Secrets of Velendar Castle – Escape Room is built like a chain of physical escape rooms: the first puzzle in an area reveals a decoder or clue for the next one, and the exit usually needs the results of two separate branches. This walkthrough follows that dependency order from the prison cell to the final throne. It gives exact button and direction sequences where they are verified in text, but uses clue-based instructions for symbol boards whose answer is best read from the objects in your own room.
Spoiler warning: every area, late-game puzzle, achievement, and the existence of the final choice are discussed below. Story details around that choice are kept vague.
What Kind of Walkthrough Is This?
This is a full puzzle-route and achievement guide. The Steam store describes eight escape rooms, while the developer-authored guide divides the route more finely into the opening cell plus nine named checkpoints. Two of those checkpoints are secret or connecting rooms, so the naming is not a gameplay conflict. This article follows the guide’s labels because they line up cleanly with the 11 Steam achievements.
| Quick fact | What it means for your run |
|---|---|
| Expected length | About 3 to 4 hours for a first run, depending on how often you use hints. |
| Collectibles | There is no separate collectible hunt documented by the review or current achievement list. |
| Achievements | All 11 are tied to starting the game and clearing the route checkpoints. |
| Missables | No optional challenge achievement appears on the current Steam list. Reaching the final area should provide 100% naturally. |
| Ending choice | There are two story outcomes at the end, but Steam does not list separate achievements for both choices. |
Before You Start: The Rules That Save the Most Time
Photograph every clue tablet as soon as it appears. Velendar Castle repeatedly asks you to carry a relationship from one side of a room to another: a banner identifies a symbol, a floor drawing supplies an order, or a decoder changes one rune into another. A quick screenshot is faster than walking back and forth.
Separate order from value. Many puzzles have one clue that tells you which objects to read and a second clue that tells you the order. If your symbols seem correct but the lock does not open, do not immediately change every symbol. Recheck the reading direction, platform viewpoint, or plaque order first.
Use the hint system in layers. The game can point you toward the active dependency without immediately handing over an answer. If three locks are visible but only one has all its clues available, the useful hint is usually the one that identifies that first branch.
Do not force image-shaped solutions into text. Some late boards depend on the exact orientation of curves, colors, overlapping lines, or character positions. The reliable solution is to apply the nearby decoder. This guide explains that process and only prints sequences that can be represented without ambiguity.
Save before the final throne decision if your platform allows it. The references confirm a two-way ending choice but do not document a universal chapter-select or save-reload method. The choice is not needed for achievement cleanup, but a backup may let you see both scenes without another full run.
Route and Achievement Map
| Walkthrough checkpoint | Main puzzle idea | Steam achievement |
|---|---|---|
| Start | Begin the story | Begin the Adventure |
| Prison Cell | Read line lengths and chain positions | Escape the Cell |
| Garden | Viewpoints, counting, runes, and elemental dials | Garden Cleared |
| Church | Ordered words, deduction grids, bells, and candles | Church Cleared |
| Library | Bookshelf rows, astrology, and combined symbols | Library Cleared |
| Secret Passage | Weapons, a traced light route, and metal dials | Library Secret Room Cleared |
| Underground Entrance | Symbol addition, a labyrinth, and parity lights | Before the Bridge |
| Bridge | Gear decoding, flag arithmetic, and the dark mark | Bridge Cleared |
| Dark Castle | Orientation, arithmetic runes, and battlefield placement | Dark Cathedral Cleared |
| Dark Throne | Sword overlays, paths, prophecy, and a family tree | Dark Throne Cleared |
| Elven Throne | Biomes, color mixing, elixirs, and noble seating | Light Throne Cleared |
Prison Cell Walkthrough
The cell teaches the game’s basic language. Search the walls for groups of three lines. Their lengths correspond to the three hanging chains, while the dots beside the drawings tell you where each instruction belongs in the sequence. Read the six marked drawings in order and pull:
Left, left, right, center, right, left.
This opens the way out and unlocks Escape the Cell. The same design principle returns throughout the castle: the room shows both the vocabulary and the reading order, but they may be on different objects.
Garden Walkthrough
The Garden is the first multi-branch room. Do not camp at the final door. Clear the balcony branch and the tree/flower branch, then combine their rewards at the door dials.
Balcony and Bridge Puzzles
At the balcony, compare the arches in the puzzle with the real arches visible from the three platforms. A circle over an arch tells you which platform must be used as the viewing point. Stand on that platform, face the matching arch, and record the symbol that lines up with it.
