It's 1987. You play as Maksim Gromov, a revolutionist. The war has not broken you. You learn the Boys from the East discovered a space-time where the Soviets didn't conquer Europe after the Reich fell. Other Gromovs, searching for the Boys, found a Pop Swatch watch, a Eurythmics vinyl record, and a boxed copy of Trinity. Use them well and restore this world.
This solution is by David Welbourn, and is based on Release 1 of the game. This is the free PunyComp version. There is an upgraded version for sale that I have not played; this walkthrough might not work for the upgraded version.
SPOILERS AHEAD. Reading a walkthrough prematurely can sometimes diminish one's enjoyment of an interactive fiction game. Please make an honest effort to play the game before reading this walkthrough.
When you take the watch the first time, you're in Lakeview, but when you take the watch subsequent times, you return to whichever location you last dropped the watch in.
Map 3: Aberdeen, United Kingdom
When you take the vinyl the first time, you're in Turret, but when you take the vinyl subsequent times, you return to whichever location you last dropped the vinyl in.
Map 4: MIT, United States
When you take the Trinity box the first time, you're in the catchall, but when you take the Trinity box subsequent times, you return to whichever location you last dropped the Trinity box in.
Map 5: Airfield, UK 1938
Walkthrough
Part 1: Intro
The game begin with a content warning regarding its political and war-related content.
[DE] ALLEY
> credits. x me. i. x curtains.
> x door. pull boards.
> open door.(can't)
> knock.
The door opens, but a drone also heard you. The door closes and you duck behind some machinery while the drone searches for you.
Your knocking was a trigger event. You have a limited number of turns before the drone finds you and kills you.
> x machinery. take sheet. x it.
> x drone.
You may be tempted to throw the disc at the drone itself, but don't. That won't work.
> throw disc at curtains.
The collected rainwater agitates the drone. You race through the door before the drone recovers.
[DE] STAIRCASE
> d.
[HUB] EIN ALTES WOHNZIMMER
> x man.
> talk to man. g.(repeat until he leaves)
> x wallpaper. x furniture. x gramophone. x carpet.
> x table. x watch. x disc. x boxed something.
> take watch.
An orange glow and strange music transport you to Bienne, Switzerland.
Part 2: Time
[CH] LAKEVIEW
> x sign. x mountains. x lake. x valley. x statues.
> ne.
[CH] RING
> x fountain. x coin. take coin.(You almost fell in.)
> x church.(note: bear of Bern)
> x hat. x clock.("16:25", dial seems detached)
> x building.(Waldleuten Guildhouse)
> e.
[CH] CHURCH
> x windows. x tower. x tubes. x holes.
> x device.("16:25", can set the clock time)
> w. ne.
[CH] ZUNFTHAUS
> x beams. x chairs. x tables. x books.
> x history book.(note: October '43 and October '57 circled)
A framed portrait falls into your hand.
> x portrait.(The guard puts it on a table.)
> x art. x culture.
> x guard. x armband. x rifle.
> talk to guard.(no)
Use no wasted movements in these next steps to get rid of the guard:
> put apple on right hand.(The cat gets a fish and leaves.)
> sw.
[UK] LIMIT OF HEAVENS
> take apple. ne. se.
[UK] CLOSED WOODS
This is why you needed to feed the cat. If the cat's here, the squirrel climbs up out of reach.
> x squirrel. give apple to squirrel.(He drops something.)
> look. take tile. x it.(lyre)
> x leaves. search leaves. x trees. x branch.
> nw. sw.
[UK] LIMIT OF HEAVENS
Yes, get a third apple.
> take apple.
> ne. n. n. w.
[UK] GRAND LIVING
> put flag in left.
> put sword in right.(The door opens.)
> nw.
[UK] SINGING TOWER
> x device. x chant. x button.
> x slot. take paper.(not while device is on)
> x cables.
> push button.(only works for a moment)
> put apple on button.
> take paper. x card. take apple.
> se. e. e.
[UK] BLOOD CHAMBER
> x seat. x cables. x blood.
