Zork Nemesis - Complete Solution

By now you will probably have wandered around the Zork world, looked about a 
little, saved a few times and more than likely become hopelessly stuck at some 
point. It’s a tricky game, and this time we’re going to approach the solution from 
a different angle. Instead of giving you a step-by-step guide, we’re going to tell 
you how to solve the individual puzzles. The exploration is up to you and the 
order in which you complete your tasks is frequently flexible.

The Start
The first thing to do is move towards the temple and open the double doors by 
going to the door on the left and dragging the knocker up so that the moon 
completely surrounds the sun. Well, how else would you knock on a door? This 
will lead you to the library. Read the six books on the bench and either make 
some notes or remember where they are, because you’ll need to refer back to 
them. There are some panels here, as well, which will slide back to reveal the 
entry point to the fire pavilion.  Moving on you will find the courtyard with a 
fountain in it. This connects the library, the ruined deck, the hallway and the lab. 
You can play with the fountains to get some rather interesting effects. If you go to 
the ruined deck, you will see a sundial. Look a little closer and you will be able to 
get the spike from it. The lab is a more important place to go, though. It contains 
the scroll and this is possibly the most important item in the entire game. Get 
some paper and copy down the first page of it verbatim. It gives you the 
relationship between the four metals, planets and elements and provides the 
(albeit obscure) clues to breaking most of the puzzles you will face later on.
Now that you’ve got the feel of the game go back to the library and move towards 
the panel. Click the left side of the first panel, the right of the second, the right of 
the third (this time twice) and finally the left of the fourth. Enter and turn the 
man’s head so that it points to the fire symbol (the triangle), as this will open the 
first door. The spike that you picked up from the sundial will open the second 
door; just put it in the new sundial and twist it until the newly formed shadow falls 
on the Saturnax symbol.  When you get to the flame puzzle hang the mirror on the 
hooks and look at it. One of the flames will have turned blue and this is the one 
that needs your closer attention. It’s the one on the second row, 12 from the 
right as you enter. All this deals with your search for the fire element. Next is air, 
although the order in which you complete the elements is unimportant.
Go to the temple and walk between the four coffins, past the right of the altar and 
to the right. In this horns and stars room play the horn. What you need to do is 
turn off all the purple stars from left to right and click in the centre blue star. 
Simple. Now move onto the gas globe. Face the globe and take a step right. Face 
the globe and press on the black scarab to close the windows so you can use the 
levers. Go back to the levers and from left to right set them so that they are all, 
half, all, all and none. That’s air sorted.  Next stop is the flute and fountain room 
for the water element. This is on the left, past the four coffins. You should find a 
flute player and seven fountains. Each fountain plays a note which will match the 
flute player.  The way to match everything up, and sort out those weird stairs that 
lead nowhere, is to turn on the first, fourth and fifth fountains (from left to right), 
then go up the left doorway steps.  You will now be in the chair room. Click on 
the hourglass to make the chair appear. Sit in it, obviously, and spin twice (720 
degrees) to the left. Go forward and pick up the saw that you will see. Return to 
your seat and spin three complete times to the left. Now you can cut the icicle 
with the saw. Go back to the chair and make two complete spins to the right, in 
case you weren’t dizzy enough already. Move forward and click on the bowl 
containing the water. That’s it, water puzzle solved. Click the coffin which is 
touched by the sunbeam and listen. That’s the water element found.
To get the earth element go to the stairway to the left of the altar. When you see 
the fist lock, lift the first and sixth finger (from left to right) to open the door. 
When you are faced with the mine car (bizarre as it is to find one in a temple) 
click on the upper right square on the contraption next to it. Now ride the car. The 
end of the first section of Zork Nemesis is upon you.  Go to the room with the 
planets and pull the left lever to the end of the horizontal T. Put the globe in the 
scope on the arm and go back to the lever. Push it so that it’s at the top of the T. 
Now go to the room with the model of the planets in it. Move the handle on the 
dial to the right. This is how you locate and travel to the different worlds. 9.15 on 
the dial is Malveaux, 11.00 is Sophia, 2.30 is Sartorius and 1.15 is Kaine.

