Where Are My Friends?

Ok. I'm still not there on getting this deathless, but I'm practicing and get the consistency down to knock it out. As such, here is my recommendations for each room that have been working for me.

EDIT: Done this one now. It's tough. I had multiple runs in the single digit death category and just couldn't string the full run together for a few hours probably. It's tough, but doable. I'll be updating some of the my solutions here (and the video to give better hints from what I learned). Just one basic tip before we start:

PRACTICE!!! Before attempting deathless runs, aim to know every room. A lot of these rooms just take a lot of practice to know what to do. I did probably 10-20 full runs before truly attempting deathless attempts.

Room 1

There isn't much to say here. This room will just require you to go across. The only thing to watch out for is the single laser in the next room. It is possible to fall onto it while moving. I'd recommend landing on the ledge at the edge of the transition. Drop down after you see the laser turn off.

Room 2

Another basic one. Stand at the Red Terminal. The laser will pass over your head harmlessly. As soon as it turns off, start moving left. You'll safely fall into the next room before the laser turns on again.

Room 3

This moving platform will become a normal piece of the puzzles going forward. You need to jump into the bottom and make sure to continue falling into the portal as it crosses the screen. I'd recommend beginning to jump into the portal as it begins to turn around rather than trying to do it while the platform is coming towards you.

Room 4

For this room, you'll want to wait for the laser along the bottom portal to turn off. As soon as it does, jump in and begin to just fall onto the floating platform. You'll fall there while the laser along the bottom portals is on. When it turns off again, move over to the left one. At this point, you can either approach the edge of the second one and wait for the laser or just continue to move right and fall into the transition to room 5.

Room 5 - Alternating Laser Activation

You need to alternate the green portal you fall in to. The floating one will be first and then the ground level one will be next. It goes back and forth. When you want to go to the floor portal, go backwards towards the left instead of trying to get ahead of it. In terms of timing, falling through the floating portal 4 times was pretty safe. After going through the floating portal the 4th time, fall into the next room.

Room 6 - Jump Up

This room will be one of the first bigger obstacles to your run. The laser above will be firing on a cycle. You can observe the charging by the 3 bars on it. You need to jump into the right portal, fly up from the left one and land on the moving platform. When the moving platform is on the left side of the screen, you can drop down. When?

In terms of the timing, you want to jump/drop down into the portal when the laser is charging (around 1 or 2 bars). By doing so, you will fly up after it's fired and not get hit. You'll need to ride the platform some during this sequence, but we can work around that too. When you see the laser charging, you'll want to jump when the laser is at 2 bars. The laser will fire when you're in mid-air and you will be safe.

Room 7 - Launching and 3 Gaps

Another tricky room but there is a fairly consistent strategy here. The horizontal laser on the 3rd gap will be your timer here. When it is traveling down and fires into the middle gaps lower platform, you'll want to jump into the bottom portal. You will then be launched and hit the upper wall on the first gap. You'll want to hit right and land in the first gap.

At this point will be the most important part of this section. You need to land in the 2nd gap, not on the horizontal platform. That horizontal platform will likely be a death sentence. Once you're in the 2nd gap, just make sure to jump either on the laser gun (the laser gun itself is actually a safe space to stand and we will use this fact a few times throughout) or onto the final gap. From there it's just jumping and falling into Room 8.

Room 8 - Four Horizontal Lasers with Rising and Falling Ledges

This room is more about timing and understanding the limitations of your jump. What we are waiting for here is for the platforms to rise. When it just begins to cover the 4 lasers on the right wall, jump in. I'd say either land on the second lowest or lowest platform on the right side and then jump to the left side platforms (you don't need to land in the lowest level). NOTE: Do not stand next to the platforms as you jump up the left side. The collision detection can be iffy at times so giving yourself a little space is important.

Go through the portal and land on the top platform. You can stop here without worry, just make sure you're not close to the right edge of the platform. The lasers can go through portals and it can hit you if you're not careful.

We'll wait again for the platforms to be rising and begin covering the 4 horizontal lasers. Drop down to the small ledge on the left edge of the screen. Wait for the final laser to fire before dropping down into Room 9. Rushing will be your enemy for this last part. You need to wait for it to stop firing.

Room 9 - Intro to Multiple Colored Portals

Nothing to describe here. You'll need to fall through the right edge of the yellow portal on the ground to reach the exit on the other side. Probably the easiest room besides some of the starting ones.

