talked to the homeless man, visited the cow, gone to work in my underwear, and jumped off the top of my work building.

You need to get the leaf on the tree in front of your work. Wait for it to fall and press space when it goes past you.

Whatever your other one is, I seem to have mysteriously got it on a day when I didn't do very much out of the ordinary. I was delaying a lot, so I turned the TV on and off a bunch, and explored out where the homeless man used to be.

Probably the cow: I haven't found a cow.

1. Go to work naked.
2. Get out of your car in the traffic, walk left or right, and interact with the cow in the field.
3. Go left outside your building and speak with the homeless man.
4. Outside work, wait for a while until the leaf falls off the tree and hit [space] to interact with it when it floats close enough.
5. Jump off the roof of your work building.

pick up the leave from the tree

I guess the one I mysteriously got credit for was the cow: interacting with the leaf cleared it.

a man jumps off the building all the way to the right

catch the leaf

When you jump off the building and go back to the house, everyone is missing. No wife, no boss, no other cars or workers etc etc. Then you go to where you jump off and you're watching yourself jump. Then it ends

After you jump, it goes back to the house but there is nobody else around. No wife, no boss, no other cars on the street etc etc. Then if you go back to where you jumped you can watch yourself jumping again. Then the game ends.

I don't know that you're watching yourself at the end. Everyone looks like so much everyone else, how can you tell? If you notice, the profits are steadily declining on the graph when you enter your office, and on the last day, they're at rock bottom. You reach the roof just in time to see an employee - someone just like you - jump off the building. It could be another failing company, and you could actually be playing someone with a much more lonely life than the man throughout the game.

Alternately, the last day could be seen as "things can always get worse", and it's much more cynical this way. You wake up and your wife has left you. The woman in the elevator, who was one of the only people you could actually interact with, is gone. Even your morning commute is lonely now. Things are different, but they're not better. The game ends before you find out if your character steps off the roof too. I guess it's up to you to decide whether he took the plunge, or got back into his car and found something else for himself.

I think I may have misread it, I thought that, the person jumping was the last person from the office after everyone else had jumped.

You are now a ghost, because the wife is gone, presumably to her husbands funeral. Just a small thought to explain her abscence

Get to the cow

get out your car, so I never found the cow ending. I'll go back and find that.

I only had "one more step," and I'd done all four other steps, but when I was trying to find the last branch, I ended up going to work naked again, got fired again, and apparently that counted.

Get out of your car by pressing space while on the road and then walk to the end of the screen.

Maybe in the end you were just a ghost watching life go on?

just after the man jump you return to your cubicle with your life destroyed and start again to work, lonely and uselessy.

open ending is a right choice

Everyone else had killed themselves but because I escaped the monotony I survived.

Since the Elevator Lady said blank more steps to become a new person, after you do all the steps you take the place of a man who has no wife and witnessed the death of another man. In this case the other man was the one that you played as the first couple times.

I was also thinking that a possible message was 'it could be worse', but even that feels pessimistic to me.

I'm trying to wrap my mind around, but it's really open to interpretation, so I don't mind that I can't find a definite opinion about it. It's interesting that way.

talking to the homeless guy.

I thought that the protagonist believed that he had broken out of the system by being unique and special. At the end, when he sees another drone jumping off the building and repeating his actions, he realises that everyone else has been doing the same thing as him under the illusion that they're "special" and "different", and he hasn't really broken out of the system at all...

(moving left instead of right, getting out of the car, not stopping at the man's cubicle)

jumping off the building

jumping off

I saw it as another dream because it seemed that everything else was. I noticed that once you interacted with something it changed, except for the elevator lady. When you interacted with the leaf it disappeared, when you interacted with the homeless man, he disappeared. So before you interacted with the building it was empty and you were seeing the change for yourself.

Don't get dressed. Go to work, and when you enter the building, turn back as fast as you can. If it works, your boss shouldn't fire you. Pick up the leaf. Then go back to your job. Your boss should let you pass. Then when you sit down at your cubicle, you'll be clothed again.

