A Few Notes on Navigation
Lights Out‘s interface should be obvious but there are a few minor quirks with it. The main issue is that the cursor sometimes takes a few moments to change shape when it passes over a hotspot on the screen. So, you may sometimes miss a path or an item of interest because the cursor failed to change when you passed it over the location in question; I found it very finicky in a few places (and in at least two it completely failed to change like it should). Therefore, if the cursor doesn’t seem to be behaving the way I say it should, just move it around a bit.
Also, the game likes to make you work at examining things. Sometimes you have to click for a closeup, click again for a closer closeup, click a third time to pick the item up, click a fourth time to open it then a fifth time to actually read whatever you found. Rather than telling you to click a half-dozen times if I tell you to examine something then just click however many times is necessary to get to wherever you need to be.
The Story So Far…
The year is 1912. You are Benjamin Parker, a cartographer with the Royal Academy of Sciences, and you have been sent to map the Cornish coastline; a task you resent as the coast of this part of England has been mapped for years.
It is only after your arrival in Trewarthan that you begin to suspect that there is more to your assignment than you have been told. For here you have found a lighthouse; one that does not appear on any of your charts.
That night, you have a nightmare…
Walkthrough
Trewarthan
You are awakened from your nightmare by someone knocking on the door of the cottage in which you are staying. Open the door and go outside. Hmmm… No one here. Perhaps they wandered off.
Oh well, while we’re out here we may as well look around. You can explore quite a bit though there really isn’t that much of importance to see. Go forward four times (the path isn’t always completely obvious but you shouldn’t have any trouble). Turn left and go forward again. You should find yourself facing a dock. You can look down the steps towards the water but you can’t go any further in that direction. Yet.
Turn around and go forward once. Turn right and go forward. Turn left. You should hear someone call out to you. (I say “should” because this doesn’t always happen for me.) Approach the building in front of you and examine the door.
This is the first of a few “conversations” in the game. This is Robert Demarion, the person who has requested your presence here in Trewarthan. Listen to what he has to say and respond to him in pretty much any way you like; the end result seems to be the same. (If you give a “wrong” response you simply wind up outside the building and have to click on the door again to start the conversation over.) Basically, something strange has happened out at the Fetch Rock Lighthouse; the one that seems to be missing from your charts. The lamp is out and the lighthouse keepers aren’t responding. Since a fog is coming in, Demarion is concerned that a ship may crash on the Whipside Sands unless the light is restored.
Demarion needs you to investigate because the locals think the lighthouse is haunted. Or something. Demarion really isn’t clear on the subject and seems unnecessarily evasive. Get the impression that he isn’t telling you everything he knows? Oh well, there isn’t much else we can do so agree to check on the lighthouse. He tells you to make sure you get everything you need from the cottage then leaves. There isn’t anything else we can do out here so go on back to the cottage. Turn to the right, go forward three times then turn right to face the cottage door. Click on the door to enter.
Note: While playing game several times I occasionally had a game where Demarion never appeared. This doesn’t cause any problems and you don’t actually need to talk to him to proceed. So, if he doesn’t show up, don’t worry too much about it.
Once you get back to the cottage take a while and look around. It’s only one location but there is quite a bit here. Look at everything, even if it seems unimportant. The game won’t let you proceed until have thoroughly searched the cottage.
The primary items of interest are on your bed. (Weren’t we just sleeping in the bed? Who put these things there?) Click on the bed for a closeup. The folder on the left is your sketchbook; click through it to look at a few pictures of the area.
The book to the right is your journal. This is a key item. Examine it and start reading through it.
When you get to the page where you read about having breakfast with Demarion, something odd happens. Suddenly you seem to have been transported to another location.
You are now in Demarion’s home during the time you were just reading about. (Basically this is a “flashback” to the time you were there; actually a fairly clever way of handling it.) Since your journal said you took the opportunity to snoop around a bit, take this opportunity to snoop around a bit.
Remember the two pictures in front of you. Now, turn left. You can try this door but it won’t open. Oh well. Turn left again. Open this door to get a closeup of the contents of the pantry.
You can look around in here a bit (click on the top or bottom shelves for closeups of their contents) but the important item is the box to the right of the lower shelf. Examine the box to open it then take the book from inside. Read through the book to learn about some of the strange goings on out at Fetch Rock. Examine the pictures and pick up the floppy disk to add it to your inventory. Then, back out of the closeups and…
Hey! Wait a minute! A floppy disk? In 1912? Hmmm… Apparently there are some really weird things going on out at Fetch Rock. (Notice that the floppy is from our old friend Hadden Industries, who you may remember from Darkfall .) Anyway, make sure you get the disk as the game won’t let you proceed without it.
Back out of the closeups until you are looking at the door again. Turn left and go forward. Examine the cabinet to the lower right. Open it then take the stereoscope from inside. Click on the top of the stereoscope to pivot the eyepieces upwards then click on the eyepieces to look through them. Click once more to start viewing the images. (Click to the left or the right of the eyepieces to page through the images. Several of them show the Fetch Rock Lighthouse but none of them seem to be of particular interest. And, yes, that is a lot of clicking for a negligible payoff.)
Back all of the way out of the closeups then turn to the left. Go through the door. Turn to the left. Go forward then click on the door to the outhouse to open it. Examine the outhouse and the toilet within it then pick up the two pieces of paper from inside the toilet and read them. Hmmm… More weird things happening at Fetch Rock.
Back out of the closeups. You can look around out here if you like (there is a tub of water that produces a nice ripple effect when you click on it and an axe (why is there always an axe?)) but there is nothing else of importance out here. Return to the cottage.
Examine the table in front of you and look through the items on it though none of them are that important. You can also examine the drawing of the rabbit on the wall if you like. When you are done, turn to the right and go forward then turn right to face the two paintings again. Click on them for a closeup then click on them again to end the “flashback”. You are back in your cottage. Finish reading your journal then close it. Back out of the closeups.
Next examine the table that is visible just to the left of the bed. Examine the case on the table to open it then look at the maps inside. (These are apparently maps drawn by Benjamin Parker.)
Back out of the closeup and turn left. You should now see a desk. Start by examining the shelf over the desk. There are two rolled papers that you can examine. One is a railway map of England, the other shows someone using a stereoscope (which probably relates back to the one in Demarion’s cottage but I never found anything relevant with it). Back out of the closeup.
You can also examine the two boat hooks in the corner and the contents of the desk but there doesn’t seem to be much of interest there beyond another map of Cornwall. When you are done, back out of any closeups then turn left to face the door.
You should now be ready to leave for Fetch Rock. Leave your cottage and go all the way back to the dock you saw earlier. Now you should be able to go down the steps to the small boat. Turn left to face the boat so that you are looking over it and towards the town. Go forward. There is a cutscene where you hear a poem being read while nautical images are displayed. The cutscene ends with your arrival at Fetch Rock.
Actually being able to get onto the boat to leave for Fetch Rock was a bit frustrating. You must have thoroughly searched yours and Demarion’s cottages before the game will let you board the boat. I think all you should have to have done is have read yours and Demarion’s journals and have taken the disk, but the game will still sometimes stubbornly refuse to let you leave for the lighthouse. If this happens, just go back to the cottage and look at everything again. I sometimes had to do this two or three times before the game would let me progress.
Fetch Rock
Welcome to Fetch Rock. Not much to see, is there? You can wander around among the rocks a bit if you like but there isn’t much to see beyond some debris at the water’s edge, so just turn right to face inland and go forward. Turn left and go forward then turn right to face some steps. Go forward and turn to the left. Go forward up the steps several times then turn right and go forward again to reach the lighthouse platform.
(Along the way you may occasionally hear a whispered “Over here!”. Don’t worry about that yet; we’ll get to it in a bit.)
The door to the lighthouse is to your right but we can’t get in yet because it’s dark. (Never mind that we have a lantern. Apparently it’s solar powered or something since you can’t use it unless there is some light in the area first…) So, go forward then turn right. Look in the upper part of the wall in front of you. See the box on the wall? Examine it for a closeup then pull the lever on the side of the box. This turns on the emergency generator.
Back out of the closeup, turn right, go forward, turn left, go forward and turn left again. Click on the door to enter the Fetch Rock Lighthouse.
Once inside, turn right and go forward. There is a key sitting on the windowsill to your right but I never found a use for it. Instead, go forward. Look down (examine the bottom of the screen) then go forward again to descend the steps.
