Nancy Drew: Labyrinth of Lies

A complete walkthrough for Nancy Drew: Labyrinth of Lies, played on the Junior Detective difficulty. Nancy arrives at a Greek museum and amphitheatre where a production of the Persephone myth is in rehearsal and the exhibits are quietly going missing.

A note on versions

This guide was translated from a Russian localisation. Two puzzles turn on the language of the release and are flagged where they come up: the password for the Notes section of Grigor’s tablet, which is built out of the letters of Xenia’s script, and the four five-letter Greek words on the shackle lock at the end. The five famous Greeks puzzle has been corrected to the English release’s own letters and colours. The two passwords KLEROTERION and Calliope, and every numeric code, are the same in both.

Before you start

• Standard mouse controls. To skip dialogue, switch Fast forward on in the settings.
• Pressing Task in the bottom right gives you a hint, up to a complete solution, but using it costs you the No Hints achievement.
• Saves live in your Documents folder, in a subfolder named after the game.
• The game is linear, though some locations can be worked through freely. When you earn an achievement, the word Menu in the bottom left is replaced by a gold cup.

Achievements

All optional. Names are translated back from the Russian, so exact wording on the English release may differ.

• Restorer — restore the cultural heritage pixel by pixel: complete every photograph in Xenia’s tablet.
• Hero — for reaching the heavens: knock on the amber door in the Judges’ room 30 times.
• Ferryman — for frequent trips to the realm of the dead: cross the underground river by boat 18 times.
• Seeker — for clicking on everything: find at least one Easter egg.
• Locked In — no cage can hold you: enter the code and lower the grille at least seven times.
• Lift Fan — for a special love of the lift: ride it at least thirty times.
• Creator — for a true understanding of art: fire twelve vases in the kiln.
• Listener — for patience: listen to every audio file in the Player folder on Melina’s computer.
• Lottery — oh, lucky one: play the lottery on Melina’s computer and score at least 70.
• No Hints — for a sharp mind: do not use the built-in hints.
• Ticket Clerk — for tireless work for the theatre: book tickets for six days on Melina’s computer.
• Connoisseur — for finding all the charms but one: find seven phone charms.
• Expert — answer the end-of-game quiz question correctly.

The amphitheatre and museum

After the opening video Nancy meets Xenia Dukas, who plays Persephone and also directs the production. Turn around, go two steps up the steps and look right. Take the book Famous people of Ancient Greece from the bench and carry on up. Come out onto the square in front of the museum and go forward.

Note the locked display case with the exhibition poster to the right of the entrance, and the empty mailbox to the left of the door.

The museum hall

Go in and watch a young woman in white accidentally break a display case while sketching. Meet the second actress, Niobe Papadaki, who plays Demeter. She leaves; look around and examine the exhibits.

Go to the door and read the note pinned to it from Melina. The office is locked and the key is under one of the statues in the hall. Turn around, follow the arrow right, straight, left, straight. Take the pencil sketch of a temple from the bench on the left. Look ahead, zoom in on the statue of Nike, goddess of victory, and find the office key on the pedestal. Take it, turn around and unlock Melina Rosi’s office.

Melina Rosi’s office

You automatically get a call from the museum’s curator: exhibits have been stolen and Melina asks you to find out where they went. The office is yours to use.

Go behind the desk and look at the photograph on it. Note the slot for a mobile phone beside the computer. Click the monitor: it needs a password you do not have yet. Zoom out and come out from behind the desk.

On the bookshelf is a wooden casket, though its puzzle is not active yet. On the metal filing cabinet, find the first charm, a Greek helmet. Turn left and find the list of received exhibits under the open shelves; read it and put it back. Open the cabinet doors and read the three red folders of documents on the shelves. Zoom out and leave.

Follow the arrow left. Note the opened crate on the right and read the information on its waybill. Turn around and find the second charm, a lion’s head, on one of the benches. Turn around again and leave the museum, heading for the amphitheatre.

Behind the stage

Go down the steps and forward two paces. On the steps in front of the stage, find the third charm, a large and a small eye. Take it and go up the steps, then follow the arrow right onto the stage and behind the scenes.

Look left and find a tablet. Click the Notes icon on the left and read them, noting the message that Xenia’s script has markings in it. The section labelled Notes proper needs a password. Put the tablet back and talk to Grigor Karakinos, who plays Hermes, about everything. Afterwards follow the arrow left and go down to the basement.

The basement

On the cabinet on the right, find another book, Greek Mythology, and look through it. Step forward and look left at the lift, whose door is closed with a code lock you do not know yet. Turn around and go back up the steps.

