Invisiclues for Finding Martin (in progress)

jwalrus · March 5, 2025, 6:06am

Section 4

Click to expand

You can and should ignore this section until you’ve discovered how to create and enter the misty portals. This section deals with what is on the other side of the portals and the implications of what you can do there.

You are strongly recommended to save your game before the first time you enter any of the portals, and keep that save. Explore the portals for yourself as much as you like, but expect to restore your save before committing to anything.

Dealing with the portals will take you almost to the end of the game. Once you think you have a theory about how to find Martin, or if you don’t know how to find Martin but you’ve run out of anything else to do, consult Section 5 of the hints.

The misty portals

Can I make the game unwinnable in this section?

Oh my goodness yes. Save frequently and don’t overwrite any of your old saves. Under some circumstances, the game could become unwinnable the moment you step through the portal.
Have you tried returning through the portal and then entering it again?
Your second trip has you arrive at exactly the same moment as your first. Your former self is already there, and will carry out all of the same actions as you did.
Have you tried making a third trip through the portal, and then a fourth?
On your third visit, you will see both of your previous selves carrying out their past actions.
If you attempt a fourth visit, you will immediately vanish from existence. So don’t do that.
In the simplest case, this means that you get three chances to do what you need to do.
However, in some cases you need to accomplish something on one visit to set up something for a second or third visit. So don’t waste any of your portal trips.
It’s also occasionally possible to do something which makes one of the actions taken by your previous self no longer possible.
If that happens, you’ll be erased from time, so watch out for that too!
Oh, there’s also at least one situation where you need to take something through the portal and leave it there, but you need to use it to solve a puzzle in the house first. So really do hang onto those save files.

Where do the portals take me?

Explore for yourself. You should be able to work it out, at least in general terms.
This is a big spoiler, but also not a particularly well-kept secret.
I mean, the author’s website describes this game as “an interactive time-travel story”.
The portals take you to the location of Martin’s house in the past or future.
There’s a separate section for each of the four portals you can create, which tells you where—or rather when—it leads to, and gives hints for what you need to do on the other side. Information about the sweet, salty, sour and bitter mist portals can be found respectively in Sections 4a, 4b, 4c and 4d.

How do I work out what I’m supposed to do on the other side of the portals?

Well, you can explore and experiment with stuff just like you’ve been doing throughout the rest of the game. But there is something else you’ve seen during the game which gives you a hint regarding some of your objectives.
You’ve probably experienced double vision and nausea when looking at certain objects. This means that there is something uncertain about the nature of that object.
In general, where you see objects in an uncertain state, there is something that you can do in the past which will cause the uncertain possibility to come about, or at least something that you can do in that area in the past which will affect the future.

How am I supposed to accomplish anything here when I can’t interact with anything?

It’s true that you can’t physically manipulate anything that you find on the other side of the portal, and that no-one can see, hear or otherwise perceive you.
However, you can bring objects with you through the portal and leave them there.
When you drop an object, it becomes bound to the reality on the other side of the portal, and you won’t be able to interact with it any more. But now it exists in the portal’s reality, which could either accomplish something immediately, or have knock-on effects in the (relative) future.

I found a crystal box but I can’t open it!

If you’ve found the box, you should know who it belongs to.
This person created the device inside the box because of their interest in time travel, which was inspired by a specific event in their past.
Since you caused that event, you should be able to figure out what it was.
Rearrange the tiles to spell PURPLE FLOWER.

I found a Swiss army knife but I can’t open it!

You need to be holding the knife physically in your normal hands before you can open it.
That means you need to be holding it in the present. If you’re still in the past, see the section on where the knife currently is for hints on how to get hold of it in the present.
Have you examined the knife?
Have you watched the corresponding programme on the video screen?
YODEL.
It doesn’t quite work, but it’s the best you’re going to get. Besides, by the time you get to this point, there’s a good chance you know just how badly you need that corkscrew.

My goggles disappeared when I passed through the portal!

