What this page is
The 40 Abyss Challenges, listed in the order the in-game journal shows them, with a checkable card for each. Nothing here is from a playthrough of our own.
1. What an Abyss Challenge Is
The Abysses are the flying sky islands. On the world map you switch between the ground map and the sky map (R3, the right stick, or the mouse wheel), and each island holds one puzzle, the most involved puzzles in the game. Repairing an Abyss counts as one challenge in the journal's "Restoration" set, pays an Abyss Artifact, the skill point the whole game runs on (since patch 2.00.00, spending Artifacts on one character's skills also grants the same number of Abyss Links, a new skill-learning resource, to each of the other playable characters), and leaves a fast-travel point in the sky from which you can skydive down to the ground below. Four of them also unlock the elemental skills of the red skill tree (section 2). The challenge is completed by restoring the Abyss Nexus found across Pywel, some during the main quest and the rest by solving an environmental puzzle, and the method differs from one to the next. Since patch 1.13.00 Oongka and Damiane can enter the Abyss too, and the same patch made the puzzles completable with Oongka's Scatter Shot; the solutions below follow the guides, which describe Kliff's moves.
How they hang together: most Abysses come in chains, where finishing one opens the next, and most chains start from a Spire on the ground; almost all are linear, a few close into circles. The journal keeps the tally under Main Menu → Journal → Challenges → Exploration → The Abyss. Two more things: the four Abyss puzzles in the map's south-eastern corner, in the Eternal Corridor, belong to the optional Marni storyline, award no Artifacts and do not count towards the 40; and the final challenge, Dimensional Bonds, pays ten Artifacts and opens a hidden ending, extra lore in six books at the Axiom Archive by VULKK's account (the Epilogue page covers what that ending is and is not, and the other place it may play).
Completing all 40 is a trophy, Conqueror of the Abysses; the Achievements page has the list. The 60 Abyss Cressets, which the journal files beside these under Exploration, are a separate challenge, the Secret Places, with their own page and tracker . The FAQ has the short answers on the count, on fast travel and on Axiom Force, the ability nearly every puzzle below leans on.
2. How the Abysses Connect
The advice on order: play the story first, then finish all the Spires, then do the Abysses, because several are gated behind story progress and every cluster is entered from one Spire. There are eight Spires to finish: seven named ones plus the Jijeong Temple Pagoda, which also counts as a Spire. Inside each Abyss a Skybridge leads to the next one: you grab the blue-glowing pillar with Axiom Force (hold L3 / Tab) and turn it until it glows blue. The table gives the chains in chronological order, with their cluster names.
Entry point
Chain, in order
Cluster
The story, Chapter 1 Axiom Archive → Ethereal Pathway → Root's End → Precipice of Truth The Path of Providence Spire of the Stars Sanctorum of Insight → Secret Garden → Vault of Vengeance → Courtyard of Precision (Lightning) → Altar of Solitude → Ice Cradle → Root's End Ruins, on the ground → Twisted Thicketway The Path of Providence, ending in the Sleet Isles Spire of Soaring Crescent Skybridge → Crow's Nest → Monolith Crown Triangle Ring Spire of Ringing Truth Ether Rest → Frostbitten Paradise → Path of Trials (Frost) → Sanctorum of Darkness → Loop of Life → Tree of Slumber (Flame) → Skyloop Bridge → Root's End Ruins → Twisted Thicketway Sleet Isles Spire of Insight Chaos Forest → Roots of Truth The Path of Providence Spire of Frost Passage of Malice → Tomb of Perdition → Desert Fragment → Cradle of Truth Dry Valley Spire of Clockwork Riddle Square (Wind) → Origin of Thoughts → Forgotten Altar → Disconnected Truth → Ether Fragment The Wanderer's Way Spire of the Sun Nest of Valor → Throne of Truth → Dimensional Labyrinth → Sanctum of Transcendence Dry Valley Jijeong Temple Pagoda (Chapter 9) Ascetic's Rest → Bowsprit Cape, on the ground → Path of Serpents → Crossroads of Uncertainty The Path of Providence The end of every chain (Chapter 12) Dimensional Bonds Center of the Abyss
The four elemental unlocks
The elemental skills of the red tree come from four specific repairs. Riddle Square gives Wind (the skill Storm Veil, which imbues attacks with the Wind element), Courtyard of Precision gives Lightning, Path of Trials gives Frost and Tree of Slumber gives Flame; each of the last three unlocks that element's skill for every character and lets the Imbue Element skills use it. The Builds page covers the skills themselves.
