The City of Lost Children

by Psygnosis

Walkthrough by Jenny100

Introduction

This is a step-by-step walkthrough, including the keyboard commands you use to control the game. I wrote it because the only two other walkthroughs for this game that I found on the net were somewhat sketchy.

City of Lost Children is a keyboard-controlled game. The arrow keys move your character around and the Escape key accesses the Main Menu for saving and loading games. The Escape key also skips cut scenes. The P key pauses the game, which can be useful because some parts of the game are timed. Holding down the Control key along with the forward arrow key will make your character run. The Alt key will cause your character to crouch, which can be useful for hiding behind things. The Page Up key will cause your character to pick something up or put it down. The Page Down key will cause your character to speak to another character. The Tab key will open inventory or cause your character to stow an item she's holding in inventory. The Enter key will cause your character to interact with something or take some action. The keys themselves aren't that complicated, but it can be difficult to orient your character into the proper position to make them active. So it's easy to miss things like inventory items. The camera that appears in the upper right of the screen doesn't indicate an action can be made. It only indicates that you can shift to a different camera angle by hitting the Spacebar. If your character isn't facing the right direction when you click Page Up, Page Down, or Enter, she'll say she "can't manage it" or "I can't do anything" or something similar. She doesn't give you many clues.

Walkthrough

Your character is a little girl named Miette. You start out in what looks like a schoolroom at the orphanage, run by Pieuvre, the Siamese twins. Pieuvre wants you to steal some money. Hit the Page Down key to talk to Pieuvre and get a hint on where to get a necessary key. You can try to talk to her some more, but you won't get any more clues. There's nothing in this room that you need yet and if you don't leave the room and get to work, Pieuvre will have you thrown in the cellar. So don't take too long about leaving. Walk over to the door, orient yourself, and hit Enter to open the door and leave. If you get thrown in the cellar, don't worry. This time they forgot to lock the door. You won't always be so lucky. Usually when you get thrown in the cellar it's Game Over.

Outside, walk over to the old man, Pelade, who is sitting in the chair, orient yourself and hit Page Down to talk to him. The image of a camera that flickers over in the upper right corner of your screen means you can get a different camera angle by hitting the Spacebar. What a crabby old grouch. At least he gives you a key. Click the Tab key to put the key in inventory. Walk out past the dog and across the next screen to go down the stairs. If you want Miette to run, hold down the Control key. Going downstairs is automatic, but she'll probably do a little dance to line herself up. You can make her run downstairs instead of walking by holding down the Control key.

Run all the way down all the flights of stairs. When you reach the lowest level, turn around and walk next to the water. There will be a niche under the stairs. Walk into it and move your character around until you see the icon for a scrubbing brush appear in the upper right corner. While the brush icon is in view, hit Page Up to pick it up and Tab to put it in inventory.

Move back out the way you came to the foot of the stairs. Don't go back upstairs. Turn left into an alleyway with a barrel shortly after the foot of the stairs. Follow walkways through several screens. Ignore the watchman wearing dark blue unless you want to hear him chase you off. He's going to be the victim of your robbery and you have to find a way to get him away from his post. Continue following the walkway around the building. At the bottom of a short set of stairs, turn right onto a pier. See that little silver line on top of a brown package? That's an inventory item you'll need. Walk behind the pole and next to the building and you'll find a way to get to it. Miette will probably need to dance around to orient herself before stepping up on the boxes. When you see the icon for the item appear in the upper left, click Page Up to pick it up. It's an iron bar. You can either put it in inventory or not, because you will use it soon.

Walk back onto the pier and then follow it out toward the lighthouse. You'll want to save your game somewhere around here in case you can't figure out how to hide yourself quickly enough. Before you commit your act of vandalism, you may want to practice hiding. The place to hide is behind the barrels and big reels of rope that are standing to the right of the lighthouse door. Move Miette over there and hold down the Alt key to make her duck down and hide. Find a spot where she'll bend down. She seems to like to be facing front when she bends down.

Now for the vandalism. Miette is going to short out the lighthouse. Move Miette over to the other side of the lighthouse. If you've put the iron bar in inventory, take it out by first using the Tab key to bring up the inventory, highlighting the iron bar by using the arrow keys to select it, then clicking Page Up. Stand Miette directly in front of the control panel on the side of the lighthouse that has the little orange light on it and click Enter. If you're oriented right, you'll see a cut scene where Miette shorts out the lighthouse and the watchman has a fit and starts out to investigate. Now Miette must hide. The watchman may take a little while to arrive, but keep holding down the Alt key so Miette remains hidden. When the watchman arrives, Miette makes a comment about how she thinks she'd better stay put for a bit. After fussing around a bit with the control box, the watchman will eventually go inside the lighthouse to try to fix it. Now is Miette's chance to break into his office.