The counterweight system

Step forward towards the exit. Notice the rope loop on the left and try to pull it. Grigor explains you should not: it is the counterweight system controlling the scenery and the curtain, and careless handling can cause a tragedy. He then disappears somewhere.

Turn around and look in Grigor’s bag. Leaf through the script of act one, which holds nothing interesting. Examine the console, which is inactive. Turn around and, despite your promise, pull the rope anyway. One of the counterweights rises and falls, which brings an angry outburst from Xenia, who leaves her post.

Leave the stage and go to examine Xenia’s workspace.

Xenia’s tent

Leaf through the script and note the corrections in red. Take the script into your inventory, since the hints will be useful. Then click the tablet on the left and start assembling pictures of Greek life.

Puzzle: the photograph mosaic

Left-click a square on the right and find its correct place. Some squares are already in position, which makes the job easier. The squares do not rotate. When a square lands correctly you hear a distinct squelching sound.

To start, click the square with the question mark. The puzzles unlock clockwise. When a photograph is complete Nancy comments on it; press the arrow to zoom out and start the next one.

For the Restorer achievement you have to complete all of them at once. If you do not want the achievement, the first image alone is enough.

Leave the tent, turn around and go back behind the stage.

Puzzle: the tablet password

Talk to Grigor, who suggests you repair what you broke yourself. Take Grigor’s tablet and click the Notes icon on the right. Open Xenia’s script at page six and read the hint: first, last, repeat.

So in the first word you take the first letter, in the next word the last letter, and repeat that pattern. Left-click the letters you need and you get the password for the tablet’s notes.

Version note: applying that rule to the Russian script yields the Russian word for palaeontology. On the English release the same rule applied to your own copy of page six gives the English word, so read your own script rather than copying a word from this guide.

Read the unlocked notes.

Puzzle: the counterweights

Turn to the counterweight system and click it. Open page two of Xenia’s script and read the hint about levelling it. The labels use architectural terms, so here is what they mean:

• Stylobate — the upper surface of the stepped base of a Greek temple, on which the colonnade stood. So: the base of the temple.
• Entablature — the beam structure spanning the columns, made up of architrave, frieze and cornice. So: the upper part of the temple.
• Peristyle — an open space, usually a courtyard or garden, surrounded on all four sides by a covered colonnade. So: the temple’s inner courtyard.
• Plinth — the square slab laid at the base of a column, and the lowest part of a sculpture. So: the sculptures.
• Pediment — the usually triangular finish to a facade, bounded by the two roof slopes and the cornice below. So: the triangular roof.
• Portico — a projecting part of a building, open on one or three sides, formed by columns or arches carrying a roof. Here, near enough a balcony.

Using all the weights in the niches below, hang them on the ropes to balance the loads as the staging notes require. One working solution:

• Stylobate, the base: 40 (20 + 20)
• Entablature, the upper part: 30 (15 + 15)
• Peristyle, the courtyard: 60 (25 + 25 + 10)
• Plinth, the sculptures: 20 (10 + 10)
• Pediment, the triangular roof: 40 (25 + 15)
• Portico, the balcony: 50 (15 + 10 + 10 + 5 + 5 + 5)

Done correctly, Nancy comments. Turn around to talk to Grigor, but he is gone again. Go to his bag, open it and click the red zip. Take out a sheet listing people auditioning for the role of Plutus, a character who is not in the play at all. Close the bag and go down to the basement.

The lift

Go to the lift and click the code lock. Look at page one of Xenia’s script for the lift door code: 18355. Enter it and the lift door opens. Take the lift remote, leave the basement and the stage, and stand on the wooden platform.

Nancy notes she has found the spot the lift can be activated from. Take out the remote and press the descend button.

Charon’s underworld

Meet the last actor, Thanos Ganas, who plays Hades. He rather enjoys frightening people. Pick up the spectroscope under the tree and go forward. Examine Charon’s boat and press his palm: it clearly wants a coin, since in the myths Charon ferries the dead across only for a fee. Take the fourth charm, a bird of prey, from Charon’s staff.

Return to the platform, stand on it and press the left button on the remote to go back up.

Go forward and talk to Xenia about everything. She asks you to help Niobe with the coin display case. Head for the museum.

The museum: Niobe’s books

Go in, take out your phone and call Melina and the Hardy boys. The curator hints where to find the case key and asks you to learn about provenance, the history of ownership of a work of art, which is what confirms an object’s authenticity. The Hardys promise to look into the odd list from Grigor’s bag.

Go forward and talk to Niobe. If she refuses to talk, walk round the hall and start the conversation again. She gives you the books Ancient Greek Mythology and An Introduction to Provenance. Head for the curator’s office for the coin case key.

