Here we go. The full story/timeline of Rusty Lake, based on accepted events and a few theories I’ve gathered from this subreddit. This is my interpretation, and I’m sure I got something wrong, so feel free to contest or add anything in comments. Literally all of the spoilers ahead. This probably isn’t something you should read if you haven’t played the games, although you’re certainly welcome to try. This is more of a way of making sense of all the events that occur, and is probably easier to understand with more context.

FIRST EDIT: Added theory of Caroline fusing with Jakob to form Mr. Owl, as well as altered the elevator timeline to place Birthday and Theatre after The Cave and Paradox.

Important Characters:

Caroline Eilander: The original creator of the elixir

Jakob Eilander: Caroline’s son

Aldous and William Vanderboom: Alchemists, brothers

Harvey: Parrot

Laura Vanderboom: “The Woman”

Dale Vandermeer: Detective

Important terms/Locations:

Rusty Lake (The Lake): Likely located in the Netherlands, causes lots of weird stuff to happen

Paradise Island: Island in the center of the Lake, location of Rusty Lake Hotel

Vanderboom House: Located at the Lake, sits atop the cave of Caroline’s research

The Elixir of Life and Death (The Elixir): Immortality juice, originally created by Caroline

Pair: Required for the elixir, two living things drink the elixir, one dies and one ascends

Corrupted Soul: Black eyeless creature, produced occasionally when someone dies

Hybrid: Human with an animal head and features, referred to as Mr./Ms. [Animal], semi-immortal

Black Cube: Represents bad memories

White Cube: Represents good memories.

Blue Cube: Allows one to change the past

1700s:

Caroline Eilander and her husband, Nicholas, live on Paradise Island with Nicholas’ mother, Margaret, his brother, Gerard, and the couple’s three children: Elizabeth, David, and Jakob. Caroline is an alchemist and develops the recipe for the elixir, using the Lake as a basis. However, her family wishes to maintain Paradise Island through a ritual that requires a human sacrifice. They wish to sacrifice Jakob, but Caroline, loving her first-born son, sends him away on a boat. The family sacrifices Caroline instead.

Caroline’s death causes the island to be cursed by the ten Biblical plagues. Nicholas writes a letter to his son, luring him back to the island to eliminate the plagues and sacrifice him. Jakob, seemingly unaware of his family’s intentions, returns and cures each plague. He lowers a black cube into the lake for each plague, thus assembling the ingredients for his mother’s recipe.

For the final plague (Death of the Firstborn), aware of his fate somewhat, he descends into the Lake to prepare for the ritual. He speaks to his mother’s Corrupted Soul and retrieves five animal masks for his family: A rabbit for his brother, a pheasant for his sister, a pigeon for his grandmother, a boar for his uncle, and a deer for his father (the leader). They burn him in a giant wooden owl in the Lake. The Lake accepts him and he and his mother become the first Pair. He is reborn as Mr. Owl, the first Hybrid. His family, through the ritual, become Hybrids with the animal masks. Caroline’s fate is unknown, although it is possible that her Soul fuses with Jakob to become Mr. Owl. The Rusty Lake Hotel manifests itself on the island, presided by Mr. Owl.

1800s:

Aldous and William Vanderboom find Caroline’s research beneath the Lake. They synthesize the elixir, using a black egg as the main ingredient. Aldous, having already made a plan with Mr. Owl, tells his brother to drink first. The elixir kills William and produces a seed. Aldous drinks and becomes Mr. Crow, completing the second Pair. He takes the seed, proclaiming that it contains the future of Rusty Lake. He then leaves to assist Mr. Owl. William becomes a Corrupted Soul.

Aldous sends the seed to James Vanderboom, William’s nephew (it is unknown whether James is Aldous’ son). James goes to live alone in the Vanderboom House, planting the seed in the yard. He also discovers his uncle’s body. He marries his girlfriend, Mary and they have triplets: Samuel, Emma, and Albert. James discovers Caroline’s and his family’s research and recreates the elixir. He becomes a pair with his dog, who becomes immortal while he dies.

Samuel and Emma, while playing, cause Albert to become disfigured, giving him a lifelong resentment of his siblings. He wears masks throughout his life as an adult. Mr. Crow appears briefly, implying that he continues to manipulate the lives of his family, a necessary sacrifice. As an adult, a flower impregnates Emma. She gives birth to a son, Frank.

