An Outcry: easter eggs, secrets, and general silliness

A guide and place for me to infodump about some of the more niche/missable moments in An Outcry that most people might not have seen before - thank you so much to Quinn for giving me some help in this post, it’s been greatly appreciated!

Easter eggs

There are three available Easter eggs at the current time of writing. These Easter eggs are all available in the FOLLOW route, but none are available in IGNORE or the prologue. I will provide some vague instructions for when these secrets can be hunted for and underneath the spoiler text, I will provide more specific information. All of these Easter eggs are in reference to individuals who the developer of the game - Quinn K - worked with, and are friends with. I have provided context to who these people are and also included some of their own work: support your indie artists!

Graffiti in the Space In-Between

This secret can be discovered around mid game of the FOLLOW route, it has the best opportunity of showing up in an average play through, with a 1/26 chance. As the name suggests, this is found only in the Worker in the Walls' home during gameplay; note that this does NOT appear in the ending sequence of SHELTER, despite the player being in the Space In-Between during this part. This Easter egg can be brute forced best in the section of FOLLOW where Unnamed is asked to follow the lone Shrike - just before the Manshrike news scene. Smoke a cigarette before taking either stairs or elevator down to the bottom floor. This is to avoid having to take the cutscene through the shrike hallway and inside of Anne’s apartment again, but this also makes resetting more convenient in general. Usually, this environment’s brick wall should be empty, but if the Easter egg has activated, there will be a sprawl of black spray paint in the shape of a silly face with some text underneath it. This Easter egg can be interacted with twice - so make sure to do so!


CONTEXT: Amon (pronouns; she/her) is a friend to Quinn and also had a part to play in the game’s development as a SFX artist and, in general, was a large help in the games creation.
Amon has been in the Game Maker community for a long while and has produced games such as; Gyossait, All Of Our Friends Are Dead, Au Sable, and among many more! She’s incredibly talented and her games create this feeling of playing through "nightmare experiences", really imaginative game design.

Friend in the hallway; round one

In between the areas of floor number four, where Unnamed can access the stairway/elevator, there is a random chance that a new character model will appear in the bottom left corner of the room. Go talk to him - I’m sure he isn’t busy with any game development stuff! This interaction can be found at any point post “Shrike-Hallway” in the FOLLOW route, and becomes unavailable to meet any point after Esma’s apartment scene with Anne - this is because the next gameplay section is for our next friend. Approach from any side of the screen and continually walk in and out of screen until Bryce’s sprite shows up.


CONTEXT: Bryce (pronouns; he/him) worked on the pre-renders at the end of the FOLLOW route (aka the first person segment) for An Outcry and is another friend to Quinn.
Bryce has a history of other works too; Protagoras Bleeds which was featured on the Haunted PS1 Demo Disk, Fatum Betula, and Mysteries Under Lake Ophelia. His works are beautifully atmospheric and he has a lot, and I do mean a lot, more work currently in development which already looks incredibly fun.

Friend in the hallway; round two

In between the areas of floor number four, where the player can access the stairway/elevator, during the late game of the FOLLOW route, there is another random percent chance that a new model will appear. She appears on the right side of the screen only after Esma's apartment scene with Anne, but before the player interacts with the Panopticon Shrike. Go talk to her - I’m sure she won’t say anything about having a specific attraction to the building! This interaction is a lot more “brutal” to find due to the small time frame and sudden drop of chance to find this person. I suggest approaching from the right side of the screen to avoid Aster taking a longer walk in animation. Continually walk in and out of screen until her sprite shows up.


CONTEXT: Dusk (pronouns; she/her), obviously, she’s one of Quinn’s friends just like the last two, Dusk produced an impressively large model of the theatre present in ending SHELTER and ending REMORSE. “It's pretty dope, very non-euclidian.” in the wise words of Quinn.
Dusk’s game development history consists of; Apolysis, the demo also being available on the Haunted PS1 Demo Disk (this game was developed alongside their friend “Dawn”), Nightmare Vignette series, and Apocryphauna, with more games available. Dusk has this aesthetic of rust and gore to it’s games which makes for this grossly immersive gameplay experience, a real treasure to play if you’re interested in that grunge style.

Prologue/general secrets

• Cigarette quest

Ever started up a game of An Outcry and only wanted to talk to Anne? Run past everyone else's apartment and go talk to Anne straight away! It’ll give you a secret ending where nothing bad happens. Haha, not really, go collect a lighter and knock on Anne’s door again. She’ll give you a nice chunk of lore as Aster asks who other people on the apartment floor are, and how they’re like.

• Actually… Do you have anything a bit more flashy?

In the prologue Anne will offer Aster a choice of two lighters; a trans flag, and a cool skull lighter, but what if you want something more familiar? Exiting out this option choice will prompt Anne to give you a lighter of Skully, the mascot of the Haunted PS1 Demo Disk series! I haven’t noticed any dialogue differences for later in the game if you’re carrying him around, but it’s still nice to have a silly skeleton in your pocket.

Screenshot from the prologue when Anne offers her lighters.

• Me and my homies hate Schmitt

Surely there couldn’t be just one outcome to the scene where Schmitt and Esma meet in the hallway, right? Exit out the text choice and you’ll find that, this time, Aster will address the argument occurring and will stand up against Schmitt. I thoroughly enjoy Aster's fire burns; "Certainly makes his alone-time more difficult, that aversion to touching garbage.", this dialogue option also changes the way Aster obtains their cigarettes.

