After encountering – and hopefully saving – Charles and William in horror puzzle adventure The Tartarus Key, players are granted access to any area of the mansion that was previously locked. Now, you can pass through the blood-soaked door and journey down to the sealed lower wing to find and rescue Kai from their confinement. This guide will cover the solutions to every puzzle in this particularly creepy chapter of The Tartarus Key.
All Laboratory Puzzle Solutions
Head upstairs to the East Wing and pass through the now-open bloodstained door and down the stairs. Then, head through the only unlocked door into the Laboratory. While exploring the room, pick up the Clean Cloth on the table and open the locker, examining the military clothes inside to receive the Lighter. Then, apply the Clean Cloth to the bloodstain on the floor.
Alex will guess that the blood might serve as a DNA sample to open the vat where Kai is trapped – but, unfortunately, once you interact with the Control Panel you learn that this is not the case. However, this does cause the other locker in the room to open. Examine it to find an ID card and a screwdriver.
Interact with the Control Panel once more. The ID card works, but the machine is beginning to “purge” the vats of their contents, meaning Kai will die if something is not done. Thinking quickly, Alex decides to tamper with Kai’s vital signs and convince the machine that they are actually dead. Interact twice with the panel below Kai’s vat to use first the screwdriver and then the lighter to tamper with the signals. Then, use the Control Panel once more to free Kai from the vat.
Return to the hallway to find that a new room, the Pantry, is now unlocked. Head inside with Kai.
All Pantry & Cold Storage Puzzle Solutions
Inside the Pantry, pick up the note off the ground. Note that Paintings, Mops, Brooms, and Skeletons are all circled in red. Flip the note in your inventory to find a hint that the painting by the door can be moved. Interact with it and slide it aside to reveal a keypad.
The numbers you need are indicated by the items circled in the note. Count up the number of items in the room with you to find:
- Six paintings (this one is a bit tricky – some are stacked on top of the shelves)
- Three mops
- Two brooms
- Two skeletons
Input 6322 into the keypad to open the door to the Cold Storage. Inside are racks of meat that can be pushed around. Your goal is for the meat rack with the red tags to reach the meat saw on the far side of the room. This is a classic slide puzzle – keep the orientation of each rack in mind and use the grid on the ceiling to figure out where you can move each rack.
There are likely multiple solutions to this puzzle, but here is one. (In these directions, up means towards the meat saw, down away from it, left towards the blank wall and right towards the wall covered with shelves.)
- Move the two horizontal racks in front of the tagged meat as far to the right as possible
- Move the remaining rack in front of the tagged meat as far up as possible
- Push the tagged meat up until it stops
- Push all racks in the bottom-right corner of the grid to the left
- Push all racks in the top-right corner of the grid down
- Move the tagged meat as far right as it will go
- Push all racks in the top-left corner of the grid down
- Push all racks in the top-right corner of the grid left
- Move the tagged meat right, then up, then left, then up again until it is in front of the saw
Once the red-tagged meat has reached the meat saw, it will be cut open and you will receive the Kitchen Key, which unlocks the final door on this hallway. Meet up with Kai and head into the Kitchen.
All Kitchen & Jail Cell Puzzle Solutions
Once you have entered the Kitchen, look around the room to find six recipe cards. They are found in the following locations:
- The Beef Stew recipe is in the sink
- The Spaghetti Bolognese recipe is on the rolling cart
- The Chicken Madras recipe is on the countertop
- The Chicken Fajitas recipe is on top of the stove
- The Sauteed Spinach recipe is in the recipe book on the center island
- The Farmer’s Lunch recipe is on the lower shelf of the center island
Once you have collected the recipes, open the cabinet to find a Gas Valve and interact with the blackboard to add the menu to your inventory. Look at the blackboard in your inventory and note that only Friday features dishes from the recipes you found – Chicken Madras and Beef Stew.
Attach the Valve to the gas main. This allows you to turn on the individual burners as well as raising and lowering the fry baskets. Look at the recipe cards you need and match Chicken Madras on the Left stove and Beef Stew on the right. The correct configuration is:
- Left Stove – upper right and lower right burners on, fry basket down
- Right Stove – upper left, lower left, and lower right burners on, fry basket up
This opens a door, allowing you to proceed into the Holding Cells. Enter the first cell, and a cutscene plays. Alex will note that some of the floor tiles in the first cell sink when stepped on. Move into the second cell for another cutscene. Once in the second cell, pick up the Note on the table, find the Print Out under the desk, and examine the Tally Marks on the wall. Examine all of these items in your inventory and then interact with the computer.
Failing ANY stage of the following tests will cause Kai to be electrocuted. As rescuing Kai is required to obtain either the Good or True ending of this game, make sure to proceed CAREFULLY and check all answers throughout the test.
Using the arrows hidden among the talley marks, direct Kai to take the following path:
Up, Right, Down, Down, Right, Right
Next, you need to direct Kai through a series of steps indicated by letters. From the B tile on which Kai starts, only one of the five paths presented on the Print Out can be followed properly given the layout of the grid. Direct Kai to take the following path (the middle path on the grid):
C, D, A, C, B, D
Finally, for the third test, you will need to use the rules of cards explained on the Note. The correct steps are as follows:
- Kai starts on a Spade. Spade moves to Heart unless Diamond is available. There is no Diamond, so move right to Heart.
- If Heart is next to Spade, as this one is, it moves to Club. Move up to Club
- Club cannot move to Heart or Club, so your only move is right to Spade.
- Again, Spade moves to Heart unless Diamond is available. It isn’t, so move down to Heart.
- Once again, this Heart is next to a Spade, so move down to Club.
- Finally, your only option from Club, as you cannot go to Heart or Club, is right to Spade.
This will complete the test, allowing Alex and Kai to return to the Great Room and meet up with the other survivors. However, they aren’t home free yet – there is one more character still trapped in this deadly mansion! Rescuing every character is necessary to reach either the Good or True ending of The Tartarus Key, so make sure to check out GameLuster’s other The Tartarus Key guides for more puzzle solutions!
