A signal from deep below the Earth’s surface claws at humanity’s curiosity. The culprit of blackouts, earthquakes, and bizarre psychological symptoms—uncover what lies at the core of MOLE. Follow the White Rabbit down the hole and discover what’s awaiting you.
You have one objective: Dig. For humanity’s sake. For your son. Dig.
Psychological horror at its finest, MOLE delves into what it means to be human and just how far we will go in search of redemption. Here is our interpretation of the symbolic, trippy, and profound gem, MOLE.
Warning for major spoilers throughout.
Table of contents
MOLE story analysis: Themes, symbolism, lore, and monster
Timeline summary
- June 28, 1962 – Viktor Kaminskyi becomes a geonaut navigator.
- 1973? – M-12’s expedition.
- December 16, 1978 – Kaminskyi had rejected Adamenko’s offer to enlist to STRATA.
- January 2, 1979 – Petro’s sixth birthday.
- 11 April 1979 – The Matryoshka Incident. White Rabbit Signal is discovered.
- October 11, 1980 – Kaminskyi buys VOSTOK cassette to preserve his son’s memory.
- August 29, 1982 – Kaminskyi has accumulated 39,000,000 ZEV debt, his citizenship status is in question.
- September 3, 1982 – Kaminskyi has to join M-13.
- November 9-11, 1982 – When MOLE is set (M-13’s expedition).
- February 14, 1983 – STRATA extracts M-13’s findings.
The Matryoshka Incident
The Matryoshka Incident was a catastrophic event. We believe this was a “natural” disaster caused by the White Rabbit and M-12’s expedition. Magma was unleashed as Kaminskyi approached M-12, hinting that the same incident likely occurred on the surface once more, where fires erupted in the city. This incident resulted in the death of Kaminskyi’s son, Petro.
Following Petro’s death, Kaminskyi’s hospital bills, funeral costs, and unemployment debt skyrocketed. Unable to pay, he joined the M-13 mission after initially declining it. The crew would follow M-12’s path to answer the question: What happened to its crew?
In MOLE, what happens after a person dies is sickening. Euthanasia is a common practice here, but they preserve the mind of a loved one right before death, so that in some twisted way, they aren’t dead to the person who lost them. It isn’t that far-fetched of an idea, considering the current state of the world and our slow integration with technology, such as with the Neuralink. VOSTOK uses blank cassettes to upload memories of an individual to keep what they perceive to be the soul alive. It makes accepting death all the more impossible when you can relive a deceased’s stream of consciousness.
Prolonged exposure to such a device can twist the mind and conjure delusions, which members of M-13 suffer from. It’s not uncommon either, for patients have spoken to the deceased, hearing voices that shouldn’t be there. Kaminskyi suffered from this in his denial to keep his son alive as he brought Petro’s cassette to the mission. The idea of him—a fallacy—rotted in his mind until it developed its own belief system that Petro could still be saved.
What is M-12?
The M-12 was the vessel that mysteriously died after seemingly uncovering the White Rabbit Signal. Not knowing what happened to them, the M-13 was sent in its place. Taras Kaminskyi, Viktor’s father, was on the M-12 drilling mission. Every choice Taras and Viktor made was to inspire the youngest Kaminskyi, Petro, who wanted to follow in their footsteps.
STRATA funded the M-12’s mission, but something went wrong. The crew abandoned the mission, choosing to stay rather than return to the surface. What’s worrying is how they couldn’t remember why. Did White Rabbit deem them a lost cause and sacrifice them, knowing another vessel would be sent? Did Kaminskyi ever have free will to make his own choices? It’s a wonder whether he was fated to face the very thing that took his son’s life.
Compelled to dig the moment Kaminskyi set eyes on the Signal—it appears his destiny was set before he ever set foot on the MOLE.
What happened to the M-13 crew?
The M-13 or “MOLE” is a drilling vessel, manned by a four-member crew. The protagonist and navigator, Viktor Kaminskyi, engineer, Bohdan Pluzhnik, administrator, Stepan Adamenko, and Geologist Yosep Hrytsenko were to descend to a depth of 8700 meters in search of the White Rabbit Signal. The crew was hesitant for Kaminskyi to join because of his denial and obsession, though Adamenko was the one to hire him initially.
