Echoes of the Living embraces classic survival horror design: limited resources, locked-off routes, environmental puzzles, and enemies that hit hard if you play recklessly. If you’re jumping in for the first time and want to stay alive without wasting ammo or missing important items, this guide will set you on the right path.
This is not a puzzle-by-puzzle walkthrough. Instead, it teaches the mindset and early fundamentals needed to progress, conserve supplies, and avoid soft-locking yourself.
Core systems and best practices
Crafting ammo (quick reference)
9mm Bullets: Gunpowder ×2
Shotgun Rounds: Heavy Gunpowder ×2
Refined Gunpowder: Gunpowder + Heavy Gunpowder
Magnum Rounds: Refined Gunpowder ×2
Hand Grenade: Refined Gunpowder + Explosive Gunpowder
Flare Cartridges: Explosive Gunpowder + White Phosphorus
Incendiary Grenade: White Phosphorus ×2
Tesla Grenade: Metal Scrap + Electronic Scrap
Nitrogen Grenade: Metal Scrap + Chemical Scrap
When to craft:
- Handgun rounds: routine clears and downed-finishes.
- Shotgun: two+ enemies in a hall, riot/armored threats, tight arenas.
- Magnum/grenades: bosses or late-game mutations only.
Healing (sapling logic that actually matters)
- Green (Peridot) + Red (Garnet) = Strong heal. This is your high-value mix.
- Green + Green = Minor heal only. Use when limping and nothing else is handy.
- Blue (Azurite): Anti-toxin. Full power when combined with Red + Green (R+G+B) if needed.
Practical rule: Default to G+R; keep a Blue in reserve when entering sewers, caves, and any zone with spiders/snakes.
Weapons, attachments, and when to use them
Pistols (Monarch): Core sidearm—aim for heads at medium range, finish with melee when downed.
Shotguns (SPAS-12, D.B., Auto): Corridor control and armored zombies. Aim up for devastating staggers.
SMG (MAC-10): Panic button—melts thin crowds but drinks ammo. Use sparingly.
Magnums (Desert Eagle): Boss deletes. Don’t waste on shamblers.
Flare Gun / Crossbow: Utility pieces for specific encounters and environmental play.
Melee (Pipe, Bat, Fire Axe, Morning Star): Early game MVPs.
Fire Axe: Aim up for brutal single-target kills.
Blunt weapons: Aim down for frequent head-crack crits.
Liam’s Kick: Use it. It pre-empts enemy swings, creates space, and sets up guaranteed melee kills.
Enemy cliff notes (what beats what)
Zombies (standard): Two handgun taps → knockdown → swap to melee and finish before they rise.
Crawlers / Dogs / Spiders / Mosquitoes: Aim down; short bursts or single heavy melee timing.
Riot Police / Hazmat: Helmets and armor eat pistol rounds. Shotgun headshots or fire.
Bloaters: Don’t crowd them; keep mid-range.
Snakes / “Snake Spitter”: Expect poison; bring Blue or R+G+B if you’re unsure.
Mutated fauna: Fast and bleed-inducing—shotgun controls space, melee only if isolated.
Burning rule: Fire is a DoT. Re-applying just refreshes the timer—let it tick.
LIAM STORY WALKTHROUGH (step-by-step with puzzle solutions)
Prologue — Grounds → Basement → First Crest
Find the Shed Key in one of several spawn points near the starting yard; use it to reach the gate tool.
On the way to the gate, interact with the Owl for an achievement.
Enter the building; drop into the basement via window, pick up the lantern, head upstairs.
First zombie encounter: grab the pistol, clear the room.
Crest puzzle: Match each crest to the shield’s symbols. (Keep an eye on patterns—this teaches you how the game encodes visual hints.)
Save suggestion: After the first hub doors open and you’ve looped a safe route.
Victoria Motel — Early Codes and Loot
- Room 8 door:
962Y3Z - Motel Safe:
68531
Loot the room, scan for notes (they seed logic for later solutions). Don’t over-clear the parking approach unless it’s becoming a commute.
Toward The Peacock Pub — Sewers & Iron Gates
You’ll pass short sewer segments while routing to the pub area. Avoid wasting ammo on critters: single shots + down-aim melee cleanly handle them.
The Peacock PUB — Multi-puzzle hub
Fuse Box (bring power online):
- Flip switch 1 up → Turn
- Flip switch 2 up → Turn
- Flip switch 3 up → Turn
- Flip switch 4 up → Turn
Valve Puzzle #1: (follow the in-room hint order if present; screenshot your starting state if you like to brute force)
Power Box (two dials to target values):
- Top to 75: Turn 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th knobs
- Bottom to 60: Turn 1st, 3rd, 5th knobs
Valve Puzzle #2: expect a mirrored pattern from the first—use any nearby plaques/notes.
