INSIDE can be cleared and all 14 hidden devices can be disabled in one forward route. The important distinction is that the normal escape does not require those devices, while the alternate ending does: after disabling the final device, return to the bunker beneath the cornfield and enter its 14-direction sound code. This walkthrough keeps each optional detour beside the main-room landmark where it appears, so you do not have to translate between incompatible checkpoint numbers.
Before the inspection line, light and bodies are the two locks
Move right through the opening forest and wait for the first truck to leave. At the two guards beside the fallen pod, stay on the hidden side until they walk around it, then continue to the refrigerator. Tip it over and drag it against the wall. Across the road, pull the crate from the left into the ditch to make the next step.
The first dog chase is a commitment test. Keep moving through the water, jump the gap late, and climb the vines. On the next ledge, drop to the lower side and tuck back under its lip before the truck’s lamp reaches you. The parked car begins a second run: clear the low branch, stop behind the ruined van until the moving headlights pass, then sprint down the slope. The pursuing guards stop there, but the dogs do not; keep right and jump from the cliff into the water.
Secret 1 — Murky Waters
Do not swim toward the spotlight yet. Follow the yellow cable left beneath the cliff, taking a full breath before the submerged passage. In the cave, rock the tall wooden support until it falls, cross the new bridge, and pull the lit device until it switches off. Swim back the way you entered. For the main route, stay below the surface while crossing the lamp’s cone and rise only after the beam has passed behind you. If a shot lands, the problem is where you surfaced, not the length of the swim.
Secret 2 — Field Research
This detour comes inside the cornfield, before the barn. In the first wide clearing, move slowly while holding or tapping grab until the boy catches a concealed floor latch. Open it, climb down, and take the red opening on the left to the device. The sealed door on the bunker’s right is the alternate-ending route; its control is inactive on this first visit. Return to the field and continue right.
At the field’s far end, climb the rope and swing through the barn window. Start the blower with several turns of its crank, then open the left door so the chicks can enter. Lead the entire flock to the right side, wait for the stragglers, and run back to the blower lever. Hold it as the chicks cross the intake. They strike the suspended hay and drop the bale; drag that bale beneath the exit.
Secret 3 — Wee Wee Wee
Land in the cart of dead pigs, but do not push it toward the exit immediately. Move it left against the barn, climb onto it, and pull the loose plank from the wall. Inside, climb the hanging rope, swing left, and jump to the device’s ledge. After it goes dark, return outside and push the cart right to continue.
The live pig beyond the cart cannot be beaten in a straight race. Jump each charge and let the pig break the weak wall. In the larger room, bait one more charge into the solid wall on the right. While the animal is stunned, pull the parasite from it and drag the now-docile pig beneath the hanging helmet.
The helmet mirrors your movement through four background workers. Bring the upper worker down, place the two workers on one side against the cage, and hold grab so they take the gate. Move the pair on the opposite side to the same gate, then lift with all four. Once the group is together, send them right and make them pull the tall shelving down. Leave the helmet, climb the fallen route, and lift the last gate by hand.
In the city, push the wheeled cart right to lower the chain, climb and swing through the window, then use the ladder to reach the crane. Before raising the stack of planks, drag its near end to the right so the stack tilts toward the safe. Raise it, jump from the ladder onto its right end, cross left, and push the safe. Retreat before the weak floor collapses, then descend and use the hole the safe made.
Secret 4 — Left Behind
At the bottom of the safe shaft, follow the yellow cable to the grate on the left. Pull the grate out, crawl through, and disable the device before taking the main exit to the right.
The next helmet controls two workers with the wrong distance between them. Close the center gate, send both workers to their opposite limits, then open the gate and walk them back toward the two plates. Both plates should activate together. If only one lights, repeat the wall reset; small corrective steps preserve the bad spacing.
Secret 5 — Obscure Foundations
On the rooftops, slide down the long slope and catch the pipe. Instead of climbing up, descend, jump left to the ladder, and continue to the basement device. The recorder nearby plays the tones used by the cornfield lock later, but you do not have to transcribe them now. Return to the roof route after the device is off.
Cross the fence and let the narrow plank break beneath you. At the next building, climb down the pipe, pull the boards from the wall, and slide into the basement. Tilt the standing ladder toward the right-hand ledge. In the dark sentry room, open the elevator before touching the power switch. Once the searchlights wake, cross only while a wooden column fully hides the boy; reaching a closed elevator after powering the room leaves no safe pause.
The factory floor drops the boy into an inspection line. Match the workers rather than the scanning machine: advance only while the line advances and become still as soon as the bodies halt. Jump only while the boy is inside the first marked square. In the second square, turn left and right with the line, and stop performing the test after leaving its boundary. When the dog begins barking, the disguise has failed by design—run right and go through the window.