Run back down the pier, turn left up the stairs, follow the walkway around the building, and take the walkway that angles off the main walkway to reach the place where you first saw the watchman. Move around until you see the camera icon in the upper right and click the Spacebar in order to see the door you must go through. You have the key. Open the inventory with Tab, cycle to the key with the arrow keys, and click Page Up to get the key "in hand." Click Enter to unlock the door. Put away the key using Tab and click Enter again to walk inside the building. If you don't put the key away, Miette will just lock the door back up.

Once inside the building, aim Miette at the light switch next to the door and click Enter to turn on the lights. See that electrical stuff going on around the cabinet at the other end of the room? The booty is in the electrified cabinet and Miette can't get it until the electrification is turned off. For some reason it's tied into the cash register. Go figure. Anyway, move Miette in front of the cash register, click Tab, cycle to the brush, and click Page Up to get the brush in hand. Click Enter and Miette will put the brush in the cash register drawer, wedging it open. For some reason this turns of the electricity to the cabinet. I have no idea why. Anyway, now Miette can walk over to the cabinet, orient herself, and click Enter. This starts a cut scene where Miette sets off an alarm, grabs what she came for, and is accosted by the watchman. She is rescued by the man called One, who seeks Miette's help in rescuing his little brother Denree, who was kidnapped in the introductory video. Miette has to get back to Pieuvre though.

You find yourself back in the schoolroom and Pieuvre gives you your new mission. This time she wants you to break into the loan shark's safe and bring back whatever you find there. You can ask her/them a question with Page Down, but you won't get anything else out of her/them besides threats. Immediately turn around and run (hold down the Control key) to the back of the room and pick up the bag of marbles off of the shelf using Page Up. Put them in inventory with Tab, run to the door, and click Enter to get out before you are thrown in the cellar. The timing isn't all that close, but better safe than sorry.

Once outside, turn to your right, walk to the door, and click Enter to enter the kitchen. Walk up to the boy and click Page Down to discover he's making a potion for Pieuvre. Try to pick up the potion bottle with Page Up. The boy wants you to find his marbles first. Click Tab to open inventory, then cycle to the bag and click Page Up. Then click Enter to swap the bag for the potion. If Miette is not close enough to the bottle, she'll let you know. Put away the potion bottle with Tab and click Page Down to talk to the boy. He'll give you a hint where to find the loan shark, but he won't tell you anything else. Walk to the other side of the kitchen and locate a chicken drumstick on the countertop to the right of the refrigerator. Page Up and Tab to pick it up and put it in inventory. Walk to the door and hit Enter to leave the kitchen.

Walk forward and look in a corner between the cellar stairs and the dog to find an empty bottle. There are two there, but you only need one. Orient Miette so the bottle icon appears, Page Up to pick it up, and Tab to put it in inventory. Walk past the dog and continue toward the top of the screen to exit. Follow the walkways and go down all those flights of stairs. As you go downstairs, you'll see an old drunk. Continue to the bottom of the stairs and continue back past the niche where you found the brush earlier in the game. Go talk to the drunk. He's hungry so give him the chicken leg. Tab, cycle to the chicken leg, and Page Up to select it. Then click Enter to give it to him. He offers you some of his wine in return. Good thing you have that empty bottle. Walk up to the barrel he's sitting next to, Tab to open inventory, cycle to the empty bottle (not the potion), Page Up to get the bottle "in hand," and hit the Enter key to fill it. Put the bottle back in inventory with the Tab key. You can hit Tab again and cycle to the bottle to make sure you were successful in filling it.

Go back upstairs and give the potion to the crabby old man. Stand in front of him, Tab, cycle to potion, Page Up, and Enter. It was a sleeping potion. Now Miette can loot his house, but first she needs to collect a couple of items. Aim Miette at that crank that's attached to the stair rail to her right and click Enter to lower a basket. Walk Miette under the basket until an icon appears at the upper left of the screen. Put it in inventory with Tab. Pick up a second item from the basket using Page Up. You should have picked up a sausage and a door handle.

Climb the stairs and get the door handle ready to use on the door. If you've put it in inventory, Tab, cycle to the door handle, and Page Up. Stand in front of the door and Click Enter to enter the old guy's place. Put the door handle away with Tab. There is a light switch next to the door. Aim Miette at it and click Enter to turn on the lights. Now walk Miette over to the other side of the room and locate the key on the bed. With the key icon at the upper left of the screen, click Page Up and Tab to stow it in inventory. That's all you need here. Walk Miette back to the door and click Enter to open it. If you want to, you can turn out the light first by aiming at the switch and clicking Enter. If Miette isn't close enough to the door or the light switch, she'll tell you she can't manage it.

