Detailed Puzzle Solutions tutorial - The Great Work mod for Amnesia: The Dark Descent

Chapter 1: Fortress

Castle

--Throw a heavy object at the damaged door to destroy it. A crate, chair, or heavy rock will do.

--A switch to the secret door is hidden behind a shelf in the back right corner of the room.

Study

--Use the hammer on the barrel of petroleum to make it leak. Use the glass jar on the petroleum to fill it up.

--Use the jar of petroleum to grease the machine’s lever, then use the hammer to knock it loose.

Cells

--A bed in one of the cells hides an underground passage. Creep through it to find a candle you can pick up.

--Place the candle on the empty pillar and extinguish the other. You can either fill your jar with water from a leaky pipe in the room, or use the hammer and chipper on the pipe directly above the candle.

Sanctum

--Attempting to pick up the key will cause it to disappear. After seeing the corpse in an adjoining room, the corpse will move to the center room. Approaching it causes the key to reappear.

--You can only leave this area by entering the center room from one of the side doors, then leaving through one directly across from the slab. This makes the exit appear.

--Combine the Saltpeter with the Oil of Vitriol to make Aqua Regia. Combine this with the bag of Ducats to make Auric (Gold) Hydroxide.

--Use Auric Hydroxide on the potash to make Fulminating Gold. It will explode if it is thrown or struck hard enough by an object. Use it to destroy the barricaded door.

Chapter 2: Alkahest

Bedrooms

--Pick up the reagent from the study and return to the bedrooms.

--Place Auric Hydroxide in one of the jars over a Bunsen burner. Turn on the burner, wait for it to boil. Turn off the flame and add the Reagent before it stops boiling. Take the new mixture.

--Add the new mixture into the jar in another room. Place your empty jar on the receiving end, boil the mixture, and take the Aqua Regia.

Foyer

--Push the statue on the balcony over the edge. The sound will make the Brute leave its post.

Cellar

--The Orb Shard appears randomly in one of five possible chests. Search every openable chest to find it.

Chapter 3: Clock

Library

--Use the hammer and chipper on the door near the boarded-up room to open it. A key is hanging in desk cupboard.

--In the Rare Books room, remove the books from the oddly-colored bookshelf to be able to tip it over. Throw something at the damaged wall to break it open.

Storage

--To avoid the water monster, you can climb a chain near the entrance and walk on a pipe. Or, carry a box that will enable you to get over the barrier in the hallway.

--Hop across the tall wine shelves to get to the trapdoor in the ceiling.

--Use a health potion to stop limping.

--You must flip both levers within a few seconds of each other in order to open the door. Taking too long to flip the second lever will make the timer expire.

Laboratory

--Place the rose in the oven, and your chemical jar on the receiving end. Activate the machine to extract the carmot.

--Place the Aqua Regia in the jar and boil it. Add the carmot to receive the Alkahest.

--Light the candle on the table and use the hammer chipper on the gas pipe. After the explosion, climb the chain down to the next area.

Driver

--Wind the crank to raise the weight. The crank will lock in place when you’ve wound it enough.

--Use Alkahest on the padlock to open the locked room.

--Pull the four levers in the correct order to start the driver. The order is: 2, 1, 4, 3

--Once the driver is started, the gears in the Clockwork map start moving. Jump onto the lowest gear and ride it around to reach the door to the Vault.

Vault

--Grab the gear at the end of the passage and carry it down the hall. You don’t use the gear; it just triggers a jumpscare cause I’m a little shit.

--After the Remnant knocks you through the door, turn around and run into the room behind you. Run into the secret passage and pull the lever to close the door behind you.

--In the final room, use Alkahest on the heart to destroy the Remnant.

Chapter 4: Relics

Prison

--To unlock the Reliquary route, pick up the Ritual Dagger and use it on the pool of acid near your cell.

--Failing to do this unlocks the Cabal route.

Sanctuary

--Find the ritual room and recover the two Shards taken from you at the beginning of the chapter.

--Follow the knocking sound and pull the door down to find the lever handle. Use this to open the heart chamber.

--(With Acid Knife): Use the knife on the heart to destroy it and the Remnant near the elevator. The Intelligencers will appear and take the shard to the Reliquary.

--(Without Acid Knife): Pick up the heart. The Remnant will leave the area and proceed to the Cabal.

Reliquary

--A book on a high bookshelf contains a key to the hatch you will find later.

