Original Dutch walkthrough 2013 by: Louis Koot  

2018: English translation by: Dick Leeuw  Screenshots and Web Lay-out by Louis Koot

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A lot more very detailed game walkthroughs can be found on my site at:  www.pcgameswalkthroughs.nl

Chapter 6: The 5the Age: The Universe of Ghen and the Endings

  You have arrived in the 5th Age and you are in Ghen's "living room". 

However, you are standing in a round cage and you cannot get out of the cage into the living room. You look at Ghen's round table.

Left and right, at the bottom of your screen, you see a linking book to one of the islands. Turn around in the cage. If you keep turning left you will see the outside door after the first turn, after the second turn a button in the fence of your cage and a large window through which you can see the desolate landscape of the 5th age.

  You also see a lever in front of that window. After the 3rd turn you see a manhole with a ladder in the floor, after the 4th turn a big ball and after the 5th turn you are back at your starting position.

  Now click on the linking book at the bottom right of your screen. You see that this is the book for Jungle Island. Click on the book twice to open it.

  Unfortunately the link screen is black. The book is not activated, so you cannot return to the Island. Close the book, but do not look up. Now turn left again and view all linking books. The second book is that for Prison Island, the 3rd book for Temple Island, the 4th book for Crater Island and the 5th for Plateau Island and then you are back at the Jungle Island book. None of the books is activated, so you cannot just leave the Cage .......you cannot leave at all. You are PRISONED in the cage

  Now just look up and then turn left 2 more times. You are again standing in front of the Knob that is between the bars of the cage.

  Now press the button and ........ it turns out to be the BELL and the father of Atrus, Ghen, comes in now.

Ghen is very friendly and now follows a long monologue of him in which he pretends that he is becoming a completely different and better person than when he was banished to this 5th Ages by the hands of his son Atrus. Suddenly, Ghen then takes the Prison / Linking Book to Myst away from you and he looks at it carefully.

  You see that Ghen is in doubt ...... is this really ...... is this really the link back to MYST ..... TO THE FREEDOM .....

However, Ghen does not trust it and walks to you and he keeps the book open to you and he asks you to PRE-enter the book.

  Ghen wants you to first click on the book to prove that it is really a linking book back to Myst. SAVE YOUR GAME HERE because your decision you make now will determine which End of Riven you will experience. You are at the point in the game where you have to make a choice. Choice A: DO NOT click on the book NOW but just wait a few seconds without doing anything. Choice B: Click on the book that Ghen keeps in front of you? Choice A is more logical than Choice B, so I do not discus Choice B because there is not so much difference between Choice A and Choice B

Choice A: You are NOT clicking on the fake Myst Linking Book now

  Ghen gives you the chance to enter the Fake Myst Book for the first time. DON't DO ANYTHING.........Just wait.....After a few seconds Ghen closes the book and puts it on the round table.

Ghen will now give you TIME TO THINK and will activate his Linking Books to the 5 islands, including those to the Prison Island and he says that you can freely move around the islands to think about his offer. If you have decided to go ahead with the book, you can come back and press the CALL button again. However, if you refuse to enter the book 3 times, Ghen will shoot you dead.

NB: You can now also decide to go back to Temple Island directly, through the Temple Island book and solve the Telescope puzzle to see the TOTAL FALSE END.

  Ghen has closed the book and placed it on the round table and left. The cage remains closed so you still cannot enter the round room. However, now the 5 Island Books has been activated and that gives you free access to all 5 islands. So look for the Prison Island book in the cage and open it.

  Enjoy the video of your scenic flight over the Dome of the Prison Island. If you have your cursor back, click in the window and ..... You end up on it:

Prison Island of the 5th Age: Catherine:

So you end up in the inner dome of the Dome. Step backwards and then click the Close button to close the inner dome. You are then outside in the gap between the two halves of the dome. Turn around and ....... you see the Prison Island with on the top of the rock the house where Catherine is held captive by Ghen. Follow the jetty path until you are completely in the rock. You are in the elevator. 