Three puzzles on the ground that sit inside the chains
They are not Abyss Challenges and have no card below, but the "unlocks after" chain runs through all three, and two of them are puzzles of their own.
1
Root's End Ruins, before Twisted Thicketway
On the hilltop just north-east of the Sage's Peak label, reached from Ice Cradle or Skyloop Bridge, or found on foot without either. Follow the power cables to the west side and drop into the cave in the mountain, which records the location of the Ancient Sealed Gate; the wall button on the north side raises the lift, and the socket on the balcony hands you the central pillar. Move the pillar under each of the three ceiling gears, raise the gear and turn it until an audio cue marks the right spot, which is not where it stops and sparks; with all three set, the middle gear lights and drops, so turn that too. Standing in the middle of the outside platform then starts the giant fan that lifts you to Twisted Thicketway.
2
Bowsprit Cape, between Ascetic's Rest and Path of Serpents
Ascetic's Rest's teleporter puts you inside an Abyss structure on the ground at Bowsprit Cape instead of at the next island (the Bowsprit Cave puzzle). Seat the two long power blocks floating inside, then the third, spotted through the hole in the side, in the last long slot; for the flat block, climb out over that wall, look up, get onto the higher cliff nearby, jump and boost as high as you can with mid-air Force Palm, glide, and grab the block with Axiom Force while gliding, then bring it down and inside to the open slot near the bottom. The structure lifts off and slowly rolls: keep walking with the rotation to stay on the floor, and when a roof plate slides loose, grab it with Axiom Force and Force Palm it back into place. Once it rights itself and stops, you are at Path of Serpents.
3
The Denn River blocks, inside Ether Fragment
Ether Fragment unlocks after a "Denn River Cube Puzzle"; the stop at the Denn River is part of the Ether Fragment steps, so they are in that card below.
3. The Ones the Story Does for You
How many Abysses the story completes is disputed: PowerPyx and VULKK both say seven, and VULKK marks these seven "Main Story": Ethereal Pathway and Axiom Archive (Chapter I), Sanctorum of Insight (Chapter IV), Crow's Nest (Chapter V), Ascetic's Rest (Chapter IX), Nest of Valor (the Spire of the Sun) and Dimensional Bonds (Chapter XII). PowerPyx's per-puzzle pages tie nine to a named quest, adding Crescent Skybridge and Throne of Truth to that list. The table below has all nine; the chapter pages describe the quests themselves.
Abyss
Quest
In VULKK's seven?
Axiom Archive Chapter 1 , Polar Opposites, mandatoryYes Ethereal Pathway Chapter 1, Abyss without Balance, mandatory Yes Sanctorum of Insight Chapter 4 , Obsession and Madness, from the Spire of the Stars Yes Crescent Skybridge Chapter 5 , Toward the Nest, after activating the Spire of Soaring No Crow's Nest Chapter 5, Toward the Nest: only the Crowcaller boss fight Yes Ascetic's Rest Chapter 9 , Face the Inner Self, which activates the Jijeong Temple Pagoda; it cannot be entered earlier Yes Nest of Valor Chapter 9, Unwavering Steps: only the Goyen boss fight Yes Throne of Truth Chapter 9, New Perspectives No Dimensional Bonds Chapter 12 , A Shadow in the Void restores one of its seven pulses; the rest are done afterwards Yes
Two of these are not puzzles at all. Crow's Nest and Nest of Valor each consist of a boss fight, and beating the boss is what ticks the challenge; the Bestiary has both fights, and the Twisted Thicketway boss too, the only optional Abyss that works that way.
4. All 40, with Solutions
One card per challenge, in the journal's order, so the list can be read against the in-game Challenges tab to see which is missing. Each card gives the cluster, what it unlocks after and the solution in outline. Six cards also mention a chest on the way in, each holding a Faded Abyss Artifact and one piece of gear. Ticks are saved in this browser and, if you are signed in, in your account with the rest of the Crimson Desert guide; anything you ticked on the earlier version of this page is still ticked, because the cards keep their old ids. The same forty, with the same ids and ticks, are also on a map view whose marker positions are illustrative, not in-game coordinates.