Can you think of a possible causal link between passing through the portal and the disappearance of the goggles?
If you did something in the past which meant that Martin was no longer able to create the optical filter, you wouldn’t have been able to use the goggles in the present. But without the goggles, you wouldn’t have been able to reach the portal.
There’s nothing that you can encounter in the past which is directly related to Martin’s invention of the imagination-enhancing optical filter.
Your goggles didn’t disappear. Stop reading hints which don’t apply to you.

I found some weird gloves but I can’t wear them!

Presumably you’ve examined them.
The outside of the gloves is normal, but the inside of the gloves acts like it isn’t really there.
There are probably two places in the game which this description should remind you of. One is what happens when you try to interact with physical objects on the other side of the portals.
The other involves the phone booth.
Drop the gloves in the phone booth and transmogrify them.

I’m wearing some weird gloves but now I can’t do anything else!

The gloves aren’t designed to be worn in this reality.
If you wear the gloves when you go through the portal, you can use them to interact with physical objects on the other side.
But since you can’t pick anything up while wearing the gloves in the present, you won’t be able to take anything else through the portal with you on any trip where you’re wearing the gloves.

I think I know what the gloves are for but I can’t get them to where I need them to be!

Once you’re wearing the gloves, you can’t move them around except by wearing them, because you can no longer touch the outside.
This might be a problem if you’re trying to get them into the secret garden, because the trapdoor keeps closing on you.
See the hints regarding the fountain in the secret garden.

jwalrus · March 6, 2025, 11:54pm

Section 4a

Click to expand

The sweet mist portal

How do I get inside the house?

Pay attention to what’s going on around you.
Rachel is running back and forth between the secret garden and the laboratory. When she opens the sliding door, you can pass through.

What am I trying to do here anyway?

There are two things you need to accomplish in this time period. One of them should be really obvious.
Rachel is looking for a purple flower.
The second thing you need to do is much less obvious, but there’s a clue elsewhere in the game during a flashback to the aftermath of Martin’s father’s death.
Martin’s mother returned the box of cassette tapes containing the research logs to Jorucho Takamine, but one of them fell out by accident and Rachel picked it up.
In one version of the past, it was one of the regular blue cassettes that Rachel kept, but in another version, it was the yellow cassette.
You need to add the yellow cassette to the box of tapes.

Where do I find the things I need?

Rachel has already said there’s no purple flower growing in the garden. If there was, she’d have fetched it herself.
Neither of the objects you need are available in this time period. You need to bring them with you through the portal.

How do I give Rachel what she wants?

You can’t give anyone anything during your trips through the portal because no-one can see you to take anything from you.
But if you just drop the flower where Rachel is, she’ll notice it and pick it up eventually.

jwalrus · March 8, 2025, 12:13pm

Section 4b

Click to expand

The salty mist portal

How do I get inside the house?

You can’t open the sliding door.
You can’t get anyone else to open the sliding door.
You can’t open any of the other doors into the house either.
And no-one who is currently in the house is particularly interested in coming out into the cold.
You can’t get inside the house in this time period.

What do I do with the snowman?

You don’t need to do anything with the snowman to finish the game.
The snowman is just there to show that some children have been playing here.
If you really want to do something with the snowman, see the section on bonus points.

How do I get out of the courtyard?

If you can’t see an obvious way to do this, you probably can’t do it yet.
Now that you’ve started travelling in time, there’s something in the courtyard that you’ve probably been hoping to get around to dealing with eventually.
Once you’ve figured out how to grow the sycamore tree in the patch of dirt, you’ll be able to climb it to get out of the courtyard.

What do I do with the children?

When you see the children, you experience a moment of connection with them.
If you don’t already know the significance of that, you can’t do anything here yet.
Apart from that, there’s nothing else you need to do here.

jwalrus · March 12, 2025, 5:22am

Section 4c

Click to reveal

The sour mist portal

How can I tell what’s happening in the living room?

There’s a device in the game that can be used for understanding people (and animals) in all sorts of situations.
Along with its many other translation abilities, it will help you lip-read the conversation that Raina and Rachel are having in the living room.
You’ll know it when you find it.