From the factory to the drowned base, move the tool before the boy
During the dog chase, stay on the lower level long enough to draw the dog down, then climb while it has to circle. Enter the hanging helmet and make the controlled worker push the mine cart into the next building. Stop above the raised landing near the left edge and leave the helmet there. Landing on the red crate strands the route; landing on the higher platform lets the boy push that crate onto the floor plate and then return to the helmet.
Move the cart through the opened gate and park directly below the second helmet. Make the first worker climb onto the cart and enter that helmet. The newly controlled worker can move the cart and then stand on the upper pressure plate. Return control to the first worker, roll through the open gate, and stop the boy above the left end of the long floor hatch. Pull the far lever and release the helmet before the hatch closes. The left side drops into water; the right side is a fatal floor.
Underwater, go left and pull the pallet with the red handle out of the debris. Let it rise, drag it right, and use it against the high wall. In the first subway chamber, drain the water to leave through the automatic door, raise it from the outside switch, then dive back to that switch and start draining again. Swim to the high ledge while the surface falls; the low door opens after the boy is already above it. Drag the trunk from the following room back toward the water, raise the level again, and use the floating trunk to reach the chain.
At the prisoner cage, the overhead pipe is the safe shadow. Turn the crank only while the spotlight is moving away, retreat to cover, and repeat until the cage is low enough to cross. Use the next pipe for the second lamp and open the roof hatch before the beam returns.
The first subway dog is easier to reverse than outrun. Lure it into the pool, dive beneath it, and exit on the side it abandoned. At the fence, pull one plank, climb back over, and wait until all three dogs have followed around before taking the next plank. Repeat for the third board and squeeze through the gap.
Wait in shadow until the submarine’s operators enter the shack, then take the craft. Hold interact to charge a boost and release to ram. Push through the red door at the bottom, break the boarded floor, descend to the cracked hull, and break the blocked doorway beyond it. A long cracked wall will not open far enough for the submarine: leave the craft, swim through its gaps, climb the sloped room and rope, press the upper button, then immediately run back and jump into the water before the rolling pods arrive.
Return through the cleared corridor and free the yellow launch box. Ride it to the beam, follow the upper path to the rope, and swing to the switch that opens the submarine route. Re-enter the craft, boost out of the water through the raised door, and ram the next submerged red barrier.
Secret 6 — Friends in Low Places
At the flooded staircase, follow the yellow cable down instead of taking the forward door. Boost the large crate away from the floor opening and enter the air pocket. Use the reachable helmet to walk the first worker onto the roof of the submarine. Leave the helmet, place the craft below the second helmet, and boost upward to throw that worker into it. Return to the first helmet; the control chain now reaches the background worker who can switch off the device.
Back on the main path, park the submarine beside the closed door before changing the water level. Swim through the gaps in the central pipes, return to the craft from the far side, and boost across the dry opening and through the door.
In the swimmer room, keep the light on the creature while reversing. Boost only after it stops, then turn the beam back before it can reach the hatch. In the next room, force it through the doorway with the light and ram the wooden support; the red barrier drops between you. Break the cracked ceiling and surface at the beach.
Secret 7 — A Tableau
Keep the submarine and travel left across the lake. At the structure with the unreachable ladder, boost upward into the supports twice. The falling wreckage creates the missing step. Climb to the device, shut it down, and return right to leave the craft.
The mine door introduces a body-count puzzle. Powering it reveals that the pressure plate needs a crowd, so take the elevator down and use the water, ropes, and plank route to reach the high helmet. The fall leaves five workers following the boy. They throw him when he faces a ledge and jumps, which replaces the fixed-helmet control used earlier.
Lower the lift for the group. Pull the mine cart beneath the ceiling opening, let the workers throw the boy to the nearby rope, and climb onto the cart; their attempt to follow pushes it to the wooden wall. In the next chamber, move the small block off the launch box, fire the box once, then slide the block beneath the raised mechanism as a spacer. Climb onto it, fire again, and jump to the pod to release three more workers.
Secret 8 — Pack Mentality
Before taking the larger group back to the elevator, return to the wooden wall near the pod route. The followers can tear its boards away. Enter alone, descend to the torch, and carry it left. Face the torch toward whichever dog is charging; turning is safer than trying to outrun the pack. Disable the device at the far end and the dogs withdraw.
Finish the mine count by using every visible holding area. Open the cage near the entrance. Have the group throw the boy to the rail lever, let the cart of workers gain downhill speed, then reverse the rail while it still has momentum so it clears the obstruction. On the upper floor, push the hanging cage from its ledge. Finally, cross the upper gap by being thrown, drag the body found there down to the plate, and bring the entire group to the door. Use the illuminated counter as the authority; when every required body is on the plate, the door opens.
