Layers of Fear (2023) starts with brand new content. As a writer, you arrive at an old lighthouse to write a piece about a mysterious artist. Leave your room and look around, collecting various notes. When you go to the right, past the phone on the wall, and examine the locked door, you will hear a ringing sound. Answer the phone and talk to the agency representative.
Then return to the main room and interact with the typewriter located on the table. After you do this, you will hear a rumble. The door slightly further than the phone, which was previously locked, has opened. Go there and remove the cover from the canvas on the wall opposite the door. Return to the hallway and interact with the phone so that the writer contacts her son. Return to the first room and interact with the typewriter again.
History of the artist
Prologue
You will find yourself in the main part of the artist’s house. Head to the door in front of you and examine the door on the left. There is a note on it that tells you where the maid took the key to the workshop. You can stay and examine all the rooms. The house has several rooms, many objects that you can examine, and several notes (from notes to newspaper clippings). All of this is connected to the life of the artist’s family, helps to delve into the plot and understand the meaning of what is happening.
On the second floor of the house is the artist’s office. As soon as you go up the stairs, go to the far left corner and open the door. Examine the office, look in the drawer of the large table and get the key from there. After that, go down and open the door to the workshop. Examine the easel to start the first chapter.
Chapter 1
Follow the only path. As soon as you approach the window, it will slam shut right in front of you. Leave the room through the same door you used earlier, but you will end up in a different place. In a small office, inside a cabinet, there is a secret passage that leads to a mirrored room. Examine the painting on the wall on the right and take the key from it. With its help, you will be able to open a small chest on the left side. Leave the room through the door with the inscription NEVER FORGET. Continue along the only path until you find a lever on the wall. Pull it to gain access to the next room.
How to open the chest in the living room
You will find yourself in a spacious living room with paintings on the wall. Your main goal is to open the chest located on the left side. To get the code for the lock on the chest, you just need to light three sets of candles near three paintings in different parts of the room. You are interested in the paintings that depict a horse, a fox and a rat.
After that, you will receive a code sequence, from left to right, as in the paintings – 694 . Unlock the chest and look inside to get a key that fits the keyhole in the door from the previous room. Go through this door to find a corridor with two chairs. One chair is painted red, the other – green. You can go past them, forward or backward, but in any case you will be forced to make a decision, turning left or right.
Important Choice #1
This is one of the first forks that affects whether you get the Family and Art endings, as well as which path you take further through Act 1. Red symbolizes the artist’s madness, so it leads to the Art ending. Green is the eye color of his wife, a pianist, and symbolizes love, so it leads to the Family ending. In my playthrough, I will do everything to get what I think is the best ending, Family. So, move past the green chair. Head in the direction you chose and examine the painting on the wall. Continue through the hallway until you reach a large room with several easels.
What to do in a room with empty paintings (frames and easels)?
The solution to the puzzle itself is based on how and at what angle you look through the empty frames on the stands. You need to look into each of them in sequence to detect and record certain changes. Look through the distant picture, which is closest to the opposite wall. You need to look from the opposite wall at the picture opposite, which is closest to the front door. Instead of an empty frame, you will see a real picture. It is important to stand close to the frame through which you are looking, and then move to the side. Make sure that the picture really appears (and the empty frame does not return).
After that, go around this picture that appeared and you will see an empty frame. Look through it at the frame on the left and a new picture will appear. Go to it, go around to look through the empty frame at the wall opposite the entrance door. A door will appear in it. Make sure that after you move away from the frame, the door remains in place. Try to open it, but you need a key.
Look through the closest frame (the first one you used) at the painting on the left to make the statue appear. When this happens, look through the fourth, unused frame at the statue. A key should appear on the floor instead. Pick up the key and open the door. Follow the only path to reach a small room with an open window.
Cyclic room – what to do?
