Alone in the Dark: How to solve the Astronomical Clock puzzle

The Astronomical Clock puzzle introduces new puzzle mechanics in Alone in the Dark that repeat in variations throughout the game. Understanding this puzzle as you solve it will save you plenty of time later on.

Before jumping in, you should know this guide does not cover where to get the two missing plate pieces for the Astronomical Clock. That is a whole separate can of worms and one that needs its own guide. Once you have all the missing pieces, which each require various puzzles to pick up, you then get (have) to solve a few more puzzles back at the clock to keep advancing. Thankfully, the Astronomical Clock puzzle in Alone in the Dark is fairly simple despite having two parts to it.

How to solve the Astronomical Clock picture puzzle in Alone in the Dark

As soon as you have placed both of the missing plate pieces back into the Astronomical Clock, it becomes clear that a picture puzzle is about to go down. There are two keys you need to be aware of to solve this puzzle:

• You can rotate pieces in addition to just moving them around
• You actually already have the solution

I spent five or so minutes solving this puzzle the first time around, and that’s because I didn’t really know what picture I was supposed to be creating. I could tell it was a constellation, but that’s about it. Had I known that I had a picture of the constellation I was after on my Investigations page, it would have taken me only about 30 seconds.

The picture I’m talking about is on the last page of The Commonplace Book—the notebook you picked up in Jeremy’s Room just before using the Talisman for the first time. There are three drawings on this page, and the one on the bottom left shows exactly how the Astronomical Clock’s Talisman slot needs to look.

How to get the Astronomical Clock Talisman code

Once the plates are formatted to show the correct constellation picture, the Astronomical Clock will break, and you can place your Talisman on the clock’s plate. Like in the French Quarter, input the correct three-digit code.

Look at the top of the Astronomical Clock, and you’ll see that it has stopped ticking. The hour, minute, and second hands are all stopped on specific numbers: six, four, and three. Input these numbers into your Talisman, starting with the biggest ring and working your way in, and the puzzle will be completed.

This is only the second time you’ve used the Talisman so far, and you might still not totally understand how to put codes into it—especially if you accidentally input the correct code back in the French Quarter as I did. If you’re playing on Modern mode, this won’t be a problem because HUD trackers will tell you which numbers are currently input in each slot. If you’re on Old School, you’ll have to experiment to figure out how the Talisman works (or check out our guide on it).