Details surrounding the incident that occurred here are sketchy and inconsistent, however that must not deter you from your duties as an expendable employee.
The area of undergrowth and forest outside the facility, as well as interior yards, are to be searched thoroughly and cleaned immediately.
The company is expecting more Special Forces teams and other officials to visit the site for further inspection and investigation, once you have completed your operations. So with that in mind, make certain there is no evidence of the previous incident remaining.
Now get to it!
Respawn Brief[]
Sketchy intel from the planet's surface suggests a former sanitation technician has perished. We presume them lost in the jungle, or worse.
Whatever is going on down there, we advise extreme caution.
Ensure the outpost is cleaned, and above all free of said employee's remains, if found.
Exercise care when working near your colleagues, they are to be treated with great suspicion.
The company will not permit further incompetence, so get to it!"
Map[]
Overgrowth appears as a small courtyard walkway surrounding a small garden-like area. A tunnel connects this room to another smaller room filled with several plants and the Vendor. Another curved tunnel leads to an open forest stretching the perimeter of the facility, with high rocks around the border of the area preventing the player from walking too far away from the facility. The forest eventually leads to a raised-platform with another central garden. Another smaller forest can be accessed from a set of stairs on the far end opposite to the facility.
Note: there are multiple designated stacking areas in this level, but there is no distinction between them other than item type (barrel vs crate). It will count the same toward the player's score whether or not the objects are split between their two Stacking Areas, or placed all in one area (with the other empty). The screenshots in the gallery do show barrels grouped by color, but that is not mandatory for this level.
The extraction rates are still on par with our estimates, even with the secondary extraction wheel down for maintenance.
Unobtainium deposits are a staggering 321 parts per million in some areas. With the amount of wealth we get from these deposits, we'll have all we need to fuel the attached colony's development.
If I could just get to the bottom of these disappearences...
I don't know if people are simply getting lost in the jungle, or if there's some wild animal out there. Whatever the case, I've tried to keep suspicions to a minimum in order to maintain our dwindling efficiency.
Date: 25/10/2184 Time: 14:52 GST Identification: Mjr. Dutch Kruger Title: If It Bleeds, I Can Kill It
Primary Objective: Search for any survivors and discover the reason for breakdown of communication with the outpost.
Secondary Objective: Shoot from the hip! ------------------------- A Beta-Terra outpost on Planet 3-J has ceased communication. You are to proceed to the Starport LZ and then make your way inside in search of personnel and any evidence as to the cause of the communication failure. It could be just a downed transmitter, but if it's not, then we want you and your team on the ground. Secure the processing facility. We're counting on you, Dutch...
There is an Easter Egg hidden inside a fern in a small patch of forest to the right of the tunnel exiting into the main area of the level.
A small, pixelated switch can be found behind a pipe in the far upper corner of the map, in the small forested area off the platform that contains the Incinerator. Activating the switch will cause a Shovel to be dropped behind the player. Players can then use that Shovel to "dig" away a large pile of sand disguised as a perimeter rock near the tunnel first leading to the main forest area. It is the 5th from the left. Behind this rock is a small cave using the same blocky-style graphics as Minecraft, and a Minecraft pickaxe balanced on a raised rock near the center of the room.
Tips and Trivia[]
The forest.
The Laser Welder can be found lying in a clearing near the center of the forest.
Overgrowth references several movies, including the movie Predator where an alien in a jungle captures humans, skins them and hangs them from trees, and the movie Avatar, where a human colony is established to mine "unobtainium" from a heavily-forested planet.
One of the names found on notes and a PID is "Jim Hopper". Jim Hopper was one of the first victims discovered in Predator.
The Dead Space Corps soldier sent to solve the crisis, Major Dutch Kruger, is named after Major Alan "Dutch" Schaefer, the protagonist of Predator.
A large curving structure can be seen in the sky surrounding the facility. Although this structure appears somewhat metallic, it may be a further reference to the film, Avatar, in which the skyline is dominated by an extremely huge tree.
The collectible pickaxe is a well-hidden reference to the popular sandbox game, Minecraft.
Trash is hidden in several areas in the areas dense with plant-life. This makes it quite difficult to obtain a perfect score without the use of the Sniffer to find hidden objects.
Several invisible walls are in place above the rocks that form the perimeter of the forest sections in this level. This is to prevent the player from stacking objects such as crates or using the J-HARM to scale these rocks and escape the level.
Three skinned corpses can be found hanging by their feet from several trees in a hidden area towards the middle of the forest (across from the What A Load Disposal Bins machine). One skinned corpse can also be found hanging from a tree in the central garden closest to the Incinerator. Players can either use the J-HARM to grab them, or shoot them down with the Laser Welder.
