30XX Reversal Device guide --v1.1--

A comprehensive guide for completing the Reversal Device questline in 30XX. Includes hints and tips. Updated for v1.1!

Overview

WARNING: GUIDE CONTAINS SPOILERS

Only proceed if you have beaten level 9

So, you've finally beaten Eleanor for the first time, and she dropped this weird item named "Blueprint: Reversal Device". You then either proceeded to beat the final boss that very run, or more than likely died. Either way, upon respawning in the Hub, Alexia will have something to say to you. She'll inform you that she's set up a new room. It's to the right, through the new interactable device.

You'll have noticed the 4 Datalore Capsules with obvious room for more, and 4 sets of shelves obviously meant to hold items. These Datalore Capsules contain hints for getting the other items. What exactly they ask of you may or may not be so obvious, and certainly seems to have confused or frustrated a number of players, so I figured I'd write a story spoiler-lite guide accessible from Steam itself as a sort of definitive resource. Very few players have done any part of this questline as the global achievement stats show - and I'd like to change that.

I'll include the hints from the game itself as well as how to interpret them. Each item has its own section (and associated achievement!) with some advice particular to that part of the quest line. I will not be describing any of the story events themselves at this time as I believe that is best talked about separately.

This is my first ever guide, so I'd love to hear some feedback! I'm not in the official 30XX Discord server and the fanmade wiki for this game is currently very much incomplete, so all research and resources were primarily done by myself. I'm considering also doing an achievement guide sometime in the future.

Quick Guide

This section has all the steps laid out as plainly as possible for super quick readability. You can do each step of each section in any order unless numbered. The order of steps corresponds to that of this guide. Detailed information on each step can be found further in the guide.

A: Defeat Eleanor at the end of level 9.

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B: Acquire the Chronopointer, Hoot's Hourglass, and Time Anchor in a run and go to Highvault.
C: Input "waveformcollapse" at the Seed Racer in the hub.
D: Complete and equip the Vagrant Core set, then go to Deepverse.
E: Get Zen Mortar in the tutorial then backtrack to the start and walljump up.
E2: After the previous step, go to Echocave and interact with a Datalore Capsule.

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F: Enter middle left Capsule in Rev Device room.
F2: Talk to Alexia, reload hub, and enter middle right Capsule in Rev Device room.

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G: Get to level 9 without picking up any Cores or Powers.
H: Acquire 50 Scrap in a run and go to Dustria.
I: Defeat Eleanor in the Boss Rush.
J: Acquire 3 Prototypes in a run and go to Burning Temple.

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K: Enter middle centre Capsule in Rev Device room and defeat the boss.
K2: After the previous step, acquire the Symbol of Peace Prototype in a run and reach Eleanor.

Before You Start

There are a few things you'll want to do before you start collecting the Rev Device items, just to make things easier for yourself. Patience is ultimately your most valuable asset.

Firstly, be confidently skilled at 30XX. Some of the challenges required of you will put your platforming skills and reaction times to the test. It's nothing crazy, but make sure you're at a point where you can consistently beat level 9 and you've worked out which Augs suit you best.

Secondly, buy all the Memoria upgrades you can. You can get a solid hundred or so Memoria per run so it shouldn't take you too long. Titan Shards can be used to Overclock these upgrades too, granting additional benefits; you can get Titan Shards either by beating the final boss on new entropy levels, or by doing parts of this very quest line. They'll all generally help you out in one way or another but the main ones you'll want to get for this questline are:

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(Memoria costs in parentheses) [Titan Shard costs in square parentheses]

• Salvager Circuit (10/50)
  This is required for one of the later items. But you should get level 2 in this ASAP anyway. Scrapping Augs can potentially pay off big time, helping you net Augs you need from the Scraptrader. Or maybe just ones that you really want. Either way it's worth it.
  
  
• Recon Network (30/100)
  You'll want at least one level in this, just so that you aren't forced to go to a stage earlier than you need. It's also just nice for the sake of doing the stages in an order you prefer, especially if you'd rather not deal with the harder variants of a stage. You don't need to get it to level 2, but having a third choice can be nice.
  
  
• Smuggler's Beacon (50/100/150) [10/20]
  This one can really help you out with a later item, and is also the only use for Memoria after buying all the Memoria upgrades in the Index. Ideally you'd get this to level 4 so you can reroll in the hub, saving a lot of time overall; level 5 makes rerolling cheaper, but by this point you should have amassed a huge stockpile of Memoria anyway.
  
