Safe Boxes are the Cradle's loot piñatas: short-hack puzzles tucked into every sector that cough up Upgrade Components, Pure Lunum, Mods, and the occasional weapon part. There are roughly 67 of them in total, and they are by far the most frequent collectible in the game.
What They Are
A Safe Box is a sealed metal crate with a small hacking node on the front. Point, hold to scan, and solve the short grid-hack minigame — the box pops open and drops its contents. They are almost always stashed in plain sight: on top of a catwalk, around the corner from a checkpoint, or behind a short side-path. The game's 100% completion ring fills as you open them.
Rewards scale with the sector you're in — late-game Safe Boxes often contain two Upgrade Components or a chunk of Pure Lunum at once.
Total Count
About 67 Safe Boxes across the six playable sectors. The distribution:
| Sector | Count |
|---|---|
| Sector 1 · Solar Power Plant | 3 |
| Sector 2 · Mass Production Array | 15 |
| Sector 3 · Terra Dome | 19 |
| Sector 4 · Lunum Mines | 17 |
| Sector 6 · Central Port | 13 |
Sector 5 (Experimental Pragmatics Lab) is a short story beat with no Safe Boxes of its own.
Locations by Sector
Sector 1 · Solar Power Plant
- Power Distribution Center #1 — on the bridge, before the five-lock door
- Power Distribution Center #2 — behind a blue Lim barrier (come back with the Lim Eraser)
- Power Distribution Center #3 — at the very bottom of the laser-drop area after you solve the red-node chain
Sector 2 · Mass Production Array
- Mass Production Entrance — three boxes (two behind Lim barriers)
- Shopping District — five boxes spread across the food court and upper walkway
- Side Alley — one near the vehicle blockade
- Business District — three boxes, two are Lim-barrier locked
- Lim Recycling Facility — three more, all near the giant doll boss arena
Sector 3 · Terra Dome
- Terra Dome Entrance — five boxes across the greenhouse floor
- Eco Modeling Lab — four, scattered through the split-path puzzle rooms
- Soil Research Center — ten Safe Boxes here, the densest cluster in the game; many are gated by invisible-enemy fights or side elevators
The Soil Research Center stretch alone will add a couple hundred Upgrade Components to your bank — don't skip it.
Sector 4 · Lunum Mines
- Lunum Mines Entrance — three boxes around the first excavator
- Crane Area — three more along the scaffolds
- Warehouse — five boxes, tied into the box-stacking hack puzzles
- Main Excavation Site — four around the central pit
- Tower Access Point — two final boxes on the climb to the boss
Sector 6 · Central Port
- Research Sector — two near the save room
- Regolith Lab — two on the sub-level stairs
- Lunafilament Lab — four boxes, most behind Cleanse gates
- Space Elevator — five more on the climb; the last pair sit on the final platform
Tips
- Always check the ceiling and the roof. Roughly a third of Safe Boxes are placed on top of obstacles, not beside them.
- Lim-barrier boxes are a later-game sweep. Don't burn time on the first pass — mark them mentally and circle back once you unlock the Lim Eraser.
- The hack minigame scales. Late-sector boxes have more grid nodes; equip Mods that extend your hack window before attacking Sector 3 and Sector 4 clusters.
- Reset doesn't refill them. Once opened, a Safe Box stays opened until New Game Plus or the Unknown Signal mode resets the map.
See Also
- Upgrade Components — the most common Safe Box drop
- Pure Lunum — the other currency hiding inside
- Red Gate Keys — a few Safe Boxes live inside Red Zones
- Walkthrough · Sector 3 — the biggest Safe Box stretch in one place