Act 1’s first delivery route leads to an incomplete ending if you sell the staff at Shop Retro. To reach the true ending, give the rabbit sculpture’s journey an exact starting point and destination, then test the explosion story through three separate contradictions.
The route starts in the prologue, where the buyer, map, and document controls teach the deductions used in Act 1. Patch v1.1.4 moved an Act 1 branch point for newly created branch saves. In Act Select, follow the branch label rather than its position in an older screenshot.
Prologue: buyer, map, and three documents
Discuss Customer Complaints, then keep the ledger, newspaper, and map open as three separate tools. The ledger identifies the buyer, the newspaper reveals where that buyer works, and the map turns that workplace into a route.
- In Shop Retro Ledger, place Vassanio Portia into the Book seller’s buyer field.
- Use Today’s Newspaper and choose Portia Accounting for the buyer’s location.
- Explore Portia Accounting. Do not try to solve the map before this visit has added the relevant symbol evidence.
- In Map of S. Agata, set the stopover to Portia Accounting and the book’s current position to E2.
The prologue closes when the objective leaves the book search and Act 1 opens on the rabbit sculpture. If E2 is rejected, the usual cause is that Portia Accounting has not been explored yet, not that another grid square is required.
The sculpture sticker and first delivery route
The initial Act 1 objective asks about the Bureau file. Start with the sculpture’s sticker: in Today’s Newspaper, connect the unknown sticker to Henry Shipping. Explore that location, discuss the sculpture and delivery routes, then use Henry Shipping Routes to assign Route B / Trucker Daddy as the first route.
That route unlocks East Bridge. After meeting Trucker Daddy, discuss the sculpture and the blood-drawn path. Build Timeline: The rabbit sculpture from the interview and map:
| Timeline field | Selection | What it should unlock |
|---|---|---|
| Stopover | Trucker Daddy interview: Warehouse 3 | The route can be traced beyond Henry Shipping. |
| Starting location | Map of S. Agata: A1 | University District becomes the next usable lead. |
Explore University District and then the Professor’s residence. Discuss the sculpture, open the professor interview, and use the line about Mela and Favio as the To Mela message in the rabbit sculpture Bureau file. Submit Delivery Records, travel to Torlen’s lab, and exhaust the sculpture discussion there.
First RESTORY: the brooch’s medical purpose
RESTORY tests cause and effect. Fill it in so the people, package, destination, and medical purpose all agree:
- Camillo Karloff stopped studying the rabbit sculpture.
- The sculpture was sent to Torlen’s lab.
- The item that actually reached the lab was the brooch.
- The intended recipient was Pamela Torlen.
- The purpose was to overcome narcolepsy.
Next, populate the first three explosion entries with the map’s sites from 15, 12, and 8 years earlier. The train-line explanation opens the early conclusion. Keep going for the true ending: later evidence changes that explanation.
When Shop Retro offers the first ending
When Shop Retro becomes available, entering the sale conversation and continuing the trade closes the incomplete branch. Take it only if you want to record that branch. To continue the investigation, return to the branch point and reopen A bunny’s journey.
Replace the incomplete delivery route with both exact endpoints:
- Starting point: Professor’s residence.
- Destination: Torlen’s lab.
The Dark Side prompt can now test the route rather than merely repeat it. Challenge the displayed delivery route with Torlen’s lab. The contradiction sends you back to Henry Shipping, where Public Order and Civility Day explains why the normal C route was not followed.
Three ways the explosion story breaks
Do not submit every explosion clue at once. Each Retro prompt asks a different question:
- Location contradiction: challenge the stated explosion cause with the map position of the staff at the explosion site.
- Expanded explosion record: add the truck explosion site, the staff’s position at that site, and the East Pier/ferry-route explanation for the later cause.
- Trigger contradiction: use Trucker Daddy’s recollection of what he heard immediately before the incident. The important evidence is the sound event, not another map square.
If the Retro button remains locked, inspect the unfinished field instead of changing one you have already solved. The route contradiction, additional explosion entries, and trigger are separate requirements. A correct trigger cannot compensate for an empty destination.
Final RESTORY and the Act 1 clear
In the revised RESTORY, change the final relationship so the rabbit sculpture itself is tied to the explosion. Return to Torlen’s lab and submit Officer’s Notes. A successful route ends with RETRO SOLVED, followed by the Destination achievement. Model Taxpayer should also have unlocked during the chapter’s debt-resolution path.
If you see the Act 1 ending but cannot open the next true route later, confirm that the Act Select record is the solved Retro branch, not only the earlier incomplete ending. Patch v1.1.3 added direct access to reached branch points, making this check faster on current clients.
The mine case changes from delivery chronology to physical escape evidence. Continue with the Staffer Retro Act 2 mine walkthrough when Immovable is your next objective.