  
• Choicebooster (100/300) [3/8/20]
  This one is expensive, but having additional items in shops makes it more likely that you'll come across the ones you need. Overclocking this guarantees an extra item on sale early on, but this shouldn't really matter too much.
  
  
• Honest Research (30) [3/8]
  This one is required for some of the later items. Getting this can wait until then, but you might as well grab it whenever you have the spare Memoria. Overclocking this will let you reroll the Prototype Augs, costing 3 and 2 rerolls each time at levels 2 and 3 respectively.
  
  
• Parallelized Fate (150/200/300/400) [5/6/8/11/15/20]
  This one is really really expensive, each level giving you 1 additional reroll. This can really help out in certain scenarios.

---Part 1---

The leftmost Capsule in the Rev Device room has hints for all 4 items, which are somewhat more subtle than the three other capsules outright telling you.



"Bring Time's fractured pieces to the Storm's domain." - Acquire the Chronopointer, Hoot's Hourglass, and Time Anchor in a run and go to Highvault.

"A whispered spell reveals a Seed of destructive knowledge. Scour your databanks, and remember it." - Input "waveformcollapse" at the Seed Racer in the hub.

"Cloak yourself in Corruption's garb. Visit the one friendly face." - Complete and equip the Vagrant Core set, then go to Deepverse.

"A key rests where it all began - where you learned about this world. Discover lore beyond lore at the sage's door." - Get Zen Mortar in the tutorial then backtrack to the start and walljump up. After the previous step, go to Echocave and interact with a Datalore Capsule.

"Time's fractured pieces"

Collect three randomly spawned Augs (Chronopointer, Hoot's Hourglass, Time Anchor) during a run and then go to Hoot Omega's stage: Highvault.

The three Augs you need can be randomly offered by Delta and the Scraptrader, as part of a shop's inventory, in purple chests, and as rewards from Glory Zones and Contemplation Rooms. You can also start a run with one or more of the needed Augs as the Scraptrader in the Hub can randomly offer them; unlocking rerolls using the Memoria Index means you can potentially start the run with all three pieces. If you only have two pieces by level 7, Delta will offer you the final piece. As of v1.1, the chance of getting another Chronovane piece is greatly increased if you already have one.

Once you have got all three pieces and entered Highvault, you will be able to access the event directly from the Rev Device room and the three prerequisite Augs will no longer appear.

The stage will be in a new state where small electric projectiles and meteorites are constantly raining down and no enemies appear; Glory Zones still spawn but will still have the additional projectiles. It's a dash to the end of the level where instead of fighting Hoot Omega, you will be relying on their tornadoes to protect you from meteor showers. Upon reaching the end of the boss arena, Hoot Omega will die and you will receive the Imbued Chronovane and 5 Titan Shards.

There's a cute little lore detail when you have the run timer enabled in options: during the Scrap Disaster event it will read as -420,759,323 minutes - which is equivalent to 800 years.

"Seed of destructive knowledge"

This one is a bit clever. The hint points you towards your Datalore entries, and indeed an entry from Echocave will mention a 'seed'. The seed is waveformcollapse. Enter the seed at the purple teleporter (Seed Racer) to the top left of where you spawn in the hub (left of the Scraptrader). Make sure you type it in exactly, and go.

You will be transported to an altered version of level 9. There are no enemies, only some easy platforming until you reach a room containing the Multiversal Map and 5 Titan Shards.

"Cloak yourself in corruption's garb"

You will need to complete the Vagrant Core set and make your way to Legacy's stage: Deepverse. Make sure to find and beat all the Glory Zones and Contemplation Rooms you can to maximise your chances of finding all four Cores in time. Delta and the Scraptrader may offer Vagrant Cores during a run, and any Core Augs in the shop can be rerolled into any other Core Aug. The Prototypes Patchwork Integrator and Patchwork Overloader can also be used to lower the requirement to complete the set by one Core each. If you only have 3 Vagrant Cores by level 7, Delta will offer you the final Core needed. As of v1.1, the chance of finding additional pieces of the Vagrant Core set is increased if you already have a Vagrant Core, have not unlocked yet the stage event, and have beaten level 10 at least once.

Important: equip the full set before entering Deepverse! The teleporter will have harmless glitches surrounding it when you've met the requirements. After entering Deepverse with the completed Vagrant Core set you will be able to access the event from the Rev Device room in the hub.

