Where Every Scroll is a New Adventure
Look Outside - Blog Posts
Pre-Visitor Hellen.... I rlly wanted her face to match how she talks, thus I gave her the biggest RBF ever. She means well, though. Also, I hc'd that she has reading glasses VuV (she still uses them in her afflicted form)
I get sad thinking about characters prior to the games timeline. She really did just simply wanted to just wanted to tend to her plants and nothing more. She was rlly driven to survival mode
Body Horror warning bellow, it's my interpretation of her face's transformation...
doodled some Look Outside characters... Do wanna draw something more properstyle of 'em some time...
Here's a little headcanon for everybody: the moment Sam was beamed up, he began to mutate. His brain kind of refused to acknowledge that so he was hallucinating himself as a normal human for the entire encounter out of the power of sheer denial. Being suspended in the void probably also helped with numbing his senses n shit.
Oh also since Sam was hallucinating himself as a human the entire time, the Visitor didn't really see human Sam. The entire time, it thought it was talking to a mini version of itself.
Also also Sam having mutated into a giant tree thing is the reason why the Visitor seems so small in the encounter in comparison to other depictions of it, as Sam was actually bigger than he knew. Not to say the Visitor is tiny in the encounter because that eyeball is big as fuck, but there's a significant difference between "the eyeball taking up the entire screen" and "the eyeball literally filling the entire fucking sky."
I'M SORRY
I JUST LOVE THE AUDIO and thought it fitted the game so well x)
It’s so fucking funny that Xaria has dialogue that refers to a completely unimplemented character. Refers to them as if they were in the room, no less. And not one single person in the fandom (that I’ve seen anyways) has asked ‘Who the FUCK is Juicebox??’.
designs for the astronomers hoods down :)
Chill pixel art stream, might work on some minor things for Look Outside 1.04! Tune in here -
Sorry, I canonised them. yeah, they're saints now. sorry.
YES THE TIGER IS OUT
still haven’t looked outside #builtdifferent
EMERGES . IM ..... NORMAL about thse two ... (monty from my bf) iwjruhneebg xaria and monty.....
WEEWHH been obsessed over look outside since its demos..... heres my favs <:] (sam, lyle, xaria...... ) monty from my bf
How it feels to go the roof and Exposure starts playing while the world around you is in horrible irreversible damage but you never expect that the end of the world could be so beautiful
I asked and Frankie said it was just some meta info like how you can see the enemies names or the cage has a name on it but we don't see it but it's not entirely confirmed. In my heart, Sam named it cinnamon because he had a childhood cat also named cinnamon.
Is the hamster named cinnamon because Sam named it or is there something in the apartment that states that? Asking for fanfiction purposes.
Personal headcannon of what Leigh looked like before the events of the game. I find it really interesting how she mentions to be thriving more as a monster, than her old life as a shopkeeper. I'm gonna assume she had either a mundane life, or maybe even lacked freedom and autonomy in some way.
Anyways, personal headcannons:
- the shop she ran was a family buisness
- she was shorter
- she still was incredibly competitive and a fragile ego, just to a less intense degree
- she still loves poker (I have no evidence it's just a funny thought that her smiling and giggling constantly makes it hard to read her emotions)
I have more but I'm tired I'll share em another time
Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Look Outside (Video Game) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Hellen (Look Outside), Lyle (Look Outside) Additional Tags: Stalking Summary:
Hellen runs a late night errand
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 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).
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.
A Look Outside Movie (2030). Lyle is played by Jack Black. Upon him yelling “PHOTO PAPER!” the entire audience screams loud enough to shatter the projector and transmutates into horrible creatures
Was literally wondering when someone would make a comp with some of the interactions. But good lord, 1 hour and its just the video games?!
Look Outside Posting part 3: Inside
Today we'll be discussing the warping of interior spaces in the apartment.
Credit to this post by @bunnieswithknives about Sybil being the flesh moss. I REALLY like the theory that floor 1 is an endless maze because Sybil is unconsciously trying to keep everyone in away from windows- it's delightful.
But that being said, it's not enough to explain the sheer number of distinct room-distortion effects happening in the building. Many of them seem notably indifferent or hostile in intent, and not all of them are from people who are actually physically fused with the rooms.
To review some of them:
The Grinning Beast's disappearing doorway and stretching hall. (And quite possibly Lyle's stretched bathroom too - credit to @contract-crawdad for noticing the similarity there.)
The landlord's apartment: time dilation, more and more rooms being inserted, the door in the back returning to the front, and a false "outside" battlefield. Almost certainly connected to the mutated landlord.
The infinite floor 1, and the infinite hallway in apartment 13. I actually think these are thanks to Rat Hole and his twin, the Mouth - they're entwined in the walls there, the two phenomena are similar, and Rat Hole mentions something about "infinite length" in his horrifying ramble about how he got this way.
