#ib walkthrough

Episode 4

It's a straight hall from the brown room to the Sketchbook. As you go, the background will become more like a child's drawing. Some objects will come flying at you, but if you keep walking and don't pause, they will miss.

1. When you finally arrive at the Sketchbook, there will be a path before a house. Take the turn that goes north.

2. You'll find yourself in an area with dead trees. Go left.

3. Here is a pink house with a vase and save point nearby. Check the message in blue on the house, then continue to the left.

4. Go inside the upside down house.

5. To the far left is a blue object. It's a bucket, which you'll need soon. Grab it and head back outside.

6. After you leave, head north, then right twice. Fill your bucket in the lake, but DO NOT dip in your rose. It will only wilt it. If you need to heal, use the vase, though it's only one use.

7. Now go south twice until you reach the area where you entered. Here, you'll see a blue tulip bud next to the house. Water it from the bucket and retrieve the key that is inside.

8. Head to the left. Here you'll find the gallery, which you can unlock with your key. Go inside and open Pandora's Box in the middle of the gallery. Obtain the little mirror inside.

9. To the left is a second door. Leave through there, then take the pink path north twice. Here you'll find a patch of orange sunlight. Place the mirror on the ground, and the reflection will melt the ice on the door of the blue building. Go inside.

10. This puzzle has a rather simple answer, but finding it is difficult and time consuming. For that reason, I am including both a long explanation and a diagram for easily solving it. The red switches on the floor correspond with the shapes on the north wall. The diagram shows which switch goes with which shape. Press them in the sequence on the wall, and a key will appear in the center of the room. If you don't care to know why the pictures correspond with the switches, just scroll down to the diagram. Otherwise, I will go on to explain.

The shapes on the wall are the same ones you released from Pandora's Box. They flew out and scattered themselves around the Sketchbook. The switches represent the different areas of the Sketchbook. The paths of the Sketchbook create a shape similar to that of the switches and the lines that connect them.

In each area, you'll find a shape. The sun is shining down in the area in the top left corner. In the middle top area, the heart is on the door of the house. In the top right, if you stare into the lake, you can see the moon reflected in it. The trees in the middle right have borne fruit, and one has a single apple. An extra butterfly has been added to the left middle area, this one with eyes on its wings. In the bottom middle corner, a cat head was drawn on the back of the sign. The sign in the middle bottom area has a swirl on the front. Finally, if you go into the house on the right bottom corner and look at the clock, there is a star on it. However, if you already know where things are, you can press the switches without actually "finding" any of these.

11. Now that you have the key, leave the blue building and go right. Unlock the door of the house surrounded by flowers. Inside is the pink toy box.

12. After Mary pushes you into the toy box, the events will change according to what ending you have unlocked. The easiest way to determine your ending is to first follow the directions for the "good" ending and try to find your rose, since you lost it when you fell.

Good: You'll find your rose near the north edge of the toy box. Garry is knocked out above the clown drawn on the floor, but you'll be able to wake him. From there, collect the pink key. It's next to the drawing of the pink cat.

Bad: Your rose in nowhere to be found. Garry is still above the clown, and he'll assure you that you'll find it. Just below the clown is the pink key. Once you get it, Mary will appear with Ib's rose. You have no choice but to trade Garry's for it.

Regardless of your ending, once you finish, all the toys will come to life and try to kill you. Evade them and make your way to the doorway in the middle of the north wall of the toy box.

13. Head straight down the hall and up the stairs. You'll be back in the room you were in before Mary pushed you into the toy box, only now the toy box is gone and the stairs that were behind it are covered in thorns and yellow roses. Again, what you do is variable depending upon the ending you have.

Good: You MUST burn the roses with Garry's lighter and head up the stairs.

Bad: You arrive in the same room to find Mary. Once she leaves, you have a choice. If you ignore the roses and choose to leave the house, skip to step 15. Otherwise, you can go back to where you left Gary in the hallway and take his lighter, then use it to burn the roses and ascend the stairs regardless.

14. The cutscenes will change according to your ending here, but not what you have to do. When you take a few steps away from the stairway, Mary will appear to chase you with her palette knife. Don't hesitate. Go as quickly as you can to the opposite end of the room, where you will find Mary's painting. Burn it, and you burn her as well. Now you can go back downstairs and leave.

15. Go south to the pink house. The key will unlock it. Inside, you'll see a staircase. Head down it and continue down the hall. That is the end of episode 4.

Episode 5

1. You are now back in the gallery, but it is still dark and everyone is still gone. Go to the long painting that started this mess on the top floor.

