Lara and Max – the dual protagonists from part one – are on their honeymoon in South Africa when Lara receives a phone call from her boss at Interpol. He asks Lara for her assistance in the case of an art theft from a museum in Cape Town. While the police have already put the break-in on file, Lara and Max attempt to pick up the thief’s trail. In the course of a frantic chase, Max and the thief get caught up in a terrible car crash. The thief’s body is salvaged from the bottom of
the steep coastal cliff and Max is declared missing, presumed dead.

Totally devastated, Lara returns to Interpol headquarters in Lyon. In her next case she then keeps finding clues that suggest to her that Max is still alive…

With three playable characters over the course of the plot, Memento Mori 2 takes the player to more than 50 locations. In eight story chapters the journey leads from Cape Town in South Africa via Lyon and Finland all the way to Chinatown in San Francisco. Previous knowledge of the first game is not required.

The developer Centauri Production has developed its own new dedicated 3D engine for Memento Mori 2 which they have applied to realistically and atmospherically light the locations and also to portray the characters’ detailed and finely crafted facial expressions.

Lace Mamba Global plans to publish retail versions of the game – which was previously available only as an online purchase – in its key territories, including the UK and Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Scandinavia, the Benelux countries, Portugal and further European markets. Lace Mamba Global plans to release Sam & Max – The Devil’s Playhouse in two versions, including a collector’s edition. More details on the editions’ contents will be revealed soon.

Sam & Max – The Devil’s Playhouse is the latest series of episodic adventure games featuring the Freelance Police team. Lace Mamba Global will release all five episodes of the series in a combined edition for PC & Mac.

As Sam & Max – The Devil’s Playhouse opens, Max has been bestowed with powerful psychic abilities that he must wield against his most powerful enemies yet! Join Sam and Max as they investigate the ancient source of these powers, with Max exercising new and amazing abilities with each episode. Shape shifting, teleportation, mind reading and future sight
powers prove particularly useful as the Freelance Police team takes on intergalactic simians, eldritch gods and an arcane scholar, all ruthlessly hunting down thesource of Max’s powers for their own evil ends.

The retail release date for Sam & Max – The Devil’s Playhouse is set for late August, 2011.

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>>The game begins in the courtyard outside Wittard Utopia. You receive a telephone call from Kate, the magazine editor. She indicates that most entrance points into the Utopia have been blocked. The first objective is to explore the courtyard region and to find a way into the Utopia.
>> Walk Forwards towards the crane parked on the dirt track and turn right towards a stone pedestal with no markings.
>> Beside the pedestal, notice the damaged brick work on the ground surrounding a manhole. The manhole is protected by an electronic lock. This manhole promises to be a way inside the Utopia.
>> Turn around and walk towards the horse statue and pond area of the courtyard. At each end of the pond, notice that there is a stone pedestal. Each pedestal features a red button and a roman numeral.
>> Explore the waste bin beside the Utopia main entrance. Read both brochures inside.

FINDING A WAY INSIDE – HINTS
The pedestals offer a way inside. The courtyard features several pedestals; each pedestal (except one) features a red button and a roman numeral. You will need to press the pedestal buttons in a specified order to progress. The Wittard Utopia brochure in the waste bin indicates the order. It is the circled number of the Utopia address, listed at the bottom of the brochure. The number is: 5735. Break this number into separate components: 5-7-3-5. Use the Roman numeral clock face on the theatre brochure to convert 5735 into roman numerals. The sequence is: V, VII, III, V.

>> Visit pedestal V and press the red button once.
>>Visit pedestal VII and press the red button once.
>>Visit pedestal III and press the red button once.
>> Visit pedestal V again and press the red button once.
>> On completing the combination by pressing pedestal V, a sound will be heard and Kate will call again. This time there will be a strange interference on the line, and Kate will be disconnected. A secret compartment has been unlocked inside the pedestal with no markings.
>>Visit the unmarked pedestal and press the red button. This opens the compartment and reveals a control panel for the manhole lock nearby.

UNLOCKING THE SEWER ENTRACE – PEDESTAL PUZZLE – HINTS
The objective of the pedestal puzzle is to press a combination of the left-hand levers in order to align all sliders to the centre red line at the middle of the track.  This goal must be achieved within 5 moves. The moves counter appears at the bottom of the control panel. If all five moves are exhausted and no solution results, then the puzzle resets. Each of the five levers will move a selection of sliders, some to the right and some to the left.  A lever will have no effect if pulling it would otherwise push a slider beyond the track.

>> To complete the pedestal puzzle, number all levers sequentially from top to bottom: 1,2,3,4,5. The puzzle is completed by pressing the levers in the following order: 2,4,2,1,4.
>>The manhole cover should now be unlocked. Click the ladder to climb downwards into the sewer region. The sewers lead into the Utopia.

2. SEWER – TRAVELLING TO THE UTOPIA

>> Once inside the sewer region, you will see a long brick tunnel leading into the darkness. There will be fluctuations in the power supply, causing lights to flicker.
>> Walk forwards and hear the voice of Aaron in the distance, speaking on his telephone.
>> Walk forwards again and hear Aaron attacked and vaporised by an unseen force. The lights cut for a few seconds and are shortly restored.
>> Walk forwards several spaces and notice the remains of Aaron on the floor beside the chained door, along with his shoes, torch and brief case.
>> Examine the papers inside his brief case and collect the Viking amulet. The sound of ethereal energies will be heard on collection.
>> Step back from the brief case and the amulet will appear before you. The voice of Baron Wittard will then be heard speaking through the Amulet. He warns about the dangers of touching the chained door, and advises you to avoid the door and to climb into the nearby ventilation shaft.
>> Follow Wittard’s instructions. Click on the grating and enter the ventilation shaft. Climb through and into the secret tunnels beneath the Utopia.

