Full Walkthrough - All Achievements in One Playthrough

Credits:

Full credit to Black Torito for the amazing YouTube videos. Short and succinct. 

Full credit to Black Torito yet again for their routing for getting all three mayors in one playthrough. I made some minor tweaks and adapted it for Xbox, but the rest of the credit goes to them. You can find their PSNProfiles guide HERE. 

Special thanks to Aki2403 for helping me figure out how to do the cloud save part on Xbox, since achievements in this game don't work offline. 

 

Warnings:

In order to get all three mayors in one playthrough, you need to be extremely careful about choosing "sides" throughout your playthrough, because if you show preference toward one candidate too much, you won't be able to elect the others. Therefore, completely avoid Social Media posts during your entire playthrough until the end of the guide when you are ready to elect a specific mayor (this is mentioned in the walkthrough below). Also, I recommend avoiding random NPC interactions not mentioned in the guide, so you don't accidentally present yourself in one preference or another. 

 

Calibration

There are no missable actions whatsoever in this section. Solve all of the puzzles and proceed through the portal in the final room, unlocking "Ab Initio."

 

Prologue - Brave New World

When you awaken, talk to Neith about as much or as little as you want. Head out into the town square for a cutscene. Afterwards, you'll take a tram with Byron and Alcatraz. Pick any options you want. Then you'll take an elevator up above the city. Walk down the hall and you'll automatically have a conversation with Doge, an important NPC.

• During the conversation with Doge, at the end, choose the top dialogue option - that you're interested in meeting these people. This is the first step needed for "Not What It Seems."

Head to the conference table for the briefing. Pick any dialogue options you want until Herman goes over the expedition plan and who's going.

• When Herman leaves it up to you to decide if you're going on the expedition, choose the bottom option to decline. This unlocks "Chicken" and a secret ending.

After that, load back into your game, listen to the briefing again, and this time pick the top option - "I'm in." The conversation will then end.

• Before following them, head back the way you came, back down the elevator to New Jerusalem. There are missable achievements and actions that need to be done here.
• Right after exiting the elevator head forward and on your left is Damien to talk to. Go through the dialogue options and then give him your digital signature. This unlocks "Signatory" 
• Head straight across the town to the opposite side, passing Helga's shop on your right, and you'll find Schuyler at the base of the steps leading into the Museum of Simulation. Talk to him, and pick any option about what he should do with his life. This unlocks "Your Biggest Fan" 
• Go up and into the Museum to unlock "Museum Visitor" 
• Head into the left room and talk to Rand. Go through all dialogue options, and when you go to leave, he'll ask you to do the exercise on the center computer. Do so, playing through the adventure however you want. When you're done, talk to Rand again and tell him how you did
• Go into the back room of the Museum, through the purple puzzle door. No need to solve the puzzles. Go back out and into the room to your right when you entered. Interact with any of the six sigil puzzles (again, no need to solve them), and as long as you went to all three rooms, you'll unlock "Museum Explorer" 
• Leave the Museum and head off to the right, to the far right side of the city. You'll cross a bridge into the Gardens. Head all the way to the back of the area to find Purple, who you can talk to. Exhaust the dialogue options, and then when you go to leave you'll discuss his voicepack. Choose either of the options (that he should keep it or that he should change it) and you'll unlock "Excellent."

Head back to the elevator, go up and follow the crew to go on the expedition, finishing the Prologue and unlocking "Wanderers."

 

Act 1 - A Voice in the Wild

Progress the story, following the waypoints on your compass, and you'll eventually take a shuttle to the first zone, E1 - Grasslands Ring. This starts the puzzle areas of the game. Note that you have a compass on the top of the screen, and it shows where most things are. The regular puzzles are shown outright with their numbers. Lost puzzles, audio logs of all types, and star puzzles are marked with question marks. Getting near the question mark will reveal what it is (whether it's a puzzle or terminal or whatever) and label it correctly on your compass from then on. Lost labs and human artifacts aren't marked on your compass.