Room 10 - Rotating Intermittent Laser

This room aims to get you in the mindset for having multiple portals in a room with other obstacles. The laser on the left side doesn't present a major danger to you. What you'll want to do is fall through the green portal on the right side of the screen after the laser is finished firing. After falling through the yellow portal, make sure to move right and off the platform. The only real danger is that if the laser fires into the yellow portal, it can come through the yellow portal and snipe you if you're standing on the ledge on the left wall. Other than that, this one won't present a huge risk.

Room 11 - Sliding Blue and Yellow Portals with Launching

This one appears tricky because of all the moving platforms. Finding the right moment took some time to get down. What you'll want to do is wait for the yellow platform to be moving down (about halfway down it's pattern). At that point, fall into the left side blue portal. When you come out the right side, fall back into it, and then move to go through the yellow portal on the left side of the screen. The yellow platform should be near the top of it's movement and you'll fly across and be done with this room.

If you mess up the timing, it is possible to land back on the starting platform and try again for the right timing.

Room 12 - Gauntlet Pit Sprints

Not a better name for the room . In this one, there is a laser that charges and will fire. That laser will hit anything not standing in the 3 pits. We'll wait for the laser to fire before moving on to the next one. Getting into each of the 3 pits is pretty easy once you get the timing of the laser down. The move that's going to be the hardest to pull is the run at the end to exit the room.

In terms of making this easier, consider really knowing the timing of the laser. If you can get it down to starting your move as soon as it turns off, you can give yourself an extra little bit of time. The cycle is consistent so it you should be able to get the timing down. As I mentioned previously, make sure you aren't hugging any of the mini pillars when jumping. The collision detection is iffy at best.

Room 13 - Rotating Platform

This room is hard and the first room that will be a run killer. Getting the timing down has been a bear, but I think I see it now. The laser has a consistent timing pattern to it. When it begins to charge on the upward portion of it's movement, you'll want to fall into the green platform. You'll hit the platform, but it's not a huge problem. Delaying a little here will allow the laser to turn off and you can fall into the blue portal. Land on the platform on the right side of the room. After the laser turns off, fall into the room exit.

Wait a slight bit after the laser in this room fires. There is a laser in the following room that can snipe you as you enter. While it didn't happen to me except once, it happened numerous times to CjhCarter vL.

Room 14 - Rotating Lasers with Portals Under

This room is fairly consistent, but the opening maneuver seems iffy. This might lead to unintended deaths that ruin runs. You'll want for the yellow and blue lasers to point down or beginning to get to there and jump into the yellow portal. You'll want to go right when the blue laser passes over where you start the room.

The yellow portal will launch you onto the moving platform in the walled off portion. As much as I practiced this room, I have had times when I skidded off one side or the other. It works nicely most of the time, but I've had unfortunate deaths here. Jump over to the other platform and wait here. We're aiming to go through the blue portal when the laser is firing upwards.

After going through the blue portal, run to your left and jump through the off laser. You should make it just fine and get to Room 15.

Room 15 - Shifting Green Platforms

This room is not as terrible as some of the ones it took to get here, but we still need to be on our toes. The most difficult part is transitioning between the fast and slow bottom platform. The only timing to consider here is to make sure the right side green platform is moving to the right when you jump into the left one. This should ensure that the two will meet in the center. Just keep making sure to fall into the portals until you reach the exit for this room.

Room 16 - Shifting Yellow and Blue Platforms

There is a way to do this room without a lot of portal hopping and it might be the safest way. The top and bottom portals are on different timing cycles which can be tricky. When the yellow top portal is coming towards the center, you'll want to jump into the lower one. You can transition from here right into the lower blue. Falling between the blue portals until you can exit the room will be your best bet after that.

I have done this in one pass through each portal, but depending on timing it might not line up.

Room 17 - Columns

There isn't a lot to say for this room. It's relatively free for you to get through. When the laser stops firing, drop down and go through the yellow portal. Wait for the laser to fire and stop again. This time, jump into the blue portal and just fall through to the next room. The timing is pretty relaxed, but trying to go through the blue right as the laser stops firing will be only to your advantage.

Room 18 - Circle of Portals/Lasers

This room looks harder than it is. There is a really consistent setup here. The circle rotates every two portal transitions. Rather than a paragraph, here is a step by step method.

- Go right through the yellow portal twice
- Fall into the yellow portal straight down twice
- Fall into the blue portal straight down twice
- Fall into the green portal straight down twice
- Go right into the yellow portal twice
- Fall straight into the yellow portal ONCE
- Exit on the bottom left before the next rotation

It can take some getting used to, but once you have it, this can be repeated with reliability.

