Amnesia: The Dark Descent – How To Get The Elevator Working

Game Rant

Amnesia: The Dark Descent has several physics-based puzzles that be tricky to players, like figuring out how to get the elevator working

Horror survival games — especially those involving intricate puzzles — can become tiresome after several unsuccessful attempts. Amnesia: The Dark Descent relies on physics-based puzzles of varying difficulty to immerse and challenge players; these configurations often involve adding, removing or rearranging components or inventory items.

Amnesia: The Dark Descent follows Daniel, an everyman who finds himself trapped inside Brennenburg Castle, belonging to Alexander of Brennenburg. Armed with little more than his wits, Daniel must navigate Brennenburg and escape unscathed, all while uncovering the dastardly plan of Alexander and fighting to survive against hostile monsters. Without a shadow of a doubt, one of the most frustrating puzzles in the whole of Amnesia is the back hall elevator.

How To Get The Elevator Working

After escaping from the Kaerk in the Archive Tunnels, Daniel will reach a well-lit area called the Back Hall. In order to access the Prison, Daniel must get the elevator working, but there's a catch: most of the parts needed to operate the transport mechanism are missing. It can be inferred that Alexander sabotaged the elevator to prevent Daniel from reaching the Inner Sanctum. Before accessing the elevator, Daniel must fix the generator in the Machine Room.

First and foremost, the access the Machine Room, Daniel must find the key hidden in the Guest Room. When inside the Machine Room, this is a safe area, so Daniel will not be attacked by any monsters.

Activating The Generator In The Machine Room

When activating the machinery in the Machine Room, Daniel must follow four simple steps in any order; stabilize the steam pressure, insert the rods correctly, fill the burner with coal and position the cogs in their rightful places.

When stabilizing the steam pressure, Daniel is faced with six levers and corresponding Roman numerals. The solution for conquering the console is hinted at in "Elevator Machine Instructions," a hidden note for Daniel to find. From left to right, the correct positioning of the levers is down, down, up, up, up, down. If the configuration is accurate, the numeric digits on the levers should total eight at the top and eight at the bottom.

Daniel must gather rods from the Study and Storage to insert into the console; The Flow Cycle Rod, Trinity Stream Rod and the Four-phase Amplitude Rod. The Flow Cycle — which fits into the circle hole — can be found in the Study, whereas the Trinity Stream — which fits into the triangle hole —and the Four-phase Amplitude — which fits into the square hole — can be found in Storage. When in doubt, remember cycle equals circle, trinity equals triangle and four-phase equals square.

Following the steam pressure and rods, the generator is missing several cogwheels. These can be found in different areas of the Machine Room, hidden out of sight. One wheel can be found in the same room as the rod console atop a table in the corner, the second is right in front of the door of the aforementioned room and the third is left of the Machine Room entry door. Once obtained, Daniel needs to attach each wheel to an empty spoke.

Lastly (again, in no particular order), Daniel has to feed coal into the burner. In a smaller room adjacent to the Machine Room, there is coal scattered across the ground, which must be collected and added to the burner. Once the process is complete, the player will receive a pop-up message indicating that the burner is full.