Exploration Modes

***Note:*** *This wiki is maintained by fans of the game, and is not affiliated with G5 Entertainment. If you are experiencing technical issues with the game itself, please contact customer support.*

While investigating scenes, don't forget to keep an eye on the timer.

- In-game Tip

**Exploration Modes** control the objective of the player in a scene. While objects still need to be found, some modes may hinder or alter a player's search. Certain modes add more items to the location's item drops.

A neutral location will have 3 minutes to explore, no more than 5 minutes at most even with Anomalies, and a minute at its lowest. The amount of items to be found will be consistent and based on the Location Rank. The only way time can be extended past 5:00 is with the aid of Chronometers.

## Words

> *"Game mode 'Words' is active on the location. You need to search for items using their names."*
>
>

This is the most common mode. There are no changes to gameplay, but more items need to be located than any other mode.

## Backwards Words

> *"The special mode 'Backwards Words' is active in the location. Item names are reversed."*
>
>

Item names are reversed, with no change in time to explore. Slightly fewer items need to be located.

## Silhouettes

> *"This location uses the Silhouettes game mode. In the tasks area, only Silhouettes of objects will be visible. You have to search for items by judging their silhouettes."*
>
>

Find items based on their shape. Items may not be oriented as shown in the list.

The hardest part being identifying what you are trying to find - use your imagination, what looks like a sea anemone may turn out to be a mirror!

Full color Silhouettes appear as one of the rounds of Mystical Rounds, which asks players to find a few items in each of four modes during one play of a location.

 Ten of Spades
 Jack of Spades
 Queen of Spades
 King of Spades
 Ace of Spades

**Strategy/Counterplay:**

If the player has played a location many times, silhouettes often won't do much to impede their search. Location knowledge is key; Silhouettes mode is more troublesome appearing in locations that the player is unfamiliar with, recently unlocked or not played in awhile. Most telling is that certain items may only have a specific silhouette for a specific spot (take the many different Lutes in the Emperor's Palace, for example)

## Night

> *"This location uses the Night special game mode. Only a small illuminated area of the Hidden Object Scene will be available to you. The rest of the location is dimmed."*
>
>

Find items in a dimmed room, with only a small circle of illumination. An extra minute is added to the time, and slightly fewer items to be located.

 Meredith Vance
 Doctor John Maugham
 Gilbert Heyer
 Baby Rari
 Beverly Aldridge

**Strategy/Counterplay:**

Even experienced players may slow down in Night Mode, and there isn't much that can be done without eyesight. If one cannot find an item, moving slowly can help focus the eyes. Don't stay in one spot.

In general, tools ignore the need for a player to use their sight. Night mode will make more difficult locations more arduous, like the Thanksgiving Fair or Patio, but simpler Locations can still be solved by moving the cursor slowly.

## Abracadabra

> *"The location uses the Abracadabra game mode. In the tasks you will be given the names of objects in which the letters are mixed up. Identify the correct sequence of letters to find the items."*
>
>

Find items based on their scrambled name. Two minutes are added to the time.

 Crystal Orb
 Skull Stand
 Ghostly Essence
 Seal of Silence
 Manticore Claw

* A Decoder can be used to unscramble the names of items currently in the task list.
* After February of 2018, the scrambled words now have the proper letter capitalized, making it easier to guess the words.
	+ This was likely done to separate words with the similar letter combination, such as 'Runes' and 'Purse' in the Room of Fate.

**Strategy/Counterplay:**

Similar to Silhouettes, one should be familiar with the items in a location; if not, a glance at any wiki page should help. Since the first letter is always capitalized, and the players have five minutes to explore, time may be taken to figure out any troublesome words. For those more adept, some items can be guessed or figured out simply by the capital letter.

## Similar Items

> *"Similar items" mode is active on this location. You must look for pairs of items with the same name.*
>
>

Find pairs of items, with an extra minute given, as well as the location being more cluttered.

