So you’ve finished the main game and unlocked Story Mode+ — congratulations! But don’t think the mystery ends there. This new mode throws a series of cryptic messages your way, and cracking them is the only path forward. I’ve worked through every puzzle step by step, and here’s exactly how to decode them all.
Step 1: The First Cipher
Once you start Story Mode+, check the evidence section in the top right corner. You’ll find your first note. The text looks like gibberish at first glance, but notice the opening word “gb” — that’s a dead giveaway for a Caesar cipher, since “gb” likely translates to “to.”
Decoded message: “To detective: you dont know me but you know him he wears the badge yet hides the truth but first prove yourself in log nine typo five times” 
What to do: Head to Case Log 9 and deliberately make five typing errors — just input invalid words and hit Enter each time. The answer to the prompt is WORD, FILE, or CLUE (any of these works, same as the first puzzle in the main game). Whether you get it right or wrong, the game will restart a new cycle starting from the hotel body photo.
Step 2: The Atbash Mirror
After completing step 1, you’ll receive a second note. This one uses the Atbash cipher, where A becomes Z, B becomes Y, and so on. It’s essentially a mirror alphabet.
Decoded message: “Your sheriff Clifford is not clean Monroe found the truth and that is why he is gone CV was once with us part of group Z we were never just one man next in log nineteen remain silent for one minute then pass”
What to do: Go to Case Log 19 and do absolutely nothing for a full 60 seconds. Just sit still and wait. After that minute passes, you can proceed.
Step 3: The Multi-Tap Code
The third note looks like a series of numbers with dots — for example, “2.” or “2..” or “2…”. This is a classic multi-tap phone keypad cipher. Each number corresponds to a key on a phone, and the dots tell you how many times to press that key. So 2 = A, 2. = B, 2.. = C, and so on.
Decoded message: “Monroe found the ledger of Z a ranking of men by their kills the higher the number the greater the honor type arcana in log 30”
What to do: Open Case Log 30 and type the word arcana into the input field.
Step 4: The Polybius Square
The fourth note contains only the letters a, b, c, d, e and the numbers 1 through 5. This is a Polybius square cipher — a 5×5 grid where each letter pair (like a1, b3, e5) points to a specific letter in the grid.
Here’s the grid layout:
- Row a: A B C D E
- Row b: F G H I/J K
- Row c: L M N O P
- Row d: Q R S T U
- Row e: V W X Y Z
Decoded message: “CV stood at the top they called him the chessboard killer most murders were his the old sheriff knew threatened and resigned but left clues”
