malViolence Puzzle & Endings Guide

Complete malViolence Puzzle & Endings Guide, with multiple hints plus the solution for every puzzle, on every difficulty!

Preword

This guide is largely an adaptation of the Official malViolence Puzzles & Endings Guide, of which you can download on malViolence's itch.io page for offline use!, however this one being in steam guide format, with easier to use solution images/videos.
Permission to copy information from the Official malViolence Puzzles & Ending Guide was granted to me by Team malViolence to use here!


Picture solutions are in video form, because spoiler tags on images do not work well in steam guides (you would thank me if you knew). They're very short, just pause the video and it won't go away, so you can cross-reference as much as you need.

I hope you end up enjoying Mr. Cautionne's Wild Ride as much as I did!

Intro to malViolence

Welcome to the official malViolence Puzzle & Ending guide!

This guide contains hints and solutions for every puzzle in the game, ordered by difficulty level.

Highlight the hints and solutions to view them!

This also contains information on how to get every main ending of the game.

These are written out, so avoid them if you want to go into the game blind.

Huge thank you to WestCornfield for providing solutions for some of the hard puzzles!

Tute-or-real? Puzzle

META Puzzle - Color Wheel!
"META Puzzles" are what we call the "final" puzzle of the room, and they typically require you to solve every other puzzle to be able to complete them.
In this room however, all you'll need to do is some light investigation work.

(By the way, META Puzzles are the only puzzles that do not change regardless of difficulty settings, hence the solutions and hints will always be the same.)

Hint 1:

Check the back of the painting for the colors of the shapes,
then the inside of the bowl for the shapes themselves.

Hint 2:

Combine the two documents, then go around the circle shown on them.

You might want to record the shapes on a piece of paper.

Hint 3:

Mix the colors per section of the circle.

Remember:

Red + Blue = Purple

Blue + Yellow = Green

Red + Yellow = Orange

Solution:

Going clockwise, from 12 o’clock:

Red-Blue-Green-Blue-Green-Purple-Yellow-Red

Solution as an image:

Easy - Room 1 Puzzles

Bomb Puzzle

Hint 1:

This puzzle looks simple, but if you don’t consider where you place your pieces, you’ll leave no room for the rest.

Hint 2:

Save the smallest pieces for the end, since they can fit almost anywhere on the board.

Hint 3:

Start with the biggest pieces and bunch them together. That way, they’ll leave plenty of space for the remaining pieces.

Solution:

Decanting Puzzle (the toxin mixing puzzle)

Hint 1:

Keep track of your previous states on paper, so you don’t accidentally revert your progress.

It might help to approach this puzzle backwards from the finished state.

Hint 2:

You need to end up with two jugs full of 4 units of liquid.

The 2 jug cannot hold 4 units, so the solved state must be 4/8, 4/6, 0/2

Hint 3:

If you’re approaching this puzzle backwards, the rules are flipped. Instead of pouring the entire jug, your next move has to be a state where the entire jug is filled OR shares the amounts.

Therefore, the move that comes before it must be 2/8, 4/6, 2/2 or 4/8, 2/6, 2/2

Keep working your way backwards until you’re confident you can make it back to the beginning of the puzzle.
Solution:

Here’s one solution. The numbers used refer to the vials' maximum capacities.

Move 1: 8 -> 6
Move 2: 6 -> 2
Move 3: 2 -> 8


Hacking Puzzle

Hint 1:

Make multiple save files; like one for the puzzle’s initial state. Save when you think you’re in a good spot.

Hint 2:

Work on the left side first. Try to clear the leftmost column so there’s no leftover squares.

Then shift to work on the right side. If you have a leftover square, you will fail the puzzle.

Hint 3:

Try to think three or four moves ahead, calculating what combinations need to be reached by eliminating the combinations beneath them.)

Solution:

META Puzzle - Marble Puzzle

Hint 1:

Did you remember the order you got the marbles in, and the names that are attached to them?

Hint 2:

You might need to look carefully at what ways other pipes would have to cross, when you feel unclear about what path the pipe you're looking at would go, in some of the more complicated intersections.

Hint 3:

I can’t come up with any more hints for this puzzle, so have a marble fact!

Did you know that there’s a type of cake called a “marble cake?” It’s got a mottled appearance, which is achieved by lightly blending chocolate and vanilla cake batters.

