Subterranean (2024)

Contents

In Saint's version, Filtration System is lit up with slow-moving lights identical to those in the Depths, and the lower rooms introduce a wavy effect identical to the cave rooms in the Depths. Void Spawn also appear in numerous amounts in these rooms.

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The Depths is the deepest area in the game and can be accessed through a shaft at the bottom of Filtration System. There is no threat of Rain, and no creatures spawn aside from the Guardians to the west of the temple compound. There is no simple way to climb back up the entrance shaft.

The upper area in the Depths contains a series of temple and shrine-like structures. In order to progress beyond this compound, the player must have unlocked the 10th Karma level, typically acquired by visiting Five Pebbles or visiting four Echoes. A small room near the entrance of Depths raises Slugcat's Karma to their current max level. Attempting to move past the Guardians without a maximum karma of 10 results in the Guardians throwing Slugcat back to the start of the room. Repeated attempts cause Slugcat to be flung heavily against the ground, resulting in death. Guardians have extremely high health pools and so cannot be killed conventionally.

As the player progresses downwards, the compound gives way to a loose cave system which eventually opens out into a lake of golden dark liquid, known as the Void Sea. Slugcat cannot drown in this liquid, and swimming down into this lake begins the ending sequence.

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In Saint's campaign, the Depths is almost entirely missing, consumed by the Void Sea. Only the pipe leading to Filtration System and a single platform to stand on remain. The background is also mostly gone, replaced with a gold gradient as a background.

Jumping off the platform before Saint reaches attunement causes Saint to loop around to the top of the room. Maneuvering to the side of the room loops Saint to the other side. If Saint has reached attunement, jumping off causes Saint to fall through a series of empty rooms with increasingly bright backgrounds. After the 1st empty room, Saint becomes perpetually stunned and cannot move. The screen eventually fades to white and a black 10th karma symbol fades in. After a short time, the background fades to black and the symbol fades to white at the same time, and the symbol then fades out. Saint falls into Rubicon at this point.

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• There are multiple unintended ways to bypass the Guardians in Depths.
  • With good timing, it is possible to blind them with two Flashbangs for long enough to run past. This was specifically patched out for Hunter in version 1.5.
  • The Guardians can be bypassed by distracting them with a living creature. This works best with small living creatures such as Hazers or Vulture Grubs that can be swallowed and regurgitated repeatedly, aggravating the Guardians more quickly.
  • The exit can be reached by manipulating the Guardians to throw Slugcat straight upwards, then throwing objects to reach the pipe.
  • It is possible to fully despawn the Guardians by interrupting their room loading time. This is considered the simplest and fastest method of the Guardian despawn and is used for any% speedruns.

Spoilers end here.