Nate, the protagonist of the game, is a thirty-five-year-old “failson” who lives in his parents’ basement. Through dream sequences, we can see that Nate felt neglected for most of his childhood. His parents seem to have always favored his younger sister, Cassie, though whether this is because of Cassie's personality or their responsibility to her is unclear. Either way, this leads to Nate becoming socially awkward and struggling with adversity throughout his teens.

In his young-adult life, Nate struggled to find his path, working at burger joints and trying to become a professional DJ, both of which failed. Due to his constant shortcomings, Nate sees his life amounting to nothing. As the people around him grow, Nate remains stagnant and can’t see himself accomplishing anything.

Nate’s core issue is his inability to ask people for help. In the past, whenever he struggled, people would call him names like “beta male,” and that has made him even more introverted. It’s clear that Nate has also seen therapists, as in the afterlife, when Horace asks Nate for advice, all he can do is recite generic therapy advice like “put your best foot forward” or “I’m better than who I was yesterday.”

At the start of the game, we find Nate in a deep state of depression. He has recently learned that his sister is getting a big promotion and has been struggling to come to terms with the realization that even his younger sister is more successful than him. Upstairs, his mother, who has been coddling him for most of his life, is calling him to eat, whilst his father talks about wanting to teach him discipline. They do not realize that on this night, perhaps minutes before, Nate poisoned himself in his room. On the brink of death, we begin our story at the edge of the afterlife.

Jim is the first person Nate meets in the afterlife. He is a bald, middle-aged man who seems similar to Charon, the figure from Greek mythology who guides the dead through the afterlife. This connection can be seen in Jim’s eagerness to help Nate whenever he becomes trapped in an area he cannot escape.

Throughout the world, Jim appears to have built wooden platforms, bridges, and scaffolds in places where someone might fall. He also leaves behind bottles of beer and pizza at many of these sites. Based on his construction worker outfit, it can be assumed that Jim has worked in the afterlife for a long time, and it is clear that his good deeds often go unnoticed.

When Nate climbs the Manbreaker, Jim seems to feel that Nate no longer needs him. After this, Jim “kills himself” and can no longer be found. My theory is that Jim does not truly exist for Nate forever; instead, he only exists to help new arrivals until they are ready to move forward on their own.

This guy sells stuff. But if it's always free, is it really a sale?  This keeps me up at night.

Mike stumbles across Nate. at the Old Salt Mine campsite. He is eager to reach the summit and finds it odd that Nate does not have a map, shoes or a grappling hook. It appears Jim had already offered him help, and Mike took all the help he could get. I get the feeling Mike is the kind of person that people took care of, but he did not take care of himself. It's unclear whether Mike killed himself, but there is a small implication of it when Nate finds him peering over the edge of Lemming Leap, and romantices about jumping. "You can't die in here." Nate says it seems kind of pointless jumping, losing all that progress. I believe this is the writer telling us that suicide is not worth it, because everything you did becomes worthless, even if it was not much progress at all. 

Near the end of the game, Mike regrets ever getting help and burns his map. This leads to him being pinned by a rock, calling for Jim's help. It's unclear whether Mike's problem in life was that he never did anything on his own, and when he was left without help, it lead him to suicide. The place where he was crushed, Jim had boarded up, but Mike ignored it.  More on this soon.

Ethan is the donkey character wearing a white long-sleeve button-up. I think he may be the devil. He tries to tempt everyone into getting him ciggarettes, claiming it's for the good of everyone.

Jesse is the playful donkey that  that tries to get Nate to relax, be free, and stick up to Ethan. He tells Nate to do what Nate wants, not to listen to Ethan.

Moose is thoughtful donkey Nate bonds with in the afterlife. Moose cares alot about what other people think about him and Nate empathizes with that. Moose is the only character that tries to cheer Nate up and he's the only character Nate asks for help. In the end, they become close friends and live together in Moose's cabin.

The Donkeys represent the "In" crowd. Or, perhaps they represent the social strings that pull on you through life. Each donkey their own personality, but as a group they feel like a personified version of FOMO (the fear of missing out), and it seems like Nate is always on the outside. Nate doesn't take any of their advice, and it makes me wonder if that is a part of the message as well. Nate saying no to everyone, is like saying no to life. Many believe the donkeys are Pinnochio-related. Others believe they are the ones too stubborn to change their ways, so they turned into donkeys. The acual canon remains unclear.