• This guide contains spoilers for Chapter 6!
  
• The guide does not spoil the conclusion of the puzzle, nor the dialogue during this part of the game.

The aim of this guide is to give an in-depth explanation to the puzzle and what kind of strategies you can use to successfully complete the puzzle. The puzzle's unpredictable nature may make for a very tense experience, but once you get hang of how it all works, you should be able to consistently clear it with little issue. Finally, there's a section for issues to watch out for.

This guide is based on 2064: Read Only Memories, version 64.1.1.

The layout of the map is randomly generated during your playthrough when you advance to the screen in which Turing asks you to open a closed off route, which serves as the tutorial on the puzzle. The server columns (nodes or doors - I'll refer to them as nodes) are either closed or open. Regardless of your starting layout, the puzzle can be completed.


The puzzle consists of your turn and Dekker's turn. I'll refer to these as "rounds" for convenience. Each round consists of Dekker's dialogue, followed by the maintenance tunnel map to manipulate the layout. The goal is to avoid and outlast Dekker for 7 rounds.

You navigate the tunnels themselves in a first person perspective, with the map being in third person view. You can close or open any node every round, 2 per round.

You can redo your first move as long as you change the node back to its original state first before touching any other node. (e.g., open -> closed -> open) However, you cannot redo your second move - changing a node and then changing another count as 2 moves made!

You can only see the map as long as you are making your moves. Consider drawing a quick map layout for reference if you need it.

You only have 4 shots on your zapper. If you encounter Dekker while having no charges left, you lose.

Here is an example of the puzzle's start:



The green arrow shows your position and orientation. You can also see which nodes are closed or open.

Dekker always starts in the bottom left side of the map, and he always moves 2 units on the map as his starting move. This usually puts him in the position you see above.

The node to Dekker's right is always closed to prevent him going straight to the player. The node North to him is never closed so the RNG does not box him into the corner.

The RNG leaves at least 1 open node next to your position, up to a maximum of 3 open nodes.

There is no exit to reach, your area of movement is limited only to the spaces within the map.

When Dekker makes his move, his movement is randomized with a chance to break through closed nodes he passes by. Each node he breaks makes his movement faster and gives him additional moves. If he’s completely boxed in, he’ll break out of it, which Turing warns you not to do. Any node he breaks cannot be closed, opened or passed through. These are marked with a [!] on your map. However, Dekker can pass through them.

If Dekker finishes his moves without encountering you, he gives his dialogue segment and the puzzle advances to the next round. Otherwise, shooting Dekker once should be enough to get away from him and advance through the puzzle. If you still keep encountering Dekker, check the Tips and Advice section of this guide on how to avoid that happening.

When Dekker finds you, a cutscene will play, be ready to shoot afterwards. There's no cutscene if he approaches from behind.



You can shoot his hair if you want. Really. Not that it will do much.

You can see your zapper charges on the UI, just like the other shooting sections of the game. This is also the only time you see your charge count.

Just shoot any part of him (the middle section of the grid) as soon as you can, try not to waste time. Your charge is also reduced by one at this point and Turing urges you to move.

Shooting the right or the left sides of the grid will cause you to miss your shoot AND reduce your charge!

Only the actual shooting is timed in the entire puzzle. You can only spend 6 seconds total in the encounters, averaging 1.5 seconds for all 4 encounters. If you need to take your time for any reason, Dekker won't attack you after being shot.

If you have to move into the room Dekker is in, he will ambush you again. Just shoot him again and move away from him with your next move.

After being shot, Dekker always moves 1 unit (sometimes 2, but never towards the player), giving you an opportunity to distance yourself from him and advance the puzzle.


You can lose the puzzle in the following manners:

• You encounter Dekker while you have no zapper charges left.
  
• You take too much time shooting Dekker in a given encounter, or not shoot him at all. (Hitting the 6 seconds limit)
  
• If you shoot Dekker fairly slowly, on subsequent encounters you might get the game over before you can shoot him. (Hitting the 6 seconds limit)

Losing the puzzle nets you the Terminated achievement. There's no achievement for successfully completing the puzzle, however.



After the Game Over cutscene, you can continue the game from the Game Over screen, putting you back to the start of the puzzle. If you are going for Iron ROM, continuing from a Game Over does not ruin your progress towards getting the achievement.

The puzzle consists of 7 rounds total. Each round consists of you manipulating the map layout and making your move (your turn) and Dekker making his move (his turn).

If you fail the puzzle, continuing from the Game Over screen returns you to Start Chase.

