How To Unlock the Stonedale Citadel Locked Door in Absolum

Always a price.

Locked Door Heartroot Absolum
Screenshot by Prima Games

Early on in your Absolum runs, you’ll come across a locked door in the first Hearthroot resting spot if you follow the top path. There isn’t any indication as to how this unlocks early on, but behind it lies an entire quest, and one you’ll want to pursue.

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Here’s how you can unlock the locked door at the Hearthroot in Stonedale Citadel in Absolum.

Unlock the Stonedale Citadel Locked Door

To unlock the locked door at the Hearthroot resting spot, simply keep playing the game and return to this location in subsequent runs until you find an NPC outside the door holding a knife.

Interact with them, and they’ll offer to open the gate for 50 gold, which isn’t much at all, and you should have it by this point in the run. This will permanently open the locked door, and you don’t need to spend the 50 coins again on subsequent runs.

Should You Unlock The Door?

So, why should you open this door in the first place? I’ll give you a spoiler-free answer and share spoilers as well if you want to know right now.

Spoiler-free: Opening the door gives you two things. First, you’ll be able to pursue a new quest, which in turn will unlock a new starting path. It’s worth it for this because this third opening path lets you fight two bosses before the main boss at the end of Grandery, meaning you’ll be able to inherit TWO inspirations before the fight instead of one, which you usually get for beating either Rudolf or Gazorg.

Now that you have a spoiler-free version, I’ll share the spoilered answer as well.

  • After opening the door, you can join up with a band of bandits and go on a heist. You’ll have to pay another 50 as “insurance” to initiate this quest.
  • At the end of this quest, you’ll enter a building where you’ll have to fight a few waves of enemies, ending with an encounter with some pretty tough enemies.
  • After beating them, you’ll find out that the treasure has already been nicked by the bandits, leaving you with nothing.
  • On a subsequent run, you can encounter the Bandit leader again, who will apologize and share vague details of a cave found at the start of your run from the sanctuary. You can find that cave by following my guide here.
  • Within this new path, you’ll find loot and take on a new boss called the Mushtroll. After leaving the cave, you’ll have the option to fight either Rudolf or Gazorg, meaning you’ll get two inspirations before you reach the main boss of Grandery, the Underking.

Given the benefits of the third path towards the Underking, I think it’s worth unlocking the door at the first Heartroot.


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Ali Hashmi

Ali Hashmi is a games journalist, reviewer, and guides writer with over eight years of experience covering the gaming industry across news, reviews, features, walkthroughs, and technical guides. He currently writes for Prima Games and GTA 6 Bible, and has previously contributed to Dot Esports, WhatIfGaming, GameTyrant, and The OuterHaven. With a background in Computer Science and years spent covering PC gaming, Ali has developed a strong focus on performance analysis, optimization, troubleshooting, and in-depth game coverage alongside traditional reviews and features. A longtime fan of action games, Ali spends most of his time obsessing over stylish combat systems, difficult boss fights, immersive sims, and retro shooters that feel like they were pulled straight out of the late ‘90s. When he isn’t replaying Dark Souls for the hundredth time or climbing Ascension levels in Slay the Spire, he’s usually hunting for the next indie game to recommend to everyone around him. His coverage regularly includes AAA releases, indie games, Soulslikes, survival titles, live service games, and technical PC focused guides.