Snow (OOB)

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

Overview
When using a controller, it should be possible to enter at start of the level or at the ice cave.

Some say the snow-level is tough because you have to walk slow and no one really likes the storm. So the solution is: take the shortcut! Skipping from start to the death walk through the OOB area.

The Snow OOB is not only used to quickly skip the level, there are many things to see and find in there too.

How to avoid freezing:
 * Learn main freeze zones and avoid them (refer to the map below).
 * If partially frozen but can still move, return to the entry gallery and wait there. This area is marked as "Unfreeze" on the main map and can be used both in-bounds or out-of-bounds. The two sides are separated by an invisible wall but unfreezing works.
 * Heater room may be useful in some cases, although you freeze back soon after leaving it.
 * Some freeze zones (such as the limp walk zone near the end) only affect the wayfarer inside them; if you manage to walk out of the zone you'll regain "normal" motion (but may not regain full mobility in some cases, depending what else got activated along the way.

At the start of the level
The Entrance is where (5A) is.

You go out of the Thawing Room (1) at the beginning of the level and stick to the left wall, this will prevent freezing.

If you do freeze, go back to the last room before entering snow and heat up at the left wall, jump up. Left wall when the Tower is behind you.

Once you made it up to point (3) you have to push/walk or you will get pushed back and fall down. The invisible platform means the solid ground is a bit below the visible ground, your feet will vanish in the roof.

(4) Here you get pushed back too, but with just one jump forward and then walking you can recharge your scarf for the next step. You have to fly up to the next platform.

(5a) You have to land once where the circle in the picture is. Then you can walk near the wall forward to the left-pointing arrow. You cant push through the wind barrier there to go behind that platform into the OOB area, if you don't land and walk forward. The mountains behind are not solid, just a warning. You can either fly further or just let yourself fall down.



Video showing the path:



In the heater room
It's a bit tricky, but there is a nice method:


 * Stand on the beam in the top of the heater room and drop off of the edge, aiming for the corner of the beam and the wall.
 * If you know how to aim your camera down and dive, you can kind of do the same here. Its a very quick moment, you just hop off the beam and fall down into that corner.
 * You kind of need to push your character into the corner. Don't just drop down but push into the wall!



At the ice cave/shortcut cave
Alone or if you lead your companion to the left as you enter the patrol field and hug the wall, you will lead them to the last glyph.

There is an easy entrance to Snow OOB to the right of the glyph. Go to the right corner in the back of the glyph room and jump up, push through ceiling/corner-edge.

Careful if one of you or both are red. It can be tricky to charge the scarf to either help them to come OOB too or return to normal level. Its easy to get parted on different sides, remember a Reddie's scarf loses its fly power due to cold.

Hidden Valley entrances
The Hidden Valley area is a separate out-of-bounds section in the middle of the level, surrounded by the entry area, Patrol Fields and the Playground. This OOB area is often overlooked because its presence is not obvious without a map, but it's well worth visiting as it contains a few unique sights.

Charge Boost from start
The recommended entry method is by Charge Boosting from the entry area (from the same rock you climb on your way to main OOB). Fly above the bridge and past the Patrol Fields wall but be careful not to activate the freeze trigger in Patrol Fields. This method is shown in the video below. A variation of that method would be to land on top of the wall on its north end (right if looking from the bridge) and then simply walk/fly into the Hidden Valley.

Through Patrol Fields
Another way is to climb over one of the rocks on the right (north) side of the Patrol Fields soon after crossing the bridge. There is a rock that will recharge your scarf and eventually will let you fall between the rocks. This path is more a curiosity since to use it you'd have to activate the freeze trigger in Patrol Fields.

Ice Cave exit
If you are in OOB and want to continue into the patrol field, you can enter at the ice cave and then hug the cliff walls until you reach the end of the patrol field. Stay close to walls and cliffs - the war machines can get close. You may still get attacked, but the risk is lessened.

Hidden Valley exit
On the west side of the Hidden Valley it is possible to squeeze between the huge rock and the tower at the end of the Patrol Fields. The rock is the one where WM2 is stuck, when you see its tail go around that rock leaving it on your left hand side, there is a tricky part with a locked camera but if you just keep hugging that rock you'll soon drop into an invisible gap between the rock and the tower landing in-bounds right at the end of the Patrol Fields.

