Story

Story of amper appears to be ambiguous but there are clues left to show that the game is realy about deppresion and living under capitalism. {{Multiple citations needed!}}

Amper's "speedrun" is a metaphor for trying to find happines, a mad dash thru life hoping that the next "stage" will bring a better "time".

Color pallet in Amper is not random, walls and backgrounds are mostly dark green, a color that normaly symbolises nature and rebirth, used in this darker hue clearly is meant to represent it's negative conotations like greed, envy and materialism. Amper himself is dark "Blue" color often assosiated with deppresion, with glowing yellow joint's and face. It's an attempt to show us that Amper even while being depressed is showing his "face" to the world around him as "yellow" a color associated with joy and delight, happines and sunshine. He hides his bad thoughs behind a fake smile so the people around him don't see he stands out, the glowing joints combined with his agility and speed are meant to represent that he still has some fight left in him. He is willing to run, dash and climb his way around "obstacles" in hope to find a next sliver of happines in a yellow checkpoint, which unfortunatly for him is already outlined with "black" color, simingly consumed by his bad thoughts even before he reaches them, and disaperas instantly when grabbed to force him to seek the next one.

Most telling is symbolism behind "Yellow wall's" They represent goals in life, new milestones amper has to "dash" thru them as if going thru the finish line in a race. They are supposed to bring him happines and fulfilment. But they feel dull and unsatysfying due to his ailment. Amper is unable to see them a "Yellow" To him they are just black boxes standing in his way, he just want's to get past them hoping a next "setpiece" in life will finaly mean something to him.

The setting being rather futuristic and having a hint of neon lights is a way to show an almost cyberpunk way of living in big cities. The glowing platforms switching collors are traffic lights he passes on his way to and from work. Amper is so consumed in his work that they are the only thing he notices on his path with any meaningfull hue as they normaly stop him and let him go, in game they are reimagined as obstacles slowing him down, in that sens L-city® set piece could be representing rush hours being the most frustrating and time consuming setpiece in game, and typical every day ocurance in real life, making you feel like your waisting your "time" as in time on this earth.

Amper is a "robot" an obvius way to represent him as a corporate "drone" a mindless machine supposed to steadly produce and consume, His rewards are supposed to keep him on track on his way forward. He is an personification of typical 9-5 office worker feeling like what he is doing in life has little meaning to the world, he grasps at opportunities to be quicker and more succesfull but the game shows that it does not matter. Dark green background surrounds him, making him small and insignificant, highlights his greed, he's chose to chase after success and money has led him to living a unfulfilling life. The glowing yellow spots on his body try to make him stand out, to show his old self who could feel joi and hapines, now seen only on joints the things making him push forward.

The ending of the game is the most bleak part of it. At the end of the race player finds the last checkpoint, it looks like any other but this one slowly fades the game away only showing your time and menu, clear symbolism that amper ended his life. The wall behind the end checkpoint shows that amper feels like there realy is no other way, what may lie ahead? More obstacles, more time wasting platforms. He tried again and again to find meaning in all of this to move past everything put on his way but in the end it all seems pointless.

He gave himself a chance 10 setpieces, the random nature of the game is meant to be unfair, as is life, the best way to have a great time is to be lucky, and having a bad set of setpieces means no chance for a good score, just like in life you may lose thru no fault of your own.