All my trains have departed. Thanks for those who got their tickets in time. If you didn't, here are the solutions:

Choo choo!


The first train was accessible by clicking on any of the images, but there was also another giveaway in the results of the puzzle: http://www.itstoohard.com/puzzle/0w1wIGB9/anjSsFuz

F.E.A.R. Train (Main Entrance - Secret Puzzle)


The secret puzzle was hidden in the URLs of the images from the first train puzzle:

http://static.tumblr.com/3tkbgxq/RvPntxfsr/6.gif
http://static.tumblr.com/3tkbgxq/PFlntxfsv/s.gif
http://static.tumblr.com/3tkbgxq/2Fwntxft1/n.gif
http://static.tumblr.com/3tkbgxq/8lsntxft5/p.gif
http://static.tumblr.com/3tkbgxq/Ae5ntxft9/5.gif
http://static.tumblr.com/3tkbgxq/2jIntxfth/z.gif
http://static.tumblr.com/3tkbgxq/sEgntxftl/3.gif
http://static.tumblr.com/3tkbgxq/1Lrntxfto/j.gif

The titles of the GIFs formed an ItsTooHard URL: http://www.itstoohard.com/puzzle/6Snp5z3J/u0ppV26D

Explanation for the number:

  • The astronaut takes twelve steps backwards: - 12
  • There are five flashes in the grills: + 5
  • The Fanta is zoomed in twice and the Coca-Cola with a no sign is zoomed in once: + 2 - 1
  • There are two cubes alternating: + 2
  • There are six numbers: + 6
  • The hand has six fingers: + 6
  • There are eight thingies in the umbrella: + 8
  • And six thingies in the last image: + 6

0 - 12 + 5 + 2 - 1 + 2 + 6 + 6 + 8 + 6 = 22

F.E.A.R. Train (Backdoor Entrance)


There was also a backdoor entrance for the F.E.A.R. train, accessible by my What is your biggest fear? Thread. The caption of the GIF was rhrE0 and it was suggested to reverse it and go back in time. By reversing it to 0Erhr, an old giveaway could be found. By source-code checking the description, a Pastebin URL could be found, where there were instructions as to how to gain access to the backdoor entrance (it's not working anymore).

By also reversing the poll options and taking the first letter of each option, an ItsTooHard URL could be formed, leading to the DLC giveaway (it's still open, so you can still enter it), which was also accessible by source-code checking the F.E.A.R. 2 giveaway description.

Puzzle 1 - Oh no! Who will help Walter?


Option 1 - He will figure out a way to find the correct wagons.


There are 5 groups of 8 wagons each, and a display that indicates the number of the group and the day of the dispatch. Each group also has a secret identifier encoded in the format XY, where X is the number of the group and Y is the day of the dispatch (1 for Monday, 2 for Tuesday, and so on...). The identifier is encrypted in each group's assigned code. It works like this: if a wagon weighs less than the average group weight, it gets assigned a 0; or else, it gets assigned a 1.

Here are all the groups with their correspondent identifiers and assigned codes:

Group Average Weight Assigned Code Identifier
1 13.125 T 00001101 13
2 14.75 T 00010101 21
3 15.25 T 00100010 34
4 17 T 00101010 42
5 18.75 T 00110111 55

Based on the table, the answer to the puzzle question was Tuesday. There was nothing in the results except for a hint that group 4 wasn't the correct group.

It's Monday. Walter heads over to the station and starts chatting with his co-workers before getting to work.

Group 2 was the correct group.

Option 2 - He will figure out a way to read the instructions.


Removing the ".png" from the image URL resulted in the Imgur Page, where links for the real image could be found in the description:

Photoshop File: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_laFjKHRlN9eVRyLVgwSndGd3M/view?usp=sharing
GIMP File: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_laFjKHRlN9WDM0Wk91SkgwNXc/view?usp=sharing

After opening the file in the desired software, the Instructions folder had to be checked and the pencil tool had to be used to paint the Instructions Book layer black (old pencil trick).

Surprisingly, a lot of players didn't count 19 lines. Although there was nothing in the results.

AOS / MOS


After the correct wagons have been selected, instructions need to be entered in the Automated Organizing System or the Manual Organizing System in order to organize them before they can be dispatched. These instructions are found in the instructions book.

After using the AOS or the MOS with the correct group and instructions, the giveaway URL would be given: http://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/83fiz/

Option 3 - He will pick one of his co-workers and put the blame on them.


— Good morning, Peter. How are you doing?
— The fuck do you care?
— Just making conversation.
— Didn't ask you to.
— Okay. Have a good one then.

The correct answer was Peter. There was a giveaway in the results.

Option 4 - He will investigate and find out who is the saboteur.


— Good morning, Olivia.
— Morning, Mr. Bishop.
— Erm... you never called me that... anyway, did you read the book?
— Oh ummm... right, j-just trying something new... A-and, what book?
— The one I gave to you yesterday?

