Overview
This guide is intended to help players earn all possible achievements (except death achievements) in a single playthrough.
Introduction; My Credentials
As mentioned previously, is created with the intent to assist players in running the “perfect” path: earning all achievements (except death achievements) in a single playthrough (fast-mode disabled).
I’m one of the first people who played this game when it was first released on iOS years ago, and I enjoyed it very much. I’ve played through it multiple times, and have probably earned all achievements even before this game was released on Steam.
This guide is currently incomplete and a work-in-progress (WIP); I will be writing four different sections for readers to follow:
- Section 1: “Start of Game” (Completed 03/17/17)
- Section 2: “Dawn of Day 2” (Completed 03/18/17)
- Section 3: “Dawn of Day 3” (Completed 03/18/17)
- Section 4: Dying in Lifeline (Incomplete)
One last note; I’ve done my best to reduce the number of spoilers in this guide. That said, this is still a walkthrough and your experience with the games story may be moderately hampered. Please do not be surprised when you ‘accidentally’ make a storyline connection between my advice and factoids that haven’t been revealed yet.
That being said, let’s begin your journey towards saving Taylor.
Start of Story
Meet Taylor, a charasmatic young man (or woman; gender intentionally unconfirmed throughout Lifeline series) and space cadet who’s on a mission of science… or was, until his (or her) ship mysteriously went down. When you first introduce yourself to Taylor, it doesn’t matter what you say or how you say it until you’re asked whether to head towards the remains of the ship or to the mysterious peak on the opposite end of the world. This should be obvious, but let’s check for survivors first: “Check the Crash“.
You’ll be forced to wait for Taylor to arrive at the Ship’s remains for around twenty minutes (how about getting some homework done?), then you’ll be prompted to provide instructions. There are a number of ways to go about it, but the least time-consuming is to “Check the Flight Deck“. Among other things, Taylor will reveal that he’s found the ship’s Captain: Captain Aya, barely alive with a significant piece of shrapnel left inside her. When prompted, tell Taylor to “Leave it in“. If you choose to pull out the shrapnel, Captain Aya will die from blood loss and you’ll miss the achievement for saving her life.
Now you must save the Captain’s life: tell Taylor to “Look for a Medkit.” After a few minutes of searching, Taylor will come across some of the crew’s bodies. It may seem terse, but tell Taylor to “Just keep moving“; you’ll have a chance to properly bury these folks later. Taylor will eventually stumble upon a medical “stasis pod,” which will keep the Captain alive. Tell Taylor to “Move the Stasis Pod“, as it will be easier to move (hover mode) and the Captain will die if you try to get Taylor to move her to the pod instead.
Congratulations, you’ve just saved Captain Aya’s life. Tell Taylor, however, “Don’t Celebrate Yet.” You’ve still got to bury the crew; tell Taylor to “Dig those graves” when prompted. It’ll take about half-an-hour, but those graves will be dug and the crew buried without issue when you next meet (and you’ll even have a new achievement).
Taylor will again ask for direction; I reccommend the following order:
- “Try the Galley.” – You’ll get a chance to check out the lab later.
- “Keep trying the door.” – Will seriously hurt Taylor’s arm, but unlocks an achievement.
- “Try the Lab.” – Obtain the rat pellets and water, which will prove important for a future achievement.
- “Keep powering the pod.” – Captain Aya will die if you don’t, and Taylor isn’t in any danger (yet).
- “Camp out by the reactor” 150 rads overnight will not kill taylor, but staying inside the frozen ship will.
Thusly, Taylor will turn in for the night and you will have separated communications for several hours. Congratulations, you’ve completed Day One, or “Start of Story” as it will later be known.
You helped Taylor to keep cool, defy the odds and save Captain Aya’s life.
Despite the circumstances, you kept Taylor’s (and your own) humanity intact and provided the casualties of the Varia a proper burial.
You severely busted up Taylor’s shoulder, but the Chili Mac & Cheese ration gained was entirely worth it (and definitely beats rat pelets any day).