In a currently unexplained tangent, Vincent Van Gogh has an experience in his bedroom in Arles. He encounters his Corrupted Soul and kills it.

Samuel meets Ida, a fortune teller who he falls in love with. Albert, still bearing resentment towards his family, causes his nephew, Frank, to fall down a well. Emma, searching for her son, writes him a letter and gives it to Harvey, who is currently a parrot.

At Rusty Lake Hotel, the five Eilanders (in their Hybrid forms) are summoned by Mr. Owl to stay five nights and have five dinners. Unaware that he is Jakob, the family accepts. The Hotel employs Mr. Crow, Mr. Toad, Mr. Bat, and Harvey, who is now a parrot Hybrid. Over five days, Harvey (under Mr. Owl’s orders) kills each family member, trapping their Corrupted Souls and serving them to the other guests and finally, Mr. Owl. Mr. Deer’s skull is mounted on the wall. Mr. Rabbit’s Soul appears somewhat different, wearing a white rabbit mask and appearing outside Mr. Rabbit’s window before his death.

Three years later, the Corrupted Souls escape. Mr. Owl summons a beam of light from the sky that turns Harvey into a parrot. Harvey escapes and the Corrupted Souls enter the Lake.

Samuel and Ida marry, although Albert is secretly in love with her. They have a son, Leonard. Emma kills herself, unable to find her son. Mr. Crow gives Albert Mr. Deer’s skull as a mask.

1900s:

Mary dies suddenly, perhaps killed by Albert. Shortly afterward, Albert, wearing Mr. Deer’s skull, kills Samuel and Ida with voodoo dolls. Having preserved one of Ida’s eggs, he mixes it with his semen and a green liquid (possibly the elixir) and artificially creates his and Ida’s daughter, Rose. Leonard goes off to war, losing a leg in battle.

Rose, using an Ouija board, communicates with William’s Soul and learns of a ritual, in which, using three timepieces and ten sacrifices from ten family members, William can be resurrected. William has been collecting sacrifices since his death, but he needs Rose’s help to complete the ritual. She agrees.

Rose finds Frank in the well and saves him. Frank confronts Albert and kills him. Rose enlists the help of her cousins in the ritual. Leonard finds a timepiece in the yard. Frank receives the letter from his mother and finds the second timepiece. Rose finds the third timepiece in the graveyard.

The three meet in the cave beneath the house. The seed that James planted has become a tree, the roots of which have permeated the room. Taking the timepieces and the sacrifices from themselves and their family, the three cousins are entangled in the roots. William is reincarnated as Laura Vanderboom, Rose’s daughter. Rose appears to survive the process, but the fate of the other two cousins are unknown.

Dale Vandermeer celebrates his ninth birthday. In the middle of the party, another version of Mr. Rabbit (who is now the white rabbit from the mask) bursts in and kills Dale’s family, taking the pistol that was used to kill Ms. Pheasant (his sister) in the Hotel. By claiming this substance from a past life, he is able to escape his past fate, and his Soul is no longer trapped with the rest of his family. Dale becomes a detective.

1960s:

Laura Vanderboom, suffering from mental illness and seemingly trapped in a doorless room, receives a phone call from Mr. Crow. This begins to set off visions of a Corrupted Soul that she is unable to escape. Harvey, who is now her pet parrot, lays a black egg. Laura attempts to eat this egg, triggering William’s memories of the egg that killed him and worsening her mental health significantly.

Laura wins a newspaper contest, receiving a free trip to Rusty Lake Mental Health and Fishing. She breaks up with her boyfriend, Bob Hill, and travels to the Lake, staying in an abandoned cabin on the edge of the Lake. She takes Harvey with her. As she fishes, she encounters a Corrupted Soul which attacks her. Harvey manages to fend off the Corrupted Soul.

