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Yessssss, mwhahahaha, I fulfilled one promise! Here’s everything you wanted to know about the ending(s) of Scratches and weren’t afraid to ask over and over again. First, a disclaimer: I’m going to summarize the solution to certain mysteries that were solved over the years. However, I will only go as far; there’s a limit to the answers I’m willing to reveal, as the game is supposed to be ambiguous. While I think that by now all the little details and clues have been painstakingly uncovered, there’s something about Scratches that you will never know — the final piece of the puzzle (the dilemma of supernatural vs. scientific explanation) is up for you to decide.

Oh, right. *grumbles* spoiler tags *grumbles*

The bodies. [spoiler]Now, let’s see. There’s been lots of discussions about the identity of the bodies and which one is which. I’m going to put those concerns to rest: the story is so twisty that it makes you think otherwise, but truth is that the events that transpired in Blackwood Manor are more or less those that were outlined in the newspapers and journals. James T. Blackwood, who by then was shunned all across Rothbury, did die of a heart attack. His wife — Catherine — was buried in the garden. Christopher Milton had no choice but to dispose of James’ cadaver himself, carrying it to the old crypt. This “pilgrimage” is depicted in the Second Teaser that was released in 2004, where a mysterious character was dragging a mysterious body while mumbling incoherently. However, James did not murder Catherine: it was a terribly malformed, and apparently quite dangerous, two-year old Robin Blackwood. Yes, it would be quite possible for this to happen (my six-month old is already a ferocious little one), especially if we admit that an ancient curse was operating. Since the Blackwoods had decided to keep the hideous nature of their son a secret out of shame, informing the media that he’d died at birth, James had to resort to desperate measures, fabricating a deceitful story about his wife taking a long trip. However, on a fateful day the maid and aspiring photographer Eva Mariani would picture an incriminating scene in the garden. She quickly went to the authorities with this information but first decided to conceal the evidence in case James would stop her. We don’t know her whereabouts but obviously she never returned to Blackwood Manor. James’s poor heart couldn’t stand all this stress and gave in shortly after.[/spoiler]

Afterwards. [spoiler]Now, you have to consider Christopher’s personality to understand what happens next: James would insist over and over again that they had to put Robin out of his misery, but Milton wouldn’t accept this. Ever. As a good-hearted and devoted doctor, it was inconceivable for him to take an innocent life. All things considered, Robin was a guiltless being in his eyes, since he never believed James’ outrageous stories about an African curse. So when James dies, Milton has no choice but to become a silent guardian and keep an eye on Robin. But, as years go by and Robin grows older, he becomes more unruly and dangerous. At one point, Milton can no longer stand the incessant scratching and decides to leave. Then again, he couldn’t bear letting Robin starve to death, so he uses the generous bank account of the Blackwood family to have raw meat delivered to the basement indefinitely. Specific instructions were left: the packages of meat would have to be thrown inside a grating, no questions asked. Thanks to the exorbitant sums of money left by the Blackwoods, this plan worked out for many years. That is, until Michael arrived.[/spoiler]

The ending. [spoiler]As for the conclusion itself, I’ve already mentioned several things about it. Interestingly, none of you seemed to have noticed Robin’s eyes, though admittedly the scene is very dark (I remember some folks were thrilled to unearth that detail back in the day). Robin’s attitude hasn’t been discussed much either — did you notice that just before the door closes and Michael runs away, Robin seems to extend his arms, as if begging for help? Hhmmm… [/spoiler]

But let me tell you about the original ending. [spoiler]At first, my plan was to have one final puzzle in the game: when Robin shows up, the player must use the amulet once again on Robin. The reasoning would’ve been that using the amulet on the mask didn’t have any effect, and only using it on the “possessed” victim would. However, this posed a nasty problem design-wise: a puzzle at that point in the game would’ve meant a change of pace and potential mood-breaker; that is, I couldn’t leave Robin standing still while the player thinks about what to do next. The other option was to kill the player if he/she failed to use the amulet, but that would’ve been terribly unfair since you can’t die throughout the entire game. Worst, what to do next? Ask players to reload a saved game? Just rewind and let them try again? No way, that would’ve ruined the shocking nature of the climax. I toyed around with another possibility, namely having Robin chase the player around the house, but time was running out and I had to settle with the most viable option: reveal the final horror and literally stop the game. As I said before, I think that’s been the best decision I’ve ever made regarding Scratches.[/spoiler]

Finally, the alternate ending. This one is available in the Director’s Cut edition. Shortly after shipping the game, and after witnessing the countless of theories being contributed, I realized that the whole story could be explained differently with the same set of clues offered. Just one tiny thing had to change and the sequence of events would work just the same, albeit with different characters. In this alternate explanation, Robin really dies at birth and James really loses his mind, killing Milton and Catherine in the process. So it’s him who puts Milton’s body in the crypt and buries Catherine. He then scribbles the remaining journals under the influence of a delusional mind, so any inconsistencies can be excused, until he decides to lock himself in the basement to die a slow death, out of guilt or who knows what strange rationale. This ending would have meant that Michael also lost his mind as he was imagining the scratches all the time, unless we accept that there is some sort of curse infecting the manor. That, my friends, is something we will never know for sure.

