Representing some of the most confounding brainteasers in all of Teyvat, contemplation puzzles have stumped 75% of players according to surveys. Introduced in Genshin Impact‘s Version 3.0 update along with the new Sumeru region, these abstract logic puzzles directly weave into pivotal quests, containing clues essential to unraveling the mysteries of dreams and memories permeating the rainforest nation.
A contemplation puzzle cube from Genshin Impact‘s "Aranyaka" World Quest series
Solving contemplation puzzles requires piecing together strings of conceptual associations to derive layered interpretations, guiding you to an intended conclusion. Their cerebral nature and sparse in-game guidance reliably manage to bewilder most players on first encountering them.
If you find yourself lost in the imagined labyrinths of these puzzles, this comprehensive guide aims to fully decode their mechanisms, map out solutions, and highlight insights into their connections back to broader Genshin lore.
How Do Contemplation Puzzles Work?
Unique to Genshin‘s Sumeru expansion, contemplation puzzles serve as multifaceted thought experiments gatekeeping progress in certain quests. Specifically, they manifest visually as sequences of floating cube-shaped "blocks" with words or phrases written on each face.
During puzzles, you view these cubes from your character‘s perspective in first-person. You must link conceptual blocks in logical order by choosing an interpretation of each one. Following this chain of associative interpretations ultimately leads you to make a conclusion selection to solve the puzzle.
The key lies in discerning the underlying connections between the presented concepts using your knowledge of contextual quest lore and themes. Otherwise, choices appear almost random at first glance without tapping into that insight.
These puzzles intentionally demand sharp intuition, perception, creativity and critical thinking to decode rather than pure mechanical skill. Their highly abstract nature also ties directly into the symbolic motifs of dreams, memory, and inner wisdom permeating both the forest region and people of Sumeru.
Why Do Players Struggle With Contemplation Puzzles?
Given their sheer novelty as a puzzle mechanism never before seen in Genshin, contemplation puzzles remain shrouded in mystery for most players first discovering them. Their non-linear format focused on interpretiveassociation offers nearly endless permutation combinations to sift through logically, with few ways to brute force solutions via guessing.
Without broader understanding of the themes and lore related to each puzzle tied back to their associated quests, discerning the intended logic leaps through conceptual links feels cryptic.
Exacerbating such struggles, no tangible board or pieces exist to manipulate. Visual and textual clues provided in-game also prove exceedingly sparse.
Genshin Lore Connections
While mechanical comprehension remains key, what truly unlocks grasping each puzzle comes from unraveling wider connections back to narrative context focused on elements like:
- Dreams vs Reality: spaces that disappear, the world being an illusion
- Memory: bodily recollection, mnenomic resets
- Cycles of Time: yearly festivals, déjà vu
- The Akasha System: information control center
- Sumeru God Figures: Lord Rukkhadevata, God of Dreams
Internalizing linked themes surrounding dreams, memory, and time featured across multiple quests in Sumeru allows properly interpreting the meaning behind concepts that initially appear non-sequitur without such perspective.
Contemplation Puzzle Tips
When confronted with these cryptic cubes, keep the following tips in mind:
- Analyze all visible words/phrases on blocks carefully before interacting
- Take time considering potential associations between concepts
- Mentally review lore and dialogues from related quests
- Take notes on themes that might connect blocks
- Think flexibly and tap creativity in logical leaping!
Now let‘s guide you through solving each of the 9 contemplation puzzle cubes currently found in the rainforest region…
Contemplation Puzzle #1
Question: With what you know so far, what do you think the truth is?
Solution Path:
- Sabzeruz Festival Samsara > Interpret
- Deja Vu > Trigger Association
- Time Loop > Interpret
- Submit Conclusion
Conclusion: We‘ve Been Trapped in a Time Loop
The first contemplation puzzle exemplifies their tendency to start players off with more mystifying choices upfront linked back to local lore.
Here, the Sabzeruz Festival refers to a yearly holiday that residents of Sumeru seem trapped reliving in a cyclical nature.
Next, the classic phenomenon of déjà vu suggests itself as an associative trigger tied to the festival‘s repetitive quality.
Finally, pulling both conceptual threads together, selecting Time Loop as the final interpretive jump cements the underlying truth that visitors and citizens alike find themselves stuck replaying the same holiday season over and over in an endless recursion.
Notably, this conclusion directly feeds into later revelations uncovered in the Archon quest surrounding dream worlds constructed by the Akasha system that entrap most Sumeru residents unknowingly in repeating time phenomena.
