************************************************************************ ___ _ __ _ / _ \| | / _| | | / /_\ \ |__ ___ ___ _ __ ___ ___ ___ | |_ | | __ ___ __ | _ | '_ \/ __|/ _ \ '_ \ / __/ _ \ / _ \| _| | | / _` \ \ /\ / / | | | | |_) \__ \ __/ | | | (_| __/ | (_) | | | |___| (_| |\ V V / \_| |_/_.__/|___/\___|_| |_|\___\___| \___/|_| \_____/\__,_| \_/\_/ ************************************************************************ -by Brian Rushton TABLE OF CONTENTS: 1. In-game help 2. General hints 3. Descriptive walkthrough 4. Step-by-step walkthrough ************************************* Section 1: In-game help ************************************* ABSENCE OF LAW has a variety of in-game options for getting help. Typing HELP will bring up most of these options. Typing COMMANDS gives a list of commands you can currently use in the game; other commands may be recognized, but will not be necessary. For more detailed help, typing HINT will give you a general hint. Typing HINT again will give you a more specific hint, until finally it gives you an exact command to type in for your next step. ************************************* Section 2: General hints ************************************* Absence of Law is an exploration and tinkering game. The main way that the story proceeds is by searching, examining, or by participating in the mini-events. The game begins by asking you to look around. As you progress, you will interact more and more with the world, but examination will always be key. At any time before the final scene, you may switch from project to project without penalty. ************************************* Section 3: Descriptive walkthrough ************************************* This walkthrough is split up into different sections. The game is not completely linear, so they are divided up by projects. This is an explicit walkthrough that will tell you the solution to the entire game. You may see solutions to puzzles you have not yet attempted. If you prefer to only see one hint at a time, it is recommended that you type HINT in-game. The in-game hints get more and more clear as you continue to type HINT. ----3.1 Home Folder---- (This sections contains explicit commands in caps. All other sections of this descriptive walkthrough will not do so). Your goal here is to figure out what's going on. You should probably type SWI to turn off the deadman switch. Hmmm... the only other reasonable option is to try audiovisual mode by typing AUD. ----3.2 Command Center---- The computer doesn't feel like describing everything, so it's up to you to examine things in more and more detail. If you X HAND, you'll learn that you can X HANDPRINT, which will lead you to X THRONE, which will encourage you to X PUDDLE, and, finally to X LUMPY. At this point, the camera fails, and it's time to move on. Which Project you pick doesn't really matter. ----3.3 Project Medusa---- You can access this project by typing MED. ----3.3.1 Medusa Lobby---- This lobby is based on the story of Medusa and Perseus. You are told that there is one connected device in the room. After looking around, you might X MEDUSA, which shows you a code. Unfortunately, it doesn't work. You can X SPRINKLER to find the connected device. It only does one thing, so you can type SPR to turn on the sprinkler and fill the pool. Remember the story of Perseus and Medusa? Dr. Law seems to be a fan of Greek mythology, and the code is hidden in a way that only Dr. Law would understand. Try X REFLECTION to see the true code, and type MOM to unlock the laboratory. ----3.3.2 Medusa Living Quarters---- This room has a few items of interest, but the notepad sticks out. Try X NOTEPAD, which tells you to WAR. Try out some of your new capabilities, such as LAS SPEAR or GUN SPEAR. Hmmm... you may have connected to the wrong robot. If you go NORTH, you discover a button labelled Drawer 1, but it seems to be broken. Where is Drawer 2? Go EAST, to find a large yellow dais. The only thing it could be is the notepad. Destroy it with FIR DAIS, and then HAM CUBE to push the button. Now you are on the high platform, try to X GRILLE. Bottlecaps? Sounds familiar. Try BOT STUDS. Then go N into the duct and W to get out. Finally, go DOWN to interface with the larger robot. ----3.3.3 Medusa Arena----- Try out some of Angel's capabilities. FIR BAG, or HAM BOULDER. But to get out, you should FIR HATCH, then go DOWN. It's hard to aim in the Wild West, but a flamethrower doesn't need good aim. Try to FIR BANDIT and FIR OUTLAW, then go DOWN the ramp. In the pirate challenge, your target is the captain, but the pirates keep getting in your way. Just HAM PIRATE (or GUN PIRATE if your hammer is disabled) each time one reaches your ship, and GUN CAPTAIN otherwise. In the final challenge, your next step is up to you. Be bold and RAI, or play it safe and FOL. Then go DOWN. Now you're finished with the Medusa Area. ----3.4 Project Hydra---- You can access