Broken Minds walkthrough

This page copies the full text of Broken Minds's official walkthrough.

SPOILER WARNING!

NOA’S APARTMENT

Your first task in-game, after meeting highly likable protagonist Noa Karada, is to answer the door. Click the forward arrow until you’re in the kitchen, then click the left arrow until you see the doorway (it’s between the stove and the tokonoma). Click the forward arrow again to answer the door.

Once the conversation is over, click the right or left arrows until you’re facing the window. Then click the forward arrow.

YAMAGATA PRIVATE DETECTIVE AGENCY (YPDA)

Your goal is to talk to Ume, who is now in the bullpen. You can get to the bullpen through the office or the waiting area.

To go through the office, look behind you for the office door, click the forward arrow to go through it, turn until you see the computer, click the forward arrow twice to go through the bullpen door. A cutscene will activate. Then go up to Ume, who is standing near the desks. (Might be hard to see her because of the angle, but she’s there). Click her dialogue button.

To go through the waiting room, click the forward arrow twice to answer the waiting room. Turn right toward the bullpen door, then press forward again. A cutscene will activate. When it’s over, click the forward arrow again to enter the bullpen, and turn until you see Ume. Click her dialogue button.

Now your goal is, once again, answering the door. Click the forward arrow to go past Ume and enter the waiting room. Click the left arrow to see the door to the porch. Click the forward arrow to answer the door. Go back to Ume.

NOA’S APARTMENT

Your goal is to meet Yuzuki and Takuma. I recommend visiting Yuzuki first. She’s standing to the left of the futon with the cat pillows. Press the forward arrow to enter the livingroom area. Then press the left arrow until you see Yuzuki. Press her dialogue button. After you’ve talked to her, press the left button until you see Takuma. He’s standing by the hall. Press the forward arrow to go up to him. Then press his dialogue button.

UZUMAKI’S OFFICE

Your goal is to be let into the meeting room. Turn until you see the receptionist’s desk. Click the left arrow until you see Reiwa. Click her dialogue button.

Turn until you see the screen doors leading to the meeting room. Press the forward arrow to enter.

Your goal is to find important clues. Turn until you see the pond. Press the forward arrow until you’re looking at a close-up view of the water. Press the dialogue button. Turn until you see Takuma. Go up to him and press his dialogue button.

Your goal is to talk to Ume and Yuzuki about where Reiwa went. Go back to the receptionist room by turning right and pressing the forward arrow. Turn until you see a door behind the couch. Press the dialogue button or press the forward arrow (if no dialogue button is present).

Your goal is to talk to Reiwa outside. Turn until you see the mudroom (where the shoerack is). Press the forward arrow until you’re in the room. Turn until you’re facing the door to the outside. Then press the forward arrow.

Your goal is to unlock Uzumaki’s office. Go through the receptionist room to the meeting room. His office is behind the screen doors to the left of where Takuma is standing. Press the forward arrow to go through them.

Your goal is to find a clue in Uzumaki’s office. Turn until you’re facing a group of cabinets. Press the dialogue arrow.

Your goal is to talk to the detectives. Go back to the meeting room and click on their dialogue button.

Your goal is to talk to Reiwa. She’s back in the reception room, by the couch. Click her dialogue button.

Your goal is to leave. Go to the mudroom and turn until you see the door the door to the outside. Press the forward arrow.

REIWA’S APARTMENT

Your goal is to talk to Reiwa. Press the forward arrow until you enter her bedroom. Turn right, then press the forward arrow to go out on the balcony. Press her dialogue button.

This will result in the first Logic Train. If you don’t like being confused, you’ll probably want to read the tutorial, so make sure you don’t blindly click through that section. You will also be able to re-read the tutorial within the various minigame screens.

After talking to Reiwa, turn until you’re facing the hallway you started in. Enter it, then turn left to see the concealed panel. Press the dialogue button.

YAMAGATA PRIVATE DETECTIVE AGENCY (YPDA)

Your goal is to find the detectives. Go forward into the bullpen (please note that once entering the bullpen, you will be unable to leave, so if you wanted to explore the YPDA office again, do so before you enter). Turn until you’re facing the desks. Click the dialogue button.

There will be three Logic Trains to get through, but again, they are accompanied by extensive in-game tutorials.

You’ll notice I didn’t cover the different choices that will pop up. That’s because they deserve their own section!