Room 19 - Portal Jumping

This room looks intimidating, but it's not too bad. You just need to really know how the transitions work. What you'll want to do is wait for the laser to be moving to the left and beginning to turn off. Jump into the blue portal. When you come out of the other one, move straight into the yellow one above it. After exiting the yellow portal, move to the green portal next to you on the lower level. Finally after finishing there move in the chute down to Room 19.

Room 20

This room is going to be another run killer. My first instinct was to go for the bottom path, but I found myself dying a lot because the rotating laser can seem to get into those bottom alcoves and destroy you. Instead, we will be looking for the following setup:

- Green moving portal close to your starting position
- Rotating laser close to the left side

When this is true, get on the ledge at the edge of you starting point. As soon as the laser goes past the green portal alcove on the left side of the screen, jump into the green portal. Wait a second for the lower laser to stop firing and then drop down into the next room. This will take patience for the right setup since the cycles are very different, but it's the best I've found so far.

Room 21 - Laser Activation

NOTE: A lot of the rooms from here on out will revolve around cycles of 3. 3 distinct patterns that repeat themselves. We will be looking for them and observing the timing to make this as easy as possible.

What we're going to look for is that the green portal is open. Then we will do the following motions:

- Jump into the green portal
- Move left into the blue portal
- Move left into the yellow portal

The exit here is blocked by a horizontal laser right as you come out of the portal. You'll want to begin falling right before the laser fires into the yellow portal again. The laser is off while the green portals are safe here in terms of timing. I'm posting a video of me running through the whole bunker multiple times for reference. You can see me going through it a bit.

Room 22 - Leap of Faith

This is probably the hardest room to describe and execute. I have the timing, but it's going to take some faith in the process. There are two ways to get this down. Both come down to the vertical laser and it's position relative to the blue portal. Step by step:

- When the green platform is coming towards you, jump in after the vertical (down facing) laser stops going through the green portal (and thus creating a horizontal laser. When you're on the platform where the green lets out, you have two options.
- Option 1: If you did the transition into the green really quickly, you can try to time your drop into the blue portal to be before the second vertical laser passes under the blue portal. This one has to be really quick and can be difficult if you're even a little too slow.
- Option 2: If you're a little behind and the laser is already passing under the blue portal, you'll instead need to aim for the blue portal right before the laser comes out from under it. This will mean you're passing over that laser while it's under the platform.

Either solution will work and it will come down to which you feel more comfortable with. I went with Option 2 mostly and found it to be pretty consistent after practicing.

After this, you might fall into the yellow portal before heading down. If you do, just make sure to not let it push you over the wall back into the laser trap area. You should have enough control of character to course-correct in case that happens. I started just falling into the yellow portal on purpose and then holding left to fall through the hole.

Room 23 - Quick Floor Laser

Besides the previous room, this one has been the most "RNG" heavy for me and is another run killer. The key is to note that your movement here is not solely dictated by the green portal platform on the left side of the room. All 4 of the timed devices here operate on slightly different cycles that can trip you up. Here are the 2 positions/timings we will look at for part 1 of this room.

- Green portal on left wall is coming up and the laser is not going through it. This is the only way.
- Laser is just about to fire. This will ensure you are let out right when it stops. There should be enough time for you to jump over it once before the green portal platform comes down on you here and that laser gets you.

The blue portal and platform will matter less. Landing on the platform up top is safer, but if you have to go into the blue portal instead depending on position, that should also work.

I recommend practicing this room a bunch. Even knowing the timing I mess this one up a lot. Try to get consistent in your first half. Land on the platform up top, take a death and retry until you can do it consistently. This way you can just run it a ton a times without needing to play up to there.

Room 24 - Falling from Greater Heights

Compared to 21 and 22, this will be a cake walk. Take your time and you'll get it in no time. Starting from the far right, wait till the top laser stops firing. The drop down through the blue portal and you'll be on the top again. After the laser stops again, just drop to the middle platform. You can wait for the lasers to stop again before dropping into the yellow portal. From the top again, wait for the lasers to stop and drop to the terminal. Wait for the lasers to stop again and go through the green portal. One final time, wait for the lasers and drop into the hole to move to the next room.

The last one might require you anticipating your jump a little, but you'll be able to count of the cycles as you go.

Room 25 - Portal Puzzle

This room is more about taking your time than needing some precise instructions. Each cycle is 3 different configurations. Only 1 portal will send you to the next cube instead of a laser trap of death. Once you know which will bring you to a platform, wait till the next cycle and hit the portal the next time through. There is no reason to rush yourself here. You have all the time in the world to find the right path.