> take diary. x it.
> x organ. put card in organ.
> take piece. x it.(organ tile)
> w. u.
[UK] WEEPING STONES
Match up the notes on the fresco with the nine steps here, with E as step 1 at the bottom, to high F as step 9 at the top. Stepping on a specific step plays its note. Now play the eight notes indicated by the first letters of each line on the embroidery; the hyphens in front of the second line indicate that that E is a high E.
After stepping on eight steps, the stairway resets and the game tells you about the SEQ command. It's okay to use that command before you've been taught it:
> seq 18642361
A niche in the column opens.
> look in niche. take viola. x it.
> d.
[UK] DINING HALL
> put lyre in jigsaw.
> put organ in jigsaw.
> put viola in jigsaw.
The puzzle is replaced by a square shallow housing.
> x housing. put vinyl in it.
You acquire a music box just before returning to the Hub.
[HUB] EIN ALTES WOHNZIMMER
> i. x carillon. play it.
Part 4: Power
[HUB] EIN ALTES WOHNZIMMER
> take Trinity box.(This time you travel to MIT, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States, but you learn that later. This location isn't as blatantly named as the last two places.)
[US] CATCHALL
> x door. x stuff.
> search stuff. take broom. x it.
> ne.
[US] CATWALK (southern)
> x counter. x door. x tanks. x walkway.
> ne. n.
[US] CATWALK (eastern)
> x button.(lightning bolt and wave symbols)
> x tanks.(electrifed water north; empty south)
> push button.
> x tanks.(empty north; electrifed water south)
On the catwalks, whenever you push a button marked with a lightning symbol, all the tanks that aren't electrified become electrified, and all the tanks that were electrified become unelectrified.
Likewise, pushing a wave button fills all the empty tanks with water and empties all the full tanks.
> n.
[US] TANK (northeastern)
> x panel.
> turn on switch.(can't: no power)
> nw.
[US] CATWALK (northern)
> x door. x lamp. x button.(wave)
> x tanks.(empty southeast; water southwest)
> push button.
> x tanks.(water southeast; empty southwest)
> sw. s.
[US] CATWALK (western)
> x tanks. x panel. x card.
> x button.(lightning)
> take card.(can't: out of reach)
> push panel with broom.(It glides, hits the southeastward edge, then sinks.)
The card did not sink with the panel; the card is now on the southern catwalk. Go get it.
> n. ne. push button.
> se. s. push button. s. sw.
[US] CATWALK (southern)
> take card.
Return to the northern catwalk:
> ne. n. push button. n. nw.
[US] CATWALK (northern)
> put card in slot.(fail: no power)
> push button. sw. s.
[US] CATWALK (western)
> push button.
> x tanks.(both tanks are now electrified, but only the one to the south has water)
Believe it or not, you can walk through an empty electrified tank. Assume your footwear is providing adequate insulation.
> n. ne. push button. se.
[US] TANK (northeastern)
This tank is electrified, so this switch now has power. I guess that makes sense?
> turn on switch. nw.
[US] CATWALK (northern)
The cage lamp is green; that's a good sign.
> put card in slot.(The door slides away, taking the card away with it.)
> n.(The door closes behind you.)
[US] ADVANCED LABS
> x counter. x hatch.
> w.
[US] LOCKER ROOMS
> x lockers. x engravings.
> x tall. x suit. x message. x hole.
> take suit. take tape.
> put tape on hole. x hole.
> x short. open it. look in short.(empty)
> take binder. read it.
>> SPACE
>> Y
>> Y
>> Y
>> Y
> open lockers.
> open lockers with poker.(snrk)
> e. n.
[US] CONTROL
This is obviously a computer.
> x typewriter. x writings.("HOME" prompt)
One of the binder's entries said "Alexandria checks him every time he leaves his house and, it is said, without her, ON THE CONTRARY, one does not enter his house at all." This is your clue that the password is "Alexandria", but backwards.
> type xyzzy(heh. no)
> type alexandria(warmer!)
> type airdnaxela(correct!)
