Little Hope - Story Explained 

It's actually really sad when u realise Anthony was just wandering around a dark town all by himself and talking and arguing with himself.

I like the detail of Anthony saying for his personalities to quiet down before the crash. It shows his attempts to keep the voices from overwhelming him.

Just a little detail... the faceless characters in the Witch-era hallucinations are based on Anthony walking through the waxworks in the museum in present day- the mannequins are wearing the same clothing and have no faces. Great video 👍

I am so glad I am not the only one who actually liked the ending to Little Hope. I don't understand why people are like "Oh the ending is bad!" just because the twist was that it all took place in Anthony's head instead of it being real monsters and shit. I actually liked it because it doesn't always have to have some alien or monster shit in it all the time. To be honest, this was really the saddest game of the The Dark Pictures series. I felt so bad for Anthony because he lost his whole family in one night. They may have had issues, but he really did care about them and it's why he had a hard time letting go. Also, I don't like how people assume Megan is pure evil when it's pretty clear she was groomed by a man to do his bidding.

Little Hope is a favorite of mine. Usually I hate the whole "everything was just in your head" twist, but I loved it in here. Anthony was like Josh in Until Dawn in a lot of ways. He was a pour soul, desperately trying to cope with loss. The game may not be as supernatural as some may have wanted, but it explored topics of grief and the willingness to let go and move on beautifully. The idea that instead of demons killing people, it was Anthony needing to stop blaming Megan and himself for the fire, and learning that he has to let go, made for a much better story. His family's flaws and the way each met their demise in every timeline was beautiful. I can't rave enough about how I love this game. Anthony is an amazing character, and Little Hope(while might not be as good as Until Dawn) is one of my favorites

Very good comprehensive explanation. Did you notice that The Curator says in his dialogue something like “we each have to fight our own Demon’s alone”..giving a huge hint that each character when attacked by their own one mustn’t ask for help from the others or will die?. Will you be doing a Man of Medan synopsis or House of Ashes preview? You’ve got yourself a new subscriber.

It is interesting how all family members have different personalities in the prologue compared to the main part of the game. Daniel is shown as a total asshole who is always angry at everyone in the prologue but in the main game, he becomes friendly, brave and supportive. John is an alcohol addict and a failure with no life achievements who is also about to lose his job but later becomes an educated professor and a leader of the team. Angela is the actual family leader who struggles to save her family but in the main part, she's just some grumpy self-centred lady with an insufferable personality.

I believe the Witch trial story did happen minus the supernatural/time doppelganger stuff. The name Carver is mentioned in the 1970's story through different background secrets you find in various locations. The Carvers owned the factory and were the ones wanting to sell it. If they weren't going to shut the factory down then Anthony's family wouldn't have been under the stress it was under that was causing arguments and neglecting Megan. Their neglect lead to her being pushed off to the reverand Carson who just made her situation worse. If the events of the Witch Trials were mostly true then it gives a reason for why the Carver family were rich and owned the factory, because the real life Rev Carver had managed to establish a position of power by manipulating Little Hope in the 1690's through his bullshitting with the Witch trials and the Carvers who owned the factory were his descendents. My theory is Anthony blamed himself so much for not being able to save his family that he started looking for ways to blame himself even for the circumstances he had no control over that lead to the fire. Instead of accepting that the Carvers had established power long ago and caused Little Hope's work to die out, something he would have had no way to control, he instead delluded himself into thinking he/Andrew and his "friends" had somehow caused the events of the Witch Trials that lead to the Carvers running the factory. His dellusions made up the connections with doppelgangers and time manipulation but the names and people who died in the trials were likely all real and actually drawn from the history books Anthony was interested in. Anthony knew of the butterfly effect of the Witch Trials and Rev Carver leading to the situation that eventually caused the fire and internalised it as part of his anxiety and PTSD from his guilt, trying to find ways he could have helped or caused the events and depending on player choices determines how he comes to terms with this.

I feel like little hope did the whole “it’s all fake” twist much better than man of Medan. I actually really dig the metaphor of working through Anthony’s trauma via doppelgängers and that it was actually pretty well set up to give you that “oh shit” type of feeling. Plus both the good and bad endings really got to me

This was the only story out of all of these games that actually made me feel things. Child death, grief, trauma. Rough, rough stuff.