Balcony tower exit
Another option is to drop back into the level from one of the towers near along the balcony. Towers are reachable from the nearby edge of the Final Walk plateau.

Death March exit
Depending on where you enter the final Death March area, it may be possible to return in-bounds. For example, if entering from the south-west corner, walk across (east) until you see the towers and gates that lead to the Death March inside the level.

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

Additional maps
This basic map shows an overview and common paths in Snow OOB. Route A is also called "West/Left side route" and Route B is "East/Right side route".

Sights
Sights in this sections are generally ordered from south to north.

If you entered OOB at the start of the level with a Companion its convenient to wait together at the Snow Beach right behind the Tower resemblance / Thawing Room / start building. Then both can decide which direction to go: two paths to choose from, west or east side. (or decide while flying over the Tower resemblance "left or right").


 * West side may have more stuff to see. Black Dots, Black Carpets/Fake Carpets (those are on several places), Liquid Sand....
 * East side is often just used to skip the level (shortcut). You can visit the heater room from the other side (even activate it or enter the level again) and the Stuck War Machines. There is plenty of stuff on the east side too if you are curious enough!

Tower Resemblance
Alternative names: Fake Tower

In-bounds you can look through the gate, towards where you came from and get to see the Tower resemblance. This part can be visited in OOB: complete with the dome that you see from top of the Tower (level before), non-solid walls and the also not solid entire History Lesson setup (statue, tombstones and light ray).

This area can be accessed all the way until the entry gate which is closed (you can even see a Companion on the in-bounds side through the gate). The image shows a further south view, looking up to the Resemblance place.

As a bonus, the area inside the resemblance, near the entry is "warm". Similar to the real entry, if you wait there the Wayfarer will gradually unfreeze. This is useful if you want to regain full mobility after activating freeze triggers from OOB.

Hidden chirp symbol
Sometimes it is possible to see a hidden glowing symbol slightly below terrain at the south-east corner of the map. It will be the same symbol as your Wayfarer has, and it can only be seen in rare conditions, details of which are not completely understood. One key requirement is to not have chirped at all from the start of the level (as soon as you chirp the hidden symbol disappears); however it's not always there even if you were completely silent from the start of the level. It appears to work reliably if you had a companion at least briefly.

Further details on this sight can be found in the Hidden chirp symbol article.

Black dots / Black Hill
Alternative Name: Black Pixel Salad

This phenomenon appears at a hill at the West side, though it looks different depending on platform. See below.

The dots will suddenly appear, you do not see them before entering that certain area. Depending on point of view and location, the surface becomes black too. A possible route is described below.

Sadly, the effect is missing on the PC versions.

The snow looks a bit more shaded then outside of that area, but a difference to outside of the area is barely seeable.

On PS4 the "dots" are much smaller. It looks more like black sand grains.

A video should be added, since the effect is not static.

Since PS3 is the first version of Journey, this sight is named after how it looks there. In the video you can see the huge dots suddenly appear.

Route to Black Dots hill
There are other routes to get there too, refer to the map for precise location and to plot your own path. This is one of the easiest ways to get there:

First enter OOB at the start of the level. Head south to the "Snow Beach", directly behind the Tower resemblance.

Follow the "left/West side route" in Snow OOB, the video about this OOB exit might help.

As seen in the images, head West/left if looking direction Mountain, but also South.

After a short distance you'll find out the snow elevates down abruptly, and you will leave those dark rocks behind. Now all you have to do is hug the snow mountain to your right and keep moving forward.

On your way you'll notice a small snow wave/little hills at the plain to your left. This is a good sign. A while after you pass it the mountain to your right will turn (almost) entirely black.

Black Carpets/Fake Carpets
In-bounds you can see carpets circling in the air at the WM patrol field. Sometimes a WM attacks one and it falls to ground. Two types can be seen:


 * Black, torn carpets with damaged tails can be seen coming from the ground soon after passing the back of the ice cave, above and the end of the patrol field. They appear dead in that they don't use their bodies or tails to fly. They are sometimes called "paper" carpets because of this static appearance.

The Black Carpets at the West side are only 2 dimensional and can be seen only from one direction.

Black Carpets can be found on the upper side of the west path, after the ice cave and further towards the Mountain. After going OOB, head to the south for a bit and then climb the long snow-"wall" to the west. After reaching the big plain, just walk forward and they will appear; to the East you will see the rocks that surround the level.

