By Dan Kennedy
An adventure classic to some, an incomprehensible mess to others – Faust (or Seven Games of the Soul) at least has the ability to elicit strong reactions from its players.
Faust dares to structure its story around the mature concepts of sin, redemption, and the practicalities of our existence that tend to blur the lines between good and evil. As Marcellus Faust, you are stricken with the task of surveying the sordid lives of a number of inhabitants of a surreal, early 20th century amusement park. Mephisto, a gregarious devil-tempter straight out of the Faust legend, is your tour guide as you visit different locations and time period in the park’s history in order to judge the relative “evilness” of each character on trial.
Lovers of the game rave about the mature storyline, the vivid character studies, the dazzling graphics, and the strong blues and jazz soundtrack. Those who hate the game see it as a pretentious, nonsensical story with poor production values and a frustrating, unresolved ending.
In the end, like everything else, the truth lies somewhere between the two extremes – Faust is a challenging, intriguing game with some fairly major flaws. Consider the following:
· The story is daring and original, but is difficult to penetrate until much of the game has been played. Key dialogue moments are sometimes unexpectedly triggered, and whip past in the blink of an eye. Unfortunately, in this linear, story-driven game that many players are unlikely to play a second time, the plot is difficult to grasp the first time through.
· The player’s character (Marcellus Faust) begins the game purely as an observer, and as such, we learn little about him or his motives. Yet, by the end of the game, Faust has becomes a central character in the story. This lack of character development, unlike the much more realized Mephisto character, hinders the player from being truly affected by the game’s climactic moments.
· There are a number of production issues, including inconsistent cursor usage, misplayed graphics, incorrectly triggered voice passages, and overlapping hotspots.
· The puzzles range from original and fun to tedious and frustrating. Some brilliantly conceived puzzles are severely hampered by poor interface design and positioning issues that punish players even after they correctly deduce solutions. In addition, many puzzle solutions automatically trigger cut-scenes and setting changes, wresting control of the pace of the game from the player.
· The developers should be lauded for assembling an original and eclectic soundtrack. In practice, however, the music seemed to loop too quickly (perhaps the vocals on some of the tracks accentuate the looping) and the music occasionally drowns out the character dialogue.
Your ultimate enjoyment of the game will likely be directly related to the appeal of the central story, and the importance you place on the issues listed above.
The game begins with a conversation between Gabriel and Peter (you know, those “heaven” guys) discussing what’s going to happen down below. The discussion is difficult to follow, and hard to hear – get used to it. Next up is the amusement park’s creator, Theodore More, who introduces the setting of the game. Dreamland, a glorious amusement park of delights and horrors established in 1920 has gradually faded into obscurity and is now closed. Finally, we switch locations to the park itself, where Mephistopheles – an extremely expressive devil - explains to Faust what he and “the man upstairs” need our confused protagonist to do.
The player is next directed to the menu screen, which comes up after each of the seven chapters of the game is completed. The two arrows at the top of the screen allow you to scroll through the seven chapters, but the game restricts you to playing them in order. The left side of the menu page displays familiar commands, including Load, Save, Options and Exit (note that the game also has an automatic save feature, which preserves your current progress in the game under your “login” name, without having to manually save it).
The right side of the menu allows you to view the “Stars” of each chapter, review cut-scenes previously seen (“Movies”), play all of the “Music” in the game, check your progress through the game via a “Status” window (lame), and experience some of the park’s “Attractions”. (Note: there really isn’t any point in visiting the “attractions” yet since you will encounter them during gameplay).
Once you complete a chapter, entries in “Pact” and “Theodore’s Notebook” are added (caution: you may have to scroll back through the chapter titles at the top of the screen to gain access to them). The notebook in particular is invaluable, since it supplies some desperately needed context to the stories. The Evidence area is not accessible with the cursor.
The first chapter (“Twice as Bad”) begins with a short introduction by Mephisto that mentions the balancing act all couples must strive to maintain. The gameplay begins in November 1935 near a patio set located between several characters’ homes at the park. Feel free to wander around, but the action for the first story takes place within the Twins’ trailer located directly in front of you. Ignore the tent to the left, and the small shack to the right, and proceed into the trailer (note the “walking feet” icon indicates movement is possible in any given direction).
Inside the trailer, turn to your left and click on the left sink (note the grabbing hand cursor) containing a metal strainer. The click triggers a cut-scene showing attached Siamese twins collecting coins that have fallen from the pockets of roller coaster riders. They both appear to have a keen interest in money, and one twin seems dominant over the other. Once the scene has ended, right click to bring up the menu link and your inventory, and note that the strainer is now present in your inventory.
Mouse over the cabinet below the sinks, and note the solid hand cursor, indicating manipulation is possible. Click open the cabinet doors, and note the eyeglasses icon on the empty space inside. Clicking here triggers an audio passage in which one twin accuses the other (Lilly) of wasting money on food. The drawers to the right of the cabinet can each be opened, but there isn’t anything inside them.
Pan to your right until the trailer’s stove comes into view. Click on the front of the stove for a close-up, and note the slightly right-pointing hand cursor over the ashes in the stove, indicating another object can be used here. Spot the iron shovel hanging to the right of the stove and pick it up. Now right-click to open your inventory, grab the shovel, and click on one of the piles of ash in the stove. We now own a shovel filled with ash – but what do we do with it? Anyone have an icy sidewalk?
To sift through the ash, grab the strainer from your inventory (it will appear in the centre of the screen if you are still in the stove close-up view), grab the shovel, and click on the strainer to dump the ash in. Now click and hold the left mouse button down, and shake the strainer around to sift out the ash. When completed, the strainer will be empty. Repeat this process two more times for the two remaining piles of ash in the stove. After the last pile is sifted away, note the small white object in the strainer – it is a tooth. Click to grab it, and we get a short scene of one of the twins holding a skull. Not good times! Bad times!
Before backing away from the stove, note the metal key located inside the now (mostly) empty stove. Pick up the key, and back away from the stove close-up (to accomplish this, find the eyeglasses icon along the bottom of the screen and click).
You will find a chalkboard on the wall to the left of the stove – click on it to see the details of loans made by the twins to others at the park. Back away, and click on the shelf below the chalkboard. In the open drawer, click on the green book on the left, and listen as the ladies explain their love of accounting lessons. Back away, and click on the white paper to the right. It seems that a gentleman named Hannibal is in deep debt with the twins – primarily because both ladies are having romantic dreams about him.
Back away, and walk one step further into the trailer. Turn to your left, and click on each of the two mirrors on the bureau – you will get a special message from Mephisto each time. Pan over to the right, and click on the wardrobe – the close-up view shows two keyholes that must be filled before we can gain entry. Back away, turn to the left a bit, and find the small, framed picture of a man on the left side of the bed. Clicking on it reveals that Lilly carries a torch for Hannibal. Now click on the small drawer located directly below the picture. Inside, you’ll find a small brass key – take it and close the drawer.
Take another step into the trailer, turn to your left, and click on the gramophone located to the right of the bureau. We watch a cut-scene involving Mephisto offering riches to each of the twins separately in exchange for giving up Hannibal forever. The domineering one takes the money, but Lilly turns it down. The last moment shows Mephisto separating the twins with some sort of otherworldly table saw.
Click twice on the lamp located on the right side of the bureau to trigger a short movie of Hannibal trying to pay back some of his debt with romance and the tacky lamp (we also learn that the aggressive twin’s name is Jody). Find the hairbrush near the centre of the bureau’s top surface to hear a familiar sisterly argument between the twins.
Pan around to face the twins’ bed, and click on the circular, framed picture of Hannibal located on the far side of the bed. Apparently Jody was also quite taken with the dead-beat Hannibal. Clicking on the bed itself also trigger another conversation between the twins.
Pan to the left and enter the trailer’s bathroom (you’ll be seeing many bathrooms in this game) Turn to your right and try playing with the taps on the sink – the left one works, but the right one does not. Turn around and face the two-person toilet – feel free to lift the seat to take a peek inside (don’t worry, it’s empty). Click on the top of the tank located above the seat to open it up, and then click on the object partially hidden in the left side of the tank. The object is a knife, and touching it triggers a short scene showing one of the twins holding up the knife as if to strike someone.
Now that we’ve explored the trailer, time to attack that locked closet. Walk back into the main room several steps, turn to your left, and click on the wardrobe. In the close-up view, grab the brass key from your inventory, and click on the left keyhole (the hotspot can be a bit tricky to find – look for the key to “light up” when properly positioned). Next, grab the burnt key from the stove, and click on the right keyhole.
The doors open revealing hanging clothes. Click and hold the left button of the mouse, and shift the clothes over to the left and right by moving the mouse. This will expose a wall safe at the back of the closet. Clicking on the safe yields a close-up, and a voice passage from Jody, who mentions “All our wealth on this of all days…”. The key phrase here is “all our wealth” – you must add up all of the money coming to the twins from their various debtors: the three totals on the chalk board ($121.60, $96.07 and $107.32) must be added to Hannibal’s current debt as written on the paper in the shelf below the chalk board ($187) to get a grand total of $512.00.
Click and hold on the safe’s combination dial, and turn the arrow to “5”, “1” and “2” in that order (note that it doesn’t matter which direction you turn the dial in). The safe will open to reveal the winning lottery ticket as promised by Mephisto.
Clicking on the ticket triggers a fairly long cut-scene that chronicles the murder of Lilly by her now separated sister Jody. She chops the body up, and sneers something about “being close to Hannibal”. She disposes of the head in the stove, and debates what to do with the skull when finished. After the movie ends, we are transported to a different location in the park: the front of some type of spooky roller coaster ride.
Click forward several times to move towards the ride’s entrance. Click to get into the skull-car, and click again to begin the ride. The fast moving ride loops around continuously, but you will notice one anomaly – at a certain point in the loop, a right-hand pointing cursor will show up on the screen. When you see this cursor, start clicking furiously to force your car to take a different path on the ride. You may have to keep doing this over and over until you magically hit the cursor at the right moment – I’ve had to go around the loop up to six times in a row before getting the car to take the alternate path.
Your car travels up an unfamiliar tunnel, and stops at a dead-end. Find the skeleton located on the right hand side of the wall at the end of the tunnel, and click on it for a close-up. Click again on the skull, and a copy of the “agreement” between Jody and Mephisto can be perused.
Backing away from the skull triggers another setting shift – suddenly we’re piloting an odd-shaped paddleboat on a sun-lit lake. The boat comes to a stop, and we are standing on a dock. Follow the path up the slope and into a gazebo at the top. Entering the gazebo triggers a hard-to-hear conversation with Theodore More, who tells us about force and counter-force, and that a lot depends on our success here.
Once Theodore has left, click on the chair in the centre of the gazebo to sit down. Panning to the left and right spins the rotating seat around. Pan to the left until you can see a metal plaque on one of the gazebo’s pillars. Click for a close-up – it commemorates the inauguration of the park in 1920. Back away, spin to the right, and stop when you hear a groaning noise coming from the rotation mechanism (you should also be looking down the path towards your boat). There should be a small brown square patch visible on the floor of the gazebo (it is located in the shade of one of the pillars). Click for a close-up and press on the patch – this turns out to be a release button of some kind.
Back away from the button, and pan to the left to find the plaque again. Clicking on the plaque again causes it to swing open, revealing a small compartment containing a book. This is Theodore’s journal, which contains entries for each of the seven characters to be investigated. Grabbing the journal triggers a quick shot of Mephisto tossing the skull into the air back at the roller coaster ride.
Back at the menu screen, Theodore’s Notebook may or may not be available for viewing from the Chapter Two page (if it isn’t, scroll back to the Chapter One page, and read the notebook from there). The entries are quick to read, and really do help to clear up some of the confusion of the chapter you just completed. Note that the evidence from Chapter One (the lottery ticket) cannot be accessed, and that the pact between Jody and Mephisto can be reviewed by clicking on “Pact”.