How do I get inside the house?

There are two ways inside the house in this time period. However, only one of them is available to you on your first visit here.
Both ways depend on you being able to get out of the courtyard. See that hint first.
The first way into the house is through the stone door.
You can’t say “mellon” to the stone door, so you’ll have to wait until someone else is going that way and follow them in.
The second way is to open the fuzzy chamber using the glass shelf on the balcony.
You’ll need to do something else in this time period before you can get the key item for the shelf in the present day, which is why you can’t do this on your first visit.
The last hint for this question tells you the key item for the glass shelf on the balcony.
It’s the coconut.

How do I get out of the courtyard?

If you can’t see an obvious way to do this, you probably can’t do it yet.
Now that you’ve started travelling in time, there’s something in the courtyard that you’ve probably been hoping to get around to dealing with eventually.
Once you’ve figured out how to grow the sycamore tree in the patch of dirt, you’ll be able to climb it to get out of the courtyard.

Wait, have I just found Martin?

You’ve found where Martin was a couple of decades ago. I don’t think that’s what Rachel had in mind when she phoned you and asked you to help find him.
Sorry, you haven’t won the game yet!

What do I do at the mesa?

The conversation Raina and Rachel are having in the living room will give you a hint about what to do here.
Martin “needs a friend.”
It’s not you.
Martin is also missing the family cat, Paganini.
You have to bring Martin a cat.
Bring the tiger-striped kitten through the portal with you and drop him at the mesa where Martin is.
You might realise after having done this that you needed to do something in the present with the kitten first. Consider this another reminder to save frequently when traveling in time!
But don’t put off bringing the kitten to Martin, because the scene that follows gives you a hint for the other thing that you should be doing with the kitten.

Can I do anything in the kitchen?

Given that you’re not solid enough to interact with anything, not really.
The laundry room door is open, though.
So if you brought an appropriate item through the portal with you, you could put it on the glass shelf.
Do note, though, that if you want to get into the living room, you need to follow Martin through the china cabinet immediately, or he’ll close it behind him.

Can I do anything in the living room?

If you’ve arrived in the living room on your first visit to this time period, you probably haven’t accomplished what you wanted. (In fact, the game is probably now unwinnable.) But, the scene that plays here contains several hints about what you should be doing in this time period.
Rachel wishes she had her sketchbook.
You have a time-uncertainty-headache-inducing vision of giving it to her, in fact.
Your ultimate objective in this time period is to give the sketchbook to Rachel.
Rachel mentions that she can’t get the sketchbook out of her room because Martin has locked the golden lamp inside the glass case, and the “Theme from Scheherazade” is inside the piano bench.
Read on if you need the implications of this explained to you.
The golden lamp is a fire-related item, which means that it’s an alternative key item for the glass shelf in Rachel’s room.
The golden lamp is currently locked inside a glass case in Martin’s room, which is opened by playing the “Theme from Scheherazade” on the violin.
You can’t open the piano bench in this time period because you can’t interact with the kitten after you’ve dropped it at the mesa.
If you want to open the glass case, you’ll need to retrieve the “Theme from Scheherazade” in the present time and bring it through the portal with you.

What do I do in Martin’s bedroom?

There are two things of note in Martin’s bedroom.
One is the glass case. You can ignore it until you have a reason for wanting the lamp, though.
A rudimentary look around the room should reveal the other.
There’s a Swiss army knife under the dresser.

How do I convince the penguins to leave me alone?

In the present time period, the penguins didn’t let you into Martin’s room at all. Now it seems they won’t let you leave!
Remember that when you first met the penguins, they didn’t cause you any trouble at all?
It’s only due to the imagination-enhancing goggles that you perceive them as real penguins, rather than lawn ornaments.
However, if you’ve tried removing the goggles while in the past, you’ll discover that you can’t.
So if the penguins capture you, you’re stuck.
This is unlikely to be a problem, though, because the penguins don’t actually appear in the past, in Martin’s room or anywhere else.