Go forwards once more. You are now in the boiler room. Turn around to face the steps again. Look at the dark patch on the lower-left part of the stairs. Click there for a closeup then use the lantern to illuminate the dark patch. (See what I mean about the lantern?) Pick up the rolled piece of paper you see there and examine it. Note the three ships you see pictured in two places on the paper. Put the paper back down and back out of the closeup.
Turn left and go forward. You are now in the coal room, though that really isn’t important. Turn right. Notice the speaking tube on the wall. Click on it for a closeup. You can click on the tube itself to hear some spooky sounds if you like but we are more interested in the sheet of paper stuck behind it. Examine the paper to find a picture of some ships, each associated with a number of dots. You should recognize several of the ships as being the same as those on the paper you just found and realize that the ships correspond to the numbers 2, 3 and 1.
Put the paper away and back out of the closeup. Turn right and go forward to return to the boiler room. Find the path in the upper-right part of the screen to go forward and around the boiler.
It’s dark back here so turn on the lantern then turn left. Go forward and turn left again. Note the controls in front of you. Remember the sequence of ships? Click the second, third then first levers then return to the coal room.
Once inside the coal room, turn left. Examine the dark patch in the lower-left part of the screen to get a closeup then use the lantern to illuminate it. Remember the ship drawing again and press the middle, bottom then top valves. You should hear the generator power up and get a brief cutscene as the lights come on inside the lighthouse. Well, that’s something. The main light still isn’t on though.
Back out of the closeups then exit the coal room. Turn right and go forward. This is a storage room. You can look around in here if you like but there really isn’t anything of interest. Instead, turn left to face the steps and go forward and up them. (You can’t climb the steps before you turn the power on because they’re dark. Even though you have the lantern. Is Parker afraid of the dark or something?) Turn left then examine the door ahead of you to look up then go forward to reach it. Hmmm… wonder who broke that door panel out? Go through the door then go up the stairs beyond it. Keep going forwards up the stairs until you reach the next level.
You can examine the items on the shelf in front of you if you like but there isn’t much of importance here at the moment. We’ll come back later. For now, turn right to face the door and click on it to enter the kitchen.
Hmmm… Looks like the table is set for a meal and something is cooking on the stove. I wonder where everyone went? Something very Marie Celeste is going on here.
Go forward to the left of the table then turn around to face the door. Notice the chest at the very bottom of the screen? Examine the chest and open it to reveal some blankets. Move the blankets to one side to find a hidden compartment then open the compartment to find two pieces of paper. Examine the papers. One is just a sketch of a ship but the other looks like a combination of some kind; better write it down. Put everything away and back out of the closeup.
You can look around the rest of the kitchen if you want though there really isn’t anything else of interest here. Leave the kitchen. Back in the stairwell, turn left to face the stairs and go forward. Turn right then go forward and up the stairs. Keep going up to the next level.
Turn right to face the door and click on it to enter. This is the bunkroom. There are a couple of things of interest here. Go forward and turn to the left. Examine the box to the right. Click on the odd statuette to examine it. Back out of the closeup.
Now click on the shelf in front of you for another closeup. Examine the box labeled “FRL” (apparently for Fetch Rock Lighthouse). Open it and look at the pictures inside. They may not seem important right now but remember they are here. Put them away then back out of the closeups.
Turn around to face the bunks. Click near the bottom of the screen to examine the lower bunk. Examine the pillow and move it to one side, revealing some papers. Click on them to pick them up and read them. Hmmm… So Drake, the lighthouse keeper, is acting strange and Demarion seems to know something.
Put the letters back and replace the pillow. The book on the bed (half covered by the blanket) is on photography. Just… interesting I suppose. You can also look at the pictures on the walls next to the two bunks but they aren’t of particular importance.
Back out of the closeups then turn right to face the door. Go forward then turn right. Examine the mirror sitting on top of the chest of drawers then turn it over to find some more papers. Click on the papers to read another set of letters about Drake, Demarion and the lighthouse. Put the papers back and back out of the closeup. Examine the pictures above the chest of drawers then look behind the right picture to find more letters. Read them as well. Yep, it definitely looks like Drake and Demarion are up to something. What have we gotten ourselves into?
Put everything back, back out of the closeups then click on the chest of drawers itself. Look through all of the drawers. There isn’t much of interest in them except for a drawing of a hanged man and an odd drawing of a cloaked figure, similar to the statuette you found. (You can also find the text of the poem you heard being read during that cutscene a while back.) Curiouser and curiouser. Put everything back, back out of the closeups then leave the bunkroom. Turn left to face the stairs and go forward then turn right and climb on up to the third level.
Turn right to face the door. Note the plate where the doorknob should be. Examine the plate then open it. Look familiar? This is the lock you found the combination to earlier. Number the buttons from 1 to 4, starting on the left. Then, click buttons 1 – 2 – 1 – 3 – 2 – 4 – 3 – 4. The door opens and you go inside.
You are now in Drake’s room. There is a lot to look at in here. Start by going forward and turning left. Click on the door to open it then examine the clothes. Use the lantern then shove the clothes to one side. There is a locked compartment in the side wall. You can examine it if you wish but we don’t know how to get into it yet so just ignore it for now.
Back out of the closeups and turn right. Examine the pictures on the wall in front of you (they’re Drake’s children though you don’t know that yet). Click on each of them to look behind them. There is a number written on the back of each picture; just write them down for now. (The number is the child’s age; William is 18 and Catherine is 24.)
Back out of the closeup and turn right again. Examine the table at the bottom of the screen. There are a couple of items you can look at here but the one you are most interested in is Drake’s journal. Read through it to discover several things, the first being that Drake has been having dreams similar to yours. The other is that Drake is expecting you. That doesn’t sound good.
Finish reading the journal and put it down then back out of the closeups. (There are some other items on the table but they have no particular interest.) Examine the painting above Drake’s bunk. Use the lantern to illuminate it then click on it. Part of the painting peels aside, revealing a button. Press the button.
Your view immediately shifts to show the bottom drawer of a chest opening. (This is slightly confusing as you have moved within the room; you are actually standing beside the door again.) There are two sheets of paper in here. One shows a map of Fetch Rock with a path indicated. (This is how to get to the caves that Demarion mentioned in his journal.) The other is a drawing showing a barrel-like object near the lighthouse. Note the four colored squares; write down the order of the colors. (Purple, Green, Yellow, Blue.)
Now check the other two drawers. (The other two drawers open easily but if you want to reopen the bottom drawer you will have to go examine the picture and push the button again.) In the other drawers you will find several letters from Demarion that concern… you. Apparently Demarion and Drake have brought you here for some reason. This definitely doesn’t sound good. Unfortunately, we can’t do anything about it now.
We’re done here for the moment. Back out of the closeups, turn right to face the door and click on it to open it. Go forward to leave Drake’s room. Examine the lower part of the screen to see the stairs then go forward to go down. Go all the way back down the stairs. (We haven’t visited the lamp yet but there isn’t any reason to do so at the moment. Note that to go down the stairs you sometimes have to examine the lower part of the screen to look “down” before you can go down them.) Once you are all the way down, go outside to where you turned on the emergency power and turn to face the box again. Now, look at the bottom left part of the screen. You should see the very top of a ladder there. Examine it twice to get to the top of the ladder then climb down. (You have to climb ladders several times in the game. When you are on the ladder, move the cursor to the top or bottom of the screen until you get an up or a down arrow then click to climb up or down. This particular ladder does not become accessible until you find the map of Fetch Rock in Drake’s cabinet.)
Once down, turn around and just follow the path. There is only one way to go so you can’t get lost. Just keep following the only path available to you and you will eventually find your way into the caves. (Along the way you will probably hear the “Over here” whisper a few more times. I think this may be supposed to help you find the caves but I never discovered for certain who or what was supposed to be making the sounds.)
In the caves, keep going forward until your path is blocked by a pile of wooden crates. Turn right to face some barrels and go forward. Turn right again. You should now see a tunnel in front of you. Go forward into the tunnel and keep going until it ends. Hey, what was that! Weird. Oh well, there doesn’t seem to be anything else in here so turn around and leave the tunnel again.
Hey, what happened to all of the boxes that were in here? That’s odd! Go forward as far as you can then turn left and go forward until you leave the cave.
Lighthouse Museum – 2004
Hey! Wait a minute! It was dark a minute ago, wasn’t it? Something doesn’t look right, so let’s take a moment to look around. Where did this sign come from? They don’t use icons like that on signs in 1912, do they?