Begin the second chapter (“The Alchemist and the Genie”), and listen to Mephisto prattle on about the nature of killing, and the next subject – a Mr. Nathaniel Meister. You begin the next phase of the game in December 1952 staring at the back of a blocky building at twilight. Walk forward towards the building, turn to your right, and move forward again to stand beside a water well. Turn to your left, walk forward, and move forward again (a bit to the left, actually) onto the front deck of the building. Walk forward a step, and turn to your left to see a unmoving water wheel with a lever to its left that won’t work. Turn back around, walk back along the deck, turn to your right, and enter the front door of the house. At this point, you may want to turn off all of your lights, because this Chapter is dark and hard to see.
You stand in a high, spacious entranceway with several staircases leading off to the left and right. By now you’ve noticed that some pretty inventive people were handling the architectural design elements of the game. Turn to the left a bit, and proceed up the stairs leading to the left. You’ve now entered Nathaniel’s office – turn to the left, and click on his diploma from Princeton. We hear Nathaniel’s voice lamenting his fall from Ivy league to trailer trash, and blaming the Secret Service. Back away - the two pictures to the right of the diploma can also be examined, but reveal little information.
Turn to the right and click on the ashes in the fireplace – a burnt scrap of paper and voices heard over the telephone don’t seem to tell us anything. Back away, turn back to the left a bit, and click on the easy chair in front of the desk - click again on the scratches on the chair’s left arm rest. We get a flash of Mephisto looking very nonplussed. Back away from the chair and walk past the left side of the desk, moving forward into the room.
From your corner location, turn to face the desk again, and find the hotspot on its surface just to the left of the telephone. We see another glimpse of Mephisto in full arm-swinging mode. Now find another hotspot along the left edge of the desk – just in front of the chair here, where a drawer should be. It actually is a drawer – but the area is so dark, you can hardly make it out. Pick up the pipe inside the desk, as well as the boxy item below the pipe – a box of matches as it turns out. Back away to close the drawer, and turn to the right to face the wall bookcase.
Note that each of the shelves of the bookcase has a small white label above it – just mouse-over the labels to read the name of each subject at the bottom of the screen. There are several books to investigate on the bookcase. Find the hotspot on the second shelf (“Faust”) from the floor on the left bookcase and click there. A copy of Goethe’s Faust appears on the screen – click to open the book, and click again to hear a short passage. Close the book and place it back on the shelf.
Your next destination is the “Kryptology and Coding” shelf on the middle bookcase – it’s the 4th one from the floor. Mouse-over the right side of the shelf to hear your own voice reading the label, and then click here to view a copy of Meister’s university thesis. Clicking on the book yields a short intro from Nathaniel, and then our own voice making a comment. Back away from the book, and click on the other hotspot on the left side of the same shelf. A thick book, “Code Book”, is shown to us – click on the metal hook-like object sticking out of the top of the book. Check your inventory – it was a key – and then back away from the book view.
Examine the top shelf of the middle bookcase (“History”), and click in the centre of the shelf. A book titled “History of WWII” appears in the centre of the screen – click on the book to open it. Clicking on the left-hand page triggers a passage detailing Operation Fortitude, a British Secret Service initiative in which the Allies successfully convinced the Germans that a 1944 landing would take place in the north of France. As a result, the German forces were spread too thinly, and the invasion was successfully carried out. A key component of the plan was the sacrifice of a number of French resistance agents, who were purposely fed false information and then given to the Germans, who tortured and killed them. Click on the right-hand page to hear Nathaniel’s rather dim view of the operation.
Back away from the book, and pan to the right until the corner shelf unit comes into view. The upper portion of the unit is locked, so take your Code Book key out from inventory and click on the keyhole to unlock it. Inside you’ll find five small drawers, with a rolled up paper located below and to the right of the drawers. Click on the paper – it appears to be some sort of map with a whole series of sections cut out of it. Place it into your inventory.
Open the top-left drawer, and click on the object inside – it’s a signet ring with a pelican on it. Now open the top-centre drawer, and click on the paper inside. This appears to be an agreement dated 1945 between Meister and Theodore More, spelling out a contract – Meister teaches anyone in the park in exchange for the construction of his house, and food. The agreement cannot be placed into your inventory. Open the top-right drawer, and pick up the magnifying glass inside.
On to the bottom-left drawer, which gives a funny sounding knock when fully opened. Pick up what looks like a hunting knife from the open drawer (check your inventory – this is actually a “letter opener”). Close the drawer, and open the bottom right one – unfortunately, it only seems to open half-way. Remembering that funny knocking sound from the bottom-left drawer, close the bottom right drawer, open the bottom left one, and then re-open the bottom right one. The drawer should pull out completely – click on the shape inside the back compartment of the drawer, and then look at your inventory to see what you’ve grabbed - it’s the wooden head of a statue.
What’s the best thing to do with the head of a wooden statue? Put it back on it’s body, of course! Back away from the view of the drawers, and look down near the base of the corner unit – two statues to the left and right, and the one on the left is missing it’s head. Grab the head from your inventory and place it on the top of the left statue – immediately, the bottom left side of the cabinet swings open to reveal a hidden compartment. The close-up view shows three reel tapes on a shelf below a tape player. Click on the tapes to put them into inventory, grab Tape #1, click on the right side of the player to place the tape here, and press the “Play” (right-pointing arrow) button.
The tape contains two audio recordings of Nathaniel speaking in 1945 about some disappointing pupils of his. [Note: He clearly seems to be speaking about the twins here, which leads me to believe that Chapter One actually took place in 1945 instead of 1935]. Stop the tape by pressing the button with the square on it, and click on the tape again to place it back into inventory. You can also listen to Tapes 2 and 3 in the same manner – one has a rocking song by John Lee Hooker on it, while the other song sounds like the Monster Mash recorded in German.
Back away from the compartment – the tapes return to their place on the shelf, and the cabinet door closes.
Pan to the right – you can take a step towards the green curtain ahead, but there isn’t anything to see or do there. Instead, turn around, walk back towards the stairs, and descend them. At the bottom of the stairs, turn to face the other staircase that rises up to the right, and proceed up this staircase. Click on the door at the top of the stairs to go forward into Nathaniel’s bathroom.
You can spend some time looking around in here, but there isn’t anything to see or do. Turn around and click on the door to exit. Descend the stairs, and turn to the left once you’ve reached the bottom. Click forward to move past the bathroom staircase, and then turn to your left to see a small set of stairs leading downward. Walk forward down the stairs and click on the closed door ahead – we hear a conversation between Nathaniel and Theodore indicating that the kitchen is not finished just yet (and thus is inaccessible).
Turn around, walk back up the stairs, turn to your right, move one step forward. Panning to the left, you should be able to make out a door located to the right of the stairs leading to Nathaniel’s office. Click on this door to enter Nathaniel’s bedroom.
Have a quick look around in here – there is much to see – and start by examining the “map” on the closet door to the right of the large globe. Click on this map to look closer – it looks suspiciously like the one we found inside the corner unit in Nathaniel’s office – except that it has all the pieces that were missing from that first map. Take out the map from inventory and click on the map on the door – nothing happens! Back away from the map, and then open this door by clicking anywhere on the door except the map. The door opens to reveal a bare spot on the wall behind the location of the map.
Take out the map from your inventory and click on the empty spot – the map is placed on the wall. Now click on the door to close it, and the map is completed. We hear the same audio passage from the “History of WWII” book from the office. The map itself shows the latitude (50 degrees 20 minutes) and longitude (00 degrees 45 minutes) of the actual landing spot of the invasion at Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944. After the audio is done, we see a close up of what looks to be a combination lock on the globe. The first 8 numbers (06 06 1944) of the combination are automatically revealed, leaving a 5 digit number to be determined.
Back away from the map, and move towards the left of the large globe. You’ll find a ratty tapestry hanging on the wall here that has a rainbow on it. Pan to the right and click on the lumps of metal on the right side of the globe. We see a close up of the locking mechanism that we glimpsed earlier. We will have to find the 5 digit code to complete the combination. Back away from the lock, and return to your initial position by walking towards the closets to the left of the bed.
It’s time to investigate Nathaniel’s 4-door closet. Facing the closet doors, click on the left-most one. Nothing of interest here, so click on the open door again to close it. Now try the second one from the left – here we have sweaters and shoes. Click on the sweater to the right – we find a postcard from Omaha Beach (Omaha again!). Click on the postcard to turn it over, revealing a cryptic message: A=0. Back away from the postcard, and close the second closet door.
Now try the second door from the right – more shirts and shoes. Click on the top shirt of the pile to see its blurry label. Take out the magnifying glass from your inventory, and click on the label to get it in focus. The label contains some standard washing instructions, but there is a curious set of picture-steps near the bottom of the label. The first shows a knife next to a sealed envelope, the second illustrates the knife moving under and through the seal, and the third shows that a downward slice with the knife opens the letter. Back away from the label, and close the closet door.
The door furthest to the right is opened with a click, revealing yet another set of shirts and shoes. There aren’t any clues here, so shut the door, back away and turn to the bed. Click on the metallic panel on the wall above and to the left of the bed. On closer inspection the lid to the left, and the lever to the right cannot be manipulated at this time. Back away from the panel and examine the bed.
Doesn’t something strike you as a bit odd about Nathaniel’s very skinny bed? That’s right, the bed posts have some sort of large round carving on them. Click on several of the posts for a closer view. Each post has a carving of a man with a pipe in his mouth – the pipes on the two posts at the head of the bed area pointing sideways, while the pipes on the two posts at the foot of the bed are pointing upwards. Each post also has a circular wooden dial with an arrow that can be rotated by clicking and holding on the arrow and dragging the mouse around. The two dials on the left side of the bed go from 0 to 180 (clockwise), and the dials on the right side go from 0 to 60.
Do we have any numerical information with scales of 0-180 and 0-60. Yes – the latitude and longitude of Omaha Beach, which are given to us in degrees (0 to 180) and minutes (0 to 60). The only thing left is to determine whether the latitude should be set on the head of the bed (and the longitude set on the foot) or vice-versa.
Take out the pipe from your inventory and examine it. The small settings on the shaft indicate that we read latitude when the pipe is upright, and longitude when the pipe is pointing to the left (click the fat end of the pipe to rotate it). But remember that the pipes on the bed posts are either pointing upwards, or to the RIGHT. In order to be able to rotate our own pipe from an upright position to a right-pointing position, we’ve got to treat the “longitude” left-pointing position as the upright position. Got it? No? Well, our inventory pipe tells us that the posts with the upright pipes (the foot of the bed) should be set to the longitude co-ordinates, while the posts with the right-pointing pipes (the head of the bed) should be set to the latitude co-ordinates. Trust me.
Your next step is to shut off all the lights, since the developers made these dials so dark and hard to see that entering these co-ordinates is a real pain.
· Start at the foot of the bed – the longitudinal co-ordinates are 00 degrees, 45 minutes
Ø The left post’s dial should be set to zero. If you haven’t touched this dial, the arrow should already be pointing straight upwards to zero at the very top of the dial. If not, rotate the arrow so that it points straight up to 0.
Ø The right post needs to be set at 45 minutes. The dial goes from 0 to 60, so the arrow should point directly towards the west compass direction (or, put another way, straight to the left).
· Next, go to the two posts at the head of the bed – the latitude co-ordinates are 50 degrees, 20 minutes.
Ø The left post’s dial should be set to 50 degrees. As the dial runs from 0 to 180, and every ten degrees is shown with a large tick (and a numerical label), the arrow should point to the 5th large tick counting clockwise from the top of the circle. This positions the arrow a little below straight to the right (or put another way, a little south of due east).
Ø Similarly, the right post’s dial should be set to 20 degrees, the 2nd large tick counting clockwise from the top of the circle. This positions the arrow pointing to the south-east (actually, a little closer to east than south)
The right posts are the harder ones to set, since they are darker, and the positioning is a bit more finicky. Try varying the positions of the arrow on each a bit – once the correct setting is reached, the game pauses, the view reverts back to the whole bed, and a drawer along the side of the bed slides open.