Puzzle: the gods casket

Go to the cabinet and open the casket. From your conversation with Melina you know that you have to match the figures with the images so that each pair represents the same god. Open Ancient Greek Mythology and pair them:

• Zeus, supreme god, hurled lightning; his bird is the eagle, king among birds.
• Hera, supreme goddess, associated with the cow as a symbol of maternal love, and with the peacock feather, in which she set the hundred eyes of Argus to watch over everything.
• Ares, god of war, held a sword and was accompanied by a magpie and a vulture.
• Athena, goddess of wisdom, gave the Greeks the olive tree, so an olive branch, and was accompanied by an owl.
• Apollo, god of light and patron of the arts and music, turned into a dolphin after fleeing Delos to reach the mainland.
• Artemis, goddess of the hunt, shown with a bow and arrows and accompanied by a hound or a deer.
• Aphrodite, goddess of love, so a heart; she escorted girls into adulthood on a chariot drawn by doves.

With the figures placed correctly a cache opens; take the filing cabinet key.

Unlock the filing cabinet and pull out the top drawers in turn. In the left drawer find the coin case key and, on a yellow sticky note, the password to Melina’s computer: KLEROTERION. In the right drawer find the vase labels and the staff attendance log. From the log, many museum staff left abruptly, took leave or were dismissed. Zoom out and go to the curator’s desk.

Booking the tickets

Click the monitor, enter the password and press enter. Open the Messages folder and read Melina’s instructions, then open Ticket booking, read the task and book according to the conditions:

• Manos needs four disabled seats, premium class only.
• Lillis needs six tickets: three in the VIP sector, and the other three together in premium class.
• Adam needs four aisle seats.
• Gavril needs the very best seats in the front row.
• Vakros needs six tickets: all the remaining discounted seats, of which there are three, and three standard.

The author notes that the Russian localisation dropped Adam’s conditions entirely; the requirement above is the correct one.

Press Book. If the seats are allocated correctly, take the printed tickets from the printer.

For the Ticket Clerk achievement, book the remaining five days on the same principle. For the Lottery achievement, open the Lottery folder, read the rules and score at least 70.

Zoom out and go to the coin case in the museum hall.

The coin and the temples

Open the case with the key from the filing cabinet, lift the glass and take a coin for Charon.

Zoom out and go to the stand where you have to create three temples: of Artemis, Apollo and Athena. Press Start.

Puzzle: building the temples

Recall the pencil sketch of a temple you found on the bench, which helps with the architectural terms. In the top left choose the components, which must match the requirements listed in the bottom left.

When a temple is built, press Done in the top right. If it meets every requirement, the monitor reports that the gods are pleased and printing has begun. Take the drawing from the printer and pin it to the board, then build the next temple. Repeat for the third.

Zoom out, leave the hall and turn around.

The museum courtyard

Take the tickets from your inventory and put them in the mailbox to the left of the front door. If you open the mailbox straight away the tickets are already gone. Look at the poster case again and decide to find its key. Return to the museum.

Talk to Niobe, who thanks Nancy for opening the jewellery case, then go to the curator’s office.

Provenance

Go to the desk and click the monitor. Read Melina’s task in her message, then open the Provenance folder. You must run provenance on three exhibits, starting with the gold necklace. Leave and go to the coin case.

Take out your phone, choose Camera and press the plus button to zoom in as far as it goes. Press Take photo; if the shot is good, Nancy comments. Go back to the office.

Click the device on the desk to connect your phone, open Provenance and start entering data. The information comes from the sheet to the left of the folder cabinet and from the red folder of Melina’s correspondence. Press Done. Done correctly, you get confirmation of the exhibit’s authenticity, and your next task.

Go to the sculptures at the end of the hall, photograph the Nemean lion, and return to the office. Connect the phone, open Provenance and repeat.

Now the Greek vase, the one whose image you assembled on Xenia’s tablet. Go to the left vase case, photograph the vase, then look at the waybill glued to the crate to the right of the front door; its authenticity is doubtful.

Back in the office, study the records of rented goods received and the staff attendance log. Sofia signed for the vase, but she was not at work on 30 June because she had been on leave since 29 June. Something does not add up.

Connect your phone, enter the data and press Done. This time the computer refuses to confirm authenticity, because the dates do not match. Zoom out, leave the office and the museum.

The vase labels

Go out, step forward and turn around. Open the mailbox and take the book All about Greek vases, sent by the Hardy boys. Now you can label the vases correctly. Return to the museum, go to the vase case, open the book and read it, then click the right case to zoom in and place the labels according to the book’s descriptions.

