Beware.  This document contains massive spoilers that
give away the complete story of Explore!  You should
definitely not read this unless you have played /
finished Explore! Even then, figuring out what the 
story of Explore actually is, is yet another puzzle
that you should take a stab at solving.  When you've
pieced the symbolism together you can read this and
see how much of it you got and feel proud.  But if 
you've beaten the game and have the feeling 
"WTF was the story even about?" that's ok too, as this
was another experiment.  Setting up a story in a non
linear way is pretty hard to do.  Enough Dilly-dally,
here is the dark story that is Explore!

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EXPLORE!
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The story of Explore begins with a loving family:
A young girl named Elizabeth, her younger brother 
Charles, their Mother (referred to as "She" or "Her"
throughout the game), and their father (referred to as
"He" or "Him" throughout the game).  The first event
of the story occurs at Christmas when the father gives
the mother a music box.  She loves the gift, and
Elizabeth really wishes that she got a music box too.
The father tells Elizabeth to wait and promises to give 
her one next Christmas.

However, by the next Christmas the father has left the family,
for reasons that are not detailed within the game.  This causes
the mother to become mentally unstable, and aggressive in 
general.  She shows signs of violent behavior at home.  The fathers
history in the family is only hinted at a few times in the story.

One normal day, Elizabeth and Charles head home after an
afternoon at the pool.  Charles was being quite a jerk to
Elizabeth all day making Elizabeth a little fragile emotionally. 
When they get home their mother is not home, and Elizabeth finds 
her father's music box in her mother's room.  Feeling upset, and
missing her father she repeatedly plays the music box to try to
calm herself down.  However the music box breaks.  Elizabeth panics, 
knowing her mother will be extremely mad. Elizabeth takes the music 
box to Charles's room and hides it so if their mother does find it, 
she wont get into trouble.

When the mother comes home she tears apart the house looking for the 
music box, eventually finding it at the bottom of Charles's trash can.  
She loses her mind and violently abuses Charles, burning him with fire.
Elizabeth watches the entire thing from the Hall.  The mother notices Elizabeth 
and Elizabeth runs.  Neighbors witness the mother chasing Elizabeth outside and
intervene.  When the authorities discover what has happened the mother is sent to
prison. The day of Charles's assault is hinted at quite a bit throughout the game. 

Tramatized by the events above Elizabeth develops multiple personality disorder. 
She splits into two personas: Lizzy, her innocent side, and Beth, her adult side. 
This duality is the most developed aspect of the story.  Consider the following 
examples. The map rooms suggest that it is the map that is torn in half, but 
also suggests that it is Elizabeth that is torn in half.  When you are small you 
are meant to be Lizzy, and when you are big you are meant to be Beth.  There are 
many messages that can be paired against each other to see the theme of 
innocence vs experience.  My favorite being the crystal cave vs the swamp level. 
Lizzy views change as destructive, and thinks it is beautiful when things stay 
the same.  Beth views stagnation as disgusting.  Though some messages are 
just meant to reveal actual story, the majority of the messages are meant to 
portray this theme. 

In the game, Elizabeth must reconnect with her sins: Greed, Envy, Shame, and 
Anger.  Elizabeth feels extremely guilty for Charles's assault, blaming herself 
for breaking the music box.  She also wonders if she placed the music box in his 
room not only to protect herself, but to actually hurt Charles.  She of course never 
wanted him to actually get physically hurt, but none the less feels completely 
responsible.  By reconnecting with her sins she unlocks the door to the final boss, a 
demonic version of herself.  By defeating the boss she acknowledges her sins, and doesn't 
let them weigh her down.  Thus her two personalities collapse back into one.  She is able 
to wake up from her nightmare and continue on with her life.  

Upon beating this boss there are many different endings that are decided by your Love, 
Laughter, Life, and Sin.  The values drastically change how Elizabeth lives out the rest 
of her life.  For all of these endings save two it turns out that Charles has died due to 
the wounds inflicted upon him. If you beat the game with life left it will turn out that 
Charles survives the attack, but is left in a coma for a very long time.  He eventually 
awakens, missing out on most of his life, but Elizabeth and him spend the rest of their 
years happily.  If you beat the game's secret boss, hatred Incarnate, then Charles will 
wake up from his coma immediately, and you both will live happily ever after.  So there you 
have it, the story of Explore.  Quite dark once all the pieces are together.  There are 
definitely pieces missing as well, and I leave those to your interpretation. 

My main inspirations for this game were American McGee's Alice, and Braid.  
Alice of course contributed to the story of a girl trapped in her own mind, and the 
darkness of the tale.  Braid contributed to the puzzle focus of the game and how the story 
was told in a fragmented, symbolic way.

Thank you for playing, I hope you enjoyed the game.