3. SECRET TUNNELS – BENEATH THE UTOPIA

>>Climb out of the ventilation shaft and enter the secret tunnels.
>> Wittard speaks again and recommends turning right. Follow his instructions and encounter and a blocked door, which has resulted from a recent cave-in due to structural damage.
>> Turn around and follow the tunnel, and enter through the blue door.
>> On passing the blue door, Wittard will communicate again with you via the amulet, and will introduce himself more fully. He also mentions that you must find the ten ancient rune stones.

>>Follow the tunnel to its ends and climb the ladder to enter the Utopia via the basement region.

4. UTOPIA BASEMENT – THE FIRST RUNE STONE

>> Climb into the basement and maintenance region and walk towards the desk at the corner of the room.
>> Examine the papers on the desk and noticeboard. Notice the rune stone in the cardboard box.
>> Click on the rune stone to collect it (signals rune stone). This rune stone is marked with an ‘F’ symbol. It is added to the inventory.

>> Examine the power supply at the corner of the maintenance room, near the stairs. Wittard explains that it will be necessary to activate this supply and that it connects with various regions on the ground floor. However, the supply is protected with a Magic Squares puzzle. Leave this puzzle for now.
>> Climb the stairway into the grand hall.

5. THE SECOND RUNE STONE AND THE MAP – GRAND HALL

>> Enter the Grand Hall and find yourself in a long, spacious corridor with connections to various locations: the café, the medical bay, the swimming pool, and the lobby.
>> Turn right and examine the grating at the top of the medical bay door way to peek inside.
>> Examine the grating at the bottom of the door. Remove the grating and find an abacus puzzle hidden behind. This puzzle is a locking mechanism for this door; a combination for this lock needs to be found. Exit the grating and continue along the Grand Hall corridor.
>> On approaching the café, the lights flicker and extinguish again for a few seconds, as the result of an electrical disturbance.
>> Continue along the corridor and reach a fork, with the lobby door to the left, and the swimming pool door to the right.
>>Pass through the left door to enter the lobby region.
>> Notice the elevator nearby, and the elevator-summon switch beside it.
>> Press the summon switch of the elevator, and notice how nothing happens. The elevator lacks sufficient power. To operate this elevator, it will be necessary to activate the power supply in the Utopia basement, as Wittard suggested.
>> Climb the Grand Hall stairs to the upper balcony and attempt to open both the balcony doors and the Viking museum doors.
>> The balcony doors are unlocked by an electronic switch, but this switch is powered by the backup power supply in the Maintenance. For this reason, these doors (along with the elevator) will not open until that power supply is activated.
>> On attempting to open the Viking Museum doors, Wittard warns you that they are protected by a powerful energy. Move away from these doors and descend the stairs back to the ground floor of the lobby.
>>Walk to the furthest side of the lobby, past the reception desk, and notice some loose tiles on the floor beside the broken elevator shaft.

>> Move the tile and reveal another rune stone beneath (initiation rune stone). Click on this rune stone, and it is added to the inventory.
>> Turn around and walk towards the reception desk.
>> Examine the papers on the desk and collect the maps. The maps are added to the console (on the upper region of the screen). These can be used to teleport between all unique locations visited in the Utopia since collecting the maps.

>> Walk towards to elevator and back into Grand Hall corridor.

6. ENTERING THE SWIMMING POOL – THE THIRD RUNE STONE

>>Turn left after entering the Grand Hall corridor to face the Swimming Pool doors. Beside the doors and on the wall is a blue locking mechanism for the swimming pool.
>> The mechanism is protected with a puzzle, and the puzzle must be solved to unlock the swimming pool doors.
>> The objective of the puzzle is to arrange all shapes on the grid so that no vacant space remains.

>> The solution for this puzzle is as follows:

>> Once completed, the swimming pool doors are unlocked and this location can be entered.
>> Walk forwards into the swimming pool atrium and towards the orange water pump beside the Jacuzzi. Examine the Jacuzzi and notice the rune stone (separation) beneath the water.
>> Examine the orange water pump controls. The objective of the pool drain puzzle is to decipher the controls so as to drain the water from the Jacuzzi to collect the rune stone.

DRAINING THE WATER FROM THE POOL – HINTS
The objective of the pool drain puzzle is to activate the pump with the correct combination of switches depressed so as to drain the water from the Jacuzzi. Each switch makes a unique contribution to the power of the drain mechanism. The switches should be depressed so as to set the power to maximum.  If a selection of switches pushes the power beyond maximum, the mechanism is reset

>>Activate the engine for the pool puzzle. If the switches are numbered sequentially from left to right, top to bottom, starting with 1, the following switches should be pressed: 1, 2, 7, 11, 15. Then press the pump button

>>The water is drained from the pool, and the third rune stone (separation) can now be collected.

>> Turn around and walk upstairs to the Swimming Pool viewing gallery.
>>Examine the task sheet and note both the ‘security door code’ and the power connections diagram in the notes section. This diagram explains how to channel power from the maintenance to the elevator. Before power can be channelled however, the power supply must first be activated. Travel to the Inner Garden

7. THE INNER GARDEN – THE FOURTH RUNE STONE, AND THE POWER SUPPLY CLUE

>> Enter the Inner Garden and examine the dining tables and chairs.
>> Notice the music magazine resting on the table top.
>> Examine the magazine and notice the puzzle page. It features a magic square puzzle. Notice the totals for each column and row is 34, and notice the number 15 inserted into the top row and second column of the square grid.

>>Walk towards the Café back door and notice beside it the closed cardboard boxes stacked atop one another

>>Examine the topmost box and find the fourth rune stone inside (Strength).

8. ACTIVATING THE ELEVATOR POWER SUPPLY – MAINTENANCE

>> Return to the maintenance region and revisit the power supply beside the stair case.

