Julia’s journey through the forsaken realm of Desiderium throws you into a twisted world filled with mysteries and enemies. You’ll need to gather important items like the Apartment Key and Red Candle to navigate through this dark tale. Expect to be challenged as you unravel the narrative, especially with tricky fights and puzzle-solving ahead.
The atmosphere is intense, and each corner could hold something unexpected—whether it’s a lurking enemy ready to ambush you or a pivotal item that can make your path smoother. Early on, I found myself flummoxed by where to go next, so understanding the layout and what each item does is crucial.
Get ready to collect key items and improve your abilities. Focus on retrieving the Apartment Key and the Red Candle first; these are essential for progressing through the story and unlocking new areas.
This section of Tenebris Somnia continues from your Save Point on the Film School’s Stairwell. Descend to the bottom and proceed into the Floor 0 Hallway. As you enter, you’ll spot Ivan’s ghost slipping through a door on your right. There’s no need to pursue him since you lack the required Candles to move further up.
Head west along the Floor 0 hallway and go into the TV Room via the Red Door. Inside, you’ll find it’s quite dark; make sure to interact with the environment to turn on the TV Screens. Once they’re active, grab the Blue RCA Cable from the table. After that, exit and enter the Cinematography Class through the Green Door to try using the cable on the camera. It won’t work, so keep in mind that you need the Yellow RCA Cable.
Proceed back to the hallway towards the Stairwell. Suddenly, the Blue Door creaks open, revealing an enemy—no weapons at your disposal means it’s best to dodge and slip into that door. You’ll want to snag the Black Bulb from the table beyond before making a quick escape back to the Stairwell.
Once you ascend to the Floor 1 hallway, be wary of a ghost enemy hovering around—it can charge at you and deal heavy damage, but its aim isn’t great. Enter the Photo Developing Studio through the Red Door. When you use the Black Bulb with the lamp on the bottom left, the color will reverse, but be prepared for an ambush with two enemies right afterward.
The RCA Cable will now have turned yellow, so return to the Cinematography Class on Floor 0 and use the RCA Cable on the camera. A rope appears on the TV Screen; walk up to it and interact to climb up. This leads you to the Equipment Storage Room—remember to activate the switch on the left wall here. Once the grill lifts, quickly turn off that switch and hit the one on the right. Open the chest to reclaim Julia’s belongings.
The walkthrough picks up from the Save Point on Film School’s Stairwell. Go down to the bottom and head through to enter the Floor 0 Hallway. As you head in, you’ll see the ghost of Ivan leaving the Film School through the door on the right.
There’s no point in following them, as you don’t have any of the Candles needed to proceed up the building.
Retrieving Julia’s Belongings
Go west along the Floor 0 hallway and enter the TV Room through the Red Door at the end of the passage.
The TV Room is dark, and you’ll have to fiddle around while pressing the interact button to turn the TV Screens on.
When all the TV Screens are turned on, you can grab the Blue RCA Cable from the table.
Leave the room and enter the Cinematography Class through the Green Door. Try using the Blue RCA Cable with the camera. It doesn’t work; you’ll need the Yellow RCA Cable.
Return to the hallway and move toward the Stairwell. The Blue Door pops open, and an enemy ambushes you. You don’t have any weapons to fight it off. So kite it around and head in through the Blue Door.
Grab the Black Bulb from the table up ahead. Return to the hallway and run to the Stairwell after the cutscene.
Go up to the Floor 1 hallway. You’ll see a ghost enemy floating around here. These enemies can dash toward you and kill you in one shot, but they have very poor accuracy.
Enter the Photo Developing Studio through the Red Door.
Use the Black Bulb with the lamp on the bottom left to reverse the color of the world. You’ll be ambushed by two enemies as soon as you do so.
If you check your inventory, you’ll see that the RCA Cable has turned yellow.
Return to the Cinematography Class on Floor 0 and use the RCA Cable on the camera. A rope appears at the set on the TV Screen. Walk up to the set and interact with the rope to climb up.
This brings you to the Equipment Storage Room. Turn on the switch on the left wall.
When the grill goes all the way up, turn the switch off and quickly run to the switch on the right to activate it. Open the chest to retrieve Julia’s items.
Purifying the Apartment Key
Leave through the door at the bottom to return to the Floor 1 hallway. Go west past the enemy and head in through the Blue Door.
Once inside, break the glass wall to the north.
Approach the table and use the Apartment Key from your inventory while standing near the pool of Purified Water.
Return to the Stairway, and the pages in the Old Book will start becoming legible since you purified the Apartment Key. The rest of the pages will clear up as you progress through the zone.
Obtaining the Red Candle
Exit through the door at the bottom again and head into the Floor 1 hallway. Push past the enemy lurking there and enter through the Blue Door. The scene in this room will have changed since you last came through. Interact with the table positioned with the statues, and after some narrative from Julia, the Red Candle will drop from her statue—make sure to pick it up!