(Note: If you have the good ending, you can now read the names of all the paintings, since Garry's with you! Do so if you feel so inclined.)

2. Once the frame disappears, jump into it. You'll be transported to the gallery—this one lit and populated.

3. This will vary according to your ending.

Good: Go talk to Garry. He's looking at the rose sculpture on the bottom floor, south of the painting of the angler fish.

Bad (didn't burn Mary): Go back to the lobby. There, you will find Mary with your parents.

Bad (but burned Mary): Go look at the Hanged Man painting on the north wall of the top floor. It has been replaced with Garry's "sleeping" body. After that, find your parents in the lobby.

When you leave the safe room, head down the stairs. That will take you to the next set of rooms. These are violet.

1. Walk down the hall past the violet door. When you hear a knock at it, go investigate. You can try to look in the hole, but you'll only see blackness.

2. As you continue down the hall, you'll notice a small rope maze. It is not mandatory to pass through, but doing so, or not doing so, could change the ending you receive. The next step outlines how to get through it, so skip it if you skip the maze.

3. When you go into the maze, a bar will snap into place behind you, and a yellow statue in the maze will come to life. To open a way out on the other side of the maze, go to the blue button portrait (the middle one) and press it. The other two buttons bring the remaining statues to life. The bookcase on your way out holds Guertena's diary, which is worth a look.

4. After leaving (or skipping) the maze, continue to follow the hall. You'll come to a locked door requiring a password at the very end. Backtrack a little until you find a square doorway on the south wall of the hall. This one is unlocked.

5. You'll find yourself in a small room with a statue blocking the way. Garry can move it without a problem. Before leaving, though, pull the cord in the corner.

6. The door blocked by the statue turns out to be the one you heard someone knocking at when you entered the violet rooms. Now that you pulled the cord, though, there is a message in violet beneath the lamp just outside the door.

7. The message asks the name of Guertena's floor painting, the one with the angler fish that you walked into near the beginning of the game. Unfortunately, you originally read it as "??? of the Deep" because of Ib's lacking vocabulary. However, you do get to choose from three words to fill in the blank, so you could get it by process of elimination. To save some time, though, I'll tell you that it's "Abyss".

(Note: The game will try to trick you here. If you pick "Realm", Garry will agree with you, but it will not unlock the door.)

8. Go back through the small room to the locked door. "Abyss of the Deep" will unlock it.

9. Beyond is a small room with some bookshelves and a painting. The shelves hold two interesting, but not vital, books, but the painting will set off a cut scene. When it's finished, leave the room.

10. In the hall, you'll find red words on the walls and floors. Backtrack down the hall until you see red footprints. They start around the save point. Follow them through a new doorway.

11. Going through the door will trigger a cut scene where you meet a girl named Mary, and she will join your party.

12. Proceed down the hall until you reach a sideways T going north and south. Go south first and use the vase there, even if you don't need it. It will start a short conversation with Mary. Continue north.

13. Follow the hall up until you reach a fork with two doors. The closer of the two is locked, but the farther one is not.

14. Inside, you'll find a painting of a rabbit titled "Red Eyes" with rabbit ornaments sitting on tables on either side of it. First, look at the painting. Garry and Mary will argue about whether it is cute or unsettling. Next, look at the bookshelf to the left. Finally, investigate one of the rabbit ornaments. It doesn't matter which. When you do, a green one will fly off the table and shatter, revealing a key inside. Take the key and leave the room.

15. Going past the painting between the two rooms will trigger yet another cut scene that ends with Garry trapped on the side of the fork with the bunny room and Ib and Mary on the other. You'll have to go on without him. At least you have the key to unlock that door.

During the next section of the game, you'll go back and forth between playing as Ib and Garry to progress. To switch, you will step on a rose tile: red if you're Garry, blue if you're Ib. To save time, I'll just say *switch* when you need to change characters.

1. Unlocking the door will bring you to a small room filled with boxes and statues. Look in all the open boxes. The one the farthest to the right has a palette knife that Mary will hold on to.

2. Next, check the box down and to the left of that one. When you do, Mary will announce that there's nothing else of interest in the room and suggest you go back for Garry. When she does, the lights will flicker off, and you'll find a statue in the way of the door you entered from. You'll have to go forward.

3. The next room is a long, winding hallway. As you go through it, the red nose will fall off a clown painting, roll down stairs, and splatter against a wall. Brown notes will also appear as you walk. There's nothing to really do here, though, so continue through the door.

