The Last Express

(Walkthrough)

Passengers unsure of how to spend their time during the last trip of the Orient Express to Constantinople in 1914 should follow Robert Cath's itinerary in this walkthrough, knowing that it is only one of many possible itineraries.

July 24
You're Robert Cath. After boarding, turn right and ask the young Conductor for Whitney's compartment number. Finding Whitney's body in his compartment presents several problems. You can't afford to be found by the police, let alone with a body on your hands because Whitney, a friend, invited you along on his trip to Constantinople to escape from Europe. What was Whitney up to? Why was he killed? Who killed him? Your best bet is to hide his body and assume his identity while you attempt to answer those questions.

Hiding the body
You may throw the body out the window, but then you'll have to hide from the police when they board the train later (you may hang out the window of your compartment). You may also open up the compartment's bed, strap the body in it, and close it back up again. While you're in the compartment, look inside Whitney's bag and put the scroll in your inventory and read the telegram you sent him (and the one he sent to you). Open the empty box on the floor. Take the scarf with the letter "W" from under the box. Be sure to put on Whitney's coat hanging above the box and throw your telltale, bloody one out the window.

The dining car
Exit the compartment and turn right. Go through the coach and lounge to the dining car to talk to Herr Schmidt and learn that Whitney was carrying gold and Schmidt has something to exchange for it. You may have an opportunity to speak to a little boy running up and down the corridor blowing a whistle. Do so and you'll see that the whistle he blows is golden.

The unmade bed
There are two dinner calls. During the first call eavesdrop on conversations and briefly talk to Alexei, an advocate of a classless society. You may also eavesdrop in the lounge car. Study the passenger lists. If you see Alexei again, try to give him the scroll. Return to your compartment after the second dinner call and your Conductor will tell you that Kronos wants to see you in his private car. On your way there pick up the young Conductor's magazine and take the passenger lists from inside.
Kronos surprises you by calling you Cath. He says he has a full suitcase he'll exchange for an unknown object, whatever that is. When you go back to your compartment Milos will try to stab you because you're not Whitney. Back away as he is about to strike and then subdue him. He is part of the Serbian underground that Whitney was dealing with. After he leaves, you may watch the Conductor going into compartments to make up beds. Tell him not to make up yours.

End of the first day
After the train has left Epernay you may safely throw the body out the window (it falls into a river while the train is crossing a bridge). Afterwards, go to the platform outside of Kronos' private car. If Tatiana is there she'll talk to you when you try to leave. Give her the scroll to translate. Sit in the lounge car and listen in on the conversation between Schmidt and the beautiful woman you discover is Anna Wolff. She'll tire and you can talk to her after she leaves Schmidt. Try giving her the scarf. Back in your compartment, crawl out the window and see the bomb Alexei is making next door. You can now make up your own bed and when the snore balloon appears, click on it to go to sleep and end the day.

The dream
Go out into the corridor and open any door to wake from the dream. Go to the other sleeping car and knock on the door to compartment "F," Anna's door. She'll invite you in. Follow her to compartment "A," Vassili's compartment when he has his seizure. Eavesdrop at the door to hear Anna asking Tatiana to safeguard something for her. You can watch Anna go to her compartment and then go back to Tatiana and return. Go back to your compartment and sleep.

July 25
On waking, go the next sleeping car and knock on the door to compartment "G". Milos will enlighten you as to the nature of the object that Kronos wants to buy (a golden Egg). Anna evidently took the Egg and gave it to Tatiana to hold for her. Schmidt is an arms dealer waiting to be shown some gold to confirm an exchange. After you leave, and head for the dining car, the Conductors talk about a missing Passkey for all the doors on the train. It was lost during Vassili's attack. The Conductors suspect you but the thief was probably Anna who is not the innocent violinist she pretends to be.
You also overhear a Boutarel family conversation about a beetle Francoise found and lost. If you sit in the lounge car you'll see the beetle. If you succeed in capturing it for the boy, you may barter for his whistle. If you don't succeed in capturing the beetle there will be an opportunity of getting the needed whistle later in the game. Talk to Tatiana in the dining car and she'll give you her translation of the scroll, the Russian poem The Firebird. Schmidt will talk to you briefly and the train will arrive in Munich.