How do I open the glass case?

You’ll get a hint about this if you reach the living room in this time period.
You need to play “Theme from Scheherazade” on the violin. Fortunately, a violin is provided!
Unfortunately, you don’t know how to play it. You’ll need to find someone else to pay the violin for you.
Although the violin is normal-sized, it can be played by a violinist of any size.
Such as a ten-inch violinist.
If you’ve followed all of the other references to ten-inch musicians elsewhere in the game, you should hopefully know the answer to this one by now.
While carrying “Theme from Scheherazade” and wearing the imagination-enhancing goggles, WIGGLE EARS.

How do I pick up the Swiss army knife?

You can’t reach under the dresser to get it.
The huge, unstable piles of junk in the room description seem like they could be hinting at something, don’t they?
If you PUT something ON the piles, they’ll collapse and, in the resulting avalanche, the Swiss army knife will be knocked into the laundry chute.
In case it’s not obvious, the laundry chute leads to the washer in the laundry room downstairs

How do I take objects from this time period back through the portal?

Even if you pick them up using the gloves, you can’t carry them through the portal with you.
There’s only one item from this time period that you can bring into the present, and it’ll have to go the long way around.
The item is the Swiss army knife.
Since you can’t carry it with you, and you can’t get into Martin’s old room in the present in order to retrieve it from under the dresser, you’ll have to arrange for it to be hidden away somewhere while a couple of decades go by.
Leaving it lying in plain sight on top of the washer is no good.
Maybe you’ve discovered that you can leave a container on top of the washer and the knife will fall into it.
But if you do that, you can’t pick up the container afterwards, and even if you could, you couldn’t take it through the portal.
You need a container that could sit around somewhere for decades without anyone either trying to open it or throwing it away.
Put the fake can of spam (open, obviously) on top of the washer before you dislodge the knife. It will close itself when the knife falls in. Back in the present, you’ll find that someone picked it up, put it in the pantry, and left it there, with the knife still inside.

What do I do in Rachel’s bedroom?

Things in Rachel’s bedroom are much as you’ve seen them before.
Dmitri the parrot is here now, but you can’t interact with him, just like you can’t interact with anyone else.
The only thing that’s important here is the sketchbook.
Have you been to the living room?
Rachel wants someone to bring her the sketchbook.

How can I take the sketchbook with me?

As you’re probably aware, removing the sketchbook from the glass shelf will reset the fuzzy chamber to the start of its movement cycle, trapping you in Rachel’s room until you put the sketchbook back.
If you want to leave with the sketchbook, you’ll need to replace it with an alternative key item.
The symbol on the glass shelf is a fire. Have you seen a fire-related object nearby?
If you go to the living room without the sketchbook, Rachel will mention the other object that can be used.
It’s the golden lamp from Martin’s room.

How can I control the fuzzy chamber without the cloth sack?

Short answer: you can’t.
If you’re asking because you’re trying to get into one of the bedrooms while wearing the gloves, is there anyone else who could hold the sack and control the chamber?
If you haven’t properly explored the portal mechanics, now would be the time.
You’ll need to make two trips through the portal: one to rotate the fuzzy chamber into the correct positions at the correct times, then a second to actually pick up the objects you’re trying to get.

How do I light the golden lamp?

What does one typically do with these Arabian-Nights-style lamps?
Rub the lamp.
You’ll need to rub it three times to get it to light.
If you’re not wearing the goggles, you won’t get any feedback the first two times you rub the lamp, but it will still light on the third try.

How do I get from Rachel’s room back to the living room?

The only way into the living room in this time period is through the dining room.
And you can’t open the china cabinet, because you can’t speak or sing.
The only way to get past the china cabinet is during the two-turn window when Martin passes that way after finding the kitten.
That means that if you’re trying to get into the living room with the sketchbook, you need to be in the kitchen with the sketchbook in your hands by the time Martin arrives.
You’ll need to plan on getting the sketchbook on a separate trip through the portal, and get inside the house before Martin does so that you can be ready to follow him past the china cabinet.