You cannot save your progress with the puzzle by making a save. If you make a save file and reload it, the puzzle starts again from Start Chase, regardless of which part you made your save in. Saving your game should work properly again once you finish the puzzle.

Here's the flowchart of the entire puzzle. I've added the start of the dialogue lines to each so you can tell which round you are on without giving away what is being discussed.

Start Chase

Dekker moves 2 units

Part 0: “So here's...”

Maintenance Tunnel Puzzle Round #1

Part 1: “So let’s see…”

Maintenance Tunnel Puzzle Round #2

Part 2: “I suppose...”

Maintenance Tunnel Puzzle Round #3

Part 3: “Did you...”

Maintenance Tunnel Puzzle Round #4

Part 4: “And hey!...”

Maintenance Tunnel Puzzle Round #5

Part 5: “Oh, and...”

Maintenance Tunnel Puzzle Round #6

Part 6: “It wasn’t...”

Maintenance Tunnel Puzzle Round #7

Once you make it past Round #7, you're done.

Here are some tips on how to consistently finish the puzzle.


Turing suggests to not trap Dekker as that may make him more angry, but instead path him to avoid you two. To elaborate on Turing's advice:

• If Dekker is completely boxed in (i.e., he has no valid movement), he'll break out of it.
  
• Dekker may or may not break a node as he moves. If he does, he'll make additional moves and this can happen repeatedly. (break node -> move -> break node -> move etc.) He may or may not encounter you even when he does.
  
• Passing through a broken node grants him an additional move.
  
• If you path Dekker away in a specific section of the map, he'll usually conform to that.
  
• If Dekker's position is adjacent to yours, he'll move towards you. If you're on the other side of a closed node he approaches, he'll break through it to encounter you.
  
• He might find you even though you're isolated and not adjacent to him. It's normal and it can happen, just be ready to shoot.

An ideal layout divides the map between your area and Dekker's, so he moves around in his part while you bide your time in yours.


While making a path for yourself to move in, make sure you leave spaces to move around in, and account for where Dekker may approach you. That way, you can block him off easily after shooting him but also allowing you to move away. Try to avoid being in the corners of the map, if possible.


If you have moves to spare, open up nodes that are closed in the area you isolate Dekker in so he can't break through them. That way he can't gain additional moves from doing so, and the nodes will be still functional in case you need to close them again.


If Dekker enters a room adjacent to yours, he moves to the player and triggers an encounter.

Dekker always moves 1 unit after being shot. If he can reach a room adjacent to you with this one move, he will keep encountering you.

The extra move rule does apply if Dekker passes a broken node, but he does not move towards the player in cases like this.

You can maintain distance from Dekker by closing the node between you and him and move further away from his location.


There are scenarios in which it might be worth to get Dekker to run into you on purpose, so you can set up the map the way you want and distance yourself.


If you're using your mouse, you can have your cursor in position, but move your cursor a little as soon as the shooting grid appears, otherwise the game may not register your input.

If you're playing with a gamepad, aim with the cursor and shoot him in the middle.


I've marked the rows and columns so I can refer to specific nodes and rooms easily.



Your starting position is E1.
Dekker's starting position is C3.

Close nodes G2 & H3. (Or maybe F3 & F5.)
Move West (Left) to C1.

Dekker moves towards me. Shoot him. (Charges: 3)

Moving East (Down) gets me back to E1.

Node D1 must be closed to create distance between me and Dekker.

The other node I would close is H5.

Then, move East again (Up).

As of 64.1.1, there are two issues to watch out for.


If Dekker occupies the leftmost part of the map (A1-9) and you occupy the same row as him, you must not make your move within the row itself. Your move will be counted, but you will not actually move.

For example, if Dekker is in A1 and you are in A1/C1/E1/G1/I1, you should not move within any of these rooms, or you will waste a move. So if you're in E1, you shouldn't move to C1 or G1, but into E3 instead. If you foresee Dekker moving into the leftmost column (such as after being shot), try to make sure you can move into a different row.

If you cannot move into a different row, then just make your "move" and Dekker will move to you. You should be able to move again after you shoot him.


It's possible to get the Game Over even before you shoot Dekker, or get the Game Over moments after you shot him. The cause for this is the 6 second limit I mentioned earlier. Aim to shoot as Dekker as fast as possible and you should be fine.

If you have any questions or feedback about the puzzle or the guide, feel free to comment.

Good luck on your playthrough and Thank You for reading!