Oddworld: Soulstorm
| Oddworld Soulstorm ARG | |
|---|---|
| Oddworld Soulstorm - An ARG centered around lore from the Oddworld universe linked to the currently unreleased game Oddworld Soulstorm | |
| Type | [[List_of_Investigations#Official|Official]] |
| Creator | Oddworld Inhabitants, Inc |
| Discovered | 12-22-2016 |
Main Page > List of Investigations > Oddworld: Soulstorm
Contents
Spirit of 1029
Early in 2016, Twitter account @edmudokon began posting cryptic messages that seemed to be related to the Oddworld universe. The account appears to be run by an average Mudokon named Ed who claims to have information he wants to share, but he seems to be in constant danger and can only access us via a faint connection. Beginning around March 2016, @edmudokon engaged users with an elaborate series of puzzles and challenges, releasing information both on twitter and via the official Oddworld website, http://www.oddworld.com/soulstorm/. These puzzles eventually led to the revelation of a website, http://1029.io, as well as a message: "now you know. you can help. join us. together we can rise."
Later that day, the twitter account @SPIRITOF1029 revealed themselves as a "Clandestine organization dedicated to doing good on behalf of the Mudokons and revealing information about a new horror being perpetrated against their species." They also tweeted their first message, parroting the http://1029.io URL and adding their own message: "There is a storm coming. Join us."
Up until December the feeds went dark, posting only reiterations of the URL with messages like "Rise up" and "We are the storm. Join us". Then, in January of 2017, activity on the accounts surged once again and the first hints of a second phase of the ARG began to appear.
Smells like Mudokon Spirit
The flurry of new activity in January mainly consisted of @edmudokon and @spiritof1029 talking back and fourth about about whether or not Ed would be able to help the organization's cause. At this point, the Spirit of 1029 makes their message very clear, stating "Oddworld has been blind to the plight of the noble Mudokons for too long. We will rise. Join us! http://1029.io". More notable activty includes the organization's quip "We recommend knowledge of many different codes and ciphers - you never know who is listening. #learnyournameinmorsecodeday", hinting that the coming information would be enciphered in some way.
Oddworld Inhabitants (Oddworld developers, @OddworldInc on Twitter) was contacted by the organization at this time, being told by Spirit of 1029 "We will help @edmudokon but we can't send anything unencrypted. You'll have to break our code. We'll be in touch." Very shortly thereafter, on January 19th, Spirit of 1029 tweets: "We have received a transmission. We will pass it on as soon as we can verify. We need your help." and the Oddworld Webpage is updated to make available two files for download.
The First Transmission
First Photo
The Spirit of 1029's first transmission came in two parts, a photo and an audio file. The first part consisted of a photograph, pictured on the right as it looked upon transmission. It appears to show a tattered document with many portions of text redacted, burnt at the edges and bearing the Spirit of 1029's logo with the slogan "We Will Rise". The text on the document, where it is legible and not redacted, reads:
Date: Period: XXXXXXXXXXX Specification Details: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX -Observe XXXXXXX and XXXXXXXX changes in test subjects -Assess long term XXXXXXXX on XXXXXXX -Determine product safety Authorization: XXXXXXXXXXX Tests requested: -XXXXXXXX Pronostics - ?Access whenever? product XXXXXXX -Acidity Levels - ????? XXXXXXXXX -Product safety Expected results: XXXXXXXXXX make XXXXXXXXX interesting Test results: -XXXXXXX highly XXXXXX -XXXXXXX this XXXXXX ?? XXXXXX ?nice? XXXXXXXX -Highly XXXXXXX -Subjects: XXXXXX - XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Conclusion: Product (ready) for consumption -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ??? : XXXXXXXX there is XXXXXX here but it will XXXX ???? XXXXX --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In addition to the text in the photo, there are several areas featuring symbols and runes. Along the top of the document, Anglo-Saxon runes spell out "ED". Along the bottom, BabelStone Club Penguin pigpen cipher, which is a font, spells out "YOU ARE THE KEY YOU KNOW IT IF YOU WERE LISTENING". Running along the right side of the image, arrows pointing in a number of different vertical, horizontal, and diagonal directions can be seen, however their purpose remains unknown.
As headway is made on the puzzles, the official Oddworld webpage was updated to reflect the progress, and moreover to shed light on which theories may be valid by linking to theories on the right track in their updates.