The screen now shows a strange list of command options.
VNT means activate the vent pumps which either pump air into or out of a wind tunnel.
DIR means set the vent pumping direction.
DOR means open the door to the wind tunnel; that is, the hatch in the next room.
XIT means exit this menu and go back to the HOME prompt.
> type dor.(no: tunnel flooded)
> type dir.("PUMP ENABLED")
> type dir.("VACUUM ENABLED")
> type vnt.(tunnel vaccuumed, removing water and air)
> type dor.(no: tunnel without air)
> type dir.("PUMP ENABLED")
> type vnt.(tunnel pumped, adding air)
> type dor.(hatch opened)
Dash through the radioactive wind tunnel while protected by the patched rubber suit.
> wear suit. s. ne. ne. u.
[US] OBSERVATORY ON HELL
> x sun. x rubble. x dome.
> x body. search body. move body.
> x depression. x gold.
> put Trinity box in depression.
You acquire a cylinder (which you later learn is called a coreon) and return to ...
Part 5: Sermon
[HUB] EIN ALTES WOHNZIMMER
But the shadows move. All goes red. Then black.
You experience events elsewhere and elsewhen. Backwards in time.
Then you're back, but you're now on a chair in a dungeon basement surrounded by Soviet agents.
[HUB] DUNGEON
A man with a rifle begins a long discussion which you must listen to.
> x cylinder. x man. x rifle. x chair.
> i.(you have nothing)
> z.("I guess my time has come.")
CAUTION: While merely touching the cylinder works to take you elsewhere and elsewhen, you also die because if the cylinder stays here, they follow you and arrive before you do and kill you.
> take cylinder.(You travel back in time to a British airfield in 1938.)
Part 6: Child of History
[UK, 1938] AIRFIELD
> x soldier. x man. x cigar. x people.
> x hangar. x crates. x disc. take it.
> throw disc southeast.(You sneak inside.)
[UK, 1938] HANGAR
> x bags. x compressor. x pipe. take it.
> x plane. open hood.(gap found)
> put pipe in gap. pull pipe.
> x uniform. wear it.
> nw.
[UK, 1938] AIRFIELD
> talk to soldier.(no: your accent would give you away)
> ne.
[UK, 1938] BY THE TOWER
CAUTION: At the moment, it's fatal to go northwest to the other plane.
> ne.
[UK, 1938] CONTROL TOWER
> x runway. x table. x radio.(has keyboard)
> x log.
>> SPACE
>> Y
>> Y
>> Y
>> Y
The log book tells you about the radio alphabet in use here and now, but it rudely doesn't list the full alphabet. Look at this chart at Wikipedia for more info.
Also, to signal dangerous climate, the code-word is FREDDIE, the first letter of FYVIE, clued by the woman playing a lyre. If you go back to that part of the game, the plaque said she's The Lass O' Fyvie.
> x binoculars. look in them.(The lamp is green.)
> type Freddie.
> look in binoculars.(The lamp is red.)
You can now approach the plane on the runway.
> d. nw.
[UK, 1938] THE EDGE
> x plane. open hatch.
> x device. x orange. x keys.
The dirty letters are C, H, I, L, R, U. I assume you've guessed by now who the man with the cigar is?
> type CHURCHILL
The bomb is disarmed, but then you feel a gun in your back. You turn and find Lev Nemov, but history plays itself out in the way you desired regardless.
>> SPACE(repeat, 12 times in total)
*** YOU HAVE RESCUED THE OLD ***
Extras
Characters
Maksim Gromov (not your real name), age 32, is the player-character and a Stalnaya Gvardiya revolutionist. In the dungeon, the Soviet calls you Maksim Gromov the Thirtieth.
Lev Nemov, in the strange living room, gives you your mission. He appears at game's end, with a gun in your back, when you succeed.
An armed guard in the Zunfthaus blocks your way upstairs.
A one-armed Maksim Gromov in Aberdeen tells you that the Soviets have moles in the Gvardiya; nothing is a secret anymore.
