- First hours
- Orientation in the Oldest House and Downtown, then Welcome to Manhattan, Evacuation Procedures and Arish's Briefing at the Field Office in Central.
- Saves
- Autosave only, with a permanent save after each main quest.
- Missable
- One trophy, fixable by reloading; nothing else.
- The Gap
- Hold down on the d-pad: loadouts, Talents, artifacts and the Mural.
The first missions
Orientation
Out of the Oldest House into Downtown. The Artist is the first Resonant, and beating it gives your first combat ability, chosen from two.
Welcome to Manhattan
Restore the checkpoint's power for the Level 1 Keycard. The worker by the first mapping pylon starts Mapping the New New York: each pylon reveals its zone's map.
Evacuation Procedures
Rescue Arish in the Evacuation Zone and come away with the Level 2 Keycard.
Arish's Briefing
At the FBC Field Office in Central. Before leaving, talk to the agent outside the entrance: that unlocks the seven FBC Taskboards and their 42 tasks.
Systems worth understanding early
🌫️ The Gap
Hold down on the d-pad to go there and back. Loadouts are changed and tried out there, Talents bought at the floating rock by the monolith, artifacts crafted, and Resonant abilities swapped at the Mural.
📈 Zones level up, not Dylan
Each of the seven zones has fifteen levels, raised by quests and world events; each level is a Zone Upgrade, and SHÜM! arcade cabinets open at set levels.
📦 Open every container
Health and Power Upgrades come from special crates marked on the map, a third of an upgrade each; Secret Hideouts and Testing Facilities hold one apiece.
🧗 Traversal comes from Jesse
Shift from The Incursion Fault and Reach from The Subway Fault. Many collectibles need one or the other, so a spot you cannot reach early is usually one to come back to.
🔋 Power Core charges
Some doors and elevators need a charge carried from a Power Core Station before it runs out. Since update 1.4.0, Assist Mode can make the charge last up to three times as long.
⚙️ Assist Mode
Twelve sliders, from enemy aggression to immortality, which go both ways, change at any time and lock no trophies. The settings also have Automatic Rush, which makes sprinting a single press.
How saving works
There are no manual saves. The game autosaves into profile slots — five at launch, seven since update 1.4.0 — and a profile can be duplicated on the title screen as a backup. It also keeps a permanent save after every main quest, which is what makes the one missable trophy recoverable.
Worth doing as you go
- Save before the karaoke in The Party Won't Stop, in the south-west of the West Incursion Zone: nine right lyrics, or a guest dies and the trophy goes with them.
- Sketchbooks show a question mark when you are close, and dogs wait on rooftops: both are easier to pick up while you are in the zone than to come back for.
- Pope's Research is how you cross the Unknown, and its Resonant Token opens the sixth ability slot.
- Nothing else can be missed: everything is still there in free roam after the credits.
Cross-checked
Cross-checked on 2 October 2026 against the guides of PowerPyx, KeenGamer, GameRant, AllThings.how and Gamer Guides, Remedy's update 1.4.0 notes and the PlayStation Blog. Not from a playthrough: nobody here has played it, and what the sources do not describe is not on this page.