Upon entering the stage, it will more or less be the normal stage with a different song and a red tint. Glitches will occasionally cut across the whole screen and when defeated enemies will explode into slow moving damaging white squares; the entire stage will be like this, even Glory Zones and the shop. Upon reaching the boss arena, you will find Legacy T-posing without a face; they will remain here indefinitely until you damage them by any means, instantly killing them. You will receive the Coalesced Entropy and 5 Titan Shards.

If you have the run timer enabled: it will be glitched, displaying 6 letters instead of numbers. I am unsure of the significance of this and couldn't work it out on my own - no doubt it's something programmers will have a better idea of.

"A key where it all began"

Access the tutorial from the main menu and replay it up until the point you switch to Nina and get the Zen Mortar. Notice how you can make a series of tricky wall jumps at the very start of the tutorial to find a shaft filled with spikes with a platform switch at the top? You need to make your way back there with Nina and use the Zen Mortar to create some platforms and proceed.

This next part is hard. You will be met with a somewhat difficult platforming challenge without any movement Cores. Take your time so that you don't make any mistakes, as at the end of this path you will fight Kur, the giant robot dragon you would normally fight at the end of the tutorial - only, this is a significantly harder version. Without any Cores, Augs, or Powers this can take a few minutes, but exercise patience and you will find this fight manageable and soon win. Thankfully you have infinite use of Zen Mortar and you don't have to do the second phase. After defeating Kur they will drop 5 Titan Shards. Proceed left to find the Sealing Key and a Datalore Capsule with a unique entry.

After acquiring the previous item, start an ordinary run. You won't need to do anything special, just get to Echobeast's stage: Echocave. Find a Datalore Capsule and use your power/salvage button. After the cutscene you will be able to claim the Essence of a Sealed Hero.

---Part 2---

With all the prior items acquired, the left capsule will now allow you to access a new cutscene. After the cutscene with past Eleanor, talk to Alexia in the hub until she tells you she's inputted the coordinates Eleanor gave. Reload the hub and go back to the Rev Device room and find a new capsule on the right, interact with it to teleport to a unique level.

The Library is something of a puzzle platforming challenge, where it's not about going left to right but instead making your way to the end point of a handcrafted stage. Because you access this from the hub you won't have any Augs. But fear not, for there are a number of them scattered about the level, some of them even requiring you to 'beat' the level's design as it were. It uses the Watergrav setting, meaning you'll have to deal with Watergrav enemies, hazards, and gimmicks. Upon reaching the end you'll find a Datalore Capsule that gives a few hints about where the next set of items are, as well as 5 Titan Shards.


"Material possessions in our world are a glorious burden - shed them all, and find new meaning in life." - Get to level 9 without picking up any Cores or Powers.

"Become Scrap Incarnate, and seek the Factory." - Acquire 50 Scrap and go to Dustria.

"I sent one off in a Rush Job - I wonder if it ever arrived." - Defeat Eleanor in the Boss Rush.

"I left the last one with the Third - with enough experimentation, I'm sure you'll find it." - Acquire 3 Prototypes in a run and go to Burning Temple.

"Material possessions;glorious burden"

Make your way to level 9 without any Core Augs or Powers. Whether Nina or Ace, you cannot pick up any Cores at any point - unequipping them will not work. All other Augs including Repros and Remnants are fine though, so grab as many of those as you please. It might sound bad to play this game without the benefits of Cores or Powers, but you'll find yourself surprised at how enjoyable the game still is even in this state! Just be super careful not to accidentally pick any of these up and you'll be good to go. Make sure you don't pick up any Resonant Armor as well, since that'll automatically give you a corresponding Core and waste the run. Also make sure not to pick up any Weapon Augs, as they still count as Cores.

Once you have entered level 9 under these conditions, the special version of the stage will be accessible from the Rev Device room.

Upon entering level 9, you'll find it all broken up and floating in a black void. There are no enemies, just some simple platforming to the end. Here you'll find the Memento of Harmony, and 10 Titan Shards. There is actually an achievement for beating the game under similar conditions, but that will have to be done in a different run.

This will end your run!

"Become scrap incarnate"

Collect at least 50 Scrap and go to Capital Punishment's stage: Dustria. A surefire way to achieve this is to just salvage as many Augs as possible and you should have enough by the time you get to Dustria. Don't be afraid to pick up a few Augs here and there if you feel they'll help. You'll know you've pulled this off because the teleporter to the stage will be orbited by a ring of Scrap.

Once you have entered Dustria under these conditions, the special version of the stage will be accessible from the Rev Device room.

