ilomilo

Story

Ilo and Milo are two friends who meet daily in a bizarre park in a strange world populated by odd characters, including other safkas, useful life forms known as "cubes," and the haughty but helpful Sebastian, a small man who wears a tricorn hat and rides a flying beetle. Each time Ilo and Milo leave at night and return to each other during the day, the park becomes more and more complicated (alluding to the levels and puzzle elements of the game). After one meeting, Ilo and Milo get so upset at the thought of separating again that they cry so much that the following levels are played underwater. Later, they come up with the idea of drawing maps for each other and scattering them around the park in hopes that the other will find them, which ironically makes navigating the park even more confusing. In the final chapter, Ilo and Milo decide not to go home at night and instead look for the sun so they can stay together. When they get lost again, they finally meet at a vehicle that resembles a locomotive and a biplane, and leave the park in it. They vow never to part again and travel the world together. The main plot is emblematic of a short subplot involving two human characters named "Ilona Zevon" and "Milton Foley"; the player receives snippets of the subplot (in the form of written letters) after collecting enough "memory fragments" in the levels. In this subplot, Ilona and Milton frequently write letters to each other and want to meet in their favorite places, including an unfamiliar park and lake. Ilona eventually stops meeting and writing to Milton; Milton continues to send letters, but they are returned by a "Dr. Jacob" who claims that Ilona no longer lives in the desired location. Later, it turns out that Ilona was forbidden by "them" to meet Milton. Milton resumes contact with Ilona and continues their meetings. Ilona purchases two tickets for an unknown overnight train and asks them to "never turn back." The final snippet is a missing persons report for Ilona and Milton, dated November 29. A second subplot, a fable called "The Hunter and the Fox," is told to the player by Sebastian when he/she encounters him/her in certain bonus levels. The fable is about a fox, a hunter and his demanding fiancée. The fiancé asks the hunter to kill a fox and make a beautiful fur boa out of it. The hunter goes into the forest and meets the fox, but the fox convinces the hunter to spare him for the sake of his family. The fiancée is furious and threatens to leave the hunter if he does not make a boa, and the hunter confronts the fox again. The fox makes a deal with the hunter, offering his tail in exchange for his life and the hunter's oath never to harm a fox again. However, the fiancé rejects the tail alone as too insufficient to make it into a beautiful boa, and the hunter decides to break his bargain with the fox. The fox warns the hunter that if he is killed, he will never be able to leave the forest, as he is the only guide in or out of the forest; as the lord of the forest, the hunter is incredulous and kills the fox. But the fox is proved right, and the hunter soon becomes hopelessly lost. After wandering for a long time, the hunter comes across an abandoned house and enters it, only to be sealed inside forever by an unknown power. The fiancé longs for the hunter and eventually forgets the boa, but never the hunter. Sebastian later suggests that the hunter eventually became the new forest guide. It is possible that the hunter was in fact Sebastian himself.