Side Quests

1. Open from the start

• 1

  Crossing the Threshold (Central)

  Starts: at the loading docks west of the FBC Field Office, where a garage door hides a body. Steps: inspect the security camera and pull the CCTV footage from the Security Station computer ("Next Screen", then "Interact"). At the Field Hospital, inspect the items and the green cabinet; its code is on the computer in the third-floor security station of the building next door (use it twice). The cabinet holds a quarantine list. Report the body at the Dig Site to get the Mobile Research Station Keycard, open the TE Clearance door in the northern building and take the documents. North-east, fight off the Hiss at the warehouse and open the northern door to meet Wilson. You can agree to host the entity AVP-3 and carry it back: stand in the yellow square at the Dig Site to release it. Reward: Sensory Restraint Hood and the Untapped Practice Knot; counts for Threshold Researcher.

• 2

  The Complete Set (Central, Downtown, West Incursion Zone)

  Starts: it can start in several places; the earliest is a note in an apartment building in the western corner of Central. Steps: take the collectible from the Collector's Apartment, then contain four Speakers: one at a nearby construction site, one in the Museum of Curiosities in the West Incursion Zone (destroy three Hiss orbs first), one in the Auction House in Downtown, and one in the coffee shop beside the Auction Buyer's Apartment in Central. Langston gives you a keycard for the Oldest House, where the Subwoofer is in a secured room near Executive Research. Back at the Auction House, place the four Speakers and the Subwoofer, switch each Speaker off, then deal with the Subwoofer. Reward: Untapped Bout Guard; counts for Panopticon Intern.

• 3

  Urban Survival (Evacuation Zone)

  Starts: pick up the Investigation Order outside the trapped parking garage in the south of the zone. Steps: through the garage into the building to the south, use the intercom, survive the Hiss waves and talk to the Survivalist again. Fetch a green urn, Granny, from an apartment in the north-east corner, and a plant, Olivia, from the gym on the main road; put both on the table. Take the car keyfob from the counter next door, find the car in the north-east dead end for an apartment key, and take the elevator to that apartment, to the west. Bring back the photograph of the Survivalist's brother and put it on the table. Reward: Plate Carrier M1 and the Untapped Heart Monitor.

• 4

  The Party Won't Stop (West Incursion Zone)

  Starts: walk towards the music from an apartment building in the zone's south-west corner. Steps: from the higher street just east, jump onto the roof, go in by the rooftop door and use the karaoke machine where the guests are dancing. The nine lyrics, in order: right, left, right, top, left, bottom, right, top, right. One wrong answer costs guests and the trophy. If that happens, reload a permanent save from an earlier main mission rather than start over. Reward: Be What You Want to Be (bronze) for saving every guest; counts for Panopticon Intern. The other rewards are disputed, see the note.

2. Across every zone

Four side stories are collections spread over the map. Several pieces need Shift, Reach or abilities from the Resonants, so they are easiest after the story.

• 5

  Freeze Frame: 14 cameras

  Starts: on the second floor of the Watchtower, near Zoe. How: reach each camera unseen and interact with it from behind; if it spots you it vanishes and comes back after a click. The last step is shutting off every camera in a marked area of Downtown. Have every Jesse Sighting done, plus Ground Slam (the Dancer) and Ignite or Inferno (the Deserter). Two per zone:

  • Downtown: a roof behind an ability barrier; behind a door powered by electricity.
  • Central: up a scaffolding route; on a rooftop behind an open door.
  • West Incursion Zone: on the flying platforms; in the building with inverted gravity.
  • Evacuation Zone: power to the roof access; back down an elevator.
  • The Park: in a subway behind a fire barrier; up an elevator powered by electricity.
  • Underpass: a yellow-lit corridor on the north-east island, by a Reach grapple point; high in a Mold-covered wall on the island south of Tubes Island, with Shift.
  • The Unknown: in the construction site basement, behind the blue Mold hole; in the shop with the garage puzzle.

  Reward: counts for Panopticon Intern.

• 6

  The Last Taxi: 7 taxis

  Starts: inspecting any of the seven taxis; each shows on the map once you are near. How: get in, talk to Mila on the payphone, solve the puzzle in each threshold and bring the callers back to Manhattan. Taxis: Downtown, north of the deserted road checkpoint; Central, north of the deserted road checkpoint; Evacuation Zone, in the centre of the zone west of the Evac Building; West Incursion Zone, south-west of the Empire Avenue fast travel door; The Park, on top of the parking garage south-west of the Mold Factory; Underpass, in the large Mold-filled room (a three-stage light-cycle puzzle); the Unknown, north of the Evac Building island. Reward: Untapped Coffee Cup; counts for Threshold Researcher.

• 7

  Unsupervised Science: 6 Testing Facilities

  Starts: entering any Testing Facility; no other condition. Each has a puzzle that shuts its experiment down, in any order. Facilities: Downtown, through a pipe at the Deserted Area construction site; Central, down a pit south-east of the Patterned Factory; Evacuation Zone, a pipe below the Survivalist's Bunker; West Incursion Zone, a construction pit on the central road; The Park, the Sewer Route on the east side; the Unknown, a pipe west of the Twisted Rooftops door. Reward: each facility gives 120 Area XP, an Undefined Reading and a Power Upgrade Point; all six give the Untapped Scrunchie; counts for Threshold Researcher.

