APHELION changes the meaning of a blocked route depending on who you control. Ariane usually needs height, momentum, a Pathfinder bearing, or an EM anomaly; injured Thomas often needs a powered door, a movable object, credentials, and a safe oxygen chain. Before circling an area, identify the active character and the tool the last objective introduced.
This walkthrough follows all eleven chapters with the moments that actually redirect the route. It names traversal hazards, Nemesis encounters, the commander-door code, and the final objective pattern, but avoids retelling the story scenes. A separate 9puz route covers the 58 collectibles and chapter cleanup.
Diagnose a blocked route by the tool it needs
| What you see | What to test | Common mistake |
|---|---|---|
| An objective beyond a cliff or high ledge | Use Pathfinder, then inspect crystals and overhead anchor points for the winch | Jumping before building enough swing momentum |
| A red or corrupted magnetic shape | Use the EM scanner; follow a corrupted line to its root when the object will not break directly | Trying to destroy the visible anomaly before repairing its root |
| Nemesis controls the next corridor | Move quietly and tune a red decoy anomaly away from the intended exit | Triggering the decoy while standing between it and the escape route |
| Thomas must cross an exposed exterior section | Locate the next oxygen station before disconnecting, then move the bridge or debris | Pulling a platform first and discovering the oxygen refill too late |
| A base door or lift has no power | Trace the objective to a generator, credentials, rover component, or nearby winch point | Treating the locked door as the puzzle instead of the end of a dependency chain |
Research boundary: this route was reconciled on July 19, 2026 against the released PC version and readable chapter references. The official feed captured a June 3 PC workaround for crashes with DLSS, but no chapter-layout change was found in the captured first-party posts. If a current build moves an interaction, trust the objective marker and the active tool rather than an exact camera angle.
The Wreck and The Pulse teach three different route signals
Chapter 1, The Wreck. Steer through the opening slide, then use the ledges and ladder on the left. After crossing to the right, the winch provides the next rise. The broken ladder is not a dead end: use the vehicle as the intermediate platform, then drop left when the ladder gives way. The long wreckage section alternates narrow gaps, ledges, and winch climbs. Inside the wreck, descend the broken platform, cross behind the pillar, climb, then take the opposite ledges down. The final blast turns the route into an automatic run; steer around debris and jump only for the marked grabs.
Chapter 2, The Pulse. Keep Pathfinder active until the first major descent. The right-hand rock ledges lead to a winch, while the path after the descent bends left across fragile ice. Slow movement preserves the surface; sprint only for the committed jump. Keep chaining ledges and winch points until the vantage-point scene. Afterward, tune the EM scanner, descend left, and follow the magnetic trace. The first anomaly exposes another winch only after its frequency is matched. At the top, scan again: the continuation is a left-hand slide, not the open ground in front. The chapter closes with another forced escape after the final parkour line.
The Escape Pod is an oxygen relay; The Onyx Forest is a sound puzzle
Chapter 3, The Escape Pod. Thomas cannot take Ariane’s climbing line in his injured state. Enter the cave, ignore the unusable ledges, and take the right route. At the waterfall, turn left. When the robotic-noise objective appears, reverse direction, take the right branch, then crawl through the ditch to the river. Inspect the robot and the nearby environmental points until Thomas stands again.
- Follow the left side until a ladder appears on a structure. Pull it with the winch to reveal the abandoned station route.
- Before disconnecting the oxygen cable, locate the next refill. Near the river, the first station is on the left; the movable bridge control is on the right.
- Cross, refill, and pull down the next platform. A later winch clears debris behind you, so backtrack through the newly opened space instead of searching beyond the control.
- Refill again, climb the rock platforms left of the station, turn left at the upper path, and reach the next tank. Pull the final bridge down and squeeze through the gap to finish the chapter.
Chapter 4, The Onyx Forest. Ariane’s opening climb ends at the first Nemesis lesson. The creature responds to sound, so enter stealth movement before crossing its space. Take the leftward climbing route, pass the platforms, and use the narrow exit. When a magnetic obstruction refuses to clear, tune the anomaly, trace the black lines to the root, repair it, and return to break the original object. After the ice gives way, use the winch-and-ledge line back to the tracks.
The second cave encounter has an exit on Nemesis’s left. Circle around its right side, then move quietly toward that opening. Stay close to the left wall after the drop, climb out, and follow Pathfinder to the outpost. In the geyser field, move only after a vent stops; the same timing applies while hanging on nearby ledges.
The Outpost and The Base hide progress behind dependencies
Chapter 5, The Outpost. Take the lab ladder down and inspect the rover repair manual, then return upstairs and remove the memory card from the rover at the far end. Go back down and leave through the airlock. Outside, drop, turn around, and tune the anomaly root below the platform. Climb back to the visible anomaly and destroy it to expose the crossing. In the annex, analyze the ice sample and use the other consoles before leaving.
At the next Nemesis encounter, tune the decoy on the creature’s right, then use the time it creates to cross left, jump the gap, and climb. Pull down the barrier with the winch. Interacting with the spectrum amplifier in the next lab closes the chapter.
Chapter 6, The Base. Follow the left route from the opening slide to the unpowered base. The generator building is uphill. At its lift, refill oxygen and use the winch point on the lift’s left to open a way inside; the power switch is left after the squeeze-through. Ride down, inspect the rover hatch, then go right and left to the rover. Connect to its oxygen station, remove the required component, and install it at the hatch.