Soviet guards capture you when the magic cylinder is created. The one with the rifle is Zakhar.
A British soldier patrols the hangar entrance.
A man with a cigar, pivotal to history, is on the British runway and surrounded by British Navy soldiers, but the game avoids his name until the epilogue: Winston Churchill.
Animals:
A common wild cat, gray and fit, follows you around the grounds in Aberdeen.
Colorful fish swim in the Aberdeen fountain.
A brown squirrel in the Aberdeen woods plays with an ivory tile.
Found dead:
The body of another Gromov lies in the "Observatory on Hell".
Mentioned:
Several other Gromovs are referenced several times in the game. They acquired the watch, vinyl record, and Trinity box. Others died under torture in the blood chamber. Yeseniya Gromov was a female Gromov.
The Parni s Vostoka, also known as the Boys from the East, are (you assumed) a think-tank of revolutionist scientists. Rostislav and Dmitri are seen during the events seen when the magic cylinder is created, and presumably, they are part of the Parni. The Parni's experiments with time gave the Soviets the means to ensure their favored timeline existed by killing Churchill in 1938.
Hitler, in the game's timeline, conquered Europe in 1943.
Gunter Todesengel is Hitler's successor but fails to keep control.
Georgij Malenkov declares the Soviet Era in 1957.
M. Sullivan wrote the war report. His colleagues are John and Mac; their boss is Dean Compton, and Compton's wife is Alexandria.
Oppenheimer, Fermi, and Chamberlain are also mentioned in the war report.
Francois Couperin wrote "Les Ombres Errantes", the tune played by the harpsichord.
Sir Neville is mentioned in the epilogue as the voice of surrender.
You find a portrait of a communist czar in Switzerland.
Credits
This is the response to CREDITS:
This game is yet another competitive frustration of Marco Innocenti, who for PunyComp24 decided to ignore almost every limit requested by the organizers and mix the cards even with regards to the imposed theme. Instead of a short game, that could be judged in an hour, the author has created a long and complicated puzzle fest, with some story attached. I apologize now to all those who will hate it, while I am already sending wedding promises to those who, at least a little, will appreciate it.
The game is dedicated to Sandro Carlotti, the childhood friend that I haven't seen for years, with whom I wrote the first text adventures between 1983 and 1987. Sooner or later, I swear, one of those will be playable again on Commodore 64.
HUGE thanks go to my uber-patient testers, namely: Adam Biltcliffe, Lance Cirone, Piergiorgio d'Errico, Max Fog, Javier Garza, Marius Mueller, AM Ruf, Sean (anodyne_one) and Stefan Vogt. Particularly abundant thanks to Fredrik Ramsberg for the many (public and secret) coding advices and for promising he won't ever again eat kebab pizza. More or less.
Note that poly.play is a online store that sells computer games and related items, including boxed copies of some of this author's works. If you want to contact the author, it's best to use the Andromeda Legacy link.
Endings
DYSTOPIA HAS WON
if you throw the disc at the drone; the drone knocks aside the disc then targets you.
if you throw the disc at the door; the drone destroys the door and shoots everyone it finds inside.
if you delay too long in dealing with the drone; the drone finds you and kills you.
if you put the portrait into the fountain and don't immediately push the guard afterwards; you are jailed in Siberia.
if you eat an apple; it poisons you.
if you enter the wind tunnel without wearing the patched rubber suit; you die of intense radiation poisoning and suffocate almost immediately.
if you merely touch the magic cylinder in the dungeon; a firing squad kills you when you arrive.
if you delay in taking the magic cylinder when you have the chance; the guard with the rifle shoots you.
if you approach the airplane on the runway when the lamp is green; British soldiers shoot you.
YOU HAVE RESCUED THE OLD
if you disarm the bomb in the airplane.
Notes:
When things go fatally badly, the player is offered the chance to try again. If the player accepts the offer, the last turn is negated.
You refuse to wander the airfield without a disguise.
Incorrect commands at the radio tower are ignored.
You refuse to type random guesses at the bomb.
