The Rivers of Alice - Extended Version Walkthrough

Introduction

So you've stumbled across a game called The Rivers of Alice - Extended Version.

To be honest with you all, I was hoping for something ... with more of an explanation. I started the game and within the first five minutes gave up. This was when I first bought it. I'm big on collecting achievements and badges, so I knew that I would have to one day pull this game out of my collection and finish what I had started.

So I turned it on ... Got past the opening scene ... Finished the tutorial ...

And once again, I was stumped. I had no idea what I was suppose to be doing.

I love puzzle games - however, this game made me want to set it on fire. Now that I've finished it, I don't feel as much hatred towards it though I wish they would have been a bit more ... descriptive when it came down to the communication.

To get even the slightest clue of what to do next, I pulled up my Steam tab and went straight to the walk-through portions only ... there was not a single walk-through that I could shuffle upon, making it even more despairing.

I had to search on Google just to find the answers I needed. But it would seem that one answer is simply not enough. I quite literally had to go through an entire walk-through just to finish the game. Nearly the entire thing. Already this game was reminding me of YearWalk where absolutely nothing is explained to you. At least in this game, you get the sketches right? ...

Now don't get me wrong: it's cute, adorable, has some good music and the end result is very refreshing and ... well, not explained at all why you did all of that in the first place. However, if you were looking for a simple quick and easy game to enjoy then you've come to the wrong game. If that wasn't what you were looking for, then I hope you find joy in playing.

So let's get started shall we?

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

If you find anything missing, incorrect or otherwise defective please let me know in the comments below and I will fix it as best as I can! This is my first walk-through so I don't expect it to be perfect. :)

Thanks for reading!

The Riverbank

Now, the opening of this game is pretty self explanitory.

MAKE SURE you grab the cup on the bedside table before leaving the area! You will need this for the next part of the game (this was my first mistake playing it because I didn't realize you could take it).

I'll try to be as quick and accurate about this as much as possible and if at all possible I will come back at a later time and go more in-depth with this walkthrough.

• Follow the instructions on the screen.
  
  
• Grab that cup, you'll need it!
  
  
• Go and talk to Sloth, but he's being lazy so you'll have to wake him with something.
  
  
• Grab the stick from the water and poke Sloth with it.
  
  
• Pluck the necklace from the tree and take it to him.
  
  
• Look through all the notes he gives to you carefully and then move on to the next area to the right.

See? Easy.

Now if only the rest of the game was that way ...

The Flowers

You remember that cup I told you to grab? Well, here is where you'll need it. Don't bother trying to water the dead flower right away though, it is just an empty cup after all. I'm going to be referring to the woman as a Muse, since she doesn't really have a name to begin with.

• Click on the Muse in the river after the long cut-scene and choose to speak to her. She'll give you a sequence of pictures to look at as communication. You need to bring back to life the dead flower. If you click on her again, choose to look at her. She will play you a song that triggers tiles of a bridge, with one of them missing.
  
  
• Clicking on the flowers will do nothing at this time as one of them has died, so head to the right and move onto the next area.
  
  
• For now, ignore the Athena and the weaver Arachne and just continue to the left.
  
  
• Pick up the stone from the floor so it will be in your inventory for later and then click on the puddle and choose the look option. The flower comes to life again. From your inventory, drag the cup over to the puddle and get some water.

• Take this water back to the Muse and her flowers, click on your inventory and drag the cup to the dead flower. The flower will come back to life and the missing bridge tile has now appeared.
  
  
• Click on the Muse and "look" at her. She will play her song again for you. Each flower is a note. Click on the flowers in the following order when she finishes playing her song: 5, 3, 1, 2, 4.
  
  
• Once you have done this, the bridge will be repaired and you'll have gained your first Dragonfly! Now it's time to catch it!
  
  
• Drag your Necklace to the Dragonfly from your inventory in order to capture it. It takes a bit of a cut-scene but eventually the creature will become caught. Now that you have the Dragonfly, go back to the cavern where Athena and Arachne wait (above will give you a dead end for the moment).

The Cavern

Now that you are back with Athena and Arachne, you get to ignore them completely again! ... I mean, you can interact with them if you wish but it'll do you no good for saving the Dragonfly caught in the web.

• Head past them again to the left and back into the cave with the water and flower. Your Dragonfly will light the candles so that you can travel further into the cave.
  