• 8

  Every Dog Has Her Day: 8 dogs

  How: each zone has one dog, marked when you get close. Find its blue dragon toy, bring it back and interact with the dog; after all seven, the eighth is in The Gap. Dogs: Downtown, a rooftop in the south-west corner; Central, an eastern rooftop; West Incursion Zone, the north-west corner (Shift); Evacuation Zone, a northern rooftop; The Park, the north-east corner (a power puzzle); Underpass, a platform between the Halfway Trail door and the Research Site (Shift and Reach); the Unknown, the north-west island (after Pope's Research). Reward: Untapped Trusted Spanner and Dog's Best Friend (silver).

3. From Recursions and Iterations

• 9

  Into the Valley of Death (Sinkhole)

  Starts: on its own when you talk to Pope in the Oldest House during Recursions and Iterations; then see Langston at the Field Office. Langston's cat, Alfred, is lost in the Sinkhole. Steps: get the apartment keys from Langston, go into the Sinkhole by the laundromat to his apartment, and take the cat carrier and the feeder. Follow the knocked-over plants; in the bedroom with a TV, set down the carrier, play the piano to draw the cat and remove four plants from the room. Follow the blood deeper in to the miniboss Maria, an invisible Hiss: use the windows to steer Alfred into attacking her three times. Take the carrier back to Dombrow, by the TV. Reward: Untapped Catnip Toy; counts for Panopticon Intern.

• 10

  Panopticon Service Request (Central)

  Starts: Langston at the Field Office, once Into the Valley of Death is done. Steps: in the Panopticon, repair the security terminal: two computer racks (one on the ground to the right, one in the south-west corner) go in the slots beside the console, and the satellite dish from the eastern ground goes on the pillar with the blinking red light. Go south to cell B-02 and read the note beside it, then tell Langston: Category D, number 04. Take the radio from the opened cell, wait for it to talk about exhibits from 80 nations, and put it in cell E-05. Reward: Untapped Feeding Bottle (the outfit is disputed, see the note); counts for Panopticon Intern.

4. After The Hedron Link

• 11

  Pope's Research (the Unknown)

  Starts: on its own after The Hedron Link, and you need it to cross the Unknown. How: on each island, jump onto the weather balloon, cut it down (L1/LB), break the crate and set the probe relays in the red circles; the minimap signal and the antennas' beeping show the spot, and a green light means done. A Gravity Well then opens to the next island. Eight balloons, most with two relays, one with three and one with four. At the end, take the Gravity Well on the southern island through the central sphere and press L3 to latch on as you pass. Reward: a Resonant Combat Token, which unlocks the ability you passed over at an earlier Resonant, and Budding Analyst (silver).

• 12

  Zoe's Briefing (Central)

  Starts: Zoe calls on the radio in the Unknown after The Hedron Link. Steps: go to the Watchtower in Central and talk to her. Reward: none, but it opens New Growth and Maintenance Protocol.

• 13

  New Growth (The Park)

  Starts: the soldier on the roof of the FBC Base in the Park, or on its own after Zoe's Briefing. Steps: ask the soldier about Dr. Underhill. A letter is on a small rooftop south of the fast travel point, another in Underhill's office in Central Executive (Level 6 clearance). Her apartment is in the upper right of the Park: talk to her in the kitchen. In the lab below, take the equipment from the table and use the white Mold specimen, then track down the three test subjects and kill them when they turn. Report back to Underhill. Reward: counts for Budding Mycologist; the artifact is disputed, see the note.

• 14

  Carbon Copy, Parts I to III (The Park)

  Part I: once New Growth has started, find Heidi, in a pink jacket, in a Mold-infested building of the Park; go south to Hannah in an apartment you enter from the roof, then back to Heidi. Part II: starts with a call from Zoe, which can take a while. Talk to Dr. Florez, then to Hannah in the medical unit, take the file from a bed there, and go back to Heidi and Hannah's apartment. Part III: starts on the roof of that apartment. Go north to Heidi by a Power Core Station, through the door beside it to fight Hannah, then talk to Heidi outside. Reward: with New Growth, Budding Mycologist (silver); the other reward is disputed, see the note.

• 15

  Maintenance Protocol (Oldest House and Underpass)

  Starts: after Zoe's Briefing, with Zoe at the Oldest House entrance, reached from the Deepest Underpass fast travel door. Steps: look into the alarm in the lowest part of the Oldest House and get the three bulbs' coordinates from the console. Repair the Electrosensitive Bulb below the Research Stations by moving the charges; the Volatile Bulb east of Halfway Trail, with talk and a fight against Hiss; and the Botanophobic Bulb on the northern island by the Research Site, after killing Mold creatures. Back in the projector room, use the last bulb inside the projection. To get out, choose: "Where are you going?", "Unstable bulb", "Do you know a way out?", "Break the bulb". Reward: Standard Issue Coverall.

• 16

  A New Directive (the Unknown and Central)

  Starts: a radio call from a stranger when you reach the north-west or south-west island of the Unknown, after Sever the Hedron Links and Pope's Research. Steps: take the calls on both islands, then find the caller, Fred, in the cafeteria of the Field Office in Central. Ask Langston and the other agents about him, and pick the questions that get at what he wants from Jesse. Sketch a reference portrait in the Director's Office, and furnish a containment unit (chairs, sofa, desk items, traffic cones). Talk him into the unit over the portrait, take the canvas from Jesse's portrait in the main Field Office building, paint him onto it and hang it in the unit. Talk to Langston, then Zoe at the Watchtower, use the radio beside her, and go back to the Field Office to trap Fra Mauro with the panel. Reward: Untapped Whetstone; counts for Panopticon Intern.

5. Checklist

✅ Every Side Story...