DERELIKT Level 4 Walkthrough: Exo Laboratories
Exo Laboratories from the blue keycard to the upstairs survivor: the server-tower code, the sample-tube code and how the hub safe zone works.
Exo Laboratories is the level that turns DERELIKT into a hub game. It is where rescued crew members end up, where the only early storage box lives, and where the game's two most-reported stuck points sit within thirty metres of each other: the four server towers and the sample-tube terminal.
The level is also the first place where the game expects you to read the environment instead of a quest marker. The codes are not hidden in a note. They are written on the hardware.
Two of the terminals in Exo Labs run the hacking minigame, and the hacking guide→ shows how to narrow each password.
Arrival and the blue keycard
You enter Exo Laboratories from the surface lift. The reception area is dark and the door ahead is blocked by a collapsed ceiling panel. The route around it is through the side lab.
- Blue keycard on the dead scientist pinned under the collapsed door frame. You cannot miss the body; the prompt only appears if you approach from the left side of the rubble.
- Abominations in the side lab. Two of them, both melee, both vulnerable to the shotgun.
- Save station in the reception area, behind the desk. Use it before you go deeper; this is the level's only early save.
The blue keycard opens the main laboratory wing. If the card does not register on the door reader, step back and approach again; the prompt has a narrow trigger volume on the first door.
The laboratory wing
The wing is a loop of four rooms around a central observation window. The route that collects everything is: worm lab, sample room, server room, upper walkway.
Worm lab and Dr. Krueger's terminal
The worm lab is the room with the glass cylinders. Dr. Krueger's terminal is at the back, and its message is the hint for the sample-tube code: count the tubes labelled A to D in the sample room and enter the four digits in that order.
- The terminal also unlocks the lab's internal door, which saves a walk back around the observation window.
- There is a medkit in the wall cabinet beside the terminal.
- A Science Report is on the desk. It explains what the lab was doing with the asteroid samples, and it counts toward Librarian.
The sample room and the 8465 code
The sample room holds four racks of tubes, labelled A, B, C and D. Count the tubes in each rack in order and you get the four-digit code for the upstairs survivor door.
The demo-era value recorded by preview players is 8465 (A=8, B=4, C=6, D=5). The counting rule is the part that matters:
- Count only the tubes with liquid in them, not the empty slots.
- Read the racks left to right, A to D.
- Enter the four digits on the keypad without spaces.
If the keypad rejects 8465 in your build, re-count the racks rather than assuming the page is wrong. At least one player reports a patch that changed a rack's contents.
The server room and the 1478 code
The server room is behind the blue keycard door at the end of the wing. Four tower units stand in a row, each with a number stencilled on its base. Read them in ascending order and you get the code for the upper survivor room.
The demo-era value is 1478. The towers are not in numeric order on the floor, which is the whole puzzle: the code is the sorted sequence, not the left-to-right sequence.
| Tower position | Stencil | Sorted order |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | 1 |
| 2 | 1 | 4 |
| 3 | 8 | 7 |
| 4 | 7 | 8 |
The upstairs survivor
The upper room is locked with the 8465 code and holds the level's only rescueable NPC. Talk to the survivor before you touch any terminal in the room; the rescue flag is set by the conversation, not by opening the door.
- Rescuing this NPC adds them to the Exo Lab hub and counts toward Savior complex.
- The room contains a Shriver's Note and a storage box.
- The survivor gives you the location of the Central Security entrance, which saves a lap of the level.
The hub, once it opens
After the level's main objective completes, Exo Laboratories becomes the safe zone that the rest of the campaign runs through. Three things live here:
- The storage box. The only reliable place to dump duplicate ammo, spare weapons and documents.
- The upgrade bench. Glyph fragments are spent here, and Insight is used to add engraving slots.
- The survivors. NPCs you rescued gather in the hub, and a few of them have follow-up dialogue that changes the ending conditions.
The hub is also the game's load-bearing fast-travel point. Every return trip from Central Security, the coolant section and the reactor starts here, so learn the route from the hub door to the storage box before you need it in a hurry.
Enemies in the labs
| Enemy | Room | Behaviour | Answer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abomination | Side lab, observation wing | Charges, melee | Shotgun, backpedal |
| Rock Worm | Sample room vents | Acid spit | Pistol or rifle burst |
| Sentry robot | Server room corridor | Patrols, ignores you until spotted | Crowbar takedown from behind |
| Empty Proxy | Upper walkway | Laser sweep | Rifle, break line of sight |
The sentry in the server corridor is the first one you can avoid entirely. It patrols away from the door on a fixed loop; wait for it to turn and walk behind it. Killing it wastes rifle ammo that Central Security needs.
Glyph upgrades cost fragments you find in the world, not currency. Do not hoard fragments expecting a vendor later; the bench is the only sink.
Collectible checklist
- Blue keycard (required).
- Science Report, worm lab desk.
- Shriver's Note, upper survivor room.
- Medkit, worm lab cabinet.
- Server room storage box.
- Survivor conversation (Savior complex step).
FAQ
What is the Exo Labs server code? 1478, read from the four towers in ascending order. The 8465 code is for the upstairs survivor door and comes from the sample tubes.
Why does the keypad reject the code? Either you are entering the demo-era value on a patched build, or you are at the wrong door. The server code opens the upper walkway; the sample code opens the survivor room.
Can I miss the survivor? Yes. The room is optional, and the survivor dies if you complete the level objective without opening the door.
Is Exo Labs the hub for the whole game? It remains the hub until the reactor sequence, which is one-way.
The Exo Labs numbers are the only demo-era codes this guide keeps, because both are still reported working in the retail build. Treat the counting rule as the durable part and the digits as the current best value.
Sources and further reading
The pages below are the sources this guide checks against. The store page and the developer's post are primary; the reviews are secondary and are used for enemy names, weapon names and the state of the game at launch.
- DERELIKT on Steam ↗ — the store page, system requirements and the 27-achievement list.
- Visuwyg's announcement post ↗ — the developer's own description of the outpost and the PS1 rendering work.
- DERELIKT on Metacritic ↗ — the aggregated critic score and review index.
Official source: Visuwyg — DERELIKT announcement post ↗, 8 September 2025.
"grafted onto an anomalous derelict asteroid in orbit around Saturn" — Visuwyg, DERELIKT announcement post, 2025