Puzzle Solutions and Exact Answers

Puzzle Solutions and Exact Answers

If you came here because The Alters gave you a very serious objective and about half a sentence of usable direction, you are in the right place. This is the part of the run where the game can feel like you are juggling six versions of Jan, three resource fires, and one quest marker that might as well say good luck, brother. The fix is usually simple once you know the exact object, room, or work window the game is really checking.

When The Alters is humming, this is the good stuff: each Alter brings a different skill set, your base starts to feel like a real machine, and a blocker turns into a clean little problem to crack. Below are the most common exact solves for puzzle-like progression walls, written so you can clear the moment fast and get back to surviving.

First Organics scan: exact solve

1. Craft the Scanner in the Workshop. It costs 20 Metals.
2. Go outside and look for the Organics area marked by blue smoke and a droplet icon. If a climbing wall seems to block the direct route, take the longer path around. You do not need the Climbing Hook for this first one.
3. Equip the Scanner from the radial menu and place probes in the ground. You can place up to six. Make sure the probes connect into a closed shape so the ground scan completes.
4. Pick the probes back up and rescan nearby sections until you find the reddest point underground. That is the exact extraction point.
5. Craft a Mining Outpost, which is the small extractor building for deposits. It costs 30 Metals. Place it on the marked point until the preview turns blue.
6. Run Pylons back to the base. Green connection lines mean the network is valid. On the first route, three pylons is the usual number.
7. Return to the Mining Outpost terminal and interact with it. The outpost does not start mining on its own just because you built it.

Tip: If the deepest point never appears, the deposit probably spreads onto a higher shelf nearby. Scan the ledges around the area instead of rescanning the same flat ground forever.

Rock barricades: exact solve

1. When you hit your first rock blockade in Act 1, go back and craft the Vertara Drill. It costs 50 Metals and 20 Organics.
2. Craft drill cartridges too. Each extra use costs 20 Metals, and carrying one or two saves a lot of backtracking.
3. Stand a few meters in front of the barricade and place the drill from the tool menu.
4. If the drill preview is not blue, move it. The game only accepts the correct ground position in front of the rocks.
5. Interact with the placed drill to start the break sequence.

If the rocks are on a higher ledge by a climb point, the answer is almost always to loop around from the other side first. Break the rocks there, then use the new route as your shortcut.

Planetary Samples and Interal Veins: exact solve

1. When you start the Strange Phenomena thread, prioritize the Interal Analysis Tool research.
2. Craft the Luminator, which is your anomaly tool. It costs 20 Metals and 20 Rapidium.
3. Go to the purple question mark on the map and use the Luminator on the strange Interal Vein. Do not stop the beam early.
4. Keep the Luminator equipped and follow the revealed plant-like trail.
5. At the end of the trail, use the Luminator on the core. Destroying that core drops exactly one Planetary Sample.

Recovery tip: If no new purple question marks appear later, you are not missing a hidden switch. New Interal Veins show up at later story beats, so move the main objective forward and check the map again after a world-state update.

Qubit Chip upgrade: exact solve

1. In Act 1, explore near the mineral deposit and nearby anomalies until you find the damaged chip container. Examining it starts the optional task A Mysterious Device.
2. Talk to Jan Technician about the damaged chip.
3. Craft a Qubit Chip in the Workshop using 1 damaged chip, 20 Metals, and 20 Minerals.
4. Take the finished chip to the Quantum Computer and install it there to raise your Qubit Level.

This is the exact unlock that opens more research and more Alter capacity, so if the run feels strangely cramped, this is often the missing step.

Act 2 Gravity Sensor: exact solve

1. Craft the Gravity Sensor in the Workshop. It costs 50 Metals and 20 Minerals.
2. Research Hook Upgrade before trying to place it. Act 2 uses high walls that the basic hook cannot clear.
3. Carry the sensor to one of the two marked canyon-top spots and place it on the large circular marker, the same way you place a Mining Outpost.
4. Later, when the game asks you to finish the Great Anomaly step, build both Neutralizing Towers. Each tower costs 160 Metals and 160 Minerals.
5. Assign a total of four Alters to the two towers. Jan does not count for this requirement.
6. Wait for work hours. If the Alters are off shift, the sensor interaction can fail even when everything looks ready.
7. Go back to the actual Gravity Sensor on the cliff and interact with the sensor itself. Do not keep using Base Nav and expecting the quest to clear.

Act 2 exact answer: Tabula Rasa or implants?

For a first playthrough, neural implants are the cleaner answer if your goal is keeping more options open later. You can prepare both branches before the final decision, and you should.

1. To prep Tabula Rasa, finish QC Hacking, then create the blank Alter with 20 Rapidium.
2. To prep implants, call Lena when the Comms Room gives you the option, then craft one implant per Alter. Each one costs 10 Metals, 30 Minerals, and 20 Rapidium.
3. Keep a save before the kitchen meeting where the final choice is locked.
4. If you want the safest first-run recommendation, choose implants.

Act 3 Interal Tree: exact solve

1. Before you climb, craft at least 5 Suit Batteries and 10 Repair Kits.
2. Start in the morning. That gives you the longest clean window and also lines up with a fresh autosave.
3. Do not rush the route. Carry the Luminator while climbing so anomalies are easier to spot.
4. You do not need to destroy every anomaly. Clear the ones blocking your path and run past the rest.
5. At the top, destroy the 3 blue Prism Anomaly cores first.
6. Place the Fragmenting Device on the marked spot beside the crystal-like tree structure.
7. To leave, walk to the far end of the highest branch and use the slide interaction there.

Recovery tip: The real fail state here is often back at base, not on the tree. Your Alters will spend that time handling breakdowns, and they cannot craft more Repair Kits without you. If you climb understocked, the base can turn into a slow-motion disaster while you are still halfway up the branch.