Dawn of Day 2
After getting a (somewhat) decent night’s rest, Taylor will greet you with some morning after complaining about green saliva and eating breakfast, Taylor will begin the journey towards the mysterious “peak” on the edge of the horizon. After a significant amount of time, Taylor will ask for advice upon running into a dangerous looking canyon. When prompted, advise Taylor to “Back out of the Canyon.” Attempting to traverse this canyon will only waste time, and pushing Taylor even further into the canyon will lead to certain death.
A few minutes after abandoning the canyon attempt, Taylor will come across a miles-wide crater. You’ll be asked for advice: through the crater or around it. Going through the crater will save time, though will twist Taylor’s ankle (which is ultimately of no consequence). If you decide to save Taylor the extra pain and go around the crater, it does not matter which direction (“Clockwise” or “Counter-Clockwise“) you advise. Along the way, Taylor will prompt you for a chat. It isn’t necessary, but I reccommend telling Taylor “No worries, wanna chat?“.
After reaching the end of the crater, whether through or around it, Taylor will stumble upon an abandoned spaceship (the Caravel). Despite your gut instinct to stay away, it’s imperative that you (repeatedly) push Taylor to “Explore the wreckage.” Do not allow Taylor to turn back for any reason, and give instructions to “Take the west hall.” Or east, since you’ll find the same things in the opposite order. You’ll then be prompted to provide various instructions throughout Taylor’s walk, but do not shift your resolve; Do not tell Taylor to turn back for any reason. At the end of this walk, Taylor will find some pain pills. Tell Taylor to “Take one now,” and you’ll earn an achievement (and give Taylor some relief from that twisted ankle and/or busted-up shoulder).
After taking the painkiller, Taylor will start to complain about the IEV suit’s headlamp; tell Taylor to “Risk it; keep exploring.” After barely maintaining a sense of calm, Taylor will freak-out in response to scuttling sounds and movement in the darkness. While this may seem scary, it’s important to tell Taylor to “Find out what it was,” and “Seriously, go find it.” Instead of finding anyone (or anything) else on the ship, Taylor will report the discovery of a portable energy source (a “ginny”). Taylor will then prepare to head towards the peak again; when prompted, tell Taylor to “Leave the Ginny there.” The ginny will seriously slow Taylor down, and you’ll be returning to the Caravel (and the ginny) later anyway.
After giving advice to (temporarily) abandon the ginny, Taylor will begin to hike towards the Peak. However, I strongly reccommend telling Taylor, when prompted midway through the journey, to “Turn back while you can.” If you keep pushing to move towards the peak, Taylor will not make it before sunset and will ultimately freeze to death instead. After returning to the Caravel, tell Taylor to “Make camp” instead of returning to the Varia (which is too far for Taylor to reach before the sub-zero temperatures hit).
When reentering the Caravel, Taylor will ask whether to first “Try one of the hallways” or “Check out the flight deck.” I reccommend the flight deck; you may try the hallways if you’d like, but Taylor will give up and leave it for tomorrow (while never coming back to it the next day). Upon reaching the flight deck, Taylor will relay the discovery of an unpowered proximity alarm system. Remember the ginny? With it, you can tell Taylor to “Hook up the alarm.” After this, Taylor will fall asleep… only to be bothered by things that go bump-in-the-night. Telling Taylor to find the source of the noise will not yield any results (other than taking up some time and adding some tension to the situation). Taylor will also again be awoken by the proximity alarm, but will simply go back to sleep…
Thusly, you’ve helped Taylor to survive to the end of Day 2.
After braving a harrowing exploration on an abandoned spaceship, you’ve helped Taylor to find some relief for that busted-shoulder from earlier. Hopefully, Taylor won’t become addicted to this stuff later on…
Dawn of Day 3
A quick note from me to you: Day 3 will have about the same amount of text as the previous days combined. As a result, there are a much larger number of insignificant, or “conversational,” options that allow you to personalize your communications with Taylor but will not necessarily impact how the story ends. As a result, assume it’s okay to talk to Taylor however you’d like unless I specifically label a command in this fashion.
