S L O U C H I N G T O W A R D S B E D L A M
by Star Foster and Daniel Ravipinto
Complete solution by Michael Martin
Slouching Towards Bedlam has a vast amount of backstory. The gameplay
proceeds in three phases:
- Get your bearings
- Investigate the situation
- Act upon the situation
So far, so traditional. However, the game explicitly has five
endings, and refuses to say which -- if any -- is the "right" one.
Likewise, this walkthrough is split into three parts, which get
progressively more spoily. If you've been failing to get into the
game, but still want to know what all the fuss is about, this
walkthrough aims to help with minimum spoilage.
If you've seen four of the endings and just want to get the final
one, the very end of this document gives the quickest way to get
each one. DO NOT USE THOSE IF YOU HAVE NOT PLAYED THROUGH PARTS 1
AND 2, or the text produces will make no sense at all.
========== Part 1: Getting your bearings ==========
Spoiler level: LOW. This just directs you to look at the stuff that
you'd notice with lots of LOOK and EXAMINE anyway.
> LOOK
> X WINDOW
> SEARCH DESK
> LOOK UNDER BLOTTER
> GET BOX
> X IT
> OPEN IT
> OPEN DRAWER
> GET ROD
> READ MANUAL
[Receive information about Triage. Well, OK, let's turn him on]
> PUSH EMERALD
> POINT AT PHONOGRAPH
> POINT AT SELF
[Catastrophic error in CATEGORIZATION, eh? That's amusing. Bug, or
Ominous Portent?]
> PLAY JANUARY EIGHTH
[> WAIT repeatedly, until diary done]
> PLAY JANUARY TWENTY-SECOND
[> WAIT repeatedly, until diary done]
> PLAY MARCH SECOND
[> WAIT repeatedly, until diary done]
[Yay, backstory. Time to go interact with people.]
> S
[/(interruptionsinvasionsWEIRDwhatsupwhocaresfornow)\]
> W
> W
> PUT ROD IN KEYHOLE
> X VIEWER
> PUSH C
> X VIEWER
> PUSH D
> X VIEWER
[Looks like this was the inhabited one]
> X WRITING
> PUSH TRIANGLE
> PUSH E
> X VIEWER
> PUSH F
> X VIEWER
[Now to check out that writing]
> N
> N
> SW
> X WRITING
> POINT AT WRITING
[OK, so he's THAT sort of nutcase. Great. Let's go to the archives
and read his file.]
> NE
> S
> S
> GET ROD
> E
> E
> E
> TURN DIAL TO F
> TURN DIAL TO 6
> TURN DIAL TO A
> TURN DIAL TO 1
> TURN DIAL TO 4
> TURN DIAL TO 2
> READ FILE
[OK, we've done all our doctor-y things. You can look at the files for the
other cases if you want, or ask James about things.]
========== PART 2: INVESTIGATION ==========
Spoiler level: MEDIUM. This isn't really a puzzly game, but the closest
things to puzzles this game provides occur in this sequence.
S
P
O
I
L
E
R
S
P
A
C
E
I
F
Y
O
U
J
U
S
T
W
A
N
T
E
D
T
O
G
E
T
S
T
A
R
T
E
D
> LOOK
> GET KEY
> W
> S
> DRIVER, FLEET STREET
> OUT
> S
> SE
> U
> UNLOCK DOOR WITH IRON KEY
> OPEN DOOR
> E
> X BED
> X PLANKS
> GET PUZZLE BOX
> X IT
> X ENGRAVING
> POINT AT PUZZLE BOX
[Yay Triage!]
> PUSH MALKUTH
> PUSH KETHER
> PUSH KETHER
> PUSH MALKUTH
> OPEN PUZZLE BOX
> READ LETTER
> READ DIARY
[He mentioned the Order's motto. Let's go see what that is.]
> GET PRIMITIVE KEY
> W
> D
> D
> UNLOCK DOOR WITH PRIMITIVE KEY
> OPEN DOOR
> N
> GET BOOK
> READ IT
> X PEDESTAL
[And that's all the backstory. SAVE at this point. Now for endings.]
========== PART 3: Reaction ==========
Spoiler level: HIGH. Reacting to the backstory is really the point
of the game.