 

E1 - Grasslands Ring

The following tasks need to be completed for achievements:

• 8 regular puzzles
• 2 Lost Puzzles
• 1 Lost Lab (use the terminal inside)
• 1 Human Artifact
• 1 Straton Audio Log
• 1 Trevor Audio Log
• 1 Lithrasir Audio Log
• 1 Pandora Star Monument Puzzle
• 1 Prometheus Star Monument Puzzle
• 1 Prometheus Spark

 

While completing the above tasks, you'll encounter your other team members walking around. "Team Spirit" requires you to talk to all of them, so you might as well do it while you encounter them. You need to talk to all four (Byron, Alcatraz, Yaqut, and Melville), and you get credit when you end the conversation, even if you don't exhaust all dialogue options.

 

Along the way (approximately halfway through completing the puzzles), you'll get a notification in the bottom left corner that you have a new private message. It's from Doge from earlier.

• Open up his message and make sure you consent to have your data shared. Doge will then ask you a series of seven questions. Your answers need to be such that you get matched with Rand later in this chapter. Here are the answers you need to use:
  • Knowledge
  • Yes, lying can be okay
  • Yes, bad behavior deserves to be punished
  • The universe is weird, we'll never fully understand it
  • Human progress shows things can get better and stay that way
  • We should not disregard the wisdom which brought us here
  • No, prayer has no effect on the world

With that done, go ahead and finish all ten puzzles in this area and go to each question mark on your compass.

• Note that this area is the easiest opportunity to unlock "Chasing the Light." Before you track down the Prometheus Spark (it's way out of the way, so unless you're exploring all over, you assuredly won't run into it), make sure you complete at least eight puzzles, then return to the tower and build at least the first of three bridges. This is necessary for the Prometheus Spark chase. Now, head to the Prometheus Spark, which is a blue spark you'll need to chase after. Hop in the water moat around the tower and head to the right side (if looking at the tower), staying in the water. At the back of the area on the right of the tower is the blue spark. Chase after it. It'll stop at a few points. You need to make sure it does sit there for more than ten or so seconds. This is easy to do here since almost the entire thing is in the moat area, aside from going up onto the first bridge you built. Follow it to the Prometheus Monument to unlock "Chasing the Light"

No other collectibles are missable, so use the videos below to mop up whatever you're missing from the list above. Once done, head into the tower and activate it to complete this area. Head back to the shuttle and take it to the new area, Wooded Plateau. Note that you can see your area progress here. Grasslands Ring should show everything completed except the Golden Puzzle, which you don't have access to yet.

 

 

 

E2 - Wooded Plateau

The following tasks need to be completed for achievements:

• 8 regular puzzles
• 2 Lost Puzzles
• 2 Human Artifacts
• 1 Lost Lab 
• 1 Straton Audio Log
• 1 Trevor Audio Log
• 1 Lithrasir Audio Log
• 1 Pandora Star Monument Puzzle
• 1 Sphinx Star Monument Puzzle

 

Work through all of the things listed above, but note that there are two highly missable achievements related to Main Puzzle 8 and the Lost Puzzle Seesaw right by Puzzle 8:

• Main Puzzle 8, Loop, has the achievement "Just One Lap," and you'll need to make sure you get it on your first attempt, because reports are that resetting the puzzle after it's been completed doesn't unlock this achievement.
• Lost Puzzle Seesaw, which is right by Loop, has the achievement "Single Rod" for only using a single connector. Once again, it must be done first try.

Proceed through everything else, and like with the previous area, you'll get a private message from Doge again.

• I'm not sure if there's anything to miss here, but go along with his conversation, and when he offers five people to match you with, if you did the previous section correctly, he will recommend the scholar. This is who you need to be matched with, so pick the scholar yourself too, to be safe. After the conversation, you'll unlock "Not What It Seems" 

Wrap up the collectibles and stars. In the Lost Lab of this area, interact with the terminal inside and download the schematic. I'm not sure if this is required for story progression, but it also unlocks "Overload." Once done with everything, build the bridges and activate the tower.

