a theory involving aslab.
prefacing this theory with this meme. i'm not eloquent, take it with a grain of salt.
pictured: me talking about outlast lore at any time with my friends.
so as many of you know, i found an interesting bit of lore that many people may not be aware of: an article by miles upshur, which i believe to have been promotional material for the first game, mentions the murkoff water purification company, aslab. you can read that document yourselves below:
the devil's bargain.
now the aslab logo appears again in whistleblower during the introduction of the hospital chapter, when we encounter the walrider. for what reason? your guess is as good as mine, but i assume that it was placed as an easter egg. though i can't determine the plot significance of the reappearance, i can only assume it means aslab is relevant, and perhaps even somehow connected to the morphogenic engine experiments... dennis is also notable for his mentions of a life threatening flood and concern with water, which could potentially be a reference towards murkoff's aslab water plants? blake mentions the lake is poisoned in the second game. it's a stretch, but...
the only in-game reference to aslab. what could it mean?
now comes the bigger and more concrete connection to the story. remember paul marion from the murkoff account? he approaches an fbi office in detroit, michigan to give his testimony about murkoff's crimes. here he is severely injured and seems to have barely made it to their onsite hospital.
probably didn't travel too far with a wound like that.
the fbi on-site hospital is located in detroit, mi.
but why was paul in detroit, and how could he have sustained that wound? if you recall from the article written by miles... the three new aslab purification plants, built by murkoff, are also located here. could this perhaps be an important connection to murkoff, a possible setting in the future games?
there is one other avenue of connection i've considered, though it's a shot in the dark.
richard nixon?
again?
miles' passwords reference watergate...
maybe aslab is some kind of watergate reference... or maybe i really am just reaching again.
