Faraway Proximity Hints [with spoiler tags]

How to solve most puzzles in Faraway Proximity. This guide does not describe every aspect of the game, its purpose is to help you solve the majority of challenges.

Introduction

Welcome to the Faraway Proximity Guide! Here you’ll be able to read hints on how to solve most puzzles in the game. The guide does not attempt to describe every aspect of the game, its only goal is to help you solve Faraway Proximity’s challenges.

The puzzles in the game are often interconnected. For instance, a book collected in one stage might contain a clue that will help you understand the symbols inside another book recovered elsewhere. And some puzzle areas require abilities unlocked in a different location. The game allows you to explore everything since the outset, discovering where to go first and in what order to approach the challenges, is a puzzle in itself.
If you would like a more linear path, guide your adventure with the chapters of this guide or with the following order of stages: 01018, 02029, 03031, 04042. Those are the stages, from left to right, present in the Main Menu. Although this is a more linear route, it does not mean that going wherever you like is the wrong way to play the game. In fact, sometimes, it might be better. Another suggestion, if you want a more straight forward method of completing the game, is to recover all the books before trying to read them. This will provide you with all the information you'll need to solve them. There will be more information about books in the final chapters of this guide.

Remember: try to complete the game without looking at the guide, comeback only when you really need it!

Stages and Puzzles

There are four main stages in the game: 01018, 02029, 03031 and 04042. Each of them contains several types of puzzles: one Main Stage Puzzle, Book Containers and, sometimes, Conceptual Room Puzzles. The stages, with the exception of the fourth one, also have an Unlock Gate (or several) that will grant the player a new ability required to solve puzzles in the area.

It is usually a good idea to find the Unlock Gates first. Doing so will allow you to have more of the abilities required for that specific stage.

Image hint:

01018

Unlock Gate 01: Green Ability

The gate can be found on the left side of the stage. It will unlock the Green Ability. This ability will allow to interact with special single-input objects. See the Main Stage Puzzle below for more information.

Image hint:

Unlock Gate 02: Blue Ability

The other gate on the stage. It will unlock the Blue Ability. This ability will allow you to interact with special multiple-input objects. To reach this gate you must first activate a bridge. See the Main Stage Puzzle below for more information.

Image hint:

Book Container 01: Story

Requirements: None
This area is not a puzzle. All you have to do is retrieve the book. However, notice the platforms on the side of the road. They are almost inviting you to...fall. Try it and see what happens. It might be useful later.

01018: Main Stage Puzzle

Requirements: Green Ability
There’s an object on one of the sides of the main platform. It has three green shining squares. Walk near this object after unlocking the Green Ability and interact with it. A bridge will be activated (and you’ll be able to reach the second Unlock Gate of the stage).

Image hint:

02029

Unlock Gate 01: Pink-Purple Ability

The second stage is divided in three “rings” and a central “square”. These rings have the ability to rotate and alter the appearance of the stage. The movement of the rings is essential to solve this stage’s main puzzle. More on that below. The Unlock Gate is located on the outermost ring. After unlocking the Pink-Purple ability, you’ll be able to interact with objects that require supra-dimensional points (interesting name...). Each object will demand a certain amount of points to be activated and it will remove a specific number of points in your possession. These points are obtained in every puzzle area that needs them.

Image hint:

Book Container 01: Primary

Requirements: Blue Ability
This book container can be found on the outermost ring. The area has two parallel roads. One for you to walk and another for several distinct abstract objects.

Hint one: the goal of the puzzle is to allow the first abstract object to reach the end of its path. To do so, you must first make the object move by interacting, using the Blue Ability, with the rather square abstract being closer to the entrance. This will initiate a memory game where you have to repeat the pattern presented to you: first, the being will select a set of inputs, then, after waiting a little, you’ll be able to select inputs as well (indicated by a blue rotating ring).

Hint two: move and press the correct inputs in order to lower the first barrier. After you complete the initial game, move as fast as you can towards the second square abstract being. There, repeat the process. The second game requires you to remember more inputs than the first one. If you complete it before the moving abstract object reaches the second barrier, the path will be clear and all you have to do is wait for the “antenna” to end its journey.

Image hint:

Book Container 02: Signature

Requirements: None
This book container rests on the outermost ring as well. Inside, there are four platforms containing “copies” of yourself. They move when you do, but only when you are inside the activation area.