The elevator is an iron cage. On the wall hangs the mechanism with which you can make the cage around the elevator disappear. A Triangular handle hangs right above you. 

The mechanism to make the cage disappear consists of a silver ball with a slider. 3 clappers are hanging under the ball. If you click on each of the 3 valves you will hear a sound. The left clapper makes a "click" sound, the middle clapper makes a "Prrrr" sound and the right clapper a "Ping" sound  

You cannot let the cage around the elevator disappear, but you can use the elevator to go up. However, you cannot step out of the elevator. You need a sound code to make the cage disappear around the elevator. Now click on the Triangular Lift handle and ...... You go up with the elevator and ...... From the elevator you look into Catherine's room Stay patiently waiting for Catherine, who will come in from her balcony and you will greet.

Catherine is disappointed because she had expected that you had already put Ghen in the book. Catherine wants to tell you about the false Myst book, but then she realizes that Ghen is probably listening. So Catherine presses herself against the cage and she whispers you some important things in your ear.

Catherine whispers to you that you should not trust Ghen and do not believe what he has told you. She also tells you that in order to get behind the code for this lift, in order to free Catherine, you must put Ghen in the Fake Myst Book. For this you must first enter that book. Then Catherine disappears onto the balcony again.

When Catherine is gone out again, click on the Triangular lever, right above your head, to lower again with the lift. Once you have come down again, turn around and follow the route back to the Dome that has remained open on Phase 1.

So you have to open Phase 2 of the dome again with the Sliding Lock. So zoom in again on the Sliding Code Lock and put the 5 sliders back on the lines, according to the code you got from Catherine's diary. Then open the Linking Book and travel back to the Round Room of Ghen. You will arrive in the round cage again.

Back at Ghen:

 Turn left 2 times again and press the bell again and ................

  Ghen comes back in and he picks up the fake Myst Linking Book again and ......... Again Ghen then keeps the Fake Myst Book open in front of you.

You may refuse 1  more time, but why would you do that? Do not wait too long now, but quickly click in the Linking window of the book and ........ You will disappear into the book yourself and from the Book you will see Ghen thinking and he doubt again. ... Is it really a Link Book to D'ni? Ghen still asks himself. Ghen is then convinced and so he puts his hand on the Link screen and ..........

Ghen is sucked into the book and you crawl out again and ....... The plan is successful .. .... Ghen is now locked up in his new Prison. You are now outside the cage, in the round room, in front of the round table. Never touch the screen of this fake Myst book again, because then you're caught in it again and Ghen is free again. And the second chance to catch him is not there. It is then GAME OVER.

  If you turn around for a moment, you will see that the cage is still closed. You cannot go back into the cage now to link away via the Linking Books.

That cage must be opened. Turn back to the round table and then turn left. You now see the outer door.

  Now walk 2 steps forward. You will then see the round manhole in the floor. Turn right now and ..... You are standing in front of the window where the lever is on the windowsill.

  With this lever you hoist the Cage up, so that you can access the activated Linking Books.

Click the lever 2 times and ......... automatically you turn around and you'll see that the cage drops down.

  You can now freely reach all Linking Books, but first you have something else to do here. So you are now looking at the "middle circle", where the 5 Linking Books are. Turn clockwise and ...... You will see the manhole again. There is an iron ladder down in the manhole. Click on the manhole and .... you’re looking down through the manhole and see the ladder.

  Click again in the manhole and you are on the ladder. Click twice with the downward hand to descend further down and .......

 you then landed in Ghen's bedroom. You look at the ladder and a red tapestry. 

Take a look around here. There is a projection ball in front of the window. It is a smaller version of the projection sphere in the Temple of Temple Island. If you click on the handle of the projection sphere, you will see a projection of Catherine in the sphere and she says something in the D'ni language

At Ghen's bed there is a small table and on that table is a Book and a silver Globe. Zoom in on the table and open the book. 

This is Ghen's diary and it contains many pages that you can read, but there is nothing that really matters to you. So you have to know yourself whether you want to read all those texts in this diary or not. The most important item that you will find here is the Silver Globe, on the table at the bedside. Zoom in on the Silver Sphere. Click on the Sphere and ......... 

