theory Return of Them analysis - What's next ?

[ADM]

Hi everyone. I hope you're feeling comfortable and that you're not afraid of spoilers because "Them" are coming for us today !

I've used the fascinating "theory" tag but I have few doubts on what is happening in Return of Them and what to expect for the next updates, before we start I have to warn you if you don't want to be spoiled on the latest and upcoming updates on the story side. Now let's get into it. (I hope you have a drink)

 

She Sells Sea Shells (SSSS) is one of the last updates installing an atmosphere and context before a conclusion of what I'll call the Celestial Act.

 

So, Is there anything important in SSSS revealing the rest of this act ? Let's have a quick recap :

This update features the Crab King and the Hermit Crab, aka Pearl, the hole point of the update is to be a gentleman and help her to restore the island and do gifts, cute. In time, you will be rewarded with Pearl's Pearl after earning enough friendship lvl. Steer to the Crab King and place the pearl on him, this will have for result to drop an additional loot after you've defeated him which can be obtained only once (cause the pearl is unique and breaks afterward).

 

But which loot ? The Celestial Tribute :

The Celestial Tribute at the end of the new trailer (1:05)

 

What's the deal with the Celestial Tribute ?

You can tell that it looks important, it's in the game but it does nothing very interesting at now, it's just an all-in-one Celestial Altar.

Which is obviously temporal and the main intend of the structure will be added later :

Its current role will certainly not be removed but rather improved to unlock the advanced recipes of the Moon Tech tree.

Don't Starve always worked this way with many other Tech trees, for the science, magic and the ruins one :

= Tier 1 science = Tier 2 science = Tier 1 magic = Tier 2 magic . . .

 

In case you wonder, the Celestial Orb is not related to the Moon Tech tree :

No, the orb is considered as another one named "MOONORB" but I suggest you to keep an eye on it since its tech tier (MOONORB_LOW) can suggest an upgrade and it's evident when you spot the prefab name of the orb : "moonrockseed"

 

Whatever, it's not a surprise and the Celestial Tribute is clearly indicating it holds mysteries when you look at character inspecting quotes that I recommand you to look at : 

Spoiler

Wilson : "It feels like it's waiting for something."

 

Willow : "Why do I get the feeling we aren't done yet?"

 

Wolfgang : "Such loud whisperings. Make head hurt."

 

Wendy : "The whispers... are getting louder...

 

WX78 : "I AM STILL WAITING FOR MOON POWERS"

 

Wickerbottom : "It says there's more knowledge yet to be found."

 

Woodie : "I don't get it, why does it feel like we're not finished yet?"

 

Wes : "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" /s

 

Maxwell : "It is not yet time?"

 

Wigfrid : "It is grateful, but my work is not yet done."

 

Webber : "We think it says we're getting closer."

 

Winona : "Can't shake the feeling that this is all building up to somethin'..."

 

Warly : "Something tells me this is part of a bigger recipe..."

 

Wortox : "The stage is nearly set!"

 

Wormwood : "Soon"

 

Wurt : "It saying something..."

Some things are redundant in these quotes : such as whispers that are very common around the Lunar topic and... "something" is mentioned more than once like if the survivors wasn't sure of what they're doing and being controlled to serve the Moon.

Building "something" isn't what Wilson and the others want, it's what the source of this power is looking to achieves, otherwise it wouldn't be that much highlighted to us like if it needed to be completed. Think about it : the Moon Island want to rewards you with sanity for being here and do your stuff, it's the complete opposite of the rest of the Constant and especially the Ruins that want you to go away by making you insane.

 

Shadows are already thriving down here : the Ancient Civilisation were nothing less than minions exploited by dark strengths, lured from their greed for fantastic technologies granted with time, slowly but surely allowing the construction of the Ancient Gateway in the Atrium and release Shadows all over the Constant.

 

Look closely on this aspect of the game and you will see a pattern coming up... we're progressively freeing the Celestial side and you can tell this is not the best trade deal in the history : We've been recompensed for facing shadow creatures during our journey in the Constant with various resources like Moon Rocks and Moon Shards, we're now assembling the forgotten Celestial Tribute that was protected by the Crab King with the big conviction it will helps us.

