Penrose (2020) Invisiclues Hints

[Jollus (Joel)]

General:

• The narrative unfolds in a non-linear fashion; decisions in the past will affect the future, and sometimes vice-versa.

• Choices can be selected via the arrows menu, and are essential to completing the game.

• The goal of Penrose is to complete each section of narrative by making all the correct choices. When this has been accomplished, RESONANCE GROWING will appear, and your choices are locked in. At this point, the narrative will proceed with them as canon and will expand with new branching options available.

• Don’t be worried about content being locked-out once a milestone has been reached, all the information you need to complete the next milestone is still available to you.

Outside the building.

1. Make sure to read the story carefully. Is anything highlighted differently?

2. There’s mention of a generator that’s still running.

3. Make the generator siezed instead. Read through the rest of the story, and see if anything’s changed.

4. You should now be able to select Cat.

How do I find what’s in the building?

1. Peter and Cat will need to work together on this.

2. Check for any new choices that are available.

3. In Cat’s story, there’s an outbuilding that can be unlocked.

4. Unlocking this didn’t seem to make a meaningful impact on Cat’s story. What about Peter’s?

5. The floor-plan has revealed a hidden elevator.

6. Peter’s story reveals that elevator is out of power, but the power needed to be shut off to prevent the alarms. Can something be done about them?

7. Peter’s story allows the alarms to be switched from pristine to corroded.

8. After disabling the alarms, restore the generator power. The elevator should now be available. Proceed through, and select structure to complete this section.

I found something, but it looks like the story is over?

1. Time is relative in the story of Penrose. Check for any new narrative at the start of Peter and Cat’s story arcs.

2. New dialogue has been revealed at the start of Cat’s story, revealing a new character named Danny.

3. Check each character carefully, are any new choices available?

4. Make sure Daniel accidentally grabs the briefcase from the bench. A new character is now available: The Director.

The project has been sabotaged and the story is over. Now what?

1. Marie Penrose was murdered by another man, the same man lying dead with a syringe.

2. There’s a new choice option available that allows a list of names. Surely solving this would help prevent the murder?

3. Marie Penrose’s name is not here. What about the other man? Make sure to read all the dialogue carefully.

4. Enter Antony Salgado into the choice slider.

The project is now proceeding, but I keep getting captured.

1. The interface will tell you if there’s any unread dialogue. Make sure to check each character carefully.

2. Daniel now has some new dialogue where he attempts to access the same elevator that was at the start of Penrose. Looks like a keypad code is needed - would the other researchers know it?

I’m stuck at the keypad code

1. There are 3 new character options are available: researcher, woman and sentry. They seem not of sound mind, but something in their narrative must reveal a clue about the keypad combination.

2. “I am the first of four. …Someone is shouting but it’s not important because the universe won’t be here in three seconds. There, three seconds like I said.” (3)
   “I am the second of four. …Seven shining fishes swimming in undulated waves, seventh harmonic, faster and faster.” (7)
   “I am the last of four. …Footfalls clack six times, and then we start over. Six more, repeat. Six more.” (6)
   The code so far: 3 7 _ 6
   

3. There’s one digit missing. Did one of the new characters have additional choices?

4. The sentry reveals a new choice, and allows you to open the door. Opening it reveals the colleague, and the final number: 4.
   Keypad code: 3 7 4 6.

5. Enter the code 3 7 4 6, proceed down the elevator, select Catherine, and select Peter to proceed the story.

Peter and Cat keep getting killed by their pursuers

1. Their deaths are the result of Peter deciding to give up and stop running. How can this be prevented?

2. Read back through Peter’s story. There’s new narrative that’s been revealed.

3. Peter has a submissive personality, and has trouble standing up to his sister. What could happen to him during the day that could errode his resolve?

4. What if the choices selected led to Peter having a really bad day?

5. Make sure Peter has not enough cash, slips on the railing, and can’t feel the sunlight on his face in the morning because of the development next door. Unable to stand up to his sister, he will accompany her to Sacramento.

Upon returning to the building, Cat keeps getting killed, and Peter’s story ends.

1. You’ll need to influence both Cat and Peter’s stories to advance the narrative.

2. In Peter’s story, try different combinations of options in the house. One of them must lead to an unusual ending. In Cat’s story, you must provide her with extra time by making things difficult for her accomplice.

3. In Peter’s story, make sure he walks right, then left. He’ll then arrive at the huge sledgehammer. In Cat’s story, the figures must be moving out of the way of the shots.

Cat and Peter have reunited, but they’re both killed.

1. With no additional choices available, their deaths seem inevitable. Read Peter’s narrative carefully, are there any additional characters introduced?

2. While hiding in the room, there’s mention of a man propped motionless.

3. Select man, navigate back to Daniel’s story via Cat’s prologue, and when he enters the keypad combination for the elevator, enter 0 5 2 9. Select designs to advance Peter and Cat’s stories.

What’s the correct angle for Peter’s brush stroke?

1. It’s not 57 degrees. Are there any other new characters available? They might be able to provide more information.

2. In Cat’s story, the character chaperone is now available.

3. There’s a choice with three options available: prisoner, histories and machines. These choices don’t seem to affect the chaperone, what about the other characters?

