Find the Stranger
New exhibit → Radio Tower
Timber Hearth · observatory / Radio Tower
- The new exhibit points to the Radio Tower. Only one of its three satellite photos shows an extra silhouette; Hornfels initially suspects the equipment.
- Gabbro finds no dust, scratches or fault. This motivates another observation; it does not give you coordinates for a new planet.
Original text and contextRecreate the photograph at about 40°
High solar orbit · Deep Space Satellite
- Follow the satellite and its angle display. Near the photographed 40° alignment, look toward the Sun for the silhouette, then fly toward it and through the cloak.
- The alignment helps locate the station; it does not unlock it. Once its position is known, you can fly straight there.
Original text and contextEnter an artificial ring world
The Stranger · hangar / River Lowlands
- Use light to operate the entrance. The river links the River Lowlands, Cinder Isles, Hidden Gorge and Reservoir; light operates the rafts.
- This is neither Hearthian nor Nomai construction. Read the slide reels, visions and ship log; do not treat its writing as Nomai text.
Original text and contextArtifact, green fire and the dream
Find a working Artifact
River Lowlands · ghost-matter workshop
- The workshop contains working Artifacts. Use Scout photographs to check the ghost matter and take a safe entrance; ghost matter is distinct from green fire.
- The working Artifact can focus and conceal its light. The lab also contains failed prototypes; neither an ordinary lantern nor an explosive prototype substitutes for it.
Original text and contextThe laboratory shows how to connect
Hidden Gorge · Damaged Laboratory
- A reel in the gorge reveals the explosion and hull breach. Enter the second chamber from outside to study three prototype experiments and the vision of sleeping at a green fire.
- The third experiment appears successful. The lab teaches the method; it is not a mandatory lock if you discover the method yourself.
Original text and contextOpen the green-fire rooms
Lowlands / Island Tower / gorge; a fourth at the Reservoir
- The Island Tower reel shows lanterns being removed from a circular mural room, leaving a particular mural dark and opening a passage. Bodies sit around the green fire.
- The three settlement rooms lead to three dream regions. The Reservoir fire leads inside the submerged structure above the lake. Remember where your physical body remains.
Original text and contextSleep at a green fire holding the Artifact
Physical world → simulation
- Doze near a green fire while holding a working Artifact. You arrive in its dream region with the Artifact lit. Focus operates mechanisms; conceal hides your light.
- Losing the dream flame normally wakes a living body. Floodwater extinguishing the physical flame also disconnects you. Dream regions are linked by rafts.
Original text and contextFollow the vault’s trail
Reach the lake and its three seals
Reservoir · Submerged Structure
- Swim into the physical structure from underneath. Sleep at its green fire with the Artifact, then take the dream stairs and elevator down to the lake.
- The physical container and dream vault are not doors you open in the same way. The dream shore has three seals and three control interfaces.
Original text and contextTry the vault and receive its vision
Simulation · lake shore
- Turn the vault mechanism. The chains hold the door shut; light leaks out after a moment. Its vision points to the mural room high in the Island Tower.
- This is a clue to your next investigation, not an instruction to brute-force three codes.
Original text and contextExtinguish dream candles to darken the real mural
Physical Island Tower ↔ Starlit Cove tower
- Use the tower’s rear entrance for its upper floor. In the dream, project the route to its rear entrance and extinguish the corresponding mural-room candles. Wake and inspect the now-dark physical mural.
- Three vault-code containers are burned. The slide-burning and control-room sequences remain. The slide-burning sequence advances the archive investigation.
Original text and contextUse the slide-burning code in the temple
Hidden Gorge · Abandoned Temple
- Enter the temple via the gorge passage rather than the broken bridge. Enter the Symbol Room sequence upstairs to open the chamber below.
- A reel shows the inhabitants scanning reels before destroying physical slides. The map projections locate three concealed slide-burning rooms.
Original text and contextThree burning rooms → three hidden entrances
River Lowlands / Cinder Isles / Hidden Gorge
- Follow each projection to a hidden reel: the Lowlands reel shows a forest lodge fireplace, the Isles reel a darkened well, and the gorge reel a tree mural in darkness.
- These reveal archive entrances. The forest, cove and canyon have no mandatory visit order, and you are not collecting intact vault passwords.
Original text and contextThree archives, three mechanisms
Shrouded Woodlands: behind the fireplace
The River Lowlands dream
- Follow the lights and music to the gathering house. Its archive is behind the fireplace. The inhabitants obstruct access while present; the fire itself is not a switch puzzle.