The patrol field carpet-circles are very hard to reach alone, but with a Companion both can start to fly at a high place and cross the patrol fields, flying high above.


 * Regular-looking carpets (similar to normal Carpets) fly next to the second circle of black carpets. Although they look normal, they don't interact with the Wayfarer, don't glow and don't recharge the scarf. Because of this behavior they are sometimes called "zombie" carpets. It is those zombie carpets that can be seen flying above the Wayfarers in the top-down view as they walk through a tight passage after the Patrol Field if playing normally.

Ravingmadness (talk) 14:32, 10 July 2020 (UTC)



How to find them:
 * Get out of bounds and locate the start of the level (Tower Resemblance).
 * Staying on the low ground, follow the moon with a tall snow wall to your right and a flat empty plane to your left. The moon is always south-west, and the snow wall also goes in that direction.
 * You will soon pass some small snow hills on the left. Like someone built a snow castle. Start climbing the wall on your right, it's pretty tall so you can keep moving in the original direction as you climb the wall, but be wary of unstable grounds and black hills if you go too far.
 * Once on top of the ridge, orient yourself: the moon is still to your south-west, the Mountain is north. You are now outside Patrol Fields. Black carpets should already by visible to your north/north-west. Head north leaving Patrol Fields on your right. Avoid liquid snow (unstable terrain, if you fall into a pit climb back and stay on solid terrain; the edge of terrain goes south-to-north).



Liquid Snow
Liquid Snow is similar in appearance and behavior to Liquid Sand found on previous levels (except it's bluish-white in color). In certain areas, most notably to the west of the Final Walk, snow tiles are so extremely volatile they form a very deep "gravity well" around the player, which is very hard to get out of because the surroundings are otherwise empty.

War Machine heads
On the east side of the OOB, three War Machine heads can be found:


 * below ground, close to the east side of the base terrain if you follow the huge white "tongue" from the start area;
 * a bit further east and outside base terrain, somewhat above the ground but not too far, a broken (unlit) War Machine head can be seen;
 * even further east and a bit more to the north, quite high above the surface, there is a third WM head is floating in the sky (this one has a green face like some of the patrol WMs when they are not aggressive).

How to find them
After entering OOB at the start of the level and going down to the plain, walk/fly towards East. The head will be barely visible, very small and hanging in the air, almost looking like a hovering rock. It will need some trying or a Companion to get as close as seen in the image.

The video below shows the way to the WM head and the three carpets nearby.

Differences between platforms
On PS4, all three heads can be seen. Which heads are visible on other platforms (and under which conditions) is being investigated.

Three carpets
Near the floating WM head, on the east side of the OOB, there are three carpets floating in the sky.

"The three carpets are not always there, disappear when you activate the WM." See also quote in Trivia.

"Makes sense, I believe those are the flyers when you first go over the hill"

Hidden Valley
Located between Patrol Fields, Seaweed Valley and lower areas (Windy Valley etc.) is an area completely surrounded by mountains, with a fake tower in the middle. It can be reached using CB from the start area if you overshoot the bridge and land on the top of the wall that protects Patrol Fields. You can then dive into the hidden valley (try to avoid the OOB side of the music/freeze trigger from Patrol Fields as it will slow you down). There is not much to see there, but some interesting sights/activities include:
 * Activating and watching WM flyby from the outside of the Seaweed Valley (get close to the windows and it will trigger); from outside you can watch the WM flying in figures of eight before moving to its default location, most of it cannot be seen from the Seaweed Valley itself.
 * Watching Zombie Carpets spawn in a little bowl behind fake rocks. These are the "extras" from Patrol Fields. This place complements the spot on the opposite side of Seaweed Valley where they dive into the ground and disappear.
 * Traversing to the east side of OOB through a literal "middle ground" between lower areas and the balcony where there are no triggers. Be careful though, it's possible to lose the scarf there for some reason, probably by touching some of the triggers from the final walk. Also if you go too low you'll be swept away by wind from the Windy Valley and get stuck outside it.
 * Getting a close look at those tombstones above the passage after the Patrol Fields -- there is an area with a forced camera angle which gets confused if you are out of bounds.
 * Observing WM stuck inside the rock at the end of the Patrol Fields (possible after triggering WM attack or spawn on the lower part of the level). It is almost completely hidden but can well be heard as it's already angry.