Click on the box inside the now-opened bed drawer for a close-up. The box is locked with some sort of metal clasp with a pelican symbol. Luckily, you found a signet ring upstairs with that exact marking on it. Take the ring out and click on the symbol to open the lock. Pick up the light coloured item on top of the opened box (it’s a decoding wheel – save it for later!), and then click again on the box to get another close-up.
Another lock here – this one consists of 7 wheels with a rainbow of colours present on each one. We must determine the proper order of the colours in order to gain access. Where have we seen a sequence of colours before? On the tapestry over by the globe of course – a rainbow shown in the following colour order: violet, dark blue, light blue, green, yellow, orange, red. (Note that if you return to the tapestry to check this yourself, the locked box will have to be reopened with the signet ring.) Turn each colour wheel by clicking and holding down the left mouse button, and moving to the left or right.
Place the colours in the order listed above from top to bottom. The colour chosen for each wheel must be positioned so that it touches the right edge of the visible portion of the wheel (this makes for a rather strange looking rainbow progression). Once the sequence has been correctly entered, the box below opens to reveal a single white envelope. Click on the sealed envelope for a close-up – it looks similar to the one in the tiny pictures on the shirt label we saw in Nathaniel’s closet.
Grab the letter opener from your inventory, and position the tip of the blade just to the left of the right side of the letter’s seal. Slowly move the tip to the left so that the blade runs under the seal and out the left side as well. Complete the opening by slicing downward with the blade. Note that if you mess this up, a green cloud of gas comes out of the envelope, but this simply resets the sealed envelope again.
The note inside this envelope is infuriating – this was simply a training envelope to open. Back away from the note, and return to the centre of the room.
Let’s have a look at that decoding ring we got from the locked box. It’s got an outer ring of black letters and numbers shown in order, and an inner ring of random red letters and numbers. Using the clue that we got from the Omaha Beach post card (A = O), spin the inner ring (just click and rotate) and align the “A” on the outer ring with one of the “O”s on the inner ring (there are two of them). The inner ring is a bit difficult to manipulate – go slowly and be patient.
Our next step is to figure out what word needs to be converted into numbers to enter into the globe locking mechanism. What 5-letter word is associated with the date 06-06-1944, and the post card giving us the decoding clue? OMAHA! Now, find the “O”, “M”, “A” and “H” on the outer ring of the decoder, and write down the aligned red letter/number on the inner ring. If you’ve chosen the “O” between the 6 and the 8 on the inner ring, the results will be a combination of letters and numbers. However, if you’ve chosen the “O” between the M and N on the inner ring, you should be able to assemble the following numerical equivalent to OMAHA: 7 9 0 3 0.
Back away from the decoder, and walk to the left of the globe. Pan to the right, and click on the locking mechanism on the right edge of the globe. Adjust the set of five digits at the bottom of the mechanism to read “7 9 0 3 0”. The wheels are changed by clicking and holding the mouse button down, and dragging the mouse up or down. The globe splits at its equator and opens.
Click on the scarf to the right to hear a short passage from Nathaniel mentioning something about a promise to save “her”. Now click on the letter to the left – this is the real sealed envelope you must open with the letter opener. Grab the opener from your inventory, and repeat the steps from before – insert the tip slowly, and open it with a quick downward slice. If you do screw it up, a green gas appears and kills you. This time though, you are sent off to heaven where God tells you how disappointed he is in you; you then arrive back in front of the globe to try the envelope again.
The letter inside is Nathaniel’s resignation letter – apparently he was involved with the decision-making of Operation Fortitude (although he wasn’t aware of the level of sacrifice some of the operatives would have to make). He may have also lost a loved one, as the scarf suggests. We then witness a scene between Nathaniel and Mephisto, in which the evil one offers immortality and unlimited knowledge to Meister, who turns it down.
We are returned to Nathaniel’s office in July 1960. He’s collected a few more books, but everything else is the same. Walk towards the bookshelf we investigated last time, and turn to the right towards the shelf in the corner. Insert the key from your inventory into the main lock, allowing access to those small drawers again. Open up the top left drawer – there are two pieces of red and white wax here to collect. The same More-Meister contract is in the top-centre drawer, and the top right one is empty.
The bottom left and right drawers are also empty (you can re-check the secret compartment again if you want), but note the tape reel present in the bottom centre spot where there is no drawer. Just click here to grab the tape. Back away from the drawers, and click on the head of the left wooden statue near the floor – this opens the left hand shelf with the tape player again. Grab the new tape from your inventory, place it on the player, and hit the play button. The message is from Meister for “the one who’ll come” (he’s evidently anticipated our visit). He’s set up a treasure hunt for us that will lead to the creation of the one who will be our assistant.
The three tapes present on the shelf below the player are the same, but there is now a slip of paper below the tapes. Pick up the paper to read “If you want to know about fire, learn about ashes”. Back away from the shelf, and turn to the left towards the bookcases. All of the hotspots on the books and the desk are the same as last time, except for the spot on the “Faust” bookshelf (left bookcase, second shelf from bottom). Clicking here triggers a voiceover from someone – but unfortunately the developers mistakenly have a Mephisto recording playing over the proper audio here. In order to read the proper words that are said, you must have the subtitles option checked on the Options screen (accessible from the Main Menu). There isn’t really any new information given out, but its nice to read what’s actually being said.
Walk one step towards the stairs, and turn to face the fireplace. Grab the shovel leaning up against the wall to the right of the chair, and then click on the bellows lying on the ground in front of the fireplace. This causes a compartment to open at the back of the fireplace. Grab the small wooden box inside the compartment - the box now appears in the bottom left corner of the screen. Evidently this is your treasure holder – note that the two pieces of wax have already been placed inside this box.
Now pick up the wood item (it’s a “handle”) and a slip of paper found inside the fireplace compartment. The paper reads “The frog in the well knows nothing about the high seas.” Recall that there is a well outside the house – back away from the hearth, pan to the right, and descend the stairs to the front door. Exit the house, turn to your right and move forward. Another step forward takes you to the well. Take out the handle from your inventory and click on the wheel located to the right of the well. The bucket automatically rises up to eye level.
There is a stone frog hanging from the handle of the bucket – click on the frog for a close up, and then click on the object sitting in its mouth (is that an eyeball?). The object is placed into your wooden box. Next, click on the water bucket itself to read the following clue at the bottom of the bucket: “What is below is like what is above”. Hmm…not much to go on.
Time to look around a bit – turn to your left, and walk forward. Turn to your left again, and walk forward off the path into the trees. From your new location turn to your left and examine the rocks on the ground here. One rock in the centre of the screen has a hotspot over it – click here to turn the rock over. Now there’s a hotspot on the ground where the rock used to be. Take out your shovel from inventory and click on the spot to find “what is below”. Once the buried box is uncovered, open it and take the telescope and the white unidentified object located inside. The white object is placed into your collectibles box.
Now read the next clue: “Analogy – turn to your left and look up. Learn to read the veins of the rock at the branches of the tree, and find the petrified sap”.
Following the directions in the clue, back away from the box, turn to your left, and look up at the tree here. You should find a hotspot on the lowest branch on the right side of the tree. Click here to see a close up of a metal hook on the branch – take out your telescope, and click on the hook to install the telescope. Now look into the telescope by clicking on the eyepiece – you get a nice shot of the rock face ahead. Click on the image to move forward to the rock wall, and click on the object in the small hollow in the rock - another piece placed into your box. The next object is a red handle – pick this up and place it into your inventory.
Click on the paper in the hollow to read the next clue: “I am movement – I live half in the air, and half in the water, but I get a grip on the earth. 7 after black.” The clue obviously refers to the water wheel at the side of the house. Back away from the hollow, turn around, move forward one step, turn to the right, and move forward twice to reach the front of the house. Move straight ahead to reach the water wheel, and turn to the left.
Take out the red handle from your inventory, and click on the broken lever located on the wall to the left of the wheel. Click again on the restored control lever to send the water wheel into motion. Watch the wheel spin around, and keep in mind the last three words of the last clue: “7 after black”. After a while, you will spot one of the blades of the wheel with a thick black horizontal line on it. We want to stop the wheel so that the 7th blade after the black-lined one appears. Watch for the black blade, and then count each successive blade that comes after. After the sixth appears, click on the red lever to stop the wheel at the seventh blade. This make take a few tries, but the wheel is pretty forgiving about when you click.
When the wheel stops at the correct position, you should get a hotspot on the wheel right at eye level. Click for a close-up of the surface of the 7th blade, and click on the red coloured handle near the centre of the blade. This opens a secret compartment inside the blade that contains a number of items: a key, a red object (for your box), and the next clue. “Make the radiant sun shine in glory upon Iris’ rainbow. Help is not far from the sailors.”
Back away from the water wheel bucket, turn to your left, and walk forward. Turn to your right and enter Nathaniel’s house again. Proceed into his bedroom, and have another look around in here. The picture on the closet door to the right of the globe is different, but overall things look fairly similar to our first visit. Click on the open drawer on the side of Nathaniel’s bed to see some sort of glass triangle lying inside the drawer. Grab it and check your inventory – it’s a mirror.
Remembering the clue, we must somehow get sunlight on a rainbow – presumably, the one on the tapestry. Walk over to the left side of the globe to examine the most likely source of the sunlight - the outside wall of the room. Find the small window located on the wall to the left of the rainbow tapestry, and click for a close up. Press the red button in the centre of the window…nothing happens. Back away, and return to the centre of the room.
Click on the new picture on the door to the right of the globe to get a close-up, and spot the two metal hooks in the left-central portion of the picture. Take out the mirror from your inventory and click on the hooks to place the mirror here. Back away, turn around, and examine the small control panel on the wall to the left of the bed.. Does that wide hole on the bottom of the left side of the panel look like a keyhole to you? No? Well, it is – take out that gold key you grabbed from the water wheel and click on the hole to open the left side of the panel.
Another click on the red knob here fully opens that window on the far wall of the room, causing a ray of light to shoot across the room, bounce off a light and couple of mirrors, and beam over beyond the globe. Walk towards the tapestry on the fat wall, and spot the burning flame that the beam has lit on the wall hanging. Click on the patch, and then spot the rolled up paper inside the horse’s mouth (down and to the left of the flame). Click on the paper to receive the next clue: “Vista interiora terre rectificandoque invenies occultum lapium”.
Now I don’t know Latin (is this even Latin?), but I do know that “interiora terre” must approximate “inside of the earth”, so back away from the tapestry and turn to the globe to your right. Click on the globe to open it, and grab the green chunk inside (we only have one more open spot left in our collectible box!). The next clue reads “One cannot wonder looking at the stars with a stone in one’s shoe”.
You should remember that there are a bunch of shoes in Nathaniel’s closets to the left of his bed, so back away from the globe and walk into the centre of the room. There were no shoes in the left most closet, so try opening the second door from the left. Click on the black shoes (to the right of the brown ones) for a close-up of one of the shoes. You will easily find the hotspot on the shoe’s heel – clicking here opens a secret compartment holding the last message “Bravo. All elements gathered. Meet me in kitchen. Proud of you. Waiting. Nath”.
Back away from the closet, exit the bedroom, turn to the left, walk forward, turn to the left and walk forward to the kitchen door. Click on the door to enter, and look around. A large mechanism sits directly in front of you, and a series of cabinets lie to your left. Turn to your left and open each of the cabinets in turn. In the cabinet furthest to the right, you’ll find several kinds of salt along the bottom shelf – pick up the “Common Salt”, “Salt of the Wise”, and the “Rock Salt”. These items are placed into your collection box.
Back away from the cabinet, and turn to the mechanism, which may start blinking and moving on its own (if it doesn’t, try clicking on the hotspot directly under the blue lamp hanging from the top of the frame). As the mechanism moves, it grabs items from your collection box. After your assistant Homunculus has formed, he greets you and mentions that Nathaniel did not die in vain.
You are transported out into the park at night. You stand in front of a doorway with several coloured spotlights shining on the sidewalk here. The left-most white light is barely flickering – look up to see the location of the actual lights. Check your inventory – there isn’t really anything that you can use to fix the light. Perhaps your new helper can provide some aid. Grab Homunculus from your inventory, and click on the malfunctioning light to fix it.
