Game Theory - Can ANYONE Save Amanda the Adventurer?

Episode Date: August 26, 2025

Can we still SAVE Amanda? Despite only having a demo for the 3rd installment, it tells us EVERYTHING about Amanda, her story of betrayal. Join Game Theory Host Tom as he tries to solve all the mystery behind this yet-to-be-released game!

I know how Amanda the adventurer is going to end. Despite only having a demo for the third installment and only one puzzle to solve, it tells us everything about Amanda, her story of betrayal, and how we may already be too late to save the day. Hello internet. Welcome to Game Theory, the show whose favorite media format is VHS tapes. Every time a video game includes these artifacts from the distant past, or as I like to call it my childhood, you just know that something. Something spooky and creepy is going to happen. And that couldn't be more true of our favourite knockoff Dora the Explorer, Amanda the Adventurer. What started as a kid's friendly show has revealed to us a dark backstory of a creator who got into bed with the wrong people.

Hamlin Entertainment took advantage of him and put his adopted daughter Rebecca into the show literally, along with summoning a few demons on the way. And if the name Hamlin rings a bell, it's because it turns out, Hamlin Entertainment is essentially part of of a cult-like group that goes all the way back to the Middle Ages, just like the real story of Hamlin Town and the famous Pied Piper Folk Tale. Hamlin is now using Rebecca, sorry, Amanda, to lure more children away from their homes, and as we theorized, put them into the show as objects with eyes, making it so they could never be taken away again. And now, we've been given a demo for the third and final installment of this series, which

means all of our questions about this franchise will be answered when it finally releases this fall. But fear not theorists, though the full game isn't here yet, this demo has already told us exactly how this game is going to end, what Rebecca's fate truly is, and how our character Riley will be the one to finish Hamlin once and for all. Better hit rewind on that tape, my friends, because we are diving into the past of Amanda the adventurer. Across these games, we have been playing as Riley, who discovered this whole Hamlin conspiracy after investigating her Aunt Kate's attic. We learnt more about Amanda and her fluffy companion, Woolley,

as well as finding a bunch of tapes about demonic entities, one of which we had the lovely opportunity of meeting face to face. In the second game, we headed to the public library only to be cornered by another demon. This time, Woolies. And then we escaped through a secret hatch to go and free the kids that had been going missing. So naturally, I figured this third game would follow on right from where we left off. And at first, that does seem to be the case. Having climbed down the hatch, we are now in the sewers.

But when you actually hit start, you are transported out of the sewers and a cutscene begins. During this, we see clips of the Hamlin facility that we've seen in previous installments. Rebecca, with officials, in a hospital bed, all that jazz. This man goes on to mention meeting Kate at a location for The Handoff. And it's at this point that we hear the mysterious man get spotted, and we take control to start doing the thing that we do best, snooping for that sweet, sweet law. There's only one area we can go into, though. A small office with a meeting room.

There are a few things you can pick up and look at, including a famous painting of the Pied Piper, just in case you hadn't been theorizing about it since the first game. But the one item that's important is a key card which lets you into the security room. And once you're there, you see several what appear to be stasis parts. Past those is a room filled with security cameras. You insert a tape to begin downloading the data,

but as you do, Amanda begins talking to us like she usually does, asking for us to help her on a scavenger hunt. This is where the game portion we all know and love really begins. We're asked to find items like a door with three windows, an old sock, a straight dog and a power line. All of which in Amanda's TV world are objects with eyes on them. And all of which correspond to an image on one of the stasis chambers in the other room. Jackpot! Bingo! Yatsy! All of the sounds! I knew we were onto something.

These pods must be where Hamlin has been. keeping the children that they've lured away from home. Now, all trapped and plugged into the system, ready to be put into the TV show as these objects. While this is all going on, the facility is going into lockdown. Fortunately, solving Amanda's scavenger hunt is actually the key to deactivating the alarm. Man, intruder alerts are getting complicated. We had pretty high security when I was at Disney, but I didn't have to watch an episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse to turn it off. Anyway, by matching the correct images to the correct breaker switch, we end the lockdown, the tape downloads, and the guards arrive.

slip the tape into one of the boxes and get taken down. After which, we jump 10 years into the future where Riley escapes the library and we are left with the message, find Rebecca, find Amanda, find her. Okay, that's a pretty clear goal given to us there. And honestly, we've been kind of trying to do that anyway. So the real question is, who is asking us to do this? I mean, it's most likely the guy we're playing as, but who is that? Up until now, we've been playing as the unknowing Riley.