ACTIVATING THE POWER SUPPLY – POWER PUZZLE – HINTS
The objective of the power puzzle is to rearrange the positions of all numbers in the square grid so that each column and row totals exactly 34. The Inner Garden clue indicates that the first row and second column should be 15.

>> To solve the power puzzle and activate the supply, all numbers must be rearranged as follows:

9. CHANNELING POWER TO THE ELEVATOR – GRAND HALL

>> Enter the Grand Hall and attempt to summon the elevator. The elevator door does not open, even though the maintenance power is now activated. Power must now be fed from the maintenance to the elevator. Use the diagram from the Swimming pool to guide you in channelling the power.
>> Beside the maintenance door in the Grand Hall, examine the connection point on the pipe work at the bottom of the wall. This is connection point 1.

>> To transfer power from the maintenance, along the pipe and towards the elevator, turn the dial so that the white notch points in the direction of the elevator.
>>Follow the pipe further along the grand hall corridor wall and find the second connection point near the café window and broken ATM machine.
>>Again, turn the white notch towards the elevator.
>> Enter the Grand Hall Lobby and examine the wall near the elevator and smashed chandelier. Notice the third connection point. Turns this dial to face in the direction of the elevator.
>> Climb the stairs to the balcony and turn the fourth connection point to the elevator.
>>Now press the elevator summon button to summon the elevator. Travel to the second floor.

10. SECOND FLOOR STORAGE ROOM AND THE FIFTH RUNE STONE

>> Exit the elevator and enter the second floor storage room.
>> Examine the chest on the shelf. It is locked.
>> Notice the secret compartment on the left most side of the chest.
>> Pull open the secret compartment and examine the puzzle inside.

UNLOCKING THE CHEST – LIGHTS OUT – HINTS
The objective of the lights out puzzle is to extinguish all lights. Touching a light will invert the activated status of that light and all adjacent lights. Off lights turn on, and on lights turn off

>>Once all lights are extinguished, the chest is unlocked. Within the chest can be found the fifth Rune Stone (Self).

>> Examine the letters on the storage notice board and read how Wittard has installed a number of ‘devices’ in and around the Utopia.
>>Now walk through the storage-room double doors nearest to the chest and enter the second floor apartment hallway.

11. APARTMENT HALLWAY – KATE RETURNS

>> On entering the apartment hallway, Wittard speaks via the amulet and warns you that a powerful force is surrounding you. Wittard’s communication grows faint and then your telephone rings.
>> Apparently, it is Kate and she is beckoning you towards the Utopia lobby.
>> Travel to the lobby.

12. KATE WAITING – GRAND HALL

>> On entering the Grand Hall, the telephone rings. Kate is beckoning you towards the Grand Hall balcony. Travel there.
>>On the balcony, the telephone rings again. Kate is beckoning you into the Viking Museum.
>>Walk towards the Viking Museum doors and discover that they are now unlocked. Enter the Viking Museum.

13. ENCOUNTERING FENRIR – UNDERSTANDING THE RUNE STONE DEVICES

>> Enter the Viking Museum and see the lights flicker as the result of an electrical disturbance.
>> Notice the lightning bolts and electricity flickering in the corridor ahead, around the corner.
>> Walk through the archway and turn left to view the Viking Museum exhibits. Walk forwards and Fenrir will appear, demanding the amulet. His energies will fade and he will vanish.

>>Walk forwards and Wittard will explain about the Viking Museum, the rune stones and their relationship to a series of devices that he created from ancient blueprints.
>> Return to the Viking Museum lobby and shop area, and examine the book on the floor. The book contains a coded message and information about the ten Viking Rune stones.

>> The book lists all rune stone symbols and gives each symbol a title.
>> Wittard spoke about using ten ancient devices to extract the energies from the rune stones, one rune stone per device. According to the Second Floor storage letter on the noticeboard, these devices are scattered throughout the Utopia.

HOW TO DETERMINE THE APPROPRIATE DEVICE FOR EACH RUNE STONE
The Rune Stone Devices are scattered throughout the Utopia. There is one device per rune stone. each rune stone device accepts only one type of rune stone.  Each rune stone device is protected by a puzzle.  The rune stones are named in the Viking Museum book.  The note on the reception desk lists where each rune stone device can be found and the rune stone name associated with that device.  The Viking Museum book associates rune stone names with rune stone symbols.

14. DISSOLVING THE FIRST RUNE STONE – SELF

>> The self rune stone was collected from the chest in the second floor storage room. Self is associated with a rune stone device in the Viking Museum. The device for this location can be found in the Viking Warship room at the back of the museum.
>>Open the chest beside the Viking Warship and insert the Self rune into the receptacle.

>>The device is protected with a ‘Tower of hanoi’ puzzle. This puzzle appears on the chest lid.
TOWER OF HANOI – HINTS
The objective of the Hanoi puzzle is to move all blocks in the leftmost stack one by one onto the rightmost stack. Larger blocks are positioned further to the bottom, and smaller blocks further to the top. A larger block cannot be moved atop of a smaller block in the same stack

>>Once completed, the inserted rune stone (self) is dissolved into the ether.
>> Return to the Grand Hall and notice from the note on the reception desk that the Security Office is associated with the rune stone Initiation. This rune stone was collected from the Grand Hall lobby, beneath the floor tiles.

15. ENTERING THE SECURITY OFFICE – THE SIXTH RUNE STONE

>> Return to the elevator or use the map to teleport to the second floor storage facility.
>> Once there, enter the apartment hallway and follow the hallway to the end.
>> Turn right and proceed along the darkened hallway. This leads to a second apartment hallway, featuring a pram, a steel wall and a locked apartment door.
>> Turn around and walk back into the darkness, returning to the first apartment hallway. Notice the locked doors, beside which there is ‘employee only’ sign. These doors lead to the security office.
>>The security doors are protected with a keypad. Recall the key combination from the note on the swimming pool balcony. The key combination is: 7536.
>> Enter the security office.
>> Turn right and examine the floor beneath the right-most edge of the desk. Notice a fallen rune stone (constraint) on the floor. Collect this rune stone.

