Gray Matter. Ghosts of the Subconscious (Walkthrough). Gray MatterGray Matter. Ghosts of the subconscious Gray Matter walkthrough
Original name: Gray Matter
Russian name: Gray Matter Ghosts of the Subconscious
Developer: Wizarbox
Publisher: dtp
Localizer in Russia: New Disk
Release date: October 29, 2010
Release date in Russia: I quarter 2011
Platform: PC
Controls and some game features
The game is controlled primarily with the mouse. But the keyboard has hot buttons that can make the gameplay easier:
M - card
Spacebar - inscriptions immediately appear on the screen above all the things that can be acted upon
P - level completion statistics
Now everything about the map.
New areas will open up on the map over time, in which case the map icon at the top of the screen will blink. Areas can be written in gold letters (meaning there are unsolved problems), silver (bonus tasks left) and black letters (everything is solved, there is nothing else in this area).
The inventory is opened by moving the cursor to the top of the screen. To pick up an item, you need to right-click on it.
Good luck in the game!
Chapter 1
Education
To begin with, the developers offer us to undergo a short training to gain basic game skills. Our task is simple - we need to find and feed the rabbit named Houdini. A rabbit sits under a plant in the corner of the room. Having found it, we open the travel bag and take out of it a carrot, a deck of cards, a Houdini water bottle, a wallet, a knife, a matchbox and a book of tricks, and close the bag. We pour water into the bottle from the decanter that stands on the mirror next to the bed. We give Houdini the water and carrots. The training is over, you can leave the room.
Looking around the mansion
We immediately go out into the foyer and go down the stairs. We go outside (the exit is located at the very bottom of the screen). We go into the garage, which is located at the back of the house. We try to start the motorcycle, but it appears to be broken. We inspect the car and the paintings and go out. We read the sign that hangs near the front door, now at least it’s clear where we ended up. We enter the house, go to the dining room, examine everything in it (photos on the wall, stereo system), after which we go into the office (the door opposite the dining room). We also inspect everything, paying special attention to photographs of patients and diplomas. The door to the office is closed for now, so we leave the office. An old lady catches us in the corridor and invites us to go into the kitchen to have breakfast. So we do, we go in for breakfast, and at the same time we talk with the old woman, whose name, by the way, is Miss Dalton. She looks after the house. We will find out what kind of building this is and where it is located, who is the owner here, how to get to Oxford and much more. We are offered to stay in the house if we become assistant professors. In general, the idea is good.
Let's talk, go up to the notice board and look at the police and professor's business cards and the calendar. We leave the kitchen and approach the door on which hangs a letter for the future assistant. The letter describes our first task, and also included several business cards. Now we need to find 6 student volunteers who will agree to take part in the experiment that has begun. In addition, we need a cell phone and a map, for all this we go to Miss Dalton. She will give her sister's phone number and we will have a map. Click on the compass icon in the upper left corner of the screen. Using the map, you can instantly navigate through locations, click on Oxford.
Oxford
So we arrived in the most famous student city! The weather is not so great, but that doesn’t bother us much.
So, first of all, we turn onto Queen Street, where we talk to three guys: two guys and a girl, unfortunately, they will all refuse “easy work”. After everyone has been interviewed, Sam will pick up a notice about the freshmen's party from the ground. Yes, you understood correctly, we will be recruiting “fresh meat”! A new active point “St Edmund Hall” has appeared on the map, so that’s where we’re going.
St Edmund Hall
Arriving at the place, we become an involuntary witness to a quarrel between two students: a guy and a girl. We talk with the guy (his name is Harvey), it turns out that the girl stole the film from him. We agree that if we bring the film, Harvey will take part in the experiment. In order to return the film, we approach the girl who is sitting next to her (Lisa) and show our first trick in this game. We read the instructions from the book of tricks and do everything according to it, step by step.
The first trick will be “burning the card,” or, for this case, a cassette tape. Having shown it, we get the necessary tape, which we give to Harvey.
That's it, one student left, five left!
We talk with the next victim - a girl who is sunbathing (her name is Helena). The only way to get her to take part in the experiment is to get the guy she likes to also take part in the experiment. Just during the conversation, this guy will appear (his name is Charles). The problem is that we have nothing to talk to him about yet! Let's leave him alone for a while and turn our attention to the girl who modestly sits on a bench in the corner of the screen. Her name is Angela, she is not a freshman, but most likely she can also be persuaded to experiment. Let's show her the trick with the phone! First you need to find out the phone number that hangs on the wall next to Angela. We take a closer look at the phone, pick up the cell phone and use it on the phone number that is written under the dial of the telephone. We have the number, which means we can safely show the trick. By showing it, we will get a second volunteer.
Now let's deal with Charles. We look at the books that lie next to him and talk about books. Then we look at the letter that lies next to the books and talk about the letter. Now you need to steal the letter, to do this you need to show a trick. Of course the focus is on writing. To begin with, we only need the first part of the trick, which is described in the first paragraph. If everything is done correctly, we will have the letter. Let's go to Oxford.
Oxford
We hold the letter above the steam that is pouring out of the sewer hatch. The letter will open and can be read. We turn onto Cornmarket street and go into a magic shop. We examine the casket, which has the symbols of a secret club of magicians. The owner of the store will immediately appear, we talk with him several times about the club. After which we approach the casket again. You need to place two cards so that their total points give 21. For example, 9 and an ace. After that, we pull the handle and receive the first riddle from the club. Returning to St Edmund Hall
St Edmund Hall
We read Charles' letter and change the business card from the letter to the business card of Doctor Stylesos. Using the trick, we return the letter to Charles, after which we talk with Helena. Two more students are ready to take part in the experiment. We return to Oxford.
Oxford
We read the sign on the tower, after which we go into the tower itself and close the door behind us. We examine the red box; it has a familiar logo on it. To open the box, you need to bring a burning match to the hole at the bottom. We use matches on the box, we get a letter and part of the map. Now attention! To move to another location you will need to find all the pieces of the map that are scattered throughout Oxford. We go down to the street.
We approach the sign on the left, which provides the entire list of educational institutions and their symbols. We are looking for a college with the same symbols as on the letter, this is Christ Church, this place will appear on the map, we go there.
Christ Church
We examine the statue in the fountain, then turn our attention to the black box with the club logo, which also lies in the fountain. Open the lid and drop a drop of water (which appears quite unexpectedly in the inventory) onto the piece of paper. Then use matches to open the box. We take the second part of the map and step into the garden. We examine the flowerbed, which is located at the bottom of the screen, look at the fresh dirt and dig up another part of the map. Doctor Stylesos will immediately call and challenge Sam for an experiment. Let's watch the splash screen.
Chapter 2
Mansion
After talking with Miss Dalton, we take the newspaper from the table and read it. We leave the kitchen and go down to the basement, look around and go into the main laboratory. From the table we take a note with the task and a letter from the surgical clinic. The note says that Sam needs to clean up her file cabinet. We go to the file cabinet and arrange all the documents by name. That is, we look at the first letter of the document and put it in the box with that letter. After everything is laid out, you can... rummage through the boxes!
We open the lockers: F, E, L, N, read all the documents that can be read, then leave the laboratory. Two new active points have appeared on the map: Radcliff Infirmary and Horspath Track (we go there).
Horspath Track
We talk with Eddie, he will tell you a lot of interesting things about last night. We look at the strange curls on the track and go to Radcliff Infirmary.
Radcliff Infirmary
We go into Susie's office. Susie is the secretary of Mr. Hidley, a friend of Dr. Styles. We talk with Susie, during the conversation we give her one of the papers, as a token of gratitude Susie will give us the opportunity to communicate with Mr. Hidley. This is a very pleasant man to talk to, but who, unfortunately, does not answer all questions. One of these questions is the enemies of Dr. Styles. It looks like we'll have to look for the answer to this question ourselves.
We talk with Susie, ask her about the enemies, about a copy of the experiment plan and tell her that Mr. Hidley asked to bring him coffee. Of course, this was said in order to borrow the keys that open the document cabinets. But bad luck - Susie takes the keys with her, and when she arrives, she puts them in a cup. To get the keys, you need to perform a cup trick, but we don't yet have a magnet, which will be needed during the trick. Let's go to the magic shop in Oxford.
Oxford
In the store we talk with the seller, after which we examine the shelves with goods. Today we will do a lot of shopping, here is a list of what we need to buy: a magnet, a false thumb, a thing that makes the sound of tearing paper (shredded-paper noisemaker) and a special chewing gum (spirit gum). We go to the center, now there is a grandmother there who sells flowers. We buy a bouquet. We return to Susie's office, now everything needed for the trick is in the inventory.
