Call of the Elder Gods: Beginner's Guide

Call of the Elder Gods is a first-person puzzle adventure from Out of the Blue Games and Kwalee, set in the same Lovecraftian world as 2020's Call of the Sea. Across six chapters, you play as Evangeline and Harry, piecing together clues from murals, letters, and journals to unlock doors, operate machines, and unravel a cult's secrets. The puzzles are genuinely clever, but a few will stop you cold if you miss one note in a dark corner. This guide covers every major puzzle solution and key decision point, chapter by chapter.

Before you start: essential controls and systems

The controls you need to know before anything else are: Shift to sprint, Tab to open your journal, F to activate your flashlight, and M1 to inspect and interact with objects. The journal is your most important tool. Every clue you find, from symbol rubbings to portrait inscriptions, gets stored there automatically. Open it constantly. Puzzles that look impossible usually become straightforward once you check what you have already recorded.

The game also has a Chapter Select on the main menu, which lets you replay any chapter you have already finished. This is useful for collecting missed secret objects or unlocking the second ending without starting from scratch, though replaying a chapter will overwrite your current progress in that chapter.

Journal stores all puzzle clues

Prologue: the safe code and the journal lock

The Prologue has two puzzles. The first is the journal lock on the desk in the bedroom. Rotate the top and bottom elements to free the middle element, then slide the pin inward to open it. It is a tactile tutorial for the interaction system rather than a real challenge.

The second is the safe in the Christmas scavenger hunt room. Examine the Christmas tree's seven baubles and interact with the piano keys, which have matching symbols. Three keys do not work: the spiral, the star, and the triangle. The bauble numbers matching those three symbols are 1, 4, and 6. Enter 146 into the safe.

Chapter 1: Everhart Manor

How to solve the vase puzzle in the manor gardens?

There are five vases spread across the Everhart Manor grounds, and a gate near the greenhouse steps with five faces and five symbols on it. Each vase needs to point toward something in the garden that matches the symbol above its corresponding face on the gate. The solutions are:

Once all five vases are rotated correctly, interact with the handle on the left side of the gate to open it. Inside the mausoleum, pick up the greenhouse key from the table.

Gate symbols guide vase rotation

How to arrange the books in the Everhart Manor office?

After retrieving the missing book from the greenhouse, you will have eight books on the shelf in the office off the library. To find the correct order, you need four portrait frames found around the manor, each showing Harry at a different age with two Latin words above him. Arrange the portraits from youngest to oldest, and the words give you the book sequence.

As confirmed by both the GameSpew and LootLevelChill sources, the correct order is:

1. PRAETERITA
2. MUTARE
3. NON
4. POSSUMUS
5. SED
6. FUTURA
7. PROVIDERE
8. DEBEMUS

Getting this right opens a secret compartment. Inside is a document mentioning a hidden fireplace compartment in the west wing drawing room. The fireplace in the main library rotates to reveal a secret tunnel leading to the professor.

Chapter 2: Of Colossal Caves and Ancient Relics

How to fill the air cylinder and use the diving suit?

Before you can use the diving suit, you need a full air cylinder. Pick up the empty cylinder near the large machine. Follow the yellow wiring from the machine to the green box near the diving suit and flip the switches to get the gauge into the green zone. The GameSpew walkthrough notes the working combination is the second, third, and fifth switches.

Return to the machine, insert the cylinder, open the small panel where the yellow cable connects, flip the switch, turn the wheel until the gauge reads green, then press the large yellow button. The cylinder is now full. Attach it to the back of the diving suit and interact with the front to go underwater.

How to use the water and black ooze separation machine?

