Just a collection of things I’ve discovered and/or struggled with that might help you make your way through Hush House.
Good luck, Librarian.
How to progress
The game does very little to hold your hand, and that is, in fact, part of the fun. You’re here to discover the secrets of a manor abandoned because of a “fire” and the secrets within. But how, exactly, do you do that? Well…
In the early game
- In the early game, take your time to zoom in on everything and read everything.
- Depending on your starting options, you will have a villager willing to help you. Use their assistance, weather, and any memories to unlock a couple of rooms.
- Catalogue books you find, and read the ones you can safely, to get Lessons, which you can use to unlock skills.
- Slot those skills into the Tree of Wisdoms to unlock more Elements of Soul, which will let you take more actions.
- If you’re short on actions, you can recover a fatigued element early at the tavern, by adding your fatigued skill and a tuppence.
- Most importantly, don’t stress about playing “correctly”. Book of Hours is forgiving when it needs to be, and no decision will prevent you from winning. You don’t need to optimise, though you might need to make your own notes (or consult
a wikithis site) every so often.
In the mid game
- Rooms and books will become harder to read. At this point, you should look into upgrading your soul elements, and upgrade skills.
- Hire Unusual Help. Use any soul element, along with any coin, at the tavern to hire unusual help. They are more expensive than the villagers, but have 4 aspect in their respective stats. This will help you push further into Hush House.
- Remember that you can talk with your assistants about multiple topics to increase their aspect for the day.
- You should also be looking into crafting. Most crafting is done by adding 5, 10 or 15 of an aspect to an appropriate crafting bench. Some recipes require special ingredients, or specific skills. The game will usually tell you what you need, but this is the part you will need to take notes for.
Late game
- In the late game, you’ll have unlocked much of Hush House, or at least as much as you want and need. You will need high level skills, soul elements, and specific memories to unlock the final rooms.
- Make sure you’re familiar with crafting by this point. Remember that often items crafted with 5 aspect feed into level 10 recipes, which feed into 15-aspect crafts.
- Inks. Craft inks, especially the higher level ones.
- Your end goal is to write your own History, in the Journal you washed ashore with, which will require some doing. Or at least, that is one of the endings.
The key is in the Keeper’s Lodge
No it did not take me an embarrassing amount of time to discover that you needed to zoom in on the Keeper’s Lodge to find the key to open the first actual room of the manor. No, I did not unlock every single building in the village and get a stern reminder letter asking why I hadn’t moved in yet.
Read EVERYTHING
Yeah, it’s on the opening screen for a reason. Read everything, and this includes object titles. Clues and answers to your questions can be hidden anywhere.
Zoom in on EVERYTHING
There are three zoom levels (keys 1, 2 and 3 on your keyboard), in addition to the mouse wheel. This goes in with point number one, where I was locked out of Hush House for an embarrassing amount of time. Unlocked a room? Zoom in. Roll your mouse over every item, read the descriptions, read the tooltips at the bottom of crafting stations. They’re there for a reason.
Take your time
Unlike Cultist Simulator, there is no rush. You’re in no danger of dying from hunger, or being taken out by an errant summon… that you know of. Pause, read, consider, and enjoy the journey! The frustration of discovery is part of the fun.
Use the Backspace key
Backspace (by default) takes you to the nearest completed workstation. Worried about losing a skill or soul element in the vastness of Hush House? This helps tremendously.
Spare time? Work!
Sure you get a stipend, but hired sacrifice muscle is expensive. If you’re waiting for the day to end (and it’s not dusk), use a spare verb in the tavern to make some coin. It adds up quickly and recovers at the beginning of each day.
How to solve book mysteries
I have a more detailed guide for reading books here!
There are two parts to dealing with any book, scroll, phonograph, or film. First, you catalogue it with a soul element. This reveals both the aspect and mystery of that book which, as an example, could be 10 Lantern. You will then need to work through the book with enough of the aspect from your soul elements, skills, tools, weather and memories to match or exceed the mystery; at which point you will gain a Lesson. Lessons are used to unlock skills or upgrade existing ones.
Re-read a book you mastered to gain a memory.
Upgrade your soul
You start with two soul elements, of nine. As you unravel the mysteries of the manor and bind skills to the Tree of Wisdoms, you will get more. And just like your skills, you can upgrade them to higher level + or ++ versions.
Use beds to recover maladies
Beds, like all other crafting stations, have an aspect. You can’t claim a bed until you have the soul element that matches it. To claim a bed, place the corresponding soul element into it, and start the process. You can then use beds (with beverages and the correct aspects) to recover maladies and refresh fatigued ones.
Here’s a detailed guide.
Check aspects on desks
Desks have aspects, just like all thing. Desks reject items, soul, memories and weather that don’t match their aspect. Trying to solve a Frost mystery? Better take it to a desk with the Frost aspect.
Unlock more rooms
Unlocking and refurbishing rooms gets harder and harder. Fortunately, you can inspire your hired help with their more… esoteric knowledge, by talking to them about topics with the aspects you need. I have a more detailed guide about unlocking rooms right here.
