The Giant Whirlpool should open Post-Rift

[Pet Rock]

I love the sanctum but I am interested why they decided to make the area accessible before the shadow rifts are opened.

1. It seems like the area will be very important to the endgame of the shadow rifts. It would pace the story better if players discovered this after opening the rifts.

2. It would make logical sense that the Sanctum would be revealed after the shadow rifts are activated since they cause the caves to become more unstable (miasma, increased intensity of earthquakes, etc.). This would also have the added benefit of adding more world building to the rifts and adding to the connectivity of the caves and the overworld.

 

However, I could see how this would be controversial considering people have disliked things being locked behind rifts, and there might also be value in seeing the area early to establish a sense of mystery. Thoughts?

[Hungry French]

4 hours ago, Pet Rock said:

Мне нравится святилище, но мне интересно, почему они решили сделать эту локацию доступной до того, как откроются теневые разломы.

1. Похоже, эта локация будет играть важную роль в финале игры, связанном с теневыми разломами. Было бы лучше, если бы игроки узнали об этом после открытия разломов.

2. Логично предположить, что Святилище откроется после активации теневых разломов, поскольку из-за них пещеры становятся более нестабильными (появляются миазмы, усиливаются землетрясения и т. д.). Кроме того, это позволит расширить мир разломов и связать пещеры с внешним миром.

 

Однако я понимаю, что это может вызвать споры, учитывая, что людям не нравится, когда что-то скрыто за разломами, а также то, что, возможно, стоит показать эту локацию раньше, чтобы создать ощущение таинственности. Что думаете?

I don't think it's related to the shadow update at all...
first of all, this location is part of the lore Alter. 
Secondly... And there is a real advantage to closing the location in which there is... Lore... And crafting a new floor... The ocean is quite big... Most likely, they just haven't found him yet ...
although these are questions from the category of "Why now, and not before". But it's a pity the developers don't give answers.

[aidancode]

8 hours ago, Pet Rock said:

I love the sanctum but I am interested why they decided to make the area accessible before the shadow rifts are opened.

1. It seems like the area will be very important to the endgame of the shadow rifts. It would pace the story better if players discovered this after opening the rifts.

2. It would make logical sense that the Sanctum would be revealed after the shadow rifts are activated since they cause the caves to become more unstable (miasma, increased intensity of earthquakes, etc.). This would also have the added benefit of adding more world building to the rifts and adding to the connectivity of the caves and the overworld.

 

However, I could see how this would be controversial considering people have disliked things being locked behind rifts, and there might also be value in seeing the area early to establish a sense of mystery. Thoughts?

Imo there's no reason to lock stuff out. While I do wish the rifts got some more exploration-type stuff, I also recognize that you can go to the atrium before doing the shadow pieces and finding the ruins, and you can kill crab king without finding pearl. I like the vibe of being able to more or less do everything whenever you want, with a few small locks along the way

[Well-met]

the sanctum isn't finished yet, so it's pointless to vote it out until we get the actual purpose

[AliceShiki]

I think the main issue with the giant whirlpool being post-rift would be that you would have to re-explore the whole map to find it.

Better to have it available from the start, this way if you find it, it will be always visible on the map.

[Milordo]

We should push more Klei into fixing its generation. 

As it stands now the whirlpool is the official stairs linking the lunar island to lunar grotto, something requested as old as I can remember. However the problem is where it generates. Sometimes correctly near Lunar Island, sometimes a few tiles away, sometimes on the other opposite of the world. It's completely random, and it doesn't at all make sense giving its role in game design and level design. It only hurts it.

After this it should be looked how the lunar grotto and the whirlpool should be first closed and inaccesible when a new world gets created and how to open them through progression (the same thing you're saying @Pet Rock but more...elegantly? I don't know the correct term. The point is yes, you got it right. It needs progression, but not post-rift progression). If you're curious more info here:

 

 

 

(This one is very long, so I suggest you to skip towards the lunar grotto chapter lol)

[Pet Rock]

On 3/14/2026 at 2:16 PM, Hungry French said:

I don't think it's related to the shadow update at all...
first of all, this location is part of the lore Alter. 

The ancient archive and sanctum are both heavily implied to have been created by the ancient bug civilization whose corpses we see in the sanctum, who have experimented with both nightmare fuel (the atrium) and lunar things (the ancient archive). Since the lunar portion of the from beyond arc seems wrapped up I'm guessing the sanctum will aid in the conclusion to the shadow arc. 
 

On 3/15/2026 at 9:47 AM, AliceShiki said:

I think the main issue with the giant whirlpool being post-rift would be that you would have to re-explore the whole map to find it.

Better to have it available from the start, this way if you find it, it will be always visible on the map.

This is definitely something I haven't considered. One idea would be replacing it with a smaller and non-functional worldpool that opens up post-rift but this might be confusing for new players. Though I agree with aidancode that the sanctum being accessible early adds some mysterious untied ends and intrigue for new players.
 

1 hour ago, Milordo said:

We should push more Klei into fixing its generation. 

As it stands now the whirlpool is the official stairs linking the lunar island to lunar grotto, something requested as old as I can remember. However the problem is where it generates. Sometimes correctly near Lunar Island, sometimes a few tiles away, sometimes on the other opposite of the world. It's completely random, and it doesn't at all make sense giving its role in game design and level design. It only hurts it.