Uh-oh…
Welcome to 2004! Hopefully you aren’t too surprised; that floppy disk you picked up had to come from somewhere after all. Still, I hope Benjamin Parker isn’t having too much trouble adjusting; he has a lot to do yet.
Turn to face the cave (to orient yourself) then turn to the right. Go forward twice. Turn right and go forward. You are now standing in front of a ticket booth. We’ll be back here in a moment so just go forward again. Turn left and go forward. Click for a closeup then examine the objects on the ground in front of you. Pick up the odd pointed pole. Back out of the closeup.
Now turn around. Examine the base of the pole to the left. Note the odd symbol with the Roman numeral II beneath it. Sketch the symbol as best you can and back out of the closeup.
Go forward, turn right, go forward again then turn left to face the ticket booth. You can look at the discount tickets lying in the window if you want but instead click on the window itself for a closeup. Notice that piece of paper stuck to the wall? I wonder if it’s important. Too bad we can’t reach it.
Or, can we? Select the pointed pole from your inventory then click on the paper. This causes you to stab the paper with the pole. Click on it again to bring it close enough to read. Note the sketch and remember the code 5 – 5 – 8 – 2. Click to put the paper away.
Back out of the closeup, turn right and go forward twice. Turn right, go forward twice more, turn right again then go forward again. Turn around then click on the trash can to the right for a closeup. Click on the metal plate on the side of the trash can to find another symbol, this one labeled IV. Sketch this symbol as best as you can then back out of the closeups.
Go forward then turn left. Go forward four times. Turn right and go forward twice.
In front of you are the restrooms. You can go into either the men’s or women’s room (or both if you wish). There is something we need to find here and we can find it in either one. There is an inventory item that is only found in the men’s room but it isn’t essential that we get it. Still, we’ll do both just for completeness sake.
Start by entering the men’s room by clicking on the opening. Turn left and go forward. Click on the sink for a closeup. There is another one of those plates on the wall under the sink. Click on it for a closeup and sketch the symbol. Note that this one is labeled I. Back out of the closeups.
Turn to the right and examine the urinals for another closeup. Man, some people are slobs, aren’t they? There is a cup lid lying on the drain. Click on it to pick it up and discover several coins lying beneath it. Click on the coins to pick them up and add them to your inventory.
There are a few more things we can look at in here but they are of little interest and no importance. (Every now and then you can hear what sounds like someone in the other restroom but it doesn’t seem to be significant.) So, back out of the closeup, turn completely around and go forward to the exit to leave.
Go forward again then turn around to face the restrooms again. Now we’ll check out the women’s room. Click to the right of the men’s room entrance to enter. (The easiest way to do this is to simply click on the women’s room sign.) Turn right and go forward then turn left. Click on the left stall for a closeup.
Looks like the slobs have been in here too. Oh well. Note that you can see the edge of something along the side of the door to the right of the toilet paper. Click on it for another closeup. It’s another metal plate, identical to the one in the men’s room. Back out of the closeups.
There is more to look at but like the men’s room none of it is important so that’s it for here. (The coins seem to only be in the men’s room so you have to go into that one to get them. They aren’t really needed anyway.) Turn around and go forward twice to leave the restrooms.
Back outside, go forward twice more then turn right. Go forward twice. There is a panel of some sort to your left (turn left to see it if you want) that looks as if it should be somehow significant but I never found any use for it. Go forward again and examine what is in front of you to look down on another picnic area. We’ll be getting down there in a few minutes.
For now, back out of this closeup and turn right. Go forward to reach the entrance to the lighthouse. Examine the door for a closeup.
Look familiar? This looks like the sketch we found on that piece of paper down in the ticket booth. Number the buttons from 1 to 8, starting at the top. Then, press buttons 5, 5, 8 and 2. Lights will blink and the door will open. Go forward into the gift shop.
As you would expect, there are a lot of things you can look at in here. Only a few of them are really significant but let’s take the time to check out some of the highlights.
You can look above the counter to see several posters then look above them to look straight up through the glass ceiling at the storm clouds overhead. Looks ominous, doesn’t it?
There are several books on display on the counter. You can look through all of them except one (the one on the Spanish Armada). None of them are of particular importance though you may note that Bright Spark: A Modern Smuggling Story is written by Timothy Pike, one of the ghosts you met in Dark Fall. I guess he got better.
Turn right and go forward. There are more books on the counter here but they are of no particular importance (except that you can learn that “Trewarthan” means “farm on the hill”). Go forward again then turn left to face the cash register. There are several things to look at to the right of the cash register but we’ll get back to them in a moment. For now, go forward to the left of the cash register. The rolled up posters in front of you are the same as the ones hanging overhead so ignore them and turn left. Go forward twice.
There is a CD rack in front of you. You can examine the CDs or change the music that is playing in here by pressing the buttons but there is nothing of importance. (There are more CDs lower down that you can see by examining the bottom of the screen.) When you are done, back out of any closeups then turn left.
In front of you is a copy of Horror at Fetch Rock . (If you examined the books on the other side of the counter you may have seen the spine for this one but you couldn’t look at it from there.) The picture on the cover is supposed to be of you, Benjamin Parker. Not a very good resemblance, is it? Click on the book and read it.
Well… That’s an unpleasant turn of events, isn’t it? It seems that the missing lighthouse keepers were never found and that you are blamed for their deaths, you disappeared (and were assumed to have committed suicide) and that your chief accuser was Robert Demarion, the man who hired you!
Well, the rumors of your death have been greatly exaggerated but you have missed your trial by about 92 years. It looks like we’ll have to keep trying to find out what happened and see if we can get back to your time to clear your name.
There is one more important piece of information in the book, the combination of the safe in Drake’s room. The combination is the sum of the birth years of Drake’s children prefixed with the letter “R”. That may come in handy, assuming we ever get back to 1912 again.
But, for now, let’s keep going. Put the book away, back out of any closeups and turn left. The shelves to our left contain an assortment of touristy-style souvenirs. Look at them if you want but none of them are of any importance. (The coffee mugs have Fetch Rock’s web address on them but it doesn’t work. Someone missed a marketing opportunity there.) Instead, go forward twice. (When you arrive at the cash register it sometimes spits out a ticket that you can pick up and examine. It doesn’t seem to be that important though.)
Turn right and go forward (you can’t do anything with the postcards) then turn completely around to face the cash register again. Now, click on the cash register itself to get a closeup. Click on the yellow sticky-note stuck to the cash register to read a note from the lighthouse staff to someone named Polly White, wishing her luck in her investigation. (Polly is a ghost hunter who you also may remember from Dark Fall .) The sticky-note to the left of the cash register mentions that some money is missing. (Maybe you should be a bit more careful with the combination to your door then?)
There are two letters on the shelf below the cash register. Then one on the left indicates that funding for the lighthouse may be cut off because of the scandal surrounding the supposed haunting. The other letter is from Polly introducing herself and proposing her ghost hunt. Of interest here is that she believes herself to be the reincarnation of James Wolfe; one of the missing lighthouse keepers. Hmmm…
When you are finished with the letters, back out of the closeup. You can look at the trash can on the floor or some post cards and a work schedule on the wall but none of them are of any importance. Back all the way out of the closeups then turn right to face a curtain. Click on the curtain to examine it then click again to move it aside.
Looks like they’ve painted the place since we were here last. Go forward then look down and go forward twice to go down the stairs and into what was once the generator room. Turn to the right to face the former coal room.
The display to the right of the door gives quite a bit of background information so you should probably read it (it is in several sections). Basically it reiterates the mystery of the missing lighthouse staff and the theory that you were responsible for their disappearance. There is also more evidence that Demarion set you up to take the blame for the disappearances. One question remains. Why?
You can go into the coal room if you like but there is nothing to do in there. (You can sit in a chair if you want.) Instead, turn to the right to face the stairs. To the right of the stairs there is an informational sign and a rack of brochures. Click on them for a closeup.
You can click several times on the photo to get a closeup of the old generator room but we aren’t concerned with it right now. Instead, take a brochure from the rack and read through it to learn a few things, mainly that the last few pages were ripped out of Drake’s journal sometime after you read it and that various bronze age artifacts have been found on the island. Hmmm… Interesting.
Put the brochure away then back out of any closeups and turn to the right again. You are now looking at a diorama of Benjamin Parker setting out for Fetch Rock. (It still isn’t a very good likeness.) (Note: The figure in the diorama occasionally moves and every now and then disappears completely. I don’t know if this is supposed to be evidence of the haunting or if it is just that the figure is supposed to be an animatronic.) Below the diorama on the right there is a camouflage-patterned backpack. Click on it for a closeup.