Climb up the stairs and light the Red Candle near the sigil—this removes the barrier. Once you advance up the staircase, you’ll encounter another conversation with Sanguis before entering Floor 1 of Ivan’s Apartment building.
Upon entering the Floor 1 hallway, there’s a Save Point immediately to your right. Note the two locked doors adorned with strange symbols. To proceed, turn left and go through Door A into the Community Hall. Here, you’ll see two massive Lead Fly Statues blocking the access to the Movie Theater. Don’t forget to check for a smaller Lead Fly nearby on a stone platform—this will be part of your objectives!
Instead of heading up to the Stairwell, go left through the door. This leads you into a dark room where you can find a path up to a Lead Fly statue filling with Sulphur. By the time you arrive, the Lead Fly Statue will be coated, allowing you to break it with your melee weapon, so make use of that!
Once you’ve solved the tile puzzle and broken the second Lead Fly Statue, head through the door to the north into the Movie Theater. Here, interact with Julia’s Statue to obtain the Lead Fly. The chest near the screen is currently locked, so do not try to access it just yet.
Watch out for the enemies that will rush in after a live-action cutscene—it’s vital to protect Julia’s Statue from breaking, so eliminate them quickly. They can be dispatched in one hit with the Pipe. After fending them off, go through the middle door to the north.
Once you overcome this fight, a mirror shatters, revealing a hidden door. Ascend the stairwell where additional pages of the Old Book will clarify. Push aside a broken shelf leading into the next room.
Now you face the final ambush—use ranged weapons if you have ammo remaining. The north door will open once all enemies are defeated, granting you access to a further room.
Return to the Movie Theater and unlock the chest with your Tin Key to collect the Green Candle. As you arrive, you’ll see behind-the-scenes footage of Devora appearing on screen.
Finally, make your way back to the Apartment Building Stairwell and light the Green Candle to clear away the barrier blocking access to Floors 2 and 3 of the building. Get ready for the next challenges ahead!
Go left and enter through Door A.
Obtaining the Lead Fly Insignia
As you enter the Community Hall through Door A, you’ll see two giant Lead Fly Statues blocking the door to the Movie Theater.
There’s a smaller Lead Fly sitting on a stone platform just before it.
For now, head through the door to the left. Instead of arriving at the Stairwell leading up to the Projector Room, you’ll reach a dark room with a single path leading up to a Lead Fly statue sitting on a rock.
As you walk toward it, note that it starts filling up with Sulphur.
By the time you reach it, the Lead Fly Statue is covered in Sulphur, and you can break it using your melee weapons.
Return to the Community Hall after breaking the Lead Fly Statue. Take out the enemy in the room. Note that one of the Lead Fly Statues blocking the door has crumbled.
Now you must move along the tiles of the room in a specific order until the Lead Fly Statue at the bottom gets covered in Sulphur. The tile order is randomized, so there’s a degree of trial and error involved with this puzzle.
This is the route we had to take to solve the puzzle.
Once the second Lead Fly Statue breaks down, head through the door to the north to enter the Movie Theater.
Interact with Julia’s Statue to get the Lead Fly. The chest near the screen is locked for now.
Obtaining the Tin Key
Return to the Floor 1 hallway and use the Lead Fly key near the door with the Lead Fly Insignia to unlock it and head into the Film Set.
Keep walking up the stairs until you reach a door at the top to the south. Head inside.
This takes you to the Dinner Table Film Set. Interact with the Sulphur-Coated Julia Statue sitting at the table.
After a short live-action cutscene, enemies start rushing in and attacking Julia’s Statue. Your job is to fight off the monsters and protect the statue. If the statue breaks, you die. The enemies will die in a single strike from the Pipe.
After surviving the wave of enemies, go through the middle door to the north.
Keep walking up the stairs till you reach the top. As you go up the stairs, more pages from the Old Book will clear up.
Head through the Cow Skull door at the top to trigger another similar ambush sequence. Like before, protect the statue and take down the enemies.
The mirror breaks after the encounter, revealing a door behind it. Head through.
Continue up the stairwell. More Old Book pages will clear up. You’ll find a broken shelf at the top. Move it out of the way and head in through the door.
This brings you to the final ambush sequence. I strongly recommend using your ranged weapons if you’ve got the ammo for it.
The door to the north becomes accessible once all enemies are defeated.
As you enter the next room, a few more pages of the Old Book become legible. Read through them. Then grab the Tin Key from the center of the room.
Go left and use the Tin Key to open the upside-down door and exit to the Floor 1 hallway.
Return to the Movie Theater and use the Tin Key to unlock the chest and grab the Green Candle. As you reach the Movie Theater, behind-the-scenes footage of Devora will start playing on the screen.
Return to the Apartment Building Stairwell and use the Green Candle to remove the barrier on the upper floor. This will let you access both Floor 2 and 3 of the building.