I did everything I thought I was supposed to, and then I was erased from time! Is this a bug?

It’s probably not a bug.
How well do you understand how the fuzzy chamber works? If you’ve just been muddling your way through, the game is set up so that you’re likely to end up creating a paradox.
The fuzzy chamber opens to the east after six steps of its cycle, and to the west after four and eight steps.
If you reset the fuzzy chamber by taking the sketchbook, and then rotate the opening back to Rachel’s room using the golden lamp, it will always be on step four.
If you originally entered Rachel’s room while the fuzzy chamber was on step eight, resetting it to step four means that it will respond differently to whatever your past self does to control it than it did originally.
This means that when your past self eventually tries to leave the fuzzy chamber, the exit will be pointing the wrong way, contradicting the events of your previous visit and creating a paradox.
When the fuzzy chamber is open to the east (which it will need to be if you want to get the golden lamp) and you want to make it open to the west (so that you can swap the lamp for the sketchbook), you need to move it two steps back in its cycle, not two steps forward.
Putting the ear tile into the sack would work, for example.

This puzzle is too hard, what’s the exact sequence of moves I need to make in the fuzzy chamber?

If you entered the fuzzy chamber by climbing up from the laundry room, it starts in position 2. Take out the mouth tile (+4) to move it to position 6, which is east. Then put back the mouth tile (-4) and take out the ear tile (+2) to move it to position 4, which is west.
If you entered the fuzzy chamber from the north by using the coconut, it starts in position 1. Take out the mouth tile (+4) and the eye tile (+1) to move it to position 6. Then put back the mouth tile (-4) and take out the ear tile (+2) to move it to position 4.
Once you’ve picked up the sketchbook, it doesn’t matter how you manipulate the chamber, because else that you need to do should cause the chamber’s movements to diverge from whatever you did on the previous trip.

I’m hopelessly confused, can you just explain exactly what I’m supposed to do in this time period?

Okay, here we go!
Enter the sour mist portal carrying the cloth sack, the kitten, the fake can of spam, a glass of water and an expendable object such as some food from the black box or a flower from the garden. Optionally, wait a few turns before you do anything to give yourself a bit of slack in future visits.
Go to the mesa, drop the kitten, then follow Martin back to the house and into the kitchen.
Go into the laundry room, put the fake can of spam (open) on the washer and the water on the glass shelf, then climb up into the fuzzy chamber.
Rotate the chamber to point east (it doesn’t matter how), then go into Martin’s room and drop your expendable item on the piles to knock the knife into the can. Exit the fuzzy chamber to the north onto the balcony and go back through the portal.
Back in the present, retrieve the knife, open it and use it to fetch the coconut from the island near Bora Bora.
Enter the portal again carrying the cloth sack, the coconut and “Theme from Scheherazade”. It’s useful but not essential to be wearing the goggles for this trip and the next. Use the coconut to enter the fuzzy chamber via the balcony.
Rotate the fuzzy chamber to the east by taking out the eye and mouth tiles, go into Martin’s room and wiggle your ears.
Wait a turn, then go back to the fuzzy chamber and rotate it to the west by putting back the mouth tile and taking the ear tile. Wait for six or seven turns for your future self to do everything that’s needed in Rachel’s room, then rotate the chamber to point down. Wait another turn, then rotate the chamber to the north, exit via the balcony and go back through the portal.
Enter the portal for the third time, wearing the gloves. Follow your second former self onto the balcony and into the fuzzy chamber.
Go into Martin’s room and take the golden lamp when the glass display case opens. Once your former self rotates the fuzzy chamber to point west, go into Rachel’s room.
Take the sketchbook, rub the lamp three times, then put the lamp on the glass shelf. Go back into the fuzzy chamber, and, when it rotates to point down, exit into the laundry room.
Wait in the kitchen for Martin to arrive, then follow him through the dining room into the living room and give the sketchbook to Rachel.

Since the lab exists in this time period, can I get inside it and activate the machine in order to create another time portal?

