Returnal - All Permanent Xenotech Upgrades

There are 9 Xenotech Upgrades you can find in Returnal. They grand you terrain abilities such as grappling higher ledges and traveling water areas etc. You can't really miss most of them, but you can miss the optional ones although you can repeat the run in that particular Biome and find it then.

Atropian Weapon Charger

You can find this one early in Overgrown Ruins. It unlocks the Alt-Fire mode for all weapons (press L2 all the way and shoot with R2 when alt-fire bar next to the health bar is full). It is the first upgrade you will unlock during early game.

Hermetic Transmitter

Continue exploring Overgrown Ruins and eventually the floor will collapse beneath Selene's feet. You will find the Hermetic Transmitter on a dead Sentient. This opens teleporters for use, enabling fast travel between explored rooms which have the same teleporter. Approach one, press triangle to use it and choose your destination to fast travel to. This is useful when you have some currency and you want to buy some items or upgrades for your run, so you just fast travel to room which has one.

Atropian Blade

Still in Overgrown Ruins, you can find the Atropian Blade. While searching for the Anathema Key, you will have to find a way to destroy Xenotech Barriers. Follow the quest marker to reach the point where you will find the blade. This upgrade gives Selene a powerful melee attack capable of one hit killing most enemies. Use it by pressing the square button. You can destroy red barriers on enemies, cut through the blocked vines path and even go through the yellow blocked doors. For those yellow doors you need to have the melee weapon upgrade (it's an artefact you can buy or find randomly in some rooms) and have the Blade Balancer artifact - all during the same run. With that on you, you can cut through the yellow doors. The blade is permanant, but upgrades for yellow doors are not.

Xenotech Prism

After finishing Biome 1, you will use the travel point to reach Crimson Wastes (Biome 2). This is where you get the Xenotech Prism upgrade. Obtaining this permanently increases the number of consumable items (it adds new item slot). This means you can collect several Silphium Vials and Large Silphium Vials now, and even stack them. You can use right and left D-pad buttons to change the item you want to use, and use it with L1.

Icarian Grapnel

Somewhat at the end of Crimson Wastes (Biome 2), you will get the Icarian Grapnel. You can use it to reach higher points etc. Use it when you see a yellow light on edge of the platform, and press triangle when you see the button prompt in the distance.

Xenotech Prism 2

This one is in Echoing Ruins (Biome 4) inside a room with a big black ball of goo in the middle. On the other side of this room is the second and final Xenotech Prism. This increases your item slots to 3.

Promethean Insulators

You can find this one in Fractured Wastes (Biome 5). Somewhere early in the level, you will get to Hadal Vault area that requires three keys. In this central room, three main paths branch off leading to each of the three keys, but there is a blue locked door as well. Use a key to unlock this door and reach the Promethean Insulators. You can miss this and Xenotech Prisms, but you can always return to where they are in different run. With this you can travel red hazardous floors without taking damage.

Hadal Ballasts

Instead of fighting the boss in Fractured Wastes (Biome 5), you will find Hadal Ballasts. They grant you traveling underwater, and you can't reach the final biome without having this upgrade. Simply jump in water and you will not die after getting Hadal Ballasts.

Delphic Visor

The final piece can be found in Abyssal Scar (Biome 6). At one point deep inside the Biome you will get to a large gap you can't cross with the Icarian Grapnel. Follow the quest marker down a different path where you can find the Delphic Visor. You can now see Luminescent Orbs (blue orbs, usually in the air in rooms where you can't reach some parts). Shooting them reveals hidden platforms that allows you reach new places.