Probably the best explanation of Little Hope I've had the pleasure of watching. You've taken great effort and thought into making this video and it shows. Thank you!

[0:22/9:36] Fun Fact: The accident that made Anthony get redirected to Little Hope is most likely the same accident that made Eric King lose his legs in House of Ashes. He and Rachel was in the same diner Anthony walked out of in a flashback before their car got hit by a truck.

For me, I hated the twist at first, I thought it kind of cheapened what was supposed to be a game where your choices effect the story, as none of your choice really matter except for changing the ending that is entirely separate to everything you are shown in the game. But now I have come to appreciate the story, I think the ideas and devices it utilizes are interesting and the feelings of sorrow, regret and hopelessness translate really well into the conclusion. But I still think that the actual gameplay and characters throughout the game are SORELY lacking. For instance, a lot of the dialogue doesn't really make sense for the scenario, it feels out of place and sometimes even cheesy. Little Hope doesn't have the excuse of purposefully being a little cheesy as a meta-commentary of "cabin-in-the-woods" horror flicks like Until Dawn, here it makes a lot less sense for what seems like a story that is trying to be more dark, personal and real(not saying that Until Dawn wasn't per se, but it felt more like a spectacle than Little Hope). Like these people are possibly stuck in an endless nightmare of blinding fog and hideous, deadly monsters and Taylor and Daniel are trying to get their freak on?(and this is considering that they are technically brother and sister). I get that these aren't actually real people, and narratively it kind of works(...?), but from the players perspective it just completely takes you out of the world and has you questioning the infinite amount of dumb choices the characters make(like the professor/dad just randomly jumping over stuff). A lot of cutscenes feel very janky and it's obvious where they splice together clips depending on the choices you make/have made. Overall I think the foundation of the narrative is actually very good, but the execution is very lacking, it feels like they realized they have a good foundational narrative and then in a lot of instances just threw shit together not taking into account how it actually feels to experience this as the PLAYER.

Carsen was a sexually assaulting megan, that's what the drawing symbolizes and that's the "secret" carver is warning mary not to share with anyone symbolizes. Carvers manipulation of mary to accuse people of witchcraft symbolizes Carsens sexual assault on megan the way one would silence a child and mske sure they don't tell anyone, which is why the different family members look alikes are the victims. Marys trial after carver is exposed gives a lot of interesting dialogue with mary. Where she expresses how greatfull she is, explaining how she will never forget you and what you've done for exposing his true nature, which is what his study into the occult is symbolizing. A man no lne could imagine was capable of such, a man of god. As they say, how could a man of god do this. Which he responds that he only checked into it, like he wasn't practicing it on regular basis. The metaphor is also clear as day if you check out during the trial, how the priest is accusing mary of lying and how anyone would believe a child before a servant of god, as mary is defending herself saying that she isn't the evil one and she never did anything wrong, but the priest. There's a whole lot of other subtle hints and indications throughout as well

The story of Little Hope reminds me of the saying that there's no such thing as a haunted house but haunted people.

I can see the demons being reflective of the dark thoughts Anthony has of his family and if they're killed then he is overcoming them.

Little Hope is one the few pieces of media that does the "It's all fake/in your head" trope in a non-annoying way, which I respect.

I love how you explained this, it also answered my question of "why was the witch trials a part of this?" I also believe he created these characters in the image and personality of his family so that he had a chance to mend the relationships with them and between them in his mind.

The main characters couldn’t “find a way out of the town”, because it was all in his head and he couldn’t “get out of his own head”.

Conrad (from Man of Medan) wears a Salem Massachusetts shirt. Pretty neat how they Easter egg the games

I actually cried at the end of the game, realising the trauma and that was his way of coping. Vince was a suppoting person unlike what others may have got, which in a way consoled me as well to know, its ok, it happened a long time ago, but we need to move on. It was a very heart felt ending that i wasn't expecting, and I'm not sure why it hit so hard, but it worked so well. Tbh, i think I'd rate the game as meh if it didn't have that psychological twist at the end.

I didn’t play the game but I watched a play through of it and found it so interesting. But, with a game like this where it’s choose your own adventure and has multiple endings I was just confused on a lot of it. This video helped so much and you didn’t miss a beat! Especially the reverend carver part and how Megan was being groomed; I assumed this but you explained it perfectly. Thanks so much.

