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Viewfinder Optional Challenges

There are ten optional levels. The achievement “I didn’t realise they were optional” wants every one of them.

Optional levels
LevelStationOptionalCollectibleAchievementStatusGuide
4.1 Aharon Yes Monduck (Ducky 4) — 2 sources Chapter solution guide
4.1 Hiraya Yes Apple Magnet — 2 sources Chapter solution guide
6.1 Chi Leung Yes — — 3 sources Chapter solution guide
6.2 Chi Leung Yes — — 3 sources Chapter solution guide
6.3 Chi Leung Yes — — 3 sources Chapter solution guide
3.1 Mirren Yes Venus — 4 sources Chapter solution guide
4.1 Mirren Yes — — 4 sources Chapter solution guide
5.1 Mirren Yes Earth — 3 sources Chapter solution guide
8.1 Mirren Yes Mercury — 3 sources Chapter solution guide
9.1 Mirren Yes — Michelangelo 3 sources Chapter solution guide

The game never prints a list called “optional challenge 1 through 10”. I built the order from IGN’s chapter pages plus the Steam guide’s filter notes. Aharon’s optional room is 4.1, a painting chain that ends on Monduck and unlocks Warm. Hiraya’s optional room is also numbered 4.1, a camera shoved through a wall, the apple magnet, and the Cold filter. Those two share a number only because each chapter numbers from 1 inside its own hub.

Chi Leung’s optional set is 6.1, 6.2, and 6.3: a stair illusion, a pillar garden, and a battery illusion. They do not unlock a named filter in the Steam guide, unlike Mirren’s set. People searching “first optional challenge” are almost always asking about Chapter 4 Level 3.1, the film-and-battery cage with Venus. “Second optional challenge” is Chapter 4 Level 4.1, the parallel path and the Rainbow filter. I put the step-by-steps on those two URLs and keep this page as the index.

The rest of Mirren’s optional row is 5.1 (Earth, Photocopied), 8.1 (Mercury, Sketched), and 9.1 (watermelon scale, Watermelon filter). That is five Chapter 4 optional levels, not four. GamesRadar’s “optional challenge 1” label points at in-game 4.1, so I do not let that nickname overwrite 3.1. If you only want the planets that sit in optional rooms, they are Venus, Earth, and Mercury; the other six planets are in main levels and are listed on the Mirren page.

Viewfinder screenshot of overgrown white architecture, via Steam
Terrace geometry from the public screenshots. Sad Owl Studios / Thunderful, via Steam.
Viewfinder screenshot of a photograph becoming walkable space, via Steam
Placing a photo is how most optional rooms open a blocked gap. Sad Owl Studios / Thunderful, via Steam.

Questions

Which level is the first optional challenge?

Chapter 4 Level 3.1, confirmed by IGN, intoindiegames, and the Steam 100% guide.

Which level is the second?

Chapter 4 Level 4.1. GamesRadar’s “optional challenge 1” label is this room, not 3.1.

Sources