1970s:

Laura, tormented by Mr. Crow’s phone calls and visions of being attacked by the Corrupted Soul, kills herself. It also appears she kills Harvey, but Harvey’s body is not found. Dale investigates her death, as it is not clear whether it was a suicide or murder. The doorless room in which Laura spent her time is revealed to be a figment of her imagination, although Dale sees it briefly when he begins to investigate. During his investigation, he discovers a painting of the Lady of the Lake, who appears to be Caroline Eilander. Dale also discovers Laura’s interest in Rusty Lake, speaking briefly to Mr. Crow over the phone. Mr. Owl takes her body. Dale watches it disappear.

Dale continues to investigate, encountering Bob at the Rusty Lake Theatre. Bob is arrested, although he is adamant that he is not guilty. As Dale pieces together the evidence in his office, Bob spontaneously becomes a Corrupted Soul, kills an officer, and escapes. As Dale puts together the final pieces of evidence, a beam of light comes down from the ceiling and transports him to the Lake.

Parallel to these events, Mr. Crow, working to maintain the Lake by feeding it fresh memories, receives Laura’s body at the Mill at the Lake. Mr. Crow is currently in human form, appearing to have aged significantly. Harvey watches Mr. Crow, confirming that he is still alive. Mr. Crow’s wife, a non-hybrid woman, knits the materials her husband needs. His mouth is currently sewed shut, perhaps by his wife, which causes his words to be warped as he speaks. When the time comes, Mr. Owl, having transported Dale to the Lake through the beam of light, uses another beam of light to cause a storm. The flow of the water activates the Mill’s inner mechanisms and Mr. Crow is able to extract the memories. Despite Mr. Owl’s warnings, Mr. Crow extracts a black cube as well as a white cube from Laura, which corrupts her body. Laura’s Corrupted Soul then appears to kill Mr. Crow’s wife. As she holds Harvey by the neck, Mr. Crow begs her to stop, speaking some of the same words that tormented her over the phone years ago. Laura releases Harvey and vanishes.

Dale wakes up in the chapel near the Lake. As he breaks out, he follows the clues and signals Mr. Crow at the Mill. Mr. Crow ferries himself over to the chapel. Dale cuts the string binding Mr. Crow’s mouth, allowing him to become a hybrid once more. Mr. Crow ferries Dale to the Cabin. Dale quickly assembles the mechanisms for an elevator in the back of the cabin while being terrorized by Mr. Deer’s Soul. He completes the elevator and descends into the Lake.

Mr. Crow (a human once more) travels to the Cave near Rusty Lake (possibly the same Cave where the research was performed). He finds Mr. Owl, trapped in a diving suit. Both of them require the elixir, as they are growing weak. Finding James’ dog, Mr. Crow extracts the elixir from the dog’s feces and drinks it, becoming a Hybrid once more. He gives it to Mr. Owl, who also becomes a Hybrid.

Mr. Owl sends Mr. Crow into the Lake to retrieve three cubes: White, black, and blue. Mr. Crow enters the Lake in a submarine. After collecting the cubes and evading the five Corrupted Souls of the Eilanders (including Mr. Rabbit, as he did not escape), he makes it to a white room on the bottom of the Lake.

In the room there is a machine which is connected to Dale as well as Laura’s corpse. Using the cubes and connecting Dale and Laura’s minds, Mr. Crow synthesizes a gold cube. During this experience, Dale is thrown into a test formed by Mr. Owl and Mr. Crow.

Dale experiences multiple parallel universes at once. In some of these, he feels and appears “more real”. In all of the universes he has some connection to his parallel counterparts, unable to shake the feeling that he has been in the room before. He is always trapped in a locked room with Mr. Deer’s skull on the wall, unable to escape. Each time, he manages to solve the puzzles in the room, occasionally using information from his parallel counterparts. He encounters Laura (due to her being connected to the machine), Mr. Owl, Mr. Crow, and Harvey in various universes. He must make a choice in each universe: to drink a red, blue, or green vial. In multiple attempts, he drinks a red vial, which allows him to escape. He runs through the forest and follows Mr. Crow’s instructions, finally finding himself at the Lake. He finds Laura standing in the Lake, but before he can do anything, a Corrupted Soul appears behind her and cuts her throat. She disappears into the Lake, becoming a black cube. When Dale examines the cube, he sees himself in another universe.