The scene switches to a conversation between Faust and More, where the architect describes his early life and the beginnings of Dreamland. Once the talk has ended, pan around until you see a box on the ground labeled “Maps”. Click here to gain a map of Dreamland (not that it will be much use to you later). The chapter ends with Mephisto bemoaning intellectual types like Nathaniel (I think we’ve heard this audio track before!).
Back at the Menu page, note that More’s notebook entry for Chapter 2 is simply Nathaniel’s resignation letter, and there is no pact to peruse, since Nathaniel never did sign an agreement with Mephisto.
Chapter 3 (“Shadow of Casanova”) begins with Mephisto discussing his failures (Nathaniel for instance) and successes (the horny painter Frank Barnes that you will soon meet). We begin the action in February 1930 standing on a dock with a small paddle boat behind you. Walk away from the boat onto dry land, turn to your left, and ascend to the raised chair. From your seat you can spin around and take in the beautiful vista – note that you are on an island right now.
Walk back down the stairs, take another step forward, and turn to your left to see steps leading down. Descend the stairs and enter the home of Frank Barnes. Looking at the large underwater plate glass window, pan to the right, and move off towards the easel. From your new position, pan to the right until you see a framed certificate on the wall to the right of the stand-alone closet with the mirrored door. Click on the certificate to get a close-up - Frank earned first prize in some art competition “A promising young man, they said”.
Back away from the diploma and turn to the stand-alone closet. Find the hotspot on the blue and orange square about half-way up the right side of the mirror, and click here. Suddenly the mirror blinks out, and we can see a drawing of a man on the back wall of the closet. Click on the square again to see the head of the drawing morph into someone else, and then the glass door swings open. After Frank speaks, note the small item in the drawing’s hand up in the top-right corner – click here for a close-up, and again to grab what appears to be a tiny silver wig. Back away from the close-up, and then the closet.
Pan to the right, and move forward under the stairs towards the other side of the room. A round window looking out into the water is to your left. Look to your right to see a table in shadow. Click to get a close up, and then click on the small metal toggle switch in the bottom left corner of the screen. It’s a light table, but we don’t have anything to put on it. Back away from the table, turn back to the left, and walk towards another small table ahead.
There are some interesting pictures and drawings on the wall near your new position that will shed light on Frank the artist. Begin with the round photo of an older couple on the wall to the left of the drawing table. Evidently his dad was not proud of his son’s chosen profession. Next, click each of the drawings located on the wall above the drawing table. The women’s comments are dismissive, patronizing and insulting. Frank was obviously not a hit with the ladies.
Walk to the right of the drawing table, and click on the surface of the small cabinet in the corner of the room here. Clicking on the pen pot to the right brings up two items that can be placed into inventory - a “thin” pencil and a compass needle. A click on the wooden box to the left opens the lid, and another click inside the box opens a newspaper clipping that savages Frank’s artistic vision. Back away from the clipping and the table top. You can also click on the door handle of the cabinet below to open it up, but there isn’t anything inside.
Pan to the right, and note the three-button controller on the wall here. You can press the buttons all you want, but nothing significant happens. Keep turning to the right, and walk forward to the right of the clock. Turn back to face the clock, and note the hotspot on the clock’s face (we cannot access it yet). Another red button on the wall to the right of the clock does nothing. Turn around to face the downward staircase, and move forward to descend the stairs.
A hedonistic mural stares back at you at the base of the staircase, preventing any forward progress. Trace around with the cursor until you find a hotspot – yes, on the pinched nipple of the woman on the right. Click here to hear Faust comment about the size of the tool needed for the job. Take out your thin pencil, click on the nipple to open the way ahead, and enter Frank’s bedroom.
Frank’s got his dining room table and his bathroom in here as well, but let’s just call it his bedroom. Start at the dining room table and try clicking on the chair to the left, and then on the champagne bottle to the right of the table. Frank sounds like a very lonely man. Pan to the right, and click on the surface of the bed – this triggers some sort of dream sequence featuring a writhing spirit, and Frank’s wee-wee (look closely!).
Now try clicking on the compass located at the foot of the bed. Naturally it’s missing a needle, so take yours out of inventory and click in the centre to complete the compass. The needle swings counter-clockwise from north to northwest, and then stops. Back away, pan to the left, and move towards the bathroom located along the far wall. There are 2 cabinets to the left that can be opened, but there isn’t anything of interest inside either of them. Simply admire another bathroom, and then return to the main room.
Note the small rug on the floor to the right of the bed – a clock reading 5:30 can be barely made out in the design. Turn back to the bed, and walk forward onto it (the forward cursor should be above the mattress). On the bed, turn to the left and click on the small bookcase beside the bed. Frank discusses Don Juan while complaining about “not getting any”. Back away, turn to see a similar bookcase on the right side of the bed, and click to hear Frank speak about Casanova.
Back away, look up, and click on the roof of Frank’s poster bed. Ye gods! No wonder this guy is so aroused – look at what he stares at every night. Click on the left side of the roof, and drag the mouse over to the left with the button pressed – a hidden surface appears. Do the same to the right side, and then read the passage. Slide the doors back, and back away from the view.
Turn round until you face the figurine lamp behind the bed, and click here. Click on the figure’s head to hear a profound passage from Frank, and then watch as a drawer opens below. Take the green coloured key inside the drawer, and back away from the lamp.
Now examine the 4 green mermaids on each of the 4 bed posts. There is a small red button located in the stomach of each mermaid. Clicking these buttons in some order may trigger something, but what order should we choose? Remember what happened when we placed the needle on the compass – it swung in a clockwise direction from north to northwest. Starting from the “North” bed post (the one on the right at the head of the bed), click the red buttons on the 4 mermaids in a counter-clockwise direction on the bed.
Begin by clicking on the mermaid on the right side of the head of the bed, then keep turning to the left and clicking on the mermaids until you have clicked all four. The sound of movement signals your success. Walk off the bed’s surface, and then look back at the front of the bed. A panel with a locked door has dropped from the ceiling. Take out your green key and click on the door to open it. We see a flash of a painting (a demon embrace), and then watch as the easy target Frank is seduced by Mephisto’s offer of limitless desirability to the opposite sex.
We begin again back on the dock outside Frank’s underwater abode in October 1939. Walk forward to the island, turn to the left, take a step forward, turn to the left again, and descend the stairs into Frank’s Place. The rooms look very similar to what we saw in 1930. At the large underwater window, turn to the right, and walk forward towards the stand-alone closet. From the closet, turn to Frank’s first prize certificate still hanging on the wall and click on it – Frank seems to value something different these days – and click again to place it in your inventory.
Back away, turn to the left, and click on the square along the right side of the stand-alone closet. The mirror disappears, and another click opens the door. We see a glimpse of the face of Mephisto on the figure at the back of the closet. There appears to be something hanging from the figure’s hand again – click for a close-up, and again to pick up a gold key. Back away from the closet and watch the door swing shut.
Pan to the right, and walk towards the other side of the room. Pass the light table on your right, and walk towards the large drawing table on the far wall. Click on the photographs above the table to see how the ladies now love Frank, and click on his parents’ picture to the left to hear how they disapprove of his present occupation.
Walk to the right of the drawing table and click on the surface of the corner cabinet. Open the small wooden box with a click, and click again to display its contents. Along with the small clipping from before, Homonculus reads to us two letters of rejection: one from a publisher rejecting Frank’s “Diary of a Seducer”, and another from a Paranormal Institute refuting his claims of the ability to read thoughts. Back away from the papers, click on the handle of the cabinet door below, and grab two items on the top shelf of the cabinet – a magnifying glass, and a box of slides. Back away from the cabinet to close the door.
Where is the best place to view slides when you don’t have a projector? Why, a light table of course! Walk towards the stairs from your current position to get to the light table. Turn to the table, click on it for a close-up, and click on the toggle switch in the bottom left corner of the screen. Take out the slides from your inventory and place them on the table. Now grab the magnifying glass and click on each slide in turn.
All of the slides except the two on the right look like they were taken during a trip to Thailand. Both the right-most slides show a clock face showing a time of 5:30 (just like the small carpet down in the bedroom). Put the magnifying glass and the slides away, and then back away from the table.
Walk around to the clock located across from the entrance to the bedroom stairs. Grab the gold key from your inventory and click on the clock face to open the glass covering. You can set the hands of the clock by clicking and dragging them while holding the left mouse button down. The hands are a little difficult to position, but the long hand should point to 6, and the short hand should be between the 5 and 6 (just in case reading time is not your forte). Once the correct position is established, the hands rotate and reset themselves. Back away from the clock, turn around and descend the stairs to the bedroom.
At the bottom of the stairs, you’ll have to take out your thin pencil from inventory and click on the pinched nipple to open the way again. Inside the bedroom, note the trap door now open to the right of the bed. Feel free to click on the same hotspots that were active during our earlier visit. The dinner chair and champagne bottle suggest Frank isn’t exactly happy with his new life. There isn’t anything new in the bathroom, and the hotspots on the bed and compass are the same as before.
Click on the secret shelf above the bed to view the demon painting again – this time with commentary by Frank. Walk onto the bed’s surface, and click on the bookcase to the left of the bed to hear about Frank’s telepathy (the right bookcase yields the same passage). The figure lamp is also the same as during our previous visit. Walk off the bed, turn to the left, and click on the open trap door to descend the ladder.
We see Faust slowly climbing down the ladder, and then suddenly we’re in Frank’s darkroom of horrors. The walls are covered in drawings and photographs of “nekkid” women, a garish red bulb lights the room, and screams fill the air (this gets tired really fast). Facing the far counter, turn to the right to face the wall here. There are a series of drawings hanging from a line about halfway up the wall. Find the drawing that sits over a dark wall patch, and click there to reveal a secret compartment. Pick up the two light bulbs inside, and back away.
Turn back to the left and take a step forward into the room. Turn to your left, and find the open book lying on the counter here to the left of the sink. This appears to be Frank’s “little black book”. Try clicking on the hearts on the right-hand page – this reveals a diary passage where Frank tells us of his ability to read minds. The gift allows him to seduce whomever he pleases, but at the same time he can tell that his conquests will never love nor respect him.
Back away from the book (it gets placed into your inventory), pan to the right, and click on the old-time camera located to the right of the counter. Some believe that a camera can catch the soul – Frank believes the picture taker’s soul is at risk.
Turn to the upright unit to the right of the camera. Find the hotspot in the centre of the top portion of the unit and click it to open a small door. Take out the yellow light bulb and click on the small open door to place it here. After the door closes, click on the table surface near the bottom of the unit to get a close-up. Click on the red button in the bottom right corner of the screen to turn the yellow light on.
We now must put something onto this light table. Grab Frank’s first prize certificate and place it on the table surface. The yellow light does not illuminate anything new, so back away from the table, click on the top hotspot to open the small door, take the yellow bulb out (and place it back into your inventory), and replace it with the red bulb. Click on the table again, and hit the red button to wash the certificate in red light.
The light reveals Mephisto’s agreement with Frank – he has given up his talent (save for one painting that will exhaust his talent) in exchange for irresistibility. Pick up the agreement and back away from the table. We see a cut scene in which Frank burns himself badly, and Mepihisto reveals himself as a devil (but one with the tiniest bit of compassion).
We are transported to an underground midway train roundabout. You can walk all the way around the central switching mound, and even up onto the mound itself, but there doesn’t seem to be any activity here. From the initial position (standing in front of the train car), walk to the right of the mound one step. Pan to the left – a wooden door leading under the mound will become visible. Clicking the centre of the wooden door yields More’s voice telling us the eyes deceive. Move the cursor over to the left edge of the doorway and click again – this should open the doorway.