There are two small pockets in the upper part of the backpack (as you are facing it). Click on them for a closeup. Click on the buckle for the left pocket to open it then click on the contents to see Polly’s bus pass. (Hmmm… Apparently since Dark Fall Polly has had an extreme makeover as well as a nervous breakdown.)
Put the pass away then open the right pocket to find a camera. When you click on the camera the first time it will flash. Click it again to turn it over to look at the back. Push the round button near the display to turn it on and see Benjamin Parker’s startled self-portrait. (Heh.) Use the buttons at the top right to scroll through the pictures in the camera’s memory. They are from various locations around the island. A few show Polly and some others show a floating chair (the chair in the former coal room, actually) but none of them are particularly relevant.
Turn off the camera by pushing the round button again then back out of the closeup. Now click on the main compartment of the backpack to reveal a notebook and a tape recorder. Click on the notebook to read it. This is Polly’s journal of her investigation. (The investigation at Dowerton she mentions is the one in Dark Fall . She wonders what went wrong there. Oops. Sorry Polly, that was me.)
Read through the journal. There are several points of note. First, pay attention to what she says about certain items or locations being “triggers” or “hot spots”. Second, note that she attempts to communicate with the ghost at one point by knocking; one knock for yes and two knocks for no. Finally, notice that she apparently saw you and hid, which means she is probably still around the lighthouse somewhere. Of course, she also seems to think that you are a murderer who killed her in a past life. That’s going to make things awkward.
Put the journal away then click on the tape recorder to pick it up. Click on it again to hear one of Polly’s hypnotic regression sessions. It is interesting from a story point of view but otherwise is unimportant so skip it if you want. The main point of it is that there is something living on the island that has been there a long time, that it took Drake and that it is apparently waiting on Polly. And you.
Put the tape recorder away then back out of the closeup to close the backpack. Now click on the envelope you see at the bottom left of the screen. The view will shift to the other side of the bench. Click on the blue folder to open it and retrieve two sheets of paper. One is from Catherine Riley, the lighthouse project manager, accepting Polly’s offer of a ghost hunt. (Also notice that the letter contains the door code, even though Polly said in her journal that Riley didn’t give it to her. Makes you wonder how thorough an investigator Polly is.) The other is a flyer for Hadden Industries latest set of electromagnetic goggles. (You may have previously seen a set of Hadden Industries electromagnetic goggles in, yes, Dark Fall.) I wonder if we can find a set of those? They may come in handy.
Well, let’s go see if we can find Polly. Put everything away and back out of any closeups. Turn right to face an opening then go forward to enter the former storage room and current museum. You can look around at the displays in here if you wish, most of which you probably recognize from your last trip through the lighthouse. None of them are of major importance though.
The layout of the lighthouse hasn’t changed, so head up the stairs to the next level. Where the kitchen used to be there is now another of those diorama displays. Examine it then push the button on the lower right to activate it and see a recreation of the last moments of the lighthouse crew. Somehow I don’t think it happened quite like that.
Back out of the closeup (you don’t have to wait for the presentation to end if you get tired of watching it), turn to the right and climb the stairs to the second level. When you arrive, notice the photograph directly in front of you; the one of a bottle lying on a beach. You should recognize this as being identical to a photograph you saw in the box in the bunkroom back in 1912. Keep this in mind for later.
Turn to the right to see that the bunkroom has apparently been replaced with a snack bar. You can go inside but there doesn’t seem to be any way to turn on the lights and you can’t get very far in the dark. (You hear footsteps when you are in there but that’s about it. The lantern is useless here, of course.) So ignore it, turn to face the stairs and climb on up to the third level.
Once there, turn right to face a door labeled “Staff Only”. Examine the door for a closeup. There is a keypad on the door but we can’t do anything with it. Instead, keep examining the keyhole until someone looks back at you from the other side. Looks like we found Polly!
Polly will ask if you are Benjamin Parker. Now, remember how she spoke of using one knock for yes and two knocks for no in her journal? We need to answer her in that manner. Oddly, you don’t single-click for yes and double-click for no. Instead, you click to the left of the keyhole to produce a single knock and to the right of the keyhole to produce a double knock. There is no point in denying who you are so click to the left to indicate yes.
She will then ask if you are planning to do the same thing to her that you did to the lighthouse staff. Well, we didn’t do anything to the lighthouse staff but there is no way to tell her that. Instead, we can only click to the right of the keyhole to indicate no. Polly seems to accept this and makes a comment about two heads being better than one before sliding a piece of paper under the door. Pick it up to see a map of the island with a particular spot indicated. That’s it for Polly, so put the paper away then back out of the closeup. (If you give Polly the wrong response simply examine the keyhole again to start over.)
I found this sequence annoying. You aren’t a ghost; you are actually standing there. There is no reason why you couldn’t simply talk to Polly as opposed to going through the whole “one knock for yes, two knocks for no” routine. It isn’t a limitation of the game engine either since we carried on a conversation earlier with Demarion. The only thing it does is force you to either have read Polly’s journal or otherwise figure out the knock pattern. Yeah, it is possible that Polly thinks you are a ghost (she is wearing her goggles after all) but that doesn’t mean we couldn’t talk to her.
At any rate, turn left and go forward towards the ladder. Turn to the right and examine the bell. Look behind it to find another of those metal plates. You really don’t need this one though. You can also look at the chair under the bell then look under the chair to find a book of ghost stories, though you can’t read or do anything else with it.
Back out of the closeup, turn back to the left and go forward to the ladder. Examine it a few times to climb onto it then climb up to the lamp chamber. (Note: If you go all the way to the top of the ladder then you can’t get off in the lamp chamber. Go to the top then go back down one step. Now you can turn around and step off the ladder.)
Quite a few things to look at up here but only one of them is important. Turn to the right until you see a device that looks like a small lighthouse lamp. (To the left of a panel with two paintings and a brochure holder.) Click on the device for a closeup.
Notice that there are four sliding buttons on the device. The symbols on the buttons should match those you have been finding on those metal plates scattered around the island. We have found three of the symbols you see here, corresponding to the numbers 1, 2 and 4.
What we need to do is pull the buttons in the order indicated by the numbers corresponding to the symbols. We haven’t found the plate with symbol 3 but it is obviously the symbol here that we don’t recognize. So, number the buttons 1 thru 4 starting on the left. Then, pull buttons 3, 1, 4 and 2. The lamp will spin, music will play and a drawer will open. Click on the drawer to take its contents and look through it. You will find a knob of some kind (which gets added to your inventory) and a photograph of an old-style radio (named “Ralf”). Note the positions of the knobs on the radio. (You don’t need to keep track of the settings, just note that the first knob is horizontal, the second is vertical and the third is diagonal.) When you are done, put the photo away and back out of the closeup.
That’s all you have to do up here though you can look around some more if you like. You can read the brochure in the rack to learn about the paintings up here and to also learn that the puzzle box you just solved was based on an original designed by Andrew Verney (yet another of the ghosts from Dark Fall). You can also look through the binoculars held by the mannequin to see another plate with another symbol but you won’t need it for anything.
We’re completely done with the lighthouse for now. Go all the way back downstairs, through the gift shop and back outside. Follow the steps all the way down to the entrance to the first picnic area (beside the sign), turn right and go forward once, then turn right again and go forward twice more to reach the entrance to the cave again. Don’t go back inside. Instead, go forward four more times to reach the other picnic area; the one we saw from the steps earlier.
Turn right and go forward towards the life rings. Turn left and go forward. Turn to the right. Click on the telescope to examine it then click it again to turn it towards you. Select the coins from your inventory to activate the telescope. Pan to the left or right with your mouse until you are looking at the side of the lighthouse. You should see another metal plate, this one showing the III symbol. (We really didn’t need to come here since we have already solved the puzzle using the symbols but, for completeness sake, this is where you would have found it. Since the only use for the coins is activating the telescope we really didn’t need them either, which is why I said they didn’t matter back at the restrooms.)
When you are done, back out of the closeups and return to the entrance to the picnic area. Turn to face the small building then go forward to it. Hmmm… Looks like some sort of D-Day exhibition. Click on the door to go inside.
Once inside, immediately turn to the left. Examine the seats in front of you for a closeup then examine the dark area behind them. Well, we can’t see anything here so try activating the lantern. This reveals a pair of the electromagnetic goggles hidden behind the chairs. Pick them up to add them to your inventory. (Note: You can’t get the goggles until you have met Polly and gotten the paper with this location marked.)