As you go through the doors on the right side over and over again, you’ll get into a loop with a repeating room. Your task is to pick up a bottle of liquor (most likely liquor) or a jar of perfume (flower vase), and then place one of the items on the tray in the next repeating room, near the window. And this is another important choice.
Important Choice #2
The decision you make will again affect the possibility of getting the endings “Art” and “Family”. Obviously, the bottle of alcohol symbolizes the artist’s isolation, and once again emphasizes his selfishness. And vice versa, the flower vase (or is it a jar of perfume) indicates that the artist does not forget about his wife, therefore leading to the ending “Family”. We will choose this option!
Doing either of the two will stop the loop. The door on the right leads to a small office. Turn on the light to find a secret passage in the chimney of the fireplace. After going through several rooms, you will finally reach the kitchen. Walk around in a circle, examine the door until apples start falling out of a huge painting. After that, you will see a knife stuck in the painting. Go closer and remove the piece of canvas that is nailed with this knife (essentially someone’s skin).
Exit the kitchen to return to the main part of the house. Head to the paint shop as you did before, approach the easel, and interact with it to complete the first chapter of the painter’s story and begin the next. As you may have realized, the shop serves as a sort of hub for this act of the story. All collectibles you discover during the game will spawn here, and this is the room you’ll start and end each story chapter in.
Chapter 2
Follow the only path. After the explosion, the artist will fall to the floor and stand up, turn around and enter the room you just left. Examine the sofa on the left side to find a sheet with a code combination. There are other objects in the room. On the side of the passage where you need to go next, there is a painting. Move it to reveal a safe and enter the code you see on it (appears provided that you picked up the sheet with the code combination from the sofa).
Continue along the corridor. Once you reach the elevator, activate it by closing the door and pulling the lever to the right. If the elevator does not move, make sure you close the door (grate) tightly. Follow the given route and go through the mirror in the bedroom.
In the looped corridor, you need to follow the footprints left on the carpet (always to the left). Eventually, you should get to a hall that diverges in three different directions. This is another moment that affects the ending of the game, the choice between “Art” and “Family”.
Important Choice #3
There is a hint here, like in the first important decision. The red paint indicates the artist’s madness and leads to the ending “Art”, and the green paint indicates the dream of the artist’s wife’s big garden and leads to the ending “Family”.
Candle Puzzle
Once you get to the burning attic, you will need to find two candles. One of them is located at the opposite end of the room, opposite the stairs. Go to the painting in the other direction and place it in one of the two candlesticks on the side of it. Once you do this, look for the second candle directly under the candlestick. Place it in a different place. Once both candles are in place, the painting will burn out and you will be able to move on.
In the corridor, you will find a lantern, with which you can illuminate the surrounding space by holding the RMB. The lantern can also be used “in combat” and when defusing cursed objects. And you will have to do this almost immediately – a cursed object will appear on the chest. Hold down the RMB, direct the beam of light at this object and hold the LMB. And do not forget that prolonged use of the lamp will lead to its overheating. When this happens, let it cool down before using it again.
After you get into the small room, burn the cursed object and the room will catch fire, go to the right into the bedroom with the gramophone. Take the nearest record and activate the gramophone. Take the desired item from the box. After leaving the room, you will return to the artist’s studio. Interact with the easel to finish one and start the next chapter.
Chapter 3
Follow the only route. To clear the way forward, focus the flashlight beam on the cursed frame. As you walk down the long dark corridor, you will encounter the ghost of a woman for the first time. To temporarily get rid of the ghost, attack it with the focused beam. Aim and hold on the ghost until it disappears. Keep in mind that after a while the enemy will respawn, so you need to destroy it at least once and run to the end of the corridor. As soon as you exit through the door, the pursuit will end. And if the ghost still catches you, you will wake up in the respawn room. After passing through a couple of doors, you will return to where you died. That is, you will not have to go through the entire episode again.
Important Choice #4
I don’t remember exactly where it happens, but you’ll end up in a looped hallway where a phone will ring. If you keep going until the phone falls to the floor, you’ll get closer to the “Art” ending. If you want the better “Family” ending, instead, when the phone rings, turn around and walk back to find the phone on a stand. Answer it.
