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Why Am I Dead?


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Rating: 4.4/5 (150 votes)
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TrickyWhy Am I DeadA murder has happened. Yours. And with the storm, it could be days till the road is cleared enough to let the police in to investigate. You've helped a lot of the people staying at your hotel, and hurt just as many. But who would want to kill you? No one is going to tell a ghost... but your sure your guests won't mind if you borrow their bodies to gather a little information. After all, you'll be happy to move on when you're finished. Why Am I Dead? is a retro-style mystery adventure by Peltast Games, where possession is nine-tenths of the fun.

Move your spirit around the hotel using the [WASD] or [arrow] keys. When coming across a guest you wish to possess, move into them, and hit the [spacebar]. Once possessing a physical form, you can open doors and talk to other people with [E] or [X] Characters will react differently to different guests talking to them, and advancing the plot all the way to the conclusion will require quite the bit of detective work. Why Am I Dead's plotting and characters more than make up for its somewhat rough-around the edges programming and control scheme. Clearly at the moment, the developer has a greater amount of skill at constructing an effective mystery than depicting it in Flash. However, it is an ambitious, atmospheric work reminiscent of Hotel Dusk or Colonel's Bequest, and it has quite the killer ending. This marks Peltast Games as a designer to watch out for in the future. Especially if they're coming towards you with a knife.

Play Why Am I Dead

Walkthrough Guide


(Please allow page to fully load for spoiler tags to be functional.)

Why Am I Dead Walkthrough

General information: Every character and possession combination has a conversation that goes with it. While most are not strictly neccesary for progressing the plot, they do fill in details and characterization. This walkthrough will focus on what particular steps are needed to beat the game.

A Closed Circle

  1. Start by heading north and posessing Cricket (Purple Hair), then move around the corner and talk to Randy (Bald Guy). Whatever question you ask, he will leave the room, leaving you free to explore the rest of the hotel. Leave to the south.

  2. Once into the main foyer, still as Cricket, talk to Ted (Hawaiian Shirt). Ask him if anyone seemed out of place last night. The conversation will lead to Cricket suggesting that Ted check to restroom in order to verify Cricket's alibi.

  3. Depossess Cricket, and possess Ted. As Ted, head north to the hallway. Enter the center door of the hallway, and start a conversation with the Men's Room door on the left. During the conversation, the man inside will confirm Cricket's alibi. Head out of the room and back to the foyer. Talk to Cricket and let him know his alibi checks out.

  4. Depossess Ted, and possess Cricket. Ask Ted about the others here at the hotel. Seems like he has some suspects in mind. Head to the door on the west and enter Randy's room. Ask Randy about who would have a reason to kill the hotel manager. Ask if Randy and the manager had a history. Seems like Randy has a secret...

  5. Depossess Cricket and possess Randy. Head south out of the room, then back up to the hallway. Enter the room second from the left. Talk to Iblis (Little Girl) and mention how Iblis reminds you of someone.

  6. Depossess Randy and possess Iblis. Talk to Randy about his daughter. Seems like Randy has made up his mind to talk to Cricket.

  7. Depossess Iblis and posess Randy. Return to Randy's room, and tell Cricket that there's something you need to tell him. It seems that Randy had every reason to want the manager alive. Randy suggests that Cricket talk to the blonde.

  8. Depossess Randy and possess Cricket. Make your way back to the hallway and the second room from the left. Talk to Morgan (The Blonde). Ask if she knew the hotel owner. Tell her that it's hard to believe she doesn't have any more information. Ask her if she was trying to get some dirt on the owner. Seems you aren't nearly imposing enough to get her to spill. Leave the room and enter the far left door. Talk to Rose (Old Lady). Huh. She's definitely much more imposing.

  9. Depossess Randy and possess Rose. Leave the room and return to Morgan's room, second from the left. Talk to Morgan and tell her that you cannot stand to look at her. Continue the conversation until Morgan offers to confess. Of course, Rose is a mean old lady and doesn't care, so leave the room, and return to the room on the far left, where you left Cricket.

  10. Depossess Rose and Possess Cricket. Leave Rose's Room and return to Morgan's room, second from the left. Talk to Morgan. Ask if she knew the hotel owner. Tell her that it's hard to believe she doesn't have any more information. This time she'll spill a little bit more. Talk to Morgan again and ask her what she noticed. Hmm. Looks like the manager was caught up in something big. Still, blackmail requires the victim to be alive...

The Finale

  1. As Cricket, exit Morgan's room and enter the room third from the right, Lucille's room. Talk to Lucille (glasses) and you will accuse her of the murder. She tells you that you need to talk in private, in the owner's room.

  2. Head back to where it all began, the owner's room. Head around back to where the body was found and talk to Lucille. It's time for some answers.

