Singularity/Headscratchers


 * (Note: Spoilers) In the ending where you kill both Barisov and Demichev, it is mentioned that both the Soviet Union and United States collapsed ("former United States" and all). But no explanation is given as to how the latter fell - it's only mentioned the Katorga-12 monsters escaped to Russia, so wouldn't the US simply win the Cold War outright? Also, how does the whole world degenerate into war after the two died?
 * Renko travels back in time to destroy the original singularity reactor, but when he travels forward in time to the twisted alternate present, Demichev shows that he outmaneuvered both of them by taking a third option and simply rebuilding the damn thing afterwards. Considering that the Soviets used the powers of the reactor to win the Cold War the first time around, they almost certainly did the same there only with a slight delay if that (might cross over with a case of You Already Changed the Past). As such, it can be assumed that the USSR conquered the world once again, and thus had the US as one of its' colonies/subject states. When Demichev (the dictator and strong leadership holding the Soviet state together as well as one of the three people that knows what you can do with E99) and Barisov (the other of the three people asides from Renko that know about this and the alternative for leadership) die, the Soviet Empire fractures apart as various leaders emerge and try to seize power only to further splinter the USSR, and as such its' subject states largely see the same thing happen.
 * Right. When they say "former United States", they don't mean former as in "The United States fell to the released monsters," they mean, "What was the United States before the Soviet Union used the power of the Singularity to end the Cold War."
 * Why didn't they prolong the survival horror aspect of the early parts of the game? I liked the game a hell of a lot more as a Nightmare Fuel-ridden post apocalypic wasteland full of Apocalyptic Logs than I did as an action FPS where it turned to go Rambo and kill everything you run into? I much preferred it when it was a survival horror type of game where it was cling to the scant resources, track what the Hell Is That Noise, and in general being very creepy. Then it got turned into a more typical type of FPS. I personally wish that you got stuck in an alternate timeline at the beginning and the only way to escape was to fight your way to the other side of the island to escape back to your world.
 * ...and I personally wish I could do all the girls I fancy at Med School.
 * Okay someone explain this to me because even the Wikipedia summary didn't explain it. Why is the fact that Renko and Devlin are both played by Nolan North important to the story?
 * When Future! Renko tells you to stop saving Demichev from the fire, you could be excused for thinking that that's actually Devlin.
 * This might have gotten explained with the Timey Wimey Ball, but how could the E99 bomb be used against the US if it sank with the Pearl?
 * There's always more than one of a good thing.
 * Why the hell can't you just shoot Demichev in the head as you're carrying him out? Why do you need to ? Either way, Demichev is stranded in the burning building, you just manage to avoid the unfortunate implications of
 * If you choose Barisov's ending, why can't Renko,
 * Tried that myself, as it happens..
 * In other words, another enforced But Thou Must!.
 * Two can play that game.
 * You are confusing a Stable Time Loop with a Temporal Paradox..
 * Or rather,
 * It has nothing to do with.
 * Related to the Fridge Brilliance entry above,
 * It cannot be that
 * Why is it we never see the fancy weapons that ? All the troops you fight seems to have pretty normal gear (granted it is infused with E99, but in the game it mostly hinders them).
 * It is probable that the USSR didn't  in a conventienal military campaign, with the   That, and you ARE using some of the weapons they used if they did do it conventionally because said weapons are almost to an example infused with E-99.
 * Why is it that  does not have Katorga 12 searched from top to bottom for the TMD before you arrive? He has had plenty of time since 1955 - and there is nothing in the game that indicates that only you should be able to see the past echoes.
 * Point of fact, there IS evidence in the game that supports the opposite, that everyone can see them. You can find records early on before you reach the TMD, talking about how a group of survivors, after ambushing and beating another survivor half to death in order to steal his food and shelter, refuses to go into said shelter because of the echoes of their crime.
 * There is a pretty solid evidence that Barisov hid the TMD well enough so that normally nobody would be capable of finding it if they couldn't see the echoes, and we don't know how long did it take for said echoes to start manifesting. For all we know, the echoes didn't exist before Renko blew up the reactor, and even after they started appearing, they did only in the "timeline" after the first jump (aka. the one where Demichev didn't rebuild the Singularity). That would mean that said echoes only existed there when Barisov lost his interest in finding TMD on the island himself.
 * Where did Devlin go when the first time wave hit?
 * He went back to 1955 like you did, he just wasn't in the burning building or anywhere particularly important. Listen to his next radio transmission after you come back; he's clearly just seem something batshit crazy.
 * Why do all the Russian residents of a Soviet facility all speak perfect English, even in videos recorded for the benefit of the Politburo and new arrivals?
 * Translation Convention.
 * Renko is a Russian surname. I think the idea is that our boy speaks it, hence the above.
 * Instead of  or , why couldn't Renko just
 * Because the planks were on fire.
 * That... And he already tried that, and failed, multiple times.
 * But Thou Must!, You Can't Fight Fate, and the developers will have their Downer Ending.
 * And telling someone you're them from the future doesn't always work out that great.
 * Because the planks were on fire.
 * That... And he already tried that, and failed, multiple times.
 * But Thou Must!, You Can't Fight Fate, and the developers will have their Downer Ending.
 * And telling someone you're them from the future doesn't always work out that great.