Starting Soul Mates feels simple at first… you walk into a creepy house looking for a missing friend, thinking it’s just another spooky exploration game. Then the lights go out, strange shadows start moving, and suddenly you realize this place isn’t just haunted — it’s full of ghosts with unfinished stories tied directly to your survival.
Everything revolves around one core idea: keep your sanity intact while helping spirits resolve their past. Mess up too many interactions, pick the wrong dialogue, or fail to manage fear, and things spiral quickly. So understanding the basic mechanics early makes the entire experience far smoother.
Dark rooms
Dark rooms are the very first obstacle. You can’t interact with anything inside them until you find matches and light a candle within the area. Once you obtain matches, you can use them anytime, but they only help you locate the real light source — the candle itself.
The moment you interact with supernatural objects, your sanity meter becomes active. This bar constantly shifts depending on your choices. Waiting calmly or helping ghosts restores sanity, while offending spirits, triggering scares, or mishandling events drains it quickly.
Exploration also unlocks a journal system. Every note you find updates ghost relationships and tracks clues, which becomes crucial later when multiple spirits appear and you need to remember their stories.
Saving often is essential because sanity loss can happen suddenly and without warning.
Mary’s Story
Mary is the first ghost you encounter, and her section introduces the game’s puzzle and gifting mechanics.
Early exploration involves simple environmental puzzles like replaying piano notes to unlock items, breaking mirror shards for tools, and searching dark rooms while hiding from approaching threats. One of the first tense moments requires hiding in a closet and rapidly holding the door shut to survive.
Collecting key items such as flowers, a ring, lace, and cheese gradually prepares you for interacting with Mary. Dialogue choices matter heavily — choosing kind, apologetic responses builds affection and protects your sanity.
Mary also requires specific gifts during encounters. Giving the correct items at the right time progresses her story, while wrong choices can heavily damage your sanity meter.
After resolving her memories by reconstructing wedding vows and placing symbolic items on the chapel altar, Mary finally reveals her story and passes on peacefully. Completing this section unlocks a key that allows you to progress deeper into the house.
Lydia’s Story
Lydia’s section introduces more layered puzzles and increased danger. From the beginning, you’ll navigate secret wall passages, collect strange items like glass eyes, and solve environmental riddles tied to statues and hidden rooms.
Stealth mechanics become more intense here. Several sequences require hiding under furniture and managing breathing carefully to avoid being discovered. Mistakes can cause major sanity loss.
One major puzzle involves placing glass eyes into a lion statue to obtain a hammer, which unlocks access to a hidden wine cellar — one of the most dangerous areas in the game.
Lydia appears multiple times, and her interactions demand careful dialogue choices and proper gifting. Each encounter builds toward helping her reconstruct her lost identity through symbolic items like a doll, necklace, and invitation.
Eventually, completing her story transforms her into a peaceful spirit. Placing her collected items on a mannequin finalizes her journey and unlocks another key for progression.
Sanity Tips
Sanity is not just a health bar — it’s essentially your timer. Letting it drop too far results in losing control of events and potentially failing ghost storylines.
Calm exploration, correct dialogue responses, and completing ghost tasks all help restore sanity. On the other hand, rushing interactions, triggering scares, or choosing insensitive dialogue options causes rapid depletion.
Understanding when to move slowly versus when to act quickly becomes one of the most important survival skills in the game.
Soul Mates isn’t about defeating enemies — it’s about understanding them. Every ghost you encounter has a story tied to emotions, memories, and unfinished business.
By exploring carefully, solving environmental puzzles, managing sanity wisely, and choosing empathetic dialogue, you gradually bring peace to each spirit while uncovering the truth behind the haunted house itself.
Once you get comfortable with its mechanics, the experience shifts from stressful survival to a surprisingly emotional journey of helping lost souls finally move on.