Taylor will wake up refreshed and ready for breakfast, but you may stall this important meal by pressing to check the overnight security footage. This is entirely optional and won’t alter the game’s ending, although it will personally leave you better prepared for certain events about to unfold. After discussing the findings and the taste of lemon pepper tuna in the morning, Taylor will go offiline for awhile to prepare for the trek ahead.
Taylor will now depart the Caravel, commenting on the beauty of the sunrise along the plane. Taylor will raise concerns about the quality of the compass inside the IEVA suit, and ask whether it would be a good idea to make one from scratch or go on without one. Taylor will still make it to the Peak, our final destination, but it will take significantly longer and you will miss out on some important text later on. After creating the compass, Taylor will once more begin the trek towards the Peak (and the truth).
After stopping for a quick meal (or not, if you advise against it), Taylor will reach the edge of the crater that the Peak is located in. Taylor will go offline while climbing down, coming back to deliver a status update partway down. Taylor will ask whether or not it’s a good idea to take one of the remaining two painkillers; go ahead an allow Taylor this luxury, as it will decrease the amount of time waiting offline. After going offline again, Taylor will pop back to unload some pent-up thoughts. You’re free to skip this, but I reccommend the conversation.
Eventually Taylor will reach the entrance of the Peak, which is actually a gigantic monolithic structure. When asked what to do, tell Taylor to Scout the perimeter of the Peak first. After spending some time seaching, Taylor will report some unusual findings and you’ll have earned an achievement. From here, Taylor will move to the Peak’s entrance.
At the Peak’s entrance, Taylor will take a moment to become mentally prepared before entering the Peak. A couple wierd things will happen, but your dialogue options won’t change Taylor’s ineviteable discovery of… a computer room.
In order to preserve the minimum number of spoilers that this guide presents, the rest of this section will only take note of specific choices necessary to survive to the end. Yes, Taylor’s life will be in jeapordy at this point, and it’s up to you to save it. Without spoiling anything, here is the branch of dialogue choices needed to survive:
- “Explore the wiring.” – Adds context to Taylor’s situation.
- Conversational Options (Same Outcome)
- “How many, total?”
- “Wake it up.”
- Conversational Options
- “Stay where you are.”
- “Sure, see what’s what.”
- Conversational Options – Taylor goes offline twice.
- Conversational Options
- “Stay where you are.” – Options are identical in consequence.
- Conversational Options
- “Tend to the rats.” – Achievement Unlocked
- Conversational Options – Taylor goes offline.
- Conversational Options
- “Throw them some more food.”
- Conversational Options
- “Sure, lay it on me.”
- “Yeah, good idea!”
- “Bombs away!” – Achievement unlocked.
- Conversational Options – There are alot
- “No! Fight it!” – Taylor will die if you don’t pick this option.
- Conversational Options.
- “There must be a solution.” – Taylor will die if you don’t pick this option.
- Conversational Options.
- “You gotta get there first.”
- “Run for the rescue ship.”
- “Do NOT give up right now!”
- “Dying right now is selfish.”
- Conversational Options.
- Say goodbye to Taylor.
You found evidence of previous persons on this planet, though such a discovery does little more than rattle Taylor even further.
You found Taylor’s lab rats! Remember those pellets from earlier? This is where they come in handy… though the rats seem hungry for more than just pellets.
You decided to aid your guests in finding you, though their resolve remains unmoved and may ultimately prove malicious…
It took discipline, but you played through to the very end on “slow” mode.
You saved Taylor’s life, good on you!
Be honest, you totally wouldn’t have survived in one go on your own.
Dying in Lifeline
[Section is W.I.P., but you don’t need guidance to kill Taylor 25 times. Just repeat a certain death scene in the game while in fastmode and you’ll get the achievements.]