{A} This is not a minimalist walkthru. It not only contains all the actions essential to finishing the game but also many others that only hint at future tasks &/or flesh out the story. Hence several of the actions described here are not entirely necessary in order merely to complete the game in the shortest possible time. Quite a lot of the explanatory dialog occurs when entering a new situation and is not repeated. To properly understand the gameplay and enjoy it, the walkthru prompts you to perform certain actions even though sometimes you are informed that they will produce no (at least immediate) results. It also refers to many characters whose names &/or identities can easily be overlooked. There are doubtless additional things of interest that you can do which are not mentioned here but may add even more to your entertainment.

It may hopefully serve not only as a hint-sheet for those who are stuck, but also as a guide to those who enjoyed the game and wish to play it through again for fuller understanding of its intricacies, or as a check against anything missed.

{B} Often you can perform actions in a different order from that described here, but sometimes not.

{C} Author's Note:- It's relatively easy to 'prove' that an action or series of actions is possible but you can't say definitely where impossible. In some cases where I've done this I've marked the place with **. If anybody finds such an 'impossible' scenario to be actually valid, please email me! Also there may be 'random' variations or I may have slipped up.

{D} Whenever dialog trees are displayed, cover as much dialog as you are allowed to ... there are hints and clues in many of them. N.B. On very rare occasions you may be penalized for 'talking too much'.

One of the most common causes of "stuckness" in this game is due to incomplete dialog. If you are stuck and can find no apparent reason, return to characters with whom you've had long conversations and talk with them until the only dialog options repeat or disappear.

{E} ALWAYS do the following actions as a matter of course ... you will generally not be prompted to do them:-

Whenever you enter a new scene examine everything where the question mark icon changes to an exclamation mark.

Click on everything where the hand icon extends its index finger (unless you think this could be counter-productive).

Pick up everything you can and examine it immediately in your inventory.

{F} Save VERY frequently ***. There are several places where you can be killed with very little or no warning especially in the Dark World; and there are also some impasses. When these happen you are forced back to the start sequence of the game again. If you haven't saved fairly recently you may be in for substantial waste of time & effort.

There are only 10 save slots. When these are filled you can overwrite them. If you wish, it's quite easy to save complete batches of 10 files each, but you have to do this outside the game itself, i.e. in Windows or DOS or whatever.

{G} From time to time you must discuss progress with Mike's friend Jack. Click on the bench just outside Mike's front door. If Mike continues standing and says "I'm not tired", this is not a suitable time. If Mike sits, it is a sign that Jack will drive up on his motorcycle. Occasionally it might happen that Mike sits, Jack doesn't arrive and Mike says "I guess Jack's not in the neighborhood". This is either a random occurrence or a bug. In either case, repeat until Jack arrives.

{H} Some abbreviations are used throughout:-

[~N/W~] = Normal-World.

[~D/W~] = Dark-World.

['EX'] = Question mark icon changed into EXclamation mark (Examine).

['FI'] = Hand icon extends its index FInger (Act upon or talk to).

['R'] = At or near the right edge of your monitor screen.

['L'] = At or near the left edge of your monitor screen.

['T'] = At or near the top edge of your monitor screen.

['B'] = At or near the bottom edge of your monitor screen.

['M'] = At or near the middle area of your monitor screen.

{I} MAP DESIGNATIONS****:- There are similar maps for both worlds. On the map of the [~N/W~] the captions remain constant throughout. On the map of the [~D/W~] most captions start off fairly similarly to those of the [~N/W~] but some alter twice or 3 times according to progress ... probably different for each player. To avoid confusion I will refer to the 5 locations (excluding the connecting portals which only appear later) in both Worlds simply by the abbreviations below. I have listed alongside them their ORIGINAL (only) captions. The first four run clockwise starting at ['T']['R'] and the fifth is in ['M']:-

[Loc/1] .... Business District.

[Loc/2] .... Civic Center.

[Loc/3] .... Mike's House ( Mike's Neighborhood in [~D/W~] ).

[Loc/4] .... Carnival ( Power Center in [~D/W~] ).

[Loc/5] .... Hank's Diner & Pool Hall ( Downtown in [~D/W~] ).

