Norček prototype and its two tools
The experimental Norček prototype is handed to you in Sector 1 and upgraded in Sector 4. It carries the two named tools of the game: the Hook Gun, which grapples to Energized surfaces, and the Goop Gun, which fires Rift mineral goop and can lock your partner in place.
Players searching for the prototype room are almost always looking for the handover that unlocks 'Morrow's Miracles — obtained an experimental Norček prototype. That happens in Sector 1, and the object you are given there is not a puzzle item to file away: it is the first version of the tool you will use for the rest of the campaign.
Pairs with: Puzzle mechanics · Story and series timeline
What the prototype is
The store page describes the pair of you as having "two distinct roles, each with your own high-tech tool". The achievement list names the two tools that come out of that promise: the Hook Gun and the Goop Gun. The Norček prototype is the chassis they are built on, and you receive it three times:
| Stage | Where | Achievement | Global % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Experimental prototype | Sector 1, Norček Facility | 'Morrow's Miracles | 86.2 |
| In-service tools | Sectors 2–3 | Hook Gun / Goop Gun uses | 40–43% |
| Upgraded prototype | Sector 4, R&D Headquarters | Double Time | 6.1 |
The gap between 86.2% and 6.1% is the whole story of the campaign's difficulty curve: almost everyone gets the first prototype, almost nobody reaches the upgrade.
The prototype room, in practice
There is no separate room to hunt. The handover is part of Sector 1's briefing flow: the Director's tasks take you from the Wellness Check to an access card, and the prototype arrives as the reward for finishing that sequence rather than as a detour you can miss.
What matters is what you do in the sixty seconds after you get it:
- Fire it at a wall. Learn the range and the recoil before the game asks you to be precise.
- Fire it at your partner. The achievement list explicitly rewards this — Goop Lookin' at 43.3% and Now I'm Hooked at 40.6% — and it teaches you the arc for free.
- Fire it at something that looks powered. Energized surfaces are the Hook Gun's documented anchor (Danger! High Voltage, 2.2%).
- Tell your partner what your tool does and what it does not do. Your roles are asymmetric; they cannot infer your range from their own.
The two tools, side by side
| Hook Gun | Goop Gun | |
|---|---|---|
| Documented use | grapple to an Energized surface | fire the Rift mineral goop at surfaces and at your partner |
| Named in achievements | Now I'm Hooked, Danger! High Voltage | Goop Lookin', You're Chatty for a Statue |
| Effect on your partner | pulls them | locks them in place |
| What it is for | traversal, anchoring, reaching separated geometry | building temporary structures, blocking, locking |
| Failure mode | aiming at an unpowered surface and assuming it is broken | building too much and changing the room for your partner |
Both tools work on your partner by design. That is not a hidden easter egg: four achievements depend on it, and one of them — Danger! High Voltage — is the game telling you that grappling to a powered surface is a legitimate traversal route, not a trick.
The upgrade in R&D Headquarters
Double Time is the third stage and it fires late: only 6.1% of players have it. The upgraded prototype arrives in Sector 4, after the building's power has been restored (Turn It Off And On Again, 7.4%), which is the sector's real gate.
If you have the upgrade and cannot tell what changed, run the 60-second test again — wall, partner, powered surface — and compare against what the experimental version did. The upgrades in this game are capacity changes, not new verbs.
When a tool seems dead
Four causes, in order of frequency:
- Wrong surface class. Nothing happens on a surface that is not reactive. That is data, not a bug.
- Wrong distance. Both tools have a working range; too close and the projectile will not form.
- Your partner is holding the state. Several surfaces only respond when the other player has done their half.
- It is genuinely a cooldown. Stop, wait, retry once.
Where this connects
The tools first appear in Sector 1 · Norček Facility, get used in earnest in Sector 2 · Cargo Elevator and Sector 3 · Gravitonics, and are upgraded in Sector 4 · R&D Headquarters. The goop half of the kit is covered in more depth on the crystal and Battery Bulb page.
