Default relationship 
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Ignores (0.0) |
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Overseer
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"Overseer"
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| Details | ||||
Code name |
Overseer | |||
| Passive | ||||
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Food Pips |
N/A | |||
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Overseers are thin, hologram-like beings that pop out of the terrain rapidly and observe creatures in the world around them. One in particular has taken an interest in Slugcat's journey.
Appearance
Overseers are small, brightly colored, worm-like creatures with a single large eye surrounded by tendrils at one end and a tail tapering off at the other. They appear holographic and can project images onto the landscape. They can be found in 3 different colors in-game: yellow, blue, and green, and an additional 3 in 
Downpour: red, white, and purple.
When an Overseer moves from one location to another, a very faint light can be seen rapidly through the level geometry to the next position. The color of this light depends on the color of the Overseer.
Abilities & Behavior
Overseers are often seen observing their surroundings, but most often look at 
Slugcat. 
Scavengers often throw objects and 
Spears at them, prompting the Overseer to act skittishly and flee, or move to higher ground. They do not move in any method other than teleportation. Once at a comfortable spot, they simply wiggle around and observe their targets. If the Yellow Overseer is near Slugcat, they may project signs onto the landscape. If approached, they blink away in another direction. They attempt to dodge all projectiles; a thrown Spear is the easiest way to kill one, as they are unaffected by 
Rocks and it is difficult to aim a 
Grenade safely.
When in close proximity to another Overseer, they can reach their 'arms' towards each other and trigger a small blue electrical discharge. This behavior is called "talking" in the code, and is shown at the top of the article, where the discharge captured at the middle 'tentacles'.
Overseers do not generate pipe behavior when entering a room - rather, they simply travel off the borders of the screen. The path that Overseers take is independent of level geometry. They do, however, prefer sprouting from terrain rather than background elements. They avoid 
Shelters to the greatest extent possible, and try to avoid rooms with Scavengers to a lesser extent.
If an Overseer is killed with a Spear or 
Any Explosive, it drops an Overseer Eye.
SPOILER WARNINGThis section contains major plot details. If you have not made significant progress in the game, then it is recommended that you read no further!
Overseers seem to act independently of their Iterators. 
Five Pebbles remarks that he "barely listens" to his Overseers, who constantly communicate regarding creatures' movements in his structure[1]. On being given an Overseer Eye, Looks to the Moon tells Slugcat that she has lost contact with her own Overseers following the severance of her umbilical.[2]
SPOILER WARNING: RivuletThis section contains major plot details from Rivulet. If you have not made significant progress or completed the game as Rivulet, then read no further!
After Looks to the Moon has been re-activated, she informs Rivulet that her connection to her Overseers has been restored, and calls them to her can. At this point, around 12 Yellow Overseers appear, sprouting from the sides of the room. These Overseers project images of various events that occurred from before Looks to the Moon's collapse until the present, including her revival by 
Hunter, and 
Monk bringing two 
Neuron Flies. She admits that she only has "unread messages and Overseer recordings" to glean information from,[3] implying that Overseers can only communicate to other creatures through projections and holograms.
Spoilers end here.
Spoilers end here.
AI
When not observing or following Slugcat, Overseers patrol the rest of the region. This behavior is called "roaming" in the code, and is shared between all Overseers, but is unobservable by the player outside Dev Tools. Their pathing is determined by a complex set of variables.
On spawning in their offscreen den, an Overseer selects a room out of a random pool of 20 rooms based on the room attraction level, the size of the room, and the number of Overseers already present in the room. Once in a room, an Overseer may choose to move into an adjacent room. Their choice depends on the room attraction level, the most interesting creature in the room, and how long ago they last visited the room.
