The Aegean Island in Reverse 1999 Chapter 5, The Prisoner in the Cave, is a strange and peculiar place. Whether it’s the fact that almost all the inhabitants are named after numbers, that the beach is covered in massive geometrical shapes, or that the worst sin imaginable on the island is eating beans, Chapter 5 certainly lives up to the weirdness from previous R1999 story chapters. Just like all previous chapters, Chapter 5 is also full of different Trails to encounter, all of which feed into the mystery even more. There are a few puzzle Trails in this chapter which ask you to remember certain innocuous pieces of information – such as how long Vertin has been walking in the “Storm” – and A Refresher of Essentials is one of those.
A Refresher of Essentials is the second major puzzle Trail you’ll come across as you progress through Chapter 5 of Reverse 1999. The question itself will ask you to recite the specifics of a rule on the island, a rule only briefly mentioned in a passing list a few stages earlier. If you can manage to prove your worth and remember that specific rule, you’ll be able to earn yourself for free and easy Clear Drop for your gacha needs.
Here’s how to answer the A Refresher of Essentials Trail riddle in Reverse: 1999 Chapter 5.
Want more Reverse: 1999 content and guides, including other Trail puzzle solutions? Then you can find more here on KeenGamer:
- Reverse: 1999 | As the Sand Remembered Puzzle Guide (All Level Solutions)
- Reverse: 1999 Tooth Fairy Character Guide | Tooth Fairy Best Psycubes and Teams
- Reverse: 1999 In The Storm Trail Riddle Guide
- Reverse: 1999 Fish and Chips Trail Riddle Guide
- Reverse: 1999 Unexpected Audience Trail Riddle Guide
A Refresher of Essentials Riddle
What Are Trail Riddles in Reverse 1999?
As you go from mission to mission in each of Reverse 1999’s main chapters, you’ll often come across little side activities or stories known as Trails. These manifest on the map as small yellow symbols, with each symbol denoting a different activity. Sometimes, the Trails will have you fight a small group of foes to proceed whereas others will ask you to answer a question or hold a dialogue with some strange disembodied voice who seems to know Vertin quite well.
Most of the time, you’ll need to complete a certain set of Trails to progress and unlock more parts of the main story. However, some Trails (like In The “Storm” and A Refresher of Essentials) are completely optional meaning that it’s possible to miss their rewards. These optional Trails will often reward small amounts of Clear Drop for solving them, with other rewards including more lore and records to add to the Atlas.
Some of the riddle-based Trails can be pretty difficult, especially because they require you to dig through previous sections of the story to uncover the answers.
The Watch Losing Time
A Refresher of Essentials Puzzle
A Refresher of Essentials is the second puzzle Trail you’ll encounter in Reverse: 1999 Chapter 5, The Prisoner in the Cave. In order for the Trail to become available, you must progress through Chapter 5 until you reach 5TH-09, Silent Meeting, the mission where it all starts to go wrong on the Island.
As for the Trail, simply arrive at Stage 9 and look for the bushes next to the gathering of people in the assembly hall. The bright yellow Trail symbol should be easily visible from the nearby foliage. There are several kinds of Trail symbols but, for puzzle Trails, the symbol will always be a small chess piece, similar to the ones used to depict characters on the game map.
A Refresher of Essentials will ask you the following question once you click on it:
“The island’s precpets must be memorized. When entering and leaving the assembly hall, from “which side do you enter, and on which side do you leave”?”
A Refresher of Essentials Trail Riddle, Reverse: 1999
5TH-09 Silent Meeting
Reverse 1999 A Refresher of Essentials Solution
The answer for the A Refresher of Essentials puzzle in Reverse 1999 is simply “right, left”. While the answer itself is simple, there are a few caveats which come down to Reverse 1999’s finicky handling of text. For one, the answer needs to be in all lowercase as any capital letters will invalidate the answer. Secondly, you need to type it in the way shown above – “right, left” – and no other way: even if you put the correct answer, such as “enter right, leave left” it will not be valid.
For successfully clearing A Refresher of Essentials, you’ll be walking away 20 Clear Drop richer, allowing you to inch closer towards another pull on the Summoning Banner. If you’re struggling to get the answer right, make sure that you’re following the rules laid out above and that you don’t have any extra spaces or characters that don’t need to be there.
A Refresher of Essentials Answer
Solution Explanation
As for how we know it’s that you enter from the right and leave from the left, the truth is revealed slightly earlier in Chapter 5. To be more specific, the answer is revealed one stage earlier in 5TH-08, Ancient Rules. During the early portions of this level, Sonetto asks Sophia to recount many of the Island’s archaic and strange rules to her as she wasn’t able to properly memorise them. In response, Ms. Radio perks up to say that she remembers them all and that she can give Sonetto.
In all, Ms. Radio says a total of ten rules on the Island but, for our purposes, the most insightful is rule seven:
“Seven, do not enter the hall in new garments. Enter the hall from the right and leave from the left.”
If you happened to miss this during your initial viewing of the Stage 8 cutscene or just want to go back and see the other strange rules on the Island, you can rewatch any cutscenes or story conversations from the Story Review section of the Atlas.
Rule Number Seven
That was how to correctly answer the A Refresher of Essentials puzzle in Reverse: 1999 Chapter 5.