4. This room has a hole in the floor that you can't cross. All you can do for now is save.

*switch*

5. When you go back to the bunny room, you'll find that both the painting and the ornaments are now blue-faced, red-eyed dolls. More hang from nooses on the ceiling.

(Note: The revelation of what is actually in this room says a lot about Ib's mental state at this point in the game. What she sees, and what you as the player see through her, might not necessarily be real. This is something that is important to keep in mind during certain endings.)

6. Investigating the bookshelf to the right will reveal a hole in the wall you can escape through.

7. To the far right in the new room is a series of 5 pull cords. Pull the second from the right. The others have varying results, but some will hurt you. This will give Ib and Mary a way over the hole.

*switch*

8. Walk across the strange painting, then push the blue block into the hole. Garry will be able to use it. Finally, go to the next room.

9. Proceed through the narrow hallway. Mary will ask you some questions depending on your choices thus far. The next room has a rose tile in it.

*switch*

10. Push the blue block into the little triangle indent in the floor. This will unlock the door.

11. A doll will follow you down the hallway. Read all its messages on the walls to unlock the door at the end.

12. The first door you'll see in the next room is locked. Continue north until you see another and go inside.

13. Read the sign on the north wall. It instructs you to find seven balls of paint scattered throughout the violet rooms you're in.

14. Go back to the door you entered from. You'll find a yellow ball of paint there.

15. To the far right in the main room is a wall with two paintings. In the wall south of that is the only other door already unlocked.

16. This room is full of gas that makes you lose a petal for every step. Inside, though, are two items you need: the violet paint ball and an umbrella. Grab one, then go to the main room, heal with the blue vase, and go back and grab the other. There is a cord to pull, too, but you can't reach it yet.

*switch*

17. To the left of the rose tile is an unlocked door. The room inside is colorless and has a hole in the middle. You won't be able to get the key on the other side until Garry finds all seven paint balls.

18. Now go to the right side of the room. On the south wall is an unlocked door.

19. Inside are three tables with mannequin heads. Knock off the head on the desk in the bottom left corner. You can knock over the others, too, but that's the only one you have to knock over. Grab the key on the table in the bottom right corner.

20. On the left side of the room is another door. It's locked, but requires a password—the name to a pictured painting. Again, you have three choices and can figure it out through process of elimination, but it's "Marvelous Night".

21. Inside are bookshelves and a keyhole in the wall. Use the key you just found in the keyhole. It unlocks a door for Garry.

22. Before you leave, look at the bookshelf right next to the keyhole. In it is a book called "Collected Words of Guertena". Look at the J page and remember the date that "Juggling" was painted.

*switch*

23. Go to the wall of paintings and look at the one on the right. It will ask you the date it was painted. Put in the date you just got from the book, and it will give you the blue ball of paint.

24. Go north. Put the umbrella on the hook.

25. Go to the door with the tree above it. You'll find that it is unlocked now. Inside is a bunch of bookshelves and a pink ball of paint that you can't reach yet.

26. Look at the bookshelf in the top right corner of the left half of the room. Inside is a book, and in the book you'll find the green ball of paint. You should have three left. If not, go back through this section of the walkthrough and figure out which you missed.

*switch*

27. Go to the painting of the fisherman on the right side of the room and get the umbrella.

28. Go back to the mannequin head room. On the north wall is a painting. Give the woman in it the umbrella, and it will start to rain.

*switch*

29. Go back into the room with the red gas. The vase on the south wall will now be full of water trickling down from the raining room above. Walk to it, heal, and then walk to the cord and pull it. That will shut off the gas.

30. When you walk past the door with the tree above it, it will bear fruit. Go in, and you'll be able to get the pink ball of paint.

31. Don't leave the room yet. Read the copy of "Collected Works of Guertena" on the shelf to the right of the ear painting, especially the M page.

32. Go to the most southern edge of the room, by the rose tile. The doll that followed you into the room from the hall has moved right next to the locked door there. Read its message and then get the red paint ball out of its stomach. Follow it into the now-unlocked room.

(Note: This next section is one of the scariest in the game, especially if you don't like dolls.)

33. Grab the ball of white paint under the white painting. It should be the last one. When you try to leave, though, you'll find the door locked and the dolls prompting you to "have another treasure hunt". You have to find the doll with the key to the door. When you walk away from the door, a clock will start ticking and a giant doll will begin to climb out of the white painting. If it reaches you, you've lost.

34. Losing this game does not mean a game over. If you do, it will change the plot progression and could (but might not) change the ending. If you lose, you will cut to Ib and Mary, and the two of them will find Garry in the room talking to the dolls. If you win, Garry will go up and find them. Unfortunately, it seems that the location of the doll with the key varies. If I discover a pattern, I will provide a picture here, but for now, you'll just have to do your best to find it on your own.

