INSIDE: Walkthrough, Secret Orbs and Achievements Guide

A spoiler-light route through Playdead's INSIDE, tips for the puzzles and chase scenes that kill most players, and how to find the hidden orbs and reach the secret ending for 100% achievements.

Researched September 2026 — current as of the final Steam build (last patch 23 November 2016, which removed Denuvo; the Mac version followed in 2020). No further updates are expected.

Quick Start

• Death is cheap. Checkpoints are frequent and usually a few seconds back. Dying is how you learn a puzzle's timing, so experiment.
• Two buttons do almost everything: jump and grab/interact. Grab covers pushing and pulling crates, climbing, holding onto things and using devices.
• If you're stuck, look for what you can grab. Nearly every puzzle is solved by moving an object, pulling a lever, or controlling someone else.
• Listen. Sound cues tell you when patrols turn, when a shockwave is coming, and when something is chasing you.
• Use a controller if you have one. The game was designed around one. A 2016 patch tweaked dead zones specifically so some puzzles weren't harder than intended.
• Don't worry about missing secrets on your first run. You can replay any checkpoint from the menu afterward, and your orb progress is kept.
• The game is short (roughly 3 to 4 hours), so a second run for the secrets is quick.
• Achievements are almost all about secrets. Of the 14 Steam achievements, 13 are tied to hidden orbs and secret areas, and The Last One is for the secret ending.

How INSIDE Plays

You control an unnamed boy in a 2.5D side-scroller. He can walk, run, swim, climb and grab. There's no HUD, no text and no inventory. Everything is environmental: crates, ropes, doors, levers, water, and later mind-control helmets that let you steer the zombie-like drones of the facility to solve puzzles you can't solve alone.

Controls (concepts)

Action | What it's for

Move | Walk, run, swim

Jump | Gaps, ledges, climbing starts

Grab / interact | Push and pull crates, climb ropes, pull levers, put on or take off helmets, hold ledges

Grab while in a helmet | Steer the controlled bodies' actions (jump, pull, push)

On PC, check the controls menu for your keyboard bindings. Rebinding grab to a comfortable key helps a lot in the timing-heavy sections.

Area-by-Area Walkthrough (spoiler-light)

This is an outline, not a step-by-step solution, so the puzzles still feel like yours.

1. Forest and road

Men with flashlights and dogs patrol. Stay in the shadows, wait for lights to pass, and don't try to outrun the dogs in the open. Look for fences, water or high ledges instead. When a vehicle's lights sweep, duck behind cover.

2. Farm

Crates, a barn, animals, and your first proper puzzles. Pay attention to the pigs and the chicks. Livestock is part of the solution more than once, and the farm buildings hide your first secret-area detours.

3. Town and the marching drones

Rows of blank-faced people march in time. Copy their movement exactly when you walk among them. Stepping out of rhythm gets you caught. This teaches the "match the pattern" logic you'll need later.

4. Factory, mind-control helmets

Helmets let you control groups of bodies. Use them to reach levers, build human ladders, and pull heavy objects. Tip: you control everyone connected to the helmet at once, so line them up before acting.

5. Flooded areas and the submarine

Swimming, a small submarine, and dark water. Something lives down here. Keep moving in the water and head for lit areas. In the sub, use the headlight and the pull mechanic to solve puzzles.

6. The shockwave section

A giant rhythmic shockwave blasts through the area. Count the beats and only move when you're behind solid cover. The rhythm is consistent, so learn it and move right after each blast.

7. The labs and offices

Scientists, glass tanks, and the path deeper into the facility. Several of the hidden orbs are near here, so scan every room.

8. The finale

The last stretch changes how the game plays completely. Don't look up spoilers for this part. Just keep going right.

Hidden Orbs and Achievements

There are hidden orbs in secret areas throughout the game. Each is a glowing sphere with cables. Reach it and pull the cable/interact to switch it off, which unlocks an achievement. Switching off all of them unlocks access to the secret ending (see below). Secret areas are usually off the main path: behind a wall you can pull away, down a shaft that looks like scenery, or past a detour you'd normally ignore.