 

I'm pretty sure you know the next step, right ? The Celestial power have mischievous effects on the living : we just have to look at Spiders, Pengulls, Wobsters or vegetations that exist on both of the continents, they're not doing very well on the Lunar Island... and this is the result of a small exposition rate.

Yes it can get worse, you know that your "sanity" regenerate way faster when you're getting close to the Celestial Fissures according to the Moon phases. This means that the greater source of the Celestial power is inside and slightly leaking, flipping its activity like the Nightmare Cycle and it can be extracted in order to use it.

 

Speaking of extraction, we have the Celestial Altar : Have you ever wondered why we can't prototype the Celestial crafts ? Not only because it wouldn't be fun, but especially because there's a missing ingredient in the game, the "Lunar Fuel"... Items like the Glass Cutter have no intrinsic powers from Moon Glass, it have to be filled with the fuel which can only be extracted in great quantity with the Celestial Altar, it's the same process with Thulecite, you must use the altar to fill it or it wouldn't work at all.

 

All the similarities from the Shadow and the Celestial sides seems to have no limit but they must play with equal but yet opposite elements/forces, it is not new but now more predictable nowadays, you can see the Constant as a boardgame like Chess since this one of the best pretext in Don't Starve.

So if we do another comparison with the Shadows, what was missing before SSSS on the Celestial Side ? The Crab King :

 

Why is the Crab King important in the story ? He's not actually very important, but he plays the same role as the Ancient Guardian, they're the protectors of the keys, cursed by the abundance of fuel like Maxwell mention for the AC. The Crab King used to be Pearl's husband, the Hermit Crab. We just don't know what exactly happened but we can speculate things went wrong with the poor lad when he received the call of the moon, and progressively turning into what rest of him today.

 

Now that you can compare, is there anything else missing on the Celestial side ? The Chess Pieces ?

No ! Or maybe... It's difficult to determine since the Clockworks aren't the Lunar Chess Pieces but still react to the Full Moon (strongest phase) when the Marble Sculptures are repaired :

Mining the sculptures during Full Moon result in Clockworks and New Moon in Shadow Pieces.

 

We could imagine it's only because Klei didn't wanted to release the Lunar Pieces before RoT but I see a more logic and interesting formula to be applied for the next update :

It involves once again the Celestial Tribute but not only because we should be addle to predict one of the new craft !

 

Certainly the most important one of Return of Them ! But first, why is there no Lunar Chess Pieces ?

We discovered something important earlier : Thulecite and Moon Glass have no power if it isn't filled with the proper fuel.

This also works for Shadow Creatures and Gestalts who need the fuel to persist :

• Shadow Creatures can exist everywhere except on the Moon Island, have a long time existence but will eventually disappear
• Gestalts have a short life existence since there is not enough fuel and cannot thrive out of the Moon Island

With all these informations, we can confirm that the Celestial side is too weak to take over the Constant and summon its Chess Pieces, so they have been replaced with a neutral side played with the Clockworks.

But we have an ace in the hole with this very unexpected candidate :

The Shadow Atrium is nothing more than a receptacle that have been filled with Nightmare Fuel, corrupted and now locked on the Shadow side, however it should be possible to reverse it with the Celestial Tribute and fill it with Lunar Fuel : creating the Celestial Atrium.

 

Now if this is the correct direction of the Celestial Act, we should be capable of interpreting the last fragment of Return of Them which is the finale on the balancing in the duel of the Shadows and the Celestial forces : An equivalent to the Ancient Fuelweaver and Ancient Gateway.

I've started to imagine a last Reanimated Skeleton unique transformation with the Celestial Atrium on the Lunar Island but even if the reanimation was an option, the Stalkers never existed in this place and I expect it more to be a "Forest Stalker like".

 

We have to wait for a following update and see what is exactly added, I believe the next one will reveal an unfinished part of the story just like SSSS did with the Celestial Tribute, potentially the location of the Celestial Gateway on a third part of the moon somewhere on the Constant... or maybe inside the first Lunar Island itself. If so, we'd have the freedom to speculate over it with precision and excitement.

 

Don't Starve Together will now accelerate the story development and I'm very proud of this game development over the ages, it took me the entire night to write this "theory" and think about it. So I hope it's a worthy investment for you and that you discovered a potential finale to RoT at my side and that you have maybe something on your mind to share and complete this somewhat puzzle.

