Start Here: What the Demo Wants You to Notice
Rivage’s demo can feel aimless because its biggest clues are environmental rather than mission markers. The important early breakthrough is learning that access cards, notes, holograms, and changing rooms are connected systems—not isolated collectibles. Once you understand that, the route to the Emergency Pharmacy and Pod Bay becomes much clearer.
You play as Miranda aboard a space station following a catastrophic event. Exploration is deliberate: inspect desks, scan important items with K9, listen to recordings, and revisit rooms after changing the station’s dock configuration. Do not assume that an item has only one obvious use.
| Early discovery | What to do | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| K9 leaflet | Scan it, then use the device when prompted | Introduces scanning and password-related clues |
| Miranda’s computer | Use the nearby book title as its password hint | Reveals information needed for the vault |
| Miranda’s access card | Turn it over and scan its barcode | Adds access permanently instead of treating the card as a loose item |
| Cube by the station map | Interact with it after leaving Miranda’s room | Continues the opening sequence |
A good habit for the whole demo is to pause whenever you find a note. Some notes identify a destination, while others explain where an item can be found across different versions of the same area. If a clue seems incomplete, it may be describing a room state you have not unlocked yet.
Open Miranda’s Computer and Vault
The first room establishes how Rivage handles passwords and physical controls. On the desk, collect and scan the K9 leaflet. The computer offers a password hint referring to Miranda’s bestseller; the nearby book provides the answer. Enter stardust to access the computer.
Read Miranda’s messages, especially the email concerning a vault reset. The date in that message is significant, but it can vary between playthroughs. Record the date from your own game rather than copying one from a walkthrough.
After interacting with the cube by the map, inspect the case beside it. Its reset-instruction leaflet is useful later, so take a screenshot or make a note of the process. Return to Miranda’s room and use the vault near the door.
| Vault step | Solution |
|---|---|
| First code field | Enter /000/ |
| Second code field | Enter the date from the vault-reset email |
| Opening mechanism | Pull the orange handle at the vault’s upper left |
| Reward | Scan the reverse side of Miranda’s access card |
Inside the vault, examine the written materials as well as the access card. Rivage often hides story context and practical direction in the same place. Scanning the card is especially important: simply seeing or holding it does not register the credential on K9.
Before leaving, make sure you have interacted with every readable object in the room. The demo rewards observation more than speed, and missing a password clue can make a later obstacle look like a bug.
Solve the Kitchen, Dock, and Pharmacy Route
From Miranda’s room, follow the corridor to the kitchen and use the blue control to open its locked door. A floating droid asks for a screenshot; take one with the screenshot control. This is a simple early interaction, but it reinforces that the game expects you to use device functions beyond scanning.
The kitchen contains the demo’s most easily missed progression mechanic: the Dock System can swap the whiteboard-side section of the room into different layouts. The first battery is near the large orange board of equations. Pick it up, but do not expect an immediate socket nearby.
At the far-left table, activate the holographic cube with its green control. Adjust the two handles until the three cube sections align correctly from every side. Then look upward and record the ceiling pattern.
Use that pattern at the Dock System near the glowing recording cube. The line marks the bottom orientation of the displayed pattern, so align the clue before entering it. When the system unlocks, choose Robot Area.
| Dock setting | What appears or changes | What to collect or use |
|---|---|---|
| Robot Area | The whiteboard-side section becomes the robot layout | Emergency Pharmacy, plus a battery on the desk |
| Cultivation | The same section becomes a cultivation layout | A third battery on the upstairs desk |
| Robot Area again | Emergency Pharmacy returns | Install the final battery and claim Pod Bay access |
Place the orange-board battery and the Robot Area desk battery into the Emergency Pharmacy. Switch the Dock System to Cultivation, take the battery from the elevated desk, then return to Robot Area and install it too.
The nearby kitchen note is worth rereading at this point. It explains the pharmacy’s relevance and indicates that batteries are distributed across the swappable room states. If you have searched the kitchen repeatedly without finding a battery slot, the missing step is usually changing the Dock System selection rather than searching harder.
Once all three batteries are installed, pull the pharmacy handle down and select Pod Bay Access. Scan the barcode on the back of the dispensed card. The power outage then opens the kitchen storage room, where the arcade machine becomes the next point of interest.
Demo Puzzle Habits That Prevent Dead Ends
The demo’s puzzles are more consistent than they first appear. Each one asks you to connect information from the same room, a nearby room, or an alternate version of that room. Avoid resetting the loop or quitting as a first response to being stuck; you may lose your place in a chain of clues.
Use this checklist whenever you hit a wall:
- Scan the front and back of every card, leaflet, and unusual object.
- Read notes again after unlocking new equipment or room configurations.
- Look above, below, and behind interactive displays for patterns or audio clues.
- Check all three possible states of a swappable area before deciding an item is missing.
- Treat audio recordings as evidence; nearby controls may alter how they are heard.
- Write down dates, names, color relationships, and patterns instead of relying on memory.
Later demo puzzles continue these ideas. One computer asks for the full name of the Horizon Probe’s creator. A display clue identifies Igor, while the remaining name can be obtained from an audio file associated with the other exhibit. If the recording sounds unnaturally fast, search the same room for a way to play it at normal speed.
The fuse-panel puzzle uses color arithmetic. Add the colors represented by squares on the left, subtract the colors represented by circles in the middle, then compare the calculated result to the requested color on the right. Not every available fuse position needs to be filled, so do not force a solution into every slot.
| Puzzle type | Core idea | Common mistake |
|---|---|---|
| Vault | Combine a password hint with an email date | Using a date from another player’s run |
| Dock System | Reproduce the completed hologram’s ceiling pattern | Forgetting which edge is the bottom |
| Emergency Pharmacy | Gather batteries from several room states | Looking for all batteries in one layout |
| Audio exhibit | Find a way to slow distorted playback | Trying to decipher the sped-up recording |
| Fuse panel | Perform color addition and subtraction | Assuming every fuse location is required |
If a visual clue seems inconsistent under different lighting, inspect it from a stable angle and use the diagram mounted near the puzzle as the authoritative reference. The station’s ambient lighting can make close shades look misleading.
FAQ
What is the fastest route in this rivage demo guide?
Access Miranda’s computer, use the vault-reset date to open her vault, scan the access card, enter the kitchen, solve the hologram and Dock System pattern, collect three pharmacy batteries across Robot Area and Cultivation, then obtain and scan the Pod Bay card.
Where do I put the batteries?
Install all three in the Emergency Pharmacy, which appears when the Dock System is set to Robot Area. One battery is by the orange equation board, one is on the Robot Area desk, and one is in the Cultivation layout.
Why can’t I find the third battery?
You must switch the Dock System from Robot Area to Cultivation. The final battery is upstairs in that alternate room configuration.
Why does an access card not seem to work?
Turn the card over and scan its barcode with K9. Rivage uses scanning to permanently register credentials.
Should I use fixed dates or codes from another walkthrough?
No. Some details, including vault dates and certain puzzle answers, are randomized. Follow the method used to discover the answer in your own playthrough.