Ethereal Pathway Journal #1 · The Path of Providence · unlocks after the main story, Chapter I. Repaired during Chapter 1's Abyss without Balance, reached over the skybridge from Axiom Archive by running platform to platform. Solution: in the garden, grab the floating blue cube with Axiom Force and set it on the right-hand pedestal, leaving the left cube alone, so the barrier drops; jump into the pit, watch the blue ghost place the power cell to learn Force Palm, put the cell against the wall the same way and punch it in; climb out, Force Palm the big cog on the wall, then walk into the glowing item at the top of the stairs.
Axiom Archive Journal #2 · The Path of Providence · unlocks after the main story, Chapter I. Repaired during Chapter 1's Polar Opposites: enter through the Abyss Gate in Hernand Castle and head north-east to the pedestal near the edge. Solution: stand on the floor plate for fast travel; light the lantern to see the yellow lines in the two floor plates and turn them with Axiom Force until power flows through both (the lines vanish while you grapple, so release and look again if you lose them); inside, Axiom Force the gate, then grapple the totem's blue centre and turn it until it glows blue to raise a path; ride the moving platforms and the teleport plate to the big garden and stand on the ringed floor plate, a second fast-travel point, which completes it and starts Ethereal Pathway.
Root's End Journal #3 · The Path of Providence · unlocks after Axiom Archive. Entered from Ethereal Pathway. Solution: cross the moving platforms or boost with Force Palm and glide, and activate the Abyss Nexus at the top of the stairs; crouch on the golden grate between the two lights and Force Palm to flip yourself down the laser tunnel, gliding to slow down; at the bottom, move the big stone block with Axiom Force and climb it to reach the floating power block, set the block over the centre slot and Force Palm it in from above; take the teleporter, push the next block into the right-hand wall socket the same way, then crouch on the button and Force Palm it.
Precipice of Truth Journal #4 · The Path of Providence · unlocks after Root's End. Entered from Root's End; the teleporter puts you straight on the Abyss Nexus. Solution: three times over, destroy a pillar enemy by grabbing the ball in its middle with Axiom Force, carry the power core it drops to a pedestal to open a room, take the flat power block from that room and Force Palm it into a wall slot, and ride the fan that switches on up to the next level; the third block also starts the two big fans and the restore button, so ride up to it, brace, Force Palm, then climb the wall to the Artifact.
Ether Fragment Journal #5 · The Wanderer's Way · unlocks after the Denn River cube puzzle. The end of the Spire of Clockwork chain, after Disconnected Truth. Solution: take the west Skybridge Gate out of the opened diamond and turn its pillar to the right; on the floating ledge use the lantern to learn and equip Visione, which shows hidden platforms, and follow them to the teleporter, which drops you at the Denn River (if you fall, re-equip Visione from the helm slot and pick the Disconnected Truth memory to see them again). At the river, pull the long block out of its place, set the blue block on the floor spot ringed by leaves and Force Palm it in, then Force Palm the long block back; climb up into the Abyss, turn the north and south floor squares a quarter turn each so all four perimeter squares light, ride the device until it stops and hands over the fragment, get out (three mid-air Force Palms, or the hole in the south wall), activate the Nexus to the west, then glide to the western island and Force Palm the device from above.
Forgotten Altar Journal #6 · The Wanderer's Way · unlocks after Origin of Thoughts. Solution: from Origin of Thoughts' north Skybridge Gate, platform up (some ledges collapse), glide north-north-east from the tree platform, hop islands on the fans and step into the light. At the Altar, burn the three sets of thorny vines with Focused Light and put the ball in the container on the ledge above; from the far-left corner ride the fans over the spinning contraption, enter Focus and cast Nature's Retribution (Nature's Snare at level 2, required) to stop it and the whirlwind; drop to the block, crouch on its round top and Force Palm inside, then Force Palm the floor.
Origin of Thoughts Journal #7 · The Wanderer's Way · unlocks after Riddle Square. Solution: from Riddle Square's south-west archways turn the device a quarter turn right, follow the raised path and a long run of fans and glides into the light; from the Nexus ride the fans up to a ring and the right-hand fan to a second, grab the glowing rock from the broken rings with Axiom Force, set it in the break in the wires (leaves mark the spot) and Force Palm it in; ride to the top and follow the pipes east to a hole with a light, Axiom Force it for an overhead view of three rings and line each up in turn; back on the first platform Force Palm the column of lights, then collect the reward at the core.
