The clean route through Kotama and Academy Citadel is not “clear every visible room before moving on.” Central District gives you the movement needed to beat Arrowhead Alpha Sailfish; Art Academy turns those moves into Wall Jump and Whip Hammer; Biology Academy adds Tract and drains the Flooded Center; Aerospace Academy converts that kit into Liquefy and the path to Spatial Cruiser. Percentage gates, time gates, hidden rooms, and late-game collection tools deliberately make a first-visit cleanup inefficient.
This spoiler-heavy walkthrough takes Kotama from the Exhibition Room through the end of the Aerospace Academy boss. It explains the route-changing unlocks, where to stop exploring, why each main boss punishes a different mistake, and which detours are worth doing before the next district. It does not claim a full-game route, every quest, every ending, 100% map completion, or all collectibles. The supplied written district walkthroughs end at Spatial Cruiser, while the later Architecture Academy, Tower, Ship, and ending paths do not have equivalent readable route evidence.
Use the district handoff as your route plan
- Central District: take Umbrella Spear, register for votes, defeat the first two Sailfish, collect Dash and Double Jump, then clear Arrowhead Alpha Sailfish.
- Art Academy: activate Arcadia, free the students with Awakening Orbs, obtain Wall Jump and Whip Hammer, then defeat the Stage Devices and Dreamweaver Klara.
- Biology Academy: drain the entrance, activate its train station, defeat Butterfly Shark for Tract, operate both floodgates, then break The Decomposer’s claw defense.
- Aerospace Academy: map the Particle Collider, beat Warp-Speed Fighter for Liquefy, open the useful shortcuts, then defeat both parts of Spatial Cruiser.
Arcadia is the reset point between those handoffs. Navigator moves the train among unlocked stations. Nito spends boss materials and handles weapon or Memocard work. The Rewind Station restores Temporal Coils. Low Coils increase the cost of taking hits, so entering a boss from the closest checkpoint is not automatically the best retry: if your Coils are nearly empty, a longer walk from a Rewind Station can produce the easier fight.
Death creates a second decision. A close checkpoint preserves the short run but may leave the Coil problem unsolved; a Rewind respawn restores the resource and asks you to recover dropped Luminite. Bank or spend a meaningful Luminite haul before repeated boss attempts. That turns a failed attempt into pattern practice instead of a currency-recovery loop.
Central District: earn movement before challenging the gatekeeper
Kotama wakes in the Exhibition Room. Move right and take Umbrella Spear; it is the weapon needed for the opening enemies, not a signal to search every distant branch. Continue to the Registration Office and begin the Student Council vote task. The office points you toward three Sailfish targets, but the important order is two minor targets first, movement rewards second, Arrowhead Alpha last.
After the first two Sailfish, collect Dash and Double Jump. If the route above and left of the Registration Office still looks impossible, verify both abilities before trying to force the gap. The intended crossing combines the extra jump, a dash, and Kotama’s glide. Activate the checkpoint outside the boss corridor, then decide whether your Temporal Coils justify starting the fight.
Arrowhead Alpha Sailfish tests distance and restraint
Hold a middle distance. Too close invites the point-blank version of its ground wave; too far makes it easy to drift into the corner before the second phase. The yellow-flash forward dash is the clean parry opportunity. If you do not trust the timing, jump in the direction of travel rather than backing into the arena edge.
At roughly 60% health, the blue-sword sequence adds lightning across the floor. Move to a corner before the pattern spreads, then jump toward the safe side as the strikes advance. Do not turn that dodge into a long aerial combo. Land, re-center, and wait for the next readable dash, slash, or smash. When Chronoshell buildup turns the target purple, detonate during a genuine opening for burst damage and healing; forcing a heavy during the lightning pattern exchanges a reliable punish for an avoidable hit.
Defeating Arrowhead Alpha opens the Art Academy route and awards the Damaged Wristband. Treat the unexplored Central rooms as a return list. The first district does not yet give Kotama the wall, hammer, Tract, or Liquefy answers needed for many of them.
Art Academy: build the vertical route around the rescues
Continue through the art corridors and defeat Shrieking Screech. Take the lower-right route to meet Navigator and open Arcadia rather than climbing past the hub connection. Inside the train, note the door between Navigator and Nito; it is the exit, and returning to it after upgrades is faster than circling the carriage.
The district objective is a three-orb rescue chain. Follow the first marker, collect an Awakening Orb, and free Coco near the Arcadia station. The remaining rescues add votes and eventually open the lower floors, but two capability detours should happen while you work through those markers:
- Wall Jump: from the Main Exhibition Hall, take the upper-right route, survive the climbing sequence, defeat the guard before the ability room, and collect the movement upgrade. Purple-flower walls are the visual language for where it applies.
- Whip Hammer: return to the Exhibition Hall, climb the right-hand route, use Sculpture enemies as temporary height where needed, and follow the spike-room path toward the weapon statue. Dark orbs can bypass parts of the platforming, but they do not replace the boss immediately before the weapon.
