Steam full-game patch 1.0.9 fixes some cases where a call with Stella could lock buttons and block progression. If you are on an earlier Steam build, update before retrying the scene. This is a partial, explicitly listed correction, not a guarantee that every post-call control lock or already affected save is repaired. The same fix is not confirmed for the Xbox, PS5, or Epic build.
If the problem persists, identify whether the call has finished and whether the scene still expects an interaction with the communication equipment. A missing headset pickup, an unfinished interaction, and a persistent input failure are different states. The separate demo has its own patch history and cannot establish full-game recovery.
Check the first-call sequence
In the museum's security-room sequence, Stella asks Jordan to find Dalton in the exhibits or the management office near the gift shop. She also tells him to take the headset so they can remain in contact.
After completing the three-switch exhibits task, return to the security room, operate its lever, and collect the telephone and headphones near the radio before leaving. The onward route is to the right after exiting the room.
If you can move but do not know where to go, that is a progression question rather than a full control lock. Check whether you have completed the room's interactions and collected the communication gear before searching for a new route around the closed gate.
Identify exactly what is unresponsive
Check the available inputs without immediately discarding progress. Can you move the camera, walk, interact with the equipment, or open the pause menu? Record those separately. A camera that still moves while walking is unavailable is a different symptom from an application that responds to nothing.
Likewise, a controller sprint issue is not proof that every control is locked. If normal walking and looking still work, describe the missing action specifically. Do not apply unrelated sprint advice to a scene where no movement input responds.
If a dialogue or interaction is still visibly active, allow it to finish and check its on-screen instructions. No fixed waiting duration or hidden button combination is established here. Repeatedly pressing several inputs at once makes it harder to tell which action, if any, changes the state.
This Gift Shop conversation is a different stage from the first museum call.
Use a limited recovery check
If the menu remains accessible but the completed scene does not return normal control, an ordinary return to the menu and relaunch is a general application-state check. It is not a confirmed repair for this exact problem, and its effect on an affected checkpoint is unknown.
Before doing so, note your current objective and the location of the call. Stella speaks with Jordan in several areas, so after talking to Stella is not enough to identify the trigger. Specify whether you are at the first security-room phone, the gift-shop office, or a later cavern communication point.
Do not delete the save or begin a new campaign on the assumption that a relaunch proves the progress is permanently damaged. There is no verified save-editing or rollback procedure for this symptom in the available information.
Keep patch claims specific
The official Steam 1.0.9 changelog explicitly names Stella calls locking different buttons and breaking progression. Its scope is some cases. It also lists a separate controller sprint correction; that does not mean a sprint-only symptom and a broader post-call lock have the same cause.
Apply the update available through your platform and record the version actually installed. A Steam patch number cannot automatically be assigned to the console release. No tested universal recovery procedure for a save already stuck in the conversation state is established.
The listed Stella-call fix applies to this named full-game patch.
Record the remaining failure clearly
If the lock persists, capture the location, objective, platform, version, input device, and the last completed interaction. State whether the call ended normally and whether the headset was picked up. List which inputs still respond and what happened after a normal relaunch, if you tried one.
Those details distinguish a missing scene interaction from a persistent input problem. Steam has a confirmed partial patch for this symptom. A guaranteed recovery procedure, universal button sequence, and matching console correction remain unconfirmed.