Helix: Descent N Ascent is a single-player puzzle game where you’ll have to unlock and combine abilities to solve puzzles and progress. The game truly tests your creativity, and you’ll have to be clever as you go about solving the puzzles. At the beginning of the game, you’ll unlock your primary abilities and learn about their effects, one at a time.
For more information about the game, please visit its official Steam page here.
Block
As the game begins, you’ll find yourself on a glyph on the ground. There are several spheres on it, but each of them will be empty for now. Follow the path from the glyph, and you’ll find an entrance.
After entering, go to the chamber on the right. Here, you’ll find a white character. It will proceed ahead. Here, you have to pull the lever; this will open the other path in the room.
Enter the unlocked path, and you’ll find a switch. Press the switch and go back to the main room. Now, go to the chamber on the left. There’s a pressure plate here. Step on it and the path ahead will open.
Inside the next room, you’ll find a statue. Drag it and put it on the pressure plate to open the gate. Press the switch, and that will open the gate in the main room. Return to the main room and interact with the white orb there. You’ll be teleported, but you’ll have a new ability now.
Use the ability to craft a block and place it on the plate. This will open the path, so you can proceed ahead. Next, you’ll find that your path is blocked by water inside the room. Create a block inside the water trench, and you’ll be able to get to the other side.
In the next room, you’ll find a trench and two pressure plates on the other side of the trench. Place a block on one pressure plate, and step on the next one to unlock the path ahead.
After that, you’ll encounter a trench that’s a little bigger than the two you’ve already faced. Here, you’ll have to drop two blocks to get to the other side.
You’ll then come out in the open area. There will be a square-shaped glyph on the ground here. Go left from here.
As you go left, you’ll see a cutscene where another character will destroy the bridge using a block. You can still cross to the other side by creating blocks repeatedly and dropping them ahead of you.
When you reach the next area, you’ll find three pressure plates here in front of the gate. Drop two blocks on them, then step on the third to open the gate.
As you walk in, you’ll find an arcade-like device inside. There are a few options here. You’ll have to select the left one with a joystick on it. Select the first game and play it. As you complete the game, the water inside the area with the broken bridge will be drained out.
Go back to the area, and head inside the entrance that was previously submerged in water. You’ll encounter another puzzle inside. Here, you’ll have to put one block inside the trench, and then one block on the right pressure plate. Go over to the left side. Drop one block on one of the two pressure plates on the left side of the room, and step on the last plate to open the path ahead.
As you pass through the gate, you’ll return to the area with the glyph on the ground. One of the spheres here would have the same glyph as your newly acquired ability.
You can then enter the nearby entrance. You’ll find several white orbs here, each with a different glyph under it. These glyphs represent the abilities that you may learn by completing the puzzles.
Hook
If you pick the second orb from the left, you’ll be teleported to a new area with the Hook ability. Use the Hook on a lever to pull it and open the gate ahead. In the next area, you’ll see a pipe on the other side of the trench. Use the Hook on the pipe to pull yourself to it.
Keep progressing ahead. You’ll eventually arrive in a room with multiple statues. You can’t pull all of them away from the wall manually, so you’ll have to use the Hook ability on them. Use the Hook to drag these statues and clear a path.
After you exit the room, you’ll come out in the open. There will be a maze-like glyph on the ground. From here, you have to go right. As you enter, you’ll see the other character using an arcade-like machine. Go north from the chamber. You’ll arrive in another section. The path here will be open for you to go upstairs.
Interact with the arcade upstairs and select the Hook option from the games. Among the difficulties, there will be one with a gears icon, and you’ll have to use that one. As you win the game on the arcade, it will clear the fog around the area. Use the Hook to latch onto the pipe on the other side.
Go up; you’ll have to use the Hook to progress. In the next chamber, you’ll find a lever on the other side of the platforms. Use the Hook to activate the lever. This will open the two gates. Go through the right door first. It will lead you to a chamber with three pressure plates and three statues.
The pipes will be blocking your path from reaching the statues. You’ll have to use the Hook to drag the statues over the pressure plates. There’s also a pipe on the right side of the screen that you can use the Hook on. Use it to adjust the third statue appropriately on the plate.
Return to the main room. Use the hook to latch onto the lever and pull yourself to it. Progress to the next area. You’ll find two pillars here and two pressure plates. There’s also a locked gate here. Hook the statue in the top right corner.
