its because the hunter is evil
Recently, @iteratorsex and I discovered that Voidspawn behave somewhat differently for the Hunter compared to other slugs. I decided to do some digging to figure out exactly what the differences are, and thought I'd present them here. There are a few different ways you can encounter Voidspawn in Rain World:
First of all, there are a number of rooms in Shaded Citadel where free-swimming Voidspawn spawn naturally. Specifically, they swim towards SH_D02 (the room with Monster Kelp and a karma flower at the bottom of the region) and mill about there. These Voidspawn do not appear at all for the Hunter.
Next, In the caverns beneath the Depths, Voidspawn are seen swimming towards and down into the Void Sea. These Voidspawn behave identically on all slugs, with some slight adjustments due to the state of Subterranean in the Saint's campaign.
Finally, there are the Voidspawn Eggs, small, round objects that can appear at specific locations throughout Shaded Citadel, Subterranean, and Shoreline. These locations are fixed across all campaigns, but for the Hunter, each individual egg only has a 6% (~1/17) chance of actually appearing. This is compared to a 100% chance on all other slugs. When the player touches a Voidspawn Egg, its Voidspawn is released and slowly wanders offscreen.
Normally, the Voidspawn released from eggs make their way out of the room through a designated exit, one chosen by Rain World's developers when they placed that particular Voidspawn Egg. However, for the Hunter all Voidspawn released from eggs are aimless: each one swims offscreen in a different, completely random direction. In the screenshots above, I artificially added many Voidspawn Eggs to a shelter. As you can see, for the Survivor they all swim in generally the same direction, while for the Hunter they each have a different heading, and far fewer Voidspawn spawned overall.
I'm not sure, though it's all clearly very intentional. I can think of two general ways to explain the differences, at least. Either:
There is something special about the Hunter that makes it more difficult for them to see Voidspawn. It could be their disease, or related to whatever prevents them from encountering Karma Flowers.
Voidspawn are simply rarer outside of Subterranean prior to the Hunter's campaign. Perhaps the reactivation of Looks to the Moon drew more Voidspawn to the adjacent regions.
What do you all think? Which sort of explanation do you lean towards? Any ideas why the Hunter's Voidspawn should be so aimless compared to other campaigns?
good bye
🌊 How do they react getting hosed down with a pressure washerr
Get it out
Chains are present throughout the whole game as old remnants and possibly as part of machinery
However, there's places where they show to have a deeper meaning
Shaded "The True Anoited" Citadel, Holy Ground where memories are cherished, has an unique style of column that incorporates a chain motif
it can be better appreciated on the ruins immediately around the shoreline gate, where they're better iluminated
This pattern is also present on the cabinets
This motif runs older though, much much older
to the time of the Depths
A statue of a humanoid, in the classic stance of an echo, chest binded in chains
A head wrapped in chains, to the point of covering all features
...but with an X breaking the pattern, cutting through the chains
In a way, the progression of the higher levels of karma look more like cutting through a knot or a ring, a visual of breaking the cycle
this already gives in the meaning behind this motif: the chains are the cycle, binding the self to the carnal, ascension being the severing of the cycle to move freely above and beyond
Its entire memory is filled with a mantra repeated... 5061 times - and then a termination verse. It was worn as an amulet, probably together with many identical others forming a pattern on some garment. The repeating mantra is important because it symbolizes the cyclical nature of life and death, and the termination verse is a symbol for ascension above and beyond it. I don't know how familiar you are with the nature of life and death, but I imagine like all living creatures you have some intuitive knowledge? Then you know that death isn't the end - birth and death are connected to each other like a ring, or some say a spiral. Some say a spiral that in turn forms a ring. Some ramble in agonizing longevity. But the basis is agreed upon: like sleep like death, you wake up again - whether you want to or not. This is true for all living things, but some actually break the cycle. That doesn't apply to you or me though, you are too entangled in your animal struggles, and for me not breaking that cycle is an integral part of the design. Our mantras keep repeating.
"(...) and then a termination verse"
What is a chain if not a number of interlocked rings? The Shaded Citadel pattern even looks more like a double spiral, a double helix
The urges are also described as "binding"
fun fact one of the elements in an echo's design is called chains
it's the row of golden flakes bound to the legs
considering the depths statues, maybe part of the rituals in preparation for ascension included binding the body in chains, as a metaphor for the binding nature of the cycle, meant to dissolve in the void alongside the body as signifier of the liberation of the mind
ii have to illustrate this in a way that can be comprehended. also pretend i remembered to draw the crosses on that 1 patch of sentient rot with the tendrils
hey rememberthe reverse iterators au. are you ever going to post about that again because i think it was pretty cool!
pebbles when he didnt even get to try
[More of my reverse iterator au if anyone is wondering what is going on!]