Spoiler level: Full progression spoilers. The ending details are kept on a separate page.
1. Finish the village first
Search the houses and speak to every available neighbor before using the Well entrance. The official Social Network description makes this a hard cutoff: conversations must happen before you enter. Pick up the highlighted opening item, finish the dialogue loop, then descend.
2. Learn the prison survival loop
Take the Rusty Spoon and use it to break marked rubble and remove rats blocking your route. Stay back from prisoner bars until you know where you are going; grabs trigger changing on-screen QTE keys. Locate the hand-crank generator before entering a dark danger room. Clear the approach first, crank the machine second, then run while the light remains active.
Collect every obvious lever handle or key on the main path and return to the matching mechanism. Use the Prison Main sign as your route anchor. On beams, make small corrections toward the center instead of holding one direction.
3. Navigate the facility by signs
Read the facility map and use Storage, Surface, Block A, Tools Storage, Radio Room, Freezer and Dumping Site Gate Control as landmarks. Search currently open rooms before testing every locked door again. Complete the Dr. Cobo sequence, then continue until you recover the Uncharged Capacitor and reach the Battery Charge Station.
4. Reset the charge station
Pull the main lever, wait for the generated signal, use the nearby visual clue to send the matching digit, and repeat until all seven signals are accepted. A wrong digit restarts the equipment. After the reset, place the Uncharged Capacitor in the charger, wait for the ready state, retrieve it and use it at the downstream power panel.
5. Complete the Nursery route
Use the Nursery Key, inspect Julian and finish the missing-object objective instead of forcing the next passage. Follow Merkert’s sequence and the hand/light symbols. When the lantern becomes available, use F to toggle it. If a fixture says a piece is missing, search the connected side path and bring the highlighted object back.
6. Reach the finale
Follow the lantern and symbol route into the ritual area. Complete the live prompts during the final creature/escape sequence, then continue through the viewpoint montage and closing return. For the story interpretation and hidden-achievement caveat, continue to the ending page.
This guide covers the released launch route. It does not turn incomplete collectible reports, Demo-only details or unverified fixes into confirmed instructions.