Beast of Reincarnation: Chapter 5 Branching Paths Walkthrough (Matsukawa Colony)
Route through the Matsukawa Zone, grab every collectible along the way, and beat Level 32 Rangifer to close the chapter.
Route through the Matsukawa Zone, grab every collectible along the way, and beat Level 32 Rangifer to close the chapter.
by Sehaj Padda
Chapter 5, Branching Paths, drops Emma and Koo into the Matsukawa Zone of the Mountainous Region, where a sprawling ancient structure packed with Golem remnants stands between you and the colony’s control panel. The chapter is built around exploration, a handful of tougher enemy types, and a rematch with a boss you first met in Chapter 1. Work through the zone toward the Matsukawa Colony, open its gates, and clear the fight that follows to move on to Chapter 6.
Quick answer: Follow the orange butterflies and hair grapple points to the Matsukawa Colony, ride the elevators down to the Central Area, use the Control Panel to open the gate, then defeat Level 32 Rangifer across its two phases. The chapter ends after you return to the Cleanse Walker and rest.
Note: The steps below contain spoilers for Chapter 5, including the boss you face at the end.
Collectibles and campsites in the Matsukawa Zone
The zone hides several weapons, armor, recipes, and shrines. Grab them on the way through so you do not have to backtrack, though you can always fast travel to earlier campsites later if you miss something.
Item
Where to find it
Spirit Stone: Faster Reloads 2
Guarded by two weak Golems while climbing the ruins early on
Scale Coat (armor)
Strongbox at the Ruins: Approach Campsite
Decayed Charm + Cleanse Walker upgrade items
Strongbox in the small camp left of the Approach Campsite
Normal Recipe: Fish Onigiri
Container near the salamander enemies in that same camp
Resonance Sword
Base of the painting in the cave’s final room
Hazebringer Sword
Inside the colony, past the Life Fruit Seedling room
Dragon Vein Shrines
Three in the village and swamp area, plus more inside the colony’s entry room
After leaving the Cleanse Walker, move forward until a hair grapple point appears on your right. Use it to climb the ruined buildings and keep pushing ahead. The glowing orange butterflies mark the route, so keep grappling across the gaps to follow them.
Follow the orange butterflies and grapple across the ruins.
Two weak Golems guard the Spirit Stone: Faster Reloads 2. Take them out, cross the rusted bridge on your right, and slide down from the ruins to reach the Ruins: Approach Campsite.
Rest at the Ruins: Approach Campsite before pressing on.
Open the strongbox at the campsite for the Scale Coat armor. Check the small camp to the left too, where another strongbox holds a Decayed Charm and Cleanse Walker upgrade items, and a container near the salamanders holds the Normal Recipe: Fish Onigiri.
The Scale Coat is worth equipping before the tougher fights ahead.
Rest, then follow your objective to the right. Run through the lake and keep right to a small stone staircase. At the top, a Keeper Golem will mark either Elite Enemies or Crop Seedlings on your map, so pick whichever you want to chase down first.
Keeper Golems flag a single objective or resource on the map.
Continue through the lake to a tall metal structure. It is full of Golems and loot, mainly a wide range of arrows and bolts, so clear each floor. Then head north past the building, using your hair for big jumps, until you reach the Cave Entrance Campsite with a Merchant Golem just to its left.
Stop by the Merchant Golem to offload spare Spirit Stones and stock up.
In the final room, clear a gauntlet of malefacts. These are enemies you have fought before and go down quickly, especially with Shock damage applied to them.
Clearing the malefact gauntlet opens the cave exit.
The cave opens into a small village with enemy Golems to clear and a Dragon Vein Shrine to collect. Once the area is clear, climb the wooden shacks in the middle, look left for a grapple point, and grapple upward, then head left for a second Dragon Vein Shrine.
Three Dragon Vein Shrines are scattered across the village and swamp.
Turn from the shrine and drop into the swamp below. Explore the ruins here, deal with the enemies, and grab the chapter’s third Dragon Vein Shrine along with another strongbox just ahead.
Keep heading east through the water toward your objective. You will likely run into your first Withered Enemy, which hits hard. Running past it to the nearby Ruins: Outskirts Campsite is the safer play, since the campsite sits much closer than the last one. Fight the Withered Beast only if you feel ready.
At the far end of the bridge, a second Merchant Golem is available if you need supplies. When you are ready, take the elevator down to reach the Upper Matsukawa Colony (Front) Campsite. Reaching this point means you are officially at the colony, though you still need to get inside.
Just past the campsite, defeat the Headless Golem Elite Enemy so it does not harass you while you explore. Approach the door directly ahead to open it, but explore the room first. There is a Keeper Golem, several Dragon Vein Shrines, extra campsites, and plenty of loot and XP to gather here.
Head through the next door, ride the elevator, and continue to collect a Note and a Life Fruit Seedling. A short cutscene plays where Emma discusses the cells with her companions. Just beyond, read two more Notes and pick up the Hazebringer Sword. Upgrade and equip it as soon as you can.
Take the next elevator to the Matsukawa Colony: Central Area Campsite. Unlock it and loot the room for a Note, the Manual: Bottle of Poison, some Bottles of Poison, a Bone, and Life Fruit.
Interact with the Control Panel in this room to open the gate back up where you first entered the colony building. You will not be able to fast travel or return to the Cleanse Walker yet, so leave the room. As you exit, a familiar foe appears: Rangifer, now at Level 32.
Defeat Level 32 Rangifer
Rangifer does not introduce any new moves for this rematch, so everything you learned in earlier encounters still applies. Expect swoop attacks, stomps, and quick lunges, all with recognizable timing you can parry against. Lightning-element gear is your best friend here.
The key detail is the second phase, which comes with its own health bar. Keep your HP topped up through the first phase so you are not caught out when the fight continues. In phase two, Rangifer takes on a strange tree-and-animal form with red horns, but it still has no new special attacks to memorize. Maintain your attack flow, parry cleanly, and stun it to land heavy damage.
You will know the boss is beaten when the alarms stop and Emma is returned to the Cleanse Walker. Defeating Rangifer rewards the Finisher: Sakura Blade Art and the Sakura: Javelin 2 Bloom Art.
Wrap up before Chapter 6
Back aboard the Cleanse Walker, take the time to complete any Companion episodes and cook a proper home-cooked meal before you rest. Resting closes out Branching Paths and sets you up to depart for Chapter 6, Necrosis, with full stats and no leftover Hunger dragging you into the next region.