35 Comments

I feel like I found a bug that makes it so I can't advance

I talked to the manager as the little girl before talking to him as cricket. He made a comment about talking to someone else now, but when I talk to him as cricket, he won't elaborate past "I can't see my daughter", and talking with the girl again just asks about how he smells.

Reply

@Mystify: it's not a bug

you need to speak to cricket being the manager

Reply

Yeah, I figured that out.

Reply

I'm pretty sure this game is broken because

once you talk to the shy girl and she says to meet her in the other room and you change rooms the screen goes black

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That didn't happen to me. Make sure your Flash Player is updated to the latest version.

Reply

I love the old-school rpg style of this game. Kind of expected the ending, but loved it anyway.

The only issue I have is the pause menu. I accidentally clicked the humongous "return to main menu" button and had to start the game all over again. By that time, I was pretty far into it. Also, there really should be a save option.

But since I'm a total sucker for retro games like this, all is forgiven.

Reply

Well, that was a pretty interesting game...

But what was up with the exhibitionist lol.. & is the smug guy just there randomly? I thought he was hiding something...

& so the dude that died was a murderer?

cuz the cop lady said there was a serial killer there..

I would have liked it more if it talked more about what illegal stuff was going on & what exactly Randy did to have to hide in that hotel, & why all these ppl were actually there... some ppl still seem suspicious (like that smug guy)
but overall, a good game.

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There is a bug where if you leave a character in the lobby right where you go up and then bring another character through, both characters will get stuck.

Reply

@CandyCorn:

I thought the exhibitionist was supposed to be some random creep.

The 'smug guy' (the salesman I assume) being with the exhibitionist struck me as being a wierd alibi.

Reply

@Viper,
I had the same bug. The screen went black and all that I could see was the door. :(

Reply

I liked the idea of the game, and the characters were great, but the execution didn't really do it for me.

The possession mechanic didn't work, storywise. Did the ghost have amnesia? Why did Cricket act on his own in the ending, if he was still possessed? Was the possession just a device for the player to control different characters, and not a literal part of the story? Maybe I missed something...

Anyone know if the game has multiple endings? If it would have been possible to get a different result if you

investigate Cricket as the detective, instead of the other way around

then I think I'd like the game a lot better. If not, it feels a little cheap.

Reply

@hyena To stick to the Watsonian (see: fan tropes), apparently

the owner did not know who he had been planning to kill, as there was a whole load of possible victim-suspects. Hey, there was a storm, maybe the lights went out. So he possesses Cricket, who has his own agenda to find out anyway, and they both play the role to the hilt so as not to arouse suspicion. AND to find out what everyone knows, so they can proceed to bump them off.


The endgame is to get the actual suspect alone and away from the others, because Cricket "can't" seem to narrow down the suspect list AND he does suggest that there's a conspiracy. Cricket then kills the killer because it's his business now and he can't have anyone live to blab.

Reply

By the way, if you're going to play this game with a young one...

that content rating's not just for the swears and stereotypes. There's a brief flash of an anti-Semitic aside, plus speaking of that ... uh wow, is that little girl talking to a flasher?

Reply
sunnylauren November 19, 2012 10:40 PM

Great game :). I had to use the walkthrough near the end, because

The fact that all the same dialogue options were available on all the characters made me think there was no new information, when actually something important had been unlocked.

Other than that, I thought it was very unique and well thought out. Five stars for story and design. I did figure out the end before it happened, but I liked the way the clues were inserted so that was possible but not in your face.

Reply
Smoothfonzo November 20, 2012 12:40 AM

Interesting concept. I think this deserves to be explored further, like maybe a sequel set in a city for instance with a bigger place to explore.

Reply

@shudog:

Apparently, which is a little odd given her reaction when you attempt to talk to her as a flasher. She also manages to gross out the flasher somehow.

Reply
sunnylauren November 20, 2012 4:24 PM

Oops. Totally forgot to mention that I figured out part of the end before it happened:

That Cricket was the guy the hotel owner wanted to meet, and that he was bad,

but not that

Lucille was an undercover cop.

Also, am I the only one who first saw Lucille's glasses from the profile view, and thought she had only one eye?

Reply

@smjjames Indeed. Thing is, what adults may find satirical is probably the last thing a kid should do ... and I imagine they're unlikely to ask about it during gameplay. (Fan of teachable moments.)

Reply

I encountered the same bug as others have mentioned above. Just seeing a black screen and a door. My flash player and browser are all up to date. I'm not sure if I want to restart since the dialog takes so long to get through. Other than that though, it's a good game.

Reply
inheritance.fan November 22, 2012 11:39 PM

Wait, there is anti-Semitism? And the girl grossed out the flasher? I thought HE grossed HER out.

