1. ⛪ Reach the Church and activate the S.D.G.

Open Liberty Falls until you reach the Hilltop Church.

Inside you’ll find:

🔫 Pack-a-Punch

and, on the right side:

🌌 S.D.G. GENERATOR

Interact with the S.D.G.

You’ll get a white flash and dialogue from Dr. Panos.

That officially starts the Main Quest.

But Panos needs equipment.

And that means it’s time to build…

🌪️ THE THRUSTODYNE M23 — JET GUN

You need three parts:

🔧 Water Pressure Gauge
⚡ Electrical Wires
🛑 Handbrake

They can be collected in any order.

2. 💧 Get the Water Pressure Gauge

Go to Washington Avenue, outside Lily’s Flowerpot.

Interact with the water valve near the plants and take the:

🔧 WATER VALVE

Now head into:

🎳 FULLER’S LIBERTY LANES

Look along the wall beside the bowling lanes for a small panel.

Shoot or melee the panel off.

Attach your Water Valve.

Now hold the interaction to increase the water pressure.

⚠️ Zombies WILL attack you.

In co-op, somebody can protect the person turning the valve.

In solo, clear yourself some space before committing to it.

Fill the pressure meter completely.

The machine pops open and gives you:

💧 WATER PRESSURE GAUGE.

3. 🛑 Get the Handbrake

Head into the:

⚰️ CEMETERY.

Eventually a special zombie called the:

🧟 GROUNDSKEEPER

appears.

Kill him and grab his:

🔑 TOOLSHED KEY.

Take that to the Groundskeeper’s Yard.

Open the shed.

Inside you’ll find:

🛑 HANDBRAKE.

Two down.

4. ⚡ Get the Electrical Wires

Go toward Riverside and find:

📻 RADIO HOUSE.

Its doors need to be blasted open by a Mangler-style cannon attack.

Once the doors are destroyed, enter Radio House.

Interact with the piles of junk on the floor until:

⚡ ELECTRICAL WIRES

pop out.

Now we have all three Jet Gun pieces.

5. 🌪️ BUILD THE JET GUN

Head to the:

🏨 MOTOR LODGE.

Go upstairs.

Zombies eventually burst through one of the motel-room doors.

Enter that room.

There’s a workbench inside.

Add:

💧 Water Pressure Gauge
🛑 Handbrake
⚡ Electrical Wires

and—

🌪️ THRUSTODYNE M23 ACQUIRED!

TranZit veterans:

Look how they fixed our boy. 😂

6. 🧩 Vacuum THREE LTG pieces

Return to the S.D.G. if necessary and progress its dialogue.

Now use the Jet Gun’s vacuum function to suck up three floating components.

🧩 PART #1 — Church

Look above the balcony inside the Dark Aether Church.

You’ll see the floating component.

🌪️ Vacuum it down.

🧩 PART #2 — Olly’s Comics

Go inside Olly’s Comics.

Look through the broken ceiling.

🌪️ Vacuum the piece.

🧩 PART #3 — Buzz’s Cuts

Go to Washington Avenue.

Climb onto the nearby white truck so you can see into the upper window of Buzz’s Cuts.

🌪️ Vacuum the final piece from the window.

7. 📡 Build the LTG

Head onto the roof of:

🏦 SAVINGS & LOAN — THE ALAMO.

There’s a special workbench in the corner.

Use your three pieces to build:

📡 L.T.G.

LIMITED TRANSDIMENSIONAL GATEWAY

Because apparently “weird purple portal machine” wasn’t scientific enough. 😂

Pick it up.

8. 🧪 Get Aether Canister #1

Return to the Church.

Take the:

🧪 AETHER CANISTER

from the S.D.G.

⚠️ Carrying it slows you down.

We’re going to do the Riverside/East Main Street portal first, although the two portal encounters can be tackled in either order.

Take the canister down near the:

⛽ Pump & Pay / Motor Lodge Dark Aether Field Generator

Drop it inside the trap’s area of effect.

You don’t insert it into anything.

Just:

DROP IT ON THE GROUND.

It feels wrong.

It’s correct. 😂

9. 🌩️ Activate the first LTG portal

Go to the purple Dark Aether storm near Riverside/East Main Street.

Place the LTG into its holder underneath the storm.

Now:

🧟 DEFEND THE LTG.

Zombies will try to reach it.

Prevent them from interfering until the portal stabilizes.

Once complete—

👹 HVT #1 APPEARS.

It will be either a special Mangler or Abomination. The other type will be used for the second capture.

10. 🧪 CAPTURE THE HVT’S ESSENCE

⚠️ DO NOT JUST KILL IT.

Damage the HVT until it’s extremely weak.

Then lead it toward the Aether Canister you dropped earlier.

Activate the nearby:

🌌 DARK AETHER FIELD GENERATOR.

The HVT must die inside the active trap’s field.

Kill it there.

Its energy gets sucked into:

🧪 CANISTER #1.

If you kill the HVT outside the field, the capture fails and you’ll need another attempt.

