TAIKU MANSION is a point and click horror puzzle game from KITATUS STUDIOS, published by My Way Games and on Steam since 13 February 2017. A voicemail from a friend who died five years earlier sends you to the mansion, the front door jams shut behind you, and a voice demands your death unless you get out by dawn. It is short, strictly linear, and sits near 60 percent positive across fewer than 100 Steam reviews.
This walkthrough takes you from your first session to endgame content. Each phase has specific goals, priorities, and milestones. New to the game? Start with our beginner's guide first.
Quick Progression Summary
| Phase | Area | Focus | Build | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Start | Opening room with the fireplace | Point and click room navigation basics | Screenshot mapper | 1-2 hours |
| 2. Early | The piano room | Self contained puzzle rooms mastery | Screenshot mapper | 3-5 hours |
| 3. Mid | The keypad room | One fixed solution order + gear | Note taker or Screenshot mapper | 5-10 hours |
| 4. Late | The lights out room | Build optimization | Note taker | 5-10 hours |
| 5. Endgame | The spike maze | Min-max | Note taker or Achievement hunter | Ongoing |
See our maps guide for detailed area breakdowns.
Phase 1: Getting Started (Opening room with the fireplace)
Where the front door jams behind you. The Activator is tucked near the chimney and the room exists mainly to teach you that objects hide in scenery rather than in highlighted hotspots.
Level/Difficulty: Opening minutes Key Rewards: The Activator, plus the click interface explained by doing
What to Do in Opening room with the fireplace
- Learn Point and click room navigation. Movement runs through a simplified click interface rather than free walking, and the store copy openly credits classic text adventure structure. Spend your first session getting comfortable with this.
- Pick Screenshot mapper as your starting build. See our builds guide for why.
- Open a text file before you start and paste the four fixed answers into it: piano LMRMLMR, keypad 537, grid down right up left down left up right, and 140.15. Every one of them is a lookup rather than something the mansion teaches you, and having them ready turns a frustrating evening into a 90 minute session.
- Acquire your first equipment upgrade: The piano or whatever's available.
- Clear all main content before moving on.
Phase 1 Checklist
- Understand Point and click room navigation fundamentals
- Screenshot mapper selected and functional
- Opening room with the fireplace main content cleared
- Ready for The piano room
Phase 2: Early Game (The piano room)
One instrument, three usable keys and no written clue. The sequence left, middle, right, middle, left, middle, right is the whole puzzle, and community guides are the only reliable source for it.
Level/Difficulty: Early run Key Rewards: Progress to the next locked door
What to Do in The piano room
- Work on Self contained puzzle rooms. Each space holds one puzzle that resolves on its own terms: a piano sequence, a three digit keypad, a nine square lights out grid, a spike corridor. This system becomes critical from here on.
- Farm for The piano if you haven't already. It's the key upgrade for this phase.
- Search the opening room around the chimney rather than the furniture. The Activator is the first item and it is placed in scenery detail, which sets the pattern for how this game hides things: quiet, unhighlighted, and easy to click past three times.
- Complete all objectives before pushing to The keypad room.
- Consider whether Note taker might suit your playstyle better than Screenshot mapper.
Phase 2 Checklist
- Self contained puzzle rooms integrated into gameplay
- The piano acquired
- The piano room fully cleared
- Ready for The keypad room
Phase 3: Mid Game (The keypad room)
A code panel driven by plus sign buttons that step each digit upward. Set 537 and it opens. Players who try to reverse engineer the number from the room usually give up first.
Level/Difficulty: Early run Key Rewards: Progress, and a reminder that this game does not always plant its clues
What to Do in The keypad room
- Master One fixed solution order. Community walkthroughs describe roughly ten numbered steps with no optional paths and no alternate solutions, apart from a single branch around step 7. This unlocks a new layer of gameplay.
- Start working toward The Activator. It's the best equipment and becomes accessible around now.
- Treat the piano as a sequence you enter in one go. Wrong presses reset the order, so tapping keys to see what happens costs more time than simply reading the seven note order off a note and entering it cleanly.
- This area is the main skill check. If you can clear it, you're ready for late game.
- Start investing in Sound led atmosphere for the tactical depth you'll need going forward.
