Lrf, V jnf uvagvat ng Ehcreg.
Nyy bs gur 97 svyrf juvpu ner arrqrq gb trg gur svany zrffntr pna or sbhaq ol znxvat fher rirel crefba nccrnef va rirel fprar ng yrnfg bar sbe crefbaf 1-12, cyhf 25-JV-X, cyhf chggvat va nyy gur 00 svyrf zragvbarq va gur nobir. Vs lbh unir Ehcreg'f fprar naq 25-JV-X, gura lbh whfg arrq gb qbhoyr-purpx lbhe fcernqfurrg naq znxr fher lbh'ir abg znqr na reebe fbzrjurer. Nyfb znxr fher lbh chg va nyy gur 00 gvgyrf - lbh pna hfr "svaq 00" gb trg gurz dhvpxyl.
Vs lbh unir n pbzcyrgr fcernqfurrg naq haqrefgnaq gur onfvp ehyrf bs gur tnzr (rnpu bs gur crbcyr lbh zrrg jvyy qvr va n cnegvphyne beqre; rnpu crefba nccrnef rknpgyl bapr va rnpu fprar sbe juvpu gurl ner nyvir), vg fubhyq or rabhtu gb svaq rffragvnyyl rirel svyr. Gurer ner bayl n irel srj rkprcgvbaf, fb zl hfhny nqivpr jbhyq whfg or "qbhoyr-purpx lbhe fcernqfurrg." Gurer ner guerr svyrf gung qba'g dhvgr svg gur hfhny ehyrf. Bar lbh fnl lbh'ir sbhaq, orvat 25-JV-X. Bar vf bayl erdhverq sbe na rnfgre rtt naq vfa'g arrqrq gb trg gur svany zrffntr. Gurersber, V'q thrff gur bar lbh ner zvffvat jvyy erdhver lbh gb tb onpx gb 01-DH-1-11. Ernq gur fprar ntnva irel pnershyyl. Qb lbh... urne fbzrguvat? Jung qvq lbh urne? Naq... jub jnf vg sbe?
V'z abg ernyyl fher jung lbh zrna ol gur gvzr qrynl vffhr. Gur guhaqrepync vf pnhfrq ol erzrzorevat gur cerivbhf ivpgvz. Vg gnxrf fbzr xvaq bs fgebat rzbgvbany cebzcg gb or noyr gb "qrsl" gur zrzbel renfvat rssrpgf naq erzrzore gur cerivbhf ivpgvz - hfhnyyl n culfvpny vgrz fgebatyl nffbpvngrq jvgu gung crefba.
Ehcreg Tnyyrl qvrf irel fubegyl nsgre erzrzorevat Nzryvn, pnhfrq ol svaqvat n cvnab erpvgny fur unq bapr cynlrq - ur erzrzoref whfg orsber gur fgneg bs fprar 01 naq qvrf jvguva fprar 01.
Uneel Gubeagba qvrf irel fubegyl nsgre erzrzorevat Ehcreg, pnhfrq ol orvat tvira Ehcreg'f xrl gb gur puncry - ur erzrzoref gbjneqf gur raq bs fprar 06, ng juvpu cbvag ur vf erpbeqrq ng ehfuvat njnl, naq ur qvrf nyzbfg vzzrqvngryl vagb fprar 07.
Rir qvrf irel fubegyl nsgre erzrzorevat Uneel, pnhfrq ol qevaxvat gur ubg pubpbyngr va Uneel'f qvfgvapgvir fglyr ur unq whfg cercnerq sbe ure - fur qvrf, rez, yrg'f fnl 5 zvahgrf yngre jvgubhg zrnavat gb or pehry nobhg Rqqvr'f fgnzvan.
Uryra qvrf dhvgr fubegyl nsgre erzrzorevat Rir, pnhfrq ol erprvivat gur snzvyl evat fur unq tvira Rqqvr gb cebcbfr jvgu. Gurve qvfphffvba vf jung, cebonoyl n srj zvahgrf va erny gvzr? Fur qvrf nyzbfg vzzrqvngryl vagb fprar 12.
V qba'g ernyyl frr ubj nal bs gurfr ner vapbafvfgrag jvgu jung unccraf yngre. Va nyy pnfrf, gurer'f znlor, 5 zvahgrf be fb orgjrra erzrzorevat naq qrngu. Oebnqyl fcrnxvat, nf gur ahzore bs obqvrf cvyr hc, gur vaunovgnagf bs gur ubhfr ehfu ebhaq zber, rknzvar zber guvatf, naq cebzcg zber gurbevrf, juvpu anghenyyl pnhfrf gur engr bs qrnguf gb fgneg fcrrqvat hc. Gur bayl erny bqqvgl gung V pna frr vf creuncf Znegun va fprar 05 - fur'f gbyq gur anzr Ehcreg Tnyyrl, naq tvira uvf xrl gb gur puncry, whfg nsgre univat frra Ehcreg'f qrnq obql. Guvf pbzovangvba bs guvatf jnf rabhtu gb pnhfr Uneel gb erzrzore, fb vg vf fgenatr vg vfa'g rabhtu gb pnhfr Znegun nf Ehcreg'f jvsr gb erzrzore.