  
• Click on the candles and choose the "take" option. You do NOT have to pull this item out in order to continue, which is really kind of a plus so go to the next area just beyond the candles.
  
  
• If you sit for too long in one spot, your candle will be blown out and you will have to start the cavern maze all over again so keep this in mind! The same thing happens if you take too long to get out.
  
  
• This cave is very complex so I'll try to explain it as best I can. I continuously took the route in the bottom right corner and when the bottom right corner was unavailable, i just went right. For some reason (even when taking the same route as others) the route would become muddled and my candle would blow out. Just remember that the louder the booming is, the closer you are getting to the goal. EDIT: on my third playthrough, I followed this route and had the same results.
  
  
• Eventually you will come to a wide open cave. There are glasses that you will need for later on in the game, so make sure to grab these.
  
  
• Leave the cave and head outside. There will be a boy on the docks. Select and talk to him for instructions on what to do next. He is looking for someone to make him a shell necklace, however you cannot do this just yet.
  
  
• Next, click on the sand that the boy tells you about and choose the "take" option. You should be able to obtain a prism of sand for Athena's hourglass.
  
  
• Go back to the cavern. It should automatically take you back to the candles when you leave the room with the book. Leave this room as well and go back to where Athena and Arachne await.
  
  
• This part is tricky. Go to the middle of the room and select your inventory > select the rock > drag the rock to the hive in the wall near the entrance you just came from. A bug will fly out and get stuck in the web and Arachne will hunt for it.
  
  
• When Athena turns away, you can select the rock pillar near her table to hide behind. If she has already turned around then no worries, just stay were you are and wait for another fly to get caught in the web. Have your sand ready to go.
  
  
• With the hourglass now fixed, you can begin the Spider Web Puzzle. First you have to talk to Athena and then you may select the web. When you do, you may notice that the web is not complete. Wherever you see a broken link (except for the middle of the web) you will need to draw a new line of web across to connect them. Do this before the timer runs out.
  
  
• The Dragonfly will now be free of the web. Use the Necklace to catch this one like you did the other. Congrats on catching your second Dragonfly!
  
  
• Leave the cave exit to the right, back to where the Muse in the river is and walk across the bridge where you will be taken to the next area.

The Apartments

In this area, you stand on a cliff over-looking three aparment buildings. There is a boy with a SpyGlass standing behind a wall doing whatever it is he is doing.

• Select the boy and "talk" to him. He'll show you some images to communicate by. You can also click on the window and select the "take" option so that you can open it.
  
  
• Go to your inventory and select the glasses from before. Drag them to the boy so that you can fix his SpyGlass. This will unlock the shell necklace that you will need to make for later. Talk to the boy again and look carefully through all the pictures that he has to show you.
  
  
• Stand on the edge of the cliff and look to the apartments. The windows are now able to turn on and off. The antennae on the roofs are switches: the first one moves the lights horizontally, the second one moves the lights vertical, the third switches the lights on and off.
  
  
• Move the clouds to the left and you should be give three sets of constellations. Don't move them too fast because you can't move them to the right so they will go in and out. Each constellation is a building, each star is a window:
  
  NOTE: After turning on the formation of lights in building one, select the room that is already lit up on the second building (coordinates 2,1) and turn the light off. The Dragonfly you are trying to currently catch will turn it back on. It cannot be turned out without going down to the apartment and doing it manually so walk down to the second complex's door and go inside.
  
  
• Once you are inside, pull all the pages off the Calender until the mess in the room is gone. You might also notice that the wall is beginning to crack. When you have finished pulling the pages off, hit the lightswitch on the wall. This will turn the light off so that you may proceed with the correct pattern for the second building.
  
  
  
  
• This will open the door at the bottom of the third building so that you can now proceed to the next puzzle.

The Steam Room

Are you ready for another puzzle?

• Once inside, you will need to find some items before starting the next puzzle. Go to the hatch and click the "take" option to open the door and pick up the handle underneath it. Next, move the pipe next to the hatch over towards the fan so that it spits out a smaller pipe. Pick this up as well.
  
  
• Walk over to the wall on the right side of the room and open your inventory. Select the small pipe and drag it to the piping on the wall. Then, walk to the wall on the left with the gears, select the handle from your inventory and drag it to the gears so that you can now open and close the door freely. Open the door so you can move on.
  