• Revisiting the streets of Vienna

There is only one time in the game where it’s required for Aster to leave the apartment building through the front and this happens incredibly early in the game, but this area can actually be revisited at most points during the game (thank you to Anne’s auto buzz, where would we be without her <3)! The environment visually changes as the game continues but also differs depending on which choice you take at the Outcry. Remember; the yellow cursor changes to blue when something can be interacted with multiple times. A lot of the topics discussed here might be hard to read for people who have had similar personal experiences, please, prioritise your wellbeing if anything becomes too much.

Screenshot of Vienna during the FOLLOW route, visited just after Schmitt left the apartment.

• Polaroid photos

Four unique polaroid photos of the residents of the fourth floor can be found; three in FOLLOW (Anne , Eisen, and Aster) and the other one (Schmitt) is found in the IGNORE route. These are relatively easy to find but if you have missed them here are their locations;

• FOLLOW: On the right side of Anne's bedroom, which can be accessed before you leave to go to Esma’s apartment, you can inspect the photo pinned up on the wall.
  
• FOLLOW: Just after Aster leaves Esma’s apartment, travel over to the right screen then enter Eisen’s room as her door has been left ajar. Inspect the left side of the large shelf in the centre of the room. I recommend having brightness up to better view this photo.
  
• FOLLOW: During the first person segment, while you're on the first floor from the bottom, go to your right and inspect the room which has the boxes and cables outside of it and agree to search through the memories.
  
• IGNORE: After Schmit has died, immediately enter his home (or access post-Manshrike drinking scene) and inspect to the left of the bookshelf. A bit of snooping through a dead man’s stuff has never hurt anyone.

FOLLOW secrets

• Cuddle in the sand

This is a silly one and honestly I’m putting it here so that everyone knows how to make Aster happy; you don’t have to drink anything alcoholic! Exit from Anne’s offer of alcohol and ask for a non-alcoholic drink.

• Aster’s Apartment

Aster’s apartment can only be accessed once throughout the entire game and when the lights die out, the ability to check everything, and get what the narration would have originally said, is stripped away. Moreover, a majority of items in their apartment can be checked twice and will reward you with more character insight for our dearest Aster. I personally love looking at that chair in the corner as it has my favourite story behind it, but there’s a lot more to inspect too.

• Daylight robbery

Money is not important in An Outcry but Aster starts with €3, though sometimes this money can be lost during the FOLLOW route, bringing Aster down to €1. This occurrence is determined by the fight between the two shrikes in Aster’s apartments, found under their jacket. Fleeing from his battle will cause the shrikes to rob you, as they take €1 each but beating these birds prevents this money from being stolen.

• “Are we there yet?”

While waiting for the News programme to begin, Aster can ask Esma and Anne (btw these two are girlfriends sorry I don't make the rules <3) when it’s starting. Then, they can ask again. Then again, and again, and again. You should totally keep asking.

IGNORE secrets

• Esma’s fall

Midway through the IGNORE route, shrikes will attack Esma and her children, Deniz and Alp. At this point there are seven separate ways that the player can approach this scene with six of the options affecting dialogue in the walk sequence and/or Anne’s argument. Three of these sequences can be done in the room with Esma and the elevator;

• Do not move. As soon as you enter the room and exit the dialogue of Esma asking for help, stand in that same position. This takes a decent amount of time to sit through, which was an intentional choice, Esma will occasionally plead to Aster too until her demise.
  
• Go up to the elevator and start talking to Esma, then continue doing so.
  
• Exit the room by taking the stairs.

Running to the aid of Deniz and Alp, all you have to do is move the shrike standing in the way of the left hallway and go to the boys. They’re standing just outside Aster’s apartment door;

• “I can’t do this”, select the only option and turn away, tell Esma you did all you could for her children. Fleeing from the battle against the shrikes triggers the same outcome.
  
• Collapse, engage the birds but fall to their attacks, Aster will wake up alone… I wonder what happened to everyone?
  
• Win the battle against the shrikes and bring the boys to safety. This is an incredibly difficult battle and requires a lot of time and patience from the player. I suggest building up braces to dwindle the shrike’s attacks to single digits before considering starting a kick barrage. Alternatively, opting to “prepare” to give Aster a speed boost is also a way to approach this fight, pick your poison.

I suggest making a save before entering this area if you're interesting in collecting every outcome to this. This scene is very heavy emotionally, so again, if anything starts to effect your wellbeing take a break. Come back to the game later when you're feeling more confident.

• Apartment changes

After Anne’s attack by the shrikes, you can enter the rooms of the old tenants with her. Something is a little… Off, though.

Screenshot of the inside of an empty apartment.

• "Top 3 Anne mean moments"

While carrying Anne to the courtyard, there are some intractable areas which will trigger Anne to react rather “flavourful”, to put it nicely, calling Aster very loving nicknames such as… ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ and idiot. Once you bring her out into the courtyard, depending on if you picked the trans flag lighter from her way back in the prologue, then offer the lighter to her, she’ll say “‘Trans rights’. Haha. Vacuous.”. Ouch… :[

Screenshot of the beginning of the ENABLER ending's dialogue while having the trans flag lighter.

Just a lil thing

As I mentioned previously, this is in no way close to a complete guide to finding everything hidden in An Outcry (I haven’t even skimmed over the poems available to read… or gun shrike... or the trash cans...), just a place for me to share what other people might find interesting! An Outcry’s gameplay is unique as a narrative game, with its ability to give every person playing it a unique and individual gaming experience due to all the different choices. Hopefully, this guide encourages you to start up another playthrough,

oh, but this is my first guide and no had no beta for everything past the Easter eggs, so if there is any mistakes just tell me, 'kay? Thanks for reading<3

Remember;
Don't disappear like the smoke into the night.

[house of birds]

tell us about the gun strikes and trash

[rngwrldngnr]

Wow