Sunken City (OOB)

This article explores the out-of-bounds (OOB) areas of the Sunken City level. For general information about the level, please refer to the Sunken City (SC) article.

Overview
This OOB is widely regarded as the most beautiful in Journey.

It's most sparkly on PS3, on PC it can pay off to change sand settings to low, additional hints: Information on how to tweak your graphic settings, PC.

It's relatively easy to find a way back into the level, possibilities on getting stuck or lost are rather small (compared to UG OOB for example, where getting lost is easy).

There is the north side, with the HL Banner to find at the north/west and some nice color changes on your robe.

The south side is like a walk/fly through the Sunken City itself, this part is sparkly and provides awesome views, you can get near shooting stars and many other things.

You can walk first to the place that resembles the start of UG, through the wall behind that. The camera will go wild for a while, just keep on walking/flying. You can then walk either to the left or right side and head direction start of the level - upwards. Even though some mountains look very steep almost like walls you can stick to them and keep on the fly button. It still needs some time to get up.

See Sights.

Here are some impressions:

Entrances
There are probably more and some might be only reachable with very good boosting abilities (over a wind wall etc).

Differences on PS4 / PC

 * The entrances on PS4 are known to be "more difficult" then on PS3, meaning the holes to get in are smaller and therefore harder to hit.
 * The first entrance is much more difficult to achieve on PS4. On PS4 it behaves way differently then shown in the video above, but the place is the same.

These are the most common ones:


 * “after the first symbol”, right wall
 * at the start of the horizontal slide cave
 * in the pit, two entrances

After first symbol


Needs training and tries, to get a feeling for it, even more than on PS3. On PC it might be impossible if your computer screen displays more than 60 fps, or if you didn't enable v-sync on a 60fps monitor.

In the video description is a typo, once it says "give" but should be dive.. :)



Through the cave before Sunset Hallway
With a companion (with good flying and timing maybe even alone): You can fly into OOB where the cave of the horizontal slide starts. When getting close to the start of the cave before the horizontal slide, just try to aim towards above the ceiling. Depending on where you fly then, it might suck you into the corridor later, you can get stuck also at the outer side of the horizontal slide. If stuck, you need to restart the game/level.

Companion hint: If only you or your companion get stuck, it will be hard to reconnect. Even if you see the shine of your companion vanishing, assuming they quit the game and restart at SC, it will be hard to meet at the start of the slide randomly (unless pressing start/pause to sit). The first place to wait for your companion or your companion waiting for you is the rest area. Do not activate the big banners, since your companion might not and then you will not connect.

At the end of the Sunset Hallway
After the slide seen from the side, instead of sliding down again, jump outside by staying very close to the left wall and go strictly West. This entrance is a little hard. It might only work with a companion by tandem flying together and jump a lot, to not get sucked-in by the slide. However, if you manage to sneak past the stone wall avoiding slide triggers it is possible, and rather easy, to enter solo. Once you hit the sand behind the Rest Stop compound, pump your "fly" button and aim south-west (up and around the small sand hill). Note the camera is fixed there and you won't see yourself flying, thus making it even more difficult.

The video below shows a solo wayfarer exiting using this spot.

Trigger behavior under investigation
It has been observed on PS4 that entering OOB using this path results in wind "bubbles" appearing in the lower (north) parts of the OOB, for example around HL and near the sand fall; there is no wind there if entering through the pit.

Details of this are not completely understood, and haven't been validated on other platforms.

Before falling into the pit
With companion: You might be able to charge each other and fight the wind that pushes you to ground. You will skip the falling animation and beam down into the pit or fly further over it until you reach OOB.

Entrance Wall
Up the wall on the opposite side of the HL.

There is a “path” where you can fly and jump your way up from ledge to ledge. Climb the wall and head left side (aka east, Mountain direction being north), you cannot stand on most of the small edges, it will push you back/off, but they are good enough to charge your scarf.

There is a pillar and then you ll see a beam/bar/joist, you cannot stand on that, although between wall and bar is a small place where your scarf might get a little charge. It is better to start with fully charged scarf and just fly over that bar, sticking to the wall on the right side. Head further to the “left side”/east, if HL place is north. Push against the wall to find the entrance, fly further up. Near the end, where the character disappears into the sand, you have to keep holding fly and forward until you get to OOB. It might take some tries and even if you got it once, you might not be able to 100 % reproduce it.

This video shows different methods of the two entrances and gives hints within the video.

At the gate
Easier to reach and find the hole in the wall with a companion, also if you are able to Dive Boost (DB).

