Post Mortem Walkthrough: Puzzles, Branches, and All Three Endings

Post Mortem does not have one brittle sequence of clicks. It lets Gus spend his lockpicks on either of two doors, allows conversations to close one approach while opening another, and moves the Eaton safe key when the hotel is entered early. A walkthrough that gives only one item order can therefore look wrong even when the game is still solvable.

This route keeps both major entry plans visible, then joins them at stable evidence checkpoints. It covers the initial investigation, Jacques Hellouin’s playable account, Kaufner’s asylum, the de Allepin puzzles, Molitor, and the three finale outcomes. Dialogue wording can vary with earlier answers, so the guide identifies what each conversation must accomplish instead of demanding a single verbatim script.

Build the case file before forcing either locked door#

Let Sophia Blake into the studio and accept the investigation. Refusing does not end the game: her card provides a way to contact her and the route can reconverge at the restaurant. Accepting immediately is simpler because it places the murder, Inspector Lebrun, and the Whyte name in Gus’s notebook at once.

Collect the sketchbook from the work table and the camera from the cabinet. Use the telephone to reach the post office and send J. Wells at Pinkerton’s a telegram about Sophia. The reply is optional background, but sending it now prevents a later return to the studio from becoming an empty checkpoint.

At Hotel Orphee, question Petit and the Nantis bartender about Room 507. Buy one bottle of red wine and take the newspaper from the lobby seat. Do not discard the paper as flavor text; it becomes the tray under a key much later if you reserve the lockpicks for Hellouin’s office.

At the police station, speak to the desk officer, then offer the wine. Take the case file, open it in the notebook, and read the autopsy, witness material, and coin note before speaking again. Visit Dr. Kaufner once his office appears, ask about the case, and return to the hotel bar. The bartender can now supply the face description needed by the sketchbook.

Portrait field	Witness result to match	Failure signal
Ears and hair	Flat, medium ears; short, straight hair	The bartender keeps discussing the description instead of recognizing the print.
Eyes and glasses	Small dark eyes; no glasses	A plausible face still fails because an accessory or eye set is wrong.
Nose and mouth	A boxer’s nose; a large mouth with thin lips	The central features resemble the suspect, but positive identification does not trigger.
Face and facial hair	Square face; heavy black moustache	The jaw or moustache is the last mismatch after the other six fields are correct.

Use the pen control in the sketchbook to commit the composite. Show the printed portrait to the bartender and Petit. If the police or Alambic dialogue still lacks a portrait topic, the image was assembled but not printed.

The hotel and Hellouin office share one set of lockpicks#

The early investigation gives one lockpick set but presents two useful doors. Both allocations finish the game. Pick a plan and remember it, because the safe key and the tool for the other door will change position.

Plan	Use the picks on	Open the other door with	Eaton safe-key check
Low-damage route	Hellouin’s office	Enter Room 505 later; slide the newspaper under its connecting door and push the Room 507 key onto it with the lobby pencil or Mrs. Loiseau’s talisman.	The key is normally on the Room 507 nightstand.
Early hotel route	Room 507	Take the hammer that becomes available near the hotel lift/tool area and break Hellouin’s office door.	If the nightstand key is absent, peel back the relevant corner of the Eaton living-room poster.

The low-damage plan creates the clearest investigation flow, so the main route below assumes the picks remain unused until Hellouin’s office. If you chose Room 507, collect its ring, glass, hair-dye observation, and other evidence now, then rejoin after the hammer entry.

Use the portrait to turn a chase into an address#

Back in the Orphee lobby, try the stairs. When Gus refuses to pass Petit openly, climb into the large luggage crate and ride it upstairs. Test the locked rooms so Gus registers them, then knock at Room 506. Speak with Mrs. Loiseau. Her talisman is optional, but it can replace the pencil in the connecting-door trick; the important checkpoint is that Gus has met her and discussed the visions.

Go to the Alambic Bistro. Berenice introduces the social side of the case, while Hulot and Theo Malet connect the portrait to the man seen near the hotel. Show Malet the composite. The recognition triggers a chase that Gus loses, but it establishes a suspect rather than a dead end.

Return to the Alambic after the studio scene and ask Hulot for help entering a locked room. He wants a comparison of two paintings. Work on the copy and mark five omissions:

• the figure inside the coffin in the central scene;
• the kneeling victim near the upper-right execution;
• the dish at the top of the pole;
• the bowls on the roof at the right;
• the cross on the lower-right crypt door.

