Where is Blackrock Prison? Are the power lines a clue?

[I'll be the one]

So ever since the end of Episode 2 my theory was that Winding River will connect to a new region. Today 9/7/2021 there is artwork in which we see power lines connecting to the prison. There are power lines from the dam going somewhere. Possible?

2) Still going with Astrid getting to Perseverance Mills from Desolation Point.

[IFIYGD]

I.m interested to know where the new region will be as well. But there are power lines all over the place in this game, and the prison may well have its own power plant. We don't have a region with an electric generation plant in it anywhere yet, IIRC. So Blackrock Prison/Blackrock Mountain may be where it was built, with lines strung out to other regions as the island population grew over time.
Survival Mode does not contain much lore or backstory about the island, other than what was added with Buffer Memories, Polaroids and Notes Left Behind. Story Mode seems to be revealing more of the history and lore of the island than Survival Mode was ever meant to. The game was originally intended to be an episodic story mode game, with the story slowly built over time.

Raph does say the new region will hopefully be added before the end of the year (in Survival Mode). But I can't wait to play Episode 4, and see what other history of the island is revealed with the prison complex.

[I'll be the one]

Originally posted by IFIYGD:

I.m interested to know where the new region will be as well. But there are power lines all over the place in this game, and the prison may well have its own power plant. We don't have a region with an electric generation plant in it anywhere yet, IIRC. So Blackrock Prison/Blackrock Mountain may be where it was built, with lines strung out to other regions as the island population grew over time.
Survival Mode does not contain much lore or backstory about the island, other than what was added with Buffer Memories, Polaroids and Notes Left Behind. Story Mode seems to be revealing more of the history and lore of the island than Survival Mode was ever meant to. The game was originally intended to be an episodic story mode game, with the story slowly built over time.

Raph does say the new region will hopefully be added before the end of the year (in Survival Mode). But I can't wait to play Episode 4, and see what other history of the island is revealed with the prison complex.

The power lines as in ML,FM and CH are about 40 ft in height. The Electrical Transmission towers are 3 times taller. The prison may have it's own power source and the art work could be misleading. This is my belief and would love to bet a stack of pancakes if you are up for it. LOL!!

[IFIYGD]

Lol! I never gamble with Pancakes. Never.
But you're right. I forget that the dam IS the power plant. So a second one at the Prison does not make much sense. (How the heck did I forget the dam was the power generation source on the island? I will blame it on not enough Pancakes...)
So the high tension lines and towers going to the prison, directly from the dam does make sense. And looking at the world map in this guide: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2048234139
there is an image on the in-game map of mountains (pretty big ones) above ML and PV. Blackrock Mountain, in the banner artwork on the Dev Diary is HUGE. So that big, giant bunch of mountains on the world map makes sense, for sure, and would be close enough to being in line with where Carter Hydro is.
Now I am wondering if Will escapes the Dam, and follows the high tension lines and towers to the prison complex, rather than going through WR and PV. Years back, a number of us found a way to get off map along the tower line behind the dam, before Hinterland closed that hole in the invisible walls off, though I never found anything but a large snowy expanse, before falling through the world. That off-map area now makes a little more sense, as far as why it existed and why we were not supposed to go there.

[I'll be the one]

Originally posted by IFIYGD:

Lol! I never gamble with Pancakes. Never.
But you're right. I forget that the dam IS the power plant. So a second one at the Prison does not make much sense. (How the heck did I forget the dam was the power generation source on the island? I will blame it on not enough Pancakes...)
So the high tension lines and towers going to the prison, directly from the dam does make sense. And looking at the world map in this guide: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2048234139
there is an image on the in-game map of mountains (pretty big ones) above ML and PV. Blackrock Mountain, in the banner artwork on the Dev Diary is HUGE. So that big, giant bunch of mountains on the world map makes sense, for sure, and would be close enough to being in line with where Carter Hydro is.
Now I am wondering if Will escapes the Dam, and follows the high tension lines and towers to the prison complex, rather than going through WR and PV. Years back, a number of us found a way to get off map along the tower line behind the dam, before Hinterland closed that hole in the invisible walls off, though I never found anything but a large snowy expanse, before falling through the world. That off-map area now makes a little more sense, as far as why it existed and why we were not supposed to go there.

Just to clarify my theory, If we are on the ice with the dam behind us and follow the river straight we come to a dead end. This is where I believe the entrance is. The problem that should be pointed out the line of transmission towers veer towards Pleasant Valley. Maybe we have to go through the transition cave.

[I'll be the one]

Originally posted by JayXL:

I think there's going to be a new path from WR into Blackrock.. that space between PV and MT just looks too perfect, and could connect multiple dead ends. There's at least two spots in WR that could be opened up into new pathways.

That new artwork is awesome!

