Chapter 5 - Riverside Institute | Call of Cthulhu Walkthrough Call of Cthulhu Guide and Walkthrough
Last update: 06 November 2018
On this page of the Call of Cthulhu game guide, you will find a description of the fifth chapter of the game, entitled "Riverside Institute." After going through a cave full of cultists, the main character gets seriously injured and ends up in a rather creepy psychiatric hospital.
Leave the asylum
After a rather long series of intermittent scenes, you will regain control of the character for a moment. Investigate the ceiling pipes, then the door, and then return to bed and lie down to push the action forward.
After a while, you will regain control of your character again. Walk through the foggy corridor - there's nothing to gather or investigate, so head across the door and go through the door to trigger the next cut-scene.
When it's over, the hero will be visited by a woman - Marie Colden. Talk to her on all available topics to find out what's going on here. After a moment, the lady will depart and you will regain control.
Exit your cell and enter the one in front of you. You will carry out a reconstruction. You need to examine the two walls, the floor, the bed and a note under the bed. Leave the reconstruction now, leave the cell and walk through the double door at the end of the corridor.
Create a diversion
From this point on, you will have to sneak. The corridors of the psychiatric hospital are filled with bodyguards. The sneaking mechanics are quite simple - the enemy may notice something, then a white icon will appear above his head and he will check the area. When the icon becomes red, it means that the enemy has noticed you. Then the only way out is to escape to another room and/or hide in a wardrobe - in the latter case, make sure that the enemy can't see you hiding, otherwise, he will pull you out and tear you apart.
Exit through another double door to reach the corridor. It is worth to use the leaning mechanics - information about it will be displayed on the screen. Your goal while in the hospital is to divert the attention of the guards so that they can escape from the mental asylum. This can be done in three ways - by giving medicine to the prisoners to make noise, by gassing the rooms, as well as by overloading the power grid. The choice really depends on the player - all possibilities will be described in this chapter.
From the main room, turn left and go down to the room below. In the desk, the drawer on the right, you will find a file - a Medical record of Francis Sanders. There are several objects to investigate here - a board at the desk, a quartered body on the left side of the room, as well as a jar with green meat and a syringe in a spot fenced with a net.
Here is also the first mechanism to create a diversion, an electrical device located in the center of the room. Four switches are required to power it. One of them is to the right of him, you can reach the next three by following the cables on the ground - we will get to them in a moment.
Switch on the switch and exit the room with the second doorway, and then enter the room with the ARCHIVES signboard. Search carefully for objects located here. Interact with libraries, then open the drawer of one of the document cabinets and read Medical Record of Sarah Hawkins.
Now go to the rest of the archive, open another document cabinet and read Request for Treatment. Be careful when moving around in this room - it is better to do it in a crouched position, as the guards can see you while you're standing. When this happens, hide in the wardrobe. Exit the room now.
Go left and wait until the guard passes through the corridor. Now enter the niche on the left and switch the second power switch. There are two more left.
Return now to the archive door area and wait until the guard makes a circle and then quickly turn right. If you want to explore the corridor in front of you, stick to the right - at one of the doors on the left, a prisoner will break through the glass and will try to catch you - making a lot of rumble and drawing the attention of the guards. That's why it's better to move on the right side.
Go to the end of the corridor and turn left, where you will find a row of cells. In one of them, there is a prisoner you can talk to. He will offer you his help - he can make lots of noise by drawing the attention of a nearby guard, but you need to provide him with Sleeping Pills - you will collect them soon.
Do not go further along the corridor, as a guard is waiting there. Instead, turn back and enter a more open room. In the middle of the room, there is a small structure - inside you will find an object that increases medicine (Breviary of Medicine, Tome 1) and a Wheel, which you can use to distract the attention of the guards - about which in a moment.
On the left, you will notice a room with an Administration sign. The door is locked at this point, so walk along the wall, turn left and continue along the left edge until you reach the open entrance. Wait until the patrolling guard takes care of the work in the kitchen, and then sneak along the left wall to reach the administration room. Here are two keys to collect - Key to the guards' room and Key to the maintenance room. Collect them both, they will be useful soon.
Exit through a previously closed door to return to the corridor. Turn left again and head straight ahead to the Storage Room. Wait for the guard to move away and enter the second part of the room. Behind a small table, you will find the second and last Wheel.
Wait for the guard to return to the warehouse and sneak into the nearby Pharmacy. Go to the other side of the room and examine the bookcase, where you will find an item to investigate and Sleeping Pills for a prisoner you met a moment ago. Now collect an item lying on your desk - History of Medicine in the XIX Century - that will raise your level of Medicine.
Return to the Storage Room and go out to the corridor. At this point, you already have two options for distracting the guards, but it's still worth looking around the rooms to collect additional items. Return to the kitchen, wait for the guard to move away and go to the right (where the guard is cutting something). In the tiny room, you will find an item that increases medicine - Incision and Bleeding: Good Practice.
Exit the kitchen and go to the end of the hallway, holding on to the left wall. Turn left and pay attention to the guard standing backward to the door. Sneak up slowly behind him and enter through the door to reach the morgue. Enter the part separated by a fence. On the left-hand side, you will find another subject increasing medicine - History of Medicine in the XX Century.
Collect it and turn 180 degrees - there will be a current switch in front of you. Return to the corridor and avoid the guard by going left. Turn right and walk along the corridor to the very end until you reach the column - from there turn left and enter the small room.
Examine the note on the right, ignore the door on the right (you'll be back here right away) and go down to the lower level. Go into the fenced area and place the previously collected circle on the protruding element. Rotate the wheel so that the indicator above it shows maximum pressure. Exit the fenced area and turn the wheel on the right side as well - also to show the maximum pressure. From your desk on the left, collect the item - Memo to Staff.
Now run up the stairs on the left and turn the valve to set the maximum pressure. Ignore the door on the left as it is locked and return to the door at the entrance, which had previously been omitted. Get inside. Inside you will find the fourth, last switch. Activate it, then enter and go through the ventilation tunnel.
You will exit on the other side of the closed door. Collect the Pincers on the left-hand side and cut through the chain locking the door. Now place the second wheel on the protruding part and turn it to increase pressure. At this point, all three ways of distracting the guards will be available. You can go to the prisoner and give him sleeping pills, you can gas the rooms by switching the lever you are now standing next to, or you can go back to the room with the power lever and overload the system. At this point, the choice is yours alone, but the most efficient method (because it attracts the most guards) is the overload of the fuses.
Escape from the asylum
Choose your preferred way of diverting attention, and then quickly escape from the place where you've made too much noise - in a moment, the guards will converge there. Return now to the more open part of the floor - where all corridors connect (and where there was a circle and a book for Medicine). Go to the right, to a corridor that has not yet been visited. Go through the doorway to activate the cut-scene and the conversation.
When the conversation is over, run up the stairs to the top and go through the double door. There are three paths here, but only the last door is open. Go through them to activate the intermittent scene and close this long chapter.