TML: Walkthrough / Secrets Guide
A bird landed on water today.
It flew away.
Come're, birdy. Oh, too late.
After a rather cinematic opening (consisting of furniture inexplicably appearing inside a house) the clock chimes 1:00 P.M. and the camera fades in on our protagonist, Leah.
It flew away.
Come're, birdy. Oh, too late.
After a rather cinematic opening (consisting of furniture inexplicably appearing inside a house) the clock chimes 1:00 P.M. and the camera fades in on our protagonist, Leah.
Nothing too incredibly plot-fueling-ly important here, so just head downstairs.
First off: doors. So many doors. Staircase in the bottom right corner leads to the basement. Top doorway (only one where you can see the door itself) leads to the kitchen (not important). Far left door leads to the bathroom. Bottom doors, left to right: extra bedroom, study, staircase back to Leah's room.
Cabinet and dresser in top right corner - very important. Dresser:
In front of the potted plant is an obtainable Bucket. You can fill the Bucket at a bathtub or a sink if you have stored tap water at that sink, and then pour that water on the potted plant to make it grow. You will need to do this periodically throughout the game.
Cabinet and dresser in top right corner - very important. Dresser:
- Drawer 1: Pesticide.
- Drawer 2: Locked (opens with Small Key from Drawer 4, contains Medium Key)
- Drawer 3: Empty
- Drawer 4: Small Key (opens Drawer 2)
- Drawer 5: Locked (opens with Small Key from Cabinet, contains Bullets)
In front of the potted plant is an obtainable Bucket. You can fill the Bucket at a bathtub or a sink if you have stored tap water at that sink, and then pour that water on the potted plant to make it grow. You will need to do this periodically throughout the game.
In the basement: not much.
- Switches: Switch 1 and 2 do nothing. Switch 3 will be stuck, and you will find the message "Wait for me at 3:26"
- Chest: Locked (opened with Tiny Key, contains Empty Gun)
- The doorway to the second room is blocked for now.
In the study: also not much. Trying to access the computer reveals that it requires an Access Card (which of course you don't have), though trying to leave triggers the computer announcing a new message (that you can't access).
After all this, you will receive a phone call:
Hi, Leah.
Birdie grew wings today.
Wait for me, Leah.
Following this, go back into the study. The bookcase will be shorter, revealing a Wooden Key. This goes to the drawers in the extra bedroom, which nets you a Tiny Key.
After all this, you will receive a phone call:
Hi, Leah.
Birdie grew wings today.
Wait for me, Leah.
Following this, go back into the study. The bookcase will be shorter, revealing a Wooden Key. This goes to the drawers in the extra bedroom, which nets you a Tiny Key.
Cue another phone call:
Hi, Leah.
It's 3:26.
Head back down to the basement and interact with the chest to obtain the Empty Gun.
Now check the switches and select Switch 3. You will hear a sound like a muffled explosion, and will head upstairs to find this:
Hi, Leah.
It's 3:26.
Head back down to the basement and interact with the chest to obtain the Empty Gun.
Now check the switches and select Switch 3. You will hear a sound like a muffled explosion, and will head upstairs to find this:
Yeah, you just set your house on fire. The solution? Go back into your room and climb into bed.
The screen will fade out to an image of the clock hand spinning round until it hits 8:00. The clock will chime and the camera will fade in on Leah's bed, which has fallen through the ceiling onto the dining room table. Leah hops down from the bed, apparently unharmed.
Head down to the basement. The table that had blocked the doorway is gone, allowing you to simply shoot the lock on the door (you will need to load your gun - simply select the bullets to do so). In this room you will find the Access Card. Go back upstairs to the study.
You will find a mess-load of missed messages:
Leah, abandon the birdie, it lies to you.
Leah did you see my message?
You must kill birdie before it flies over Europe, Leah. Respond ASAP.
It just flew over Europe. What are you doing, Leah?
We had a deal, Leah. Respond.
I have to go. Kill the birdie at all costs, Leah. Good bye.
After this, the phone will ring:
Hi, Leah.
This is birdie.
Birdie is about to fly over you.
Have you been drinking lots of water?
At this, a pile of glass falls in front of the potted plant.
Good.
Come, Leah.
Interact with the plant - you will be forced to use your two bottles of Pesticide to clear the bugs away. Interact with the plant again, and Leah will climb it. Then a cutscene starts.
Leah, abandon the birdie, it lies to you.
Leah did you see my message?
You must kill birdie before it flies over Europe, Leah. Respond ASAP.
It just flew over Europe. What are you doing, Leah?
We had a deal, Leah. Respond.
I have to go. Kill the birdie at all costs, Leah. Good bye.
After this, the phone will ring:
Hi, Leah.
This is birdie.
Birdie is about to fly over you.
Have you been drinking lots of water?
At this, a pile of glass falls in front of the potted plant.
Good.
Come, Leah.