You (Mike Dawson) wake up in your bedroom from bad dreams. Interrogated by Sheriff Woolard Butler. Sheriff exits. Exit via door. Dialog with Mom. Take smiley-face magnet from refrigerator door. Exit kitchen door into lounge. Switch on TV ... news bulletin on Rita Scanlon's murder --- morphs into woman's sculpted head informing Mike she is sending help. Front door bell chimes. Open front door. Mail man delivers a ticket to the traveling carnival in the park. Open the cabinet door ['L'] of TV. Take camera. Examine camera ... only one shot left on film. Visit bathroom ... nothing doing! Return to lounge & exit front door. Sit on bench and your only friend Jack arrives on his motorcycle. Dialog with Jack. Walk along path onto map of hometown [~N/W~]. Note the names of the five locations you will be visiting (See {I}**** above).

Visit [Loc/1]. Try Dr. Sims' office --- not there .... locked. Try hardware shop --- closed for the next fortnight. Exit ['R']. Dialog with Paul Cooper. Enter his house ... can't. Exit ['R']. Dialog with Deputy Brown. Try to examine Rita's house ... can't get in. Return to map.

Go to [Loc/5]. Enter Hank's Diner. Dialog with Hank. Exit door. Enter Pool Hall. Dialog with Jimmy Gardner and Melissa Fleming. Exit to backyard (door not too obvious at ['M'] ). Examine trash can and pick up coat hanger. Enter shed ... nothing to do there. Return to Pool Hall and exit to map.

Choose [Loc/2]. Try calling different folk from telephone ... not much joy! Enter Sheriff's and keep talking to him. Try various actions, but you won't achieve much. Try the Court Room ... locked. Enter the Morgue. Browse around the waiting room ... nothing to do. Return to map.

Visit [Loc/4]. The Carnival not opened yet. Exit ['L'] to stately home. Knock on the front door. Dialog with Mrs. Ramirez. Go 2x['R'] to site of Rita's murder. Carefully examine and particularly the bushes ['EX']. Slim emerges. Dialog with (zany) Slim. He gives you Rita's ticket stub (Mike's only memento of her ... from last week's high school reunion). Return to map.

As soon as he gets to the map, Mike says he's got a splitting headache and better go see Dr. Sims. Go there. Door now unlocked. Dialog with Dr. Sims. Mike agrees to be hypnotized ... nightmare about Rita. Finish dialog with Dr. Sims and exit to map.

Go to Carnival. Dialog with clown ... he's sick ... needs medicine from cooler in employee's tent to the right of carousel. Give entrance ticket to clown. Enter carnival. Go to employee's area, mid-['R']. Enter tent. A metal anvil covers the ice chest containing clown's medicine. Try to lift anvil ... much too heavy for Mike. Return to carousel. Go to sideshows ['T']['L'] (Note:- ['B']['L'] takes you to the games of skill & chance). Visit sideshow. Dialog with Siamese Twins; Minnie & Daisy (listen carefully to what they say!). Exit ['L']. Watch the weightlifter Gargan's act. Dialog with Gargan (pay attention to his remarks!). Go ['L']. Look at the fortune-teller Pandora ... and her pet snake Lucifer! Dialog with Pandora. Hand inventory items to her to foretell your future ... she will only take 3 at a time and her prophecies don't seem very insightful. Exit carnival. Return to map: --- Author's Note:- At this point in time, whilst at the carnival, you might wish to try the Hall of Mirrors &/or some of the 3 games of skill & chance. I did, but it got me nowhere.  You can't master the Hall of Mirrors and the games are all rigged! (See {C}** above).

Go to the shed in the backyard of the Pool Hall. Dialog with Slim ... listen to his weird conspiracy theories. Return to map.

Go to your house, [Loc/3] on the map. Sit on the bench. Jack rides up ... dialog ... he suggests alternative suspects. Visit the sheriff ... dialog about his affair with Rita and his being kicked off the Dallas police force.

Visit the morgue waiting room. Behind the glass window you see Doc Larson making out with some female. Tap on the window and confront Larson. Dialog. This can be tricky! He may dismiss you and exit, but you can return as often as you like. You have to get him to lose his temper and bang his fist on the counter thus opening the latch to the morgue door. The only way to achieve this is by alluding to his being kicked off a hospital staff for seducing a woman patient. If this topic doesn't materialize you haven't spoken sufficiently to the sheriff. Go back and get him to talk about the condition of Rita's body and Doc Larson's peculiar behavior. Then return to the morgue and you'll eventually succeed.

