The Fall Chapter 2: Reconstruction

The Fall Chapter 2: Reconstruction

4 September 2023

Copyright © 2023 Balmoral Software (http://www.balmoralsoftware.com). Portions copyright © 2013 Kheops Studio. All rights reserved. Republication, redistribution or conversion is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Balmoral Software.

Table of Contents

Walkthrough

The Fall: Reconstruction is a 2010 first-person puzzle game, the second chapter in a trilogy from Kheops Studio, the same developers who created The Egyptian Prophecy, Echo: Secrets of the Lost Cavern, The Secrets of da Vinci and Destination: Treasure Island. It has a similar game structure as their 2006 release Safecracker: The Ultimate Puzzle Adventure, but perhaps with a slightly more involved backstory. Unlike most of Safecracker, the gameplay is linear, in which you generally cannot work on more than one puzzle or goal at a time. Further actions by your avatar "John" are possible only after he discovers a specific need. There are 9 hidden-object games (HOGs) and 6 jigsaw puzzles within this chapter, with the rest of the gameplay devoted to clue-gathering and a variety of mostly-familiar puzzles, including logic, slider/warehouse, math, Simon Says, and a limited amount of inventory manipulation. A couple of the puzzles involve hand-eye coordination or a certain amount of manual dexterity, but these seem to be limited to this chapter only. Unfortunately, there is no way to replay the verbal comments in the game, so play close attention to what's being said. With no saved-game structure in this Casual/Adventure game hybrid, you must exit the game and manually copy a status file in order to be able to return to an earlier point in the game.

The game's Play Mode is set to Adventure. Some of the directions in this walkthrough assume the 360° Free View setting is off. All mini-games and puzzles are played in Normal mode.

New Game

After the Fall, a skippable intro to the game's control interface, and some instructions received over the phone, enter the elevator and click on the pass card slot at center left. Exit the elevator and solve the HOG for 20 pass cards:
Re-enter the elevator and move the pass card from your inventory into the slot per the instructions. Before reaching your destination on Floor 13, you'll need to repair the elevator. Select Floor 20 and exit the elevator to face a swimming pool. Turn around and click on the double doorway overhead to discover the Elevator Machinery Room. Turn back to the pool, look down and remove the pool ladder with your bare hands. Turn around and put the ladder onto the hooks on the wall in order to reach the room above.

Inside the machinery room, open the cabinet and try to remove the motherboard. Take the middle one of the 5 red-handled screwdrivers from the blue pegboard. Use the screwdriver on each of the four corners of the motherboard. Zoom in on the motherboard and solve the HOG for 25 components:

Remove the 9 cumbersome objects indicated by cursor hotspots, then put the motherboard onto the table. Solve the jigsaw puzzle:
Zoom in on the motherboard, then plug the soldering iron into the wall outlet and get a shock.

Simon Says Puzzle

Pick up the soldering iron and watch the target location sequence carefully. Note that only the open circles on the board are in need of soldering. This puzzle randomizes for each gameplay, so there is no fixed solution. If you fail to match the sequence, keep trying. If you have a way to capture multiple screenshots, it may be helpful.

Back out, return the motherboard to the cabinet and use the screwdriver on the corners again. Close the cabinet and pull its large red handle to illuminate a green light, indicating that the elevator is repaired. Return to the elevator and go to Floor 13.

Neighbor Puzzle #1

Exit the elevator and click on the blue access panel to the left of the entrance to Spoehk Corp (Kheops spelled backwards). To skip the derivation and jump to the solution, click here. Some experimentation with the number pad shows the following pattern of neighbor counts shown in green:
Note that a neighbor count does not include the button pressed, so it can vary from 0 to 8, with fewer possibilities for buttons at the corners and edges.

Using Y for a button pressed and N for one that is not pressed, the green 0 at the lower left corner indicates the partial pattern:
The 3 at middle left indicates:
The 1 in the lower right corner indicates:
We now have the requisite 4 buttons to be pressed. Click on these buttons to open the door:

Slider Puzzle

Go through the door and listen to the phone message to learn that your name is John and to have additional tasks added to your list. To delete the message using the sliding-piece puzzle, rotate the pieces until the 7 is in the upper left corner, then press the DEL button. Follow this by putting the buttons back in order. Using the notation
the shortest solution is:
H E D G H E B A D

[DEL]

A B E H G D E H I

Rotate right three times and click on the wall map. John's reference to spiders is from a room explored in Chapter 1. Click on the 6 spiders while they are rotating.

Map Jigsaw

Rotate and drag the pieces to recreate the office map. As in most jigsaw puzzles, the pieces are easier to position by first rotating pieces as much as possible and working on the boundary. Note that the four corners of the puzzle have holes drilled into them. Pieces snap into position when played correctly. The solution is:
When completed, the office map is accessible using the Map button at the bottom of the screen. This map also shows the active surveillance cameras.

