Countdown - Step by step guide

"Scream, I hear a scream... It fades when I close my mouth... My head throbs as if someone were pounding with a pneumatic hammer... I feel nauseous, sick... I have to hold my breath until it passes... Now... Cold sweat runs down my face, burning my eyes... Get a grip for God's sake!... Think, look, analyze... Calm down... Who am I and where? How long, why?... No use, everything is still covered in impenetrable fog of forgetfulness..."

You find yourself in a locked, barred, and guarded room in some sort of asylum. Read the medical certificate. You will learn that your name is Mason Powers and today you are to undergo a lobectomy, a surgery to remove a lobe of your brain. Take the key from under the bed. Pick up the cup from the floor and catch the cockroach in it. Talk to the orderly when you see him in the skylight, offer him the bug. Wait until he brings you a meal. Take the knife, manipulate it near the window, and go out on the ledge. Open the second window on the right and enter the room. You must hurry before the guards notice your absence from the cell. Move the stone above the bed and take the watch from the hiding place. Now you will have to traverse the corridors. Take scissors from the storage room and a blanket. Find the isolation room. Read the patient's card, give him the blanket, and talk to him.

It turns out you are in the Sanctuary, a place for inconvenient CIA agents. Go to the ward, take the doll and the hanger. Quickly return to your room and put the mannequin in the bed. This way you will be able to make further escape attempts unnoticed. In the room with the picture, move it and read the inscriptions. Don't forget to take the key from under the pillow. Go upstairs. In the room with lockers, take the key from under the towel. Open two lockers, take the bag and shoes from them. Examine the bloodstains on the floor, it will trigger memories. "Blood.. splattered everywhere... I'm at McBain's house. The host hears knocking on the door. It's clear he's expecting someone. When he opens the door, his expression turns to horror... It all happened so quickly... A flash from the barrel, three muffled groans... Then everything slowed down. McBain slumped into the chair. His last words were: "Find Scorpio". After a moment, he was gone..."

Find the room with the skeleton. Take the crowbar and open the box with it, there's a hook inside. Go down two floors. In the room with arrows, remove the scalpel from the target. Look for the room with a box, there's a flashlight in it. Go to the doctor. Read the newspaper on the floor. Open the filing cabinet and read your referral for surgery. Also, glance at the started letter in the typewriter. Take the keys from the desk. Move the picture and read the safe code. Push aside the books, open the safe, and take the money from it. Force the drunken doctor to cooperate with the scalpel. He'll reveal that you were accused of killing your superior, McBain, and written off to keep quiet. Go downstairs, unlock the door with the key. In the boiler room, open the telephone exchange and cut the wires with scissors. Dig in the coal and with the found pickaxe enlarge the hole in the wall. The maze has only one exit and you must find it.

You are in the wine cellar. Pick up the rag, wipe the board with it, and read what's written on it. Open the box with the crowbar and take the ancient wine bottle. Move the crate against the wall and read the memorial. The monastery was built in MCDXXXIII, which is 1433. The wine bottles are arranged in four rows. In each row, you need to move the bottle according to the date number. A hidden passage will open. Before leaving, examine the dead man and the bloodstains on the ground. Outside, use the shoes on the rocks and climb up. When you reach the railing, use the hook on it.

You will emerge in front of your former prison. Look at the blue car and drive away with it. "I'm lying in the street, semi-conscious and bleeding. Turning my head causes me immense pain, my pupils narrow under the glare of the approaching car's lights. By the second car, I see a figure clad in white. Moments later, everything fades into darkness..."

First, go to your house. Take the batteries from the TV and look at the picture of your ex-girlfriend. You've hidden the key under the pillow. Open the birdcage with it. Take a cracker from the table and give it to the malicious bird, it will drop the key from its beak. Open the kitchen cabinet and take out the toolbox. Move the flower on the fridge, in the hiding spot, there's your personal work laptop. You can now open the desk drawer and read the CAD password. Go to McBain's house. Take the encoded letter from the desk and analyze it on the computer, and dig through the new data. Retrieve the key from among the glass shards on the floor. In the cabinet, there's a box with a fake passport and money.