Walk forward into the room ahead, and step towards the large set of gears on the wall. Clicking on the large horizontal bar near the bottom of the wall ahead lets us hear More’s voice again speaking about control. Pan to the left, and click on the small metal control panel on the wall to the left of the gears. A miniature version of the gear system is found inside the panel. Grab the horizontal bar near the bottom, and while holding the left mouse button down, drag it to the left and let go. The bar will swing across and set the large gears in motion.
The engaged gears push the train car up onto the switching mound. We get a monologue from More speaking about how the park went from a successful family attraction to a disturbed place of mystery – More doesn’t know which he preferred more. The chapter ends with Mephisto asking for our sympathy for having to spend 3000 years with humankind.
Chapter 4, “The Phantom Lover”, begins with Mephisto speaking about mad love versus madness, and leaves you standing once again on a dock in June 1935. Turn around and walk forward towards the stairs ahead. Notice that the steps are folded back preventing us from climbing up. You can try walking off to the left of the stairs, but the only thing to see here is the view across the water. Walk back to the foot of the staircase, and mouse over the distant end of the left banister to find a hotspot here. What could you use to trigger the steps to fold down?
Remembering the end of Chapter 2 where a certain assistant helped us with changing a very high light bulb, take out Homunculus and click on the hotspot. Our friend flies through the air, triggers a lever, and the steps fold out. Proceed up the stairs, turn to the right, and walk forward. You stand in a courtyard surrounded on three sides by a two-story building. Turn to your right to the patio furniture, and click on the potted plant on the covered table’s surface. We hear a conversation between Hannibal (the twins’ paramour) and our heroine Kalinka. Hannibal insists his offer of marriage should not be turned down by the reluctant seamstress.
Pan to the right until the metallic sculpture of a caldron comes into view. Click on the top of the pot to see a reflection of the beautiful partly cloudy sky. Back away, and click on the wheel valve located to the left of the caldron. Click once on the wheel to try turning it , but it seems to be jammed. Note the nail stuck in the gears to the bottom left of the wheel – click on the nail to remove it, and then again on the wheel to start the water flow.
Back away from the wheel and click on the small water buckets immediately to the right of the wheel you were just looking at. The close-up reveals a pearl necklace sitting inside one of the buckets – turning on the water flow must have dislodged it. Grab the necklace and back away from the view. Now click on the human figure holding up the right corner of the caldron. There’s a small lever on the top of the figure’s head – click on it to see water flowing out of the little guy’s mouth.
Back away from the caldron, turn to the right until the umbrella-covered table comes into view, and walk to the left of the table. At the top of the stairs, look around for a hotspot indicating entry is possible – nothing here. Turn to your right, walk to the end of the balcony, and enjoy the view (including the developer’s logo on the umbrella). Turn around, walk back to the door, turn to the left, and descend the staircase. In the centre of the garden again, turn to your right, and try the next door – still nothing. Turn around, walk back down the stairs, turn to your right, and approach the final doorway.
Click on the hole in the door’s window to learn of its origin – apparently the twins didn’t care for Hannibal’s interest in Kalinka. Before entering the door, turn to the left a bit and click on the small wooden box on the ground here. Once the box is opened, pick up whatever is inside – peacock feathers, which are known to cause horrendous bad luck (!). You can walk to the end of the balcony here to the left, but there isn’t anything to do there except admire the view again. Face the door once more and click to enter (try positioning the cursor above or below the window to do so).
The view to the left inside Kalinka’s house leaves no doubt as to her occupation at the park - seamstress. Pan to the right until a small dresser comes into view (it’s located to the right of the stairs). Click on the top-left drawer to open it, and click inside the drawer to pick up its contents. You’ve bagged a respiration grill (huh?) and a shoelace. Close the drawer, and pan to the right until you see a note tacked up on the wall to the right of the door. Our seamstress appears to have three orders on the go – a bird of paradise costume for the twins, a new strap for Hannibal, and a new mask for the badly burnt Frank. Click on each of the list entries to hear from the respective customers (except for Frank).
Pan back to the left, and click on the curtain just to the left of the dresser to enter the kitchen. Have a peek at the furnishings to the left, and then click on the face of the clock against the wall straight ahead. This is one warped looking clock – note the moon-shaped hole hotspot just below the 10 / 11 position on the clock face. Back away, and turn to the right to behold some sort of distilling system. Click on the distiller for a close-up, and click on the cork on the left side of the large glass sphere. It looks like you can put something inside the sphere.
Note the Bunsen burner below the sphere – can we light this? Click on the match book in your inventory, and mouse over the burner with your lit match to ignite it for a few seconds – but nothing else appears to happen. Back away from the distiller, and click on the silver box to its right. The box opens revealing some sort of mould. Back away since we have nothing to put inside. Now click on the top right corner of the left-most cabinet door below the distiller. The cabinet opens to reveal some pantry items. Click on the white container on the right side of the shelf – it’s a bag of flour. Close the door, turn to your right and exit the kitchen.
Walk forward to the left of the sewing machine, and pan to the right to examine Kalinka’s work bench. A funny looking press sits to the left, with an upright cutting saw to its right. Rolls of material hang on a metal grid above the bench. The materials of interest sit next to the sewing machine at the right end of the bench, just behind a large cutting tool. Click on the rolls of brown and black material here to cut off a section of each. The brown material is a hard leather (perfect for, say, a strap), and the black material is a softer leather – more suited for a mask.
Grab the hard brown leather piece from your inventory and click on the upright saw to cut a nice looking strap for Hannibal. Next, take out the soft black leather piece and click on the press to the left – this cuts out a number of mask component pieces. Pick up the mask pieces and click on the upright saw to bore some holes into the pieces. Walk back towards the sewing machine, turn around to face it, and then place the altered mask pieces onto the sewing machine (the hotspot is located just below the “SINGER” name).
We’ve already collected some of the other parts of the mask, so leave the pieces on the sewing machine, grab the respirator grill, and click on the mask to add it. Do the same for the shoelaces. Now pick up the mostly completed mask and place it back into inventory. Walk forward to the right of the sewing machine, and turn to your left. There are 2 pieces of paper lying on the back of Kalinka’s bench here. Clicking on the left reveals a note from Theodore telling Kalinka that he will be dropping by to repair her garden fountain. The right paper contains several diagrams, including one that demonstrates the construction of the mask. It appears that we still need some gauze, soft tissue, and a herbal balm. Back away from the note, turn back to the right, and enter the curtained bathroom ahead.
Take a look around this room – something looks wrong here The graphics in this room are all screwed up -–in fact, most of the room is 90 degrees to the left of where it should be. Ah, quality control! The only operational item in the bathroom is a small drawer located on the corner vanity (with the mirror). The actual hotspot is located off to the right – just to the right of the wooden board with the various brushes hanging on it. Once you find the spot and click it, a small window containing the open drawer will be visible. There are two retrievable items in the drawer - take both the soft tissue and the gauze, and close the drawer. The cursor that represents the exit to the room is located to the right of the curtain opening - just above the sink. Go ahead and exit the room, and rejoin the world as we know it.
Turn to your right, and enter a corridor containing statues of most of the inhabitants of Dreamland (at least the ones we will encounter) save for Kalinka. Pan to the left a bit, and click on the short man – the voice mentions something about giving someone their pride back. Keep panning to the left, and click on the immense woman – she thanks Kalinka for the outfit. Next to the left is Frank, who has a sweet complement for Kalinka when we click on him.
Keep panning to the left, and walk forward just to the right of the statue of Theodore More. Turn to the left, and click on More to hear him call Kalinka a blessing. Pan to the left and click on the beefy man – this is Hannibal. Take out the leather strap we have made for him and click on the figure. Hannibal doesn’t take kindly to Kalinka refusing his offer of marriage, and destroys some of her valuable plants (at this point Kalinka mentions something about going back in time).
After the recording is done, pan to the left and click on the twins, who give their usual sass. Since they are looking for their peacock costume, take out the feather from your inventory and click on the statues. We hear the twins plotting to frame Kalinka by hiding stolen pearls (the ones we already recovered) in the water fountain for Theodore to find.
Click on the door at the end of the hallway to enter a richly decorated but run-down bathroom. Nothing much of interest in here, so exit via the door, walk forward along the corridor, turn to the left, and walk back into Kalinka’s work room. Turn to the left, proceed up the stairs, and walk through the curtains into Kalinka’s bedroom.
The only item that can be accessed in her bedroom is a wooden box sitting on the night table on the far side of her bed. Click on the box to open it up, and then listen to Kalinka talk about missing her Russian homeland. Mouse-over the contents of the jewelry box, and pick up the azure amulet in the front part of the box. Back away, turn to the right, and enter the small room in this direction.
Kalinka has set up a loom in here, and a baby cradle sits to the right. Click on the red material lying on the loom – Kalinka relays a message to her secret lover to meet her in the “glass house”, and provides a key. Now click on the small square spot present on the red material – the close-up view shows a piece of paper with the four corners folded inward. You must click on each of the four folded corners in the proper order to have the paper completely revealed. You can probably work this one out by clicking away, but if you get fed up, start with the top flap and continue around the paper in a counter clockwise direction.
Inside, find a stork holding a little silver moon. Pick up the moon and back away from the paper. Spin around, walk back into the bedroom, turn to the left and exit the bedroom.. Walk forward down the stairs, turn to the left, walk to the left of the sewing machine, and enter the kitchen via the curtained doorway under the stairs.
Click on the ornate clock face, grab the silver moon from your inventory, and place it in the hole located just below the 10 and 11 numbers on the clock face. The clock swings back to reveal a passageway - click to proceed forward. We see Mephisto and Faust discussing the story so far – he lets us know that we’ve got to collect 4 plants from each of the four different seasons to make our herb balm. He suggests looking at the Atlas in the garden (the fountain), and mentions the “invisible insides”.
Once the conversation has ended, turn around until you see the patio table in the glass house and click on it. Twelve symbols are found on the surface of the table – the 12 zodiac symbols. We need to find out which ones to press in order to time travel, so back away from the table, turn to the right, and exit the glass house. Continue through the kitchen, proceed back out into the work room, turn to the left, and exit Kalinka’s home via the door. Descend the stairs to the garden, turn to the right, and click on the top of the silvery caldron. We still see a wavy reflection of the sky and clouds. Back away from the caldron again.
Now, what would help us read the invisible insides of the caldron? How about a little dust? Take out the bag of flour from your inventory and click on the top of the caldron. Four symbols can now be seen on the close-up of the caldron: an “M” with an arrow, two wavy parallel lines, a round head with two horns sticking out, and a sperm. Back away from the image, walk back up the stairs to the house and enter. Proceed into the kitchen, through the clock passage and out into the glass house.
Turn to the right and click on the patio table again. Click on the four symbols in order as shown on the caldron: the right-most symbol in the 2nd row, the second-from-right symbol in the 3rd row, the second-from-left symbol in the 1st row, and the left-most symbol in the 2nd row. The time travel is now activated. Press on the Summer tree (top left one) to be transported there. Kalinka is serenading her pregnant belly. Turn to the corner of the room that is opposite the patio table, and find the hotspot on the vine growing up the pole in the corner here. Click to collect the herb for this season, which is placed in a small wooden box in the corner of the screen.
Click on the patio table again, and click on the fall tree button (the top right one). Kalinka and Frank Barnes (the father of the baby) are speaking together (she is still wearing that horrendous outfit). Turn to the same corner as before, and click on the vine to gather your second herb. Turn back to the table, click on it again, and press the Winter tree button (bottom right one). Kalinka is here with her young baby, who evidently does not feel the cold. Return to the far corner and click on the vine to collect you third herb.
Turn back to the table and click here for the last time. Click on the Spring tree button (bottom left one), and find yourself back at the same “time” as when you first entered the room. Turn to the far corner and click on the vine once more to collect your last herb. Turn around and exit the glass house to re-enter the kitchen.
Back in the kitchen, turn to the left and click on the distilling apparatus on the counter. Take the herb mixture out of your inventory and click on the opening to the glass sphere. Once the herbs are inside the sphere, take the cork out of your inventory and click on the opening to seal it up. Finally, click on the match book in your inventory and mouse over the Bunsen burner to light it. The herbs bubble and brew, and a liquid drips out into the container to the right of the sphere. Click on the bottle of mixed herbs to pick it up, and back away from the apparatus.