How to open a safe?
When you get to the room with the upside-down door, you will have to find the combination to the safe located nearby. Go to the safe, examine it, and then activate the switch near the front door. After turning on the light, a table will appear in the center of the room, from which you can take a piece of paper pinned to the table with a knife. The piece of paper contains the code combination. Press the switch again and go to the safe. Upon examining it, a code will appear (randomly generated).
The key is hidden in the safe. Turn on the light in the same way and use the key to open the nearest door, which will turn over again and be in a normal position. Go up the stairs to get to the library. There are several books with cursed objects on the shelves. Burn them with the lantern. Behind one of the objects you will find a key, which you can use to open the door below (optional).
Puzzle with a lock
Continue moving along the given route until you reach a small room with three pairs of doors. Inspect all the rooms and corridors, look into the cabinets and find three pieces of paper, each with one number. In fact, you can find only two sheets of paper and pick up the third number yourself (having established the two known ones). The first piece of paper is located in a drawer (or cabinet) in the corridor with three doors. The second piece of paper is in a small corridor, on a stack of books. The third should be looked for in a longer corridor, behind a glass door. Having picked up all three pieces of paper, you will receive the code for the only locked door – 385 .
Persecution
When you get into the dark corridor, you will be attacked by the ghost of a woman again (as soon as you examine the locked door with a combination lock). To escape, you will have to find three pieces of paper with numbers (or, as was written above, at least two, and pick up the third number yourself). The first piece of paper is on a wooden chest. The ghost will appear as soon as you pick it up. That is, in fact, you only need to find one piece of paper with the second number during the pursuit. The second piece of paper with the number is located in a small room, on a table lit by a lamp. The third piece of paper is in a small room, on a chest of drawers with a broken mirror.
Keep in mind that some rooms will repeat from time to time. There is no strictly defined labyrinth and corridor layout. Just run in circles until you find the necessary sheets (or at least two out of three). In my case, the code was the following – 614 . Perhaps it is the same for you, so as soon as the ghost appears, you can try to enter it.
The Story of a Writer, Continued
You will return to the lighthouse where the writer you controlled at the beginning of the game is located. After closing the window in the corridor, answering the phone call and restarting the generator in the basement, look into the room with the painting and interact with it.
The Artist’s Story – Part 2
Chapter 4
Go to the room with three doors and a lamp. To find out which door to open, point the flashlight at the floor in front of each of them. You will see arrows pointing in the right direction. Once in the room with the dolls, you must arrange two chairs, a lamp and a table to form a single picture. As in the image in the same room. The dolls should sit in chairs opposite each other and near the table. Nothing complicated. Once you reach the next fork, you will again have to make an important decision.
Important Choice #5
If you follow the red paint corridor several times, you will get closer to the ending “Art”. Otherwise, following the green paint corridor will take you a step closer to the best ending “Family”.
Animal Door Puzzle
No matter which way you go up, you will end up in long corridors with several doors. One of the doors leads to a room with the inscription THERE WAS A DOG. Look for the key here. As soon as you pick up the key, the ghost of a woman will appear again. Go around it, destroy it with a lantern and find three keys to doors with different animals on them.
You recently picked up a key to the door with a dog. The door itself with the image of a dog is located on the same floor as the key. Once inside the room, examine the wooden toy and pick up the second key. Go downstairs and open the door with the cat. Use the flashlight to destroy the cursed child and take the third, final key. The door with the rat, which the recently found key opens, is located on the same lower floor. Go through it to end the pursuit.
Follow the only path until you reach a beautifully decorated children’s room. Take the wind-up key for the music box from the drawer next to the child’s bed, then use it on the child’s mobile (toy) in the center. Wait for it to finish, pick up the braid, and exit the room to return to the artist’s studio. Interact with the painting to complete Chapter 4 and begin a new one.
