#eyecluster

[contract-crawdad]

Apartment 21 Theories and Headcanons

Let’s overthink Lyle’s weird as hell living space.

First off! The titular Lyle! Going to try to keep this section limited to what we can learn about Lyle through his apartment rather than just thoughts about Lyle himself, as he is possibly the single most-discussed character in the whole game. And we can infer a lot!

Jeanne’s dialogue confirms that apartment 21 is actually Lyle’s apartment, seeing as she does consider him her neighbor. It’s not a situation where Lyle moved into someone else’s abandoned apartment after the apocalypse started.

The D&D M&W stuff makes it clear that Lyle’s a fan of tabletop games! Do you suppose he’s part of an ongoing group, or is he looking for people to play with? It can be so hard to find a local playgroup! I like to think he and Edwin had a group going, maybe with a few other astronomers involved.

Considering we get the crossword book from him but also that it’s completely unstarted, I assume that it’s one of those things that’s he’s been meaning to get around to but never quite found the time (been there, buddy).

We can find anxiety meds in Lyle’s bathroom! Which is a minor if interesting detail. Lyle really does get more and more relatable.

Funnily enough, one thing that we don’t see in his apartment that we should be in there is the zoom lens that Edwin’s loan log says Lyle is currently borrowing! But considering his partly mechanical form, it’s possible that the zoom lens is simply part of his body now.

Lyle’s dark room! I’d wager Mr. Henderson wouldn’t exactly approve if it’s existence if he were to ever find out. This strikes me as something that breaks some kind of agreement found in you average renter’s agreement.

Notably you can only ever access the dark room if you kill Lyle to get the key! He doesn’t grant you entry under any circumstance, and it’s not exactly hard to see why considering what his ‘special project’ is.

On that note, Lyle will never attack you! It is impossible to get him to be the one to instigate a fight, you have to attack him out of the blue.

The photos of Sam make it clear that Lyle’s affection for Sam isn’t a new development by any means.

More concerningly, though, is the key you can find between two of the bookshelves. It’s SAM’S apartment key, which the more eagle-eyed and elephant-memoried of you out there will recall is the spare that’s missing from the plant outside Sam’s apartment! It’s dubious as to whether or not Lyle has ever used the key.

As far as I’m aware, the key has no actual purpose other than to serve as an ominous reminder of Lyle’s obsession.

What the fuck is Lokjaw’s deal. Seriously. Lyle. Why do you have a man in your unlocked closet? I can excuse the hamburger man you have locked in your bedroom (we’ll get to him), but this is just ridiculous.

My thought on why Lokjaw hasn’t just left the (completely unlocked) closet is because their mental state has deteriorated to the point where they cannot operate a door. Maybe they don’t even recognize that a door is a thing that leads to another place anymore.

But that’s assuming Lokjaw was ever human to begin with! I’ve seen theories that they were Lyle’s dog (credit to @crankyteapot once more), which would explain the mutant’s posture, strange lower jaw, and why they’re in Lyle’s closet in the first place!

But considering that there’s no dog bowl, no collar, and no reaction from Lyle if you kill Lokjaw? I’d wager that if they are a dog, they’re not Lyle’s dog, but rather just some random already-mutated dog he came across! It went sniffing around the closet and Lyle just shut the door behind it. This making it a problem for future Lyle.

Lokjaw does drop raw pork if you kill it, which is… hmm. Something.

I… don’t think there’s any pleasant explanation as to why it drops raw pork actually.

Something about Lokjaw, whether human or canine, makes me think they had a very nervous disposition. There’s something so defensive about their posture, and their facial expression seems so scared! Unfortunately for us, this translates to the mindset of ‘kill the thing that is scaring me’.

Unfortunately, the reason for Tumorhead’s presence in apartment 21 isn’t any clearer than Lokjaw’s! If anything it’s stranger because he’s in what appears to be Lyle’s bedroom, and he’s even locked in there by those strange fleshy growths.