The correct answer was Olivia or Fauxlivia. There was a giveaway in the results.

Option 5 - He will quit his job.


— Good morning, Kennedy.
— It's Lincoln! But... good morning.
— Have you learned your way around the system yet?
— I'm still learning, but I think I'm pretty good.
— Ha! Now I have someone to replace me when I go on vacation.

The correct answer was Lincoln. There was nothing in the results.

Puzzle 2 - Do you ever go outside?


In order to solve this puzzle, it was suggested to go outside. Clues were given as to where and how to get there.

  • I wonder what was the last song that I listened to.
    Last.fm: Music scrobbler.
  • Maybe I should just keep track of all the TV shows / movies I watch.
    Trakt.tv: TV shows / movies scrobbler.
  • Or I could just groove through my games library.
    Grouvee: Games scrobbler.
  • Although most people tell me I should just go outside and listen to the birds tweet.
    Twitter: Social platform.
  • But what if I stumble upon a lion?
    Tumblr: Blogging platform.

revilheart suggested that my username was the same for all of them:

By visiting those places in that order, characters could be found in the descriptions / about me, at the end of the quote:

Sometimes the world we have is not the world we want. But we have our hearts and our imaginations to make the best of it.

They formed a giveaway URL: http://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/a7xsi/

There was another giveaway hidden in the source code of the train descriptions: http://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/SifOV/

Choo ch-wait...


This tool has been used before in my first puzzle, where coordinates needed to be extracted from a text by taking the first letter of each line and the number of that line. The idea here was the same, but the extraction source was this puzzle. A reference to it was made by "It should be easy.", which was the same thing that I posted on this thread to reference it. The coordinates were the first letter of each answer and the number of the question. Here are all the coordinates and their correspondent elements:

(1, B) - u
(2, G) - n
(3, T) - B
(4, B) - 2
(5, E) - b
(6, E) - c
(7, A) - p
(8, A) - 2

They formed an ItsTooHard URL for the group puzzle: http://www.itstoohard.com/puzzle/unB2bcp2/cX2ZxVBK In the results, it was suggested to reverse the coordinates. Here are all the reversed coordinates and their correspondent elements:

(1, A) - D
(2, A) - B
(3, E) - 8
(4, E) - O
(5, B) - m
(6, T) - O
(7, G) - T
(8, B) - L

They formed another ItsTooHard URL for the individual puzzle: http://www.itstoohard.com/puzzle/DB8OmOTL/Tq3hZnmJ By opening the image on Paint and painting the background with any color, the hidden message could be found. The message needed to be converted to binary, considering the same format used in the group puzzle: uppercase for the first letter of each word. In the results, it was suggested to take the co-workers (by appearance order) as coordinates and reverse them. Here are all the reversed coordinates for the co-workers and their correspondent elements:

(1, L) - r
(2, B) - t
(3, O) - h
(4, A) - J
(5, P) - M

Which finally formed the giveaway URL: http://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/rthJM/

Choo ch-not again...


To proceed to the next puzzles, all that needed to be done was to copy the description and paste it in the answer field.

http://www.itstoohard.com/puzzle/ITWZU2W4/kJAIoGqf
http://www.itstoohard.com/puzzle/LJkEw3tC/Mr8PgiY7
http://www.itstoohard.com/puzzle/csc86cGS/eJsKXt3U
http://www.itstoohard.com/puzzle/nC7G3M3I/Nx2f83kK
http://www.itstoohard.com/puzzle/4IlElk9c/X8f1bf00

By solving the equations (which were in hexadecimal, so the operations needed to be done in hexadecimal as well), and converting the results from hexadecimal to text, the word GLYPH would be given, which suggested that the descriptions were glyphs. The numbers in the brackets were a suggestion as to what the correct cases were (0 for lowercase, 1 for uppercase), resulting in the giveaway URL: http://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/ap5NT/

  • Leaf With Upper Right Yellow Dot - a
  • Butterfly With Right Yellow Dot - p
  • 5
  • Seahorse With Right Yellow Dot - N
  • Smoke With Right Yellow Dot - T
9 years ago

Comment has been collapsed.

Did you solve the puzzles?

View Results
Yes, I solved all of them.
Yes, I solved some of them.
No
I tried.
Potato

I'm quite stomped by the Little Hill thing, I don't know why I didn't find it. I played with the color balance And I'm very certain I also played with the brightness but I don't know how I didn't check the contrast... bummer...

I'll try solving the next one with more time ;)

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

By also reversing the poll options and taking the first letter of each option, an ItsTooHard URL could be formed, leading to the DLC giveaway

Damn, I missed that puzzle :S

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I think I totally missed this. I must have been occupied with the services last week and then starting to work again.

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I am in awe of anyone who figured all this out. Congrats!

9 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Closed 9 years ago by rafaelgomesxyz.