governments in the end.
I'm not so sure given that "Remember our Promise" shows up after the Artefact ending suggesting that things haven't been resolved.
Who knows? Everytime I try and make sense of the story it makes less and less sense. The only thing that does make sense is that nothing makes sense, and that trying to make sense of it all is pointless. The only thing that really does matter, is that Ariane and Elster love each other, and that their love will last an eternity and perhaps an eternity after that...
