Stories Untold Tips - Spoiler-Light Puzzle Habits

This guide covers Stories Untold, the 2017 horror adventure anthology by No Code and Devolver Digital. It is not a guide for Lovecraft’s Untold Stories, Ara: History Untold, or any similarly titled game.

Content warning: Stories Untold is a mature horror game with alcohol reference, blood, strong language, and violence descriptors. This guide keeps details non-graphic and focuses on puzzle habits, interface reading, and spoiler-light play.

Stories Untold works best when you treat every screen, sound, manual page, and piece of desk equipment as part of the puzzle. The game mixes text adventure input, point-and-click interaction, lab-style calibration, radio work, and short first-person moments across four episodes. The exact answers are the fun, so this guide avoids puzzle inputs, codes, episode twists, and solution routes.

Essential Tips

1. Play It Like Four Connected Experiments

Stories Untold is built as four short episodes, each with its own setting and interaction style. Do not assume the first episode teaches every rule. It teaches you to read text, type or select commands, and watch the room around the interface. Later episodes ask for a different kind of patience: checking manuals, cross-referencing displays, listening closely, and switching between work areas.

The safest spoiler-light mindset is simple: learn the current episode’s tools before trying to solve the whole story. If the desk changes, the rule set probably changed too.

2. Keep Real Notes Beside You

Use a notebook, phone note, or clean scratch document. Write down names, numbers, frequencies, code words, repeated symbols, machine labels, and anything the game presents like a procedure. Do not rely on memory when a puzzle asks you to move between a reference screen and an active device.

Good notes should be short and readable. Separate them by episode or station, and do not overwrite old values until you are sure they no longer matter. A wrong note is usually worse than no note, so mark uncertain details with a question mark.

3. Read the Entire Workspace

The monitor is not always the whole game. Stories Untold often places clues in the physical environment around the screen: desk objects, equipment labels, room changes, sounds, lights, and readable reference material. Before entering commands or turning dials, pause and look at what is nearby.

When something changes, give the scene a few seconds. A sound cue, visual flicker, or new object state may explain what your last action actually did.

4. Preserve the Episode Order

Even when individual stories feel self-contained, play them in the order the game presents. The structure is part of the experience, and later material gains meaning from earlier episodes. This guide stays spoiler-light, but the safest player habit is to avoid jumping around or reading late-game walkthrough sections until you have finished the sequence yourself.

5. Use Headphones If You Can

The game leans heavily on atmosphere, voice, equipment sounds, radio noise, and reaction cues. Headphones make it easier to separate background mood from useful information. They also help when a puzzle expects careful listening rather than brute force.

If you use speakers, keep the volume high enough to hear quiet changes. If subtitles or audio options are available on your platform, check them before a long session.

Platform and Controls

Stories Untold plays differently depending on platform. On PC and Mac, the original design uses mouse interaction and typed keyboard phrases. That means command wording matters. Use clear, simple verbs and nouns, and avoid elaborate sentences when a direct command will do.

On console versions, text entry was redesigned around selecting actions and objects rather than typing every word. On Switch, the input menu appears as an action/object system, and some episodes also ask you to switch between a reference area and an active area. This changes the friction, not the puzzle logic: you are still combining a verb-like action with the right object or using reference material to operate equipment.

Because button prompts and menus can vary by platform, learn the local controls in the first few minutes. Find how to interact with desk objects, bring up the input menu, switch views, back out of a menu, and reread instructions. A lot of frustration comes from fighting the interface instead of solving the puzzle.

Observation Routine

Use the same routine whenever you enter a new workspace.

First, identify the main input method. Are you typing commands, selecting words, clicking equipment, reading a manual, tuning a device, or moving in first person?

Second, list the available information. Look for screens, paper notes, labels, manuals, help pages, instrument markings, audio messages, and anything that appears to be a code reference.

Third, separate active tools from references. Active tools change the world. References tell you what those tools should do. Many Stories Untold puzzles are not about guessing a hidden answer; they are about carrying information from the reference side to the action side without losing accuracy.

Fourth, watch the result of one change at a time. If you flip three switches and turn two dials before checking feedback, you will not know which action mattered.

Finally, write down anything that repeats. Repeated numbers, words, labels, sounds, and symbols are often worth tracking even when their purpose is not obvious yet.

Text and Command Habits

For typed sections, keep commands plain. Start with common adventure verbs such as look, open, use, read, go, take, and examine. Pair them with the most obvious object name on screen. If a command fails, do not immediately assume the idea is wrong. Try a cleaner noun, a shorter phrase, or a nearby object name.

Read all output carefully before typing again. Text adventures often respond with new exits, object names, or constraints. If you skim, you may miss the exact word the parser expects.

On console, think in the same verb/object structure even though the menu supplies the vocabulary. If a word appears after you discover something, treat that menu change as new information. The action list is not just a convenience; it can show what the game currently recognizes.

Do not spam every available phrase. It dulls the tension and makes it harder to understand cause and effect. Choose the phrase that matches your observation, then check the scene for feedback.

Audio, Lab, and Radio Habits

Lab and radio sections reward methodical work. When the game gives you a manual or reference screen, use it like an actual procedure sheet. Read the objective, find the matching device or document, set only the required values, then perform the action. If a device has labels, ranges, modes, or switches, write them down before changing anything.

Radio-style puzzles can combine listening, tuning, decoding, and transcription. Work slowly. If you hear a sequence, write it down before converting it. If a document maps code words to commands, copy the structure cleanly and double-check each line before executing.

For visual symbols or glyph-like information, do not rely on a single glance. Pause, record shape order in a simple way, and use nearby context. If something flashes too quickly or feels unreadable, step back and check whether the game gave you another reference, replay opportunity, or environmental hint.

In first-person moments, keep the same discipline. Move deliberately, inspect obvious objects, and avoid rushing just because the perspective changed. Stories Untold uses interface changes to unsettle you, but the core rule remains: observe, record, act, then watch the response.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

1. Do not type long natural-language sentences - Use short commands with clear verbs and object names.

2. Do not ignore the room around the monitor - Look for changes in the desk, equipment, lighting, and nearby objects.

3. Do not rely on memory for numbers or symbols - Write down codes, labels, frequencies, and shapes before switching screens.

4. Do not change several devices at once - Adjust one thing, check the result, then continue.

5. Do not skip manuals or help screens - Reference pages often explain the exact procedure the active screen expects.

6. Do not play console input like a typing test - Use the action/object menu as the intended command system.

7. Do not mute the game during puzzle sections - Audio can carry both atmosphere and practical information.

8. Do not read exact walkthrough steps too early - Use concept hints first so the episode’s reveal and puzzle logic still land.

Summary

Category	Top Tip
Scope	Treat each episode as a new interface with its own rules
Notes	Record numbers, words, symbols, labels, and uncertain details
PC Input	Use short verb/noun commands and read every response
Console Input	Combine available actions and objects, then watch for feedback
Observation	Inspect the whole desk or room, not just the main screen
Lab Puzzles	Follow manuals like procedures and change one setting at a time
Radio Puzzles	Transcribe first, decode second, execute last
Audio	Use headphones or clear speakers so quiet cues are not lost
Spoilers	Avoid exact inputs and late-episode routes until after finishing