Radcliff Infirmary
We show Susie a trick with a key disappearing from a mug. Now we need Susie herself to disappear from the office. We go out into the corridor, go into the staff room and hide the first aid kit hanging on the wall. In the inventory we combine the fingertips and blood, after that we smear the fingertip with invisible chewing gum, now we go to Susie and show the trick with the wounded finger. When Susie leaves the office, we open the cabinets with documents using the key. Having found the desired document, copy it on the scanner. At this moment, Susie will come and give the first aid kit, Sam will leave the office.
In the corridor we will meet Dr. Styles' volunteer, who participated in the night experiment. We talk with him and make sure that he is a very secretive young man. It's time to revisit wonderful Oxford.
Oxford
We walk onto Queen Street and go into the pub. There is a huge horn in the middle of the pub, we try to blow into it, but nothing happens, apparently some part is missing. We talk with the bartender and ask about the horn. The bartender will generously give out the missing part. We insert it into the horn and blow, in return we receive a part of the map and a postcard. Let's go to St Edmund Hall.
St Edmund Hall
We talk with the guys and exchange phone numbers. After the conversation, a new active point “Bodleian Library” will appear on the map, go there.
Bodleian Library
That's how it is, you can't get into the library without a special access card! This means that you need to get it first, but that’s a little later. First, let's go to Christ Church.
Christ Church
We go inside, ask the guide a few questions and approach the altar. We examine the pool, there is something under it! We pull the lever nearby, the pool will fill with water, and at the bottom there will be a missing piece of the map! We select it, collect all the parts! In fact, this is not a map, but puzzles that will help us move forward! Let's go to the Bodleian Library.
Bodleian Library
We call Helena to us in a whisper. We ask her to give us an access card, Helena refuses, although she has two of them: an old one and a new one. Please show both. First, let's examine the new card. A window will pop up in which we will be asked to select 3 compliments. We choose these:
1)That’s a good picture
2)You look like a top model on this one
3)You are right, that MUCH better!
For the old card we make the following compliments:
1)You look like you’re on drugs
2)Can you put a paper bag over that picture?
3)Your nose doesn’t look that big in real life
After this, Helena will take the cards and return to the table. Now we can show her a trick with a broken - restored ring, but we need to get ready first! We put the noisemaker from the magic shop into the paper shredder and start performing the trick!
Having shown it, a pass will appear in our inventory with which we can go inside. After passing, we talk with the librarian. We sit down at the computer and look for all the information regarding Dr. Styles. We watch a short cutscene and go to Styles' mansion. When we enter the house, the phone rings, we answer the call, then we go to the kitchen and talk with Miss Dalton. Let's go to Oxford, it's time to think about the rebus.
Oxford
The puzzle contains three words: Carfax, tower and phone. Agree, the rebus is very simple. But it is he who points us to the place where we will need to solve a more difficult problem, to a telephone booth in the center of Oxford. We go into the booth and pick up the phone. You need to dial a 5 digit number. What's the number? Let's read the tasks we received in the magic store. The task says that you need to enter the name of the one who sold his soul. Sold my soul and 5 letters. The correct answer is Judas. Or Judas in English. So, let's dial 58327. Congratulations, the first task of the Club has been solved! A token will fall out of the phone, take it. And we return to the mansion.
We put the flowers in the glass in Sam's room and in the vase in the main laboratory. We look at the card index at the letter C and take out a photo card with signatures. Now you can find those for whom Dr. Styles is an enemy. You just need to get the telephone sheet and compare it with the signatures, thereby you can find out who signed and who did not.
So, only Abram Linkweller has not subscribed!
This is where the chapter ends.
Chapter 3
Mansion
In this chapter, Dr. Styles himself is under our control!
We look around the room, look in the mirror, and also inspect the bathroom and wardrobe. We go out into the corridor and go down to the kitchen. We talk with Miss Dalton, go down to the basement and use the key from the inventory to open the personal laboratory. When we open the door, the front doorbell will ring. We go up to check who it is, it turns out that a package has arrived. Some kind of clever device arrived in the parcel, we inspect it and connect it. We read the notes and letter that are on the table. In the laboratory we look at a tank, a board, a computer and everything else. Now Dr. Styles needs to conduct a session of remembering Laura in the tank (I agree, it sounds stupid), but for this he needs objects that enhance visualization. We go upstairs, go into the office and study the box with photographs, taking one photo for ourselves. We step into the dining room, open the cabinet with the stereo system, look through the discs and take one. We go up to David’s bedroom, take Laura’s shampoo from the bathtub, and take Laura’s swimsuit from the wardrobe. All that remains is to choose a bottle of wine. We step into a private laboratory, sit down at the computer and open the wine library. We choose dry, red, 1972, produced by Loire. The result that satisfies the request will be 3 bottles of wine. We leave the laboratory, look at the wine shelves and taste wine number 94. Everything we need has been collected!
We look at the terminal that controls the tank. First, fill in the shampoo, then press the top button on the right and insert the disk, press the bottom button and climb into the tank.
After looking through the memories, we get up, leave the house and go into the garage. We examine the motorcycle, then talk in the kitchen with Miss Dalton about it.
We return to the private laboratory. It's time to deal with the very clever device that came in the package. It serves to enable ghosts (or spirits) to communicate with people. Words or letters spoken by the spirits (in this case, Styles' dead wife) will appear on special "letter shafts." On the right there is a device, by tuning it, we help the spirit say something.
So, to begin with, in cell 0 we set the number “99”, in cells 1 to 26 we leave percent signs, and in all others we put zeros. Then press the red button on the device, so the letter I appears.
We go out into the foyer and call the police on the phone to bring some clarity regarding that terrible night when Styles’ wife died. Then we go to the office and look through the photographs again, take the last one with us and scan it using a scanner in our personal laboratory. We process the photo on a computer, make it a little larger, remove highlights and add shadows. Something should appear in the background! After this, we look at the shafts with letters, where the letter M has already appeared. End of chapter.
Chapter 4
Mansion
Sam is under our control again.
We leave the room, talk with Styles, go down to the kitchen and take the latest issue of the newspaper. Let's go to Oxford.
Oxford
First, we visit the magic shop and tell Mephistopheles that we have completed the first task. Which means we can take the second one. We also dial 21 and pick up the task card. We buy magic powder, a noisemaker, a special thread, and a container for powder from the store. We pay and leave. We combine powder, thread and container in our inventory. We walk onto Queen Street and go into a store dedicated to Alice in Wonderland.
In the store we buy a map of London, examine the Cheshire cat and the poster on the wall, on the poster the word SMILE is highlighted in orange, enter this word on the cat’s teeth. We take a piece of puzzles and a ticket to the museum. We pay for the card and go to the museum that just appeared on the map.
University Museum
We examine the stand with the egg of the Dodo bird, take the egg, since it has the Club logo on it. We need to open this egg somehow. Breaking it is clearly not an option, because you need to return it back. We'll hatch it! We put the egg on the bench, Sam will sit on it. Body heat will cause the egg to open. Inside it: part of a rebus and... a business card for the Hogwarts School of Wizardry!
Let's go to St Edmund Hall.
St Edmund Hall
We go into the lobby, show the security pass and go into the pool. We talk with the guy, select photographs lying on the bench to the left. We examine the filter, this is exactly the same filter that was in the red water. We go back to the security guard and look at the list of people living in the hostel. We go up the left stairs.
We look around in the corridor, tear off a piece of pink toilet paper, knock on room 102, where Helena lives, but no one opens for us. We knock on 106, the “victim of the pool” will open for us, go into the room and talk with the girl. After the conversation we leave. The phone rings, after talking, we go to the gym, which is located opposite the pool. We examine the closed door and use a powder device on it. We look at the hall's operating schedule, which hangs next to the front door, and leave. We go to Radcliff Infirmary.
Radcliff Infirmary
We go into Susie’s office and look at her phone. We use our cell phone to the number 5555–7814 recorded on the phone. The phone number will be saved in memory. We look at the list of contacts and see that opposite the name Linkweller there is the number 11.
We leave the office and call the Department of Neurobiology on our cell phone. When we are asked to enter an employee number, enter 1,1. While Linkweller is away, we rummage through his office. We install a spy bug from a magic shop into the phone, look around and run away. Then we’ll listen to what the bug records, but for now we’ll go to the magic shop.