The Stargazer's dark and light versions of the same apartment, including the dark version somehow extending next door into what should be Sam's apartment 33.
The dark pits that there is definitely not space for between some of the floors (rat rooms and teeth apartment, especially).
Possibly some of the themed room environments, like the taxidermy walls and the abundant greenery in the plant room.
The point to all this: this is a recurring phenomenon, and it crops up in different ways, in different localized areas. There's a mechanism behind it, beyond just the unexplainable powers some monsters get.
Isn't it weird that interior rooms are changing? They're practically defined by being places the Visitor can't see. Maybe that's the crux of it?
The common factor is areas frequented by certain Witnesses - possibly ones that are less than sane in particular, as Mutt's Fish and Chips and the boiler room camp seem fine, or possibly places that are the stomping grounds of only one particular mutant or type of mutant.
Per Part 1, witnesses have become, in effect, tiny extensions of the Visitor. It can't see through them that well, or being seen by them would be enough to transform you too.
But, maybe, the places they're familiar with can be picked up by it a little - enough for the warping effects of its perception to manifest.
I do wish we saw enough of the outside to say whether anything comparable might have happened to Earth's landscape, which the Visitor saw directly. Maybe its view being filtered through an unfamiliar brain and senses is necessary for this to happen so dramatically.
Look Outside Posting Part 2: Infectious Mutations
Today we're talking about the contagious mutants. The tooth family, the rats, the hands from the bus, and so on (including those, like the SWAT truck, that fuse with their victims as part of the process).
These, I suspect, are more common than we actually see firsthand.
I think the likeliest explanation for most of the groups of enemies with similar themes is that they're from one or two people getting witnessed, and then attacking everyone else around until they're all a big, happy monster family. People just looking together, if they don't merge into a single amalgamation, doesn't appear to necessarily give them similar monstrous forms.
You would also expect a lot lower than a 100% mutation rate for, say, Vincent's party, which had at least seven people present, and not that big of a window in the apartment - someone would avoid the window where weird things were happening, try to flee, or at least get killed by one of the Onlookers and end up as a corpse on the floor. Same goes for the taxidermy or frozen apartments.
I think Vincent's party had two primary witnesses: Vincent, and the Gawker in the bathroom (who's at a later stage than the others).
And for something a lot of players might never find out about - the concealed eyeball gang is actually the one and only non-ending chance Sam has in the game to get infected by a monster himself, to my knowledge. There's a random event that can occur at the table, where Sam has an intrusive thought to cut himself open and see if he has eyes inside him like the wounded man at the beginning - and there's a 1 in 3 chance that his hunch turns out to be correct. Neato!
Anyway. It also struck me as strange that, in the endings where something doesn't literally, physically, personally grow to reach around the entire earth, there isn't a whole new zombie apocalypse with whichever infectious mutation happened to fare the best in the arms race. We know that this mechanism still works after the Visitor leaves, because of the Truth ending... so what I think is that in order to be an infectious mutant, you have to be a primary witness, i.e. people you infect can't continue to spread it - naturally limiting any potential outbreaks to direct contact with their single carrier.
I searched for a counterexample, but couldn't find any among the game's enemies. Rafta was a witness herself, the pipe men that got Placide were witnesses, the Rat King has plenty of mouths to be responsible for all the rats (though I still wonder where all those people even came from).
I thought for a moment that the landlord's attack might disprove it- HOWEVER! From Memorial's account of events on the bus, all of the mutated passengers were infected by a single witness, who exploded into dozens of tiny crawling hands that climbed on everyone. Very similar to the ones that that attacker was keeping in its stomach to release onto the landlord! How...... sweet? Some of the passengers literally scooped up a little of their primary witness to share. I guess it's nice that tiny hands guy is still alive?
It also makes it a little more plausible that Sam (and whichever companions) got through hand-to-hand combat with so damn many potentially contagious creatures without anybody getting turned.
Why this happens in the first place, seems to follow pretty naturally from my previous post's theories. The Visitor isn't great at telling individuals apart at the best of times. If I hold you close, or draw your blood... the division between our separate flesh blurs, and something might slip across.
I think about this moment a lot. How does it feel to stand before a grand, incomprehensible entity from the cosmos and hear them sincerely apologise for everything they've done?
Porque Te Vas
Would Lyle ever know/find out what Sam turned into during the Denial Ending?
You know when dogs start whale eyeing when stressed-
I like him a lotttt
I love drawing his dumb stinking face and giant bug eyeballs so much
More rough notebook doodles that I'm just moving out the way
Xaria and Monty are other favs of mine <333
Oh also spoiler warning ⚠️
Also does anyone even remember Ernest? He's prolly the one companion I forget the most RIP