Abermore: WIP Abermore Achievements Guide

First thing’s first: this game’s pretty dang broken. If you’re here, you probably know this. So far as I can tell, several of the achievements are also broken. I hate this, too, but I’m trying to play the game as it lays and get as many as I can. Despite the rough edges, I think there is a fun game in Abermore. However, here are some bugs to be aware of:

Inventory Stacking
This has been the most consistent and egregious issue. The data structures for the inventory grids, both on your player and in the storage box, seem very broken. Same goes for the Tarot cards. Items will often inhabit spaces that are already occupied by other items. At first this might seem like a hackable bug, something we can use to extend our inventory space, but in practice going through loading screens will flatten the inventory and we’ll lose items that are stacked on top of each other.
To avoid losing items and unsnarl the inventory, the best thing to do when you notice things stacking is to drop everything out of the stacked inventory slot, then pick them up again.

Vent Clipping
It would appear there are some rough collisions occurring in the vents, so sometimes when creeping through them your player will step up through the roof of the vent and end up outside the world. Should this happen to you, stop. Back up slowly. With any luck, you should step back down into the vent. You may still be able to pass through the vent, just sort of look down and off to the side as you go through the broken area. I don’t actually know if that’s necessary, but it’s worked for me.

Cursor Lock
Sometimes when skipping through dialogue screens, the cursor will stay locked to the middle of the screen. Because there is no button to press to confirm dialogue options, this can mean that you can’t click dialogue options that may come up. I don’t know how to fix this once it has occurred besides by quitting out and reloading. Just be aware that it can happen, and it may help to make sure your cursor is moving and movable before spamming jump to speed through dialogue screens.

Being Really Short
I have no clue. This just happened to me. Loaded into a mission and was already at crouch height, then crouched and was basically level with the ground. I don’t know, just quit and reload.

If things go awry, quit and reload. The game saves at the end of each day, so quitting out mid-mission means that next time you load the save file, you’ll get out of bed as though that day hasn’t happened yet. So long as the save is not broke, this is a workable way of save-scumming your way to whatever you consider a success.

I have not yet suffered any of the save-breaking crashes other players report, but if you have, let me know with as much context for what may have caused the crash as possible. Same goes for other bugs. Yeah, I know the game is really broken, but simply saying something is broken is not a workable gripe.

Complete your first day in Abermore.

For me, this unlocked upon completion of the initial tutorial segment on the ship. I had not yet spent a day in Abermore, but just getting there seemed good enough.

Complete a mission without causing any disturbances.

Your basic stealth run of a mission. Knocking people out is fine. Killing them is probably also fine. Just be sure nobody makes it to an alarm or wakes up again and reports an odd noise. Be sure to hide bodies in the typically ample “hiding” places littering the map. Or throw them out windows. Really just make sure that disturbance meter doesn’t start filling in.

Equip a new outfit.

In the basement of the Black Market, next to the planning table, is a dummy you can click on to change your outfit. Use it to change your outfit.

Okay so for me this one was bugged, and it actually gave me the achievement the second or third time I opened the game with the intention of getting this very achievement. Either it knew what I had planned, or…

Sit through the credits.

In the main menu screen, simply click the credits button and let them run.

Interestingly, at the end of the credits, it says you can now replay the previous day, but I haven’t tested the veracity of this claim.

Send a body on a journey in a dumbwaiter.

Hide a body, dead or alive, in a dumbwaiter, then press the button to use it and you should get the achievement.

Knock someone out with the Magic 8 Ball.

The Magic 8 Ball is a tool that can often be found in missions, and I’m not sure what it’s good for besides knocking people out. Take aim and throw it at a persons head to knock them out, and you should get the achievement.

Knock out 5 people with books.

I prefer the leatherbound books, but I imagine any will do. Simply find them in missions on book shelves and throw them at peoples’ heads. You should get the achievement after taking out 5 people.

Knock somebody out with an apple.

Apples are a pretty ubiquitous food item in the world of Abermore, and all you gotta do for this achievement is to throw one at somebody’s head. Good luck.

Incapacitate 5 people using grapes:

Okay so I’m actually struggling a bit with this one. First off, grapes aren’t all that common, so if you do find some, try to hold onto them. Second off, though, every time I try to throw them, my guy just switches them to his left hand and they disappear from my inventory. I can’t even see the grapes anymore, but he holds out his left hand like there’s something in it.

If anybody has any insight on this hand-switching thing or proper grape throwing technique, please let me know. So far I’ve only managed to take down 2 people by throwing grapes at their heads, and every other time I’ve tried he just switches them to his off-hand. Super frustrating.

Turn 5 people to stone using the Hard Stare tarot card.

Hard stare is one of the tarot cards you can get that, when used, will turn a targeted person to stone. The stone can be broken to kill the person, but that’s not necessary. Find Hard Stare cards in missions or buy some from the fortune teller machine in the basement and turn people to stone. You seem to need a clear line of sight and to be pretty close to your target for it to work, but they don’t need to be looking at you for it to work. Make 5 human statues and you should get the achievement.

Throw 5 characters out of windows.

As you may know, defenestration can be fatal, so doing this achievement will probably kill some folks. Once you have a body over your shoulder, approach a window exit point. You can hop up into the window a little bit, and it’s a good idea to try to aim your left shoulder out the window. Throw the body and it should slip headlong over the precipice. Do this 5 times and you should get the achievement.

IMPORTANT NOTE: It is possible for a room of a lower floor to exist below a window. Throwing a person out a window with a room below it will cause the person to fall into that room and remain in play. This means that, if they are knocked out, they will eventually wake back up and report a disturbance. Try to avoid using windows with rooms below them.

Kill 5 people with throwing knives.