The first shockwave destroys the helmet and establishes the timing. Move the crate out of the starting lane, wait for an impact, and sprint to the first barrier. At the next barrier, pull the lever just after a blast. That first pull gives the boy protection but moves the cover ahead into the wrong position; stay behind the current shield, wait for another impact, operate the lever a second time, and sprint to the restored cover. A missed wave here means the second pull or the sprint began too late.
At the rotating shield, stop the gear and watch a complete cycle. Release it when the same piece will cover the ladder during one blast and the right-hand landing during the next. At the delayed launch box, trigger it, return behind the rocks for one wave, then run back and board before it fires.
In the long rail room, place the sliding door beside the lever before opening the walls. Pull the lever and walk the door right while remaining inside its shadow. Use the next rotating shield, but stop at the top of the final slope. Jump just before the wave so the short lip protects the boy; sliding as soon as the slope appears exposes him halfway down.
Open the elevator and ride it until the shockwave drops it into water. Raise the right door and swim to the air pocket. Use the launch box to reach the rope and the slow door lever, then swing back before the door closes. In the room with two launch boxes, activate the right box, then the left. Ride the right one to the high button and extend the platform while the left box is airborne; the platform catches it at the usable height.
When the swimmer returns, use the first rope to create distance and the second to reach the safe platform. Make the long dive into the lower-right door and climb out. At the moving chain, send it left, dip low enough to draw the creature to that side, and climb clear. Ride the chain back right, dive for the red button, and pass under the closing door.
Secret 9 — Respite
The vault floor drops the boy into another swimmer room. Reach the right catwalk, open its hatch, and briefly enter the water on the right until the creature commits. Climb out, run left, and dive from the opposite edge into the alcove where it first appeared. Climb to the device and pull the grate after switching it off; the grate returns you to safety without racing across the room.
For the main exit, use the underwater button on the right and retreat before the door finishes moving. Draw the swimmer back to the left, return through the right hatch, press the button again, and swim through as the door closes behind the boy. Climb the hanging chain in the next pool. After the scene that follows, the boy can remain underwater, so the next deep shafts no longer require an air-pocket route.
Secret 10 — Unfathomable
Before entering the circular turbine door, continue down the long shaft to the large door on the left. Rotate its central lock and pull the upper handle, then follow the left passage upward to the suspended device. Return to the turbine after it is dark.
Inside the facility, the waterline becomes a movable floor
In the waste tunnel, hold the ceiling rail while the fan runs and move to the next rail only during the pause. One grip also tears open the escape hatch. At the bridge, the turning gear supplies the only moving shadow. Work the wheel for a few rotations while the camera faces away, retreat beneath the platform, and repeat.
Secret 11 — Clockwork
The crank controls two arms. Set the visible upper arm straight up at 12 o’clock; the hidden lower platform is then at its lowest point. Go back left to the previous water, dive through the lower opening, and climb onto that platform to reach the device. Return to the bridge and rotate the upper shade far enough right to cover the ladder before climbing out.
A long drop follows. Aim into the small opening on the right instead of falling to the floor. In the inverted-water room, descend through the hatch to the tethered launch box. Fire it upward and press the side button while it is airborne; the extending platform knocks it free. Put the loose box on the sloped floor facing the ladder and launch it to the upper level. Drag it beneath the ceiling hatch, fire it through, and close the hatch at the top of its flight so the box remains in the main room.
Secret 12 — Room for Reflection
Push the loose launch box to the far-right yellow cable. Ride it to the high button, which lowers a concealed platform. Launch again, press the button, and move onto that platform as it rises. The device is in the upper room; step back onto the platform after disabling it to descend.
For the main route, place the loose box beneath the fixed one. Fire the fixed box and slide the loose box under it before it settles. With the boxes stacked, trigger the upper box and step off, trigger the lower box while the upper one is still airborne, then climb back onto the upper box before the lower launch fires. Trigger the upper box once more as the stack rises. The final burst reaches the water on the ceiling. Pull the glowing cylinder from each side of the central structure to open its lower hatch.
In the warehouse beyond, fetch the large box from the left and keep it between the boy and the background doors. Stop behind it when those doors open and wait until the patrol leaves. In the next chamber, change the inverted water level until the box floats above the left platform, then lower the water enough to set the box down while keeping the right-hand doorway open. Jump from the box into the ceiling water, swim across, and drop through the open exit.
Wait for the worker beneath the suspended bodies to leave. Change the water until the bodies fall and begin following the boy. Have them throw him back to the water lever, operate it again to prepare the next room, and lead the group right. From the staircase, let them throw the boy into the ceiling water. Swim above the high button, fall out of the water while grabbing it, and let the followers catch the landing.
At the elevator shaft, use a group throw to cross. The followers fall into the shaft; follow after they are in position so they catch the boy, then use another throw to enter the duct leading to the elevator. Ride up and run left so the workers on the upper level drop down and reunite.