Reply

I found a bug where a character accidentally left too close to the entrance to a room (specifically, the front room with the desks where the colorful guy starts) causes the other possessed character to get stuck "inside" of the first one, making both completely unable to move forever. So, gotta start all over.

Reply

...Aaand the game broke again at complete random after an event.

Specifically, right after "I need to see you. Alone. At the scene of the crime." was said, the controls locked up completely. Can't do anything.

Reply

I seem to have hit a bug. I followed the walkthrough by the letter, but no matter what happens,

Morgan won't spill the beans; she just says that Cricket is too young. She says this even after she's told Rose she wants to confess to someone, even after Cricket has heard everyone's alibis from Ted, and even after Randy has told Cricket that Morgan should know something.

Even after doing all of that -- repeatedly -- Morgan still says the same canned response about Cricket being too young.

Reply
CatzCradle June 25, 2013 2:50 AM

Kind of a bug where after possessing the old lady and talking to Morgan. I possessed Cricket again and talked to Morgan, but after selecting the 2nd choice I get a dead end where she says I have to wait 20 years before interrogating her again. I ended up having to restart the game to select different choices while talking to her to get her to answer properly.

It was a interesting game and the story really reminded me a bit of Hotel Dusk. But there was a bit too much information overload in the last bit and I ended up being confused.
Would anyone mind explaining:

[spoiler]So Lucille was just pretending to be a meek bookworm, but was actually an undercover cop sent to investigate the serial killer who killed the Owner.

Cricket was just using Ted were partners in crime(?), and Cricket was the one was supposed to meet up with the Owner.

The Owner was running some illegal business in the hotel.

Then WHO was the serial killer??? @_@ [/spoiler]

I agree with Alice, there were too many plot holes in the story.

Reply
CatzCradle June 25, 2013 2:51 AM

Oops, sorry about the double post. Please feel free to delete and fix the tags OTL

Reply
hannah.marieee2000 July 29, 2013 2:50 PM

when I go to talk to Lucille the option to accuse her isnt there. I talked to B. Morgan just like the walkthrough above said but it didn;t work. Anyone else have this problem?

Reply
trantheminh January 31, 2014 3:49 AM

There is another ending. To get this one, before talking to Lucille as Cricket(after doing the other steps of course), possess Lucille instead, go to Morgan's room and talk to Morgan. After that, go back to her own room, possess Cricket, and play up the ending as normal. SPOILERS AHEAD.

The ending plays up normally, but when Cricket pulls his gun out, Lucille quickly reacts by using HER gun and fires at Cricket's gun. After that, Lucille explained that Cricket has fell for her acts, and had she not suspected Cricket as much, he would have divulged very important information. There's more meaning to it, but I'll let you discover. Lucille then fires the gun for the last time into Cricket, the same gunshot sound is heard and THE END text appears.

That's pretty much a better ending, for me personally.

Reply
trantheminh January 31, 2014 4:00 AM

Wait wait wait! I'm wrong. In the alternate ending I posted....(read this if you read the spoilers)

The gunshot wasn't heard. Only THE END text was shown. So I don't think Lucille shot Cricket.

Talk to Ovrall for some extra information after talking to Morgan as Lucille.

Reply
imtherealeggman March 15, 2014 9:28 PM

Secret Ending Walkthrough

1: Complete all the steps required to pin Lucille as the murderer, up to (but not including) talking to her as Cricket after you know neither Randy nor Morgan had a motive.
2: Possess Lucille, and talk to Morgan. Go through all the dialogue options - she knows a lot that Lucille would like to find out.
3: Still possessing Lucille, talk to Cricket. It seems Ted and Orvall have some kind of connection.
4: Talk to Orvall, and press him about Ted. Talk to him again, and ask what they were talking about.
5: Possess Cricket, talk to Lucille, and meet her at the crime scene.

Reply

i cant belive cricket did it wow talk about a twist

Reply
bluegriffin18 October 31, 2014 1:55 AM

yeah, I get the same issue with not having Morgan talk after I speak with her with rose. Am I missing something like how you need to

look under Radney's bed for the letters with cricket before you can talk to him about it?

Also I tried to start a new game once and it ended up keeping my progress, but not letting the manager move so I couldn't leave the murder room until I refreshed the page.

Reply
bluegriffin18 October 31, 2014 2:10 AM replied to bluegriffin18

Edit. So there seems to be MAJOR difference with a couple of versions of the game. I used your walkthrough on for a different site and man is it different. You can save and the layout is different too.

Reply

everytime i confront Lucille and come to the part where Cricket get his gun out and tells her he's the owner partner in crime it ends like that with a gun shot and the pause menu appears :D

Reply
garlic bread August 8, 2020 12:39 PM

Change the rating to XP

Reply

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