11. 🏃 GET THAT CANISTER BACK

Pick up the charged canister.

And—

⏱️ 1:30 TIMER.

You have roughly 90 seconds to carry it back to the Church and insert it into the S.D.G.

Remember:

YOU’RE SLOWER WHILE CARRYING IT.

So don’t stop at the bowling alley for a quick game. 😂

Get to the Church.

Insert it.

✅ CANISTER #1 COMPLETE.

12. 📟 Get the Strauss Counter

After inserting the first canister, look on the left side of the S.D.G.

Pick up:

📟 STRAUSS COUNTER.

It replaces your Tactical equipment while you’re using it.

Now we need to calibrate three Project Janus projectors.

13. 📡 Find the THREE projectors

They’re located at:

🌳 Groundskeeper’s Yard

⛰️ Hilltop Stairs

🍦 Yummy Freeze Rooftop

The Yummy Freeze device is reached from the Alamo/Savings & Loan rooftop by dropping onto the lower roof.

At each one:

Pull out the Strauss Counter.

Stand near the projector.

You’ll get one of three readings:

🔴 RED — HIGH

🟡 YELLOW — MEDIUM

🟢 GREEN — LOW

Now comes the important part my first guide didn’t explain clearly enough.

14. 🎨 SET THE OPPOSITE COLOR

The projector must be set to the opposite of the Strauss Counter reading:

Strauss CounterProjector
🔴 Red / High🟢 Green
🟡 Yellow / Medium🟡 Yellow
🟢 Green / Low🔴 Red

So:

🔴 → 🟢

🟡 → 🟡

🟢 → 🔴

Complete this for all three projectors.

When you’ve calibrated everything correctly, purple energy beams converge toward:

⛽ PUMP & PAY.

15. 🧪 Get Aether Canister #2

Head to Pump & Pay.

A machine has opened.

Grab:

🧪 AETHER CANISTER #2.

Also remember:

⚠️ PICK UP YOUR LTG.

It’s still sitting at the first portal.

You need it again.

16. ⚰️ Activate the Cemetery portal

Take your LTG to the second Dark Aether storm:

⚰️ CEMETERY.

Place it underneath the storm.

Once again:

🧟 DEFEND THE LTG.

After roughly a minute, the second HVT emerges.

If you fought the Mangler first, this should be the Abomination—or vice versa.

17. 🧪 CAPTURE HVT #2

Take the second Aether Canister toward the Dark Aether Field Generator on:

⛰️ HILL STREET.

Drop it inside the trap’s effective area.

Now weaken your second HVT.

DON’T KILL IT YET.

Lure it down to the trap.

Activate the Field Generator.

Kill the HVT while it’s inside.

🧪 CANISTER #2 CHARGED.

18. 🏃 ANOTHER 90-SECOND RUN

Grab the charged canister.

⏱️ GO.

Return to the Church before the energy leaks out.

Insert it into the S.D.G.

Now Panos has both captured HVT essences.

And the machine is ready.

🚨 19. POINT OF NO RETURN

The S.D.G. will now allow another interaction.

DON’T PRESS IT YET.

That starts the final encounter.

Get yourself prepared first.

When you’re happy with your setup:

Return to the Church.

Interact with the S.D.G.

🔒 CHURCH LOCKDOWN.

20. 🧟 PHASE ONE

The doors seal.

Normal zombies begin flooding the Church.

Survive and eliminate them.

Once you’ve killed enough, the phase ends.

You’ll receive a power-up before the next section, and it doesn’t immediately disappear, so don’t feel forced to grab it instantly.

21. 💥 PHASE TWO — HVT MANGLER

More zombies enter.

Regular Manglers begin appearing.

Then the main threat arrives:

👹 HVT MANGLER.

This one has significantly more health than a normal Mangler.

Focus it down while keeping the horde under control.

Kill it.

✅ PHASE TWO COMPLETE.

A Max Ammo appears.

22. 👹 PHASE THREE — HVT ABOMINATION

And now the Church becomes a complete disaster.

You’ll have:

🧟 Zombies

💥 Manglers

👹 HVT ABOMINATION

The Abomination is your main target.

Stay mobile around the Church and damage it whenever you have an opening.

Eventually—

💥 ABOMINATION DEFEATED.

And then…

😵 23. EVERYBODY GOES DOWN

A massive explosion occurs.

YOU’RE DOWNED.

Don’t panic.

This is supposed to happen.

It isn’t a failed quest.

It isn’t Game Over.

And you don’t need to Self-Revive.

The ending cinematic begins.

👻 24. PANOS PULLS THE OL’ SWITCHEROO

Dr. Panos successfully escapes the Dark Aether using the energy you’ve spent the entire quest gathering.

And our reward?

WE GET SUCKED INTO THE DARK AETHER INSTEAD.

😐

Panos:

“Thanks, guys!”

Us:

“PANOS, YOU SON OF A—”

😂

And with that:

🏆 BYE-BYE, DARK AETHER — COMPLETE!