On thing IS clear: the hamburger found around the room is pretty clearly implied to be meat that’s fallen off of a Tumorhead himself, judging by what happens in battle. Sam is the bravest man alive for taking this meat and cooking it.

@crankyteapot pointed out a few visual similarities between Tumorhead’s clothing and the Onlookers, and I could see there being a connection!

I really love the idea that Tumorhead, having looked outside but while still human, stumbled drunk into Lyle’s apartment and collapsed into his bed (with Lyle being too timid to correct them). The poor guy nursing a splitting headache that manifested very viscerally as his metamorphosis completed in his sleep.

Located in Lyle’s bathroom, we finally have an easy-to-explain mutant presence! The broken-down door makes it pretty clear that this guy forced his way in from F1 through Lyle’s shortcut.

Since this guy is pretty clearly implied to be from F1, I wonder if he has any association with that one gigantic eye in the unnumbered rooms? On one hand there’s some surface level similarities, but on the other hand Eyecluster’s eyes are functionally distinct: they’ve been modified into acid-launchers and it’s unclear if he can still see out of any of them!

My favorite detail is how Eyecluster’s posture seems off balance from the sheer volume of eyes he has, it’s a neat touch that conveys just how ungainly their newly added parts are! And I adore how the Visitor’s effects clearly don’t care about what an organ USED TO do. Your eyeballs spit acid now. Your hair can eat things. Your tongue is easier to get around on than your legs.

This is nothing but pure headcanon, but I like to think that on the morning Eyecluster beheld the Visitor, he woke up wearing contact lenses that he’d left on overnight by mistake. The unpleasant sensation in his eyes ended up heavily influencing the results of his transformation.

It’s what you all came here for, it’s LYLE BATHTUB THEORY TIME!!

So. Lyle’s bathtub. It’s weirdly long, right? And that’s not just sprite perspective weirdness! The comically long bathtub has actual inspection dialogue that reads ‘huh this thing is long as hell, weird huh?’ and it also points out that the whole room looks stretched. Sure enough, the less conspicuous but still very conspicuous counter across from it is also weirdly long!

But why? I’ll tell you why. I think Leigh stretched Lyle’s bathtub. it’s not what’s INSIDE the bathroom, but rather OUTSIDE!

The other side of the south bathroom wall is the hallway where Leigh chases you. You know, the hallway that she supernaturally lengthened so she could have more fun chasing Sam. Not only that, but this chase is required in order to access Lyle’s apartment in the first place, you cannot access Lyle’s bathroom without having done the Leigh chase!

So Leigh’s space-warping chase tunnel seems to have had some lasting effects on the adjoining rooms! Which makes sense. Sure, Leigh has some kinda of vague elongating powers, but you can’t tell me she knows how they work or how to use them in a way that doesn’t have some lingering effects.

Hopefully it’s helpful to Lyle! I mean, he’s larger now. He definitely would not fit comfortably into a normal bathtub, but on the other hand it’s also questionable if he even can bathe, what with all his mechanical parts.

[godslush]

The 'new' classification system with Dan's 'ask chat' ability is fascinating to me. I dug some up in-game, but since it takes soooo long, I ended up just going into the files and digging them up manually (enemyType: string in the Enemies.json file). There's some interesting thought process going on here.

I won't list them ALL because I do have to go to work. A bunch of them are pretty obvious; a lot of characters you'd guess are classified as "Cursed" are, in fact, Cursed.

A few interesting things have stood out to me so far:

Cursed doesn't apply to everyone who looked outside, or got mutated; even Joel and Hellen are classified as "Human", as well as most of Joel's family (except Baby Teeth, who is "Cursed"). Leigh, as "Grinning Woman/Beast", is fully classified as "Cursed".

Even "Stressed Out" (IE William, the wounded door encounter after his lower half turns into a monster) is classed "Human"

Morton is classed as "Insect" right out the gate, not Cursed. This means 'Chat' figured it out even before Sam did, which is very funny to me.