I completely forgot about the fire in the beginning and was lost when I ended with Anthony at the diner. This explains everything

Of all the games I’ve played, this is the saddest one. I only feel the sadness and pity for Anthony, while he suffers from depression and schizofrenia due to his survivor’s guilt from the trauma in 1970

This is an amazing video! You did so well in explaining the story! Definetly going to have to stick around for more videos!

I never noticed the names are all similar

As a very big fan of Silent Hill i was very happy to be confused at the end to find explanations.

its actually pretty haunting that theres nothing actually infesting the abandoned town. it just......died. theres nothing that can change what happened. thats weirdly kind of more scary than running from demons. its just.....nothing. no life. no sounds. nothing.

I honestly like how it doesn't show real demons and stuff it makes it more interesting and you have to put the puzzle together to find out what is happening before it's too late

I actually loved the twist here. It was subtle, but also a deep dive into a person's persona. The greatest demon a person can face is their own past.

I saw what was going on in MOM right away... no twist there. But, I did think these characters were in some witchcraft induced reincarnation loop so was pleasantly caught off guard by the twist. Also, this game gave me "Silent Hill" type vibes ... someone wondering through fog, battling their own demons manifesting themselves (figuratively or literally)...without the combat of course. Lastly, as I've gotten older, I find there isn't much that scares me. However, tragedy, loss and the breakdown of the human mind? The things that are *real* in life are much scarier at the end of the day than ghosties, ghoulies, goblins, and made up stories. I read that a lot of people were disappointed with this game before I played it, so I wasn't expecting much - but afterwards.. I just thought, wow...I guess I'm just weird. Although this game was still tropish, art-wise I felt it game was way above its predecessor. Great video by the way!

Any time a priest tells a child to «keep our secret» you KNOW who the evil one really is 😑 I loved the twist at the end 🤗 Someone else said «All our efforts in the game are not wasted because we are all trying to help Anthony to finally save the family he could not, one last time» When you walk out with all characters, it feels like, at least in his head, he DID save them from their horrible fated way of death this time.

Let me just say: *THANK YOU* you understand why the creative choice of a story "all being a dream" is *not* inherently a bad decision. it can be such an incredibly profound narrative choice, as exhibited here! anyone who immediately passes off a whole narrative tool just because it's used poorly in other areas are really *missing out!!!* This is one of my favorite stories lately in a game.

I played the game a few weeks ago, that's why I knew the story already. But I kept watching videos about this game. I love the way this video brings up the general story with details. One of the best I've seen so far. Loved it! I'm gonna subscribe! Keep going! 🙌

The biggest (also the most subtle) clue to the whole thing not being real is the faceless people in the visions. When people dream, the human brain can't make up faces, so it only uses faces of people we know, or have seen in reality. So sometimes in dreams, we'll see blurred or blank faces. It's a really interesting...

I think i like the story part the most, out of other dark pictures game. Its about redemption, acceptance and guilt after all. It had me crying the first time i play and saw the ending

I loved the twist in the story. It's an amazing example of what grief and regret can do to people. His guilt literally drove him insane.

Just finished the game for the first time. This video seems to answer all my questions. Thank you for taking the time and making this video for everyone. Strong work!

This video is amazing! Sometimes I get so focused on not missing every little detail I stress myself out, but now I can watch your videos after my playthrough to be sure and feel "safe" about knowing everything! Thank you!

This video is so great! Before i didn't get the story at all, but after hearing you explain it i totally get it! Can't wait for the next story to come out!

I like this video and the explaination. I would also go so far that Anthony not just forgive himself and Megan (good ending), but also helps his family to find rest (like the ferryman, which stood on the bus).

The way you phrased everything was so beautiful

Amazing take and interpretations of the game! Just finished it, and watched this immediately. Really loved the game, and your explanations just solidified this as one of my favorite dark pictures games.

I was looking for a video that could explained the story and I’m glad I finally find it ! Great job and great video !!

That lo fi playing over the montage of the death of the family at the beginning is just….. *chef’s kiss*

This is one of my favorite comfort series... love your channel so much, thanks for all the hard work!

