Starfield’s main mission line progresses nicely, with one mission tending to come after another without much variance. Only on rare occasions do things transition without any clear endpoint, as if you’re still doing the same mission. One example of these rare occasions comes up during one of the final missions of the main story and can easily throw you off. Here’s how to complete the Entangled mission in Starfield.
Starfield Entangled Walkthrough
As mentioned, this mission appears after completing the previous Final Glimpses mission of Starfield. As you make it to the planet of Freya III, you’ll find a satellite blasting a distress call, which you must answer to progress. Its distress call talks of massive damage to the facility and the need for emergency evac.
Investigate the Distress Signal
After hearing the distress call, open up the planet map and select the landing destination, Nishina Research Station. As you land and proceed to the station, things seem awfully quiet for a distress call. As you make it to the front door, someone will speak over the comms, asking what your business is here. Why would a group that sent out a distress call be asking why you’re here? The man on the intercom sounds just as surprised. Your companion will have to wait outside, but otherwise, you’re free to enter and speak with the Director.
Speak With Ethan Hughes and Follow Him to the Director
After speaking with Ethan and learning he’s the Chief of Security for Nishina, you’ll be tasked with following him. You’ll be taking the back way to the Director through Storage due to the lockdown. Make your way through Storage, and don’t touch anything. Maybe this is all just a misunderstanding.
Except that you just got teleported to the ruins of Nishina. You’ll quickly come across some Cataxi Warriors that need to be fought before teleporting back to normal Nishina. Ethan will wonder what the hell just happened, and naturally, you have no clue what happened either. Once you’ve got your bearings, you’ll be safe to continue heading to the Director. Head into the Work Room next on the way to the Director.
Once again, you’ll be teleported and find a man named Rafael. He’s hiding within some machinery tables, but is he ever glad to see you. He’ll be wondering how the hell you’re inside with all the hostile bugs and says that everyone in the facility except for him is dead. The research station was studying a gravitational distortion around an object (the Artifact) a few months ago. However, there was an accident that caused an explosion, leading to a gas leak. This further sparked into a fire, which led to everyone’s death except for his. Before he can give more details, you’re teleported back to regular Nishina.
You’re going to keep teleporting back and forth between Nishina and the Nishina Ruins, so keep proceeding forward. There’s no noteworthy loot anyway at this point, so you aren’t missing out on much. Finally, you’ll reach Director Patel in regular Nishina.
Speak to Director Patel
In the Director’s office, you’ll meet both Director Kaia Patel and Maria Hughes, Nishina’s Chief Scientist. There, you’ll all begin to piece together what’s happening. Nishina Research Station conducted an experiment using the Artifact until there was an accident. In regular Nishina, the hydrogen leak that came afterward was contained, while the Nishina Ruins weren’t able to contain it. You’re teleporting between two different universes randomly.
Regular Nishina isn’t in as great a state as you might think though. While the Artifact and the machine around it are still running, the gravitational field around the Artifact keeps increasing. They could shut it down, but the entire research level is locked down. There’s no way in or out unless someone with universe-hopping abilities can get past the area of the lockdown. From there, all you need to do is disable the power interlocks and hit the emergency shutdown switch.
With a plan in motion, now all you need to do is do something about your hopping to keep it under control. While regular Nishina can’t shut down the probe, they can adjust some parameters to keep things under control.
Follow Maria and Get to the Fabrication Lab
With the plans in motion, follow Maria to the fabrication lab. You’re going to shift some more and are likely to find Rafael. He’ll be a bit fearful of your plan, but seeing as he’s been here three months with no hope in sight, you’re all he’s got. Head through the pantry and continue dealing with the Cataxi Warriors while dealing with some more universe-hopping shenanigans.
While this is mostly straightforward stuff, there is one secret interaction you might not know about. After teleporting behind Ethan and talking with him, you can ask about scorpions native to the planet. This will open a persuasion check, which, if succeeded, will grant you the Experiment A-7 shotgun. It comes with a 30% damage bonus against aliens, making it great for fighting these Cataxi.