You will enter a level similar to the Watergrav Library, a sort of mini Metroidvania maze where your goal is to reach the end. Enemies will infinitely respawn in this special level, continuing to drop Nuts and Health. There are Augs hidden around the level, some of them behind doors that require Nuts or Health to open. At the end you will find the Cathedral Coordinate and 10 Titan Shards.

This will end your run!

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Make use of the Scraptrader in the Hub to get these helpful Augs, or just find them early in a run:

(Default Scrap worth in parentheses)

• Scrap Sleuth (2)
  This will give you one extra Scrap whenever you salvage an item, which can really add up over the course of a run.
  
  
• Scrap Trawler
  
  
  
• Scrappy Scrapper (2)
  This will give you one Scrap after beating a stage boss, meaning if you get this before the first boss you will have +7 Scrap by the time you get to level 8. It synergises well with Scrap Sleuth, giving you two Scrap per stage boss instead.
  
  
• Shopaholic (2)
  This removes the dilemma of whether to buy or salvage Augs in the shops, since it does both at the same time. This is helpful just for the sake of actually being able to get Augs on this run, which should make your time better.
  
  
• Shopsmasher (2)
  This one is super useful, halving the price when you salvage lets you get even more Scrap than without, since you'll be spending fewer Nuts overall.
  
  
• Smuggler Attractor (2)
  The more the Scraptrader shows up, the more opportunities to trade for Scrap. Simple. Not so useful later on, but if you have Useless Garbage you might as well get it.
  
  
• Thrift Actuator
  Puts a random item in the shop on sale for half its original price. Can be nice for getting a bit of extra Scrap but it probably won't make too great a difference on its own.
  
  
• Useless Garbage (1)
  Always pick this up if you find it. Salvaging it is only worth 1 Scrap, but the Scraptrader will always give you 5 Scrap for it, prioritised over any other item. Puts you a 1/10th of the way there on its own, and you can get multiple.

"I wonder if it ever arrived"

This one requires that you defeat Eleanor in a Rush Job - what this games calls a boss rush. It's pretty straightforward: just beat the bosses like you always do. The Compressed Chronopulse and 5 Titan Shards will be in the hallway after you defeat her, much like the item that kicked this whole quest off.

The boss rush is pretty tight on Nuts, only giving you about 20 before each boss. The other limitation is that you don't get Glory Zones, Contemplation Rooms, or Gauntlets, meaning you get fewer overall items. This can make the boss rush a bit of a challenge, especially as the later bosses become bullet sponges. It can be a bit of a crapshoot if you get any worthwhile Augs, especially since some that are completely worthless in this mode can still appear. You'll have to persevere and experiment to find something that works out for you. As of v1.1, Augs that are functionally useless in Rush Job no longer spawn, reducing the Aug pools thus making it more likely you find useful Augs you can build around.

Three upsides: the Scraptrader always spawns before each boss (though it's still pretty much random if they'll be of any use); the Recon Network and Environment Configurator still function as normal, letting you plan an order to maximise rewards and minimise the troublesome bosses; and you are guaranteed two purple chests containing Augs after each boss. Investing in Ancient Durability, Forgotten Energy, Rediscovered Trove, and Timeless Core in the Memory Index can really go a long way to making this challenge more manageable. Rite of Beginning can also really come in handy in a pinch.

"With enough experimentation"

This one's pretty simple. Acquire any 3 Prototype Augs and head to Zen Primal's stage: Burning Temple. The best way to do this is to reroll at the Scraptrader in the hub until the Volunteer Aug shows up, guaranteeing you a Very Safe Lab spawn in every stage in your next run. Pick whichever Prototypes you are most comfortable with, and since you're getting 3 of them you might as well experiment and try a build based around them; have some fun with it, Prototypes allow for some truly ridiculous stuff!

As a bonus, if you beat the game like this without getting System Restore you will get an achievement! Getting System Restore will still let you access the stage event. Once you have entered Burning Temple under these conditions, the special version of the stage will be accessible from the Rev Device room.

Upon entering the stage, you'll find it in slight state of disrepair. There are no enemies here, just a short platforming segment. Find the Datalore Capsule, reach the end and collect the Causation Invalidator and 10 Titan Shards, and skip the stage altogether.

---Part 3---

After acquiring the second set of items, a new Capsule will appear in the middle of all the others. This will warp you to yet another unique handcrafted level. These final two steps must be done in order.