Oxford
In the store we talk with the seller, he will give very practical advice. Let's go to St Edmund Hall.
St Edmund Hall
We go into the lobby, go up the stairs to the second floor, where a guy with cards sits. We're trying to get him to open number 204, but it looks like we can't do it without a trick. You'll have to play a card game with him. Its meaning is very simple: at the beginning of the game you choose a card, you need to make sure that this card is the last one not turned over. This is extremely easy to do. When the guy deals out the cards, count the number of cards. If the number is even, let the guy go first, if it’s not even, let Sam go first. The player chooses two cards, the opponent must turn over one of the selected cards. Don’t touch the card you wished for at the beginning during the game! Don't pick it when you have two cards to pick, and don't pick it when your opponent has picked 2 cards. It's very simple, play it a couple of times and you'll understand. To finally win, you need to collect 30 coins. After this, the guy will open room 204, where Charles lives. We examine the photograph on the nightstand. The photo shows a guy who is signed as Charles. Who, then, is our Charles? We enter Charles's mother's phone number, which is pasted on the photo, into the cell phone contact sheet. We look at the magazine lying on the desktop. Our Charles said he didn't know who Dr. Styles was, but the journal was autographed by the doctor. After looking around, we leave the room and go up to the third floor. We talk with the guy sitting in the chair, ask him to open room 302, but he firmly says “No!” So, we will open the door with cunning. Let's show the guy the trick with the door. In your inventory, combine the pink toilet paper and the noisemaker from the magic shop. We put it under the door and click on the controller, which is in the inventory. When the guy opens the door, we inspect the lock and click the door lock, now the door will not close.
When the guy leaves, we go into the room, inspect everything, paying special attention to the script lying on the table. We leave and go down to the first floor, to Helena's room.
We move the bucket to the door and climb through the window. As soon as you get into the room, Sam will take the room key out of the door, he will feel more comfortable in his pocket. We examine the room, after which we climb under the bed and take out a strange box with a lock. It is not yet possible to open it, since there is no suitable key. As soon as we move away from the box, Helena will enter the room. I'll have to explain everything to her. After the conversation, we look at the camera that stands near the laptop and ask permission to borrow it from Helena. We leave and go to Christ Church.
Christ Church
We meet Angela in the church and talk with her. She will give us a paper angel. After this, we return to Helena and tell her about Angela. We go to the mansion.
Mansion
We watch the screensaver and talk with Dr. Styles. After talking, we return to St Edmund Hall, where we show the students a voting trick.
End of the fourth chapter.
Chapter 5
Mansion
Under our sensitive guidance, Dr. Styles is again.
We leave the room and go down to the private laboratory. We look at the new letters that Styles' dead wife writes. We read the bottom entry on the white board.
Then we go to the main laboratory, sit down at the computer and select the results of the first experiment. They need to be analyzed. We select the time 11:30, select 45 seconds, we see that all the brains are red. Now let's analyze the results of the second experiment. Time 11:42, 30 seconds. The result is the same.
We go to Professor Ramusskin. We talk with him and return home.
We talk with Miss Dalton. A new active point will appear on the map - a park. Let's go there.
A park
Having entered the park, we approach the tree and touch the carved letters. Memories come flooding back to Stiles. Now we go to the fountain, and from it to the playground. We go to the ice cream seller and buy some sweets. We eat the ice cream we bought, memories again. Now let's go to the garden. We look at flower beds. One flower can be picked, but we don’t have time to do it, because the little clever girl has already done it. We go to the site behind her, talk to her, offer ice cream, but she will not agree. Then we pick up the apples lying on the ground nearby and show the girl the trick. As a token of gratitude, the girl will give us a flower. We smell it and feel memories, difficult memories.
There are only a couple of things left to do in the park.
We cross the bridge and find ourselves near the lake. We order a song from an accordionist and rent a boat for a while. Having had our fill of memories and having watched a video about the lake, we return home.
Mansion
We go down to the main laboratory, leaf through the book lying on the table, after which we go to the kitchen and look at the business cards attached to the reminder board. Having seen the business card of a psychologist and an old friend of Styles, we step into the foyer and make a phone call. We go to see a psychologist.
Simon Helborn's Office
We lie down on the couch, close our eyes and go into a trance. During hypnosis, we answer the psychologist’s questions. If you make a mistake, you can simply choose a different answer. After hypnosis we return home.
Mansion
We talk with Miss Dalton.
End of chapter.
Chapter 6
Mansion
We go down to the basement, talk with the doctor, read Laura's letter. We go up to the kitchen and talk with Miss Dalton. We go to Radcliff Infirmary.
Radcliff Infirmary
We listen to Linkweller's telephone conversation, after which we go into his office. The blackmail, so to speak, did not go entirely well. Well, nothing can be done, we need to move on, for example, to Oxford.
Oxford
We go to the magic shop and immediately receive a gift from Mephistopheles. We talk with him, buy disappearing ink and go outside, where we will see Helena. After the meeting we go to the library.
Bodleian Library
We go through the turnstile using a pass and talk with the librarian. She will give very practical advice. We take the sheet of paper that lies next to her and approach Harvey. We show him a trick with a torn and restored newspaper. Let's go to Christ Church.
Christ Church
This time we go into the hall, cross the dining room and approach the fireplace. We examine the certificate, and then lean towards the fireplace. We unscrew the right head and take away part of the rebus. We leave and walk into the garden, talk with Charlie, after that we leave the garden and call his mother. We set off for the Horspath Track.
Horspath Track
We take Eddie's phone number, look at the pancakes lying next to him, and take one. Let's go to St Edmund Hall.
St Edmund Hall
We open room 102 with the key and enter. We take the theater program from the table and the hairpin from the mirror. We take the box out from under the bed and open it with a hairpin. Are drugs involved?
We leave the room and go up to the third floor. An electrician is working near the electrical panel. We need the switchboard to turn off the alarm, but the electrician won’t let us do it. Let's use Sam's magical abilities the old fashioned way. There are three cups and a ball on the floor nearby, we pick them up. Let's play a well-known game with the electrician. Its meaning is simple - you need to guess which glass the ball is under, but Sam will guess, and the electrician will rearrange the glasses. It's easy to guess, since the electrician names which glass he placed the ball under (the glasses are numbered from left to right 1,2,3) and names which glasses he moves. All you need is attentiveness and nothing more. Having won, we force the electrician to turn away and count to one hundred, and while he is counting, we approach the control panel and click the alarm switch and go to another part of the third floor. We meet Malik, after talking with him, we knock on room 322, where Angela lives. Her neighbor will let us in, unfortunately, while she is here, the room cannot be searched. Therefore, we simply spill invisible ink on her, and while the neighbor is not there, we search the room: we look at the photographs, at the figurines of fairies, we rummage in the desk drawer, where we find an old magazine and a sheet on which it is noted that Angela arrived at Oxford in September 2002. After looking around, we leave and go to the electrician. We ask him to bring coffee. We go to the mansion.
Mansion
We take the envelope that lies near the phone. This is an envelope from the Club! We leave the house, go to the garage, inspect the bike, and then thank Miss Dalton for fixing it. We go up to the second floor. It needs to be examined for traces of a ghost. We examine the chair, the statue (Monk), the painting and the door to Styles' bedroom. After which we go down to the main laboratory, approach Styles, standing at the computer, and talk to him.
Let's go to the magic shop.
Oxford
We talk with Mephistopheles and move to St Edmund Hall.
St Edmund Hall
We go into Helena's room and rummage through the desk drawer, where we find a letter of acceptance to the university. Let's call Helena. We return to the mansion.
Mansion
We approach the tower and examine it from all sides. It is closed, but the key lies under the statue standing nearby. We open the door with the key and go upstairs. We examine the window and chair, after which we go to the mansion, talk with Miss Dalton and take flour from the table, which we sprinkle on the window in the tower. Yeah, someone's handprints, obviously female. We look at the chair again, talk to Styles again in the main laboratory and go to St Edmund Hall.
St Edmund Hall
We talk with the guys and move to Christ Church.
Christ Church
We go into the hall and examine the picture. Click a couple of times on the Club logo in the lower right corner. Then we take out the knife and use it several times on the book that the girl is holding. The fourth piece of the puzzle is ours. We collect the puzzle and go to the garden, and from there to the clearing.