Stuck War Machines


On the east side of the OOB, just behind the rocks there are two WMs waiting mid-air for the trigger that starts the attack animation, at the beginning of the level. They are completely harmless and non-solid.

Normally people go directly at the start into OOB, without triggering the animation right after passing the bridge pillars, thus the WMs will be visible.

Floating carpets at the Carpet home path
Alternative name: "Flying Spaghetti Monster"

If you skip all WM attack triggers, you can see a messy ball of three or four carpets in the area after the Windy Valley (can be observed from where the Stuck WMs are in OOB, or alternatively by charge-boosting from the start area. Sometimes one of those carpets is completely frozen, but others are real and will glow if you touch them. Their cloth tails are all intertwined and move in the wind giving the whole thing a spooky, untidy appearance. These are the carpets that get attacked by the first WM (as you walk past the bridge).

With a good Charge Boost from the start area it's possible to land on these carpets and float whilst glowing.

Here is a quick video by one of the Wiki contributors showing the location of these floating carpets and how to get there avoiding triggers:

Carpet dive / despawn
If you watch the black carpets / zombie carpets whilst walking east along the base of the Final Walk Plateau, you may find a spot where those carpets "dive" into the snow and disappear. You can even touch the zombie carpets there, they'll glow a bit but won't interact. This area is hidden behind some fake rocks but once you know what to look for it's not too hard to find. Refer to the main map for precise location.

The carpets that despawn there will then spawn again on the opposite side of the narrow passage (the one you go through after Patrol Fields). The spawn location can be observed from the Hidden Valley OOB area as described above.

Floating rocks
Not so much a sight but rather an (almost literal) milestone, two groups of small rocks can be observed floating on the south-east side of the Final Walk Plateau, somewhat below it. When seen from above they are just decorations on a big rock, but when approaching from below / south-east they'll appear floating mid-air. These floating rocks can be used as a guide when speedrunning (or just exploring): once you see them you'll know how to correct your path towards the final triggers.

Razorback Ridge
On the east side of the base map, in the "white" zone parallel to the Death March area there is a very tall mountain that goes straight north along the east edge of the map; if you climb it, you'll see a very sharp ridge. It is called Razorback Ridge (NB: this name was found on the old Journey community forum).

"Superpipe"
Parallel to the Razorback Ridge, a deep trench can be found also going north-south. It is surrounded by two tall walls: the Razorback Ridge on the east, and the Final Walk Plateau on the west. It's not too much of a sight, but if you climb to its starting point on the north side it's possible to dive in and fly south with great speed all the way to the base (and into the "green" zone further south). It looks much like an Olympic Superpipe for Snowboarders and has a similar function. It is also a lot of fun (but you'll have to climb back every time).

Death March Overlook (DMO)
Not exactly Out of Bounds, but it needs advanced flying skill to reach it. Its on top of the Wall with the entrance to the Death March.

There is also the "Alternate Death March Overlook (ADMO), a wall farther to the East than the Death March Overlook tower; also has a Charge Boost spot.

Death March Plateau
Alternative name: Final Walk plateau

The name "Final Walk" is more commonly associated with the Final Walk in Paradise, but is occasionally used to describe the final segment of the Snow level too. If taking the west OOB path ("Route A") the elevated section where the Death March starts can be spotted before triggering it. It looks like a huge rectangular plateau in front of the Mountain.

"Gravity wells"
In general, the further north you go in the Snow level, the higher you climb; this is also true for the "fake terrain" areas that go along the east and west sides of the base terrain. Like most of these areas, when you step outside base terrain you can experience Peeling Grounds and other effects such as "sandy/snowy appearance" or "unstable terrain". These effects are extreme on the far north side of the OOB because of the additional difference in terrain height, and you can drop very deep into visible (and sometimes invisible) "gravity wells". It may be hard to get out of those because the camera becomes crazy too. One useful technique is to climb in circles rather than struggling to get a straight line.

Trivia
About WM triggers

"The first WM trigger is only effective for one Companion though, you won't be able to see their movement.

The third WM trigger displaces them too (as well as two of the carpets floating before the heater room), but the distance is too great to stay connected while hoping to witness their disappearance."

- Ȃ̸̈́p̶͆̀n̸̾͠ó̸͘, 2020-07-08 on Discord

Quotes
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