Click on the silver box to the right of the apparatus to access the mask mould. Place the completed mask inside the indentation. Next, pick up the gauze and place it on top of the mask. Next, pick up the mixed herbs and place them on top of the gauze. Now pick up the soft tissue and place it on top of the herb mixture. You can now click on the layered mask to place it into your inventory. Back away from the mould, turn to the right and exit the kitchen.
Walk to the right of the sewing machine, turn to the right and enter the hall of statues. Pan to the left, take out the mask from your inventory, and click on Frank’s statue. Frank offers a ring to Kalinka to symbolize his marriage proposal. Turn to the left, and re-enter the workshop. Turn to the left, proceed up the stairs, and walk forward into Kalinka’s bedroom. Turn to the right and enter the small room with the loom.
Look to the right – there’s a large Russian-looking building sitting atop a candle to the left of the cradle. Click on the building, but there isn’t anything to manipulate on it. Back away, click on the match book in your inventory, and wave the lit match over the candle below the building. The heat activates a blue figure, which runs along a circular track in and out of the building (like a coo-coo clock). Click on the candle flame to snuff it out just as the figure is directly in front of the building. Now click on the building for a close-up view, and then click on the figure to grab the engagement ring. Back away from the building.
We watch a scene of Kalinka and Theo having tea; Theo sees through the twin’s adolescent plot to frame the seamstress, and wishes the father of the baby well.
The gameplay begins again as we stare at a roller coaster car. Turn around and move forward towards a waiting elevator. The elevator takes us down into a large deserted library with a table light blinking off to the left. Walk forward up the stairs straight ahead. Turn to the left and explore the second floor of the library in this direction – move forward, turn to the left, and move forward again. Lots of books, but no hotspots - turn around, walk forward, turn to the right, and walk forward 2 steps. Ignore the ladder for now, turn to the right and walk forward. Another dead end – turn around and walk back to the corner with the ladder.
Pan to the right until the ladder comes into view, and click on it to ascend the steps. A shelf of books stares back at you. Mouse over the 3 red books present on the right side of the shelf – each title will be displayed at the bottom of the screen. Note that the first word in each title is written in gold lettering. There are another 9 red books located behind the fake panel that covers the rest of the shelf to the left. Click on each of the books to place them in your inventory. Make sure you get all twelve of the books that are present on the shelf.
The first gold coloured word from each book’s title (mouse over each book in your inventory) include the following:
Hope, 1917, In, With, Lost, Signed, Theodore, Contract, Mephisto, And, I, A
Remember that you can push the mouse to the left or right to scroll your inventory items in that same direction.
Rearrange the words into a sentence that makes sense within the context of the story, and then place the books onto the shelf in that order, left to right. Placing the books behind the fake panel can be difficult, but count the hotspots from the left and you should be fine (the hotspots tend to be near the right side of the spine of each of the books shown on the fake panel). The correct sentence is: “I Theodore lost hope in 1917 and signed a contract with Mephisto.”
The chapter ends with a teasing discussion about the contract between More and Mephisto, with the latter warning More not to reveal anything to us about the deal. Of course, our evil friend takes all credit for the happy ending for Kalinka and Frank.
Chapter 5, “Tigerhood”, tells the tale of Hannibal, the park’s resident tiger tamer – a brutal tyrant as Mephisto describes him in the opening speech. You are standing at the same location as the start of the twins’ story, only facing the circus tent to the left of the twins’ trailer in March 1932. Walk forward towards the tent, and click on the opening straight ahead to enter it.
Hannibal’s furnishings are more of a testament to his vices than anything else. Turn to the left and click on the handles for the top set of doors on the cupboard to open them. The shelves contain various bric-a-brac, but three curious-looking bottles are found on the top shelf to the right. Try clicking on the green, red and black tops of the bottles. Since we’re not sure what to do here yet, click on the doors again to close the cupboard. Sneak a peek into the bottom doors, but the shelves are empty in the bottom part of the cupboard.
Turn back to the right, and walk forward to the right of the bed. You face a sink to the right, and what looks to be a clock fashioned out of a roulette wheel to the left. Click on the roulette wheel to place it into your inventory. Now turn to the wash basin and click on the bar of soap to the right of the faucet. We see Hannibal in all his preening, muscled glory.
Look up, and click on the photograph mounted on the wall to the left of the basin. A girl spurned Hannibal at some point, and paid the price of a slash across the face. Turn to the right, and click the next photo – Hannibal’s former boss evidently fired him after the incident, inciting the tamer’s rage. Back away from the photo, and turn to the left to face an easel. Written in shaky handwriting is the following “19 0 BLACK 7 RED”.
Jot this down, and turn to the left to face the bed-side table. Click on the mechanism for a close-up. This machine appears to be some sort of disconnected power supply. Click and hold the left mouse button over the wires to the left, slide the wires upward to meet the two terminals on top of the box on the left, and let go to connect them (try pulling the cursor all the way over to the left side of the screen to make the connection). There’s a hotspot over the metal wheel to the right, but nothing can be performed here yet.
Back away from the bed-side table, and turn around to face Hannibal’s mini-casino table. Now, who would he be betting against? Anyway, take out the roulette wheel from your inventory (your “cylinder”), and click on the empty circle on the right side of the table. Once the wheel is in place, click on it to play some roulette.
We see a close up of the wheel, and a diamond-shaped button along the wheel’s top – this is our positioning marker. To turn the wheel, simply click and hold the left mouse button and drag the cursor in the direction you want the wheel to go. We want to input the code that was written on the easel. Follow these steps:
· Position the wheel so that the yellow diamond arrow is pointing at the red number 19 . Press the yellow diamond button.
· Position the wheel to point to 0 (a green number), not 00. Press the yellow button.
· Point the arrow at any black number, and press the yellow button.
· Position the arrow at Red 7, and click on the button.
· Point the arrow at any red number, and press the button.
You should spot part of the table rising beside the wheel. Back away from the wheel, and walk to the other side of the table (try going towards the full length mirror on the other side to the left). Turn around and click on the hidden compartment that has been revealed below the betting area. The close-up shows a whip and a reel of film. Pick both items up and back away from the table.
Punch-Drunk Love
Green, black and red – haven’t we seen these colours before somewhere? Pan to the left, and walk over to the cupboard that we opened when we first entered Hannibal’s tent (it will take two steps). Click on the upper door handles to open the top part of the cupboard. The three bottles in the top right corner have the same colours as the numbers on the roulette wheel.
We can try following the numbers and colours of Hannibal’s roulette code, but it seems a bit silly to be clicking on the red-topped bottle nineteen times. Instead, just click the colours in the order that you entered the code (i.e. the sequence 19 0 BLACK 7 RED required you to align the wheel to the following colour sequence: red, green, black, red, red). Click the tops of the red bottle, the green bottle, the black bottle, the red bottle and the red bottle. The top shelf slides away to reveal a secret shelf containing all of Hannibal’s booze.
A large key sits in the left corner of the second shelf - click on it to place it in your inventory. Now click on the bottles on the shelf to watch an encounter between Hannibal and Tod, the park’s diminutive bootlegger. Hannibal is apparently blackmailing Tod in order to get free hooch. Hannibal looks quite fetching rolling around drunk in his bed, particularly as he is serenaded by a bunch of rats.
Once the cut scene has ended, click on the cupboard doors to close up the secret shelf. You should hear a chattering sound coming from somewhere in the room. Turn to the right to view the bed, and note the rat wiggling around on Hannibal’s bed. Put your cursor over the rodent and click to place him in your inventory. Now walk forward onto Hannibal’s bed.
Oooh, sexy. Turn to face the wall, and click on the handsome portrait of this sexy beast. The picture slides back to reveal a locked door. Take out the key from your inventory, and click on the small keyhole located near the centre of the locked door. The door gives way to reveal a projector. Do we really want to see what kind of movies Hannibal likes to watch? Take out the film reel, and click on the metal arm that sticks out above the projector to mount the reel. Now click on the on-off toggle switch – nothing happens.
It appears that we have more to do at our bedside power supply. Back away from the projector, pan to the right, and click on the power supply atop the bedside table. Take the rat out of your inventory, and click on the right end of the metal wheel. The rat is placed inside the wheel, and begins to turn the wheel around. Unfortunately it doesn’t last – the rat isn’t prepared to work for you. Change his mind by taking the whip out of your inventory and clicking on the wheel to get him moving. By the way, you are a horrible person for whipping a poor rat.
Back away from the power supply, get back onto the bed, and click on Hannibal’s portrait again. Use the key to open the locked door, and then click the projector’s on switch. We see a short lesson on how to make Hannibal’s tigers move in the direction that you want them to. A single lash sends one of the tigers in a random direction, but not onto the centre platform. A double lash moves both tigers in the direction they were going before (except if they are both on the same platform – in which case one of them will go in a random direction).
Back away from the projector, turn around and walk forward off the bed in the direction of the grey screen across the room. Turn to the screen and click on it – the screen flips over to reveal one of Hannibal’s posters, and Hannibal rambles on about his greatness. Turn to the left, and approach the full-length mirror ahead. Click on the mirror to hear Hannibal’s hatred of most of his contemporaries at the park. Pictures mounted on posts of the twins, Tod, what appears to be a disfigured Frank, and a fat lady (we saw Giselle in Kalinka’s hall of statues) momentarily appear in the mirror.
Back away from the mirror, and click on the photograph mounted on the wall above the mirror. Hannibal obviously has some parental-type issues, particularly with his abusive dad. Back away from the photo, turn to the right, and click on the big beige trunk here. The trunk opens, revealing some sort of metal handle inside. Pick up the handle and click on the top of the trunk to close it. Now try clicking on the two pictures of the tigers located on the wall behind the trunk – Hannibal loves his babies Zeus and Apollo.
Turn to the right, walk forward one step, and turn back to the left. Locate the metal device on the floor to the right of the grey screen, take out the recently acquired handle from your inventory, and click to place the handle here. Click on the handle to pull it down – five posts with the pictures of the other park people rise out of the floor in succession. Note that the third post has a picture of Kalinka on it – we didn’t see her picture in the mirror.
Hannibal wants to take his anger out on the people shown in the mirror, so pull the handle again, quickly open your inventory, take out the whip, and click on the pictures of the twins, Tod, Frank and Giselle in succession as they come up. Remember to ignore Kalinka’s picture when it appears. Be sure to position the whip in the centre of each picture, and make sure the tip of the whip is fully on the picture. Once the cycle is complete, we hear Mephisto intoning something to Hannibal, and we switch locales.
The game deposits you somewhere inside the park at night. Walk forward to the merry-go-round (note the ticket booth behind you to the left), and take another step forward to the right of the carousel. Turn to the left to face the carousel, and find the hotspot on the head of the horse to the left. The close-up shows that the horse has a gold ring near its mouth (it’s part of the horse’s bridle). Click on the ring to pick it up, and back away from the close-up.
Turn back to the right, and continue forward to the right of the carousel (you can actually move away from the carousel at this position, but it is a dead-end). Another step to the right of the carousel takes you back to your original position. Turn around to face the ticket booth again, and click on the door to enter. Turn to face the front window, and click on the control panel for the carousel. Try clicking on the lever to the left – the carousel begins to turn but soon dies out.
Looks like the 100,000 volt setting is missing a connector. Take out the ring from your inventory and click just below the 100,000 volt label tag to place the ring between the terminals. Now click on the lever to the left – the carousel spins wildly, and a door in the centre of the ride swings open and shut. After the carousel ends, back away from the panel, turn to the right, and exit the booth via the door.
You can take a quick side trip off into the darkness here, although it really serves no purpose. Position the cursor just to the right of the booth, and click forward. Circle around in the dark until you spot a string of red lanterns in the distance – click on the right portion of the lights to move forward. You are now on some sort of path. Turn to the left until you see a few tall lights off in the distance along the path, and click to move forward. From your new position, turn to the left and walk towards a lit area containing a pool.