The Asylum
The X-ray machine is how you can see inside the locked box and find part of the 
combination. Put the object to be scanned in the box and pull the yellow lever. 
Find the row of heads and get a fifth head from the basement near them. Put this 
head on the spare spike and use the buttons by it to access its memory.  Take the 
silver box and place it in the X-ray machine you used previously. Write the 
numbers down and use them with the three numbers you got from the head.
Place the safe in the X-ray machine by the freezer and get the two numbers. 
Connect them with the three from the head. You can now open the safe. Get the 
jar and get rid of the contents. You will now find the key inside. Use this key to 
operate the elevator, but don’t leave the doors open when you ride it. On the right-
hand panel of the elevator press the red button to turn it on and the upper-left to 
close the doors. The key on the left-hand panel will take you to a new floor. When 
it stops, open the doors.  Find the three handles and pull them in order from left to 
right. Now move to the drawers at the end of the morgue. The ones to the right of 
the machine hold your puzzle. In the third row from the bottom, fourth from the 
left drawer, is a body. Take it to the table and operate the machine. Wait for it to 
do its gruesome deed and pick your new surprise.
Move on to the electric chair. Move the lever to the right and sit in the chair 
(shocking). This will allow you access to Sartorius’ chamber. Walk up to the 
keypad and break the glass in the case to the left. Steal the hand and use it on the 
keypad to unlock this door. A hammer is on the bed on floor 21, get it and break 
the glass case, and then use it again to get the hand. You will now be faced with 
another model. Push the button on the base of the model to lower a ladder. This 
model controls the lab on the 22nd floor. When it is on, the lab is up, and when 
it’s off, the lab is down.  Use the reflex hammer to break the glass in the hand 
display cabinet. In the lab, fill the sink with water and then pull the lever to drain 
the water into the batteries. This will charge them up.  When they’re fully charged 
throw the switch to receive a shock. Now you need to burn pure hydrogen and the 
colourless gas inside the globe. Melt the metal then ignite the hydrogen and 
oxygen to make water that will get rid of any impurities. Then hit the helium 
switch to lift the globe, allowing you to take the purified metal.

The Castle
Go to the desk and take the nitro bottle from the left-hand drawer. Click on the 
lock on the chest to blow it away with the nitro. Look at the poem in the desk. It 
will tell you how many visors should be up on the suits of armour. Now go to the 
easel and use the brush to wipe out what’s on it. You will now see a list. Now it’s 
time to get a bit nasty and use the gunpowder to get past the dog that’s waiting for 
you downstairs.  Go to the pool room and press three, then five. When the shot is 
made look at the ball return slot to find the order of numbers for another puzzle. 
Then it’s on to those knights in shining armour. The guy with the pointy kneecaps 
and slotted visor should have it down, the one with the shield and blue plume 
should have his visor up, the one with the red trim should be up, the dark grey 
knight should be down and the samurai should be down. You can now go into the 
dungeon.  The old soldier won’t let you out until you send him the coded 
instructions over the radio in the diorama room. Go to the fireplace room and get 
the sword. Put it into the scabbard to get into the weapons room. Put the 
Thaddium into the Thaddium Energy Diverter next to it so that you can carry it. 
Take it to the tank outside the castle to power it. 
Go to the dungeon room and take the sword handle from the table and put it next 
to the blade over the fire to make a new full sword. Now find the dog. Click on 
his ear to load the bones. Open up the back end to load the gunpowder you got 
from upstairs. Close the back end and click on the tail. This will open the doors 
for you.  The code to get past the old soldier is 10 - distraction, 1 - build bridge, 9 
- split troops, 6 - infiltrate and 12 - verify message. You will now be able to get to 
the tank. Place the TED in the blue tube at the back of the tank. Enter the numbers 
from the pool table into the control panel of the tank. Click on the handle to the 
right to go to the alchemy lab. In order to get back to the castle eventually, click 
all the numbers back to zeros.
When you’re in the lab press the shape of Kaine’s sign on to the centre squares 
and then place it in the right position on the darker squares on the right. When 
you’re done, click on the right-hand handle to get the mould. To get the correct 
temperature press the red button on the right to start the whole process. Press the 
four white buttons on the bottom, along with the white one at the top left. You’ll 
hear a bell and a voice. Go now to the processor and place the mould into the 
brown box. Take the iron with the arm and use the fan.