Disconnected Truth Journal #8 · The Wanderer's Way · unlocks after Forgotten Altar. Solution: from Forgotten Altar's east Skybridge Gate; activate the Nexus and glide into the opening under the pyramid. Inside, reconnect the conduit on the right, ride the lift up and let the walls fold down, then grapple the lit circle of the three (the right one); through the north door drop into the floor hole, follow the pipes and reconnect a second conduit, climb the stairs outside, chain three jumping Force Palms to the floating platform and glide to the blue block under the diamond, bring it to the spotlight at the top of the stairs and set it with Force Current; grapple the middle circle; fix the wire in the south doorway, pull the glowing piece from the back wall and float it between the ledges, fix the wire on the west ledge, seat the piece in the southern spotlight hole; grapple the last circle, climb to the big circular device and Force Palm its centre, then take the reward at the top as the shell opens.
Riddle Square Journal #9 · The Wanderer's Way · unlocks after the Spire of Clockwork. Unlocks the Wind element, the Storm Veil skill. Solution: a timed flying course, shorter than Crossroads of Uncertainty but with less time and sharper turns. Go in with a good stamina bar (six to eight bars is the suggestion). Grab the switch by the fans in the middle of the square with Axiom Force until its lights turn from yellow to blue; that powers the rings overhead and you have about 1 minute 10 seconds. Jump and glide from the centre so the first fan blows you up through the first rings, then follow the rings around the square, using the fans to change direction and height (each ring restores stamina). Swift Flight helps on the stretches that dive downward and Aerial Roll on the tight turns. Each ring carries a fading light and switches off if you dawdle, which means starting over from the switch. At the end climb to the middle of the big circular mechanism and Force Palm (or Force Current) its centre; the Artifact is on the lower platform.
Tomb of Perdition Journal #10 · Dry Valley · unlocks after Passage of Malice. Reached over Passage of Malice's skybridge. On the way there is a chest: drop to the lower platform, ride the moving one out and Focused Shot the three buttons at once to kill the lasers (Faded Abyss Artifact and Frostward II). Solution: the button in front of you rotates the middle cube, so before turning it carry both long power blocks out of the right-hand room; rotate, slot one long block in the left room, take that room's flat block, rotate back, seat the flat block in the right room's wall socket, then float the second long block over the cube to the floor slot on the far side and press the button.
Desert Fragment Journal #11 · Dry Valley · unlocks after Tomb of Perdition. In the sky above the Tomb of Perdition; platforms and two teleporters, with the Nexus before the main structure. Solution: Axiom Force the socket and turn the cubes until the three lasers hit all three balls, the left laser to the middle ball, the middle to the right and the right to the left; cross and press the button.
Passage of Malice Journal #12 · Dry Valley · unlocks after the Spire of Frost. The Spire of Frost's Abyss Gate drops you on the Nexus. Solution: grab the laser ball on the left wall and centre it in the left square so it shines into the far ball, opening a hole in the floor. Below, a socket on each side rotates cubes: with the left socket, line the cubes into a full track, hop to a floating platform and move the left laser into the third cube's centre, then flip the second cube back to its ball; repeat on the right with the laser in the second cube and the third cube back to its ball; both sides lit opens the door, where a power block in the left slot powers the button. Press it and teleport up for the Artifact.
Cradle of Truth Journal #13 · Dry Valley · unlocks after Desert Fragment. Its skybridge opens once Desert Fragment is done. Solution: the block on the left is burning, so dip it in the water at the back to cool it and slot it. The intended route rides the moving platforms and grabs the pillar buttons to shift the lasers; a shortcut is to Force Palm-boost and glide to the flat block on the far-left platform, push it toward the far side in stages (the middle platform runs between two laser sets, so you can stand on it), glide across, seat the block in the floor spot and press the button.
Ascetic's Rest Journal #14 · The Path of Providence · unlocks after the main story, Chapter IX. Reached automatically in Chapter 9's Face the Inner Self, which wakes the Jijeong Temple Pagoda spire, and not before. Solution: past the pool take the left path down the spiral stair into a cave and break the wall at its end with Turning Slash, which drains the pool; go back and down where the water was for the power cell, carry it to the big cog, push it into the wall slot on the right with Force Current and Force Palm the cog; the Artifact sits on the obelisk to the left.
Path of Serpents Journal #15 · The Path of Providence · unlocks after the Bowsprit Cave puzzle. Ascetic's Rest's teleporter sends you to the ground-level Bowsprit Cape structure first (section 2); solve it and the teleporter for Path of Serpents is straight ahead. Solution: rotate the floor plates with Axiom Force, using Guiding Light to see each plate's path, until the left and right paths to the lasers are powered at the same time; that steadies the lasers and powers the button in the building ahead, so pick through the beams to it and ride the floor fan to the top.
