Puzzles in Horripilant can actually be pretty enjoyable, but some of them are definitely confusing. This guide is meant to help if you get stuck or simply don’t feel like figuring everything out yourself.
To progress through puzzles, you’ll need to collect various items. Some are found in non-combat areas, while others come from the dungeon at specific floors. For the sake of this guide, dungeon items are treated as things you’ll naturally obtain just by progressing, since most of them drop during deeper runs.
Early on, the main way to advance puzzle progress is simply pushing deeper into the dungeon.
The Camp
In the camp, there are two doors that can be opened using keys. There’s also another locked door behind the Equipment Shop on the left side near the gear stand.
Key locations are scattered around. Some examples include:
- Extinguishing the fire to obtain a key
- Using the lantern to light up the pile in the backroom
- Picking up barrels in the camp
- Navigating the crack beyond camp with the lantern and choosing the safe path
Once you go through the passage beyond the crack, you’ll eventually reach three doors. The middle door is the first one to open. Inside is an NPC who provides some help if you’re lost.
These doors open using inscriptions. Make sure to input them as soon as you obtain them.
You can also use the lantern to collect an item in the backroom behind the Equipment Shop near the Familiar Creature.
Inscriptions and the Mirror Room
The room with the mirror allows you to input inscriptions. You’ll need the correct stone symbols for this, all of which are found in the dungeon.
To input an inscription, place the symbols in the correct sequence and press the center area. If successful, you’ll receive a message that something has changed, and then you can check nearby areas.
Crowbar and Dynamite Usage
The crowbar can be used on two objects in camp:
Barrels – using it on cracked barrels gives you dynamite.
Coffins – opening them reveals new passageways.
Dynamite can be used in the sewer room to break a wall and access the Ghost room and a locked staircase.
In the coffin passage, you’ll need to build a bridge to reach the Angel Statues. This costs resources and isn’t urgent early on.
One statue item is found deep in the dungeon around floor 800, while the other unlocks later through puzzle progression.
Left Door Puzzle Area
Once you access the left door via the crack, you’ll encounter a puzzle. Solving it grants access to a trader where you can exchange resources for a Prestige multiplier.
Nearby is also a device you’ll need later.
The Ghost Puzzle
To deal with the Ghost:
Pull the lever near the trader device to activate water flow.
Sacrifice a familiar on the spike.
Buy the Skull Amulet from the equipment store.
Enter the Ghost room and use the amulet while blood and water are active.
This causes the ghost to disappear and rewards you with a new inscription.
Enter the inscription and a new room becomes accessible through the camp crack.
The Spider Web Puzzle
Inside the new area, you’ll encounter a web.
Hold click to remove it, but doing so attracts the spider. To avoid it, open the map for a few seconds so the spider moves away.
Repeat this until the web is cleared and the spider disappears.
Mushroom Statue Puzzle
Afterward, you’ll reach a strange room with a mushroom statue.
The statue has two sockets for round gems. The active gem determines the room’s effects.
You need to remember the sequence shown on the nearby table and replicate it by traveling between map areas.
Green Eye sequence:
Top → Middle → Middle → Right → Left → Bottom
Mirror Dimension
In the mirror world, everything appears inverted.
There’s a pile requiring more light, and a mirror room that lets you return to the normal world and provides another inscription.
A left doorway leads to upside-down sewers and another room with a ceiling hole.
You’ll need a ladder to reach the hole and remove vines blocking something out of reach.
Eyes Room Puzzle
A portal leads to a room filled with eyes.
You can place a metal rod on a pedestal here. At first it won’t do anything.
Return to the normal world, input the new inscription, and a new door opens.
Well and Blue Eye Puzzle
You can now access the staircase on the right side of camp after paying 20 million stone.
This leads to a room with a well.
Blue Eye sequence:
Bottom → Bottom → Right → Right → Left → Top
Using this sequence unlocks another trader who exchanges Hemolith for various bonuses.
Green Symbols Puzzle
Beyond the bridge near the trader, there’s a green painting symbol puzzle.
Solving it leads to a path selection area. Using the lantern reveals the safe path.
Completing this brings you back to the mirror camp with a new crack in the wall leading to another trader.
You also obtain a rope during this sequence.
Coin and Bell Puzzle
Extinguish the fire in the normal camp to reveal fire in the mirror dimension.
This allows you to collect a coin from the mirror camp pile.
Drop the coin into the well in the normal world to receive another inscription.
This unlocks a room containing a bell. Using the rope on it allows you to ring the bell and obtain a saw.
Sewer and Crank Puzzle
With water running in the normal world, use the saw in mirror sewers.
Turn water off afterward to retrieve the crank.
Install the crank on the normal world well and use it.
Torch Puzzle
Return to the mirror dimension ladder area to collect a metal rod.
Place it in the eyes room pedestal and interact to receive a torch.
Return to the angel statues and give the left statue the torch.
Final Door and Boss
To obtain the final inscription, save the game and return to the main menu. The inscription decrypts on the right side of the screen.
Enter it above the mirror to unlock the final door.
To fight the boss, you must clear floors 1–1000 in a single run without dying.
Once inside, defeat the boss and complete the QTE phase by clicking its eyes to prevent attacks.
After victory, you unlock a new path and must choose one of two endings.
Naturally Skilled Achievement
This requires reaching floor 10 on a fresh save without dying or rebirthing.
Abandoning a run counts as dying.
A reliable strategy is farming floor 1, upgrading storage and equipment, and gradually progressing while ensuring your regeneration exceeds enemy damage.
Looping floors can help build health and bonuses safely.
If you’re about to die, closing the game prevents failure.
Reaching floor 10 unlocks the achievement.
Horripilant Hints for the Riddles
This is a short set of hints that should be enough to help you finish all the riddles in the game. It doesn’t go step-by-step through everything, but it gives you the key pieces you need so you don’t get completely stuck.
Most of this information comes from shared discoveries within the Horripilant community.
1. The Ghost
The ghost can actually be killed.
To do this, you need the instant-kill medallion sold in the equipment shop. Before that will work, two conditions must be met:
You need to sacrifice a pet on the spike.
You also need to turn on the water using the lever.
Once those are done, using the medallion will eliminate the ghost.
2. The Spider Web Room
In the room covered in webs, you’ll notice a spider that keeps getting closer while you try to clear them.
To make it move away, open your map and leave it open for a moment. This causes the spider to retreat.
You still need to shake and tear the webs using your cursor, which will naturally attract the spider again, so you’ll have to repeat the process until everything is cleared.
3. The Mushroom Statue Puzzle
The mushroom statue requires medallions to be inserted into its eye sockets.
On the desk nearby, there is a copy of the map showing a pattern. You need to memorize that pattern and then recreate it by clicking the locations on your map in the same order.
4. The Well Items
The coin is meant to be thrown into the well.
The handle is also used on the well, and once installed, you need to interact with it by clicking it.
To fully understand what’s happening, you should pay attention to changes that occur in the green world.
5. The Angel Code
The angels eventually reveal a code.
This code appears in the main menu, not inside gameplay. To see it, exit to the main menu through the settings instead of closing the game entirely.