Soldner-X 2: Final Prototype

Good news and bad news for key hunters. The Good: You are allowed to stage select from the main menu instead of having to play through the entire game. The Bad: There are a variety of built-in variables that will keep you from obtaining all keys in your first run. Make no mistake, this will be the most time-consuming trophy of the bunch. Stages 1-4 are available on your first run. Stage 5 requires 4 keys from one of those four stages before you can proceed. Stage 6 requires 4 keys from any three stages to unlock, and Stage 7 requires 4 keys from all six available stages.

Keys are found in the following places:

1. Inside enemies (Stages 1-5).
2. Inside icicles and rocks (Stage 6)
3. Inside lockboxes (Stage 7)

Most of these are present every time you play, which means every time you go through a level and shoot the same enemy/icicle/box, the key will be there every time. However, EastAsiaSoft has confirmed the following conditions are in play for the remaining keys to appear:

1. Play Rank of 'D' or better
2. Play Rank of 'B' or better
3. 'Spawn Probability', in which the item has a 50% chance of appearing during a particular playthrough.

Some keys (notably key #5 in Stages 6 and 7) are subject to both the Spawn Probability and requiring a play rank of 'B' to appear. While we're doing our best to compile a guide of locations, your best bet is to check the Söldner-X 2 high score leaderboards –> here <–, click the Details link on someone's high score, and see who may have a run of the keys you need. Once you find one, go to the High Scores section of your game, locate the score on the Top 10 online leaderboard, hit "Replay", and select it. You will be able to watch that user's game in real-time to observe their strategies and key locations. (I'll also note that this is by far the coolest feature of Söldner-X 2, and critical to learning some of the more advanced techniques of play.)

Capturing keys requiring a play rank of 'B' can prove difficult for people unaccustomed to the dynamic play rank system. There is however, one fantastic place to key hunt: The 'Rating Expert' challenge. Since it locks your dynamic rank at 'B', that criteria is automatically met for all keys except ones that don't appear due to the 'Spawn Probability' one. Set your difficulty to 'Beginner', learn to avoid the denser bullet patterns, kill every enemy you can, and within a few playthroughs you should have most of the keys. New keys you have not yet discovered will be tagged "New", and obtaining them will flash up a confirmation message onscreen. Once you've located the 35th and final key, the trophy will appear immediately. There is no need to complete the stage or your game.

Alternative Method

When playing on Extra Hard difficulty, your dynamic play rank defaults at 'S'. It remains there until you get hit, or miss enemies (at which point it drops to 'A', then 'B', and so on). By deliberately timing a game-over in a given level, you can use a continue, restart at 'S', and make a mad dash for your necessary key. This allows you to level select (as opposed to playing 'Rating Expert' repeatedly), though it obviously presents its own set of challenges.

Videos

The following key location videos have been put together courtesy of Vinster, who utilizes the alternative collection method. At the moment, only levels 5, 6 and 7 are available. These are not meant to illustrate any method of play, rather they're designed to show where the keys are located.