Fly up to the highest pillar around the HL. From there head to the gate. Above the gate is a little arch, aim for that on the right side at the corner between ceiling of the arch and the wall you can enter the OOB.

Since your scarf might not be enough to enter here, this is easier done with a companion.

You can also try to dive boost from further away into the arch. A good place is for example the little ruin to the south-east side of the pit. Dive in a half circle and lift, aiming for the corner between arch and wall above the (closed) gate.

Expert entrance:

This video shows another way to get OOB at the gate. You slow boost from the highest pillar above the gate to reach a ledge there, then you can boost again and fly over the wall.

Exits
There are many ways to get back into the level again, like in all OOBs it pays off to explore on your own and find routes and places. Here are some basics:


 * At the pit: You have to fly over the wall. Either go "back up" and fly via the last slide and let yourself drop in there. You cannot enter if you are at the same height as the ground at the pit. The (from OOB side) invisible walls will block you.  The pit is built like a bowl with double walls that are open on top. So if you fall between those walls it can get hard to get up again, hint: head south, the double wall is mostly on the west and east side of the pit.
 * Where you entered
 * Often the wind will push you in the right direction
 * If you come near or fly over the sliding area/canyon, just let yourself fall back into the level.
 * At the horizontal slide, where the corridor forms a corner. It's easy to get sucked back into the corridor (see notes below).
 * Further "up", back to the start of the slide. Warning: at the corridor to the rest area is another place to get pushed into getting stuck; behind the wall where the sandfall is.
 * As in BB and Tower too, you can skip the cutscene and jump into the next level: If you go towards the gate from the other side, the game saving process will start and it will load Underground. Tricky thing: there are invisible walls left and right, you need to find the middle to be able to reach the gate. Companion hint: If your companion is new to this, make sure they are within the walls. They might be pushed to the left/right by the wall and not able to reach the gate with you. If they don't find out how to walk to the gate, they might be lost in the OOB; either quitting game or having to restart the level --> takes a long time to catch up with you in Underground.
 * many more

Horizontal slide re-entry
This is a very dangerous trick because its easy to get stuck nearby the slide. Before leading companions close to the slide we recommend testing and trying for your own first and lead when confident enough and trusting your companion on flying with you. Or you gently lead your companion to just watch the slide from outside and walk through the not solid buildings.

Level map
This map shows a general view of the level including key sights, landmarks and navigation elements.

Additional maps (from external)
These screenshots show a 3D recreation of various parts of the level.

Location maps
These were contributed by Journey players to illustrate specific areas / tricks.This list needs to be expanded!

Sights
Sights in this section are generally arranged from south to north, following the ultimate direction of the journey in Journey. Please refer to the maps above for exact locations.

Shooting Star despawn
Watching the area above the factory at the start of the level it is possible to observe how shooting stars stop beyond the factory and fade away until they disappear.

Start corner
This is a small area on the south-east end of the map right outside the city walls. It's much lower than the surrounding terrain and is trapped inside a windy area, so if you stand there you'll be pushed against the side terrain constantly producing tiny sand particles which in this area have a somewhat purple tint (at least on PS4).

Not much to do there but it can be used as a launchpad for OOB slides.

Fake PD factory
Slightly outside the south-east corner of the map, behind the city wall a fake version of the WM Factory from Pink Desert can be seen with three cubes of fake sandstorm surrounding it. To reach this area you'd have to walk all the way back up to the start of the level.

Factory storm cubes
Surrounding the fake PD factory are three cubes filled with white clouds that spin rapidly; if observed from certain angles, for example from the area to the east of the first slide looking south-west towards the start of the level, the factory itself is not visible so the storm cubes appear floating mid-air on their own.

Rest Area backstage
Since the first Rest Area has no active wind or camera locking, it is possible to approach it from OOB and explore nearby areas. Some interesting sights include pyramid-shaped rocks (south-east end) and underground areas exposed through peeling terrain along the west edge.

Be mindful of the Crash Zone, which is located at the south-west corner of real terrain: the "real" corner is obscured by stripes of fake terrain further west so it's possible to enter the dangerous area without realising it.

Lonely Longtail / parked carpets
To the west of the Rest Area, slightly beyond fake terrain a lonely Longtail carpet can be seen stuck in the air; it will glow if touched but is otherwise not interactive. It has been observed consistently on PS4 after playing the level normally and entering OOB through the Pit at the end, and is probably moved there after the wayfarer falls into the pit in-bounds.

If using earlier entrances, a group of five carpets can be observed: one Longtail and four regular carpets arranged in a line.