Secret 13 — Office Space
Split the group with the elevator. Send only part of the followers inside before pressing the button; the rest should remain above or on the car’s roof. Bring the car back to the upper stop, exit right with the group inside, and have them throw the boy to the rope. Climb to the separated group, move left beneath the yellow cable, and use their throw to reach the ceiling device. If everybody entered the car, reset the elevator and divide the crowd before attempting the rope.
Reunite the followers, take them to the large door, and accept their last throw. The researchers around the central sphere ignore the boy. Pull the wheeled cart back to the short ladder, use the hanging light to reach the red pipe, cross above the viewing area, and drop into the crawlspace around the sphere.
Secret 14 — The Last One
At the ladder wrapped in yellow cables, climb up. The board in the grassy room tracks the earlier devices: a completed device has its corresponding lamp lit. Once the first 13 devices are off, every required lamp is active and the large hatch opens. Enter the dark sphere, find the handle, and pull until the final machine shuts down. The board then changes, leaving the cornfield device as the remaining signal. If the hatch is still sealed, use chapter selection to revisit the missing lamp before attempting the alternate ending.
Return down the cable-covered ladder and enter the motorized arm. Drive right and jump to the long ladder. At the pool below the sphere, cut power to stop the fan, swim down, and release both upper latches. Restore power, dive before the current becomes too strong, grab the bottom rail, and hold it open while the accelerating flow pushes the boy through the circular entrance.
The normal escape replaces precise hands with momentum
Inside the sphere, pull the reachable helmets from the central mass one at a time. Control changes after the third comes free. Swim to the observation glass and wrench the clamp until the chamber breaks. From this point, the larger body can tear bars and weak walls but cannot perform the boy’s small, precise interactions.
Move left through the cells and pull down the closing bars. The waiting followers lift the body into the high opening, and the overloaded elevator drops into a display room. Tear the large server block from the left wall, carry it right, and use it as a step before breaking through the office window.
In the shallow water, carry the long plank to the right. Stand it vertically beneath the high switch and raise its end into the panel. Keep the plank for the following floor plate: lower one end onto the plate and move to the rising platform before the weight shifts. At the next sealed door, wait beside the left wall. The frightened worker approaches only while the body remains back; rushing the door drives him away from the control.
Drop to the furnace level and take the wooden box left. Throw it into the malfunctioning overhead panel, retrieve it, and repeat until the door opens. Carry the same box to the furnace on the right and ignite it. Take a running approach to the sprinklers, throw the burning box high across both sprays, catch it beyond them, and deliver it to the vent marked for heat.
Pull the wheeled bins beneath the hanging platform, climb and grab it, then build enough swing for the hook to tear open the right wall. In the next room, throw the launch box to the workers above. The hardhat worker primes it and sends it back. Stand beneath the ceiling switch and throw shortly before the box fires; begin moving right as it rises because the door is timed.
The suspended box in the next room triggers a trap. After the floor opens, swim to the tank’s lower-right wall and remove panels until the metal grate appears. Pull the grate out, escape the tank, and continue forcing the wooden wall until the structure gives way. Reaching the exterior scene closes the normal route; there is no dialogue or ending choice to select.
Return to the cornfield after the final status board changes
After Secret 14 is disabled, use the load or chapter-select menu to return to the cornfield clearing from Secret 2. If that menu is not yet available on your version, finish the normal escape first. Open the hidden floor hatch again, climb down, and go right instead of left. The small indicator beside the sealed door must be active. If it is dark, the device set is incomplete; return to the final status board rather than testing random codes.
Enter this sequence from the beginning, with one deliberate input for each direction:
↑ ↑ → ← → → → | ↑ ↑ ↑ → ← ← ←
In words: Up, Up, Right, Left, Right three times, Up three times, Right, then Left three times. If the door does not open while its indicator is active, release the control, restart from the first Up, and count all 14 inputs again.
Pass through the door and keep moving right. At the last wall, lift the cover and pull the large cable until it disconnects. That interaction closes the alternate route. At this point the task is complete: the normal exterior sequence has been reached, every achievement device has been shut down, and the cornfield cable has been removed. A missing achievement points back to its named detour; a dark bunker indicator points back to the final board; an active indicator with a closed door points only to the input sequence.
Sources & verification
Identity, Steam App ID 304430, Playdead’s developer/publisher credit, the Steam release date, and the 14-achievement list were checked against the current Steam product page and achievement data. Playdead’s official INSIDE page confirms the game boundary. The action order was cross-checked against IGN’s written 12-part walkthrough and Polygon’s written puzzle and orb routes; the alternate-ending code is independently repeated by those written references and an English Steam guide. The route does not assign a lore explanation to either ending.
For another Playdead puzzle route with optional collectibles placed in story order, the site also has a LIMBO walkthrough with all 10 hidden eggs.