Mmm, I could go for some marble cake right now. I wonder if there’s still a slice in the fridge? I swear I didn’t use any for my cooking puzzle…

Okay, fine. You need more help? Colby Padilla’s marble funnel is the one on the right. Happy now?

Solution:

As mentioned in Hint 3, Colby Padilla’s marble funnel is the right funnel.
Brooke Yang’s marble funnel is the middle funnel.
Asiya Bishop’s marble funnel is the left funnel.

If you remember the order you solved the puzzles in, you should be good to go!

Easy - Room 2 Puzzles

Cybernetic Recalibration Puzzle

Hint 1:

The preset paths are not optional. Go ahead and set them first.

Hint 2:

It’s easier to cross the whole map with a line instead of making small, self-contained sections.


Hint 3:

If you’ve got a missing square in your pattern, it can help to loop over your own path.

Three rights make a left, or three lefts make a right.

On easy difficulty, you can solve the puzzle without ever making any 4-way intersections of your own, but there are certainly ways to include them in your solution!

Solution:

Evidence Board Puzzle

Hint 1:

The grey sticky notes placed around the room might give you more information.

Hint 2:

If you like working with visuals, a logic puzzle grid might help.

You can find an appropriately sized example for Easy difficulty here (This line is a link.)[tlstyer.com]

Use the first row and the first column to write down the things you’re investigating (the children, the objects, and the places), and the central grids to check them against each other.

Hint 3:

Remember to eliminate negative options when you have positive clues (and vice versa).

For example, the harmonica has pollen on it. This means it's from the woods, not from the city and suburbs.
Likewise, The red-head is not from the city, which means she has to be from either from the Suburbs or Mountains.

Solution:
You do not need to connect every single piece of related evidence in every possible way to succeed.
As long as each full set of evidence gets connected together by string in any way, without any incorrect evidence connected, it will be accepted.

The blonde kid owns the harmonica and lived in the woods.

The redhead kid owns the toy plane and lived in the suburbs.

The brown-haired kid owns the bracelet and lived in the city.

Panopticon Puzzle

Hint 1:

For the groups to be “balanced” - no column has 2 or more of the same symbol. In other words, each row from outside to inside has a circle, X and triangle (in any order).

Hint 2:

Reviewing the operating instructions carefully can tell you how rings influence each other when moved. The diagram shows:

Blue > White
White > Grey
Grey > Blue

Accordingly:

When you move the blue ring, the white ring will move in the opposite direction.
When you move the white ring, the grey ring will move in the opposite direction.
When you move the grey ring, the blue ring will move in the opposite direction.

You can also study the movement of the rings without consuming moves. If you click to drag, and move the ring around and study its movement, but drag it back to its starting position before releasing the mouse button, that will not count as a move.

Hint 3:

Focus on the “X”s in the puzzle and put them in a position where none of them overlap.

Solution:

These moves can be done in any order.
For reference: “1st ring” refers to the innermost ring., “3rd ring” refers to the outermost ring.

Rotate the 3rd ring clockwise by 2 slots.
Rotate the 1st ring counterclockwise by 1 slot.
Video Solution:

META Puzzle - Word Puzzle

Hint 1:

The word must have five letters.

Hint 2:

Spelling “TASER” will get you a bad ending.

Hint 3:

If you shuffled around “TASER”, what other 5-letter words could you get?

Solution:

Cautionne wants an anagram of “TASER”!

Below is a list of words that he’ll approve of.

ASTER
RATES
TEARS
STARE
RESAT
TARES

Easy - Room 3 Puzzles

Mise-en-place Puzzle (kitchen puzzle)

Hint 1:

On the grid, there are 54 squares. You need to place a total of 34 grocery items.

Therefore, you don’t need to occupy every square with an item. That leaves 20 empty squares.

Hint 2:

Start with the ingredients on the edges and make sure they take up as little space as possible.

Then, work inwards.

Hint 3:

If you’re short of a couple of strawberries, figure out where you can shrink down the rest of your ingredients.

That way, you can open up a square or two for the strawberries.

Solution:

Plushie Puzzle

Hint 1:

Remember; to move on the board, you have to select five unique plushies.

Hint 2:

You want to make sure you leave enough plushies in the center to use as a "path" between the two sides of the puzzle.

Hint 3:

Try to focus on clearing the edges first, so you don't end up cut off from one side later on

Solution:

Quilt Puzzle

Hint 1:

When setting your patches, think about how you’ll combine them with other patches later on in the puzzle.

