"Master of the Occult" Secret Search Thread *spoilers within*

[The Ax-Man]

I know there are various topics discussing the secrets within the game, but I thought it might be beneficial to have a topic specifically designated to this achievements' secrets. Obviously my hope is that we'll be able to discover some way to find each and every remaining secret that contributes to the Master of the Occult achievement.

So, to begin, the secrets which are already known. I'll mark each one with a spoiler tag in case anyone would still like to discover them on their own, or only wants help with a specific chapter.

Chapter 1

None Yet

Chapter 2

- In the classroom with the class picture near the blackboard, after standing next to the note and picture for a few minutes, some odd noises/voices will be heard.

Chapter 3

- After drinking the dirty water, passing out, and waking up, attempt to return to where you began the chapter, and you will find a large red eye painted on the wall.
- Once you've discovered the source of the laughter behind the curtain (the gramophone), turn it on and off until a backwards voice is played.

Chapter 4

None Yet



Past this, it seems like many of us have reached a dead-end in regards to where the remaining secrets are, or what the secrets may be. From previous threads, a dev has stated there are twelve of these 'easter eggs' to find. While not confirmed, I believe there may be three secrets per chapter; an even spread of secrets through each part of the story. I may be wrong, and likely am, but it may be a good start to know how much searching we need to do.

I have a few ideas in regards to where we may be able to search, though:

- The backyard leading to the Mausoleum. Others have already discovered the 'SecretCrows' text in the code of the game, so it's a matter of finding out how to uncover it. I don't know what there might be, but it's a good place to start.
- The bookstore. The reader sitting in darkness states that there are some words that can only be seen in the darkness. Perhaps certain notes hold some secret that needs to be looked at for a few minutes? Or maybe a particular bookshelf?
- The Rats. There are a few references to rats in Chapter 3 and 4, so maybe there's a secret near the rooms that strongly reference them, ie. the sewers in Chapter 3, with the 'Rats' and 'Do Not Fall Asleep' written on the walls, and the Red Room with the rat people painting in Chapter 4. Or, perhaps, something to do with the dirty water that causes you to pass out in the first place?
- The foggy trail/maze. Surely there's something hidden here? Maybe following only bird noises, or taking a different set of directions? Possibly something to do with various statues or trees along the path. I can't imagine there not being something along that segment, but I have no idea what to look for exactly.

All that said, I'm likely going to start fresh in Chapter 1, and experiment to see what I might be able to find. Any assistance or hints/clues from you devs out there would also be pretty helpful, though I clearly don't want you spelling it out for us! =P

Good luck to everyone and, please, report back here with any new findings that may contribute to the overall progression!

[St1ka]

Thank you for the awesome thread! We'd love to see everyone's thoughts on this!

[The Ax-Man]

Thanks for the support, Stika. There are very few games where I feel like going above and beyond to find every little secret, but this is certainly a case where I feel it's worth the effort! (That, and you've tied my only missing achievement to these secrets. Curse my completionism!)


Another thought or two:

- Regarding the Rat People. During my initial run through the game, I simply stood there and allowed the bulb to shatter, but I have seen mention of people attempting to leave and being able to keep the bulb from breaking. So, is there something else we could develop in that room? Or, what might happen if we move towards the Rat People instead of away from them?
- I was unable to find anything new in Chapter 1. However, I did notice that it's possible to entirely miss the crows entering the room with the gramophone upon playing the Carnival record. Maybe there's something that changes elsewhere if you miss that event? Or, perhaps, there's something hidden in there but ONLY when the crows are present?
- Also in Chapter 1, there's a single door upstairs, the furthest right one in the hallway, that never seems to open. I've tried opening it with the various keys, the knife, and the hairpin, but I haven't been able to open it. It seems odd that there would be anywhere in the house that goes unexplored, but I can't imagine how to open it from this point on. I did notice the missing pictures are possibly the ones in the secret room past Anna's body. Maybe something is hidden behind a painting unrelated to the Lynx painting? Or maybe something is hidden in the walls behind one of the spaces a painting used to be? I have tried using the knife on each one of the spots on the wall, but to no avail.