Enter from the waiting room into the morgue itself. Examine and open freezer ... Rita's headless corpse ... ugh! Examine ['EX'] toe tag of corpse on table ... Mark Danson, with a glass key round his neck. Take key ... can't do that. Look at the file cabinet and examine contents ... ['FI'] several time until monologue repeats itself. You should hear a lot of info including 2 autopsy reports. Check in inventory that you've got Doc Larson's little black book. Now you can take Mark's key (Minnie got the names mixed up and mailed the key to M.D., but Mark Danson instead of Mike Dawson). If you don't succeed it probably means that you haven't talked sufficiently to Pandora (See {C}** above), so return and ask her about Minnie & Daisy ... her riddle is the "key" to all this.

*~*~* Return to and enter the Hall of Mirrors at the carnival. Author's Note:- Since you are given no instructions, I'll lay out the hints a line at a time so that the reader can choose as much or as little as he/she needs. It is not too difficult. You can take as much time or as many moves as you like and you are never "killed". You can easily move around wherever you are permitted, and restart instantaneously. I recommend trying to figure it out without ANY of the help below.

(a) Your objective is to enter one of the 2 doors and make your way to an "ornate room".

(b) Once inside you are in a honeycomb of rooms, some accessible and others not. The rooms are arranged in a sort of matrix with 10 rows and 8 columns.

(c) If you look carefully you can identify the ornate room as being somewhat different from all the others.

(d) Counting rows from ['T'] and columns from ['R'], this room is row-8, column-7.

(e) Now try to make it on your own. If you can't, read further.

(f) Sweep the whole area and ['EX'] will indicate the ornate room.

(g) You may have noticed a VERY small difference in one of the rooms.

(h) If you can't find it, ['EX'] will highlight a keyhole in one of the rooms.

(i) You MUST get to this room first. It is row-8, column-3.

(j) You should start from the entrance at row-1, column-2. (I doubt you can ever succeed if you start from the other entrance row-1, column-4; but if you wish you may try ... See {C}** above).

(k) Take your glass key from inventory and click it to the left of this keyhole-room. A secret door will open.

(l) Now it should be very easy to enter the ornate room.

(m) If you are still stuck the following spoiler gives you the whole route R, L, F, B stand for Right, Left, Forward, Backwards:- L, L, F, F, L, L, R, F, R, R, F, F .... use glass key; then ..... L, B, L, B, L, F, R, then finally Left and into the ornate room.

You are now at the portal to the [~D/W~]. Enter the (white square) portal ['M']. The Keeper of the Light explains Mike's mission and dies.

*~*~*~* You can now either go left or right and then you have to traverse the [~D/W~] Hall of Mirrors. This is much easier than previously. However if you go left, after a very few moves you come to a dead end and can't proceed (See {C}** above ... but try them both out if you like.). So go right and it should be fairly easy. If however you're still stuck, here is the spoiler:-  L, B, R, F, R, F, R, R, B, R, R, B, L, B, B, R, B, L, R, B, L, then finally Backwards and you're in the [~D/W~] proper.

Author's Note:- From here onwards it's even more worth while saving very frequently since there is a much greater chance of getting killed or reaching a dead end or an impasse. See {F}*** above. Since the [~D/W~] is a sort of nightmare version of the [~N/W~] there are MANY hints and clues as to where to go &/or what to do when switching from one world to the other. But IMO you have to keep your eyes and ears very well open to catch these interconnections. You can proceed from here in many different orders although there is one path which may lead you into a dead end.

There are 4 catwalks here meeting at a crossroads. The 2 leading to ['R'] take you back to the Hall of Mirrors. One leads you to the mouth of the skull ( the power complex of the [~D/W~] ). The 4th goes ['L']. Take this last catwalk. You arrive at the prison compound where the Keeper of the Scrolls is incarcerated. Dialog with the 2 guards Ik & Uk. Try to solve their riddle. No matter which of the 4 solutions you answer you will fail and they will not allow you into the prison. Return to the skull and enter the mouth. Here you see Rita's head feeding the Ancient's power generator. There are 4 catwalks leading from here. Go ['T']['R'], enter the structure and examine the fetus of the Behemoth ... you can't achieve anything here so return to the power generator.