Your new goggles will periodically flash and make an electronic beep. When this happens it means that there is something hidden in the area. Click on the goggles to reveal the hidden phenomena.
Minor nitpick: The disk drive attached to the laptop is an older-style Zip drive (I have an identical drive myself) but the disk you find is a standard 3 1/2 inch floppy which won’t work in a Zip drive. Oh well, maybe there’s an internal floppy drive in the laptop somewhere.
Back out of the closeups and turn back to the right. Go forward once. There are several things to do here but start by turning to the left. Click on the laptop for a closeup. The laptop has a disk drive connected to it, so select the floppy disk from your inventory to insert it into the drive. A window labeled “EVP/Capture 1” appears on the laptop. Click the play button to hear some strange sounds. When you are done, back out of the closeup.
Or just ignore the whole thing since it actually has nothing to do with anything, not even story advancement. (Though I assume that the laptop and disk belong to Polly; I can’t imagine it being left here otherwise). How the disk wound up in 1912 is anyone’s guess. (Demarion said he found it; he doesn’t appear to have traveled to 2004 himself.)
At any rate, turn around to face the radio behind you. You can examine the sign above the radio to learn that it is supposedly haunted. (Actually, it is a reproduction of the haunted radio.) Examine the radio itself to get a closeup and discover that one of the knobs is missing. Select the knob from your inventory to replace it. Now, set the knobs to the positions that were in the photograph you found back in the lighthouse. Set the leftmost knob to “01” (horizontal), the center knob to “C” (vertical) and the rightmost knob to “y” (a 45 degree diagonal).
When you have set all three knobs the EM goggles will beep. Click on them to use them. You should see a set of three numbers appear on the radio; 120, 180 and 020. Write these numbers down. Back out of the closeup to end the goggle effect then back out of the closeup of the radio.
Turn to the right. You should see a display panel containing several photos of World War II era aircraft. You will notice that you can examine the three photos on the leftmost panel more closely. Examine the bottom photo. Your EM goggles will beep again. Activate them to see a ghostly image of a person standing beside the plane and a symbol glowing at the front of the plane. The symbol resembles the letter “Y”, so write a “Y” next to the three numbers you wrote down earlier. Back out of the closeup.
And we’re done here for now. (There is actually something else that we could do here but we need to get something else first so, in the interest of minimizing backtracking, we’re going to skip it for now.) Go forward and out of the building. Once outside, go forward along the path until you are in front of the cave again. (Should be forward five times.) Turn left to face the cave and go forward into it as far as you can. Turn right to face the tunnel and go forward once. Turn completely around.
Once again the goggles will beep. Activate them to see a greenish, glowing symbol appear on the floor of the cave. (The symbol somewhat resembles a letter “F”.) Sketch this symbol as best as you can then back out of the closeup to put the goggles away. Then, go forward, turn left and go forward twice more to leave the cave.
Now, go all the way back into the lighthouse and into the former generator room. (You will have to enter the door code again to get back inside; it’s 5, 5, 8, 2 in case you’ve forgotten.) Once in the generator room, turn around to face the entryway.
Look at the sign to the right of the doorway (the one above the brochure rack). Examine it several times to keep getting further closeups. When the photo of the generator room is filling your screen, the goggles will suddenly beep again. Activate them then click on the photo.
Fetch Rock – 1912 (Again)
Well, this looks familiar! Looks like we’ve found a way back home. (Remember the comment in Polly’s journal about “triggers” and “hot spots”? Apparently we found one.) Unfortunately we can’t head back to Trewarthan to confront Demarion. Still, we’ve gained some new information and we can use it to complete our investigations of the lighthouse here.
Go through the generator and storage rooms and climb the stairs to the first level. When you arrive, examine the books on the right side of the bookcase in front of you for a closeup. (If you find yourself looking at a “Fair Weather Work Box” you are looking at the wrong end of the shelf. Back out of the closeup and click on the other end of the shelf.) Pick up the book labeled “1912” and open it. The goggles will beep so activate them. Several numbers in the book will be highlighted. There are three rows of numbers; write them down. (If it isn’t clear, the numbers are 160, 140 and 090.) Back out of the closeups.
Now examine the map of Cornwall hanging above the bookcase. The goggles will beep here as well and, when you activate them, you will see an “X” on the map. Write “X” next to this set of numbers. Back out of the closeups turn to face the stairway and climb all the way to the top.
We are now outside of Drake’s room again. We’ll be going in there in a minute but first we’re going to check out the light. Go to the ladder and climb it to the lamp chamber.
When you reach the top of the ladder turn to the left and go forward. Ignore the device in front of you for the moment and turn to the left to face the light itself. Click near the top of the screen to look up at the light. Once again your goggles will beep. Activate them to see a yellow symbol on the light. Sketch this symbol as well as you can. (It looks like a circular “H”.) Back out of the closeup when you are done.
There is nothing else that needs to be done up here but feel free to look around. The device near you is the foghorn and you can blow it if you wish. (Stand in front of it, pull one of the levers then pull the handle hanging from the ceiling.) It doesn’t seem to do anything though. You can also walk out onto the catwalk surrounding the lamp chamber but there really isn’t anything to see out there. When you are done exploring up here, return to the ladder and climb back down.
Once you are off the ladder, turn around and go forward once. Turn left to face the door to Drake’s room and examine the plate. Enter the entry code again (1 – 2 – 1 – 3 – 2 – 4 – 3 – 4) and you will automatically go inside.
Go forward then turn left to face the closet. Open the door, examine the clothes, use the lantern, move the clothes to one side and examine the locked compartment. When we were here before we couldn’t do anything with it but now, thanks to the book in the gift shop, we know the combination is the sum of the birth years of Drake’s children prefixed with the letter “R”.
We found the ages of Drake’s children the last time we were here; William is 18 and Catherine is 24. Since this is 1912, William was born in 1894 and Catherine was born in 1888. Sum these up to get 3782. Enter R3782 as the combination. The locked compartment will open. Examine its contents for a closeup.
Note the picture on the right. Remember how Drake mentioned something about a picture of reeds in his journal? Pick up the picture to examine it more closely. This prompts your goggles to beep once again. As before, activate the goggles then click on the picture to transport yourself to somewhere else.
Bronze Age Camp – 50,000 BC
OK, where the frell are we now! Or, more likely, when are we now? Remember where you are standing; we’ll need to come back to this location later. Your goggles have just beeped again but don’t do anything with them yet.
Instead, turn to the right. It looks like there is something over there so go forward through the reeds until you reach some sort of primitive encampment. This is probably the bronze age camp that we read about in the museum brochure. So we’re still on Fetch Rock, just a long time in the past.
Turn right and go forward. Turn to the left. See the bowl sitting on the rock in front of you? Click on it to examine it then click on the bowl of eggs for a closeup. Your goggles will beep. Click on them to see a blue symbol. Sketch it as best you can then put the goggles away and back out of the closeups.
Now go forward three times. Examine the necklace lying on the rock in front of you. Hmmm… Something looks a bit out of place here, doesn’t it? Back out of the closeups and go forward twice more. Turn to the left. There is a path forward here but it is a bit hard to find (keep your cursor in the lower part of the screen). Find the path and go forward three times then turn completely around.
To the upper right you should see a pile of rocks. Examine them to look up then go forward to climb up to them. Hmmm… There’s something else that is out of place. Examine the rocks and pick up the floppy disk then back all the way out of the closeups.
Go forward. Notice the shaft of sunlight shining down on something just ahead? I wonder if there is something significant up there? May as well find out.
Go forward again and turn left. Well, this looks familiar. Go forward into the cave as far as you can then turn right to face what by now should be a familiar looking tunnel. Go forward into the tunnel until it ends at an intersection. The left path just leads to an empty chamber holding some bowls so turn to the right and go forward until the tunnel opens out into a large chamber.
What is that ? Approach the barrel-like object lying in the middle of the chamber and examine it for a closeup. Click on the object and a panel will open in its side. OK, this definitely doesn’t look like something that belongs in a bronze age tunnel.
Deos? Malakai? What have we found here? Click on the screen to activate it. Hmmm… I wonder what all this means? There is a time code, what seems to be three sets of coordinates and a row of four symbols across the bottom. Now, we have already found two sets of numbers that are probably coordinates and three symbols that look similar to the ones here. It looks like we’re still short the time code, one set of coordinates and one symbol.