Anti-gravity wall
Right after the Rest Area, if instead of jumping into the second slide head first you jump off from the left side very close to the wall (on the slide side not rest area side), there is a zone about halfway down where wind will push the wayfarer into the wall rather than pulling down the slide, and it's possible to levitate there even without scarf for as long as you fancy. A bit of control is necessary to avoid sliding outside the anti-gravity area but it's not too difficult to stay floating mid-air. It's somewhat similar to the Dry Boost spot on the other side but here you're not touching the wall and not charging, just floating.

Tested on PS4, other platforms not confirmed yet.

This area is technically still in-bounds, but it's more relevant in the OOB article because it involves trigger bypassing technique commonly used in OOB.

Floating town
A bit further north from the Rest Area and located inside forced camera/slide zone is a collection of buildings. This area is barely seen from in-bounds (it's to your left as you jump into the second slide area from the gates). When observed from OOB (especially when looking at it from further north, i.e. outside the slide zone) this town appears floating in the air. It is also darker than surrounding elements making it a distinct sight.

Tall arches
To the east from the second slide there is another group of fake buildings. Some of them are quite unique: there are four tall arches facing the in-bounds area which appear to be unique to this area.

Fake citadel
South-west of the Rest Stop, on top of the hill is a fake citadel with towers, walls and even a (broken) bridge crossing the "canal". This area can be explored freely as there is no wind, except if you jump into the canal (but if you do it's a pretty cool ride).

Shadow stripes
These are located below the fake citadel, to the north from it and halfway towards the third slide / Rest Stop. A distinctly shaped patches of shadow forming long, mostly rectangular stripes on the flat surface and on the nearby slope (that's the hill the Fake Citadel is on). Interestingly enough they look as if they were shadows of the citadel (towers, walls etc.) but misplaced. Perhaps the citadel got moved at some point and the shadows were left behind?

Sunset Hall backstage
Treading carefully to the east from the shadow stripes it's possible to enter the Sunset Hall area "backstage" (behind the southern wall) where there is no wind and the camera is free so you can get some nice angles. Walking along the south wall or even surfing OOB is possible and you can always back off if the camera gets locked (happens if you get too close to the hall).

Be careful with the area near Rest Stop, there the camera gets locked and it often makes long pans in unexpected ways. Still possible to escape but a bit confusing.

Also, if you head east (opposite the "normal" slide direction) it's only possible to go some two thirds of the length of the Sunset Hall before hitting another forced camera zone (from the long sand slalom section before it), but there are some great views still.

Sunset Plateau
This could be considered the most visited place in SC OOB. Its also often the first place where newcomers are lead too, for the view and to visit the Sunken buildings after.

Even the way to the plateau is a sight:

To reach the place you will climb a mountain for longer time. The sand will glitter immensely, especially on PS3.

Route to Sunset Plateau

Refer to the map above. After entering the OOB at the pit, turn to the south. See picture above "after entering through the wall", if you walk further in this direction you will see a huge pit/canyon. Stay rather to the left side, but don't go where the sand ends. There is just "air, which you can stand on". Just cross the canyon and go further to the south and climb the long "sandwall" up.

After some time of climbing you might reach a not solid rock, just walk/fly through it, further up. Soon after this you reached the Sunset Plateau.

(It might help to walk up in zigzag patterns so the companion also moves the camera and eventually gets to see more glitter)

The Big Sand Fall
located to the north of the Sunset Hall (horizontal slide), on the west side of the map is a huge sand fall. Best to reach it is by going up the huge mountain to the west, after passing the UG part. Then fly further to south, rather west side then close to the slide area. There is also a "fake sand slide" further west which follows the same curve as the real terrain surrounding the Big Sand Fall but behaves like other fake terrain / unstable ground areas (peeling into stripes of sand texture and you can fall through it below visible level).

WM parts lying on buildings
Those can be found right outside the horizontal slide and also on the bridges and some buildings further below (very hard to see in-bounds due to high contrast lighting, still hard OOB due to lighting and winds). The easiest one to see is outside the Sunset Hall, there is a group of hills and some fake buildings, one of those buildings slightly north of the Sunset Hall (outside the wind zone) has a War Machine head on its roof as if it fell on the building and broke it. There is one like that near the start of the hall, another one halfway through and one more where the third slide starts.

The "Crow's Nest"
There is a little area on top of the already tall Big Sand Fall, on the very north tip of the "mountain" that it forms. This is where it's generally dark, and the entry is obscured by some fake buildings, but if you get to the very top it's the highest observation point on this side (the top of the sandfall is of course higher but this "Crow's nest" is more of an isolated peak which makes it a really cool spot to sit and observe the surroundings).

