Game Plot

The Arrival

You find yourself in the living room of the Mystery Manor. In one hand you hold a crumpled envelope, containing a note that reads “We have been misled. They lied to us all along. I need your help! They locked me away in…” Then the letter abruptly ends, but there is another message scribbled on the envelope, “Beware of the mist!” No date, no signature, no return address. In your other hand rests an oddly-shaped key with a metal tag bearing the letter “A.” You don’t remember how the note or the key made their way into your possession. What’s worse, you haven’t the slightest clue how you ended up here and to what purpose.

Fragments of strange visuals flash before your eyes. A hotel suite. A Japanese gardener with a dragon tattoo on his arm. A train falling into a chasm. A deck of Tarot cards scattered on a table. An upended Lasso of Death lying to the side. An aircraft burning on a tropical beach. Stars spinning in the night sky. A pleasant female voice brings you out of your reverie. And there is the lady herself, standing before you. “Welcome to the residence of Mr. X. I’m Katherine, Mr. X’s personal assistant. He asked me to take care of you while he's away. Please follow my advice if you wish to avoid all manner of unpleasant incidents.” The young woman takes a nervous look around and adds in a whisper, even though there’s no one else in the room, “And I beg you, help me and all the others escape this place!”

The Manor, Its Owner and Its Residents

This is quite an unusual manor. Trying to figure out its geographical location is futile, as the landscapes outside the room windows are constantly changing, like in a kaleidoscope. You can’t even tell what time of day it is: a warm Italian night is present in the kitchen, bright daylight is shining through the hallway’s stained-glass windows, while the living room clock seems to have gone certifiably mad.

The cook is mixing dough made from mandrake flour and bird milk. The maid swears that a monster lives in the bedroom closet. The insomniac hunter boasts a room full of trophies, including pterodactyls, dinosaurs, and even the legendary chupacabra. Even the local plumber is convinced that he’s seen a real-life mermaid in the bathtub.

Like you, they don’t remember how they ended up here, but they can help you learn about the manor’s other visitors: researchers, government agents, and plain old adventurers. These people have shown up at various times, though the front door remains always locked and allegedly guarded by a vicious spirit. Some of the guests have vanished without a trace. Others lost their way in the maze of rooms, sealed with intricate locks. Occasionally their pitiful voices could be heard through the doors, begging for help.

Perhaps if you could help them escape, they could prove useful to you. Maybe they could even help you find answers to the questions tormenting you. Questions like, what is this place and how did you get here? Who left you the note asking for help and the key that doesn’t fit any of the locks? Who is Mr. X, the faceless owner of the Mystery Manor? Why didn’t anyone ever see him or his wife, Madam X? And what is this mysterious Incident that all the residents keep talking about?

The Event

Many years ago something happened in the manor that came to be known as the Event. Was it a scientific experiment, the meddling of some mysterious forces, perhaps even an alien visit? Everyone you ask has their own opinion on the subject. Perhaps the Architect’s journals, mentioned by Katherine, could shed some light on the situation. It seems that they’re kept in the local library. Perhaps some of the manor inhabitants lived through the Event first-hand? Or maybe even died in it, as long as they can still talk about it!

The Event also triggered a very unusual behavior of items in the rooms. As soon as you exit a room, all the items change their places, making it difficult to find what you need. Not only that, certain items acquired peculiar properties. Kitchenware became platinum. A delicate snail statue from Jawa Island can slow down time. A rabbit foot charm indicates the location of rare artifacts or vermouth bottles, stashed away by the plumber. The manor inhabitants also talk about dangerous phenomena that could pose a real threat to unsuspecting explorers. And yet, phenomena and locks are no deterrence against adventurers with an eye on Mr. X’s treasures.

If you’re feeling lucky, perhaps you should hold off on trying to escape the manor, where pieces of diamond necklaces and golden apples that increase stem cell growth are a common occurrence. Never mind the fact that no one has been able to leave the manor yet. “Your only chance may be to find the legendary Wandering Room,” Katherine says and immediately falls silent, clearly scared. When you begin to explore the Mystery Manor, remember that nothing here is as it seems. A friend may in fact be an enemy, shelter may be a trap, and wealth may end up being a veritable curse. We wish you luck, and may doors always open for you on your path.

Gameplay

Your Character’s Attributes

Exploring Rooms

Upon entering a room you see its furnishings and randomized items. On the right-hand side of the screen is a list of items you need to find. Above the list is a timer, which shows the time allotted to complete the room. Below the list is a toolbar which can help to complete a room. Tap an item before your time runs out. If the item you’ve found is one of the required items, it will disappear from the list. When you’ve found all the required items, the room is completed. The reward for completing the room is displayed in the window when you exit it.

Quests and Collection Items

In every room there lives a character who will ask you to carry out certain quests for them. These quests include exploring specific rooms, acquiring specific items, assembling collections, and so on. Upon completing a quest, the player will be able to keep the items they want; this will be explained in a special window. Collections are special sets of five items that drop when you complete quests or explore rooms. You can charge an assembled collection on the collection screen (chest icon) and receive a bonus, indicated in the parenthesis next to the collection name. Every time you charge a collection, one of the items that comprise the collection is removed, as well as one of the essential elements, such as a Mobius band, a Klein Flask, a Schrodinger box, and others. You can find these elements by exploring rooms or banishing snatchins, receive them as gifts from friends or purchase them in the shop.

