2014 MacBook Pro bricked after trying to update to macOS 26.0 - stuck in Recovery

Hey all, you guys are my last hope,

I did a dumb thing 😅 – tried updating my 2014 MacBook Pro (OCLP-patched) to macOS 26.0. Now I can’t log in anymore. My password is accepted, but it always drops me into Recovery (macOS Base System). From there I only get Disk Utility, Safari, Terminal, etc. – never my actual system.

I built a full Sonoma USB installer (13 GB app + OCLP EFI), but no matter what I do, EFI Boot → always lands me back in Recovery with the “Cannot revert to older version” error. Tried copying OCLP into Base System and running it manually, but the FS is read-only and missing libraries.

At this point I’m thinking the only way out is to create a Monterey or Ventura USB installer, install that over my existing volume, then run OCLP Post-Install Root Patch from there.

Question: Is this fallback to Recovery a known issue with FileVault + OCLP/Sonoma, and is the Monterey/Ventura path the right move?

Thanks 🙏

TL;DR: Tried to jump to macOS 26.0 on a 2014 MBP with OCLP → now stuck in Recovery, OCLP USB won’t boot full installer. Thinking Monterey/Ventura reinstall is the only fix – advice?