Figurines list
A summary of the figurines and their correspondences.
golden lion: MONACO, 10h, 15m
stone rooster: PARIS, 13h, 30m
black eagle: NEUCHATEL, 11h, 20m
metal basilisk: BASEL, 12h, 25m
wooden bear: BERN, 20h, 11m
winged beast: ZURICH, 21h, 10m
ramping bull: TURIN, 14h, 35m
two-headed raptor: 19h, 58m
spiraling snake: MILAN, 15h, 39m
iron donkey: 18h, 55m
copper griffon: 16h, 45m
bronze giraffe: 17h, 50m
Inventory
Item from an alley in Germany
a metal disc. When you're hiding from the drone, examine the machine to find the sheet of metal in it.
Throw the disc at the curtains. The rainwater held by them discomforts the drone long enough for you to escape and enter the door.
Items from the Hub
a Pop Swatch watch. This rubber watch is on the living room's table.
Take the watch to be transported to Bienne, Switzerland. Drop the watch to return to the Hub; the watch is back on the table.
In the [CH] Spielautomat, after opening the dome (see knob and coin), put the watch into the bay to obtain the Tourbillon. You can no longer return to Bienne, but you no longer need to.
a Revenge by Eurythmics vinyl record. This vinyl disc is on the living room's table.
Take the vinyl to be transported to Aberdeen, United Kingdom. Drop the vinyl to return to the Hub; the vinyl is back on the table.
In the [UK] Dining Hall, after completing the jigsaw puzzle (see lyre, organ, and viola), put the vinyl into the table's housing to obtain the Carillon. You can no longer return to Aberdeen, but you no longer need to.
a Trinity box. This boxed something is on the living room's table.
Take the box to be transported to MIT, United States. Drop the box to return to the Hub; the box is back on the table.
In the [US] Observatory to Hell, after examining and moving the body, put the Trinity box into the depression to obtain the Coreon. You can no longer return to MIT, but you no longer need to.
Note: The box is sealed and you're unwilling to open it.
a magic cylinder. It's on a pedestal when you arrive in the dungeon.
When you have the tourbillon, the carillon, and the coreon, they are automatically combined into the magic cylinder. You are also either transported to the dungeon, or the living room was the dungeon all along.
Your captor calls the cylinder the Vektor Vremeni, The Vector of Time. It's a time machine activated by touching it. CAUTION: If you merely touch the cylinder, a firing squad follows you, arriving earlier than you, and you die. Instead, TAKE the cylinder so they cannot follow you.
Oddly, once you arrive in the UK of 1938, you can't do anything further with the cylinder. Just keep it. You are given no options for resetting the cylinder for another trip in time.
Items from Beinne, Switzerland
a shiny coin. It's in the bronze fountain in Ring.
In the Spielautomat, put the coin into the thin slot.
a portrait of a communist czar. It falls into your hand when you first examine the history book in Zunfthaus. A turn later, the guard puts the portrait onto a table.
Take the portrait and immediately go southwest into the Ring, then put the portrait into the fountain. The guard follows you and is now down head first in the fountain. Push him! He goes down the drain and no longer blocks your way upstairs.
several figurines. They're in the pocket of the clock machine in the Uhrenmuseum.
Note: You are unwilling to handle more than one figurine at a time. You are also unwilling to take them from their room.
Several of the figurines correspond to cities, many of which are featured on the painted scenes on the museum's walls.
By making a series of deductions (see here), you know to put the bear figurine into the left recess and the beast figurine into the right recess. Now examine the machine to see that 20:10 is displayed.
a knob. When you set the church clock to 20:10 (by setting its device to 2010 —no colon!), this knob is spat out by the clock face and into the Banquet Hall through the remaining window.
In the Spielautomat, put the knob into the star slot.
a *Tourbillon. It's locked inside the dome in the Speilautomat.
To open the dome, put the knob into the star slot and the coin into the thin slot. Put the Pop Swatch watch into the bay, and the Tourbillon is yours.
