#mirror layers

[videogamepolls]

Have you played Mirror Layers (2021)?

Yes

No

I watched someone play it

I've never heard of it

Voting ended onAug 3, 2024

Requested by anon

[rogue-of-broken-time]

Rambling a bit about something I noticed in WKM

This isn't a theory, but I've been wanting to point this out for a few days now. If I could ask @markiplier one non-theory question about WKM (particularly, the way it ended), it'd probably be this:

Did any inspiration come from Mirror Layers?

Again, this isn't a theory– but Mark's playthrough of the game on his channel is one of my favorite things to watch, so I couldn't help but notice a few parallels.

For those of you who have no clue what I'm talking about or just need a refresher, Mirror Layers is a relatively short horror game that Mark played between December of last year and January of this year, if I remember the dates correctly. What made it unique is that it quite literally required the player to connect with other players on Facebook in order to solve the puzzles and finish the game.

Having watched Mark's playthrough a few times now, I just want to know if everyone else can see these similarities, or if it's just me (because, in all honesty, it could just be me).

The game Mirror Layers starts you in a long hallway with messages on the walls before you can even get to the main menu.

And one of those messages, particularly the one that struck me thinking about WKM, is this one:

"We ask you only to give us a part of you. Part of your identity."

Now, the context of the game when they say "part of your identity" is very different from what I'm about to bring up from WKM, but I still couldn't help myself.

Read that line again, then look at this picture and tell me you don't see what I'm getting at here.

That's just one thing that I noticed. There's more where that came from.

Once you complete each puzzle in Mirror Layers, you're presented with a small room with a mirror as one of the walls. Someone is standing in the mirror, and a small radio is playing piano music. To get out of the room and trigger the final message, you need to pick up the radio and smash the mirror with it. Once you do, the person in the reflection disappears.

(Doing this makes a VERY loud, jarring sound, hence Mark's surprised face.)

I can't help but be drawn to the fact that WKM ends in a similar way… with a shattered mirror.

In the game, the final message to the player goes as follows (if my memory serves me):

"It created layers of memories

But now it's over

These layers are shattered.

These mirror layers"

Again, very different context between the game and WKM, but… these lines kind of fit there too, don't they? I don't know, again, it could just be me.

I'm not sure what led me to making an elaborate post about this, but I so loved the concepts in Mirror Layers that it was impossible for me not to notice these parallels.

There are more I can find fairly easily– however, they're not as correlating as these ones are.

But there is just one more thing I wanted to point out… the concept of the game itself. The fact that you literally cannot finish the game on your own. That the mystery of it is elaborate and nearly impossible to solve unless you work together. That there was a story being told beneath the puzzles that was slowly revealed as the game progressed.

If you were to take Mirror Layers at face value, you'd just see a series of puzzles and completely miss the point of the game.

If you were to take WKM at face value, you'd just see an odd, convoluted game of Clue and totally miss the story Mark was actually telling us.

The fact that we as viewers had to work together in order to pick out more details, work with clues we were given, edit photos to see the word "KILL" hiding in the corners, theorize, nitpick every line spoken and by whom– THAT, to me, is not just a striking similarity, but a brilliant move to keep us all enthralled in the story.

Granted, you CAN reach the end of the WKM mystery without help– seeing as there's nothing to stop you from simply watching the videos start to finish– but again, the question of who killed him wasn't actually the point of the story being told.

Reading back through this, I'm kind of away from my main point here, but in all honesty I didn't make this post with the goal of proving anything or theorizing about anything specifically. I was just really intrigued by Mirror Layers when I watched Mark play through it! And it honestly wouldn't surprise me if he hasn't thought about that game for a long time, seeing as it was January the last time he played it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

So… I guess just enjoy this post for what it is, I've rambled long enough. If there are other games Mark has played through that you noticed similarities to in WKM, I'd love to hear :3

[markipliergamegifs]

I accidentally scared myself all the time 

Mirror Layers - Part 3

[doriangayming]

So here is a horror game based on co-operation! Which means I kinda need your help to complete this series. Please help me! 

[mymadnessworks]

I can't hear her, but I know that she's laughing

(Same post on Twitter, if you want to follow me there!)

[devioustoaster]

Mirror Layers - HOW MANY LAYERS CAUSE I ONLY SEE ONE! (w/ BimmyKimmy!)

[choppergaming-blog]

I have no clue what is going on! I can’t wait to explore more to this game!