this project by typing HYD. ----3.4.1 Hydra Lobby---- Something is using too much electricity. The only object of interest seems to be the fireplace, which turns out (if you X FIREPLACE) to be a television. Turn it off with TEL. Oops, that seems to have made things worse. You should X WINDOWS to find a way to turn them off. Typing DRA will work, but it's woken up the animatronic spiders. Examine them with X SPIDERS, and type WEB to turn them off. Well, at least now you can go NORTH. ----3.4.2 Hydra Living Quarters---- There is not much to do here, but you should WAIT until you've gathered everthing you can from Dr. Singh. -----3.4.3 Hydra Laboratory This is quite a mess. Hopefully you've gathered everything you can from the Living Quarters. If Dr. Spiel is poisoned, there's nothing you can do but wait for a new clone. You need to make the new clone stop eating the bad food as soon as possibile. Type YUCK. Now you have her attention, so you should direct her to the remote with COME. To encourage her, try REPEAT. If you WAIT a turn, Dr. Singh will come in, and have a bit of an accident. Try CLO to take control of Dr. Singh. This next section is difficult. You should go SOUTH, TAKE ALL, go NORTH and WEST, TAKE ALL, go EAST, and use the remote with REM. Congratulations! You have done everything you can with Project Hydra. ----3.5 Project Moirai---- You can access this project by typing MOI. ----3.5.1 Moirai Lobby---- If you've investigated on your own, you'll see that the rest of the facility is in darkness, with a tiny light source from this room. If you X EYE, you'll see where it's coming from. To get the attention of researchers inside, perhaps you should cover up the hole. The curtains, controlled by CUR, almost cover the eye, but not quite. If they were damp, they might stretch out more. Try to X FOUNTAIN, and ROT until the stream points at the curtains. You can then go NORTH. ----3.5.2 Moirai Laboratory---- Why not help Ginger out? Type ENE. Only a few patterns work here. The easiest one is to OLD everything that starts with a Q and NEW everything else. ----3.5.3 Moirai Living Quarters---- Try telling Fred about Ginger's affections by saying LOVE. Follow him to the lab, where he'll have a transformation, and return to the north. Try speaking everything you can to FRED in his own language. If you WAIT around in the living quarters, he will say quite a bit on his own. You can use POR to turn on the TV to teach him the word for 'sword'. LINK LALY TO LY and SAY LALYLY to get a few more phrases, then LINK VYN TO LYDO to get a movement command (SAY VYNLYDO). You can LINK MYT TO WO and SAY MYTWO to get his word for machine. Make sure Fred has the sword by typing LINK LING TO GYM and SAY LINGGYM, then go SOUTH and command him to VYNLYDO (after you LINK VYN TO LYDO), then LINK VYN TO DAGEI and SAY VYNDAGEI. You can re-age him by typing OLD. You have now done everything you can with Project Moirai. ----3.6 Final Judgement---- You need to play each recorded clip of Dr. Law's, and spotlight each group in turn. You might as well start with HISTORY, and then SPO each group in turn after playing their appropriate clip. Then raise the bier and the golden apple with BIE and APP, and describe both of them with FAITHFUL and REWARD. You can then say WINNER, and SPO the group you want to win. Then just WAIT around for the finale. Thanks for playing! ************************************* Section 5: Step-by-step walkthrough ************************************* This is a minimal walkthrough designed to end the game as quickly as possible. AUD X HAND X HANDPRINT X THRONE X PUDDLE X LUMPY HYD X FIREPLACE TEL X WINDOWS X DRAPES DRA X SPIDERS WEB EMA N Z z N SAY YUCK SAY COME SAY REPEAT Z CLO N S E W S N W E REM Z z [until you have a new clone] S TAKE FLASH TAKE PAPERCLIP TAKE STICK N W TAKE WRAPPER E REM MED X MEDUSA WOW X SPRINKLER SPR X POOL X REFLECTION MOM EMA N X LIVE FEED X MINI-FIGURE X NOTEPAD WAR LAS SPEAR GUN SPEAR HAM SPEAR N X CUBE E FIR DAIS X CUBE HAM CUBE X STUDS BOT STUDS N W D FIR CRATES GUN SAPLING HAM BOULDER FIR HATCH D FIR OUTLAW FIR BANDIT D GUN PIRATE GUN CAPTAIN GUN CAPTAIN GUN PIRATE GUN CAPTAIN D RAI D MOI N S X EYE X FOUNTAIN X CURTAINS CUR ROT ROT ROT EMA N ENE (This point is randomized. Try typing NEW on large things, and OLD on small things, or NEW on things starting with Q, and OLD on everything else). N X FRED SAY LOVE S Z LINK MYT TO GOGO N POR SAY MYTGOGO LINK LALY TO LY SAY LALYLY LINK VYN TO LYDO S SAY VYNLYDO N Z LINK LING TO GYM SAY LINGGYM S SAY VYNLYDO LINK MYT TO WO [There are several alternatives here] SAY MYTWO LINK VYN TO DAGEI SAY VYNDAGEI OLD Z Z Z HISTORY BOTS SPO MEDUSA TEMPORAL SPO MOIRAI CLONER SPO HYDRA FAITHFUL BIE X BIER APP X APPLE REWARD WINNER SPO MEDUSA or SPO MOIRAI or SPO HYDRA X LAW Z Z AMUSING READ ************************************* Acknowledgements: ************************************* ASCII art font from patorjk.com