I have yet to get this achievement, despite killing a good number of people by throwing knives at their heads. I have a theory that you need to hit elsewhere on the body and that maybe something with hitting them in the head is triggering a knockout quicker than a kill. I don’t know. So far the counter says I haven’t killed anybody with a throwing knife, though those counters are notoriously crap.

Any thoughts on getting this one would be much appreciated.

Use an offering in a conversation.

So this was a mechanic that I didn’t understand but figured out. Sometimes during conversations, it will give you an option with a chance of success, and there’ll be a little tag hanging off the end of the option with a grayed out Offering symbol. To use this option and ensure the success of that dialogue option, as well as get this achievement, RIGHT CLICK on the dialogue option and the Offering symbol should no longer be grayed out. Then left click to confirm that dialogue option and you should be good to go.

Successfully pick 5 locks

It really says something when an achievement tied to one of the most basic mechanics of the game only has 0.8% global completion. So far as I can tell, this achievement is broken. Please let me know if you’ve managed to get it. Did you need to use the golden lockpick or something?

Craft 25 items

I guess I’m still working on this one. I haven’t been keeping count, but I craft a new lockpick every time I have the resources to do so. Should I be crafting 25 different types of items? Are there even 25 different recipes to acquire? I’ll let you know if/when this achievement pops, but I’m beginning to fear it may be broken.

Fulfill the relationship with Grace

Grace is apparently Pearl’s protege and is none too pleased when you show up as the new Unhanged Man. She’s the only other person initially in the Black Market planning room besides Mr. Pickman, and she’ll give you a series of 3 missions to test your mettle. Do the 3 missions and you’ll get the achievement.

IMPORTANT NOTE: It is very possible to run out of missions short of the 18 day run-up to the Feast of the Lucky Few. If that happens, you’ll have to sleep away the last couple days or be softlocked in the planning room. It may be a good idea to avoid finishing all of Grace’s missions until they’re all you have left, as she has some friends who will give you missions as “training” while she waits for you to complete hers. I’m not totally sure if they’ll keep offering you more missions every day, but I’ve reached that softlocked point and am kind of wishing that’s what I had done right now.

Fulfill the Tinderbox relationship with Dilson Webbd.

This is one of the first guys to appear in the Black Market pub with special missions. He’s a guy with glasses and big mutton chops, and he asks you to pick up dead drops containing maps and info about Abermore. At first I thought he wanted something from within missions, like those books on the history of Abermore, but finally came across a dead drop while mucking about in the Gutter before entering the Black Market. In all, you’ll need to pick up 3 different dead drops left in the Gutter (before entering the pub and triggering curfew) on different days. Here are the locations of said dead drops:

Dead drop 1:
On the stoop next to the guy in the long coat who likes to gamble on coin flips.

Dead Drop 2:
Across the foot bridge over the subway tracks, jump up on the broken green circuit box, then onto the raised area. It’s the spot where there’s always that guy who asks for 20g then takes 50g and gives you either an offering or an ash tray. It should be right over the wall in front of him.

Dead Drop 3:
To the left side of the church entryway, behind the pile of barrels and junk.

Talk to Dilson after picking up each of the dead drops and you should get the achievement.

Fulfill the multi-level-murdering relationship with Basil Blackend

Eventually this guy shows up in the Black Market pub next to the chef. He didn’t have a speech bubble over him, but if you mouse over him it should indicate that you can talk to him.

He’s apparently an incompetent downline in a pyramid scheme of assassins, and he’s got 3 missions for you to run that involve “murdering” an unmarked individual in each one. The goal will be labeled successful once you take down (and hide?) the right person. I say “murdering” like that because it’s unclear to me whether you have to actually kill the target. My first target was marked as complete just by knocking them out and sitting them in a chair, but my next one didn’t show as complete until I abandoned all intention of doing a passive playthrough and started throwing people out windows for the Yeet the Rich achievement. Unfortunately for everyone else the target was the last to go.

Fulfill the the Sound Investment relationship with Ava Avis.

This bald character appears in the Black Market pretty early on, sitting alone in the window next to the defunct steam engine.

There’s no speech bubble, but you can talk to her and she asks you to invest in some get-rich-quick scheme. Just keep talking to her and giving her money until the achievement pops.

Fulfill the relationship with Lady Luck

Lady Luck is embodied by a fortune teller Tarot card vending machine that appears in the basement of the planning room, between the map table and the train cart that starts the mission. Put a coin in the vending machine to talk to her. All you have to do to fulfill the relationship is to spend Offerings on buying Tarot cards. To see exactly how many you need to buy, go into the pause menu and click on the “Campaign” tab.

If you need more offerings, they can be found in missions or bought by donating to the lady standing in front of the church.

I’m still working on this guide and obviously haven’t completed adding achievements, nor have I even completed the game. That’s why this is a WIP, or work-in-progress. Bear with me, and I’ll continue to fill this out to the best of my ability.

I know this game can be a frustrating mess and truly was not ready to ship when it did, but I also know it was not the intent of the developers to release such a parbaked disappointment. Despite this, I think they did make it pretty far along in realizing their goals, and I don’t think it’s nearly as unplayable as reviews would have you believe. For what it’s worth, I am genuinely enjoying the time I’ve spent in Abermore. I think the writing is fun and interesting, and I keep finding little pieces that hint at something more. I am not immune to the frustrations of playing a broken game, but, full disclosure, I did get it on sale for less than $2 before tax, so I feel I’ve gotten my money’s worth.

In the end, I hope this guide will help other players to work around the various issues of Abermore and enjoy the game a little more. If you’ve discovered something you’d like to share or figured out how to achieve some of the achievements I’ve listed as broken, please do share and I’ll happily amend this guide.

Thank you, and good luck 😉