This repository is meant to keep a public record of most events and relevant discoveries and progress in solving the mysteries of this ARG. Thus making it easier to jump in on it while it's ongoing and contribute in helping solve it.
INSIDE is a video game made by Playdead and first released in June 29, 2016.
Early on, hidden things were discovered in the game. Some of those lead us to secret websites and other clues, and eventually puzzles started happening outside of the game. Playdead has been hinting at their upcoming game with it.
The ongoing efforts to solve the puzzles and mysteries is happening at the unofficial Playdead Discord server: https://discord.gg/dS7uYDNzrw
Would like to help out with the documentation? check this section.
This is required reading to understand what has happened so far, and the state of some of the currently active puzzles.
- Imgur with early secrets and mysteries uncovered in the game
- A good summary of most of the so far solved ARG puzzles
These are the things we are currently trying to figure out:
Playdead in collaboration with iam8bit made a special collector's edition (hereby referred to as CE).
It started to be received by December 12, 2019. That's when iam8bit released this making of video, revealing the content of the CE which was previously unknown: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vG2A0BjMiY
And this is the final result itself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhCdGdqCIRU
The stickers that seal the wrapping contain a puzzle.
This is what those stickers look like:
The community has since been trying to get detailed pictures of each. We are gathering every sticker we've found here: stickers.md (if you have one, please let us know at the Playdead Unofficial Discord)
This is what we know so far:
- Each sticker has a unique three digit number (supposedly that would be the copy number). As of December 2020, we have evidence to believe that no more than 500 copies are out there in the world.
- Each sticker has one of three symbols: a dot, a slash or a dash.
- Each sticker has one of nine different texture images. (We have identified them with letters, from A to I)
The symbols (a dot, a dash and a slash), which had been previously used in the printer strings might reveal another message or code. We have yet to find several consecutively numbered stickers, since that might be the order needed to arrange them. If this is the case, it is expected that it won't be required to gather ALL the stickers (many of them have already been confirmed to have been lost or thrown away), but rather a much smaller number of them (or so we hope!).
For instance, if the string was of 10 characters long, it could have been repeated 50 times to give it a very good margin of error. However, so far the printer strings have been far longer than that (often 32 characters long, across many lines).
Underneath the symbol of the sticker, there is one of nine different image textures comprised of little dots (which depending on the distance and angle, can be hard to be seen). When arranged together solving the mini-puzzle, an image is formed (the letters A to I were added to identify each of the pieces).
Chronology of events:
- February 1, 2020 - Early attempt at putting it together. (discord source)
- Letters A to I are used to identify each of the images. (discord source)
- February 21 - Early attempt at figuring out what the image was. (discord source)
- It is observed that the background image is the in-game printer. (discord source)
- March 19 - The first "C" is found thus getting all the pieces of the puzzle. (discord source)
- All 9 pieces together for the first time. (discord source)
- March 20 - It is first considered that the code contained in the puzzle, could be a URL:
uat/5345rn9653f9i8nmd(discord source) - March 21 - The
terminal41.link/dat/directory is "discovered" and soon after associated with the puzzle (even though the URLhttp://terminal41.link/dat/breach_contribution_reg.htmlhad already been known for several months). (discord source) - April 6 - A "C" image featuring a dash is found, thus enabling a clearer read on some of the characters which were partly concealed underneath a slash in all the previously found "C" images. (discord source)
- Based on that sticker, there was now more evidence to believe there was a number 6 in the code. (discord source)
- By now it had been considered that the solution could be:
dat/534brn9653f9i8rndordat/534brn9653f9i8nmdyet neither URL was correct. - April 20 - Youtuber oddheader covers still unsolved easter eggs and mysteries in video games, INSIDE among them. Which attracts new people to the ARG and the Discord. (discord source)
- April 21 - A new discord member (attracted by said youtube video) looks into the Terminal41 website index and uncovers a few previously unknown URLs:
http://terminal41.link/sys/terminate_terminal/41/terminate.html
http://terminal41.link/dat/534brn9653f9j8mmd/
http://terminal41.link/sys/terminate_terminal/41/y/
http://terminal41.link/sys/terminateall.html
Explanation of what happened during the night of April 21st
Someone looking into the index of http://terminal41.link/ found the above mentioned URLs. That's when this one: http://terminal41.link/dat/534brn9653f9j8mmd/ was immediately recognized to be the solution to the 9 piece puzzle.