After speaking with Ethan, make your way through the Main Hall and adjacent rooms, fighting Cataxi as you go. Eventually, you’ll make it to the Fabrication Lab atop some stairs.
Speak to Maria and Assist Her With the Probe Control Unit
Now that you’ve finally made it, speak to Maria, and she’ll get the Probe Control Unit set up. After messing with one of the settings, a strange microdistortion will appear in the room. Step into it, and you’ll be teleported to the Nishina Ruins. In the room will be a Probe Control Unit, which will automatically set up micro-distortions across the Nishina Ruins. With that all calibrated, you’ll now only teleport when walking into the micro-distortions. With this in hand, all you need to do now is get to the High Energy Research Lab and disable the power interlocks. This should shut things down for good.
Director Patel will want to speak with you one more time. She’ll offer Dr. Barakova’s help with supplies if you need some, though she wants to discuss something else. Whichever reality you disable the power interlocks in is the one that will become real for your universe. This means you’ll have to make a choice on which universe to save, though that choice doesn’t come until later. For now, you’re free to head to Rafael’s elevator, teleport to the Nishina Ruins, and begin your journey.
Get to the Lab and Override Lockdowns
Once you’ve made it to the bottom of the elevator shaft, the real journey begins. Teleport to regular Nishina from the first platform, then teleport to Ruined Nishina from the far micro-distortion and head through the adjacent door. Inside, you’ll find the Nishina Particle Lab keycard, which you’ll need later.
Across from the keycard is a micro-distortion that you’ll want to activate. Be careful though, as the security system will try to kill you this far down. Once the robots and turret are dead, use the keycard to head downstairs. From here on, you’ll want to use different distortions to swap between universes. Regular Nishina will be used when needing to interact with most computers and machinery, while the Nishina Ruins is more for getting through locked doors and things of the sort.
You’ll begin by using a computer to override the lockdown on the Facilities sector, followed by the Accelerator sector. Remember to be mindful of hostiles, as both universes have their fair share of things that want you dead. Once you reach the Particle Accelerator, you’re looking for a keycard to the Utility Closet. The Utility Closet lets you open a locked door in the Particle Accelerator room, which then lets you use the override computer to override the lockdown. The door that opens is on the opposite end of the room.
You’ll make your way through a nest of Cataxi before finding your way up to a broken-apart higher platform. After traversing for a bit, you’ll be tasked with overriding the lockdown on the Storage section. Thankfully, this one is within the same room you’re in upon receiving the objective.
Disable the Power Interlocks
After some more traversal, you’ll finally come across the High Energy Research Lab. Here’s where you must make a choice. If you want to save Rafael, then you’ll disable the power interlocks in the Nishina Ruins universe. If you want to save Patel and her people, disable the power interlocks in the regular Nishina universe. The consequences of this choice, we’ll talk about in a moment.
Whichever universe you choose, you’ll have to hit all seven power interlocks while dealing with an array of enemies related to that universe’s state. Be cautious here and take your time. There are a lot of enemies to handle in either universe, so you’ll get destroyed if you try to rush things.
Saving Patel’s Universe or Saving Rafael’s Universe
For whichever universe you want to save, hit that emergency shutdown switch and grab the Artifact. Speaking to whoever you saved will grant you some loot for your troubles.
For saving Patel and her people, you’ll get the following:
- Reactive Calibrated Experimental Nishina Helmet
- Incendiary Calibrated Experimental Nishina Spacesuit
- 14,800 Credits
For saving Rafael, you’ll get these items:
- Indicite Wafer
- 2x Comm Relay
- 4x Vytinium
- 5x Tasine
- 10,200 Credits
In addition, saving Rafael will let you recruit him as a companion. From here, he can either join you on your adventures or be a Crew member of either your ship or an Outpost. If you ask me, you should choose to save Patel and her people out of saving the majority, but you can choose whatever you’d like. It won’t affect the ending in any way. No matter what you choose, speaking to them will end the mission.
If you’re looking for help with some other missions, check out our guide on how to complete Deep Cover in Starfield.