Inside, follow the corridor to the locker room and squeeze through the malfunctioning door. The blood trail ends at the commander’s locked room. The code is 020845. Examine the body fully to obtain the Navigator credentials, backtrack through the half-open door, and unlock the red access door on the right. During the escape, use the right-left squeeze-through line, turn right, then left and right through the next door; refill before descending the stairs and crawling back into the safe section. At the later junction, the left branch reaches Malcolm’s body and the right branch reaches the medical bay.
Cross The Storm as a chain of shelters, not one sprint
Chapter 7, The Storm. Repair the first magnetic root on the upper right, then destroy the related anomaly below and left to create a bridge. After the cave, the storm begins. Treat each rock face as a checkpoint: first shelter right, next left, then down and slightly right. The later climb contains protected ledges; pause where the rock blocks the wind instead of racing the entire wall. After the high winch descent, swing to the left ledges, slide, and work leftward between boulders until the cave entrance.
Inside the cave, reverse at the first gap and take the newly visible left route. Decoy Nemesis, climb left, trigger the second decoy, stay against the left wall, and crawl out. To leave the upper cave, climb the winch rope halfway, turn toward the wall, and swing to the ledges behind you. Outside, move from the right-hand shelter to the next boulder, repair the left anomaly bridge, then avoid lightning during the final slide.
Chapter 8, The Nexus. Thomas rides the lift down, connects to oxygen, and uses the half-open door on the right. Pull away the debris, crawl through, refill, then go left to examine Frank and take the command credentials. Descend, unlock the med-bay door, and use the bed. Leave through the door on the left, squeeze outside, and follow the path to the closed gate. After the scene, crawl through the debris and ride the next lift. At the bottom, take the stairs, go left through the low gap, refill, then climb the right-hand stairs. Interact with the marked machine and pull the circular assembly behind it with the winch.
Reunion is a descent with four Nemesis handoffs
Chapter 9, Reunion. Enter the base, follow the blood trail into the medical bay, then leave through the left door. The crater route descends by stairs, ledges, and two winch points. Lower the bridge with the second winch, enter the building, and examine Domenica before leaving by the opening beside her.
After the slide, use each decoy to move Nemesis away from the next gate rather than trying to outrun it:
- The first anomaly opens the right-hand barrier route.
- At the narrow crossing, the next decoy is behind a tank; trigger it before passing the space Nemesis blocked.
- After the ledges, take the right detour to activate another decoy, then return and take the left route through the squeeze-through.
- At the later dead end, reverse, go right, trigger the final decoy, and use the ladder route down into the Nexus.
At the bottom, climb the stairs to the destroyed machine, inspect its computer, then use the stairs on the machine’s left to trigger the reunion.
The Styx repeats one rule: scan before entering water
Chapter 10, The Styx. Follow Thomas’s electromagnetic echo into the water and through the tight gap. At the first dead end, drop and repair the root on the right; climb back to destroy the connected anomaly and open the wall. The route then uses boulders, a narrow ledge, winch climbs, and another anomaly that exposes a long-gap anchor. Two equipment hubs repeat the same pattern: watch the echo at the edge, return to the cases or laptops, and pull the nearby obstruction away.
When Nemesis returns, stop before every noisy water crossing. Tune the decoy first, wait for the creature to commit to it, and only then enter the water. After the first long winch jump, use the decoy on the right before climbing. At the high dead end, repair the root, reverse, slide down the right branch, and destroy the anomaly that forms the bridge. The resulting pursuit is a sprint through obstacles into a ledge-and-winch descent.
The later water rooms use the same three-step loop: decoy, cross, climb. If Nemesis turns back early, retreat to dry ground rather than splashing toward the ledge. The final winch barrier starts another chase. Keep the straight route, jump the gaps, and steer left or right through the river slide; the next cutscene ends the chapter.
The Source is a three-spoke objective with one safe center
Chapter 11, The Source. The golden pool is the safe reset point: Nemesis cannot damage Ariane while she is inside it. Destroy the nearby anomaly to open the first route.
- First pulse machine: descend, take the right rise, climb, and survive the chase across the ice platforms. Once Nemesis settles, approach the circular device quietly and destroy it with the winch. Run back into the pool.
- Second pulse machine: leave by the pool’s right-hand route. Use the anomaly behind the descent to pull Nemesis away, destroy the separate obstruction ahead, and re-trigger the decoy before each water crossing. Winch the machine and return to the pool.
- Third pulse machine: face away from the first two routes and take the left branch. Climb, use the EM scanner to build the bridge, wait for Nemesis to clear the right-hand path, then jump to the final machine and winch it apart.
The third machine triggers the ending. There is no additional route puzzle after it.
If the objective marker points through solid terrain
- Look for a root before retrying the visible anomaly. Black magnetic lines are a dependency map, not decoration.
- With Thomas, reconnect to the last oxygen station and survey the full path before pulling a bridge or clearing debris.
- With Ariane, check overhead and behind the camera for a winch point; several exits require a mid-rope turn toward hidden ledges.
- At a Nemesis gate, tune the decoy from a position that leaves a dry, quiet route to the exit.
- During The Storm, wait for full shelter recovery. A nearby ledge may be protected even when the open path above it is not.
- On PC, disable DLSS or follow the current first-party workaround if systematic crashes interrupt progression; that issue is separate from the chapter route.
Official scope and media
The official Aphelion Steam listing identifies AppID 1966410, DON’T NOD as developer and publisher, and April 28, 2026 as the release date. The official game page confirms the dual-protagonist split, Pathfinder, oxygen, grappling, and stealth focus. Its Steam appdetails feed supplied the three untouched 1920×1080 JPGs used here. Chapter checkpoints were reconciled from the complete readable walkthrough set; security-walled pages were retained only as blocked records and did not support this article.