>>Examine the security cameras and note the camera showing a diagram painted on the side of a water tank

16. DISSOLVING THE SECOND RUNE STONE – SECURITY OFFICE

>> Open the locker and find the rune stone device concealed on the top shelf.
>> Insert the Initiation rune stone into the top of the device.

>>The device is protected with a puzzle, and this puzzle must be solved to operate the device.

JUMP ACROSS PUZZLE – HINTS
The objective of the jump across puzzle is to exchange the positions of the gold and silver coins. The four gold coins must be positioned on the left, and the silver on the right. Each coin can move in only one direction. The silver can move only right, and the gold can move only left. Only one coin can be moved per turn, and any one coin either can move one space forwards, or can jump across one other coin of a different type: gold can jump over silver, and silver over gold. The puzzle is reset when no further moves are available and the puzzle is not solved

>>The Jump across puzzle is solved when the gold and silver pieces are exchanged for each other. The pieces on this board can be numbered from the centre, as follows (*=space):
S4,S3,S2,S1*G1,G2,G3,G4.

The puzzle can be solved as follows:
S4,S3,S2,S1 G1*G2,G3,G4
S4,S3,S2,*G1,S1,G2,G3,G4
S4,S3,*,S2,G1,S1,G2,G3,G4
S4,S3,G1,S2,*,S1,G2,G3,G4
S4,S3,G1,S2,G2,S1,*,G3,G4
S4,S3,G1,S2,G2,S1,G3,*,G4
S4,S3,G1,S2,G2,*,G3,S1,G4
S4,S3,G1,*,G2,S2,G3,S1,G4
S4,*,G1,S3,G2,S2,G3,S1,G4
*,S4,G1,S3,G2,S2,G3,S1,G4
G1,S4,*,S3,G2,S2,G3,S1,G4
G1,S4,G2,S3,*,S2,G3,S1,G4
G1,S4,G2,S3,G3,S2,*,S1,G4
G1,S4,G2,S3,G3,S2,G4,S1,*
G1,S4,G2,S3,G3,S2,G4,*,S1
G1,S4,G2,S3,G3,*,G4,S2,S1
G1,S4,G2,*,G3,S3,G4,S2,S1
G1,S4,G2,*,G3,S3,G4,S2,S1
G1,*,G2,S4,G3,S3,G4,S2,S1
G1,*,G2,S4,G3,S3,G4,S2,S1
G1,G2,*,S4,G3,S3,G4,S2,S1
G1,G2,G3,S4,*,S3,G4,S2,S1
G1,G2,G3,S4,G4,S3,*,S2,S1
G1,G2,G3,S4,G4,*,S3,S2,S1
G1,G2,G3,*,G4, S4,S3,S2,S1
G1,G2,G3,G4,*, S4,S3,S2,S1

>>Once completed, the initiation rune stone is dissolved into the ether.
>>Turn around and face the security office doors. See a panel at the bottom of the wall, close to the floor. Open the panel and turn the switch. Hear the sound of machinery in operation.
>> Leave the security office.

17. VISITING THE APARTMENTS – THE SEVENTH RUNE STONE

>> Exit the security office and walk forwards again into the darkened corridor leading to the second apartment hallway.
>> Walk past the pram and notice that the steel barrier has been lowered, as a consequence of pressing the lever in the security office.
>> Walk past the archway, towards the second apartment door. This door is unlocked and leads to a renovated apartment.
>> Once inside, walk forwards towards the ruined kitchen area and make a note of the diagram chalked on the floor.

>>Walk forwards towards the boarded windows and enter the hole in the wall, leading into the newly furbished apartment next door.
>>Proceed into the kitchen and examine the plate of chocolates on the shelf. The plate contains false chocolates which are pieces of a puzzle protecting a secret compartment beneath.
>>The puzzle must be solved to access the secret compartment.

CHOCOLATE LOCK – HINTS
The objective of the chocolate lock puzzle is to travel each and every connecting line once and only one from any starting chocolate.
No single path can be travelled more than once.

>>Once solved, the puzzle will slide away to reveal a secret compartment beneath.
>>Collect the rune stone (Fertility) contained within.

>>Walk towards the front door of the apartment and turn the key in the lock to unlock the door from the inside. This now allows you to enter into this apartment using the door from the apartment hallway

18. DISSOLVING THE THIRD RUNE STONE – THE CAFE

>> Return to the Grand Hall reception desk and notice that the Rune Stone Strength is associated with the Café location. Travel to the café.
>> Enter the pool room and examine the Viking Board on the table.
>> Place the strength rune stone onto the circle at the centre of the board.

>>Recall the diagram painted onto the water tank as seen from the TV in the security office.
>> Arrange the coloured tokens on the board to match the diagram on the TV, leaving empty spaces where there are lines on the diagram.
>>The Strength rune stone should be dissolved into the ether

19. ENTERING THE MEDICAL BAY – THE EIGHTH RUNE STONE

>> Leave the café and enter the Grand Hall corridor.
>> Travel to the end of the corridor, close to the maintenance and basement door.
>> Remove the grate at the bottom of the medical bay door to reveal the abacus lock.

>>Recall the diagram chalked to the floor of the renovated apartment on the second floor. This diagram represents the combination for this door lock.
>>Enter the combination into the lock as below and the door will open. Enter the medical bay.
>>Walk to the far side of the medical bay, beside the sink. There will be the sound of electrical interference and the lights will cut out, after which there will be the sound of movement nearby in the room. Once the lights are restored, the room appears empty.
>>Walk back towards the door, and there will be a knock at the door. Attempt to answer it and Wittard will warn you that Fenrir is sealing the door. To disrupt his electrical energies and to weaken his grip on the door, activate your electronic camera.