It might also happen with suicide, but I haven't tried yet

You're about to jump off the building, when all of a sudden some random guy walks out in his boxers with a dazed look on his face. You recoil in surprise, losing your balance and falling off.

what i thought about the ending is, you know how the lady sais _ more steps and you will be a NEW MAN, maybe when you finally do that you are a new man. with no wife, or sotial life in general. you go to work, realising your company has gone bankrupt. you continue on seeing no employees, you see no point in entering your cubicle, so you continue on. you than see your former player jumping off the balcony. probably after every other employee had done the same. i, as many others believe this game represents "it could be worse"

I jumped last, so I think the man tried to escape his life by comitting suicide only to find that the afterlife is the same monotonous routine.

jumping and seeing myself jump

seeing the man jump

You WERE the same man, despite what the lift lady said. I thought that it represented the silent horror of an average life. He puts a brave face on, but on the inside he is in endless torture. He woke up that morning, went into the kitchen expecting to see his wife, but she was gone. Did he stop to wonder where she was? No. He went on, in the same way he had every day. He went into the lift, expecting to see a friendly face, curious to find out about this "you will become a new man" thing, only to find that she was gone. One of his only friends had forgotten him, as had his own wife. Again, did he stop, shout in rage at the unfairness of it all? No. He went on, in the same way he had every day. He looked for signs of life, but the homeless man had gone. He got in his car, expecting the usual mundane busy roads, yet there was nobody. Did he wonder then, at the terrifying possibilities that lay before him? No. He went on, in the same way he had every day. He left the car, seeking signs of life; that cow would have been a welcome sight, but no, it was gone. Sighing, he got back into his car - did he drive away, did he try to find the people in his life he had loved? No. He went on, in the same way he had every day. He got to work, but the boss was gone - even the man he had disliked, he missed. But the boss had forgotten him, as all the others had. Now, surely, was the time to go insane with loneliness? No. He went on, in the same way he had every day. He glanced at the profits board: the business was bankrupt. Why had nobody bothered to tell him? It became apparent, as he walked past the silent, empty cubicles towards his own, that everyone else had been told. Thay had forgotten him. Yet still he went on, in the same way he had every day. Wait - no! He had had enough. He decided he would end it. Heading out to the balcony, he saw a shocking sight: one of his coworkers was jumping. Then, at last, it dawned on this man. It wasn't just this one coworker who had jumped. They all had. His coworkers, his boss, the lift lady - even his own wife. But he hadn't been told. They had grown tired of their own repetitive lives, and ended them. But they hadn't told him. They had forgotten him. He was completely alone in the world. And yet still he went on, in the same way he had every day.

it was almost like an alternate reality. The world was exactly the same visually, but he was completely alone in his rebellion. I felt like he was glimpsing his past life through whatever veil separated the worlds because it was, after all, him and the two versions of the man were connected.

Dream 1: The normal day. (This is only to set the scene. Not necessary to complete the game.)

Dream 2: The day he went to a cemetery.

Dream 3: The day he pets the cow.

Dream 4: The day he caught a leaf

Dream 5: The day he went to work nude.

Dream 6: The day he decided to die.

Dream 7: The day he was a new person.

It was about a schoolgirl who noticed that everyone in her school was always in lines and had to line up for everything. So one day, she steps out of the line, and then starts to fade away. She gets frightened and steps back into the line, only to find that everyone has forgotten that she existed and doesn't know who she is.
Maybe this was sort of similar in concept? The man rebels and then finds that everyone has forgotten him and left him or committed suicide, kind of like what Zurrikan said.

the wife was suddenly not there

there was no other traffic

You're about to jump off the building, when all of a sudden some random guy walks out in his boxers with a dazed look on his face. You recoil in surprise, losing your balance and falling off.

Wife: She left because I lost my job.
Elevator lady: Fine. Leave me alone.
Hobo: He's been gone for a while.
Traffic: Haha! No one's here!
Cow: Must've gotten eaten.
Boss: What?! I can't even go into your office?
Workers: Hm...I guess you all got fired since the compamy went bankrupt
Suicidal man: I just caught the last one killing themselves.
Me: Sucks, everyone left me.

he was in hell for commiting suidide, and the entire game was like his hell- having to life through the last few days of his life again and again. I thought it was ironic because he commited suicide to get away from that life, hoping for something better, and in the end, he ended up dooming himself to a repetious cycle that would never end, never even a chance of something better happening.

I like the idea that everyone else commited suicide and he was the last one observing it all. Very eerie.

I didn't even notice my wife was gone! But I was completely relieved not to have to deal with the traffic (too much like my real life!)

that because of all the little things the man took time to do and appreciate and try, he was less... I dunno... invested? in the business, so when it went bankrupt, everyone killed themselves except for you.