The interest value of a creature also determines where an Overseer looks. The following is a table of creatures' raw Interest values:
| Creature | Interest value |
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| Slugcat
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0.15-2[*] (average 1) |
 Overseer
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1 |
| Scavenger
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1 |
 Red Lizard
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0.65 |
 Garbage Worm
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0.65 |
 White Lizard
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0.6 |
 Leviathan
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0.55 |
 Black Lizard
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0.5 |
 Blue Lizard
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0.5 |
 Pink Lizard
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0.5 |
 Salamander
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0.5 |
 Yellow Lizard
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0.5 |
 Vulture
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0.25 |
 Lantern Mouse
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0.25 |
 King Vulture
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0.25 |
 Green Lizard
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0.2 |
 Daddy Long Legs
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0.2 |
 Brother Long Legs
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0.2 |
  Squidcada
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0.15 |
| Other | 0.1 |
[*] Calculated by the formula 0.15+1.85 • {(k-1)/4}1.2, where k is Slugcat's current Karma, which is capped at a value of 5.
These raw values are affected by the Overseer's ID and the target creature's ID. Most of the time, Slugcat is the most interesting creature, so Overseers tend to watch and follow them, and linger longer in rooms the player is in.
Overseers' interest in Scavengers can lead to their death, as Scavengers do not hesitate to attack Overseers, who do not always flee and may continue to observe the offending Scavenger. All other creatures ignore Overseers.
Relationships
| Default relationship
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Ignores (0.0) |
|---|---|
| Afraid of |  Stowaways (0.9) •  Giant Jellyfish (0.2)
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Variants & Attributes
Overseers have varying amounts of 'limbs', typically 3-5, though 2-armed Blue Overseers can exist. Their 'limbs' always end in a blue gradient. Overseers occasionally display a holographic shape consisting of a 3D prism surrounded by several regular polygons (or triangles, for the yellow Overseer), forming a circle around the prism, which rotates randomly. The number of sides a prism or polygon has varies. With the exception of 2-limbed Overseers, the 'arms' seem to be placed equidistantly, though the 2-limbed Overseers breaking this rule may be due to limits in the game's pseudo-3D rendering.
Yellow Overseer
The Yellow Overseer appears at the beginning of the game and acts as a basic tutorial and as a guide. They are sometimes referred to as "Iggy" by the community and belong to 
Looks to the Moon.
Signs
As well as teaching the player the controls, the Yellow Overseer also occasionally projects a yellow symbol with an arrow pointing at a subject of interest. The symbols are:
Fourth & 
First Karma Symbol: This symbol, pointed at another creature, means "this wants to eat you". This symbol flashes between yellow and red, indicating that it's dangerous.
- Batfly Outline: points towards Batfly swarms.
- Shelter Symbol: points towards the direction of the nearest Shelter.
- Fourth Karma Symbol: points towards the location of edible plants. Sometimes alternates between the Karma symbol and a Spear symbol, indicating a
Popcorn Plant that must be opened with a Spear. This symbol is green, indicating something positive (eating).
- Hologram: Occasionally, the Yellow Overseer shows Slugcat holograms inside yellow octagons in an attempt to give them instructions.
- For example, when near a
Scavenger Toll, they show an image of a 
Pearl, followed by an image of the Toll.
- For example, when near a
Slugcat Head: points towards a route out of the current region, attempting to lead Slugcat in some new direction.- Alternate Head: points towards a route to its destination. This appears as a circle with three smaller circles within, along with two lines on either side of the big circle. It represents something Slugcat has yet to come across on their journey.
- Neuron Symbol: Points a path upwards, towards a new destination.
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Predator symbol
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Batfly symbol
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Shelter symbol
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Food symbol
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Holograms projected by the guide
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Slugcat symbol & a direction being pointed out
Blue Overseers
Blue Overseers appear randomly and observe Slugcat. They can be found alone or in groups, usually of 2 to 3 but rarely up to 6. They are most common at the top of 
The Wall. Blue Overseers can be seen interacting with each other, connecting their 'tendrils' together to generate small sparks. They can be killed and drop an Overseer Eye, which can be brought to Looks to the Moon for some information about Overseers. Blue Overseers belong to Five Pebbles.
While playing as 
Rivulet, Blue Overseers guide the player towards Shelters and alert them of enemies, similarly to the Yellow Overseer.
