Murder on the Orient Express

Agatha Christie's

Murder on the Orient Express

(A Walkthrough by Zurreen Zubairie)

(Please, note that this walkthrough is copyrighted. Hence, any attempt to reproduce anything from this walkthrough will be severely punished to the maximum extent of the law.)

The Walkthrough

GENERALLY:

When you open the inventory, you will find the collected items on the left and a column of standard icons on the right. By "standard," I mean that you will see the same icons in that column no matter which "page" of the inventory you open. While the use of most of the icons in this column is straightforward, three deserve special mention.

The Magnifying-Glass icon: Be sure to "examine" each item that you collect in the game. This means doing two things. First, click on the item that you wish to examine and then, on the magnifying-glass icon that appears in the column on your right in the inventory page. You will be shown a page with the picture of the item at the top, an Eye icon in the center, and a general description of the item at the bottom of the screen. Second, click on that Eye icon, because it will provide you with additional information about the object and, in some cases, even an additional item that was concealed in the first object.

The Gears icon: Clicking on this icon takes you to what I call the gears section. Whenever you want to assemble (i.e., "combine") two or more objects, click on one of these objects and then, on the gears icon that appears in the column on your right in the inventory page. You will be shown a page with four boxes in the left column, a gears icon in the middle, and a single box on the right. Place the item in one of the four boxes on your left. Go back to the inventory page by clicking on the Bag icon at the top of the column on your right. Repeat the procedure as many times as necessary until you have placed all the items that you would like to combine in the four boxes on your left in the gears section. Then, click on the gears icon in the middle of the page and, if you have the correct items, the combined product will appear in the single box on your right. If you would like to separate two or more items joined together, place the product in the single box on your right and click on the gears icon in the middle of the screen. If the items can be separated, the separated parts will then appear in the four boxes on your left.

The Scrapbook: Be sure to read the game booklet on how to use this icon because it can provide you with some really useful information. Just click on the brown-notebook on your right and it will take you to an index of all the sources of information available to you. The topic "The Challenge" is especially useful, if you decide to ACCEPT Poirot's challenge, because it will show your progress through the game. The section "Documents" is equally important in order to actually read the documents that you collect in the game. But, again, check out all the topics as early as possible in the game and feel free to refer to them throughout the game to get the most benefit/enjoyment out of the information collected here for you.

Well, that is all I can think of in terms of a general guide to the game. Following is a more detailed step-by-step walkthrough. Please, feel free to address any comments or questions about this walkthrough to [email protected].

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New Paltz, New York, 1924 (Cutscene).

Istanbul, Turkey, 1934.

As the opening cutscenes end, you must approach Poirot. This is easier said than done because you will soon discover that he is not so easy to catch and other people keep blocking your way, some of them asking you to do favors for them before they will allow you to pass. Indeed, this particular sequence might seem silly to some while annoying to others. Just keep in mind that, in addition to perhaps being shown Poirot's idiosyncrasies, you are being introduced to the characters that will soon serve as suspects in the murder mystery that awaits you aboard the train.

So, when the cutscenes end, move towards the two men that include the chef (Klaus). As you do, the two men will block your way and the chef will ask you which of the two cleavers he holds in his hands is better for cleaving meat. Choose the one in his LEFT hand. He will compliment you and the two men will let you pass. [Note: even if you choose the one on the right, you will be allowed to guess again and then, to pass.]

As the men step aside, move forward. A brief cutscene follows. As it ends, note that Poirot is standing on the right side of your screen. Move towards him and he will walk away. Note that he is now standing on the left side of your screen. Click in that direction, only to see him walk away while your own path will be blocked by two more men (left: Antonio Foscarelli; right: Cyrus Hardman). Try to get past them and they will tell you about their argument. You can choose whichever response you like from the two given, but you must get them either one or both of the items they are asking for in order to get through.

Step right; right again, and close up on the stall left of the heroine. Pick up the large, blue flowery Kutahya Bowl in front of the heroine and step out of the close up by clicking on the footprints-icon. Go left and close up on the stall behind the large barrel and crates on your right. Pick up the lone Iznik Tile, standing upright and leaning against a stack of similar tiles, in front of the heroine. Step out of the close up and to the right (past the chef), right again, and then left, to return to the two men. Click on the mouth icon to speak to them. You can choose whichever response you like, but I prefer the third one, since we already have both items. The two items will disappear from your inventory, but don't worry about getting them back from the men to return to the vendors because, for whatever reason, you will not be able to do so. [And, no, I have no idea, merely guesses, as to the reason for all that talk of returning the objects to the vendors when you never really get a chance to do so.]

