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Of The Mind
Complete all of the challenge rooms.
10
How to unlock the Of The Mind achievement in Mark of the Ninja - Definitive Guide
PuckJunkie
TrueAchievements
TrueAchievements
08 May 2013 03:26
For each level after the first one, one of the three scrolls in the level is protected by a challenge room. Below is a list of the locations for each one and a short text guide on how to solve the room. All are protected with spoiler tags in case you only want to see one piece of information.
Below the text guide is a video guide with all of the challenge rooms in one video. He does not show how to get to them, just how to solve them. Except for Level 9 and Level 12, the text and video solutions are largely the same. (I prefer the text solution, especially on level 9, which is far faster.)
Time codes are shown before the video.
"First scroll," "second scroll," and so on refers to at what point in the level you're likely to run into the challenge room.
Level 2, first scroll in the level: Location:
After the transformer, you’ll come to an area with lasers to your right and below you – you have to jump and take out the power boxes with darts. This is immediately after some hanging wires you must deactivate. Past the lasers, a guard is standing to the right of two doorways; in the ceiling, to the left of the guard, is a vent that leads to the first challenge room.
Solution:
Flip the switch you start out next to. Go left, up, and back to the right to find the crate; drag it over the metal trapdoor in the floor just to its left. Back on the bottom story, you’ll find a pressure-sensitive plate in the floor; standing on that will open the trapdoor and allow the crate to fall through. Jump over the crate, over the little pillar, and flip the switch again. Then go push that crate all the way to the left so it’s blocking both sets of lasers; jump up to the second story, climb the left wall to the ceiling, and make your way over to the scroll.
Level 3, second scroll in the level: Location:
After you are introduced to the shielded guard for the first time, drop down and past the dumpster and other guards all the way to the right to find the second challenge room.
Solution:
There are three levers here: top right, top left, and bottom right of the room. You need to pull only the top left and bottom right. Easiest path is to make your way to the bottom right, pull that lever, get back, and then get up the left wall, all while avoiding the lasers. Once you get to the top left lever, you can pull that one and also flip a switch that turns off the left bank of lasers. The scroll is in the structure below you and to your right, entrance on its left side.
*Note that user ZimtKeks, in his own solution, mentions that he did not get this achievement after finishing all the challenge rooms. He states that when he got the third scroll in this level, the achievement unlocked. I haven't seen this mentioned elsewhere, but then most people get all the scrolls as they go, so if you think you should have unlocked this achievement but don't have every scroll, look for this one:
This (possibly alternate) scroll is not guarded by a challenge room. It is located after you move an elevator out of your way, soon after the very short cutscene when you catch up with the courier. Once you've gotten the elevator to move down and you can go up the shaft, you'll be in a room with two pairs of sweeping lasers. In the middle is a grapple point; directly below the grapple point is a vent that leads to the last scroll.
Level 4, third scroll in the level: Location:
While in midst of messing with the gas valves. One of the gas valves is in the center of a room, underneath the chandelier (entering from the elevator shaft, the second room up the right side will have one gas vent, then the vent on the top of that room will lead to this one). The vent leading to the challenge room is to your right as you enter this room from the floor grate.
Solution:
Use your grappling hook three times to move directly right and push the switch in the far right alcove. Back left to the alcove across the way, turn off that switch. The alcove directly above you has the next switch you should flip; grapple around to it or jump climb up. Grapple to the point up and to your right; from there you can hit the power box with a dart, or jump over to it and disable it by pressing B. Back down and to the left to the most recent switch you flipped; push it again so you can go down one level and over to the right side. You’ll go up again and push the switch on your right so you can disable the power box on that side. The switch directly to the right of that power box will turn off the lasers above you. Once you head up there, you can hit the switch on the right and then all the way across on the left to turn off the remaining lasers between you and the scroll, which is above you in the center of the ceiling.
Level 5, first scroll in the level: Location:
In the beginning, you’ll enter a fairly large room that starts with 3 motion sensors you can crawl above and then turn off with a switch on their right side. On the far right side of the room at the bottom, you’ll find the challenge room for this level.
Solution:
Here, you’ll want to push that crate on your right until it’s over a metal trapdoor again. Jump up, clinging to the ceiling, and go all the way to the right so you can hit a power box below you with a dart and disable the laser. If you go back to the left, on the other side of the crate, you’ll see a pressure-sensitive floor plate that will drop the crate down to the level below you. Go to the right, and drop down and around so you’re clinging to the ceiling above the level where the crate is, under where you were just standing. There’s a switch there to flip (press B) that will turn off the laser below you.. Then drop down to the floor, and push the crate to the left until it’s on a pressure-sensitive plate that opens one trap door to its left and another to its right.