Hint 2:

There are a few patches around the rim that don’t touch the center set of patches.

Practice with them. You have a wide variety of options, but they need to fit specific criteria, based on their proximity to the other patches.

Hint 3:

The hardest and easiest part of this puzzle is the center hexagon. If you’ve done everything correctly, you can find a pattern to set with reasonable effort.

If you haven’t done it correctly, figure out what square you need to change to chain-react the pieces around the center into a workable solution.

Solution:

META Puzzle - Scrapbook Puzzle

Hint 1:

The order of the photos matter.

Hint 2:

You can reread the photos’ notes by hovering over them on the left side of the screen. The memories attached to each photo can help you find out when each picture was taken.

Hint 3:

Pay attention to the state of Cautionne’s arm.

Solution:

The photos and the entries on the back discuss Cautionne’s backstory. In order, they are as follows:

Hand reaching up to the sky / “There was all this heat and smoke and energy…”
Cautionne eating pancakes / “I don’t remember what the food was like…”
Cautionne on the operating table / “She told me to explore the place.”
Cautionne and Dr. Danger looking at a bomb together. / “I like to watch her work…”

Medium - Room 1 Puzzles

Bomb Puzzle

Hint 1:

This puzzle looks simple, but if you don’t consider where you place your pieces, you’ll leave no room for the rest.

Hint 2:

Save the smallest pieces for the end, since they can fit almost anywhere on the board.

Hint 3:

Start with the biggest pieces and bunch them together. That way, they’ll leave plenty of space for the remaining pieces.

Solution:

Decanting Puzzle (toxin mixing puzzle)

Hint 1:

Keep track of your previous states on paper, so you don’t accidentally revert your progress.

It might help to approach this puzzle backwards from the finished state.


Hint 2:

You need to end up with two jugs full of 6 units of liquid.

The 5 jug cannot hold 6 units, so the solved state must be: 6/12, 6/8, 0/5





Hint 3:

If you’re approaching this puzzle backwards, the rules are flipped. Instead of pouring the entire jug, your next move has to be a state where the entire jug is filled OR shares the amounts.

Therefore, the move that comes before it must either be 1/12, 6/8, 5/5 OR 6/12, 1/8, 5/5

Pick one of the two paths and keep working your way backwards until you’re confident you can make it back to the beginning of the puzzle.


Solution:

Here’s one solution. The numbers used refer to the vials' maximum capacities.

Move 1: 12 > 8
Move 2: 8 > 5
Move 3: 8 > 12
Move 4: 5 > 12
Move 5: 8 > 5
Move 6: 12 > 8
Move 7: 8 > 5
Move 8: 5 > 12

Hacking Puzzle

Hint 1:

Make multiple save files; like one for the puzzle’s initial state. Save when you think you’re in a good spot.

Hint 2:

Work on the left side first. Try to clear the leftmost column so there’s no leftover squares.
Then shift to work on the right side. If you have a leftover square, you will fail the puzzle.

Hint 3:

Try to think three or four moves ahead, calculating what combinations need to be reached by eliminating the combinations beneath them.





Solution:

META Puzzle - Marble Puzzle

Hint 1:

Did you remember the order you got the marbles in, and the names that are attached to them?

Hint 2:

You might need to look carefully at what ways other pipes would have to cross, when you feel unclear about what path the pipe you're looking at would go, in some of the more complicated intersections.

Hint 3:

I can’t come up with any more hints for this puzzle, so have a marble fact!

Did you know that there’s a type of cake called a “marble cake?” It’s got a mottled appearance, which is achieved by lightly blending chocolate and vanilla cake batters.

Mmm, I could go for some marble cake right now. I wonder if there’s still a slice in the fridge? I swear I didn’t use any for my cooking puzzle…

Okay, fine. You need more help? Colby Padilla’s marble funnel is the one on the right. Happy now?

Solution:

As mentioned in Hint 3, Colby Padilla’s marble funnel is the right funnel.
Brooke Yang’s marble funnel is the middle funnel.
Asiya Bishop’s marble funnel is the left funnel.

If you remember the order you solved the puzzles in, you should be good to go!

Medium - Room 2 Puzzles

Cybernetic Recalibration Puzzle

Hint 1:

The preset paths are not optional. Go ahead and set them first.

Hint 2:

It’s easier to cross the whole map with a line instead of making small, self-contained sections.