Chapter 5
Once you reach the corridor with rats, you will have to escape from the rat pack. Hold the Shift key to move faster, in reverse. After this short sequence and interacting with the ghost, you will get to a small locked office. Remove the key hanging on the painting, and as soon as the hallucinations begin, light the candles located in the center of the room. You should get the next key in the same way as the previous one, this time it is in the office with many chairs.
In the room with the sign DON’T LOOK BACK, you can turn around to meet the ghost of a woman. But your task is to move forward through the doors, lighting the candles. And here there will be another important choice!
Important Choice #6
On the left and right side of the candles, there are different objects that indicate the artist’s madness or his commitment to his family. In general, if you light the candles on the left side, you will take a step towards the “Art” ending. Conversely, if you light all the candles on the right side, you will get closer to the “Family” ending.
Once you find the old room with the chain, start pulling on it until you can unlock the door with a powerful gear mechanism that will allow you to continue moving.
Pursuit and search for gears
Once you reach the door locked with a gear mechanism, you will need to collect and install three gears to activate the device and pass through the door. The first gear is located directly next to the device and the locked door. Pick it up and install it in place. Immediately after that, a female ghost will appear. Run away from the ghost along the corridors and look for the second gear. There is no exact location of the corridors here, they are cyclical, periodically repeating. In general, move until you pick up the second gear. After installing it in place, continue searching for the last gear. After finding it and installing it on the device, open and go through the door.
Puzzles with phones
When you arrive at the study, you will hear a telephone ringing. To find the device itself, you need to get into the hidden room behind the bookshelf on the side wall. After listening to a short conversation, you will have to find a three-digit number. Then two more. The first three digits for the phone are depicted in the painting of the ugly child in the study, near the artist’s desk. Dial 363 on the phone .
The number for the second phone is written on the table that fell into the abyss (look down). Dial 853 . To access the third phone, light the candle and a ladder will appear. The number you need to dial on this phone is associated with the correct sequence of three paintings hanging near the device. Remember them, turn around and look at the five paintings in the room with the abyss. Each of them has numbers, but you are only interested in three. If you did everything correctly, you will receive the phone number 354 .
After dialing all three phone numbers, continue along the only path and you will soon reach the artist’s real office, from where you can get to the workshop to complete the fifth and begin the sixth chapter.
Chapter 6
After a long series of explorations and escaping from rats, you will finally find yourself in a room with a long chain. By turning the crank, you will lift a huge painting of a deformed child that is hanging in a well. Once you do this, you can point the beam of your flashlight at the cursed mount at the top of the chain to drop the painting down.
Important decision #7
This is another decision that affects the ending you get. If you discard the painting, you’ll move closer to the “Family” ending, which is what we’re heading towards in this guide. If you ignore it and do nothing with the painting, you’ll move closer to the “Art” ending.
Important Decision #8
Once you reach the long hallway with the wheelchair, you can ignore it (Art ending) or push it to the end of the hallway (Family ending). When you return to the main part of the house, you will meet the ghost of the woman again. Your goal is to find and destroy three cursed artifacts with the beam of the flashlight. Two of them are located on the second floor, and one is on the first. The paintings show the routes that you need to follow. After destroying all the cursed objects, go to the bathroom located on the first floor (on the right side of the entrance). Dip your head in the bath filled with water several times, then return to the artist’s studio and interact with the painting to get one of three possible endings.
– If you made many more decisions towards the “Family” ending (read above, there are 8 of them), then you will get it.
– If you made more decisions in favor of the “Art” ending, you will see it.
— If the difference in the decisions made in one favor or another is insignificant, then the finale “Loop” will be shown.
Daughter’s story
To start this add-on, interact with the green book in the writer’s room in the lighthouse (when you return after the Artist’s Story). You will play as the daughter of the mad artist from the previous story, who is exploring her parents’ dilapidated home. The estate is shrouded in darkness, so use the lantern attached to the right mouse button. Unlike the lantern you used in the Artist’s Story, this one does not overheat, so you can shine it for as long as you want.