Leave the hall and go to the amphitheatre. Talk to Xenia, then stand on the wooden lift platform and descend.

Into the underworld

Go forward, click Charon’s hand and put the coin from the museum case in his palm. Cross the mythical Acheron by boat and land on the far bank. At the entrance to the underworld the three-headed Cerberus meets you. Click the tablets at the base and start the puzzle.

Puzzle: blocking Cerberus

To put out Cerberus’s eyes you have to block the hound counter’s path to the star. Click a line on the hound’s route to place a barrier. The puzzle has many solutions.

Go forward and open the door, go forward again and open the next, and you are in a green hall. Open the blue door on the left, but an alarm goes off and you do not yet know how to disable it, so go back to the green hall.

Step forward up the stairs and find the fifth charm, a scythe, on the stone to the right. Carry on up. On the landing, look left and click the puzzle there, which you cannot yet solve. Follow the corridor on and start down the stairs.

The Judges’ hall

You reach a landing with a red door on the left and an amber door on the right. Go to the amber door and knock on it 30 times for the Hero achievement. Between the doors, note the three judges. Try the little chest at their feet; it is locked, so you need a key.

Open the red door and go along the corridor. You stop involuntarily at the next door and overhear a conversation between Niobe and Xenia. When they leave, enter the red hall.

The red hall

Examine the room carefully. The door to Tartarus is locked. Go to the pool and pick up the sixth charm, a three-headed Cerberus, from the kerb on the left. You cannot leave, because the door you came through is now locked too.

To the left of the Tartarus door, as you face it, note a ramp and start up it. Be careful: after the first step a ball of fire rolls at you, and you must quickly point the cursor to the bottom of the screen so Nancy dodges aside. Go up and take the jug with holes from the upper platform. Turn around and go back down.

Find the staircase and go up. At the top, note an unlocked box. Open its door and find another puzzle, which you cannot solve yet because one piece is missing. Turn around, step down and pick up the hint for disabling the workshop alarm from the steps.

Puzzle: the jug of the Danaids

Go to the pool and use the holed jug on the water, which pours straight out of it. A nod to the Danaids, condemned by the gods to fill a leaking vessel forever as punishment for murdering their husbands. Click the jug and solve the puzzle.

To plug the holes, click the arrows at the bottom or top. One working solution:

• Press the upper left arrow six times.
• Press the upper middle arrow four times.
• Press the upper right arrow seven times.

Fill the jug with water three times and pour it into the bowl to the right of the pear tree. The door to Tartarus opens.

Easter egg 1

Go to the pear tree to the right of the pool and press the branch on the left. There is no active spot there; just press the branch. When you hear clucking, press it again for an Easter egg.

Go through the door that has opened.

Tartarus, first visit

Open the door and go in. Follow the corridor straight, open another door and you reach a chamber with a river of fire. Do not try to cross now; Nancy can die. Turn around and examine the puzzles on both sides of the door, then go back to the red hall.

Puzzle: the red door lock

You have to get out. Find the puzzle lock to the right of the door and press it.

To open the door you must bring the tiles with hands to the central tile, which shows three hands. To join tiles, press the tile between the hands so as to bring them gradually towards the centre. Do not let a hand tile end up unable to connect, or you will have to restart the level. There are three levels to complete, and many possible solutions.

Back to the surface

Leave the red hall and follow the corridor. Cross the green hall and follow the corridor forward until you reach the boat. Click it to cross. You meet Thanos, who takes the lift remote off you and warns that it is dangerous here. You automatically go back up. Head behind the stage.

Xenia’s casket

Read the new entries in Grigor’s tablet, which tell you Xenia has locked her notes in a casket, and how to decipher the inscription on it.

Note: to avoid getting stuck, read Grigor’s personal notes as well as the stage ones.

Close the tablet and talk to Grigor about everything until he tires of your questions and leaves. Take the seventh charm, a labyrinth, from the edge of the table, which earns Connoisseur. Leave the stage and go to Xenia’s tent.

Puzzle: the lettered casket

Take the casket from the table and press the lid. Follow the hint in Grigor’s tablet: the letters shown in the outer margins around the empty squares tell you which letter belongs in which row or column. It is something like a sudoku with letters, and harder, because to open the casket you must arrange every letter in alphabetical order, with each letter touching the one before and the one after it.

Open the casket and take out the notes, reading them carefully. In the margin is the cage code: 72914. Zoom out and go to the curator’s office.