Room Modes

There rooms have several exploration modes, which are randomly selected in a manner beyond your control.

Phenomena

Phenomena are special game modes that randomly appear in rooms. Every phenomenon increases the amount of energy required to explore the room you’ve captured, as well as adjacent rooms. You can explore the phenomenon by completing the room. If successful, you receive a bonus in addition to your usual reward. After a phenomenon has been explored, it leaves behind a special curse mode. You can also save your energy and banish the phenomenon with a special item which can be purchased for diamonds. Currently there are four phenomena attacking the Mystery Manor:

Tools in Rooms

You can use special tools to make difficult explorations easier:

You can acquire tools in the game shop, receive them as rewards for completing the characters’ quests, or by charging collections. You can buy restock on spent tools while exploring a room by tapping on the icon in the given tool’s slot. The timer will be frozen while the purchase is being made.

FAQ

  1. How do I restore my energy?
    Energy is restored on its own at the rate of one unit every three minutes. It can also be restored with special energy boosts that can be purchased at the game shop or awarded for charging certain collections. Also, the waiting time can be reduced with Copper and Golden Phoenix charms.
  2. What does it mean that there is a chance the item can be found?
    It means that, while it’s not guaranteed, there’s a definite possibility that the item may drop.
  3. Why did an item disappear from my collection?
    Some items are removed upon completing quests, which is always mentioned in the clue and in the special window which pops up after the quest is completed.
  4. At what level can I find gypsies and snatchins?
    Gypsies appear around the walls of the Mystery Manor from level 14. Snatchins emerge from the shadows as follows:
  5. Where can I get diamonds?
    When you gain a level you are awarded 1 diamond, but you can also trade for them in the bank.
  6. How do I learn my profession?
    Your profession is selected randomly and is only useful to your friends, as it gives them various bonuses from using assistance.
  7. How do I banish a phenomenon?
    A phenomenon can be banished with a special item or by completing a room under more complicated conditions.
  8. How do I gain access to the Fortune-Telling Room?
    To explore the Fortune-Telling Room you need magic runestones, which you can easily get by trading with gypsies and visiting friends. As your room mastery level grows, the amount of runestones is increased:
  9. Where do I get horseshoes?
    All horseshoes can be purchased in the shop. Copper and silver horseshoes sometimes drop in rooms, and golden horseshoes are issued when you activate the Midas’ Hand artifact. Also silver horseshoes are included as a bonus for charging the Fussy Horses collection.
  10. Where do I find containers, batteries, gravitrons and seeds?
    Like runestones, you can get containers and batteries as a bonus for visiting friends, though there will be less of them. You can also get them by charging certain collections. Containers have a chance to drop from aliens, batteries from robots, by helping friends or banishing the UFO phenomenon. Gravitrons have a good chance to drop from aliens, and can also be gotten by charging certain collections.
  11. Where do I get the corals to enter the Oceanic Room?
    You can get corals from a Seahorse, which appears after completing the Through the Pipes and Into the Sea quest, in exchange for pearl shells. The shells themselves can sometimes be found in the rooms of the manor.
  12. Where do I get the parts for the intergalactic beacon and decoder, and how much do they cost?
    These items have a chance to drop from aliens. Each part costs 1 diamond.
  13. How do I use energy boosts from my inventory?
    Tap on item icon and you'll see a window with "Use" button on it - tap it to boost your energy.
  14. How do I rescue a friend?
    It’s easy to spot a friend that has been locked in a room – just look for the “!” icon above their name. To rescue a friend, you need to tap on them, then select the Rescue option and explore the room they are in. If you are successful, your friend will become your helper, which will be indicated by the hand icon above their head.
  15. Who are helpers? How do I use their services?
    Tap on a helper to take them into a room with you. If you are successful, you will receive an additional bonus. A helper will go with you to complete any room you select, with a magnifying glass icon above their head. All player characters have a some profession that will determine the bonus for their help in a room: The profession bonus is valid for one room exploration. After this your friend will roam the map drowsy and tired, unless you energize them with a special Alarm Clock. Your helper can also be awakened by your friends.
  16. How do I visit my friends?
    You can visit your friends by using the "Friends" button in the main menu on the right side of the game screen.
  17. Are there are bonuses for visiting your friends?
    When you visit your friend for the first time per day, you get a reward. The quantity of rewards depends on your reputation level: 1 at level 1, 2 at level 2, and so on. However, you can only get a reward from each friend once a day, which is why the quantity of rewards cannot exceed the quantity of friends.
  18. How can I help a friend?
    In your friends’ manors you can tap on his opened rooms to leave a clue there for your friend to use when they explore the room. Also you can tap on alarm clocks above your friend’s helpers to energize them. Any time you help a friend in any way, you are rewarded with reputation points.
  19. And what if my friend helps me?
    Your friends can leave clues for you in your rooms, which would increase the bonus prize for exploring the rooms. The bonus depends on your friend’s profession: a banker increases the quantity of coins, a scientist increases experience, and an explorer increases your chances of finding a collection item. Also, your friends can energize your helpers.