Project Songbird: Act 1 Walkthrough – Items, Puzzles & Maze

Act 1 overview – what this guide covers

This guide takes you cleanly through all of Act 1 in Project Songbird: the apartment prologue, Dakota’s first four days at the cabin, every important item (flashlight, batteries, scrap, bullets, fuse, pump tools), the full pump valve solution, and the entire mannequin/office maze sequence including the guillotine lever and first enemy encounter.

I’ll assume you want minimal backtracking and maximum safety. Whenever there’s a choice of paths, I’ll point out which route I found fastest and where I grabbed extra resources for later chapters.

Prologue – apartment and meta setup

Once you first gain control, you’re in Dakota’s bedroom in her apartment. This section is mostly scene-setting, but there are a lot of interactables if you like lore:

• Check the PC on the desk to talk to Conner Rush and confirm the content warnings. Choose whatever settings you’re comfortable with and start the game proper.
• Optional context items: guitar at the foot of the bed, silver record on the wall, and the closet all give flavour text.
• In the hallway and living room, you can examine the cello, bike over the record player, vintage camera, and bong for more background on Dakota/Neon Songbird.

Nothing here is missable gameplay-wise. When you’re done looking around, watch the long intro sequence that leads to the cabin.

Day 1 – arriving at the cabin

Once you’re in control near the lake, you’re officially in Act 1, Day 1.

• Walk up to the boat and pick up the box.
• Follow the steps up and along the path toward the cabin.
• Enter the cabin and place the box on the table inside.

From this point, you can open Dakota’s journal with D-pad Up (controller) – I recommend glancing at it regularly; it reinforces what the game expects you to do next.

Now grab the key items in the cabin area:

• On a table around the corner from the record player, pick up the flashlight. You’ll need this for all night segments.
• Outside, Dakota will comment that there’s no service. On the right, loot painkillers from the wooden mailbox post.
• Behind the cabin, on a table near supplies, grab the blue clean water filter. This is important for the pump puzzle later.

Once you’ve checked these and explored as much as you like, Day 1 ends automatically when you finish looking around and rest.

Day 2 – scratch track and first forest exploration

Day 2 starts with Dakota trying to lay down a scratch track.

• Interact with the guitars, then the bass, then drums, then keyboard. Pick any options; your choices here don’t affect puzzles.
• After Dakota rejects the track, she decides to walk it off. Head outside.

From here, you’ll start learning the layout of the woods, plus a few critical item routes.

Field recorder and first side paths

From the front of the cabin, go left toward the green hose. You’ll see a forest path.

• Follow this path until you hear your field recorder beeping. You can equip it by holding the inventory button (Triangle on PS5) and selecting it.
• At this stage you can’t actually record yet; the beeping just teaches you that certain spots have unique sounds.

Continue until you reach a sign and chain-link fence, with a radio tower beyond.

• Use your axe from the backpack to break the wooden boards blocking the path.
• At the top platform, you’ll see a closed box you cannot open yet. On the left railing, pick up your first scrap metal.

Scrap is what you’ll use later to upgrade the axe, so get into the habit of grabbing every piece you see.

Backtrack down. As you move away from the tower, watch for a short rocky dead-end path to the right – just note it for now; there’s nothing vital here yet.

Church path, bullets, scrap, and first recording

Return to near the cabin and look for another boarded path opposite it.

• Break the boards with your axe and follow the path to Tucker County Methodist Church.
• You can’t break the padlock, but on a blue drum outside the church is a single 9mm bullet – grab it for later gun use.

Turn around from the church:

• Take the path going left, then left again under two fallen logs (crouch to pass).
• Follow this path to a broken bridge. If you instead go up the hill nearby, you’ll find a flower field and more scrap metal.
• Stand where you can see the water under the broken bridge, equip the field recorder, and record the sound of the rushing water. This is one of the earliest recordable spots.
• Keep following the trail for additional scrap metal.
• Under a tree you’ll find a disturbing painting. Examine it to move the story forward.

Right after inspecting the painting, you’ll hear a noise back at the cabin. Return there to find the front door open but no one inside. This is your cue to head toward the pump house.

Reaching the pump house and first workbench

From the cabin door, follow the path straight across toward the sign marked Pump House.

• Inside, you’ll see blue and red taps and written instructions on changing the filter. Remember this location – it’s puzzle-central for Day 3.
• On one side is a weapon workbench. Right now you only have the axe, but you can see future upgrade options.
• Behind you, on a small bench, collect the monkey wrench and more scrap metal.