The hidden door

Go to the desk and click the monitor. Read the new messages in the first folder, then open the Player folder and listen to the rehearsal recordings. Zoom out. Open the office door to leave and you witness Niobe opening a secret passage. When control returns, hurry to the door opposite the office and examine it.

Puzzle: the rotating plates

Nancy says you need the whole disc to show only lightning bolts. Note that some discs have elongated lugs. Grab a disc with the left mouse button and, holding it, turn it:

• Move the first plate four divisions clockwise, into the place of the upper right trident.
• Move the second plate, with the trident, five divisions clockwise, into the place of the first plate you moved.
• Move the third plate, to the left of the trident, one division anticlockwise, into the place of the trident plate.

Done correctly, the hidden door opens.

The tunnel and the workshop

Follow the corridor to the door and open it. An alarm sounds. Turn right along the arrow and click the alarm panel, recalling the hint you picked up in the red hall.

Puzzle: the alarm

You can start anywhere. What matters is that the line is unbroken and passes over every fingerprint left behind. Hold the left mouse button and move quickly from one point to the next along the pattern. Get it right and the system is disabled.

Now look around. Turn to the shelves opposite the alarm panel and take the charcoal. Pull the letter to Niobe out of the bin and read the instructions in it carefully, noting the remarks written in red ink. Go to the crockery cabinet and press it.

Go out into the tunnel you came through and follow it forward. Click the door with Greek writing at the end, which you cannot open yet for lack of information. Return to the workshop, take out your phone and call every contact. Then open the blue door and enter the green hall.

Recovering the lift remote

Leave the staircase on your left and go to the door on the right, which leads to the river. Go straight to the boat and click it to cross. For the Ferryman achievement, cross back and forth until you get the cup.

Go forward and note the yellow metal box on the left of the lift platform. Click it to activate a puzzle.

Puzzle: the connections

Clicking between the counters with the hand cursor, draw as many lines from one point to another as the number shown on each counter. Each correctly connected counter turns green. The box opens and you take back the lift remote that Thanos hid from you.

Turn around and note the stone by the tree, with a tablet fixed to it. Study the tablet closely, click it, and Nancy says she needs tracing material to transfer the image to paper. You already have charcoal, so you need paper. For the Lift Fan achievement, ride the lift up and down until you get the cup.

Go to the curator’s office for paper.

The Greek alphabet

Go to the printer and take a blank sheet of paper. Leave for the museum hall, talk to Niobe about everything, then leave the museum for the underworld.

Ride the lift down. Ignoring Thanos, go to the stone by the tree, zoom in on the tablet and lay the blank paper over it. Nancy transfers the first image automatically.

Cross by boat, go forward to the blue workshop door and turn around. Look at the second tablet, fixed to the stone on the right. Zoom in, lay the paper over it and Nancy copies the second image. Take the sheet of Greek letters and go to the red hall.

Go to the door with the red eyes. To the left of it is the third tablet with Greek letters; zoom in, lay the paper against it and Nancy copies the third image.

Turn around and look at the code lock on the wall on the left. For the Locked In achievement, enter the activation code 72914 seven times; a metal grille lowers and rises on the right each time.

Turn around and enter the fire chamber.

Take two steps forward and turn around. Look at the fourth tablet to the left of the door, zoom in and lay the paper against it for the fourth image. Your alphabet is now complete. Hurry through to the workshop.

The workshop: painting a vase

Talk to Niobe, who is in the workshop, and she asks you to paint a vase. Go to the shelving and take an unpainted vase. Using the stencils she gave you, decorate it; you do not have to use every stencil, and an approximate likeness to the given design is enough. When you have finished, press Fire the vase and Nancy puts it in the kiln automatically.

The Greek letters door

Now try the tunnel door from this side. Press the crockery cabinet and go out into the tunnel.

Easter egg 2

Before doing the task, you can get an Easter egg; once the door opens it is no longer possible. Take out your sheet of the Greek alphabet and work out which letters spell ATHENA. Press those letters, hear the clucking and take the Easter egg, which earns Seeker.

Puzzle: the actors in Greek alphabetical order

The hint from the workshop said the actors must be listed in Greek alphabetical order. Working through the list in turn:

• First is GRIGOR. Open your Greek alphabet, spell his name from the Latin letters, see which Greek letters correspond, then press those Greek letters on the panel. The first panel opens.
• Second is NIOBE. Find the matching Greek letters and press them. The second panel opens.
• Third is XENIA. Same again, and the third panel opens.
• Fourth is THANOS. The fourth panel opens and the door into the museum hall swings wide.

Go out into the hall and to the curator’s office. Click the Player folder and listen to every recording to the end for the Listener achievement. Leave and go behind the stage to read Grigor’s notes.