The miniature bridge puzzle becomes available from that information. The plaques tell you which miniature starts the route; then treat the miniature layout as a top-down map. The verified input is:
Left, down-right, down-right, left.
For the diamonds, compare each diamond outline with the two nearby pictures. Count the relevant line segments rather than judging the shapes by size. Those counts determine the colors to enter.
Tree Runes and Flowers
Walk around the trees and look for rune pairs that overlap from your viewpoint. The runes you need are the ones with another rune positioned in front of them. Once that branch opens, use the flower wall as a frequency chart: count how many examples of each flower appear, then set the matching flower’s height. Five examples place a flower at the top; one places it at the bottom.
Garden Door Dials
The circular tablet maps each dial to an element. The black mural then tells you what each elf is looking at. Match the elf’s gaze to the correct element and set the corresponding dial. If the door rejects an apparently correct set, check whether you assigned a viewpoint symbol to the wrong platform earlier.
Leaving the area unlocks Garden Cleared.
Church Walkthrough
The Church has two main lines: words lead into colors, shapes, bells, and candles; banners lead into element tablets. Both branches meet at the final candle arrangement.
Words, Colors, and Shapes
Read the book at the far end of the church. It describes quantities, not a left-to-right sentence. Number the five word buttons from left to right, then press:
Fourth, second, fifth, first, third.
For the color-and-shape board, solve by elimination. Compare the top-left and top-right clue groups first: a color or shape that repeats in both groups narrows the possible pair. Continue with the remaining rows instead of guessing one complete pair at a time.
Bells
The unlocked triangular hint represents the bell layout with the circle treated as the center. Press:
Bottom-left, bottom-center, bottom-right, top-right, top-right.
If the game does not accept it, reset the bell puzzle before retrying; a partial earlier click can leave the sequence offset.
Banners and Element Tablets
Find matching elf faces on the stone figure and note the symbol between each pair. Count the banners carrying those symbols. The verified four-number result is:
4, 7, 2, 5.
The next hint shows the element tablets by position relative to each other. Recreate those relationships on the tablet board. Think in terms of above, below, left, and right; rotating an individual symbol does not fix a tablet placed in the wrong slot.
Candles
The font or basin symbols supply quantities, and each quantity points to a candlestand with that many lit candles. The scroll shows how those candlestands map onto the final candle panel. Count first, then transfer the on/off state into the scroll’s orientation. Completing the room unlocks Church Cleared.
Library Walkthrough
The Library rewards careful indexing. The central shelves are effectively a database: color tells you which shelf group to inspect, and the number of lines identifies the row.
Books and Book Buttons
Match each loose puzzle piece to a central shelf row by its color and line count. Once the first device opens, map the button positions to the symbols on the bookshelves to the left. Then follow the newly revealed order:
Top-center, top, left, bottom, right, left.
Here, “top-center” refers to the centered upper button in the board’s layout, not the top edge of a bookshelf.
Astrology and Element Grid
The rug in the center of the Library supplies the astrology dial order. Follow the sequence of lines and symbols around the rug, preserving its direction. The dial unlocks an elemental device. Use that device to test what is produced when the row and column symbols intersect, then enter those combined results into the element grid.
Line Grid
Imagine extending a line from every dial in the direction it points. The correct target is where those lines intersect. When two rune shapes combine, retain strokes that appear in only one source and black out strokes shared by both. In other words, identical overlapping segments cancel; unique segments remain.
Five Kingdoms
Inspect what each kingdom statue is holding and record the symbol attached to it. The final board asks you to pair identity and object, not merely arrange statues by height or position. Use the two symbol results from the element and line branches to finish the kingdom arrangement. Clearing the main Library unlocks Library Cleared.
Secret Passage Walkthrough
The hidden route after the Library is shorter, but its clues are easy to overlook because several are inside containers near the entrance.
Swords
Open the boxes by the entrance. For each axe, identify the sword placed directly in front of it. Transfer those sword identities to the puzzle in the same order as the axes.
Light Directions
The tablet shows a path, but its beginning is missing. The missing first section is behind the swords. Join that fragment to the tablet route, then enter:
Right, up, up, left, left, left, up, right, up, right.
Metal Dials
Match each metal dial symbol to the hint revealed by the light puzzle. Keep the hint and device in the same orientation; rotating the whole pattern by 90 degrees is the common mistake here. Exiting awards Library Secret Room Cleared.
