Outer Wilds Echoes of the Eye walkthrough – River Lowlands guide (2024)

In this Outer Wilds: Echoes of the Eye River Lowlands walkthrough, we’ll describe how to navigate this area, discover hidden reels, and how to provide light to view them.

Upon entering The Stranger, you will emerge into the River Lowlands. In this area, you should see a raft ahead of you, and a river flowing. This is where you will most likely begin your Echoes of the Eye journey, so it’s a great place for us to start, too.

River Lowlands walkthrough table of contents

• The Raft
• The Artifact
• Burnt Reels
• Hidden Reel 1
• Ritual Hut

The Raft

The raft is crucial for navigating The Stranger’s watery paths. As such, it’s important to know how to pilot it. First, you need to push the raft into the water by following the prompt that appears when you approach.

Image: Mobius Digital/Annapurna Interactive via Polygon

Once the raft is in the water, turn your attention to the four green orbs on board. These are the key to piloting the vessel, and you interact with them in much the same way you interacted with the turnstile that gave you entrance to the Stranger to begin with. Turn your flashlight on and point it at the orb facing in the direction you want to go. It’s that simple!

The Stranger is built with these vessels in mind, and as you navigate the world you will spot wooden platforms emitting a beam of light. When you float beneath these platforms they will drop ropes to lift your raft up.

The Artifact

Take the raft down the river and you’ll spot a wooden building on the right bank. Dock the raft, and you’ll get a warning that there’s ghost matter nearby. You can use the Scout Launcher to reveal any areas where there is ghost matter by launching a scout. If you do so, you’ll eventually find that the path you need runs parallel to the treeline in an L-shape along the bank.

Follow this path to reach the underside of the building, where you’ll see a hole in the floor. Stand on the wooden ramp on the ground and use your jetpack to boost into the building. On a desk, find a mysterious metal artifact. This object is crucial to completing Echoes of the Eye, and you will likely return to this cabin many times.

Burnt Reels

Across the river, you should spot a wooden building on stilts, the outside of which is painted with white, red, and yellow symbols.

Image: Mobius Digital/Annapurna Interactive via Polygon

This building can be entered easily from the side, but its front door provides a useful lesson for the rest of your time in Echoes of the Eye. Shine your flashlight on the door and the arrow on it will begin to move in a circle. Stop the arrow when it’s on the right side of the circle to open the door. There are many similar doors in The Stranger and they all work the same way.

Image: Mobius Digital/Annapurna Interactive via Polygon

Once inside, you should see a room with a projector, a control device, and a white wall. Walk up the stairs in the back of the hut and you’ll find two reels. These can be inserted into the projector on the lower floor. But, in order to play them, you will need a source of light and your flashlight isn’t compatible. Fortunately, there’s another hut across the river that’s loaded with lanterns. There are three similar structures in The Stranger, and they will play a big role in the rest of this DLC. But, for now, you just need the lantern, so grab one and head back to the other hut.

Approach the projector, which will offer a prompt to insert the lantern. Do so, and the projector is now ready to play both of the slides you found upstairs. One, which shows a ringed planet on the exterior, depicts a creature with an owl’s face and a deer’s antlers witnessing a strange astral phenomenon and traveling, via The Stranger, to find this phenomenon. Much of the reel is burnt. The second reel, on its exterior, shows a circular symbol with multiple smaller circles inside. This shows a strange vessel closing and one of the owl creatures looking at it through a wooden statue with a large hole in the center. This reel is also burnt.

Hidden Reel 1

The River Lowlands also hide one of three reels that contain vital information for the later game. To find this reel, you will need to uncover a secret entrance. Near the projection building, notice a thicket of trees in shallow water.

Enter the thicket and you will discover a big metal grate with gaps that are large enough for you to slip through. Inside the grate, you can go in two directions. To your right, there is a tunnel that leads to an unlockable door that opens back into the projection building. Open it for easy access between the two areas.

Take the route on the left instead, and you will discover a room that’s littered with piles of reels. There is also a tank where you can refuel your jetpack and a metal device where a reel can fit. Ignore these and follow the stairs down to a room where a lantern sits in front of a portrait of an owl creature. Remove the lantern and a reel will appear. This will also cause the door behind you to close. Take the reel and look up to the ceiling where you will see a hole, then boost through it.

Take the reel back to the projection building. The reel shows an owl creature carrying a shield-like object bearing the circular symbol from the burnt reel. The creature enters a large wooden building and walks through a fire into a secret room. This is your clue for navigating Shrouded Woodlands.

Ritual Hut

Image: Mobius Digital/Annapurna Interactive via Polygon

There is one more important location in the River Lowlands: the Ritual Hut, containing murals of the owl people, where you found the lantern. In fact, it’s so important that we’re going to save it for another guide. From here, you can move onto the Cinder Isles.