35. If you lose, cut straight to after the next switch. If you win, Garry will run out the door and end up near the fishing hook painting. The last door is open. Go through it.

36. Go up the stairs. You'll automatically switch to Ib and Mary.

*switch*

37. Talk to Mary. Follow her out to the hall you came in from, and you'll find her mutilating a mannequin head with the palette knife. Try to talk to her and then go back into the main room.

38. She'll follow you back. You can talk to her, but when you're done, you need to continue.

39. Go to what was once the black and white room and obtain the key. When you come back, you'll find Mary gone. Go ahead and unlock the door next to the fisherman painting.

40. This is where things change slightly depending on if Garry won or lost the game with the dolls. If he lost, go down the stairs and get him before coming back up. If he won, he'll meet you at the top of the stairs. Either way, Mary will leave your party, and you'll have to go back into the brown room.

Through the red door, you'll find a gallery room. There is another door in the middle of it, but it's locked.

1. Go look at The Lady in Red painting in the top right corner of the gallery. At first, nothing will happen, but as you walk away, the painting will come to life and try to attack you. When it does, it will drop a red key.

2. Get the painting away from the key by leading it to the opposite side of the red statue and then get out of its line of sight. After that, double back, grab the key, and unlock the door.

3. Once you get through the door, you'll find yourself in a small room with bookshelves and a locked door. Check all the bookshelves—some give hints (like the fact that the monsters can't open closed doors), and others just chilling excerpts. One will be the key to exiting the room.

4. Go to the set of shelves in the top left corner. Check the one that is one away from the door. If your computer supports it, you will read a creepy story in the form of a video. If it doesn't (like mine) and instead crashes the game, go back to your "Ib" folder, click on the "Ib Manual" file, and follow the directions to fix it there. Once you do, come back to this bookshelf and you will find a book jutting out. Push it in. Either of these actions will open the door for you.

(Note: If the video will not play ingame, you can still watch it! Go back to your "Ib" folder, open the "Movie" folder, and click the only file in it. You need a video player that will play the video, though. VLC Media Player did it for me, and it's free to download. Otherwise, you can probably find it on Youtube if you look hard enough.)

5. Once you leave that room, you'll immediately see a blue vase and a save point. Blue vases are special—they hold an unlimited amount of water. Feel free to heal here, especially if you had trouble with that Lady in Red painting earlier.

6. Go to the right. In a hall past a painting, you'll see a man in a blue coat lying on the ground. Take the key he's holding, and then you'll have to leave him there. There's nothing more you can do for him now.

7. Go back to the left, through the center room and to another room beyond. You'll find a vase, a regular brown one this time, and a red door. The vase is empty, so don't worry about it. You might notice, however, that the two signs on opposite sides of it are the same signs you saw when you got your rose. Open the red door with the key, but also take note of the blue petals on the ground.

8. In this room is another painting come to life, a blue lady this time. She is too preoccupied ripping apart a blue rose to notice you at first, but if you approach her, she'll drop it to chase after you. When she does, go back out through the door.

9. Wait a few minutes outside the door, and she'll break through the window in the side of the room to get to you. Immediately go back in the room. Now you can pick up the blue rose unimpeded.

10. Once you have the rose, leave the room and go back to the middle room with the blue vase as quickly as possible.

11. Go to the blue vase. It will give you the option of putting the blue rose in it. Do so.

12. Go to the right, back to the ragged man in blue. His name is Garry, and he will join your party.

13. Continue to the right. You'll find a door blocked by a statue. Garry takes care of that, and you can continue on.

Now that you have Garry with you, he'll give you commentary as you proceed. The first things you'll see in this next set of gray rooms are a pair of paintings of a bride and groom and two black hands reaching out of the floor. Ignore them for now and proceed up the narrow hallway.

1. To you right is a save point. To your left is a door—don't go through it just yet. Proceed to the left until you get to a hall full of eyes.

2. Go up past the eyes. They won't hurt you. Go to the left and take note of the paintings on the wall, especially the white snake. Continue down until you find a door.

3. To the right of the door is a short hall leading upwards. At its end is a bizarre blue face set into the wall. Talk to him, and he'll ask you for your rose. DO NOT give it to him. If you do, he'll eat it—again, an instant game over.

4. Go back to the last door. Go in and you'll see a room full of stools and easels. You can push the stools. Push them in the directions indicated in the diagram below to form a path.

