Now that the types of rewinds have been identified, lets look for any patterns that the game may present. I have attempted to map out the types of rewinds as you progress in the game. In chapter one, once the initial rewind occurs, triggering Max’s power, the rewinds are presented as follows:
- Force rewind: Max breaks her camera
- New information rewind: Answer Mr. Jefferson’s question right in class
- New info rewind: Conversation with Mr. Jefferson
- Force Rewind: Save Chloe in the bathroom again
- Second guess rewind: Talk with the Principal
- New info rewind: Brooke and her drone, Justin and the skaters
- Force rewind: Drop paint can
- Second guess rewind: Take a picture of Victoria with paint
- New info rewind: Learn Juliet’s last name
- New info rewind: Learn about Dana’s pregnancy
- New info rewind: Prevent Alyssa from being hit with football
- Second guess rewind: Kate and David, take a picture or intervene
- Force rewind: find the tools in the garage
- New info rewind: Hide from David in Chloe’s room
- Second guess rewind: Step in/stay hidden during Chloe and David confrontation
- Force rewind: Max’s second vision of the storm, must dodge objects
Looking at his progression of rewinds, it doesn’t appear that there is any overt pattern occurring. The first 5 rewinds are presented to the player to serve as a sort of tutorial, communicating to the player when/how they can use the rewind ability. Once the when/how becomes clear, it becomes sort of free form and random. Looking at the entire game, the only thing I can say for sure is that there are at least 4 second guess rewind moments in every chapter leading up to the final chapter. I don’t think the sequence of the rewinds is meant to have any sort of repeated order. This works because otherwise the player would know when to expect second guess rewinds. Not knowing when these will occur keeps the player on their toes.
I do think the game uses the types of rewinds in specific ways pretty consistently. The function of the different types of rewinds are as follows:
- Force rewinds teach the player to save Chloe
- New info rewinds are for puzzles and world building
- Second guess rewinds encourage player contemplation, prepares you for the final choice
Max or Chloe getting injured or dying will always result in a force rewind. This does not extend to the other characters. You can save Kate or she dies. You can shoot and kill Frank and his dog. Either way the game continues. The game will not continue without Chloe though. This becomes even more apparent when half way through the game you learn you can rewind by focusing on a picture. Max uses this multiple times to save herself and Chloe. The purpose here is to communicate to the player that Chloe and her relationship to Max is key to the narrative. We see this is true at the end of the game where the characters contemplate that repeatedly saving Chloe may be the cause of the storm in the first place.
The new info rewinds serve as a world building technique, but once again are not usually required by the player. I don’t think the force/new info rewinds are meant to have the player overthinking things. It’s the second guess rewinds that really get the player contemplating and rethinking their decisions. This makes sense when you notice that all the second guess rewinds occur during the major decisions in the game. The designers want you to think hard about these choices, to second guess here, because these are the choices that have the biggest consequences.
Up until the very end, the game has subconsciously instilled in the player that the most important thing to Max is to keep saving Chloe. Time and time again you are forced to rewind to save her. This is completely turned on its head at the very end of the game when you must choose between saving Chloe or the town. What started out as a force rewind becomes completely up to the player. This doesn’t become a second guess rewind either; the player will not be allowed to go back and change their choice. But I don’t think it’s meant to be a punishment to the player. The goal I think was always to instill in the player the importance of making choices that impact others. The final decision is almost like leveling up in a way. You’ve outgrown your ability; you don’t need it to know the ramifications of your choice. Using the second guess rewind was helping you prepare for this final choice. Using the force rewind to teach the player the importance of Chloe also really solidifies this ending. If you presented this choice to anyone out of context, choosing to save one girl or entire town sounds like a no brainer. But the game has taught us that Chloe is important, to us and to Max, effectively turning the no brainer into a seemingly impossible choice.