Stone Tiles → Pub Safe chain:
Clue sources: # of vases in the wine room, # of urns (include the broken one), # of bathroom mirrors.
- Count results → 7 Right, 8 Left, 4 Right
The follow-up Piano input is revealed along the way: 3–6–8–4–2.
Portable Safe: random mini-rotation—note the click points and map them; it’s faster than trialing blindly.
Combat tip: Tight hallways around the pub are perfect for shotgun aim-up staggers; don’t waste magnum here.
Sewers (main) → Warehouse → Octavia Office
Octavia’s Office:
- First owl-themed puzzle appears here; a related bathroom clue completes it.
- Safe combination: Look above the safe (year):
1826
Clear the broader wing, then return to your main route. If inventory’s tight, prioritize puzzle items over ammo boxes—backtracking for bullets is safer than re-routing for a key item.
Alba City → Armory Room (composite key)
You’ll likely still have an incomplete key and a strange button.
- Combine them to form the complete key.
- Use it in the Armory side room to unlock a puzzle station (rewards are worth it; this is a good mid-game power spike).
Cave → Hospital (poison prep)
You’ll meet a spitting serpent in the cave before Hospital. Bring a Blue mix or R+G+B if you prefer overkill safety.
Hospital codes:
- Engine Room: Split code; final entry segment shown as
… 1 1 9 3(collect both parts to assemble). - Elevator (T. Thompson):
5Y84C7
Flow tip: After clearing, Laura introduces Marcus and mentions webs cleared in the sewers—this re-opens a route you probably eyed earlier.
Museum (short pass)
Treat as an item-and-note pitstop unless you’re completion-clearing enemies here. Inventory discipline is key; save a slot for the next zone’s crest logic.
Cemetery → Underground — Crest run & trap gauntlet
At the cemetery entrance, pick up the Broken Hose.
Combine Broken Hose + Flex Seal → Fixed Hose.
Return to the street fire and extinguish it to obtain the Rust Removal Can.
Back to the cemetery. At the rear monument:
- Use Rust Removal.
- Inspect the owl’s back for the rotation reference.
- Use the decimal/rotation tool to match the stone to the owl reference.
- Confirm—the mural should now match the target layout (think of it like aligning clock-face numerals).
Elevator descends to the underground temple:
Room 1 — Descending ceiling & 4 statues:
Push each statue back to its recess before the spikes reach you.
Room 2 — Door glyph puzzle with advancing spike floor:
Don’t freeze; the solution is readable from symbol sequences encountered earlier (you’ll recognize them). If in doubt, prioritize the pattern that mirrors the owl/crest logic.
Room 3 — Trap corridor:
Wait until the trap set moves to your left, sprint to the swinging axe, pause, then pass on a downswing—don’t panic-roll into the next hazard.
Reward: Blade Crest (one of four).
Mini-boss arena:
You can kill it, but surviving until all levers hold power is enough. Kite in big circles; don’t tunnel on DPS while levers are bleeding out.
You’ll now route back toward City Hall.
City Hall — Crest placement, choice, and elevator
You should have all four: Owl, Butterfly, Peacock, Wolf.
- Peacock arrives as a necklace—examine it and remove the string to turn it into the crest piece.
Match crests to murals:
- Man with Axe → Peacock
- Hooded figure with statue → Wolf
- Man forging sword → Blade
- Jester → Butterfly
A prompt forces an emergency choice: fight or run.
- Fight → leads to a weapon case reward.
- Run → skips the fight entirely.
City Hall Elevator Code: 179362
Ride up to 5F for the Records Key, then grab the tape.
Head to the Basement → color-line puzzle (route three colors to their matching lines; watch for cross-overs). Solving opens a gate to a broken window.
- Puzzle trick: Push the box near the broken window and interact to obtain a Blank Tape. (Some builds let you interact without moving the box; if not, shove it over.)
Wayne Reaves suitcase code: (not confirmed in your notes—flag this spot and return when you capture the combination or the dev updates settle it).
Weapon pickups called out (from your notes)
- D.B. Shotgun: Early progression (common route).
- SPAS-12 (Streets)
- Crossbow (Streets)
- Pistol (Streets)
Treat these as waypoints rather than detours; grab them while you’re already routing through the area rather than forcing a special trip with a full inventory.