But in this demo, we jump back 10 years and play as someone who clearly knows what's going on. They're going into Hamlin, collecting information and putting the data on tapes. But notice the tapes he uses. It's not the classic black like most of the VHS's. It's bright red, like the secret tapes that we've been collecting over the last two games. And it's in the secret tapes that we have found the footage being shown at the beginning of the demo and all the other information surrounding the real world mystery of this show. My first instinct was that this had to be one of the only men we've really seen in the series. One who would have a reason to and take down Hamlet, the creator of Amanda the adventurer, Sam.

In these videos, we see someone sneaking around a hospital room to look at Rebecca. And so I kind of attributed these things to Sam as he tries to figure out what's really going on and how to save his daughter. But after looking at it more, I've realized it can't be Sam that we play as. Firstly, there's his voice. That's gotta lead to the security room. We have heard a lot of Sam's voice in previous installments, and even when he's speaking more solemnly, he's got a clear low register. If I do this, you'll let me see her. While this new character seems to have a slightly higher register,

because speaking in this quiet, low register, is producing a lot of vocal fry and cracking. So it doesn't appear to be the same voice. There's also the factor of previous theories we've had. Just like Rebecca is actually Amanda, we have believed that Sam is actually Woolley, which means that we can't be playing as Sam because Woolley is right there in the video we interact with.

But the final clue comes down to the clips we were given during that very first cutscene of the demo. When the player is talking to Kate, the clips used during this are moments found in the secret tapes of Amanda 1 and 2. Specifically, moments that involve Rebecca and Sam. What is this? What is she reading? It's pretty tricky to film handheld footage of yourself from a third-person perspective. Believe me, I've tried.

Basically, there's no physical way for this to be Sam that we're playing as. And thinking about this realistically, it's likely going to be someone that we're. just haven't met yet. We have encountered a few other male-sounding characters through the secret tapes, but none of them are really invested in this mystery like Kate is. There just isn't anyone at this point who fits the bill. It's like when we found out who the masked figure was in Amanda 2. It was the sister of one of the lost children. No one really expected that one name on that one sheet of paper to turn out to be a crucial story character. So it's likely that this is going to be a similar thing. A character who hasn't really been a part of the series,

and yet, in a way, has actually been part of it since the very beginning. The one who has been creating the secret tapes. I mean, who knows? Maybe it'll end up being Ash's favorite character. I'm me, DJ Two Shades. But for now, I guess we can just simply call him tape guy. But that only solves part of the mystery. Their identity, or lack thereof, doesn't exactly help us figure out what's going to happen in the next game.

And all we have left is a simple puzzle like we've experienced in previous installments. However, much like we saw in the Amanda 2 demo, I believe they chose. to present this specific puzzle because it has a much deeper meaning that you may initially realize. In that previous demo, we kept being shown an opossum, and so we looked into folklore surrounding opossums and what that might symbolize to tell us about the story. So I wondered whether the images we're being asked to search for in this demo, the ones on the stasis pods, may be held symbolic meaning that could help give us the answers we seek. For example, one of the things we have to look for is a stray dog.

If we look into the world of interpreting dreams, and let's be honest, if you're in a coma-like situation as we see Rebecca in, it's basically just an elongated, though slightly more precariously, dogs represent loyalty. I'm sure we've all heard that a dog is man's best friend, that they always stick beside you, so that would make a lot of sense, but the dog Amanda finds is not friendly. It's snarling and aggressive, which drastically changes the meaning. An aggressive dog is an omen or a sign that your loyalty has been betrayed. By this point, we already know that a man, Amanda, or rather Rebecca, was tricked into signing papers and becoming a part of this weird TV experiment.

We also know that she feels betrayed by Sam thanks to the end of Amanda 2, where Sam is forced to tell Rebecca to do whatever Hamlin says, even the awful stuff she was put through. This dog is conveying Amanda's emotions, how she feels about these events, and confirming information we already know, which leads me to believe we're on the right track with this interpretation business. So, let's analyze some more. Another item we have to look for is an old sock.

Now, you might think a single old sock can't possibly have psychological interpretations to it, right? Wrong. A single old sock, interestingly enough, can represent unresolved issues in life. Wearing only one sock means something's not quite right. It feels unnatural. Huh, maybe I should let Matt know, although it's not like I see him around the office anymore to tell him. But regardless, this once again points to Rebecca's emotions. Rebecca has unresolved issues.

