Dark Pals: The 1st Floor story, characters, and ending explained

Mascot horror is back in bizarre fashion with Dark Pals. Its debut chapter traps you inside an abandoned children's asylum, full of the twisted hopes and dreams of its previous tenants.

With lore reminiscent of Poppy Playtime's humble beginnings, and gameplay not too dissimilar to High on Life, Dark Pals throws puzzles and chase sequences at you in familiar fashion with eccentric ideas that should have you leaving this chapter curious to see more.

Here is a rundown of The 1st Floor: a summary of its story so far, our interpretation of its strange entities, and a reminder of its lore before heading to the next floor (when it releases).

• Dark Pals: The 1st Floor story, explained
• All Dark Pals: The 1st Floor characters
  • Chompy Chasey
  • Binky Drinky
• Dark Pals: The 1st Floor ending, explained

Image by Skunx Games Entrusted with the Ink Blaster, an adorable toy that shoots ink to interact with objects, you arrive at Upward—an asylum for children. A tour in the long-forgotten asylum starts strong with the company's all-important message: "The only way is up." The initiation into the asylum is creepy off the jump, cunningly disguised as a place for children to have fun with sports and playing fair games, yet the messages play like something a parent would listen to before dropping their kid off for good.

"They will build, they will climb, they will never stop. Their hopes too high... to ever drop." It is manipulative both for child and parent, tricking them into a false sense of security that this place is meant to protect children.

Image by Skunx Games The steam page for Dark Pals tells us before entering the first floor that the protagonist has a connection to Upward, that "this place knows you." Just like Poppy Playtime, the question we have to ask is, who exactly are we? Were we a patient here, or perhaps a staff member who left their friends behind?

The place is designed like a prison, where outdoor activities in the garden are permitted only by reward for good behavior. Learning to make friends, cooperate, and work hard earns children the privilege to spend a portion of their time outside. The design of Upward is the illusion of freedom.

Screenshot by Destructoid Everything so far implies that the entities roaming around were children, but this mascot horror may be saying something different. Their behavior is childlike, more innocent and curious than afraid and aggressive. But what is the purpose of them?

There may be a more sinister hand at play when it comes to our trusty Ink Blaster, as the child holding one is supposed to "perfect the harmony between the toy and the self" and learn "the meaning of colors and shapes in service of your new purpose." The Blaster may act as a bridge between child and mascot, a device that a kid naturally grows attached to as reality alters around them. The only constant in a patient's life may be that very toy they picked up on the tour, unaware their long stay would become indefinite.

Image via Skunx Games A place to become "a better version of themselves," patients spent most of their time inside four walls with artificial lighting, strict schedules, repetitive music, pre-recorded messages, and no windows in sight. Hundreds of beds gathered dust in the spacious facility, hinting at the sheer number of patients Upward likely had at one point.

Upward, constructed in 1980, opened its doors for parents to admit their children, likely unaware of its dark intentions. Interestingly, the recordings played at this facility show the date of an Open House on January 5, 1985. Upward conditions and trains patients to "submit, conform, consume, perform." These are likely the stages each patient must go through as part of their transformation. They are being watched, told to give in, and above all, "love" as part of their performance.

Image by Skunx Games With his comedically large head and spindly legs, Chompy is an adorable threat that is difficult to fear. His attack consists of a single, though deadly bite against trespassers or those he deems unfriendly. I doubt this mascot was used to train patients. Rather, Chompy probably acted as the Upward security to ensure no one escaped the asylum. Inputting the Upward code that all patients must obey ("submit, conform, consume, perform") puts Chompy into a calm, docile state, overruling his guard dog-like settings.

Image via Skunx Games One of the strangest characters I've ever seen in a video game has to be Binky Drinky, a mascot derived from a pacifier and a baby. Its stomach acts as the impulsive and aggressive side of a child having a tantrum, demanding to be fed constantly. Meanwhile, the pacifier is the head of the operation, keeping the stomach in check by pacifying it—literally. They act as two separate entities in one body. I theorize these are two separate patients combined because Upward pushes the narrative that children must find friends and work in harmony.

A tape shows Binky being beaten by a staff member, reinforcing his role to get patients to "open up and conform." The tape is dated January 23, 1984, less than a year before the Open House. The Open House may act as the inciting incident that closed Upwards' doors, much like Poppy Playtime's Hour of Joy or FNAF's Missing Children Incident. This would give them five years to house hundreds of patients and create their mascots, who, in turn, trick and train newer patients while being "disciplined" behind the scenes.

The most surreal part of The 1st Floor is the cookie that comes to life, chases the protagonist, and is eaten by Binky. With 'consume' a part of Upward's system, the cookie may be a hallucination, dreamed up by the protagonist, part of Binky's conditioning. The alternative is worse: that children are eating one another. It is more likely that, thanks to the conditioning stimuli paired with the Ink Blaster, the protagonist's perception of reality is already shifting, and Binky was simply doing his job.

Image by Skunx Games Unable to stop his more aggressive side, Binky attacked Chompy, who saved the protagonist. Just when you think he's won, his tongue is ripped out, and his body is thrown out of the play area before Binky turns his attention back onto us. Retreating to the carousel caused Binky to get trapped. His body is severed in two as the pacifier part is torn from the large-mouthed stomach. What's interesting is that this is the part that subdued Binky. While he collapsed, is this truly the end of this entity, or will we see him in future chapters? I theorize he will be back, but this time as an enemy, because there is no means to pacify him outside of satiating his hunger.

We also have no proof that this is the end of Chompy. He's hurt, sure, but these mascots are no longer human and can likely withstand injuries similar to Playtime's experiments. This chapter concludes with the protagonist riding the carousel elevator to the next floor, where a surprise recording plays from none other than CoryXKenshin. The last thing we hear is: "Welcome to the second floor, kids. Are you ready to submit?", hinting that we're just getting started.

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