The plot of “A Daughter’s Story” is conveyed through several interactive memories of the main character, which are connected with her father and mother. Each memory can be viewed by visiting individual rooms of the house. All rooms can be visited in any order, and viewing enough memories will open the children’s room with toys, where you can see two of the three endings.
During most of the memories, you will have to make decisions that will affect the ending of the game. Each decision will lead to either the Contempt ending or the Forgiveness ending. You do not have to watch all the memories to see one of these endings. On the other hand, if you want to get the Truth ending, you will have to watch all the memories and also choose the Forgiveness ending for each important decision.
Kitchen
The Kitchen is the room to the right of the entrance, which contains a short memory in which you can’t change anything. However, this entire outcome leads to the ending “Forgiveness”.
Basement
The door opposite the entrance to the house leads to a staircase and a descent into the basement. Upon entering it, a short memory plays with the father (the artist) playing the piano. Interact with him to finish the memory. However, this option leads to the “Contempt” ending. Instead, before interacting with the father (and generally approaching the piano at the end of the room), find the sheet music on the right hand side that the artist needs. This will make him less angry, and you will get a point towards the “Forgiveness” ending.
Workshop
Entering the workshop marked with red paint (to the left of the basement door) activates one of the longer memories. You can paint a picture using paints (by selecting brushes) or crayons. If you select brushes, you will get a shorter sequence in which you need to find the right colors. If you select a pencil, you will see a linear sequence from childhood dreams with the story of Little Red Riding Hood (which also has achievements associated with it). You can first watch the story of Little Red Riding Hood, and then select a brush and paints. In one of the places, you need to roll a ball up to throw it into a hole and move to the windowsill with the right paint.
Pantry
The pantry is a small room under the stairs. Entering it triggers a short memory. You can either lock the door to hide from your angry father (path to the Forgiveness ending) or wait for him to open the door (path to the Contempt ending).
Living room on the second floor
Go up to the second floor and approach the couch opposite the stairs. In the activated memory, you will interact with the dog. Chase it away from the couch so that your father does not get angry, and you will take a step towards the ending “Forgiveness”. Or leave it as is, and then your father will become furious, and you will get closer to the ending “Contempt”
Study room
The memory in the study, like the workshop, is one of the longest. As a small child, you must go through many corridors and rooms, completing simple tasks. Note that you can turn left or right, in the direction of the portraits of your mother or father. If you always turn right, in the direction of your father’s portrait, you will get closer to the ending of “Forgiveness.” And vice versa, if you go left, you will get closer to the ending of “Contempt.”
Then, when you get to the room with the piano, interact with the keys. When your mother asks, bring the chalk hidden in one of the cabinets. You will then be able to play the correct melody by matching the figures depicted, and then you will be closer to the ending “Forgiveness”. Or you can make a few mistakes to enrage your father, and take a step towards the ending “Contempt”.
The second task is to find three parts of a torn portrait. Go through successive corridors to find all the parts (in the same room, but in different places – in the nightstand, behind the portrait in the corner, and the last one will fall from above when you knock over the cabinet).
The final task is to fix the broken toy cat. The tail is lying next to it. To find the wheel, first use the lid from the table. It won’t fit. Go to the bookshelf, climb up and look above to find a wheel exactly like all the others. Place the wheel and tail on the toy cat (or cat) and follow it, as the toy will light the way. After a few linear sequences, the memory will end.
Children’s room
In the daughter’s room (at the end of the short hallway to the left of the stairs) you need to pose for a portrait. During the father’s story, the camera will start moving in different directions. You either keep your gaze on the artist and the easel, and move towards the ending of “Forgiveness”, or look away and wait for the artist to scream (the path to the ending of “Contempt”).
