In this Egyptian puzzle game, you play as Ken Richards, an archaeologist. In the remote village of El Rajid, you learn the legend of Sinuhe, a forced laborer who rebelled and tried to kill his pharaoh. But he was caught. Sinuhe was thrown to the crocodiles. The god Anubis, incensed, raised Sinuhe's ghost to haunt the land thereafter. Can you find Sinuhe's medallion, the only thing that can end the wrath of Anubis?
This solution is by David Welbourn, and is based on Release 1 of the game.
SPOILERS AHEAD. Reading a walkthrough prematurely can sometimes diminish one's enjoyment of an interactive fiction game. Please make an honest effort to play the game before reading this walkthrough.
The desert is a maze (see map 1), and you will need water to safely traverse it. Go to the oasis first.
> w. n.
Small Oasis
By the way, every time you leave the desert, your thirst timer is reset, which is very helpful when you're still mapping the desert.
> n. n.
Inside Large Tent
> x nomad. x robe. search him.
> x canteen. take it. open it.(empty)
> s. s. w.
Well in Oasis
> x well. fill canteen. close it.
There's a knife in the northeastern part of the desert. Go get there from here:
> e. s. e. e. n. n.
Desert (at knife)
> take knife.
Next, visit a most unfortunate camel.
> w. s. s. w.
Desert (at camel)
Time to use that water.
> open canteen. drink water.
> x camel. shoot camel.(using the pistol)
> cut camel.(using the knife)
> take meat.
> e. e. e.(You find...)
Stone Staircase
> turn on flashlight. d.
You fall to...
Ancient Egyptian Tomb
... and drop all your stuff. And a skeletal arm is emerging from the debris.
> take all. x arm.
> pull arm.(ineffective)
> move debris. x body.
> search body. take lighter. x it.
> drop checklist.(Just to have a little less inventory.)
Now take a visual tour of the available locations down here. Be brave. Just look. Don't touch anything just yet.
> w. w.
Snake Room
The snakes aren't attacking you, but you also can't get past them to anything.
> x snakes. x pedestal. x brazier. x oil. x spade.
> e. e. e. e.
Narrrow Corridor (east end)
> x slab.
> w. n.
Sacrificial Chamber
> x opening.
> n. n.
In Front of Decorated Wall
> x wall. x lever.
> s. w. n.
Corridor (north of Burial Chamber)
> x bats. x guano. x plaster.
> n.(no: you need to scare them)
The tour is over. Time to solve puzzles. Return to the raised slab.
> s. e. s. s. e.
Narrow Corridor (east end)
> stand on slab. put knife in crack. stand.
The knife holds the slab down. And the opening in the sacrificial chamber is now open.
> w. n. e.
Secret Tomb
> x wheel. x coffin.
> translate hieroglyphs.(using the book)
> x staff. x indentation.
> take staff.(no: tight fit)
> pry staff with chisel. take staff.
> pry lid with chisel.(it's now unsealed)
> pry lid with staff.(it's now open)
> look in coffin. x mummy.
> x helmet. x gems. take helmet. wear it.
Return to the snakes.
> w. s. w. w. w.
Snake Room
> hook brazier with staff.(The brazier falls off its pedestal and spills oil everywhere.)
> light lighter. burn oil with lighter.
The snakes have retreated enough.
> take spade. turn off lighter.
Return to the bats.
> e. e. e. n. n. w. n.
Corridor (of bats)
> wave.(not loud enough)
Make sure you're wearing the helmet.
> shoot bats.(using the pistol)
The helmet saves you from falling debris (the plaster was a clue that this wall is on the fragile side) and enough of the bats fly off so they're no longer an issue.
> n.(debris blocks you)
> dig debris.(using spade)
> n.
Top of Stone Staircase
> dig debris. d.
Foot of Stone Staircase
> x crocodiles. x bones. x stream.
> give meat to crocodiles.
> x bones. take medallion.
> wear it.(can't)
> x it. clean it. x it.
Return to the decorated wall.
> u. s. s. e. n.
In Front of Decorated Wall
> pull lever.(beam of light shines down)
> reflect beam with medallion.(passage east opens)
> e.
Remains of Palace
*** You have won ***
Extras
Characters
Ken Richards is an archaeologist and the protagonist.
Achmed is the big burly man blocking the road to the ruins (for your own safety). He is friendly in all other respects.
A nomad is sleeping in his tent. You steal his canteen. Because you're the protagonist, you get away with it, but your moral arithmetic needs work.
A camel with a broken leg is in agony in the desert. Humanely put it out of its misery.
Snakes block you from getting near anything else in the snake room.
Bats block you from going past them in their poorly-made corridor.
Crocodiles are lounging in an underground stream. You figure they migrated there from the Nile.
Found dead:
The mummy of a priest lies in his sarcophagus in a secret tomb. Since you're an archaeologist and not a graverobber, only take the priest's stuff, not the mummy.
Human bones litter the ground near the crocodiles.
Mentioned:
Samuel Rahani, your former Egyptology teacher, told you about the remote village of El Rajid.
Simhel is the village boy who told you the legend, including the part about a buried pyramid.
Sinuhe was a young man forced to help build his pharaoh's pyramid. During the Festival of the Sun, Sinuhe tried to kill the pharaoh, but he was caught and thrown to the crocodiles.