Crossroads of Uncertainty Journal #16 · The Path of Providence · unlocks after Path of Serpents. Jumping Force Palms and a glide reach the teleporter island, which lands you on the Nexus. Solution: a timed gliding course in three stretches, each started by a switch. Axiom Force the yellow switch on the ground near the platform edge: after about 5 seconds the countdown starts, and you have a little over 1 minute 30 seconds for the first three rings. Glide through the rings in order and use each fan to regain height (fans also restore stamina); Swift Flight and Aerial Roll cover the long gaps, and if you drop too low, Axiom Force's Aerial Maneuver latches you onto a surface so you can climb back to a platform. Land to grab the button that lights the next stretch. The rings show a shrinking yellow band and go dark if you take too long, in which case warp to the Nexus and redo that stretch. The last stretch has lasers between the fans, which you weave past to the next ring. With every ring lit the timer stops: a final button pushes you into the central structure, a fan lifts you to the restore button (the big floating block is a place to recover stamina), and the Artifact is at the top.
Crow's Nest Journal #17 · Triangle Ring · unlocks after the main story, Chapter V. A boss fight and nothing else: beating it during Chapter 5's Toward the Nest ticks the challenge (the bestiary has the boss). Head south-east from the Abyss Nexus west of the Denn River.
Crescent Skybridge Journal #18 · Triangle Ring · unlocks after the Spire of Soaring. An objective of Chapter 5's Toward the Nest, after the Spire of Soaring is activated. Solution: the floor plate on arrival is fast travel, but a fall resets the puzzle. Leave the big orb in front alone, it already hits its panel; jump up the platforms on the right with three mid-air Force Palms and use Axiom Force to aim the right orb and the leftmost orb at their wall panels, so that all four orbs hit four panels that turn blue and the big rings start turning; cross through the rings (three Force Palms, then glide) and reconnect the two broken cables Guiding Light shows in yellow, one in the middle and one far right; hang on the centre of the round wall panel at the end and Force Palm it; then step through the Skybridge and turn its pillar with Axiom Force until it glows blue.
Monolith Crown Journal #19 · Triangle Ring · unlocks after Crow's Nest. After Chapter 5: sky map, Triangle Ring, fast travel to Crow's Nest, then past the tree and to the right a skybridge to turn until blue and a teleporter. Solution: three mid-air Force Palms and a glide over the turbines, activate fast travel and make a manual save. In the back-left corner drop to the small island and Axiom Force the glowing ring in the cube overhead: you now steer a cube whose lasers must hit every orange wall button, and each up or down move lets the lasers slide unless you spin fast. The guides give different sequences: PowerPyx up, up, up, left, left, up (fast), up; Game8 right twice facing west, then up facing south, up facing east, up facing south, up facing east and left; VULKK, starting the camera facing south, left twice, down, then turn the camera 180° and go up once and down once, letting the lasers settle after each move. A wrong move scrambles it, so reload. When every button is lit you leave the view; finish with a jumping Force Palm on the big floor cog. One guide gives a shortcut it calls an exploit: move the cube only three times (to the side, to the side again, then down), even though a yellow light stays unlit; then, with your sword drawn, press L1 and R1 together and hold L1, let go and do a Force Palm jump straight away (if a cutscene starts, begin the inputs again).
Skyloop Bridge Journal #20 · Sleet Isles · unlocks after Tree of Slumber. Over Tree of Slumber's skybridge. On the approach there is a chest: from the lower first platform, Focused Shot the five buttons above the two big fans to stop them and glide down (Faded Abyss Artifact and Vitality III). Solution: fill three broken rings, the far-left one and the two right-hand pillars, with the floating debris using Axiom Force; pieces snap in once close enough, and falling out of the Abyss resets everything. The small platform on the yellow pillar is the intended transport (Axiom Force its socket, pick a pillar, pull), or boost and glide. Left pillar: the biggest piece, then the small one; west pillar: a large, a medium and the small; the last ring already holds its large piece, so add a medium and the small. Keep your hands off the controls during the button cutscene, since you can still walk off the edge, and hold to resist while climbing to the button before you Force Palm it. Root's End Ruins on the ground comes next.
