Walkthroughs: Rhem 4 Hint-through

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Introduction
The Rhem series of games is all about puzzles.  There isn't any great eye candy waiting around the corner.  There is no story line to move forward.  It is just one large collection of devious brain twisters.

So there is little point in a walk through.  It would be like working a crossword puzzle with the solution displayed right next to it.  However, it is possible to miss a small detail or not quite understand what a clue is trying to tell you.  So a gentle hint or two can be a life saver when you get stuck.  That is what this hint-through is all about – getting you back on path while revealing as little as possible.

Note that this is a difficult game and is intended for advanced players.  I assume that you have already explored every place available to you.  I assume that if you find a paper taped to the wall with a five digit number on it that you know enough to make note of it.   I assume that if you are truly stuck, then you are familiar enough with the area that I won't need a lot of pictures, a simple description will do.

The puzzle hints are not presented in any special order.  You should not just scroll down thinking that the puzzles are ordered like a walkthrough.  You should first read the General Hints section.  That might be enough to get you back on track.

After the General Hints is a list of all the major puzzles and their dependencies.  Many of the puzzles found early in the game cannot be solved without clues or items found much later.  This list will show you just what you should be able to solve depending on where you are in the game.

After the Puzzle Dependency List there are some maps with the different puzzles lettered.  Simply find the link below the map to the puzzle is which has you stuck and jump there.

At the puzzle link you will find a series of gentle hints beginning with things which are easy to miss (M).  No solutions are actually given, but the hints will progress to the point where they will explain how to solve the puzzle on your own.  So even using these hints you will still get the satisfaction of having beaten the game yourself.

I would suggest adjusting your browser so that you can see only one hint at a time.  That way you can still figure it out on your own without everything being explained to you.

General Hints

• Mapping is not an option.  The issue isn't getting lost, although after a while the scenery can get very repetitious.  There are puzzles and clues everywhere and they are rarely together.  You will want to take notes of what you have seen so you can match them up later.  I would suggest using quadrille/graph paper.  Most of Rhem maps well (each move advancing you one square) with only a few areas which don't line up perfectly.
• Every puzzle has a unique requirement.  For example, if a clue appears to be showing four patterns of five settings, then there will be only one puzzle which needs four patterns of five settings.
• Wires and conduits mean something.  If a building/machine/door is dead, follow the wire to see what is supposed to power it.
• When you place an item in a device, can you remove it again?  If you can, then you will need to sometime later, either to undo the action or to use the item again elsewhere.
• Whenever possible, close doors behind you.  Kurt likes to hide clues on the backs of doors.
• If you press a button and hear a HONK, that indicates that a puzzle needs to be solved before it will work.  But it will work. If you don't hear a HONK, then something probably just happened.
• When there is a row of things (buttons, lights, etc.) they are always numbered from left to right.
• Some puzzles require that you know the difference between the North, South, East and West walls in order to align the clues.  The key is what direction you are facing.  When inside a room you will face North to see the Northern wall.  But on the outside of a building you will face North to see the Southern wall.  The North facing clue will always go to the North facing puzzle, no matter which walls they are on.
• Be sure to move your cursor all over every screen.  This can get tedious as usually there is nothing.  But every so often you will be allowed to look up or down.  And you will need to. Also, there is no indication of where the hot spots are until you move the cursor over them and it changes.  It might also make a noise, but there are no guarantees.
• Most unfinished puzzles reset when you move away.  Those which don't can be manually set back to where they started.  So it is always safe to play around with a new machine to see what the buttons do.
• If you have trouble differentiating colors, move the cursor over the color in question (do not click) and then hold down the “c” on the keyboard.  The color's name and RGB value will be displayed at the top of the screen.
• Kales has left a short diary on his bed.  Be sure to read it when you are first there (it does contain a clue or two).  Later, shortly after you start exploring beyond the Black Crystal Room, the diary will vanish.  It will reappear, with more writing in it, at the very end of the game.
• Above all, take your time.  This is not a simple game which you can dash through in a couple of evenings.  You are expected to stop and think.  I would suggest not playing for more than an hour or so at a time.  Then sit back and think about what you have seen.  Is there anything about the current puzzle or its surroundings which reminds you of something you have seen before?  There are plenty of clues, but it is not always obvious which clue goes to which puzzle.  In short – play the game as if you really were there and had all the time in the world (because you are stuck!)

Puzzle Dependency List
Even though there are many puzzles you can work on at any given time, most of the puzzles are layered and most of them require you to have solved other puzzles first. Otherwise you won't have the critical clue or object.
Below is a list of all of the major puzzles in the order in which they are solvable and with all of their dependent puzzles under them. It is assumed that you have explored every place which is accessible.
Should you get stuck as to what to do next, check with this list to see what should be available.

1. Entrance and Hall of 6 Doors.
2. Black Crystal Room.
    • Power Room
        1. Button Puzzle in Kales' Bedroom
3. Bell Tower (Fragment #1) (Self contained - can be solved as soon as you get to it and is not needed by other major puzzles)
    • Entrance to Bell Tower Area.
    • Activation Switch in Bell Tower
        1. Toy Wagon Puzzle.
    • Set the Bell Tower Medley.
        1. Access the Vinyl Record.
            • Access the Record Player.
4. Sun Hall (Fragment #9) (Self contained - can be solved as soon as you get to it and is not needed by other major puzzles)
5. Mound Garden off of Hall of 9 Doors ( Self contained - can be solved as soon as you get to it. Yields item needed in West Area)
6. Circular Tram (Solvable as soon as you can get to it.)
    • Central Hub door codes.
        1. Activating the Tram.
        2. Cabinet in Kales' bedroom.
7. West Area Silo puzzle (Red Ball)
8. West Area Northern locked Door (Fragment #6)
9. West Area Southern locked Door. (Fragment #3)
    • Full access to North Area
    • Mound Garden
10. North Area Six Sets of Six Buttons
    • Locked door next to statues
11. North Area Three-Handed Clock (Fragment #5)
    • Locked door next to statues
    • Red Ball from West Area Silo
1. Locked door across from statues
12. North Area Alarm Clock
• Locked door next to statues
• Red Ball from West Area Silo
         1. Locked door across from statues
13. North Area Color Puzzle
    • Locked door next to statues
    • Red Ball from West Area Silo
        1. Locked door across from statues
14. East Area Six Digit Puzzle (Fragment #8)
    • North Area Color Puzzle
15. East Area Squares Puzzle
    • Full access to North Area
16. Entrance to Gallery
    • Central Hub Door Codes
        1. Activate the Tram
17. Candle Puzzle (Fragment #7)
    • North Area six sets of six buttons puzzle
    • Door 6 of 9
18. Portraits Puzzle (Fragment #4)
    • North Area Alarm Clock Puzzle
    • Door 7 of 9
19. Door 4 of 9 (Fragment #2)
• Metal Piece #4 (from Thatched Hut)
1. Metal pieces 1, 2 and 3
    • Cabinet settings east of Portraits Puzzle
        1. Open cabinet.
    • East Areas Squares Puzzle
20. Door 5 of 6
    • You need all nine of the Golden Fragments to open the door to the round building.