Once you’ve checked everything here and head back and settle in, Day 2 will wrap up.

Night 2 – flashlight and battery

You wake up in the middle of the night to your first proper darkness segment.

• Grab the flashlight (if Dakota set it down) and a fresh battery from the table beside the bed.
• Turn the flashlight on and walk around to the back of the house.
• A swarm of crows will jump-scare you, ending Night 2.

Nothing here is missable; just don’t forget the battery, since it gives you a small buffer for the next night sequence.

Day 3 – solving the pump valve puzzle

Day 3 is about fixing the cabin’s water. Head straight back to the pump house from the cabin.

At the pump, do the following in order:

• Turn the blue main valve OFF first. This is crucial; if it’s on, the sequence won’t register correctly.
• Look to the left at the three smaller valves marked with X, Square, and an almost-broken Triangle icon.
• Use this exact order:
  • Turn X once.
  • Turn X again (that’s twice total on X).
  • Turn Square once.
  • Turn Triangle twice.
  • Turn Square one more time.
• Now go back and turn the main blue valve ON again.

With that done, return to the cabin’s spigot outside and interact with it. You should now get clean running water and a short cutscene confirming success.

If the water doesn’t work, you likely either forgot to shut off the blue valve before the sequence or miscounted one of the turns. Reset by turning valves a few times, then carefully repeat the exact order with the main valve off.

Night 3 – office nightmare and first enemy

This is the biggest chunk of Act 1: a surreal office complex with an enemy, puzzles, the mannequin sequence, and several key items.

Reaching the office and looting floor 1

When Dakota wakes again, go outside and follow the dark cloud through the woods, over the previously broken bridge, into a clearing, and finally through a glowing red door. You’ll appear in an office hallway.

Reaching the office and looting floor 1

When Dakota wakes again, go outside and follow the dark cloud through the woods, over the previously broken bridge, into a clearing, and finally through a glowing red door. You’ll appear in an office hallway.

• Check the noticeboard if you like lore, then go down the hall.
• Open the first door on the right – a conference room. On the table is a battery; grab it.
• Across the hall, enter the kitchen. On the kitchen table is another 9mm bullet.
• Back in the hall, walk toward the eye symbol painted on the far wall, then turn left toward the door with a red light.
• Before that door, pick up the scrap metal from the stool on the right.

Go through the red-lit door, up the stairs, to reach a reception-like area full of mannequin imagery.

• On the coffee table here, pick up another battery.
• There’s a locked box under the “Fragile is the Throat” scrawl – remember this spot, you’ll come back later.

In the side room just off reception (near another eye drawing), you’ll find a weapon bench again. If you’ve been diligent with scrap, you should have enough to upgrade the axe’s damage now. I strongly recommend doing it before the upcoming enemy encounter; it makes a direct fight survivable if you slip up.

Cubicle maze, screwdriver and fuse

From reception, go through the other door into a corridor with toilets, an elevator, and a far door.

• Check the toilets first – on a small table is a bullet.
• The elevator here is inactive for now.
• Go through the door at the far end to enter a large office full of cubicles.

To navigate the maze and avoid wandering aimlessly, use this route:

• From where you enter, hug the right side and walk straight until you see a TV ahead.
• On the right of the TV is a glass-fronted office. Go inside and loot:
  • Bullet from the desk.
  • Screwdriver from the same desk – this is crucial.
• Exit the office, then take the path behind the TV. Count three right turns between cubicles and take the third right.
• Follow that path to another door leading out of the cubicle room.

In the next room:

• Grab the scrap metal from shelves on the left.
• The door at the end is jammed, so turn right and interact with the vent cover.
• Use the screwdriver to open the vent and crawl inside.

Inside the vents, use your camera flash periodically to see where you’re going.

• At a four-way intersection, take the right path to find a small alcove with painkillers behind bars.
• Continue along this path until you drop out into a storage room.
• Crouch under the fallen shelf to move deeper.
• On a shelf to the left is more scrap metal.
• At the end of the path, on a table, pick up the fuse.

Now you need to backtrack toward the cubicles. This is where the first real enemy appears.

First tree monster – stealth vs. fight

As you approach the cubicle room again, the tree-like monster spawns and starts patrolling.