Steam achievements, ordered by how many players have them (roughly the order you'll reach them):

Achievement | In-game hint | Global unlock rate

Left Behind | "Safe falling and hard landings" | 73.5%

Obscure Foundations | "Lies beneath the city" | 36.6%

Room for Reflection | "Hanging up" | 28.9%

Pack Mentality | "Pull together" | 25.4%

Friends in low places | "Dislodging derelict in the depths" | 23.6%

Unfathomable | "Take a deep breath" | 22.6%

Murky Waters | "Something's not right down here" | 21.9%

Field Research | "Unearthing secrets" | 21.1%

Office Space | "Do an elevator pitch" | 19.0%

Respite | "Dive back in" | 18.9%

A Tableau | "Skipping stones at the beach" | 18.8%

Wee Wee Wee | "They never made it to market" | 17.9%

Clockwork | "Shadows at noon" | 17.4%

The Last One | "It comes together" (secret ending) | 14.0%

How to hunt orbs efficiently

• Finish the story once first. Then use the checkpoint menu to jump back to specific areas.
• Read the hints literally. "Hanging up" and "Pull together" describe the action. "Take a deep breath" and "Dive back in" point to water. "They never made it to market" points to the farm animals.
• Check the background. Secret areas often start from something that looks like a wall or a dead end but can be grabbed or climbed.
• Your orb progress saves across checkpoint loads. You don't need a single continuous run.

The Secret (Alternate) Ending

• Switch off every hidden orb (all the orb achievements above).
• Go back via the checkpoint menu to the cornfield area from earlier in the game.
• A hidden bunker is now open. Go down into it.
• Inside, you have to solve a final input sequence on a panel. The room's lights and patterns tell you what to do.
• That opens the last room. What you do there triggers the alternate ending and unlocks The Last One.

This ending is short, cryptic and heavily debated in the community. It's best seen with no spoilers.

Puzzle Logic Cheat Sheet

When you're stuck, run through this list. Almost every INSIDE puzzle is one of these:

Pattern | What to try

Ledge too high | Drag a crate, pull a cart, or have controlled bodies form a step

Door or gate won't open | Look for a lever or a weight plate elsewhere on the screen, often behind you

Enemy blocking the path | Wait for its patrol loop, distract it, or use another creature to get it out of the way

Heavy object won't move | You need more pullers. Find a helmet or a group of bodies

Water blocks the way | Look for a way to drain or raise the water level, or a vehicle

Rhythm hazard | Count the beats before moving and move right after the hazard

Screen looks empty | Something in the background can be grabbed or climbed. Walk slowly and try grab on everything

Chase scenes: these are scripted to be tight but fair. If you're dying at the same spot, you're usually a hair late on the jump or grab. Commit earlier, not faster.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Rushing chase sequences. Most chase deaths happen because the player jumped early. Watch the ledge first.
• Ignoring the rhythm in the marching and shockwave sections. Both are pure timing puzzles.
• Forgetting that controlled bodies are tools. If a gap or weight seems impossible, you probably need more bodies.
• Hunting orbs blind on the first playthrough. Story first, secrets second is much more enjoyable.
• Assuming a dead end is a dead end. INSIDE hides its secrets in places that look like scenery.

Advanced Tips

• Checkpoint select is your best friend for cleanup. Go straight to the area an orb is in rather than replaying chapters.
• Hold grab early on ledges and ropes during chases. The buffer is generous.
• Underwater sections: the boy has a limited breath window until later events, so plan routes between air pockets.
• Performance: the 27 July 2016 patch improved 4K support, fixed selecting the highest resolution on 21:9 displays, fixed missing shadows on some hardware and added Steam Link controller support. The 23 November 2016 patch removed Denuvo. Current PCs run INSIDE easily.
• Trading cards were added to the Steam version in September 2020.

FAQ

How long is INSIDE? About 3 to 4 hours for a first playthrough. Cleaning up all the orbs adds an hour or two with checkpoint select.

Is INSIDE a sequel to LIMBO? No. It's Playdead's next game after LIMBO, with a similar style, but a separate world and story.

Do I need to find all the orbs in one run? No. Orb progress carries across checkpoint loads.

What does the secret ending mean? Playdead never officially explained it. Most interpretations are about control and who's really doing the controlling.

Is there a demo? Yes. A free demo was released on the Steam store page in November 2016.

Does INSIDE support controllers on PC? Yes, with full gamepad support (including Xbox One vibration on Windows 10, added in 2016). Keyboard works too.

Sources

• INSIDE on Steam
• INSIDE Steam global achievements
• INSIDE Steam news (patch notes, demo, Mac release)
• Inside (video game) on Wikipedia