Hint 3:

If you’ve got a missing square in your pattern, it can help to loop over your own path.

Three rights make a left, or three lefts make a right.

Solution:

Evidence Board Puzzle

Hint 1:

The grey sticky notes placed around the room might give you more information.

Note the part in the instructions that "the subjects arrived within the same calendar year."
If you're not sure which season each month is, June is in the Summer, and December is Winter.

Hint 2:

If you like working with visuals, a logic puzzle grid might help.

You can find an appropriately sized example for Medium difficulty here (This line is a link.)[tlstyer.com]

Use the first row and the first column to write down the things you’re investigating (the children, the objects, the months, and the places), and the central grids to check them against each other.

Hint 3:

Remember to eliminate negative options when you have positive clues (and vice versa).

For example, the red-headed child said they never went to the suburbs or to a place with open water. This means they came from the mountains or the city.

Solution:
You do not need to connect every single piece of related evidence in every possible way to succeed.
As long as each full set of evidence gets connected together by string in any way, without any incorrect evidence connected, it will be accepted.

Subject A, Bracelet, September, Coast
Subject F, Harmonica, March, City
Subject G, Plane, December, Mountains
Subject R, Yo-yo, June, Suburbs

Panopticon Puzzle

Hint 1:

“Balanced” means no column has 2 or more of the same symbol, and thus each column from outside to inside has a circle, X, triangle, and square in any order.

Hint 2:

Reviewing the operating instructions carefully can tell you how rings influence each other when moved. The diagram shows:

Blue > White
White > Grey
Grey > Blue

Accordingly:

When you move the blue ring, the white ring will move in the opposite direction.
When you move the white ring, both of the grey rings will move in the opposite direction.
When you move either one of the grey rings, the blue ring will move in the opposite direction.

You can also study the movement of the rings without consuming moves. If you drag the ring and put it back in its starting position before releasing the mouse button, it will not count as a move.

Hint 3:

First, focus on the “X”s in the puzzle. There are three on the grey rings, two on the blue ring, and none on the white ring. For now, ignore the white ring.

When looking at the rings with “X”s on them, you’ll see there are only two possible configurations where the “X”s don’t overlap. To visualize both configurations, move the two grey rings into position relative to each other, then move the blue ring. Since the blue ring only moves the white ring, it won’t mess up the configuration you set up with the grey rings.

When looking at the grey and blue rings, examine the symbols that aren’t “X”s. You can quickly rule out one of them as invalid because one of the spokes between these two rings will have two triangles. From this information, there is only one valid relative position between the two grey rings.

Once you set up the two grey rings to the correct positions, they won’t fall out of sync - so long as you don’t touch them. From here, you can use the blue and white rings to solve the puzzle.

Solution:

“1st ring” means the innermost ring, “4th ring” means the outermost ring.

These moves can be done in any order.

Rotate the 2nd ring counterclockwise by 2 slots.
Rotate the 1st ring clockwise by 1 slot.
Rotate the 3rd ring clockwise by 2 slots.

Video Solution:

META Puzzle - Word Puzzle

Hint 1:

The word must have five letters.

Hint 2:

Spelling “TASER” will get you a bad ending.

Hint 3:

If you shuffled around “TASER”, what other 5-letter words could you get?

Solution:

Cautionne wants an anagram of “TASER”!

Below is a list of words that he’ll approve of.

ASTER
RATES
TEARS
STARE
RESAT
TARES

Medium - Room 3 Puzzles

Mise-en-place Puzzle (kitchen puzzle)

Hint 1:

On the grid, there are 77 squares. You need to place a total of 52 grocery items.

Therefore, you don’t need to occupy every square with an item. That leaves 25 empty squares.

Hint 2:

Start with the ingredients on the edges and make sure they take up as little space as possible.

Then, work inwards.

Hint 3:

If you’re short of a couple of blueberries, figure out where you can shrink down the rest of your ingredients.

That way, you can open up a square or two for the blueberries.

Solution:

Plushie Puzzle

Hint 1:

Start heading towards the top left, then clear out the bottom left.

Hint 2:

There are only two banana slug plushies on the left-hand side. Don’t leave them to the end and risk failing the puzzle.

Hint 3:

Leaving the three banana slugs in the top right is acceptable. They’ll make matches easy on the right-hand side - if you can dance your way from the left side up to the top right corner.