To get back to the carousel, exit either of the open spots in the wall, turn to the right, and walk forward towards the lights in the distance. Once you are back at the carousel, position yourself by the ticket booth, and click to walk directly towards the carousel. The red screen door will be visible over a horse’s back. Click to walk through the door and down a spiral staircase.
You are now inside a dusty underground room with several exits. Turn to the left to find the stairs leading upward, and click to travel up the steps. The steps lead to the inside of the tiger cage, surrounded by audience bleachers. The cage is empty, and the audience is nowhere to be found. Turn around until you spot the semi-circular doorway (left of the tiger platforms), and click to return to the underground room.
The door to the right of the stairs leads back up through the carousel, so find the entrance to the left of the stairs and click to go inside. This appears to be the tigers’ cave. Turn around, find the rib-cage lying on the ground to the right of the cage door and click here. Click on the necklace behind the bones to learn that Jody fed her sister’s body to the tigers (getting close to Hannibal, indeed!), and the animal has become sick. Hannibal swears revenge, and appears ripe for a contract with Mephisto.
We listen to Mephisto’s tricks for taming tigers, and then find ourselves inside the cage with two of the beasts. Both tigers sit atop the left-most of 5 pedestals – our object is to get both animals onto the central platform, which will then lower the animals into their cave. Take out the whip from your inventory, and begin to whip the tigers towards the centre platform. Remember that only a double lash (two quick clicks of the mouse) will move the tigers onto the centre platform.
The randomness of the tiger’s jumps makes it impossible to provide a solution to the puzzle. You want to get the tigers situated on the 2nd and 4th pedestals, and send them both to the centre pedestal with a double lash. Remember that both tigers must have been already traveling towards the central pedestal for this to work. If you’re having trouble, just keep double-lashing, and eventually you should get the tigers to the centre.
After the tigers sink away, click on the hole in the ground where the centre pedestal was, and find yourself inside the tiger’s cage again. Turn towards the crate located a bit to the left, and click on the rock located just in front of it. The close-up view reveals a piece of paper partially concealed behind the rock. Click on the paper to read Hannibal’s contract with Mephisto to be above and free of the laws of man
Once again you are whisked of to another part of the park – this time it’s in front of a theatre. Walk towards the front door, and click on the wood paneling at the back of the inside the ticket booth to start a cut scene with Theodore. Theo denies that he and Mephisto are evil, suggesting that the alternative of balance is chaos. Once Theo is finished, pick up the ticket lying on the counter in front of you, turn to the left, and enter the theatre door.
Inside the front hallway, click on the padded doorway a bit to the left of you (none of the other doors can be accessed) to enter a film reel storage room. Turn to the right, and pick up a reel of film located on the right side of the third shelf from the ceiling. Place the reel on the top left arm of the projector in front of the shelves. This initiates a rather pointless montage of early 20th century images, along with the tigers again.
Once the film ends, turn to the right and exit the door. Mephisto explains the fate of Hannibal, who is subjected to the ultimate fear of a macho bully. We then are treated to a graphic of said fate, complete with a flash of Hannibal’s face on the recipient tiger. How stupid do the developers think we are? All that’s missing is a voiceover from Faust saying “Look! It’s Hannibal, and he’s a tiger, and he’s being raped by that other tiger! It looks like he got his JUST DESSERTS!”
Back at the main menu screen, Theo’s journal helps to sew up the loose ends of Hannibal’s story.
Chapter 6, “A Three Feet Tall Robinhood”, features the diminutive Tod – hero or criminal (or perhaps both?). After Mephisto’s introduction, we are placed back near the twins’ trailer and Hannibal’s tent in June 1930. Turn around to face Tod’s house – a low building with a door that shows no signs of a way in. Pan to the left a bit, and walk to the left of the house. Turn around and examine the outer wall of the building here – click on the small open window, but Faust wants to spare his body. Turn back to the right, and walk back to the front door.
Turn away from Tod’s door, walk forward, and turn to the left to face that tantalizing punching bag you’ve seen during the other episodes. This time feel free to click on the bag – Faust manages to move the needle on the dial above the bag, but not enough to do anything. Game for another? Click again – Faust kicks the bag, but manages to land on the ground amid laughter from Homunculus.
The bag is now un-clickable, so take Homunculus out and see what he can do – click on the bag. Homunculus flies up above the bag, and manually turns the dial’s needle over one complete turn. We see Tod’s door creep open. Turn to the left, walk forward and watch as the door shuts again – we’ll need some more assistance from our friend. Turn around, walk back to the punching bag, turn to the right, take Homunculus out of your inventory, and click on the bag again.
Once the door opens again, turn to the left, take Homunculus out again, and click on Tod’s door. Homunculus flies through the air and lands on the doorstep. Take a step forward – our friend is propping the door open for us. Walk forward into Tod’ s house.
Inside the home, turn to the right, and click on the poster hanging on the wall here to the right of the bed. Tod’s last name is Von Essenbeck, and it sounds as if he was born into money, but was denied his heritage due to his size. He gives us his birth date (November 1, 1893). Click on the top drawer on the small table below the poster. Pick up the St. Christopher’s medal, and listen to the message from someone who helped Tod escape certain death.
Look in the drawer again – there’s a small ring to the right of where the medal way. Pick up the ring with the Essenbeck crest on it, and listen as more of Tod’s story is explained. He was rescued by servants from the murderous clutches of his family, and raised by peasants. Close the drawer, and open the one below. Inside, click on the newspaper and hear Tod raging on about the idiocy of prohibition in the face of poverty and hunger. Back away and close the drawer.
Turn back to the left, and walk forward into the home. Turn to the left, and click on the sink. In the close-up view, click on the left tap – click on the brown drops to hear Faust describe the hooch dribbling out of the tap. Next click on the right tap – click on the stream to confirm it’s water. Back away from the sink, turn to the right, and click on the toilet. The “paper” looks suspiciously like liquor bottle labels. Click on the label to learn that Frank designed these for our little whiskey baron.
Back away from the toilet and turn to the right to face the fire place. Click on the wood piled inside the stove to put a piece into your inventory. Now click on the dull yellow and red button above the logs. The close-up view indicates that this is another Von Essenbeck crest. Take out the ring from your inventory and click on the crest with it to activate some sort of wood lift. Back away from the button, and note that the wood has disappeared.
Pan to the right, face the bicycle and click on the handle bars. We see Faust take a turn on the stationary bike to no apparent end. Once he’s done, click on the back (right) wheel of the bicycle to alter the gears in some way. Now click on the handle bars again – Faust goes at it again, but this time the bed lifts up to reveal a hidden box.
Clicking on the red item inside the hiding place yields the same message we heard back in Chapter 5 about Kalinka clothing Tod’s charges. Next click on the book to see what Tod is reading – “The Little Book of Gangsters”. Move the cursor off of the two objects in the box and click to move this box aside, revealing a trap door.
Click on the door to get a close-up of a combination lock for the opening. The only number we’ve been given so far is Tod’s birth date, so it’s not too much of a stretch to use it here. Since we’ve got 5 numbers in the combination, drop the “18” from 1893, and dial in “1 1 1 9 3”. Align the numbers vertically so that the bottom of each number is in line with the horizontal lines on either side of the reading window. The door will open up, and Faust will scramble down the rickety ladder.
You now sit staring at a set of casks that hold “Tod’s Finest”. Click on each of the casks – the left one in the middle row, and the centre one in the bottom row, sound like they are empty. Click on the tap (the spout) on the left cask in the middle row to place it into your inventory. Immediately take it out again and click on the centre cask in the bottom row. The cask opens to reveal a secret passage through the wall.
Click to go forward through the passage, and watch as Mephisto boots you in the ass. He thinks this is high comedy, but really wants to show us Frank telling Theo that Tod uses orphans to make his illegal booze. We are automatically pushed through into the next room.
We are now inside Tod’s orphanage (or at least where he housed his street urchin booze brewers). Turn to the right, and click on the cup and plate sitting by the bunk bed here. Tod apparently runs a pretty tight ship. Turn to the left now, and pick up the bat lying on the ground to the right of the entrance tunnel. Turn right again, and walk forward into the room. Turn to the right, and walk forward to the door. The door cannot be accessed, but try clicking on the phone mounted on the wall to the right – we briefly hear the operator. Turn around, walk forward, turn to the left, and walk into the bathroom.
Click on the mirror directly in front of you – we hear the same speech Tod gave by clicking on the plate in the dorm room (this time we see him though). Turn to the right and click on each of the two stall doors, which both rock back revealing nothing. Click on the first aid kit mounted on the wall to the left of the door, and click again on the big bottle on the left with the red liquid in it. One of Tod’s charges has been roughed up by Hannibal, and this time it’s personal.
Back away from the kit, and note the grinding sound in the background. Pan to the right and exit the bathroom. It sounds as if the telephone is ringing – pan to the right, walk forward and click on the phone to answer it. Tod is in conversation with a criminal named Nitty, hoping to win Hannibal’s debts in a card game. After the conversation ends, turn around, walk forward, turn to the right, walk forward, and exit the dormitory.
After we crawl through, Mephisto decides to make things a bit sporty for us by changing our body into Tod’s form.
It is time to make use of Tod’s equipment to make some whiskey. Turn towards the large stove situated to the right of the casks, and click on the bottom door to open up the burner. Take out that piece of wood from the wood pile upstairs in your inventory and click on the open space to deposit into the stove. Try lighting a match from your inventory (just click on the matchbook) and waving it over the wood, but you are still missing a vital ingredient.
Back away from the stove door, and turn to your right until you see a bucket on the floor (near the ladder that leads upstairs). Click on the dark bucket’s contents to receive an old newspaper. Turn around, click on the stove door again, take out the newspaper from your inventory and click to place it inside the stove. Now grab a match from your matchbook and wave it over the stove’s contents, which happily burst into flame.
Back away from the stove door, turn to the right a bit, and click on the boxes of bottles to pick up an empty. Now to look for ingredients…keep turning to the right, and walk forward towards the big vat on the other side of the room. On the far side of the vat, turn to your left, and find the small bucket sitting on the floor immediately to the right of the vat. Click on it to place it into your inventory. Pan to the right, and note the red button here – pressing it brings the pile of wood down from above, and pressing it again sends the wood back up again. Since we don’t need any more wood, give the elevator a pass.
Turn around and cross the room again to stand in front of the stove. We still haven’t found any ingredients to make our hooch with. How about something from those casks that seemed to be full rather than empty? Take out the bucket from your inventory and click on the taps of any of the following three casks to get some molasses: right cask middle row, left cask bottom row, or right cask bottom row. Turn to the right, click on the top door on the stove, take your bucket of molasses out, and click on the opening to pour it into the still.
Turn to your right until you spot the ladder leading back up to Tod’s main floor, and click there to ascend. Back up in the main room, the gangster Nitty is sitting on the other side of the table demanding a drink before the game begins. Pan to the right until you see the sink, and click for the close-up view. Click on the left tap, take out the empty whiskey bottle from your inventory, and click on the stream of whiskey coming out of the spout to fill the bottle. Back away from the sink, turn to the left, and walk towards the door. Pan to the right, take out the whiskey bottle and click on the lone glass on the table to pour Nitty a drink.
The game begins – if we win, we get Hannibal’s debt; and if we lose, Nitty (or is that Mephisto?) gets free booze for a year. Our poker hand is dealt – the object here of course is to get the highest value hand (which, generally speaking, means collecting multiple cards of the same amount i.e. 2 Kings, 3 Queens, etc.). In poker, high cards (9, 10, J, Q, K, Ace) are more valuable than low cards (2, 3, 4, 5). You also have one chance to “reject” cards in your hand by clicking on them – once you are finished tossing them out, click the deck on the table to get replacements. Again, generally speaking, you want to toss out low, single cards and keep high cards or multiple cards of the same number.
