Objectives
- Meet Pope in the Oldest House Lobby
- Find the Team Below the Sinkhole
- Locate the Research Team
- Explore the Beacon Location
- Keep Searching for the Team
- Pick up the Device
- Track the Time Fluctuations
- Restore the Power
- Return to Ayad
- Locate Grist
- Locate the Transmission Tower
- Defend the Transmission Tower
- Cross the Chasm
- Follow the Relays to Grist
- Place the Final Probe Relay
Walkthrough step-by-step
Meet Pope in the Oldest House Lobby
With the previous main quest behind you, you wake back up in Dylan's cell inside the Oldest House. Make your way back to the lobby and talk to Pope to open the quest. Speaking with her here also triggers the side mission Into the Valley of Death, which ties into Langston's research — that mission is entirely optional and has no bearing on finishing the main story.
Find the Team Below the Sinkhole
Re-enter the Sinkhole using the same route you took to leave it before — through the laundromat. On your way in, grab the Power Upgrade crate that now sits inside the building, then head through the back. In the first open cavern, drop down onto the platform marked with "PERSONNEL ACCESS" painted on the ground. From there, follow the yellow tape lines and the painted arrows.
The next open area lets you jump up to a higher platform to chat with a man named Dombrow, who is tied to the Into the Valley of Death side mission — you can safely skip him. To keep the main quest moving, drop to the lowest floor of the chamber and descend through the hole in the middle. Keep following the white lights clipped to the ropes downward. Once you land in the bottom area you visited before, activate the Sinkhole fast travel door, then drop through the hole in the center of the room (the shaft the diving bell used during Into the Sinkhole). Right after landing, look to the left of the south door for a second Power Upgrade crate, then take either door and follow the stairs down.
Locate the Research Team
When you reach the Underpass, drop onto the red platform below, then follow the path right toward more of the white rope lights, fighting through the Hiss in your way. Past the Hiss group, you can drop down on the left to find the region's shop and a Health Point crate. Climb back up and keep following the pillar upward alongside the lights; near the top, jump across to the platform where more Hiss are waiting and clear them out.
After that fight, jump up to the ceiling and use gravity shifting to land upside down, then drop into the hole. Land on the patterned platform and leap off toward the top of the area, then keep following the lights south. From this platform, look south and call out the red light far in the distance to update your objective, and be sure to activate The Spire fast travel door nearby before moving on.
Explore the Beacon Location
Head to the lower part of the camp platform and look down the middle for more lit ropes leading down (heading up The Spire instead would take you to the Underpass Resonant boss). On the lower level, activate the Map Kit on the left, then follow the path right toward the beacon's location. Clear the enemies on the next platform, then take the path to the left side of the room; on the far side, activate the Halfway Trail fast travel door.
Push past it and, on the left, jump to the platform with the yellow light — reaching it requires the Reach Ability from the grapple point, which you get from The Subway Fault Walkthrough (Jesse Sightings). If you have not done that yet, fast travel out and complete it now. Cross to the red floor area and make for the red beacon light. Follow the red floors, fighting Hiss along the way, and at the beacon itself jump across to its walkway. Inspect the cluster of bodies there to update Zoe.
Keep Searching for the Team
The search zone here is enormous. At the east corner, inspect the Cable Car — remember it, you will need it later. Just west of it, climb the pillar to its top, where you will find the Research Station fast travel door — activate it. Continue further west and use the platforms to reach another area of walkways. Enter it to find the research team, then interact with them to report the anomaly. Jump across to the southwest tower and fight the enemy group there. Then follow the wall down to another walkway section. Near the group of people on the platform, speak with Grist once the others vanish.
Pick up the Device
After Grist disappears, pick up the device sitting on the table.
Track the Time Fluctuations
Track the Time Fluctuations around the area — the map marks the two research sites you visited earlier. Return to the previous research site to find an audio log on the ground at the marked spot. Then head back to the first research site to speak with researcher Ayad. Completing both gives you two new objectives.
Restore the Power
Ayad wants the power restored and tells you to follow the yellow tape on the ground. Climb to the top of the tower, then turn east — the room on the wall keeps shifting around. Jump to the wall and flip gravity to find Charge cubes inside. Grab the charge from the moving room and carry it back to the main area east of Ayad, where a normal, unmoving room already holds 1 charged cube. Go back near the earlier spot; another room on the wall to the right holds another charge — carry it down to the main area. The last charge sits off the east side of the platform, in the direction Ayad is facing — pick it up and bring it back so all 4 charges are in the main area room.
Return to Ayad
Once all 4 charges are placed, speak with Ayad again and he disappears. Head back to the third location, "Another Research Site?", where you encounter the three researchers once more, triggering a new objective.
Locate Grist
Travel southeast to the new objective in the smaller search area and find Grist looking over the edge. Talk to her; she disappears again, and one more anomaly appears at the western spot — climb to the tower's upper section to find a recording beside a body of Grist's.
Locate the Transmission Tower
From the recording you just picked up, head southeast toward the transmission tower.
Defend the Transmission Tower
At the tower, waves of Hiss attack — fight them all off. Afterwards there is one new time fluctuation to investigate: go back east to the Cable Car you noted earlier and speak with Grist there.
Cross the Chasm
To help Grist with her further research, interact with the lever on the Cable Car and ride it across the chasm.
Follow the Relays to Grist
Once the Cable Car stops, grab the Power Upgrade crate on the left before carrying on. Then follow the trail of red beacons toward the next area; jump down toward the Mold and keep heading southeast to the new anomaly icon on the map. In this new version of the research area, interact with the intercom in the northern room. Continue southeast, following the red beacons. In the next large open room, go to the right side first and shift gravity to follow the path along the walls, reaching the exit on the far side.
Place the Final Probe Relay
When you reach Grist, she dies again and you must place the final relay. Before moving ahead, activate the Deepest Underpass fast travel door on the right. Pick up the relay and follow the path through the pipes. In the room, set it on the ground beside the tree and activate it to complete the mission.
Rewards & unlocks
- 1 x Living Shard
- Grist's Tracking Device
- Prime Candidate Restraint Suit
Note: halfway through this quest you must complete The Subway Fault Walkthrough (Jesse Sightings) to unlock the Reach Ability — without it you cannot reach the platform with the yellow light. Up the Spire you can also take on the Underpass Resonant boss fight. For the overall quest order, see the Walkthrough: All 16 Main Missions in Order.