With this dispute settled, the two men will step aside. Go left, to find Poirot now standing to the left of two ladies (right: Princess Dragomiroff; left: Hildegarde Schmidt) at the bottom of the screen. Click on the mouth icon appearing on him. But as the heroine calls him, he will walk away; and, as the heroine hastens after him, the ladies block her path. You can choose whichever response you like but I prefer the fourth one, because it is the politest and cuts the dialog short (we know that we are going to have to get that parasol for the princess). [Note: one of the times that I played this marketplace sequence, the fourth line did not even appear. If this happens, feel free to choose whichever line seems best to you. No matter how the dialog goes, you need to get that parasol to get past these ladies].

Click on the footprints-icon appearing at the top of the screen to return to the two men. Pick up the Grain from the right edge of the stall appearing to the left of the heroine. Go to your right and click on the Eye icon appearing on the goat on your right. You can see the parasol just behind the goat. Bring out the Grain from the inventory and click on the goat. The heroine will actually place the grain a little bit ahead of the goat. As the goat moves ahead to eat it, pick up the Parasol. Take two steps to your left to return to the ladies and speak to them.

As the ladies step aside, click on the footprints-icon appearing at the bottom of the screen. You will see a lady (Greta Ohlsson) standing on your right. Try to go right and the lady will ask you for help. Again, you can choose any response you like but I prefer the second, because it is the politest and moves the story forward.

Go to your right. Try to go left then, to find two more men (left: Hector MacQueen; right: Samuel Ratchett) standing in your way. Ratchett is not nice at all. So choose whichever responses you like until he agrees to let you pass.

As these two men step aside, click on the footprints-icon appearing on the dark-brown door just left of the heroine to arrive before the train station. Enter the station and go left. Step to your left again. A cutscene follows. Try to go left again. You will overhear a short dialog between a man (Colonel Arbuthnot) and a woman (Mary Debenham); and then, the two will step out of the way.

Go left, and then right. Talk to the ticket-collector. Greta will step aside to find her own ticket, but you can go forward now. So go left "To Train Platform." Go left again, to see Poirot talking to a train employee in the distance. Step towards him. A dialog follows.

Click on Poirot and then, on one of the first three choices. (Choice 4 just ends the dialog, without any exchange of information between yourself and Poirot.). Click on the train employee (Pierre Michel) and then, on either the first or the second choice. The other of these two choices will then be presented as the first choice. Click on it and the heroine will finish the dialog.

Note: It might be a good idea to SAVE the game at this point because the next time you address Michel, it will be quite a while before you can save again, and you might want to replay the cutscenes that follow the present dialog. Therefore, saving the game now will allow you to replay those cutscenes without having to repeat anything covered so far.

Click on Michel again. Feel free to try out the other choices but keep in mind that the conversation will conclude as soon as the heroine tells Michel to let Poirot have her room. A series of cutscenes then follows.

Part One: The Facts.

The first cutscene runs like a movie – you have no control except to press "Esc" and skip the whole cutscene altogether. It would be a good idea to see it at least once, however, because it gives us more information about the various guests on the train.

You are given some control in the second cutscene in which you can select topics and use the left mouse button to skip individual lines of dialog. Choose the topics in any order you like, to gain information about the various guests as seen through the eyes of the great Poirot.

The third cutscene is like a movie again and the only control you will have would be to press "Esc" to skip the whole thing altogether. Once again, though, it would be a good idea to see the cutscene at least once, because it shows a critical exchange between Ratchett and Poirot. The cutscene continues, following the "loading" of the game, and this little part should especially not be skipped because it tells us that the heroine needs to acquire bacon for the chef in order to proceed in the game.

As the controls are returned to you, try to go left. A brief cutscene follows. Go left now and see two men standing by the fountain in the distance. Click around the top of the screen to approach them and find them to be the Colonel and Hector MacQueen. Click on the mouth icon to speak to them. You can then click on either line of the dialog. In the next choice though, click on the first line because it gives more information than the second. As the men walk away, go right and then, click on the footprints-icon appearing in the top-right portion of the screen. Another cutscene follows. Click on the Eye icon appearing on the gate on your right, to hear the heroine's comment.

Go right and close up on the two men (the Engineer and Michel) on your right. Talk to Michel, pick the first choice and then, exhaust the remaining topics, one by one. Next, talk to the engineer. Click on the back-arrow to step out of this close up. Go left and close up on the boxes on the cart on your left. Try to click on the boxes in this close up, only to find that the labels are in Serbian, a language that you do not speak. So step out of this close up and go right, towards the Engineer and Michel. Close up on those men again and speak to the Engineer first. He does not know Serbian either. So click on Michel and he agrees to help you out. Step out of the close up, go left and close up on the cart with the boxes again. You can then click on any of the boxes and Michel will tell you what it contains. As soon as you click on the second-to-the-last box on the right (the only one on that side on which the Eye icon appears), Michel will tell you that we have found Klaus's bacon. A cutscene follows.

