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This article contains spoilers! Outer Wilds and Echoes of the Eye should be played with minimal spoilers, knowing too much will hinder the experience! Please play the game before reading any of this! |
The Ash Twin Project is a facility built by the Nomai, located within the core of the Ash Twin. The facility itself is fully operational and is powered by an Advanced Warp Core.
The facility is revealed to be the reason for the time loop that the Protagonist finds themself in. When the sun goes supernova, the Ash Twin Project activates and sends their memories 22 minutes into the past, resulting in them experiencing the same 22 minutes over and over.
Description[]
The Ash Twin Project is a large ring-shaped structure circling the Advanced Warp Core that powers it. The ring platform is located within a large spherical shell which encases it completely to protect the project. The platform spins rapidly around the core to produce rotational artificial gravity, ensuring that the player does not fall off. Along the ring are various Nomai research notes and pieces of artwork as well as multiple Projection Stones. Upon arrival, directly ahead of the player is the actual project itself. There is a small open room with a console in the middle and eight Nomai Masks surrounding the center, three of which are active. At the end of the ring are two sphere consoles. One of these consoles stops the platform's rotation (thus eliminating the artificial gravity), and the other opens the casing protecting the Advanced Warp Core, allowing it to be removed.
Purpose and Design[]
The Nomai masks, three of which are active
The Ash Twin Project was designed to harness the energy of the Supernova, triggered by the Sun Station, to send data from the Orbital Probe Cannon 22 minutes into the past. This was to make finding the Eye of the Universe a much faster and easier task than it would have been without the project.
The Ash Twin Project has two major components, the Nomai Masks and the Nomai Statues. The statues are designed to "link" with the closest living creature to them when they activate. From that point on, the linked creature's memories are continuously transmitted to the respective mask. One of the masks is linked not to a creature but to the Orbital Probe Cannon's Tracking Module to receive the coordinates of the Eye of the Universe, should it be found by the probe. Upon activation by the supernova, the memories and coordinates are sent back in time to the linked creature (or module) through the statue using warp technology. This puts the creature or module in a perceived time loop that replays the same 22 minutes in a loop until the project is deactivated.
Initially, only the Cannon's statue is activated, so only the cannon is in a loop. Once the Eye is located, the other statues also activate. This would prompt the Nomai (now in possession of the Eye's coordinates) to halt the activation of the Sun Station and thus stopping the loop.
Advanced Warp Core[]
The advanced warp core of the Ash Twin Project
The Advanced Warp Core is the power source that keeps the Ash Twin Project running, even without power from the Supernova. Its design is based on the Advanced Warp Core used to power The Vessel and can be removed from the project. If the player decides to remove the core, the Ash Twin Project will shut down, ending the time loop until it is inserted again. Should the player die by any cause without reinserting the core while the Ash Twin project is offline, the player will receive a game over screen and be returned to the main menu.
The Advanced Warp Core is required for the intended ending.
Initial failure and eventual activation[]
Upon activation by the Nomai, the Sun Station failed to induce a supernova so the Ash Twin Project did not work, forcing the Nomai to find an alternate way to power the project. They put this on hold when they noticed the Interloper arriving in the Solar System and went over to investigate it.[1] However, shortly after, Ghost Matter erupted from the Interloper's core, flooding the solar system with the lethal matter and killing all Nomai.[2]
While the Nomai never got to see the Ash Twin Project functional, hundreds of thousands of years later the project is eventually triggered when the local Sun reaches the end of its lifespan and goes Supernova naturally. At the end of every loop as the Sun is going Supernova, the Ash Twin Project activates, generating a black hole in the center of the ring and transferring all stored information from the Nomai Masks into it.
After many cycles of only the Orbital Probe Cannon being in a loop, the probe finally locates the Eye of the Universe, prompting the activation of the Nomai Statues. The player happens to be the closest creature to the Timber Hearth statue at that moment, causing it to sync with them and putting them in a time loop as well.
Accessibility[]
The warp platform leading to the Ash Twin Project
There is no direct route to the Ash Twin Project, and accessing it is not as straightforward as most other locations. To access the Ash Twin Project, the player must utilize the teleportation towers on Ash Twin while Ember Twin is directly above.
It takes approximately three full orbits of the Ember Twin for the Ash Twin tower to be fully uncovered by sand. The tower in question will be the broken one of the two towers that are close together with a bridge connecting them. Outside the correct tower's entrance will be the corpse of a Nomai. The player will need to stand in the center platform inside of the tower for the teleporter to work, however, it will only work when the Ember Twin is directly above. Due to the sand flowing from Ash Twin to Ember Twin, the player can easily be sucked through the roof. To avoid being pulled out, it is recommended for the player to seek shelter under the bridge outside or under the small intact sections of the tower's ceiling until the pillar of sand is directly in the center of the tower. When the pillar of sand is in the center, the player must quickly run into the teleporter, if done correctly they will immediately warp to the Ash Twin Project. Alternatively, the Little Scout can be used to activate the teleporter, after which the player can quickly follow.
Texts and recordings[]
Notes[]
- Due to the significant amount of time it takes to enter the Ash Twin Project, once the Advanced Warp is removed, the player may have as much as 13 minutes remaining in the loop.
- Meditating after removing the Advanced Warp Core soft-locks the Game on Xbox One.
- The earliest the Ash Twin Project can be reached through its Warp Tower is 7:50 minutes after spawning (or T-Minus 14:10 to the Sun going supernova). By this point, enough of the Warp Tower has been uncovered to stand on the pad in time for the alignment to occur. Care should still be taken to not be drained out through the Tower's broken ceiling with the sandfall.
- Taking out the Advanced Warp Core and then dying will not delete the save file.
Gallery[]
The array on the northpole of Ash Twin powering the Ash Twin Project in the event of a supernova
The Hourglass Twin towers on Ash Twin. The right one leads to the Ash Twin Project
Inactive Nomai Statue
A wall containing Nomai text
The controls for the gravity and the project itself
References[]
- ↑ YARROW: We are halting our research into creating a supernova for this moment; a comet has newly arrived in this solar system, and we’re anxious to explore it. YARROW: It’s been a very long time since we last explored somewhere new, so we’re excited to welcome this comet. Imagine what knowledge might be gained there!
- ↑ Eye of the Universe Observatory: The Nomai who came to our solar system were following a signal from the Eye of the universe. They perished when the Interloper arrived, bringing with it the deadly substance we called ghost matter that flooded the entire solar system almost instantly and without warning.