The big one being she's trapped inside these tapes and has not been able to escape. But that's not all we get from this sock. Here it is. Smelly old sock. Pee, you! And believe it or not, the smelliness carries its own meaning. It represents neglected self-care. The sock is being left to decay.

Amanda has told us before about how she's rotting away somewhere. Sometimes I feel myself, body. But it feels far away. Her body is being neglected and her dilemma is trying to get back to her body. to free herself. It's unresolved, and she needs to resolve it so that she can feel complete once again. Yeah, turns out you can learn a lot about a person through a sock. And to really hammer in the trapped, helpless analogy, she sends us to look for a power line. The one in the TV show is broken, sparking all over the floor. And as you probably figured out by now, this absolutely means something.

A tangled or broken power line can represent blockages, unresolved issues or feelings of being restricted or held back. Something we've already mentioned for the other items. Broken power lines can also represent powerlessness and frustration. Again, things we definitely know Amanda is feeling. Then there's the first object we're asked to look for. A door with three windows. Now, the literal definition of a door with three windows doesn't have a lot of meaning in dreams or any spiritual context.

The doors and windows in and of themselves do. And it has to do with looking into someone's soul. I'm sure you've all heard the phrase, eyes of the windows to the soul. But here there are three windows, two next to each other and one at the top in the middle, which in most media is a way of depicting the third eye. A third eye represents someone's ability to perceive beyond their reality, their realm, their current dimension. In a way, that's what we've been seeing Amanda doing in the game.

Even though she's in the TV show, she can see and manipulate the environment outside of the TV. When we complete a task, an item appears. If we upset her, she sends her demon counterpart to kill us. The door with three windows represents Rebecca's soul, and its ability to communicate with us in the reality. world. But what's the point of all this? I mean, we know most of this already. What we want to figure out is how to save her. Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it might already be too late. While looking at the interpretation of power lines, I noticed something odd about how Amanda refers to them. Do you see a sparking snake around here? I get that she's a kid,

but this is meant to be an educational show. So why call it something that it's not, unless she's deliberately trying to communicate a hidden message. After doing some internet sleuthing, I discovered that sparking snake is another name for the fiery serpent found in Slavic folklore. A serpent that, surprise, surprise, shoots out sparks when flying. In the story, the serpent would seduce women and trick them. Normally was something they greatly desired only for the gift to turn into horse manure by morning, becoming ultimately worthless. This deception would also result in the women experiencing things like severe weather. hate loss, hallucinations, and eventually death from withering or rotting away.

Now, as I've mentioned, the idea of rotting in this franchise is nothing new. Amanda's been telling us she's been rotting since the very first installment. Heck, even the Apple and the logo has slowly begun to rot with each new game. With this third one being completely decayed, she was tempted with something by Hamlin, becoming famous, money, whatever it was to get her to sign the contract. And it wasn't long after that Rebecca realized what she was promised was worthless. But even still, as she said, it always felt far. away, like it was happening slowly, like it was something we might be able to stop.

But remember the dog I mentioned earlier that one representing loyalty? Well, that isn't the only interpretation there is. One of the cultures we looked at during the second game's demo was Mesoamerican cultures due to the reference of the Island of Dead Dolls, the legend of a girl who drowned in a nearby canal and began to haunt the island. Seeing it again now, I really should have seen it at the time. But now, with this demo, it's painfully obvious. In Mesoamerican cultures, Zolos, the American hairless dog, would be sacrificed along with the deceased to act as a guide for the departed.

It's also worth noting that Amanda actively avoids choosing other objects available to her, like the tree or the flower, things that represent growth, revival, and health. Because that is the opposite of what she is feeling. She is telling us it's more than just being betrayed. It's more than just rotting away metaphorically in a hospital bed somewhere. She's telling us that Rebecca is dead. She had been rotting away, but this has been going on for more than 15 years at this point. And now it's too late.

Her physical body is gone. And all that is left is her soul within these tapes. That doesn't mean the mission we've been given is completely pointless, though. Last time, after destroying the tapes and the bad ending, the monster kills Joanne. And we realized that Amanda and her monster have actually been trying to help the missing children's souls. Rebecca wants us to save them and finally escape the nightmare that she is lost in. While we might not be able to save her, these other missing children are in the stasis chambers, trapped in the show. There is still a chance to rescue them.

Like the painting of the Pied Piper in the meeting room, we are about to enter the dark cave that the children were lured to. And it's going to be down to Riley to put an end to this and save everyone else from the clutches of Hamlin. But hey, that's just a theory. A game theory! watching.