Read the new entries, which activate two more puzzles. Talk to Grigor and return to the museum hall.

Puzzle: the gemstone casket

Go to the coin case and open the jewellery case on the left. Take out the casket and click the lid.

You must set the tiles so that seven gemstones are visible on each tile when the two halves of the lock are joined.

In the left half, slide the central tile down. Now in the right half slide the tiles in this order:

5 right, 4 right, 7 up, 8 left, 9 left, 6 down, 3 down, 2 right, 1 right, 4 up, 5 left.

Put the cursor on the left part, where it becomes a hand, and lay the left half over the right. Zoom out and take the missing triangular plate for the red hall puzzle from the cache. Put the casket back and go to the workshop.

Your vase is ready; take it out of the kiln and it goes onto the shelf automatically. For the Creator achievement you must paint and fire twelve vases, decorated however you like. Each firing takes a long while, so call in at the workshop whenever you pass. Green lights on the kiln mean the firing is done. Talk to Niobe and leave through the blue door.

The five famous Greeks

Go up the stairs in the green hall. On the landing, look left and activate the puzzle about the five famous Greeks.

Recall the entry in Grigor’s tablet, then take out the book about famous Greeks. You are pairing a Greek letter, the initial of a famous Greek’s name, with the symbol associated with him or her.

A little history: the snake symbolises wisdom and immortality, and coiled around a staff it stands for knowledge mastering the forces of nature. The caduceus, a winged staff with two snakes coiled around it, was actually the symbol of reconciliation and the badge of envoys entering an enemy camp, and is often confused with the rod of Asclepius. The puzzle uses the caduceus as the symbol of medicine, so forgive the developers the inaccuracy.

On the English release the pairings, with their colours, are:

• Hippocrates, the doctor: letter H, symbol the caduceus, colour red.
• Euripides, the playwright: letter E, symbol the theatre mask, colour orange.
• Phidias, the sculptor and architect: letter Ph, symbol the temple, colour green.
• Archimedes, the mathematician and inventor: letter A, symbol the Archimedes screw, colour blue.
• Sappho, the poet: letter S, symbol the scroll, colour purple.

Version note: the Russian localisation renders these initials as Cyrillic letters and assigns the colours differently. The letters and colours above are the English release’s own.

The sliding counters on the stone surface belong to those five Greeks. The letter naming each celebrity must end up in the matching-coloured sector with the blue protective eye; the symbol must end up in the matching-coloured sector without the eye.

The counters move through the centre and around the sectors, and the inner cell holds a counter out of the way while you shuffle the others. Work one pair into place at a time, parking a counter in the inner cell whenever a sector you need is occupied. Done correctly, a cache opens in the stone; take the seal and a sheet of mysterious letters. Zoom out and go on to the red hall.

Puzzle: the triangular flower tiles

Go up the stairs and press the box to activate the triangular flower puzzle. Left-click swaps tiles; right-click rotates them. One solution:

Swap tiles 2 and 9, then 6 and 9, then 1 and 5, then 3 and 5, then 2 and 8, then 2 and 4, then 4 and 5. Then rotate:

• Tile 1: one turn
• Tile 2: one turn
• Tile 3: two turns
• Tile 4: one turn
• Tile 5: two turns
• Tile 9: one turn

A cache opens; take the small key. Leave the underworld and the museum and go outside.

The poster case

Turn around and look at the poster case. Open it with the small key, take the poster out and turn it over, reading the message on the back. Nancy decides to call Melina, so do that. From the call you get the password for the Authentication folder, Calliope, and the task of authenticating two vases and a piece of jewellery. Go to the curator’s office.

Go to the desk and press the Authentication folder. Enter Calliope and press enter. Read the material on determining authenticity, and page right to see the spectral colours of gemstones. You already have the spectroscope; a ceramic shard can be had in the workshop. Leave and hurry there.

Go to the shelf you took the unpainted vases from and take a ceramic shard. Leave through the blue door.

Go through the door to the right of the stairs and forward. Open the door Cerberus was guarding. To the left, at the frozen guardian’s feet, find an ultraviolet lamp. Click it, but it is held by screws and Nancy needs a screwdriver. The red screwdriver in the workshop is inactive, so leave it for now and return to the curator’s office.

Open the messages folder and read Melina’s task. Go out to the museum hall.

Three fakes

Go to the case Niobe broke. Take the shard from your inventory and use it on the necklace. A dark streak appears on the shard and Nancy concludes the piece is a fake.

Zoom out, turn left and open the glass jewellery case. Take the emerald earring and examine it with the spectroscope: also a fake.

