The most ominous and dangerous planet in Outer Wilds, Dark Bramble, holds one of the keys to beating the game. The intended ending, or the Eye of the Universe ending, requires the player to travel into Dark Bramble and use the Vessel, a ship of a lost alien species called Nomai, trapped inside. The labyrinthian structure and giant anglers swimming about Dark Bramble make traversing the planet difficult, let alone locating and traveling to the Vessel.
Dark Bramble was once a normal planet like the other in the solar system. But one day, a seed landed on the planet, started sprouting thorny branches, and eventually tore the planet apart. What’s left of the planet is a giant, interdimensional seed, much bigger on the inside than on the outside, swarmed with Hearthian-eating angler fish.
As the player explores the solar system in Outer Wilds, they will come to learn about the Vessel, the angler fish, and Dark Bramble. As the player learns, they can start putting their knowledge together and come up with a plan. This guide will teach players how best to navigate past the angler fish and how to locate the Vessel in Dark Bramble’s space-defying interior.
How to Avoid Anglerfish in Outer Wilds
When the player enters Dark Bramble in Outer Wilds, they will come to learn a few things about its layout. The first is the fog and the lights. The fog in Dark Bramble’s seed makes it hard for the player to see very far ahead of them. The only thing the player can see from a far distance is lights. Some of these lights are more Dark Bramble seeds. Entering these seeds will bring the player to a new area of Dark Bramble. The other lights are the lights of giant anglerfishes. Agitating one will cause the fish to roar, swim towards the player and swallow them whole. If an anglerfish catches the player, the player will die and start back at the beginning of the cycle.
While in Dark Bramble, the player can aim their ship towards a light and shoot their scout at it. Snapping pictures with the scout allows the player to see what the scout sees. The player can use this to see if the light they shot at is a seed or an angler. The player does not need to worry about agitating the angler with their scout. Weirdly, the anglers will not react to scouts, even if hit by them. Once the player has identified which lights are safe and which are not, they can fly their ship to avoid the angler lights and move towards the safe lights.
How to Find the Vessel in Outer Wilds
Outer Wilds players can learn of the Vessel and its whereabouts on a set of murals in the Old Settlement on Brittle Hollow. The murals depict the Vessel receiving a signal from the Eye of the Universe, the Vessel being trapped by the branches of Dark Bramble, and three escape pods launching out from the Vessel. Two of the pods made it out, but one of the pods is still stuck in Dark Bramble. As the player may have discovered before, the escape pods came with distress signals. Using the distress signals as guidance, the player can use their Signalscope to locate which seed the escape pod is in. Once the seed has been found and the player has entered, they can continue using the Signalscope to head towards the escape pod.
Once at the escape pod, the player must follow a trail of cubes coming from the pod. These lead to another seed surrounded by floating Nomai bodies. The seed here is too small for the ship or the player to fit through. All the player can do with this seed is shoot their scout into it to see what’s on the other side. Inside, the player will see the Vessel. Instead of retrieving the scout, the player will want to keep the scout there. While the scout acts not only as a way to see things from long distance, but also as a tracking device. The scout is always marked for the player, so if they follow the marker, the scout will be able to take the player right to the Vessel.
The player will notice two markers appear when they shoot the scout through the seed. This is because the portal-like nature of the seeds confuses the scout’s marker. When the player first shoots the scout in, one marker will appear on the small seed, and the other will appear on the red light. Since the player can’t go through the small seed, the red light is the path forward. The red light is another Dark Bramble seed but it has a dangerous surprise on the other side, making for one of the most horrifying journeys of the game.
This seed has the most anglerfish, and three of them are positioned right at the opening. To by them, the player must utilize their blindness. Once the player has entered the red seed, they must stop moving and let themselves drift forward. Despite how close the player is to the anglers, they will not agitate, allowing the player to glide through. To be absolutely sure that they are far enough away from the anglers to use their rockets, the player should wait until the source of the red light—a cluster of unidentified, spherical objects (supposedly anglerfish eggs)—comes into view. Once the player is safe, they can start making their way to the scout’s marker.
Because the player is using the scout to track the Vessel, they cannot retrieve the scout until they are at their destination. This means the player will not be able to use the scout to see how close or far the anglerfish lights are to them. With this in mind, the player must avoid any lights they see in this seed as much as possible and carefully propel themselves towards the scout marker. Maneuvering around the branch blocking the seed, the player can safely enter. On the other side will be the player’s scout and the Vessel, the wonders inside ready to be explored.
Outer Wilds is currently available for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