Underground Entrance Walkthrough
This checkpoint teaches symbol arithmetic. The room is often mistaken for part of the Bridge, but Steam gives it its own Before the Bridge achievement.
Incomplete Symbols
Treat the left column and bottom row as components of a grid. The symbol inside a cell is made by adding the row component to the column component. Trace each input line to determine which pair must be combined, then build the missing symbol from those strokes.
Labyrinth
The side of the central firepit contains the missing legend. Trace a path from each marked symbol to its exit and count the requested symbols encountered along that route. The verified result is:
1, 4, 3, 6.
Door Lights
Combine the two newly unlocked hints. One explains what changes when a group contains an even versus odd number of symbols; the other provides the three rows that must be evaluated. Determine each row’s parity, apply the matching light rule, and copy the resulting pattern to the door. This is a rule puzzle, not a memorized numeric code.
Bridge Walkthrough
The Bridge is a decoder-heavy room. Leave each decoded value visible or screenshot it; later steps reuse outputs from both sides of the bridge.
Symbols and Gears
Match the shape above each empty cavity to the same center shape on one of the gears along the left side. Turn that gear and observe which symbol moves into the position occupied by the cavity’s reference symbol. Record those replacement symbols in cavity order.
Color Flags
Use the opened decoder to match each drawing to a flag. The value you need is the number of gaps in that drawing. Count enclosed or interrupted spaces exactly as the decoder depicts them; decorative edges on the fabric are not part of the symbol.
Grid Shapes and Flag Symbols
For each shape, find its color on the two side grids. The size value comes from how many unit squares make up the shape, not the size of its bounding box.
Next, match the puzzle symbols to the star-shaped floor drawings. The decoder tells you which letters belong to each flag. If the star points to the left side, use the left flag; if it points right, use the right; if it spans both, add the letters from both flags. Transfer the resulting values in the board’s order.
Mark of the Dark Lord
The book diagram maps parts of a hand. Around the room, a flag, crate, and barrel occupy positions corresponding to those parts. Match each object to its hand location and enter the resulting mark. This final step needs both puzzle branches, so an unresponsive mark usually means one earlier decoder value is wrong. Crossing the bridge awards Bridge Cleared.
Dark Castle Walkthrough
The achievement calls this area the Dark Cathedral, while the developer guide labels its section Dark Castle. They are the same route checkpoint.
Angles, Curves, and Directional Arrows
Compare each rune’s orientation relative to a nearby curve or corner with the flags beside the door. The flag is your orientation key. Once the first board opens, press the directional arrows:
Up, down, right, up, left, right.
Mirrored Symbols
Use the book drawing and focus on its dots. Each dot identifies a figure on the opposite side of the room. Read the figures in the book’s order, accounting for the mirrored viewpoint, and enter those symbols.
Directions, Colors, and Arithmetic
Search the small barrel rooms for the needed direction item. The shapes on it match the crowns worn by four elf portraits; each crown tells you which direction its color should point.
The arithmetic board assigns values to runes. Start from the rune resembling the letter A, which the developer guide identifies as worth 2. The runes directly above it must therefore be worth 1. Work outward through equations that contain only one unknown. Do not solve two-unknown lines by guessing.
Symbols and Lines
Place the unlocked decoder conceptually over each displayed symbol, then follow the lines indicated by the puzzle. The endpoint tells you which transformed symbol to enter. Keep the decoder’s top edge aligned with the top of the wall board.
Battlefield
Read the battlefield book and place every named figure into its described terrain. The names of the elf lords appear above the placement board. One firm anchor is Tharar, who belongs in the position surrounded by trees. Use that anchor to orient the rest, then satisfy the remaining descriptions. Completion unlocks Dark Cathedral Cleared.
Dark Throne Walkthrough
The Dark Throne combines overlay puzzles with genealogy. Finish both sides of the room before attempting the family tree.
Broken Sword and Illuminated Letters
Rotate or inspect the spiral beside the sword until one position crosses all of the sword’s colored sections. Transfer those colors in sword order. The opened letter puzzle refers to a book containing the same alphabet. Imagine laying the sword over the book: each dent in the blade points at a letter symbol. Enter those pointed symbols in dent order.
Light Path
The small hint under the board identifies the only legal starting square. From that square, the verified route is:
Down, down, left, left, up, left, up.
Prophecy Dials
Look behind the throne for the prophecy clue. Each piece corresponds to one prophecy tablet on the right. Match them by finding a sword with the same picture quadrant and pointing direction, then set the dials in tablet order.