This was great! The Wiki article on Little Hope really confused me but you helped me understand it perfectly. It was also great to see your positive reaction to this one. A lot of people seem to think it’s terrible but I found the plot made sense and was really moving. I also loved your final point about psychological horrors being as effective as more “typical” horror tropes - it really comes down to how you portray mental horrors

0:43 That part scared the hell out of me and I will never forget about it

Absolutely brilliant summary and interpretation! Thank you so much! I really underestimated how well thought through the story is. Your explanation makes me appreciate the game a lot more!

When you see the photo of vince and Tanya I thought the name scratched out is Tanya and just forgot that’s the name of his sister I feel stupid now

So I know I'm late to the video but here's my theory. I think the events of the witch trial definitely happened and that Reverend Carver also existed along with the other 1692 characters even if they weren't actually the Clarkes and they didn't look like them. This is evidenced by the museum that talks about the events of the witch trials naming various characters in the witch trial. Another piece of evidence is the posters and other references to the Carver family, they were clearly a family of high standing in the town long after reverend Carver. Having said that, my real theory is that the characters other than Andrew/Anthony (Taylor, Daniel, John, and Angela) are the spirits of Tanya, Dennis, John and Anne. Firstly the house fire caused the characters to probably have very traumatic deaths, traumatic deaths (in supernatural folklore) can cause spirits to not move on to the afterlife meaning that it's possible that all of those years later the Clarkes from 1972 we're still hanging around little hope. Secondly, once again according to folklore, spirits sometimes need help moving on from the land of the living to that of the dead. So, when Anthony comes back to little hope, already in a lot of emotional distress this brought his family's spirits out of a sort of limbo and back into semi consciousness. Then throughout the night each of the family members that died faces a version of themselves in the form of their dead self. This is them facing off against their demons. Now, in the game if a character hasn't gotten past their issues they had in life (ie. John was dissmissive and fearful) they don't get to leave the place where they died, their demon "kills" them and they never get to leave. But if they make it past their demons and grow spiritually, they make it to the end of the game and then disappear. I believe this is them leaving the living world and moving on to the afterlife. Sidenote: The bussing company Anthony works for is called Farriman which is like Ferryman or the Greek and Roman mythological character that helps usher spirits from one world to the next. This furthers the idea that the adventure Anthony goes on doesn't only help him move on, it helps his family move on as well. One final thing, you may say that, the "people" Anthony sees being real ghosts is too outlandish, however for a games series whose only connecting character is the embodiment of death I have to say I disagree. To clarify: I don't think the people in 1692 were in anyway the Clarkes I just think the stories they all inevitably grew up with influenced their fears and subsequently the way they moved on. I also don't really think Megan did anything wrong I think it was most likely an accident and I think the only reason we didn't see Megan be a character and move on is because Anthony hadn't forgiven her yet. So in summation: Little Hope is a game about forgiveness and learning to move on, so it only makes sense that it was actually about spirits moving on to the afterlife AND their brother/son moving on from his guilt.

I did not feel like the ending cheapened the experience at all. I enjoyed the twist

Damn you explain it so well! god you're so underrated I'm subscribing now and I know you'll go so well in the future!

Thank you for the explanation, it is very thorough, and I like that you included evidence for all your conclusions, even for the more obvious ones- I had to keep pausing/rewinding to read all the stuff you found that I didn't lol

It would have been cool if Megan was actually a demon, and caught Anthony in a loop killing his family while he tries to prevent it. Everytime he fails, the go to another time or reality and he’s put through it again. Then we could see him succeed and it would be awesome.

I like the nice calming music as you describe everybody being killed in a fire

i was struggling about the story line while playing game ... thanks for breakdown video man :D

i also like this little detail in man of medan, which was a news article about a mine collapse in afghanistan. thats a little tease for house of ashes.

I played all the games and this one is actually my favorite and the scariest.

I didn't even notice all their names had the same letter as their past lives.

I don't understand all the hate this game gets. I was hooked all the way thru I caught on to the priest in the end and saved nearly everyone. The story was amazing and left me thinking and wanting more I immediately went in for a second round now having a whole new perspective to play the game thru. The story has many layers and can get complicated but that doesn't make it bad it just makes it intriguing.