Quest Lore Connections:
- Sabzeruz Festival introduced early on implying yearly cyclical nature
- Sumeru characters express feeling like they‘ve lived through the festival before
- Ties to later reveals of memory wiping and constructed dream worlds
Contemplation Puzzle #2
Question: We need to say something convincing…
Solution Path:
- Dehya‘s Claymore > Interpret
- Submit Conclusion
Conclusion: You Don‘t Actually Have a Vision
Puzzling at first glance, the choice provided alongside the quest prompt clues players into realizing this second contemplation puzzle hinges on simply making our case believably to proceed through the guarded doorway rather than solving a complex conceptual logic trail.
The context involves your character disguising themselves as Dehya, a mercanary who recently arrives at the Akademiya gates along with you separately. To avoid rousing suspicion while impersonating her, choosing Dehya‘s Claymore as physical evidence of a Vision you do not actually possess proves sufficient here to bluff your way past guards familiar with her appearance.
Quest Lore Connections:
- Dehya shown wielding a massive claymore in earlier cutscenes
- Vision holders praised in Sumeru‘s academic society
- Bluffing to gain entry matches narrative need in disguise plot
Contemplation Puzzle #3
Question: Oh yeah, that sounds about right, what do you think?
Solution Path:
- Abnormal Mental Fatigue > Interpret
- Submit Conclusion
Conclusion: We‘re All Living in a Dream
The third contemplation puzzle follows suit in plainly selecting the phrase presented which most directly matches assertions already being discussed regarding the dream reality those trapped in Sumeru City find themselves experiencing unknowingly.
Choices provided may initially appear random, but consistently align with clues contained in associated quest dialogues that allude to a constructed illusion replacing a true reality. Here, abnormal mental fatigue accurately describes reported symptoms of those residents while legitimating the hypothesis put forth.
Quest Lore Connections:
- NPCs complain of exhaustion disproportionate to daily activity
- Dream realm housing most citizens foreshadowed
- Confusion and haziness of recall referenced
Contemplation Puzzle #4
Question: So what‘s your new hypothesis?
Solution Path:
- Bodily Memories > Interpret
- The Akasha‘s Sound > Trigger Association
- Memories Are Deleted Everyday > Interpret
- Submit Conclusion
Conclusion: The Akasha Resets People‘s Memories
By the fourth contemplation puzzle, interpreting chains of conceptual associations grows essential compared to simply matching phrases directly.
Here, we link memories tied to physicality back to the idea that specific sounds can actually trigger or surface memories. This leads to the assertion that the Akasha system actively resets or erases people‘s memories on a daily basis.
This solution plays directly into pivotal revelations being uncovered around how the Akasha stole Sumerians‘ dreams and souls through the process of replicating them within algorithmically-generated dream worlds to fuel their perceived utopia in reality.
Quest Lore Connections:
- Akasha described acting as a giant Gnostic hypostasis
- Process of copying minds references stealing dreams
- Forgetting, disappearing dreams called out
- Sound shown to disrupt illusion briefly
Contemplation Puzzle #5
Question: Traveler, what do you think that "Final Space" could have been?
Solution Path:
- The Space Where We Were Yesterday > Interpret
- Submit Conclusion
Conclusion: A Dream
Continuing the thread of dream versus reality woven across multiple contemplation puzzles, we determine here that the final location visited previously being referenced exists within a phantasmal dreamscape rather than bearing any physical substance.
No tangible spaces shift or disappear in practice. Rather, the realm itself proves ephemeral, further hinting that characters stand immersed within illusion constructed by the Akasha, reinforced by returning to the dream interpretation.
Quest Lore Connections:
- Quest revolves around entering dream worlds
- Vision hunt decree showed living in fake reality
- Dream realm falling apart referenced
Contemplation Puzzle #6
Question: Hehe, okay, first off… Have you discovered the hidden truth?
Solution Path:
- People From Sumeru Do Not Dream > Interpret
- Spaces Without Human Presence > Interpret
- People From Sumeru Do Not Dream > Associate
- Dreams With No Human Presence > Trigger Association
- The Truth Behind Dreams > Interpret
- Submit Conclusion
Conclusion: Dreams Have Been Confiscated
Unusual compared to puzzles focused solely on matching phrases, Puzzle #6 intersperses multiple interpretation and association steps before piecing together the climatic hidden truth buried behind disappearing dreams noted by multiple characters.
We first establish that most Sumeru residents lack dreams or ability to dream before tying this to spaces without human existence or presence. These two concepts link together to trigger the assertion that dreams themselves go missing or stand absent.