Munich to Vienna
During this stretch of rail you must get the Passkey from Anna's compartment, the golden Egg from Tatiana's compartment, steal the Briefcase from Kronos' car, show August the Briefcase and return it to Kronos. First, go to Kronos' car, now that you know about the Firebird and talk to him about it. After he leaves you may listen to his conversation with Kahina and read the book he has laying on the couch. Go back to the dining car and eavesdrop on conversations or sit in the lounge and attempt to capture the beetle or read Tatiana's translation.
At 2:23 PM (the train arrives in Wels) you can sneak into Compartment "E", crawl out the window at 2:30 PM and climb into Compartment "F". Anna has the Passkey hidden in a secret compartment of her jewelry box. Search the bottom drawer of her trunk and you'll find that Anna is an Austrian spy keeping track of Schmidt's arms deal. Wait for Tatiana to go to the concert (it begins at 3:00 PM), then enter Vassili's compartment and his washroom. The Egg is beneath the sink. Take it back through Vassili's compartment into the corridor. The Conductor will question you, but since you are Vassili's doctor, you have an excuse.
Take the Egg to your compartment and place it in the box. Otherwise, you can't use the Passkey. Go to the platform outside of Kronos' car, and unlock the outside door with the Passkey. Climb up on top of the train. Go the opposite direction from the locomotive smoke to the skylight of Kronos' car. Smash through the skylight, and jump down. Examine the painting on the wall to find a button. Push it to open the safe and then take the briefcase filled with gold. There are also some interesting investigative reports about you and Tyler on a table. Brazenly walk through the concert back to your compartment. Hide the briefcase beneath the seat and take the Egg out of the box. You have a little time to play with the Egg (it opens by pressing the gemstones in the order indicated by the poem).
While the Conductor is announcing a stop you may go through the curtain in back of the dining car to the back of the baggage car (click bottom right) and release Max. Then place the Egg in his cage. Use the Passkey to open Schmidt's room and read his letter to the Baron. Wait in your compartment until the concert is over at 5:00 PM and then take the briefcase to Schmidt's compartment. Kahina may approach you before or after you've shown Schmidt the gold in the briefcase. After you've shown it, return the briefcase to Kronos.
Head back towards the baggage car. Along the way Milos embraces you. Follow Milos to his compartment and knock on the door. After you leave Milos a distraught Tatiana knocks on Anna's door and tells her that the Egg is missing. Go to the baggage car and open Schmidt's shipment (the coffin-like box). Anna interrupts and you'll have the opportunity of saving her life and during your fight with a Serb, she will save yours. The train arrives in Vienna.

Vienna to Budapest
Cath still doesn't know who killed his friend, but he has located the golden Egg Kronos seeks but has no intention of selling it to him. It's now safe with Max in the baggage car, along with the arms shipment. Schmidt, waiting for Anna in the dining car, expects payment for the arms in Budapest, but Cath has no intention of paying him. Go to Anna's compartment and hear her tell the Conductor to tell Schmidt she won't be joining him, that she has a headache. Talk to her and learn of her feelings about Americans who support revolutionary groups that they don't understand. In 1914 Austria was a very large country and included today's Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Croatia and Bosnia. It was the Serbian-sponsored assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in the Austrian city Sarajevo which has brought Austria to the brink of declaring war on Serbia.
Go to Alexei's compartment and take the detonator out of his briefcase to thwart a bombing at 10:40 PM (the time is marked on the train schedule hidden in his copy of Thus Spake Zarathustra). Continue to the platform at the end of your sleeping car. Kronos' private car is gone and in its place is another baggage car. Alexei and Tatiana are having a conversation about bombs you may listen to. Return to your compartment and eventually Tatiana will come to you and tell you of that conversation. Go to sleep after she leaves.

July 26
The very real stabbing of Alexei in Vassili's compartment interrupts your dream of Anna. Rush to the compartment and you may hear Alexei's dying words, "Long live Anarchy!" Alexei has managed to plant his bomb even without a detonator and you must find it. Examine the electrical box between the two sleeping cars. Move the cigar box you find up and then strike a match to burn through the insulated wires hanging from the dynamite underneath. Then remove the box, take out the pins in the hinges in back and open it. Insert your telegram between the relays before the hand reaches 12:00 AM in order to finish disarming the bomb.
Have a drink with Abbot, the British spy, in the lounge car. Anna is obviously upset and having a drink in the lounge herself. Follow her when she returns to her compartment. Talk to her in the corridor and then knock on her door. She'll invite you in and the two of you will have a brief romantic interlude until the Serbs hijack the train! You are seized, along with Anna and marched at gunpoint through the corridors. They shoot the Eunuch guarding the harem. You attempt to subdue a shooter and are hit in the head with a rifle-butt.