- Open the raft access first, then enter through another physical fire room unaffected by that flood and raft back. After the Lowlands flood, the occupants vanish as their physical flames go out.
Original text and contextStarlit Cove: darken the well
The Island Tower dream
- Find the area’s extinguishing mechanism, darken the well, then conceal your Artifact while passing the sentry. Descend and get around the patrolling inhabitants to reach the archive.
- Concealing your light alone will not help on a path still illuminated externally. The death mechanism taught here enables a later shortcut; it is not required knowledge for a first visit.
Original text and contextEndless Canyon: through the dark tree mural
The Hidden Gorge dream
- Find the hidden route to the extinguishing mechanism and darken the lodge. Reach the tree mural below; the interior bridge goes out with the lights, so relight it or approach from the dock elevator.
- The normal internal-bridge route involves evading inhabitants. Alternatively, lower the dock elevator first and return by raft after darkening the lodge. This reduces stealth, not every possible encounter.
Original text and contextMechanism 1: leave the raft in a transition
Woodlands · Forbidden Archive
- The error report shows a passenger leaving a raft during the dark transition and falling beneath the simulation. Jumping into an ordinary open river extinguishes the Artifact instead.
- This opens access to the lower lake and a seal, and can also shorten later archive visits.
Original text and contextMechanism 2: death connects; bells cannot wake the dead
Cove · Forbidden Archive
- One reel shows both sleep and death lighting the Artifact. Another shows bells failing to wake a dead physical body. Dying within range of green fire while holding a working Artifact can still connect you.
- Standing in the green fire is one way; an exploding failed prototype is not a substitute. Bells cannot return a dead body to life, and your Artifact flame still needs protection.
Original text and contextMechanism 3: walk beyond the Artifact’s projection
Canyon · Forbidden Archive
- Set down the lit Artifact and walk beyond its projection radius to see the simplified green structure, including paths and platforms normally invisible.
- This does not turn off the simulation. The Artifact remains where you left it; retrieve it when light-operated mechanisms require it.
Original text and contextApply the mechanisms to three seals
Raft seal: approach from beneath the world
Simulation · lower lake
- Take the Artifact off a raft during a dark transition to land below. Follow the lower route to the corresponding seal and extinguish its flame.
- This bypasses the water-crossing obstacle; it does not disable the other two seals.
Original text and contextAlarm seal: remove the living body’s response
Simulation · the externally lit sentry path
- Connect by dying at the physical green fire with a working Artifact. The alarm still rings but cannot wake the body; cross the path and extinguish its seal.
- The external lighting makes concealment alone insufficient. With the Ash Twin Project still active, memory transmission can still start your next loop.
Original text and contextBridge seal: reveal and align the platforms
Simulation · invisible lake platforms
- Leave the Artifact somewhere safe, step beyond its projection, and observe how the interface moves the platforms. Align a walkable route, retrieve the Artifact, then cross and extinguish the seal.
- You need to see the geometry, not recover an intact code from destroyed slides.
Original text and contextAll three seals out → open the vault
Simulation · Sealed Vault
- Check that all three glowing seals are extinguished and operate the shore mechanism. Enter and descend to the Prisoner.
- This releases a vault in the simulation; it does not open the physical container, revive a body, or stop the Sun.
Original text and contextExchange memories and say farewell
Share history through visions
Sealed Vault · the Prisoner
- The Prisoner shows why they were confined. Use the vision torch to share your solar system’s history, letting them learn that the briefly released signal was heard.
- For a fuller vision, first investigate the Old Settlement murals or the Vessel, and the Interloper’s core. Completing the base ending is not required: a direct DLC playthrough can reach this encounter, but some historical scenes are omitted.
Original text and contextThe final vision at the water
Subterranean Lake · outside the vault
- After the Prisoner leaves, inspect the vision torch at the water for their farewell. The vision is not an escape raft waiting for you to board.
- Footprints lead into the water. Ending their simulated existence is an implication of the scene, not an explicit spoken log entry or a voyage after physical revival.
Original text and contextOn a later loop, reach the Eye and invite their memory
Base ending · Ancient Glade campfire
- You do not need to escape to the ship in the same loop. Keep the Project active, then follow the base route on a later loop: core, Vessel and Eye coordinates.
- At the Eye, the Prisoner asks whether you want to remember them. You may invite them or say goodbye. The encounter enriches the ending without adding new Eye coordinates.
Original text and contextReconnect the erased history
Follow the signal at the cost of home
Woodlands archive · intact history reel
- The intact reel restores the sacrifice behind the Stranger: their home moon’s resources were consumed to build the vessel that took them away.
