Tower (OOB)

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

Before you go there
The goo should be at least at the level of "half-filled Whale room" so it's easier for to come back into normal level. There are situations where you might not want the goo there, but for normal first explorations of the Tower OOB we strongly recommend filling the tower with magic goo first!

PS4-SMALL-75x43.gif PC-SMALL-75x43.gif Info about crash zone
There are crash zones in every OOB level. BUT: There's an exception, the Tower/Temple level is not affected by the famous crash zone at southwest corner! The zone probably still exists, but on this level it's far inside the blackness so poses no practical danger.

Here a quote from chat: "Can you get to the southwest corner of the sand in the tower? Because it's deep into the blackness I probably stated that wrong! What i meant to say is that you don't have to worry about the crash zone on the OOB of this level. "

Whale Room
If you know how to activate the screensaver while flying against the wall, you should be able to enter. It's not verified though.

Two options to go OOB here:
 * Behind the vertical banners or above them over the ledge: fly against the wall, press the screensaver button and keep on flying. Exit the screensaver one-two second after the first press at least. It often needs some tries to make it work. (many players seem to tend to try it at the left side, when entering the room)
 * boosting to the top/ceiling of the room and pressing start/touchpad (with RDS or with the goo to the max level)
 * on PS4 and Steam (other platforms not checked), simply pushing against the outer wall of the whale room and pressing touchpad (or "P" on PC if using keyboard) gets you out most of the time; sometimes instead of clipping out of bounds from the lower area of the whale room you end up in the upper area (clipping through ceiling rather than outer walls), in which case again simply pushing against the wall there and hitting touchpad does the trick. Works pretty much on any wall there so long as you move sideways at least a bit (not straight up).

Above the exit gate
There is a very easy entry point at the end of the level. The hard part will be to not hit the trigger to the next level though.

Can be reached once the gates open after the history lesson. Though not required, it is recommended to have the tower filled with goo.Steps to reach the entrance:


 * Reach the top of the tower and sit through the history lesson. The gates will open.
 * Rather than walking through the gates, fly up to the little alcove on the right side of the gates (there are small snow patches which you can land on and recharge).
 * Climb further up and fly through the gates at the very top, right below the ornament, keep heading upwards as you fly out.
 * Land on the white rectangle past the snow. Walk out and explore. If the screen fades to white, means you touched the trigger to the next level and will need to try again.

YouTube video showing this method on PS4, starts at 6:00

Possible another entrance
It was previously suggested that it might be possible to boost out through the top of the tower. However, unlike the Whale room the roof of the tower is a solid (albeit transparent) rectangular plate with no gaps in collision geometry, so a wayfarer capable of reaching high enough would still quite literally hit the ceiling.

Differences by platform
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Exits
It's possible to get back in-bounds simply by swimming through the outer walls of the Whale room in the goo.

If the goo is below the top of the whale room ceiling, you can sit on top of the whale room with the screensaver button.

If the goo is below the bottom of whale room you can enter it from the side using the screensaver button, the same way you would enter OOB here.

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

Additional maps
There are no other known Tower OOB maps yet. Additional maps will be added in this section.

Sights
Sights in this section are generally sorted by location from south to north, and from bottom up inside the tower where relevant/possible.

Hidden chirp symbol
Right below the south-east corner of the map, a hidden glowing chirp symbol can sometimes be seen. See Hidden chirp symbol article for details.

Cube Mountain
There is an unusual terrain feature at the south-east corner of the map (near the Hidden chirp symbol). It looks like a medium-sized cube shaped mountain. It is not generally accessible due to blackness, but it may be visible from the distance on PC Steam version when certain graphic settings are used.

Its presence was confirmed on PC version but the same viewpoint couldn't be reached on PS4 (details for PS3 remain unclear).

Symbol Fountains
If going out of bounds with an empty tower, two "fountains" of sparkly particles (similar to birthday sparklers) could be observed on the west side. Perhaps the best spot to observe them in a dry tower is from the south-west corner of the dark brown terrain that surrounds the Tower (top left corner on the map above).

A closer look reveals that the particles are in fact glowing symbols (similar to those seen during the Tower History Lesson). It was previously suggested that they are part of the HL, but this doesn't seem to be the case based on the observations below.

In a dry tower, Symbol Fountains can be reached by an experienced player, for example by Charge Boosting from the entry section (as shown in the video below), or if flying with a companion. With two levels of goo (first two triggers) it is possible to swim close and observe the Symbol Fountains without any trouble. They will be just above the goo level.

When the goo reaches level 3, the fountains become submerged and, rather than being constantly visible they disappear and only burst with visible particles occasionally, making them much harder to locate; coming close and floating in the correct area for a while you'll see small and large fountain bursting separately, accompanied with the sound of a creature diving into the goo (similar to the sounds you get in certain areas when you submerge). The nature and purpose of this effect remains unclear.

