Welcome to Into Indie Games’ walkthrough for Chapter 1 of Crushed in Time.
The game begins with a mysterious letter arriving at 221B Baker Street addressed to Dr. Watson. After a series of quirky events, the duo sets off toward the address written on the letter to figure out the sender’s identity.
For more information about the game, check out their official website here.
Table of contents
Wake up Sherlock Holmes
After starting a new adventure, you’ll see a cutscene of Dr. Watson receiving a letter at their apartment on 221B Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes is asleep in the study, and we need to figure out how to wake him up and let Dr. Watson in.
First things first, stretch the doorknob so that it drops to the floor. Then pull it to the right so that you can make it jump to the cabinet with the telephone on the left.
With the drawer handle installed, pull the drawer to the left. The drawer opens, and a plug pops out of it. Pull the plug and attach it to the outlet next to the cabinet.
Now you can squeeze the telephone to wake up Sherlock Holmes.
Open the Door for Dr. Watson
Despite waking up, Sherlock refuses to open the door for Dr. Watson and chooses to just read the newspaper. So you need to step in once again.
Pull the newspaper up and let go. Then quickly interact with Sherlock’s hat so that it falls to his feet.
As he bends down to pick up the hat, pull the sofa to the left so that it gets pushed to the right. This will reveal a key hanging on the bookcase behind Sherlock.
When the key falls to the ground, toss it to the door to open it and let Dr. Watson into the room. This triggers a cutscene.
Take the Letter Down From the Ceiling
As Dr. Watson hands the letter to Sherlock, it mysteriously flies up and clings to the ceiling. Now we have to figure out a way to get it down. First things first, interact with the yellow arrow sign at the door to move downstairs.
You will see a jar of honey on the ground next to Dr. Watson, who is trying to close the window. As Dr. Watson reaches for the window, grab and pull his clothes.
This will cause him to topple over, revealing a note on the wall behind him. The note says the time when the dumbwaiter is accessible.
Interact with the large clock on the left and set the time to 8:30 as shown on the note.
Interact with the yellow sign to go back, and you’ll see the door to the dumbwaiter open beside the clock. There’s a lever right next to it that you can use to send the dumbwaiter up or down. Interact with the jar of honey near Dr. Watson so that you can place it inside the dumbwaiter and send it to the upper floor.
Go back to the living room and move the sofa out of the way. Then interact with the painting on the wall to reveal the dumbwaiter underneath. You can interact with it to drop it to the floor.
Now, we need to help Sherlock open the drawer. To do so, wait until he begins to pull on the drawer with all his strength. During that moment, offer a hand by pulling on his cloth to the left.
The drawer opens, and there’s an empty jar of honey inside. Pull the drawer upward by the handle. This will cause the empty jar to fling to the ceiling and break.
Next, pull the letter on the ceiling so that it’s positioned directly above the drawer. Also, toss the jar of honey that you brought up using the dumbwaiter into the drawer. Then pull the drawer upward once again and let go so that the letter gets soaked in sticky honey.
Toss the sticky letter all the way to the right toward the open painting. It will get stuck to the painting.
Move the sofa out of the way and close the painting to get your hands on the letter.
This will trigger a cutscene as Sherlock and Dr. Watson inspect the letter. The letter is addressed to Dr. Watson from someone named Emma. But they don’t know who the person is. So the duo decides to head to the address written on the letter, but for that, they need to leave London.
After the cutscene, use the yellow signs to make your way outside. Grab the starter of the Sherlock-o-Motive (front) and rotate your mouse in the direction shown to start the vehicle and set off.
As Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson set off on the road, you’ll eventually see the game’s logo floating in the air. Pull the logo three times so that it falls off.
As it drops, it blocks the path for our enigmatic duo. Now they must find a way to remove the blockade and clear the road. Dr. Watson wants to use a lever.
Feed the Animal
When you get control, move to the next room by interacting with the yellow sign. There’s a fence up ahead, but a sheep is blocking the way. Dr. Watson suggests feeding the animal to move it out of the way.
First, take a quick look at your options. You can pull the sheep’s fur to let out a dust cloud. Hmm… Sherlock did mention having a sensitive nose just now.
You can also interact with Sherlock and Dr. Watson to move them forward or backward.
Next, interact with the tree on the right. Squeezing it three times reveals an apple. You can feed the apple to the animal, but it’s not windy enough to get it down from the tree.
Move Dr. Watson forward toward the sheep. Then wait for Dr. Watson to reach out toward the sheep before pulling the animal’s fur to the right.
This will startle Dr. Watson, and he’ll run back, standing in Sherlock’s position at the front.
Next, interact with Sherlock. Since Dr. Watson took his spot, he’ll have to stand near the sheep.
Pull the sheep’s fur to the right so that the dust cloud reaches Sherlock. He’ll sneeze so hard that the apple falls off the tree.
Send Dr. Watson backward by interacting with him and toss the apple straight to his hand. Then interact with him once again to send him toward the animal and feed him.