>>This will send Fenrir back to the portal to regenerate his power, and a rune stone (defence) will materialise on the medical bay trolley bed. Collect this rune stone.

20. DISSOLVING THE FOURTH RUNE STONE – THE MEDICAL BAY

>>Return to the Grand Hall reception desk and observe from the note that the Fertility rune stone is associated with the Medical Bay rune stone device.
>> Before returning to the Medical Bay, visit the swimming pool.
>> On arriving at the swimming pool, walk forwards into the pool/atrium region and visit the wooden deck chairs with towels. Notice the notepad on the table beside the chairs

>>Turn the page on the notepad and read the message relating to the fuse board.
>>Return to the medical bay.
>> Examine the device on the corner table and insert the Fertility rune stone into the box compartment at the top of the device.

>>Examine the fuse board and notice that each fuse has a different and unique marking. The top-left green fuse is fixed in place.

CONFIGURING THE FUSE BOARD – HINTS
Each fuse has endings of a unique colour, and this colour represents the colour of that fuse. Each fuse also has two coloured stripes across its body. The top stripe indicates that another fuse of that colour should be one space away from this fuse. The bottom stripe indicates that another fuse of that colour should be two spaces away from this fuse. The objective of the puzzle is to order the fuses on the board so that the arrangement indicated by the coloured stripes on each fuse is true.

>>The solution to this puzzle is as follows:

>>On completing this puzzle, the fertility rune stone is dissolved

21. ACCESSING THE INNER GARDEN BALCONY

>> The doors to the Inner Garden balcony are locked from the Grand Hall. Power must be channelled to them from the maintenance power supply, just as power was channelled to the elevator doors.
>> Connection points 1 and 2 in the Grand Hall corridor are already set to their correct positions. Connection point 3 beside the elevator must be switched away from the elevator and towards the balcony doors. Connection point 4 can be found beside the balcony doors, and must be switched so as to point in the direction of those doors.
>> Once all four connection points are set correctly, press the door unlock button beside the balcony doors.
>> Open the doors and enter the Inner Garden balcony region.

>>Look up to the glass ceiling and examine it more closely.
>>Note the windows illuminated in a 5×4 grid, and also the colouring given to some windows.
>> Return to the Grand Hall and enter the elevator

22. THE ROOF

>> Send the elevator to the roof floor.
>> Exit the elevator and walk forwards. On the left is giant dome platform, and ahead there is a cabinet containing a control panel (Panel A).

>>Open the control panel, manipulate the dials and press the buttons. Exit the control panel and walk on the dome platform to the other side of the roof.
>> See a second control panel (Panel B). Open this control panel and notice the colouring of the lights.
>> Control Panel B directly relates to Control Panel A. Control Panel A is used to set the positions and colours of lights on Control Panel B.

DECODING THE ROOF CONTROL PANELS – HINTS
The objective of this puzzle is to ascertain how control panel A relates to control panel B so as to set the lights of control B to match the lighting and ordering of the windows as seen from the glass ceiling of the Inner Garden. Control panel A features three dials and two buttons.

>>Control Panel A is used to specify a light one by one in the 5×4 grid of Panel B. Dial 1 of control panel A specifies the row number of the light to be selected, Dial 2 specifies the column number of the light to be selected, and the third dial specifies the colour to which the light at that position should be set. The white button confirms the operation for the selected light, and the dark button resets all lights to off.
>>Solve the roof control panel puzzle as follows:
>>Visit Panel A
>>Turn dial 1 to 2, turn dial 2 to 2, turn dial 3 to 1. Press the white button.
>> Turn dial 1 to 2, turn dial 2 to 5, turn dial 3 to 3. Press the white button.
>> Turn dial 1 to 3, turn dial 2 to 2, turn dial 3 to 4. Press the white button.
>> Turn dial 1 to 4, turn dial 2 to 4, turn dial 3 to 2. Press the white button.
>> Travel to Panel B. See the lights appear in the grid.

>>Turn the valve. The dome rotates and the platform orientates towards the Novagate Observatory.
>>Walk across the platform to the Novagate Observatory

23. THE NOVAGATE OBSERVATORY – THE NINTH RUNE STONE

>> Enter the Novagate Observatory and climb the stair case.
>> At the top of the stair case Wittard will speak through the amulet and talk about the presence of a rune stone device at this location.
>> Walk to the other side of the atrium and open the desk drawer to find a rune stone (partnership) contained within. Collect the rune stone.

>>Examine the note on the desk, which explains how to use the rune stone device in the basement.

24. DISSOLVING THE FIFTH RUNE STONE – THE OBSERVATORY

>> Continue walking further around the observatory atrium and find the computer console near the telescope.
>> According to the note on the Grand Hall reception desk, the Observatory rune stone device accepts the rune stone constraint, which was found in the second floor security office.
>> Insert the constraint rune stone into the device. The device is protected with a puzzle.

SOLVING THE OBSERVATORY CONSOLE PUZZLE – HINTS
The observatory puzzle is a ‘follow the leader’ puzzle in which the computer will display a sequence of illuminated stars. The player must replicate that sequence without error. If a mistake is made on repeating the sequence on each round, the puzzle is reset.