Rat King is "Cursed" (Frankie did straight up say on stream that Rat King is Fabrice; Frederick's friend who saw his painting), while Rat Freak, and most of the 'body part' rats are classed as "Human". Weirdly, Rat Hole is "Cursed" despite describing its situation as transforming through having been bitten a lot.

"Witness" appears to apply to those very basic beginning game enemies, but the knife neighbor and Vincent are still "Human". Eternal Eye is "Cursed" so perhaps it's a "level of transformation" thing. However, Mutt is also classed as a Witness.

The only other character specifically classed as "Witness"? Jasper.

("Chorus of One", "Unholy Duet", "Discordant Triune", and "Chaos Quartet" are Cursed, while Exalted Four is "Ascended"... XIN-AMON is also "Ascended")

SPEAKING OF ASCENDED there are a few others with this class: Spore Mother, Faceless Fred (!), Furnace, and some unimplemented bosses I won't speak of here but have deliciously fascinating names.

Branching off of Spore Mother, "Fungus" is obviously it's own class and which characters are fungus should be obvious, but weirdly enough Laughing Mold is considered "Cursed" instead.

Lokjaw is a "Mutant" which also applies to Tumorhead, EyeCluster, any of the Worm Parts associated with Rafta-infested Nestor, the 'remade' creeps in Edwin's dark apartment and... weirdly enough, the first couple enemies in the garage (the cone and the tires). That's it. Very small clade.

"Painting" should be obvious, but once again it is interesting that Faceless Fred is "Ascended" but becomes a "Painting" once his face is returned. "Cowboy Hat" is "Human" but I am presuming this is when you attack it while it's on Sam's head, so technically you're attacking Sam. "Not a Cowboy Hat" is still a Painting.

Another obscure one is "Passenger" which only applies to things off the bus, but not EVERYTHING off the bus (Crawing Hand is Cursed). Things in Henderson's apartment are "Conscripts". Trench Digger is Cursed.

"Pipe Man" is it's own class for the sewer (includes the 'corpses'), but the Boiler Beast is "Cursed".

"Frostbitten" is its own class, which applies to all the frozen enemies including Enforcer in the basement, but NOT to PomPom, who is Cursed.

"Taxidermy" is its own class, which applies to all the enemies in that apartment except Suture Wire, which is Cursed.

It does seem like a single 'Cursed' surrounded by a bunch of hyper-specific enemies in a special area indicates an infection that spread, with the 'Cursed' being the Patient Zero for that area, but not always.

It's worth noting that nothing in the plant apartment has an enemyType: and is just listed as a lowercase "monster" in-game (which might just mean the devs forgot)

The "???" shadow enemies have the class "Shade" until you get to the BIGGEST ones (that don't have words, only variations of "???? ?? ?? ?"), where they become classified as Cursed.

And to make matters EVEN MORE CONFUSING, "Shadow" (IE, the white mask) is classed as "????"

DO take into consideration the only way one would canonically find these in game is through Dan's "Chat" so take that as you will.

THERE'S PROBABLY MORE TO GLEAN, but right now I have to go to work!!!

[goawaypopup]

Look Outside posting part 8.5

Here are a few interesting tidbits from the combat files.

The furnace ticks are actually completely immune to cold damage, which might mean they're the source of the frost covering the Furnace. Not even the Pompom family is that cold-resistant.

Speaking of, Argot, the big tongue enemy in the freezer, is classified as "Frostbitten" for a reason. They don't look the part, but they have the same damage resistances as the others.

Most of the Freds inflict their associated emotional status effect when they hit you. Tumor Fred is no exception - he's able to share his Pain with you. If he actually hit you, that is.

"Corruption" damage is a type dealt by nightmares, and any other attacks that do spooky, eldritch, soul-withering things. Humans are weak to it, and the cursed vary in their susceptibility. The nightmares (duh), generic toothy mutants, rats, fungus, and the SWAT truck's tongues resist it, while Lyle, the onlookers, Panopticon, and Stargazer are weak to it. (Noticing any commonalities there?? 👀) And the entire tooth family, oddly enough, are completely immune to it. (In theory, you could safely hit Joel with the Hellsword! Edit: I have been informed that that's not the right kind of corruption damage. You could hit LEIGH, though.)

