Our Forever Skies Underdust Laboratory Walkthrough will show you how to complete your objectives and get all of the new unlocks for the first story zone.
Underdust Laboratory Walkthrough
Once you've completed the tutorial tower and got your Airship in working order, you'll want to start focusing on progressing the story. Tracking Noah's trail across the ruined Earth will eventually lead you to the Descent to the Underdust Tower which leads to the Underdust Tunnels and Underdust Laboratory. It has a single purple light on top of a massive metal circle.
Note: This walkthrough uses images from an earlier version of Forever Skies; while the HUD in version 1.0 is different, the core elements of this walkthrough are still largely up to date.
Looting the Lobby
Head inside the structure and you'll see a door in the distance; this is the elevator that will take you down to the Underdust. However, it's locked and we'll have to activate it.
First, thoroughly explore the lobby. There are several broken chests that can be fixed with Repair Patches; you can then open them and loot the items inside.
Next, head to the back right of the lobby and you'll find a ladder. Climb up, then climb up another ladder and you can grab this tower's Solid State Battery. Drop down into the nearby lit hole and you'll find an Access Terminal. Scan this, and you'll get the crafting recipe for Noah's Keycard.
Take all of your loot back to your Airship and craft Noah's Keycard. Then, return to the Access Terminal and insert the keycard. This will unlock the elevator, allowing you to go down into the Underdust.
Now you're actually in the Underdust. A new mechanic is introduced in this area — once you step out of the elevator, your Oxygen meter will start depleting. If it drops to 0, you die. You can restore your Oxygen by returning to the elevator or by using oxygen stations spread throughout the facility; unfortunately, they're unpowered.
There are several new crafting materials available here such as the Energy Crystal. You can also find Polymer, Transformers, and many other useful crafting materials here.
You'll want to start by looting the immediate area. If you run out of inventory space, you can safely store items in the red chests in the elevator. Stay on ground level and grab up every single item you can, making sure to periodically return to the elevator for oxygen. There's no reason to leave all of this good loot behind!
Finding the Underdust Laboratory
Once you're satisfied you've looted the area around the elevator, return to the elevator and empty your inventory into the red chests as much as possible.
Exit the elevator, turn right, and turn right again. You'll see a door with a lock on it; break the lock with your knife if you haven't already. Walk through this door, turn left, and turn left again and you'll see a ladder heading up with a corpse next to it.
This is your first step toward the Underdust Lab. Climb up the ladder. Once you're at the top, you'll see some metal walls behind you. Use your Extractor to destroy the metal walls, then walk forward along the wooden beam.
At the end of the beam, you'll see some debris making a ramp on the left. On the right is a pizza box with a Crystal battery in it. Pick up this Crystal Battery, then head up the ramp and install a Crystal Battery in the Oxygen Refill Station.
Next, head up the broken staircase to the right of the Oxygen Refill Station. Turn around and you'll see another ladder:
Work your way around the beams and climb up this second ladder.
At the top of the ladder, you'll find two things to Scan:
Scan both of these items. Pick up the Crystal Battery on the floor, the Medical Reagents, and any other worthwhile items. Recharge your oxygen at the station you powered up. Go back down to ground level and follow the white arrows to get back to the elevator.
Go back into the elevator to recharge your oxygen. Head back out and turn left, turn left again, then turn right. You'll find yourself in this room marked by a purple hanging flower on the back wall:
Go into the room and head down the ramp to your right. As you get closer, you'll see the white and red flower move toward you.
Scan the flower.
This is an Icedew Flower. It prevents you from passing through this area because it detects your body heat. To counter it, you'll have to lower your body heat by giving yourself Hypothermia through a crafted item. We can't do that just yet, though, so we'll take care of something else first.
Finding the Medium Oxygen Tank
Head back out the door where you came in. This time, we're going to head to the right through this somewhat concealed doorway:
This will lead us to another room with another Icedew Flower.
There are several things to do in this room. First, you should have at least one Crystal Battery in your inventory if you've picked up all of the ones I've pointed out. If you do, put it into the Oxygen Refill Station since we'll be operating out of this area for a short time.
Next, turn to your left and you'll see a metal beam blocking a doorway. Destroy it with your Extractor and you'll open up a faster pathway back to the elevator.