Hint one: the objective is to instruct your copies to fall into the center of each of their platforms. You can only control the copies in your field of vision. To confirm they are active, the clones will glow with yellow light.

Hint two: a good way to complete this puzzle is to stand near the objects at either side of the activation area. From there you can command your clones without moving too much yourself. If you keep walking in the direction of the objects, you will not be able to move, but the other versions of you will keep their trajectory.

Image hint:

Book Container 03: Two

Requirements: Pink-Purple Ability and Green Ability
This book container is located on the middle ring. You’ll encounter a platform with four strange “cabinets” and a peculiar “dice” in the middle. In order to solve the puzzle, you must activate the four abstract cabinets. If you walk near the objects on each of the corners of the stage, you’ll notice that all of them require make use of the Pink-Purple ability. Every one demands a certain amount of points to be activated (green number) and will take away some points if you do (red number). The challenge is to figure out in what order to interact with the cabinets without running out of available points (black number).

Hint one: the dice in the center, which requires the Green Ability, resets the cabinets and your points in case you chose the incorrect sequence.

Hint two: usually, the key to solving the puzzle is comparing the two cabinets closer to the path that leads to the main platform. In any new game, look which one requires the less amount of points, that is often the first one you should select. Then continue to activate the cabinets counter clockwise (if you start from the right) or clockwise (if you start from the left).

Image hint:

Book Container 04: March

This book container is placed on the middle ring. Requirements: Nothing required.
Hint: walk and talk to the giant abstract being. You’ll help it fulfill its purpose.

Image hint:

Book Container 05: Before The End

Placed on the ring closer to the center.
Requirements: Pink-Purple Ability and Blue Ability
Two peculiar gates rest on a platform surrounded by two opposite smaller platforms (one in the upper right corner, the other in the lower left corner). When you enter this area, it is briefly —and perhaps obscurely— revealed that the arrangement of the center platform and its smaller companions, slightly resemble “complement” or the idea that if some thing is up, the other is down. If an object is left, the other is right. More on this later.

Hint one: if you approach either of the gates, you’ll realize that you can interact with it using the Pink-Purple Ability. When activated, some inputs on the gate will light up. After this process, you’ll no longer be able to interact with the gate. When you walk near the remaining gate, you will have the chance to interact with it employing the Blue Ability.

Hint two: using the Blue Ability you’ll be capable of selecting (or de-selecting) any input. If you select the same inputs active on the other gate, nothing will happen. And, since the theme of this area is “complement”, you have only one option left: select the inputs that are not selected on the other gate. You could arrive at this conclusion differently, it depends on your contextual knowledge.

Image hint:

02029: Main Stage Puzzle

Requirements: Green Ability, Blue Ability, Pink-Purple Ability
A tall monument is the most prominent feature near the center of the stage. At its base, there are four lights, each one facing a different direction. The color of three of the lights is similar to the color of three of your abilities: Green, Blue, Pink-Purple. If you get close to any of these lights after you have unlocked the corresponding ability, you’ll be ready to interact with the pillar. When you activate the ability, a ring of the stage will start to rotate. Every object on that ring will change.

First hint: the rotation of the rings serves a purpose related with the strange objects located beyond the water that encompasses the stage. If you look closely, you’ll see that there are three objects in total, each with the same color as your abilities and the lights at the base of the central monument.

Image hint one:

Second hint: inside each of the “buildings” on the stage, you can also find the strange objects (smaller in size). The solution to the puzzle lies between the connection of the rotating rings, the strange objects beyond the water, and the objects inside the buildings.

Third hint: using your abilities, rotate the rings in order to match the color of the object inside each building with the position of the object beyond the water (with the matching color). After every building is in the correct location, you’ll be able to retrieve the book titled “The Dark Code”.

Image hint two:

03031

Unlock Gate 01: Golden Ability

The final Unlock Gate is outside of where you start on the stage. You’ll see it in the distance (and slightly to your right) when you exit the temple. The Golden Ability will grant you the skill to create copies of the books you have collected. The “clones” can be used to solve certain puzzles or just to...share copies with the world.

This ability needs the “Archway of Knowledge” (that’s the name...) to function. The Archway (let’s call it that from now on), is comprised of two parallel “antennas”. When you walk near them, the ability will be ready to use. And when you move away the ability will be deactivated. Most of the time (more on that below).

