Most of the activities in The First Descendant take place in its open zones, but apart from regular missions, there are a few secrets to discover, including Encrypted Vaults and Encrypted Storage Boxes.
Whether you need them for a quest or just want to explore, here’s how to find and open Encrypted Vaults and Encrypted Storage Boxes in The First Descendant.
The Encrypted Vaults come in three rarities that spawn depending on the type of Code Analyzer (key) you have in your inventory. If you ever see the game mention the Encrypted Storage Box, it’s the Encrypted Vault of the most basic rarity that requires a regular Code Analyzer to open.
How to find Encrypted Vaults and Encrypted Storage Boxes in The First Descendant
To find Encrypted Vaults and Encrypted Storage Boxes, use your scanner (Tab key on PC by default). You’re not looking for visual queues, but for audio. When there’s a vault nearby and in your field of view, the scanning chime has a higher pitch than usual. You can test it by looking in different directions and using the scan. The sound gets louder as you get close to the vault.
Out in the world, you can find cyan square icons in different places. Those also indicate there’s a vault nearby. You don’t have to interact with them; they are just there for additional guidance.
It’s unclear if vaults spawn in the same places, but I found two on the north side of the Classified Area in the Sterile Land. The vaults look like standing skeleton coffins and turn towards you when you come close.
How to unlock Encrypted Vaults and Encrypted Storage Boxes in The First Descendant
You need a Code Analyzer, Precision Code Analyzer, or an Ultra-Precision Code Analyzer consumable to open vaults. You can’t research them at Anais. Instead, they drop from missions—you might already have a few in your inventory.
Interact with the Encrypted Vault to start a minigame. The goal is to press the button when the dial is in the highlighted zone. Do that multiple times before the timer expires, and you’ll unlock the vault.
The difficulty of the minigame depends on the rarity of the vault/analyzer, and if you fail it, the Code Analyzer will be gone. Pay close attention to the keys you need to use for the minigame (on PC, it’s both left and right click) so you don’t waste any additional analyzers.