 

 

 

E3 - Eastern Wetlands

The following tasks need to be completed for achievements:

• 8 regular puzzles
• 2 Lost Puzzles
• 1 Human Artifact
• 1 Remnant of the Past
• 1 Lost Lab 
• 1 Straton Audio Log
• 1 Trevor Audio Log
• 1 Lithrasir Audio Log
• 1 Pandora Star Monument Puzzle
• 1 Sphinx Star Monument Puzzle

 

There's nothing missable in this area! Enjoy all the puzzles and get all the stars and collectibles. Build the bridges and activate the tower like usual.

 

 

 

When done with everything in this area, head to the Megastructure in the center, from the shuttle. Inside, once again nothing is missable. Follow the linear paths and you'll eventually reach a split with three routes and three lasers to activate. Complete these puzzles and you'll wrap up this act.

 

 

Act 2 - The Human Form Divine

This act starts with you immediately being told to go to the next new area, Desolate Island. There is barely anything missable in this act, thankfully. 

 

N1 - Desolate Island

The following tasks need to be completed for achievements:

• 8 regular puzzles
• 2 Lost Puzzles
• 1 Lost Lab 
• 2 Remnants of the Past
• 1 Straton Audio Log
• 1 Trevor Audio Log
• 1 Lithrasir Audio Log
• 1 Prometheus Star Monument Puzzle
• 1 Sphinx Star Monument Puzzle

 

There's only one thing somewhat missable in this section:

• Around halfway through, you'll get a private message from the person Doge matched you with from the first act. If you did everything properly then, you should be matched with Rand. If that's not the case, I believe you won't be able to elect Rand as mayor on this playthrough, and therefore can't get "A New Morality." Assuming you got paired with him, go along with everything he says, and agree to join his special group.

That's it for this section. Complete all the puzzles and get all collectibles, then move on to the next section.

 

 

N2 - Flooded Valley

The following tasks need to be completed for achievements:

• 8 regular puzzles
• 2 Lost Puzzles
• 1 Lost Lab 
• 2 Remnants of the Past
• 1 Human Artifact
• 1 Straton Audio Log
• 1 Trevor Audio Log
• 1 Lithrasir Audio Log
• 1 Prometheus Star Monument Puzzle
• 1 Sphinx Star Monument Puzzle

 

There's only one thing somewhat missable in this section:

• In the Lost Lab, you'll come upon a Somnodrome, and this will initiate a bunch of dialogue. When given the option, make sure you choose to use the Somnodrome. It'll break, but this is required to get one of the mayors later on

That's it for this section. Complete all the puzzles and get all collectibles, then move on to the next section.

 

 

 

N3 - Lost Marshes

The following tasks need to be completed for achievements:

• 8 regular puzzles
• 2 Lost Puzzles
• 1 Lost Lab 
• 2 Remnants of the Past
• 2 Human Artifacts
• 1 Straton Audio Log
• 1 Trevor Audio Log
• 1 Lithrasir Audio Log
• 1 Prometheus Star Monument Puzzle
• 1 Pandora Star Monument Puzzle

 

Nothing missable in this area. Complete all the puzzles and collect all the collectibles. Once done, return to the VTOL and head back into the Megastructure. Once again, nothing is missable inside, and that completes this act.

 

 

 

Act 3 - Prometheus Bound

After leaving the Megastructure at the start of this act, you'll return to New Jerusalem. There are once again many missable achievements and actions, like with the first visit. You'll get an objective to talk to Cornelius at the Museum. Head down the elevator into the city.