The Golden Ability also gives every book in your collection a specific number and a symbol, one of possible four: the “nahules” Ajpu, Imox, Toj and Iq’. You will learn more about the “nahuales” in the book “Dream Journal”.

Image hint:

Bookcases

The connection between book clones and bookcases (or bookshelves) will be the center of many of the following puzzles. Each bookcase, depending on the circumstances, will require a book or a set of books to be activated. For example, if a bookcase has Ajpu in one of its “eyes” next to the number four (represented with green square lights), then the first half of the activation will require a book with 4 Ajpu or two books with 2 Ajpu. There are also bookcases with no symbols in their “eyes”. These bookcases perform special actions and can hold any type of book clone.

There are some books with a number zero plus a nahual. These books can be used to substitute any number of the corresponding symbol. For more information, listen to the advice of the abstract being inside the Golden Ability Unlock Gate.

Image hint:

03031: Main Stage Puzzle

Requirements: Golden Ability
After speaking to one of your hosts inside the temple, you’ll be given the title of “book-deliverer”. To solve this riddle, you must deliver some books in several locations. When you speak with the temple-host, you’ll see the delivery grid. This “map” tells you where the bookcases should be when you deliver the books to them. You need to “translate” the positions on the grid to locations on the stage.

Image hint one:

Hint one: you can figure out the delivery locations on the stage in a couple of ways. The first one is interacting with the host outside of the temple. There you’ll be given the option to see the grid on the field as the bookcases move from one side to the other. If you follow the bookcases, you’ll be able to equate the sections of the delivery grid to the field outside.

Hint two: you might also need to know where the actual locations on the delivery grid are in relation to the outside field: which one is up, down and so on. To solve this issue, take a look at the objects similar to the delivery grid that are placed near every corner of the walls enclosing the field and the temple. Every one of those grids will tell you the position of the square in front of it on the delivery grid. For instance, if you look at the grid in the corner close to the outside-temple-host, you’ll see the first square is activated. It means that the corner square is the first location on the delivery grid. From there, you can learn the positions of the rest of the squares.

Image hint two:

Hint three: there is a modified Archway close to the temple. You’ll need to employ the Golden Ability in order to deliver the books. As long as you approach this Archway once, you’ll be able to carry books around the stage. It is best for you to first plan where you’ll deliver the books to avoid returning many times to the Archway (in case you run out of book clones).

Image hint three:

Hint four: once completed, every Book Container outside of the stage will be accessible (they are initially protected by a force field). At the heart of the temple, you’ll find the book “Contraption Two”.

Book Container 01: Someone Comes Back

Requirements: None
Located inside the temple. A very out-of-place structure is visible. There is nothing, in every other stage, that comes close to its design and aesthetics. The path to the book is clear. All you have to do is walk and get it. Once you recover the book, the bridge that allowed you to reach it will “break”.

Hint: if there’s no way back and the mysterious structure apparently has no practical use, what’s left to do? You have to fall.

Image:

Book Container 02: Someone Goes Back

Requirements: None
It can be found next to the host outside of the temple. This puzzle has two sections. The first is revealed when you walk inside an “activation” zone similar to the one you encountered when you controlled other versions of yourself. The second one is shown when you exit the zone and reach the main platform.

Hint: when you are near the center of the activation zone, the four “Time-Keepers” (it's a better name than Eternally Transient Entropy Detectors...) will display a specific pattern. Memorize them. A good trick is to give them names like: cross pointing down, untidy lights, the lonely square, randomly shy...and so on. Once you enter the main platform, a hidden Time-Keeper will appear in the middle of the central “half pyramid”. You have to select the initial Time-Keeper that matches the new pattern.

Image:

Book Container 03: Before Going Back

Requirements: Golden Ability
It can be located to the right of the previous container. If you follow the order of this guide, this is the first puzzle to have book clones and bookcases. It works as an introduction to this type of challenge.

Hint: activate the bookcases following the instructions above (see Bookcases). Remember, the more books you recover, the more options you’ll have to complete these puzzles.

Image hint:

Book Container 04: Before Coming Back

Requirements: Golden Ability
You can find it to the left of the host outside of the temple. Hint: activate the bookcases. The only difference now is that they are moving. Pick a spot in the platform and send the books. Note: the aim of your “throw” is given by the forward direction of the book-seeker’s eyes.

