Its only use is to have an Ancient Key be placed in its socket, making the Ruin's Nightmare Cycle be locked at the peak state. It can be removed again, unlocking the Cycle from its peak. If a fully-constructed Odd Skeleton is revived near an activated Ancient Gateway, the fight against the Ancient Fuelweaver will begin. The Ancient Fuelweaver can deactivate the Atrium's Nightmare Cycle by removing the Ancient Key. If the Ancient Fuelweaver is killed it will trigger an explosion that will activate after three minutes, renewing the Ruins. Twenty days later, the Gateway will accept the Ancient Key to be placed again.
After the Ancient Fuelweaver is killed, a beckoning hand will spawn, prompting the player to give it 5 Dreadstone. When given the Dreadstone, Charlie will appear and fix the Ancient Gateway, activating the Shadow Rift cycle.
In a lore sense, the Ancient Gateway acts as a portal to what are known as Gate Realms. These Gate Realms were the settings for special limited-time Events.
The repaired gate can be spawned via the console with the following command:
c_spawn("atrium_gate").AnimState:AddOverrideBuild("atrium_gate_build")
In The Forgeevent, the players spawn in a plume of flames via the Molten Gateway into the Forge Gate Realm. Players must win against the minions of Battlemaster Pugna in order to activate the Gateway with the Ancient Key and leave this Gate Realm. The Molten Gateway is technically a separate structure sharing the same name as the one located in the Atrium. It currently has no other function, but the game files reveal that it also has an active state, which might be used in later versions of the event.
In The Gorge event, the players spawn in a gush of water via the Mossy Gateway into the Gorge Gate Realm. Chronologically, this event takes place directly after The Forge, meaning that entering the Molten Gateway took the characters straight to this dimension. Players must cook food to satisfy the Gnaw and gain three of the Gnaw's Favors, which are used to charge the Ancient Key and thus open the Mossy Gateway. The Mossy Gateway is technically a separate structure sharing the same name as the one located in the Atrium.
When first released, the Ancient Gateway had black and yellow caution tape all over it, to signalize it was still a work in progress feature. During this time, various Items were able to be placed in, such as the Iridescent Gem. Picking it back out always produced an Ancient Key. When examining an Ancient Gateway with a key inserted, the player character said: "The lights reveal ancient text: Come Back Next Update."
The Gateway is featured in the What Lies Beyond? video clip, for a brief moment revealing a silhouette of Winona before her official reveal.
The Ancient Gateway located in the Ruins area of the Constant is also called the Atrium Gate.
Gallery
The Gateway exploding.
After the explosions.
The Gateway after the Ancient Fuelweaver dies.
A hidden image of the Ancient Gateway alongside the Ancient Fuelweaver in the A New Reign trailer.
The Ancient Gateway, as seen in the What Lies Beyond? video clip.
The Ancient Gateway, as seen in The Forge cinematic.
Charlie at the Ancient Gateway, as seen in The Forge cinematic.
The work in progress visual of the Ancient Gateway.
The Ancient Gateway's textures as found in the game files when it was first released.
The Mossy Gateway, as seen in The Gorge cinematic.
Concept art of the Forge version of the Gateway from Rhymes with Play # 167.
Concept art of the Gorge version of the Gateway from Rhymes with Play # 201.
Concept art of the Gorge version of the Gateway from Rhymes with Play # 201.
The Ancient Gateway in a promotional image from Rhymes with Play #208.
The Ancient Gateway as seen in a drawing from Art Stream # 41.
Attention: The following categories are only for the players look up the page based on their first impression, they have nothing to do with the actual categories/DLC/function/tags of these Things. Some of them are not even.
Attention: The following categories are only for the players look up the page based on their first impression, they have nothing to do with the actual categories/DLC/function/tags of these Things. Some of them are not even.
Attention: The following categories are only for the players look up the page based on their first impression, they have nothing to do with the actual categories/DLC/function/tags of these Things. Some of them are not even.
Attention: The following categories are only for the players look up the page based on their first impression, they have nothing to do with the actual categories/DLC/function/tags of these Things. Some of them are not even Structures.