We list here things that seem to have been broken or dismantled, recently and on purpose (which excludes the deterioration of second-civilization buildings due to their age or the holes in third-civilization concrete buildings, which seem to be due to war).
Explanations for such elements can be:
- They have been dismantled to be used elsewhere.
- They have been altered to make the puzzles harder.
- Their alteration is part of the narrative.
- Other explanation?
- Combinations of the above.
Dismantled Elements[]
For reuse[]
- Parts taken from the cargo shipwreck are used in many places:
- Orange containers are used twice in town, once in the ShaddyTrees area, an many times in the Greenhouse building (opening orange container and the room after it, but also below the laser box, and the end of the elevator cage is a container painted in yellow).
- Orange corrugated plates are used in many places (town near the dock, desert's beach, bridges over the river in the quarry, a lot in the logging area that leads to the sawmill, one is partially under columnar basalt at the top of the mountain...)
To make the puzzle harder, but maybe with additional narrative/reuse reasons[]
- Catwalks in the marsh after the magenta exit of the rotating platform; maybe also between the last set of puzzles above the water surface and the moving platform near the dock; and maybe near the floating box of the red exit of the rotating platform (evidence for the existence of such a dismantled platform is visible in this 2013 screenshot).
- Elements of explanation: the dismantled platforms could be the ones used in town on the roof of the building with the maze, but they seem to be of different dimensions. On the other hand, the developers were working heavily on the Marsh and Town almost at the same time: in December 18, 2013, they are working on the marsh since the catwalks are missing in the screenshot. Then in January 30, 2014, they announced a new area which is the town —note the marsh-type platform under construction. Then in February 20, 2014, they announced an update to the marsh. So they could definitely have done things in a way compatible with the narrative that the catwalk removed from the marsh have been used in town.
- Yellow puzzle bridge in the Treehouses.
- Elements of explanation: Puzzles from the treehouses are also used in the corridor with the view on the developers' studio in the Hotel (two pink ones before the corner, two oranges one after the corner, including the one that switchs light) and on the floor of the Caves (one orange, which could actually also function a light switch). Note also how planks have been added in the branches of the tree so that we can still reach the other end of the bridge. So the reason is probably reuse, however it is not clear why these puzzles have been reused in preference of others, nor why the puzzles outside the treehouses are not yellow.
To provide a variation on puzzle mechanics[]
- The speaker in the anechoic chamber in town has been carefully dismantled (the screws are on the floor).
For narrative reasons, but maybe also for reuse[]
- In the ShaddyTrees area, there are a few stone tiles on the ground near the laser box, with panel stands abandoned in the rocky part of the area, and shadows of leaves near the stone tiles that suggest there was additional puzzles in the area that have been removed.
Elements altered or damaged[]
To make the puzzle harder, but maybe with additional narrative reasons[]
- A lot of puzzles in the ShaddyTrees area have been damaged.
- A broken wire in the elevator of the Greenhouse.
- It's the principle of all the puzzles hanging on walls in the Mountain.
- A force plate has been broken in the violet maze of the Keep and some black paint has been spilled over another force plate to prevent using this plate in a solution to the puzzle.
- The branches of some apple trees in the Orchard have been broken.
For unknown reasons[]
- A burnt tree in the Treehouses area?
- The electric wire used in the Environmental Puzzle involving the solar eclipse in the Psalm46 video?