Though I also think it could be that, like you, all the other people where trying to "become a new man" and you are not special. You thought you where surrounded by coworkers, but they where really doing/thinking the same. Maybe on the last day you "wake up" and see through the illusion to the other people on the same quest as you. That's why no one is at work, and the place is bankrupt. Everyones been off "dreaming"

The elevator lady was my favorite character because she clued me in on how many things I'd need to do differently. It took me a while to realize I could go left out of my building, and for the last item, I had to read the walkthrough to learn that I could actually get out of the car.

Re: the ending, I liked that everything was different and I felt liberated (though I was sad that the elevator lady was gone). I was glad the wife was gone and there was no traffic.

I thought that I could save the other man but didn't know how. I want to go back and see if there is some way to keep him from jumping ...

I'm the disturbed soul who found the ending to be a positive one, in some weird cynical way.
You're a new man. You've freed yourself from the empty monotony of modern life. Good job. You've also, somehow, freed everyone else. They all realized it and they've all jumped too. Everyone is free. You're also alone, now. Good job.

I thought it would have been beautiful irony if the last thing you were supposed to do was sit down and get to work all by yourself. And then when I saw the other man about to jump I thought your final task was to commit one act of true human compassion and dissuade him. (And as lovely and powerful and image as that is--everyone else has jumped except for two men, when one steps in and stops the other, and then they go on living as the only two people who actually feel anything--there really isn't left for them. Even the cow and the leaf are gone.)

Despite the name, it actually never occurred to me to literally take it as each previous day just being a dream. I guess I took it more metaphorically--that his life was a dream because it never actually held any meaning, just unconsciously going through the motions--and so I found it very haunting that no matter what happened, whether you killed yourself or got fired, the next morning you still had to come in to work. No matter what you did, it never actually made a difference, not until the very end, when finally everything added up together had enough force to cause a universal catharsis.

The last one is where everyone is gone, go to the end of that line of cubicles, and see another man like u do suicide.

The old woman in the elevator said that you will be a new person. So when you've done all the steps you wake up as a new person, without a wife, an old lady to talk to and a job at some office that has just gone bankrupt. Then you walk to the roof and you see your previous self jump off the building. That's where the game ends. So now you're not dreaming anymore, but everything you had was taken from you. But it could've been worse. It could've been you who jumped off that building.

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

so yeah... not necessarily 6 or 7 times needed to complete the whole game

From the advice of the elevator lady, he wakes up ready for his 'new' life, however it is. Anything would be better than the life he had, right? A new life would be much better.
But apparently not. The small things of every day are gone, leaving nothing but an empty feeling. Now more than ever, he is well and truly alone. And now he's stuck there.
Now he'd do anything to go back. If he could go back and kiss his wife, go back and work hard enough to get a promotion.
About the final suicide part though, I'm not sure what to think. It is possible that the man he saw was the last of all the people of his life to leave him behind, alone. It was chilling, though, that scene: for the only time in the whole game, the music cuts off to give way to an eerie emptyness as we watch the final, inevitable happening. Everything is gone now; the business, his wife, his friends, his work. His life.
I guess this game is just trying to convey, very powerfully, that life is very precious. Don't take anything for granted; before it all disappears, take hold of it and do the best you can. Even the most monotonous of lives are precious and should be valued, before it's all gone and you don't have the chance anymore.

David Lynch. Specifically, it reminds me of Mulhulland Drive. The man has already committed suicide because he lost his job because his company ent under. The last day you see is actually the day he killed himself. The other days he is given the chance to see the opportunities he missed on the last day of his life; but in the end he dies anyway.

The entire "dream" might actually be the last moment of his life... what happens just before he falls over the edge.

missed the cow (as I stopped in traffic, but didn't press space) and

The final scene might of had a bit more impact if I didn't have to jump through all the hoops first (ie, picking what I wanted to see during a set number of days and having some sort of impact) and if I hadn't killed myself so many times only to be reincarnated.

put off the alarm; get dressed; turned off the tv; talked to wife; pressed button for elevator; talked to the old lady in elevator (to see how's your progress); talked to homeless man; drove the car, talked to boss; sat at your cubicle; jumped from the building; got off from your car; patted the cow; caught the leave; wore without a working attire"....and the story will be ended soon.