>>The solution to this puzzle is random. The player must repeat the sequence shown correctly.
>>Once completed, the constraint rune stone is dissolved.
>>Return to the Grand Hall lobby

25. DISSOLVING THE SIXTH RUNE STONE – THE BASEMENT

>> The note on the reception desk indicates that the rune stone device in the basement accepts the partnership rune stone, as collected in the observatory.
>> Return to the maintenance/basement area.
>> Examine the tank. Open the hatch and insert the rune stone

>>Number the valves on top of the tank sequentially, from left to right, starting at 1. Their numbers are: 1,2 and 3. Turn the valves in the order specified in the observatory note. The order is: 1,1,2,3,2,1.
>> The partnership rune stone is now dissolved.

26. FINDING THE SECRET FIRST FLOOR

>> According to the maps of the Utopia, there is a first floor. This floor contains Wittard’s residence, as mentioned in Aaron’s notes in the sewer. This floor is hidden and is not accessible via the Grand Hall elevator and there is no stairway leading there.
>> To locate this floor, travel to the second floor.
>> Enter the security office and open the control panel near the door. Turn the handle and the sound of machinery will be heard again. The steel barrier between the two apartments will rise.
>> Leave the security office and head towards the darkened corridor leading to the second apartment hallway. The steel barrier between the two apartments has returned, but the accessible apartment is now unlocked.

>>Enter this apartment and travel through the hole in the wall to the apartment next door. Exit that apartment so as to see the other side of the steel barrier in the hallway.
>> It is a secret elevator. Click on the elevator doors to travel to the secret first floor

27. EXPLORING WITTARD’S RESIDENCE

>> On arriving at Wittard’s residence, the voice of Wittard will welcome you.
>> Walk forwards and turn right. Suddenly, the elevator will be summoned and then return back to the first floor. The doors will open although nobody appears there. The lights will flicker and Fenrir will first appear to you and then will call you using the voice of Kate.

>>Turn around and enter the nearest door. This leads to Wittard’s study.

28. THE FINAL RUNE STONE – WITTARD’S STUDY

>> Enter Wittard’s Study and walk forwards towards the desk.
>> Examine the journal on the desk to learn more about Wittard and his intentions for the rune stones and rune stone devices, as well as about the coming of Ragnarok and the chosen one.
>>Turn to the last page and note the Viking diagram.

>>Open the desk drawer and collect the tenth and final rune stone (protection).

>>Leave the Study and return to the hallway.
>> Travel to the other end of the hallway and enter the door on the left. This leads into Wittard’s apartment

29. DISSOLVING THE SEVENTH RUNE STONE – WITTARD’S APARTMENT

>> Enter Wittard’s apartment and Wittard will welcome you via the amulet.
>>Walk to the centre of the room and examine the shelves. Open the chest and read the documents inside.
>> Walk to the coffee table and read the letter from Caroline, Wittard’s sister.
>> Examine the chess board on the table. This chess board will open a secret compartment elsewhere that contains a rune stone device.

SOLVING THE KNIGHT TOUR PUZZLE – HINTS
The objective of the knight tour puzzle is to visit each and every square on a chess board once and only once using one knight piece that must move using standard knight moves.

>>There are many solutions to this puzzle. One is as follows:

>>Once completed, a secret compartment will be unlocked.

>>Travel to the corner of the apartment and find the archway covered in tiles. Notice a small switch on the wall

>>Press the switch to open the compartment.
>> Place the protection rune stone on the marked shelf.
>>The rune stone will be dissolved and Fenrir will call on the telephone using Kate’s voice. He will seek to persuade you that Wittard has ulterior motives for preventing Ragnarok. He mentions of a time approaching in which you will need to make a choice; a decision as to whom can be trusted.
>>Leave the apartment and travel to the Inner Garden.

30. DISSOLVING THE EIGHTH RUNE STONE – THE INNER GARDEN

>> Learn from the note on the Grand Hall reception desk that the Inner Garden location accepts the signals rune stone.
>> Climb the Grand Hall balcony stairs and enter the Inner Garden balcony.
>> Notice the rune stone machine on the ground. It is protected with a tile puzzle.
>> Examine the Rune Stone Device and insert the signals rune stone into the designated socket.

>>Recall the completed Viking image on the final page of Wittard’s journal. This image represents the full image that will be assembled when the tile puzzle is completed

>>There is an alternative and faster solution to this puzzle. Recall the final page of Wittard’s journal that shows the solution to this puzzle. Above and below are dots, each of these represents a mushroom that surrounds the puzzle. Notice that one dot is surrounded by a circular border. Touch the corresponding mushroom to reveal a secret ‘solve it’ button.
>> Once completed, the signals rune stone will be dissolved.
>> Return to the Viking Museum.

31. DECCODE THE ENCODED MESSAGE – VIKING MUSEUM

>>Enter the Viking Museum and open the rune stone book.
>> Inside the book is an encoded message

>>Return to the Grand Hall corridor and explore the entrance way to the Kids’ Kingdom. Notice the alphabet chart. It is a cipher for the encoded message

>>The letters in the chart are arranged in a grid.
>> Examine the encoded message. For each character in the message, assume that the lines of the character indicate the region on the grid in which the letter appears. The dot corresponds to the position of the letter in that region.
>> The message reads:
“Dear Mother (Susan),
This book is a gift for you. I tried to hide the gemstone portals as standard household appliances. Someone must use them.”
>> Return to Wittard’s Study.

32. DISSOLVING THE NINTH RUNE STONE – THE FAMILY TREE PUZZLE

>> Enter Wittard’s Study (the office) and open the secret compartment behind the false wall panel, near the globe.

>>This contains a safe combination lock presented as a family tree puzzle.

SOLVING THE FAMILY TREE PUZZLE – HINTS
The objective of the family tree is to arrange the names on the tree so their position in the tree corresponds to their familial relationship to Wittard (Baron Horatio Wittard). Clues for this puzzle are scattered throughout the Utopia.  The letter written by Aaron in the sewer mentions Cousin Arnold.  A letter used as bookmark for the book on the desk in the security office, lists: Ancestor Matthew and Uncle Jeff.  Wittard’s journal speaks of his father Edward and Grandfather Roger.  The encoded message in the Viking museum is addressed to Mother Susan. A letter addressed to Wittard in his apartment is written by his Sister Caroline, and speaks of Uncle Jeff and his wife Anita.  A clue in the observatory speaks of: Grandmother Sophie, Great Grandfather William, Great grandmother Emma, and Great grandmother Sarah.