"Scripture"

Much like the Library, you have no access to Augs from the start, but can find some around the level. This one uses the Penumbra theme, and so has Penumbra enemies, hazards, and gimmicks. This level is devious in that it actually requires you to do corner jumps - that is, to wall jump around a ceiling. This can be tricky at first if you're not used to doing them, and may even feel misleading if you're unaware of the technique. You can find Armatort's Momentum shortly after starting the level, and to the bottom right of that you can find Zookeeper's Burden.

At the top you will fight Eleanor. Her health is hugely scaled down from what it normally would be, so hopefully the lack of Augs shouldn't be too bad for you. Hopefully you get good RNG on what her moveset is. After defeating her, you'll get the Momento of Devotion and 15 Titan Shards.

"Another way"

With the Memento of Devotion acquired, you can now finish the quest line. The only thing you need to do from here is start a run and find a specific item that didn't appear before. Hint: it's a Prototype.

You may have noticed a Prototype called the Symbol of Submission during one of your many ventures into the Very Safe Lab. It had a vague description and no immediately obvious benefits or drawbacks. What it actually did was skip all the boss fights without fanfare, and trigger an alternate ending when you got to Eleanor.

You will not find the Symbol of Submission anymore as it has now been replaced by the Symbol of Peace, which is pretty much just the same thing but instead gets you the game's true ending. It's a tad anticlimactic when it's just playing the level's normal music and has no accompanying change anywhere in the game, but oh well. It's a sweet ending nonetheless.

---Closing Words---

Miscellaneous Observations

A collection of interesting things and bugs I noted during research and testing for this guide. Only the ones pertaining to this questline are included. These are definitely subject to change in the future, but are at least true of version 1.0.20.

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• Picking up the story items is not actually required, they'll still appear in the Rev Device room and count towards progress.
  
  
• The Chronovane pieces are exceptionally rare, thanks to being part of the general Aug pool. They can show up in place of any non-Core Augs. As of v1.1, Chronovane pieces are now more common, with an increased spawn rate if you already have a piece.
  
  
• The Chronovane pieces can be acquired from Scraptrader's random all-Scrap-for-Augs trade, even if the event has already been completed. Delta will still offer the final piece on level 7 if you have the other two. This means the Scrap Disaster event can actually be replayed during an ordinary run.
  
  
• You can acquire the Sealing Record Key on a completely fresh save file, granting early access to the Rev Device room and Entropy machine.
  
  
• Technically you can do almost all the steps in any order. Unsure if you can complete Part 1 without Blueprint: Reversal Device, but unlocking Rush Job requires defeating Eleanor anyway so it wouldn't matter.
  
  
• Since completing Left Library doesn't actually give you any story items, it may actually be possible to skip it and the prior cutscene with Eleanor altogether.
  
  
• Not a bug but none of the cutscenes have their own music, playing whatever track is already playing. Except the Eleanor cutscene in the middle left Capsule, which is set to play the run victory music. This I consider to be a strange oversight, with the scenes being robbed of identity and gravitas.

Credits & Links

https://20xx.wiki.gg/wiki/30XX:30XX_Wiki - source of information for Augs

Images sourced directly from game's files and upscaled by me
Screenshots taken directly from gameplay by me
Additional research and testing done by me


I grant full permission to translate this guide into other languages, which I will gladly link to here; all I ask is that this guide is linked to and credited as the original.

[R0ughy]

Awesome Guide! This helped me enjoy the game to it's funniest, thank you

[Ultimate Zerx]

Nice guide. I'd suggest to remove the spoiler text so we don't have to hover over it everytime. If people are here, they want to be spoiled anyway.

[SpeedyThor]

Thanks a bunch!

[Netpatham]

How the heck do you actually do the platforming over the spikes, vis-a-vis the tutorial? I just. Can't.

[SinglePoorIan]

When I played co-op the final step is in the rev room in the capsule on the far right with called the ultimatum and youll spawn with the symbol of peace.

[Bzaroo]

I Will use this guide to guide myself to VICTORY.

[Bzaroo]

I have done "Seed of destructive knowledge" and "A key where it all began" already. I have still not "Cloaked myself in corruptions garb" Or "Collected times fractured pieces". Also, T-POSING Faceless Legacy sounds spooky. it better not play a very spooky theme until i hit him. I Will try for TIMES FRACTURED PIECES next.

[Syrel]

Symbol has been removed from the Prototypes, its now a Run Modifier like Endless

[Isosceles]

They should be right at the end, where the Datalore capsule is. I'm not sure why they wouldn't be there; did you perhaps already collect them and not realize it?

[Fleja]

Where are the 5 titan shards for Left Library?