A Spoiler Free Guide to the Locked/Unlocked Flow Map

It took me a little while to actually understand what those stupid red and white "locked" and "unlocked" circles meant.

I didn't quite grasp the other guides - so I'm going to take a stab at it here.

What the heck are the keys? The Locks?

If you're like me - you decided to play this game and eventually figured out there's a "Flow Map."


The problem is... "Locked" and "Unlocked" aren't very helpful terms.

At first I had NO IDEA what they meant or how to "unlock" them.
Did I even want to unlock them?

So here's the deal.

This game has multiple endings (real shocker there).


The PADLOCKS represent ending branches.
If a padlock has an X through it - it's locked.

That means you're going to get a specific ending.


The KEYS are the exact sections of the game you need to play or replay in order to UNLOCK those keys that will unlock one of the ending paths.

You'll always want to unlock the earliest keys first.

Why?

Because all of the keys are triggered by dialogue and other things.

These dialogues all stack on top of each other - so if you missed an early white key, you can't unlock any of tthe white keys that come after (in other words, you must unlock keys top to bottom on tthe flow chart).

Her's a quick drawing to give you the gist of how it works:


On the left hand example:
If all of the white keys in the flow map are unlocked (don't have X's over them) then you'll ALWAYS go down Ending A's path no matter how many times you play that "branching section" with the padlock on itt.

If even one of the keys on the flow map is LOCKED (has an X), then you'll ALWAYS go down Ending B's path no matter how many times you play the section of the game with the X'd out padlock.

So - you have to UNLOCK all of the keys to UNLOCK the padlocks which UNLOCK a specific ending path.

Protip: When you think you've unlocked a key, check the flow map. If the key is unlocked, you can safely jump to another part of the story.

In other words, if I unlocked a Flow Map White Key during an escape room - I could jump to another part in the flow map immediately without finishing the room. I'd sttill keep the unlocked key.
(at least it worked for me - your mileage may vary)

But why are there red and white keys/padlocks?

There are 2 main padlocks in the game representing 2 different ending paths.

One is red. One is white.

In order to unlock the RED padlock, you need to unlock all of the red keys AND make it to the event with the red padlock (or just choose it from the Flow Map after getting all the keys).

The same goes for the WHITE padlock.

One thing that confused me at first:
YOU CANNOT UNLOCK RED AND WHITE KEYS AT THE SAME TIME.


As far as I know - when you unlock a white key - it undoes some of the red keys you had.

In other words, unlocking a white key will lock your red keys and vice versa.

And if you unlock a red key - it will lock your white keys.
(at least in my experience)

Imagine that when you're getting the white keys you're going for ending A and when you're going for the red keys, you're going for ending B.

You can't go for both at the same time.

So if you want to go fo revery possible ending - you're going to want to unlock keys from TOP TO BOTTOM and pick whether you want to go for WHITE or RED.

Don't try to do both at the same time.

I hope this guide helped and let me know if anything is still confusing.

Y'know. Other than the whole math thing which makes me feel really dumb.

[Renmora]

I cannot thank you enough for this I was about to give up!

[happylittle7]

Very useful. Thank you!

[Gusoyn]

this is what I'm searching the community for. thank you!

[kylianb]

thank you this helped a lot

[Stop Enjoying My Thighs...!]

I'm just glad this helped you.

[Limitless2474]

thank you