Shadow buildings
Those are round ruins that only have outer walls (as if made of black paper), one is wider and sits "inside" the Crow's nest mountain, another one surrounds it a bit higher. Their appearance is somewhat similar to ancient Roman coliseums. Some awesome lighting effects can be observed if looking through those "shadow buildings" towards the sun.

Color-changing robe
Short after the place that resembles the start of UG, walking through the wall and to the north-west. Your robe (even as white one) can look like a red robe or become blueish behind the HL Banner and also to the north-east.

Changing sky colors
This is related to the previous sight (in fact, it is the sky color in a given area that defines the base tint of your robe, further altered by local lighting and fog). Going north towards the History Lesson and then past it, the sky will gradually turn purple then black, red, orange and almost yellow. Soon after yellow there is complete North Blackness which is unusually far compared to other levels but still exists. On PS4 Sky Painting also occurs in this area.

Purple sky
Listed as a separate sight, this is the first colour in the sequence of changing sky colors on the North side (as described in the preceding section). Purple-coloured sky on the north of the level OOB is best observed in the area to the North of the HL Banner.

This sight is fully observable only on PS3.

On PC and PS4 this area lies far beyond the skybox limits, so it can only be observed from the distance, looking South. On these platforms, if flying high enough, it looks like a bright glow against dark sky, similar to real-world Aurora Borealis.

This spectacular sight is not visible from the ground level, the player has to be very high, higher even than the first rest area in SC to see it. That makes it quite challenging to reach, especially alone. Coasting or Tandem Flying with a Companion is the easiest way to get there.

Video below shows how to reach it with a companion using coasting.

Suspended Carpets
Ever wondered where all those carpets go? There is a spot in the north-east OOB right outside the fake "city walls" where those carpets can be seen suspended mid-air. It is possible to reach the carpets solo with some dive boosting from the plateau. In most cases they are only visible when near enough. The direction of the black carpets should be used as a approximate location to aim for.

Little firework
Just a little South of the history lesson banner, when diving onto the floor you can sometimes get some sort of firework explosion around you. Only a few precise spots seem to work and they are invisible. This has been confirmed to work on PC only so far.

HL Banner
To the north west, where the sky becomes white, this also gives a great view when you look back into the level, see images. This is the only known History Lesson banner that can be experienced up close without the need to levitate to maintain height. There is also a bright white square slightly in front of the History Lesson banner, which appears to mark camera position for the HL cinematic but it's true purpose is not clear.

Little cloud
Approximately as far north as the History Lesson, but more to the east, there is a single grey cloud floating mid-air (similar to those found in black cubes in other levels). It's roughly halfway between HL and the stuck carpets, where the sky turns black. There are yellowish moving clouds from the backdrop but this one is different: it's grey, and it's a static object placed there by the developers for some reason. It's not too high above and relatively easy to spot if you're in the dark area.

Shooting Star spawn
Far north but visible from most locations in the northern/lower part of the level there is a spot from which the Shooting Stars start their flight. It is roughly in front of the pit but much further north, and its precise location is hard to identify. Shooting Stars spawn from that location and fly all the way back to the start of the level where they freeze and fade (as described in the "Shooting Star despawn" sight above).

Sand surfing
Not just a sight... more like an attraction! Sunken City has various locations to surf down hills in OOB using the "wind zones" to your advantage. Some of these locations can be routed together to form a longer surfing route.

The "low route"

Starting points:

The "high route"

"More dangerous, more fun". A slightly more dangerous variation of this path would be to start from the fake walls at the start of the level. There is a huge wedge-shaped rock going deep into the ground (the one you walk into to get to the start of the "low route" mentioned above; it forms the right side of the first slide if looking from inside the level). Wind area expands over it and it is possible to surf parallel to the first and second slide on top of the plateau rather than at its base. Just remember where turn right or you'll get trapped by the wind walls surrounding the Rest Area. Straight into that fake tower near the rest area is the latest you can turn safely, see video below).

This track ends with a narrow pass that opens into the Sunset Plateau; from there it's possible to base jump and continue surfing when you land further north, or traverse on the outside of the Sunset Hall. Both options break the flow somewhat.

The challenge is to stay inside the wind zone without falling in-bounds, but not getting too far away where the wayfarer stops surfing. A lot of fake geometry (buildings and rocks) get in the way but they are non-solid so you can surf right through.

Galleries, impressions and places in SC OOB
This section contains additional images from various OOB journeys, in no particular order.

Trivia

 * The first exit in SC did not work on PS4, until Zuki flew into it full speed and proved everyone wrong.
 * Purple sky is only visible very high above the surface, because the sky visibility is actually obscured by the fog covering the whole level.

Quotes
"The sand is glittering even more in SC OOB."