• When you get out, head northeast (assuming north is away from the elevator) to a round white area. This is the newly opened Gehenna Memorial Exhibition. Inside are three computer terminals, each with an old school text adventure game to play. Simply play all three to the end (doesn't matter how well you do) to unlock "Text Adventurer"
• Head north-northwest out of this exhibit to find a blockade on the road with three NPCs. Talk to Damien, and make sure to choose that you fully support him
• Head into the central promenade area and you'll find Atal to talk to. Make sure to agree with him
• Head straight west (left as soon as you come out of the elevator) to find the circular Tablets of the Founder location. Inside is Thecla. Talk to her, and make sure you call her an idiot, and disagree with everything she says, being as mean as possible, and you'll unlock "Sinner"
• With all of that done, if you haven't unlocked "Good Citizen" yet, now is your last chance to do it. Refer to that achievement for a list of the places to visit and where they are

Go ahead to the Museum now to complete the main objective. When done, head back to the elevator.

• Right outside of it is Malduc. Agree with what he's saying
• During the briefing, choose the following dialogue options:
  • The island has technology we can't afford to ignore
  • We should trust ourselves to make good on this opportunity
  • How? Why?
  • I would share it with the people

Go ahead into the VTOL now to proceed to the next area.

 

S1 - Southern Coast

The following tasks need to be completed for achievements:

• 8 regular puzzles
• 2 Lost Puzzles
• 1 Lost Lab 
• 2 Remnants of the Past
• 2 Human Artifacts
• 1 Straton Audio Log
• 1 Trevor Audio Log
• 1 Lithrasir Audio Log
• 1 Sphinx Star Monument Puzzle
• 1 Pandora Star Monument Puzzle

 

Start working your way through this area.

• Around halfway through, assuming you've done all the missable actions above and picked the briefing dialogue options above, Rand will send you a private message. Make sure you choose the top option: that you lied to protect your relationship with him
• For Main Puzzle 8, Switcheroo, it has an achievement associated with it, for beating with without using the "Keep all connections" options. Refer to that achievement for details on how to unlock it. Note that I've marked this one in red too, to indicate missable, even though I don't think it is. I personally didn't unlock this achievement the first time I finished this puzzle. I then used the Prometheus terminal to reset the puzzle, did it a second time, and this achievement unlock. I'm still making it red though, just in case.

That's the last missable action for this entire act, so enjoy the rest of the areas.

 

 

S2 - Verdant Canyon

The following tasks need to be completed for achievements:

• 8 regular puzzles
• 2 Lost Puzzles
• 1 Lost Lab 
• 2 Remnants of the Past
• 1 Human Artifacts
• 1 Straton Audio Log
• 1 Trevor Audio Log
• 1 Lithrasir Audio Log
• 1 Prometheus Star Monument Puzzle
• 1 Pandora Star Monument Puzzle

 

If you've been following along, you should unlock "Archeologist" with this Human Artifact. Nothing missable here.

 

 

S3 - Circular Oasis

The following tasks need to be completed for achievements:

• 8 regular puzzles
• 2 Lost Puzzles
• 1 Lost Lab 
• 2 Remnants of the Past
• 1 Straton Audio Log
• 1 Trevor Audio Log
• 1 Lithrasir Audio Log
• 1 Sphinx Star Monument Puzzle
• 1 Pandora Star Monument Puzzle

Nothing missable in this section either.

 

Head back into the Megastructure and complete the puzzles there. Once again, nothing missable. That'll end this act.

 

Act 4 - Gates of Horn and Ivory

 

After heading back to the VTOL, you'll fly back to the Megastructure landing area outside. Here, you'll be greeted by the mayor, Hermanubis.

Make sure to choose the neutral middle dialogue option, which is something about you reserving judgment for now

Now you have the final three areas to complete. We're going to intentionally go out of order, saving W2 for last.

