Nevermore

Nevermore
Cartridge	The End is Nigh
Previous area	Acceptance

Nevermore is a hidden area that serves as the final area, accessed by jumping into the giant glowing orb in Ruin 21 after Ash has collected at least 450 tumors. The source of tumors does not matter, so extra tumors earned by completing cartridge challenges also count.

Nevermore is located in damp tunnels filled with Mother and ogles. The first level of the area looks like Ruin 21 drained of water and with gravestones replacing the pipes. The background of the area is a swirling vortex of flesh and debris. Nevermore shares its look with The Future (Stevens), suggesting that the two locations are the same.

Nevermore consists of 15 levels and contains no secrets. Nevermore 15 contains 1 cartridge (The End is Nigh). The area also features no NPCs.

Reaching the end of Nevermore and jumping into the escape warp starts the Nevermore Ending cutscene, which is the game's second ending.

Mechanics[ | ]

Nevermore features one unique mechanic - the extra strict lives limit. Entering Nevermore temporarily subtracts 450 tumors from the tumor counter, leaving Ash with a very limited amount of lives. The Past contains 450 tumors exactly, but 52 more can be earned by completing the cartridge challenges.

This means the most tumors Ash can have when he enters Nevermore is 52.

Enemies[ | ]

Ogles - round fleshy blobs that come in two sizes (big ogles and smaller oogles). They can be seen all over The Future and act as passive obstacles, similar to spikes. Touching an ogle kills Ash.
Crunches - round and hostile creatures chained to solid blocks. They will remain near their chain hitch when undisturbed, breathing loudly. When Ash is in range, the crunch will charge towards him, as far as the chain's length allows. After an unsuccessful charge the crunch will stay in place for a bit, recovering, and either charge again if Ash is still around or slowly retreat back to the original position. Touching the crunch, even when it is not charging, kills Ash.
Watchers - flying blobs similar to oogles, visually differentiated from their passive counterpart by their sharp teeth. Watchers will slowly approach Ash at a constant speed. Touching one kills Ash.
Mother - a mass of flesh covering parts of The Future. When Ash gets close enough, Mother begins to expand in his direction, following Ash indefinitely as long as he is in range. If Ash gets far enough away, Mother will start retracting to its original position. Touching the flesh will kill Ash.
Turret (static, single-shot) - a stationary turret firing relatively slow-moving bullets in one direction at even intervals. Touching a bullet or the turret itself kills Ash.
Turret (tracking, single-shot) - a rotating turret which tracks Ash's movement with a slight delay and fires relatively slow-moving bullets at even intervals, as long as it can see Ash.
Turret (tracking, rapid-fire) - a rotating turret which tracks Ash's movement with a slight delay and fires a continuous stream of fast-moving bullets, as long as it can see Ash.

Trivia[ | ]

The music theme of Nevermore is a remix of the second section of Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem (Dies Irae). The same theme is used by The Future.
The cartridge Ash finds at the end of Nevermore is another copy of the corrupted cartridge from the game's intro.