The Hole story and endings, explained

Based on the developer’s grandfather, [Bober Bros] The Hole is a horrifyingly dark story about abuse, resentment, and trauma.

A trigger warning is given at the start of The Hole. It’s well aware that the story may stay with you for a while. The portrayal of abuse in this short indie horror game hides the truly grotesqu, unique imagery that becomes sickening if you peer at it for too long. Similar to Mouthwashing and Bad Parenting, The Hole makes you wish you never participated or observed its content, but many aren’t fortunate enough to escape from the very real and harmful experiences these horror games depict.

Here is a rundown of Bober Bros’ The Hole.

Warning for spoilers and themes of abuse, rape, and suicide.

[Bober Bros] The Hole plot, summarized

The Hole follows an unnamed protagonist who spends his days in isolation, drinking beer and watching television. His apartment slowly fills with empty beer cans that consume his couch, bathtub, toilet, and fridge. Living off beer and cereal alone, our protagonist is trapped on the fourth floor of this apartment complex. The neighbor is loud and obnoxious, but you don’t take any real action against him. You know something is wrong next door, but all you can do is peer through the holes in the wall or go about your day.

You have a constant feeling of falling as you look outside the kitchen window, seeing the building next to you continually rise. Trapped in a surrealistic and repetitive life, you quickly learn that our nameless protagonist is far from perfect. His voyeuristic tendencies hide his dark secret, where peeking behind the stained walls reveals a past he desperately wants to forget back can’t. Much like the story of Mouthwashing, we realize that we were the villain all along.

The Hole full plot synopsis

The apartment our character resides in is within a dreamlike realm, where reality left him long ago. A result of his monstrous actions, our character is having an out-of-body experience, witnessing his actions from an outsiders perspective. Everything we are seeing are memories and all we can do is observe voyeuristically through the many peep holes that appear in his apartment. Naked strangers appear at his door and disappear when you open it, giving us a haunting appearance of what we can only assume is an image of himself.

More holes appear as time passes. The past is desperate to show itself to the protagonist. It is begging for you to peer inside, but he doesn’t want to. Afraid to see who the neighbor truly is, he tries to hide from his past by blocking the holes with black tape, as if each hole is a mouth trying to scream. What’s on the other side or what will gaze back at him if he’s caught taking a look?

The peep holes reveal what happened to our protagonist’s wife and Agatha (who is seen throughout the game). The wife is nameless and faceless, a hated memory of our character, who blames her for his actions. We also learn that our protagonist’s father was also abusive and humiliated him at a young age to “teach him a lesson.”

The finale to The Hole is the internal conversation of a villain who continues to play the victim once he realizes he’s being haunted by his past. Realizing that the neighbor was himself after all, he excuses his actions and blames his wife that she was the reason he was pushed over the edge.

Believing he saved them from his father’s strict hand, he swung at his family with an axe, killing his wife and daughter. The imagery we see implies he hid their bodies by stuffing them into a suitcase.

While it’s rather ambiguous, I believe his peeping tom behavior hints at how the character viewed his daughter. Peeping up her skirt, hitting her, and performing explicit acts shown through visual euphemisms, these are what we’re shown when we peer into each hole. We’re not allowed to back away from the hole either, and one of the hardest moments to listen to is the crying baby in the toilet. If this isn’t Agatha, could the crying baby be hers instead?

[Bober Bros] The Hole endings, explained

Our leading man is seen in front of the mirror, his face twisted and desperate for the torment to end. Armed, he points a gun (off-screen) to his head, and we’re prompted to shoot. Choosing to shoot gives you ending B, but time immediately rewinds, forcing you to wait the “shoot” prompt out. Refusing to shoot originally or getting this time rewind sends you to ending A.

Too afraid to take his life, he repeatedly begs for forgiveness. This references his self-projection as a “coward,” a description his “neighbor” gave him.

The final scene demonstrates the twisted relationship between father and daughter. Shown as Russian dolls, the role switches to Agatha, where we continuously bring the leading man his beer so we can “play” afterwards. The imagery used of the Russian dolls shows us the peeling back of layers—or in this case— of clothes. Agatha grows smaller and smaller with each passing day, her body battered and bruised until the innermost doll is revealed. The final doll is tiny and young, showcasing just how little Agatha really is.

The game ends with a message to players and those who have battled abuse. The Hole forces us to look at the monster through an observer’s lens, not as the one acting out these nefarious acts. It tells us not to forget about the victims and for those who are suffering to not sit in silence, and to never blame themselves for the actions of another.