08. The Attic: the Pain of the Shepherds

Now that we have an axe, go to the north hall (through the door to your left when you first enter) and hack away the boards there. P.S. - there are Smogs in the building now. Push the bookshelf on the left wall to reveal a CHILD'S DRAWING. There's a painting here of Alex's ancestor, one of the founders of Shepherd's Glen. However, it's been taken off the wall. Enter the central room and look for a pedestal at the eastern end of the room. There is a keyhole here, prefect for our newest key.

Go down the gaping hole in the floor and look on the ground ahead for a FIRST AID KIT. Go left or right, doesn't matter, until you hear white noise and see a narrow doorway in the wall. There are three nurses in here, but if you turn off your flashlight and walk, you can avoid fighting them. If you want to clear them out, get their attention and use the doorway to get them to funnel in towards you single-file. You can use this to try and take out all three with a well-placed shotgun blast, too. There are four books to be read in this room. Check the right wall to see a cross by the little lamp. You will get the CEREMONIAL DAGGER, a combination melee weapon/key that will replace your combat knife for the rest of the game. The wall opposite of the way you came in, between the two books, is the first opportunity to use your new key. It doesn't look like a door, but stand in front of it for the Unlock prompt, equip the dagger, and Alex will use it.

This next series of hallways only gives you one way to go, but there's lots of dead ends. Go right, right, left, right, right, left, and climb up and out. We're back in the Founders Garden in Rose Heights Cemetery and our destination is the Shepherd home. Let's take a quick detour first though. Exit the cemetery north. In front of the S.G.P.D., there should be PISTOL AMMUNITION where the first aid kit was before. Check near the billboard where Elle was hanging flyers. There's PISTOL AMMUNITION and a PHOTO here. Dodge the Smogs all the way back to Curtis' place to find SHOTGUN AMMUNITION x2, a HEALTH DRINK, and the realization that Curtis finally skipped town. (Thanks to Hari and Mr. Trenchy for pointing out this side trip!) Go back to the cemetery now.

To get home, we need to go all the way through Founders Row, the family crypts, the East Garden, and the old crypts to Barker street. There are lots of Smogs about, but it's not worth it to kill them since this is our last trip through this cemetery.

Look to your left for a CHILD'S DRAWING. Use your dagger to unlock the Fitch and Holloway mausoleums. There is SERUM in the Holloway tomb. After Founders Garden, run past or kill the two Smogs when you drop down into the next area because they are guarding a FIRST AID KIT and SHOTGUN AMMUNITION. When you reach the north block of family crypts, hack away the boards covering the second gate of the third from the left. There's a "CHROME HAMMER" PISTOL in here. Two Ferals will attack in the East Garden, one in front and one from above. Stand your ground after jumping down and slash away in front of you. As long as you have your back to the wall, you're okay. Continue on and enter the gate with the "Beware of DOG" sign.

Go in the back door; we've got boards to hack. Clear the only blocked door in the kitchen and enter the dining room for a FIRST AID KIT. Go back outside and head downstairs via the cellar door. Unlock the secret side room with your dagger. There's a "BLUESTEEL" SHOTGUN in the cabinet and the ATTIC KEY on the table. Use it upstairs.

This is dad's room. Through the door here is the attic. Look to one side of the room for a PHOTO on some boxes. Not a very flattering picture of Alex. Go back a bit and look for a bookcase. Push it to reveal a door. After the flashback, look to your right to read something on Alex's dad's desk. Adam was a pretty decorated soldier. Now, look to the other desk for an annoying sliding puzzle.

The Shepherd's Glen Seal

• Now is a good time to mention that you cannot reset puzzles once started, so if you start sliding pieces around, they're stuck like that unless you reload a game. The idea here is to slide the pieces to recreate the town seal. If you need to know what that looks like, back out of the puzzle and take a look at the flag above the desk. The sliding pieces are not all square, so this puzzle is harder than it looks. This is yet another trial and error ordeal. Use the right analog stick to select pieces and the left stick to move them.

  If you haven't touched the pieces, here is a list of steps to finish the puzzle. To make this easy, I'm going to reference the pieces as if they were on a table. For example, the upper left piece is in row 1, column 1. Ready? Here we go:

  row 1, col 3/4: move left
  row 2/3, col 4: move up
  row 3, col 2: move down
  row 3, col 3: move left
  row 4, col 3/4: move up
  row 4, col 2: move right twice
  row 4, col 1: move right twice
  row 3, col 2: move down
  row 3, col 3/4: move left
  row 2/3, col 1: move down
  row 1/2, col 4: move down
  row 1, col 1: move down

  You will find a LETTER FROM MY FATHER and a MAP OF SILENT HILL.

Go downstairs to share this with mum.