Exophobia – Walkthrough
Intro
If you’re reading this, you are playing the full version of the game Exophobia before release. I made this guide to help creators in case they get stuck with the game. If you have any questions, please send an email to [email protected]!
José Castanheira (“Zarc” – Exophobia dev)
Walkthrough
Since the game is a “metroidvania”, it can be a bit confusing to know where to go next. Exploration is part of the game, but for a quicker playthrough here is the shortest linear path to take to complete the game. Save often in order to not lose progress. I mentioned some save terminals that are not so obvious in the steps but save every time you find one. Also, your map recharges every time you are at a terminal, but the terminal map is more complete and you can pan around.
(Includes Spoilers! Use only if absolutely stuck or you want to get through the game fast)
Floor 1 – Mecha boss
The game starts very linear-ly. This part works as a tutorial.
- Grab the suit in front of you
- Grab the keycard near the terminal, save the game to recharge your HP
- Go through the tutorial and get the gun
- Save the game again and shoot the boxes in the next room to get a card and open the door
- Optional HP upgrade (activate the timer and slide through the lasers)
- Second terminal
- Go forward and shoot the button in front to go down
- Ambush room
- Gun upgrade (charge to destroy vents)
- Optional HP upgrade (push the barrels to the white doors)
- Mecha boss (shoot him with a charged shot while he is charging at you and then quickly hit him while vulnerable)
- Dash into the zipline and go to the elevator
Floor 3 – Hunter phase 1
An introduction to the engines level in a dark environment.
- Go down and get the key card
- Get another keycard in the jail
- Hunter phase 1 boss (wait for him to slash behind you and shoot him 3 times)
Floor 2 – Water Section
In this section you can’t dash and have to find the 3 valves.
- Fight worms and spin first valve
- Plant maze and second valve
- Fight bugs and third valve
- Save in the terminal and go to the elevator
- Optional HP upgrade (avoid the plant poison)
Floor 1 – More enemies
Another section on the first floor with harder enemies.
- Save in the terminal and get the key card.
- Fight the aliens and get in the vent
- Get the keycard and save in the terminal again
- Fight more aliens until you get to the terminal
- Ambush room
- Use the ziplines to get to the left elevator
Floor 2 – Shockwave upgrade
Laboratories are now unflooded and you can progress through a series of test rooms.
- Save in the terminal and go down.
- Push the barrel into the pad to open the doors. Do this for the next rooms.
- Save the game, and get a keycard in the middle of the worm eggs
- Save again, go up and fight the worms
- Shockwave upgrade
- Kill the plants and go up
- Save the game and get the keycard
- Run from the giant worm until you get to a floor filled with mines (to get the keycard in the middle island, activate the timer in the bottom)
- Optional HP upgrade (push the barrel to the button and quickly go through the door)
- Harder test rooms with enemies
- Ambush room
- Top elevator
Floor 1 – Hunter phase 2
Last section of floor 1 ending in a boss fight. This section has a puzzle with the ziplines and timers.
- Go right and kill all the enemies you see
- Open the white door by pushing a barrel from the room before into it
- Use the zipline in the bottom left part to get it to the right side and go back through the door you opened
- Go all the way back and do the same to the white doors in the top right
- Trigger the switch, use the zipline to go from top right to bottom right, then activate that switch and use the zipline to go to bottom left, and enter the terminal
- Ambush room with keycard
- Go back to elevator and open the door
- Hunter phase 2 (wait for him to attack you with the swords and use the shockwave to stop him and hit him while vulnerable)
- Use the ziplines to go to the right elevator
Floor 3 – Core boss
This part is very open so it is easy to get lost. The goal is to turn on all the 4 generators that are on each end of the map. However, paths are not very clear and are filled with enemies.
- Kill all the aliens in this room and shoot the box in the bottom to release a ball, use the shockwave to direct this ball to the two batteries in the room. The level will light up and robot enemies will appear. Kill them all and go down.
- Use the ball to open the middle room and then use the switch to go through the door. Use the fans and oil to move quickly.
- Optional HP upgrade (ambush)
- Teleport upgrade
- Save the game and go up. Get the keycard and go through the door
- Ambush room
- Go to the West and do the same with the two batteries in this room.
- Go down and use the teleport to avoid the fans. Do the same path to get the keycard from when the lights were out until you get to the room with a battery.
