There are two Warden-key hunts on Prime, and the keys look identical. The older ten-key chain opens the Mushroom River ruin, Ancient City, and Lost Paradise for the Ancient Paradise achievement. A later set of thirteen hidden altars appears through the Warden Key Detector; ten of those keys are reserved for the Subversion ending. Mixing the two routes is why a player can finish Ancient Paradise and still think the game has taken every key needed for the ending.
The map references below assume the public PC build available on July 24, 2026. Miju Games identifies v2.008 as the latest public patch in the 2.0 series. The v2.101 development preview changes later progression values and is not treated as live. Prime’s 2.0 environment pass can make an old screenshot or landmark look different, so coordinates, transmissions, altar inscriptions, and detector shimmer matter more than matching a rock formation pixel for pixel.
Label the keys by how they became visible
The current community record counts 23 Warden’s Keys: ten placed through the original ruin chain and thirteen revealed later by the detector. An older Ancient Paradise walkthrough correctly describes ten keys because it predates the 1.0 ending set; it is not a complete count for the current game.
Use this distinction whenever the route stops making sense:
- Visible on a fixed pedestal without the detector: it belongs to the Ancient Paradise ruin chain. That route consumes every one of its ten keys in door altars.
- Appears as a gold shimmer only while the detector is equipped: it belongs to the thirteen-key ending pool. You need ten available at the Extraction Platform for Subversion.
- A key is already locked into a door altar: leave it there. The door remains open, and the detector set provides enough separate keys for the ending.
The inventory icon does not preserve this history for you. Keep a written count of detector altars as you clear them. Counting every Warden key ever seen will overstate the number still available for the ending.
Riley’s message begins a ten-key relay
The first route starts after Riley’s transmission points toward -248:42:93. Build a Communication Antenna and Screen – Transmissions if the message has not appeared. Carry food, water, and an oxygen plan; the second ruin restricts building in important sections, so a backpack full of raw shelter materials is not a substitute for Oxygen Capsules there.
Enter the mushroom cave and locate the first key around -217:-45:491. Its pedestal gives the next destination, around -464:-40:97. The useful rule for the entire relay is: copy the inscription before picking up the key, then use the coordinate display in the lower-left HUD. Do not rely on a guide’s biome name alone after the 2.0 terrain changes.
At the first ruin, place key one on the door altar. Inside, the right branch overlooks a large underground vessel and a lethal drop; it is lore, not the route forward. The left branch leads to the second key and the next coordinates. Collect that key before returning to the surface.
The next door is in the Super Alloy cave, around 964:68:1744. One community transcription adds an extra digit to the final coordinate, while the older route and the in-game pedestal use the four-digit value. If the guide coordinate points far beyond the cave, return to the previous pedestal and transcribe what your client displays.
The Ancient City gives three keys and expects all three back
Insert the second key to open the Ancient City. Oxygen discipline changes here: build restrictions and long interior paths make a shelter less reliable, and a fall near the great vessel can put dropped items beyond recovery. Carry Oxygen Capsules, keep at least three inventory slots open, and turn back while one capsule remains.
The three keys are arranged as a route rather than three unrelated collectibles:
- Take the left-hand interior path to the key near 750:5:1863.
- Return to the fork, enter the large valley, and collect the ground-level key near 690:4:2115.
- Use the ramps behind and above the structures to reach the roof key near 663:28:2105. Its pedestal points toward the last ruin.
Do not spend time trying to activate the large vessel. The actionable result of this city is three keys in inventory and a copied destination. Leave through the same cave entrance, turn toward the Highlands, and navigate to the concealed altar around 1565:109:2500.
That altar takes all three Ancient City keys. If the wall opens but ice still blocks the passage, the route is not broken: the old walkthrough boundary places access at approximately 2.00 GTi. Continue terraforming and return after the ice has receded. Trust the live melt indicator if a later branch adjusts the exact threshold.
Lost Paradise is a five-key room, not five map expeditions
Once the ice is gone, the opened passage leads to Lost Paradise. Unlike the Ancient City interior, this valley permits a small base camp. Build oxygen and storage before climbing; there are no convenient loose minerals inside, so bring the construction materials rather than assuming the valley will provide them.
All five remaining Ancient Paradise keys are inside this one area:
- 1234:98:2898 – in front of the final temple.
- 1328:98:2941 – ground level to the right of the temple.
- 1190:168:2914 – on the high wooden walkways to the left.
