Silver Palace Deep Cognito & Thought Experiment Guide

Deep Cognito was Silver Palace's endgame combat challenge in the first beta, Monotype (January 2026); in the Dichotomy beta that role went to Thought Experiment. Thought Experiment is a permanent climb of 10 timed floors worth 30 stars, and from floor 5 it asks for two separate teams. This guide explains what Deep Cognito was, why we treat Thought Experiment as its successor, and how every part of the Dichotomy version works, using 银Khye's full clear of all ten stages and Rexlent's floor 9 and 10 runs.

Beta data: Deep Cognito comes from the Monotype beta (CBT1) and Thought Experiment from the Dichotomy beta (CBT2, 23 July to 13 August 2026). Silver Palace launches on 14 December 2026 (UTC+8). Floors, timers and rewards can change before then.

What is Deep Cognito in Silver Palace?

Deep Cognito is the name Elementa gave the "difficult challenges" mode in the Monotype beta. Its official Monotype rewards post (9 January 2026) says three things about it:

• it opened from game menu > Agenda > Challenge > Deep Cognito, after Main Quest Act II, Scene II: The Constabulary;
• it was one of the listed sources of Reactor Crystals, the pull currency;
• clearing Deep Cognito T7, plus Act II, Scene IV, unlocked the in-depth combat survey, one route to an invitation to the next test.

That is all the official record holds. No creator footage of the Monotype mode was available to us, so the number of tiers, the enemies and the full reward list are unknown.

Is Deep Cognito the same as Thought Experiment?

Probably, but Elementa has never said so. The Dichotomy posts never mention Deep Cognito; they name Thought Experiment instead. The two modes sit in the same place in each test:

Both tests used stage 7 of their challenge mode as the combat-survey bar. Read together, it looks like one challenge slot renamed and rebuilt between tests. Treat that as our inference, not a confirmed fact. In the Dichotomy client the menus say Thought Experiment, so the rest of this guide uses that name.

How many floors does Thought Experiment have?

Ten. The screen heads the mode "Thought Experiment: Ongoing Project", and each floor is a numbered card with three stars. Rexlent's account shows the full set cleared: "10 out of 10 progress and 30 stars" (12:56). The counter in the bottom-left corner, Depth Rewards, tracks your star total and pays out as it climbs.

The in-game rules mention a second part. Rexlent reads them as promising a version that recurs and resets on a schedule once the 10 permanent floors are done (13:04). That recurring part was not playable in the beta. Fan-compiled build data calls it Brainstorm, a four-room rotation scheduled after the test had closed. Nobody has played it, so we will cover it once footage exists. The beta's other endgame mode, the weekly Hilbert's Hotel roguelike, is in our game modes guide.

How do stars and time limits work?

Stars are paid for speed. Each floor lists three Challenge Objectives, all phrased as "Remaining challenge time exceeds" a number of seconds. Beat the clock by the first number for one star, the second for two, the third for three. 银Khye's footage shows two sets of targets:

Every floor shown on screen also carries a Dream Enhancer, a free buff that reads "All characters in the team gain ATK +20%." Rexlent says everyone starts with a full Ultimate (14:56), so the opening seconds are where the time is won.

Rexlent calls the timers "pretty forgiving" for three stars (16:08). Their runs use fully built teams, so take that as the view of a player who has finished the beta, not a fresh account.

When do you need two teams in Thought Experiment?

From Ongoing Project 5. Up to then the team screen shows one Partner Team row. At Project 5 it shows two, Partners1 and Partners2, each with its own enemy and its own Power Limit. Each team clears its own half of the floor: the fight screen labels them "Top" and "Bottom".

Correction to a creator's account: Rexlent says floors 9 and 10 need two teams and that earlier floors need one (13:18). 银Khye's on-screen team select already shows two teams at Project 5, so we follow the screen. Rexlent was showing floors 9 and 10 at that moment, which may be why they put it that way.

Each team row has its own Power Limit counter, out of 14, next to an Adjust Reactor button. By fan-compiled data, it caps the total cost of the Catalysts slotted in that team's Reactor. At Project 9 both of 银Khye's teams are at 14/14 against level 68 enemies. The Catalysts guide explains how the cap works.

What are the floor 9 and floor 10 bosses?

Floor 9 is two boss fights. The Top team faces the Medallion Knight; the Bottom team faces Rex, the Superintendent, the boss version of the playable Rex. Both halves keep the 120s, 220s and 300s targets.

Rexlent's plan for floor 9 is to chain Ultimates, because "ultimates always stagger the enemy" (14:16). Rexlent opens with Cynthia II, follows with the Detective and Alf, breaks the Stun gauge with Alf, lands the Execution, then swaps Bentham in for Glacies damage over time.

On the Bottom half they rely on Cinderella, bringing Red Rose in first for her buff. Floor 10 ends with what Rexlent calls the hardest fight in the beta (19:11): a double boss, the "Manager" and the "Supervisor". Their advice is not to let them "cook": stagger them on sight, because the pair can overwhelm a team that lets them act. Fan-compiled data names the Soulless Lord as floor 10's Top-half boss; no frame we used shows it.

What team should you bring to Thought Experiment?

Rexlent's minimum is one damage dealer and one break-focused support per team (13:24). Their second team for the early clear was the free characters, led by the Detective, with Cynthia II. Three rules come from their run, and a fourth from the screen:

1. Fill every slot, even with low-level characters. Each one enters with a full Ultimate, which is free Stun damage (15:44).
2. Equip a Reactor on both teams. It adds a bonus when a Tactical Assault fires, such as extra damage for 16 seconds. Quick Equip puts it on your main damage dealer (13:49).
3. Stagger, then burst. Break the Stun gauge, Execute, then swap in your damage dealer for their Signature move.
4. Build two teams before Project 5, because no character can sit in both.

On rule 4: 银Khye's Project 9 frame tags each owned character Partners1 or Partners2, which points to one team per character; fan-compiled data says the same. The combat style guide shows which characters break and which buff, and the tier list ranks them.

Where to watch every floor

银Khye's video has no commentary, but its chapters jump to each stage:

The rewards screen is at 23:30. Team counts for projects 1, 3, 4 and 6 to 8 are inferred from the projects shown on screen; Rexlent confirms two teams on 9 and 10. Fan-compiled build data agrees with them and lists enemies from level 19 on floor 1 to 75 on floor 10.

What does Thought Experiment reward?

Stars feed the Depth Rewards counter on the floor menu, which has a gift icon beside it: rewards are tied to your star total, out of 30. Fan-compiled build data describes a ladder that pays a bundle every three stars, 4,000 Reactor Crystals in all, plus Ounces and level-up books. No creator in our set showed the reward screen in full, so treat that figure as unconfirmed. The Monotype post also listed Deep Cognito among the Reactor Crystal sources. Our gacha guide shows what crystals buy.

If the payout follows the star count, as that data says, a two-star floor you can speed up is worth the same as a new floor. If you are stuck on Project 9, go back and three-star an earlier floor.

Sources

• Elementa: "[Monotype] Beta Test News and Important Rewards", 9 January 2026 (Deep Cognito menu path, unlock and T7 survey gate); ""Dichotomy" Beta Test News and Important Rewards", 23 July 2026 (Thought Experiment - Ongoing Project 7 survey gate)
• Creator videos: 银Khye, Rexlent