12:11-19:40 best explanation

A fun Easter egg I noticed- at the beginning when Andrew and Angela first meet Mary, she asks, “would you kindly play with me?” “Would you kindly?” was the trigger phrase in Bioshock! Also (rant), I know this game is polarizing, but I quite enjoyed it. I think for me, it’s more so because of the story itself as opposed to the different endings or how much choices matter or not. Regardless of your choices, the mystery and intrigue of the story is still there (for all of DPAs games not just this one). I really like the grounded aspects of these games. I feel like there’s already enough supernatural video games that it actually becomes a cheap trope for the answer to a mystery to be ghosts (still love those types of games too though, it’s just refreshing for something new). And with replays, it’s fascinating to just explore the story more and piece things together or find things you missed, to further flesh out the story if not shoot for a different ending entirely or try to keep everyone alive. I think DPA games are truly story driven/focused. If someone wants a hearty branching narrative game where things matter more, I’d recommend Detroit: Become Human. DPA games aren’t for everyone and that’s okay, but I really enjoy them! Awesome video too! It really helped tie things up for me on the plot!

Thanks a lot, this really helped me. I'm doing a school project on this game, great summary!

Gotta hand it to ya, you actually got me to lessen my distaste towards Little Hope. You put the focus on the story, did a great job of answering most of the loose threads I saw, and even provided speculations I hadn't considered. My main issue with Little Hope mostly comes from the media used to portray the story. It's a captivating story, and a super interesting twist and take on the human mind processing grief. As a *video game* tho, the twist kinda dampens everything. This is a game where your choices and reflexes can determine who lives and who dies. So finding out that none of that mattered, no matter what kind of run you're going for (all live or all die), it kind of ruins the sort of rewarding feeling of accomplishing your goal when you find out the goal didn't matter to the story. So story wise, I found it great, and your video definitely helped highlight it. As a *game*, I can understand the frustration folks have with it. (that and some story points like Taylor seeing a playset in a yard that she had as a kid when Andrew wasn't around? maybe it was to keep the twist under wraps as a red herring but aaaaaa it bothered me so much lol) As I said tho, your video analysis reminded me of what I do like about it and amplified it. So thank you for that. Fastest subscription click of my life lol

soooo many links in this video that i never noticed when playing the game! i did think that mary was being abused by rev. carson from the very start though. and my heart dropped when i realised that it was just anthony all along talking to himself and the portrayal of serious psychosis and hallucinating.

Nice work! Enjoyed your explanation.

I honestly wish it was a cycle in purgatory that needed to be beaten. So they keep getting reincarnated, doomed to live similar events while being able to alter where it all started; The Witch Trials. Why their fates are all the same if it doesn’t work, but alas you’re decisions meant nothing.

They don't make this super obvious but I think the older brother Dennis is technically jealous because of Tanya's relationship and secretly likes her since none of them are actually "related" to each other per se. The fact that in Andrew/Anthony's mind the versions of them who he creates end up together seems to be an indication of this.

So far this is amazing as always my main man!

This is the Chanel I’m looking for for years

What a phenomenal story, and what a phenomenal explanation from you man 👏👏

just finished little hope. Epic explanation

. So many things I'd like to say. Blown away by the story

I knew something was up immediately when the bus driver went to the diner alone and had a book with him

I think Vince is the problem. In the beginning the brother says he doesn't like him bc he's into "new age occult type shit" also every witchcraft book i found in little hope had T.C. on them which was the big sisters initials who was dating Vince! Also that's Vince car with the sun symbol on it, Tanya has a moon necklace, and one of the witchcraft books literally talks all about SUN AND MOON

Just now noticed that the dude that shows up to Anthony’s house in the beginning right after he runs in is the guy who was the judge back in the Salem days

