The Archives is an escape room in Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward. This room is filled with books written almost entirely in Latin, making them no-so-useful in your search for answers. You will investigate this room with the help of Luna and Clover and choosing to enter the Green Chromatic Door.
The Archives have some dificult puzzles that can be frustrating to find the solution for. Let's take a look at how to solve every puzzle in the Archives, how to get the Gold File, and ultimately how to escape.
Archives Layout
Before we escape, let's take a quick look around the room. The archives may seem simple at first, but there are some challenging puzzles hidden in the room.
From the entrance, you can see the exit door and the escape safe on the opposite wall of the room. Between that, in the center of the room, is a control panel for selecting books.
Covering every wall of the Archives are rows of books. Some books that are scattered around may be more eye-catching than others.
On one of the walls, you can find a desk with a few important items on it. In the corner next to the desk is a measuring scale, similar to the one found in the Garden.
How To Escape The Archives
Now, let's seek a way out of the Archives.
Start by picking up the blue, red, orange, and green books from the bookshelves around the room.
Get the blue ink, music box, blue die, and notebook paper from the desk, then turn to the right and pick up the green die from the lockbox.
Move to the other corner of the room and inspect the measuring scale. Here, pick up the red die and 50g weight, then open the drawer to find a screwdriver.
While you're here, you can measure the weight of each die compared to the 50g weight. First, place the 50g weight on one side of the scale, then place the green or blue die on the other side. Because the scale was balanced when you first picked up the red die and weight, we know that the red die weighs 50g. Continue weighing the die against each other until you determine the following information.
- Red die = 50g
- Green die = 100g
- Blue die = 150g
Head over to the lockbox and inspect the clue on the front; blue die plus green die times red die. Rather than looking at the numbers on the side of the die, you will need to calculate the weight of the die to get the solution to the padlock.
Start by multiplying the weights of the green and red die together, which will give you 5000. Then, add the weight of the blue die, leaving you with 5150. Add a zero to the front of the number to make it five digits, and the password for the lockbox is 05150. Put this in to recieve the book with bookmark, then inspect it in your inventory to add the bookmark to your archives.
Next, open your inventory and combine the screwdriver with the music box to get the cylinder. Combine this with the ink bottle, then combine the inky cylinder with the notebook paper to get the report file added to your archive. This will be used later in the puzzle, so set it aside for now.
Move to the control panel in the center of the room. The columns on the display are labeled A, B, C, and D. These identifications correspond to the shelves if you look at them from behind the control panel. Using this information, you need to put the blue, red, orange, and green books in their correct positions.
To do this, inspect the back of each book to see the intended location for a different book. For example, the red book has the identification for "The Stairway" B-06-30 on its back, indicating that the blue book, titled "The Stairway" must be placed in column B, row 6, slot 30. Repeat this process for the rest of the books, and you can determine the following order for the books, from left to right.
- Red book
- Blue book
- Green book
- Orange book
After placing the books correctly, the bookshelves will form a staircase that you can climb up. Go up the staircase and grab the stuffed lion. Inspect the lion in your inventory to receive the memory card. Head back to the control panel and slot in the memory card to begin a mini-game.
In this mini-game, you will need to move each dice into the outlined slots on the board so that their colors match the ones represented on the bookmark, and the numbers match the ones represented on the report file. The orientation of the die must also match the orientation on the report file.
This puzzle can be difficult, but there's a trick to moving the die so that the number you want always ends up on top. To do this, first line up the die so that it has a straight path to where you want it. Then, turn the die on its side, and move it beside its final position. Move the die into its correct position, and it should still have the same number on top as when you started moving it. Repeat this process for the remaining die until they match the bookmark and report file.
After completing the dice mini-game, the screen will turn green and you will receive the Green Safe Password. Put this into the safe to escape the Archives.
How To Get The Gold File
To get the Gold File, you simply need to match only the color of the die in the dice mini-game. As you find the solution for the Green Safe Password, it is likely that you will find the Blue Safe Password first. If not, simply play the dice mini-game again and match the colors of the die to the ones on the bookmark.
Once you have the Blue Safe Password, type it into the safe to get the Gold File.