The Pianist’s Room
In the mother’s room (to the right of the stairs) there will be a short memory of the mother’s torment. If you turn on the gramophone, you will go along the path to the “Forgiveness” ending. If you do nothing and leave the mother to suffer, you will get closer to the “Contempt” ending.
The last room
After visiting enough rooms, a short animation will play showing a door to another room opening. This means you can enter it and see one of two opposite endings, Forgiveness or Contempt. The room is located to the right of the stairs, next to the mother’s bedroom.
Ending “Truth”
Finally, there is the third ending. For it, you must visit all the rooms, collect 9 parts of the drawing and place them in the workshop. In addition, you need to choose the “Forgiveness” path in most of your ways (perhaps you need to follow the “Forgiveness” path everywhere and never choose “Contempt”). All of this was written above, and here is the location of the 9 parts of the drawing:
– Storage room under the stairs. After the memory, it will appear on the floor where the mousetraps were.
– Basement. View the memory.
– Workshop. View the memory.
– Kitchen. View the memory, the leaflet will appear on the wall in the pantry.
— Living room, on the cabinet to the right of the piano, opposite the mother’s bedroom.
– Mother’s bedroom. It’s not necessary to watch the memory, in the closet on the right. Although the memory itself is required for the “Forgiveness” and “Truth” endings.
– Children’s room. Look at the memory without taking your eyes off your father. Part of the drawing will be under the painting in the corner of the children’s room.
– Study. View the memory.
– A room with damaged paintings. There are no memories here, and in the right corner there is a small stand with part of the drawing on it.
Once you have collected all the pieces, return to the artist’s studio and hang them on the wall on the left. Move them so that you get a drawing of a girl. Immediately after this, you will be able to open the secret passage behind the cabinet opposite and see the ending “Truth”.
The Story of a Writer, Continued
You’ll return to the lighthouse as the writer, and the next step is to choose which part of the story to play next. There’s a green book on the dresser that will trigger the daughter’s story (if you haven’t played it before, like us). To start the next story arc, head to the room with the Rat Queen’s painting, look around, and then return to the typewriter. This will begin the actress’s story.
History of the actress
Actress’s cabin
At the beginning of this story, you will find yourself on the ship “Odysseus”, in the luxurious cabin of the main character. This is the game hub, where you will get time after time. Spend some time exploring and collecting items. When you are ready, enter the cinema located on the upper floor to go to the first chapter. To do this, interact with the projector, install the film on it and start it.
Chapter 1
Follow the only route. At a certain point, the game will introduce you to a new mechanic. Crouch while holding CTRL and make your way through. When you encounter a blue orb, interact with it to start an interactive sequence.
Puzzle with a lock
Once you reach the room with the locked door, approach the bird cage and interact with it. A moment later, a buoy will fall through the ceiling into the room. Look through the resulting hole in the ceiling to see the code for the lock – 944 .
Chair Puzzle
When you enter the room with the movie set, pull the lever on the wall to make the podium start rotating. Use the long lever on the opposite side to slow down or stop the rotating podium completely. Pressing the red button will lower the hanging chair. Your task is to stop the platform from rotating at the right moment so that the lowered chair ends up right in the area marked in white.
It is important to do everything as clearly and accurately as possible. You can approach the chair to assess the situation, get an idea of how much the platform should move, or whether it has already gone too far and you will have to make almost a full turn. Successful completion of the puzzle will lead to the fact that a passage is formed in the wall on the left side.
Flashlight
You will start a black and white sequence – go to the suitcases, and in one of them you will find a flashlight. You will have to use it in the same way as in the first part of the game, in the “Artist’s Story”. You can highlight something with the flashlight using the right mouse button, but if you need to focus the beam, you will have to additionally hold down the left mouse button. And yes, the flashlight will overheat again. If you allow it to overheat completely, you will not be able to activate the flashlight for some time (until it cools down completely). This item will come in handy both for solving puzzles and for fighting the monster. Focus the light on the nearest mannequin, which, unlike the others, will glow brighter. In the next corridor, turn on the light using the large lever, and then run away from the monster, holding the Shift key.