Ok so this takes place in Massachusetts, and I think that because Anthony grew up there… Salem Witch Trials were a hot topic for him. I believe that there really WAS Little Hope Witch Trial history (in the fictional game), those weren’t conjured in his imagination. Those really happened, which is why there is a museum, a grave for a famous little girl involved in the Witch Trials, and a few other places. It doesn’t make sense that Anthony would be hallucinating SO MUCH that he was pretending to be in these places that don’t actually exist… It would be easier for Anthony in a different way… hear me out 😂… What WAS Anthony’s imagination, helping him cope, was putting faces and/or names in place of the real people in Little Hope history in an attempt to make it make sense in his brain! Like Tilly for example, who was sort of like a fourth imaginary doppelgänger for his sister Tanya… just because they share a “T” in the name, which is why the bust you find looks like Taylor(Tanya). But “Tilly” isn’t a character in either of the three reality’s in his brain. Tilly is significant only because she’s a famous author who died in her home, so in the town… a few REAL locations are named after her! Also, the name “Carver” is real, but he associates that name negatively because the “Carver” descendants of the Reverend Carver (who was responsible for the REAL Witch Trial events in the game)… owned the factory and were closing down the factory that Anthony’s father was working at, causing the dads drinking as a way to cope. So in Anthony’s mind, “Carver” is easily associated with what caused his family struggles. What’s even more complex… “Carver” is closely related to “Carson” who, as we know, is the Reverend who was grooming Megan, equally to blame for the family struggles regarding Megan’s delinquency. And Anthony knows this, aside from his mental disorders. So, Anthony associates Carson’s face to the historical Reverend Carver because he categorizes the two negative aspects of his family’s demise into the same person/people/doppelgängers… Does makes sense? 😂

Little Hope really surprised me. Man of Medan was honestly mid and wasn’t expecting much. It feels like Anthony is going through what Leonardo DiCaprio’s character in Shutter Island went through. It’s really sad how the other characters looks on at him without saying a word when he was in the police car at the end.

Honestly, I prefer that the horror in this story is more of the psychological horrors of a man losing his whole family, over a hallucination caused by leaking gas in Man of Medan and the Alien-Vampire shit in House of Ashes. I'd like to think that this is more of Anthony/Andrew's "apology" for not being able to save his family, and not being able to help Megan.

as carver manipulated mary in 1692, i think he manipulated megan into setting the house on fire

It's reasonable to have his imaginary crew haunted and killed by monsters. I see it as reality catching up to his psychotic break breaking through, telling him those characters are dead and belong dead. The indications like Taylor's strangle marks, John's weak lungs/coughs, and etc. make sense. His unconsciousness was hinting at it from the very beginning through these injuries. This had to be my fav episode of season 1 of the dark pictures anthologies. I love psychological horrors! The episode almost feels like a callback to Josh from Until Dawn, like a supernatural-beings-free version of it.

Don't get me wrong, I think these games are fine and I agree. Exploring the human mind is very interesting. However, the main problem is the evidence in this game. Unless you watch a video like this or find all or most of the evidence then the ending of the game makes no sense. I watch a few playthroughs of this game and I like the concept but the payoff at the end didn't feel worth it to me. It felt as if your decisions with the characters didn't matter. I can remember feeling confused and not liking the payoff at the end at all. This game is better than Man of Medan. However, I think that the Dark Pictures Anthology would heavily benefit from longer games. Also, it doesn't help this they are coming from a game like Until Dawn since it is the same company.

Love your work

The ending i genuinely didn't expect

I don't think I fully understand what was then actually happening in the scenes without Anthony in them? Like when your group splits up and you play as other characters who are far away from Anthony character...

I’m late as hell but great video. Explained wonderfully.

Watching right now! Haven’t played the game yet but I’ve never finished the dark anthology games..... someday I will. Great video buddy!

Small problem with the fire at the start, That's tile. Tile wouldn't catch fire. That's like, the reason you have Tiled floors in Kitchens. Unless Megan spread a bunch of a gas on the floor, that fire shouldn't have spread across the tile.

When I just finished the game right now the ending hit me like a bag of bricks

I love the video... I'm still surprised people did not like the ending of the game. When I did my playthrough of the game I thought the game's ending was great and had a great conclusion.

Great video! Thnx for the explanation!

Thank you so much for the explanation! :)

Thank you for this❤️

01:00 "...share fair of troubles" lol

Great explanation ❤❤❤❤

Now, I understand the 'demon' seemingly dictating Megan to do some menace. I was confused and now it makes sense :)

(20:10) Personally, I prefer stories with physical monsters as the problem. That's why until dawn is still my favorite out of the three.🤔

Thanks man for this love your videos ❤️👍🏾🙏🏾