Solution:

Quilt Puzzle

Hint 1:

When setting your patches, think about how you’ll combine them with other patches later on in the puzzle.


Hint 2:

There are a few patches around the rim that don’t touch the center set of patches.

Practice with them. You have a wide variety of options, but they need to fit specific criteria, based on their proximity to the other patches.

Hint 3:

The hardest and easiest part of this puzzle is the center hexagon. If you’ve done everything correctly, you can find a pattern to set with reasonable effort.

If you haven’t done it correctly, figure out what square you need to change to chain-react the pieces around the center into a workable solution.

Solution:

META Puzzle - Scrapbook Puzzle

Hint 1:

The order of the photos matter.

Hint 2:

You can reread the photos’ notes by hovering over them on the left side of the screen. The memories attached to each photo can help you find out when each picture was taken.

Hint 3:

Pay attention to the state of Cautionne’s arm.

Solution:

The photos and the entries on the back discuss Cautionne’s backstory. In order, they are as follows:

Hand reaching up to the sky / “There was all this heat and smoke and energy…”
Cautionne eating pancakes / “I don’t remember what the food was like…”
Cautionne on the operating table / “She told me to explore the place.”
Cautionne and Dr. Danger looking at a bomb together. / “I like to watch her work…”

Hard - Room 1 Puzzles

Bomb Puzzle

Hint 1:

This puzzle looks simple, but if you don’t consider where you place your pieces, you’ll leave no room for the rest.

Hint 2:

Save the smallest pieces for the end, since they can fit almost anywhere on the board.

Hint 3:

Start with the biggest pieces and bunch them together. That way, they’ll leave plenty of space for the remaining pieces.

Solution:

Decanting Puzzle (toxin mixing puzzle)

Hint 1:

Keep track of your previous states on paper, so you don’t accidentally revert your progress.

It might help to approach this puzzle backwards; from the finished state.

Hint 2:

You need to end up with two jugs full of 9 units of liquid.

The 7 jug cannot hold 9 units, so the solved state must be 9/18, 9/10, 0/7.



Hint 3:

If you’re approaching this puzzle backwards, the rules are flipped. Instead of pouring the entire jug, your next move has to be a state where the entire jug is filled OR shares the amounts.

Therefore, the move that comes before it must either be 2/18, 9/10, 7/7 OR 9/18, 2/10, 7/7.

Pick one of the two paths and keep working your way backwards until you’re confident you can make it back to the beginning of the puzzle.

Solution:

Here’s one solution. The numbers used refer to the vials' maximum capacities.


Move 1: 18 > 10
Move 2: 10 > 7
Move 3: 7 > 18
Move 4: 10 > 7
Move 5: 18 > 10
Move 6: 10 > 7
Move 7: 7 > 18
Move 8: 10 > 7
Move 9: 18 > 10
Move 10: 10 > 7
Move 11: 7 > 18

Hacking Puzzle
Hint 1:

Make multiple save files; like one for the puzzle’s initial state. Save when you think you’re in a good spot.

Hint 2:

Try to think three or four moves ahead, calculating what combinations need to be reached by eliminating the combinations beneath them.


Hint 3:

Work on the right side first. There are a lot of safe moves to make on that side, and it's slightly less complicated to start from.
Then shift to work on the left side. If you have a leftover square, you will fail the puzzle.


Solution:

There are multiple solutions to this puzzle.

Here’s one that’s guaranteed to work!

META Puzzle - Marble Puzzle

Hint 1:

Did you remember the order you got the marbles in, and the names that are attached to them?

Hint 2:

You might need to look carefully at what ways other pipes would have to cross, when you feel unclear about what path the pipe you're looking at would go, in some of the more complicated intersections.

Hint 3:

I can’t come up with any more hints for this puzzle, so have a marble fact!

Did you know that there’s a type of cake called a “marble cake?” It’s got a mottled appearance, which is achieved by lightly blending chocolate and vanilla cake batters.

Mmm, I could go for some marble cake right now. I wonder if there’s still a slice in the fridge? I swear I didn’t use any for my cooking puzzle…

Okay, fine. You need more help? Colby Padilla’s marble funnel is the one on the right. Happy now?

Solution:

As mentioned in Hint 3, Colby Padilla’s marble funnel is the right funnel.
Brooke Yang’s marble funnel is the middle funnel.
Asiya Bishop’s marble funnel is the left funnel.