You hear a series of 5 sounds and then the Sphere opens and it turns out to be a timepiece. Listen carefully to the sounds you hear when you click on the closed Sphere, so before the Sphere opens. Remember those 5 sounds in the order in which you hear the sounds, because this is the sound code to make the cage disappear from the elevator at Catherine.

Basically the sphere makes three types of sounds with which the sphere then makes a code of 5 sounds. The three sounds you CAN hear are: Prrrrr; Click and Ping and these are the 3 sounds you have heard when you clicked on the Prison Island, in the elevator, on the 3 Clappers of the Silver Globe. However, you do not have to hear all 3 now. What you hear is a Code of 5 sounds. This code is different in every new game so even now I cannot tell you this code. So what you have to do is listen carefully and record the order of the sounds that you hear. For me the code was this time: prrr; ping; prrr; ping; ping. So make a note of the sound code that you hear. You can hear it as often as you like by clicking the globe again and again when the sphere has closed itself again.

If you have noted down the sound code or printed it in your brain, step out of the close-ups of the table a few times and turn around to the red tapestry. Then click on the iron wall ladder and climb back up through the manhole. Back in Ghen's workshop, turn left and enter the "middle circle, between the 5 Linking Books.

  You are then back in the "middle circle" and look at the round table. At the bottom left of your screen you will find the Prison Island Linking Book, so click on it and open the book and then, if you have your cursor again, click in the Left screen to return to the Dome of Prison Island.

Free Catherine

  Step backwards and click on the Close button to close the inner dome. Turn around and follow the path back to the elevator. You are in the lift again. Through the bars of the cage you can see the silver Globe with the handle and the 3 clappers. Click on the Silver Globe again to zoom in on it.

Now click on the 3 clappers according to the sound code you heard when you clicked on the silver Globe in Ghen's bedroom. My code is Prrrr, Ping, Prrr, Ping, Ping, so I click on the clappers in this order: middle. right, middle, right, right. If you clicked on the clappers in the right order, then click on the Slider lever, which sticks in the silver Sphere and ..... The slider then moves to the right and ...... if you have the sound code correctly done then the cage turns away and you automatically go up with the elevator to the room of Catherine and .....

Because the cage is gone now, Catherine knows that you have succeeded in your mission and together with Catharine you go down in the lift.

  However, Catherine wants to see with her own eyes that Ghen is now really trapped in the false Myst Book, so she convinces herself. Catherine tells you to go back to the Funnel Telescope, on Temple Island, to open the Star Gorge, and she tells you again that you can find the code for this in her diary that you received from Nelah. Catherine runs away to prepare the D'ni people for the evacuation.  

End Game on Temple Island:

  You have to go back to Temple Island now to activate the Funnel Telescope. So run back to the Dome and .... Unfortunately ... Catherine has already disappeared through the Dome and the bitch has completely closed the Dome. So zoom in on the Viewer and start clicking like a madman on the Button on top of the Viewer, so that when the Yellow Dome Symbol appears in the viewing hole, the Dome is opened again.  

  Enter the opened dome again and zoom in again on the Slider Code Lock and put the 5 sliders back on the numbered lines, according to the code you got in Ghen's diary.

Then click on  the round button again and the inner dome opens again, the Linking Book to Ghen comes up again. So travel back to Ghen's workshop via the Linking Book. You end up in the Cage of Ghen again, because the Cage is now back because Catherine did that. Turn around to the window where the lever is located and zoom in on the right Linking Book because that is the Temple Island Linking Book.

  Open the Linking Book and as soon as you have your cursor back, click in the Linking Screen to return to Temple Island.

  Temple Island:

  You end up in the Dome of Temple Island. Step backwards and click on the Close button to close the inner Dome. Then turn around and follow the path to the stairs, through the tunnel to the elevator. The elevator is not there because Catherine has gone up with it. So click on the elevator button to lower the elevator.