--An opening in the ceiling of the storage room leads up into the sewers. Beneath several wooden pallets is a hatch you can unlock.

--Grab the Shard, avoid the Intelligencer and escape. To stall the Intelligencer, you can use a lever to close the door behind you, or lower the bridge behind you as cross the gap.

Cabal

--Go down into the central room to make a passage in the hallway appear.

--Climb a chain and hop from chain to chain to cross the gap left by the broken bridge.

--Light and pick up the fallen torch. Place it under the vat to light the wood.

--Turn the cranks in each adjoining room, then turn to the main crank to make alkahest fall into the lower room. You can grab a ladder in an adjoining room to safely descend.

--Drop the heart in the vat of acid to destroy the Remnant. Grab the Shard in the hallway outside and escape.

Sanctuary

--Avoid the Intelligencer and get into the Elevator. Closing the elevator door will protect you as you pull the lever.

Chapter 5: Origin

Cage

--Find a new hammer and chipper in a chest full of tools. Use them to break open a cupboard and find the padlock key.

--Lure the Remnant into the center room and lock it with both padlocks. The Shadow will appear, destroy the Remnant, and transport you and its Shard to the next area.

Mithraeum

--Place the metal orb in the center room, and the copper rod in the hand of the statue that doesn’t already have one.

--Carry the energized orb in a full circle around the hallways until every torch turns red, then place it in the empty slot in the runed door.

--Take both copper rods and move them to the statues at the area’s exit. Place the drill bit on the tablet, and it will destroy the door blocking the exit.

Cave

--A large boulder can be rolled across the cavern to reach the high passage.

--In the lower area (across the gap), grab the black powder in the campsite. Grab the large wooden plank in the cavern itself and use it to get up to the broken stairs.

--Place the black powder at the end of the passage and light it with a tinderbox, and RUN.

Chapter 6: Completion

Entryway

--Three “East Wing Keys” can be found that can all be used on the east door. Each one unlocks a room from a previous chapter of the game. In the Study room, a fourth key can be taken that unlocks the East Wing itself.

East Wing

--Staring at Alexander’s creepy portrait causes one of the rooms to “clean” itself. Grab the chair and use it to the break the cracked window.

--The West Wing Key can be found behind one of the beds.

West Wing (WHOOAAAA TRIPPY)

--Grab a chair and break the damaged door.

--Pull down some crates/barrels from the floor(?) and use them to climb into the master bedroom.

--Grab the key and note on the desk, and grab more boxes to get back out into the hallway.

Basement

--The missing orb pedestal in an adjoining room must be placed in the central room, and a Shard must be placed in each pedestal.

--The Flow Cycle rod is in a chest under the stairs; the Four-Phase rod is in a room at the far end of the basement; the Trinity Steam rod is in the same room as the missing pedestal.

--Use the rods to start the machine. Then quickly run to the central room and pull the lever there to repair the Orb.

Chapter 7: The Circle

Sewers

--Wind the stone weight until it’s as high as it goes. Climb up into the rafters using a dangling rope. Use the saw you find in a nearby room and cut the end of the rope where it’s attached to the weight.

--(I’m sorry, I wanted you to be able to cut the rope at any place, but rope physics in this game engine refused to cooperate.)

Sanctuary

--Grab the Saltpeter and Ducats, then head to the previously locked door near the elevator.

Mithraeum

--Pick up the Oil of Vitriol. Use the same method as in Chapter 1 to recreate the Auric Hydroxide. Use it on the potash to create Fulminating Gold. There are three available potashes in case you lose one.

--Throw the fulminating gold at the base of the pillar to destroy it. Grab the Orb and flee.

Endings

Bad Ending 1: Get caught by the Intelligencers as you try to escape the Mithraeum. They fuse the Orb to your body to resurrect Moriaen.

Bad Ending 2: Get caught by the Shadow as you try to escape. It teleports you and the Orb back to the Mithraeum in Chapter 5. You cannot escape or touch the Orb, and Charles dies there.

Good Ending: Escape the Sanctuary via the elevator as in Chapter 4. Charles keeps the Orb safe while hiding from the College, and successfully recreates the potion that made Hartlib immortal.

True Ending: Take the Orb to Hartlib in the prison. He uses it to teleport Charles to safety and destroy the College. He leaves Charles with an amnesia potion to forget the events of the game and live in peace.