With the sheep out of the way, Dr. Watson tries to break the fence off with his bare hands. Interact with the sign to lend him a hand. You need to complete a timed mini-game to break the fence.
Head to the next screen on the right after the path is clear. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson find their strange neighbour, Mr. Wilhelm, photographing the landscape in the next screen, looking for “space aliens”. Once the cutscene ends, you’ll see that he’s photographing a fake wall.
Reveal the Fake Wall
After the cutscene, you’ll see a bird sitting over the fake wall. There’s a flashpowder keg on the ground next to the wall. Also, you’ll spot Mr. Wilhelm trying to photograph the landscape. Interact with the camera when Mr. Wilhelm looks away.
This will cause the camera to flash brightly, and the bird will move away from the wall and perch on top of the sheep.
Pull the barrel twice from the right so that it topples over and the powder comes out. Then drag the powder to Mr. Wilhelm‘s hand as he reaches for it to reload the camera.
Interact with the bird so that it flies into the tree in the background.
Next, interact with the bird once again, and as it’s flying around, interact with the camera again. This will cause the bird to get dizzy and fly straight into the fake wall. You need to time it so that the bird is in the air as Mr. Wilhelm looks away from the camera.
Now that they know the wall is fake, Dr. Watson tries to push it off. But he needs some help to do so.
Finding The Lever
Interact with the barrel of powder so that it spills over near the sheep. Then interact with the powder to light it up. This will startle the animal, and it will stand near Sherlock.
Try helping Dr. Watson by interacting with him. But even with your help, Watson can’t demolish the wall.
Now you have to pull the sheep’s fur to make Sherlock sneeze again. As Sherlock is winding up for a sneeze, complete the timed mini-game by helping Watson. If the timing is right, Sherlock‘s sneeze, Watson‘s push, and your help will be enough to topple it over. This will trigger a cutscene.
Interact with the crop circle afterward to reveal a scarecrow. You need to disassemble it piece by piece in the correct order. Here’s the order you need to follow:
- The two arms
- The belt buckle
- The scarf
- The hat
- The jacket
- The shirt buttons (correct order is 2-3-1-4 from top to bottom)
- The mask
- The shirt
After removing all the pieces, you can grab the shovel. Now Dr. Watson has his lever.
Getting Back on the Road
Sherlock and Dr. Watson return to the Sherlock-o-Motive along with the sheep. While the shovel works great as a lever arm, you still need to find a base for leverage.
Interact with the bush behind Sherlock to make him turn toward it. You need to pull it to the right.
As Sherlock is facing the bush, pull the sheep’s fur so that the dust flies toward Sherlock. He will sneeze hard and blow away the bush, revealing a rock behind it.
Interact with the rock and then toss it toward the blockade.
When Watson starts operating the lever, lend him a hand. The blockade will fly off, and Sherlock and Watson are ready to set off again.
Interact with the starter to start the engine and set off toward your destination.
Open the Locked Door
Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson arrives at a mansion. But the door is locked, and no one is answering. So you have to figure out a way to get inside.
Your main tool for this puzzle is the water fountain statue. You can rotate the statue to either the left or right by interacting with the base. You can also fire a water projectile by aiming with the statue’s vase.
Note the small crack on the floor on the right near the statue. Rotate the statue and fire a water projectile at the crack to make a puddle.
Then rotate the statue so that it’s facing Dr. Watson. Interact with the doorbell near Sherlock so that Watson faces toward it and hit him with a water projectile straight in the face.
Watson will run over to the other side, but since there’s a puddle, he will stand near Sherlock.
Rotate the statue toward Watson again. Then interact with the Sherlock-o-Motive to toot its horn. As Watson faces the vehicle, hit him again with a water projectile to the face.
This will trigger a short cutscene where Sherlock guides Watson back to the vehicle. This is your chance to interact with the lock.
When you interact with the lock, you’ll see that the mechanism is blocked off with dirt and mud.
Use the water fountain to spray the lock with water a couple of times to get rid of the mud.
Interact with the lock after giving it a good cleaning (you might have to spray Watson if Sherlock blocks the lock again). Guide each pin above the indicated line to unlock the door.
Enter the mansion once Sherlock and Watson head inside.
This will trigger a cutscene as you meet Emmet Placeholder.
After the cutscene, you’ll find Emmet trying to run off with your vehicle. Help him out by starting the engine and trigger another cutscene.
Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson head into the mansion to figure out a way to chase after him. This is where the next chapter begins.
This concludes the first part of our walkthrough for Crushed in Time. For more interesting articles related to indie games, check out the links below:
- Into Indie Games Homepage
- Witchspire – Walkthrough Hub
- Puni the Florist Walkthrough – All Story Mode Requests
- Medic: Pacific War Walkthrough Hub
- BrokenLore: Follow Complete Walkthrough Hub
Muhit Rahman lives off two things: gaming marathons and endless cups of tea. He writes guides, reviews, and occasionally forgets that real life doesn’t come with checkpoints. His favorite genres are Soulslike and Metroidvania, with Dark Souls III, Hollow Knight, and Dota 2 forever holding top spots on his all-time list.