The crew experienced negative side effects as they descended closer towards the Earth’s core. Hallucinations, tooth loss, degenerating mood, deteriorating eyesight, and joint pain are commonplace for the M-13, yet every member reacted to the Signal differently.
There are gaps in Kaminskyi’s perspective as you play. It’s only until the credits that all is revealed. Through devotion, madness, divine intervention—however you view it—Kaminskyi murdered the crew.
Adamenko pretended to believe something was on the vessel with them that killed Pluzhnik and Hrytsenko, to preserve Kaminskyi’s sanity. But it was too late. Kaminskyi killed anyone who tried to stop the mission, anyone who believed he had failed. Each member was plagued by their past, but White Rabbit chose Kaminskyi to complete its mission.
White Rabbit Signal
Hrytsenko discovered the signal following the Matryoshka Incident, where MOLE dug and drilled in search of its source and an explanation for the recent disasters.
What MOLE establishes early on is the uncertainty of whether what we’re witnessing is real or a dream. We follow an unreliable and guilt-ridden narrator, who has suffered a psychotic break and gone off course, resulting in the death of his crewmates. What isn’t known is whether his episode was caused by the White Rabbit Signal or by natural and unknown physical and mental effects the human body is exposed to thousands of meters below the surface.
There’s proof, however, that the Signal has long-lasting and terrifying effects on those exposed to it. Hospital 12 recorded Elena Morozova, who spoke in an unknown language and had to be moved to a special facility. The reach White Rabbit has transcends both the material and digital realms, though it cannot function without being activated in some way.
The White Rabbit is a trickster, perceived as an angel sent to Earth and buried to contain it. Vengeful, powerful, and capable of distorting a person’s reality, though it has physical limitations as it was “casted in stone,” it used Kaminskyi’s grief to trick him into believing he could save his son and redeem himself for failing before. White Rabbit led Kaminskyi further into the depths, restored his eyesight and the belief he’d see his son again. It distorted his grief to look like a monster when it was actually his crewmates, all to lure him further down the rabbit hole.
At first, Petro appears to be communicating through the cassette, but it’s actually White Rabbit masquerading as him to fuel Kaminskyi’s efforts to save his boy.
MOLE ending, explained
MOLE concludes with Kaminskyi reaching White Rabbit and overwriting Petro’s soul with it. He did this because he believed it would reunite him with his son. The last thing Kaminskyi sees is a memory of Petro’s sixth birthday, the final happy memory he has of him. Instead of a grave beneath a tree in the peaceful meadow, there’s Petro on a swing his father built him.
It’s up to you whether you believe this is his life flashing before his eyes, the 21g of his soul leaving his body to reunite with Petro now that he is no longer bound to the cassette, or trickery of the mind constructed by the White Rabbit. I nihilistically believe in the latter, for the Alice in Wonderland references of the white rabbit and time running out indicate it was all an illusion.
The credits scene (which is brilliantly done, I might add) delivers the gut-wrenching blow that Kaminskyi murdered his crewmates, including Petro’s uncle (Adamenko), and successfully extracted the White Rabbit. Its form is transferred onto Petro’s cassette, and the stone that trapped it is buried like shrapnel into Kaminskyi’s chest. When launched in the present day, Petro’s cassette reads:
“Year: 1132
Year: 1291
Year: 1484
Year: 1666
Year: 1913
Year: 1982
Year: Now
They called us angels. They fed us fire. They cut our thoughts. They lowered us into the earth. They listened to us scream. They listened. They prayed for ascension. Open the gate. Let us through. The choir is below. Heaven is empty. We remain.“
STRATA brought MOLE’s findings to the surface for review. Petro’s cassette unleashes White Rabbit’s all-consuming powers on Earth.
The game crashes and on relaunch the world is no longer as it was. Petro’s cassette can be inserted into the terminal where a cryptic timer counting down displays an ominous message — “Days until salvation.” Is this not the end?
The recurring symbolism of ’33,’ the blood moon, the visions Kaminskyi suffers from, and the fallen angel story we learn should validate White Rabbit’s existence, though Kaminskyi’s mental state puts everything into question. However, the cassette being a copy of White Rabbit’s soul is evidence enough that the Signal is alive with powers far beyond our comprehension. It was buried for a reason, and a man’s guilt cracked open the stone that contained it, damning the world in its eternal glory.
After everything you’ve read, do you believe the White Rabbit is real?
