How to get the Hacking Tool in Stellar Blade
The Stellar Blade hacking tool is an optional upgrade for the drone
The Stellar Blade Hacking Tool used to open certain chests is spoken about a while before you can actually get it, meaning that you'll have to return with it to previous areas later on to crack open the loot you were forced to pass on the first time around. While the Hacking Tool only becomes accessible at a certain point in the story, it might still take longer to get it, as you'll need to know where to look. With that in mind, I'll explain how to get the Hacking Tool in Stellar Blade below, as well as what chests it can and can't open.
How to get the Hacking Tool that unlocks chests in Stellar Blade
The Hacking Tool in Stellar Blade is a drone upgrade that only becomes accessible once you've progressed the story up until the point where you first unlock the gun - or rather, the change to your drone that allows you to turn it into a gun. This will be about 5-10 hours in, depending on your rate of progress and how much side content you're doing, and is part of the main quest - ranged attacks aren't something you can skip or miss out on. For more info, check out our page on how to get the Stellar Blade gun.
After you have that, it unlocks a new option for Drone Upgrades when you talk to Lily, where you can buy upgrades - one of which is the Drone Hacking Tool, which costs 1 Drone Upgrade Module (these are usually obtained by destroying the little spherical robots that flee from you when you approach).
How to use the Hacking Tool
The first thing to know is that the Hacking Tool in Stellar Blade won't open every locked chest you come across. Some, like the Stellar Blade red code chest at the beginning of the game, are mission-locked and won't open until a specific moment in the game. The Hacking Tool unlocks "High Security Sealed Chests", which are marked with a police tape-like hologram wrapped around them as seen above. The Hacking Tool automatically opens these with no effort required on the part of the player - as you approach, the Drone will automatically scan the crate and remove the seal, meaning you can just open it as normal.
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Joel Franey is a writer, journalist, podcaster and raconteur with a Masters from Sussex University, none of which has actually equipped him for anything in real life. As a result he chooses to spend most of his time playing video games, reading old books and ingesting chemically-risky levels of caffeine. He is a firm believer that the vast majority of games would be improved by adding a grappling hook, and if they already have one, they should probably add another just to be safe. You can find old work of his at USgamer, Gfinity, Eurogamer and more besides.