At the end of the cutscene, the heroine is outside her room and Poirot's voice in the background tells us that we must eavesdrop on all the guests. Click on one of the Ear icons that appear on the doors of the rooms left of yours. The wood is too thick to hear what is going on inside, however, and we need something to help us. So go to the Salon Car.

Note: We can go from one car to another in one of two ways. One way would be to click on the footprints-icon leading in the direction you wish to take until you reach that end of the car. As you place your cursor on the connecting-door between the cars, a label will appear indicating the name of the car you are about to enter. Click on the handle-icon appearing on the door to then enter that car. In the other method, just move your cursor to the top of the screen. A picture of the train with its several cars would appear. As you move your cursor along those cars, a label would show the name of each car over which your cursor is placed. The label of the car where you are standing would indicate that fact by stating, "You Are Here." At present, all but two cars are "grayed" (or rather browned) out, indicating that you can access only two cars: the Calais Coach (where you are) and the Salon Car. If you just double-click on the Salon Car, you will find yourself there. This would be the quickest way to reach another car, especially when you are trying to get from one end of the train to the other.

As you enter the Salon car, click on the footprints-icon appearing at the bottom of the screen to move forward. Click on the footprints-icon appearing at the top of the screen, twice, to move yet further in the car. At this point, you should find the bar on the left of the heroine. Close up on the area behind the bar. Pick up the Ice Tongs from the left of the top shelf. Then, pick up the Water Glass standing upright on the left of the second shelf and, continuing through the row of unused glasses, pick up 4 more water glasses. Open the drawer under these shelves and pick up the Paper Napkins and the SelloTape. Step out of the close up and return to the Calais Coach.

Click on the footprints-icon at the bottom of the screen to go past the bathroom on your right and arrive at the first set of rooms. Bring out the Water Glass from your inventory, place it on the door of the first room (Calais Room 1-2 Masterman & Foscarelli) and click to hear a dialog between the two men inside. The heroine will withdraw at the end of this dialog.

Note: You will not have to bring out the water glass for further eavesdropping. From now on, just click on the Ear icon appearing on a door and the heroine will bring out the glass automatically and lean against the door to listen.

Feel free to click again on the Ear icon appearing on this door, but the heroine will indicate that she has heard all that she could. So click on the Ear icon appearing on the door of the next room (Calais Room 3-4 MacQueen). As the heroine withdraws, feel free to click again on the Ear icon appearing on this door but, again, the heroine will indicate that she has heard all that she could.

Click on the Ear icon appearing on the door of the next room (Calais Room 5-6 Schmidt & Debenham), but the heroine cannot hear anything even the first time. There will be no Ear icon on the door of your own room (Calais Room 7-8 Ohlsson & Marceau). So click on the footprints-icon appearing at the bottom of the screen to move to the next set of rooms: Calais Room 9 Poirot; Calais Room 10 Ratchett; and Calais Room 11 Hubbard. See what you can hear in each of these rooms and then, click on the footprints-icon appearing at the top-right corner of the screen to move to the next set of rooms.

Thus, continue your eavesdropping of the rooms, one by one, until you reach the last room in this car (Calais Room 16 Hardman). The heroine cannot hear anything; but just as she withdraws from the door, Michel catches her in the act. A brief dialog follows, but you don't have to do anything because the heroine will take care of it herself. As Michel starts to walk away, however, place the cursor on him and find the icon of a silhouette, in a circular frame, trailing him. This is what you might call the "Follow-this-Person" icon. So, click on this icon and the heroine will follow Michel all the way to the Baggage Car.

You can then choose to move in any direction you like, but the result will be the same: Michel will appear and ask the heroine if she is following him. Choose whichever response you like but, again, the result will be the same: Michel will ask you to return to the Calais Coach and state that he would lock up this car. So, click at the bottom of the screen ("To Restaurant Car") and a cutscene will show Michel locking up the door to the Baggage Car.

Go right and then, click on the footprints-icon at the bottom of the screen to move further down into the Restaurant Car. Close up on the large table laid out with food on your left and pick up the Spirit Lamp. There is nothing else left to do for now. So, click on the Calais Coach at the top of the screen to quickly return to that car. Move down further and enter your room (Calais Room 7-8 Ohlsson & Marceau). Step further into your room, and a series of cutscenes will follow.

