Our Outer Wilds: Echoes of the Eye Hidden Gorge walkthrough, guides you here from the missing bridge found in Cinder Isles and helps you through Burned Reels, a Hidden Reel, the Ghost Matter Path, and the Locked Room.
Table of contents
- Hidden Gorge walkthrough
- Burned Reels
- Hidden Reel 3
- Ghost Matter Path
- The Locked Room
Hidden Gorge walkthrough
The Hidden Gorge isn’t actually that hidden, but it is easy to float past the entrance. From the Cinder Isles, pilot the raft all the way to the right and keep the raft right as you drift down the river. Eventually, you will see a small branch in the stream that forks hard to the right. Take the raft down this easy-to-miss passage and you’ll arrive in the Hidden Gorge, a village with stilted buildings perched high above the water.
If you’re feeling adventurous and/or stubbornly persistent, there is another way to reach the Hidden Gorge. From the banks along the right side of the Reservoir, boost up to the top of the tallest tree. From here, you can pilot your jetpack to the flat cliff and then hop across the river to the cliff and follow along until you reach the entrance that’s visible from the missing bridge. This route is significantly more difficult, but it’s there if you want the challenge (or a fast way to the Hidden Gorge from the Reservoir).
Burned Reels
Two of the burned reels for this area are easy to access, and the third is a little harder to find. The first two are in the projection hut, which is the building on the left side of the gorge with red, yellow, and white paint on the exterior. Go inside and head downstairs to find them both on the shelves.
One has three concentric circles overlapping on it and shows an owl person sealing a mysterious vessel. The other has an artifact on the exterior and depicts the owl people gathering to watch a reel, and then gathering with artifacts around a green fire. The slides between these two scenes are burned.
The third burned reel in this area can be a little tricky to find, but once you learn the trick it’s not too tough.
On the left side of the gorge, there’s a hut with a door that’s locked from the inside. You can’t open it with your flashlight. Instead, head up to the top level and find the crack in the floor. Shoot your scout through the hole and take pictures until you have the arrow almost lined up on the door, then recall the scout. The door should open, giving you access to this area’s burned reel. This one shows an explosion happening on the metal exterior of The Stranger. This is a hint for accessing this area’s locked room. More on that below.
Hidden Reel 3
Finding the Hidden Reel in the Hidden Gorge is a little tricky, but easy enough once you know where to look. Head for the elevator on the left side of the gorge and, without getting on, shine your flashlight on the arrow mechanism to send it down a level.
When it descends, it will leave a hole in the floor. Drop down, and use your jetpack to navigate the leftover ledges until you find a door. Head through to find a room with piles of discarded reels on the floor, and find the corridor that ends in a niche with a portrait of an owl creature and a green lantern. Take the green lantern away from the niche, which will cause a reel to appear in its place. The door will also close behind you, so you need to find a way out.
Enter the room on the left where there is a hole in the wall. Shoot a scout through it and the light of the scout will cause the arrow on the locked door to begin rotating. Take pictures with the scout so that you can see the position of the arrow on the door. When it’s almost in position, recall the scout, causing the door to open. Take the reel and head to the projection room.
The reel will show you a large wooden building lit up with candles. An owl person walks across a gorge that separates two lit candles and uses a wooden statue with a hole in the middle to extinguish the lights in the wooden building. This is your clue for navigating Endless Canyon.
Ghost Matter Path
On the left side of the Hidden Gorge, there’s a path that leads out to the hut you could see from the cliff on the other side of the missing bridge. The only problem is, the path is inundated with ghost matter. Use your scout launcher to find a path through the harmful substance and you’ll emerge on the cliff. Turn left and follow the path to find the hut and unlock the door. This hut contains another steel etching of a star and a mechanism with a complicated lock. You’re safe to ignore this mechanism for now.
The Locked Room
On the right side of the Hidden Gorge, there’s a locked room that you can see into from a balcony above. Unfortunately, the door is locked and there’s no obvious way in. In fact, the entrance can’t be accessed from Hidden Gorge at all. Instead, to access the locked room, you need to approach from outside The Stranger, by locating a breach in the station’s metal hull.
This isn’t as difficult as it seems at first. Before taking off from Timber Hearth, set a course for Hidden Gorge, then fly to The Stranger as usual. When you arrive, don’t dock your ship at the normal entrance. Instead, fly as close as you can to the Hidden Gorge marker on the exterior of The Stranger. When you get close, land your ship on the platform that extends out from the hull and hop out of your ship. If you’re in the right place, you should be able to see a light-activated door through a hole in the hull. Go through the door and you’ve reached the locked room.
Within this space there are three sealed rooms, two of which contain green projections which you can view by approaching the light. There is also a burned reel. The burned reel shows the owl creatures testing out different versions of the artifact. The projections, meanwhile, show these experiments from the perspectives of the owl people doing the testing, with sometimes deadly results.
Once you have access to the Damaged Laboratory, it’s fairly easy to grab one of Outer Wilds’ rarest achievements: “Early Adopter.” Only 1.8 percent of Steam players have earned this achievement as of this writing, and that may be because it comes from doing something obscure and useless which will also kill you. But, if you want it, here goes.
In the laboratory, look inside the opened crate to the right of where you enter from the damaged hull to find a pair of two-thirds constructed artifacts. These have the central glass cylinder and the metal chassis but are missing the vents used to focus the artifact’s beam.
Take one to the Hidden Gorge ritual hut and remove the two lanterns in front of the painting of the ringed planet. This will cause a secret passage to open. Descend the stairs to reach a room with green fire. Sleep in front of it to be transported to a new world… and then immediately die. Congratulations! You are an early adopter and the kinks have not yet been ironed out.