Here is another video showing a similar effect in-bounds. They occur when diving in or propelling out of goo. However it's still unclear what triggers the fountains OOB if the wayfarer is not diving.

Hidden picture (glyph) at the top of Tower
There is a hidden picture at the top of the tower, above the exit. It's a leftover from an early version of the game where the History Lesson in the Tower would reveal the painting of the Wayfarer's own journey above the exit rather than as a vision. The hidden picture is only lit up after watching the vision (confirmed on both PS3 and PS4).

"When i reached the unused mural i was like "hey doesn't it glow? Is it different on ps3?" And when i returned to it after HL it was glowing :D"

- DjThanos, 2020-08-21. Discord.

How to get there

This picture is not too easy to reach. Here is a brief guide:


 * Best with full goo activated. Go to the north side of the tower, where you can see the corridor that you walk through to get into the snow in a normal play-through.


 * Enter the corridor from below, but be careful when walking towards the tower: there is the end-level trigger. West side of corridor (to your right when looking into the level) you can jump through the wall.
 * As you walk on the gray floor back into the level, watch the fog around you; once the fog clears it's time to fly (you can take a few steps more just to get closer, but remember the end level trigger).
 * Flying outside of the corridor (the walls are fake), your target is the first real window, not the ornaments before it.
 * At a nearby a window you can stand on an invisible ledge to charge your scarf. Then fly further into the level, you'll find yourself standing behind the level wall looking into the level.
 * When you look back and up you can see this picture.

The video below shows how to get to the hidden picture. Be careful in the corridor and if you feel you're going to miss the invisible ledge by the window, take a sharp right and fly back or drop into the goo and then try again. The "end level" trigger is very close and easy to hit if you fly below the ledge.

Tower rooftop
The rooftop of the outer tower is accessible from outside. Best done with full goo, there is a Charge Boost spot on the east wall on top of a small decorative pad. The roof itself is transparent so it's possible to see inside the tower. Some other interesting sights include snow (above the exit gate), light circle in the middle, and general views. It's a rooftop after all! A few screenshots can be found in the gallery below.

The inner area of the rooftop is surrounded by a barrier so feel free to walk in any direction, you won't fall. The barrier is pretty low though, so it's very much possible to fly over it. Generally the area above the "inside" of the tower is solid, but some of the outer areas (above entry/exit sections) are a bit more complex.

Flow creatures outside of tower
The following has been confirmed on PS4 and is expected to match on other platforms as well:


 * Two creatures are placed out-of-bounds in a certain location when the level is loaded, and remain there irrespective of goo levels; knowing their location, they are easy to find with goo levels 0, 1 and 2 (no triggers, first trigger, two first triggers).
 * With two levels of goo (first two triggers) it is possible to swim close and observe the Flow creatures without any trouble. They'll be slightly above the goo level, clearly visible and not blurred by goo.
 * With goo levels 3 and higher they can still be found at the same location (now submerged in goo), although poor visibility makes it harder for an inexperienced wayfarer.
 * Filling the tower with goo (the fifth trigger) activates the spawn triggers for Flow Creatures; one of them may then spawn in-bounds either at the bottom of the tower or in the whale room, depending on which area a wayfarer or a companion approaches first; activating from OOB with full goo, for example dropping off the exit area on top of the Whale Room you can see when the creature spawns and starts swimming. The other creature remains in its starting position out of bounds.
 * Irrespective of goo levels and creature's location, touching them triggers a one-time "hunting" interaction in which a creature will chase the wayfarer, bite (it's harmless) and then swim to the assigned position in-bounds. This behavior can be abused to make both creatures appear in-bounds at the same time with any goo level.

How many creatures the companion sees in these situations remains unclear, in some cases they may not see any.

Shining white rectangle
There is a small shining white rectangle suspended very high above the surface, in the far east of the OOB area. It is not visible from below or from the south. You have to be above it and to the north to see it properly.

Blue sky
Near southern and northern blackness, very high above the surface are located areas with highly saturated blue/purple sky.

Laser lines
This sight hasn't been confirmed by other players. It has been observed on PS4 after dry-climbing the tower, sitting through the History Lesson, then going OOB with no goo. When walking on blue terrain north or south and looking east, laser-thin lines can be seen appearing regularly, every 8-10 steps or so, as if dune sparkles formed a straight line. They can be found anywhere so long as the terrain is light blue and not brown. If looking west, matching thin lines can also be spotted, this time they are dark and barely visible but if you know what you're looking for you'll see them.

They span all visible and fake terrain. The gallery below shows a few examples.

These "laser lines" are only visible if the tower is empty, and even then they may or may not appear. At this stage it still needs to be investigated what triggers them, and whether those lines occur on platforms other than PS4.

Trivia

 * The location and size of the unreachable Cube Mountain in this OOB match precisely with the Foggy Area in Broken Bridge OOB. There is no explanation for this, and no other evidence that they are somehow connected, but it's a curious feature nonetheless.

Quotes
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