At the end of the cutscenes, feel free to choose whichever response you like to Greta's question. Step out of your room (note the unusual handle-icon at your door). Another cutscene follows and this one also ends with the heroine in her room. Greta is asleep this time, so just step out of the room. Yet another cutscene follows and also ends with the heroine in her room. Step out yet again to see a brief cutscene of a woman in a red kimono. Click on the "Follow-this-Person" icon to go after her, but she seems to disappear at the end of the car. We must determine who she is. But both the connecting door to the Salon Car and the bathroom on your right are locked; and if you try to enter the room of any of the guests, Michel will tell you not to disturb the passengers. Go to him, at the other end of this car, and click on the newly-added Athens-Paris Coach to learn from him why that is locked. Note that the bathroom on this side is also locked. Click on Michel, choose the first line of the dialog and exhaust all topics, one by one, thereafter. At the end of the dialog, return to your room. As you click on the door, another cutscene follows.

At the end of the cutscene, we find the heroine in Poirot's compartment. Another man (Dr. Constantine) is also present. You may click on either the doctor or Poirot, but clicking on Poirot would provide more information. As always, pick the first topic and exhaust the rest, one by one. Whether you click on Poirot or the doctor, Poirot will offer you a challenge. The following walkthrough assumes that you accepted that challenge.

Following a brief cutscene, you will now find the heroine in the victim, Ratchett's, room. If you open the inventory and click on the brown notebook (the "Scrapbook"), you will find a new heading ("The Challenge") has been added. As you progress through the game, especially after completing a Part, be sure to check this section of the scrapbook because it will actually note the points that you earn through the successful completion of various tasks. Be sure to also refer to the section "M. Poirot's Instructions" throughout the game, to help determine the tasks that need to be completed.

Talk to the doctor and then, close up on the body. Close up on the blanket covering the body and the doctor will point out that there is something in the victim's pocket. Pick up the Silver Pocket Watch from the pocket on the left side of the victim's shirt. Close up on the pillow and pick up the Gun. Step out of the close ups and talk to the doctor. Exhaust all topics, one by one, starting with the first one at the top of the dialog box.

Close up on the bedside-table right of the victim's bed. Pick up (moving from left to right): False Teeth, Thick Tumbler, Small statuette, and (in one click) Stub of a Cigar, Flat Match, Round Match, and Scrap of Burnt Paper. Step out of this close up and close up next on the window. Click on the window and the doctor will comment about the possible presence of fingerprints. Move the cursor lower and click just above the shiny handle, to get a close up of the window sill. Click on the Eye icon there and you will hear Poirot's voice in the background say, "Quite interesting." Note: Every time you hear Poirot say "Quite interesting" in the background, it means that there is a fingerprint in the area you are examining. But we can't lift any prints just yet because we don't have the materials necessary to do so. So step out of these close ups for now and pick up the Handkerchief (folded in a triangular form) from the floor, at the foot of the bedside-table and to the right of the bed.

Click on the victim's luggage up in the carrier on your right. As the suitcase is opened for you, click inside to recover a Sleeping Draught ("Regardez, Mademoiselle!"). You can click in the suitcase again, just to make sure that there is nothing else of interest in there, but the heroine will tell you that there is not. So step out of this close up and click on the footprints-icon to turn around and face the other side of the room. Click on the jacket hanging on the left of the exit, to recover a Matchbox. Pick up the Hat hanging on the right of the same door. Finally, pick up the Pipecleaner (looks like a white straw) from the floor, just left of the bed.

Turn back around to face the doctor in the other side of the room. Open the inventory then and examine each of the items that you have just recovered. (See the general-information section at the beginning of this walkthrough to conduct the two-part examination of items, i.e., place an item on the magnifying-glass icon in the right column and click; then, when the general description of the item appears, click on the Eye icon for a more in-depth examination of the same item.) Note the special-effect sound in the background when you conduct the in-depth examination of the Thick Tumbler (the text at the bottom indicates that there is a smudge, i.e., a fingerprint, on it) and the Hat (the text at the bottom indicates an inscription, "Rev. 13:18.").

We are ready to report to Poirot now. So, click on the doctor and tell him that. A cutscene follows where you will see the heroine speaking inside the compartment, but her voice is "muffled." This can go on indefinitely, so be sure to click the left mouse button to proceed further in the game! As you do, the heroine will conclude and the ensuing dialog will be audible now. As usual, exhaust all topics, starting with the first one in the dialog box.

Poirot instructs us to gather some items to help us read the Scrap of Burnt Paper. As the dialog ends, we find the heroine standing outside Poirot's door. Click on the footprints-icon at the bottom of the screen to go left in the train. Enter the heroine's room (Calais Room 7-8 Ohlsson & Marceau) and step to the back of the room. Close up on the hat box in the lower shelf, left of the heroine.