Below, Rusted Gods Obelisk Puzzle

Spoiler warning: this page names every offering, the Symbols VHS decoder, and which ending each confirmation produces. Leave if you have not reached the altars. You need a full living squad for Incomplete or Rusted Gods—build that on Keep Everyone Alive. If anyone already died, the obelisk collapses to Protocol 46 no matter which symbols you pick. See Endings.

What the game actually checks

Order of operations:

1. Squad survival (anyone dead → Protocol 46).
2. Four exact person-to-symbol matches (not a shared pool of “good” offerings).
3. Your confirmation Yes, I’m sure.

The Lullaby cassette and Symbols VHS are clue sources, not activation requirements. You can finish the board without them; solving honestly is much harder. Pickup rooms: Collectibles Checklist. Keypad to the tape room: Puzzle Solutions.

The mid-article All Endings video shows the four closes. Pause when Mikhail reads the eight altars.

All endings footage — pause at the obelisk assignments

Decoder — Symbols VHS

Phrase on the tape	Symbol
The shadow of the resentful	Square with a horizontal line underneath
The blood of the sick	Square with a dot in the center
The laughter of the forgotten	Two concentric circles
The prayer of the one who worships	Triangle with a horizontal line
The hands of the creator	Cross with a dot above it
The guilt of the one who leads	Triangle with a semicircle underneath
The tears of a father	Circle with a cross in the center
The whisper of the one who lies	Three vertical lines

Marías’ song capitalizes FATHER, SICKNESS, PRAY, RULE. A letter on the first platform beyond the randomized door identifies Dimitri as the father. Dutch is the sick man. Mikhail is the worshipper. Sergei is the leader.

Correct assignments (Rusted Gods)

Squad member	Offering	Exact symbol reply
Sergei	Guilt	Triangle with a semicircle underneath
Dutch	Blood	Square with a dot in the center
Mikhail	Prayer	Triangle with a horizontal line
Dimitri	Tears	Circle with a cross in the center

Choose No, let’s start over. if you misclick. Confirm Yes, I’m sure. only when all four match. Every intercom then calls I AM THE VOICE; the only enabled reply is Amen. Answer all four. The elevator advances after the last call. Follow the route, interact with the truck, and let the winged-gods escape play. Completing this unlocks Once Below, Now Above.

Patch 1.23.6 fixed a blinking-light sound that could loop forever in one ending. 1.23.7 fixed an elevator visual glitch in two endings. Update before you farm the set—Patches 1.23.5–1.23.7.

Incomplete — one confirmed error

Keep all four alive, give at least one person the wrong symbol, and confirm. Unused Hands, Laughter, Shadow, Whisper symbols are wrong for everyone. A valid offering given to the wrong person also fails. The game does not judge a shared set of four “good” shapes.

A common false set: Dutch correctly gets Blood (square + center dot), Mikhail incorrectly gets Guilt (Sergei’s triangle + semicircle), Dimitri incorrectly gets Hands (cross + dot above). Sergei cannot repair those earlier errors.

After confirmation the room shakes, a creature takes the Operator, and the Incomplete card pops.

Protocol 46 at this board

If anyone died earlier, symbol accuracy is ignored. The medical station enables termination. Each remaining member is already being decommissioned when their farewell call opens. Any of the three replies advances; none can save them. 1.23.5 added a warning beep and intermittent light on the medical terminal during Terminate Protocol, and adjusted Protocol-ending particles to prevent a rare crash.

Clue habit without a wiki tab

If you want to solve live: play Lullaby and read Marías’ song, sweep the keypad broadcasts, grab Symbols and A letter, screenshot the eight tape pairs, then ask Mikhail What do you think of the obelisk? He reads the altars; you map song nouns to tape phrases to people. Headphones still matter—Headphones & Audio.

Related pages

Keep Everyone Alive, Endings, Puzzle Solutions, Collectibles Checklist, Cassettes & Lore, Achievements & Collectibles, Full Game Walkthrough, Decisions & Branching.