>>The solution to the family tree puzzle is as follows:

>>Once completed, a secret compartment is revealed in the fireplace.
>> Open the compartment and insert the rune stone Defence.
>>The rune stone is dissolved and Fenrir will call.
>> Return to the Grand Hall reception area.

33. DISSOLVING THE TENTH RUNE STONE – THE SYMBOLS PUZZLE

>> Enter the Grand Hall lobby and read from the note that the Grand Hall location contains a rune stone device for the Rune Stone separation.
>> Examine the safe on the wall near the reception desk.

>>Notice that each concentric dial is labelled with a symbol.

OPENING THE RECEPTION SAFE – HINTS
The objective of the safe puzzle is to turn each dial to the appropriate number. The number that a dial is facing represents the number of times that the dial symbol can be found throughout the Utopia.

>>The solution to this puzzle is as follows:

Green: 12. Yellow: 12. Red: 6. Blue: 1.
>> The safe contains a rune stone device.
>> Insert the rune stone separation into the device, and the rune stone will be dissolved.
>> All ten rune stones have now been dissolved and the chained door in the sewer (The door to the portal) is now unchained
>>Return to the sewer.

34. RETURNING TO THE PORTAL

>> On arriving in the sewer, walk to the chained door. It is now unchained.
>> Examine the door and Wittard will declare it to be safe to open.
>> Open the door and see Fenrir standing beside the portal.

>>Touch the face of the amulet to unlock the protecting mechanism within

>>The amulet is protected with a puzzle.

AMULET PUZZLE – HINTS
The objective of the amulet puzzle is to slide the pieces so as to move the large green block onto the space marked in green.

[SAVE GAME HERE]

>>Once completed, Fenrir will call and give you an option: either support Wittard and turn the amulet to face the portal (Good ending), or support Fenrir and leave the Utopia with the amulet (Bad Ending).
>> Once the decision has been made, return to the courtyard and click on the gates

Premium Edition
Priced £29.99 (RRP), Lace Mamba Global publishes this amazing edition, including all five episodes of the Tales of Monkey Island game, as well as additional digital bonus content, such as

- A production art gallery
- Desktop wallpapers
- Fun forum avatars

Collector’s Edition
For £49.99 (RRP), this exclusive Collector’s Edition comes in a unique box in the design of a genuine pirates’ treasure chest. Additionally to the contents of the Premium Edition, the Collector’s Edition includes

- A map of the Gulf of Melange
- A Voodoo Card
- A Drink Coaster from Club 41
- A Pirate piece of Eight coin
- The Trial of the Century badge

Tales of Monkey Island brings Guybrush Threepwood back to PC screens. While explosively stripping the evil pirate LeChuck of his demonic mojo, Guybrush inadvertently infects the entire Caribbean with the arch-fiend’s expelled voodoo, which threatens to transform buccaneers into unruly pirate monsters. Pursued by a notorious cut-throat pirate hunter and a creepy French physician who believes that Guybrush’s eerily-infected hand holds the secret of eternal life, Threepwood sails the seven seas in search of La Esponja Grande, a legendary sea sponge with unparalleled voodoo exfoliating abilities. But little does Guybrush know, his quest is part of a larger, more sinister plot, and good and evil are not always as they seem…

Who can Guybrush trust? Where can he turn? Everything you think you know will be challenged as Tales of Monkey Island builds to its unexpected finale!

Both editions will be hitting the retail shelves, starting in the UK on April 8, 2011.

It soon transpires that Wittard showed more than a passing interest in the Viking legends surrounding the great event of Ragnarok and this gets the gamer thinking if “Utopia” was intended to be an elaborate shield for Wittard’s true intentions. However, as legends dictate, no mortal is a match for the Gods and possibly through Wittard ‘s actions (accidental or not) an evil force has been awakened. “Utopia’s” grand opening never came to fruition, and with strange events that scared people away, an upsurge in electromagnetic activity Utopia is far from the ideal society its name intended.

Assuming the role of a photographer you are dispatched to the abandoned, decaying building of Utopia by your editor Kate. Armed only with your camera your assignment is to explore and grab as many photographs of the building as possible. After a brief cinematic clip of your arrival at Utopia, your first task is to find a way into the building.

Baron Wittard uses a node based mechanic where you can view 360 degrees and while this is particularly nicely executed it will mean that to access your menu/ inventory you will have to locate a zoom in or close up look at objects on screen .This isn’t a problem as there are several in each room anyway. In Wax Lyrical’s development diary Alan Thorn states :

“I think there are two key ingredients or rules that must be obeyed by any adventure game if it is to belong successfully to the style found in Myst and Shivers. In developing Baron Wittard, and especially in crafting its story, we made sure as developers that we took notice of those rules. Those two rules are the non-linear rule and the solitary-exploration rule”

The developers have applied these rules meaning that the environment is pretty much a free roaming one and there is no hard and fast rule as to the order in which the puzzles are solved. The puzzles themselves revolve around gaining access to new areas and a set of ten rune stones. As it transpires the Baron, distrustful of everybody, had instructed his security staff to install puzzle based locks and devices and you’ll find that the game is made up of logic style puzzles and not much in the way of inventory based ones. In fact the only inventory you really gather are the Rune stones, your camera (by default), and early on you pick up a hotspot map which allows you to jump between locations quickly. But back to the rune stones.
Your aim is to locate ten stones distributed about the building. Some are easily accessible and can be found by maybe opening a box or drawer others will need puzzle solving to acquire. Once found each stone must then be “dissolved into the ether” individually by clever devices throughout the building . These devices are operated by completing puzzles such as Towers of Hanoi, slider puzzles and the like but, be prepared with a notebook and pen to hand as clues and solutions are scattered throughout . There is no journal in your inventory to record clues in so if you take a note of these manually it’ll save a lot of backtracking. The puzzles themselves do vary in difficulty from easy to really difficult and I only came across one where there was the option to skip and with the non-linear nature of the game you can try,try again.