Black and White Dots
Retrieve the gear from behind the throne before starting. The newly opened hint defines which colors and quantities would be encountered when following each symbol’s path. Trace each route, count black and white encounters separately, and enter the resulting dot groups.
Family Tree
Children have hair colors produced by mixing their parents’ colors. Heirlooms provide a second identity check, and couples always face one another. Start with an heirloom match, find the person facing that character, then place the children whose hair color can result from that pair. This is more reliable than trying to build the tree from hair alone. Solving it awards Dark Throne Cleared.
Elven Throne Walkthrough
The developer guide calls the last room the Elven Throne; its Steam achievement is Light Throne Cleared. The final exit depends on a map/color branch and a direction/elixir branch.
Map Dials and Color Mix
Inspect the map on the left side of the room. Set each biome dial according to that biome’s position relative to the dial center. Then solve the color-mix grid. Every row and column must combine into the target color shown at its edge, and it cannot contain an extra color that would change that result. Use process of elimination: lock rows that have only one valid pair before tackling rows with several possible mixtures.
Elements and Directions
The diamond clue explains movement. The number of filled sections tells you how many 90-degree rotations occur before the piece moves one space. One filled section points right; four returns the direction to up. Apply the rotation count for every symbol before moving it, then read the destinations in the shown order.
Color Wine Glasses
Move the decoder with shaped holes over the three-dimensional wine-glass display. Find positions where each visible shape has the same color as its corresponding glass. At each valid position, note the colored shape beneath the decoder and match it to the unlocked tablet.
Elixirs
The slots represent a top-down view of the candle stands, with the room’s door on the left. Find the candlestands containing one odd-colored candle. Their positions tell you which elixirs to take from the newly opened closet and where to place them.
Noble Statues
A letter on one dining chair helps assign each place setting to a noble. The guide confirms these identity anchors:
- Nerius – cat
- Andragg – hawk
- Dierebod – wolf
- Fered – owl
- Laidon – deer
- Videnor – horse
Use the letter to eliminate impossible dinner sets, then read King Ivelod’s book. Arrange the lord statues so every stated preference is satisfied. If only two statues remain uncertain, recheck the animal crest attached to their place settings rather than swapping the entire row.
After the throne sequence, the story asks for one final moral choice. Choose the response you want to see; the current achievement list does not require both branches. Completing the room awards Light Throne Cleared.
All 11 Steam Achievements and Cleanup
| Achievement | Requirement | Missable? |
|---|---|---|
| Begin the Adventure | Start your journey. | No |
| Escape the Cell | Escape from the prison cell. | No |
| Garden Cleared | Complete the Garden area. | No |
| Church Cleared | Complete the Church area. | No |
| Library Cleared | Complete the Library area. | No |
| Library Secret Room Cleared | Complete the secret room hidden within the Library. | No |
| Before the Bridge | Complete the secret room before the Bridge. | No |
| Bridge Cleared | Complete the Bridge area. | No |
| Dark Cathedral Cleared | Complete the Dark Cathedral. | No |
| Dark Throne Cleared | Complete the Dark Throne. | No |
| Light Throne Cleared | Complete the Light Throne. | No |
There is no separate collectible, speedrun, hint-free, or ending-specific achievement on the current public Steam page. If a completion achievement fails to appear, verify that Steam was online, finish the next transition or cutscene, and restart the client before replaying the entire game. The progression list should rise in the same order as the route table above.
Common Mistakes
- Trying every visible lock immediately: most rooms deliberately show late puzzles before their decoder exists. Follow the dependency order.
- Reading a spatial clue from the wrong side: platform circles, mirrors, maps, and top-down candle layouts all specify a viewpoint.
- Counting decoration: the Bridge asks for gaps and unit squares in the decoded shape, not every decorative border around it.
- Rotating the answer but not the key: keep books, tablets, and decoders aligned with the wall board unless a clue explicitly asks for rotation.
- Assuming Dark Castle and Dark Cathedral are different areas: the guide and achievement page use different labels for the same checkpoint.
- Expecting a collectible cleanup: the documented achievement set is entirely route-based.
Sources & Credits
Official metadata and screenshots: Secrets of Velendar Castle – Escape Room on Steam. Puzzle order and solution logic were checked against a developer-authored Steam guide and additional verified walkthrough/review references. Screenshots are official Steam media from Biri Biri and mc2games.