Image hint:

Book Container 05: Contraption One

Requirements: Golden Ability
If you exit the temple and face the mountains behind it, you’ll find this container on the right, close to the back of the building. The area has four bookcases in the center, and a “mini-antenna” on one of the blocks that are part of the main platform.

Hint one: when you “deliver” a book clone to a bookcase, you’ll immediately see that the blocks that make the floor will light up exactly the number of times that correspond to the numerical value of the book you sent. If you tossed a book clone with 4 Ajpu, the floor will be illuminated four times. The movement of the activated tiles will follow the direction of the back of the bookcase you interacted with.

Hint two: the goal of the puzzle is to match the final activated tile with the block where the mini-antenna rests. This could be achieved in multiple ways and it will depend on the books you have in your collection.

Hint three: one of the easiest way of completing this puzzle is to rely on books with a numerical value of two and using the bookcase facing the book you are going to unlock, and the bookcase looking away from the Archway.

Image hint:

Book Container 06: The Light Code

Requirements: Golden Ability, Green Ability
If you exit the temple and face the mountains behind it, you’ll find this container on the left, close to the back of the building. This is one of the most complex puzzles of the game. It contains two single-input objects, and Archway, two bookcases and a platform with several mini-antennas. The solution to this challenge involves the activation of the mini-antennas, not unlike the previous puzzle.

Hint one: the key to solving this puzzle is understanding the link between the single-input objects, the Archway, the bookcases and the mini-antennas. To explore the solution, it could be helpful to divide the problem into sections that address the previously mentioned elements.

Hint two: there are two single-input objects on the stage. Each one has a set of three tiles in front of them and each one is facing one of the two bookcases in the area. If you interact with the object one time, one of the tiles will light up. If you interact twice, two tiles will be activated. Three interactions, three lights. The next activation will reset the counter to one. These values (1, 2, 3) have a direct connection with the bookcase in front of the object.

Hint three: both of the bookcases do not have symbols in their “eyes”. This means, as discussed before, that they can hold any type of book. If you deliver a book clone to one of this bookcases, something may or may not happen. It has been established that the value of the tiles near the single-input objects is connected to the bookcases, perhaps this number dictates how many books the bookcase can receive before doing “something”? If the value of the tiles is two, you’ll notice that you need to send two books in order to “activate” the bookcase. A value of three, allows three books. One, just one clone. But what do the active bookcases do?

Hint four: once the bookcases are active, a “wave” of tiles is illuminated on the vertical platform where the mini-antennas are. The size of the wave, that is, the number of tiles, is obtained by the sum of the numerical value of all the book clones the bookcase received. If the value of the single-input tiles is two and you send two books with values 2 and 4, then the length of the wave will be 6. What’s left now is figuring out what lengths are needed to activate all the mini-antennas.

Hint five: after some trial and error or counting the tiles on the platform manually, you’d realize that you need three sizes of waves in order to activate every mini-antenna: 6, 7 and 8. Create a combination of books and single-input tiles to reach the desired outcome.

Hint six: it helps to have one single-input object with two tiles activated and the other with three tiles activated. This will give you more options depending on the book clones the Archway creates. You will probably need to exit and re-enter the Archway a couple of times to obtain the books you need to complete the challenge.

Image hint:

04042

Conceptual Room 01: NOTHING

Requirements: None
The puzzles on this stage are a series of rooms. When you solve one, the next room will open (until you reach the final room). The first room is directly in front of you when you arrive on the stage.

Hint one: the first room encourages you to “align your knowledge”. You’ll encounter four bookcases, two of them are on top of illuminated green floor tiles, and two are not. In order to complete the “line”, you must move the remaining bookcases.

Hint two: to move the last two bookcases, walk around them until an aura of symbols starts to appear around the book-seeker. This aura indicates that you can interact with the objects, in this case, move them.

Hint three: the bookcase perpendicular to the green line only allows you to interact with it from one side. This condition tries to teach you that if you move an object directly in front of another, the moving object will rotate as it moves.

Image hint:

Conceptual Room 02: B’atz’

Requirements: None
You find a table and four chairs in different floor tiles. The objective of this room is to place the chairs in the “correct position”.

Hint one: the second room tries to “question your knowledge”. You probably know the correct positions of the chairs, but how? Besides the limitations of the puzzle itself, how did you figure out the placement? Nothing else in the game has given you any clues about it. But you knew. “There are some ideas that live with you without you even knowing”, one of the abstracts beings would say.