Spoilers
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I think the rule of the curse is "remember the last person to have died from the curse, and shortly after you die as well". There does appear to be a small time delay; none of the characters involved died immediately after remembering someone and it is usually at the end of the scene in which they do. I don't think you need to remember the name of the previous person exactly - for example, it wouldn't have been possible for Oswald to remember Tony's name because he never knew Tony's real name to begin with. It seems to me you just need to remember the person and who they were in some meaningful sense. Physical items seem to help prompt memories, but I'm not sure they strictly essential per se - not clear to me what physical object Katherine had that prompted links to Annie, for example. I think it's probably more the close emotional feeling certain belongings can evoke, the same way a particular passage of music did it for Rupert.
With Annie, I think she was just unlucky - the curse beat her to her suicide very fractionally. In another world where she was a bit quicker, she might have ended the curse there.
It does seem to me John was very unlikely to have been killed by the curse if he hadn't committed suicide, because the odds of him being prompted to remember Katherine, who really had nothing to do with him, were very low. Since he was capable of being publicly identified, he didn't die as a result of the curse himself.
With Katherine, she dies because she remembers Annie as a result of her conversation with John. I don't think this was a trick by John - it is heavily implied he thinks he murdered everyone and that's why he commits suicide (especially in the latest version with the added dialogue). Rather, it's just misfortune in how events played out.
What @ figures out is that he is about to die, because he read the name of the last recorded victim and remembered who they were - he recognised the name, and she would have been a colleague of his judging by Alan Thomas' briefing, so when the memories came rushing back, @ realised his time was up. The reason he said "by God I hope this works" is because he was always a bit of a loner and didn't think there was much reason for anyone to remember him, so he hoped the curse might die with him and be finished.
00-dream is a curious one. It seems to me that the curse can partly exert an influence on people and cause them to have strange dreams or visions - you can see this especially with Martha's death as well. I don't think 00-dream is written by @ in his full mind, so to speak, especially as it so dangerously discloses his name. My view is that it is the curse influencing him, although that's obviously a fair bit of viewer interpretation. @ hoped the curse would end, he'd hardly be leaving behind clues that would prompt people examining his files to meaningfully remember him on purpose.
The code (43092) is actually the real life code for the music roll for Because of You by Lee Sims for player pianos, the lyrics to which are written down in 00-dream. This mirrors partly the piano roll which started this all off by reminding Rupert of Amelia, which is 03746 I'd Climb the Highest Mountain, also by Lee Sims, which @ clearly found during his research. Maybe he also found 43092. Maybe the curse found it for him. If you know @'s name, maybe the curse is finding you.
Spoilers
Working out the agent's shorthand follows a particular order is one of the central puzzles. Having the numbers in a random order would detract massively. Being able to instantly infer who was the most recent death is useful to advancement in a lot of scenes.
Also, the agent created the number 1-12 system *before* the agent himself worked out Katherine was relevant. You can see that here:
"[@] Edit: looking back at all the deaths, it's clear there's one that doesn't quite fit the pattern. It took me a while to track it down, but I've now added one more scene that should complete the chain of events."
Katherine can't fit into the same numbering system the agent used because the agent only realised Katherine was relevant much later and her scene was gathered much later.
I think I disagree with both of these comments re: the final clue. Spoilers below.
By the end of the game, a player should have worked out that a thunderclap sounds when and only when someone dies. There is a thunderclap during John's scene in 25-AT-1. John does not die after the thunderclap. Therefore, the player should be able to work out that someone else has died somewhere, and that any missing scene must be a 25- scene.
You are told Katherine is K in the preceding scene in 24-LI-1, when John has a conversation with her. That immediately marks her out as a K. She would be a very poor fit as 13, because the player should have already been taught that the deaths count backwards. Katherine could only be 13 if she was the death before Rupert. Indeed, the game explicitly relies on this logic - there's no way to find 01-ST-12 unless you make the inference that Rupert is 12 as the earliest death, since there is no other scene which refers to Person 12. Logically, Amelia (if she had had scene) would have been 13, and it would be highly confusing to have Katherine as 13. Equally, Katherine can't be 0 because she dies before John. Really, Katherine is actually "Person 1" by the usual schematic and John is the one who is misnamed, as strictly speaking he doesn't die from the thunderclap, but if you made, say, Katherine 1 and John J, the game would be far too easy (the player would immediately notice Person 1 was never mentioned).
As such, you should be able to work out that there's a 25-##-K scene.
Finally, once you realise it is Katherine, all the clues are provided for you to know she is in Wintercote and therefore that the missing scene is 25-WI-K. Changing anything else would just make it far too easy.
At best, I guess I have limited sympathy for the idea that the "rolling thunder" should perhaps explicitly be called a thunderclap.
I actually thought 25-WI-K was kind of obvious because you're told Katherine is given the moniker K - it took me longer to find 01-ST-12 because there's no scene in which you're ever explicitly told Rupert is 12!