You are a deeply twisted individual for even thinking of this. However, you are likely to be popular as a beta tester.
See the section on bonus points.

jwalrus · March 16, 2025, 1:07pm

Section 4d

Click to reveal

The bitter mist portal

What are the little girl and her grandmother taking about?

The little girl is Raina, Martin’s mother. You’ve come a long way into the past, before the house was built.
The most important part of the conversation is the part that isn’t spoken in English. You’ll need a way to translate what you’re hearing.
If you don’t have a translation device of some sort yet, come back to this conversation when you do.
Raina is making something called a “journey belt”, which will eventually be needed in the future by someone her grandmother refers to as “the shaman”.
The next hint tells you who the shaman is, in case you haven’t worked it out for yourself.
The shaman who will need the journey belt to bring him home is you.

How can I stop the squirrel from stealing all the sycamore seeds?

You’ll need to distract the squirrel with something else.
What else is available that the squirrel might like?
The squirrel likes the raspberries from the raspberry bush.
If you don’t have a way to pick the raspberries from the bush, you can’t solve this puzzle yet.
Once you have an item which lets you interact physically with objects on the other side of the time portals, you’ll be able to pick the raspberries.

What do I do with the sycamore seed once I have it?

You can finally resolve something you probably came across almost at the very start of the game.
Plant the seed in the patch of dirt.
Nothing visible will happen immediately, but now there will be a sycamore tree there in all subsequent time periods.

jwalrus · March 16, 2025, 8:25pm

Section 5

Click to reveal

Actually finding Martin

Where is Martin?

Don’t read on until you’ve been inside Martin’s father’s laboratory.
Don’t read on until you’ve opened the black trunk in the attic.
Have you tried waving the fan while in the laboratory?
Now you know where Martin is.
Insofar as he’s anywhere at all.

How do I get to the place where Martin is?

Don’t read on until you know what happened to Martin.
The last place that Martin physically existed was on the sofa in the living room.
Now he’s trapped inside the dream that he was having there.
Have you tried sleeping on the sofa?
If it didn’t work, maybe you should do something before you go to sleep that might prompt you to dream of Martin.
You could look at a picture of Martin.
There are two pictures of Martin available in the game. The more accessible one is the one on Martin’s security badge.
There is also—possibly—a picture of Martin in Rachel’s sketchbook.

Can I leave the place where Martin is if I don’t have everything I need?

Yes. Compared to other parts of the late game, the endgame is actually very forgiving. If you’re missing something you need, you can just leave and try again.
How does one normally leave a dream?
WAKE UP.

How do I communicate with Martin?

Martin is trying to talk to you, but you can’t hear him.
You can see his lips moving, though.
There’s a device in the game that will translate almost all forms of communication for you. Come back and try this again once you have it.

How do I do what Martin wants me to do?

The first thing that Martin wants you to do is remember him.
Just typing REMEMBER MARTIN isn’t enough. What have you used previously in the game to trigger memories?
Wave the fan.
After that, Martin will want you to take his hand.
The message you get when you try and fail to take Martin’s hand should be familiar by now. If it’s not, you need to progress further through the game first.
You can solve this problem the same way that you’ve solved it already (assuming that you have solved it already).
You need to be wearing the gloves.
Of course, if you want to fall asleep while wearing the gloves, you can’t also be holding the fan.
The dream is not as transient as you might imagine.
Fall asleep holding the fan, drop it in the dream, wake up, then put on the gloves and fall asleep again. Depending on the timing, you might need to look at the picture of Martin again first.

How do I find Martin “with hope in his eyes”?

If you’ve found yourself inside the shadow dream, it’s because Martin is no longer as you remember him.
If the descriptions of Martin all mention how tired he looks, you won’t be able to rescue him from this dream.
The description of the security badge says that the picture makes Martin look old and discouraged.
You can’t rescue Martin using the security badge. You need to find a picture of Martin as you remember him.
You’ll need to use the picture in Rachel’s sketchbook.
When you first find Rachel’s sketchbook, the final page is blank, but gives you the headache-and-nausea effect that you get when you look at something whose past is uncertain. You’ll have to change the past to ensure that Rachel sketches Martin on the final page.
Note that in the present, there’s no way to take the sketchbook out of Rachel’s room, so you’ll have to look at it there, then go back to the living room to dream of Martin.