We have to search for a rabbit hole. In principle, this is not so difficult - the hole is on the left, closer to the river. Having found it, we climb inside and see a rabbit with a clock and dial. Again, you need to type the person's name on the dial, as we already did in the telephone booth in Oxford. So the name is Lewis Carroll, the man who wrote Alice in Wonderland. Thus, the combination is: 5, 3, 9, 4, 7, 2, 2, 7, 7, 6, 5, 5. Having done everything correctly, we get the second coin. Now look at the map of London. We need to mark those famous places that are depicted on the coins, and then connect the places with these to make a cross. This way we will know the location of the Club. We get out of the hole.
End of chapter, watch the video.
Chapter 7
Under our leadership, Dr. Styles.
Mansion
We watch the screensaver when we find ourselves on the street, open the map and go to St Edmund Hall.
St Edmund Hall
We go into the lobby and go into the dining room (you need to go a little to the right). In the hall we talk with the detective, after which we examine the huge hole in the wall. We insert the disk from inventory into the hole hole. Surprisingly, it fits. We leave the hall, talk with Angela, then with the watchman. We go to the mansion.
Mansion
We talk with Miss Dalton and go down to the main laboratory. We sit down at the computer and select the third experiment. The time is 11-30, at 30 and 45 seconds we see extremely interesting results. We choose the fourth experiment: time 4–30, 45 and 60 seconds. Also very interesting results, especially from Angela. We step into a private laboratory and look at the new letters.
We go up to Sam’s room, inspect the bag (we receive a letter), inspect the drawer of the nightstand (we receive a pass with Helena’s name and Sam’s photo). We also look at the photo of Sam’s parents and go downstairs to make a couple of calls: one to Sam, but she won’t pick up, the second to the phone number indicated on the sheet found. Let's go to St Edmund Hall.
St Edmund Hall
We talk with the guys, after which we move to Oxford.
Oxford
We walk to the magic shop, look at the poster glued to the glass, and tear it off. Unfortunately, the store is closed. Let's go to St Edmund Hall.
St Edmund Hall
We go into the dining room and ask the detective about the Club. He will give us his address (apparently the Club is not that well classified). We're heading to the mansion.
Mansion
We go down to the private laboratory, sit down at the computer, open the “My files” folder, open the first file and print it. We step to the computer in the main laboratory, open the third or fourth experiment and adjust the time so that a snapshot of Angela’s “glowing” brain appears. Open the photo and attach a printout to it. Now you can go to the Club.
Club
We knock on the door and show the decorated guy a poster of Sam.
Let's watch the video. End of chapter.
Chapter 8. Final
In the final chapter we will control Sam, or as she is also called – Lady Byron.
So, we look around the hall and go to the bar. We pick up a crumpled newspaper that is lying next to the chair in which the plump lady is sitting. After which we talk with the lady and the bartender, asking them about Mephistopheles. We go a little to the left and talk to the man sitting behind the fortune ball. Looks like we'll have to play another game. We step into the hall from which we came and approach the Devil's Machine. First you need to pull the right and left handles so that 3 lines fly out. We pull the left one, and then the right one 3 times. When the light goes around in a circle, we wait until it clearly reaches the middle of the celestial sector, and we pull the handle located on the left side of the machine. If everything is done correctly, Sam will fall into another room.
Now we need to open the door over which the riddle text hangs. You need to find the key, and to find it, you need to solve the riddle. We look around the room: paintings, a box with a heart, a doll with a ball. Also pay attention to how many doors there are in this room. You can get lost going into each one. First, we go to the far right, we will find ourselves in a swamp, in the middle of which there is a green key. But you can’t get to it, because the support you have to walk on is extremely unstable. Therefore, we go back out and go into another door, which is located one door away from the “swamp”.
We find ourselves in a “torture” room. We examine the sawn coffin, read all the notes, look at the display cases with weapons and handcuffs. We examine the picture and go out to the very front door (Queen of Hearts). We find ourselves in a room where a ceiling with spikes will fall on Sam, but, thank God, Sam will end up in another room. In "Corridor of Mirrors". There is a big red button in the middle of it. Click on it. Everything around will change its colors, and what we did not see before can now be seen. We examine the painting hanging in the corridor, this is very important. We examine everything else and go into the very front door.
We find ourselves in a mirror maze. It's quite easy to get through if you understand its secret. And the secret is this: you need to go in the direction where the reflection of the figure in the mirror is smaller. That is, as you can see, before the moves there are reflections of certain figures. If you do everything correctly, you will come to an orange key. But we will also have to look for a way back, but moreover, on the way we will see Helena in the reflections! She will scream and ask for help. We go towards the reflection of the smaller Helena, when we are offered what to say, we say “Stay steal”, which means “stay in place”. After this, we take a few more steps and meet Helena. We go out into the corridor. We return to the very first room, in which there is the door that we need to open with the keys. From there we go into the “torture” room. We take the handcuffs and return to the first room.
We exit through the door closest to the screen on the left side and find ourselves in the “jungle room”. We examine it, approach the door near which there are statues. We examine the statues and go through the door. We find ourselves in the “swamp room”. We use handcuffs on the boards, cross them and take the green key. We return to the “jungle room”.
We examine the right statue again and push it. She will find herself in a room with a falling ceiling. Now we go to this room ourselves (through the “torture room”, in case you forgot). The ceiling will fall on Apollo, not Sam. We examine the base of the statue and find a purple key.
That's it, we return to the very first room, insert all three keys into the lock and open the door.
In the next room we will see Mephistopheles sitting in a chair. We won’t talk to him without protection. We go to the “torture room”, take a weapon and return to Mephistopheles, this time we start a conversation with a pistol in our hands.
Let's watch the video.
When Angela is in the circle of fog, we use the device on her that Mephistopheles gave us, having previously charged it with the fairy. When control passes to Styles, pull the lever on the right. The pool will open, Angela will lose her power for a while.
Let's enjoy the ending.
Article taken from the site
Control
The game is controlled using the keyboard and mouse. The left mouse button performs the usual interaction with objects - explore, pick up or, for example, start a conversation. Keyboard shortcuts:
“P” – chapter completion percentage
“Space” – highlighting active objects
“M” – card call
Inventory
The game's inventory is located at the top of the screen and is activated when you hover your mouse over this area. When you left-click on any inventory item, we get a description of that item.
Applying and combining inventory items
In order to use any item in our inventory on another item located at the location, you need to right-click on the inventory item, then it will appear in the upper right corner. Then left-click on the second object located in the location. To combine inventory items, move any of them to the upper right corner (using the right mouse button), and then left-click on another item in the inventory.
The passage of the game is almost linear, but sometimes this or that action can be done earlier, or maybe later.
Map
The game uses a map to move between locations. Depending on the color of the name, locations are divided into the following types:
Yellow color - main tasks are available at locations that need to be completed to complete the chapter
White color - there are additional/bonus tasks at the location
Black color - the location is no longer needed for this chapter
Saves
There is one save file in the walkthrough. After you download it from our portal, paste it into your game save folder. The save folder is located here: “C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\My Documents\GrayMatter”.
Chapter 1
On the right side of the room we see bunny ears sticking out from under the bed. We take the rabbit and move it into the cage (the second action occurs automatically). Inspecting our bag lying under the bed. We take the following items: a carrot, a deck of cards, Sam's diary, a wallet, a box of matches, a guide to magic, a water container and a dirk. Press the “Space” key and examine all the active objects located in the room. We use the vessel from our inventory on the jug of water standing on the nightstand on the right side of the bed. Give the rabbit a carrot and a container of water. We leave the room and examine the active objects in the corridor. We try to enter David's bedroom, but to no avail. We go down to the foyer through the door located on the right side of the entrance to our bedroom.
We study all active objects, examine the door leading to the assistant’s room. We read the note on the door and decide not to enter there. There is also no access to the kitchen. We go into the dining room. We study active objects, after which we return back to the foyer. We go through the door located to the right of the stairs. We explore the room, try to go into the office, but the door is closed. We leave the room and go down the screen, as a result of which we find ourselves in the courtyard.
Reading sign, hanging to the right of the main door. We go to the back of the yard, explore it and go into the garage. We examine our motorcycle and other active objects. The motorcycle turns out to be broken. We return to the foyer.
After talking with Mrs. Dalton, we go into the kitchen. We ask all possible questions and begin to explore active objects. Pay attention to the notice board located on the right wall. We look at the business cards of the psychologist and the police department, as well as the calendar sheet. We leave the kitchen and again examine the door leading to the assistant’s room. We tear off the note hanging on the door and read the message. We study Dr. Styles' business card, which is located under the note page. We go up to the second floor and go into our bedroom. We take out a family photo from the bag lying under the bed. We go downstairs and go to the kitchen. We talk with Mrs. Dalton and receive a mobile phone from her. Now the map is available to us.
