On Your Hands

On Your Hands is a puzzle-horror game developed by Skeleton Studios and released on April 24th, 2023. It is the primary source material for Welcome to Ooblterra.

Synopsis

You have no idea where you are. You've awoke on what seems to be an alien planet, with nothing but your flashlight and your wits. All you remember is that you were doing research on teleportation when the experiment went wrong, and you saw a white flash of light... now you're here. The only thing familiar to you is the voice of Mack, your friend and fellow researcher. You're going to need to do what it takes to survive, and make it back to Earth.

Canon Status

Welcome to Ooblterra is semi-canon to On Your Hands. The events taking place (for example, LC's scavengers landing on the planet and collecting scrap) are not canon to the game, but the location itself, the Followers Applied Sciences Division, and the logs found within are.

Any differences in enemy behavior and appearance (for example, the Oobl Ghost) are not ret-cons by WTO, but rather adaptational differences that do not overwrite OYH canon. New things, however, like Baby Lurkers and Adult Wanderers, are extensions of OYH canon.

Story Information

Welcome to Ooblterra sends players to the Followers Applied Sciences Division (FSD) headquarters. The FSD are an offshoot of the Followers Research Division (FRD), formed very shortly after the Moon Landing. Higher-ups and religious leaders in the Followers of the Rainbringer (Followers) society believed that several members of the FSD were too volatile and dangerous to be kept in their important positions, but understood their talent and elected not to dispose of them. Instead, they were given exclusive membership to the FSD, sold to them as an elite club for the FRD's most talented scientists.

The FSD headquarters was purposefully built in a secluded basin bordering the outskirts of the Tentacle Plains. Far enough to be sectioned off from civilized Follower society, but still within it; this way, it could be monitored, and the Followers could defend the HQ from Xeracthin attack and takeover, should tensions turn violent. The FRD and FSD very quickly developed a "tennis ball" interaction with new discoveries, especially related to the Moon Landing; FRD members would scout out new discoveries, and the FSD would do wilder, less controlled experiments on the new discoveries. If an FSD experiment was considered viable, it was quickly transferred and refined by the FRD, who would be credited with the invention in the eyes of the public.

When the Follower-Xeracthin war broke out, most FRD members who survived the initial attack on their headquarters would join the Followers, unless already members of the opposite camp. Allegiances were far more split among FSD members when war broke out. Scorned by the treatment of the Followers, coming to realize that they were being contained and exploited more than revered, many chose to defect, though some remained loyal. As a result of this split, chaos erupted in the facility, and those who were not slaughtered by their former teammates were instead victim of the dangerous creations and creatures the FSD were known for.