Back to the right, jump up and cling to the ceiling again so that you can flip the switch again to reset the laser to where it was before – right below you again. Make your way to the right, up one floor, and to the left and back down past the crate, hanging from the left wall all the way down so you can target the power box on your right with a dart. Then drag the crate back to the right until it’s over the metal trapdoor. Jump over it and stand on the pressure-sensitive plate to drop it down one level. Follow it down, jump to the right and make your way along this ceiling all the way right until you can flip a switch to turn off the laser below you. Then simply push the crate left onto a plate that turns off the rest of the lasers, and jump over it to go get the scroll.
Level 6, third scroll: Location:
Right after you enter the catacombs, you’ll kill your first catacomb guard. Go all the way to the left, drop down, move a crate out of your way, and keep heading left until you get to the challenge room.
Solution:
Drop directly down to the first grapple point below you, then dangle below it until you can dart the power box on the right. That opens up areas to your right and left, both of which have grapple points above you. Jump to the right and grapple up in midair, then take out the junction box next to you. Dangle down from there until you can grapple back to your starting point; jump left and grapple up to take out the power box on the left (you’ll have to spider-dangle to be able to hit it).
Drop directly down to the grapple point beneath you, and dangle until you can take out the junction box on the left. At this point, you can drop directly down from the starting point (not dangling, drop) and freeze time midair to hit the last junction box on your right. You have to time this pretty well, but you get to freeze time whenever you want, so too early is better than too late. This junction box removes the laser you’re falling toward, so don’t miss. Assuming you’re still in one piece, you’ll land on a grapple point you can dangle from to reach the scroll.
Level 7, second scroll: Location:
In the area where you can ride a crate upward to the top of a shaft, there is a single guard on the left of that shaft standing on a balcony. You don’t have to ride the crate to get here; climb up without it. One of the jumps if you go up without the crate will require you to run and then jump; when you do that, the guard will be directly above you. You’ll come up between him and a vent on his left; that vent leads to a challenge room. Bonus: going up without using the crate at all somehow counts as “never getting off the crate” for one of the seals in this level.
Solution:
Start the crate above you moving by throwing the lever next to you. Immediately grapple up to it and stay underneath it. After you’ve passed the first laser, move to the top. After the second laser, move to the right. The crate will the block one laser coming from your left, then another. As soon as it is about to be blocking the second laser, jump off the crate and fall quickly down the channel on your right. Immediately move left a few steps to take out both of the power junctions above you on your left with darts before the crate blocks them, then when it’s safe, grapple back onto the crate and move to its left side.
When it’s safe to do so, get on the bottom side until you pass one laser, then move to the left until you can go back on the bottom side. Back to the left once you’ve passed that little area, and once the crate starts moving up again and you’ve gotten past the horizontal laser at the bottom, go on the bottom and then the right side. Jump off when the crate starts to move horizontally again and go far right and down to get the scroll.
Level 8, second scroll: Location:
After you’re introduced to elite guards, the second one you see will be talking to a regular guard. Both of them are standing under a conveniently-placed chandelier. Move past a crate and some lasers, past an upgrade flag, and to the far right vent in the ceiling to find the challenge room.
Solution:
Grab the first guard corpse and take him with you to the right to shut off any lasers in your way, dropping him in place to shut off the last laser. There’s another corpse on the far right, grab it and throw it off the right side. Go back left and drag the first corpse over to the grate in the floor. Drop him through it (down+B) and follow him in. Drag him right, throw him down again, and join him on the second level. Drag him to the left and drop him in place to keep that laser off, then go up through the vent above you to get around the door. Take out the power box in that room. Go past the guard you just put in place, grab the other one that is a bit to the right, and drag him all the way into the room and throw him onto the pressure switch.
Go right, jump over the hole and grab the guard on the other side to throw him down to ground level. Drop down to ground level yourself. You now have four guard corpses right here. You should position the first three so that each one keeps one of the sweeping lasers on your left off at all times; one in the middle of each sweeping area will do it. Take the fourth guard and throw him through the electrified area on the left to turn off the last laser. Go back right, grapple up to the ceiling, and go left until you can drop down onto the scroll.
Level 9, second scroll: Location:
After you take the first key, the door that it opens will be above you – you’ll have to go outside, up, and then to the left. Instead, go outside, all the way up, and to the right, where a vent will take you to another challenge room.
Solution:
Drop down one level and throw the lever. This starts the device to your left moving. Go left and stand next to that laser until the device has come all the way back and is headed left again; run with it past that laser and again past the next one. At the far left lever, you want to throw it so that the device is as far left as it gets – there should be a small space between it and the laser to its right. Jump up through that space, go left and throw the lever in the top left-hand corner. Go back down, throw the lever to start the device moving again, and once again follow it back to the right. Once you’re past those two lasers, jump down all the way to the ground floor and get the scroll on the bottom right – ignoring something like two-thirds of this level. Sweet.
