Overflow

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**Overflow** is the game's third area, accessed by getting through Arid Flats. It appears to be a collapsing aqueduct, overflowing with water. The area's mechanics are focused around swimming and the toxic timer mechanic, represented by pools of toxic water and clouds of toxic gas, which kill Ash if he stays within them for too long. The area also introduces the player to three new enemy types.

Overflow's main path consists of 20 levels. Main levels contain 20 regular tumors.

Overflow contains 15 secret levels, in which 7 mega tumors and 1 cartridge (River City Rancid) can be collected.

Getting through Overflow leads Ash to The Split.

## Mechanics

### Water

Overflow serves as the first proper introduction of water in the game. A lot of the chapter's gameplay consists of dodging enemies and spikes while swimming. Water does appear in some downwards secrets of earlier areas, but doesn't play a big role in gameplay until Overflow.

### Toxic water

Toxic water functions the same as regular water, except staying in it for too long is deadly to Ash. The imminent death is indicated by Ash blinking white and a "drowning" sound being played more and more frequently, until Ash's body finally pops. Exiting the water even for a moment fully resets the toxic timer. It takes 2 seconds for toxic water to kill Ash.

### Toxic gas

Toxic gas appears in some of Overflow's levels, usually emitted by gaspers. Clouds of gas have the same color as the toxic water and function much the same. Staying inside the cloud for too long without getting any fresh air kills Ash. Toxic water and toxic gas both use the 2 second timer.

## Enemies

Overflow houses four enemy types:

* Fissures - fish-like creatures who use human skulls as a protective shell, much like toasts from Arid Flats. They continuously jump out of the water in various places across the area, following a consistent arc, and usually disappearing into spiky pits at the end of the jump. They are the second "bouncy" enemy type encountered by Ash. Jumping on the skull of the fissure lets Ash bounce off of it and pushes the fissure itself down, changing its trajectory. Touching the side or the bottom of the fissure will kill Ash.
* Paraslags - spiky slug-like creatures which stick to floors and ceilings of the area and remain stationary until Ash approaches them and either walks underneath them or jumps over them. When that happens, paraslag will dash up or down in a straight line, attempting to catch Ash, and will stick to the next surface in its way. Any contact with a paraslag kills Ash.
* Gaspers - half-dead round blobs bloated with toxic gas. They passively float in the air and are always surrounded by a cloud of gas, which makes standing close to them dangerous for Ash. When moving, gasper leaves a trail of toxic gas behind him, which quickly disappears. Jumping on top of a gasper lets Ash bounce off of it, despite gaspers not having a skull shell, unlike every other "bouncy" enemy. Touching its sides, bottom, or standing in its toxic cloud for too long kills Ash.
* Thistlefish - a hostile fish locked in an inaccessible part of one of Overflow's secret levels. At this point in the game there is no way to interact with it. Thistlefish later appear in Blight as an actual enemy.

## Secret entrances

* Overflow 2 (downwards secret) - 2 levels, 1 mega tumor. Accessed by crawling into the cranny between the spikes at the bottom of the level and walking through a fake wall.
* Overflow 4 (upwards secret) - 2 levels, 1 mega tumor, 1 NPC. Accessed by swimming up through an opening in the ceiling.
* Overflow 6 (downwards secret) - 3 levels, 1 mega tumor, 1 NPC. Accessed by breaking the blocks in the right wall, behind the stream of water.
* Overflow 10 (upwards secret) - 1 level, 1 mega tumor. Accessed by climbing up from the top left of the level.
* Overflow 11 (downwards secret) - 1 level, 1 mega tumor. Accessed by walking through the opening in the right wall, below the hook. The entrance is covered up with fake solid blocks.
* Overflow 14 (downwards secret) - 3 levels, 1 mega tumor, 1 key. Accessed by opening the locked gate with a key.
* Overflow 18 (upwards secret) - 1 level, 1 mega tumor. Accessed by jumping to the left from the top of the left pillar. Falling down from this secret leads you to Overflow 17, which is both an easy way to secure the mega tumor and a danger before you grabbed it.
* Overflow 19 (upwards secret) - 1 level, 1 NPC. Accessed by climbing over the crumbling blocks in top right and walking to the right.
* Overflow 20 (upwards secret) - 1 level, 1 cartridge. Accessed by walking through the fake wall in The Split.

## Characters

Overflow contains 5 NPCs. Click on "Open" to see their dialogue.

**Skeleton in Overflow 1:**

```
hey dude

that there
is
water

your charred
skin looks a
bit chapped

maybe you
should
take a dip?

. . .

you dip

. . .

HA!
gotcha!

anyway if you
wanna dive
just bear down

jumping will
kick what's left
of that foot

give it
a go
gimpy!
```

**Skeleton in Overflow 8:**

```
that water
is
polluted

. . .

at first
it tickles
a bit

then it's
like a nice
chemical peel

i can't
remember what
happens after that

. . .
```

**Ascender blob in he secret above Overflow 4:**

```
oh oh!
a cool guy!

i wishin i could
roll down there
in the mire with ya

but i'm just too
cute and innocent
to descend

so iz just hangin
up here till i die
i guess
```

**Descender blob in the secret under Overflow 7:**

```
mirror mirror
on
the wall

who's the
blackest sheep
of all?

hello
fellow
outsider!

i'm on one
of my many
adventures!

it may appear
like i'm
standing still

but on the inside
i'm creating
whole worlds!

who needs
to actually
experience life

when you can
just imagine
a better one!
```

**Ghost in the secret above Overflow 19:**

```
when you are dead
you will envy
the pain

the living feel
and will long to
experience it again

even the most
horrible memory
for an eternity

pro tip: don't die . . .
i died and
look at me now
```

## Trivia

* The music theme for Overflow is a remix of Pyotr Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture.
* Swimming in water is slower than running on land, but doing a pull-out jump into the water allows Ash to swim very quickly in the direction of the jump, as long as he does not try to turn around. This trick is demonstrated in the gameplay trailer at around 0:45.

## Gallery

### Gallery of Overflow's main levels

* Overflow 1
* Overflow 2
* Overflow 3
* Overflow 4
* Overflow 5
* Overflow 6
* Overflow 7
* Overflow 8
* Overflow 9
* Overflow 10
* Overflow 11
* Overflow 12
* Overflow 13
* Overflow 14
* Overflow 15
* Overflow 16
* Overflow 17
* Overflow 18
* Overflow 19
* Overflow 20

### Gallery of Overflow's secret levels

* Overflow 2 down 1
* Overflow 2 down 2
* Overflow 4 up 1
* Overflow 4 up 2
* Overflow 6 down 1
* Overflow 6 down 2
* Overflow 6 down 3
* Overflow 10 up
* Overflow 11 down
* Overflow 14 down 1
* Overflow 14 down 2
* Overflow 14 down 3
* Overflow 18 up
* Overflow 19 up
* Overflow 20 up

## Individual level pages

Links to individual level pages

* Overflow 1
* Overflow 2
* Overflow 3
* Overflow 4
* Overflow 5
* Overflow 6
* Overflow 7
* Overflow 8
* Overflow 9
* Overflow 10
* Overflow 11
* Overflow 12
* Overflow 13
* Overflow 14
* Overflow 15
* Overflow 16
* Overflow 17
* Overflow 18
* Overflow 19
* Overflow 20

## See also

* Arid Flats - the area which comes before Overflow.
* The Split - a small hub area which comes after Overflow.
* Blight - the Future version of Overflow.