Anubis is the jackal-headed Egyptian god of mummification and the afterlife. Anubis was so angered by Sinuhe's death, he raised Sinuhe's ghost to haunt the pharaoh and his descendants, and eventually, all of El Rajid.
Most villagers, as part of the Festival of the Sun, search the palace ruins for Sinuhe's medallion, the only thing that can end the wrath of Anubis.
Ra is the falcon-headed Egyptian god of the sun, light and creation. The Festival of the Sun honors him.
Sobek is a crocodile-headed Egyptian god who had his own cult of worshippers.
Credits
This is the response to ABOUT:
This game is an adaptation of the Italian adventure 'Ken Richards: L'Ira di Anubi' by Bonaventura Di Bello. It was originally written using The Quill and Illustrator and published by Edizioni Hobby S.r.l. on the cover tape of 'Viking', no. 9, October 1987 for the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64.
The data was extracted from the C64 version using UnQuill, translated to English and rewritten for a modern audience with the original author's permission. The new version includes many enhancements that weren't in the original. The coding was done using Inform 6 and the PunyInform library.
Original concept, game design and coding by Bonaventura Di Bello.
English translation, game redesign and coding by Garry Francis.
Play testing by Charles Moore Jr, Gianluca Girelli, Pablo Maria Martinez Merino and Robert Eggleston.
Special thanks to Gianluca Girelli for ideas and feedback during the redesign.
Endings
You have died
if you wander in the desert too long without drinking any water.
if you shoot the bats with the pistol but you're not wearing the helmet. A falling chunk of debris splits your skull open.
if you interact with the crocodiles in any way other than examining them or giving the meat to them.
You have won
if you leave the pyramid with the medallion.
Inventory
Items are listed in the order they're acquired in this walkthrough.
a chisel. It's on the table in the small building, but examine the table first.
In the secret tomb, pry the staff with the chisel to free it from its indentation.
In the secret tomb, pry the lid with the chisel to unseal the sarcophagus.
a flashlight. It's in your jeep.
Before entering the pyramid, turn the flashlight on and leave it on for the rest of the game. The pyramid's interior is quite dark.
In the secret tomb, translate the hieroglyphs (with the aid of the book) to verify that the sarcophagus contains a priest.
a pistol. It's in your jeep.
In the desert, shoot the camel to put it out of its misery.
In the bats' corridor while wearing the helmet, shoot the bats to scare the majority of them away.
a checklist. It falls out of the book when you first try to read it.
Read the checklist. It essentially tells you what you need before entering the pyramid: the flashlight (light source), the pistol (firearm), the chisel, the knife, and the camel meat (rations).
a canteen. Find it by searching the sleeping nomad in his tent.
Open the canteen. At the well, fill the canteen with water. Close the canteen.
Later, when the heat of the desert is making you thirsty, open the canteen and drink its water.
a knife. It's in the northeasternmost part of the desert.
Elsewhere in the desert, after shooting the camel with the pistol, cut the camel with the knife to make camel meat.
At the east end of the narrow corridor, stand on the raised slab then put the knife into the crack to wedge the slab there. Now you can leave the slab and enter the secret tomb east of the sacrificial chamber.
some camel meat. In the desert, there's a camel with a broken leg two steps south from the road to the desert.
First shoot the camel with the pistol to humanely end its life. Then cut the camel with the knife to make some camel meat. Take the meat.
At the foot of the second stone staircase, give the meat to the crocodiles. While they're occupied with eating, you can safely examine the human bones and find a medallion.
a Zippo lighter. Find it by searching the dead body in "Ancient Egyptian Tomb"; move the debris that's covering the body first.
In the snake room after spilling the oil (see staff), light the lighter then burn the oil. The snakes retreat from the fire and you can now take the spade.
a priest's staff. It's in the indentation in the lid of the sarcophagus in the secret tomb.
Pry the staff with the chisel to get it out of the indentation.
After unsealing the sarcophagus by prying it with the chisel, pry the lid with the staff to open the sarcophagus.
In the snake room, hook the brazier with the staff to spill its oil.
a helmet. It's in the sealed sarcophagus in the secret tomb.
To open the sarcophagus, first pry the coffin with the chisel to unseal it, then pry the lid with the staff.
Wear the helmet. Now, when you shoot the bats (with the pistol) in their corridor, the helmet saves your life from the falling debris.
a spade. It's in the snake room, blocked by snakes.
To get the snakes away from the spade, first hook the brazier with the priest's staff to pull it off the pedestal and spill the oil, then light the oil with the lit lighter.
In the bats' corridor, after you've scared the majority of the bats (see pistol), dig the debris with the spade. Also dig the debris at the top of the stone staircase north from there.
a medallion. At the foot of the second stone staircase, first give the camel meat to the crocodiles, then examine the human bones to find the medallion.
Clean the medallion. It's now a shiny medallion.
In front of the decorated wall, first pull the lever to produce a beam of light, then reflect the beam with the shiny medallion. This opens a secret exit to the east which leads to the remains of the palace.
XYZZY
This is the response to XYZZY:
Anubis rises before you. "Recover the medallion of Sinuhe to appease my wrath. Only then will the curse be lifted from the descendants of the pharaoh." With that, the apparition vanishes.
Well, that was weird. You must have a touch of sunstroke from spending too much time in the desert.