 

W1 - Western Delta

The following tasks need to be completed for achievements:

• 8 regular puzzles
• 2 Lost Puzzles
• 1 Lost Lab 
• 2 Remnants of the Past
• 1 Human Artifact
• 1 Straton Audio Log
• 1 Trevor Audio Log
• 1 Lithrasir Audio Log
• 1 Sphinx Star Monument Puzzle
• 1 Prometheus Star Monument Puzzle

 

Nothing missable in this section.

 

 

W3 - High Plain

The following tasks need to be completed for achievements:

• 8 regular puzzles
• 2 Lost Puzzles
• 1 Lost Lab 
• 2 Remnants of the Past
• 1 red Remnant of the Past (this is currently required for "Mnemosyne" on Xbox only, thanks to a bug)
• 1 Straton Audio Log
• 1 Trevor Audio Log
• 1 Lithrasir Audio Log
• 1 Sphinx Star Monument Puzzle
• 1 Prometheus Star Monument Puzzle

 

Nothing missable in this section that I'm aware of, but Melville did approach me in this area, and I intentionally chose the neutral option again - that I'm reserving judgment until we know more.

 

 

W2 - Anthropic Hills

This is the critical point of the playthrough, and all of the missable actions throughout the game are going to come to a head. The Lost Lab in this area is where everything starts to go towards the ending, so in this area, do everything EXCEPT the Lost Lab. Save that for the end, and I'll discuss it in more detail below.

 

The following tasks need to be completed for achievements:

• 8 regular puzzles
• 2 Lost Puzzles
• 1 Lost Lab (SAVE FOR LAST; SEE BELOW)
• 2 Remnants of the Past
• 1 Human Artifact
• 1 Straton Audio Log
• 1 Trevor Audio Log
• 1 Lithrasir Audio Log
• 1 Pandora Star Monument Puzzle
• 1 Prometheus Star Monument Puzzle

 

Go ahead and complete everything listed above EXCEPT the Lost Lab. Here are the videos. Under them I discuss the routing for getting all final missable achievements.

 

 

All Three Mayors

Okay, time for getting all three mayors in one playthrough, assuming you did everything in red above throughout this playthrough. Read through the next bullets first, so you understand how this is going to work, and then follow the routing laid out below to get all three mayors elected in a single playthrough. I didn't bother putting this entire section in red, since obviously everything here is missable.

 

We're going to use cloud save manipulation to get all three missable achievements in one playthrough. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, achievements earned offline don't unlock in this game, so we can't play offline and then delete the local save. Instead, we need to do it online, being very careful to not mess this up. Here is what you need to do for each playthrough:

1. After completing all of Anthropic Hills, including activating the tower, head to the Lost Lab. As soon as you enter, you'll see the game save in the lower right. Pause and quit out, then press the guide button and force close the game app. This will force a cloud save backup
2. (OPTIONAL) - before doing the routing below, if you want to be sure you're going to end up with the mayor you want, you can go offline now, play your save file using the routing below, and see if you get the mayor you want at the start of Act 5. Assuming you do, go into Manage Game and Add-ons, Save Data, and choose to delete your local save. Now go back online for the next step, knowing that when you execute this, you'll get the mayor you need for the associated achievement
3. With your cloud backup in place (wait a few minutes to ensure it backs up properly), launch the game and load your save file at Anthropic Hills. Follow the routing below for the mayor you want, which includes the Lost Lab, some social media responses, heading back inside the Megastructure to save Byron, and then waking up in New Jerusalem at the start of Act 5, where you'll find out which person became mayor, and the associated achievement will unlock
4. IMPORTANT - as soon as the mayor-related achievement unlocks, press the guide button, go to Manage Game and Add-ons (DO NOT close the game app), go to Save Data, press start on it, and choose to Delete Local Save ONLY! This will automatically close the game, and your local save will be deleted
5. Relaunch the game. It'll sync with your cloud save, and if done correctly, your save file should have you back at the Lost Lab entrance in Anthropic Hills.