I think I lost something important!

This hint is about what to do if you just solved the sketchbook puzzle but an item that you know you need to finish the game is no longer where you though it was.
If you took the fan (or anything else) into the shadow dream and left it there, it won’t appear in the real dream.
But you can use the security badge to return to the shadow dream and get it back.

What does it mean if I’m told that the time is not right?

This is an unusually vague message, but generally you should only end up in this situation if you’ve already had a more specific hint about how to save Martin.
However, it’s just conceivable that you could end up in this situation unwittingly, if you happened by chance to guess that a particular item would be needed in the endgame before you were told.
This is the message you get if you bring the yellow audio cassette into the dream before fulfilling the other requirements to bring Martin home. See the next question for details.

What do I need to bring Martin home?

If you reach Martin but aren’t able to save him, you’ll generally get a message telling you what else you need to do.
The rest of the hints for this question spell out exactly what’s needed.
You need to bring the fan and the yellow audio cassette into the dream, then return wearing the gloves, as well as the headphones and the journey belt. You need to have activated four of the cords on the journey belt (red, yellow, brown and turquoise) by this point. The fifth is activated during the endgame itself.
If you don’t have the journey belt or don’t know how to activate it, see Section 5a.

jwalrus · March 16, 2025, 8:44pm

Section 5a

Click to reveal

The journey belt

What is the journey belt?

If you haven’t been through the bitter mist portal yet, come back to this section once you have. You’re nowhere near to the point where you need the belt anyway.
See the section on the conversation between Raina and her grandmother.

Where is the journey belt?

You’ve seen Raina making it in the past. It’s made of five cords braided together.
Although her grandmother said to keep the belt in a secret place, it isn’t actually hidden. Or alternatively, it’s hidden in plain sight.
There’s a fairly good chance you’ve already picked it up, in fact.
It’s the strap used to hang up the basket of gardenias in the gazebo.

How do I activate the journey belt?

The belt draws its power from moments of connection between people.
When you witness a connection between two people, you’ll get a message about the wind drawing strength from the bond between them. If you’re wearing the journey belt at this time, one of the cords on the belt will be activated and change colour.
Raina’s grandmother said that four fingers will bring strength from afar, but the thumb must wait.
This is telling you that you need to activate the first four cords before attempting to rescue Martin. The final cord is activated during the endgame itself.

How do I activate the red cord?

The red cord is activated by a romantic connection.
It’s also the only cord activated without using any of the portals.
Wave the fan in the gazebo.

How do I activate the yellow cord?

If you know about the journey belt at all, you ought to be aware of the moment which allows you to activate the yellow cord.
Once you’ve found the belt and put it on, return through the bitter mist portal and watch the conversation between Raina and her grandmother again.

How do I activate the turquoise cord?

The turquoise cord is activated by the bond between parent and child.
Go through the salty mist portal and look at the children playing in the snow.

How do I activate the brown cord?

The brown cord is activated by a connection between siblings.
This is the only moment of connection which you get exactly one shot at witnessing.
When you bring the sketchbook to Rachel in the sour mist portal time period, the brown cord is activated while she sketches Martin.
You have to use all three of your trips through the sour mist portal to get the sketchbook, so if you did that before finding the journey belt, you’ll have to restore to an earlier save.

jwalrus · March 16, 2025, 9:09pm

And that should be everything needed to finish the game! I’m going to add a section 6, but only to hint at how to get the bonus points.

mathbrush · March 16, 2025, 9:43pm

Congrats! This is huge. Thanks for putting it together!

Draconis · March 16, 2025, 11:09pm

Perhaps after Trinity or Counterfeit Monkey is done, this should be the next forum Let’s Play…