If you go to recruit Hedy, you’ll kill Hitler in order to rescue her.
To quote the deadpan opening paragraph of his Wikipedia page, “Ignatius Timothy Trebitsch-Lincoln was a Hungarian-born adventurer and convicted con artist. Of Jewish descent, he spent parts of his life as a Protestant missionary, Anglican priest, British Member of Parliament for Darlington, German right-wing politician and spy, Nazi collaborator and Buddhist abbot in China.”
You can meet him in Zovgorod in Chapter 5, if you choose to try to align yourself with the anarchists. He also plays a small but significant off-screen role in the Shangri-La storyline in Chapter 7, under another of his many aliases.
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I Can See My House from Here
You need to successfully obtain the Heart of Light in the Prologue, then choose to sell it to Jane Arkaris. One of the options for gaining access to the party she’s attending involves climbing the Empire State Building. You’ll need an above average Survive.
Swift Resolution
Mickey needs to be your sidekick and you need to opt to spend the evening with her in Chapter 1. You need Mickey to make it through the Detroit gangster attack without getting shot.
After that, much later in Chapter 6, you need to take the option of spending time with Jack in Swift City. He’ll tell you the truth about what’s going on inside Swift Motors, and you can tell Mickey about it in Chapter 7.
The Wisdom of Solomon
Take the Moon route in Chapter 7. Failing any of the checks in Addis Ababa to get access to the Astolfo will ultimately result in an interview with his Highness King Solomon.
Smoke Shop and Mirrors
Take the option of looking up Ah Ken in Chapter 1, pass the check required to scare off the gangsters threatening him, then take the Shangri-La route in Chapter 7.
Crime! and Going like Gangbusters
These two are kind of opposite sides of the same coin. You have to hunt down and eliminate at least two of the game’s seven Syndicate big shots. The difference is whether you’re doing so in order to fight crime or to take over their turf.
You can only actually nab 5 Syndicate leaders in the game. They are
The Golden Bat, found in Taiwan in Chapter 4 on Liou Hann’s recruitment story.
Arnold Rothstein, found in New York in Chapter 1, by investigating Yanis
HPB, found on Franklin’s Isle in Chapter 2, by getting arrested, joining the Wheelers and (in order to get her taken care of) having the Crime Fighter background. Definitely the most convoluted of the Syndicate bosses.
Hassan-i Sabbah, found in Alamut in Chapter 3; you’ll need to take the option of soliciting a face-to-face meeting with him in the newspaper, then pass the check necessary to beat him.
Le Spectre, found in Paris in Chapter 4, on Ali’s recruitment mission.
Happy hunting!
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Wow, I’d never realized it was possible to get rid of HPB.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the amount of branching in this game is extremely impressive.
Thank you!
Fun fact about the Syndicate - all seven bosses have a theme in common:
Arnold Rothstein is a living brain, trapped in a world of pure intellectual activity.
HPB is imprisoned on Franklin’s Isle after her betrayal by Anna.
Hassan-i Sabbah has never left the castle at Alamut since he first came there, hundreds of years earlier.
Jane Arkaris is constantly on the move and can never stay in one place for more than a couple of days, because her enemies are hunting her
The Golden Bat is trapped in an infinite and unending time loop
Nana Djoussou was born on her airship and can never set foot on solid ground
Le Spectre was trapped in their own hideout and died of old age inside
The theme? All of these people are prisoners, one way or another.
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I don’t know if there’s a sequel planned for this one, but I hope so. It was quite a joy to play.
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Hello. Could you please be more specific as to how I can get rid of HPB? I sure do get caputred at the island where she is imprisoned, but I only ever get the option to ask for her help to escape. I find no opportunities to get rid of her. Also, having eliminated the old man of the mountain, that Arnold guy in chapter 1, The Golden Bat in chapter 4, I still cannot get the achievements where I take the gangsters down, or takeover their empires. I thought killing two of them would get the job done, already? If it matters, I made sure to choose that I left the Tomorrow Institute at age 18 to fight international crime, and live a life of crime, respectively. Please help.
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Just going to Wheeler’s Isle as a crimefighter should be enough to take out HPB. But to take over or destroy the Syndicate, you need to take the Colossus route in the final chapter, as well as having eliminated at least 2 of their leaders.
Hello. Just to be absolutely certain as I have been playing this route multiple times lol: by crimefighter, you mean that I chose fighting international crime as my history during the interview with the journalist back in chapter 1? Thank you very much! I’ve been doing all that, and the achievement just doesn’t get triggered for some reason. Also, I sppose I gotta choose making war with the syndicate upon prompt on the colossus route? I really appreciate your response. Been looking at the thread and it’s been inactrive for quite a while, so I wasn’t expecting a reply.