Call Melina with the unwelcome news. Her reaction is out of proportion, so call her twice more to try to establish the real reason you are being dismissed. Then go to the workshop.

Talk to Niobe, who explains why she makes the forgeries. When she leaves, go to the underworld to talk to Thanos. Find him by the lift and start conversations until you have exhausted every topic. Go back up and to the amphitheatre.

The lighting console

Talk to Xenia, who asks you to set the spotlights correctly and gives you detailed lighting instructions. Carry on talking, then go behind the stage.

Check Grigor’s tablet for new hints first; there are none, but there is some interesting information.

Take the lighting instructions from your inventory, then go to the lighting console and click it. On screen you set the spotlights for each scene of the play. The scene described at the bottom of the screen tells you which group of spotlights it is. Xenia’s script sets out the lighting in detail: the letters before the arrows give the colour of the filter, and the number of dots above each letter gives the number of lighting units at each arrow.

Working through the memory cells:

• Cell 1, group A: blue 1, light blue 3, white 4. Press Save settings.
• Cell 2, group B: red 5, violet 3. Save.
• Cell 3, group D: red 4, orange 2, red 1, yellow 3, orange 3. Save.
• Cell 4, group G: light blue 2, green 3, white 1, white 1, green 2. Save.
• Cell 5, group V: blue 2, white 5, violet 1, white 1. Save.

Version note: the group letters and filter letters are the Russian initials of the colours. On the English release the letters differ, so match by the colour names above.

The system then fails and needs a manual restart. Zoom out and go down to the basement.

Go to the lift, open the door and press the lever. You watch one of the company moving the original vases from one crate to another. Close the lift door, zoom out and call Melina first, then your friends. Leave the basement and go to the workshop.

Take the yellow screwdriver, which has now appeared on the table, and return to the underworld. Free the ultraviolet lamp with the screwdriver and take it.

Easter egg 3

Go to Charon and use the ultraviolet lamp on the lantern in his hand. Hear the clucking and take the Easter egg from the lantern.

Go to the museum hall to check the vase you saw being moved. Go to the vase display, the one whose image you assembled on Xenia’s tablet, and use the ultraviolet lamp on it. Your guess is confirmed: this exhibit is a fake too.

Go to the stage and confront Grigor, who disappears after the conversation. Go through the tunnel to the workshop and witness a quarrel between Niobe and Thanos.

Before the final confrontation with Thanos, finish anything outstanding: audio files you have not heard, vases you have not fired, the yellow screwdriver, lift rides or boat crossings. You cannot come back for them.

After talking to Niobe, hurry to the stage.

The key in the flower

Stand on the lift platform and turn left so the table with the vase and artificial flowers is on your right. Examine the flowers closely and find, inside one of them, the key Niobe told you about. Take it and watch the video.

The prison cage

After talking to Grigor, turn around and look at the box on the wall to the right. Zoom in and unlock it with Niobe’s key, activating the spider puzzle.

Puzzle: the spider

To open the cage you have to lower the spider down its web, clearing its path by sliding the black blocks aside. The constraint: the number of black blocks in the yellow zone must be nine, and in the green zone seven, the numbers shown above the web on the left and right. Slide the blocks with the left mouse button and press the red button at the top.

Out of the trap, hurry to Charon’s boat in the underworld.

The Roman gods

On the side of the boat find a note from Grigor. Activate the puzzle on Charon’s staff.

Look at the sheet of letters you found in the cache with the seal: they are the initials of the Roman gods.

The author notes that the Russian localisation dropped one letter here: there are seven gods but only six letters, so the seventh has to be deduced.

Open the book of Greek gods, find their Roman names and read each description carefully, since you have to assemble their images. The gods casket puzzle from Melina’s office helps too. Use the left and right cursor arrows to build each image:

• Jupiter — hurls lightning, grey-haired, his symbol the eagle.
• Minerva — shown in a golden helmet, accompanied by an owl, and can also throw lightning, but smaller.
• Mars — shown in a helmet, holding a spear, accompanied by a vulture.
• Diana — shown with a bow and arrows, accompanied by a deer.
• Mercury — shown in winged sandals and a winged helmet, holding a winged staff, the caduceus.
• Venus — golden-haired with a mirror in her hand, accompanied by a dove.
• Neptune — the only one of these gods shown with a trident. This is the god whose letter is missing from the note.

Charon’s palm opens and you take another hint note, about seeds. Cross to the far bank and try to go up in the lift; you cannot, because the remote has lost its connection and the signal must be re-established. Go back and try to get out through the workshop, but that door is locked too. Nancy is shut in the underworld. Head for the red hall.

