... That sentence is hard to parse.

The comment I was responding to originally was you saying "nor is it religion pergurtory based.". I took issue with that idea because it seems like it's well within the realm of possibility that the show is in fact based on the religious idea of purgatory. Whether its reskinned as:

Alien beings watching humans progress, choosing who to evolve;

overlord AI watching human decisions deciding who to let out of the simulation;

advanced civilization choosing which people are good enough to join their utopian society

They're all based on the same theme of religious purgatory.

The quote pops up, but we're treated to a two minute monologue narration that goes over time as an illusion again right after while we're looking at an evidence board filled with past present and future versions of a number of people - yarn stringing them all together in a web of unknown connections.

"We trust that time is linear. That it proceeds eternally, uniformly. Into infinity. But the distinction between past, present and future is nothing but an illusion. Yesterday, today and tomorrow are not consecutive, they are connected in a never-ending circle. Everything is connected."

The fact that we don't know who those people are at that point doesn't matter. The narrator told us that we're going to be seeing time travel connected in a never-ending circle (aka a loop).

Is the same concept repackaged with Alien skin not still the same thing?

... Why wouldn't you? What other interpretation of "The distinction between past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion." and then that opening monologue featuring visuals of past, present, and future versions of all the characters is there?

Did you mean to respond to someone else? Me watching Dark's first two episodes are literally the point... I haven't watched anything else for Dark yet, I just finished 1899 yesterday.

... Maybe? I have a suspicion that purgatory may actually be the underlying reality. >!It's quite obvious the reveals we got in the final two episodes are still within "the simulation", including the generation ship further "levels" of the simulation may prove to be more similar to that religious idea than you may like.!<

>!Kerberos is the Hound of Hades guarding the underworld, Perseus is the god that is punished after giving men fire, chained and cursed to have his liver eaten and regrown every day (who is later freed by Heracles). The upside down triangle with a line through it is the alchemical sign for Earth. The ocean seems to be the river Styx full of ghosts where payment was not satisfactory. So the journey depicted in Season 1 seems to be about the technological afterlife traveling to the underworld - only transported to the next level of simulation (the underworld/space) after providing payment in the form of gold.!<

>!What is the purpose of the greater "simulation"? It's speculation but I think we'll find out that the people are within the "simulation" for purification and will end up being purgatory with extra steps - the people who are able to prove themselves changed people will be able to leave the underworld and enter "heaven", leaving the simulation for utopia having proven themselves worthy of living there.!<

I literally didn't know Dark was popular. I saw it recommended on Netflix occasionally over the past few years and didn't think I would like it because I'm usually not into gore, and it looked like it could be gorey, so never looked into it at all. I only started watching it because the creators of 1899 were involved and 1899 left me wanting more in a not fulfilling way so I was hoping Dark would give me some substance and so far I've been happier with it.

As to how I deduced the existence of a loop, the opening scene of Dark is literally a quote about the illusion of time as a straight forward arrow.

"The distinction between past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion."

And then the narrator is talking about how everything is connected. So I immediately knew we were going to be getting timey wimey stuff - I basically began expecting something inspired by Vunnegut's Slaughterhouse Five.

I don't know what the loop is yet, but there were several characters talking about how "it's happening again", and the dude who hanged himself knew "the future" and knew that other people knowing what was in the envelope he left behind before a certain time would/could prevent something he wanted to happen from happening (or the other way around). I'm pretty sure the word loop itself has been used in reference to something else in the show too.

I'm expecting some pretty weird things because of the setting including grandfather paradoxes and potentially some Oedipus style killing/relationships.

EDIT: Just went back over the intro. The loop is literally in the opening monologue:

"they are connected in a never-ending circle"

Seriously... a lot of what OP is saying is pretty funny knowing what's about to happen.

Agreed. Having now watched the first two episodes of Dark after binging 1899; 1899 lacks all the substance that Dark has in its first two episodes. There are actually characters now instead of >!literally mindless robots.!<

>!The mystery of the show seems like it's supposed to be about the reality that the few "real" characters are dealing with, but it's pretty clearly implied very early on that it's all a simulation - and it feels like they focused on chaos and events instead of intrigue and characters, and because of that the "reveal" of the finale isn't all that... special?!<

I've watched 2 episodes of Dark today because I enjoyed 1899 but thought it lacking substance and was told Dark is better. I had no knowledge of Dark beforehand other than it was some of the creators of 1899. I was expecting a crime drama going in.

I knew that we were going to be dealing with time travel in the first minutes of Dark. By the end of the first episode it's clear we're in a loop. It... really wasn't that big of a revelation.