After your replacement cards are dealt, a screen showing Nitty’s hand and your own appears, with a win or loss displayed in the centre of the screen. Three games will be played – if you can win two or three of the games, you win the bet (and Hannibal’s debt). However, if you lose two or three games, you’ve lost the bet. However, you have an out – after Nitty mentions that it “looks like you’re broke”, open up your inventory, grab the lottery ticket, and click on his hand. This buys you three more games. If you lose 2 (or 3) out of 3 again, Nitty walks out, and God sends you back to the start of the poker game with instructions to win.
After winning the poker game, we watch a cut scene involving Tod finally putting Hannibal in his place in front of the others (although this makes no sense because Hannibal is whipping Tod at a later date in Chapter 5). We then hear from Theo, who wanted to close the freak show at Dreamland until he got to know how wonderful the freaks were. Theo admits he still hangs around the park both because he’s waiting for someone, and because of a secret; one that Mephisto shares. After the chapter ends, check out Tod’s entry in Theo’s notebook for a tacked-on letter to Elliot Ness (oh pleeeze!).
Chapter 7, “The Masterpiece of Giselle” starts with an admission from Mephisto that demons have hearts, as they begin as humans. Our story begins in December 1938, staring along a set of wooden stairs leading to the front door of a house. Spin around to enjoy the view, then turn to the right of the stairs and move forward towards the blue building on the other side of the roller coaster. Turn to your left to access the building’s front door, but the way in is unavailable. There’s nothing else to examine here, so turn back and return to you starting point.
Facing the wooden stairs and walkway again, move forward, and click on the door to enter the building. Inside, turn to your left a bit and click on the poster mounted on the wall in front of you. Tod the midget indeed proves size does matter. Back away, turn to the left and click on the next poster - this one’s about the twins playing piano. Back away, keep turning and click on the poster to the left of the door – Frank the beast. Back away, and click on the last poster in the room – this one advertises Giselle as a 550 pound freak.. Back away from the poster, and click on the right side of the bathtub beyond the poster to move forward.
We hear the unkind reactions of the crowd. Find the hotspot on the floor of the tub, and click to reveal a key hanging from the bottom of the plug. Grab the key and back away. Click on the bathtub’s tap, and click again on the tap handle to fill the bathtub with water (this isn’t necessary, but frankly, you’ve been walking around awhile, and you smell a little). Grab your new key out of inventory, and click on the metal plate on the wall to the right of the tub (the one with the keyhole!).
The close-up view shows the weight reading dial, and some gears inside the opened panel. Click on the gear with the hotspot inside the panel, and holding the mouse button down, drag the mouse to the right to move the weight reading to the right. Align the moving silver arrow with the “550” mark (shown in red), and the bathtub descends into Giselle’s home with Faust inside.
Pan to the right to face Giselle’s round bed, and click anywhere on the foot of the bed (try just above the wooden trunk here). We see Giselle struggling to get out of bed, but then slip deftly down a ramp through that metal door on the other side of her bed. Now click on her pillow, and in the close-up view, grab the spoon sticking out from under the right side of the pillow. Back away, and hear about Giselle’s dreams of her parents.
Click on the 4 cubic containers to the right of the bed on the counter. The containers are labeled Menthol, Cola, Grenadine and Apple. Next, click on the teddy bear located on the floor to the right of the bed. We get a close-up view of the bear, who has curious-looking holes in his hands, and a winding key in his back. Back away from the close-up and click on the doll located on the counter above the bear. In the close-up view, click on the key in the doll’s front pocket to place it into inventory, and back away. This triggers a conversation between Giselle and Mephisto; she misses her parents and wants to join them in death, but Mephisto suggests patience. He appears to have genuine concern for her - interesting.
Turn to the right, and click on the large pot on the stove top. Try clicking on the left-hand knob on the front of the stove (this starts the gas flow), take a match from inventory and light the burner under the pot by waving the match there. The water is getting hot, but there isn’t anything inside the pot, and we don’t have anything to put in.
Back away from the stove, turn a bit to the right and click on the old-time radio on the counter. Click on the large button near the bottom of the radio to start – we get a message from Mephisto on Radio 666, who gets into a conversation with Giselle. Click the button two more times to hear Mephisto agreeing to meet her. Now click on the button again, and while holding the mouse button down, drag the mouse to the right to spin the button. Once the arrow on the button is pointing to “1914”, stop. Listen to the desperate plea of Giselle’s father to save them from their snowed-in starvation.
Click, hold and drag the button again to rotate the arrow over to “Interphone”, and listen to Frank tell Giselle that he’s ready to start work in one hour.
Back away from the phone, turn to the place setting on the counter to the right, and click on the photographs here. In the close-up view, click on first Dad and then Mom in the left photograph to learn of Giselle’s loneliness and guilt over the deaths of her parents in 1914. Click on the right photo to hear about how Giselle’s career at a bakery was cut short by an addiction to pastry.
Back away from the photos, and click on the small drawer in the side of the counter directly below the plate. Click on the newspaper inside the drawer to learn more about the events of 1914. Back away from the newspaper and the drawer, turn towards the foot of the bed again, and move towards the metal door on the other side of the room.
Examine the metal door – it appears that a lock on the right side of the door is preventing our access. Take out the key obtained from the doll’s pocket and click on the lock (it’s located just to the right of the door’s handle). Now click on the door to gain entry to a …refrigerator! (How did Giselle slide into that?) Click on the freezer door located at the top of the fridge. Inside you will find a frozen alarm clock, and a block of ice to its right. Click on the block to place it into your inventory – turns out it’s a piece of paper encased in ice. Click on the freezer door to close it, and then note the hotspot in the centre of the fridge area that is currently empty. Take out the spoon from your inventory and click on the empty space to see Giselle’s perfect feast (click again for it to disappear).
Now click on the inside of the refrigerator door. The close-up view shows four bottles arranged on one of the door shelves. The bottles resemble the four boxes that we picked up next to Giselle’s bed. Take out each of the boxes and place them on the shelf below in the same order as the corresponding bottle. Be careful though – pay attention to the labels on the bottles, and not the colours. The correct order from left to right is Apple, Cola, Menthol and Grenadine. Back away from the door view, and now click on the metal shelf near the top of the interior of the door. The shelf opens to reveal a chain – pick it up, and back away from the fridge.
Look on the top of the now-closed refrigerator – there’s a hook sticking out of the top, and an eyelet hanging down from the strange tracking system in the ceiling. Take out your recently acquired chain, and click on the hook to connect the fridge to the eyelet above. Turn around, and walk towards the other side of the room. Turn to face the stove, click on the pot, and click on the white handle on the left to start the gas flow again. Take out the frozen paper from your inventory and click on the pot to place it inside.
Now take a lit match from your matchbook and wave it over the pot’s burner. The block of ice promptly melts, making the paper accessible. Click on the white knob again to turn on the burner, and then click on the paper inside the pot. We see a doodle-filled page as a conversation between Mephisto and Giselle plays. He seems to be helping her, and receiving nothing in return.
Backing away from the paper triggers an interesting cut scene between Mephisto and Faust. Faust seems to have grown angel wings, his memory has returned, and Mephisto calls him Angelito. Apparently it was against the “rules” for Mephisto to help Giselle out in this way. Because Faust, a former angel, let this transgression slide, the people upstairs sent him back down to the park as punishment.
Back in Giselle’s room, turn to the right towards the netting hanging from the ceiling, located to the right of the pictures of Giselle’s family. Click on the netting for a close-up view, take out the teddy bear, and click on the centre of the mechanism. Teddy grabs the handles, ready to do your bidding. Click on the key in his back for him to activate the winch - we see a scene of Giselle being hoisted across the room. After the scene has played, pan to the right and walk towards the refrigerator, which has been lifted up to reveal Giselle’s slide exit.
Walk forward through the door, which triggers a cut-scene of Frank and Giselle riding along an underground railway. Frank seems to be doing some painting – perhaps a portrait of Giselle. A tunnel lies ahead of us – turn around to see the hole on the wall that we just came through. Turn around to face the tunnel again and walk forward.
The underground railway is a bit of a maze. You can cast about looking for the way out of the tunnels, or you can follow the following directions: at the big “4” turn left; at the big “13” turn left, and at the bog “26” turn right. If you get confused, use the following map and the numbers painted on the wall as a guide as to where to turn:
Once you’ve reached the door at the end of the railway maze,
click on it to proceed through…into Frank’s dark room! He’s “cleaned” up the
place, so no more screaming ladies. There are a number of PG drawings mounted
on the wall - pan around to face the ladder, and then click on the third drawing
to the left. The paper lifts up to reveal a hiding place behind (just like last
time).
Click on the turtle-shaped box in the hiding place, and then on the newspaper clipping inside. A painting of the goddess Ishtar on a mysterious canvas has taken the art world by storm. Was this the masterpiece that Mephisto promised Frank? Giselle was also heavily involved.
Back away, and hear Frank congratulate Giselle. Turn to the left, and walk forward to the counter on the other side of the room. Click on the top of the wooden box on the counter to hear Frank and Giselle discussing the painting method. Now click on the small drawer located on the front of the box. Click on the rolled paper inside the drawer to place it into your inventory, and close the drawer again.
Click on the counter to the left of the wooden box (in front of the ink bottles), grab the recently acquired rolled up paper from your inventory, and click on the counter. The paper has been torn into 6 pieces, and needs to be reassembled. Pick up each of the pieces into your inventory, and then arrange them to form the completed document. The pencil sketch of the woman is on the top portion of the paper, and the printed words are near the bottom. If you have trouble, the pieces are numbered 1 through 6 when you mouse over them in your inventory – just arrange them in the following order to get a completed picture:
Top row: 1, 4
Middle row: 2, 5
Bottom row: 6, 3
Once the picture has been formed, listen to Frank tell how the painting was accomplished. Afterwards, you can click on the picture to see a close-up, and the poem to hear it.
Backing away from the assembled document triggers a cut-scene in which God tells Faust that he can get his angel wings back if he completes his appointed task. We now find ourselves standing near the tall Ferris wheel. Turn to the left a bit, and walk towards the wheel. From your present position, you can walk forward to the base of the wheel, but there isn’t really anything to do there. Instead turn to the left and click on the counter of the ticket booth here.
Inside the ticket booth, click on the slots holding post cards on the right wall. Now click on the counter in front of you, and then take the cards out from inventory and click on the empty counter to spread the cards out. Pick up the cards, and place them in order across the counter using the following information.
· There is a black line that runs continuously across all of the postcards – the line cannot be covered up in any of the cards.
· Some of the cards overlap others, and can only be placed in certain spots.
· Each card represents a chapter in the story, and the cards should actually be placed in order, starting with Chapter 1’s card on the left through to Chapter 7 on the right:
· #1 Love Island (remember we went there at the end of Chapter 1)
· #2 The Great Inventor (Nathaniel’s house)
· #3 Visit Us (Frank’s bedroom is pictured on the card)
· #4 The Enchanted Island (Kalinka’s home)
· #5 Great Attractions (Hannibal’s casino)
· #6 Bootlegging (Tod)
· #7 Bath of Giselle
Once the cards are placed in the correct order, the final scene (the “last act” according to Mephisto) is triggered. Mephisto explains that he wants to retire from demonizing, and Theo has agreed to “take over” for Mephisto. This whole exercise was designed to get us to agree to take over the park from Theo.
Complicating matters is that a lawyer from the Blueday Corporation wants to buy the park from you for gobs of cash. Should you sell the park to big business and live on the proceeds, or become the proprietor of the park and restore its lost glory?
If you choose to sell, grab the pen located in your inventory and click on the contract in the lawyer’s hand. As Mephisto and Theo show their disgust, the lawyer offers you a lifetime pass to Bluedayland. The game ends amidst the sounds of approaching bulldozers.
If you choose to spurn the offer, grab the pen from your inventory, and click anywhere except on the paper in the lawyer’s hand. Mephisto kicks the lawyer out of the park, and you ruminate on your plans to reopen Dreamland. As the game ends, it looks like the people upstairs have also replaced your former angel role – Tod, now equipped with angel wings, wanders away with Homunculus.