Safe Puzzle
When you enter a room with several mannequins, focus the light on the mannequin sitting at the table. You will unlock a card with a combination code that you need to enter on the safe. You will find the safe itself a few corridors later. The combination is most likely randomly generated. To get through the locked cinema, switch the projector until you see a door. Get closer, and the door will materialize. Then switch the projector so that a door handle appears. Get closer to the canvas, and it will also materialize.
Important Choice #1
After entering the room with the mannequins, you will need to choose which one to shoot. Your choice will affect the ending of the game. Like in the previous parts, “The Story of an Actress” contains three endings. You will get the “Amorphous” ending if you make different decisions. There are four important choices in total. If at least one of the choices is different from the other three, you will see the “Amorphous” ending. Then you can either follow the director’s instructions to get the “Blaze” ending. If you do not obey, you will see the “Always” ending. So, to obey the director, shoot the female mannequin (Blaze), or ignore his instructions and shoot the male mannequin (Always).
Once you’ve made your decision, continue on until the amorphous phantom appears. As with the woman’s ghost from “The Artist’s Story”, to temporarily eliminate it (slow it down), you need to focus the flashlight beam. After the episode with the metal doors, the game will return you to the main character’s cabin. This will complete the first chapter. To start the next one, interact with the projector on the second floor. In addition, in the actress’s cabin, you can examine all the found photographs and listen to the audio recordings.
Chapter 2
Follow the only path and jump down the elevator shaft. You will find yourself in the engine room. Switch the lever to the field marked with a cross. Go to the next room and connect the cables. Opposite them there is a lever that you need to pull.
A little later, if you pass by the gray cinema hall, you can press the red button to turn off the power and remove the electrical barrier from the passage at the end of the machine room. However, you need to move through this passage as quickly as possible, because in a few seconds the electrical barrier will return.
Puzzle in the cinema hall
In the gray cinema hall, you need to switch between slides and approach the canvas so that a fully functional door is created. Select the door panel on the projector and approach the screen so that it materializes (you will get a full-fledged door). Select the slide with the door handle, come closer and let it materialize. Finally, select the slide with the key to pick it up and open the door. Move into the doorway.
To get to the next room, enter the next room and focus the light on the mannequin. The code for the lock will appear on the other side of the board. Mine was 790 .
Puzzle in the engine room
In the engine room, you need to create a pattern consisting of three rings and an arch. The lever on the left side allows you to switch between the rings, and the buttons rotate them. Use the fixed parts on the outer perimeter of the pattern as a guide. In the puzzle with the dial and numbers, you need to choose the correct numbers that, when added together, form the number shown on the right side. For example, if you see “31”, you need to stop the hand opposite “11”, “10”, “1” and “9”. The sum is “31”! It is always best to start with the highest number.
Follow the given path on the elevator. Having reached the engine room, once again set the lever on the sector marked with a cross. In the room with slides, choose the one with a ventilation shaft. Enter the room.
Important Choice #2
At a certain point, you will hear the director’s voice, and you will be asked to choose one of the options. For the “Flame” ending, you must try to take the dog’s food several times. To get the “Always” ending, instead, do nothing and wait, then confirm the action (that you are not going to take the dog’s food).
After the sequence with the mountain of gold, switch the lever to the sector marked with a cross again. Soon after, quickly run through a series of rooms filled with white light, avoiding being hit. You need to time it right and use different covers. Some of these covers will appear when you shine a light on the mannequins. To cross the seemingly deadly gap, activate the reflector with the nearby lever, then go behind it. In the bathroom, place the end of the cable in the bathtub itself. Then a monster will appear, climbing out of the TV. Run until you can jump into the hole.
Chapter 3
After collecting all the body parts from the room behind the kitchen, add them to the cauldron boiling on the fire. It is not difficult to do.