Go back downstairs and walk over to the dog. Give the dog the sausage. Click Tab, cycle to the sausage, click Page Up to get it "in hand," and Enter to give it to the dog. You didn't want that old sausage anyway, did you? Let the dog get sick on it. Walk to the door that's a couple of steps away from the dog, click Tab, cycle to the "key of the courtyard door," click Page Up, and then the Enter key to open the door. Click Tab to put the key away and then Enter to go through the door. If you didn't give the dog that sausage, he'd bark and wake up the old man. And you'd have had to endure all that snoring for nothing.

You're at the top of a long flight of stairs. Go down and turn to Miette's right (player's left) past the Deli. Walk over to the guard and Page Down to talk to him. Another disagreeable old crab. Go back past the stairway and through a couple of more screens to see a man fixing a car. Walk through the gate, approach the man, and talk to him using Page Down. If you get Miette oriented right, you can see the man has a tool Miette can pick up. Wait until he leans over and has his head down in the car and snatch the tool with Page Up while he's not looking. Turn Miette around and walk toward the back wall. There is a bell on the back wall that Miette needs. Use the tool to detach the bell from the wall so Miette can retrieve it. With the tool "in hand" and the bell icon in view at the upper left of the screen, click Enter. Put the tool away with Tab and pick up the bell with Page Up. Now let's go harass that pesky guard.

Go all the way back past the stairs and the deli to where the guard was posted. If you've stowed the bell in inventory, click Tab, cycle to the bell, and click Page Up to get it ready. Standing next to the guard, click Enter. Aha! So he has sensitive ears. And there is a metal stairway conveniently located right next to him. Walk over next to it and click Enter to hit the bell against the stairway. The guard is overcome by the noise and falls in the water. Good riddance.

Click Tab to put the bell back in inventory and walk on up the stairway. At the end of the walk, click Enter. The door is not locked and Miette walks on in. This is the loan shark's office. Walk Miette forward and to the left of the screen to locate a little grey cubical object which will be identified in inventory as "a little safe." Pick it up with Page Up. Walk Miette over behind the desk with the chair to find the real safe. There is a balance scales next to it. Walk up to the scales and, with the little safe "in hand," click Enter. The door of the big safe opens. Walk Miette over and pick up the green "jewels" with Page Up. Stow it in inventory with Tab and leave the office. Use the Enter key to use the door out.

Oops. Miette is attacked by the kidnappers as she leaves. The kidnappers are weird men with a single mechanical eye, called Cyclops. Miette falls in the water and sinks like a stone. That inventoryshe's carrying must be pretty heavy. In a cut scene, she is found by a strange man in an antique diving suit. She awakens in his submarine with all her inventory gone missing.

Explore the room. You're in a submarine belonging to your rescuer, who is currently snoozing on his bed over in the corner. You'll find a couple of switches on the wall. Face one of the switches and click Enter to pull it down. Now try pulling the other switch. The first switch pops back up. What can we use to make the switch stay down? There doesn't seem to be much we can pick up. Well, there is something, but it's a little hard to find. There is a block of wood hiding over in one of the corners. It's in the view with the brown brick thing (furnace?) over in the corner, with a barrel to the right, the wall ladder to the left, and the periscope near the top of the screen. Walk Miette right in front of the brick thing, behind the boxes and garbage can, and rotate her around, if necessary, until the icon for the block of wood appears in the upper left. Click Page Up to pick it up and walk to the right side of the screen to return to the switches. With the block of wood "in hand," face a switch that is pulled down and click Enter. Face the other switch and pull it down.

An alarm goes off. It startles the man sleeping in the bed, who you may have noticed earlier. He's a restless sleeper, but tough to wake up and he goes right back to sleep. Walk over to him. He speaks a word here and there in his sleep, but Miette won't talk to him or try to rouse him. Walk to the end of the bed and face the green thing at the edge of the shelf above the bed. Miette will see a key. Click Page Up and Miette will reach up and get the key. Oops, she knocked down the green thing and it broke, releasing some sort of green gas. The man breathes the gas and suddenly becomes somewhat coherent. Here is your chance to get some idea of what is going on in this weird game. The man says he's created a monster. He must be a mad scientist. The monster is called Krank and is stealing the dreams of children, since he is unable to dream himself. Krank kidnaps children and has them taken to his lab to use them as guinea pigs. Well, there's no sense standing around listening to this nut. He's gone incoherent again. What else can we do here?