I'll keep updating as I go to see what might come up. Hopefully others find this either useful, or worth exploring with me. =)

[The Ax-Man]

Another thought that just came to me!

It seems as though there's only one constant between the currently known secrets: none of them require the use of another item in order to activate. It looks like it's merely a matter of reaching a certain point or touching a certain object at either the right time, or for a long enough time. With that in mind, I may go back through certain points in the game and simply explore more than before. Talk to more people, stand still at interesting points for a few, and see what happens. Of course, all three currently known secrets are activated in different ways, so I can't imagine that all of them will use repeated methods of discovery.

[Fillet Fighter]

About that locked door in chapter 1, I don't think there is any way to open it or get into the room. If you look on the offical forums there are loads of threads talking about that door but no-one seems to have opened it.

[Fillet Fighter]

Also one of the developers stated in another thread that there are a dozen secrets, if thats correct and not just being vague then I suspect there would be 3 per chapter if they were evenly spaced out.
If one of the developers sees this, please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

[Adoru]

We see this door opened in the end of Chapter 4 (however we don't see what is behind of it).
So, I guess, it's not meant to be opened in the first chapter.

[Fillet Fighter]

I just got the explorer of the occult achievement by looking at the books behind the man in the bookstore, after I made the tree grow I went back in the room with the man that reads and when I stood between the stacks of books next to the chair it let me select certain books in the bookshelf, I don't know if they all count.

I replayed the chapter, you can read the books anytime after you enter the bookshop and there are 5 different books you can look at.

[Fillet Fighter]

About the secret crows in chapter 3. If you open the.swf file for the backyard in the games files it shows a shadow of a person turning into crows and flying onto the chimney in the background.

Can anyone think of something that might cause a shadow to appear?

I tried visiting the backyard at different points in the chapter, even after getting lost in the fog but nothing seemed to trigger it, maybe there is an item that triggers the crows to appear?

[Fillet Fighter]

So I went through the FX and Scene folders in the game files for chapters 1 2 and 3 and apart from the secret crows in chapter 3 I don't think there are any other missing secrets.

I didn't go through the files for chapter 4 because I haven't played that chapter yet so if someone wants to go through those files to try and find secrets before I get around to finished chapter 4 please do, otherwise I'll go through them sometime next week.

[Fillet Fighter]

I went throught the files for chapter 4 after playing through it and found some things that might be secrets.

In the .swf file for the bedroom, there is an animation of a crow flying in and back out that I don't remember seeing, also in the sound files for the room there is a file called theRaven that is the sound of wings and a file called Nevermore which is just a voice saying nevermore.

Also in the sound files for the greenhouse there is a sound for glass breaking that I don't remember hearing.

Seeing as no-one has found these things before it feels like I'm the only person who had a good look through the files for this game.

[a_nevels666]

Neat, thanks for looking :)

[Fillet Fighter]

The glass breaking sound for the greenhouse seemed to play after I waited in the greenhouse for a while without the lamp, simillar to waiting for the noise in chapter 2, can anyone without explorer of the occult confirm if this is a secret.

[The Ax-Man]

Thanks for all of the assistance so far, Pillow Master. I'm not familiar with where to check any Steam game files, so I'm glad someone has!

I can't check that information on the glass breaking sound noise, but I have someone working on it now. We'll likely know by tomorrow if it counts or not.

Those books you read to unlock your achievement... do you know which of the five you read first? Did it unlock on the first one, or multiple books later?

[Fillet Fighter]

The Achievement unlocked after I read the first book, but I would think that the achievement would unlock for any of the books, seeing as you have to put the mouse over the book to view it.

[The Ax-Man]

Gotcha, I thought as much. I'll check that out later.
And I have confirmation on the glass breaking noise you mentioned! Looks like we have a few more secrets to list. I'll update the post later, once I've checked them out for myself.