Once that's done, you should take note of a ramp behind the Oxygen Refill Station. Follow it up to higher ground.
At the top of this ramp, you'll find a door.
Head inside the door and you'll find a corpse next to a Medium Oxygen Tank, along with a Crystal Battery and an unpowered Oxygen Refill Station. (Thanks to YouTuber GDP Duncan for the tip on finding it!)
You'll also find some Breathnuts in here; make sure to grab these wherever you come across them. Growing Breathnuts is a good way to supplement your oxygen for future expeditions.
Scan the Medium Oxygen Tank and take the Crystal Battery on the floor. Do not use it in this Oxygen Refill Station; you won't be coming back here.
Climb back down and head toward the doorway with the metal beam you just opened up. On the right, you'll see several green plants that you can scan:
These are Green Colander plants. They're used in a handful of crafting recipes, one of which is the Medium Oxygen Tank you just scanned a few moments ago.
Unlocking Virus Research
Take the newly-opened pathway back to the elevator. Make sure to grab some Thorn Bee Honey from the beehives and some Dust Daisies along the way, then head up the elevator and back to your Airship.
Head to the Research Station on the Ship. Research the Virus Sample Analyzer. Then, make one using the Fabricator and place it on your Ship. You'll also have to use a Crystal Battery in order to power the Virus Sample Analyzer; if you don't have one, you can craft one.
Place a Thorn Bee Honey in the Virus Sample Analyzer and complete the Virus minigame. Once you've done that, you'll get a single vial of Meningitis. Go over to the Research Station and use it to Research the Hypothermia Booster.
While that Research is going on, make another dose of Meningitis at the Fabricator. When the Hypothermia Booster Research is completed, you can Craft a Hypothermia Booster at the Fabricator.
You can also Research the Medium Oxygen Tank. You'll need the Upgrade Station to craft it; if you don't have it yet, don't worry too much; you'll be able to do just fine with your standard Oxygen Tank.
Delving into the Underdust Tunnels
Once you have the Hypothermia Booster, take the elevator back down to the Underdust. Head to either of the tunnel entrances; it doesn't really matter which since they're both connected. In the center of a nearby tunnel interaction, you'll find an Oxygen Refill Station and a Crystal Battery.
Power up the Oxygen Refill Station with the nearby Crystal Battery. This will allow you to thoroughly loot the Underdust Tunnels.
Head down the tunnel to the right of the Oxygen Refill Station.
This will trigger a cutscene where you get attacked by giant mantises. A force field will emerge to protect you, so you don't have to worry about combat just yet.
This tunnel will be closed up in all future versions of Descent to the Underdust that you visit. However, there are a few more things that we can grab.
Wrapping Up the Underdust Laboratory
Take a turn to the right and go into one of the nearby buildings. Inside, you'll find a new friend that you can take home with you.
You'll need to find and scan the Wrecked Soft Cushion at the "Temporary Camp" Radio Tower Variant to give your new Friendly Insect pet a home. Once you've acquired it, you can place the Soft Cushion in your Ship.
The Crossbow can also be found nearby; make sure to scan it. You will need it in order to get access to the next area and to fight the new enemies you'll encounter there.
This will allow you to place the Friendly Mantis inside of it like a storage chest; the Friendly Mantis will then sit on top of it and hang out on your Airship.
With the Friendly Mantis safely secured, we can head back out of the Underdust Tunnels. We have just one more stop to make.
Finding Bigger Storage
Make your way back to this room with one of the entrances to the Underdust Tunnels.
Follow the arrow and it will take you past one of the Icedew Flowers. If your Hypothermia Booster is still active, you can walk past it.
Just behind this Icedew Flower is a handful of supplies and, more importantly, a Wrecked Storage Box.
Scan the Wrecked Storage Box and you'll be able to craft the Storage Box at the Fabricator. This is the largest storage solution available as of version 1.0, providing 25 slots for anything you might want to put in there.
We've reached the end of this Forever Skies Underdust Laboratory Walkthrough. From here, you'll have to find an Infected Greenhouse, but you won't be able to explore it just yet — after retrieving some research data, we'll be heading to the Wild Habitat.
We're at the end of our Forever Skies Underdust Laboratory Walkthrough. Have a gander at our other guides below!