Then, pull on the statue below. Use the Hook to get to the left side of the area. Once you’re there, use the Hook on the statue in the bottom-left corner. Do so twice, and you’ll find yourself on the middle platform. Step on the plate to unlock the gate and keep going. There will be a cinematic sequence ahead that will return you to the starting glyph, and you’ll have unlocked the Hook glyph permanently.
Drone
In the main room with multiple white orbs, interact with the second one from the left. This will teleport you to another location with the Drone ability. The Drone has a life, which decreases based on the distance traveled by the Drone.
You can use the Drone to press switches that are in hard-to-reach places. After starting in the dungeon, use the Drone to press the switches and keep progressing. You’ll eventually come out of it. There will be a square-shaped maze glyph on the ground here.
From the Square-maze glyph, go up. You’ll see a cutscene for the other character where it uses a device to lock the gate. Keep going up. Use the drone to press the switch in the top-left part of the screen. This will unlock the device that the other character was using.
Open the device, and select the Joystick icon. Here, select the Drone ability symbol and then select the gear icon. This will unlock the gate to the next area.
Once you’re inside, you’ll have to use the Drone and send it through pipes to press the switches in other rooms to unlock new paths. You’ll have to keep an eye on the Drone’s life. If the path is too long, you can create the Drone right next to the vent’s entrance, and then move your own character to the pressure plate. Once you’ve reached the pressure plate, you can resume control of the drone without it having to travel an extra distance.
If you’ve done it right, you’ll unlock the main gate in the area and will be able to obtain the Drone glyph.
Cage
The Cage ability allows you to temporarily turn a living object into a liquid bottle. This liquid can then be fed into the machines that require a specific type of living object. When you interact with the Cage icon in the main hall, you’ll be teleported to a dungeon.
As you progress, you’ll find a pressure plate. You’ll also find a bug on the left side of the room. Use the Cage ability on the bug and pick it up. After that, throw the bottle on the pressure plate.
As you keep going, you’ll exit the dungeon and enter the square-maze glyph area. From here, go south. There will be a machine that requires crab liquid. There are plenty of crabs in the other area. Use the ability on them and feed it to the machine.
Next, there will be a pressure plate on the ground. You need to find a bug to place on it. There’s a bug to the north of the square-maze glyph. This will unlock the gate to the nearby building. When you get inside, use the arcade.
In the next area, you’ll have to find the two bugs and use them to unlock the paths ahead by placing them on the pressure plates. Once you do that, the main gate will open, and you’ll unlock the cage glyph.
Sandglass
The Sandglass ability allows you to invert the colors, allowing you to uncover things that hide in the other dimensions. These anomalies usually have a glitching effect on them. If you switch the color, you might be able to find a different version of the terrain there.
As you teleport to the dungeon, keep switching the colors to find the way forward. You’ll have to drag statues while repeatedly switching the colors to avoid getting blocked by the terrain.
Once you’re out of the dungeon, head to the right of the square-maze glyph on the ground. There’s a forest entrance that’s completely blocked. Invert the colors to find a way forward. There’s a hut here with its gate open in the white world.
When you enter, you’ll find an arcade inside. Find and select the Sandglass icon here. This will open the Sandglass dungeon’s gate in the nearby area.
In the main dungeon, you’ll have to push around statues while utilizing the Sandglass ability to change your positioning.
In the last section, you’ll find two pressure plates and one statue. You have to place the statue on the bottom-left plate, and stand on the other plate yourself. This will open the main gate, and you’ll be able to find the Sandglass glyph.
This concludes Part 1 of the walkthrough for Helix: Descent N Ascent.
You can find more walkthroughs for the game on its main hub here. If you’re looking for more to read, don’t forget to check out the following walkthrough hubs:
- Into Indie Games Homepage
- Desktop Explorer Walkthrough Hub
- Dead Weight – Walkthrough And Guides Hub
- The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu – Beginner Tips & Tricks
- Denshattack! – The Ultimate Guide For Everything
Fahad Suleman is an avid fan of fighting games who spends most of his time writing walkthroughs and reviews for cozy indie titles or mashing around in Tekken. If he’s not writing or playing any games, you’ll often find him watching historical videos on YouTube for hours.
