The Ash Twin Project is a facility built by the Nomai that is located within the core of the Ash Twin. The facility itself is still fully operational and is powered by an Advanced Warp Core.
This facility is the reason for the Time Loop that the player finds themselves in, causing time to reverse every 22 minutes, or when the player dies.
Description
The Ash Twin Project is a large ring-shaped structure circling the Advanced Warp Core which powers it. The ring platform is located within a large spherical shell which encases it completely, to protect the project from outside interference. The surface of the ring platform is made entirely of gravity pads, ensuring that the player does not fall off. Along the ring are various Nomai research notes and pieces of art work, as well as multiple Projection Stones. Upon arrival, directly ahead of the player is the actual project itself. A small room with a tablet console in the middle and eight Nomai Masks surrounding the centre. At the end of the ring there will be two sphere consoles. One of these consoles turns off the gravity pads and the other opens the casing protecting the Advanced Warp Core.
Purpose
The Ash Twin Project was designed to harness the energy of the Supernova triggered by the Sun Station to send data from the Orbital Probe Cannon 22 minutes into the past. This was to make finding the Eye of the Universe a much faster and easier task than it would have been without the project. A secondary purpose for the project was to send data the Nomai had gathered back to their past selves in an attempt to create an infinite loop of knowledge. However the Sun Station failed to trigger the event and so the Ash Twin Project did not work, forcing the Nomai to find an alternate way to power the project.
Design
The Ash Twin Project has two major components, the Nomai Mask and the Nomai Statue. The statue is designed to "link" with the closest living creature to it when it activates. The linked creatures memories over the course of the next 22 minutes are then transmitted to the mask. The mask then stores the data and sends it to the Orbital Probe Cannon to determine what co-ordinates have already been entered into the cannon. This data is then sent back to the linked creature 22 minutes in the past using warp technology through the statue creating a paradox in which the linked creature replays the same 22 minutes in a loop until the project is deactivated.
Advanced Warp Core
The Advanced Warp Core is the power source that keeps the Ash Twin Project running, even without power from the Supernova. Its design is based off of the Warp Core used to power The Vessel and can be removed from the project. If the player decides to remove the core, the Ash Twin Project will shut down, ending the time loop until it is inserted again. Should the player die by any cause without reinserting the warp core, the player will die "permanently" and be greeted with a game over screen as well as the credits.
The Advanced Warp Core is required to be removed to power The Vessel for the intended ending.
Accessing
There is no direct route to the Ash Twin Project, and accessing it is not as straightforward as most other locations.
To access the Ash Twin Project, the player must first head over to the Ash Twin itself and gain access to the Ash Twin Towers by waiting for the Ember Twin to transfer enough sand. It takes approximately three full orbits of the Ember Twin for the entrance to the particular tower the player needs to be revealed. The tower in question will be the broken one of the two towers that are close by, with a bridge connecting them. Outside of the correct tower's entrance will be the long dead corpse of a Nomai. The player will need to stand in the centre platform inside of the tower for the teleporter to work, however it only works when the Ember Twin is directly above. With the ceiling of the tower being broken, the player can easily be sucked out by the pillar of sand that accompanies the Ember Twin. To avoid being pulled out, it is recommended for the player to seek shelter, either under the bridge outside, or the small intact sections of the tower's ceiling on the inside, until the pillar is directly in the centre of the tower. The player should not be effected. When the pillar is in the center, the player must quickly run into the teleporter, if done correctly they should immediately warp inside of the Ash Twin and into the Ash Twin Project.
Notes
If the player dies while the project is turned off, they will actually die without seeing their memories and without being sent back to the beginning of the cycle. However the player can load their game from the title screen and start from the beginning of the cycle as usual, with the project still active.
The player must time their entrance to the tower teleporter perfectly, as it is very easy to misjudge the correct timing and be sucked into the pillar of sand.
Due to the significant amount of time it takes to enter the Ash Twin Project, once the Advanced Warp is removed, the player does not have a lot of time left to do whatever it is they need to do before dying.
Meditating after removing the Advanced Warp Core softlocks the Game on Xbox One.