4. Select machines and read the ending of Cat’s story.

5. The correct angle is revealed as 76 degrees.

How do I conclude the story?

1. A new shared piece of narrative has been added the conclusion of each person’s story, with a new character.

2. Select oscillation, and at the start of its story, select mind to access the character behind it all.

3. Marie will need to give herself over to the recursion. In her dialogue choice, select will.

4. Read all of Marie’s narrative carefully, has anything changed?

5. Make the sealed hatch yawning, and select me to complete Penrose.

Extra: When at the heart of it all, before making the final action in Penrose, read the new prologues for each character for some additional content and a shout-out to a popular film.

[Jollus (Joel)]

I noticed a few people around the interwebs asking for help on this one, it’s available through here: https://penrose.doublespeakgames.com/
There didn’t seem to be any walkthrough or hint guide, so I thought I’d make one. Any feedback is welcome.

[aschultz]

I haven’t played Penrose, but I think it’s great to see this sort of thing. We shouldn’t need an excuse to write it up, and we shouldn’t worry about maybe the best place to put something. I’d really like to see more walkthroughs just because, invisiclues or otherwise. David Welbourn can’t do it all on his own

Often just having something like this available encourages someone to give a worthy game a shot, or another shot. And it’s fun. And I think it can be a good community effort, because we all have that game we “get” more than others.

I remember writing a walkthrough for a game that placed very low in IFComp, but it was still neat to see a lot of details and the work that went into it. Maybe part of the fun was learning to use a decompiler to say “aha, I solved it,” but – it was much more fun than I thought it would be!

I also think it’s particularly neat to see works outside of IFComp such as Penrose being represented. Certainly I try and get to all the IFComp games so it’s a good feeling to have someone pointing me somewhere else neat.

[Jollus (Joel)]

Thanks for the encouragement. I agree it’d be great to see a community effort - I noticed that Dan Fabulich has been writing a few InvisiClue-format guides on the site, and this one was fun to write.
I had the sudden urge to play A Dark Room again, which is what brought the creator’s most recent work, Penrose, to my attention. The format is not so much Text Adventure, but would definitely fall under the umbrella of Interactive Fiction.

[rovarsson]

@aschultz

David Welbourn can’t do it all on his own

I still think @David_Welbourn is a single-person name for a collective of IF-geniuses. Like Nicolas Bourbaki in mathematics.

[doublespeak (Michael - doublespeak games)]

This is great! Thanks for playing and contributing, @Jollus

[David_Welbourn]

Good gracious, I’m no genius. I’ve just had a lot of experience playing IF since the 80s, and if authors use the same sorts of puzzles over the years, I have a chance to remember them the next time they come up in a game. If you read some of the ClubFloyd transcripts, you can not only find examples when I’m guessing correctly how a game will go, but also when my guesses are completely wrong or times when I have no idea at all what to do next.

In any event, I welcome more walkthroughs, no matter who writes them. As ASchutlz says, I can’t do it all.

Also, I tend to think of hints as different from walkthroughs and I think writing hints is trickier than writing a walkthrough. When I’m writing a walkthrough, I can spoil pretty much everything in a game (and yes, there are exceptions), but good hints try not to spoil much at all, at least at first, but instead try to get the player to think in the right way that the author wants the player to think, if that makes sense. Like, good hints first tend to remind the player about stuff that the player already knows, but didn’t know they should focus on, or focus on together with some other fact. It’s a skill all its own to do hints well.

[bonsaibb (Nicole)]

I played through to the end, and had two major questions:

1. Which film gets a shout out right before the end? I think I missed it.

2. Can anyone explain the narrative from when you get Peter to leave with Cat onward? It’s clear that there’s a ‘jump’ of sorts, and I can tell characters are affected in some way by the binder. Maybe I was too excited to solve the clues or speed reading to keep up with my partner who was playing along with me, but I feel like I didn’t have a firm grasp on what was actually happening past this point (and in certain threads of the narrative, that felt intentional). Would love any context/theories/explanations, as I truly enjoyed the game and keep thinking about it.

Thanks!

[doublespeak (Michael - doublespeak games)]

There’s a large time gap between each of the chapters, it’s true, and everyone is very affected by the contents of that binder. The cult (and Marie) know what’s going on, though they’re hard to understand sometimes…

Who is the main character of Penrose, really?

Think about your role in the narrative. You’re not just reading, right?

What if I told you that Penrose was an alien invasion story?

[Jollus (Joel)]

@bonsaibb Looks like the creator has gotten back to you with answer 2, but as for your first question:

Which film gets a shout out right before the end? I think I missed it.

There is this quote at the beginning of one of the prologues:

“Just think about it”. Handing me a card, off-white and tastfully embossed.

It seemed to much of a coicidence to not be a reference to the business card scene from the film American Psycho.

[bonsaibb (Nicole)]

Thank you so much! These hints and a second read through provided a lot more clarity. Such an enjoyable game, experience, and story. Looking forward to more games from doublespeak!!

[nFlamel]

I know this forum is over a year old but I’m desperate
Are the cults who kept killing the siblings the aliens? What is the machine? Is the whole scene where Peter looks for the muse in his head?