Whip Hammer changes both combat reach and route logic. Its mid-air heavy breaks purple floor locks; its longer light string can touch enemies or switches that punish Umbrella Spear range. Before chasing the final Awakening Orb, consider the upper-left secret-arena branch from the Exhibition Hall. Smash the purple lock from height, survive four enemy waves, and the reward increases Chronoshell capacity. This is an optional detour, but it directly improves the next two district bosses rather than merely adding map percentage.
Use the upper-left Exhibition route again for the Art Academy map. Free the remaining captives, including Yiyi, and let the newly opened lower-floor state guide you toward the boss. A room that remains closed after all three orbs is more likely a later ability or vote gate than a missing fourth rescue.
Dreamweaver Klara is a floor-control fight
The fight begins with four Stage Devices. Their formation tells you where the safe space will be:
- Spinning circle
- Hold the center only if you can read the rotation; otherwise parry the device crossing your lane and take a short hit window.
- Two-by-two wall boost
- Parry is the stable answer. A blind jump can put Kotama in the second pair’s path.
- Individual sweeps or smashes
- Do not chase the first device across the arena. Let each unit enter your range, answer it, then return attention to the formation.
- Floor Dance
- Leave the ground. Chain Wall Jump, Double Jump, and Dash between the purple-flower walls until the devices settle.
When Klara joins, the same language becomes faster and gains follow-ups. Whip Hammer can pressure the devices without standing beside Klara. At the full-screen warning, move to an end wall and stay in the wall-jump loop until the mix-up finishes. After an enhanced two-by-two boost, watch Klara rather than the devices—the boss can dash immediately after them.
The reward improves Wall Jump so Kotama can hold the wall instead of immediately sliding. That is the real handoff to Biology Academy. Return to the Exhibition area in Central District, move left to the purple-flower wall, and climb into the new district rather than trying to finish every Art room now.
Biology Academy: drain the map in the order Tract needs
Pull the lever at the entrance to remove the first sludge barrier, drop into the cleared route, and meet Flora. Unlock the Biology Arcadia station early through the upper-left connection. The district is large enough that postponing the train creates unnecessary recovery walks.
From the Flooded Center, work toward the map room. Prioritize any shield generator before attacking the enemies it protects; the readable walkthrough warns that this pack is exceptionally punishing if the generator remains active. The dark mutated roots serve the same wall-jump purpose that purple flowers taught in Art Academy. Follow them through the Sailfish rooms to the map kiosk.
The next mandatory target is Tract. Take the upper-left route from the Flooded Center, glide above the spikes with Umbrella Spear, and climb the roots instead of dropping at the first ledge. Butterfly Shark guards the ability. Its underground tracking is easiest to manage by moving laterally, then changing direction or jumping before it surfaces. Do not stand over the last ripple and attempt to react at point-blank range.
After the fight, collect Tract. On the return path, the ledge you skipped now leads to a breakable floor; a descending Whip Hammer heavy opens the route to a Chronopetal kiosk. Back in the large room left of the Flooded Center, Tract can also reach a Lifejade kiosk. These are sensible pre-boss detours because they expand the two survival resources The Decomposer attacks.
Operate both floodgate controls in sequence. The first opens the middle of the Flooded Center; keep descending through the route it reveals. On the second-control path, a Temporal Coil capacity upgrade sits behind a platforming room. A dark orb can skip the opening section, after which the Whip Hammer smash reaches the lower kiosk. Continue right to the second control and drain the remaining sludge. The Decomposer corridor is now available at the lower right.
If you want one optional combat detour, return to the floating thorn block near the second-gate route and inspect below it. The hidden Sower Beetle fight leads to the Wisdom Tooth Surgery Memocard. Leave the 12% vote door and the upper time requirement alone unless your current totals already satisfy them; neither is part of opening The Decomposer.
The Decomposer rewards attacking the claws, not the shell
The central body begins in a defensive posture. Build Chronoshell on the claws with controlled light attacks and parries, then detonate a claw when its coating turns purple. This both damages the boss and returns health. Hammering the protected face wastes the opening and leaves Kotama in range of the next claw.
Separate the tells instead of treating every large movement as a jump check:
- When the crab leaps for its body smash, move away from center and use the ground wave timing or a Traction Ring.
- When both arms spark before crossing, leave the middle immediately.
- When one raised claw shows the swipe tell, parry; the cited boss reference does not identify a dependable floor dodge.
- When a claw digs into the ground and drags across the arena, take the Traction Ring route rather than trying to hop over it.
- Below roughly half health, stay airborne through the Fiery Combo while also tracking the falling fireballs. The old safe floor is no longer a safe plan.
After victory, Linne arrives with her Keepsake and the boss supplies three Temporalis. The June patch fixed a rare state in which progress could stick after this fight. If the exit or follow-up fails to appear on a current build, return to the title screen once and reload the post-fight save before replaying a long section.
Aerospace Academy: make Particle Collider your compass
From the far-left Biology dead end, drop into Aerospace Walkway and continue down to Eliane. The district replaces long corridors with teleporter pairs, so the first job is not “take every portal.” Defeat the opening pufferfish, expose the hidden teleporter behind the breakable wall, and use the right-hand route to activate the Arcadia station. Spend the three Temporalis from The Decomposer if they complete an upgrade you intend to use.
