I’m having a lot of fun with this one but alas have gotten stuck. I’m a fair ways into it, have defeated the witch and absconded with Uncle Bill’s head. Currently I’m trying to talk to Esmeralda but haven’t located any coins or valuables to give. Also I’ve killed a boar and raven that I’m not sure what to do with?
Probably there is something obvious I’ve missed or haven’t examined closely enough. Nudges on specific areas/goals to focus on would be appreciated.
This sounds like a similar situation to where I was in my playthrough.
Re: something for Esmerelda, I’ll list three hints. One is room-specific, one is thing-specific, and the last is a specific direction for the thing.
Re-explore the library.
You need to open the drawer in the desk.
The lock can be picked with the hairpin.
-Wade
Just in case you haven’t found the item in Wade’s third hint, have you been into your aunt’s bedroom yet? If not:
1. You can’t open the door, so you’ll have to find another way in.
2. Go to your bedroom and look out the window. What do you see there? That’s where you’ll need to go.
3. You can’t get out your bedroom window, but there’s another window in the attic.
EDIT: Ignore this. If you’ve defeated the witch, then you’ve been in your aunt’s bedroom.
Thank you all! I’d previously tried picking locks with the wooden pins, and I think relegated lockpicking into the “does not work” mental corner…
Apparently I’m just not finding things I need to find. For instance, I still haven’t made it into the pantry, and the hint just says “find the key to the pantry”. I swear I’ve looked at everything. Is there one thing I haven’t looked at?
There is a key. The spoilered hints above will lead you to it, as well as the thing you’ll need when you can’t find a key to use in the library.
Turns out I hadn’t gone as far east in the first floor hallway as I could have. After that all was obvious.
You’ll have to draw a map for this game. The geography is quite large, so you can’t keep it all in your head. If you miss an exit, you might miss an important location and you’ll be banging your head against the wall.
Can I get a hint on the ravens, specifically how to kill them? I’ve tried going at them with pretty much everything I have in my inventory of sharp, flammable, and/or poisonous stuff, but nothing’s worked and I’m starting to make out my cruelty-to-animals tolerance 
Have you been to the cabin?
Yeah – are you implying I should try to poison the boar’s body with the kerosene? I’ve thought of that, but haven’t figured out how to open the can. If you mean shoot them with the shotgun, I killed the boar – thus the ravens – and the witch with the shotgun, and I only found the two cartridges.
As far as I know, you need to kill the ravens with the shotgun after they’ve landed on the boar’s body. There something else more fun that will kill the witch.
ETA: This means there is AFAIK a possible dead end in the game. Perhaps Garry could confirm that?
Oh, I’ve got a lot of things that could have killed the witch – run her through with the pitchfork, thwack her with a shovel, bash her with a claw hammer, douse her in holy water, bolt-cutter off her fingers, etc. But alas I did shoot her, and quite a while ago! The hints indicate that there are two ways to off a raven, so hopefully someone else has a pointer to the alternate solution since I’d rather not start over. Thanks though!
You are better at thinking of ways of killing people than I am.
We all have our competitive advantages!
When I played, I stabbed the witch Suspiria-style and I shot the ravens. At the end, the AMUSING list seems to be revealing the other way to kill them. I’ll blur it but you’ve pretty much already raised its spectre during your witty kill-list conversations.
* Killing the ravens with the pitchfork and the shotgun.
-Wade
Thanks! I’ve already tried stabbing and throwing, but maybe there’s some other way to use it to kill the ravens? I’ll futz around a bit and see!
There are three ways to kill the witch, two ways to kill the raven and one way to kill the boar. If you kill the boar before you kill the raven, then the ravens are attracted to the carcass. However, the boar is a red herring and you’re better off just avoiding it.
The weapons you can use are listed below. Please don’t peak unless you’re stuck, as these are fairly explicit:
The shotgun loaded with the cartridges found under the bunk in the hunter’s cabin.
The pitchfork found under the haystack in the barn.
The dagger found in the trunk in the kitchen.
Because of the range of weapons, you cannot get into an unwinnable situation.
Thanks! I’d tried both of those alternatives already, and neither attacking with the dagger nor throwing it, or attacking with the pitchfork, worked. And since throwing the dagger did the trick, I assumed throwing the much-less-aerodynamic pitchfork would be even less effective. So I’m unstuck now, but wonder whether there’s some way to make however you’re meant to use the dagger to solve this puzzle more intuitive? I’ll write up a review and attach a full transcript in the next day or two!