You can play around with the settings here if you like but since we don’t have everything we need yet we really can’t accomplish anything. So just back out of the closeups.
When you do, an odd voice will suddenly speak to you. It will address you as “map man” and tell you that you are not yet ready. It then tells you to leave and find what you need to “free” it, ominously adding “in this life, or the next”. Great.
There isn’t anything else we can do here at the moment so just exit back out through the tunnel then leave the cave. Once outside, turn left and go forward then turn right and go forward twice to reach the center of the camp. Turn left. Go forward between the two tents as far as you can then turn left. Again go forward as far as you can then turn right. You should see a structure of some kind ahead of you. Go forward to stand in the middle of a circle of poles.
The goggles will beep several times here but don’t do anything quite yet. Turn to the left then activate the goggles. The number 180 will appear on the poles in front of you. Put the goggles away then turn to the right. Activate them again to see the number 110. Put them away again, turn to the right again then activate them once more. Here you find the number 150.
Back out and turn back to the left. Examine the ground to get a closeup of a stone. Use the goggles a final time to see the letter “Z”. So, our final “coordinate” is Z 180 110 150. Write this down.
And that’s it for here! We could go back to the object in the tunnel but we still need to find the time code and the missing symbol before we can do anything with it. So, back out of any closeups then go all the way back to the reeds where we first arrived in this time. Turn to face the same direction we were facing then. When your goggles beep, activate them then click on the reeds to get transported back to the lighthouse in 1912.
Fetch Rock – 1912 (Briefly)
You are back in Drake’s room and still looking at the picture of the reeds. Click on it without wearing the goggles to put it down then back all the way out of the closeups.
We probably should see what is on this floppy disk we found and the only computer we know of is in the D-Day exhibit in 2004. It looks like we need to find a way to get back there.
Leave Drake’s room and go down one level. Go into the bunkroom. Go forward once then turn to the left to face the shelf. Examine the box labeled FRL to open it.
If you remember from the last time we were here, there are two photographs in the box. You may also remember that I pointed out that one of the photographs on display in the lighthouse museum was identical to a photograph in the box. Look though the photographs in the box until you find the one of the bottle lying on a beach. Your goggles will beep. Activate them then click on the photo.
Lighthouse Museum – 2004 (Briefly)
Well, that was easy! Just go down, leave the lighthouse and go to the D-Day exhibition. (Along the way your goggles will beep when you enter the former storage room; the one now containing all the display cases. You can activate them to see a light display but there doesn’t seem to be any significance to it.) Once inside the exhibition, go to the computer and examine it.
Select the disk you picked up in the bronze age from your inventory to insert it. An image of a robot will appear on the screen. While interesting, the important thing here is not the robot. Instead, look at the color palette to the left. Note that one of the colors is highlighted. Make a note of the highlighted color along with the next few colors on that row. (Purple, green, red, blue, orange.) Back out of the closeup.
OK, time to do what we skipped the last time we were here. Turn back towards the entrance and go forward once. Turn left to face the display panel again. As before, the panel shows several photographs of World War II aircraft and you can examine each of them in more detail.
Examine the middle photo on the right panel. When you do, you will get the now-familiar goggle beep. Activate the goggles and click on the photo.
DEOS Lab – 2090
Well! This is somewhere new! Back out of the closeup. Darn, it looks like there was a party and we missed it. Oh well. Turn to the right then examine the counter for another closeup. Click on the lighted tablet you see to pick it up. Hmmm… A handheld tablet computer. Somehow I don’t think we’re in 2004 anymore.
The computer is currently displaying a recipe for Chicken Chow-Mein (aka “Chicky Chow”). (Chicky Chow also made an appearance in Dark Fall.) Notice that the computer is labeled “DEOS”, the same as the strange object we found in the bronze age. I don’t think that is a coincidence, do you?
Click on the recipe to clear the display. Hmmm… Someone has been keeping notes on this. Read through them. (Click on the “>” symbol at the bottom of the screen to go to the next page.) So, tensions are high and there seems to be some concern about someone named Magnus. Does this sound familiar? Note that the author of these notes seems to think that Magnus is glowing. If you remember, one of the letters back in the lighthouse said the same thing about Drake. Is history repeating itself?
You will also note that whoever wrote the notes is concerned that someone has been interfering with something of theirs and is looking for fingerprints. Just keep that in mind. When you are done, put the datapad down and back out of the closeup.
Turn to the right. You can open the refrigerator in front of you but you can’t take anything out of it so just turn to the right again. Go forward. Looks like it was Ivan’s birthday party. From the number of bottles scattered around, it looks as if everyone here is probably sleeping it off somewhere. What seems to be the control unit for the wall display is lying on the counter here but you can’t do anything with it.
Turn to the right and go forward again. You can examine the microwave in front of you if you want. You can turn it on and if you turn it on at maximum the bowl inside of it will start to steam. You can also look at the fortune cookie fortunes lying on the counter but none of this seems to be significant. Instead, turn to the left. The door will open automatically. Go forward into the corridor.
Turn to the left to face Corbin Hart’s quarters. Push either of the buttons under his picture to open the door then go inside.
There are several things to do here so let’s start by turning to the left. You can examine the desk in front of you if you want. There are several pictures of his children there as well as an MP3 player that has a long, rambling message from them on it but none of it is particularly important.
Turn to the left again. Notice that there are several display shelves to the right of the door. You can examine the contents of any of them but we are only really interested in the sailboard on the middle shelf. Examine it then pick it up. Click on it again to turn it over. There is a key of some kind hidden behind the sail. Take the key to add it to your inventory then put the sailboard back down.
Turn to the left again. Hart’s bunk, covered with items, is to the left. Click on it for a closeup.
Pick up the cylinder near the middle of the bunk. Open it to find a letter from Hart’s wife. She talks about the children having nightmares (if you listened to the children’s message on the MP3 player you already know this) and asks if there is a lighthouse in the area. (Well… not now maybe, but…) She also says that she has sent some pictures that the children have drawn from their nightmares. In passing, she mentions that this is an underwater base. (Interesting.)
When you finish, put the letter and the cylinder away. To the left are the pictures that Hart’s wife mentioned. One shows a barrel-like object falling towards a lighthouse and the other shows what seems to be you (and is actually a better likeness than the one back at the museum) but they contain no new information.
Instead, examine the box behind the football (the only box you can do anything with). There is another letter in the box. Pick it up to read it; it explains a lot of things. Apparently the object we found is a space probe designated “Malakai”. It also appears that Malakai may have contained an artificial intelligence. At any rate, Hart is the project manager and was responsible for its programming. The probe vanished shortly after it was launched and no one knows what has happened to it. Hart says that the probe contained something he calls a “Matter Manipulation System” and indicates that it could be used to generate power. Finally, he also mentions an initiation sequence and says that only he and Malakai know what it is but that he is destroying his copies of it.
So, it would appear that the numbers and symbols we have been finding are parts of Malakai’s initiation sequence and that it is probably Malakai itself that has been placing them for us to find. It also appears as if Malakai has been responsible for the strange events that have been occurring around the lighthouse.
The letter also mentions some of the problems around the facility but there is nothing really new there (except for the fact that Magnus started acting strange after he was working on an elevator and that someone named Mitsuyo is looking for something called a “Xilight”.) When you are finished with the letter, back out of the closeup and turn to the right. Click on the button to the right of the door to open it then return to the hallway.
Directly across the hall is Magnus Griel’s room but we can’t get into it. He was apparently “removed”. So turn to the left and go forward.
To the left is Vimel Dahiya’s room. You can go inside and look around if you wish but there is nothing of importance there. (It looks as if he has been searching for information on the Fetch Rock lighthouse but you can’t read it.) So, turn to the right to face Ivan Krozt’s room. Click on the buttons under his picture to open the door then go inside.
This is another room with quite a few things to look at. Start by turning to the right. There are several posters on the wall, including one for “The Dowerton Experiment” which is identified as a “New Adventure Game”. (Heh. I wonder if it features Polly? Yes, it’s another Dark Fall reference.) To the left there is what looks like a concert poster hanging over a bunk. Click on it for a closeup.
Start by examining the copy of “Sci-Fi Fan” magazine lying on the bunk. (Sapphire and Steel? Wow, I didn’t know anyone remembered that one besides me.) Click on it to move it to one side then pick up the remote control device lying underneath it. Back out of the closeup.