Spoilers etc.
If you have 01-ST-12 and 25-WI-K, you have both the unusual files. Every other file is just going to need to be found by figuring which person in 1 to 11 you're missing at what time bearing in mind each person appears exactly once in each scene for which they are alive, or possibly by using "find 00" to make sure you input all the 00 files when they were told to you. You've not missed any bodies from the original chain - 2 to 12 and K from the thunderclap, and 1 by suicide. I suppose Amelia would be 13 by the game's convention but there is no scene featuring her and it is implied she died long before present events.
I'm not sure what file links 21-LI-1-2-4 and 23-CH-1-2 as I probably made it a different route there. I'd guess a 22 scene, maybe? Did you get 22-LI-1?
If you get absolutely stuck I can just list out all the files but that's a last resort!
It's a shame we seem to agree Eleanor was a red herring, she was a more interesting plot point than the true solution, Amelia.
Also baffled as to the inclusion of the hangman game then - I wasted a fair bit of time trying to brute force it on the basic principle it wouldn't be included if it wasn't relevant!
Ultimately, two minor quibbles. Game was still excellent.
There is no 00 scene. The 00 files never have the scene-place-character structure, they're usually information or messages directly from the agent. It is (probably) not an 00 file you missed, they're all explicitly signposted in other files and you could just double check you didn't skip over one by using "find 00".
There are 97 files in total, so you are missing 2.
To help more: every character appears once in every scene in which they are alive. For example, if you check the titles of the 04- files, you should find all the numbers 1 to 11 there. You explicitly meet almost all the characters very early on, being Persons 1 to 11.
This rule alone should be nearly enough to help you work out every file you are missing except two of them. One of the files it can't find, 25-WI-K, you already found, so I think one of the files you've missed is an ordinary file you can probably find by the process of elimination of just checking you can find every living person in every scene. Is anyone unaccounted for at any time frame?
The other file that rule can't find requires a little bit of inference from you. Here's some gentle clues which get progressively more pushing:
1. What signifies the death of a character?
2. Are there any of these signals you've found which don't seem to correspond with a death?
3. When did Rupert die?
4. Where did Rupert die?
5. What is the pattern that associates characters with number codes?
=====ACTUAL ANSWER=====
01-ST-12 is easily missed. It's the only file in which Rupert appears alive. The thunderclap for this happens very early on, in 01-QU-1-11, probably the first file you read. Note that in 01-QU-1-11, Harry Thornton knows who Rupert is for the first half of the scene ("worked for him all my life"), which means Rupert isn't dead yet. The thunderclap then happens halfway through, and Harry Thornton then says Mr Galley... now meaning Edmund.
You also get a clue in 01-LI-3-5, where Oswald and Martha are talking about Rupert in the first half of the scene, saying he just left, until midway through the scene there's the thunderclap.
You'll almost certainly have worked out that character numbers correspond to the order in which they die. Since Harry Thornton is 11, Rupert must be 12. You also know he died in the Study, again from very early on.
I don't think it can spread again, or at least not easily. It doesn't seem to be enough to remember simply anyone who died, you have to remember specifically the last victim immediately before yourself - somewhat analogous to It Follows. The officer who died isn't known to you the player, and on reading these files, you know enough not to try jog Alan Thomas' memories. It seems Thomas didn't know the officer particularly well, he was an outsider brought in, and Thomas can't put a name or description to him, so it doesn't seem to have kept going.
Spoilers below:
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This was a really well-crafted game, well done. The writing was punchy and the central hook of the deaths was compelling. Once you figure out the premise, probably at some point in Act Two, there's a sudden huge momentum and all the pieces fall into place, and it was very satisfying to revisit some older entries and recontextualise them.
There was one odd plot point I didn't quite get. It seemed like the main "haunting" was going to come from something relating to Oswald and Rupert's sister, iirc called Eleanor. Instead, she's remembered perfectly well to the end, and that whole thread of information seemed at best a red herring. It's odd that a character you get no real information on, Amelia, is "patient zero", and odd that Rupert remembers her only after years, with no context to who she was or why the player should care about her. Was there some chain before Amelia or was she the first? Why her? Is Dvorak's Humoresque a particular clue or joke? It was odd for Oswald to talk about ghosts getting into Martha and so on - the actual curse appears entirely unrelated to the house and just ended up with the Galleys by chance.
I'm not sure I understood John's motivations at the end. Initially I wanted to think he'd solved the case after talking to Annie at the Chapel, and when he realised the thunderclap had claimed Katherine, committed suicide to stop the chain spreading further by him accidentally remembering Katherine in future. On re-reading, I think this was an overly optimistic assessment - John has no idea whether Katherine had any further family (indeed, he couldn't possibly know, he would have forgotten everything about her...), and it seems likely he committed suicide thinking he'd had a mental breakdown and killed a house full of people or something similar.
I also never solved the hangman - it seems to reject every letter of the alphabet. Does it not have a solution?