Phew! I have some more assorted things to tell you before we conclude these revelations of arcane mysteries. Soon. As in real soon. In the meantime, feel free to ask any questions!

Sefir - 19 June 2015 03:35 AM

Yes, I also mentioned the begging for help stance of Robin in the end of the original game. As I also said, it makes the original ending more sad than scary. Of course that’s not the case in The Last Visit, where he is menacing enough, chasing you through the corridors.

Which is one of the reasons why I thought the Director’s Cut was generally a bad idea. I don’t “disown” it, but it wasn’t necessary. However, back then we were constantly pressured to reveal more about the story.

What I don’t understand is why Christopher never unburied Catherine’s body (after the unsuccessful attempt from James to hide her) and properly place her in the crypt. He had years to do it!! Was he ok with the extra knowledge that the body of a dead woman was buried right next to the house?

Simple: Christopher couldn’t know for sure the location of the body. Imagine probing the entire garden to find the remnants of Catherine—not very efficient . In short, Michael was the first person (besides Eva Mariana herself) with the ability to find the body thanks to the hidden photograph.

Also, a small detail about the altenrate ending. If James was the murderer all along, he surely must have persuaded Christopher that he didn’t killed Catherine so that Christopher would tell the press about James “suicide” (aka cover him) and THEN James had to kill Christopher too. Since Christopher was a doctor and a family friend for years, he could surely see through Christopher’s maddness (not to mention Catherine’s death cause), thus making the original ending much better in my eyes.

Yes, you’re most correct of course! It doesn’t hold as much scrutiny as the original ending, which is why it’s alternate

Finally, we REALLY need to know how to achieve the alternate ending within the game. Does it require some specific actions? Giving different responses in telephone conversations is what I had in mind, though this could be flat wrong.

Uh oh, sorry about that. I thought you knew about it: The easiest way to trigger the alternate ending is to attempt using the typewriter at least ten times before going down the fireplace.

Agustin,
I did note the eyes in a previous post.  Is this what you meant?

Lady Kestrel - 30 May 2015 09:30 PM

[spoiler]There were several mentions of a cat in the lower room, and Robin had feline claws and glowing eyes.  Is he now the embodiment of the evil god that had been trapped in the mask?

Edit:  I never realized there was an alternate ending.  I like the original much better.

A bit of a follow-up to my previous post with random trivia:

- I was so determined to make of Scratches a tribute to vintage horror movies, that James Blackwood and Christopher Milton were originally meant to look like Christopher Lee and Vincent Price respectively. However, we decided against the idea afterwards, opting instead to keep the human presence in the manor as little as possible, including photographs and pictures of the Blackwood family. Here’s a an excerpt from the original design document:

- The inspiration for the crypt in the game came from reading Lovecraft’s The Tomb. Originally, the crypt was supposed to look more deteriorated and rough, but its final incarnation is more fancy.

- The house was going to have two floors only, but we decided to extend the game with some more puzzles.

- Well before the first teaser was released in 2003, a minimal draft of the design document included the greenhouse, chapel, crypt and mansion. As I mentioned earlier, it also included a preliminar version of the garden puzzle.

- Speaking of the garden, our computers were so damn slow back then that it was impossible to render that environment in one go. I remember spending weeks just to render a few nodes, putting portions of the same texture together. It was the bloody trees and their many branches with countless of vertices. These days that whole environment could be rendered in just a few hours. Yay, progress!

- The origin of the Eva Mariani name came from two popular members in the Just Adventure+ forums and friends of mine.

- One of the most fascinating theories I read about the game was that Michael did the spell all wrong, and therefore unleashed an avalanche of disasters upon the world. That’s why the amulet didn’t work in the first place. After all, he was wrong about the location of the bodies—he could’ve been wrong about many other things.

- Another interesting theory was that Catherine and Christopher were having an affair and they conspired against James. It sorta fits, if you think about it. The catalyst for this plausible theory was Christopher’s letter addressed to Catherine.