Ether Rest Journal #21 · Sleet Isles · unlocks after the Spire of Ringing Truth. Solution: ride the upward fans and glide into the turning central pillar through its open corner; inside, Axiom Force the round socket above the grates and turn until there is an opening; glide up a floor, lift the holed pillar with Nature's Grasp, grab the socket it reveals and spin the walls to find the gap; keep riding fans up, watching the minimap for a power core orbiting outside about halfway up (seal it in the Kuku Pot if you have it, otherwise grab it from a higher platform and carry it); at the top enter the middle room through one of its four doors and put the core on the empty pedestal beside the one already there; the top-floor wall fan then blows you to the button, so hold to resist while climbing.
Sanctorum of Darkness Journal #22 · Sleet Isles · unlocks after Path of Trials. Solution: ride the platform up to the Nexus, then drop to the platform below it with the golden grate, hold to resist and Force Palm to flip inside; pull the flat block from the wall slot, which drops the field in the ceiling hole (a ledge on the left has a chest with a Faded Abyss Artifact and Memory of the Forest I); climb out with the block and seat it in the open floor slot on the west side; both laser spheres are now powered, so Axiom Force their control spots and aim each beam at the sphere on the opposite wall; the far-wall button lights, so jump across, press it and climb.
Twisted Thicketway Journal #23 · Sleet Isles · unlocks after the Ancient Sealed Gate puzzle. The odd one out: entered from the ground-level Root's End Ruins, and a boss fight instead of a puzzle (PowerPyx; Game8 says the teleporter in Skyloop Bridge leads here instead). The bestiary lists the boss as Abyss Kutum. Solution: dodge until it surfaces and stops moving, grab the diamond in its head with Axiom Force and use Force Current to fill the stagger bar at once (arrows work, slowly); hit the dropped diamond hard with melee, since it takes heavy damage on the ground, and repeat if needed; then climb the central structure to the button.
Path of Trials Journal #24 · Sleet Isles · unlocks after Frostbitten Paradise. Unlocks Frost. The outside is freezing and drains health without cold resistance; lanterns you light hold it off for a while, and heat thaws the cores. Solution: glide up to the door on the far cliffs, go through the room and left down the icy corridor (run and jump over the ice); pull the power block out of its wall slot and leave it, which drops the field on the left doorway; one level up, the flat block and its slot are frozen, so carry the block through the left doorway into the lava room, dip it a few seconds until it emits power, bring it back up and Force Palm it into the slot quickly, because it refreezes outside; that lights the wall button above.
Frostbitten Paradise Journal #25 · Sleet Isles · unlocks after Ether Rest. Solution: to move the platform to the teleporter, stand against its round back and cast Nature's Snare so the wind pushes it. Carry the Lightning Cube onto the left platform and aim its beam at the orange ball to drop the field. Inside, stand on the left button to open a floor hole and drop; slot the power block on the right to start the hallway platform; bring the cube back to light the first ball, which opens a wall halfway down the hall; in that room set the cube on the lower floor pointing south and put the power core on the pedestal so that floor section slides across and lights the far ball (if not, lift the core, reposition, retry); take the first cube to the wall with two balls, light one, lift the core to fetch the second cube and light both together; in the last room Focus Light the ball in the wall, push the power block on the right through the hole, crouch after it, slot it to power a teleporter back to the start, and press the button.
Tree of Slumber Journal #26 · Sleet Isles · unlocks after Loop of Life. Unlocks Flame; reached over Loop of Life's skybridge. Solution: Sword Stab into the slots of the central pillar and rotate to raise or lower the outer pillars, like two of the Ancient Ruins. Stab the slot opposite the entrance and turn clockwise until the ring on the pillars to the left sits just above ground level (its three pillars light); one slot clockwise, turn clockwise until the pillar to the left is level and it stops; one more slot clockwise, turn anticlockwise until every pillar sits level with the ground rings and glows blue. A mistake is fixed by dying in the lava, which resets the puzzle at the Nexus, and the same lava is why the far button is best pressed by grabbing it with Axiom Force and using Force Current from a distance.
Loop of Life Journal #27 · Sleet Isles · unlocks after Sanctorum of Darkness. Solution: flat power blocks switch on three big rings you climb in turn. The first block hangs under the Nexus platform with its slot beneath; seat it and the ring turns anticlockwise. Ride it to the floating block, grab it, ride on to the tower off the side and drop the block near it; boost and glide onto the tower, slot the block in the room's floor to drop its field and take the room's block, then pull the first back out and carry both up; on the second ring, seat one a short way clockwise (that ring turns clockwise) and carry the other to the last ring and halfway around it to the final slot; the button on the platform beside it needs you to hold to resist.
