Full spoiler warning: This walkthrough reveals all three secret-area routes, their puzzle inputs and the final trigger for Ending C. It does not describe the ending’s final story scene.

Ending C requirements

Ending C is unlocked by completing one hidden route in each main area:

  1. The fishing-paper and old-key secret in Timesville.
  2. The telescope, phone and behind-the-stairs secret in The Office.
  3. The projector-map secret in Misery Town.

Complete these secrets before you pass the point where an area’s boss and exit lock you out of its rooms. After all three are recorded, finish the remaining bosses and later chapters. At the final exit, return to Mellow’s room instead of entering the marked door, then win the Clocky rematch.

The three secrets are the ending flags. You may defeat the first Clocky encounter normally, and community-completed routes do not support treating the saw choice as an Ending C requirement.

Before you start the three secrets

Keep the metal detector and telescope available as you move between areas. Both begin in the broader Timesville route but are used outside their first obvious locations. A safe route is to finish each secret before starting that area’s final boss sequence.

Ending A or B is useful context before reading this page, but completing both is not presented here as a mechanical trigger. Back up a late Chapter I save if you want to revisit the other endings without repeating the 18-fish collection.

Secret 1: Timesville old key and windowed room

  1. Bring the metal detector to the beach and use it until you uncover the fishing paper.
  2. Catch three unique fish at every relevant day and night clock position—18 required fish in total. The complete fishing guide lists every catch.
  3. Inspect the fishing paper again to receive the old key, also called the Lost Key by community guides.
  4. Open the waterfall route and finish the shared-room puzzle involving the two matching rooms.
  5. Return to the smaller matching room. If it contains a black opening instead of a lock, press Alt + Enter to switch the game to windowed mode, then re-enter.
  6. Use the old key on the large lock or safe that replaces the black opening.
  7. Continue through the altered Timesville sequence and speak with the available residents before going to the graveyard.
  8. At the paired brain scans, select one black circle from each scan whose scenes match, then confirm the pair. The observed pairs are the baby with the older woman, the two school scenes, and the mirror/walking scene with the car scene.
  9. Finish all three pairs and continue until the game returns you from the memory. That return marks the Timesville secret complete.

Windowed mode is part of the puzzle. The missing lock in fullscreen is not evidence that the route is broken.

Secret 2: The Office telescope and stairs

  1. Obtain the telescope through the Timesville side quests and carry it to The Office.
  2. At the station entrance, near the concrete or sleeping figure, place and use the telescope.
  3. Read the billboard’s phone number: 277-5944.
  4. At your Office desk, open the Jobs app and call that number.
  5. The reply is Morse code directing you to wait behind the stairs for one minute.
  6. Go to the lowest level of the room with the vending machine, stand behind the stairs and wait without leaving the spot.
  7. Enter the hidden room and use the virtual headset to begin seven symbol-rule puzzles.

Apply the instruction displayed before each grid rather than matching symbols by appearance alone:

  • $4: choose the result containing four dollar signs.
  • * > ^: convert each asterisk into an arrow.
  • % > !: the filled-circle percent symbol means “all”; apply the conversion to every matching symbol.
  • $ ↔ !, then ! > %: swap the dollar signs and exclamation marks, then convert the resulting exclamation marks to percent symbols.
  • #! + #^ > #%: the combined count of exclamation marks and arrows must equal the count of percent symbols.
  • :^( > ;^): rotate your view and use the eye orientation as the clue.
  • ^5: find the missing fifth arrow; interact with the smiley face to reveal the final square when necessary.

Complete the headset sequence and continue until you meet the hidden Office figure and return. For a visual reference to the grid states, use the Steam community’s Behind Stairs Secret Puzzle guide.

Secret 3: Misery Town projector map

  1. Take the metal detector into the cinema or film tent—the same sandy room used for the color-coded clown films.
  2. Sweep the sand until you uncover a projector remote.
  3. Use the remote on the projector and photograph or screenshot the route map that appears.
  4. Go to the checkerboard or mime room where Mellow previously recovered his hands.
  5. Follow the map one square at a time. A wrong route sends you out, so compare each move with the saved image.
  6. At the end, squeeze through the narrow crack until the screen turns white.
  7. After Mellow returns with a halo and a new staircase appears, go downstairs and complete the secret-room minigames. Switch to windowed mode when a puzzle uses the game window itself as its clue.
  8. Continue until the secret encounter ends and the game returns you to Misery Town. That return marks the third secret complete.

Trigger Ending C after all three secrets

Once you have completed the Timesville, Office and Misery Town sequences:

  1. Finish each area’s boss route. Fighting or using a pacifist solution does not replace or erase the three secret flags.
  2. Continue through the later toilet and house chapters as normal.
  3. When the final marked exit becomes available, do not enter it.
  4. Return to Mellow’s room and inspect the changed vent or opening.
  5. Defeat the mandatory, harder Clocky rematch.
  6. Continue through the route that opens after the fight to enter Ending C.

The Clocky combat guide covers the basic defend, recover and punish rhythm. The rematch is faster and less forgiving, so preserve stamina instead of holding block through every pause.

Claims that are not Ending C requirements

  • Skipping the first Clocky fight: not required. Players have completed Ending C after defeating Clocky in the opening route.
  • Choosing one specific saw: the saw distinguishes the main A/B route, but the cross-verified Ending C trigger is the three secrets followed by the changed Mellow-room route.
  • The demo underground secret: interesting optional content, but it is not one of the three full-release area secrets.
  • The carnival cat or clown fights: these do not replace the Misery Town projector-map secret.

Verification notes

Official: The Steam storefront and patch posts establish the full-release game and current build, but the developer has not published this complete route as an official solution.

Observed: Dolphin’s All Endings Guide, Viri’s Timesville Secret Puzzle, the Behind Stairs guide and multiple independent Ending C completion reports agree on the three secret flags and final return to Mellow’s room. A separate community correction thread records that skipping the first Clocky fight is unnecessary.

Theory: This guide does not assign a canon meaning to Ending C or describe unconfirmed lore as a route requirement.

Return to the puzzle solutions index for the operation, clown and timing guides.