No Man’s Sky has been linked to an ARG called Waking Titan through a series of glyphs and audio cassettes, and it appears the mystery has just gotten one layer deeper. Popular No Man’s Sky content provider Cobra TV has just received tape nine of 16, and it seemingly tells us a little more about what portals, and the game’s next update, might offer.
Before getting to the speculation, however, let’s recap the audio. You can listen to it in the video below, but here’s the best text transcript of it from reddit’s YourBasicMaths . The portions in brackets are unclear at the time of writing.
“I am alone in this space between worlds. I am alone, but for my thoughts, my words. I am alone, but for you. I see you, you must have known I could. You must have known what this was. Through these travels we come to know ourselves, just as the universe comes to know [us, in turn].
“I cannot step through. I know now that if I do, all of this will be over. Lives come back to me. I’ve seen horrors and blunders wonders. I have been cruel, I have become good and evil. I have grown beyond all such things, [by a fractured life].
“And now I am become you. One day, your voice will speak to you, telling you of something, some signal that needs answering. It will tell you of some secret of the heart of reality, some puzzle that needs to be solved, [plus lest all life falls into decay and oblivion.] Do not listen to it.”
There’s obviously a lot to unpack in this particular message, and, given the vagueness of the text, most of it boils down to pure speculation. That being said, much of the community’s attention in response to this tape has centered around the lore related to the Abandoned Buildings the explorer finds on their journey throughout Hello Games’ limitless universe.
For those who don’t know the story, we’ll offer a quick summary. The Traveler has left messages for the player in these buildings, and they repeatedly reference being called upon by a nondescript voice that pushes them toward a planet called Korvax Prime. After awakening from slumber, the Traveler finds this planet has been totally destroyed. Some sort of cataclysm happened there, but, in the scope of the game, the exact events are not made clear. To make matters even more interesting, the lore ends when the Traveler discovers that the summoning voice is their own from a past dimension.
As far as theories are concerned, that story might go a long way toward understanding the contents of this tape and possibly how portals work. The speaker, whomever she may be, references “stepping through” something that allows her to see “all such things” including “horrors, blunders and wonders. She also mentions the player’s own voice speaking to them, something that happened to the Traveler.
With those thoughts in mind, there are lots of running concepts that potentially explain how portals function. One of the most popular assumptions is that portals in No Man’s Sky could allow us to see a select number of planets from different time periods. Maybe what were initially lush green hills will become a pit of chaos or destruction in the past or future. Maybe by messing with these portals, the player risks getting stuck in the infinite time loop described above.
Whatever the case may be, the speaker seems to imply these portals are dangerous and that the Atlas can speak falsehoods through them. The scenarios we’ve described are far from confirmations, but, if realized, they’d sure add a layer of intrigue for those still playing the game.
If that’s not enough to capture your attention, we should add that the tape also has a B-side too. Past spectrogram and morse code analysis tools have failed to discern what it hides, but the community is currently searching for more answers.
The connection between No Man’s Sky and the Waking Titan ARG is a deep one. For those who want to know more about this portal narrative, read our summary of past events here.
No Man’s Sky is available now on PS4 and PC.
What do you hope to see in No Man’s Sky ’s next big update? Are portals a gateway to a secret time loop? Tell us in the comments section!