Approach the knight, move the shield aside, and use the key in the hole. The fireplace will rise, revealing a computer. Beneath the computer, on the shelf to the right, lie explosive materials. Move the cabinet and place one of them on the safe. Take the dossier of Iraqi agents. On your way out, look at the broken window. "Fragments... window... shattered glass... It's so familiar, I remember now. The killer who shot McBain is now aiming at me. Someone must have found out about the meeting and wanted to get everyone who showed up. McBain was expecting someone else. Was it supposed to be Scorpio, or maybe he fired the shots himself?"

Go to Rachel Akure. She'll only answer your question after receiving the dossier. Offer her money ($500), she'll sell you a paralyzing dart. Go to the guy who escorted you to the Sanctuary, Fontaine. Open the trash can and hide in it. When he approaches closely, offer him scopolamine and interrogate until he reveals the location of the Black October terrorist organization's main headquarters. On-site, take the catapult arm and put it in the machine. Move the lever to enable loading the device with a stone, after firing the catapult, the patrolling guard should end up with a wet face. Attach an explosive charge to the control panel, which the guard approaches from time to time. Remember, the fuses have a ten-second delay. Talk to the prisoner and check the new data on the computer, you'll find the contact agent of the terrorist leader. It's Carlos Ramirez. Wait until he takes a sip from the glass and then start talking.

Offer him a bottle of unique wine, then he'll answer all your questions. Give him the money, he'll give you a hacker's kit. Return to the Black October headquarters and open the safe with it. Check the note found in the computer. It's the emergency bomb disarming instructions. According to the dying friend's instructions,

you were to find Scorpio. Start with the place where his girlfriend works. Read the newspaper over her shoulder. Bribe the bartender and ask him to arrange a meeting with Desiree. Enter the dance hall.

The girl will try to feed you a story that Scorpio died in a KGB ambush in Beirut. Wait for the performance and when the thug goes to relieve himself, enter her dressing room. Take the key from the doorframe and open the jewelry box with it. You'll find another key inside, this time to the desk. Inside is a piece of writing paper. Analyze it on the computer.

The paper reveals the content of a previously written letter. Scorpio asks Desiree to keep quiet and points to Buz Brezhnev as a contact. Ask the bartender for the Russian's address and go to him. You must convince him to help you. Hand him cash in exchange for sedating capsules. You'll receive a message inviting you to a meeting at the Colosseum. You've been set up, after regaining consciousness, you find yourself tied to the ceiling, and a tiger is roaming the room. When the candle's flame burns the rope, lure the beast into the cage and close it, pulling the lever. Take the rope and dig out a hook from the bones. With their help, climb through the window into the room. Pick up the rod, plans, read the newspaper, and take out the postcard from under the bag. It needs to be analyzed on CAD. You'll find a coded microdot on it, containing a message about a Black October member's train ride to the bombing site. Press the stone next to the tortured body, and the door will appear.

Race to the station and board the correct train. You must find the terrorist. Read the telegram lying next to the ashtray. It indicates that the distinguishing feature of the person you're looking for is disguising as a priest. You'll come across him in one of the compartments, having a meal. You must drive him out of the room by chatting about a dying person in the neighboring compartment. Sprinkle the sedatives into the food and step back. After a while, return and take out the tool from the hiding place. Dress up in the priest's clothing and take his little suitcase. Go to the freight car and open the coffin. You'll find a detonator, a nuclear device, and plastic inside. Take the plastic with you. When the journey ends, you'll meet the liaison (bluff, pleasant), who, after receiving the briefcase, will lead you to where the bomb is installed. Take the gear wheel, put it on the machine's shaft, and turn it on. The device will lower the gate, cutting off the flow of sewage to the canal. Cross to the other side and use the ladder. In the room, apply the explosive materials to the closed door. Move the elephant and push the fake rock. Unscrew all the screws on the panel. Move the toggles to the locations mentioned in the earlier note (blue — 3 o'clock, green — 9 o'clock, red — 6 o'clock) and cut the wires in this order: green, red, blue.

For your daring deeds, you will be cleared of all charges and readmitted to the Central Intelligence Agency. The identity of McBain's murderer and the mystery of the terrorists' plug in the highest CIA structures will be revealed in the game's extensive ending."