There is one thing. Walk over to the screen where you picked up the wooden block, only instead of walking behind the garbage can, walk up to the side of the gray crate that's under the periscope. Miette can climb this crate. Walk her into it from the side, using the forward arrow. She'll probably do her little dance like she does when she's preparing to climb stairs. Once on top of the crate, walk up to the periscope eyepiece and click Enter to see a cut scene of small figures being herded onto a tugboat by a larger figure. The children being taken to Krank's lab, apparently. Looking through the periscope is not required to finish the game, but once you leave the submarine you can't get back in. And no, you don't get to navigate the submarine. This isn't Lighthouse.

Now you're ready to leave. Walk over to the door at the opposite side of the room. Face the door, get the key "in hand" with Tab and Page Up. Then hit Enter to use the key to open the door. If Miette says "I don't think I can manage it," make sure she's close enough to the door to interact. Miette unlocks the door. Put the key away with Tab and click Enter to exit the room.

Go up the stairs and follow the walkway into the next screen. There is a cigarette lighter in this screen that Miette will need. It's hidden behind that gray trapezoid-shaped block thing that's on the curved gray area that projects slightly off the walkway and over the water. Walk Miette behind the trapezoidal thing and rotate her around until the icon for the cigarette lighter appears in the upper left of the screen. If it doesn't appear, try taking a step in one direction or other and rotate her again. Once you see the icon, click Page Up to pick up the lighter and Tab to stow it in inventory.

Continue toward the front of the screen and up the next stairway. Follow the walkway around and down the next set of steps down into the next screen. Go up two short flights of steps and follow the walkway into the next screen.

You will get an isometric view of a fenced-in area with some crates on the lower left side. Miette can climb the crates just as she climbed the crate in the submarine. Once you get her in the right position, you can just walk her onto them with the forward arrow and she will climb into the fenced-in area. Walk her down the crates on the other side.

Now to find another inventory item which you can't see. It's near the lowest corner of the enclosed area. A gray roof that runs from the bottom of the screen to the right side of the screen blocks any view you might have had of the object.

Just walk Miette around along the line of the roof and keep checking for the icon to appear in the upper left of your screen. The item isn't too far from the lowest roof seam. Page Up to pick it up and Tab to stow it in inventory. It was a candle. Who could have guessed?

Now walk toward that table under the awning near the top of the screen. Miette will find a scissors on the table. Wow. It actually looks sort of like a scissors. Pick it up with Page up and stow it in inventory with Tab.

There's what looks to be a stone block dangling by a rope over an open hatch in the floor. Looks like an accident waiting to happen, doesn't it? Let's get to work. But SAVE your game first if you want to experiment. If you try the scissors, you'll have a Game Over. You need a delayed reaction. Put the candle on the table. Click Tab, cycle to the candle, Page Up to select it, and Enter to put it on the table not far from where the rope is. If you aren't close enough to the table, Miette will tell you she doesn't think she can manage it. With the candle in place, bring up the cigarette lighter with Tab, cycle, and Page Up. Click Enter to light the candle and a cut scene starts. Miette will go hide behind a nearby door. A woman in a red dress comes out and investigates. Miette ducks inside while the woman's attention is diverted and finds One blubbering and drinking himself silly because he thinks the Cyclops have killed Miette. Miette tells him she's OK and that the Cyclops are taking the children to Krank's lab on the oil rig to be used in experiments. One is worried about his little brother Denree. The woman in red returns to the room and One tells Miette to run.

You find yourself in another brick area near water. Walk forward and toward the left and follow the walk through two or three screens until you find a man painting a boat. Walk around behind the boat, face the man, and talk to him using Page Down. Miette asks him how to get to the oil rig. The man says to ask the fisherman. Pick up the painter's spare paint brush if you can. If the painter is on the wrong side of his paint can, you won't be able to get to it and you'll have to go away and look around at something else for a while. Hopefully he is standing on the opposite side of his paint can from Miette and she can reach his second paint brush, which is sitting on the edge of the paint can. Use Page Up when you see the icon for the paint brush. Then click Enter to fill the brush with paint.

Toward the back of the screen with the painting man is an exit to the left. It's located near where you first entered the screen the first time. This exit to the left will take you past one screen to a screen with two stairways that lead down to piers at the right and the left side of the screen. If you take the stairway on the right, you will find One waiting in a boat. If you take the stairway on the left, you will see the fisherman who you need to talk to. Go back upstairs and move to the screen to the left. A man with a Cyclops eye blocks your path and will slap you if you try to talk to him, telling you to get lost. If you weren't able to get the paint-filled brush earlier, go back to the man painting the boat and get it now.

