1000xRESIST, created by sunset visitor 斜陽過客, takes place across a millennium – and the story is often told in a non-linear fashion through shared memories. There are a lot of sci-fi elements at play and some vague, cryptic storytelling. So it’s absolutely valid to be a little confused once the credits roll. Let’s dive into the ending of 1000xRESIST and all of the questions leading up to it.
Who are the Occupants?
Early on, we learn about an alien race called the Occupants. We are first introduced during a communion, which shows our first protagonist Watcher the memories of ALLMOTHER during the opening days of the apocalypse. Her fellow students are uneasy and uncertain about their future – but continue as normal in hopes that it will stick. However, if we travel onto the roof, we’ll see a group of students bowing and praying to a large, headless female figure. The sky is dark and tinted red. These alien creatures are the cause of the disease that causes people to literally cry themselves to death – which wipes out a majority of the population. These creatures descended upon the earth to escape their dying planet, and took on the female figure shape because it was recognizable to humans. They must feed on dissonance, or strong negative emotions, so it is implied that the crying disease is meant to elicit these emotions. Whenever a large group experiences this dissonance, it draws the Occupants’ right to them.
What Was the Crying Disease?
The main symptom of the disease that devastated the planet is excessive crying. This was caused by the Occupants because it creates “dissonance,” which is like a feast of emotion that they survive on.
In an interview with Unwinnable, creative director Remy Siu dove into the metaphors of the disease. The story of 1000xRESIST visits the 2019 Hong Kong riots, so one parallel of the excess crying is that of being tear gassed: “The Occupant disease mimicking tear gas symptoms, that definitely does leak into other themes in the game. Getting tear gassed through time and space.”
1000xRESIST also includes some eerily similar themes to the COVID-19 pandemic (masks, uneasy days leading up to lockdown, frantic runs to the supermarket). So it can very well represent the emotion and hopelessness felt during the time.
Where Did Iris’s “Gift” Come From?
During a visit to the surface with the military in tow, Iris is confronted by an Occupant who offers her a “gift” of immortality and power in return for a steady supply of communion. Because the aliens rely on “dissonance” to survive, and most other humans are dead, this is a great win-win for them.
Why Did Iris Instruct the Occupant to Kill the Remaining Humans?
Throughout the story, it is implied that Iris suffers from a similar mental illness as her mother. As a child, she allegedly stuck her hamster in the microwave to make it explode. In school, classmates called her cruel for her treatment of Jiao. Once she left with the military, though the information is redacted, it seems like they conducted some traumatic experiments on the girl. She was also weary and disgusted by the clones, and resented them for taking away the attention of those around her. It is also implied that she stabs the doctor who experimented on her. When the Occupant offers her the gift, she hardly hesitates – asking it to kill everyone.
Why Did Watcher Kill Iris?
Watcher learned that Iris was in an almost constant communion with the last remaining Occupant, deceiving her clones who believed she was fighting them. Clones who were sent to Iris believed they were going to help fight on the front lines. Though it is not explicitly stated, due to Iris’s unstable state, these clones were probably either killed by the Occupant or made to take care of Iris in her fragile state. We find out that Principal is actually the original sister, who has been altering the memories that Watcher is seeing, and choosing to show her those that paint her in the worst light, hoping that it will lead to Watcher killing Iris. The original sister was banished from Iris’s graces due to her breaking the one rule – not creating clones. At Iris’s birthday party, the original sister tries to surprise her with a clone of Jiao. In return, Iris strips her sisters of their immunity with her powers, and forces the original sister to populate their home on her own. We learn of this during a communion, which Principal could have possibly changed, so it is not totally clear that this is the event that transpired.
Who Is Blue?
After Watcher is captured, we switch perspectives to another sister who calls herself Blue. This is some time after the death of ALLMOTHER, and many sisters without purpose, called “shells,” live underground. Blue is given a promotion to Bartender, when the previous iteration is executed for her backally practices. Similarly, Blue is manipulated into the attempted murder of Principal and the council, though Principal survives. We learn that the entire story of Watcher and the memories she received was actually a communion between her and Blue, with the hopes that Blue could save everyone after Watcher became incapacitated.
Where Is the Commune?
We learn that all of the sisters have actually been at the bottom of the ocean this entire time. During the early days of the pandemic, the world governments created 50 aquatic ships that could sink down to the bottom of the ocean in hopes of escaping the Occupants. Unfortunately, no matter how far they went, there was no escape. Iris’s ship was targeted, but another chose to drown themselves to create a mass panic – drawing the Occupant away. Our story begins 1000 years after the fact, isolated to a specific corner of the massive vessel with a massive artificial skylight – making us believe that we are actually close to the surface. During Blue’s story, we learn that the humans even created a fake city below the general living spaces to make the soldiers and residents feel more comfortable during their stay at the bottom of the sea.
How Did Blue Stop the Occupant?
Though it didn’t know it, Watcher’s Secretary was actually part of the Occupant, and at one point was one of three gifted to Iris, with Principal having the other two. This makes sense, as Secretary is the only way for sisters to commune with one another – similar to how the Occupant is able to. When Secretary learns of its past, it decides to merge with the Occupant to facilitate a mass communion, teaching all of the sisters about the muddled past of their former leader, as well as the betrayal of Principal and the Red Guard. As it turns out, Secretary is able to maintain control of the Occupant’s consciousness, rather than being simply absorbed, so once the final communion takes place, it decides to leave the plant altogether to give humanity another shot. But not before it allows Blue to make one final choice – what will stay and what will go. The player, sent to a liminal space, can choose which of ten important memories should be preserved. Those that are removed are quite literally deleted from existence. If the player chooses to keep anyone, Blue will be executed. This teaches us that not all are redeemable, and some things are better left out of history. By choosing to erase those who represent violence and totalitarian rule, you can get the standard “good” ending.
Who Was the Man at the End of 1000xRESIST?
In the epilogue, depending on the choices you made in the final chapter, we take control of an unnamed sister who visits the since-abandoned ship that the sisters once called home. She remembers each of the key characters by visiting mirrors left by their residences. Once completed, Blue appears to take you home, wherever that may be, by calling someone on a walkie. The voice on the other end appears to be male, and then a chopper appears to transport the both of you. We were meant to believe that all other humans on earth were dead, but it is possible that some were also immune to the virus. Though it does seem unlikely that 1000 years in the future there would still be survivors, as any immune people would be spread across the globe and have a very difficult time finding each other, let alone surviving in a wasteland. The other theory is that the Sisters cloned one of Iris’s former guardians, as the voice is quite familiar. Though the cloning pods were on their last legs, just one male would be enough to propagate a few children. So therefore, depending on how much time has passed since the ending, this man could be the child of two clones.