When you have the tourbillon, the carillon, and the coreon, they are automatically combined into a magic cylinder.
Items from the Aberdeen, UK
a poker and a brass pin. They're both in a mound of embers in the dining hall's fireplace. Just take the poker, but the pin is too hot to take.
Push the embers with the poker to acquire the >brass pin.
After inserting the pin into the fireplace's right panel's hole, hit the pin with the poker to open a secret door to the east.
a white ceramic miniature flag. It's the white thing in the Grand Living sofa.
In Grand Living, put the flag in the mahogany door's left shutter.
a cross-stitch embroidery. It's in the sideboard in the Grand Living.
The first letters of each line in its poem are all musical notes from A to G. The long dash before the E on the second line means that that E is a high E. So the embroidery's secret tune is E, high E, C, A, F, G, C, E.
The fresco in the Entrance Hall shows a musical scale from E to high F, bottom to top. This corresponds to the nine steps in the Weeping Stones which you number from 1 to 9, bottom to top.
When you play the embroidery's secret tune using the command SEQ 18642361, the niche opens, revealing the viola tile that's inside.
an ivory sword miniature. The man in the Limit of Heavens drops this after you talk to him several times.
In Grand Living, put the flag in the mahogany door's right shutter.
an apple. A supply of apples are in Limit of Heavens. You can only take one apple at a time, but you'll need three overall.
In the Humble Greenery, put an apple on the statue's right hand. A fish eats the apple, then the cat eats the fish and runs off.
In the Closed Woods, give an apple to the squirrel; it drops the lyre tile.
In the Singing Tower, put an apple on the device's button to turn the device off for a moment. While the device is off, you can take the paper from its slot. The apple soon falls off the button regardless.
a lyre shaped tile. In the Closed Woods, the squirrel drops this tile when you give him an apple.
In the Dining Hall, put the lyre tile into the jigsaw puzzle.
a punch card. In the Singing Tower, there's a paper stuck in the device's slot; that paper is a punch card. But you can't take the paper while the device is on.
Put an apple on the device's button, temporarily turning the device off, then quickly take the paper before the apple falls off.
In the Blood Chamber, put the punch card into the harpsichord. The harpsichord swallows the card, plays a tune, and drops a pipe organ shaped tile onto the floor.
a torture diary. It's by the seat of torture in the Blood Chamber.
Read it.
a pipe organ shaped tile. In the Blood Chamber, put the punch card into the harpsichord; the harpsichord drops this tile.
In the Dining Hall, put the pipe organ tile into the jigsaw puzzle.
a viola shaped tile. It's in the niche of the Weeping Stones.
The niche is opened with SEQ 18642361, as mainly clued by the embroidery and the Entrance Hall fresco. (The SEQ command is short for standing on eight steps in a particular sequence.)
In the Dining Hall, put the viola tile into the jigsaw puzzle.
a *Carillon. You acquire this music box when you put the vinyl record into the housing of the table in the Dining Hall. Note: the housing isn't there until you complete the jigsaw puzzle; see lyre, organ, and viola.
a mangy broom. Find it by searching the stuff in the catchall.
On the west catwalk, push the panel with the broom. The panel glides to the other side of the tank, depositing the red card onto the south catwalk before the panel itself sinks into the water.
a red card. It's on a metal panel floating in the southwestern tank, closest to the tank's northern edge, yet still out of arm's reach. See broom on how to get it.
On the northern catwalk, when the cage lamp is green, put the red card into the door's slot to open the door. The door slides away, taking the card with it.
a thick rubber suit with a taped message on it. It's in the tall locker in the locker rooms.
Read the message. This suit is for you.
Take the taped message off the suit and put it on the suit's hole to patch it.
Wear the suit to protect you from the radiation in the wind tunnel.
a war report. It's the binder that falls onto the floor when you open the short locker in the locker room.
Read it. It has the clue for the computer's password hidden in it.
a *Coreon. You acquire this nuclear power supply when you put the Trinity box into the depression in the "observatory on hell". Move the body out of the way first to make the depression accessible.
