'Westworld' ARG: Season 2 spoilers are already showing up on this official site
The Westworld season finale aired last night with a few difficult-to-foresee twists and turns. Thankfully, a new alternate-reality game, or ARG, will help us make sense of the chaos while we wait for Westworld season 2.
ARGs incorporate elements of the real world but take place within a fictional narrative, effectively turning the player into a character. The semblance of reality in an ARG depends on the interactions with either physical locations or objects in the real world. It is up to the players to solve those puzzles.
The new Westworld ARG places you as a guest at Westworld trying to make sense of what's happening in the park following the events of last night's season finale. Based on what we've learned so far, it doesn't look good for the guests.
Spoiler alert: The Westwood ARG gives clues to the future of the show. If you want to be entirely surprised by season two, you may want to stop reading.
Westwood ARG: How to play
The door to the new Westworld ARG is located on the Delos Incorporated website. In the show, Delos Incorporated is the company that owns Westworld. Directions, advice and how-to's for getting starting in the game can be found on the Westworld subreddit.
On the Delos Incorporated page, in the login field in the upper right-hand corner of the screen that reads "Admin," type in "reverie" and hit enter. Reveries are the glimpses into past lives and prior builds that eventually woke up some of the hosts in Westworld, so with a login name like "reverie," you know something interesting is coming.
Westworld ARG: Spotting hints and spoilers for season 2
Forgive the potential spoiler, but holy crap — is Elsie Hughes alive?
When you log in with the word "reverie," the screen that follows includes a section of code that, when translated, leads to a website containing a clue about the missing character.
We thought Bernard had dispatched Elsie in season one, but... maybe not? This is the sole image that appears on the website:
Who knows? Maybe someone just has her tablet. But, like many of the Westworld's little Easter eggs and hidden clues, the image was clearly included to get the prediction mill turning.
Westworld ARG: Pretend you're a guest in this text-based adventure
On the Westworld subreddit, redditor yenwood posted shortly after the season finale aired that the Discover Westworld website had been updated. Now the site kicks off with a creepy video of a host in distress before turning into a "choose your own adventure" story.
In the story, you are having a conversation with someone named Aeden, who may or may not be a host. You seem to be a guest, and it seems as though the chaotic events of the Westworld season one finale have already taken place.
If you can find your way to the control room, the game ends and the login screen for the Delos Incorporated website loads instead, which leads to the video of Elsie. Other choices lead you to speculation as to the fate of the Delos Incorporated board, the Man in Black, Bernard, Teddy and Dolores.
You can also type queries into the "ask" field at the bottom of the screen. Rudimentary questions like "What do you hear" and "What issue?" can generate responses, but they all lead back to the same place, which seems to be the host revolution that began at the end of the first season of Westwood. Season two is sure to kick off with a bang, and probably with some stabbing and hacking, as well.
