ItвЂ™s obviously important to Anna, since itвЂ™s her final message in the game, but it isnвЂ™t important to the story вЂ“ Anna and Maggie are nearly superfluous, only filling in backstory and boosting the plot a little bit forward at times. Maybe itвЂ™s a reference to Maggie and AnnaвЂ™s failure вЂ“ a message saying that theyвЂ™re going to do something before the rift, then after it a message saying they tried and failed. So maybe this is Maggie/Anna tracking which stage of the time loop sheвЂ™s in вЂ“ thereвЂ™s some way of telling involving these men and dogs? Or maybe the flashes of images are Anna herself intruding on AlexвЂ™s thoughts, trying to get the same message across. On the first playthrough you see flashes of images, some of which feature humanoid figures вЂ“ but that doesnвЂ™t necessarily have anything to do with the graffiti, right? Well, on the second playthrough, you also see a few flashes of new images, these ones showing dogs or wolves.

Similarly, the theory that itвЂ™s the Sunken referring to people as dogs вЂ“ no thanks, IвЂ™ll take something with actual evidence. IвЂ™ve heard a theory that in вЂњsaw the man but not the dogвЂќ seeing the man refers to leaving and seeing the dog refers to having a reason, but thatвЂ™s really flimsy. The second part вЂ“ вЂњsaw the man but not the dogвЂќ вЂ“ could be Maggie/AnnaвЂ™s way of saying вЂњyou didnвЂ™t listen to the warning.вЂќ I find this to be doubtful, though вЂ“ it just doesnвЂ™t fit with the meaning of the original phrase. Similarly, it could be Anna trying to communicate from beyond, if we assume that вЂњsee a man about a dogвЂќ is an in-joke or phrase with special meaning between Anna and Maggie. If that phrase means something special to Maggie or Anna, they would see it and know, even if they had forgotten this wasnвЂ™t their first time through, that someone who knows them well wants them to get out of that cave. ItвЂ™s possible itвЂ™s a warning to themselves, if theyвЂ™re aware of the time loops. The first graffiti is before a point of no return, after all. Why, though? Well, it could be a warning to others, but the phrasing isnвЂ™t terribly useful. Since Anna uses the same phrase, itвЂ™s almost certain one of them left the graffiti. We only know of two people that have been this far in this cave вЂ“ Maggie Adler and Anna Shea. Go! It doesnвЂ™t matter why you leave, just that you do. ItвЂ™s telling you to do something вЂ“ in this case, get out. The first graffiti is phrased as an imperative. Saying вЂњI need to go see a man about a dogвЂќ means вЂњI need to go now and I donвЂ™t want to say why, probably for decencyвЂ™s sake.вЂќ With that, we can develop one possible meaning. So, first off, the phrase вЂњsee a man about a dogвЂќ is used as an excuse while leaving when youвЂ™d rather not say why youвЂ™re leaving. Spoiler alert: I have no answer, although I do have answers. ItвЂ™s so tantalizing, so well-hidden, and so, so unnecessary. In the cave near the start (and end) of the game, you find red graffiti: вЂњSEE A MAN ABOUT A DOG.вЂќ Just a little bit later, in the lower area of the cave, you find similar graffiti: вЂњSAW THE MAN BUT NOT THE DOG.вЂќ The last mention of it is hidden вЂ“ AdlerвЂ™s friend Anna can still communicate over radio through Morse code, and her message in the finale is not only in Morse, but that Morse is a base64 string containing more Morse, which then becomes binary, which then finally becomes the phrase вЂњask a man about a dog.вЂќ The phrase also shows up in the ARGs, but those are so cryptic as to be meaningless. There are spoilers ahead, and it wonвЂ™t make much sense without context. If you wandered into this without first reading the earlier posts, please read this first.

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