Take the catwalk ['L']. Examine the devices there ... clues? Try to operate the mechanisms there ... no success. Go ['L']. Examine the devices there ... clues? Try to operate the mechanisms there. Talk to the biomechanoid on the wall. Use your smiley-magnet on it. Go ['L']. Examine the devices there ... clues? Try to operate the mechanisms there ... no success. Return to power generator.

Go ['B']. See what you can do with the controls to the 'Gate to the Power Center' ... nothing apparently. Try the catwalk mid-['L'] ... cul-de-sac. Try the catwalk ['B']['R'] ... ditto. So go ['B']. You're on the map of the [~D/W~]. Note the similarities and differences to the map of the [~N/W~] (See {I}**** above). See if you can enter the portal back to [~N/W~] ... no data card, so access denied.

Choose [Loc/2]. Enter the central door. You are in the Hall of Justice (counterpart of [~N/W~] Courthouse). Watch the travesty of a trial of a Privileged Worker. You can't do anything with the cabinet ['R']. Talk to the "Justice". Whatever you say or do you're sentenced to death. Strangely enough that's fine! You are whisked away to the execution ante-room. You are "allowed" (actually forced into) one death only ... See {F}*** above. So if you miss the next procedure you will be in real trouble! Touch the belt of the dead Privileged Worker. His data card falls down. Pick it up ... WOW; see what happens! You must get out and there is only one exit. Touch the life-force leech ... zapped. Dialogs with the Keeper of the Souls. Climb stairs. Go back to the gate controls and onto [~D/W~] map. Check the portals between the 2 Worlds ... yippee! But stay in the [~D/W~]. Check also that your new data card operates the Gate which allows you access to the Power Center.

Choose [Loc/1]. Try the first circular door ... electronic lock shut. Continue to the second circular entrance. It's the Dark World armory. Dialog with gunsmith manufacturing biomechanical appendages ... he mentions the rebel Goth. He needs a metal triggering device. Exit and ['R'].

Enter Temple. FULL dialog with the 'High Priestess of the Temple of the Triangle' ... she gives you a lot of info including the Ancient's Credo ("Death provides Life"). Look at Necronomicon (book). Exit and ['R'].

Be VERY careful here ... See {F}*** above. Dialog with biomechanoid guard --- if you say or do the wrong thing or even talk too much he kills you. He has been commissioned to guard the commandeered House of the High Priestess ... Remind you of anything? ... Deputy Brown guarding Rita's house? This guy looks like Ik & Uk's long lost brother and the only essential info you want from him is the solution to their riddle. If he doesn't tell you it probably means that you didn't finish all the dialog with that argumentative pair ... so return to them and finish it now (See {C}** above). Return to map.

Choose [Loc/5]. Go into entrance on the left. Remind you of anything? ... Hank's Diner? Try the suspended woman's head jukebox ... not working. Dialog with bartender ... more info. Ask for and take "delicacy" (slimy rancid meat!). Exit. Go into the Recreation Center entrance on the right. Remind you of anything? ... Pool Hall and Melissa? Try opening the power door ... electronic lock won't operate it. Look at but don't touch the creature stimulated by energy beams ... See {F}*** above. Return to the map.

Choose [Loc/4]. Insert your data card into the gate controls. From Power Center exit the skull. Back to Ik and Uk. Tell them the answer to their riddle ... the top sentence "You - on the right. You are Ik, and it is night". If by any chance you still can't solve their riddle it probably means that you haven't finished the dialog with the biomechanoid guard ... return and complete this.

Go ['R'] and open the zip. If you try to pass the horrendously ugly baby you will be shot down by its machine gun arms! Feed it the 'delicacy'. Enter and have FULL dialog with the Keeper of the Scrolls (Behemoth; Shape Shifter; Goth the hermit; plans to defeat the Ancients; etc.). Back to map.