Cheers to DST, friends !

[minespatch]

Is Wes screaming?

[-Nick-]

7 minutes ago, minespatch said:

Is Wes screaming?

Its a joke quote he made

[minespatch]

1 hour ago, ADM said:

maybe inside the first Lunar Island itself.

I'd like to imagine there's more islands. Pearl's island is the second one established so far. Going to be basing there from now on.

[bruhmoment23]

2 hours ago, ADM said:

Wormwood : "Soon"

@minespatch you know what to do with that quote 

[minespatch]

16 minutes ago, bruhmoment23 said:

@minespatch you know what to do with that quote 

[Mike23Ua]

I clicked this expecting to hear Walani was coming, but unfortunately I got some crazy moon/shadow theory.

Its interesting.. but it’s no Walani. Also I kinda Hope they aren’t planning to end the Return Of Them Updates ANYTIME Soon....

Your Story Can Wait... Why? Because each RoT update has done more then just add optional content- Each update has brought at least ONE New Mob into the Base game.. 

Biggest Example- Skittersquid now become your residential surface dwelling neighbors during Summer. & If you choose to engage them you can end up in a pretty fun fight against a unique new enemy.

Not only are they threats to you by eating all your nearby fish, But also I would think that due to this Animation.. 

that they could “Cry” For Help to have more Skittersquid Surface from the ocean depths to help them attack you.

The most Recent Update She Sells Sea Shells brought in Wobster & Wobster Den And While NOT a Hostile Mob... still adds more “Life” to the base game and it’s oceans.

If Klei updated the game once per month with only one new game changing mob such as the above mentioned Skittersquid & Wobster then I would be happy with only that.

Then once all characters have been refreshed finish the Return Of Them Story.

I could be in the Minority of wanting at least 1 new core game mob per Return Of Them Update... But you gotta keep in mind that PS4 & Xbox Players don’t have access to Mods and adding our own content to the game.

So in that regard- Even Just ONE new Mob is a big deal for us.

[Frashaw27]

O actually find this really interesting. What if you make the celestial atroum, and it it would do the normal fuelweaver fight, except it wouldn't use any shadow attacks. It also wouldn't speak much, more of the mumbling that the other versions would do. As the fight wore on, the Fuelweaver would regain its old speaking patterns and half way through the fight, the fuelweaver will attempt to summon the shadow hands, but nothing happens. He stands motionless, and then he starts being purified. The lunar inside him expels the fuel and revives a new a a brand new creature. You fight it and if you die, it won't leave, it will stay there until you defeat ot, keeping the ruins in turmoil all the while. Once deafeated, its vessal will break apart and leave the free spirit to escape, where it plot evermore. All this maybe the point where the game could get harder, I imagine that the lunar atrium would only be able to be crafted after the first fuelweaver deafeat so it would force you to get every aspect of the game up to that point.

[OMGkawaiiAngel]

16 minutes ago, minespatch said:

NO!!! Come on! you're too fast!

[ADM]

31 minutes ago, Mike23Ua said:

- snippy snip

Don't you worry on this side, I'm was focusing on the main play-through of the game, Return of Them will have many other surprise along the way to the main story for us I think we have quite some time before getting to an end.

[Moonatik]

So we could have to get the shadow atrium and change his power on the celestial tribute. 

Then going on a new place. Or going again for a fight against the fuelweaver in the atrium, the "lunar heart" changing his form, maybe not for a fight, but in order to enter in the gateway. 

You didn't speak about the gateway. Will we enter in ? Will something come out while using the lunar heart ? (edit: You mentionned an equivalent, but at least, will we use it ?)

A new location is a good bet anyway.

What about the dark lantern ? What about the power we have on the fuelweaver with this item ? Will the fuelweaver help us for a new fight to come by using the lunar heart on him ? Reanimating him on the lunar island ? Changing the dark lantern form too ?

 

[Well-met]

Could grass geckos be a moon mutation?

[GenomeSquirrel]

4 minutes ago, Well-met said:

Could grass geckos be a moon mutation?

