The Kitatcho Laboratories - Chapter 3

Warning!

The following article contains major spoilers. Please play the maps first before reading this article.

### Release date

December 15, 2023

**The Kitatcho Laboratories - Chapter 3**, often abbreviated as **TKL3**, downloadable here is the third part of the adventure puzzle map quadrology called "The Kitatcho Laboratories". Unlike its predecessors, it contains 20 Test Chambers across 2 Testing Tracks. It also features an original soundtrack and a fully voice-acted story, continuing the storyline of Kitatcho.

# Release

What originally started off as just Chapter 3 grew out of control so quickly, that the team made the decision to split the map into Chapter 3 & 4 on October 25th 2023. Chapter 3 released on the **15th of December 2023 at 6PM EST**.

# Plot

The player, taking on TS-03's role once again, is woken up from cryogenic sleep far into the future after the other chapters. The Kitatcho Laboratories facility is completely run-down and evacuated by this point and overgrowth has started to set in. The player will navigate two Test Tracks, TT05 and TT08, in an attempt to get to the surface and escape.

Along this path, TS-03 will come across several secret areas featuring remains of the facility, from which they will learn more about its history and wrongdoings.

# Length

Unlike its predecessors, Chapter 3 is divided into three Acts, with three Scenes each. According to the map's starting information, the beginning of an Act or Scene makes a good resting point for the map because the playtime can range "between 7-9 hours".

# Progression

The player wakes up in Cryo-Tank Sector A, and is notified by a Repair Bot that the facility has reached a critical level of disrepair, and TS-03 is released to make a final attempt at escaping the facility alive. They leave the sector and find no other way than towards TT05, which contains 10 Chambers:

* Chamber 01: Back to Basics
* Chamber 02: Switchlock
* Chamber 03: Drawbridge
* Chamber 04: Photonic Walkways
* Chamber 05: Target Timers
* Chamber 06: No Hands
* Chamber 07: Trifecta
* Chamber 08: Prolongation
* Chamber 09: Workaround
* Chamber 10: Mix 'n' Match

After finishing the Test Track, TS-03 is blocked from reaching the usual Testers Reward Program of the Track, and needs to take a detour. After meeting Jake through the pre-recorded message system, they need to collect two keys (levers) in the Kitatcho Railways. With these, they unlock their way to Kitatcho Town, where they are required to register themselves as authorized to access TT08. To do this, they need to unlock the Employee Registration in the Town Hall by completing a Scavenger Hunt of Books throughout the Town, which was left by an employee who was bullied into quitting. Then, they make their way through Test Track 8, which also has 10 Chambers:

No, seriously!

The stuff below seriously spoils when happens in this Chapter. We strongly recommend not continuing if you have not experienced this first-hand.

After finishing this track, TS-03 again detours from the Testers Reward Program, this time into the Staff Hallways. They collect two keys (levers) to unlock the way to an elevator that is supposed to lead to the surface. In a turn of events, the elevator has crashed, and TS-03 falls down the long shaft towards the Maintenance Halls. In there, they need to collect four keys to progress to the next section, one key from each of the four quadrants of the Maintenance Nexus: Material Manufacturing, Lava Processing Unit, Child Education Annex and the Boiler Room.

After exiting the Maintenance Halls, TS-03 makes their way towards Kitatcho Land, where a completely different style of gameplay from the usual series takes place. Instead of the linear progression of test tracks, Slimy Jim, the mascot of Kitatcho Land introduces the player to "Slime Bux", which they need to collect by participating in different attractions in an open-world fashion.

They leave the area through one of the attractions, Dr. Specter's Haunted Mansion. This section is a survival-horror style resource collection puzzle that ends in a quick combat arena. Unlike all other attractions in Kitatcho Land, finishing the Mansion does not send you back to the Lobby of Kitatcho Land, instead, it seemingly fails and opens up an emergency escape route. Suddenly, Slimy Jim chases TS-03 down a couple of hallways until they drop through the floor and the chase ends.

From there, TS-03 continues through a few Staff Hallways leading to the TT02 Simulation Room from Chapter 1. From here, TS-03 makes their way to TT01 and learns about Jake's daughter, Catherine, who volunteered as the first Test Subject the facility has ever seen. In her diary, the player learns that she did not return from her test run. TS-03 solves a few of the very dilapidated chambers using their Quality Bow and eventually reaches Chamber 11 of the Track, where hundreds of flower pots surround a pile of bones.

Mourning the loss of Catherine, TS-03 continues to follow wherever the path leads them. After traversing a few Staff Hallways outside the Test Track, they find their way to the "Catwalk Cavern", which leads them towards the entrance gate to the Experimental Labs. After entering the elevator that is supposed to bring them down, a mysterious figure spawns behind them, outside the elevator and stares at the menacingly. The elevator makes a few rusty steps downwards and shortly afterwards gives in and the floor collapses, plummeting TS-03 down the gigantic shaft, where the map ends.

◀ Chapter 2 | Chamber 1: Back to Basics ➡ | Chapter 4 ▶