Hint two: hopefully you learned in the previous room how to move objects and how to rotate them. If you didn’t, you could also find out in this room by trying to “push” a chair against another chair.

Hint three: there are two chairs in the room that do not need to be rotated, only moved into place. It is helpful to place those chairs just one tile away from their correct position and then move the other ones near them. Push the un-rotated chairs against the other ones until you can slide them into place.

Image hint:

Conceptual Room 03: Dreams

Requirements: Golden Ability
This rooms contains a bookcase, a mini-Archway and four abstract objects. Similar to the last room, you’ll have to find the “correct” position of these peculiar objects.

Hint one: the third room wants you to “expand your knowledge”. If you deliver books to the bookcase, you’ll notice that some floor tiles light up. The more books you send, the more tiles will be activated.

Hint two: the active tiles are the possible final positions for the abstract objects. The more books you have in your collection (knowledge), the more options you’ll discover to solve the puzzle.

Hint three: move all of the abstract objects into any of the illuminated tiles.

Image hint:

Conceptual Room 04: MORE-NOTHING, Dream Journal

Requirements: None
When you enter the room, another type of antenna is located at the center of the floor. The tiles below it are active. The room seems to be already completed and there are no other objects to interact with. What should you do?

Hint one: this room signifies “there is more knowledge”. Even if you think you know everything (the puzzle has been solved), there is usually more information to be learned beyond your current “room”. Push the antenna away from the center and into the walls.

Hint two: after the antenna reaches the wall, a vast room with different floor-grids will be revealed. Choose one of them and “learn” about it.

Hint three: when you place the antenna at the center of any of the additional floor-grids, the final book container will be available. You will also be able to recover two books: one near the center of the initial room, and the other at the far edge of the stage.

And...what are those colorful rings doing there?

Image hint:

Book Container 01: ???

Requirements: solve every book (except the last one)

Hint: inside this container you’ll find the last book. In order to recover it, you must first solve every other book. After collecting the last book and solving it, return to 01018 for the last section of the game.

Books

The last type of puzzles are the books. The entire set of books is a collection of puzzles that rely on each other. Some books are specific puzzles, others contain clues to solve those puzzles. The only requirements to solve every book are the other books. The more books you collect, the better the chances you’ll have to complete every challenge contained in them. Read them carefully! Peruse them attentively! Inspect them closely! (you get the idea).
When a particular book is “solved”, an icon will appear on the left side of the screen to indicate it.
The books are also story-puzzles that are not solved in the traditional sense (that last line was too cryptic for a guide).

This chapter of the guide is different from the rest. Not every book-puzzle will be discussed (mysterious!). However, the guide provides hints for three of the most challenging books: Signature, Contraption One and Contraption Two.

Signature

Hint one: to complete this challenge, you require three positions (three numbers), each one corresponds to one of the circles in the lock. The first one can be found at the end of the book Primary. The other two numbers are inside the next two books (Two and March). Find the number after following the directions inside those books.

Hint two: you only “need” two of the numbers. If you know the position of two of the circles, the third one you could discover with trial and error.

Contraption One and Contraption Two

Hint one: these contraptions are dependent on The Light Code and The Dark Code. On each code, you need to focus on specific words. For instance, Contraption One needs “the symbols that initiate the brightness”. If the brightness is a word (related to Light), what is the symbol (letter) at the beginning? How many "bright" words are in the code? Contraption Two follows the same pattern but relying on The Dark Code and the “dark” words.

Hint two: once you find the “bright” words and the “dark words”, follow the instructions inside the contraptions: input the first letter of each word and the total number of words found. 

Achievements

When you solve a book, the achievement of that book will be unlocked. There are two additional hidden achievements and one of them might be particularly difficult to obtain. For now, only a hint for the second hidden achievement will be written.

Final achievement hint: throughout the game, you “talk” with several abstract beings. But there is one of them, one very odd, you can't interact with. It sits inside the temple and it just seems ready to speak or give you advice...but doesn’t. Is that always the case?

[Studio CloudScape]

Thank you! :)

[Saena]

Great idea to have a guide. Thank you. I'm not going to look just yet, still want to try to figure everything out on my own. But I'll probably get stuck at some point :)