Major story and boss spoilers follow. The first Research Lab door is not your next objective. Its scanner advances only after Luca carries the Eyes of Tygo, Moja, Renzo, and Dau, and reaching those four bosses requires the movement upgrades that overcome each region’s blocked terrain. This walkthrough covers the Windows release and reflects the official record through Post Release Patch 7, dated April 29, 2026. It ends with the four-Eye scan, the final Nightmare, the Lab return portal, and Dessa’s Purgatory fight—not every optional room or pickup.
The first false goal is the Research Lab
After Luca completes the pact with Rhem, head right and take the Kitchen Knives. Buried Streets soon gives you Whip. Treat orange-cracked walls as Whip surfaces: pull them open instead of spending time attacking them or searching for an explosive.
In Skyscraper Remnants, take the lower route by the red door and ride the elevator. Stay on that lower branch until you find the Research Keycard, then return to the keycard door passed earlier. The flesh node beyond it grants Parry. A vending-machine enemy seen before this point can wait, and the visible Lab scanner can wait much longer. Research Keycard plus Parry is the state that sends you toward Fluorescent Park.
Fluorescent Park changes what a cracked floor means
Continue until you meet Tens and reach the nearby rest point. The important branch climbs through one-way vines. Do not follow the lower paths just because they reconnect sooner; keep ascending to the upper flesh node and take Dive Breaker.
A downward strike should now break the cracked floor and wall on the descent to the station level. An intact floor means the upper node was skipped, so go back through the vines before leaving the Park. Benchwarmer and Sightless All-Star do not provide any of the four scanner items and can remain cleanup detours.
Campus Hill hides the exit above the furniture
Pass through the Abandoned Mall connection into Campus Hill and take the right-side route. Pull the movable bookcases with Whip, stand on them, and use them as platforms. When moving a case appears to create another dead end, inspect the space above it rather than the narrow opening at floor level.
At the last branch, drop left into the flesh node for Slide Breaker. Use the nearby low obstacle as a test: Luca should pass through instead of stopping at its edge. If a bookcase will not move at all, update the game; an early post-release patch addressed that progression block. If it moves but the way forward is unclear, climb the case.
The Aquarium door begins the four-Eye hunt
Finding the Aquarium entrance before its key is normal. Return to Abandoned Mall, pull open the orange-cracked wall with Whip, and climb the red-root rooms behind it. Destroy every failed-possession flesh node in this branch, then defeat Salvager and speak to Beverly. Her post-fight conversation supplies the Aquarium Key.
If Salvager never begins or Beverly has no key, the Mall objective is still open. Check the quest detail for a remaining flesh marker and revisit the first hall and the red-root rooms. Current locked-door icons can name the required key, a Patch 6 addition that helps separate the Aquarium lock from unrelated doors. Patch 7 later corrected map-progress and quest-marker issues.
Tygo must leave two items, not one
Open the Aquarium and follow its whale-and-Whip path to The Three Sisters. Their defeat yields the Zoo Lockdown Key, which opens the intended way to Tygo. Patch 6 closed an Aquarium shortcut that could bypass part of this sequence, so a closed Zoo door points back to The Three Sisters rather than toward an old geometry skip.
Tygo’s defeat should leave Eye of Tygo and the Executive Key in your inventory. Do not continue on a save where the Eye is absent: update the game and reload from before the boss sequence. The Executive Key opens the next region, but the Eye is what the Lab scanner will eventually consume.
Tygo’s second reward unlocks the other three Eyes
Sunken City: Wall Run before Moja
Fast-travel to Sunken City and spend the Executive Key on the newly available locked route. Collect the HVAC Key, descend through the breakable floors, pass the paired swinging mechanisms, and reach the flesh node containing Wall Run.
Use Wall Run during Moja rather than treating it as travel-only. When the wall-mounted laser sweeps across the arena, run up the nearby wall to clear its line. Winning the fight awards the Eye of Moja. If the upper Sunken City door still asks for a key, make sure Tygo supplied the Executive Key; the HVAC Key belongs to the branch that opens afterward.
Rusted Dockyard: Water Dash before Renzo
Take the Central Business District shortcut back to Rusted Dockyard. Wall Run clears the previously vertical route. Open the former lock, use the terminal, ride the water-pressure descent, and search its bottom-left branch for the flesh node that grants Water Dash.
Dash through the submerged breakable wall and continue to Renzo. His defeat provides the Eye of Renzo, bringing the count to three. A submerged wall that does nothing sends you back to the Water Dash node; Dr. Michaels is an optional side encounter and is not the source of the required Eye.
Inverted Plaza: Air Sprint before Dau
Return to Skyscraper Remnants and open its upper locked route. Combine Wall Run and Whip to enter Inverted Plaza, then collect Air Sprint from the flesh node near the beginning. The horizontal gaps beyond it are the practical confirmation that this upgrade is mandatory.
Use Wall Run, Whip, and Air Sprint together on the way to Dau. Finish the boss and the following choice. The post-fight sequence awards the Eye of Dau whether Dau is killed or spared, so verify the fourth Eye itself before fast-traveling away. If an early Plaza gap cannot be crossed, return to the opening flesh node rather than trying to extend a normal jump.
Four Eyes are the Lab’s entire entry requirement
Before returning through Buried Streets, read the four item names in the inventory: Tygo, Moja, Renzo, and Dau. Present them at the Research Lab scanner and finish the final Nightmare that follows. An empty scanner slot does not represent a hidden fifth key; it identifies a boss reward that was never recorded.
After the Nightmare, ride the elevator, run on the left-side wall, and pull the progression wall from above with Whip. Follow the water route downward. Patch 5 added a one-way return portal before the Lab’s hardest stretch; activate it as soon as it becomes available so upgrades or supplies remain reachable before the story path closes behind you.
A loop near the elevator usually means the left wall-run surface or the high Whip point was missed. Once the wall is pulled and the portal is active, continue to the rest point that precedes Dessa’s move into Purgatory.
Dessa’s shield decides when the fight can move
Survive the broad opening attack and the falling bombs before committing to damage. While three orbs circle Dessa, striking the boss is not the objective. Bait the shockwave, use its recovery to destroy one protection orb, move back to safety, and repeat until all three are gone.
Dessa becomes vulnerable after the shield disappears. Deal damage until the transformed charge begins, then use Parry to knock the boss down and punish the recovery. Dealing no damage while an orb remains means the protection phase is unfinished; dying to the transformed charge means you missed the Parry opening. Rely on these visible responses instead of the exploit removed in an earlier patch.
The walkthrough is closed when the scanner has accepted all four named Eyes, the final Nightmare is defeated, the one-way Lab portal is active, and Dessa’s protection and charge phases have been answered in Purgatory. If progression stops before that state, revisit only the regional boss tied to the missing Eye or the flesh node tied to the obstacle in front of Luca; the Lab contains no replacement item.