The one that might play tricks on you is one of the last ones where the portals around you don't change colors. The 3 cycle still happens, but it's not as visible. Just count it in your head and drop through the yellow below you when it appears above a safe platform.

Room 26 - Portal Swapping

These rooms begin to really play with the portals and swapping their positions with each other. The actual solutions are simple, but picking them out is a pain until you notice it.

You're going to look for the following arrangement here:

- Blue Panel to Your Left from the Respawn

If it's there, you can drop through the Blue, then directly into the green and out of the room. Try to time it so that you go through the blue portal right as it changes to blue to give yourself the extra time.

Room 27 - Head Bonking

For this room, any jump you do up a bottom portal can send you into the laser. There is a timing here though that will be pretty consistent.

Two things we need:

1) Green Portals for the Top 2
2) The board is moving towards the right. Either just beginning to only at the middle of it's right motion. Any further and it probably be too far to pull this off.

You'll want to jump into the first green portal. When you pop out on the left, drop down to the bottom row and go into the left side of the lower portals. When you come out the right one, you should be able to bonk your head (eye?) on the platform and land safely on the platform.

Room 28 - Portal Fling and Laser Jumping

This one appears trickier than it is. What we're going to look at is the right portal on the lower half of the room. That portal is either green or yellow. It's timing pattern is very consistent and will always give the same result.

Right when the portal turns yellow, it should be towards the top of it's movement - DON'T go through it. Wait until it goes down and then back up again. When it is at the peak of it's movement, go through it. You will land in the upper left room. Luckily, because of our timing, the laser will be off. Now you need to time your jumps over the laser until the portal on the far left side of the room is blue.

Watching the charging, you need to jump right as it gets it's second charge. Then you will easily get over it each time. You'll have to wait a cycling of the portals, but when it turns blue you can go on through down to Room 28.

Room 29 - Another Timing Rotation

This room has a lot of extraneous elements. There is only one portal to pay attention to: the one right below the starting/respawn point. When it turns blue is your "Go Time".

Drop down into the blue portal, it will send you to the opposite side of the room. On the upswing, move towards your left through the green portal at the top of the room. This will then send you to the exit. It looks tight and almost like you won't make it, but you should get through if you hit the edge of the green portal.

Room 30 - Rotating Middle Platforms with Portal Swapping

This room has two different timing cycles. It takes two cycles of the portal color swapping for the platform turning in the middle to line up. Here's the setup that I've gotten to work best:

- Top 2 outside portals are Yellow
- The Green middle on the top row is facing to the right

Before the platforms change colors, you will jump into the yellow portal. After you exit, soon after the middle platform up top will turn yellow. Go into it (it will be facing towards the left top portal at this point). If you enter it on this weird angle, you will get a small jump to the bottom left portal enough to get into the exit for this room.

This can be very odd to do at first, but with some practice it becomes very repeatable.

Room 31 - Fall and Portal Jumping

When you enter this room, we're looking for the horizontal laser to go below the higher yellow portal. As soon as it does, jump into it. You will be flung out onto the platform next to the blue portal.

Once the laser is below the blue portal on the right half of the room, go through door and to the right to the green portal. When you enter that one, continue to the right and onto the top platform. You can drop down and finish this room.

Trying to anticipate the move through the blue portal too quickly can get you killed if the laser is on top of the blue portal on the right side. I died to this once or twice and then just found myself waiting a little longer to make it easier.

Room 32 - Moving Platform to Follow

This room starts right after you drop into it (I think the room eventually resets if you do nothing, but it's a long wait). As the platform moves, wait until it covers the laser above the blue portal. Drop through blue portal and wait at the edge. As the platform goes around the corner, jump onto it and off the left side as it passes the laser on the corner.

On the bottom portion, wait until the platform passes over the green and yellow portals at the edge (there is a definite error in programming here, but eh). Jump through the green portal and land on the platform. Jump down through the gap to our next room. Don't stand waiting next to the yellow portal too long as the platform will disappear and the laser can kill you.

NOTE: When falling into Room 31, be on the left edge of the transition. The right side will lead to a quick and unfortunate death for you.

Room 33 - Rotating Lasers on a Green and Yellow Portal

For this room, wait until the rotating platforms have the green and yellow portals facing straight up. Walk off the edge and fall into the green portal. You'll then need to control you jump into the yellow portal. You'll be aiming for the right end of it so you can push yourself to the right edge of the yellow portal at the top of the screen.

Once you land on the platform, you'll just wait for the lasers to both be firing up and then do a controller swerve around the laser into the next room.

Room 34 - Quick Fire Center Lasers

The lasers in the center here have a very short cooldown period. While your first thought is to have a quick dive down through it all, there is much more controller strategy here.