If you remember the order you solved the puzzles in, you should be good to go!

Hard - Room 2 Puzzles

Cybernetic Recalibration Puzzle

Hint 1:

The preset paths are not optional. Go ahead and set them first.

Hint 2:

It’s easier to cross the whole map with a line instead of making small, self-contained sections.

Hint 3:

If you’ve got a missing square in your pattern, it can help to loop over your own path.

Three rights make a left, or three lefts make a right.

Solution:

Evidence Board Puzzle

Hint 1:

The grey sticky notes placed around the room might give you more information.

Note the part in the instructions that "the subjects arrived within the same calendar year."
This means January is the earliest possible month, and December is the last possible month.

Hint 2:

If you like working with visuals, a logic puzzle grid might help.

Here's a link to a custom template I made that fits with hard difficulty! [This is a link.][cdn.discordapp.com]

Use the first row and the first column to write down the things you’re investigating (the children, the objects, cells, cybernetics, and months), and use the central grids to check them against each other.
Here's one that's already filled out, if you prefer. [Link here][cdn.discordapp.com]

Hint 3:

Remember to eliminate negative options when you have positive clues (and vice versa).

For example, the child with the bracelet was not in Cell 0, 1, or 3. This means that their cell was Cell 2 or 4.

Solution:
You do not need to connect every single piece of related evidence in every possible way to succeed.
As long as each full set of evidence gets connected together by string in any way, without any incorrect evidence connected, it will be accepted.

Subject A, February, Cell 1, Harmonica, Legs
Subject D, July, Cell 4, Bracelet, Eyes
Subject F, December, Cell 2, Yo-yo, Arms
Subject G, August, Cell 0, Knife, Processing
Subject R, November, Cell 3, Plane, Hearing

Panopticon Puzzle

Hint 1:

“Balanced” means no column has 2 or more of the same symbol, and each row from outside to inside has a circle, X, triangle, and square in any order.

By the way, if you’re struggling with the number of moves in your solution, remember that moving the same ring through different rotations will cancel its moves out. You can combine these movements to save space for more moves!


Hint 2:

Reviewing the operating instructions carefully can tell you how rings influence each other when moved. The diagram shows:

Blue > White
White > Grey
Grey > Blue

Accordingly:

When you move either of the blue rings, the white ring will move in the opposite direction.
When you move the white ring, both of the grey rings will move in the opposite direction.
When you move either of the grey rings, both of the blue rings will move in the opposite direction.

You can also study the movement of the rings without consuming moves. If you click to drag, and move the ring around and study its movement, but drag it back to its starting position before releasing the mouse button, that will not count as a move.

Hint 3:

“1st ring” means the innermost ring, “5th ring” means the outermost ring.

Here’s a couple of moves to get you started.

Rotate the 5th ring 2 positions counter-clockwise.
Rotate the 4th ring 2 positions clockwise.


Solution:

These moves can be done in any order.
“1st ring” means the innermost ring, “5th ring” means the outermost ring.

Rotate the 5th ring 2 positions counter-clockwise.
Rotate the 4th ring 2 positions clockwise.
Rotate the 2nd blue ring 1 position counter-clockwise.
Rotate the 3rd ring 2 positions counter clockwise.

Video Solution:

META Puzzle - Word Puzzle

Hint 1:

The word must have five letters.

Hint 2:

Spelling “TASER” will get you a bad ending.

Hint 3:

If you shuffled around “TASER”, what other 5-letter words could you get?

Solution:

Cautionne wants an anagram of “TASER”!

Below is a list of words that he’ll approve of.

ASTER
RATES
TEARS
STARE
RESAT
TARES

Hard - Room 3 Puzzles

Mise-en-place Puzzle (kitchen puzzle)

Hint 1:

On the grid, there are 126 squares. You need to place a total of 79 grocery items.

Therefore, you don’t need to occupy every square with an item. That leaves 47 empty squares.

Hint 2:

Start with the ingredients on the edges and make sure they take up as little space as possible.

Then, work inwards.

Hint 3:

If you’re short of a couple of sprinkles/snappers/milk cartons, figure out where you can shrink down the rest of your ingredients.

That way, you can open up a square or two for the sprinkles/snappers/milk cartons.

Solution:

Plushie Puzzle

Hint 1:

It's important that you choose to stick to a side without too much "backtracking”. The left and right edges of the puzzle can get neglected very quickly if you aren't careful.

