Medicine will not wake PSEUDOPOD in Zero Parades: For Dead Spies: every treatment the doctors offer fails, and the only thing that works is a Luzian imprinting device you get later in the story. Once he is awake he runs, so you have to track him across Portofiro and talk him back to his senses before he agrees to join your squad as the Fool.
PSEUDOPOD is Hershel’s partner on her return to Portofiro. When the game opens he sits unresponsive in the safehouse above Foto 24, unable to tell her what their assignment is. Below we cover what does and does not work, spoiler-light, then the full steps behind a warning.
Why the Early Cures Fail
The task “What’s Wrong, PSEUDOPOD?” starts at Foto 24, when Constanz asks where your partner has gone. It sends you to two doctors, Dr. Hugo on his houseboat and Dr. Gonza in Party Alley, and asks you to learn more about the red disc he was listening to.
Here is how this goes:
- Gonza’s medicine always fails. The attempt always ends the same way, and the real fix comes later as its own task.
- The LASS tab does nothing to him. Its job is to tell you there is no medical solution.
- The red disc subtask stays open. The disc matters for the whole story, not just this task, so do not worry when it does not resolve here.
So treat the doctors as the investigation, not the cure, and carry on with the main story.
What You Need to Wake Him
The real fix comes from two main tasks: Contact the Secret Prisoner and In Defiance of All Known Laws. The second puts the Luzian imprinting device in your hands. ZA/UM’s June 4 patch notes name that path, and the game’s Psychogenetic Drift achievement (“Learn the secret of Luzian imprinting.”) is held by about 20% of Steam players.
The device arrives without power. The King of Trade at the Animal Zone, in the Old Docks, swaps an item holding Luzian batteries for headwear, legwear, special booze or cigarettes. A pack of Ouroboros Black works, and the King of Trade swaps items rather than selling them, so bring spares.
Spoiler warning: everything below describes PSEUDOPOD’s revival, his chase across the city and his fate in the finale.
Step-by-Step: Revive and Recruit PSEUDOPOD
- Recharge the imprinting device at the King of Trade.
- Use it on PSEUDOPOD at Foto 24. You can give up one of Hershel’s thoughts to improve your odds, then pass a Records or Nerve check. Choosing Nerve makes the later checks harder.
- Find him at the Old Docks. He wakes and runs. He is talking to the Boatman, and you need a Personalism or Shadowplay check to convince him he is not you. Pass or fail, he flees back to Foto 24, barricades himself in your room, calls Melita and jumps from the window.
- Find him at the Housing Campaign. He is staring at the Ultra Violeta neon sign. A Records check here convinces him of his true situation. Failing still lets you recruit him, but his personality is very different afterward.
- Recruit him. He becomes selectable as your Fool for Zero Out the Grand Lich, which unlocks the PSEUDOPOD achievement (held by 28.6% of Steam players as of November 2, 2026). He then waits at the Fogged Mirror, which only opens in the late afternoon and evening.
You can also kill him at the Housing Campaign. That unlocks Extra Silent Treatment (“Shut PSEUDOPOD up, permanently.”) and ends any chance of recruiting him.
Keeping PSEUDOPOD Alive in the Finale
PSEUDOPOD shares the Fool role with Ramses, the most dangerous job on the aero-tram. To bring him home:
- Choose him when the choice comes. In a gunfight, there is a moment where you can help only one wounded squadmate. To save PSEUDOPOD, you have to pick him over your Cupbearer, Yana or KALEIDOSCOPE.
The red disc changes the finale for the whole squad, and our guide on how to save Yana covers that route.
Ramses is the other Fool, and our guide on how to recruit Ramses compares the work involved. For the whole lineup, see who you can recruit, and for how the finale changes with your squad, our endings guide. Every guide is on our Zero Parades hub.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you wake PSEUDOPOD with medicine? No. Gonza’s medicine always fails and the LASS tab has no effect. The imprinting device is the only fix.
Where does PSEUDOPOD go after you wake him? He heads to the Old Docks, then back to Foto 24, then to the Housing Campaign, where you can recruit him.
What role does PSEUDOPOD fill? The Fool, the same role as Ramses.
Can you recruit both PSEUDOPOD and Ramses? Yes. Their recruitments are separate tasks, so you can recruit both in one run, but only one goes on the final operation.
What happens if you kill PSEUDOPOD? You unlock Extra Silent Treatment and lose him as a recruit for that playthrough.