If you have the paint brush, use Tab, cycle to the brush, and click Page Up to get it "in hand." Go to the obnoxious Cyclops man and click Enter to use the wet paintbrush on him. Miette paints over his Cyclops eye and he freaks out and falls backward into the water. You can go talk to the fisherman now if you want. But he won't answer your question about the location of the oil rig unless you have a certain item. Let's go look for some inventory.

Go back to the screen with the boat-painting man, then up the long stairway behind the painter's boat and again up another long stairway. At the end of the stretch of walkway after the stairs, before it makes a right angle turn, there is a window with an empty tin can on the sill. Pick up the can using Page Up.

Go back the way you came down the walkway, down the two flights of stairs, past the man painting the boat, toward the back of the screen, through the exit on the left, and across the screens to where you painted the Cyclops man. Walk down the dock to where the fisherman is sitting. Talk to him using Page Down until he mentions he's fishing for his lost can. Get your empty can "in hand" with Tab, cycle, Page Up. Click Enter to give him the empty can. It also seems
to work if you use Page Up to put down the can near the fisherman. He is most appreciative and tells you about the Chinese tattoo artist who has a map to the location of the oil rig. He even tells you how to get hold of the map without having to pay the guy a lot of money. Sounds like a plan.

Go back past the screen with the stairways leading down to the piers. Exit right, through one screen to the screen with the man painting the boat. Go up the long stairways and this time pass the windowsill where you found the empty tin can. Continue along the walkway to an alley with grey cobblestones. At the far end of the alley, where the exit is blocked by a wooden gate, locate an atomizer near the base of a gray oil drum. Page Up to pick up the atomizer and Tab to stow it in inventory. You'll need it later and picking it up now will save some time.

Move along the right side of the alley. You may have to hit the spacebar when the camera appears in the upper right to access the screen with the tattooist. Stand to the left of his kiosk, just in front of the orange railing, and click Enter. Miette will use an unseen screw which will cause a piece of wood to fall down and clobber the tattooist. Take advantage of his unconscious state to steal the map on his table. Page Up to put it in inventory.

Follow the walkways back from the alley, down the stairways to the guy painting the boat. Walk or run to the exit partway up the screen and to the left, then down through the next screen to the screen with the two stairways to the piers. Go down the stairway on the right and out to where One is waiting in the boat. Aim Miette at One. If you stowed the map earlier, click Tab, cycle, and Page Up to get the map "in hand." Click Enter to give One the map. Well, it's a good map, but how are they going to find their way through the fog. Looks like we need more inventory.

Go down to the end of the pier you're standing on to find a stick. Page Up and Tab to pick it up and stow it in inventory. Walk or run back up the pier and climb the stairs. You should now be in the screen with the two stairways leading down to the piers. Move toward the back left of this screen and you should find another exit. Make your way through a couple more screens and you'll find Marcello sitting near his trailer. There's no doubt who it is. His name is right on the trailer. There is also a sign saying Cirque de Puces, which means "flea circus" in French. Guess what Marcello does (or did) for a living. Talk to Marcello using Page Down. Use Page Down about five times to hear all he has to say about his unique killer fleas, trained to kill when they hear his music. Getting any ideas? Walk over to face the crank organ and click Enter a couple of times to get more comments from Marcello.

The fleas are in a jar to the left of where Marcello is sitting. You can't get past Marcello, so you'll need your stick. Face the jar, Tab, cycle to the stick, Page Up to hold the stick and Enter. Miette knocks over the jar. The fleas get out and jump on Marcello. Face the crank organ and click Enter and the fleas will kill Marcello. The icon for Marcello's compass/watch will now appear if you aim Miette at Marcello correctly. Click Tab, cycle to the atomizer, and click Page Up to get the atomizer "in hand." Move around Marcello until you see the icon for the compass/watch appear in the upper left, then click Enter to get rid of the fleas. Click Tab to put away the atomizer and Page Up to steal Marcello's compass/watch. Yes you killed the poor guy just to steal his watch. Nasty. If you try picking up the watch before you use the atomizer on the fleas, Miette refuses, saying the fleas will bite her. I wonder what's in that atomizer anyway. Maybe some really cheap perfume like "Avon's Revenge."

Now that you done the dirty deed and have your ill gotten gains, exit right from Marcello, past two screens, to the screen with the stairways leading down to the piers. Go down the stairway to the pier on the right and walk to where One is waiting in the boat. Aim Miette at One. Tab, cycle, Page Up, and Enter to give One the compass/watch. A cut scene will start in which Miette and One row out to the oil rig and rescue about four kids, one of which I assume is Denree, One's "little brother." The movie was better.