Level 10, first or third scroll (depends on path taken): Location:
If you go underground at the first opportunity, go left as far as you can to find the vent and the challenge room. Alternatively, if you went above ground first and are returning via the underground passage, you’ll get the sumi, then keep moving left. When you get to the point where you can go back up to the surface, instead stay underground and move left to find the vent leading to the challenge room.
Solution:
Go straight up through the hole above you and grapple to the nearest point on your right. IMMEDIATELY jump left. If you land on the wall, great, stay there; if you land on the balcony next to you, crouch by pushing down on your joystick. Darts will fly above you. Once it’s clear, throw the lever on that balcony.
Here’s where it gets odd. Half the time I got new darts, and half the time I didn’t. Jump back to that grapple point you just came from, then grapple right, up, left, and then jump left to the upper balcony. If darts come out, you can sometimes avoid them if you spider-dangle quickly enough, but if I followed that pattern they didn’t usually come back out. Once you’ve thrown the upper lever, go back down one story and throw the lever below you again to retract the spikes. Jump down where the spikes were and throw the switch there. It is now safe to go back to your starting point and grapple straight right across to the lever next to the scroll door and throw it to open the door.
Level 11, second scroll: Location:
As you exit the second underground area, you’ll get a splash title “Path to the Hills”. There is a vent up the hill, in the ground, to your right. The challenge room is here.
Solution:
These are getting tedious. Go all the way to the left, where you see a wheel you can turn. Ignore it for now and grapple straight up. Serenity straight left from there to the far left switch, which turns off the swinging blade, then walk right and throw the other lever. Back down, turn the wheel until the block is all the way down, then ride it up. Jump off to the right at the top and pull another lever right there. Go through the vent above you, on the other side of it throw yet another lever.
Wait next to the door, watching the spikes coming at you, until you feel comfortable opening the door and timing a Serenity jump at the second hiding spot. Wait until another set of spikes pass, then use the push-right+B maneuver to swing to the next hiding spot. Repeat, then Serenity over into the little pit to the right. Go through the vent on your left, and find one more lever waiting for you. Throw it and drop back down to where you started. On this level you’ve now opened up three areas above you, each with a trap. Go all the way to the left, target it with a dart, and run as soon as you hit it. Repeat with the other two. If you feel nervous about getting hit by the falling trap, you can use your dart and Serenity away in the same move. Once all three are down, they’ll be sitting on pressure plates that keep doors below open. Drop down to the ground floor, throw one final lever to open the door next to you, and run left. Don’t dawdle; spikes come up and blow up the traps, releasing the doors and cutting you off. All the way to the left is your scroll. I never had an issue just running, but if a door is coming down, Serenity past it as far as you can reach.
Level 12, first scroll: Location:
The second time you see a train, you can go left or right. Left leads you to the rest of the level; right leads you to the challenge room. You’ll be clinging to the ceiling as trains pass under you; their lights will illuminate a light-sensitive stone that you can only move through when it’s lit. As soon as light from an oncoming train hits it, drop down immediately and move through the vent under it as quickly as possible. It’s not as bad as it sounds; just wait until you see the outline of the stone ripple, then push down and start hammering the A button.
Solution:
Serenity over to the middle, where a wheel awaits you. Turn it so the light above shines on the lower left door. Serenity through that area to the far left, past the machine guarded by lasers (you can do this in one jump if you’re close to the laser on your side). Throw this lever. Serenity back to the wheel in the middle and turn it so the light shines on the mask on the right side. Teleport over to that side, where the lasers no longer guard the machine, and disable the machine, and throw the switch to its right. Back to the wheel, where you want to move it so it now shines on the left mask. Teleport over to the left, disable that machine.
Back to the middle. Break the lamp above you with a dart, then jump up and teleport to the side of either of the stones in the middle. From there, you can jump up and grapple to the grapple point below the scroll above you, and grab it for your achievement.
Credit for the guide goes to Todd Schlickbernd as well as the youtube uploader SpockRMC
So long
3
0
28 Apr 2013 09:00
ZimtKeks
TrueAchievements
TrueAchievements
24 Jun 2013 08:44
It's not true that each level contains one challenge room.
I completed all challenge rooms described above and achievement didn't unlock.
On the map "The Trail of Shadow" I found an extra "challenge room". It's regular room on the map, not special room with Tori (traditional Japanese gate). When I picked up scroll in this room an achievement unlocked.
1
0
24 Jun 2013 08:44
1 Comment
I got the achievement here too. Odd thing was, I hadn't actually finished all the "proper" challenge rooms.
The challenge rooms are the puzzle rooms listed under the "Haiku" achievement. Completing each room will grant you a scroll, and put you one room closer to this achievement. Generally speaking, they are meant to test your ability to maneuver in tight environments, while also sometimes solving a minor puzzle. It would be best to just follow my guide for "Haiku", however I did label the challenge room scrolls a bit differently (! - ) in case you missed a room and need to go back for just that. They are also included in the videos posted for "Haiku".
PuckJunkie
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