This page discusses the demo’s scenes, the locked locker, key words and the final sequence in detail. If you have not played the demo and want to keep its discoveries intact, use the beginner’s guide instead.
Before you start
The demo contains Chapter 1 and roughly half of Chapter 2. It has no confirmed save system, so plan for one sitting. The most intense content is at the very end. The official content warning covers implied violence toward a child, eye mutilation, child neglect, and imagery of bugs, spiders and worms.
You can complete the demo without finding every optional word. The walkthrough below notes the important beats without pretending there is only one valid dialogue path. When a line is variable, I describe the goal and the words observed in demo footage.
Scene 1: Wake up in the basement
Nima wakes tied to a chair. A stranger is waiting. The game tutorial asks you to combine two words: Nima and Stranger. The result isMom. Drag Mom to the mouth and speak it.
Nima + Stranger → Mom, then drag Mom into the dialogue.
The expected response establishes that Nima recognises her mother and that Mom has been terrified of losing her. It also gives the player the first dissonant note: Mom’s relief sounds sincere, but the restraints do not.
Scene 2: The first test — congee
Mom unties Nima’s hands so she can eat. She gives her a bowl of congee and says there are no wrong answers. The player is meant to doubt that immediately.
The conversation is mostly about whether Nima can be honest about the food. In the demo footage we reviewed, combining words around hunger and revulsion led toDisgust; reacting with disgust made Nima spit the food out. Mom apologised and offered to order takeout instead. Other reactions may produce different dialogue, so this is not a single-solution lock.
The more important beat is the story Mom tells: Nima was swimming, hit her head and nearly drowned. The game immediately plants a counter-image of Mom holding something sharp. You do not have to resolve that contradiction here.
Ask the optional questions while Nima is still awake. In our reviewed route, the scene allows a limited number of questions about the accident and her father before Nima is carried back to bed. You cannot return to this conversation.
Scene 3: Explore Nima’s bedroom
This is the demo’s main exploration section and the best place to build your word library. Inspect every object you can click, not just the obvious story items.
Nima’s athletic past; useful words around swim team, achievement and water.
Paleontology, knowledge and work; connects to Mom’s profession and the second test.
A gift from Nima’s father and the object Mom uses in the next test.
James Pond. The name is a pun, not a clue to a character called James.
Small combinations and emotional context; some are easy to miss.
A four-letter code and one of the demo’s most direct story documents.
Before you open the locker, try some low-cost combinations. The opening family words chain into other thoughts, and later test scenes reward a wide vocabulary more than a narrow one.
Locked locker solution
The locker expects a four-letter password. The answer is found earlier in the room, through the pet fish: POND.
Show locker code and contents
Code: POND. Inside is a diary entry. Its most direct line warns: “Do not trust the woman. Kill her.” This is the demo’s clearest signal that Nima’s own thoughts may not all belong to the frightened girl we have been playing.
If you tried FISH, you are not alone — it is the natural guess. The game is using the pet’s full name, not the category of animal.
Scene 4: The next morning
Mom wakes Nima and unlocks the bathroom. There is a short domestic sequence in which Nima can move around and the player sees the house’s cramped routines. The thought “Quick, lock her in” appears as an option, but the demo does not allow it to work: Mom returns too quickly. That failure is useful characterisation rather than a puzzle mistake.
After the bathroom, Mom brings out two objects: the shark plush and a fossil. This is the first full “proper” test of the second day.
The shark plush
Mom asks what the plush reminds Nima of. The memory is tied to her father, the aquarium and a happier family trip. In the reviewed playthrough, acknowledging the aquarium memory kept the conversation in a gentler register. The demo allows multiple words to approach the same emotional idea.
Useful recipe: Fish + Father → James Pond is a separate discovery, but it helps establish the family’s aquatic vocabulary.
Scene 5: The fossil test
Mom places a cracked, glowing fossil on the table. She asks what it makes Nima think of. The honest answer is layered: pride, a present for Mom, the river, and the accident. Choosing the socially safe answer does not keep the scene safe.
In the routes we reviewed, the test turns into an argument about Mom’s work, Nima’s chores and the “experiment” that is supposed to fix the family. Attempting to placate Mom does not produce a clean pass. The player is pushed toward noticing that Nima’s obedience has been part of the household’s dysfunction all along.
The fossil conversation escalates into conflict regardless of the polite route taken in reviewed footage. One community source describes the demo as having no way past this scene without upsetting Mom. Evidence level: community + observed.
If you are following the word chain, Swimming + Fossil → River ties the object to the place where Nima says the accident occurred. It is useful context, not a guaranteed dialogue solution.
The demo ending
After the argument, Mom returns Nima to her room. The demo’s final sequence is much more direct body horror than the rest of the vertical slice. It closes on a loop: darkness, a familiar voice, and the suggestion that this failure is not the first.
Show the final sequence
Nima wakes restrained. Mom enters with a steel pick and says she did not use enough anaesthetic. The scene implies a transorbital procedure and Nima’s death. The screen returns to darkness, then a voice repeats a variation of the opening line. The demo ends there.
Different choices can produce earlier game-over-like endings before this final beat. We have not verified a complete list for the demo and will not invent one. The full game is separately confirmed to have 13 endings.
Puzzle notes and verified combinations
The demo’s word web can be explored far beyond the critical path. These are the combinations we could verify in footage or a hands-on preview:
- Nima + Stranger → Mom
- Mom + Nima → Family, Fear, Love
- Nima + Dad → Grief
- Grief + Pain → Mom
- Love + Dad → Water
- Fish + Father → James Pond
- Swimming + Fossil → River
- Mother + Envy → Forgiveness
- Envy + Dad → Life
- Pretend + Guilt → Boredom
The Word Fusion Lab lets you search these and mark words you have found. It also includes four community-reported recipes with a lower confidence label.
After the demo
The demo is the opening of the game, not a complete story. It establishes the basement, the family and the vocabulary system, then ends on a repetition that reframes the opening. The full game expands to five chapters, more than 15 main tests, seven optional tests and 230+ words.
If you want to keep track of outcomes after launch, use our13-ending tracker. It does not contain fake ending names and saves only in your browser.