 Encrusted Fan
 Embroidered Gloves
 Evening Gown
 Glass Slippers
 Swan Shawl

**Strategy/Counterplay:**

With less different item types to find, some may consider this mode easier than the traditional Words method. The strategy, while quite obvious, is to recall two different places of a specific object name and seek them out. Note that objects may not be literally the same thing; for example several "Apples" in the game are engraved into something or the actual fruit.

## Past / Hindsight

> *"Hindsight is active in this location. Find clues of the past."*
>
>

Find the differences between two full coloured images. The time is extended by two minutes.

 Coal
 Silk fabric
 Strand of hair
 Drop of blood
 Candle wax

**Strategy/Counterplay:**

This mode is a traditional "find the differences" challenge, but the player has a full 5 minutes as well. Some objects are *always* in a certain spot with this mode. Try zooming in and working from one side to the other slowly.

## Reflections

> *In this mode, you need to find differences between two mirrored images of the location.*
>
>

Find the differences in a mirrored image, with five minutes to search. Both sides are full color.

 Anonymous Note
 Broken Guitar
 Driver's Licence
 Broken Mirror
 Mumiyo Glue

**Strategy/Counterplay:**

While it may seem like a harder variant of Past mode, there are two often-mentioned strategies, going cross-eyed to view both sides at once while moving them, and using the line in the center of the screen -- as an object pops out on one side, it may not on the other. Note that the scenes are also more cluttered in this mode to throw off the player. Small items become especially difficult to notice, as well as those that cannot be centered. Try zooming in and working from one side to the other slowly, while watching the center line.

## Invisible Ink

> *The special mode "Invisible Ink" is active in the location. Item names are written in an ink that only becomes visible with time. Use your wits to find the items from the search list before the time runs out.*
>
>

Invisible Ink is a lot like the Distortions anomaly with a reverse effect. Players start out with one two letters and the rest of the letters are filled in over time. Less items (only 6) need to be found, but you only have one minute to find them.

 Spyglass Cane
 Bird Feeder
 Memorial Medal
 Dovecote
 Messenger Pigeon

**Strategy/Counterplay:**

This mode requires *strong* memory of the Location's items, and unfortunately does not give more time to work with. The best method without using Tools is to find the first few items as quickly as possible, so letters are filling in for the items one can't figure out yet. Luckily, the Decipher Cube tool is quite common, but remember it may only reveal words currently on the player's list, so avoid spamming it after every object found. Filled in words should be immediately sought out, so newer words have more time to fill.

Another manner of dealing with the Invisible Ink effect, and a general rule for any Mode is to note where *any* item in the Location is, whether it's on the list or not. This way, even when words are not filled in, you can potentially help locate objects later down the list, a good use of time when objects aren't known.

## Mystical Rounds

> *"Mystical Rounds" has formed at locations affected by a special mystical effect. To find all the items, you need to complete 4 special rounds. Each round has a different type of search.*
>
>

**Mystical Rounds** mode features 4 different types of searches that must be completed sequentially within the overall time limit. Each of the 4 rounds will require the player to find one quarter of the total number of items to be found.
The types of searches are random and may include any of these:

* Words
* Silhouettes
* Color-filled Silhouettes
* Finding many of one item (Multi-Silhouette round)
* Finding related items (e.g. "Food") (Category round)

It should be noted that there can be more than one of the same type item in the category round (Ex. 2 cats while searching for animals).

Players have four minutes to explore a location.

Tip: If players hover over the hidden items list in the game while in Mystical Rounds it will say "this category may include..." and gives players hints about what to look for.

 Mineral Tray
 Dynamite Sticks
 Geodesic Protractor
 Starstone
 Leaves in the Sand

## One of the Three

> *"When the location is in "One of the Three" mode, you have to find only one item from the list in 20 seconds. The fog will swallow the rest and update the list."*
>
>

The game will present a word list of 3 items and you will have 20 seconds to find any one of those 3 items. As soon as you find one, the game will clear the list and present a new list of 3 items. All 3 items will be available in the scene, but you only need to find one of them. For each new set of 3, you will have 20 seconds. You will have to find a total of 7 to 12 items, depending on the location's rank.

