This page contains spoilers about the Heartbound ARG. If you want to solve the puzzle yourself, avoid reading this article.
Another Place was found by solving Image Puzzles, which led us to the page view-https://www.gopiratesoftware.com/games/Heartbound/OSCAR/OCTOTHORPE/LETTUCESQUARES/RecordScratch/ItIsPossibleToCommitNoMistakesAndStillLose/0112358132134558914423337761098715972584418167651/.
The page has a picture of Statler and Waldorf laughing, they are two old men from The Muppets TV show. The picture is called WrongWay.png, meaning that we got on the wrong place and they are laughing from us because that. The source code of the page also has the following comments:
<!-- INPUT DENIED -->
<!-- ALTERNATE PASSCODE RECEPTACLE AVAILABLE -->
<!-- PROCEED WITH ALTERNATE PASSCODE SUBMISSION -->
<!-- 1998124494 -->
In order to solve this part, and get to the proper place, we need to play Heartbound.
Code input[]
Keypad where we need to input the passcode.
The passcode we got can be entered in-game on the keypad located at The Tower, which is the Chapter 2 of Heatbound. The Tower is accessed by the leftmost portal after the second fight against Barghest. The keypad is located in the first room when you get to The Tower, it is below some papers at the bottom left table.
If you don't feel like playing until getting to this part, you can edit your save file to get there. On Windows the save folder is located at %LocalAppData%\Heartbound\, while on Linux it is at ~/.config/Heartbound. The file is called heartbound_save(some number).thor, and can be opened with a text editor (like Notepad). Change the second line of the file to office_breakroom103 and play the game. After Lore leaves his bedroom he will be transported to the beginning of The Tower.
On the keypad, we need to input the code 1998124494 and press its bottom key to confirm. A sound is played to confirm that we have entered the code correctly, and a file called YOU.DOUBLE.FOOL is created on the save folder. This file can be opened with a text editor, and it says:
01010110 01110011 01011001 01011000 01001001 Take a picture, it'll last longer.
The file has some binary data, which is part of the information we need to solve this puzzle. The picture we are told to take should give the remaining information. That picture is taken in-game.
Taking a picture[]
The camera we need to use to take Lore's photos.
The in-game place that has a photographic camera is floor 2 of The Tower, right after you take the elevator. If you do not want to play until that part, just change the second line of the save file to floor2_middle . The camera is at the 4A cubicle (fourth row, the rightmost cubicle).
We need to interact with the camera twice, this will take two pictures of Lore and the images will be created on the save folder. It is possible to use the camera to take further pictures, but all other pictures will be the same as the first one, only the second picture is different. These are the pictures taken by the camera:
The two photos are almost the same, except that the second photo features "Darksider Lore". Both image files have some hidden data within them. We need to open the image files in a text editor (like Notepad) and scroll down to the bottom. At the end of the files, we can find those binary sequences:
- Tower_Picture_1.png
01100001 01101101 00111001 00110001 01011000
- Tower_Picture_2.png
00110011 01001010 01101100 01011010 00110011
With those two binary sets, plus what we already got from the YOU.DOUBLE.FOOL file, now we have enough information to decode the data. Each line of the binaries need to be converted to decimal, and the resulting number converted to a character by using the ASCII table. This can be done either manually or through a binary to text converter. After converting our binaries to text, we get:
- Tower_Picture_1.png: am91X
- Tower_Picture_2.png: 3JlZ3
- YOU.DOUBLE.FOOL: VsYXI
And then we need to put the 3 strings together: am9lX3JlZ3VsYXI. This is a BASE64 encoded string, we need to use a BASE64 decoder on it. After we decode it, we get the joe_regular plaintext. This is the name of a hidden room in Heartbound, so we have to change the second line save file to joe_regular and play the game. Please note that there is no way to access this room by playing normally, the only way is by save editing since it is a secret room.
Meeting Joe Regular[]
Don't you feel accomplished for finding a secret place of the game? :)
If you have edited the save file correctly, when Lore exits the bedroom he is transported to a void with Joe Regular from The Tower. Joe says the following:
Hey, Newhire.
You know, you're really not
supposed to be here.
I get it though.
You want to know.
Life is like that sometimes.
Going places we shouldn't go.
Getting answers we don't want.
Just one endless search through the void.
What... you're still here?
Don't say I didn't warn ya.
Take this...
Don't tell him I sent ya.
00000000
Right after that the game closes. Joe gave us the code 00000000 and mentioned about a "him". Joe is referring to OScar, the sentient computer that assists Lore on The Tower. We need to give this code to OScar, and in order to do so we need to use Telnet again (this is done outside the game).
Talking to OScar[]
We need to access the same Telnet server that we did on the Ring Ring part of the ARG: host gopiratesoftware.com at port 666.
There are Telnet clients for pretty much any platform. If you are on a phone, you can search on your app store for "telnet client". If you are on Linux, a Telnet client should already come preinstalled. And if you are on Windows, the native Telnet client can be enabled by going to "Optional Features" (search on the task bar) and ticking the "Telnet Client" option.
In order to connect to the Telnet server, type the following on the command prompt:
telnet gopiratesoftware.com 666
Then we get connected to the Tower Corp network and we are asked for a password. It can be any of the passwords we get during The Tower chapter of the game, like the word password itself:
Connection Established. Welcome to Tower Corp! Please Submit Password: password
Then we are greeted by OScar, who asks us to say him something. Then we need to input the code 000000, which gives administrative access to OScar. When asked if we want to dump his core, we should answer yes. The conversation goes this way:
Oh, it's you... :/ Got something to say to me, Newhire? ._. Well?: 00000000 Wait... what did you say to me...? ]:< ADMINISTRATIVE ACCESS GRANTED o_o CORE DUMP AVAILABLE o_o Dump Core?: yes DUMPING CORE o_o DUMPING CORE. o_o DUMPING CORE.. o_o DUMPING CORE... o_o DUMPING CORE.... o_o DUMPING CORE..... o_o DUMPING CORE.... o_o DUMPING CORE... o_o DUMPING CORE.. o_o DUMPING CORE. o_o DUMPING CORE o_o CORE_DUMP COMPLETE o_o HOW DARE YOU!!! D:< GET OFF MY NETWORK!!! D:<
And then we get disconnected from the host. CORE_DUMP is the hint for the next page we need to go: https://www.gopiratesoftware.com/games/Heartbound/CORE_DUMP/, where the data dumped from OScar's core should be. That is the "proper place" we were searching for.
Closing Notes[]
This also concludes the Phase 5 of the ARG, this Phase started and ended by talking to OScar via Telnet. Phase 6 will be the last one of the Heartbound ARG. You can read the Phase 5 Summary for a recap. You can find the next step at Brain Drain, which is the first puzzle of Phase 6.
Fun fact: during the Cold War, 00000000 was actually the secret code to launch a nuclear attack [1]. Congratulations on "nuking" OScar! O_o