- Adaptations
- 25, plus 4 more in New Game+.
- Strands
- One at the start, one per Adaptation Level, ten at most.
- Levelling
- AP from Nightmare Trials and Whisky Bottles.
- Level 10
- Secondary Mutations (gold), at 73.5% of bottles and doors.
- Respec
- Free for Adaptations; never for Technique Points.
How the system works
🧬 Strands are the slots
An Adaptation needs a free Strand to be equipped. You start with four Adaptations unlocked and a single Strand, every Adaptation Level adds a Strand up to ten, and levels 2 to 9 also unlock new Adaptations while level 10 adds only the last Strand.
📈 AP raises the level
AP is what raises the Adaptation Level, and it comes from completing Nightmare Trials — more for a higher rank — and from finding Whisky Bottles. The level can be checked in the Adaptation menu, opened with the Touchpad.
🚪 It starts in Homecoming
The first Nightmare Trial comes in mission 4, Homecoming, and Adaptations unlock automatically with the story once it pays out its AP.
🔁 Swapping costs nothing
In the Adaptations menu Square equips and Triangle unequips, so the loadout can change with the fight. That is the only respec in the game: Technique Points cannot be refunded once spent.
🎁 What a trial pays
Most trials pay 1 AP at each of the four ranks, bronze to Adamantium. The three gauntlets — Last Stand at Cold Pines, Crucible of Tears and Savage Showdown — pay 4 AP at bronze, a set of claws at silver, and a suit part at gold and at Adamantium.
All 25, by the level that unlocks them
All 25; the stated total and the list agree. Level 10 adds no Adaptation, only the tenth Strand.
| Adaptation Level | Adaptation | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| 1 · from the start | Healing Dangerously | Reacting successfully to a Power Attack or a Reckless Attack restores health. |
| 1 · from the start | Expanded Crit | Critical Strikes work on enemies with more health left. |
| 1 · from the start | Barrage Recharge | The Special Technique on L2 + Square recharges faster. |
| 1 · from the start | Enraging Sprint | While you sprint, enemy ranged attacks build Rage. |
| 2 | Enraging Stealth | Stealth Takedowns build extra Rage. |
| 2 | Bullet Sponge | Ranged attacks do less damage to you. |
| 3 | Healing Dodge | Dodging an enemy attack restores health. |
| 3 | Extended Parry | A wider timing window for a successful parry. |
| 4 | Tough Skinned | Melee attacks do less damage to you. |
| 4 | Combo Ender Recharger | Combo Enders recharge the Special Technique on L2 + Triangle faster. |
| 5 | Healing Parry | Parrying an enemy attack restores health. |
| 5 | Rage Intimidation | Entering Rage Tier 2 Intimidates a nearby basic enemy, opening a Critical Strike. |
| 5 | Crate Finder | Enhanced Senses pick up Material Crates from further away and through obstacles. |
| 6 | Healing Crit | A Critical Strike restores health. |
| 6 | Parry Recharge | Parrying an enemy attack recharges the Special Technique on L2 + X. |
| 6 | Enraging Ender | Combo Enders build extra Rage. |
| 7 | Dodge Recharge | Dodging an enemy attack recharges the Special Technique on L2 + Circle faster. |
| 7 | Enraging Barrage | Barrages build extra Rage. |
| 7 | Tier 2 Crit | In Rage Tier 2, Critical Strikes on a Staggered enemy with low health. |
| 8 | Desperate Regeneration | Below 35% health, passive regeneration speeds up until you are back at 50%. |
| 8 | Chain Crit | A Critical Strike leaves a nearby basic enemy Intimidated; the follow-up Critical Strike does not chain another. |
| 8 | Whisky Finder | Enhanced Senses pick up Whisky Bottles from further away and through obstructions. |
| 9 | Enraged Recharge | Special Techniques recharge faster in Rage Tier 2, and faster again in Tier 3. |
| 9 | Rage Longer | Rage Tier 3 decays more slowly. |
| 9 | Leaping Crit | In Rage Tier 3, hold Triangle for a Critical Strike on a basic enemy. |
The ten two guides would equip
| Build | Its ten | Built around |
|---|---|---|
| Healing first | Healing Dangerously, Extended Parry, Expanded Crit, Healing Parry, Healing Crit, then Healing Dodge, Barrage Recharge, Enraged Recharge, Tier 2 Crit and Rage Intimidation | Healing, parries and Critical Strikes first, for boss fights and the gauntlet trials — with Healing Dangerously as the very first pick. |
| Rage first | Expanded Crit, Extended Parry, Healing Parry, Tough Skinned, Rage Intimidation, Enraging Ender, Tier 2 Crit, Chain Crit, Rage Longer and Enraging Barrage | Rage: building it faster, keeping it longer and doing more with it. Its level-by-level advice starts with Expanded Crit, or Healing Dangerously if you are struggling to stay alive. |
Where they agree
Five Adaptations are on both lists — Expanded Crit, Extended Parry, Healing Parry, Rage Intimidation and Tier 2 Crit — so a loadout built from those five is one neither list argues with. The split after that is healing against Rage, and since Adaptations can be swapped freely to suit the situation, the rest can follow the fight in front of you.
The two that do the collecting
Crate Finder unlocks at Adaptation Level 5 and Whisky Finder at level 8. Both make Enhanced Senses pick their collectible up from further away and through walls. They take a Strand like any other Adaptation, so they compete with the combat picks — which stops mattering on a cleanup run from the Nightmare Cabin.
Level 10, and past it
🥇 Secondary Mutations
Adaptation Level 10 is the gold. On a full route it arrives after 15 of the 20 bottles and 10 of the 14 doors if you are scoring Adamantium in the trials — 73.5% — and there are more collectibles than the maximum level needs.
➕ New Game+ raises the ceiling
In New Game+ the Adaptation Level goes up to 15 and 20 Strands, but the condition differs: GameRant asks for every Whisky Bottle collected and every Nightmare Door trial completed, and Game8's Adaptations page for Adaptations maxed out in the first playthrough, while Game8's New Game Plus page ("up to 20 Adaptations") and Vandal list twenty with no condition attached.
⚖️ Four Reckless Adaptations
New Game+ adds four more, each with an upside and a cost. Reckless Healing triples passive regeneration and Reckless Brawler triples the damage you deal, both at the cost of doubling the damage you take; Reckless Berserker makes every attack build significant Rage, but Last Stand is gone; Reckless Tactics charges Special Techniques and the Helix Claws a little with every attack, but Last Stand drains all Special Techniques.
Cross-checked
Cross-checked on 22 September 2026 and re-checked on 1 October 2026 against the guides of GamesRadar+, Game8, PowerPyx, GameRant and Vandal; the two recommended tens are GamesRadar+'s (Rage first) and Game8's (healing first). Not stated in anything we read: how much AP each level costs, or how much AP a single Whisky Bottle is worth, so neither is here. Not from a playthrough: nobody here has played it, and what the sources do not describe is not on this page.