- This completes a damaged historical record; it is not an item required at the vault.
Original text and contextFear the Eye and block its signal
Cove archive · intact history reel
- After observing the Eye’s power they became afraid, built a signal blocker and launched it. The Prisoner’s Eye dialogue adds their reluctance to let their story end.
- This describes their response, not proof that the Eye maliciously killed the Nomai.
Original text and contextRecreate their lost home in a simulation
Canyon archive · intact history reel
- The intact reel shows a simulation modeled on their home moon. Lit Artifacts can sustain a connection after physical death; the real home moon was not restored.
- The burned physical records and intact simulated archives explain why the missing history must be recovered from hidden places.
Original text and contextBriefly release the signal → imprisonment
The Prisoner’s vision
- The Prisoner briefly disabled the blocker. The others restored it and confined them; the seal codes were later destroyed.
- The Prisoner explicitly describes a brief release. Its exact duration is not stated.
Original text and contextThat brief echo connects both stories
Prisoner ↔ Nomai Vessel ↔ you
- Your vision connects the signal with the Nomai search, their extinction and Hearthian exploration. The Prisoner learns that their action was not in vain.
- This is a causal link across eras, not evidence that the Prisoner, Escall and modern Hearthians met or worked together.
Original text and contextAlternatives without circular prerequisites
Canyon: lower the elevator, return by raft
Prepare with lights on → darken → raft from another fire
- With the lights on, cross the interior bridge and lower the dock elevator. Darken the lodge, leave the dream, re-enter through another physical fire and raft back to the canyon.
- The elevator returns you to the mural side, bypassing much of the lodge. You do not need advance knowledge of projection radius; check inhabitants near the lower route.
Original text and contextKnown projection mechanism: canyon bridge shortcut
Endless Canyon · hidden dock-side bridge
- If you already know the radius mechanism, reveal the hidden bridge, retrieve the Artifact and follow the remembered path toward the dock side. The tree mural must still be dark.
- Do not make this the only first-visit prerequisite: that would require knowing the archive’s answer before entering it.
Original text and contextKnown death mechanism: revisit the cove
Starlit Cove · well
- If you independently discover death-connection or have seen its reel, enter after physical death and pass the alarm. It is an alternative route, not an ability required for the first visit.
- Death does not make you immune to inhabitants or an extinguished flame. Those are different hazards.
Original text and contextKnown transition mechanism: revisit from below
Dark transition → Subterranean Lake
- Leaving a raft in the correct transition reaches the lower area near the forest archive. An ordinary river jump will not. This route assumes prior knowledge or independent discovery.
- The regular route still works: return from another fire after the Lowlands flames go out. No shortcut is required to learn its own clue.
Original text and contextThe blocker control room is not a fourth seal
Physical world · Reservoir
- The Symbol Room also has a control-room sequence. Inside the Reservoir room are a burned interface and a disconnected-link projection, adding historical and technical context.
- Repairing it is not a DLC completion requirement. Do not invent a mandatory objective to disable the blocker or find new Eye coordinates.
Original text and contextTime, the loop and two alternative endings
The flood changes access; the physical body matters
Physical Stranger ↔ simulation
- The dam breaks at roughly 13 minutes, flooding the Lowlands fire. The Island Tower falls later, around 20:30. The higher gorge fire is not flooded by the same wave.
- These are approximate gameplay timings, not exact timers stated in the text. If your body is at the Lowlands fire, you disconnect too; do not wait there expecting to remain after the occupants vanish.
Original text and contextEscaping the blast does not escape memory transmission
Stranger trajectory / Ash Twin Project
- The Stranger moves beyond the supernova. While the Ash Twin Project remains active, it still transmits your memories; dying at a green fire does not disable the Project.
- The Prisoner encounter does not require removing the advanced warp core. Disabling the loop changes what death and waiting do.
Original text and contextAlternative ending: the abandoned world
Remove the advanced core → wait aboard the Stranger
- Disable the Ash Twin Project, then wait in the physical Stranger beyond the blast. Visiting with the loop still active does not trigger this ending.
- The extracted ending text is UI 814. Its Chinese wording of “beyond the reach of the supernova” is awkward, so the English also informs the interpretation.
Original text and contextAlternative ending: unable to wake
Disable the Project → die at green fire → remain in the simulation
- Remove the advanced warp core, connect by dying at a green fire with a working Artifact, and remain connected with its flame intact until the ending.
- This is alternative ending UI 815, not the result of every green-fire death during normal exploration, nor the unavoidable end of meeting the Prisoner.
Original text and context