ROUTES

Every choice in Broken Minds is intentionally obfuscated, and without a guide, it would be impossible to find all the endings, probably. You can also use the in-game flowchart to navigate the routes.

EMOJI MOOD CHOICE SCREEN

First time this menu comes up: select “NICE”, “PSYCHOPATH” or “BLEAK”. Second time it comes up, select “NICE”, “PSYCHOPATH” or “BLEAK”. If you selected “NICE” the first time and “PSYCHOPATH” the second time, you will get “LIAR”.

“NICE” + “NICE” = “NICE” “NICE” + “BLEAK” = “EXPIATOR” “NICE” + “PSYCHOPATH” = “LIAR” “PSYCHOPATH” + “BLEAK” = “PUPPET” etc.

The first two choices select the “main mood” Noa is in. From here on out, the “main mood” is locked down, and when the screen comes up again, you’re choosing variations in dialogue, not main moods.

To see what your “main mood” is, open the save screen by either pressing the “ESC” key while playing or choosing “Save” from the dialogue box menu. If you hover over a save slot, you can see a little emoji. You can use your empathy powers to read the emoji’s expression, but you can also rely on the color: “NICE” is yellow, “LIAR” is orange, “PSYCHOPATH” is red, “EXPIATOR” is green, “PUPPET” is cyan, and “BLEAK” is blue (pictured).

HELPING TAKUMA

The next important choice is helping Takuma with his theory. The right answers to his questions are “THE GUN” and “THE PILLOWS”, though there is no penalty for getting them wrong.

EVIDENCE CHOICE SCREEN

Next is the evidence choice screen. If you are in a good main mood — “NICE”, “EXPIATOR”, or “BLEAK” — then you will see a button labeled “solve” when you click on evidence. If you are in a bad main mood — “PSYCHOPATH”, “LIAR”, or “PUPPET” — then you will see a button labeled “tamper” when you click on evidence.

As with the last choice, there is a right answer, and no penalty for getting it wrong. The most important pieces of evidence in the case are the pacemaker, lipstick and cellphone.

INNOCENT AND GUILTY

Now, here’s the really confusing part: there are two main routes, called “INNOCENT” and “GUILTY”.

To get on “Innocent” from a bad main mood (“PSYCHOPATH”, “LIAR”, or “PUPPET”), help Takuma by answering both his questions right and tamper with the pacemaker, lipstick and cellphone. To get on “Guilty” from a bad main mood is easy, just get one of Takuma’s questions wrong or tamper with a piece of evidence other than the pacemaker, lipstick and cellphone, or both!

To get on “Guilty” from a good main mood (“NICE”, “EXPIATOR”, or “BLEAK”), don’t help Takuma with either of his questions and solve the pacemaker, lipstick and cellphone. To get on “Innocent” from a good main mood is easy, just get one of Takuma’s questions right or solve a piece of evidence other than the pacemaker, lipstick and cellphone, or both!

You could say bad main moods are weighted towards Guilty, and good main moods are weighted towards Innocent.

That pretty much covers it for the important choices in the game — though that doesn’t mean the other choices have no interesting information or surprises, these are the only choices that matter insofar as getting to the different “routes”.

TRUE ENDINGS

Having a truly satisfying Broken Minds experience requires you to get to the “true endings”. Yes, there are two “true endings”. To see them, you must play through the game seven times. * GASP*! What? Don’t worry, there’s a helpful “Skip” button on the dialogue box menu, so it’s pretty painless. And you’ll get to see most of the dialogue variations along the way! Don’t forget to save before making that first emoji mood choice, because that’s the best jumping off point for exploring the rest of the game.

Play through the game on each of the “main moods” to unlock one of the true endings. It can be helpful to make a note of each main mood you’ve played on, so that you don’t accidentally play the same mood. To finish the game on each main mood, you’ll have to play it six times, upon which you’ll either get the “Innocent true ending”, or the “Guilty true ending”.

As you’ve probably guessed, the true ending you get depends on whether you’re on the “Innocent” or “Guilty” route, so you’ll need to finish the game once more on whichever of those routes you didn’t get to see the other true ending.

DETECTIVE’S SECRET

You may have noticed something’s a bit weird about those detectives. My only advice to you in solving that mystery is “be as evil as possible”.

Thanks for reading and good luck!