When going to http://terminal41.link/sys/terminate_terminal/41/terminate.html (archived here) a prompt to terminate the terminal was proposed. Inputing "y" in the form of accessing http://terminal41.link/sys/terminate_terminal/41/y/ is believed to have effectively terminated access to the entire Terminal 41 website.
Puzzle SOLVED. Solution:
dat/534brn9653f9j8mmd
Leading to: http://terminal41.link/dat/534brn9653f9j8mmd/ and the "534brn9653f9j8mmd Puzzle".
In the URL: http://terminal41.link/dat/534brn9653f9j8mmd/ there was an HTML page with code for what seems to be a JPG image file.
The terminal41 site is since down, but we are hosting a copy of that page here: http://534brn9653f9j8mmd.surge.sh/
Besides the JPG file code, there are two other interesting things present at the very bottom:
pe^!02un ........ .. . sys/ terminate terminal/ 41/ [conf.]
The last part is a URL for the terminal41 page http://terminal41.link/sys/terminate_terminal/41/ which would have lead to this archived page.
When replacing terminate.html in the URL with a "y" confirmation (http://terminal41.link/sys/terminate_terminal/41/y/), we believe that's when the terminal site was effectively terminated, and thus why it can no longer be accessed.
This still leaves us with: pe^!02un ........ .. . Which we don't yet know where it fits or what it means.
As for the JPG file, it can't be converted as is. There are obfuscated characters which are in place of necessary bits of information.
PS4 cover hidden mystery
Disclaimer: This section is still in its early stages and not fully documented.
On twitter, iam8bit (makers of the CE) tweeted explicitly stating that there is something hidden in the reversible cover of their PS4 edition of INSIDE.
This may be the same for their individual PS4 physical copy, for which they state there is "perhaps, more than it seems".
SCANS
The clock is at 12:12.
https://imgur.com/gallery/ipjWYEz (Discord source)
- 12/15/2019 - B.A.S.E realizes that one of the screens has the acorn (Discord source)
- closeup of acorn (Discord source)
- close up of planet (Discord source)
- other closeup (Discord source)
- closeup of graph (Discord source)
- nothings happens at 12:12PM or AM in that location of the game (Discord source)
On June 23rd, 2020, the MacOS version of INSIDE was released.
As it happened on previous platform releases, this one featured new printer codes.
Chronological events:
- On June 24, people first identifying and posting printer strings. (Discord source)
- User shikshake uploaded footage of the MacOS printer here. (Discord source)
- On June 25, users Shikshake, Raezores and Aperson1 have transcribed all unique lines of code, and have found a total of 16 strings. (Discord source)
- The lines found were as follow:
---- -------- -- ------------
------ --•---- ------- --•------ ---- ----•-
•---- ---- --- ------- -- --- ----------
-- --- - ----- -- ••-- --- ---- -•-- -----
- --•-- -- ---•
---- - -----------•-- ------ ------
-- - •--- -------- ---- ----- ----- --
-•-- ------ ------ -•- -•-- ------ ----•--
----------------- -- •------ ----
-- -- --------
---- -••- •--- -----••- --•-------
--- •----- •--- ----- --- ----•-- --- •---- ----
------• -- --- -------
---- -------- -- • ------•---- -•------
- -------- ---- •- --- -----•- ------- - ----
--- -----••-- ----- --- ----------
- Not long after, user EitherOr suggested the possibility of overlaying a text that could match with each series of dashes and dots, so that the dots correspond to certain letters, and thus unlock a hidden message when putting all those letters together. (Discord source)
- User Mykonos suggested the E. E. Cummings poem which is referenced in INSIDE, and along with user shikshake they realized that it lined up perfectly.
Puzzle SOLVED. Solution: hibernation in progress reboot pending
This is the kind of project that greatly benefits from having people involved, double-checking each other, making sure we have clear and comprehensive information. Help and contributions are greatly welcomed.
If you'd like to help out with this project, please check this page.