This is one of the more involved puzzles in Chapter 2. The goal is to get exactly four units of black ooze into the second tank, then send them upward. The GameSpew walkthrough provides the full sequence:

• Fill the first tank, transfer to the second tank, then send only water to the small tank. One unit of black ooze remains in the second tank.
• Repeat the fill and transfer, then drain the small tank and send water there again. Drain again. Two units of black ooze in the second tank.
• Fill the first tank and transfer again. You now have three units of black ooze and one water in the second tank. Switch the flow direction and drain the first tank into the small tank. Transfer from the second tank to the small tank until the second tank holds three black ooze units only.
• Switch flow back. Fill the first tank, transfer to the second tank. The second tank now has four units of black ooze. Press the button on the vertical pipe to send the ooze upward.

How to use the tower control panel?

Once you are controlling Harry at the piano-like control panel, use the notes in your journal. The GameSpew walkthrough gives the exact key sequences:

• Press keys 1, 2, 4, and 5, then press C to raise the towers.
• Press key 1 twice and key 4 twice, then C to rotate the towers and reveal a doorway in the left tower.
• Press key 4 twice and key 1 twice, then C to rotate back. Then press keys 1, 2, 4, and 5 again, then C to raise the towers higher and reveal entrances in both.
• For the clean sequence: press keys 1, 4, 2, and 3, then C.
• For the fire sequence: press keys 4, 2, 5, and 3, then C.

After the fire sequence, retrieve the statuette from the right tower and place it in the dumbwaiter between the towers to send it down to Evangeline.

Tower panel key sequences matter

Chapter 3: A Guide to the Members of the Starry Wisdom Society

How to solve the tetrahedron puzzle?

Interact with the large tetrahedron in the marble room and press the central triangle buttons on each side to unlock the edges. Match the faces to the small tetrahedron you found in the drawer: one side showing three moons, one showing three stars, one showing three suns. Start with the corner piece that only has two symbols, rotate it into position, then work outward.

Once complete, the top opens to reveal an orb. Rotate the orb so its glowing line aligns with the glowing tab at the 6 o'clock position. Then rotate the three layers of the building model that appears: align the bottom and middle layers so the stairs face you, and position the dome so no tab sits above the front door.

How to identify the Egyptian statues?

After searching all five offices on the upper floor, you need to match each cult member's name, role, code name, hieroglyph, and mask to the correct statue position. The photo development puzzle in the Archaeologist's office feeds into this: place the film in the left machine, then move the photo through the trays in order second, first, third.

The full solution table is:

Key deductions: the Dilettante's office photo shows he is the largest member, and in the developed photo the largest figure has a crocodile head. A note in the Astronomer's room confirms the Astronomer and Orion have masks that match their hieroglyphs, which places Orion as the crocodile-masked Dilettante. The hieroglyph calendar reads right to left, and you are in the third Akhet.

Chapter 4: ZNP-C

Where is the key to the generator building?

The generator building is locked when you first reach it. The key is inside the radio tower on the ground floor: look for a lockbox on the wall just to the right of the stairs. Interact with it to collect the key, then head back down the hill to the generator building, flip the switch inside, and the power process begins.

How to route power through the facility?

This puzzle requires switching between Harry and Evangeline using the left and right shoulder buttons. The sequence, per the GameSpew walkthrough:

• As Evangeline, confirm the bottom fuse box switch is on. Switch to Harry.
• Follow the red wire to a garage and pull the lever at the back wall. Switch to Evangeline.
• Turn on the next two switches. Switch back to Harry.
• Follow the wire from the garage roof to the mess hall. Pull the switch on the right wall. Switch to Evangeline and flip the second-from-top switch.
• As Harry, follow the wire to the storage building and pull the back wall switch. Switch to Evangeline and flip the top switch.
• As Harry, go to the radio tower, up the stairs, through the door to the outside balcony, up the ladder, and flip the switch past the boxes on the right.

How to solve the Enigma Machine puzzles?

There are two Enigma Machine sequences in Chapter 4: one in Harry's flashback office and one in the radio tower. Both follow the same logic. Pick up the instructions from the desks before touching the machine.

