Amanda the Adventurer is a brand-new horror game created by MANGLEDmaw Games. This short puzzle game sees players scouring through a host of VHS recordings of a 1990s children’s show, Amanda the Adventurer. As players find clues and solve puzzles around their attic, it quickly becomes clear that something isn’t right with this seemingly simple children’s show.
If you read our Amanda the Adventurer review, you’ll know that I described the game’s story as a tale of a family being ripped apart by a sinister corporation, but what exactly happened? The story of this game as hinted by secret tapes hidden around the game is as twisted and disturbing as it is sad.
In this article, I’ll explain the story of Amanda the Adventurer as it is presented by the game. I’ll begin with an explanation of the game’s story, followed by a section with my own theories of what’s going on. If you’re not interested in spoilers, don’t read any further!
Amanda the Adventurer Full Story
Amanda the Adventurer opens up with a letter from your aunt Kate, a librarian investigating behavior problems and complaints linked to the Amanda the Adventurer television show. With your aunt missing, implying in her letter that she’s been killed by her research, it’s up to you to continue her investigation. Throughout the game, the origin of the disturbing and seemingly haunted show is laid out through several newspaper clippings and recordings.
Amanda the Adventurer began as a live-action, public-access television show for children. Creator Sam Colton couldn’t expect that the show, which starred his adopted daughter, Rebecca, would be such a major hit across the country. In a recording of a public access show “Coffee Break with Sadie Kapper,” Sam thanks his local librarian, Kate (the same Kate as your Aunt) and describes Rebecca as his greatest inspiration, saying that “despite everything she’s gone through, she’s always seen the world with such kindness and joy.”
In this same recording, Colton explains that a big entertainment company, Hameln, has purchased the rights to the show and will make it a nationwide broadcast, and will be adapting Amanda the Adventurer from a live-action show to a computer-animated cartoon.
We discover from a newspaper clipping that at the same time Amanda the Adventurer was taking off, a Celtic crown was stolen from the Irish Celtic History Museum. The so-called Crown of the Stag is tied to a legend about the Fae. Irish police believe the crown was stolen by a group simply called “The Demons.”
We later see a secret tape involving the production of the new Amanda the Adventurer show at Hameln. A Hameln director has Rebecca repeat a few strange phrases back to him; Bye-Yell, Pie-Man, and Baa lamb. As Sam questions the words Hamln is having Rebecca read, she suddenly snaps “No! I don’t want to do that!” and claims she is speaking to the man in the headphones.
The phrases Rebecca reads are actually, according to many, the names of the demons Bael, Paimon, and Balam.
Sam Colton disappears in the middle of the production of the Amanda the Adventurer cartoon, and Rebecca is taken into the custody of Hameln. We see recorded footage of Rebecca signing some kind of contract, and then being led into a room full of pipes, implying that she may be deep underground. This is the last we see of Rebecca, as Hameln makes a public statement asking people to “respect Rebecca’s privacy.”
Not long after, Amanda the Adventurer takes a turn for the bizare. Although initially hugely successful, it eventually starts to receive backlash from parents, who cite the program as being full of disturbing messages such as “parents are not always right.” As we see in the secret Orange Tape, children seem to fall into a trance watching Amanda the Adventurer, and eventually begin to wander away from their homes after watching.
In the final tape you receive in the “true” ending, Amanda says, ominously “I’m out there. Somewhere.”
Synopsis and Theories
Amanda the Adventurer was purchased by Hameln, hoping to weaponize the show’s popularity to enthrall and entrap children. As Sam Colton began to worry about his daughter Rebecca’s safety, Hameln killed him, and trapped Rebecca in some kind of demonic ritual binding her to Amanda.
Rebecca is dead — This is made obvious by her line in the tape Everything Rots! “I can feel myself rotting. It feels far away though.” More than being dead, however, I believe Rebecca was ritualistically sacrificed and turned into a malevolent demon or spirit bound to the Amanda character. The paper Hameln has Amanda sign may have been some sort of demonic contract, that she was too young to read or understand.
Hameln is using Amanda to lure away children. This is hinted to by both their name and logo, which are both references to the Pied Piper, a story about a magical flutist who lured children into the woods. Hamelin is the name of the village from the Pied Piper story.
The story of the Crown of the Stag is that it was created as a peace offering between men and Fae after a long war. In legends, the Fae, which can also be interpreted as spirits or demons, lure children into the woods, never to be seen again. Hameln, just like the Pied Piper, may be luring children away as sacrifices to these spirits or demons and stole the crown as a symbol of the peace being over.
Rebecca may have had a special connection to spirits thanks to experiencing death at a young age. As Sam Colton explains, she had some kind of traumatic experience when she was young. In the first VHS tape, ‘In the Kichen,’ Whooly warns that you shouldn’t touch the oven without parents around, but Amanda insists on doing it anyway. It is possible to trigger an ending where the kitchen catches on fire, causing Amanda to scream and cry.
This may mean that Rebecca accidentally set her kitchen on fire at a young age, possibly killing her parents and resulting in her being orphaned.
As many point out, Amanda’s animosity towards Whooly paired with his insistence on shutting down Amanda’s feelings suggests that he is there to keep Amanda under control for Hameln. Her abuse towards him reflects her desire to escape the tape, and she behaves much more calmly and exerts more control in the final tape, without him there.
What did you think of our Amanda the Adventurer theories? Tell us your theories in the comments below and let us know if we missed anything. Amanda the Adventurer is available on Steam.
This was the best theory i’ve ever had! thank you so much!! dang this made me even more interested in amanda