Life is Strange Reunion: Find the Hall of Secrets and Hidden Passage
Learn how to find the Hall of Secrets in Life is Strange Reunion: solve the silver panel puzzle, open the hidden passage, and handle the masked man.
Chloe's descent into the basement of the Fremont House is one of the tensest detours in Life is Strange Reunion, and the symbol puzzle guarding the Hall of Secrets stops plenty of players cold. If you want to find the Hall of Secrets in Life is Strange Reunion without clicking every object twice, the sequence is actually short — but skip one interaction and you'll be stuck in a room that refuses to respond. Here's the exact order of operations, what's waiting inside the hidden room, and how the masked intruder decision reshapes the scene.
Where the Hall of Secrets Puzzle Begins
This section takes place during the Mabon night chapter, after Chloe receives a mask from Max and takes over as the playable character inside the Abraxas building. The objective updates to finding the Hall of Secrets, and the game drops you in a basement packed with scrolls, an altar, and a lot of decorative props that look interactive but aren't.
Two things are worth doing before you touch the puzzle. First, read the note near the entrance on the right side; it costs nothing and gives the room some context. Second, read the notes on the table beside the altar. Neither is required to solve anything, but both are easy to miss once the puzzle pulls you toward the curtains.
The one genuine trap: the letter by the orange curtains on the wall. You cannot interact with it meaningfully until you've handled something else first, which is exactly why so many players assume the puzzle is broken.
How to Find the Hall of Secrets in Life is Strange Reunion
The puzzle is a three-part chain: read, trigger, then retrieve. The critical detail is that the framed letter only becomes movable after the candle holder has been pulled — there's no visual feedback confirming the change, which is the main reason players get lost here.
- Read the framed letter next to the orange curtains. Do this first; nothing else in the room responds until the letter has been examined.
- Go to the fireplace and pull the candle holder mounted on the wall. GameSpew describes this fixture as a sconce, so expect a wall-mounted light rather than something on the mantel. Nothing changes on screen, but the letter is now unlocked.
- Return to the letter and move it. Chloe lifts the frame away and exposes a silver panel covered in engraved symbols.
- Ignore the green tile by the white door. It looks like a matching piece, but it shatters when Chloe tries to take it. That's a decoy, not a puzzle failure.
- Grab the coaster from the wooden shelf on the opposite side of the basement — the Kallax-style unit against the far wall.
- Insert the coaster into the silver panel. The wall opens and the hidden passage appears.
| Step | Location | Action | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wall by the orange curtains | Read the framed letter | Enables the chain |
| 2 | Fireplace wall | Pull the candle holder / sconce | Letter becomes movable |
| 3 | Same letter | Move it aside | Silver panel revealed |
| 4 | Opposite wall | Take the coaster | Puzzle item acquired |
| 5 | Silver panel | Insert the coaster | Hidden passage opens |
Community walkthroughs and player experience agree on the sequence, and the only real point of confusion is a wording mismatch: some guides call the trigger a candle holder, others a sconce. It's the same wall fixture near the fireplace.
Inside the Secret Room: Evidence and Collectibles
Behind the panel sits a smaller room lined with scrolls and stored goods, and it's dense with optional interactions. Two of them are worth prioritizing.
The record pile. Just inside the entrance, examine the stack of records and flip them over. One side shows a lion design with a sketch prompt — that's the "Taste of the Psychedelic" collectible, one of Chloe's sketchables. Unlike optional evidence, a missed sketch is recoverable: Gamer Social Club notes that missed Chloe collectibles can be replayed through Scene Select, and PowerPyx says Chapter Select covers everything except Evidence.
The box on the right-hand shelves. Pick it up, then rotate it in your inventory until you find the opening. Inside are several photographs. Chloe keeps one of them, which suggests it matters to the wider evidence thread later in the story. If you're chasing the "Major Gumshoe" trophy for optional Abraxas evidence, this room is one of the places worth a slow, thorough sweep.
Before you leave, note the passage back toward Max. Exit through the same door and a cutscene triggers — you can't linger once you step out.
The Masked Intruder: Distract or Attack
Footsteps interrupt the search. Chloe hides behind a curtain while a masked man enters, inspects the opened passage, and starts tearing bricks out of the wall with a hammer. Reggie walks in shortly after, and the masked man turns back toward him — at which point you choose Chloe's response.
Distract
Chloe connects her phone to the building's speakers and plays a police siren. The intruder panics and runs, and Reggie clears out too, shaken but unharmed. This route avoids physical confrontation entirely, and the source guide notes it leaves no additional physical traces behind. The walkthrough author at Into Indie Games also picked this option, calling it the safer of the two.
Attack
Chloe tackles the man and knocks him down. He drops a fragment of a map on his way out — the one clear material reward tied to this branch — and still escapes. Reggie reacts with visible fear, calls Chloe the "innermost secret," and flees.
Neither outcome ends the sequence, and both lead back to Max's section of the chapter. The map fragment is the practical difference: it's only described on the attack route. After the incident you can re-enter the secret room and examine the freshly damaged masonry for extra detail, so don't run off the moment control returns.
Practical Tips and What Comes Next
- Read the letter first, then pull the candle holder before trying to move it. Space4Games notes you cannot do anything else here yet, so the letter is the intended first interaction; if it still won't move afterward, return to the fireplace trigger and try again.
- Search the wall opposite the panel, not the area around it. The coaster isn't near the door or the curtains.
- Don't try to force the green tile. It's designed to break.
- Flip the records. The sketch interaction only appears on the reverse side.
- Re-enter the secret room after the intruder cutscene for the masonry detail you'd otherwise miss.
The Hall of Secrets doesn't stay buried in the basement, either. Later, when Max interrogates Yasmin in the principal's office, "Hall of Secrets" and "Sledgehammer" are both selectable dialogue lines in the rewind sequence. Paying attention to the sledgehammer and the brick damage here makes that conversation land — and according to GameSpew's full walkthrough, those specific choices are part of the path toward the "You're Coming With Me" trophy for saving Safi.
If you're playing on PC, the game's store page is the reference point for platform and system details: Life is Strange: Reunion on Steam.
FAQ
How do you find the Hall of Secrets in Life is Strange Reunion? Read the framed letter next to the orange curtains, pull the candle holder on the fireplace wall, move the letter to reveal the silver panel, then take the coaster from the shelf on the opposite side of the basement and insert it into the panel. The hidden passage opens immediately.
Which item actually opens the silver panel? The coaster from the wooden shelf unit. The green tile near the white door is a decoy and breaks when Chloe picks it up.
Should you distract the masked man or attack him? Distracting him with the police siren avoids a fight and leaves no physical traces; attacking him makes him drop a map fragment but lets him escape anyway. Both outcomes continue the story, so pick based on whether you want the fragment.
Can you go back into the secret room afterward? Yes. Once the intruder scene ends, you can re-enter and inspect the damaged wall for additional detail before moving on to Max's section.
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