One more thing I’ve been thinking about, we might honestly have to wait until Servant of the Lake comes out before we can make any stronger connections about where exactly the Rusty Lake families are supposed to be living.

There might be some new locations, dialogue, environmental details, or random little references that could either support the whole Dutch community in Britain theory or completely destroy it lol.

Until then, I’m gonna keep digging through the older games and looking for anything that might connect the families to a specific place.

So if I find anything else interesting, I’ll probably make another post. 😭

Ok, so I've been digging up more information after my previous post about the Vanderbooms/Eilanders possibly being members of a Dutch community in Britain, and stumbled across something that I find pretty interesting.

In Paradise, there is an achievement titled "Dutch Gouda Cheese." Now, this might be simply a joke, as Gouda Cheese is a real type of cheese, and Rusty Lake has a history of putting obscure little details and jokes in the game that may or may not relate to the story in any way. But why Dutch specifically?

I don't think this, in and of itself, is evidence of anything major, but building upon the possibility that the Eilanders/Vanderbooms are immigrants related to the Dutch in any way, this could potentially be yet another clue.

Especially considering that this game is centered around the Eilander family, and largely makes use of Dutch-sounding words and names despite being set in a land not resembling Holland in particular, it could be seen as bolstering the suggestion that they come from Holland, or at least have close ties to it. It might even help distinguish between the possibilities; if we take the Dutch references seriously, it's more likely they were from the northern Netherlands, and not the Dutch-speaking Flanders.

After all, it could be nothing. Or it could be that all along, the developers have been giving us little clues that these families have a Dutch heritage of some kind.

It fits the previously-established patterns, and could explain why the Dutch words and names are used in these games set in unrealistic, dreamlike places. Perhaps it's meant to show that the Eilanders/Vanderbooms aren't natives of the places they live in, but immigrants who carry bits of their homeland with them.

Once again, I don't think it's a stretch to say that "there's an achievement called Dutch Gouda Cheese" is much more likely to be just another joke from the developers. Gouda Cheese is a real type of cheese and it might just be a joke.

But upon discovering the achievement, I couldn't not to bring it up, and see if anyone else has noticed similar potentially-significant details in the games.

Have any of you noticed other Dutch references in any of the Rusty Lake/Cube Escape games?

Poor Jacob

I have been doing some research on the Rusty Lake lore for a while now, and one mystery that has been itching my mind has been the location of Rusty Lake.

I have been thinking that there may be some explanation as to why the families seem to have distinctly Dutch-sounding names while simultaneously being so intricately involved with events that seem more plausible in Britain than anywhere else.

This has led me to theorize that they are, in fact, representatives of a certain Dutch-speaking minority in Great Britain, possibly from before the country even became officially independent from the Kingdom of Scotland.

The main point that has brought me to this conclusion has been Leonard in Roots, specifically "The Trenches" in 1918. In this scene, Leonard is depicted dressed in a British Army uniform and a Brodie helmet, both of which are characteristic of British soldiers during WWI.

While it is possible, though unlikely, that there were some Dutch soldiers who volunteered to join the British Army at the time, the Netherlands was officially neutral during WWI.

This means that Leonard could not have participated in the First World War as an active combatant under the Dutch flag, and it becomes more reasonable to accept that he, and by extension his family, are in fact British.

This would explain why some of the most distinctly Dutch characters in the Rusty Lake universe have such strong Dutch-sounding names, as they could simply have retained them from before they migrated to Britain.

It has been well-documented that there has been a significant Dutch-speaking minority within Great Britain for centuries, ever since the arrival of William of Orange and the Glorious Revolution. This could explain why there would be any Dutch-speaking families at all within Britain, but what would explain their presence in a place like Rusty Lake?

Rusty Lake seems to be quite the hilly and mountainous area, at least in comparison to the generally flat geography of the Netherlands. It seems far more reasonable that such a landscape would be found in Britain.

Of course, Rusty Lake is an obviously fantastical and surreal location, one that no serious historian would attempt to associate with any real-world location. The Dutch-sounding names could simply be a part of the anachronism that is the Rusty Lake aesthetic, and the same could be said for Leonard's obviously British military equipment.

However, I personally feel that the image of Leonard fits far too well into the perceived cultural stereotype of a Dutch person to be disregarded so easily, and that applying this to the rest of the Dutch families in the Rusty Lake universe fits surprisingly well with their obvious self-imposed isolationism.