- 1200:114:2989 – reached by the stairs on the right side.
- 1177:185:2980 – above the right side after climbing the vine and catwalk.
Return to the central stairs and place those five keys into the inner altar. Opening the sanctuary and entering the paradise completes the old ruin route and awards Ancient Paradise. The keys now fixed in its doors are not supposed to be recovered. The detector hunt is the replacement pool for the Warden ending.
The Cenote unlocks the second hunt
The later key set starts in the Cenote, west of Meteor Crater. Its ice begins opening around the Breathable Atmosphere stage, commonly recorded at 32 GTi. Breathable air on the surface does not make an underwater tunnel safe: the oxygen bar still drains below water. Bring at least one Oxygen Capsule, use the strongest tank available, and memorize the return route before searching side tunnels.
At the bottom, take the northern route past the flooded terraformer’s platform and continue through the Warden remains until stairs bring you back above water. The final chamber contains a Blueprint Microchip for the Warden Key Detector. Decode it, craft the detector at the Advanced Craft Station, and install it in a gear slot.
If no hidden altar appears after crafting the chip, check the equipment slot first. The detector is not a passive account unlock. When equipped, it reveals distant gold shimmer that resolves into a Warden altar and chest as you approach. Open the chest and remove the key; then mark that coordinate as cleared.
Use the thirteen coordinates as a recovery checklist
You need ten detector keys, but the world contains thirteen. That surplus lets you skip a location that has become awkward after an environmental change. Search naturally with the detector first; use the coordinate list to identify gaps rather than flying to thirteen blind points in an arbitrary order.
| Detector key | Coordinates | Check |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1895:75:266 | Chest emptied |
| 2 | -1433:118:555 | Chest emptied |
| 3 | -1328:91:1325 | Chest emptied |
| 4 | -382:28:1495 | Chest emptied |
| 5 | 2375:97:1009 | Chest emptied |
| 6 | 1435:75:-758 | Chest emptied |
| 7 | -925:88:-627 | Chest emptied |
| 8 | -303:84:614 | Chest emptied |
| 9 | 1586:51:560 | Chest emptied |
| 10 | 714:67:1709 | Chest emptied |
| 11 | 1316:7:1503 | Chest emptied |
| 12 | 1536:22:2219 | Chest emptied |
| 13 | 1257:17:249 | Chest emptied |
A coordinate is three-dimensional. The middle value is elevation, so arriving at the correct horizontal pair while flying above or below the altar may leave the shimmer hidden by terrain. Slow down near the target, sweep vertically, and let the detector effect confirm the object. If the chest is open and empty, count it as collected; do not wait for the altar to respawn.
Reserve ten keys before opening the Extraction Platform
The Subversion choice belongs to the end of terraforming, not to the moment the detector is found. Current 1.0-era achievement references place the ending choices at the Complete Terraformation stage, commonly 4 TTi on Prime. A future balance branch may change the number, so use the named stage and the current Extraction Platform interface as the final check.
Before committing to an ending:
- Put ten detector-revealed Warden keys together in one clearly labeled container.
- Keep three surplus keys separate if you collected all thirteen; they are your audit proof, not an additional requirement.
- Finish the terraformation stage and build the Extraction Platform when its blueprint is available.
- Move exactly ten keys into the platform inventory and select the Warden portal option for Subversion.
If the Warden option is absent, diagnose the state rather than searching old ruins again. Ten keys in a base locker do not satisfy a platform inventory check. Ten keys at the platform before Complete Terraformation do not force the ending menu to appear. A crafted but unequipped detector does not reveal the thirteen altars. Those three failures account for most apparently missing progress.
Players pursuing all endings on one world should preserve a save or external backup before choosing. The supplied achievement guide reports that the save can be reopened after an ending, but ending and autosave behavior is too consequential to trust without a backup. Do not consume Terra Tokens or other ending materials until each route’s current requirement is visible in your client.
Evidence behind the route
- Steam’s official store record supplied AppID 1284190, Miju Games attribution, release metadata, and the two untouched JPG screenshots.
- The official announcement feed established the v2.008 main boundary and separated it from the later development preview.
- The readable community wiki API, an older verified Ancient Paradise walkthrough, and warning-marked Steam guides were reconciled for key counts, coordinates, ruin order, the Cenote detector, and ending checks. Warning-marked pages remained cross-checks; when transcriptions conflict, the in-game pedestal or stage display wins.