From my understanding, the Barisov ending is the good ending. Here's the thing that EVERYONE ignores: the Rinko that killed himself had a TMD with options that would make Barisov go "WTF?!?" with (i.e., stuff like Revert). An American with advanced gear and the TMD with such functions would mean that the Godzilla Threshold has been passed.

Also, Demichev was still conscious at the time, and given that he was also a scientist of similar capabilities as Barisov (given that he knew of the possibilities that a prototype TMD would have), he also put two and two together (leading Demichev to believe that Rinko had the TMD in the first place, not knowing that it was possible that he was just a bystander who got caught up in the mess).

Barisov had the problem of not knowing all the variables and the complete situation (hell, I would be hard pressed to have people who AREN'T beings like The Doctor to understand the complete situation) to not see Rinko as the anomalous variable.

Watermelon its not past or future Renko that leaves notes but another version of Barisov rtying to prevent bad futures from happening tough I have question how the hell Demichev knew bout that.

I also think that with all of the notes the past versions of you have left on the wall (and how very obviously evil Demichev is) that the ending where you shoot both is probably the one your character would realistically choose.

I believe that shooting both of them seems like the best ending. Sure the world is in a rough spot with the USSR's collapse, but this one has the most potential with you heavily implied to become the leader of New 'Murica. I agree with the fact that the Barisov ending problably isn't good, as he actively lied to you. As when he told you to kill yourself to fix the timeline, he instead goes behind your dead back to change history.

yeah my first attempt ever i shot them both. i shot the less evil one first... kinda by accident, and noticed that nothing really changed and i could still free look. so i shot the evil one and became a time wanderer. i liked that ending :)

wait you can shoot both of them?

>Realize the entire game is Commie
what

Based on how unbelievably linear the game was, I was not expecting the ending where you shoot both people. I didn't like either of their plans and becoming a godlike warlord was a good surprise

You kinda don't know what happened though
You only see the statue of Barisov without any context. And if everything we know him as a compassionate inovator who wants to lead mankind into a better future.

Judging him just because he's born under a communist flag ain't all that proper IMO, especially if you don't know what properly changed in the timeline.

Best advice I've read all day. Thanks.