LORE

The role of the narrator is not something I see discussed that often, if at all.

It's quite interesting from a lore point of view, since its a bit debatable if the narrator is a character at all. Technically they don't exist in the game world.

I'd like to offer an alternative point of view, that might make some people see the narrator in a completely new way.

This being a great segue into...

Five months ago I got the opportunity to visit San Serriffe. Apart from just being an extraordinary holiday destination, it also has the most fascinating geography.

Founded in 1967, its the only "moving" island on the planet.

Due to continued erosion of the island's west side and simultaneous deposition of its east coast, the island is moving rapidly (well, geographically speaking rapidly) north-east from its current position near the coast of Africa. Experts say there's a high chance of collision with Sri Lanka in the coming years.

But I digress.

Even though the Companion's role and backstory was expanded upon in the Companion level pack for A Light in the Shadows, the gray square still has some undiscovered secrets.

One thing I haven't seen people discuss at all, is the four-cornered shape of the character. It actually holds quite a bit of significance.

I just realized that it's probably best if I shed some light on how this whole topic came about.

Three seconds ago a random person walked past me mumbling something about spaghetti trees. After a quick internet search, turns out those are real! There exist actual trees that produce actual strands of spaghetti.

They can only be found in the Ticino region of Switzerland. During harvest, the spaghetti is very carefully picked from the branches of the tree, after which it is laid flat and left to dry out in the sun.

BBC Panorama did a segment on the whole process. I suggest you check it out when you get a chance.

What was I talking about again?

The Reset level pack was quite lore heavy. I think its time we take a deeper dive into some overlooked aspects of that pack.

Speaking of which...

One topic I've always wanted to talk about is the current architectural trends in Finland.

I don't know if you've noticed, but most modern apartment buildings look quite plain. The facades of them are usually just completely flat surfaces, with an occasional square window thrown in, all painted in a single color.

The city of Helsinki actually took note of the prevalence of these buildings and in April of 2022 introduced a ban on so called "box buildings".

Any new buildings in the city must be made in the shape of either a cylinder, sphere, pyramid, or any other unusual shape. The city is even offering tax breaks based on how unusual the shape of the building is, with icosahedrons getting the largest deductions.

So with that additional context, we can now circle back to the previous topic.

The green cat is quite different from the other non-player cats, as many people in the community have noticed.

People appear to be under the assumption that the character is a complete mystery. That there isn't much told about them in the games.

This seems to stem from one crucial detail being overlooked.

But before going deeper into that topic, we need to take a small side tangent.

Four decades ago (or maybe a bit more), in 1978, a millionaire by the name of Dick Smith towed an iceberg into Sydney Harbour all the way from Antarctica.

His intention was to solve Sydney's water crisis by simply selling chunks from the iceberg for 10c each, much less than the modern day three dollar average price of an ice cube.

That's some next level innovation right there! Truly inspiring. I wonder what happened to the iceberg afterwards...

Going back to the topic at hand...

The purple cat. Obviously I'm not yet ready to reveal everything regarding this mysterious entity. But, for this special occasion, I think it's time to shed some light on who/what "the purple cat" really is.

Are you ready for the reveal of a lifetime?

Which actually reminds me of something...

Eight years after the previous release for the Nintendo Entertainment System, Google released Google Maps for the NES in April of 2012.

Smartphones are still, even to this day, quite expensive. Adding support for the NES brought online maps to a huge number of households that were previously stuck using those paper maps that are impossible to fold back properly.

It features everything from just browsing the maps to step-by-step navigation instructions. And of course the most important thing of all: an amazing chiptune soundtrack that perfectly captures the feeling of a traffic jam adventure.

And now that you have the necessary backstory, we can get back to the actual topic.

The abilities themselves are quite interesting from a lore perspective.

Often times they reflect what's happening in the story at that particular moment. A Better Place also differs from A Light in the Shadows by only providing the player one ability at a time.

Let's take a quick look at how that affects the story, as vice versa.

And that's time! The train is just now arriving at the station.

Hopefully these explanations shed some light onto the more obscure aspects of the story and answered at least some of the questions you might have had.

I think I did quite well with regards to staying on topic, if I do say so myself.

Keep in mind that the 10th anniversary celebrations will continue for the rest of the year. And there's plenty more stuff in store! Make sure to stay tuned on our socials and keep checking the 10th anniversary page for all the latest updates.

See ya!
- Dev