How to use Shadows of Doubt upgrades and SyncDisks

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Character upgrades in Shadows of Doubt are done in Sync Clinic with Disks and Vials

A Sync Clinic in Shadows of Doubt
(Image credit: Fireshine Games)

The Shadows of Doubt upgrades to your character require SyncDisks, special cyberpunk chips slotted into your neck that grant new abilities. On top of that, SyncDisk Upgrade Vials can further enhance the effects of certain disks, increasing the modifier or chance of bonus that the disc grants you. However, despite SyncDisks and upgrades being some of the most significant rewards in Shadows of Doubt, installing them and how that's done isn't made especially clear - so we'll explain how it's done below.

How to use SyncDisks in Shadows of Doubt and upgrade your character

Shadows of Doubt upgrade menu for installing SyncDisks

(Image credit: Fireshine Games)

If you have a SyncDisk in Shadows of Doubt and want to upgrade yourself, here's how it's done:

  1. Put the SyncDisk in your inventory.
  2. Find a Sync Clinic (its location in the world will be random, but it will be marked on the map with a DNA Helix symbol). 
  3. Head into the Clinic and interact with the "Sync Chamber", the grey installation booth to step inside.
  4. When the door shuts, there'll be an option to install SyncDisks - you may need to look around for it to appear.
  5. At this point you'll enter the installation menu. Each SyncDisk has 1-3 options for the upgrade you want it to provide.
  6. These upgrade options are mutually exclusive - you can't have more than one. Pick the one you want and select to install.
  7. Some SyncDisks can be upgraded for greater bonuses in the same menu. If you have a SyncDisk Upgrade Vial in your inventory, you can press the + icon to use up the vial and permanently increase the bonus.
  8. When you step out of the Chamber, you'll have the SyncDisks installed permanently.

There are 18 types of SyncDisk found throughout the game, and while you can have them all installed at once, the fact that you can only have one of the several upgrades each one offers means that you can't have every upgrade active, sorry to say.

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SyncDisk upgrades provide all kinds of bonuses - from new ways to earn money to better chance to convince people to cooperate, to immunity to certain status effects. If you regret the choice you made when you had one installed, you can uninstall it at the same Chamber, then make a new selection of upgrade when you find it again.

How to get SyncDisks and upgrades in Shadows of Doubt

A player finds a SyncDisk Shadows of Doubt they can use for upgrades

(Image credit: Fireshine Games)

SyncDisk and upgrade locations in Shadows of Doubt are somewhat randomised, meaning that finding a specific type is difficult, though there are consistent methods to finding them generally.

  • Side Jobs on Bulletin boards often reward players with a SyncDisk.
  • Vendors at Sync Clinics sell a different Disk every day.
  • Safes you crack open can have Disks inside, as well as Upgrade Vials. In our experience, Echelon-protected apartments tend to have more Disks within them.

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Joel Franey
Joel Franey
Guides Editor, GamesRadar+

Joel Franey is a writer, journalist, podcaster and Very Tired Man with a BA from Brunel University, a Masters from Sussex University and a decade working in games journalism, often focused on guides coverage but also in reviews, features and news. His love of games is strongest when it comes to groundbreaking narratives like Disco Elysium, UnderTale and Baldur's Gate 3, as well as innovative or refined gameplay experiences like XCOM, Sifu, Arkham Asylum or Slay the Spire. 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 Eurogamer, Gfinity, USgamer, SFX Magazine, RPS, Dicebreaker, VG247, and more.