You can look at the other items on the bunk if you want. There is another MP3 player lying on the pillow and you can listen to a few songs on it. (The names of the groups are all names of computers from movies or games.) There are also some pictures on the wall. Finally, look at the dates on the concert poster to discover that we seem to be somewhere in the year 2090. (I wonder if we can pick up some good stock tips?)
Back out of the closeup. Now examine the desk to the left. Does that robot look familiar? Examine it for a closeup then select the remote control device you just found from your inventory. Remember the image we saw on the computer and the order of the colors in the palette? Press the buttons on the remote in the order from the palette; purple, green, red, blue then orange. The robot will move and project a beam of light. In a few moments the view will shift to show a purple symbol of some kind. Sketch this symbol as best as you can then back out of the closeup.
That’s all of the symbols so we just have the time code to go! We’re done in here. Turn to face the door and push the button to the left of it to open it. Return to the hallway and turn right. Go forward. To the left is Maria Ortega’s room but for some reason we can’t get in there. Mitsuyo Taku’s room is to the right but we don’t need to do anything with it right now.
Go forward again and turn right. Click on the panel in front of you to activate it. Ah, so “DEOS” stands for “Deep Exploration of Space”. You can read about the various space probes that DEOS has launched by clicking on the images across the top of the screen but the only one of real importance is the rightmost one; Malakai. Read about it to find out more about its mission, the “Matter Manipulation System” and “The Keeper”. Notice that the Keeper was supposed to return the probe to its point and time of origin in the event of a system failure. Well, it looks like it got the location right but not the time part.
When you are done, turn back to the left and go forward again. This takes you to a four-way intersection. There is a storage room to the left but we’re going to ignore it for now. The corridor in front of you leads to the transmat (matter transmitter) room. The pictures on the walls show the various probes that DEOS has launched; the picture of Malakai has been scribbled out. There is really nothing down there we need to see though so we’ll skip it for the moment too.
For now, just turn to the right and go forward as far as you can then turn to the left. (You can examine the panel on the left wall but it doesn’t do anything.) Go forward through the doors and into the medical bay.
Keep going forward to the end of the corridor then turn left. Go forward once then turn left again. Examine the curtains on the right for a closeup then click on them to open them. When your goggles beep, activate them. A time code will appear on the bed; write it down then back out of the closeups.
You can look around the rest of the medical bay if you like (there are some strange x-rays on the wall and a cigarette butt oddly floating in a jar of formaldehyde) but there is nothing else of major interest or importance here. In fact, we now have everything we need. So, make your way back to the kitchen (where you first appeared here) and examine the birthday card with the Spitfire on it. When your goggles beep, activate them and click on the card to return to 2004.
Now, at this point you have a choice. We have everything we need to finish the game right now. But, you may have noticed that you still have several empty slots in your inventory and that we never used the key we took from Hart’s quarters. There is also a part of the game that we haven’t seen yet, some of which is interesting, that isn’t necessary to complete the game. So, if you just want to finish the game, skip on ahead; we’ll catch up later. The rest of you, follow me.
Lighthouse Museum – 2004 (Just Passing Through)
You are currently in the D-Day exhibition and in a closeup of a photo of a spitfire. Back out of the closeup, leave the building and return to the old generator room inside the lighthouse (the one with the diorama of Benjamin Parker setting out for Fetch Rock). Turn to face the photo of the old generator room on the wall and zoom in on it until your goggles beep. Click on the photo to be transported back to 1912.
Fetch Rock – 1912 (Just Passing Through)
Go forward and turn left to face the generator then go forward and around it. As before, turn on the lantern then turn left. Go forward to the generator controls except, instead of turning to face them, turn right. Another beep from the goggles. Activate them then click the wall in front of you. There will be a brief energy display along the wall but not much else will seem to happen. Hmmm… Put the goggles away then back out of what is now a closeup.
DEOS Lab – 2090 (Optional)
Hey, where did everything go? Apparently we are somewhen else again. Neither the generator nor the diorama are here and it looks like the lighthouse has collapsed around us. Most of the entrances are blocked by debris at any rate. So, turn to the right (the only opening available to us) and go forward. Turn to the left.
Well, it looks like the stairway is blocked by rocks too. But, there is an opening leading under the stairs. Go forward and into the opening. Turn right and go forward again. Turn back to the left. There is a dark opening between two rocks ahead of you. Go forward as far as you can.
You are now completely in the dark and your lantern won’t work. If you stay in here for a while, you will occasionally hear children’s voices. They are somewhat disturbing but otherwise harmless. Just ignore them and turn to the right. Go forward into the red-lit opening.
Go forward a second time (the path is a bit to the right of center screen) then turn to the right twice. Ah, apparently we’re back in the DEOS facility again. The hole in the wall is where you just came from. Click on the hole for a closeup then click on the box to the right of the hole for a second closeup. The box contains what seem to be explosives of some sort. Pick up one of them. Click on any number on the keypad to start a “countdown”. Click “*” to stop it. There doesn’t seem to be much we can do with these so just back out of the closeups then turn to the right again.
Go forward twice. Hmmm… Think that sign is telling us something? Turn to the left then examine the bottom of the screen. Looks like a long ways down. Apparently this is the elevator shaft that Magnus was working in. Back out of the closeup then turn to the right twice.
Examine the ladder to climb onto it. You can’t go up so descend the ladder until you reach the bottom and step off of it. Turn to the right twice then go forward.
There are several things we can look at here. Start by examining the green box on the right. Open it and take the tool you find inside. (You can also see Magnus’ id card here.) Back out of the closeup. There is a datapad sitting near the yellow box on the left. You can pick it up and turn it on but it doesn’t do anything.
So, instead, examine the opening at the bottom of the screen. Go forward to drop down into the elevator. Turn to the left then go forward into what looks like a maintenance tunnel. There are a number of containers scattered around but you can’t do anything with any of them.
Go forward again then turn to the right. Examine the datapad you see lying on the container. Look at the id to see that it belongs to Maria Ortega. Put the id down then pick up the datapad. Click on it to turn it on then click on it again to activate it. Read through it to find out about the last few days in the facility. Yeah, it looks like things didn’t go too well… Put the datapad back down then back out of the closeup.
Turn back to the left then continue down the corridor until you reach the door. Don’t worry too much about the radiation symbol on the door (Benjamin Parker probably doesn’t know what it means anyway). Click on the door to open it then go through it. Go forward again.
You will be stopped by several vents of gas from overhead. When they stop, turn to the right. Notice that you can go forward into the left alcove. Do so then turn completely around. Ummm… What was that? I don’t know, but I’m glad it didn’t see us. Go forward out of the alcove then turn back to the right. Go forward. Open the doors and go through them.
Lots of interesting looking things in here; too bad you can’t examine any of them. Go forward three times. The doors in front of you are locked and you can’t get through them so instead turn to the right. Examine the bottom of the screen then examine the grille there for a closeup. Use the tool you picked up earlier to burn off the bolts holding the grille shut. Click on the grille to open it then go forward into it.
Ducts. Why are there always ducts? It’s dark so activate your lantern (oh now it works) and go forward until you reach an intersection. If you go to the right you will quickly reach a dead end (where someone has apparently been throwing hypodermic needles into the shaft). There is a grille there where it looks as if someone may have been spying on someone else (it sounds like the grille may look out into a shower but it isn’t clear). It doesn’t seem to be important however.
So, turn to the left and go forward. Follow the shaft until it reaches its end at another grille. Push the grille open from the inside and go through it and out. (The shaft turns several times but there are no branches so you can’t get lost.)
You are now in the storage room, the one I pointed out to you earlier and said to ignore for the moment. Turn to the right and go forward. Turn left and go forward again then turn back to the right. Click on the doors to open them then go forward and through them. Go forward one more time to reach the four-way intersection. (There is a machine in the storage room that we have ignored for the moment. Don’t worry, we’ll get back to it.)
Just for the sake of being complete, let’s go check out the transmat room. Turn left and go forward. (Check out the pictures on the wall here if you want.) Click on the doors to open them then go forward twice. Turn to the left. Select the key you got from Hart’s room to use it on this panel and unlock the doors. They will open and you will automatically turn to face them and go forwards through them.
Go forward again then turn to the right. Examine the monitor in front of you. Does the pattern on the screen look somewhat familiar? It’s the same light pattern you saw when you entered the tunnel back in 1912 and got transported to 2004 the first time. Beyond that there is nothing down here of any significance.
