Using the BAT WHISTLE:
Introduction
In the different walkthroughs I found on Lighthouse, after finishing the game spending way to much time on it and more than once thinking I was mad by trying to do it all by myself, nobody ever seemed to mention that there indeed is a use for the bat whistle in the game.
Some even refer to it as 'without apparent use in the game' or advise you to save your game before carrying out some actions that require you to use the bat whistle afterwards, to let you restore your saved game after you tried out that nice sideway. The only situation in which I found it is necessary to start all over is when you forget to take the lighter and the umbrella all in the beginning of the game in your cottage.
Well, during my venture I got convinced of one thing. There is for sure a use for it and you can sometimes really need this thing. All depends on the order in which you visit places and the transportation devices you use. The game isn't linear at all, except maybe for the fact that you have to visit the volcano last.
So, what follows is a rather straightforward explanation of the three situations in which I found a need for the bat whistle. It's perfectly possible that there are more. If so, please let me know. I hereby assume that you already played the game and are wondering by yourself where you could have used the whistle, or otherwise that you are completely stuck, don't know where to go next or can't go anywhere anymore.
All in all, what follows is a spoiler. I won't be subtle and I do assume that you are familiar with the game, its locations and the items found and used in it.
Here it comes!
Suppose that you are at the roost (that's where Martin lived), and you saw the birdman steal an item from the desk drawer. You already found out that you need this item to drive the submarine, so it seems that you have no way to leave the roost this way.
Therefore, you decide to fix the remote control, use it on the ladder in the top floor and take off with the mechanical bat straight to the temple. After you start playing with the controls for the huge magnet, you see the birdman enter her premises and start hassling her. Before he does this, he drops the throttle you need. You capture the birdman with the magnet and are able to retrieve the throttle.
Now, since you are there, and Lyril tells you that she trusts you now, you decide to explore the temple. At the end you use the teleporter to return to the roost. Here, you use the submarine to end up in the fortress.
After defeating the monster you decide to return to the lighthouse, in order to solve the puzzle box. You can do this in two ways:
The third situation in which you can need the whistle is much further on in the game. You are already in the volcano, and are driving around with the train. You already visited the valve room, made sure all valves are open, and are now on the north track where the Dark Being blocks your way with some rocks. After removing them with some dynamite you continue your ride to end up at a dead track. Here you can enter the Dark Being's lab. Now, when you turn right to face him, he will hit you and you'll return to the roost:
This is it. I hope that I rescued some people from burning their brain looking for a use for that, at the first sight, rather useless thing. Or maybe, you're now convinced that the game hasn't that much dead ends as you initially encountered. You can now stop restoring saved games, and replaying whole parts of the game trying to figure out how to get from here to there with only one goal, reaching the end.
So, now just venture on and enjoy a very nice, terribly difficult and intriguing game. I think it's one of the better ones from Sierra, but from what I read on the Internet, not everybody seems to share that point of view with me. Oh yes, I liked Shivers, The Beast Within and even Phantasmagoria, but what's the fun if all games are alike each other?
© 1996, Erik Gos - Erik.Gos@hiva.kuleuven.ac.be
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