Return to [Loc/2] but this time enter the room to the ['L'] of the Hall of Justice. Enter Hall of Troopers. Talk to Drekketh guard. He wants your proper data ID card. Show it to him and talk some more. Trusting robot ... he leaves you in charge, and leaves to torture a new batch of prisoners. Grab the Light of Truth. Return to map.

Back through portal to [~N/W~]. Enter the Carnival. ['B']['L'] takes you to the games of skill & chance. Play the Wheel of Fortune. If you tried before you always lost. Providing you used your smiley-magnet in the [~D/W~] you will now win a stuffed teddy bear. Return to [~N/W~] map.

Enter NEW portal back to [~D/W~]. Go to Power Generator. 2x['L']. Place teddy bear (note it's new [~D/W~] shape) in machine ['R'] which stops working. Return to map.

Go to [Loc/5] and from there to the Recreation Center. The stimulated creature has left the canister and you can now safely take its 'ego-massager'. Click on the power controls ['R'] and the door opens. Enter, proceed, and talk to Goth. He can't advise until he gets pain killers from [~N/W~]. Return to map.

Back to [~N/W~]. Go to Carnival and give ego-massager to Gargan who presents you with his sedatives. (Unfortunately the clown died since he didn't get his medicine in time!). Return to map.

Back to Goth [~D/W~]. Dialog ... Ancient's current plans and how to thwart them. Take magnetic crossbow ['R']. Back to map.

Return to [~N/W~]. Go to the Civic Center. Mayor Fleming has just arrived in his car. Dialog with Mayor. Look at car ... there is a briefcase inside. Use coat hanger to open car door. You get a quarter and porno photos of Rita. Put quarter in payphone. Dial the Sheriff and report that an old woman is being robbed ... he reluctantly leaves. Enter his office. Go to desk drawer and get smashed photo of Rita and newspaper article incriminating Sheriff. Go to house and sit on bench. Dialog with Jack.

Go to Pool Hall. Dialog with Jimmy. Go to Mrs. Ramirez ... Dialog. Exit scene and then return. Jimmy Gardner visits Mrs. Ramirez demanding final payment for his torch job. Look through window. Use camera to photograph cash hand over. Return to map. Mike says he's got a splitting headache and better go see Dr. Sims.

Dr. Sims hypnotizes Mike ... [~D/W~] nightmare ... chat and leave. Go to house and sit on bench. Dialog with Jack. Go to Pool Hall. Cut-scene fight ... Slim; Jimmy; Mike; Jack. Follow Slim to his shed ... dialog ... Slim hands Mike an incriminating letter from Rita to Mayor Fleming and Jimmy's unloaded gun. Go to map.

Return to [~D/W~]. Go to Weapon Shop. Gunsmith exchanges gun for biomechanical machine-gun-arm. Return to map.

Go to [~N/W~] Carnival and proceed to the Ring Toss booth. Use magnetic crossbow on metal pole and see it radiate. Now toss a ring and win a teddy bear. Go back to the shooting gallery, use your biomechanical weapon and win another teddy bear. Differentiate between the two by their small badges. The Sheriff arrives and warns Mike. Give him Jimmy's letter. Return to map.

Mike's got another splitting headache and Dr. Sims hypnotizes him ... another [~D/W~] nightmare ... chat and leave. You KO special FBI agent Gannon. Go to house and sit on bench. Dialog with Jack. Go to map.

Return to [~D/W~]. Go to Power Generator, then ['L'] ... looks like a sort of shooting gallery. Place the appropriate teddy bear creature in the empty socket and the machine stops working. If you tried the wrong one, use the other. Continue ['L']['L'] ... looks like a sort of biomechanical Ring Toss. Place the other teddy bear creature in the empty slot and the machine stops working. Return to map.

Go to [Loc/1] and the first circular door which was closed. Controls now open door ... reference to previous "Dark Seed" game ... into 'design room' and take 'skull opener'. Back to map. Go to [Loc/2] and enter the Hall Of Justice. Open cabinet which was previously locked. Take the Scrolls of Wisdom. Back to the map and from there to [~N/W~].