Return both paintings to Hulot and collect the lockpicks. If he continues to talk about the pictures, one circle is missing or was placed on the original instead of the altered copy.

At the police station, show the finished portrait to the desk officer. Enter Lebrun’s first office on the left and discuss Hellouin and Malet until Hellouin’s address appears. This conversation is the bridge between a face and a searchable location; going to the office before Lebrun identifies it can leave the door without the expected interaction.

Calibrate the lock by movement, then protect the attic lead#

Hellouin’s office is the second door in its hallway. Inspect the lock and place four of the five picks into its four active positions. Turn the handle once as a diagnostic, not as an attempt to guess the whole arrangement.

• A pick that shakes strongly is the wrong shape for that slot. Move it to a different slot.
• A pick with slight movement belongs in that slot but needs one of its other alignments.
• A motionless pick is correct. Leave it untouched while testing the remaining positions.

Repeat the handle test after each small change. The fifth pick is a decoy, so success is four still picks, not five inserted tools. This method survives route variations because it reads the lock’s response rather than copying a fixed diagram.

Inside, go behind the desk and inspect the top drawer. Mrs. Hellouin interrupts. Answer as someone trying to help Jacques, not arrest or harm him. When she trusts Gus, she lowers the attic access. If she sends Gus away without revealing it, reload the pre-conversation save or pursue the alternate hotel evidence path and return with stronger context.

Climb to Jacques. His account temporarily makes him the playable character and begins a self-contained reconstruction of the Whytes’ arrival in Paris.

Hellouin’s account is four information handoffs#

The flashback is not solved by searching every location at once. Each stop creates the question needed at the next one.

1. Enter the Eaton apartment. The janitor blocks the stairs. Walk into the yard, take the red ball, and throw it at the flowerpot by the window. While she handles the mess, go upstairs.
2. Learn where the Eatons moved. In the first bedroom, note the locked safe in the wardrobe. In the next room, take the boat ticket. Read the letter and calling card near the living-room poster, and inspect the poster itself so the Alambic connection enters the notebook.
3. Turn the social lead into a restaurant. Speak with Kaufner, then Berenice. At the Brotherhood meeting hall, the doorman will not admit Jacques, but questioning him about the group’s favored restaurant can reveal Chez Alexandre.
4. Turn the restaurant into the murder scene. Chez Alexandre establishes that the Eatons used the Whyte name and charged their dinner to Hotel Orphee. At the hotel, finish with Petit and meet Malet in the Nantis bar. The scene in Room 507 completes Jacques’s account.

If Chez Alexandre never appears, return to the Eaton living room and read the paper items, then exhaust Berenice and the Brotherhood doorman. If the hotel scene does not start, the restaurant manager has not yet connected the Eatons, Whytes, and Orphee bill.

Back as Gus, make the false identities physical evidence#

At the studio, read the telegram if the early request was sent. Call Sophia and arrange the restaurant meeting. Challenge the inconsistencies without ending the interview; the useful outcome is her agreement that Gus should continue.

Return to Hotel Orphee and finish any remaining topics with Petit and the bartender. If the lockpicks were spent on Hellouin’s office, take the pencil from reception unless Loiseau already gave Gus a suitable pin or talisman. Go upstairs into Room 505, approach the internal door to 507, and inspect its bottom edge. Slide the newspaper under the door, then push the far-side key out with the pencil or talisman. Pull the paper back and unlock the door.

Room 507 must yield four different kinds of information:

• the ring near the fireplace, which links the victim’s presented identity to another name;
• the broken glass and residue near the bed;
• the small key from the nightstand on the low-damage route;
• the dark hair-dye evidence in the bathroom sink.

At the Eaton apartment, open the safe inside the first bedroom wardrobe. If the Room 507 nightstand did not provide its key because you entered the hotel early, inspect the living-room poster and peel the loose corner. Read every safe document: the Johnson passports, Sophia’s letter, and the drawing of the Head of Baphomet are all later conversation options, not optional lore.

Kaufner’s asylum opens as two lever loops#

The Paris map is disabled inside Kaufner’s institution. Do not treat that as a trap; it is the signal that this gate network must be completed locally. Save at the entrance and use the corridor labels as landmarks.