Open the map and move to Oxford.
Oxford
So we are at a crossroads. We study active objects, including the poster hanging to the left of the telephone booth. We go to Queen street. We talk with the girl and the guy who are on the right side of the street. When these two leave, we talk to the guy standing on the left side of the street. We pick up a flyer from the ground that fell from the pocket of the last interlocutor.
We go to Cornmarket street and go into a magic items store called “Black Wand”. We study the slot machine located to the right of the door. Click on the logo shown at the bottom of the machine. After the seller appears, we begin a dialogue with him. We ask about the Daedelius club. After finishing the conversation, click on the slot machine again. Using two small red buttons, we change cards automatically. The goal is to score 21 points. After we do this, click on the lower right corner of the machine, in which the lever appears. We talk with the merchant again, and after the dialogue we examine all the items in the store. We go outside and move along the map to “St Edmund Hall”.
St Edmund Hall
After we listen to the conversation between two students, we begin a dialogue with Harvey Kinderman. We ask him all the questions and at the end of the conversation we receive a tape from him. We click on another student - Lisa. We need to change the cassettes using focus. With the right mouse button we turn over the pages of our magic book, and with the left mouse button we click on each of the pages. We continue this action until we select the focus we need. In the future we will need this action with other tricks. Select the cassette at the top of the screen - duplicate. Move it to the empty slot of the left sleeve. Take the cassette located at the bottom of the screen (“Lisa cartridge” - original) and move it to your right hand. Move the duplicate to your left hand. Move the original from the right hand to the left hand. Click on the rabbit icon located at the top of the screen (Misdirect - trick). Move the duplicate to your right hand. Then we move the original to the left sleeve. Click on the image of the magic wand that appears.
We study active objects, start a conversation with Helena Bugard, who is resting on a cot. As the conversation progresses, Charles Ettington will appear in the park. After finishing the conversation with Helena, we approach the bench on which Charles is sitting. We talk with him, after which we study the book and letter lying on the bench to the left of the guy. We start the dialogue with Charles again, ask all possible questions and click on the student again to show him the trick. This trick is much easier than the previous one. Click on the “Misdirect” icon, then move the letter to your left hand. The next step is to hide the letter in the left sleeve.
We talk with Angela Mulholland. We communicate on all topics, after which we examine the pay phone located on the wall to the right of Angela. We use our mobile phone on the sign at the bottom of the paid phone. The telephone number on the street will be transferred to the contact list of our mobile phone.
Using the map we move to Oxford.
Oxford
We climb to the roof of the tower, the entrance to which is located on the left side of the telephone booth. We study active objects, close the door, and then examine red box, we notice a small oblong hole at its base. Apply to the hole of the matchboxes from the inventory. We take away a scroll with the emblem of the Daedelius club, as well as a torn piece of some kind of map. We go down and examine the poster on the left side of the screen. We apply the found scroll with the emblem to the logo located to the right of the inscription Christ Church.
Open the map and move to a new place – Christ Church.
ChristChurch
We examine all active objects, go into the garden, examine the flower beds and return back. We approach the fountain and examine the secret box (Black Box) lying in the fountain. Open it by clicking on the panel in the middle. In front of us is a piece of paper. Click on the water on either side of the box. Apply water to the box. Click on the Daedalus club logo located at the bottom of the box. We take a piece of paper. We return to Oxford.
Oxford
We use the letter stolen from Charles on the steam coming from the sewer hatch. Having opened the envelope, we see two paper pages in front of us. We use the note with Styles' business card from our inventory on the left sheet of paper from the open envelope. We return to St Edmund Hall.
St Edmund Hall
We click on Charles, now we have to use focus to return the letter. Move the letter to your right hand. Click on the trick icon. Then we place the letter in the lowest slot - on the table. Click on the magic wand. We talk with Helena Bugard. After the conversation, click on Angela Mulholland to show her the trick. Having chosen focus, we open it with our phone through our inventory. Go to Menu - Options and turn on the sound (Mute - on). Move our phone to our left hand, then click on the Misdirect icon. Click on the manipulation icon in your left hand. Move the phone to the left sleeve. Let's go to Christ Church.
ChristChurch
We go to the garden and explore the flowerbed located at the bottom of the screen. We notice a strange lump of earth. We dig it up and take the beer emblem. Let's watch the video.
The walkthrough was written for the English version of the game. Due to localization, some names and names of items may differ.
A girl rides a motorcycle along a deserted night road and turns off the right path. Arriving at a mansion on the outskirts of the city, she witnesses a strange incident. On a sudden impulse, she introduces herself as an assistant to Dr. Stiles, a professor of neurobiology. Samantha Everett begins her duties as an assistant, not yet knowing that she will be drawn into a strange story related to the mysterious death of the doctor's wife, a magic club and paranormal phenomena.
In this game you have to control two characters - informal girl Samantha (Sam) Everett and doctor of neurobiology David Stiles.
Interface:
Point&click control.
The cursor is represented as an arrow.
Cursors: eye - pay attention (Sam/David will say his comment), magnifying glass - take a closer look, hand - take, door - get out of proximity, leave the room, gears - interact, outstretched hand with a question mark - apply an item, outstretched hand with a plus - to combine an object, a mouth - to speak, a hat with a cane - to show tricks.
Pop-up inventory at the top of the screen.
Right mouse button – take an item from the inventory (an image of a hand with an item will appear on the right side of the screen). To use an item, you need to take it, bring it to the desired place (an outstretched hand icon with a question mark should appear there) and press the left mouse button. To combine items, you need to take one of them from your inventory (an outstretched hand icon with a plus should appear on it), and then apply it to another item from your inventory by pressing the left mouse button.
Esc key – exit to the menu.
Space key – show active points on the screen.
Key P (English layout) – game progress and list of tasks. Inspect all available objects; the completion of some tasks depends on this.
Key M - map.
The gold color of the letters with which the names are written on the card indicate mandatory tasks, the silver color indicates bonus tasks, and the gray color indicates completed tasks. When a new marker appears on the map, the indicator in the upper left corner blinks.
You can also view the map and progress of your inventory by clicking on the icons in the upper left corner.
Sam/David has a diary where all dialogues and comments are recorded. To read them, select the diary in your inventory, click on the desired bookmark indicating the part, and then scroll through the pages with the right mouse button.
Sam also has a magic book that contains magic tricks. When Sam wants to perform a trick, a cursor with a hat and a cane will appear. Click once and the magic book will open. There you can select any focus by left-clicking on the desired page. If a trick is not suitable for a given occasion, Sam will let you know. Scroll through pages with the right mouse button.
Double click with the left mouse button – run.
Chapter 1.