Vault of Vengeance Journal #28 · The Path of Providence · unlocks after Secret Garden. Needs Nature's Grasp for the first door and Focused Shot for the first lasers. Solution: the round plate on the far platform teleports you; from the Nexus, float the two power cores onto the pedestals by the opening to drop the field; shoot the two yellow wall buttons in quick succession (Focused Shot) to clear the lock and lift the wall with Nature's Grasp; inside, Focused Shot all four wall buttons to kill the lasers and the central field, take the Golden Sword from the pedestal (a unique weapon) as the platform sinks, and loot the room; dodge through the laser hallway below, Force Palm the flat block into the wall at the end to wake a teleporter to the roof, seat the block there in the right slot and press the button. Behind the Artifact, vines hide a chest with a Faded Abyss Artifact and Swift I.
Sanctorum of Insight Journal #29 · The Path of Providence · unlocks after the main story, Chapter IV. Entered from the Spire of the Stars during Chapter 4's Obsession and Madness, according to PowerPyx; Game8 places it after the Spire of the Stars part of Forbidden Knowledge, through the Abyss Gate at the top. Solution: the floor plate by the entrance is fast travel; climb the tall pillars by jumping, chaining three Force Palms and gliding (Force Palm costs Spirit, recharged by holding focus), the same again from the first platform to the main one, then jump over the yellow floor mechanism and Force Palm it in mid-air for the cutscene. Enough Stamina to climb, or Kliff's Double Jump, also work; since patch 2.00.00 Bilwise gives Double Jump during the quest Unexpected Gift. Patch 2.02.00 fixed chaining Descending Force Palm after Aerial Force Palm, which did not work in certain situations.
Ice Cradle Journal #30 · The Path of Providence · unlocks after Altar of Solitude. Its skybridge opens once Altar of Solitude is done. On the approach there is a chest behind lasers: glide down, pick up the Abyss Fragments on the ground and set one on each side to block the beams (Faded Abyss Artifact and Haste II). Solution: from the Nexus walk toward the visible button, take the path on the right around and drop underground, where the right-hand path leads to a chiming mechanism; Focus Light its round buttons, numbered one to five from the left, in the order 5-1-2-3-4-5-1-1 until they turn blue and the gears start; back in the previous room boost up through the ceiling hole onto the rocky right side (the icy left slips), grab the floating power block, seat it right of the flat block already in place to drop the field, go out, turn left to the button and repair the conduit on the ground beside it. Root's End Ruins on the ground comes next.
Altar of Solitude Journal #31 · The Path of Providence · unlocks after Courtyard of Precision. Solution: the broken-looking platforms on the approach drop when stood on. Two metal plates with flat-block slots flip when the power core sits on the middle pedestal, opening the way underground. Seat the flat block floating on the left in the left plate, put the core on the pedestal and drop through the hole while the plate turns (move the core away and back to flip again if you miss). Below, grab a flat block through the crack in the far wall, push it through the wall hole and up the vertical slot into the shaft above ground; teleport out, take it from the hole left of the pedestal and slot it; flip the left plate back, arrange the flat blocks so the middle slot and both right slots are filled, and put the core back to flip the right plate; underground again, the far room (opened by that middle block) holds a flat block to push through the wall hole to the hole right of the pedestal; teleport up, put it in a left slot and move the middle block left, so all four slots on both plates are filled and the button lights.
Courtyard of Precision Journal #32 · The Path of Providence · unlocks after Vault of Vengeance. Unlocks Lightning. Solution: everything here is archery with an upgraded Focused Shot, and there are no arrows inside, so bring a stack. Three sets of diamonds around the ground, taken anticlockwise: mark and shoot the two moving yellow ones, then three, then four, always on the flat yellow face; that starts the central fan, so glide above the two rings in the air, each with three more diamonds (the lower ring while falling; for the upper, stand on its edge and shoot as they turn); then the button is live.
Secret Garden Journal #33 · The Path of Providence · unlocks after the Spire of the Stars. Reached through Sanctorum of Insight's teleporter once that one is done. Solution: aim two lasers at the far wall to open the door. The right one is on; for the left, fetch the flat block from the room's far right (lower the big block to stand on it), bring it to the slot under the left laser ball and Force Palm it in (easier with Force Current); Axiom Force the left ball and point it at the floating square top right so the beam bounces to the far ball, then point the right ball at the reflector above its start, near its left edge; the door opens, so ride the vent up, turn round to reconnect the conduit behind you and Force Palm the button.