Hint 2:

It’s not obvious when the plushies are in a bad position vertically, so make sure to give yourself enough space to collect everything when clearing out a side.

Hint 3:

For your first move, click the spider on the right and go from there.

Video Solution:

Quilt Puzzle

Hint 1:

When setting your patches, think about how you’ll combine them with other patches later on in the puzzle.


Hint 2:

There are a few patches around the rim that don’t touch the center set of patches.

Practice with them. You have a wide variety of options, but they need to fit specific criteria, based on their proximity to the other patches.

Hint 3:

The hardest and easiest part of this puzzle is the center hexagon. If you’ve done everything correctly, you can find a pattern to set with reasonable effort.

If you haven’t done it correctly, figure out what square you need to change to chain-react the pieces around the center into a workable solution.

Solution:

META Puzzle - Scrapbook Puzzle

Hint 1:

The order of the photos matter.

Hint 2:

You can reread the photos’ notes by hovering over them on the left side of the screen. The memories attached to each photo can help you find out when each picture was taken.

Hint 3:

Pay attention to the state of Cautionne’s arm.

Solution:

The photos and the entries on the back discuss Cautionne’s backstory. In order, they are as follows:

Hand reaching up to the sky / “There was all this heat and smoke and energy…”
Cautionne eating pancakes / “I don’t remember what the food was like…”
Cautionne on the operating table / “She told me to explore the place.”
Cautionne and Dr. Danger looking at a bomb together. / “I like to watch her work…”

How to Fail - getting all puzzle game overs

Most of these game overs are simple, one per puzzle, and generally the only thing keeping you from failing is if you have the "Failsafes" option on, which prevents game overs, so if you keep getting "solution is invalid", make sure to turn that off.

Room 0:
Game Over 1
Eat too much of the Labscrip in the starting area...

There's no game over state for the door puzzle.

Room 1:
Bomb Puzzle-
Submit the puzzle without having solved it.

Toxins/Decanting Puzzle -
Run out of moves during the puzzle. You can just make the same move back and forth to get it quickly.

Hacking Puzzle-
Play until you reach an unwinnable state. If you played this on hard, you certainly already have this.

Room 1 Door Puzzle (Marbles)-
Do the puzzle in the wrong order. It depends on the order you completed the room's puzzles in.

Room 2
Cybernetics Puzzle-
Submit the puzzle incorrectly without any unfinished circuits
You can't submit if a circuit is "unfinished", so if it's not working, try making sure there are no loose/unconnected ends. Submitting an empty puzzle should work too.

Evidence Board Puzzle-
Submit the puzzle without having solved it.

Panopticon Puzzle-
Run out of moves. You probably got this one already.

Room 2 Door Puzzle (Scraddle)-
Submit anything that isn't a correct 5 letter word.

Room 3
Mise En Place/Kitchen Puzzle-
Submit the puzzle without having solved it.

Plushie Puzzle-
Play until you reach an unwinnable state. Easier to do on Hard, you might accidentally win on Easy.

Quilt Puzzle-
On opposite day, solve the puzzle.

Scrapbook Puzzle-
Submit the puzzle without having solved it.

Endings, Investigation, and The End

Main Ending Guide
Your ending is determined by how many (non-puzzle) items you inspect in each puzzle room.

The room you wake up in is considered a tutorial and does not affect your ending.

Evil Lab: 3 items
Odd Office: 5 items
Living Quarters: 7 items

This adds up to 15 items in total!

Below, you can find the conditions that need to be fulfilled to reach one of the three endings.
Ending A - Mission Accomplished
Inspect 5 items or less across all three rooms.
Ending B - Communication Error
Inspect between 6 and 11 items across all three rooms, or miss more than one item in any room.
Ending B also has three variations based on whichever room you explored the most!
Ending C - Breakout Role
Inspect at least 12 items, and don’t miss more than one item in any room.


Inspect Spots:

Room 1, Evil Lab:
Oil spill, on the floor near the bomb puzzle.
Primary Source Extractor, the electric chair on the right side of the room
Cabinet with megaphones, on the back wall, somewhat near the hack puzzle.

Room 2, Odd Office:
Floor papers, strewn around near the cybernetics puzzle.
Shelf with plans, in the back left corner of the room, behind the cybernetics puzzle.
Newspaper clipping board, behind the TV, to the right of the evidence board puzzle.
Papers on wall, directly to the right of the newspaper clipping board.
Bulletin Board w/ connections, on the right wall, above the water cooler.