There's more than one way to do it, but that one was the one I found. Pick up the eye drops on the stool you've reached and leave the room.

5. Take the eye drops over to the hall of eyes. You'll notice one eye is dry and red. Use the eye drops on it, and, in thanks, it will indicate an area on the wall.

6. Investigate the patch of wall, and you will find a secret passage. In the passage is a red glass ball.

7. Go back to the painting of the white snake and put in the glass ball for its eye. The painting to the right of it will fall over. On the back is a message: "Behind the big tree…"

8. Go back to the last door you haven't opened. Inside is a labyrinth with three animated statues. The easel in the top right corner is helpful: "Go straight south from the red paint."

9. The paint the note is referring to is the splotch that is closest to the top left corner. "Straight south" of it is a switch in the wall. Press it and get out of there.

10. The switch will reveal a new door next to the save point. Go in.

11. This room is a hall of sculptures. If you look at them, Garry will comment on each. The last, however, is a tree. Ring a bell? Behind it, you will find a wedding ring.

(Note: When you look at the sculptures, you'll notice that when Garry is with you, you can often read the words you don't recognize, rather than having them blocked out with "???"!)

12. Go back down the narrow hall to the paintings of the bride and groom. You can put the ring on one of the hands. If you know anything about wedding rings, you'll know that the groom puts the ring on the ring finger of the left hand, and so will you.

13. Once the ring is in place, the bride will throw her bouquet. Pick it up.

14. Take the bouquet to the blue face and give it to him in place of your rose. He'll eat it and then let you through.

You will first go through a tiny room and then enter a hall of mannequin heads and unsettling paintings. Just ignore them and continue to the next room.

This room is big and full of paintings and statues. Be careful—the farther you get through the puzzle, the more of them that come alive! Every time you hear a crash, more paintings have come to life, and some do as you walk past them.

1. All the doors in this room are locked. First find the two doors right next to each other in the center of the room. Both require passwords.

2. To open the door on the right, count the number of paintings of women in the room and input that number. The Hanged Man doesn't count!

3. Inside is a vase. Unless you REALLY need it, save it for now. The book shelf is also interesting, but not important.

4. To open the door on the left, go look at The Hanged Man. On his chest is a four digit number. That is the password. Remember that, since he is upside down, so are the numbers! The password is NOT 5629.

5. In this room, move the table with the vase to the left until you hear the click of a door unlocking.

6. When you leave the room, you'll find a mannequin head between the two doors. Ignore it for now. The door that is unlocked is the one on the right side of the room.

7. All that's in the room is a mirror. Look in it and you'll see Garry and Ib. When you look away, you'll find a mannequin head blocking your exit. You can't move it, so look in the mirror again. This time, the mannequin head will be floating behind Garry in your reflection. He'll whirl around and try to kick it.

8. You'll have the option of covering your eyes or trying to stop him. Either will progress the game. You can then leave the room.

9. More paintings are alive now. One, a Lady in Green in the bottom right corner, dropped a key. Lure her away from it and grab it. Once you have it, several more paintings you pass will come to life.

10. The key unlocks the door below the two side-by-side doors, the one closest to the save point. Inside is a painting of Ib's parents. Take a look at it.

11. None of the bookshelves contain anything interesting, but the large one that isn't full can be moved. Move it in front of the window (to the right).

12. Try to leave. When you do, you'll find the door locked and hear a loud pounding from outside. If you didn't cover the window, a Lady in Blue will get in. Either way, a Lady in Yellow will break in through the wall, but one is easier to evade than two. Don't dawdle, though, or a Lady in Green will follow her. Get around her (or them) and go through the hole in the wall.

13. Once in the main room, you'll find tons of paintings and statues alive. Dodge them, but be careful. They can easily gang up on you. You'll find the last door, the one closest to the one you used to enter the room originally, open. Escape through it.

Ib is a horror/puzzle game created on RPG Maker. It's rather short, but it's definitely worth the time spent playing it (possibly multiple times!). It can be downloaded here.

At the time this was written, I was unable to find a completed written walkthrough (though I did find one today, but I am going to go ahead an post this regardless). I found a video walkthrough, similar to a Let's Play, and, in fact, used it to get past a few tricky parts when I played the game the first time. However, I find video walkthroughs difficult to navigate, especially since I only wanted the next piece of the puzzle revealed to me, not the whole thing. It is for that reason that I decided to write this one, complete with the occasional picture. I hope to aid future players that get stuck, like I was, on one little thing, only to beat their head against a desk when they realize how simple the answer was.