Enter the red door into the Video Surveillance Room and zoom in on the control console beneath the six video screens. Click on the defective digital recorder in the USB-4 slot at right. Solve the HOG for 20 recorders:

Click again on the defective digital recorder at right to remove it. Move each of the three digital recorders in your inventory to the USB-1, USB-2 and USB-3 slots at right. Checking the office map, the least obtrusive camera that can be left on is probably #1 (Computer Room). Click on the grey buttons for Cam-1, USB-1, USB-2 and USB-3 to turn the associated red lights to green. Press the green GO TO LIVE button at the bottom. A check of the map shows that all other video cameras have been disabled.

Back out twice and approach the yellow door to the Laboratory. Click on the access panel to the left of the door. Note the interesting pattern of repeating symbols on the Meeting Room window at left. These are the Morse Code symbols for A, C, O and M, which can spell "coma". Perhaps a clue to what's going on?

Use the map to help you navigate to the Storeroom.

Warehouse Puzzle #1

Click on the hotspot at the top of the left shelves to access a warehouse puzzle for obtaining the fourth digital recorder.
Define a move as sliding a piece in the indicated direction as far as it will go, unless specified otherwise.

A solution in 30 moves is:

1. Column 4 down
2. Row 1 right
3. Column 6 up
4. Row 6Right right
5. Row 6Left right
6. Column 1 down
7. Column 2 down
8. Column 3 up
9. Row 4 left
10. Column 4 down
11. Row 2 left
12. Column 6 up
13. Row 5 right
14. Column 3 down
15. Row 2 left
16. Column 3 up
17. Column 4 up
18. Row 4 right
19. Column 1 up
20. Column 2 up
21. Row 6Left left
22. Column 3 down
23. Row 1 left
24. Column 4 up
25. Row 3 (recorder) right
26. Column 3 up
27. Row 5 left
28. Row 6Right left once
29. Column 6 down
30. Row 3 (recorder) right
Back out and enter the Top Management Office at right. Press the switch on the red column.

Wires Puzzle

There are three wires to connect on the top separately from four on the bottom, so there are 3! + 4! = 6 + 24 = 30 possibilities to check by trial and error. However, try the well-known color sequence RGB for part of the bottom sequence! The solution is:
(Dark green)OrangeBrownLight green
RedGreenBlueYellow
Press the red button to hide from the passerby.

Office Jigsaw

Inexplicably, with the whole office to explore (quietly), you must now digress to solve a 52-piece jigsaw puzzle on the bulletin board at right. The solution (with four face pieces missing) is
Back out from the puzzle and click on the control panel of the safe under the desk to disclose a larger version of the neighbor puzzle seen in Reception. Click on the 5 x 5 keypad five times until a HOG is triggered. Solve the HOG for 20 reminders:

Neighbor Puzzle #2

The neighbor pattern of the safe's digital keypad is disclosed:
To skip the derivation and jump to the solution, click here. Note that the top and bottom halves of the pattern are mirrored. It follows that the button presses on the keypad have the same symmetry.

Consider the 4 in the middle of the right edge. Exactly four of its five neighbors are pressed, so by symmetry the unpressed button is in the middle row at the position of the 5. Equivalent remarks apply to the 4 in the middle of the left edge, so the known button states are:
The 4 in the center of the grid results in:
The 6 and then the 5 produce:
The 2 in each corner results in:
The 1's and 2's in the second and fourth rows produce an unpressed key in each corner of the grid:
Since there are 12 button presses in total, the remaining two buttons are also pressed and the overall solution is:
Look in the opened safe to obtain a checkbook. If that's not possible, be sure you've seen the access panel for the Laboratory door. Zoom in on the tabletop and click on the yellow note to learn that the surveillance room safe combination is a reference to a diamond. Click on the checkbook and slowly drag the pencil all over and around the signature area to disclose J. Spoehk's name. J as in John?

Warehouse Puzzle #2

Back out and re-enter the Storeroom. Click on the hotspot on the left shelves to solve another warehouse puzzle and obtain some tracing paper.
A solution in 12 moves is:
1. Column 6 up
2. Row 4Right right
3. Row 5Right right once
4. Row 6Right right once
5. Column 3 down
6. Row 1 left
7. Column 5 up
8. Row 3 (paper) right
9. Column 3 up
10. Row 4Right left
11. Column 6 down
12. Row 3 (paper) right
The Row 2, Row 4Left, Row 5Left and Row 6Left pieces are not moved.