After this it should be looked how the lunar grotto and the whirlpool should be first closed and inaccesible when a new world gets created and how to open them through progression (the same thing you're saying @Pet Rock but more...elegantly? I don't know the correct term. The point is yes, you got it right. It needs progression, but not post-rift progression). If you're curious more info here:

 

 

 

(This one is very long, so I suggest you to skip towards the lunar grotto chapter lol)

I do think the ancient archive and lunar grotto should be changed to be located under the lunar island. It only makes sense and would make the game far more immersive. However, walling the whole area off seems a bit excessive, although adding a path that can be unlocked in the grotto and connects the lunar island to the lunar grotto would be cool. (I also think we should see more development in the lunar and shadow war here with the rifts and all).

For the whirlpool and sanctum itself, I don't even think it should be tied to the ancient archives at all. I like the idea that it is an isolated chamber that the ancients buried in a location underground a long time ago to hide a significant secret (depending on what the finale adds to the sanctum). As such, I disagree that the whirlpool should generate close to the lunar island and I also think that the hole that currently leads to the ancient archives should just drop the player in a random spot in the caves instead.

[AliceShiki]

2 minutes ago, Pet Rock said:

One idea would be replacing it with a smaller and non-functional worldpool that opens up post-rift but this might be confusing for new players.

To be fair, DST in general is very confusing for new players, so this would just be another thing to the pile. And if the characters had some examination quotes on the non-functional whirlpool about it that hinted about it being post-rifts, it would work, I think.

3 minutes ago, Pet Rock said:

This is definitely something I haven't considered.

I mostly remembered seeing people complaining about how much of a pain it was to find the whirlpool on worlds it was retrofitted into after the updated happened, so that's why it came to mind, tbh.

Otherwise, I wouldn't have thought of it at all.

[Milordo]

@Pet Rock 

First point, what do you mean the sanctum should not be tied to the ancient archives? The starting base Klei gave us is those two places are linked, in everything really. Lore, worldbuilding, gameplay.... you need to activate first the archives before entering the sanctum. To make them separate, don't you need to re-do everything? If that's the case I'm sorry, I don't like stomping Klei creative choices.  If they envisioned the sanctum as not an isolated chamber and all of that, I will simply respect it and follow. I'm here only to provide feedback about balance and how to fix it in the most objective way, when problems appear.

Second, considering you have another vision for the sanctum (if I understood correctly) I can't say "no wait you're not getting it..." on you disagreeing on the whirlpool generating near Lunar Island because I'm basing it off what Klei created. So I don't know what else to say about it, just reinforcing that if Klei literally created the official "stairs" between Lunar Island and Lunar Grotto, it's a factual error of them to have the giant whirlpool generates at random in the ocean, thus resulting in a lot of problems.

Third, I completely understand that seems crazy to, as you say, "walling" those areas. I completely get it, but it seems I got through you and explained the points atleast good in those posts (I always hope). What I mean, I see in your words, you understand the point about linkin lunar and grotto, the game design progression, ecc... so I'm now guessing we want the same thing but in a different way, and that's what matters, because now connecting with @AliceShiki comment, again, there is a big objective problem with lunar grotto in how it faces game progression (pratically only this because otherwise lunar grotto and ancient archives are chef kiss), and it heavily touches new player experience. It can be less confusing and more intuitive for new players if done right. I know it on my skin. Don't Starve has MANY blind things done right, more than what people gave credit for.

Of course I'm not advocating the "videogamey walls" to the lunar grotto to be difficult. For all that it takes, it can be an easy "key" done in Lunar Island and that's it. It can be very stupid. Like even just a new special sinkhole that links to the lunar grotto, unlocking it via the usual pickaxe (or if we want to follow the usual Don't Starve spirit, we need a glass pickaxe to open it?) and then through lunar grotto you unlock a new path linking to the main Caves. This can already fix the problematic level design, new player experience, sprinkled with game progression satisfaction.

[Hungry French]

On 24.03.2026 at 06:09, Pet Rock said:

Древний архив и святилище, судя по всему, были созданы древней цивилизацией жуков, чьи трупы мы видим в святилище. Они экспериментировали как с топливом кошмаров (атриум), так и с лунными артефактами (древний архив). Поскольку лунная часть арки «Из потустороннего мира» завершена, я предполагаю, что святилище поможет завершить арку «Тень».

It's a good theory. But the only connection of the moon was only in DS... And then... The moon is a shadow guide there...

[Frosty_Mentos]

On 3/14/2026 at 5:58 PM, Pet Rock said:

I love the sanctum but I am interested why they decided to make the area accessible before the shadow rifts are opened.

1. It seems like the area will be very important to the endgame of the shadow rifts. It would pace the story better if players discovered this after opening the rifts.

2. It would make logical sense that the Sanctum would be revealed after the shadow rifts are activated since they cause the caves to become more unstable (miasma, increased intensity of earthquakes, etc.). This would also have the added benefit of adding more world building to the rifts and adding to the connectivity of the caves and the overworld.

 

However, I could see how this would be controversial considering people have disliked things being locked behind rifts, and there might also be value in seeing the area early to establish a sense of mystery. Thoughts?

If it's where we are gonna get the shadow fight there likely is going to be a needed ritual to complete for summoning the boss. It's unlocked from the start cause it's lore related, a landmark and opens up some new decor. That's all pre-rift content we're getting. If it opens after rifts, I think casual and new players are unlikely to find it if they explore the ocean before completing the other parts of progression. We can access it without the archive but there's no use without it being activated, so it's also an incentive to make players do archives.