Tartarus, and the cage

Cross the red hall and open the door into the fire chamber. Step forward and turn around. On the wall to the right is the pomegranate seed puzzle. You have the hint but not the seeds, so leave.

Back in the red hall you see Thanos approaching, clearly not with good intentions. Look at the code lock on the left and quickly enter 72914 to lower the cage grilles. Talk to Thanos, then leave the red hall. Take two steps forward, turn around and go back in: Thanos is gone, having freed himself.

Follow the arrow into the passage on the right and you come out behind the cage. Pick up the marble balls from the floor. Hurry to the Judges’ room.

Puzzle: the heaviest ball

You must find the heaviest ball in two weighings. There is no single solution, because the heavy ball is different each time.

Put three white balls on the left pan and three black on the right, then press Judge and see which pan is heavier. Set the lighter balls aside. Put two of the remaining balls on the scales one to a pan, remembering the third and setting it aside too. Press Judge again. The heavy ball is either on one of the pans, or is the one you set aside if the pans balance. Put the heaviest ball in the slot on the right and the cache opens.

You can also find the ball without weighing at all, by simply dropping them into the slot on the right one at a time until it opens.

Take the correspondence from the right of the cache first. Look in the empty casket in the centre, then examine the blue diagram. Take the diagram and you fall into oblivion.

The trap

Watch the video, then set about freeing yourself. Click the electronic lock on the shackles and solve the puzzle.

Puzzle: the shackle rings

The discs must spell four five-letter words connected with Greece. The central inner ring does not rotate, so you only need to form one word and the others fall into place. Use the blood or red stains on the rings as a guide to alignment.

Version note: in the Russian release the four words are the Russian forms of Athena, nymph, Minos and Orpheus, each five Cyrillic letters. On the English release the words are different, since those names are not all five letters in English. Form one five-letter Greek word that fits your own rings and the rest will follow.

Raising the bridge

Look left and note the chair, from whose console you can raise a bridge across the river of fire. Go to the throne and look at the tablet on the left, then activate the puzzle.

You must arrange the lower plates so they match the sample above in colour and in the direction of the semicircles. A plate’s position is changed using the notched disc, and the arrows show the directions plates can move. Writing G for green, Y for yellow, B for blue and R for red, one working sequence is:

B down, down, down; R down; turn the disc; R right, up, up; turn the disc; Y right, down; turn the disc; Y right, up; turn the disc; G left, down; R left, left; Y up, left; turn the disc; G right, up, up; turn the disc; R down; turn the disc; R right, up; turn the disc; Y left, down; turn the disc; Y right; turn the disc; G left, left, down; R up, left, left; Y up, up; turn the disc; G right; turn the disc; R down; Y left, left, left; G up, left, left; B up, up, up, left; turn the disc; R right, up, up; turn the disc; G down; turn the disc; G right, up; turn the disc; B left, down; turn the disc; B right, down; turn the disc; R left, left, down; turn the disc; R right; turn the disc; Y right, down; G up, left, left, left; Y up; turn the disc; R left; B up, up, up, left; R right, up, up.

With every plate correctly placed, the bridge over the river of fire rises.

Zoom out and follow the arrow up the stairs on the right. Examine Hades’ throne closely and take the pomegranate seeds. Zoom out and return to the previous location.

Now follow the arrow into the passage between the staircase and the chair. Go along the corridor until you reach a loading area. Turn around and note the letter of confession on the stacked chairs to the right; read it. Return to the throne room and cross the river of fire by the raised bridge.

Go to the door and try to open it. Activate the puzzle to the right of the doors, which lets you leave the fire chamber.

Puzzle: the pomegranate seeds

The missing seeds are already in the puzzle, which works on the same principle as Minesweeper: read the numbers to deduce which cells are safe.

The router, and the finale

Go forward and stop at the chest in the Judges’ room. You cannot get up through the workshop, since the blue door is locked, so you must deal with the lift remote. Take the router out of the chest, a device for distributing the signal.

The router needs charging. Pressing the buttons in a particular order produces signals which travel clockwise through the cells and, interacting with each other, generate a charge that fills the signal indicator on the right to a certain level. You get five attempts to charge it fully; with the right buttons it can be done in three. Your lift remote is working again.

Hurry to the lift, stand on the platform and go up using the remote. Watch the final video.

Answer the quiz question correctly for the Expert achievement. If you never used the built-in hints during the whole game, you also get No Hints. At the end you are shown the awards you earned.

Wait for the credits to finish to see concept art and the first glimpse of the next adventure.