There's one damage type that's only referred to as "flesh" damage, that no enemy uses. There are exactly three sources of it: Tumor Fred's tumor grenades, the Hellsword, and Hellen taking her mask off, for some reason. Humans are weak to this too.

Leigh's two forms as an enemy are almost negligibly close in stats, perhaps suggesting that her giant monster form is less physical than it appears. The Grinning Beast is also one of the aforementioned toothy mutants - guys like Tumorhead, Eyecluster, Famine, or Fangipede, who don't really have a nifty theme to speak of. Stargazer's victims, like Spine, also fall under this category. These are all immune to flesh damage. Thus, Leigh is one of the only ones who Hellen could take her mask off in front of without any harm.

[lem0n-a1d]

Uh warning for minor / mild Look Outside spoilers

Lyle fans come get your angst pspsps

YK when I first played through Look Outside I kind of assumed that Lyle was living with his parents still when the visitor arrived and the creatures in his home were like his family and stuff (Specifically tumorhead being a father, eyecluster being a mother, and lokjaw being like a dog or a sibling or a fusion of both or something???)

Now I suck at writing angst, but uh, Lyle writers is this anything for you?

[detherealization]

AF || chunder - austin

|| jul. 29, 2022 || bust sketch for chunder on artfight of their oc austin.

[xxwish-bonexx]

Oh no! She has the eye plague!

[oncejack-gamble]

Eye clusters

The fear of eyes, known as Ommatophobia, is considered a social phobia as it increases the person with the phobia’s ability to socialise successfully/without fear in a world where eye contact is a large factor in most communications. Phobias such as Ommatophobia are generally understood to be caused following a traumatic experience involving the topic For example somebody witnessing a traumatic event involving damage to the eyes; An eyeball popping out, going blind in one eye, etc.

Such a phobia can also follow paranoid beliefs of being watched and observed, this is mostly typical in those subscribed to the ideas of conspiracy theories such as ‘The FBI watching people’, whether these theories are true or not is irrelevant to the sufferer. Ommatophobia and  Scopophobia are connected in this sense, with  Scopophobia being the exact name for the fear of seen or stared at. 

For my project such phobias would be relevant to the design of the creature I intend to create as the Host to such a creature will have a fear of being watched and judged by society. Leading to a fear of eyes- which will make the addition of Eyecluster themes to the creature I intend to create much more influential and symbolic.

I can use a connection to religious themes as ammunition towards my character’s fear of eyes. With Christianity as an example of a religion having an omnipotent God who is ‘always watching and judging your sins’. This allows me to connect the theme of eyes and observation to the theme of the seven deadly sins using their common factor: religion.

[earpeeler]

Talking Metal – 705 Iron Maiden, Ram Jam, EyeCluster & More. On this episode of Talking Metal, Mark talks and spins some great tunes. Topics include Iron Maiden, Projekt Gemineye, Fireball Ministry, EyeCluster, Disastroid and more. Listen to "TM 705 Music Based" on Spreaker.

[blackduckoverlord]

Robot eye cluster entity #pixelart #eyecluster #robot #platformer

[99eaststreet]

EyeCluster EP cover by LostKeep

[aberrantceramics]

Eye Cluster

[contract-crawdad]

Hey, wouldn’t it be cool if Lyle was a party member? I think it would be cool if Lyle were a party member.

Unused dialogue in the game’s files implies that he was likely considered as a party member, or at least, someone you could bring back to your apartment (spicy).

So!

Here’s a bunch of loose thoughts inspired by that.

Stats: low HP and STM (around 10), but high defense and speed.

—————

Gear: Wears his cloak in the body slot and refuses to take it off. It provides moderate defense, as well as immunity to blind. Also, Lyle is unable to wear any feet items.