  Then step on the lift platform and ..... Of course you turn around again so that you look back through the tunnel. Click on the Elevator button again to go up with the elevator. Above you follow the path back to the Golden Dome and then up through the Golden Dome and to the exit / Entrance of the connecting bridge to the Portal Room. The connecting bridge is still up, so click the lever down to lower the connecting bridge.

Cross over the connecting bridge to the portal room and then go outside via position 1 again.  

Do not cross the bridge to the Temple Rock but turn right and walk down the stairs and then walk to the funnel telescope

  Funnel Telescope:

  Continue until you are again in front of the Telescope. Under the funnel is the lid.

At the right end of the railing there is a round button and a lever. In the left leg of the railing, the Brake Rod protrudes.

  Zoom back in completely on the round manhole cover. The lid has a handle and 5 buttons. Number the 5 buttons, from left to right, as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

  Grab your Telescope Code from Catherine's Diary and click on the buttons according to this code. I explain it through my code that I got this time: My code was this time: 3, 1, 3, 5, 4 So I click on the buttons of the lid in this order:

 Button 3, Button 1, Button 3 , Button 5 and Button 4. If your code from Catherine's diary is for example 5, 2, 3, 1, 4, you click on: button 5, button 2, button 3, button 1 and button 4. 

If you have pressed the 5 buttons according to your code then click on the Handle .......... and ......... the round hatch will open.

 There is a round pane under the hatch and that pane closed off the Star Gorge. Step out of the close-up and check first if that Brake rod is gone in the left leg. That will be so, because in the beginning of the game I told you and showed you that Brake rod had to click up, but if you did not then you have to do this first.

  If the Brake Rod is up, you step back and then click on the Lever, which is on top of the round button, to lower it. 

Then click on the round button 5 times and the telescope will descend after each click until the tip of the funnel breaks through the glass in the round hatch and .......

  This is it ............... View the END FILM

Riven begins to collapse and Atrus returns to Myst with the Linking Book. Catherine appears and follows an intimate embrace ........

   ............. and one by one Catherine and Atrus go back to Myst via the Linking Book ......

........... the book falls into the gap and you jump behind it and this is it .........  

THE END

  Other Endings

I shall briefly mention the other endings here

1. You DO NOT release Catherine

You will catch Ghen in the fake Myst Linking Book and you will talk to Catherine. But you do not open the gate of the elevator via the sound puzzle. So you skip the liberation of Catherine and immediately go back to Temple Island to open the Star Gorge with the Funnel Telescope. Atrus comes then but of course not so happy with you because you have not released his wife.

2: You do NOT imprison Ghen in the fake Myst Book:

If you do not lure Ghen into the fake Myst Book, you cannot free Catherine. You can talk to Catherine on the Prison Island. But because you can never get into Ghen's bedroom you cannot get behind the sound code via the Silver Globe. And so you cannot free Catherine. Just travel back to Temple Island, via the Temple Island Linking Book in the cage at Ghen and then do the Funnel Telescope puzzle and ...... Atrus will also come but Ghen also pops up with his army and he will take the REAL Myst Book and shoot Atrus and your death. Riven is destroyed and Ghen escapes but the D'ni people are exterminated.

3: The difference between Choice A and Choice B is this:

If you decide to dive into the Fake Myst Book right away, Ghen will do that too and you come out that book again.  You are therefore outside the cage in Ghen office. Only ....... Ghen has not activated the Linking Books, so you have to do that yourself. Then go to the round oven and press the button and ..... the 5 Linking Books are then activated. You can then immediately, via the manhole, descend to Ghen's bedroom to get the sound code of the Silver Globe. Then you travel to Prison Island and click on the 3 clappers according to the sounds that you heard from the Silver Sphere. You then liberate Catherine right away, without first talking to her. Then travel through Ghen's dome back to Temple Island and do your thing with the Funnel Telescope and now you have reached the GOOD END.

Original Dutch walkthrough 2013 by: Louis Koot  

2018: English translation by: Dick Leeuw  Screenshots and Web Lay-out by Louis Koot