Hollowlight Descent: Getting Past The Water Chamber

Most of Hollowlight Descent flows nicely, but the water chamber about halfway down is where friends keep messaging me. It looks more complicated than it is, so let's untangle it.

The room's whole logic is redirecting a single stream of water to spin three wheels in sequence. The mistake people make is trying to power all three at once. You can't — you solve them one at a time and the earlier ones stay locked once set.

Start with the lowest wheel, since gravity does the work there. Then reroute the beam of light to melt the ice blocking the second channel. Only after that does the top wheel become reachable.

If you're stuck, pull the camera back and look at the pipes as a whole. The game lays out every clue in the room itself — I was overthinking it until I stopped staring at one corner and saw the full picture.