Blue Overseers in 
Metropolis project various advertisements targeted towards the departed Ancient population.
Green Overseers
The Green Overseer is the only Overseer that can be found in 
Subterranean and has a 1% chance to spawn. They may also be found in 
Outer Expanse, where any Overseer has a ~0.9913% chance to be green. Green overseers likely belong to 
No Significant Harassment. They can be found as any Slugcat except Rivulet, 
Spearmaster, and 
Saint.
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Red Overseer
Spearmaster is followed by a Red Overseer, which belongs to 
Seven Red Suns. This Overseer is uniquely immune to Spears, but can still be killed by Any Explosives. If killed, they respawn shortly in the same room.
There is an 0.01% chance for a Red Overseer to spawn in any region (except 
Shoreline and 
Submerged Superstructure) for Slugcats besides Spearmaster. This chance is increased to ~0.4357% in Outer Expanse.
SPOILER WARNINGThis section contains major plot details. If you have not made significant progress in the game, then it is recommended that you read no further!
After Five Pebbles reads Seven Red Suns' message, he kills the Red Overseer in his can. A few Broadcasts later, Seven Red Suns admits to No Significant Harassment that they have lost contact with all of their other Overseers in Five Pebbles' facility, which may have been caused by Five Pebbles initiating a facility-wide lockdown.[4] Spearmaster can no longer encounter Red Overseers after this point.
Spoilers end here.
Outer Expanse Overseers
White and Purple Overseers can be found in Outer Expanse, which have spawn chances of ~0.3483% and ~0.086% respectively.
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A White Overseer.
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A Purple Overseer.
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Arena
There are four Overseers in Arena mode with unique colors that are used to place item and creature spawns. They are white, red, yellow, and dark blue/black, each corresponding to one of the four players. The Arena Overseers are restricted to Arena mode and are not generally considered canon.
In arenas with lethal water, it is possible to kill the Overseers by aiming the reticle on the bottom of the screen, which causes them to approach and touch the acid, getting damaged and eventually killed. They drop an Overseer Eye, and the corresponding crosshair becomes faint and distorted. Despite this, the player can place and remove objects, and move the reticle as normal.
In Safari Mode, a player-controlled Overseer controls moving between rooms and selecting or deselecting a creature to play as. This Overseer adopts the color of the Slugcat whose map was selected. It is possible, when playing as a Leviathan, to eat and destroy this Overseer, which softlocks the player.
Trivia
- When presented with an Overseer Eye,
Looks to the Moon states that 
Scavengers attempt to spear Overseers as an act of defiance, a behavior that can be seen in-game. - The symbols the Yellow Overseer flashes are related to the Karma symbols seen upon hibernation. It flashes the fourth Karma symbol in reference to edible objects, and this has been deciphered (using other in-game evidence) to be a symbol representing gluttony. The first Karma symbol, likely wrath, is used in conjunction with the fourth gluttony symbol when the Overseer points at a threat, meaning "This thing kills/eats you".
- If Slugcat eats Looks to the Moon's
Neuron Flies, the Yellow Overseer flashes an image of Slugcat with a Spear in their head, then shines a red X over said image. Afterwards, they no longer guide the player. However, the player can still follow the storyline path by interacting with strange yellow objects that appear after eating the Neurons. The Yellow Overseer returns to guide the player when enough Neuron Flies are brought to Looks to the Moon, if she is still alive.
- The Yellow Overseer can light up dark areas (particularly in
Shaded Citadel) for the player when playing as 
Monk to aid their traversal. - Overseers appear to have a form of communication among themselves. They usually communicate with their own type of Overseer; however, they do occasionally appear to communicate with others of different origins. They frequently stare at each other for a while, shining holograms towards each other. They also occasionally touch 'tendrils'.
- The Yellow Overseer's community name "Iggy" is taken from the internal code and files of the game that refer to The Yellow Overseer.
- The Yellow Overseer always returns if killed by a Scavenger. This makes it possible to "farm" Yellow Overseer Eyes.
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