After the cutscene, Sam will be in the room. She's worried that she lied about being Dr. Stiles' assistant. You will have the first task: look around the room and find Sam the rabbit, Houdini. Click "Continue" to continue. You will find a rabbit near a tree
Now we need to give him food and water. Examine Sam's backpack (Backpack) and take from it everything that can be taken, namely: a deck of cards, carrots, wallet, box of matches, army knife, drinking bottle, pocket book about tricks. Take the Water bottle, go to the Water pitcher and use the water pitcher on the jug. Now take the full water bowl and apply it to the rabbit cage. Then take the carrot and also apply it to the cage. Now Houdini is set up, it's time to explore the house. Leave the room. Sam wants to escape, but first she needs a map. You can press space and examine all the objects in the corridor. Then go out into the foyer (the door to the right of Sam's room). You will find yourself on the stairs. Look at the portrait on the wall on the right. It depicts a beautiful girl. Go to the door under the stairs, look and see a note addressed to the new assistant (“New assistant” envelope), but Sam will not want to read it. Examine the objects near the stairs, then go into the door on the left, this is the Dining room. Here you can look at the paintings above the fireplace and the Hi-Fi system, and also listen to Sam’s comments about other things (table, candles, chairs). Leave the room, then go out into the courtyard by clicking on the door icon at the bottom of the screen (Front entry, in the foyer). Look at the nameplate near the front door (Entry Plague), and then go right (Back exterior), look at the tree, statue and garage doors. Then return to the house and go through the door on the right (Parlour). There you can see diplomas on the far wall and a photograph of a man and a woman, as well as photographs of the doctor’s patients. The door at the end of the room (Office door) will be closed. After that, go out into the lobby again, and there you will be greeted by a woman who will offer you breakfast. Go to the Kitchen, the door next to the dining room. Sam will have breakfast and talk with the woman. This is Dr. Stiles' housekeeper, Mrs. Dalton. Ask the woman all the questions that appear below. She will offer you to work as a doctor's assistant for fifty pounds and the opportunity to live in a beautiful room. Then go to the notice board on the wall on the right (Noticeboard) and look at it. Sam will pay attention to the calendar, Dr. Helborn's business card and the police number. Leave the kitchen and go to the next door. Read the letter to the assistant. Dr. Stiles will ask you to find six students for an evening experiment. If you don't complete the task, you can pack your things and leave. Attached to the letter are checks for £15 to be paid to the students for the experiment. The doctor also asked you to leave your phone number for Mrs. Dalton. Go to her and Sam will tell you that she doesn't have a phone. Mrs. Dalton will give her hers. Now you have a map of Oxford and you can go about your business. Go to the garage and go inside. Try to start the motorcycle, but it is broken. Exit the garage, go into the courtyard and exit in the direction of Exit, or click on the Oxford Town Center map. You will find yourself in the center of Oxford. Look at the college sign and turn onto Cornmarket Street
To your right will be the Black Wand magic shop, go there. Look at the box to the right of the door (Game machine) and notice the icon below
Sam recognizes the logo of a famous magic club. The owner of the store, Mephistopheles, will come out to you. Talk to him. You learn that Sam dreams of becoming a magician and belonging to a famous club. Plus, she has a stage name, Lady Byron. After the conversation, look at the shelves with the magician's props ahead and to the right. Play a game with cards. To win, click on the buttons below and enter this combination
Then take the note from the machine on the right. There will be a task from the magic club Daedalus Club. Talk to Mephistopheles again. Then leave the store and go straight to Queen Street. Take turns talking to two guys and a girl on the street, but they will refuse to take part in the experiment. When the black guy leaves, he will drop the invitation to the party at St. Edmund Hall and Sam will pick it up. This place will be marked on the map. Try going to Brasenose College, but the man at the entrance won't let Sam in. Approach The Windy Dog Pub, but it will be closed. Head to the party at St. Edmund Hall. Sam will witness a quarrel between a guy and a girl. Talk to the guy, Harvey Kinderman. He will say that he had a fight with his girlfriend because of his film. Sam will offer to help if he agrees to participate in the experiment. Harvey will give you the tape. Now you need to show the Fox (she is nearby, on the right) the trick. Select the "Up in smoke" focus. The focus preparation window will open in front of you. Instead of cards we will have cassettes, one real, the other fake. Getting ready:
1. Transfer the fake cartridge (Spare cartridge) from the top window to Sam's left sleeve
2. Place the real cassette (Lisa’s cartridge) in Sam’s right hand.
3. Move the fake cassette to your left hand.
4. Move the real cassette to your left hand
5. Click on the rabbit icon in the center "Misdirect" (Distract the audience).
6. Move the fake cassette to your right hand
7. Hide the real cassette in your left sleeve.
Remember! Sam's left hand is on your right, and Sam's right hand is on your left - don't mix it up!
Click on the magic wand icon that appears in the lower right corner of the screen. If you did something incorrectly, then the incorrect functions will be deleted, but the correct ones will remain.
Sam will lure the real tape out of Lisa, quietly replace it with a fake one and burn it, and give the real one to Harvey. Harvey will promise to come for the experiment.
Now approach the girl in the lounge chair, Helena Beaugard. She is not interested in the experiment, but is interested in the guy on the bench, Charles Ettington. Sam had to lie that she knew him and he would also come for the experiment. Now you need to meet Charles. Go up and talk to him. He is very modest and does not know how to continue the conversation. Pay attention to the objects next to him - a letter from his mother and a book, Homer's Illiad. Talk to him about these things again. After this we can talk about the experiment. Charles will refuse because he needs to talk to his mother. Let's do a little trick with it - “The Ominous Mailbag”. Getting ready:
1. Click on the "Misdirect" icon.
2. Place the letter in Sam's left hand.
3.Hide the letter in your left sleeve.
Click on the magic wand and the letter will be with you.
Now we need to somehow open it without Charles noticing that it was open. Return to Oxford Town Center and use the letter on the Steam Vent.
Review the letter and the accompanying check. Combine Charles' letter with Dr. Stiles' letter and checks, and Sam will replace the check from Charles' letter with the doctor's check. Now it turns out that the mother herself sent Charles to the experiment. Go to Charles and complete the letter trick. Getting ready:
1. Place the letter from the top window in your right hand.
3. Move the letter to the work area (on the table in front of Sam)
Replace the letter, and then approach Helena again. She will be amazed that you spoke to Charles and Sam will convince her to attend the experiment. Now go treat another girl who is sitting near a pay phone against the wall, Angela Mulholland. Talk to her. It's time to show the trick again. This will be the "Telephone psychic" trick. Getting ready:
Go to the Pay phone on the wall next to the girl. Apply your mobile phone to its lower part and Sam will add his number to the phone’s memory. Now open your mobile, go to the menu by pressing the button on the right and select the “Options” function. Turn on the sound by pressing the key under the word "Select". Instead of the word “Off”, “On” should light up
Now turn to the girl again and get ready for the trick:
1. Place the phone in your left hand.
2. Click on the "Misdirect" icon.
3. Click on the “Manipulate left item” icon, the icon with hands on the right side (Sam’s left hand).
4. Hide your phone in your left sleeve.
It turned out to be quite easy to deceive Angela, and she agreed to participate in the experiment. You have gathered all the students, return to Dread Hill House. Go up to your room (to go up the stairs, click Upstairs hall) and take the photo of your parents from your backpack. Sam will place it on the bedside table.
Now it's time to play the game from Daedalus Club. Go to Oxford Town Center and go to Carfax Tower top. You will climb to the roof of the tower. Close the door and look behind it for the red box. There will be a hole at the bottom of the box. Use matches on it and get a hint - a piece of paper with the college logo and a puzzle piece that you need to put together to complete the task. Go back outside and go to the sign with the college logos. Take the logo paper and hold it near the Christ Church College logo
The college will be marked on the map. Go there. Approach the fountain and look at the black box in it. Open the top cover. Take a drop of water from the fountain next to the box and apply it to the piece of paper on the box. The college logo will appear there. Open the box and take the second puzzle piece from it. Then go to the garden on the right (Christ Church College Garden), and look at the flower bed opposite the entrance (Flower Bed). Look at the area under the lion's head and see a flag in the ground. Dig the ground a few times to get the beer coaster and the next puzzle piece. At this time the doctor will call and order you to return home. You only gathered four students, the doctor found one more, and Sam had to be the sixth. The doctor conducted a very strange experiment, during which he put everyone into hypnosis and asked them to imagine themselves on the field and running track of one of the colleges. Watch the video about what happened to the track.
A game Gray Matter- a project of a very difficult fate, and its history consists of frosts, changes in publisher and other events that stretched over seven years. But the main thing that every adventure game fan should know is that she herself took part in the creation of the game. Jane Jensen. Series Creator Gabriel Knight I couldn’t allow the new project to turn out to be just good. It turned out almost great.
New assistant
The starting screensaver is designed quite stylishly, but many may not like it due to its simplicity. Comic style of a two-dimensional picture, complete absence of animation (only frames replace each other). But without it the plot will not be clear. In general, the story told is very interesting, primarily because it is full of mysteries and mystical events. From the very beginning, the main character (student Samantha Everett, who prefers to be called Sam) ends up in Oxford instead of London. And all because of a sharp gust of wind that changed the direction of the sign at the intersection.
What follows is even more interesting. Sam's motorcycle breaks down and refuses to start, and the girl witnesses a very unusual phenomenon. A young woman standing near the nearest house, as if scalded, ran away from there, but first identified herself as an assistant to a doctor living in this building. Sam immediately realized that it was necessary to stay somewhere overnight (it was night, it was raining, and then the bike had stalled), and repeated what the runaway girl had said.
After Sam gets some sleep, he will have to undergo so-called “training”, learn all the available keys and features. The tutorial is very funny - the player is asked to find a rabbit lost in the room and feed it. It leaves a lot of impressions, and you remember the controls quickly.
All collected items are collected in the inventory located on top. There will also be a book of tricks, which is one of the most interesting items in the game. The fact is that Samantha is a magician, and initially she was on her way to the London “Daedalus Club” - it gathers prestidigitators like her. The name of this club will appear more than once as you progress, but this is not the most important thing.