Phase 3 Checklist
- One fixed solution order mastered
- The Activator acquired or in progress
- The keypad room fully cleared
- Ready for The lights out room
Phase 4: Late Game (The lights out room)
A nine square toggle panel. There is also a separate grid movement puzzle in the run, solved with the input order down, right, up, left, down, left, up, right, which players routinely confuse with this one.
Level/Difficulty: Mid run Key Rewards: Progress, and the game's only real logic puzzle
What to Do in The lights out room
- Finalize your build. You should be running Note taker or Screenshot mapper with optimized gear.
- The Activator should be your primary. If you don't have it yet, prioritize getting it.
- The keypad increments with plus signs, so getting to 537 means stepping each digit up rather than typing. Cycle past the target if you overshoot; nothing punishes a wrong number, and there is no lockout.
- Escape before dawn framing optimization starts here. Small improvements compound into massive advantages.
- Farm this area for the resources needed to push into The spike maze.
Phase 4 Checklist
- Build fully optimized
- The Activator upgraded to max
- The lights out room fully cleared
- Ready for The spike maze
Phase 5: Endgame (The spike maze)
A hazard corridor with spikes on the wrong routes. It is short, it is the one place you can actually die, and it exists mainly to change the pacing before the final stretch.
Level/Difficulty: Late run Key Rewards: The approach to the ending sequence
What to Do in The spike maze
- The spike maze tests everything. Come prepared with your best build and gear.
- Do not confuse the nine square lights out panel with the separate grid movement puzzle. They look similar in screenshots, but one is a toggle logic puzzle and the other is a directional input string, and swapping the two answers is the most common reason a run stalls.
- The endgame loop: run The spike maze, optimize gear, push harder content.
- Experiment with Achievement hunter for a fresh take once you've mastered the standard builds.
- This is where Escape before dawn framing mastery separates good players from great ones. See our tips guide for advanced strategies.
Phase 5 Checklist
- Endgame content on farm
- Best-in-slot gear acquired
- The spike maze fully cleared
- Ready for challenge content
Common Progression Mistakes
- Trying to derive the keypad code from clues in the room when 537 is never signposted anywhere in the mansion
- Tapping piano keys experimentally, which resets the seven note sequence every time and burns the clock
- Mixing up the lights out grid answer with the directional grid movement answer because both are described as grid puzzles
- Backtracking through cleared rooms looking for optional items in a game that is a single fixed line
- Grinding for hours on the 140.15 puzzle, which multiple community guides describe as unsolvable from in game information
Key Tips for Smooth Progression
- Open a text file before you start and paste the four fixed answers into it: piano LMRMLMR, keypad 537, grid down right up left down left up right, and 140.15. Every one of them is a lookup rather than something the mansion teaches you, and having them ready turns a frustrating evening into a 90 minute session.
- Search the opening room around the chimney rather than the furniture. The Activator is the first item and it is placed in scenery detail, which sets the pattern for how this game hides things: quiet, unhighlighted, and easy to click past three times.
- Treat the piano as a sequence you enter in one go. Wrong presses reset the order, so tapping keys to see what happens costs more time than simply reading the seven note order off a note and entering it cleanly.
- The keypad increments with plus signs, so getting to 537 means stepping each digit up rather than typing. Cycle past the target if you overshoot; nothing punishes a wrong number, and there is no lockout.
- Do not confuse the nine square lights out panel with the separate grid movement puzzle. They look similar in screenshots, but one is a toggle logic puzzle and the other is a directional input string, and swapping the two answers is the most common reason a run stalls.
For more advanced strategies, see our tips & tricks guide.
More TAIKU MANSION Guides
- TAIKU MANSION TAIKU MANSION Overview
- TAIKU MANSION Best Builds
- TAIKU MANSION Tier List
- TAIKU MANSION Beginner's Guide
- TAIKU MANSION Tips & Tricks
- TAIKU MANSION Weapons Guide
- TAIKU MANSION Combat Guide
- TAIKU MANSION Boss Guide
- TAIKU MANSION Maps & Locations
- TAIKU MANSION Crafting Guide
- TAIKU MANSION Classes & Characters
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