Interact with the plant - you will be forced to use your two bottles of Pesticide to clear the bugs away. Interact with the plant again, and Leah will climb it. Then a cutscene starts.
Leah has climbed the plant up to the roof. She walks up, looks to her left, then turns around and raises her arm. A bird flies down, grabs Leah, and starts to fly away. Then the sky turns red, and Leah pulls out her pistol. The screen cuts to black as a gunshot is heard.
The camera cuts to Leah's room as furniture starts disappearing, then back to the bird, flying without Leah. The bird disappears, credits roll, and you receive one last message:
What are you waiting for, birdie?
The game then exits itself out.
The camera cuts to Leah's room as furniture starts disappearing, then back to the bird, flying without Leah. The bird disappears, credits roll, and you receive one last message:
What are you waiting for, birdie?
The game then exits itself out.
Secrets / Fun Facts
In general:
Area-specific:
Upstairs:
Dining room:
Kitchen:
Bedroom:
Study:
Basement:
Time-specific:
- On the inventory screen, the game keeps track of how long you've been playing.
- Interacting with one light will turn all of them in the room on / off. Series circuits, anyone?
- You can interact with pretty much anything and receive flavor text. Notable text will be mentioned below.
- Interacting with any sink prompts the message "Turn on and store tap water?" This provides a temporary water source to fill your Bucket.
- The clocks tell you what time it is in-game.
Area-specific:
Upstairs:
- In the intro scene, Leah moves a teddy bear out of the way so she can climb out of bed. If you walk into the bear, you can make it jump back and forth between locations.
- If you check Leah's dresser, you can change your outfit between Tawny (her default dress), Red, and Black.
- If you flush the toilet in Leah's bathroom, you will hear a clunk and receive the message "Something seems to be stuck inside." Flush again and the object - a Piano Key - will be accessible. You can use the Piano Key to unlock the piano in Leah's room and play the beginning of the game's theme. Pointless, but a nice touch.
Dining room:
- The table - before the fire incident - has three accessible things: a music box that triggers the game's theme, a small teddy bear that Leah can carry around, and the phone. The music box stays throughout the entire game, but the bear simply falls over if you try to pick it up after the fire, and the phone teleports into Leah's room until the very end.
Kitchen:
- This is the only room that you never need to enter to complete the game.
- If you check the loaves of bread, the text says that they are "hardened from days of exposure." This seems odd when you remember that this room was shown in the intro, with all the furniture - bread included - appearing instantly (unless the intro took place days before the actual gameplay).
- If you check the drawers in the top right corner, you will receive the message "There's nothing here at all" and a shutting sound. Eventually, the drawers will disappear and, if you check the painting behind it, you will find writing that says "61\5491".
Bedroom:
- This room has a small lamp by the bed - this is the only lamp that is independent from the others.
- If you walk up to the sofa in this room, Leah will sit down on it.
Study:
- The panel in the middle of the room turns on the lights in the study automatically. Pointless really, but it does save you a bit of time.
- Interacting with the globe prompts the comment "A strange odor is emitted from it."
- Checking the bookshelf reveals that "The books have titles, but the pages are blank." Checking the books on the desk simply says "Assorted books with smudged titles."
- If you look at the sample liquid under the microscope several times, the substance seems to be dissolving. Oddly, this depends on how often you check the microscope, not how much in-game time has passed.
Basement:
- Switch 1 and 2 seem to have no use whatsoever.
- In the blocked-off room, you can find a date list marked with the times 1:00, 2:00, 4:00, 8:00, 12:00, 00:00:00:00:00:00. The papers on the table are "filled with foreign words".
Time-specific:
- Before the fire, the house is tinted yellow-gold, during the fire the house is tinted red, and after the fire the house is tinted dark blue.
- The phone. It stays on the table until after the fire, where it somehow ends up first in Leah's room and then somehow back down in the dining room.
- There are also two missable calls, one if you either wait around too long during the fire or simply interact with the phone during the fire ("Hello Leah. Don’t be afraid. Birdy flew away today. Catch it on its way over Africa. Sleep it off, it’s not too late. Bye, Leah.") and one if you head to Leah's room after the fire without checking the basement ("It’s open, dummy. The table was burnt off. It’s no longer blocked. Go under, and don’t forget to drink water.")
- During the fire, if you try to head back down to the basement, you are rewarded for you attempts by the boiler blowing up. Not kidding. You can't go back down there again until after the fire. You also can't access the bathroom in Leah's room, you just get the message "It's locked," and Leah steps away.
- Oddly enough, though, everything else seems to function normally during the fire - you can even water the plant while the rest of the house is on fire. Leah's really dedicated to that plant, apparently.
- As the game leads up to the fire, the paintings in the house will disappear.
- It's not really noticeable before the fire, but the world map in the study seems to lose its continents as time progresses in-game. Special note goes to when you're looking at your missed messages just before the end, where a chunk of Asia disappears while you're reading those messages.
- After the fire, the water in the bathtubs gets progressively darker and redder.