Puzzle with a face
Soon you will receive a special medallion that can be installed in different places. Switch and look for items. For example, you need to find an ace and install it in the left mannequin’s hand to get a necklace. Soon you will be able to go further. In the basement, you need to find four mannequin heads and place them in a wooden chest. Each time you will move deeper and deeper along the gloomy corridor.
Important Choice #3
During the scene in the nursery, you can shoot the two pirates on the left and right (the “Always” ending) or three times at the sister standing on the ship’s plank (the “Flame” ending).
In the office, you need to find three metal objects and connect the cable to the power source near the table. After that, press the button. During the rocket sequence, use the A and D keys to dodge the asteroids. Note that the rocket can take three positions.
Shadow Puzzle
In the bathroom, you need to help the dark plant bloom. To do this, perform a series of actions in several rooms. In the first room, turn off the fan, in the second, turn on the water, but only in one tap, in the third, turn off the radio and turn on the water from the tap. Interact with the flower pot after each action.
In the final sequence of Chapter 3, you have to run through a maze, avoiding deadly white flames. Be patient and run only when the flames pass the cover. Hide in the alcoves of the bushes. There is nothing difficult here.
The Story of a Writer, Continued
You will return to the lighthouse. After a short linear sequence, you will be able to return to the actress’s story. In addition, you can now start the writer’s story – the Final Note add-on, which is completely new to the entire series.
The story of an actress – part 2
Chapter 4
Move along the corridors. Be careful, because at some point gravity and perspective will start to change. In the red room, slightly rotate the board. At some point, the inscription LEMON will appear on it, and the lemon itself will fall from the ceiling. In the dark corridor, you need to escape from the ghost. If necessary, you can slow it down. The sequence ends after reaching the coffin and closing it. Having reached the creepy tunnel filled with mannequins, you will have to get out of it without taking your eyes off the red light. You need to move exclusively in the opposite direction!
In the red cinema hall, select the slide with a strong light source. Approaching the canvas, you will get to a small lighthouse. After tearing the hearts out of all the mannequins, you will find a key that can open the small door of the lighthouse.
Important decision #4
In the flooded corridor, you have to make a decision that will directly affect the ending of the game. You can listen to the director’s instructions and let the current carry you away (Flame), or you can resist and continue moving towards the red light (the “Always” ending).
In the following sequence, you need to free several rats from cages located in adjacent rooms. Most cages open after performing a simple action. The problem may arise in the office. To open the cage, you need to put the head and arm of the mannequin on the scale. Select the corresponding body parts on the two screens on the left.
After freeing all the rats, a ladder will appear in the rain-soaked hallway. Another short sequence will take you back to the cabin, this time flooded with water. This is the end of Chapter 4.
Chapter 5
The final chapter takes you through a series of linear corridors and rooms, where you occasionally escape from an amorphous phantom. In one of the starting rooms, you need to rotate the board several times to open a passage behind it. Once in the room with the projector, move the strip of slides several times. In the room with the steel door, move the lock so that its glowing elements point at you. You need to do this operation in one go, since interrupting the procedure will cause the mechanism to return to its original position. After several linear sequences, you will see the ending of the game, which directly depends on the decisions made earlier.
The Story of a Pianist
I won’t go into detail about this story, as it’s more or less linear. I’ll just note that it has two endings. They are activated in a simple way: by making important decisions, of which there are only three in this part.
— Dead bird. Leave it in the cage and you will take a step towards the ending “Loneliness”. Or place it on the windowsill to choose the ending “Acceptance”.
— Learning to write. In the library, when the pianist tries to relearn how to write, choose the blank sheet and the violin to take a step toward the “Acceptance” ending. Or choose the noose and the ruined paper to see the “Loneliness” ending.
— Destroying cursed objects. At the end of the story, you will be able to destroy three objects (one in three pairs) to get a point for the Loneliness or Acceptance ending. To get the Acceptance ending, you need to destroy the cursed objects on the left, the Loneliness ones on the right.