Agreed

[IFIYGD]

I'm also wondering if TWM and DP will eventually get linked together, with Blackrock, maybe in episode 5? Just looking back at the OG world map from Early access days, and there is that red-shaded Ep3- ??? area along the coast, the green shaded EP1 area appears to be Milton, the Ep2 area appears to be FM and BR.

There's a chance that all of the one-way-in-one-way-out regions could be connected at the end, after Episode 5. PM- I am wondering if it will be in that red-shaded area along the coast, not inland like PV, ML and (apparently) Blackrock Mountain.

[I'll be the one]

Originally posted by IFIYGD:

I'm also wondering if TWM and DP will eventually get linked together, with Blackrock, maybe in episode 5? Just looking back at the OG world map from Early access days, and there is that red-shaded Ep3- ??? area along the coast, the green shaded EP1 area appears to be Milton, the Ep2 area appears to be FM and BR.

There's a chance that all of the one-way-in-one-way-out regions could be connected at the end, after Episode 5. PM- I am wondering if it will be in that red-shaded area along the coast, not inland like PV, ML and (apparently) Blackrock Mountain.

Was wondering that myself, There is a big gap TWM and AC to CH and DP. I do not see Astrid going to ML or BI. My guess is DP and then Perseverance Mills is North of DP by way of the Broken Bridge or Scruffy's cave.

[IFIYGD]

Yep. there are a couple of places in the cave that could be opened up, but I have been eyeing that road on the other side of the broken bridge for ages, trying to figure out how a way up there could be put in. Coastline- we don't have a sea cave yet, lol.

[IFIYGD]

Originally posted by JayXL:

Originally posted by IFIYGD:

Yep. there are a couple of places in the cave that could be opened up, but I have been eyeing that road on the other side of the broken bridge for ages, trying to figure out how a way up there could be put in. Coastline- we don't have a sea cave yet, lol.

You and your mountain goating ways have been lamenting that broken bridge since I first met you lol. I'm surprised you never found a way up there!

It's not like I haven't tried (and died) many times, lol.

[caviarus]

What about the tunnel from MT by the Gas Station with a Prison Bus? That must lead to a new passage or region. So the Prison is not far from it. That's a clue.

[I'll be the one]

Originally posted by caviarus:

What about the tunnel from MT by the Gas Station with a Prison Bus? That must lead to a new passage or region. So the Prison is not far from it. That's a clue.

Definitely, That means there is a region North of ML.While we are talking about the prison bus a couple of questions come to mind. Why were the prisoners out in the first place? Is there a region near The Spruce Bridge that is on the other side of Milton?

[caviarus]

Right. The pavement does not exist in ML, so the road must connect PV and MT. Prisoners could possibly work in tree cutting business in MT.

[iwasa]

I was looking to update my screenshot of the Great Bear Island world map and noticed that many of the region markers are back about where they should be. No more being squeezed out of position.

Assuming that the world map is not going to be significantly expanded, there were two possible [sort of] blank areas where the Blackrock mountain region and prison could be located. Basically (this is a rough approximation) between Hushed River Valley and Timberwolf Mountain or the area (map) east from Pleasant Valley and (map) north from Desolation Point. You can check the in-game world map.

Because Will and Astrid are physically separated by a not inconsiderable distance (and don't know where the other is) it would seem likely that the new Blackrock region would be in the void between Hushed River Valley and Timberwolf Mountain or some place thereabouts since it looks like Will and the prison will be associated with each other. Astrid would be engaged, in her area i.e. Coastal Highway, maybe Crumbling Highway, maybe Desolation Point, with locating resources perhaps rendering aid with hopefully more variety than plane crash survivors.

It might be that episode 4 might actually open a road corridor along the coast north out of Desolation that would lead to Perseverance Mills (alternately there might be a boat for "fast travel" somewhere in Coastal Highway or Desolation Point). Similarly, the road north out of Pleasant Valley through or past Blackrock region might continue on to Perseverance Mills too.

[Halliwax]

Given the location of the bus in episode 1, it makes sense that Blackrock would be past Spruce Falls Bridge. But for routing for Will to work out, there would also have to be some other connection out to Winding River or Pleasant Valley that's traversable by foot, but not by car.

[Jaspo]

Will was trying to get to Perseverence Mills, which is almost certainly on the east coast, to the east of Timberwolf Mountain or Ash Canyon. However, Blackrock Prison is clearly on the road between Milton and Thomson's Crossing. The bus crashed on that road near Milton, after all, and Astrid almost froze to death in Pleasant Valley on that same road after running from the inmates. So the two guaranteed transitions are from MT on the highway past the spruce falls bridge, and from PV at the long bend. They may not be passable in story mode, but will be the access points when it is added to survival. It will be interesting to see if a transition is added from Winding River or NW Mystery Lake as well. It'll be nice having access to MT near HRV from PV, certainly.