Room 3, Living Quarters:
Downstairs:
Scrapbook, leaning against the TV, left side of the screen.
Notebook, on the kitchen counter in front of the fridge.
"Dr. Danger's Secret Stash": Under the sofa, at the very bottom of the screen -Easily missed.
Upstairs:
Head Bust, bottom left corner of the screen.
Sewing machine with mittens, center of the screen.
Clipboard, on the row of books directly above the right bed. Super small hitbox there!
Diary Pages: Strewn on the floor as you solve puzzles, 2 will drop for each puzzle you complete, they can be found upstairs and downstairs. Collecting all 6 counts as one "inspect".


That's all for this guide! Thank you for reading! Credit for most of these comes from Team malViolence, WestCornfield, or myself! I recorded all the videos and formatted the guide here in one day and I'm exhausted, so good night world.

If you liked this game, check out Artificial Selection and Bad Faith!

[Bootleg Jones]

Personally I think it's more on the puzzle designers to take care to avoid ambiguity like that, though I can't fault the devs too much since even the Professor Layton games have unfortunately had issues with that (and with some much worse examples than this I might add). I doubt that the devs are going to see this but just changing June to July in that puzzle would fix the issue without affecting the solution.

[wBrianthepyro]

No harm in adding it I suppose, will do. I do think you might've been overthinking that one a bit, but that's fair since mV tends to do that to people...

[Bootleg Jones]

So I just came back to try the Evidence Board Puzzle again with the chart you linked to and I was still stuck at pretty much the same point, but I figured out why: I'm on Medium difficulty and even after filling in the chart to be sure I hadn't missed anything I still had the City and Suburbs left unpaired but everything else solved correctly (I double checked what I had against your solution). However, when I originally googled what dates spring starts and ends on the top result said March 20th to June 21st by the astronomical calendar, but when I went back today to check if maybe the dates were different previous years I found that by the meteorological calendar spring is considered to be March 1st through May 31st instead (which by your solution *must* be the calendar the game expects players to use). Given how unintuitive this is I think it would probably be worth adding a hint for it. Also, thanks again for both the guide and for your replies last time!

[wBrianthepyro]

To be honest- the missing image wasn't even particularly helpful. it was a blank template sized for Easy Difficulty only, just as an example of what one would look like, so you still had to make one on your own for every other difficulty. I could've just uploaded the image in this guide, but it'd make for awkward formatting. It wasn't really their fault, I just made a weird choice there.

My new additions of appropriately-sized templates probably should've been done from the start, I just didn't feel the need to until someone wanted it lol

[Bootleg Jones]

Good stuff! Gotta say though, it was an odd choice by the devs to remove the Puzzle Guide from the files while also specifically promoting your guide in the patch notes when your guide kind of relied on the fact theirs was there for one of the puzzles.

[wBrianthepyro]

Fixed the guide, the removal of the Puzzle Guide from the files was intended, I just didn't know!

I've now added links of blank templates for all difficulties, with an additional version on Hard that also already has all the evidence names filled in, and cut out all reference to the Puzzle Guide being in the files. If anyone's in desperate need of an offline-only version, it's available to download on the itch.io page for MalViolence (just without any of my personal tweaks!)

[Bootleg Jones]

thanks! I tried googling for one earlier but I wasn't using the right terms I guess (thanks Google).

[wBrianthepyro]

Oh, thanks for the heads up! the puzzle guide and all attachments do seem to have been completely removed from the game files...
For the moment, you could find one by googling "logic puzzle grid generator", the "TLstyler" site seemed to be fitting, but you may also be able to find one that's "form-fillable" as well to write directly into them.
I never really learned how to use one, so that hint wasn't from me specifically, i had used another method to solve Evidence Board on hard, which I might add to the guide soon if i can figure out how to word it

[Bootleg Jones]

the logic grid template described in the hints for Room 2's evidence board puzzle doesn't seem to be in the game's folder for some reason. In fact the entire subfolder it's supposed to be in doesn't seem to exist for whatever reason. I could really use that template so is there maybe an upload of it on Imgur or something I could grab instead? (I'm not sure if this really needs to be spoiler tagged, but it's related to something that was spoiler'd in the guide so better safe than sorry)

[CyberSe7en]

🙏 Sleep well! 💤