Hocus Pocus
The most important thing is that the tricks in Gray Matter paid a lot of attention. In one of the dialogues, for example, the characters will talk about the trickster who made the Statue of Liberty disappear. For those who remember a similar trick, it is clear that this is a reference to David Copperfield. Well, the book that Sam carries with him describes in detail every step that must be completed for a successful trick.
Moreover, many of these tricks can be performed not only in the game, but also in practice. In the project, these tricks are in most cases necessary to obtain the items Sam needs. The trick itself is performed as follows: the player selects the desired page in the book, after reading it first, clicks and gets to a special screen. There is a figure of Sam, on which there are circles marked with points where you can hide an object. The steps are recorded on the left (you can immediately determine the required number of them), and if the player does something wrong, everything returns to its place, and you have to start over.
These episodes embellish the slightly drawn-out beginning, some of the actions in which are not entirely logical and clear. Take, for example, a fairly common detail in adventure games: I spent an hour running around all the locations at the beginning of the game, studied all the active objects and did not have the slightest idea where to go next. As it turned out, Samantha was simply obliged to read the tiny sign hung near the front door of the house. Only after this the required NPC left the kitchen, and the passage could continue.
There are several inconveniences in interacting with active objects. It is very convenient that they can be highlighted by pressing the “spacebar” - this function in such games saves you from painful searches for barely visible objects. But here they are not just highlighted - inscriptions with the name appear above them. It often happens that two or even three active items are located next to each other, in which case the inscriptions replace each other every two seconds. Apparently because I didn’t understand this right away, difficulties arose. But it would still be better if they simply became brighter or were marked with special icons.
Gray matter
Another problem is directly related to actions with objects. Firstly, most often Sam says the same phrase when he sees something. Moreover, quite often she says obvious things and, for example, when she sees a valve, she says “This is a valve.” After The Whispered World, where every thing was described in great detail, and Sadwick often joked, the quotations here are for the most part not very original. Although the dialogues between the characters compensate for this small drawback - they are filled with humor and interesting statements.
Secondly, before an inventory item can be used on a person or any thing, Sam will first say a phrase. And after it you will have to press again to talk or perform a trick. One episode was also connected with this, when when clicking on the heroine, with whom, in theory, it was necessary to talk, Sam only described her appearance, and ended the conversation there. Who knew that you need to press until the dialogue begins?..
Otherwise Gray Matter can boast exclusively of advantages. The plot is a real scientific thriller and will be of interest not only to fans of magic tricks, but also to students of neurobiology. The fact is that David Stiles, whose assistant Sam became, after the death of his wife in an accident, locked himself in the laboratory for several years and was engaged in research. He studies the human brain and its abilities, for which he is looking for six volunteers, whom Sam will look for in the first chapter. But after the experiment, very unusual things will begin to happen in Oxford, which may well be related to these experiments.
So at first the game may seem a little boring and uninteresting - there are practically no difficult riddles, or any extraordinary events. But then Gray Matter picks up the pace and throws more and more interesting twists, events and characters at the player. A similar situation occurred, for example, in the recent Black Mirror 2, when the storyline began a couple of hours after the start of the game.
So it turns out: in addition to actually collecting objects in all locations, we do magic tricks with Sam, set up tools and devices with Dr. Stiles (he, by the way, will also be a playable character), and admire the city-like views of Oxford. The graphics are quite standard for an adventure game that has been made for several years - a picturesque world, good character models and not the best animation. But the voice acting and musical accompaniment are top notch, there are no complaints about them.
***
Gray Matter is an excellent project that will undoubtedly appeal to fans of adventure games. There are two completely different characters, an incredibly interesting plot, as well as magic tricks and beautiful graphics. True, there are some shortcomings that could have been corrected over so many years of creating the project. But, be that as it may, during the passage Gray Matter you understand more and more clearly that it was done by a talented Jane Jensen. Let's hope that the game will develop into a series of projects, and all the holes will be patched up.
From the introductory video we learn that the main character is clearly arriving in the wrong place, i.e. not to London, but to the outskirts of Oxford. Her motorcycle breaks down, after which she realizes that she is near some mansion. At this moment, a blonde drives up to the house in a car. On the way to the door, she rehearses her greeting. Suddenly this girl is very frightened by something, and she runs in horror back to the car, gets in and drives away.
It's raining heavily and the main character realizes that this is her chance to spend the night in a dry and warm bed. She goes to the house, rings the doorbell and pretends to be a runaway blonde, or rather a new laboratory assistant of a certain Dr. Styles. Before she walks in, she notices a slightly worn sign that reads: Cognitive Anomalies Research Institute.
Morning. The main character, Sam Everett, greatly regrets her deception and decides to quickly get away before her household notices the forgery. But the trouble is, Houdini's rabbit is missing. We are invited to find it, and at the same time understand the principles of control in the game.
The game has a function to constantly view all active zones. It can be turned on or off by pressing the space bar. To quickly move around the surrounding area, you can press the letter “M” (English layout), thereby calling up the map. If you press "P", a window will pop up with a list of tasks that need to be completed in this chapter. Press Esc if you want to save, load, or exit the game. To get into the hero’s inventory, move the mouse cursor up to the top of the screen, the inventory will pop up automatically.
So, Houdini's search. Press the spacebar and see the inscriptions of all active zones of the room. The plant by the window shakes suspiciously. There's clearly something wrong with him. Just below we see a rabbit. We click on it. The bully has been caught. Sam puts him back in his cage.
Now we need to feed him and give him something to drink. Sam's backpack is by the bed. Let's look into it. Everything we need is here. We take the drinking bowl on the right and the carrot on the left. We go to the cage, look into the inventory, right-click on the carrot, then left-click on the cage. The animal is fed. Now we need to find water. We notice near the plant that Houdini so mercilessly ate, a dressing table with a jug. In the inventory, right-click on the drinking bowl and left-click on the jug. We install the drinking bowl on the cage.
The training is over. Congratulations. Before we set out to explore Dread Hill in search of a map, we look into Sam's backpack again and collect all the essentials with us: cards, a knife, a wallet, matches from the Daedalus Club (the club Sam is so eager to join) and a magician's reference book . We leave a photo of Sam's parents, a novel by Marie Shelley, a towel and a letter from the adoption department.
All taken items moved to our inventory. The diary records all of Sam's dialogues and monologues. We are studying the "Magician's Handbook", it will be very useful to us in the future. Now it's time to explore the house. We leave the room and inspect everything. Alas, the map is nowhere to be found. Let's go down. No one seems to be there. On the door under the stairs there is a note for the new laboratory assistant. Sam doesn't want to read it, because, in fact, the envelope is not intended for her.
There's clearly someone in the kitchen. We can't go there. Let's go to the dining room. We examine the stereo system and the locker. There is no map anywhere. We leave and go to the living room. We inspect everything. No bus schedule, no house address. We leave the living room and exit the house through the front exit.
Yesterday Sam didn’t have time to really look at the sign on the house. Let's fill this gap. Let's go to the backyard. Sam's bike is in the garage. But she decides to leave him, because... She doesn't have the money to fix it. Click on the garage again and go inside. We are trying to start the motorcycle. It's hopelessly broken. We leave the garage, examine the decorative tower and return to the house.
Oh! We got caught. The sweet old lady seduces us with breakfast, we follow her to the kitchen. In the dialogue, we immediately learn all the nuances that interest us, and then ask questions from the proposed list. Finally, we learn that the work of a laboratory assistant is not dusty, but you can live in Dread Hill, of course eat for free and still get paid for it! Mrs. Dalton is sure that Sam is an Oxford student and that she was sent by the recruitment office. The woman advises starting with the envelope that Dr. Styles left on the door to the basement.
After eating, we leave the kitchen, take the envelope and read. Our task is to find six student volunteers before the evening for the doctor’s new experiment. Behind the note is an invitation to an experiment with stated payment. Students always need money, and it looks like it won't be hard to find. Also in the note, Dr. Stiles asks Mrs. Dalton to leave Sam's cell number. Hmm, looks like Samantha doesn't have one. Let's go to the kitchen to tell the housekeeper about this. A nice lady gives us her phone number. Well, now we can safely go in search of the “lost sheep.” We call up the map and go to Oxford.