- Why was Blackwood’s body in the lower coffin? Milton had to handle the corpse all by himself and didn’t have enough strength to lift it much higher.

- Why were the scratching noises heard only during the night? “Mostly heard” is the right question. Michael wasn’t always inside the house during daytime and in the second day the noises could have been easily confused with the storm outside. Thus, it was more likely to listen them during the night when the house was more silent.

- [spoiler]In a similar note, someone asked why the scratching noises were louder in the guest room. Simple, during the first and second day there’s a whole pile of firewood blocking the noises in the living room.[/spoiler]

I believe I didn’t post any of these:

An early layout of the grounds in Blackwood Manor. Sharp-eyed fans will notice that certain spoilers have been edited for this picture:

Very early and brighter take on the lake in Blackwood Manor:

Promo image that was used in the inside flap of the original boxed edition. Do you notice the eerie detail?

Edit: You’ll have to drag those images to your desktop to see them fully as the forum software doesn’t resize them. I’d highly recommend you switch to Discourse which obliterates any other forums out there!

I’m saving the final post for the conclusion of the playthrough, or whenever you decide to unpin the topic. For the first time ever, I will mention details about the sequels of Scratches that never were!

Lady Kestrel - 19 June 2015 05:37 PM

Agustin,
I did note the eyes in a previous post.  Is this what you meant?

Lady Kestrel - 30 May 2015 09:30 PM

[spoiler]There were several mentions of a cat in the lower room, and Robin had feline claws and glowing eyes.  Is he now the embodiment of the evil god that had been trapped in the mask?

Yes, that’s exactly what I meant

     

Senscape // Founder // Designer | Working on: Asylum | Twitter: @AgustinCordes

Right clicking your pics to “view image” brings up the whole thing.

Agustín Cordes - 19 June 2015 05:53 PM

Yes, that’s exactly what I meant

That’s what I love about the game.  There are so many factors to consider. 

I remember reading in James’ notes about how he realized that the tribe’s actions were motivated by fear of that trapped demon, which may explain Robin reaching out towards Michael for help at the end - a moment of clarity perhaps.

Can you explain what was significant about the last scene in the original story in which I thought I saw a face?  Is it that Robin is now outside roaming around or something more?

For the first time ever, I will mention details about the sequels of Scratches that never were!

Well, first of all - this is simply the BEST community playthrough for me ever! The game was what I like in horror games - I thought at the end I was going to have to change my shorts!

I would have loved a sequel, but I’m sure your next game - Asylum will be even better than this masterpiece!

Great Job and great playthrough!

I don’t have the director’s cut, so now I’m finally glad I don’t.

Lady Kestrel - 19 June 2015 06:21 PM

Can you explain what was significant about the last scene in the original story in which I thought I saw a face?  Is it that Robin is now outside roaming around or something more?

Not quite: I believe that final image beautifully exemplifies the duality present throughout the game. If you recall, James said in one of his journals that plants and flowers were no longer growing in the greenhouse, most likely due to the hideous curse affecting the house. Michael himself confirms that life in the greenhouse seems to be nearly non-existent. However, following the supposed “exorcising” of the curse we see one solitary flower growing in the greenhouse. Coincidence… or something else? That image says everything.

There’s been a recent talk about the story of Scratches in our own forums, with a bunch of things AFAIK being discussed for the first time. I’ll copy paste a significant passage here:

My belief is that the curse was real and before Michael purged it from the property, it was not allowing the plants to live or bear fruit. In a native situation I can imagine them using a curse for rival tribes that stunts their food sources on their land so they may have to move elsewhere or die. Maybe in accordance with the curse being lifted, the fact that the plants were native to a place where the weather is sporadic could be why they were allowed to come back from the dead after being dormant for so long. Like how perennial plants can come back after a long winter as long as the root system is in place. The scientific explanations along with certain loopholes MaX has found alone could work but at this point I almost want the curse to be real.

It’s been almost ten years and I’m thrilled to read stuff like that, challenging several assumptions made about the game. I never thought about that explanation myself

Mikekelly - 19 June 2015 09:06 PM

For the first time ever, I will mention details about the sequels of Scratches that never were!

Well, first of all - this is simply the BEST community playthrough for me ever! The game was what I like in horror games - I thought at the end I was going to have to change my shorts!

Yay, thank you!! I can only hope Asylum will provoke the same disparate reactions and wild theories. Judging by how things are turning out, I think it will. I know many are anxiously anticipating the game, but trust me, I am the one who can’t wait until you play it