Skaphander: Der Auftrag/McGyver

Your mission is to reactivate a bank of four fans in a hardware simulation of the cooling system, which should just mean pressing a button. But, as in Cannabis, even if the mission is simple, leaving the sector will not be. The Firm has evidence that the McGyver virus trying to trap you here is a deputy of a more powerful virus, the Joker.

This is a fun little level with a nice mix of open-room, corridor, and close-quarters fighting and a multipart puzzle to escape.

Transfer tower
You begin in a triangular transfer tower facing a spiked virus to the northeast and surrounded by a number of items. The heavy-item-transfer relay behind you, an "interim teleport", is ready for a transfer, but you don't have anything suitable to put in it yet, so the button does nothing. Leave the items for later, destroy the super-inattentive virus, and ride the lift down to the fan room.

Fan room
The fan room has a bank of four fans facing a Matma-flooded portico out into space. About halfway through your ride down the lift, you'll surprise a high-altitude spiked virus, but if you're ready for it, you won't even have to pitch your weapon. Ignore the fan power button at the bottom for now (you'll be back later and don't need the airflow messing with your driving), strafe right to catch up to two more spiked viruses off guard, and eliminate the barnacle in the middle of the room. Then use your ledge-peering skills to locate and shoot down a similar team in the Matma trench comprising as many as one barnacle and two spiked viruses.

When the room is safe, skip recharging unless you're really low on energy, and head northwest toward the motion-sensitive portcullis that guards the stairs.

Stairs and corridor
The stone stairs lead up from a semicircular room with teal floors and tapestries to an "L"-shaped corridor with animated guidelights. As you open the portcullis on the south side, up to two spiked viruses will be waiting, and usually their plan is to jump to your sides and flank you from outside your field of view. Knock out whichever is closer, spin to fell the second, and then turn back to face the door since a third spiked virus from farther back has probably also noticed you. Destroy the obvious barnacle left of center.

Now there's a trap here, and while it's easy to circumvent, it's actually to your advantage to trip it. Check your HUD map to see how the room is supported by mirrored pairs of square columns and how the walls that join with the nearest pair are false. Then line yourself up with the room's centerline, spin to face west (from which the danger could be greater), and strafe north. By passing through the middle of the floor at the foot of the stairs, you'll trigger those false walls to open, unleashing up to four spiked viruses from in front of you and three from the behind. Gun your way into the west side passage (if you're lucky, the virus in the back might still be sleeping), and when that's clear, spin around so that everything is coming at your from the same direction. After the fight is over, you'll have lots of options to refresh and recharge, including a double-eraser with 200 energy.

Climb the stairs to the corridor, which might have a spiked virus, a barnacle, and another spiked virus floating among its items. Take the 90° turn with a strafe so that you don't get barnacled by surprise. At the end of the corridor, you'll reach the nexus.

Nexus
The nexus is the main hub of the level, with six exits in all directions plus some high arched windows to the northeast. As you approach to enter, be prepared for possibly three spiked viruses to peek out, one from either of the door's sides and one more from above it. Also take out the barnacle that you can see and keep an eye out to your left since a barnacle from the pool will probably join the fray. Last, if you can shoot down any spiked viruses through the windows, now's the time to do that.

When the nexus is clear, turn your attention to the red-and-white door in the west wall to your left, the door to the pool.

Pool
Very much designed like a wading pool, this room provides the only green liquid in the level, so barnacles guard it zealously. The nearest have a height advantage, so draw the up-to-two you can see into the nexus for an easier fight. The others are waiting down by the pool: maybe one to the southwest, one to the north, and a trio in the middle, to the west. Defeat them in that order, which goes from most dangerous to least, taking advantage of the fact that every time you hit them, they rise in the air and into your sights, so now the high ground favors you. Circle the room counterclockwise to confirm that you got everyone, and then hop in the pool so that you can climb back out via the stairs.

Take this opportunity to backtrack and refill to full energy. Then drive across the nexus to the east side and enter the lift holding a breakpoint. It will rise to the transfer room.

Transfer room
The transfer room is an upper-story room shaped like a rounded rectangle with a divider down the middle. It has teal floors and stone walls and the north half overlooks the nexus to which it connects by a lift. Ostensibly you have no reason to know what this room is for until you visit the weights room, but it's faster to start the puzzle here.

Though things seem safe when you get to the top, as many as four spiked viruses have set an ambush after hearing the lift, two on either side. Check your HUD map to see if you can detect any of them, then strafe turn to shut the ambush down on one side, and whip around to catch the followup from the other direction. After that, drive north to make sure there aren't any other spiked viruses that survived your window-sniping from the nexus. There's a receiving area at the north end, but it's empty.

In the southeast corner of the northern half of the room, you should spy a silver bug that you cannot reach through the narrow opening, but if you drive behind the pillar in the southwest, the differently-colored section of wall will rise to let you through. Though the terrain feels dangerous, there are no viruses back here—not yet. Curve around to where you saw the silver bug and squash it by backing over it while facing south-southwest. As many as three spiked viruses will spawn in your view; eliminate them. Use the refreshes if you need them.

In the south end, pick up the heavy weight marked "5", the missing piece of the puzzle in the weights room. It's "too much luggage" for you to squeeze through the secret door with, but you can put it in the heavy-item-transfer device and press the button to send it to the relay in the tower. Make your way all the way back to the tower to press its button, depositing the weight in the north end of this room. As you return here to pick it up, press the fan button to complete your nominal mission objective and also stock up on energy.

Weights room
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Socket
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Outer ring
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Inner ring
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Pyramid
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