  
• You'll see a Dragonfly flying over to a stack of tires to hide in. Pick up the handle on the floor in front of you and go back to the previous room. Don't worry about the contents of this room just yet.
  
  
• On the right wall, place the handle where you put the smaller pipe at earlier. There is now a blue handle and a red handle on the wall. Select both handles individually to turn the water on and cause steam.
  
  
• Now, head over to the top right corner and select the box on the wall and use the "take" option. For this puzzle, you have to slide all the pieces into the right spot. Your tally marks stand for the order in which you are moving the tiles and the direction they are going. Only move each piece one tile in the direction given. If you mess up, you can always exit the puzzle and re-select it again as it will automatically reset it:

• Once you finish this puzzle, go to the fan and turn it on. Now the steam will blow into the pipes. If you thought you were done with the puzzles here, then think again because it is now time for another puzzle, this time you have to get the steam to flow the right way:

• Once you've got the steam in the pipes, you'll want to go to the handle and shut the door so that the steam fills the room where Envy is located. Then open the door and go into the room.
  
  
• Envy now has no way to block you from the other side because he cannot see you. Clicking on farther portions of steam will give you the option to blow it away so that you can progress to the other side.
  
  
• Once you are on the other side, you can drag your necklace to the stack of tires to catch your third Dragonfly with ease.
  
  
• Before leaving this side of the room, turn the light off and pick up the key pad on the floor under it. Take it to the right side of the room and drag it over the pile of junk. It will unlock a car. This causes a car window to roll down so that you may take the mask that falls from behind it.
  
  
• Leave the room and head back to the second apartment complex. Enter the numbers 102100 into the phone so that the crack in the wall will fall apart to an easier route to the beach.

The Watchtower

Back on the beach you are! If you haven't already tried using the stick on the sand from before, do it now to receive a Floppy Disc. If you take it back to the Apartment and use it on the computer you will receive an achievement.

• Go speak to the boy again. He will tell you to make him a necklace out of seashells. You'll have to go back over to the sand again. By using the looking option, a wave should come over your screen and replaced by different shaped shells.

• In the order that the boy has shown you, select each shell carefully. Some shells will look almost the same. If you mess up the order, the wave will wash the necklace away and replace the shells on the beach, randomizing where each one is at.
  
  
• If you do not finish this puzzle fast enough, the wave will come back and rewash the shells so that you have to find them again.
  
  
• Once you have finished the puzzle, drag the seashell necklace from your inventory to the boy and he will give you the code for the lock. I found while playing this on my third run that if you already know the code, you do not have to make the necklace in order to unlock the gate.

• Memorize this code and go to the gate to the Watchtower. Enter it in and the gate's lock with open so that you can go to the next area.
  
  
• You'll be given a cut-scene of a blind (?) man standing next to five mirrors. Your last Dragonfly has flown into one of them. You can't get through unless you pick the right one. Before that, give the man the mask from the Steam Room. Now that he can see, talk to him.
  
  
• He will tell you how to solve the puzzle of the mirrors. From what I understand, you go to mirror three and you only look at it. Touching the wrong mirror will send you back to reality. After looking at the third mirror, go to the fifth mirror and look at it. Then head to the first mirror and look at it before touching it. You should be taken to the next room.
  
  
• Now that you have made it through the mirrors, step on the middle tile before you. If you want to get the achievement without having to play-through the game all over again, take the red route first. Then - once you've ended the cut-scene of Alice dancing - take the gray route. All you have to do is select each tile individually and in the right order:

• Once this puzzle is complete, a platform will be lowered down to you. Before walking to it, go over to the dogs. Select and drag the stick from your inventory and give it to them. You will end up throwing it and they will chase after it. Once they have gone, grab the Dog Food they left behind for help in the next step of the game.
  
  
• Grab your last Dragonfly before going up, you won't want to leave without it. Now take the platform to the top of the Watchtower.
  
  
• Once you've reached the top, you'll be surrounded by Vultures (comforting, right?). In the middle is a 4x4 grid with two different colored types of Vulture. It's basically a matching, shifting puzzle.
  
  
• If you haven't noticed yet, there is a checked grid under them with some parts filled in. The grey colored tiles required the grey Vultures to be placed on them while the normal tiles require the black Vultures. Unfortunately, I wasn't sure how to describe the moving of these birds so I recorded it instead. To move a Vulture, you must click on it and it must be next to an open space on the grid otherwise it will not move:

• After placing all the Vultures in their appropriate places they will form a path for you. Cross over to the other side. A Vulture is sitting on the tightrope. Just give him the dog food and he will move so that you can cross.
  