• Equip your axe if it isn’t already (and preferably upgraded).
• Stay crouched as much as possible and listen for its distorted audio cues.
• The simplest plan is to hug the same path you used earlier in reverse – aim for the door with the red light you initially used.

I’ve had the most success just sprinting past once I know the layout, but if it corners you:

• Hold R2 (or your block button) to block its attack, which reduces damage enough to survive.
• Immediately run after blocking; don’t try to trade multiple hits in a row.
• If you upgraded the axe, a couple of well-timed swings can kill it, but it’s riskier than simply avoiding it.

Once you reach the fuse room near the elevator lobby, place the picture you picked up earlier on the sacrificial altar. You’ll need more of these soon, and this also effectively “activates” the area.

Install the fuse so you can finally power the elevator. Call it, step inside, and ride up to the next section.

Mannequin corridor loop and Tick Tock puzzle (arm/leg)

When the elevator stops, exit and go right. You’ll find two doors marked with II and III.

• Start with the door labeled II. This leads into a looping corridor.
• Walk it repeatedly; you’ll see a mannequin with a sign: “Make me whole again.”
• Keep going until a new door appears. Inside, you’ll find the mannequin’s leg. Take it back to the mannequin and attach it.

Run the loop again. This time, another new door opens into a meeting room containing the clock puzzle for the mannequin’s arm.

• On the table is a bullet.
• Turn on the radio and listen to the message – this primes the puzzle.
• There’s a box on the table labeled TICK TOCK that won’t open yet.
• Look at the three clocks in the room and the two whiteboards with sketches of birds and times:
  • Clock with birds perched: set to 7:35.
  • Clock with birds flying: set to 9:45.

Once the clocks are set correctly, open the TICK TOCK box to collect the mannequin arm. Attach this to the mannequin in the looping hallway as you did with the leg.

Guillotine lever, cross key, and room III

With the arm attached, another route opens:

• A new door on the right leads to a room with a wall-mounted guillotine valve mechanism that’s missing a piece.
• In the next room along this path, pick up:
  • A bullet from the shelf.
  • The cross key hanging on a hook on the wall.

Back in the main corridor, you’ll now notice neon signs guiding your path.

• Before following them, check a nearby closet for extra scrap metal.
• Now follow the neon signage to the door marked III.
• Inside is a larger mannequin-filled room. On a table at the far end is another picture for the altar.
• The tree monster patrols here as well, so either hug the edges and crouch-walk or be ready to block and run.
• There’s also a painkiller on the floor in this room; it’s easy to miss in the chaos, but worth grabbing.

Exit back to the central area and take the elevator down again.

Remember the locked box under the “Fragile is the Throat” scribble in reception? Now that things have progressed, you can open it and retrieve the guillotine lever. This is the missing piece for the mechanism you saw earlier.

Before heading back up, go into the red door room near the fuse altar and place your second picture in the fire.

Completing the mannequin (head) and finishing Act 1

Ride the elevator up again, turn right, then left to go down the stairs. Take the first door on the right to reach the guillotine room.

• Install the guillotine lever and use it to drop the blade and obtain the mannequin head.
• Before leaving, pick up one of the green bottles from the room. You can throw this down a hallway to distract the monster if you don’t want to fight.

Take the head back to the mannequin in the main looping corridor, but watch for the enemy:

• If you prefer stealth, toss the bottle to lure the monster away, then slip past.
• If you prefer combat and have an upgraded axe, time a block then swing twice or so while it recovers, repeating until it goes down.

Once you place the head, the mannequin is complete. Go down the stairs again; a new picture will be available at the bottom. Grab it.

Return via the elevator to the sacrificial area:

• Put the final picture into the pyre in the red door room.
• Step through the newly opened red door.
• Answer the phone on the stool.

You’ll snap back to Dakota’s apartment. Walk into the living room and answer the ringing phone again, then leave through the front door to a grassy space and on into Finn’s studio to listen to their conversation. When this sequence concludes, Night 3 is effectively over.

Day 4 – returning to the cabin and ending Act 1

Day 4 starts back in the woods.

• Head down the familiar path back to the cabin.
• Entering and progressing a bit here will trigger the end of Act 1.

If you followed this route, you should finish Act 1 with your axe upgraded, a decent stock of bullets, scrap, and painkillers, and all key puzzles solved without excess wandering – leaving you in good shape for the much harsher sequences that follow.