Soulframe Crypt puzzle guide: How to get the Circade Armor set

To get the Circade armor set in Soulframe, you must clear out two very elaborate puzzles in the Crypt of The Circade dungeon. The first of these is a gemstone puzzle that requires some coordinated cryptography, as only one of the Gemstone glyphs is revealed to an individual player during a single dungeon instance.

It's completely doable solo, because the order of activating them is always the same, and thanks to a joint community effort, this sequence has been figured out. So before we proceed, a big shoutout goes out to SaraLovesArchery and other pioneering community members for figuring out the Circade puzzle in Soulframe.

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Soulframe Circade Crypt - Gemstone puzzle order and walkthrough

Before you start with the process of solving the Circade Crypth puzzle in Soulframe, make sure you've already cleared out the boss, as you'll need to zig-zag across the arena quite a bit. In case you don't know about the other drop tied to the Crypt boss, here's how to get the Triune Talisman in Soulframe.

Now, assuming you've already cleared out the Circade boss in this specific instance, you must shoot (melee throw works too) ten Gemstones around the arena. This needs to be in the exact sequence that we've explained below.

First Gemstone (Image via Digital Extremes)

Stand at the center of the boss arena, and look around for walls with banners and the Circade insignia up above. The first Gemstone will be under one of these.

Second Gemstone (Image via Digital Extremes)

After you have activated it, turn to your left, and the second Gemstone is left of the staircase.

Third Gemstone (Image via Digital Extremes)

Go up the stairs and go towards your right, where you'll find the third Gemstone collapsed next to the wall.

Fourth Gemstone, seen from the location of the third one (Image via Digital Extremes)

From here, turn 180 degrees, and the fourth Gemstone can be seen from here across the arena, in the distance - at the base of a pillar on the floor.

Fifth Gemstone (Image via Digital Extremes)

Go back up the stairs next to the second Gemstone again, and turn left this time. The fifth Gemstone is at the corner next to the light-emitting blue dome.

Sixth Gemstone (Image via Digital Extremes)

The sixth Gemstone is also nearby, on the wall next to the candles.

Seventh Gemstone (Image via Digital Extremes)

Continue along the same way, and you'll see a statue facing away from you. The eighth Gemstone is crested inside its chest, but don't hit it before you've hit the seventh one - on another wall past the statue. Activate this one, and go back to the statue to activate the eighth Gemstone in the correct order.

Eighth Gemstone (Image via Digital Extremes)

After you have hit the statue chest, turn back 180 degrees, and then go left and down the stairs.

Ninth Gemstone (Image via Digital Extremes)

Continue along the wall to get up the stairs, then, after the turn, look for a flat square on the corner facing the center (there will be a good number of vases next to it). The ninth and penultimate Gemstone is on the top of this.

Final one (Image via Digital Extremes)

Turn back again, and go down the stairs - and the wall near you will have another statue with the tenth Gemstone in its chest. This is the final one. If you got the sequence correct, the door next to this statue will open after you shoot this final Gemstone.

The key thing to note is the correct sequence. In practice, soul-mode highlights the symbol attached to all of the Gemstones in the Crypt in Soulframe. Only the order shown here will open the gates to the second Crypt puzzle; if you get any of it wrong, or mistakenly hit a Gemstone out of turn, you should start over from scratch.

This completes the first phase of the Circade Crypt puzzle in Soulframe. Once you get to the room inside, though, another complicated puzzle awaits you.

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Soulframe Crypt Armor Room puzzle walkthrough

In the final Crypt puzzle room, where you get to unlock the Circade Armor set, your goal is to reveal three murals hidden behind drapes across three walls of the room. This involves lowering three big gates by placing busts on pressure-triggered altars, and burning down the drapes covering the murals.

Step 1: The First Bust

First Bust (Image via Digtial Extremes)

Once you enter this room, hug the right wall and go to the back corner. You have to pick up the bust found here and carry it over to the other end of the room (towards the side you came from). Heading back, you can find a place in the corner towards your left where you can deposit the bust, which opens the door next to it.

Place bust here (Image via Digital Extremes)

Enter this room, and pick up the torch inside. The next step to solve the Crypt room puzzle in Soulframe is not only to light up a number of braziers, but burn the bardings covering the three murals.

Step 2: Lighting The Braziers

Once you have picked up the torch, go back out of the door. Facing outwards, you will see a small doorway at the other end of the room, lit by a brazier inside. Go here to light up your torch. Now, you have to ignite five other braziers.

First Brazier (Image via Digital Extremes)

The first brazier can be found at the closed door next to the bust you picked up earlier. Lighting this up opens the door.

Brazier #2 and #3 in Soulframe crypt puzzle (Image via Digital Extremes)

Now, once you face the center of the room from this location, you can already see the two other braziers close nearby.

