Major Gumshoe is a route-planning achievement, not a scene-select cleanup. The game mixes optional evidence with documents that arrive through the story, then displays both on the same four boards. A board can therefore look busy while one player-controlled clue is still missing. The safe method is to collect the 11 optional pieces in one continuous save and treat every later automatic entry as a bonus, not proof that the run is complete.
This guide is based on the released game as checked on July 20, 2026. It separates the manually acquired evidence from story-added board material, gives a chronological route, and marks two interactions that are worth doing even though published guides disagree about whether they are counted.
The board total is not your checklist
The evidence room sorts material into Miscellaneous, Abraxas, Admin, and Protest. Some entries, including reports or interviews learned through the main story, appear without a separate pickup. Community guides count the boards differently because one author may count every displayed card while another counts only missable actions. The reproducible achievement list is narrower: 11 optional pieces acquired through player interaction.
Exploration Replay is useful for photos, sketches, and podcasts, but the evidence achievement is documented as single-playthrough only. Do not collect one item through scene replay, leave, and expect it to merge with another scene’s evidence state. Start from a normal save no later than Class Act and keep that save moving forward until All Available Evidence.
Class Act carries four of the 11 pieces
This is the scene most likely to invalidate a run because class can be ended from the camera case while the courtyard still has evidence. Finish the student tasks first, then make a deliberate loop around the statue and bulletin-board side of the quad.
- Fire Warning and Protest Sign: find the large bulletin board near the Ribbony Sculpture and the stairs. Open it and scroll through every flyer rather than backing out after the first panel. The same inspection contributes one clue to the Miscellaneous line and one to the Abraxas line.
- Newspaper Clipping: from that board, look near the students on the stairs. Read the loose newspaper before moving back toward the class group. This is an Admin clue.
- Reggie’s Note: help Reggie complete his photography interaction, then return to his table. Read every page of the notebook; the later page is the evidence state.
Two walkthroughs also advise listening with Loretta when Reggie makes his call. It is not part of the consistent 11-item label list, but it costs almost no time and supplies investigation context. Join Loretta, hear the call, and then rewind before ending class if you want the cautious route. Do not use that interaction as a substitute for Reggie’s notebook.
Open Mic Night turns a conversation into a physical clue
Lucas Podcast is both a podcast interaction and a Protest-board evidence entry. A business card does not become usable until Lucas supplies the subject. Talk to him once, rewind, then ask about his new novel. After he mentions the podcast, collect one of the Vox Populi cards on a round table and play the recording.
If the card only examines as ordinary set dressing, the Lucas conversation was not advanced far enough. Return to him before leaving the Snapping Turtle. This is the fifth optional piece.
Fremont Street hides two Admin pieces in different vehicles
The scene begins with the house pulling attention upward, but the evidence is lower and closer to the spawn point:
- Inspection Flyer: examine the flyer on the trunk of the car near the approach.
- Fremont Map: inspect the cab of the large truck and read the map on its seat.
These are separate entries even though both describe the same location. Confirm both interaction prompts have been exhausted before following the footprints to the porch or examining the boarded window.
Admin Sleuth requires the search result, not just the book
The Newspaper Article evidence is created through Loretta’s research chain. Speak to her, then find History of the Occult on shelf B6. Open it and identify Jack Parsons as the useful term. Return to Loretta and explicitly select that search term. Merely examining the book does not guarantee the new evidence card is registered.
Later, when Vinh has been drawn away and Max reaches Owen’s office, search the desk drawer and read the emails. Those items develop the story and help populate the boards, but the stable 11-piece checklist counts the Jack Parsons result as the optional pickup for this scene. Inspecting the drawer and all email pages remains the safest way to avoid an incomplete-looking Admin board.
Times in Turtle adds two Protest pieces before the forum opens
Control changes to Chloe after Max’s conversation with Safi. Do these interactions before finishing the forum and meeting Max outside:
- Fireworks Receipt: inspect the fireworks box at the right side of the bar near the stage. Use the follow-up prompt to ask Amanda about it. One guide notes that a simple examination may be enough, but asking removes the ambiguity.
- Protest Flyer: inspect the burned scrap inside the bucket beside the fireplace. The scrap also provides the forum password, so read it before asking Amanda about the message board.
Logging into the forum adds story context and can create additional board material. It does not replace either the fireworks conversation or the scrap interaction.
Mabon has the only choice-locked optional piece
Open the Hall of Secrets by moving the letter near the curtain, examining the round plaque, and placing the coaster from the opposite shelving into it. Inside, inspect the green box on the right and read its contents. Those documents are part of the case even though guides disagree about how the board counts their mandatory pickups.
When the sledgehammer intruder threatens Reggie, choose Attack. The intruder drops the Blueprint, and Chloe picks it up as the final optional piece. Choosing Distract can advance the story but prevents that blueprint from entering this playthrough’s evidence set. Rewinding after the scene has fully transitioned is not a reliable repair; if you chose Distract, restore a save from before the prompt.
Audit all 11 before pressing Reconvene
| Scene | Optional evidence | Registration action |
|---|---|---|
| Class Act | Fire Warning; Protest Sign | Open bulletin board and scroll every flyer |
| Class Act | Newspaper Clipping | Read newspaper by the students near the board |
| Class Act | Reggie’s Note | Help Reggie, then read all notebook pages |
| Open Mic Night | Lucas Podcast | Ask about new novel, take card, listen |
| Fremont Street | Inspection Flyer | Read flyer on the car trunk |
| Fremont Street | Fremont Map | Read map in the truck cab |
| Admin Sleuth | Newspaper Article | Give Loretta the Jack Parsons search term |
| Times in Turtle | Fireworks Receipt | Inspect fireworks and ask Amanda |
| Times in Turtle | Protest Flyer | Read burned scrap by the fireplace |
| Mabon | Blueprint | Choose Attack against the intruder |
In All Available Evidence, inspect the desk material and then every board card that produces a comment. Only use the snack table and choose Reconvene after all four boards are exhausted. Major Gumshoe is reported to unlock during the resolution of this scene, alongside the story’s evidence sequence. If it does not, scene replay cannot safely patch the missing item into that completed run; use the table to identify the earliest gap and resume a normal save before it.
Sources and credits
Game metadata and screenshots were verified through the official Steam listing and the official Life is Strange site. Evidence names, scene placement, single-playthrough behavior, and the Attack requirement were cross-checked across multiple community achievement guides and verified walkthrough references. Screenshots are official Steam media from Deck Nine Games and Square Enix.