Everything here is very English. But let's not get distracted, we need to find the 6th students. We go to Queen Street (left). Yeah, here are the first victims. We approach the guy on the right, who is standing near the Alice in Wonderland store, and talk to him. Failure. Sam decides that he is working for Dracula. We go to the girl on the left side of the street. Past again. Well, the choice is small - there is only one contender left. Let's approach him. And again by. The guy assures us that no student at Oxford would work for Styles. The guy leaves in a hurry and loses a piece of paper on the way. Sam picks up the paper and reads it. What is this?! Freshman Meeting Flyer! First-timers! Those who are definitely not familiar with the doctor’s activities. Hurry there! Open the map. A new place has appeared here - St. Edmund Hall College. Click.
Here come the newbies. Sam witnesses a couple of students arguing. We talk to the guy to find out the reason, which interests us little as such, because the main thing for us is to find an approach to them, to persuade them to participate in the experiment.
Harvey Kinderman complains about his ex-girlfriend who stole his movie masterpiece. We trick him into thinking that if we help him return the film, he will visit Styles’ laboratory in the evening. Let's go to Lisa. In order to get Harvey's film, we will have to deceive the girl by showing her a trick. Click on Lisa and select the focus “No smoke without fire” from the directory. (There is a barrel nearby in which dry leaves are burning, so this is best suited).
Immediately after choosing a focus, the magician's interface pops up. We need to think through the focus completely. To do this, we build a sequence of actions. There are seven of them in this trick (to check the source, you need to click on the image of the reference book in the upper right corner, to close it, right-click on it).
So, seven points. We need to do the following:
1. Hide the replacement (empty) cassette in the left sleeve.
2. Place Lisa’s tape in your right hand.
3. From the left sleeve we transfer the empty cassette to the left hand.
4. We also place Lisa’s cassette in our left hand.
5. We need to divert Lisa's attention. Click on the rabbit icon.
6. Transfer the empty cassette to your right hand.
7. We put Lisa’s cassette in the sleeve of her left hand.
Click on the magic wand icon that appears in the list of manipulations.
It turned out to be mean, but we have no choice. We give Harvey his film. The first test subject is in our pocket. Five left.
We pay attention to the girl in the sun lounger. She seems arrogant to Sam. But there is no choice. Let's go to her. Let's get acquainted. Her name is Elena. She's bored here, so in order to somehow have fun she hooks up with mama's boys. Just while we were chatting, one of these came into the college courtyard and sat down on a bench nearby. Elena really wants to pick him up. Sam is cunning, saying that he knows him and that he is participating in the experiment. The girl doesn't believe it. You'll have to bluff and improvise.
Let's go to Charles. We talk to the young man. Useless. Then we pay attention to the letter and the book that are lying on the bench. They will serve as a basis for dialogue. We start talking with Charles again, talking about all topics. Alas, he will not participate in the experiment without his mother’s approval. Well, no one pulled his tongue. Let's try the "Bad Letter" trick with him:
1. Distract Charles (rabbit icon).
2. Take the letter with your left hand.
3. We hide it in the left sleeve.
Click on the magic wand icon. Voila. We have the letter. You have to open it carefully. The trick says that you need to hold the letter over steam for 20 seconds. Where can I get steam? Manholes in the center of Oxford! Let's go there.
We take the letter and hold it over the steam. Happened! We read the letter. Very lucky: Charles’s mother included a flyer for a free examination and did not indicate in the text what kind of flyer it was. We right-click on the letter in the inventory, then left-click on the envelope for the new laboratory assistant. It is done. Now we need to slip this to Charles. We return to St Edmund Hall. You need to finish the trick - put the letter back on the bench:
1. Place the letter in your right hand.
2. Distract the victim. 
3. Drag the letter to the central circle below - “surroundings”.
We press the magic wand. As always, the trick was a success. Let's go to Helen. She is delighted with Sam and promises to come to the laboratory in the evening. Three in total. (Charles will come anyway, because this experiment “was recommended to him by his mother”).
Another girl sits behind Elena. Let's go to her. We gain her trust. After chatting with her, it becomes clear that the trick will impress her more than just chatter, especially since the girl has been here for several years and can guess that Sam is not a student.
There is a pay phone nearby. It seems like there was something similar in the reference book. Click on Angela and select the “Telephone Psychic” focus. But first we need to prepare everything. We go into the cell phone, press menu, then go to settings, turn off the sound of the keys. Then we take a closer look at the pay phone. In the inventory, right-click on the cell phone, then left-click on the payphone number. We move away from the machine, click on Angela. Focus begins:
1. Place the cell phone in your left hand.
2. Distract Angela.
3. We carry out the manipulation with the left hand.
4. Hide your cell phone in your left sleeve.
Let's focus. We made it! The girl is impressed, and it is not clear what more, either because Sam has premonitions, or because the famous neuroscientist is conducting an experiment and she is invited to participate in it.
Total four. We need two more. But there's no one else here. We set off again for Oxford, only now we go right, to Cornmarket Street. And there's no one here. But what is it? Shop "Black Magic" - a shop for magic tricks. Maybe here Sam will find a thread leading to the Daedalus club.
Let's go inside. No one. Let's look around. In the middle and on the right are shelves with objects for various tricks. To the right of the front door is a portrait of Harry Houdini. Somehow it doesn't look very similar to the original. Under the portrait is a machine gun. Let's study. The machine has the emblem of the Daedalus club!
Suddenly, out of nowhere, the store owner appears. We ask him about the club. Sam demonstrates his abilities. The man is impressed. His name is Mephistopheles. Sam reveals his stage name - Lady Byron. The heroes discuss the possibility of getting into the club. It turns out that in order to become a member of the club you need to play a “big game” - arrange a mass illusion or deceive someone, so much so that it becomes a legend. But such a game still needs to be invented. Mephistopheles offers to check if there is any point in finding a club, whether Sam is capable enough, and points to the machine gun that we were interested in before his arrival.
Once again we approach the box. At the top it says “Not less than 21...” Press the left red button under the card until an ace appears. Then click the right one until 21 points appear. Happened! On the right we take the Prize. This is a puzzle from the club. Let's read. Can not understand anything. We ask Mephistopheles for help. In response, he seems to help, telling us that the heart of a scientist is most likely the center of Oxford, and on the other hand, he seems to make allowances for what may be deceiving us. Well, well, let's go in search of a solution. We leave the store and go to Carfax.
There is a sign on the Carfax Tower. We read it: “Queen Street and High Street,” which translates as Queen Street and High Street. The rebus says "height is higher than the height and higher than the queen." Yep, looks like we're there. We climb the tower. Great view. But that's not what we're here for. We close the door. Oh, there's a red box hanging on the wall. We are studying. It has the Daedalus emblem on it! We are on the right track. But how to open it? There is a gap at the bottom, you need to somehow influence it. Let's look into the puzzle: "...fire, water, earth, wind...". Could this be a clue? We take matches and use them on the crack. It worked! We found the first of the five "golden" pieces mentioned in the puzzle, as well as a paper with a coat of arms. Surely, this coat of arms is the key to the next “golden one”. We need to find a list of Oxford coats of arms. Let's go down.
On the same street, on the very left building there is a sign with coats of arms. What a success! Let's go to her and take a closer look. We take out the paper with the coat of arms. We find it in the list on the left, sixth from the top. Christ Church College. The corresponding location appears on the map. Let's go there.
We approach the fountain. Inside is a black box with the Daedalus logo. Let's open it. Here's the litmus test. You can't just open it. Let's look at the puzzle again. Water! We scoop up water from the fountain with our hands, take it out of the inventory and pour it onto the litmus paper. Happened! Open the box by clicking on the club sign. We take the second “golden” one. We look at the fragments in the inventory. We connect them (if you need to flip one of the fragments, right-click on it).
Well, we found the “golden one”, but where is the clue? Maybe it's not all about Christ Church? We leave the fountain and go into the garden. The puzzle talks about the earth. Let's dig deeper into the flower beds. We will be lucky with the flowerbed that the sword blade points to. A little lower and to the left of the sculpture you can see a small mound, look closer. Yep, a flag with the club's emblem! Let's dig. And here is the next clue with “golden”.
Suddenly our search is interrupted by a call from Dr. Styles. He demands that we return to Durd Hill immediately. Sam explains to him that she hasn't found the 6 yet. This doesn't bother David at all. During our absence, one student did respond to his ad. Well, the sixth one will be Sam herself...
The girl returns to Durd Hill. The first meeting with the doc is on an unfriendly note. But then David notices Sam's medallion. He is sure that this medallion used to belong to his mother. After this, he softens a little and forgives Sam for her absence. Cunning Samantha immediately puts forward her working conditions. Styles has no choice but to accept them. The experiment begins...
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