You can now proceed to repeat these steps for the other two mayors. Personally, I quit out again here, just to ensure the cloud save backup still existed. I also did each one of these offline first, to ensure I knew what choices to make to get the mayor I wanted

 

Now for the routing:

 

Rand as mayor ("A New Morality")

This achievement requires you to have done the majority of red actions above up until this point.

1. Head to the Somnodrome in the Lost Lab, telling Hermanubis you think Rand is right, and that you'll plug in and see for yourself (unlocking "Gnothi Seauton")
2. Inside, interact with the computer (use /rm to proceed, and then load up the final.final file). Now go talk to Miltohim on the beach. Your choices here don't matter (he'll talk to you about moral code no matter which big question you ask him), and then exit
3. Back with Hermanubis, tell him you're fine, and ask if he's curious too (these don't seem to matter much)
4. On the way out, you'll talk to Rand. This is more important. Tell him you went into Sleep Mode and spoke to something, that you're intuitively connected to what's right and wrong, morality is too complex to write as simple rules, that what you spoke to is not the moral authority, that it said morality is also based on compassion, and that you need to review the data before making a judgment
5. Head out of the Lost Lab and Cryer will talk to you. Agree to the interview, say you only saw mostly bugs, and then that you're sending the data to Rand and the scholars
6. Back at the VTOL, tell Hermanubis that you share his fear, but the future can't be built on a lie
7. Proceed to the Megastructure, follow the story, and when you wake up with Neith at the start of Act 5, you can ask about the status of New Jerusalem, and you'll be told who is mayor. Should be Rand, unlocking "A New Morality."

 

Hermanubis as mayor ("Balance")

This achievement doesn't require you to have done any of the red actions above. For me, I literally didn't have to do anything to get Hermanubis as mayor:

• I didn't even go into the Lost Lab with the Somnodrome. I just left to the Megastructure
• I didn't respond to any social media threads
• At the VTOL, I told Hermanubis to preserve the myth

 

If that doesn't work for you (because of choices you made throughout the game, or social media you responded to), here is a more guaranteed way to get him elected.

1. Before heading to the Somnodrome, you'll need to respond to some social media entries to support the Goal and the Founder to be on Hermanubis's side. Select the following responses to the following social media threads:
   1. Theory of Everything - agree with Malduc
   2. Is there even a future? - say you think you're taking the wrong path
   3. A Warning - bottom left option (you DON'T think a class society is forming; society without growth will be equal and balanced)
   4. The Goal Megathread - choose Loyalty, and that loyalty, when earned, has value
2. Head to the Somnodrome in the Lost Lab, asking Hermanubis what he thinks, and that you'll plug in and see for yourself (unlocking "Gouthi Seuton")
3. Inside, interact with the computer (use /rm to proceed, and then load up the final.final file). Now go talk to Miltohim on the beach. Your choices here don't matter (he'll talk to you about moral code no matter which big question you ask him), and then exit
4. Back with Hermanubis, tell him you're not fine (third option), and ask what you should do
5. On the way out, you'll talk to Rand. This is important. Pick the first option both times (don't tell him anything related to what you saw)
6. Head out of the Lost Lab and Cryer will talk to you. Tell him you need more time (don't do the interview)
7. Back at the VTOL, tell Hermanubis that the myth of the Founder must be preserved (first option)
8. Proceed to the Megastructure, follow the story, and when you wake up with Neith at the start of Act 5, you can ask about the status of New Jerusalem, and you'll be told who is mayor. Should be Hermanubis, unlocking "Balance."

 

Byron as mayor ("A New Beginning")

I've seen some reports of people not needing to do anything special to get Byron elected, but that gave me Hermanubis. I did NOT need to do anything with the Somnodrome in the Lost Lab. I ignored it entirely. I only responded to the following social media threads:

Theory of Everything - agree with Shmilev

Is there even a future? - say you're doing the best you can

A Warning - pick the first option, agreeing and saying you can grow and expand without repeating past mistakes

Founder Megathread - say you owe Athena nothing

If that doesn't work, you can try accessing the Somnodrome. On the way out, again don't tell Rand anything. This time, have the interview with Cryer, tell the people what you saw, and say you're sending the data to the people. That should push you over the threshold to get Byron elected, unlocking "A New Beginning."