• Brazier #2 is directly ahead (use the image below for reference), halfway along the room. Lighting this one up will make some nearby hidden stairs extend out of the wall.
• Brazier #3 is towards your right-hand side, next to a tiny hidden chamber that's revealed once you light it. Inside, there's a brass pressure plate on the wall, but that's for later.

Light all three (the order doesn't matter), and then head back to the door that opened up next to Brazier #1. This room will have another bust on the floor, which you need to pick up now.

Place second bust here (Image via Digital Extremes)

With the second bust in hand, head to the newly materialized stairs next to Brazier #2, and put it down on the altar here. This raises the iron gates right ahead, revealing another bundle of torches, and further back into the dark, there's a piece of cloth hanging off wooden panelling - this is what hides the Murals in the Circade Armor Puzzle room in Soulframe.

Burning three of these is required to beat the puzzle (Image via Digital Extremes)

You have to swing a lit torch here to set it on fire, which burns both the drapes and the wood.

(You can either pick up a new torch here and light it from the brazier nearby, or use the first lit torch you dropped in the bust room earlier - it doesn't matter which one you use.)

You need to deposit the torch so as to pick it up beyond the water curtain (Image via Digital Extremes)

Go back down the stairs, and then turn to your right. Move past Brazier #3 from earlier, where you can find a water curtain. From here, go up the stairs to your right to stand on a pressure plate, which reveals another small chamber you can slip into. Once you're in, you can lay down the torch in the opening to your left (sort of like a drive-through window).

Go back out, head through the water curtain, and then retrieve the lit torch and light the fifth brazier here. This raises the grates ahead (where you can find yet another bust), and reveals a passage to your left. Pick up the bust, go through the passage, pop it down on the altar here.

Like the last time, this again opens the gate to a room where you have to set fire to yet another cloth hanging off the wall. Thankfully, you dropped your torch very close by.

The final bust (Image via Digital Extremes)

Once you have done the cloth-burning routine here, turn around and go past the altar, and you can drop down to find another bust in the rubble of a coffin just ahead.

Step 3: The Drawbridge Shenanigans

The main pressure plate to trigger for this final bit (Image via Digital Extremes)

Next to Brazier #3, you can throw your sword into the pressure plate on the wall. You need to use a proper melee weapon or a dagger (secondary) here - bows or flyblades won't cut it.

Drop the bust (press R), and then throw your blade into it. This opens the drawbridge. The plate self-deactivates after a while, and the drawbridge retracts. However, pulling your blade back reactivates it again, which is the trick we'll be using soon.

You have to get the bust across (Image via Digtial Extremes)

With your blade lodged into the pressure plate, pick up the bust again, and carry it to the first altar where you placed bust #2 on. Here, you want to go to the crystal dome emitting blue light. The drawbridge will most likely retract by now. If it doesn't, let it.

Now, here's the very time-sensitive part: go right up to the edge, put the bust down (R), and then retrieve your blade (middle-mouse button) to open the drawbridges. Immediately pick up the bust and go across.

Turn to your right, and you'll see another altar - but there's another gap you need to get across. Drop the bust right at the edge like last time, and drop down below. The pressure plate chamber is exactly at this location. Lodge your blade into it yet again, and then climb back up to the location of the bust.

Like before, just to be safe, you should let the drawbridges retract, and then call back your blade to re-activate them before you carry the bust across. Placing the bust reveals yet another chamber where you need to burn the cloth. Thankfully, without the hauling handicap, you can just jump across the gaps, so it won't take long to bring a torch here.

After you ignite this final drape, Circade will say: "Well played, Jotar", signalling that the puzzle is now solved. Go back to the coffin at the center of the room. The guard rails around it will now be withdrawn, and you can interact with the coffin to reveal Circade and get his armor set.

The Circade armor (Image via Digital Extremes)

With that, you have now beaten all the puzzles in the Circade Crypt in Soulframe. Your reward, a fully crafted armor set, awaits you in the Nightfold.

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How good is the Circade Armor set in Soulframe?

The Circade Armor set is mainly focused on Physical defense, with very little overall stability and Magical defense. Aside from the fashion-frame applications of a traditional medieval metal cuirass, it's quite mediocre and far from the best in Soulframe. Here's the stats:

Armor Piece	Physical	Magick	Stability
Deceiver's Helm	5	0	0
Rascal's Gutguard	7	2	2
Shifter's Grieves	4	0	2
Full Set	16	2	4

Overall, its biggest strong point is the fact that you don't have to craft it. If you manage to get into the Circade Crypt in Soulframe early on and solve both puzzles, this is a great early-game default armor replacement.

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Anyhow, that's all about the Circade Crypt puzzle in Soulframe. As of Preludes 10, it's not known whether it will be available forever, as Festival of the Circade was originally referred to as an event - so farm the armor set when you can.

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Check out our other guides on the game:

• Soulframe Joineries and reforging guide
• Soulframe beginner tips
• Soulframe: Orengall Pact guide
• Soulframe: Oscelda pact guide