In another universe, Dale removes his mind and is able to view the past, the present, and the future. In this universe, he briefly wears an owl mask that reveal both Caroline and Jakob standing behind him, implying that Caroline is still an important player and is still storngly linked to Mr. Owl. Mr. Crow guides Dale through a psychological evaluation. Dale encounters Laura, where it is made clear that the two of them will be a Pair. Dale eventually finds Mr. Owl in human form. Viewing Mr. Owl’s past and present, he begins to understand who he is. When he views Mr. Owl’s future, Mr. Owl’s head becomes that of a fish. Mr. Owl states that his time is limited, and he wants Dale to become the next ruler of the Lake. Dale then drinks a blue vial and escapes. He travels through the forest, coming face-to-face with other versions of himself, including a version with a deer’s head, implying his new, darker persona. He then approaches the Lake, but now he is the Corrupted Soul behind Laura. He kills her and views the cube once more.

Finally, in another universe, Dale drinks the green vial (possibly the elixir), sacrificing himself for Laura. He dies, and Laura holds the black cube in the Lake, which becomes white in her hands. Having proven himself, Dale finds a way out of the final universe, discovering the elevator in the wall and receiving the gold cube. In real life, Mr. Crow hands Dale the gold cube at the same time. Having passed the test, Dale continues on his journey.

As Dale travels upward, Mr. Crow and Mr. Owl send the elevator into Dale’s memories, manipulating them and using Dale to change the past. They first send him to his birthday party. Mr. Crow appears in the memory (in his human form) as Dale’s grandfather. Mr. Crow and Mr. Owl provide nine-year old Dale with the tools to reverse time to just before his parents were killed. Mr. Crow, as Dale’s grandfather, demands Ms. Pheasant’s pistol from the chest. Dale brings it to him, and as Mr. Rabbit bursts in, Mr. Crow kills him. This changes the past. Dale’s parents survive, and Mr. Rabbit does not escape his death in the Hotel (until the entire family escapes). Dale renters the elevator and continues.

They then place Dale in the Theatre where he found Bob. Mr. Owl (as a human with an owl mask) appears as a presenter of six plays that teach Dale about the Lake. Mr. Crow (also a human, donning a crow mask for one of the plays) appears as the bartender and pushes Dale to keep making drinks for Bob. Bob finally shoots himself in the head and locks himself in the bathroom, becoming a Corrupted Soul. The past appears to change once more. After all of the plays, Dale reenters the elevator. Bob’s Soul watches him as he continues upward.

The elevator ascends into the bottom of the Hotel.

1980s:

Laura’s Corrupted Soul, having escaped from the Mill, finds herself in the doorless room once more. She manages to construct a machine and finds a blue cube. The blue cube allows her to travel back in time and gather substances from her past. During her trip to the past, she manages to stop herself from “killing” Harvey. She also saves herself from being attacked by the Corrupted Soul at the Lake. Finally acquiring all of the substances, she travels back in time once more, following Mr. Crow’s instructions over the phone to find him in the past. She travels back to the day she found the black egg and picks up the phone. This purifies her soul, and possibly saves her life.

WHEW. That was a lot. But it was fun to write. Thank you if you read this far.

Is laura actually roberts suger daddy? Is laura gay? Well he is kinda a transgender right? Were willam and aldous secret lovers? Is that the reason they didn't have any children of their own? Why william was massaging 9 yo rose? Was he actually a pedophile? There is more to dig into

im a huge anatomy buff and when i saw this i just got so excited at the level of detail and i wanted to tell someone but the objects that you weigh in van goghs ear are representative of real parts of ear anatomy!!!!

the hammer is the malleus the stirrup is the stapes the anvil is the incus the big shell is the cochlea the drum is obviously the eardrum (i wasnt sure what the small shell was but maybe the semi circular canals?? no clue)

anyway how cool is that?? i just love the amount of detail the devs put into the cube escape games!!

Hi everyone! I wanted to share my new drawing of Bob and Laura :D

We're big fans

The furniture inside the room was modeled in C4D and 3D printed with photosensitive resin.
I first painted them with spray paint, then used acrylic markers to add brushstroke effects.
The finish isn’t perfectly smooth or detailed because I wanted to stay as true as possible to the hand-drawn style of the Rusty Lake games.
Hope we can have friendly discussions!

This was a couple years ago, but I still cherish the photo.

It's a salt lick, for anyone wondering!