Back out of the closeup and turn right. Go forward to the doors and click on them. They will open and you will automatically go through. Repeat with the next set of doors. Go forward one more time to reach the four-way intersection again.
Now, go forward twice then turn to the left to face Mitsoyu Taku’s room. Click the button under her picture to open the doors. Go inside.
Turn to the right. You can examine Mitsoyu’s toiletries if you want but we are more interested in examining the bunk to the lower left. (If you find yourself looking at a poster, back out of the closeup and try again.) You can’t do anything with the floppy disks (in 2090?) or CDs but pick up one of the plastic rectangles from the box sitting on the bunk. Back out of the closeup.
Turn to the left and examine the bunk again. Pick up the datapad and click on the screen to clear it. Read through the notes there. (As before, hit “>” to go to the next page.) Apparently someone has been in Mitsoyu’s room and she wants a fingerprint to find out who it is. Note the code for the “Xilight” (391865) then back out of the closeup.
You can examine the table beside the bed to see an ashtray but this apparently doesn’t have any importance (except to possibly indicate that the cigarette butt we found in the medical bay was Mitsoyu’s). Back out of the closeups. There is more to do in here but we need to get something else first. So, turn around and click on the button to the left of the door to open it. Go through the door and into the corridor.
Turn right and go forward twice then turn left and go forward. Click on the door to the storage room to open it then go inside. Go forward once more then turn right to face the machine we skipped earlier. Click on the machine for a closeup. Enter the code for the Xilight (391865). After a few seconds one will appear in the output hopper. Pick it up and back out of the closeup.
Time to play CSI: DEOS Lab . Leave the storage room and go to the kitchen. When you enter, turn to the right and go forward then turn back to the left and go forward again. Examine the counter in front of you. Use the Xilight then pick up the sake cup. Ah, a fingerprint. Use the plastic rectangle to collect the fingerprint. Now return to Mitsoyu’s room.
After entering, examine the desk to the left for a closeup then examine the device on the left. This is a scanner; use the fingerprint to insert it. The fingerprint will be scanned and your view will shift to show the main monitor. Use the left and right arrows at the lower left to page through the database until you find a match. It’s Magnus. (Is anyone surprised? Me neither.) The odd voice you heard before will return and make some vague threats towards you but nothing else comes out of this.
And that’s it for the optional side branch. Time to go and meet up with everyone else. So, return to the kitchen and to the birthday card, examine it, activate your goggles then click on it to travel back to 2004.
Lighthouse Museum – 2004 (Last Time)
Back out of the closeup and leave the exhibition. Now, if there is anything else you wanted to do around here you need to do it now; we won’t be coming back. There really isn’t anything left to do, unless you wanted to wander through the museum and read the various displays. When you are ready, go to the old generator room, turn to face the photo on the wall and zoom in on it. Activate the goggles and click on the photo to return home to 1912.
Fetch Rock – 1912 (Last time, for now)
There is nothing left to do here either. Just go upstairs to Drake’s room, open the safe and examine the picture of the reeds. Use the goggles and click on the picture to travel back to the Bronze Age.
Bronze Age Camp – 50,000 BC
And it all comes down to this. Go through the village to the cave then go on into the tunnel and the side chamber where Malakai is lying. Examine Malakai and open the panel on its side. Examine it for a closeup.
Now, simply set all of the controls to the values we have found. (Click on the symbol to the left of each set of entries to cycle through the options until the correct one comes up.) Set the date and time at the top to 00:05 on 20/04/90. Set the X coordinates to 160, 140, 090, the Y coordinates to 120, 180, 020 and the Z coordinates to 180, 110, 150.
The symbols at the bottom are a bit trickier. Remember the drawing we found in Drake’s room, the one with the four colored boxes? This shows the correct ordering for the symbols. The colors were purple, green, yellow and blue, so set the first box to the purple symbol we found in 2090, the second to the green symbol we found in 2004, the third to the yellow symbol from 1912 and the last box to the blue symbol from the Bronze Age. (Click on the symbols to cycle through them.)
Your settings should match those in the image shown here. When you are set, click the arrows at the bottom of the display. Malakai will speak to you and thank you. It says that it will be returning to its own time and that all of its actions are forgiven. The probe will activate and start to rise slowly into the air, rotating as it does. The rotating probe will suddenly change into the rotating lighthouse beacon as you find yourself returned to your own time. Malakai has returned home and the hauntings on Fetch Rock have vanished as if they had never occurred. Which, of course, they never did. Now.
And, that’s it; you’ve completed Lights Out . Hope you’ve enjoyed the tour.
Final Thoughts
Lights Out is the sequel to Dark Fall, which I consider to be one of the best adventures I have played in a long time. Because of this I had very high hopes for Lights Out so it is perhaps inevitable that I was somewhat disappointed. Don’t misunderstand, Lights Out is still a very good game; I just don’t think it holds up as well as its predecessor.
There are a couple of things that weakened the game for me. The biggest problem that I see is that it is possible to bypass so much of the game. You don’t need to find the coins in the bathroom to solve the puzzle in the lighthouse. Finding the key in Hart’s quarters only lets you into the transmat room, which contains nothing of real interest or importance. The disk you pick up at the start of the game, despite the fact that the game will not let you continue without it, turns out to be completely meaningless. Then there is the whole section of the DEOS lab that you never have to enter and the whole fingerprint subplot that never seems to amount to anything.
Plus, two of the puzzles that you do have to solve have almost the same solution. In Drake’s room you find the drawing with the four colored squares. This is the ordering for the symbols for Malakai’s initiation sequence; purple, green, yellow, blue.
Later you find the toy robot in Ivan’s quarters. The sequence for activating it is found in the color palette on the disk from the bronze age; purple, green, red, blue, orange.
Notice that the three common colors occur in the same positions in both sequences. I actually solved the robot using the first sequence before I ever even visited the Bronze Age. I assumed that the drawing from Drake’s room somehow contained the correct solution. Since there was no yellow on the robot’s controller, I tried entering purple, green, orange, blue then (since I had it left) red. When that didn’t work I tried purple, green, red, blue then orange. This is, of course, the correct sequence. I never realized that I had not “correctly” solved the puzzle until much later when (after I had finished the game) I was replaying it and looking for the one inventory item I had never found. (Note that this, combined with the uselessness of the other disk, means you really never have to interact with the computer in 2004 at all!)
Leaving the puzzles, I found the plot somewhat weaker this time as well. It was never totally clear to me what exactly was supposed to be going on. The situation, as I understand it, is this.
In 2090, the DEOS project launches the Malakai probe. The probe is equipped with various devices, such as a matter transmitter and a dark matter manipulator, as well as an artificial intelligence (Malakai). There is also something called the “Keeper” which is supposed to monitor the artificial intelligence and prevent it from running amok. The Keeper is also supposed to cause the probe to return to its place and time of origin in the event of a failure.
Something goes wrong with the probe and it somehow winds up thousands of years in the past and in the Bronze Age (though still at the correct location). At this point things get fuzzy. Either Malakai has overridden the Keeper or the Keeper has shut down Malakai. Either way, it appears that the probe is trying to get home.
To do this, it needs its initiation sequence. Somehow the elements of this sequence have been scattered through time. The probe needs someone to visit the various times and locations and collect the elements. It uses its matter transmitter and dark matter manipulator to “recruit” individuals to perform this task. This is apparently how you get involved.
However, this doesn’t explain what happened to the lighthouse or DEOS personnel or to Drake and Magnus in particular. (Why were they glowing? What did that mean?) It also doesn’t explain exactly what Demarion was up to or why he would try to blame the lighthouse keepers disappearances on you. Plus, at several points it seems as if something is trying to frighten you away from your task, which makes no sense if the probe is behind the “hauntings” and is wanting you to help it!
Finally, just a personal opinion on the plot. I think the game would have been better if the main character had been Polly instead of Benjamin Parker. I question if someone from 1912 would be able to use the computers and other devices in 2004 and 2090 whereas Polly, being from the same time as the player, would have the same ability that we do. Say, start the game with her arrival on Fetch Rock and have her start by having to find her equipment (which was shipped earlier or something). Her initial thought could be that it was the ghost of Benjamin Parker haunting the island and it is only after she meets him (probably in 1912) that she learns that there may be something else going on.
As it is we simply destroyed another of Polly’s investigations. (Poor Polly, every haunting she tries to investigate gets eliminated just as she gets started. No wonder she had a nervous breakdown.)
None of this should be taken to mean that Lights Out is a bad game; it is actually a fairly good one and is definitely worth playing.
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