 

Act 5 - Full Fathom Five

Time to finally wrap up this completion. You're in New Jerusalem one final time, so if you missed anything here, time to get it now. Talk to Yaqut and Melville, then head back up the elevator to the VTOL. Upon landing at the Megastructure outside, you now have access to all twelve locations. If you haven't completed all regular puzzles, lost puzzles, and monuments, do so now. Also mop up any collectibles you're missing. With everything done, you now need to do a few things to get some achievements and prepare for the true ending. Note that I haven't marked any of this in red because I don't believe anything is missable. After beating the game, if you choose to continue your save file, you'll be outside the Megastructure, allowing you to still mop up any collectibles or puzzles you missed.

• From the Megastructure landing area, head to the gold star on your compass with all 24 stars collected. Interact with the wall there to unlock "The Edge of Forever"
• You now have access to all of the gold puzzles. You now need to go to each of the twelve locations and complete the single gold puzzle in each. The golden gates leading to those puzzles are now marked on your compass. These are the toughest puzzles in the game. Completing all of them will wrap up "Renaissance Robot"
• With all twelve gold puzzles done, return to the Megastructure landing area again, and head to the gold gates on your compass. Complete the challenge within, and you'll unlock "Ab Aeterno." This is needed for the true ending

Now that everything is done, head inside the Megastructure for the final puzzles of the game. Once you've done all eight puzzles, note that it doesn't matter which of the two available routes you take to get to Athena. For the true ending, when you're talking with Athena and you get three dialogue choices, choose the top one, "I want to know the truth." This unlocks "The Future" in addition to "Breaking the Loop" for beating the game

 

That should be the completion! Enjoy the ending!

Edited June 29 by Necrophage33

As far as I can tell, I was one of the first (if not the first) people to unlock all achievements in a single playthrough on Xbox. I've written up exactly how I did it. Just be very careful during the cloud save part. I highly recommend running each route offline first, just to be confident in what you need to select to get each mayor, then run it live for the achievement. It may sound stressful but it's not that bad. I did it twice in a row with no issues. The game is worth it. 

 

Let me know if I missed anything or messed anything up! 

I answered the social media forums as they popped up throughout the game, not knowing they would have any effect on the endings (it's never mentioned in this guide until the end.)

 

Now that I've reached the end, I'm locked out of the "Balanced" ending because of my social media choices.  I have reloaded my save data several times and tried several combinations that would get Herman reelected, but you cannot change those social media posts.  It doesn't seem possible for me now to get Herman reelected.

 

Maybe edit this guide and stress the importance that these social media posts have at the beginning of the walk-through...

12 hours ago, Raggle101 said:

I answered the social media forums as they popped up throughout the game, not knowing they would have any effect on the endings (it's never mentioned in this guide until the end.)

 

Now that I've reached the end, I'm locked out of the "Balanced" ending because of my social media choices.  I have reloaded my save data several times and tried several combinations that would get Herman reelected, but you cannot change those social media posts.  It doesn't seem possible for me now to get Herman reelected.

 

Maybe edit this guide and stress the importance that these social media posts have at the beginning of the walk-through...

 

Wow, you are absolutely right. I have that spelled out in my achievement guide that discusses the mayors and then references this walkthrough, but I didn't give a warning here specifically. I sincerely apologize for that. I added a warning to the top of this walkthrough to help in the future. I appreciate the feedback. 

Apology is unnecessary.  I imagine creating guides like these takes a lot of time and effort, so instead let me thank you for writing it in the first place.

 

Besides I assume another play through shouldn't take too long since I already know all puzzle solutions and will be skipping all dialogue.