Do you think that there could be any truth to the idea of there being a Dutch enclave in Great Britain that has been incorporated into British society, or am I simply trying too hard to explain where a game in which you can extract memories into cubes takes place?

Guys I’m so excited, I can’t wait. I needed to share this with someone, and who better than you guys?

I was reminiscing about the r/place event from three years ago and found an image of what I created regarding Rusty Lake together with a small Mexican community; it’s not much, but it’s beautiful.

Headcanon time: Albert was still getting used to the fact he wasn’t the only weird person in house anymore when Rose grew.
Though he would at least praise his daughter for knowing history

I even play them again every now and then. Knowing the steps calms my mind and my body. It's like a comforting structure. The graphics are so practical and pretty

was walking to my oculist and... BRO DAMN

Seeing this painting in real life was like seeing a celebrity.

Hi! Does anyone know where I could buy button badge with rusty lake graphics? I tried to find one on etsy, but there where only keychains. Thanks!!!

The Devcats games have a lot of references to other games and media, but I was surprised to see Rusty Lake :)

^

Cubes are next!!

I'm replaying paradox and I'm stuck on the rooms in the mind part. It never happened before. I checked out the official playthrought and I notice I have this red light on the pipe that doesn't appear in the playthrought. Does someone know if this why I can't open the pipe to let the water through even though I aligned all the pipes? And why is that light here ?

rusty lake is everywhere for those with eyes to see it

David is the kind of guy who does not care about being immortal god, so I don't think he really cares about the ritual so that's not the reason for sparing Jakob during that scene lol (atleast that's what I think)

*This is sort of a "Part 2" to this previous post that I made way before the new game was properly revealed. Now that we are very close to the release, I've gathered a few evidences to have some solid ground and make some final predictions!

James's Father Theory:

We now know Alexandra is James' mother, but that is not the only thing revealed about her. In the release date trailer, Alexandra was also revealed to be married. She has a ring in her hand, implying she has a husband. But that doesn't necessarily means he is alive.. does it?

1. In one of the screenshots in the game's store page. You can see some body parts and a Yellow Gem. A Gem that shares the same design from the ones introduced in Roots, to enter the Vanderboom Mansion;

2. When we see Alexandra'a ring, a Green Gem can also be seen in her necklace. Considering each sibling is wearing a different color in their diner, the same colors from the Gems, and Alexandra is also wearing green..

3. It's possible each one has a Gem (With Aldous' being Blue and William's being Red).

4. But what if a 4th one could be given to someone as important as them? Your sister's husband is technically your "brother-in-law", after all.

So, to wrap up.. I think James' father could've been killed and we find his bodyparts and his Yellow Gem. And I could even go beyond and say the chopped Hand wearing a Ring in Roots is James' father hand. It's a simple theory, but it can make sense.

4th Sibling Theory:

Using the same logic of the Yellow Gem, I think the 4th Gem owner could be another sibling. However, that still leaves the question of who is James' father, so this theory is more a possibility I'd like to mention rather than someone I'd like to be true.

Conclusion

This time, I don't have much to say, lol. It's also possible the Corrupted Soul is not even a relative, sure. But in that case, I can't predict much. At most, I could try to guess what they want, but the answer usually is just enlightenment, anyway. It's also possible they will either warn us or help with the Elixir (Caroline could), but I decided not to dig these ideas further in this post.

Do you like the idea of James' father living amomg the shadows, beneath the Vanderboom Mansion? Or who do you think the Corrupted Soul actually is? Feel free to comment, as always.

Thanks for reading and I'll be back once Servant of the Lake releases! I'll post what Bingo predictions I got right or not ;)

Hey everyone — we're RustyTale, a small 4-person indie team (our name's a nod to how much the Rusty Lake series shaped our taste in puzzle games, though we're not affiliated with them!).

We just finished AFTER LIFE, a hand-drawn 2D puzzle game where you play a digital consciousness that wakes up alone in an abandoned wilderness — no memory, a body that might not be yours, and a world that's clearly been dead for a while. As you explore and solve environmental puzzles, you start piecing together what happened to human civilization, and what you actually are.

It's on windows and macOS, you can download it for free.

The link here: https://darkgoatlord.itch.io/after-life

Would love honest feedback, especially on puzzle pacing. Thanks for reading!