At first, I was disappointed when everything was empty and there was nothing to interact with. Even the mundane small effects like the leaf and the cow kept me engaged before everything disappeared. I was upset when I walked into the office and nothing was there to interact with (or yell at me for not being dressed again). The final frame seemed like my only hope to free myself from the empty gameworld and when I arrived I was thrilled to see anything different, even if it was a clone committing suicide, I was grateful that the developer ended the game there and did not leave me stuck in a souless, empty world in which I would've wandered around for hours trying to solve a puzzle with no solution (I originally thought that is the kind of statement they were going to make). I guess I am thankful for the end whatever it might be.

It's probably trying to show that if you followed that same routine over and over, you...might have killed yourself like everyone else did? The moral is nice, but the way it conveys it is a little extreme.

the cow, the leaf, etc. disappearing.

that being limited to interacting with four people, a leaf, a cow, and little more, is a plot device. Didn't you all look eagerly for more things to interact with? My take is: that's the new man. He saw it all in the micro-world he live in, and luckily for him, it did contain some beautiful things to look for. The game ends because there is no more to do in this world; outside it, the possibilities are endless.

that he had dreamed himself a better life but he eventually woke up to himself to find that his old life was back his wife left him 2 days ago the elevator lady wasn't real his friends and co-workers had been fired because they had gone bankrupt so they killed themselves and he got there just in time to see the last of his co-workers kill themselves.

If you try to "break the laws of the universe", like if you try to make a better life by being different, 2 things happen:
1-Everything gets messed up because of the choice to be rebellious & try to be different.
2-You realize everyone is trying to do the same thing, & that actually, it's more different NOT to be rebellious, rather than to try to break the mold.
Moral: Things are meant to be. Trying to make it better WILL make it worse. It can ALWAYS get worse.

The beginning and middle parts of the game WERE sort of depressing. The stereotypical monotonous/soulless life of a businessman. When the "jump" option appeared, it felt appropriate to question whether this grey life was one worth living.

However, when I woke up after killing myself and there was nobody around anymore, I felt lonely. I missed my wife even though she barely spoke to me, I missed the creepy elevator lady, the leaf, and most of all the cow! When I got up to the roof and saw (what I interpret as) myself, I wanted to tell myself to stop. Because the life I had, miserable as it seemed, was not nearly as bad as the loneliness/nothingness of death.

Remember when you heard the elevator
lady say you will be a new person? Well,
think about it - everyone was gone, your wife,
the traffic, and your workers. And so, you have
literally become a new person, and you are standing looking at yourself - your old life,
jumping off the building, killing itself, so you
may begin your new life as a new person, all from the beginning.
There you go.

a happy ending. I think that in itself says something; we've all been conditioned to expect a happy ending from games. After all, why do we play them? I think even more than other media, we want our games to deliver a rush of joy. When they don't, we feel a little empty. The cold ending here is employed in much the same way it was in Goodbye Solo, if you've seen that film. Like that film, this game can be seen as both an affirmation that the human condition is cruel and that it is awe-inspiring.

The meeting with the cow, made me feel warm inside. The only other living thing in the whole game he has a real connection with isn't a human! I thought it was ingenious. Showed how lonely the guy felt.

And then the visit to the graveyard with the homeless man, I don't know if was supposed to make me feel good about myself, but it managed to do it. Gave me a "Hey, it could be worse than this." kind of feel. Although this and all the other interactions had another meaning to me, I will mention this later.

When he jumps off the building. Didn't see it coming. I had to hold my jaw up, it dealt with it in such a casual way.

And the catching of the leaf. The "inevitable death" scene, as I like to see it.

The suicide moment is an obvious one. I feel this is his inevitable demise, or it has already occured.

The catching of the leaf tells me "No matter how hard you try to stay on the brach, you will eventually wither and drift off on a breeze."

The visit to th graveyard I feel was aimed at giving him (or ourselves) a little bit of peace with the thought of death. The mans line of "Would you like to see a quiet place?", or something along those lines, really said to me "This place isn't so bad, at least it's quiet and there are no distractions". (Would people disagree if this scene was the moment he passed to the after life?)

The cow moment was a final farewell to even the most inane things. He saw a cow and thought "I'm never going to see a cow again once I die/pass on". Also, I think that in a certain religion the cow symbolises the after life? Anyone able to verify this?

And finally, the naked day. This is the day he breaks free of the routine of life. No longer does he have to take part in waking/dressing/eating/drinking/working/sleeping.

And the final day, he witnesses the birth of not just a new person, but a new world for him to shape to how he wanted it to be. The man jumping at the end I feel does not literally happen, but there aren't many was to say "There is nobody else here." without looking too ambiguous.