While we’re at it, I’d appreciate some help with four more achievements, they’re the only ones I haven’t yet taken. Life is a state of mind, float like a butterfly, death dealer, and Crime. The last one seem to be just the mirror image of taking down the Syndicate for more selfish reasons. On Death Dealer, I cannot figure out how to recruit that assassin. I usually follow her instead of diffusing the bomb, then tell her to be the best version of herself or something. Upon being arrested by Princess Lucie and her crew, I surrender to them with the condition that they take the assassin, too. Am I doing something wrong, because she doesn’t appear among the recruitable options in the subsequent chapters. As for Life is a State of Mind and and Float like a Butterfly, I have no clue.
Yes, that’s the crime fighter background.
Yes, you should take the option to declare war on the Syndicate when you’re prompted on the Colossus route. If you do that, you should get the Going like Gangbusters achievement at the end. I’m looking at the code right now, and I can’t see any reason why it shouldn’t trigger, but the whole Syndicate plotline is kind of fiddly and it’s possible that I’ve missed something. If it still doesn’t work for you, I’ll take a deeper look.
Crime!
Yes, that’s the flip side to Gangbusters. You just need to take the option to take over the Syndicate instead of destroying it.
Death Dealer
To recruit 44, you need to convince her to work with you against the Carabiniers - for this to work, you need a high Pragmatist score. Then you need to convince her to join up with you full-time. You’ll either need to convince her that her philosophy is incoherent (you need a high Plan score), or else that she wants more out of life than Hassan can give her (you’ll need a high Reprobrate score).
Life is a State of Mind
In Ch.2, you need to take the option to pursue the assassin after Doc Zeta’s death, but have no Drive skill whatsoever (ie, you’re at 50). You’ll then need to take the Mysticism option and pass an easy check.
Float like a Butterfly
This is a similar concept to the previous one. In Ch. 2, take the option to try to get Samson to help. If you have no Charm, you’ll get into a fight. Take the fair fight option and pass an easy Action check and the achievement is yours.
Thank you very much! I was able to take down the syndicate this time round. Question, what do you mean, pragmatist? Did you mean reprobate? I’m talking about convincing the assassin to work with me against princess Lucie’s crew.
The opposite stat to Idealist
Hi. The only achievement I haven’t got down is Crime. What is the specific choice in the climax chapter to achieve it? I usually choose to make war on the Syndicate so I could exploit the power vacuum when they’re down. Also on killing that Arnold guy in chapter 1, do my intentions count? Should I choose to kill him to put an end to his empire, or so I can impersonate him instead? I’ve been playing as a criminal over and over and can’t figure it out.
The ‘destroy to exploit a power vacuum’ option should do it.
As for Rothstein - you should still get the achievement if you killed him to end his empire, but the global Crime rating will be higher if you kill him in order to take his identity - and that’s a good thing, if you’re playing a criminal character.
Hello again. I’ve been sorta looking at the code. It seems that upon capture and imprisonment at Franklin’s, I should be given the option to stay in prison, even join the Wheelers. On my playthroughs though, I don’t get that option. I get thrown straight to my plans to escape. Why may that be?
It’s to do with when you’re arrested. If you’re arrested right after Doc Zeta’s murder (requires failing two consecutive checks), you get various options like joining the Wheelers etc. If you’re arrested later, while trying to escape from New York, you don’t get those options.
It’s to balance skill bonuses - if you escape from Locksley Hall, you get a chance to raise your stats in New York; if you don’t, you can raise them in Franklin’s Isle.
How do I get the “death dealer” and “weather wizard” achievements?
Death Dealer
You must recruit 44 in Chapter Four rather than the other options of Devi, Jacob, or Hedy. 44 will not be available to be recruited unless certain options are made in the previous chapters.
Chapter Two
Arrive in Monaco with Time at or below 50%, then choose either:
- I’ll chase after the assassin; I want answers and only she can provide them.
- I’ll chase after the assassin; getting revenge is all that matters.
Chapter Three
Choose:
I am going to try to persuade the assassin to let me take cover in the cable car interior, and join forces in escaping from the waiting Carabiniers.
This will only work if Unscrupulous is at least 51% or greater.
Then, choose:
I will suggest that she switches sides and joins me instead.
The option I will try to convince her of how incoherent her entire philosophy is. will only work if Plan is at least 51% or above.
The option I will try to convince her that she has more to gain by coming over to my side. will only work if Reprobate is at least 51% or above.
The option I will play on her potential doubts about her clients. will never work because it requires Idealism to be at least 51% or above; this is impossible since the option of joining forces in escaping from the Carabiniers only works if Unscrupulous is at least 51% or greater.
After that, 44 will be available to be recruited in Chapter Four.
Weather Wizard
In Chapter Four, choose:
I will make use of Longhome’s extensive occult library and see if there is a ritual of power I could perform.
Then, choose:
I will attempt the truly extraordinary feat of commanding the weather!
This options requires Mystic of at least 62% or higher.
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I love Cliffhanger. It was lots of fun to write. But sometimes I look at stuff like the convoluted route to recruiting 44 and I’m like what was I thinking?
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