Back out and return to the Top Management Office. Zoom in on the desktop and use the Tracing paper and pencil on the check. Make your way back to the Laboratory door. Move the signature from your inventory onto the door access screen. Use the stylus to trace "J. Spoehk". The red color indicates which letter should be traced. Not sure why this isn't the same process used in the office on the tracing paper. You may find the Easy version of this puzzle easier (or even possible) to complete, depending on your manual dexterity.

Enter the Laboratory and click on the small red button to the right of the interior windows to discover the Secured Room. Exit the Laboratory and return to the Storeroom. Click on the air conditioning grille to learn that you need a map and a flashlight before trying to navigate the ducts. Back out and return to the Reception area. Enter the Waiting Room, rotate left twice and click on the yellow scroll to identify it as the Diamond Sutra. Could this be the reference earlier in J. Spoehk's checkbook? Click on the placard below the scroll to obtain the surveillance room safe combination: 204-565.

Optional activity: If desired, you can repair the broken statue in this room. More on that much later.

Return to the Video Surveillance Room, zoom in on the video console and insert the digital recorder in your inventory into the empty USB slot. Click on the grey buttons for USB-1 to USB-4 and press the green GO TO LIVE button to turn off all video cameras.

Back out and pick up the flashlight at left. Click on the safe at lower right and enter the combination 2 0 4 5 6 5 V. Take the map of ducts from the safe. Return to the Storeroom and try to enter the open duct through the falling snow.

Take the elevator down to parking level P2. Exit the elevator and click on the locked gate to learn you'll need a way to open it. Return to the roof on Floor 20 and enter the Elevator Machinery Room. Solve the HOG for 15 cutting tools:

Take the elevator back to Level P2 and use the Cutting pliers to open the gate. Enter the cage and click on the cabinet.

Fuses Puzzle

The left side of the panel contains 10 fuses that can be swapped in pairs. To skip the derivation and jump to the solution, click here. Each fuse has a value marked on it that is applied to each of the dials indicated by the tabs around the fuse's location. The fuses can be arranged in 10! = 3,628,800 different ways, a manageable number for a computer solution. Begin by predicting the baseline result if all fuses were removed: 
			Fuse tab
		 A	 B	 C	 D

		-2	-1	-2	+1
	Fuse	-2	-1	+1	+2
	values	-1	+1	+2	-2
		+1	+2	+1	+2
		+2	+2
		--------------------------
	Totals	-4	+3	+4	+3
Next, identify the current and desired settings for each dial. The goal is to set the dials at the midpoints of the red "warm" regions: 
						Dial
					 A	 B	 C	 D
	Current setting			-6	+6	+5	+5
	- Change from fuse removal	-4	+3	+4	+3
					--------------------------
	Baseline setting		-2	+3	+1	+2
	- Desired setting		+2	 0	-3	-2
					--------------------------
	Net change needed		+4	-3	-2	 0
In the computer, we can simply test each permutation of the 10 fuse values into the 10 sockets to see if the desired changes are made. It turns out that there is only one solution:
To obtain this arrangement, make the following 5 swaps:
Exit the cage and use the elevator to return to the Storeroom on Floor 13.

Duct Maze

Enter the air conditioning duct. Using the notation
F: Click forward as many times as possible until blocked ahead by a wall
R: Click on the exit at right
L: Click on the exit at left,
the following move sequence is the quickest and simplest path through the duct maze:
F R L F R* F L* F L R F R F R*

*: A vent can be seen on the opposite side

Click twice on the vent opening to enter the Secured Room.

Fingerprints Puzzle

Click twice on the cabinet at right to identify some "oily traces". Back out and pick up the roll of sticky tape and some cement powder. Back on the cabinet door, use the cement powder on the hotspots in four quadrants to disclose some fingerprints.

Select the five correct prints using the sticky tape on each one. This is a difficult puzzle since little information is returned about which 5 of the 15 prints should be chosen. In the absence of any other information, there are 3003 different sets of 5 prints (126 in the Easy version of the puzzle). While examining the angles of prints wasn't fruitful, the correct prints are generally of about the same size (i.e., small and large prints don't seem to be mixed), as indicated by the single clue provided for the puzzle. Note the sideways print at lower center that seems to be thumb-shaped. However, beware of a comment about having prints for the same hand, as that hand does not seem to be the one being sought. After a fair amount of trial and error, the correct solution is

Move the dark print set from your inventory to the row of circles on the security panel. Of the 5! = 120 possible orderings, the following transfers should be made:
Finger
12345
Move Fore-
finger to
position 2		Move Middle
finger to
position 3		Move Pinkie
to position 5		Move Thumb
to position 1		Move Ring
finger to
position 4
Open the cabinet and solve the HOG for 20 digital media:
Pick up the X88 Component from the middle shelf. Back out and return to the Storeroom via the open vent. Use the map to find your way to the Computer Room nearby. Approach the printer at left center.