First Audio Clip
The second part of the Spirit of 1029's first transmission consisted of an eerie-sounding 1:40 audio clip. Hidden in the audio clip was Morse code, which proved difficult to decode by ear due to the overpowering audio laid over the code. However, the code also appeared to be playing in reverse, which added an additional layer of difficulty. Eventually, the code was cracked by using a spectrogram of the audio which revealed the code visually as a guide to decoding it by ear.
With the image as a guide, the code yielded its secrets. Although rough in some spots, the decoded Morse read:
qmiqwmiqyidimrjqdjijilmxmnrjqdjajmpmnrprspkesmkjpdqjnyajnwsnrpgspcsppmqidimqymdbcqajnwsnrpgspcdhbzmnjajanadumjimrpq
Moments before the Morse had been decoded, however, the community had made another exciting discovery. Using portions of the Morse already decoded accurately by ear, it had been discovered that the decoded Morse was actually to be used as ciphertext in a shift cipher, and that the key to be used was "storm". This was what the pigpen text on the document was meant to indicate; earlier in the ARG, @spiritof1029 often tweeted the messages "There's a storm coming" and "We are the storm". The pigpen served as a hint to look back at previous communications in order to unlock the current hurdle. With the newly-complete Morse code now in their possession, the community was finally able to accurately decipher the ciphertext they had obtained from the reversed Morse code. It read:
tentwentyninedotiononqexerdotiofoeserdsdaspjaepositoryforwardslashassetninetyeightforwardslashimgzerofofrfiueonedst
ten twenty nine dot io nonqexer dot io foeserdsdaspjaepository forwardslash asset ninety eight forward slash img zero fofrfiueonedst
Although clearly not entirely accurate, through trial and error the community was able to locate a new URL branch of http://1029.io, http://1029.io/repository/asset98/imgzerofourfiveone/.
First Hidden URL
The hidden URL on http://1029.io is a page which displays one of eight photos each time it is reloaded as well as cycling messages (compile all possible variants).
The community quickly realized these were cut up pieces of a larger puzzle. Oddworld Inhabitants updated their page to read "Once you've got everything together - show us!", so the community had a clear goal in sight, the product of which can be seen on the right. This image was tweeted out to @OddworldInc, and by January 20th, the next day, they had replied, instructing the community to hang tight while they cleaned up the image.
First Unlocked Photo
While waiting, the community picked up on what appeared to be some writing on some of the pieces. This writing was later verified to read "Who?", "Where?", "So Tired", and a set of numbers likely to be "8291". After three days, @OddworldInc tweeted out a scrambled image, stating "We received something and there's one last thing we need you to do. Share it. Spread the word.". The next day, after the tweet gained 100 shares, they tweeted another image, pictured left, this time unscrambled. At this time, they stated "While you shared our message 100 times we worked away to bring you this. We're clearing it up even more, we'll share what we find Thursday.", while the webpage was updated with the message "Update 5: Thanks to you guys sharing the previous images online, we've managed to decode the photo further and have updated the thumbnail here. We'll return on Thursday with the finished, fully decrypted image - but until then, please do let us know what you think!" And, true to their word, when Thursday came @OddworldInc tweeted out a final picture of a render from the upcoming Oddworld: Soulstorm, pictured right, in all its unscrambled un-cropped glory. The release of this image signaled the end of the first of five phases of content release Oddworld Inhabitants have planned.
Loose Ends
Source Code Numbers Puzzles
These numerical puzzles were found in the source code for the official Oddworld website as early as the date of the Spirit of 1029's first transmission. Their solutions have been found, but the intended use of the solutions remains unknown.
!--
72 99
\ /
27 45
\ /
18 39
\ /
21 36
\ /
?? 28
\ /
13 21
\ /
7
-->
SOLUTION: 12 7+2+9+9 = 27, 2+7+4+5 = 18, thus 2+1+3+6 = 12
&
!-- 16 _ 37 _ 58 _ 89 _ 145 _ 42 _ ?? _ 4 |_________________<_________________| -->
SOLUTION: 20 1^2 + 6^2 = 37, 3^2 + 7^2 = 58, thus 4^2 + 2^2 = 20
Directional Arrows from First 1029 Transmission
Coming Soon
Anomalies In First Released Image
Chronology
Coming Soon