1. Move forward, turn into the A-1 side passage, and pull its lever. The gate behind Gus closes while the next route opens.
2. Continue through the available gate to the B-2/C-2 area. Take the short side passage and pull the next lever.
3. Pass the newly opened gate at the multi-corridor junction, continue around rather than approaching the office grille, and operate the next side lever.
4. At the G-1/F-2 portion, cross the open gate and use the side lever near the E-2/F-1 turn. This completes the outer loop and returns Gus toward the entrance.
5. Take the newly available middle route toward D-1. Backtrack along the inner side of the circuit and lower the two levers reached from the C-2 and E-2 side passages.
6. Return through D-1. The wooden office door at the end should now be reachable without another grille blocking it.

A lever is not a simple on/off objective. Its useful feedback is the gate that changed. If the office is still sealed, return to the last lever and verify that you walked through its newly opened gate instead of reversing through the passage you just used. The two successful checkpoints are: first, a complete outer circuit back to the entrance; second, an inner backtrack that leaves both middle gates open.

Inside Kaufner’s office, make a clockwise evidence sweep:

• search the separate bookcases for three triangular stones: red, yellow, and black;
• take the green stone and the necklace from the small corner table;
• read Kaufner’s journal at the desk;
• open the decorative egg with its small control and remove the wax cylinder;
• collect and read the Gracie Eaton and Gregoire de Allepin medical files from the other side of the desk.

Do not leave with only four stones. The cylinder turns Loiseau into the next exposition checkpoint, while the files and journal supply the contradictions that make de Allepin’s house and Lebrun’s finale conversation meaningful.

Use authentic handwriting before asking for the useful forgery#

Return to Room 506 at Hotel Orphee. Fit the wax cylinder to Mrs. Loiseau’s phonograph and turn the crank. Exhaust the resulting topics about the Head of Baphomet, transmutation, Gracie, and Kaufner.

At de Allepin’s house, place all four triangular stones into the entrance lock. Before climbing the stairs, record the symbols above the two ground-floor doors. Upstairs, record the other pair, then read the three stained-glass plaques:

• 14 January 1128
• 24 June 1305
• 18 March 1314

In the study, take the financial records and matches from the desk. The handwriting gives Berenice an authentic de Allepin sample. At the bookcase near the planetary machine, take the loose alphabet ring. Leave the machine alone for now; having dates is not the same as establishing why those dates matter.

Attempt the Brotherhood door once so Gus can state the admission problem. Ask Berenice for a new introduction based on the financial document, leave the Alambic, then return after time advances. If two forged letters remain in inventory, use the newer one. The earlier version can fail because it was built from the wrong handwriting.

Inside the Brotherhood hall, pass the ceremonial room and enter the library near the throne area. Read the Templar material and take the old copper or brass coin from the display case. This coin is not interchangeable with the gold coin found later; Lebrun needs the mismatch.

The secret door tests dates, context, and one trigger#

Return to the planetary control in de Allepin’s study. The upper four digits are the year, the middle pair the month, and the bottom pair the day. The readable walkthroughs agree on the three stained-glass dates but disagree about which one triggers the hidden door in every route. Treat the machine as a controlled three-value test:

1. set 1128 / 01 / 14 and pull the lever once;
2. if the wall stays closed, try 1305 / 06 / 24;
3. if necessary, test 1314 / 03 / 18.

If none works, the problem is probably not digit order. Confirm that Gus has read the Templar book, taken the display coin, heard Loiseau’s cylinder, and used the accepted introduction letter. Repeating one date cannot replace a missing story trigger.

Separate the crypt into recipe, proof, and code#

The hidden passage leads to an alchemy room and then the burial chamber. Collect the coin beside the apparatus, but do not start pouring powder until the four wall squares and the doorway symbols have been connected.

Element clue	Door/planet association	Powder	Total	Spoon combination
Earth	Jupiter	Black	15	10 + 5
Air	Saturn	Blue	34	25 + 5 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1
Fire	Mars	Red	65	50 + 10 + 5
Water	Venus	Green	175	50 + 50 + 50 + 25

Each numbered wall square has the same sum across a valid row, column, or diagonal; that constant supplies the amount. The door carvings supply the planet-to-element relationship, and the bottle colors complete the mapping. Measure each powder into the central vessel, then light the burner with the study matches. Take the resulting purple gas vial. If the mixture does not transform, recheck both color and total rather than adding a corrective spoon to an unknown mixture; reload the pre-recipe save and rebuild it cleanly.

Continue to de Allepin’s remains and photograph the body. The photograph is the only portable proof that the apparent timeline cannot fit Hellouin’s commission. On the way back, take the long knife beside the ring apparatus.