For Harry's flashback, the message starts with GMR, corresponding to row 25. Set the reels to III, I, II. Set the dials to 15, 26, 1. Set the plugs to UA and WF.

For the radio tower, there are three messages:

• UZW (25th line, February sheet): Discs II, III, I. Dials 23, 13, 2. Plugs GE, FM.
• BDA (1 January): Discs III, II, I. Dials 19, 25, 6. Plugs PW, CR.
• SSW (3 January): Discs I, III, II. Dials 15, 25, 25. Plugs ZI, HP.

What is the reinforced door code?

After decrypting all three radio tower messages, piece together the door code logic. The code changes every 10 days and combines the general's assigned number with the date. The last communication was 25 February, so the code was last changed on 19 February. Adler was the assigned general but died on 26 January, making Hohenberg the acting general. The resulting door code is 9519. Input 9, 5, 1, and 9 clockwise from the top left on the panel beside the wheel.

For the secret facility doors later in the chapter, the three sequential codes are 438, 527, and 309, used while switching between Harry and Evangeline to move the smoke entity safely.

Enigma reel and dial setup

Chapter 5: Prisoners of Ice

How to calibrate the brainwave machine?

Test each letter-number combination on the left side of the machine to find seven matching brainwave patterns between Evangeline and the creature. Then set the four knobs to unique brainwave patterns from each letter group. The solution is A to 3, B to 1, C to 4, and D to 3. Turn the on switch, then press the red button.

How to use the Observatory and the Central Map?

The Observatory puzzle requires you to identify where and when Evangeline is. Because a Dimetrodon appears in the gardens, you are in the second era (based on the mural order in your journal). The number 2 is written as two wavy lines. Earth is the third planet from the sun in the solar system diagram in your journal, represented by a large circle with two wavy lines and a small circle above.

On the Observatory machine, find the Earth symbol, press it, then use the C button to rotate to the two-line symbol for era 2. Press the button on the opposite side. Note the constellation on the ceiling that matches Evangeline's journal entry, and record the symbol beneath it.

At the Central Map machine, input the constellation symbol and then the number for the fifth era (present day, represented as two wavy lines with a dot on the end of the top one). Press the green button.

What is the spaceship console code?

At the spaceship console in Chapter 5, you need to enter 89345 using the in-game symbol notation. The number system works on a grid of threes: one, two, and three lines represent 1, 2, and 3. Adding a dot increases the value, so four through six each need one dot. Nine requires three dots. Input the correct symbols for each digit, then press the green C button.

Chapter 6: Pna-ko-tus

Chapter 6 centers on a three-pattern ball mechanism in front of a large door. Each pattern requires timing multiple rotating balls and then adjusting the resulting symbol to match shapes found in your journal and on the door and surrounding walls.

• Pattern one: Start the second ball, then when it reaches the first quarter position, start the first ball. Use the first odd switch to rotate the resulting symbol so the dot sits on the left, beneath a wave.
• Pattern two: With the first two balls already moving, start the third ball when the first ball reaches the first quarter marker. Use the first and second switches to shape the symbol to match the one beside the waterfall door (resembling ISS).
• Pattern three: Start the fourth ball at the same moment as the third. Use all three switches to match the symbol on the side of the large door.

After each pattern, press the button in front of the mechanism. Patterns one and two also require activating light beam sequences using orbs and lenses found on the upper ramps to power the mechanism fully.

Both endings: what changes?

According to the official wiki, the story split comes at the final choice involving Evangeline. Choosing to stop Evangeline leads to the Harry ending. Choosing to let her proceed leads to the Evangeline ending. The puzzle route and chapter structure are identical for both. Keep a save before the final decision if you want both endings without replaying the whole game, or use Chapter Select after finishing once.

For more help across all chapters, the Call of the Elder Gods guides collection covers additional puzzle breakdowns and collectible locations. If you enjoy story-driven puzzle games like this one, the broader adventure games category has plenty more worth your time.