Prometheus bound
It's not pleasant to wake up all tied up in the baggage car, but that's where you are. Roll around on the floor until your matches fall out of your pocket and then grab one and burn through the rope around your wrists. Knock out the Serb guard guarding the door. Release Anna who tells you that it's urgent to stop the train before it reaches the Serb border. You tell her that's only because the Austrian and governments want another incident to justify declaring war on Serbia and its allies. That the arms deal was a setup from the beginning in order to capture the Serbs with arms on Austrian soil; and that both she and Schmidt were set up, too.

Freeing the passengers
She angrily leaves and you must now climb on top of the train. Exit through one of the side doors on the platform between cars to do so. As you approach the smoke-spewing locomotive Salko climbs up and fights you with a crowbar. Dodge his blows and punch back until you can grab his crowbar and throw him off the train. Turn around immediately because Vesna is behind you with a sword! Dodge her body blows and block her head blows. When she ducks down to avoid a tunnel immediately do the same. Afterwards you can pull her off the train.
Now you can climb down into the train and explore the vacant compartments. Read Rebecca's diary (under her pillow) and Tatiana's moving attempts to thank Alexei for lending her a lighter. Go to the dining car and free the passengers.

Constantinople or bust
After the passengers have all gone back to their compartments listen in to their conversations and then uncouple their sleeping cars from the rest of the train. This is a bit tricky in the dark. Stand on the landing between the lounge and the sleeping car. Look for a place the hand icon shows up and click on a dark place to remove the floor plate, and then click again to uncouple the train from the cars. Schmidt will show up, but can only make meaningless threats as the cars separate. Try to comfort Tatiana who has remained in the dining car with her father. She is in shock and talking to her is not unlike talking to mad Ophelia in Hamlet. Search the lounge for the golden whistle that the boy dropped on his way through (if you haven't already exchanged the beetle for the toy).

The death of Milos
Climb up on top of the train and head for the locomotive. Jump down and attack Milos and as he is about to shoot you Anna pops up with a pistol and shoots him. He dies in your arms. The train slows down. To go to Constantinople you must pull the lever that restarts the train. It's down low on the control panel. There is an interlude here involving a train chase. Your train automatically crosses an old bridge that collapses after you've safely crossed. After a celebration you're back on top of the train again. If you go to the locomotive Abbot will tell you to get some rest. He'll make sure the train safely gets to Constantinople.

And the firebird sang
Go to the baggage car. It's time to pick up the Egg. Go to Max's cage in the baggage car and get it. Anna is waiting in the Personnel Compartment near the baggage car. The two of you talk of the events. You still don't know who killed Tyler, and Europe is still on the brink of war. However, things don't look so bad once you and Anna finally consummate your relationship.

July 27
In the morning Anna has changed her clothes and helps you get into yours. During the night the train has chugged through Serbia and Bulgaria and has stopped in Constantinople. Anna leaves you, saying she'll be right back. When you search for her (taking the Egg) Kronos and Kahina holding Anna hostage in the lounge car accost you. Kronos demands that you open the Egg. Do so. The correct order in which to press the gems is silver then red, purple and green. When you insert your finger in the hole, the Egg opens and a golden Firebird spreads its wings. Kronos orders Anna to play her violin to make the bird sing. She does, but it doesn't. Storm clouds gather outside.
Kronos tells you to close the bird, but do not. Instead, take out the golden Whistle and blow on it. The Firebird attacks Kronos and kills him. It kills Kahina. You realize now that it must have been the bird that killed Tyler after he blew the whistle. You breathe out his name as you and Anna escape by jumping out of the car. Max jumps out, too, and joins you. Tatiana is in the baggage car. She opens the arms shipment and with Alexei's lighter blows up the train, murmuring, "Never again."
The Firebird flies away and its giant shadow moves over a map of Europe as the news boys of Constantinople announce that war has been declared.
You ask Anna to come with you to Jerusalem where there is a manuscript you'd like to see. She kisses you goodbye, gives you Max and says she has to go back. She is Austrian and must serve her country, but says that when the war is over she'll take the next Orient Express to Constantinople and join you. She doesn't think the war will last any longer than a month.

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