Insert the alphabet ring from the study and close all four clamps. The illustrated solar system marks three relevant lettered orbits. Set the upper letter readout from top to bottom to A, D, N. On the numbered readout, leave the unused position blank and set the three active rows from top to bottom to 5, 3, 1. The ordering looks reversed because the number clamp reads the marked orbit positions from the opposite side; entering 1-3-5 is the common failure.

The successful code opens de Allepin’s history and returns Gus to the studio. Before leaving, verify the inventory still contains the gas, knife, body photograph, both differently colored coins, and the Baphomet material. Those are finale evidence, not cleanup collectibles.

The fresco is complete only when the map changes#

Read the kidnapping note at the studio, then go to the Alambic. Speak with Berenice until Gus discusses Hulot, the copied grotesque head, and the fresco. Take a lit candle near Hulot’s memorial and inspect the wall painting.

Move the light slowly and pause whenever part of a hidden line appears. Gus transfers a discovered fragment into the sketchbook only after the entire shape has been illuminated. The readable guides disagree on the exact fragment count, so use the sketchbook slots and map state as the authority:

• finding the letters for Molitor is not enough;
• the pale lower-right area contains easy-to-miss marks;
• assemble the fragments into an arch or entrance, then align the letters in its central frame;
• the puzzle is finished only when Murat/Porte Molitor appears on the Paris map.

If the candle produces no reveal at all, return to Berenice. Gus has not completed the dialogue about Hulot’s copy and the Head of Baphomet. If the word is readable but the map is unchanged, one drawing fragment remains undiscovered or misplaced.

Before traveling, visit Hellouin’s office. Mrs. Hellouin can provide access to the lower-drawer safe and its documents; climb to the attic and take the flashlight. At Molitor, follow the left track until the train sequence forces Gus into the dark side passage. Use the flashlight, descend to the storeroom, take the head from the shelf, then inspect the box nearby for the second head. The game intentionally leaves their authenticity unresolved.

Lebrun is an inventory audit disguised as a debate#

Save before entering the police station. The best finale branch requires Hellouin to be released, and that depends on presenting a complete chain rather than one dramatic object. Choose replies that make these points in order:

1. the investigation has targeted the wrong man;
2. the Whyte identities are false, supported by the Johnson passports and Sophia’s letter;
3. the victims were tied to a theft involving de Allepin and the Baphomet object;
4. de Allepin’s apparent role conflicts with the photographed state of his body and the timeline;
5. the knife supplies a physical murder weapon, while the gas proves Gus reached the hidden alchemy room;
6. the gold and copper/brass coins are materially different, undermining the simple story about the objects found with the victims;
7. the accumulated contradictions are enough to reconsider the charge against Hellouin.

When the interface asks for proof, present the matching inventory item rather than selecting another accusation. If a necessary topic never appears, do not bluff forward: reload and identify the missing category. The usual omissions are the Eaton safe documents, the gas vial, the body photograph, the crypt knife, one of the two coins, or the final Hulot/Berenice conversation. Success ends with Lebrun bringing Hellouin back for questioning.

Save once more before choosing a Baphomet outcome#

Go to de Allepin’s house only after the police result is known. Kaufner has Sophia at gunpoint, and the finale now combines one immediate decision with the earlier Hellouin state.

Police result	Final choice	Outcome
Hellouin was cleared or recalled for questioning	Hand over the head	Hellouin intervenes and shoots Kaufner.
Any police result	Destroy the offered head	The distraction lets Gus overpower Kaufner and survive.
Hellouin remains imprisoned	Hand over the head	No rescue arrives; Gus is killed.

The exact final dialogue labels can differ with the route, so read the intent of the choice: surrender the object or destroy it. A save outside the house is the clean point for viewing all three outcomes without replaying the investigation. The epilogue deliberately keeps the surviving head and Berenice/Loiseau transaction ambiguous.

Evidence and version boundary: This is Post Mortem, Steam AppID 46550, credited in current Steam metadata to developer MC2 and publisher Microids. Steam lists its edition date as August 26, 2011 and describes multiple paths as part of the story; the original walkthrough records identify the adventure as a 2002 game. The route above was cross-checked across several readable written walkthroughs on August 1, 2026. Where those sources disagree on a trigger, fragment count, or route-dependent item position, the article gives the in-game checkpoint instead of asserting one fixed sequence.

Sources and credits: Identity, current store metadata, and all three untouched JPG images were verified through the official Post Mortem Steam page. Multiple readable walkthrough references and community guides were compared for the puzzle values, alternate door allocation, evidence dependencies, and ending states. No competitor image, external compatibility download, or unverified video is embedded.