The Conservatory
In Sophia’s office take the tuning fork from the box on the table and put it on the 
piano. Match the tone of the fork to the keys. When you match it look inside the 
piano to get a key. This will allow you to turn on the desk lamp. The 16th white 
key is the one you want to press. Get the last two records and take them to the 
practice room. Use them on the record player. You must place all the instruments 
onto the chairs in the proper arrangement according to the chart on the wall. 
You’ll also need to listen to the records.  Go upstairs to Alexandria’s room and 
get the last poster from the poster book on her bed. Place it over the 
torn poster by the auditorium to get the ticket from the booth. Go and sit in box C 
(it’s on the second level, near the middle). After you’ve gone to box C and seen 
the FMV sequence, come back downstairs. You have to use the baton to ‘cue’ the 
sections where the instruments are sitting in the correct sequence to generate 
the traditional fanfare. From the records the sequence is: popperkeg, nambino, 
popperkeg, wertmizer, violin. The instruments aren’t laid out exactly like in the 
practice room. When you’ve done this you have access to the stage.
Go to the control panel and click the red button. Then click on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th 
and 6th buttons. You can now get backstage. Stand to the right of the swan and 
pull the cord. Get inside it and click the crank, you can now jump into the drum. 
When you have the locket place it on the second lever from the left. 
Remember this: when you get to the underwater room you can get out by going 
through the door under the clock. This is where you get the locket to stick on the 
lever. To get back upstairs from the boiler room go to the dark doorway, which 
will take you to the lobby.  Back in the office, when you turn on the lamp it will 
show you the process for making metal. After you’ve done the trick with the lever 
in the boiler room you can use the green crystal to seed the boiling solution. 
You can then purify with the tablet from the green fish. Click on the blue crystals 
to create the harmony of the sphere, which will in turn shatter the giant crystal in 
the boiling solution. Remember, when the pool is boiling, the ingredients are all in 
the lamp upstairs. So to clear this part, put the locket on the second lever, add the 
green crystal to the boiling solution in the lab, add the tablet from the fish and 
click on the blue crystals in this order: C, D, E, B and G.

The Monastery
Face the front door and turn 90 degrees to the right. Now go down the burglar’s 
tunnel. When you need to return to the temple go to the spinning planet and carry 
on down to the end of the path. Look down at the sunlight and get the coin. Put it 
in the donation box.  Go back to the monastery. When you turn away from the 
front door you will see some masks. Put the plaques in this order: two eyes and 
wide open mouth, two eyes and crooked mouth, straight horizontal line, a tooth 
and suspicious eyes. They should start on the left and run clockwise. The masks 
will now speak, and you must remember what they say. Move onto the bell and 
pull the levers in this order: 1st from left on the top row, 2nd from right on top 
row, 1st from right on top row, 4th from right on bottom row, middle top row and 
2nd from left on the top row. The rope of the seventh bell will now come down.  
Go to Malveaux’s bed and look in the bookcase. One of the books will move to 
open a passage. Follow this passage to return to the bedroom. Find the lens in the 
office and bring it back to the book on the bed. Place the lens on the book to read 
it. Make a note of what is written. In Alexandria’s room click on the sheet 
music on the stand.  Now move onto the lock with the symbols on it. Each of the 
glyphs represents a letter. All you have to do is substitute row for row. Click on 
the appropriate glyphs and the dial will turn. Move on to the relics room.  Open 
the stone clam and press any of the buttons inside to deactivate the alarm system 
and open up the catacombs. Get the torch from the corner of the relics room. Get 
the red hem from the relics room and put it in the middle of the shield. The relics 
room is left from the clamshell. Search the catacombs for Yoruk’s shield. It’ll be 
in his crypt. Stick the gem in it and hold it in front of you as you walk through the 
fire. Now throw it into the middle of the flames.
When you come to the skulls make sure they face these directions from left to 
right: straight ahead, far left, right centre, left centre and far right. Now go to the 
lab. Put the metal strip into the compressor machine and spin it into a ball. There 
is a panel behind the machine. You need to open it and put the key you got from 
the table in the slot. Use the lever to open the compressor and put the strip inside. 
Drop the grey ball from the metal into a basket and boil away all the impurities.
Now you will have a white ball that fits into the Lion’s mouth. First turn on the 
lava pipe to start the flames.  The flames need to be set from top to bottom: blue, 
yellow, red, orange and white. After you put the ball in the mouth blow on the 
metal with the bellows. You’re almost there now. Don’t drink from the cup and 
don’t quit- this way you’ll get past this bit. Also, don’t try to leave the alchemist’s 
ceremony with the ring. Put the ring on the rusty red hand. You can find it by 
stopping the water in the fountains.  Go beneath the temple and stand by the 
demon with the glass bowl and move straight towards the burial figure. Cycle 
through your inventory to find Lucien’s ring and click on the other ring to make 
two. Place them in the plate in front of the dragon and touch the triangle. Put the 
molten rings in front of the elephant and touch the triangle again. Get the fat 
quintessence and put it in front of the snake to crush the metal.  Then put the 
metal in front of the demon and turn left. Move towards the door. Look towards 
the ceiling and give the metal mace to the demon. Now go to the four coffins and 
look down. Throw the Quintessence on Alexandria to defeat them. You’ve 
completed the weirdest game ever.