Nest of Valor Journal #34 · Dry Valley · unlocks after the main story, Spire of the Sun. A boss fight and nothing else, fought during Chapter 9's Unwavering Steps; beating it ticks the challenge (the bestiary has the boss).
Sanctum of Transcendence Journal #35 · Dry Valley · unlocks after Dimensional Labyrinth. Solution: glide down to the teleporter, then walk the unfolding path or glide to the Nexus on the rock platform; break the ball in the bismuth wall with a Focused Force Palm (hold focus, then hold Force Palm), do the same to the two bismuth walls inside, up-left and down-right, take the flat power cell from behind the right one to the ground slot right of the walkway, and press the button on the left wall.
Throne of Truth Journal #36 · Dry Valley · unlocks after Nest of Valor. Reached during Chapter 9's New Perspectives. Solution: from Nest of Valor's skybridge ride one of the two moving gates across and drop into the hole; below, check the three round wall plates on the right carry power, follow the blue line with Guiding Light to a round wall button, and turn every wall button (five) blue with Force Palm, hanging on each and holding Resist so it does not throw you off; hitting one pushes others out, so keep at the ones that protrude, left wall, then front wall (top-left and bottom-left first), then the two right walls, checking with the lantern that the lines have gone blue; finish by repairing the broken cable under the hole you dropped through.
Dimensional Labyrinth Journal #37 · Dry Valley · unlocks after Throne of Truth. Solution: two moving walls carry you up to the teleporter (a room under it has a chest with a Faded Abyss Artifact and Flameward II) and one more to the Nexus. Flip wall plates with Force Palm to route the power: the first at the centre so it flows left, then the right-hand plate in the small room up the wall on the right; on the top of the structure, a south-side room holds a power block: flip in through the floor grate, turn north and flip that grate so its horizontal line is on the other side, drop to the block, guide it through the bars and out of the cell's hole, flip yourself back out, carry it up the stairs into a slot by the button with the block already floating there, and press.
Roots of Truth Journal #38 · The Path of Providence · unlocks after Chaos Forest. Solution: through the waterfall with a charged Stab (or climb round); one level up, glide round the powered wheel and its lasers to a room with a golden grate behind a beam: climb on when the beam lifts, hold to resist and Force Palm to flip in; do the same on the top level to reach the flat block, raise it to the ceiling, slide it flat into a side slot, then from the pillar top turn it upright through the slot and seat it. Glide to the far side, Stab across the small waterfall to the room with the second block, Axiom Force it through the wall gap and push it out of the far hole, follow the branches south, climb, and seat it in the other slot by the spinning wheels; the button is above, the Artifact at the very top.
Chaos Forest Journal #39 · The Path of Providence · unlocks after the Spire of Insight. Solution: lift the wall ahead of the Nexus with Nature's Grasp and burn the spiky vines with Focused Light; the flat block on the middle platform to the right is burning, so dip it in the pool on the left and seat it by the entrance; glide across to the vines left of the button, burn them, lift the block in the left wall with Nature's Grasp and seat that room's flat block on the left; lift the wall once more and wedge an Abyss Fragment under it so it stays open and the power connects; then the button, and the Artifact at the top.
Dimensional Bonds Journal #40 · Center of the Abyss · unlocks after the main story, Chapter XII. The last one, and different: it cannot be entered until Chapter 12 prompts it, and it is reached from the end point of every other chain. Solution: at the end of each chain is a platform you could not use before; in Chapter 12's A Shadow in the Void you cross from one of them through an Abyss Gate and press a button to restore that "pulse", which the story needs once, and the other pulses can be done afterwards, teleporting straight to the right Skybridge Gates. Seven pulses: Insight from Precipice of Truth, Ringing Truth from Twisted Thicketway, Soaring from Crescent Skybridge, Jijeong Temple from Crossroads of Uncertainty, Clockwork from Ether Fragment, the Sun from Nest of Valor and Frost from Cradle of Truth, each with its own tick in the journal; the button is straight ahead in all but Soaring (east side of the main platform) and Jijeong Temple (left, across a gap). Completing it pays 10 Abyss Artifacts and opens the hidden ending, six secret books at the Axiom Archive by VULKK's account (the Epilogue covers the other place it may play).
Cross-checked
Rewritten on 21 September 2026 from the guides of VULKK, PowerPyx and Game8, and on 8 October 2026 cross-checked against those guides, NoobFeed, GameRant and the official patch notes. Not from a playthrough: nobody here has played it, and what the sources do not describe is not on this page.