For this mode, the "number of seconds saved while searching" will be the number of seconds you saved from the final set of 3. That makes this mode the least favorable for saving search seconds because the most you could save is 19 seconds. If you run out of time and use a chronometer, you will receive an extra 20 seconds, not the typical 45 seconds that a chronometer gives.

**Strategy/Counterplay:**

Look for the item you are most familiar with first. Scan quickly. If you don't see it right away, move onto searching for the next item in the list. Most of the time, at least one of the three items is in the middle of your screen and you will not need to search on the right or left edge.

## Secret Items

> *"Secret Items" mode is active in the location. At the scene, you can find Tokens, which don't appear in the search list. The keys are required to open the chests that appear during the event.*
>
>

**Secret Items**  is a unique mode that only occurs during Events. Multiple of a token, unrelated to completing the scene, will appear in the location with this effect. Players can use the tokens by exchanging them in the Curiosity Shop for prizes!

This "mode" occurs in *addition* to any other mode or anomaly on the location. This "mode" is typically active on the Current Event Location. However, sometimes, the game will give you a task to search an older location with this mode to find old event tokens.

Starting with the Japanese Garden event in 2018, there is a counter at the top that tells you how many of the items are in the scene, this number tends to change on rank so keep an eye on it. When you find all the items, the player then sees a green check mark on the counter and gets a few minor bonus rewards for finding all of the items, these rewards range from a few coins or energy to a random collection item or assembler.

The Detector Tool can be used to find these items, as they are not on the player's list.

The only time this mode could be transferred to other locations was during the Halloween 2017 Event, by clicking hats and ghosts around the map.

* Even then, only the Collector's House and Room of Fate could receive this mode outside of Event Locations.

As of 2019, The mode can appear in other Locations than the current Event, though timed Quests. These quests take place in Locations of similar months or aesthetic to the ongoing Event.

## Tips and Trivia

* The Backwards Words mode was added along with the Masquerade Ball in October 2017.
* The Christmas School is the first Location to have its animated parts still occur in Reflections and Past modes.
	+ Every new location since follows this enhancement; but this was not updated for older locations.
* Modes that add more time, as well as the Anomalies that do may be more useful in the Event Locations to find the Secret Items there.
* For Distortions Mode, it is useful to first look at the list, then find most of the items on it before the names disappear.
	+ Occasionally, finding an item from the list may cause another word to lose more letters.
	+ Taking a screenshot when the location first loads is as effective as memorizing the items.
	+ If you have many deciphering cubes, use one of these to help if you cannot figure out a word.
	+ To get a summoner, complete the Slumberous Music collection (Under Monsters).
* In 2019, G5 quietly (unannounced) added a new exploration mode to the game called "Night Silhouettes"
	+ In 2020 this mode was removed from the game when all the dungeon locations were removed.
* In May 2020, the modes Mystical Rounds and Invisible Ink that were exclusive to Upper City are became available in new locations in the Main City. They also become available in any old locations that get their graphics updated.
* In September 2020, the amount of time given for Mystical Rounds changed to 4 minutes. Previously, it had been 3-1/2 minutes in Post Office and Lamplighters Workshop and 3 minutes in all other locations.
* In November 2020, Past and Reflections modes have colour on both sides with the left side having pixelated lines running though the screen. It gives the feel of watching an old film. "Past" previously had a "toasted" image of the area, where colors are muted by additon of a brownish tint. "Reflections" was more grayish.
* In Werewolves Lair, The Sewers, and The Tomb of the Knight, a variation of the Past & Reflections modes appeared where the time limit is shorter than it normally would be in other city locations. The number of items to be found is also greatly reduced. These locations have been removed from the game.
* "One of the Three" mode was added to the game in June, 2023 during the Incident at the Zoo event.
* The game changed the name of the mode "Reflections of the Past" to "Reflections" in August 2023 during the Crystal-Clear Bet event. The icon also changed.

## Related Pages

* Home Page
* Hidden City Info
* Anomalies, Summoners and Dispellers
* Collections
* Locations

***Note:*** *This wiki is maintained by fans of the game, and is not affiliated with G5 Entertainment. If you are experiencing technical issues with the game itself, please contact customer support.*