No

[Well-met]

37 minutes ago, GenomeSquirrel said:

No

why not

[bruhmoment23]

1 minute ago, Well-met said:

why not

Compare a shattered spider or lunar pengull to the gecko and youll see why not 

[Zeklo]

4 minutes ago, bruhmoment23 said:

Compare a shattered spider or lunar pengull to the gecko and youll see why not 

Carrats tho.

[me real life]

9 minutes ago, bruhmoment23 said:

Compare a shattered spider or lunar pengull to the gecko and youll see why not 

Saladmanders tho.

[Szczuku]

1 hour ago, Zeklo said:

Carrats tho.

 

58 minutes ago, Sunset Skye said:

Saladmanders tho.

But Carrats and Saladmanders don't spawn from player-created carrots or dragonfruits, unlike Grass Geckos which can spawn from player-planted grass tufts... tho.

[Well-met]

1 hour ago, bruhmoment23 said:

Compare a shattered spider or lunar pengull to the gecko and youll see why not 

weak argument.

there are other mutated animals fused with plants. They don't need to look like glommer to comply.

[bruhmoment23]

25 minutes ago, Well-met said:

weak argument.

there are other mutated animals fused with plants. They don't need to look like glommer to comply.

And by that you mean only Carrats, Saladmanders ,Geckos, Toadstool and i guess Depth Worms. I doubt something like lure plant, man drake, poison birch nut and tree guard ( DS/DST world, not hamlet or shipwrecked )  count as an "animal". So going by your logic the mobs i mentioned in the first sentence should be on the lunar island because they're "mutated", with only two actually living on the island.

[Zeklo]

1 hour ago, Szczuku said:

But Carrats and Saladmanders don't spawn from player-created carrots or dragonfruits, unlike Grass Geckos which can spawn from player-planted grass tufts... tho.

That wasn't what we were rebutting. The argument that "because they don't look like horrific amalgam monsters" is flawed for the simple fact that plant-based Lunar creatures are not so twisted—only the flesh-based ones.

[Terra B Welch]

Not going to lie, based off your theroies ADM I could imagine the RoT "final boss/fuelweaver equivalent" having a really neat boss mechanic of switching Sanity and Lunacy/Enlightenment similarly to klaus' gem deer and magic. Imagine a boss where managing both so you're not in a bad spot when it switches so you don't be left vulnerable to its more severe powers, powers which would be based off which is active(sanity or lunacy) and how high or low it is.

Imo it would fit with the theme of both forces equalizing.

 

[ADM]

43 minutes ago, Terra M Welch said:

Not going to lie, based off your theroies ADM I could imagine the RoT "final boss/fuelweaver equivalent" having a really neat boss mechanic of switching Sanity and Lunacy/Enlightenment similarly to klaus' gem deer and magic. Imagine a boss where managing both so you're not in a bad spot when it switches so you don't be left vulnerable to its more severe powers, powers which would be based off which is active(sanity or lunacy) and how high or low it is.

Insanity is something the Fuelweaver exploited nicely so the big Celestial guy might have something similar (and certainly inverted). I'm also wondering where the action will take place, the Atrium gate room wasn't that big and restricted players navigation against the AF, but now if it's on the entire Moon Island we'll have certainly something very different to work on.

 

(btw I only figured out the Celestial Tribute have this "uncompleted sword" appearance... someday it will turn against us. )

[Terra B Welch]

19 minutes ago, ADM said:

Insanity is something the Fuelweaver exploited nicely so the big Celestial guy might have something similar (and certainly inverted). I'm also wondering where the action will take place, the Atrium gate room wasn't that big and restricted players navigation against the AF, but now if it's on the entire Moon Island we'll have certainly something very different to work on.

 

(btw I only figured out the Celestial Tribute have this "uncompleted sword" appearance... someday it will turn against us. )

I'm sure it'll be more then just reverse fuelweaver though.

I just really liked the idea of the forces equalizing and a side effect is an entity consisting of both but that's just wishful thinking I guess.
I also just really liked the idea of a boss that could toy with your sanity/lunacy by periodically switching the two so you had to play accordingly.

[1bubbainpa]

I sure hope something big is coming. Don’t Starve has gotten stale for me lately, and none of the most recent updates have motivated me to come back.