So it is 02:40a.m. here in Canada and I have spent pretty much the whole day reading this forum and looking at all the source material; images, videos, audio, wiki, forum etc, and I have come to some conclusions/ theories that I'll point out as I go on.
So I started looking into this ARG last night (first I heard of it) and being a big fan of Oddworld, I wanted to jump in.
I also joined the Discord channel and spoke to Varrok.
Soulstorm Source Code - New appearances?
So, when going onto the Soulstorm page, and checking the source code, I noticed something I didn't notice yesterday when I first started.
Yesterday, when looking, there was a 'review' from a guy called
@JackSepticEye, YouTube gamer. In the source code it links you directly to his Twitter account.
Earlier today while looking again I no longer saw @JackSepticEye, I saw instead
@Caddicarus.
Now what's interesting is that Caddicarus' review was simply 'Awesome', and his Twitter name was not linked, it was just represented as @Caddicarus - no hyperlink, neither was his name shown on the normal page, only viewable in source mode.
As I look now, I can not find @Caddicarus in the source code - it has been changed. Maybe someone new we will be following soon, or another clue as OWI have clearly hidden clues in plain site before - such as the discovery of the name 'Ed', found with certain letters being in Italics.
What is also interesting about this is that the page breaks from the /selection, between this in a huge amount of empty spaces (thanks to Varrok in Discord for pointing this out) - at least it looks empty. I have copied this into Word, changed the color of the text, as well as changed the highlight color, as well as the background. Either option produced no results in revealing any text. Maybe I am missing something, or not done something, can anyone else find anything here?
(Sorry I did not screen capture Caddicarus source code, it did not register to me at the time)
Varrok's image of the spaces;
The images of Abe's eyes/ face;
Looking at the high-res image shows quite clearly that Abe is outside, or inside looking out, with a building or high fence on his right (as shown in the reflection of his eye), there are trees to his left, and what appears to be fire with another strange light - possibly the light reflecting off his Iris from another source (hence Abe being inside looking out).
(I would also like to note that I work with cameras and photography in my professional life, and that what Abe is looking at is an outside scene - at least given the lighting conditions and subjects in his iris, this is what I can conclude given my experience, though I could be wrong as I don't work with CGI/ 3D models. Subjects in a persons eye will bend/ fisheye if taking a photograph of the eye - simply because the eye is spherical/ oval).
What the fire is however, is the mystery, and given that Abe looks a little worried, I am wondering if it is an explosion in the distance, a comet, a new enemy, or even the Mudokon spirits.
Here is an image I edited pointing these out. If someone has the time (as I am going to bed once I have posted this), trying to lighten up the iris part of this eye could reveal more to figuring out where he is.
But I also think this image...
...has a lot of information in it and could possibly hold more. Just looking at the small color blocks seems to hold a clue, I could be wrong.
Given that Ed seems to respond to cold and fire with responses like shiver and closer, it further strengthens my view that maybe Abe is in captivity or caged, or something, as you would be shivering locked in a cage, especially if it is outside.
Maybe it's a metaphor in the long run for the story of Soulstorm - maybe we are going to deal with Abe's mental state and this is a subtle clue of the darker story that Soulstorm is to bring.
There is also the source code that changed recently of Abe, first showing his whole face, then his face without eyes, then gradually getting blurrier.
It's my view that what we saw in the source code was meant to be like a TV broadcast - Abe was transmitting an image of himself, which as we saw towards the end, became fuzzy, like it was losing signal or connection. Given that the second image is of a line going straight through his eyes, this could be a flare in the signal, as we all remember from our old CRT TV's - to those young ones, they were TV's that were ridiculously huge and heavy, and used a cathode ray tube that would create these occurrences depending on the signal strength and your antenna, sometimes you would get a wavy signal/ broadcast resulting in the image on the TV waving across the screen.
It could also hold a deeper meaning - as many have mentioned, that we are dealing with a blind Mudokon, and that it is stating that whoever we are dealing with is blind, or struggling to view us/ transmit his image.
This, again, further strengthens my view that Abe maybe caught, caged or trapped somewhere he doesn't want to be - behind enemy lines.
Or maybe it's Ed and not Abe - I am unsure of exactly 'who' it is, but I am sure the circumstances mentioned above hold some merit.
Reveal/ Code Images & Soulstorm/ed
Now my last part is about the reveal/ code images and the ed link.
When searching the source code, this comes up for the reveal/ code images;
"ed/squares_codes_02.jpg
ed/squares_codes_03.jpg
ed/squares_codes_04.jpg
ed/GE3IJNSA.jpg
ed/squares_codes_06.jpg
ed/squares_07.jpg
ed/squares_codes_08.jpg
ed/squares_09.jpg"
Which one of them stands out the most? If you said ed/GE3IJNSA.jpg then you would be right. As I was talking to Varrok earlier, he did mention that it was one of the first clues and that it could have been a labeling mistake from whoever created the page.
However, given that it is the only file there in capitals and with such an odd file name, I would venture to say that maybe there is more to this file then meets the eye, or possible maybe a clue within the name itself?
It is strange though, and I could be way out, but it's something worth mentioning I believe.
Also, and the final part, when going to oddworld.com/soulstorm/ed you are now presented with this ;
W̨͚̬̮̖hÍŽÍ̼̪̻ȩ͙͙̜̘̖̺r҉̳͚̙̫͓̙̞e͉͔̱ ̘̟ͅ ̦̻̹͢aÍ̥̪Ì*Ì»Í–Ì Ì¦M̖̲͖̻ Ì®Í̤̰̗̣͟ị̦̮ÌÌ?̴̦̦Ì̯
I haven't seen anyone comment or mention this as of late in these posts so I am not sure if it is important, or if the page is now redundant gibberish.
Either way, I have no idea how to crack it, putting it into word and trying to change the font doesn't do anything.
So, that's my two cents for now to add to this exciting ARG. This is my first ARG I am ever involved in properly so I don't expect everything of mine to be correct, and I may have missed out certain relevant information as I am overstuffed with ARG Oddworld information after spending my whole day practically reading this forum and the wiki.
Exciting stuff! Now I am to sleep!