- Activate the two batteries in this room.
- Go back and go up to the top left and right.
- Activate the two batteries in the top room.
- Go back and go to the middle room, saving the game in the terminal.
- Optional HP upgrade (use shockwave to open door to timer then teleport)
- Core boss (shoot all the lightbulbs and then hit the eye when it is opened with a charged shot. Use the teleport to avoid the big laser)
- Go either to the left or right elevator
Floor 4 – Hunter phase 3
The middle room is now unlocked by defeating the core boss.
- Go down on either left and right rooms to get two keycards inside the vending machines. There is an ambush room in each path.
- Optional HP upgrade (activate the switches in order)
- Save and go up.
- Go right and save and then go left
- Fight the aliens and get to a room with a vending machine.
- Get the keycard and use the timer to go to the upgrade room
- Blast upgrade
- Ambush room
- Go right and use the blast upgrade to reveal the switch to get to the top room
- Get the card in the top left compartment and go back
- Save and open the door in the top
- Hunter phase 3 (use shockwave to reveal the real one and hit while vulnerable. In second phase just shoot all the clones until you find the right one)
- Optional HP upgrade (activate the switches in order)
- Top elevator
Floor 2 – Worm boss
In this section you have to find 3 keycard hidden in the second floor. However, only 2 are needed to progress.
- Go down and blow up the door
- Ambush room with a keycard
- Go left and save in the terminal
- Go right and down
- Get the card from the compartment
- Go in the middle of the level and open the doors to get the barrels on the left and right pads. Stand in the middle pad and teleport into the doors and save
- Worm boss (shoot a fully charged bullet into the worm’s mouth by getting near it when it chases you and blast it. In the second phase, shoot all the worm segments.)
Floor 1 – Final combat
- Go down and save in the terminal
- Get into the big elevator and fight 4 levels of an ambush
- When the elevator stops, blast the door to find the last human survivors
100% Completion
If you complete the game like this you get the bad ending, which unlocks Infinite Mode.
If you find the 4 gems in the 4 levels you get the good ending, which ends with an extra boss fight and unlocks Boss Rush Mode. The CDs give tips to where they are, and most of them need upgrades that you don’t have at the time, so you can go back by loading a bad ending save for instance. Blow up the walls to find the secret rooms. To get 100% completion you need to find all CDs and gems. These images include the location of the gems, filters and dogs. Filters and dogs are OPTIONAL.
Achievements
Here are some tips to get all achievements. Some are self explanatory.
- Mecha No More
- Turning it on and off
- Secret Rival
- Round 2
- Final Clash
- GROSS
- Born Ready
- Charge
- Shockwave
- Teleport
- Blast
- Finale – Follow the guide for these last achievements
- Cooked to Death
- Pest Control
- Strike!!
- Bye bye!
- Blue Bullets
- Zap Zap Zap!
- Fast Travel
- BOOM!
- Powered up!
- I’m a Fortress
- They See Me Smoking
- Teamwork
- All My Base Are Belong to Us
- Kleptomaniac – to hold 10 items get CDs and don’t use the terminals
- Speedrunner
- Untouchable
- On the Edge
- Healthy
- Log Collector – Use the CD locator at the final combat to locate all 44 CDs
- A new lens – find one filter
- What a colorful world – find all 16 filters
- Revenge! – After getting the basic weapon go back and kill the alien
- Brutal – Push the mecha head into a pit
- Getting warmed up
- Adrenaline rush
- C-c-combo!
- Overachiever
- Alien Slayer
- Can’t Touch This
- It’s personal now – dev team behind secret wall in top elevator of floor 4
- Sunset Shockwave – top elevator in floor 1 has a volleyball that you have to use a shockwave on
- Woof woof! – there is one secret dog in each floor, pet them all
- Alien King – defeat the secret boss from the good ending
Other Secrets
Floor 2 has 3 secret rooms with weird characters in their test tubes, try to find some cracks or out of place stuff. Also, on the top elevator there is a room to the right with a suspicious character (teleport inside the grate).
Floor 3 is filled with secret rooms with helmet pedestals with crazy characters! Every time you spot a texture out of place, try charge shooting at it.
Floor 4 has a floating character in the room on top of the right elevator, look behind the wall.
Also, if you shoot the wall inside the dev team room you’ll find a memorial to a friend of mine. RIP Ricardo!