Finally, we conclude that dreams have been actively "confiscated" or stolen from people and hidden away out of reach. This frankly disturbing revelation cascades into later discoveries about how exactly the Akasha strips away and replicates people‘s dream worlds to fuel algorithmic paradises.
Quest Lore Connections:
- Sumeru characters state they do not dream
- Dream worlds referenced but unseen
- Akasha described stealing dreams/data
- Souls processed while asleep
Contemplation Puzzle #7
Question: Correct answer. Now, how did you conclude that the Akasha is capable of this?
Solution Path:
- The Akasha Is a Manifestation of the God of Wisdom‘s Power > Interpret
- Submit Conclusion
Conclusion: Because It Possesses God-Like Power
By the seventh contemplation puzzle, the truth behind the Akasha system enabling Sumerians‘ peaceful utopia—at a horrifically steep hidden cost—stands clearly outlined. After uncovering its connection to confiscated dreams and replicated souls, we reinforce this discovery by asserting the Akasha bears the God of Wisdom‘s power.
This crucial insight ties back to emerging lore dropped regarding the Archon, Lord Rukkhadevata, and the special tree Alrani that branches across the rainforest region distribution wisdom. It also connects to the withering process referenced numerous times that could cripple the Akasha entirely if its roots perished.
Quest Lore Connections:
- Rukkhadevata described as god of the woods
- Alrani tree and withering called out
- Akasha granted archon-level power
Contemplation Puzzle #8
Question: Oh? By the sounds of it, you understand the current situation pretty well. So then, what about this Samsara?
Solution Path:
- The Appearance and Disappearance of Spaces > Interpret
- The Appearance and Disappearance of Dreams > Interpret
- The Sabzeruz Festival Samsara > Interpret
- The Appearance and Disappearance of Dreams > Associate
- The Sabzeruz Festival Samsara > Trigger Association
- Submit Conclusion
Conclusion: Sumeru is Trapped in the Cycle of Samsara Where Dreams Disappear
Unraveling the complex mechanisms behind trapping Sumeru citizens in an endless festival time loop year after year, this penultimate puzzle has you chart associative links between disappearing spaces and dreams. Their entanglement with the recurring seasonal holiday then triggers the overarching samsara interpretation.
Piecing together concepts centered on cyclical non-linear existence and vanishing dream worlds completes revelations regarding the tragic nature of the system deceiving innocent residents displaying cheer during Sabzeruz in ignorance of their stolen realities.
Quest Lore Connections:
- Sabzeruz Festival shown early on in perpetual loop
- Dream worlds referenced as embedded cycles
- NPCs express déjà vu during holiday season
Contemplation Puzzle #9
Question: Alright, last question… Who am I?
Solution Path:
- The Moon > Interpret
- Submit Conclusion
Conclusion: You‘re the God of Dreams
For the climatic final contemplation puzzle, selecting the moon as an interpretive symbol for sleep and dreams elegantly ties back to discovering the true identity of the quest giver who guides you through these trials.
Having aided players in gradually unraveling the obscure mysteries enshrouding the dream realm all along, this culminating riddle asks you to reflect on lunar associations with dreams one last time. Choosing this metaphorical block reveals their identity as the God of Dreams themself in a dramatic flourish.
Quest Lore Connections:
- God of Dreams referenced early on
- Guiding players through dream worlds
- Reveal planned narratively as surprise
Through their defiantly abstract conceptual nature intricately bound to narrative context, Contemplation Puzzles meaningfully expand Genshin Impact’s repertoire of brainteaser designs demanding more than computational logic to solve.
Instead, they immerse investigative players directly in navigating webs of meaning centered around dreams, memory, time, and wisdom. Their non-linear format requires broad yet focused perception informed by quest knowledge to interpret intelligently, just as characters embroiled in unfolding events awaken to question the nature of their fabricated realities in parallel.
Unclouding the obscurities and mysteries pervading both Akademiya questlines and the inner lives of Sumeru’s populace ultimately hinges on broadening imagination when interfacing with Contemplation Puzzles. Only through integrated understanding can we sequence the chains of associative logic encrypted within these cubes.
In turn, navigating the maze of links between everything from transient worlds and ephemeral history allows us to confidently grasp the thematic revelations being surfaced, untangling storylines woven throughout Sumeru’s extensive stored wisdom.
So when confronted with cubes awaiting contemplative inputs, remember that finding solutions relies most on unifying knowledge into wisdom through flexible, creative logic able to decrypt their encoded messages.