Particle Collider is the district’s reference point. Speak with Pamirs in its upper middle area, then work toward the map by dropping through the lower-left route. The laser section uses temporary platforms; preserve either Dash or Double Jump for the final correction instead of spending both on the first gap. After the kiosk, continue right and open the lock that reconnects the route to Particle Collider. That shortcut is what makes a failed ability-room attempt cheap.
The lower Collider route leads to Liquefy. At the first time-locked door, strike the lock from range with Whip Hammer light attacks and slide through as soon as the gap is large enough. The second door asks for a faster platform sequence. In the next room, climb the right side instead of dropping away from the objective, then defeat Warp-Speed Fighter. Its warps and feints are the test; do not spend a full combo into the place it just left.
Collect Liquefy in the CHRONOLOCK room. Safety nets that looked solid are now traversal paths. Use the nearby right-hand Liquefy route to open the shortcut back to Arcadia and collect the health upgrade on that branch. The net left of the Warp-Speed Fighter room also leads toward an optional Artificial Gem, but it is not required for Spatial Cruiser.
Before the boss, one shortcut is worth opening even if you ignore the other side rooms. From the train, return through the upper-left Particle Collider route toward the map intersection. Instead of dropping with the temporary platforms, slide right into the concealed branch, cross the enemy room, and turn left partway up the next vertical space. The lock there connects Aerospace back to Central District and saves a full teleporter loop during later cleanup.
When ready, take the bottom-most Particle Collider route to the far right and use Liquefy through the final net. Recharge Coils and equip Whip Hammer before crossing the boss threshold. The ranged weapon is not merely safer here; it can reach Eliane from the protected space used in phase two.
Spatial Cruiser is two fights with a false finish between them
The first phase alternates EDI’s projectiles with Eliane’s sword patterns. Learn which attacks demand parry and which punish it:
- Electric orbs
- Face each wave and parry through it. Their spacing is inconsistent enough that a single jump is not a dependable solution.
- Delayed missiles
- Let the placements finish, then destroy missiles while watching the closing timer circle. Chasing the Cruiser leaves armed hazards behind you.
- Red-line delayed slashes
- Move into a clean pocket and wait for the final path to resolve. The visual lane, not the boss model, tells you what space is safe.
- Cannon locks
- When the Cruiser rises out of reach, watch the aiming line and dash only after it commits.
- Ground Rush
- Parry it. The written boss reference explicitly treats the floor-wide version as non-jumpable, and a successful answer creates a stagger window.
The supplied boss page contradicts itself about the three-hit sword combo: its move table says parry the first slash, evade the overhead smash, and escape the unparryable final wave, while its prose recommends parrying the first two. Use the conservative read—parry the clearly telegraphed opening slash, move away from the overhead hit, then jump the concluding floor waves. Do not stake a full Coil on the disputed second parry.
When the first health bar ends, keep moving right. The death-style screen is not the end of the encounter; incoming lasers push Kotama into the second arena. EDI then separates from Eliane. Two platforms provide cover from the overhead lasers while red delayed-slash lines still cut across the floor. Stay under the appropriate platform, step out of marked lines, and use Whip Hammer to hit Eliane during her charge. EDI’s lasers, Eliane’s delayed slashes, and the final hit of the sword combo are movement problems, not parry opportunities.
Victory awards Eliane’s Keepsake and four Temporalis. V1.03.00.00 also lets you rematch previously defeated bosses by speaking to Nito on the train and choosing Simulation Battle, so this story clear does not need to double as a perfect no-hit rehearsal.
Mark these rooms for the later completion pass
A first-visit blank on the map can represent a missing ability, an unopened shortcut, a vote threshold, a remaining-time requirement, or a genuinely hidden wall. Use custom map markers for the rooms you cannot yet explain. That is especially important because collecting a Memocard or slot does not necessarily change its machine icon.
The readable Steam completion reference places full-map cleanup after later content: Architecture Academy, the Tower, and the Ship all sit beyond this article’s route. It reports that 100% map access requires defeating the Principal in the Tower, completing the main character quests, and later obtaining the Founding Era Memocard in the Ship to reveal missing items. Its route also warns that cats and Fish-Head members are time-sensitive. If you encounter one during the first four districts, mark or resolve it; do not turn that warning into a claim that every other collectible must be finished before Spatial Cruiser.
Two supplied ending pages were too thin and internally inconsistent with the game’s achievement names to support an ending route. The Steam video collections were retained in the source ledger, but their individual videos were not independently verified, so no location or ending fact here depends on a video title alone.
Evidence and official media
Identity, release metadata, AppID 3639650, Atomstring Games and 2P Games credits, and the four unmodified 1920×1080 JPEGs were verified through the official Steam store page and Steam appdetails. The current build boundary comes from the official V1.03.00.00 announcement and the preceding official update ledger.
The Central-to-Aerospace route and four required boss checkpoints were reconciled across readable district walkthroughs, boss references, and community map guidance. The source hub labels itself a work in progress, so this guide stops at the last route segment that those written sources cover continuously: the Spatial Cruiser clear and its handoff back to Central Station.