  
• The trick to the tightrope puzzle is to not let your mouse move too much. Pulling the mouse to fast can cause Alice to fall off and you will wake up in bed again. Gently allow your mouse to glide (it doesn't matter where on the screen it is at) in the direction you want her to be more balanced. Another good tip is to watch her feet, try not to blink and avoid looking at the backdrop beneath her.
  
  
• Once you finish crossing the tightrope, the next challenge is a little more tricky. Take your necklace from the inventory and place it in the middle of the clock giant before you. Then, choose to look at the puzzle.

• We'll call the inner ring 1, the next 2, and the outermost ring 3. The necklace pendant acts as a reset button so do not push it. Just follow the next steps:
  
  
• Move the 3rd ring to the right once.
  
• Move the 2nd ring to the right twice.
  
• Move the 1rst ring to the left twice.

Congrats! You have successfully completed The Rivers of Alice - Extended Version! Following this last puzzle is a cut-scene of Alice being carried into the sky by the clock Giant's hands and eventually she falls asleep and is placed back into her bed.

Achievements

The Achievements are pretty easy to get. 98% of them are obtainable just through your normal gameplay. Others, you have to do some special chores in order to grab them.

Possible Achievements: 21 Total

You already know how to play:

• Complete the tutorial.

Great Ear for Music!:

• Fix the bridge for the Muse.

Weaver Spider:

• Fix the weaver Arachne's Spider Web.

Create your own Road:

• Make your way through the cavern maze.

Alphabets that man does not understand:

• Create a Shell Necklace.

Reflections and Lies:

• Complete the Mirror Puzzle.

A Band of Monkeys:

• Complete the Monkey Tile Puzzle.

Vultures in the Watchtower:

• Complete the Vulture Grid Puzzle.

Do not look down!:

• Walk on the Tight Rope without falling.

Love Giant:

• Complete the Giant Clock Puzzle.

Message in Morse:

• Complete the light puzzle for the apartment complexes.

It works!:

• Complete the fuse box puzzle in the Boiler Room.

Bad Smoke:

• Comeplete the Steam Pipe puzzle.

Has already been a Year?:

• Tear off all the pages of the calender in the second apartment complex and turn off the light.

I quit my job!:

• In the second Apartment Complex, dial 10-2-100 into the phone.

Retro Gamer:

• Play the Floppy Disk from the beach on the Computer.

Fever of Saturday Night:

• Go the opposite direction on the first half of the Monkey Tile Puzzle. (Instead of going all the way down, to the right and up to the middle you will want to go all the way up, to the right and down to the middle.)

The Doors of Desire:

• Open the gate at the beach.

Light Sleep:

• Beat the game once.

Deep Dream:

• Finish the game a second time.

I have all the pieces!:

• Capture all four Dragonflies.

[Skye]

The final watchtower puzzle is wrong.
Should be:
1: Outer ring left once
2: Middle ring left twice
3: Inner ring right twice

[Donut Head]

About the mirrors: I just stand in front of one and if the mirrors don't all stare off somewhere else (if they keep their eyes on Alice/the mirror in front of her) that's the right one.

The right mirror changes, but their eyes can't lie.

[SimplyVee]

Thank you

[HarleyquinnC]

Thanks. Note for the cavern: You just have to allways take the way with no arrow.

[Angel-Princess]

you know you can go back and grab the cub/glass later? :-)

[AMYbeSEY]

Good solution!Thank you!These not obvious achievements required a little more time to pass.

[Mio]

You're amazing :) Thank you very much

[A_Phosphorus_Invention]

There are some comments that the final puzzle can break. I'd imagine this would be unfixable even through close/reload methods, but I'm curious if the Deep Dream achievement is tied to registery file that requires 2 consecutive launches and finishings of the game. So if you beat it once and run into this glitch forcing you to start over from the beginning, would it discount your first playthrough? Or is this cumulative?

[Rufus]

It's no wonder you initially missed the cup/glass at the beginning because the tut. actually leads you away fom it which is idiotic.

[SilentCaay]

To complete the cavern maze, simply go the opposite direction the arrow points.