When the blue portal/laser rotates to have the portal be topside, you'll be aiming to jump into it. You'll start the drop right as it nears about 90 degrees from being facing straight up. As you enter the portal, you'll want to be holding . If you do this, you can land on the top laser of the middle section safely.

Wait here until you see the right platform in the right section rising above the left one's laser. This is your signal to make your move through the lasers. Right after you see the first one beginning to charge, you can make your move.

Once in the 3rd chamber, wait until the platforms are about to cross each other. As they do, jump over to the left platform. Ride it up until you can go into the green portal and fall into the next room.

NOTE: For this screen transition be on the right side. The left side has a gap that you can fall into and take an unintentional death.

Room 35 - Falling Portals

This room requires some patience. You'll want to fall into the yellow portal to start with. Then you can hit the green top of the moving platform 3-4 times before then falling to the blue portals. The key is to make sure you don't hit the green portal in the bottom row as it will send you to your death. Some practice will help you know where the platform can be in terms of where the portals will send you.

Room 36 - Launch through a Laser Wall

For this room, you'll want the green platform moving vertically to begin it's rise towards the top of the screen. You can fall between the two laser platforms and into the green portal at the bottom. This should fling you right next to the laser on the small ledge. I know the timing here can be a little rough where too early or late can send you into a bad situation, but I didn't have that happen much. Practice the launch a few times to make it easier.

The laser patterns are consistent for allowing you to jump through here, but if you're not expecting it, it can play a trick on you. Observe it so you know when the true gap is to go through.

Room 37 - Controlled Falling

You'll want to fall down a single platform when the laser blocking you is off. Once you reach the bottom platform, wait until the bottom two lasers turn off. They will turn off together at the same time. The green portal rotating in a circle will be aimed to the bottom left. You'll need to time your jump to be soon after the lasers turn off, but it should be manageable with some practice.

Room 38 - Portal Launching

This one isn't as hard it may first appear as long as you time it out right. When the green portal on the right is at the top of it's movement is when you want to fall down into the yellow portal. You vertical speeds will actually be roughly the same and you will be able to hit the green portal towards the height of it's upward path.

Room 39 - 2nd to Last Room

This room is difficult but repeatable once you get the idea down. After the laser on the right side of the room stops firing, you'll drop down into the blue portal. When you arrive in the top room, you'll follow behind the lasers as they fire in sequence. You need to be pretty quick with it though. If you're not following, the next cycle could catch you from behind. When the left side laser stops firing, go through the green portal and drop directly into the yellow one. When you come out of the yellow portal, land on the left side of the platform. When the right side laser stops firing, then drop into the last room.

The drop into the yellow portal is a little awkward. The yellow will be to the left of the green's drop point so you'll likely need to hold left a bit.

Room 40 - Last Room

There are a few sections here. Getting this down will be some work:

Section 1 - Fall and Rise
There are two strategies here. You can try to weave all the way down and back up (that's how I learned it). You can however drop down on top of the laser right below the yellow light on the left side. This can cut out some of the weaving. Either way, you need to be able to weave up the right side. This is going to be more about execution and practicing to get consistent than any tips I can offer. Similar to previous tips, do the run multiple times by just taking a death after reaching the top of the platform.

Section 2 - Quick Fire Laser
For this one, stand on top of the pole right before the section. When the laser is firing, begin moving to the left to drop in. From there, just keep jumping until you reach the other end.

Section 3 - Controlled Drops
There are 3 drops you need to make here. Smaller controlled drops are better than trying to skip some. For the first one, drop when the laser is firing to the right. Do the same for the second drop. For the last drop, wait till the laser is off to the left. One thing to be careful of here is that the laser can snipe you if you are too close to the edge of the platforms.

Section 4 - Laser Dodge
Really, there is only one laser to dodge if you're being extra careful. The laser sequence always adds one until it hits the end and then resets. Only the one on the far right needs you to go in between shots. You'll want to go right as the shot ends. Since the timing is very consistent for the on/off cycle, you can really time it out just by counting. I had a run end on the last laser in this room once and it is disheartening to say the least.

Last up is the jump over. Wait till portal in the central room is angled towards the right and up a little before going through. It will launch you to the door and finish.

This will take a lot of practice. At time of writing, I was down to 16 deaths at my best. I continued getting more consistent and learning, but those patterns should work best for everything.

Video of my eventual perfect run (as well as plenty of deaths and a choke). Oh and video of me being a complete idiot. Laughs had by all!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2088&v=FeVEp...