The solitary-exploration rule doesn’t mean you are entirely alone in your search, there are three NPC’s who contact you more and more regular as you progress. The first NPC is your editor Kate who will give you a brief background to Utopia and your assignment, then there is Wittard himself who takes the form of an amulet and pops up on screen with guidance advice and then finally the evil presence. You really don’t feel alone in your quest and as the story draws to its conclusion, these interuptions work well in confusing the gamers’ initial opinions of Wittard and heighten the game’s tension.

Presentation of the game is excellent. On arrival at the construction site, the different surfaces underfoot are easily distinguishable as you cross gravel and flagstones toward the main building and this quality continues inside. You will hear all sorts of electrical “noises”, creaking floorboards, etc. set off with an eerie soundtrack. The graphics too are of an equal standard very much in the styling of recent British games. In fact there’s not too much wrong with Baron Wittard: Nemesis of Ragnarok and if I were to have a grumble at all it would be the lack of use of your camera. The story of the game was as a photographer you were assigned to bring back lots of pictures and this could have been a useful tool to maybe collect reference material and documented in a journal (to save on the notepad and pen)

Summary

If you were to cross Bracken Tor with Rhem you would end up with something along the lines of Baron Wittard: Nemesis of Ragnarok. While first-person puzzle adventures are a bit thin on the ground, I like to think Baron Wittard: Nemesis of Ragnarok is how the genre could evolve. Think Myst, Rhem etc. with a bit more flesh on the bones , appealing to both puzzle lovers and adventure game lovers, Baron Wittard: Nemesis of Ragnarok bridges the divide perfectly. For Wax Lyrical Games’ first full length game it is truly impressive

What the press is saying

•    “Baron Wittard is a remarkably scary and beautiful exploration game.” – Gamercast.net
•   “Baron Wittard: Nemesis of Ragnarok holds a decent pace with enough suspense to keep even the most level headed of people on the edge of their seats.” – Square-go.com
•    “The haunting musical scores and eerie silences all combine to immerse you … shaping up to be a great game…” – Gaminglives.com
•    “…shaping up to be a highly enjoyable and unsettling adventure.” – Game-debate.com
•    “…plenty of solitary exploration, lots of puzzles, and a bit of Scandinavian mythology to boot.” – AdventureGamers.com

DARKSTAR, both an adventure game and an interactive movie, features more than 13 hours of Full Motion Video sequences to tell its amazing story. More animated footage than any other game in history is packed into this adventure with over two-dozen exhilarating alternate endings.
The cast of live actors features Clive Robertson starring Captain John O’Neil (Sunset Beach/StarHunter), as well as the original cast of the American cult television comedy series “Mystery Science Theater 3000”, including Trace Beaulieu, Beth “Beez” McKeever, Joel Hodgson, Mary Jo Pehl, Frank Conniff and J. Elvis Weinstein. DARKSTAR is narrated by the late, great Peter Graves (Mission: Impossible/Airplane/A&E’s Biography Series), his final performance.

DARKSTAR combines the best of the adventure game genre with science fiction filmmaking in this ground-breaking production. With elements of dark humor, horror, and classic sci-fi, DARKSTAR introduces you to live-action characters in a pre-rendered, fully animated storytelling tool that allows you to wander, search, discover, and enjoy this refreshing and strange world at your own pace.

[View with PicLens]

12►

Everything changed, though, when Lucius turned 6: His real father, the Devil, appeared in his dreams the night before his birthday, revealing that Lucius was his son.

The Beast managed through Lucius to bring a descendant back to the earth – and so it is Lucius’ task now to accomplish the missions of the Evil, which is gaining control over the world. Firstly, Lucius needs to get rid of all his family members and the service staff in the manor to be able to make their wealth and powers his.

Equipped with supernatural powers, Lucius starts off to a blood-flooding tour of horror through his house, using hell’s powers of telekinesis and mind control to orchestrate deadly accidents that will minimize the population of the manor one by one by one…

starting in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Scandinavia, Lucius will be released in June 2011

Tales of Monkey Island brings Guybrush Threepwood back to PC screens. While explosively stripping the evil pirate LeChuck of his demonic mojo, Guybrush inadvertently infects the entire Caribbean with the arch-fiend’s expelled voodoo, which threatens to transform buccaneers into unruly pirate monsters. Pursued by a notorious cut-throat pirate hunter  and a creepy French physician  who believes that Guybrush’s eerily-infected hand holds the secret of eternal life, Threepwood sails the seven seas in search of La Esponja Grande, a legendary sea sponge with unparalleled voodoo exfoliating abilities. But little does Guybrush know, his quest is part of a larger, more sinister plot, and good and evil are not always as they seem…
“Tales of Monkey Island is an epic adventure in five parts. All five episodes have been very successfully released on digital download
platforms, yet are not available in retail stores in the territories mentioned above. Being huge adventure game fans ourselves, we have
decided to bring a bumper filled Collector’s Edition to the retail stores, which not only contains all five Tales of Monkey Island episodes, but also great Monkey Island memorabilia items. We will soon reveal details of the extra content of the Collector’s Edition, and we
will have some great surprises for all the Monkey Island fans in our territories”, says Claas Wolter, of Lace Mamba
Global.