Printer Jigsaw

Click on the printer's lower drawer and solve the jigsaw puzzle (be sure to avoid having too large a margin at the top of the frame):
Move the Key data in your inventory to the USB port at upper left. Open the upper drawer of the printer to see that it's out of paper. Return to the Storeroom.

Warehouse Puzzle #3

Click on the hotspot on the shelves at right to access a warehouse puzzle for a ream of printer paper.
A solution in 19 moves is:
1. Column 6Top down
2. Row 1Right right
3. Row 1Left right
4. Column 1 up
5. Row 3 (paper) left
6. Column 3 up
7. Row 4Right left
8. Row 6Right left
9. Column 5 down
10. Column 6Bottom down
11. Row 4Right right
12. Column 3 down
13. Column 4 down
14. Row 3 (paper) right
15. Column 1 down
16. Row 1Left left
17. Row 1Right left
18. Column 6Top up
19. Row 3 (paper) right
The Row 4Left and Row 6Left pieces are not moved.

Return to the Computer Room and move the paper from your inventory into the open printer drawer. Close the drawer and press the glowing green button.

Formula Jigsaw #1

Take the sheet of paper from the output tray at right. Use the scissors to separate the pieces of paper. Since it may be easier to solve this jigsaw puzzle using the side of the paper with an ordered numeric table on it, right-click to turn over most pieces with text (and no lines) on them. When the table portion of the puzzle is complete, it can be turned over to facilitate placing the rest of the pieces. Placement of some edge pieces may require careful observation of watermarks. If corner pieces don't seem to fit, try turning them over. Exploded and final solutions are shown below:

Apply the Sticky tape to the formula and return to the Laboratory. Zoom in on the lab bench and try using the formula from inventory. Plug the lamp cord into the dark outlet at right. Solve the HOG for 20 strips of paper:

Formula Jigsaw #2

This is followed by a jigsaw puzzle requiring rotation of strips of paper. If rotation using the right mouse button is too rapid, try selecting a point closer to an end of the strip. Strips click into place only when they are vertical or nearly so. This puzzle may be easier to solve from right to left. Exploded and final solutions are shown below:
Again apply the Sticky tape to the formula. Solve the HOG for 20 chemist's utensils:

Formula Puzzle

Zoom in on the lab bench and move the Chemist's lab equipment from inventory. Place the beakers in the correct order per the instructions in the formula above (there is only one correct ordering):
Move the X88 component from inventory to the beaker at position 7. Back out and use the map to go to the Lounge. Zoom in on the vending machine there. Click on the coin slot, then back out and rotate around to solve the HOG for 20 tokens:

8 tokens:
1 token:
7 tokens:
1 token:
3 tokens:
Return to the vending machine.

Arithmetic Puzzle

Mathematical formulas must be entered to match the numbers shown under the beverages. If turns out that four numbers selected from {1,4,6,9} and three operators (each + or x) must be used in each formula; shorter solutions are not possible. Regardless of the order of the operators in the formula, multiplication is always performed before addition. All four beverage numbers must be entered since the first three attempts (in any order) are always rejected by John due to being sugarless, carbonated or still water. Insert a token before entering each formula. Press the checkmark button to evaluate the result and the C button to delete the last character entered. The four solutions are:
4 x 4 x 6 + 4 produces 100

4 x 4 x 9 + 1 produces 145

4 x 9 x 9 + 9 produces 333

4 x 6 x 9 x 9 produces 1944

Return to the Laboratory. Zoom in again on the bench and transfer the Sweet drink from inventory to the beaker in position 2. Using the pipette on the table, transfer drops of each liquid (one drop at a time) to the large Erlenmeyer flask according to the formula (16 drops total). Use the stopper on the table to seal the flask and store it in your inventory.

Back out and go to the elevator to find out you cannot reach the roof. Return to the Video Surveillance Room and zoom in on the box of keys at upper right. Remove 14 matching pairs of keys until the odd one is identified. Return to the elevator and insert the Elevator master key in order to reach Floor 20. Exit the elevator and walk to the right to reach a glass balcony.

Click on the cradle and watch the endgame sequence. The glass flask containing the formula (whatever that is) would ostensibly be shattered in the fall. A blurry version of the Chapter 3 starting point is then shown:

More to come in The Fall Chapter 3: Revelation...

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Copyright © 2023 Balmoral Software (http://www.balmoralsoftware.com). Portions copyright © 2013 Kheops Studio. All rights reserved. Republication, redistribution or conversion is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Balmoral Software.