—————

Weapons: Has a camera in his ranged slot that he won’t exchange for anything else. This does not effect his ability to be equipped with melee items.

—————

Skills:

- Say ‘Cheese’! a free skill that readies Lyle’s camera. Both Snapshot and Soul Snapshot can only be used after Say ‘Cheese’!.

- Snapshot costs 1 STM to take a picture of all enemies. Very high chance to apply blind and a much lower chance to apply stun. Eyeless enemies are immune to both statuses being inflicted this way, and certain enemies with many eyes or sensitive vision (onlookers, eye rats, Vincent, Eyecluster, and Stargazer) are especially vulnerable.

Small chance to apply blind to allies as well. If Morton or the rat child are in your party, they are always blinded, and Joel is immune to being blinded.

Every time an enemy is Snapshotted for the first time, it’s picture is added to Lyle’s scrapbook! For example, eye rats and belly rats are both distinct entries and combined add 2 pictures to the scrapbook. But if you take two pictures of two different mouth rats, you still only get 1 picture.

The number of unique enemies you’ve taken pictures of is tracked secretly, like the hygiene and morale stats. (Or I guess it could also be a bestiary situation?)

- Soul Snapshot costs 8 STM in order to cut a single enemy’s health by 1/4 of their current total. High change to fail if this is not the first time it is used in the battle.

- Scrapbook Bash costs 2 STM for Lyle to bonk an enemy over the head with his scrapbook. Does very little damage initially, but deals more and more for each enemy you’ve taken a Snapshot of throughout the game.

- Zoom Lens a free skill that reveals an enemy’s damage weaknesses, damage resistances, status immunities, and whatever status they are most susceptible to. Increases the accuracy of moves used on the target for 2-5 turns.

—————

Party interactions over dinner:

- Leigh urges him to take his cloak off, to ‘stop hiding what he really is and just revel in it’, like she does. When he declines, she’s disappointed, and mutters something about having been ‘excited to wrestle someone her own size’.

- Pappineau and Lyle chat about the best kinds of glad cleaners. They both appreciate that the other recognizes that the difference between cleaners for windows and for more delicate glassware like, for instance, camera lenses. Sam is utterly lost.

- You can ask him where he’s been getting all this film he’s been using, since he never seems to run out, to which he sheepishly replies that he ‘makes it himself’. Sam decides not to press further.

- Sophie won’t stop trying pestering Lyle about why he’s all covered up. She’s either not buying the whole ‘I’m sensitive to light, like photo paper’ thing, or she’s just curious. Sam can resolve the situation by whispering to Sophie that ‘he’s just self conscious’, to which she nods understandingly. “Oooooh, I get it, he’s UGLY, why didn’t you just say so?”

Favorite video game:

Wouldn’t it be cute if you could start up a D&D campaign with the books you find in Lyle’s apartment?

This concludes my many long and rambling thoughts!

Shoutout to this awesome post by @lily-wisp for revealing the unused game dialogue!

[zwei-p]

Deutsche Sporthilfe "Juniorsportler des Jahres" 2014

content creation, mediaserver, videomapping

customer: Deutsche Sporthilfe / Hock&Partner

[earpeeler]

David G. Alvarez – EyeCluster “Out Of My Mind” (2nd track) Second track from our upcoming self titled EP.

[earpeeler]

David G. Alvarez – EyeCluster "Reuptake" (1st song)

David G. Alvarez – EyeCluster “Reuptake” (1st song)

First track from our new project! Reuptake: reabsorption of a neurotransmitter by a neurotransmitter transporter of a pre-synaptic neuron after it has performed its function of transmitting a neural impulse. Lyrics: Often the last line I cross, the first, the lost. Turn aside the spined ones with a shield And then it comes, the human flood. Devastation. Take a breath and break your inner laws.…

[earpeeler]

David G. Alvarez – EyeCluster – Teaser #1 Recorded and produced at "The Jungle HS" by Davish G. Alvarez, except drums (recorded by Raul Abellán - Millenia Studios)