Go to [Loc/1] and Paul Cooper's house and use your 'opener' on the faucet. Enter his house (automatically). Look around ... no dice. Through door into Paul's bedroom ... also zilch. Hold it; there must be SOMETHING since there is no way out of the house! {Author's Note:- IMHO this was 'unfair'. You either have to have exceedingly good eyes &/or scan almost every pixel}. On the carpet just below the bookcase are some scuff marks ... difficult to see. You must ['EX'] on them (even though they are contiguous with the bookcase) before you can ['FI'] on the bookcase. It swings open ... a portal to the [~D/W~]. Lots of supernatural paraphernalia to examine here including the Necronomicon. Take keys ... Paul enters ... fight ... stab him unwittingly ... he 'explains' before dying. You finish up outside with keys.

Use keys to enter Paul's hardware shop. Nothing much to do there. Touch alarm on rear wall (you may have to use magnetic crossbow on it??). Deputy Brown leaves his post and rushes in. Enter Rita's house. Read Rita's letter ... poor Mike! Go into Rita's bedroom ... nothing to do there. But take the ticket stuck in the bottom left corner of the mirror ... for free psychic reading at the Carnival.

Return to map. Choose [Loc/4], go to Pandora and hand her the ticket. Cut-scene ... childhood ... closet never locked!

Return to map and Mike's house. Go to the bedroom and now you CAN enter the closet. Only a mirror ... another portal to [~D/W~]? Enter the Shape Shifter's home. Examine the bloody shoes and knives. Take the Sword of Justice.

Go ['R'] and talk to Mom. VERY gruesome happenings. Full dialog with Rita's head in the stewing pot ... warning about Behemoth. Exit door ['R']. {Author's Note:- It's very tempting to miss this by going straight out of the door without speaking to Mom. If so you can't finish the game ... but it's not 'tragic' since you can work your way back to here without reloading a save ... you just waste a LOT of time and effort.}

You're now in a previously unexplored location in the [~D/W~] without passing through any portal. Operate controls ['R']. A circular hatch opens onto [Loc/3] ... never available before. Return to [~D/W~] map. Choose [Loc/4]. Mike must get back to the Power Generator to stop the Behemoth from hatching.

Enter the Behemoth's hatchery. Too late ... the Behemoth has hatched and burst the incubator. You must kill it before it reaches the portal to the [~R/W~] or it will destroy the world and you have lost the game. Return to the Power Generator. Exit mid-['R'].

Author's Note:- I repeated the following MANY times, wasted some hours and almost gave up! See {F}*** and {C}**. You are facing two parallel catwalks leading ['R'] to the [~D/W~] Hall of Mirrors. I did not even realize that there were two DIFFERENT possibilities and for some unknown and unlucky reason I chose the less accessible wrong one! If you do that, I think that it's impossible to complete the game. If necessary, see *~*~* above.

If you realize that there are TWO different paths it should not be difficult to find the effective one and win. Try them both out if you like. This is not a timed puzzle ... you can spend as much time as you like between moves. Spoiler following:-

Take the front (lower) catwalk which brings you onto the entrance to the Hall of Mirrors in the MIDDLE (the rear upper catwalk takes you to ['T']['R']).

You must get to the [~N/W~] Portal room BEFORE the Behemoth. Note:- if you made the 'bad' choice you can arrive at the same time as the Behemoth --- but this is unacceptable.

There is a very small hinge on one of the doors (but you need extremely good eyes to see it):- make for it. Go:- L, L, F, F, F, L and the 'secret' door opens.

Now go:- F, F, R, L, F, R then finally Left and into the portal. In the cut-scene, Mike slays the Behemoth.

You now have to return again through the Hall of Mirrors to the [~D/W~]. You have done exactly this before ... See *~*~*~* above.

Enter the skull's mouth and approach the paper thin slot which is ['L'] of the power generator. Insert the Scrolls of Wisdom and the Light of Truth ... order unimportant. Then sever the cable which is ['R'] of the power generator with the Sword of Justice.

You have defeated the Ancients and saved the world. You are transported to Dr. Sims office. Dialog with Jack. ['EX'] on EVERYTHING and EVERYBODY. Exit door.

Author's Final Note:- I have revealed so much in this walkthru that I am not going to reveal the ending. You may think it's good or bad. If you've made it through to here you won't need to READ about the ending. If you haven't made it you don't deserve to read about it. :~ )

HOPE YOU HAD FUN ....... Len Green.