Every Word Counted · Velstraven

Every Word Counted, for the devoted. The game describes it as: Solve all thirty required puzzles without a spell ever unravelling or being shed.

Narrated guide

What the game counts

The journey keeps a count of wasted casts, and it must still be zero at the moment the 30th required room settles. A cast is wasted when it leaves your hand and the world refuses it: it unravels because nothing is under the crosshair, it sheds off a fitting that does not take that spell at that moment, the fitting is more than 10 m away, a refectory or buttery fitting or a wall torch turns it away, or a spell on yourself fails (Boost jump while you are off the ground, Short traverse into something solid or over no floor). The count starts with the first lesson in the refectory and covers the optional rooms too. Not counted: pressing an empty slot, pressing a spell that is still recovering (each spell needs 0.65 s after a cast), Handle and Turn presses, dismissing, and casts that are taken but change nothing, such as a furniture glimmer or Heat on a reading lamp that is already lit. Failed room attempts do not matter. A restart from the autosave keeps the count; only loading a manual save made before the slip takes it back. Once the 30th required room is settled nothing more is checked.

Before you start

Start a new journey: the count belongs to the journey and is never reset inside it.
Leave Nothing to Hold (a spell cast into empty air) for another journey or for after the 30th room. The refectory makes it look free; on this journey it is the one cast that spoils the run.
Keep the spell list on screen (L toggles it) and hold Alt (Option on a Mac) over a row to read what a spell does before you bind it. Tab opens the Codex, which pauses the game.
Learn the snap keys: T (pad R3) turns you to the next fitting, Y or Shift+T (pad L3) to the one before. The card under the crosshair names what a cast would hit.
Bind with Ctrl held (pad: R1 held). A slot key pressed without Ctrl casts instead of binding, and the left mouse button recasts your last slot.
Make a manual save (pause, Save and restore) at the door of every room before you start casting in it. Loading it is the only undo for a wasted cast.

The route

In the refectory, bind Heat (Fire, Fire, Growth), Draw (Wind, Will, Water) and Supply liquid (Water, Water, Water). Cast each once, each at its own fitting: Heat at the Cold hearth, Draw at the Serving trolley on the ward plate, Supply liquid at the Dry rinse basin.
Each lesson fitting takes one kind of spell, and a finished fitting turns away a second cast. The hearth wants fire, the trolley a spell that moves it, the basin enough water to lift its float.
What you see: "A seal over the door glows (1 of 3)." A repeat would be refused with "The hearth already burns."
In the old buttery, bind Chill (Growth, Water, Water) to the fourth slot. Spit hearth: Heat, then Draw. Covered brazier: Draw, then Heat. Flagstone: step off it, then Supply liquid, then Chill.
Each buttery fitting has two steps in a fixed order. Air only fans a fire that is already burning, the kindling under the cover can only be lit once the cover is open, and ice only heaves the stone once water fills the seam.
What you see: "Chill freezes the water in the seam; the ice swells and heaves the flagstone up out of its bed." Out of order you would get, for example, "Chill frosts the dry seam. There is no water in it yet to freeze."
From here on, walk fully into a room before casting at anything in it.
From a passage or doorway the room's fittings cannot be aimed at, so a cast flies on to the stone behind and unravels.
What you see: The place name at the top shows the room's name, not the passage's.
Press T until the crosshair card names the fitting the route asks for, and read the room card before each cast.
Many fittings take a spell only at the right moment. The card's note and the room card's progress line tell you whether the previous step has taken.
What you see: The card names the fitting, for example "Trellis", and its note describes its present state.
Follow the order in the table below in the rooms where a spell depends on an earlier step. When in doubt, do the hand step first.
A spell cast before its condition holds is refused with the reason, and the refusal counts as waste even though the room is unharmed.
What you see: Refusals read like "The loaded trellis binds at its hinge; it needs safe support."
To find out what a spell does, cast it at a chair, desk or shelf inside a puzzle room, never at a wall torch.
Furniture takes every spell and changes nothing, so it is neither waste nor a new spell for Frugal Scholar. A wall torch only takes Supply liquid while it burns or Heat while it is out, and turns everything else away.
What you see: "The ... answers with a brief ward-glimmer, then settles unchanged." or "A harmless current rattles the ...; nothing useful moves."
If a cast is turned away, pause and load the manual save you made at that room's door.
The wasted count is kept in the journey save. Restart from autosave carries it across, but a manual save from before the slip has the old count.
What you see: "Restored slot N."

Casts most often turned away

Where	Fitting and spell	Turned away when	Do this first
Refectory, buttery	Any lesson or starter fitting	The wrong kind of spell, the wrong order, or a fitting already put right	One cast per step, in the order above
Any room	Any spell	You are still in the passage, or the fitting is over 10 m away	Step in and close in until the card names the fitting
Halls and passages	Wall torch	Anything but Supply liquid on a lit torch or Heat on an out one	Leave torches alone
Vent antechamber	Brace on the Sill	The door is not open far enough	Handle the Door, cast while it stands wide
Counterweight repair room	Tether on the Connector	The weight has dropped from its shelf	Handle the Windlass to wind it back
Projection workshop	Draw on the Carriage	The shoe and traction mat already hold it	Cast Draw before you set the Shoe
Cable winding room	Repeat motion on the Drive	The crank has not been turned by hand	Handle the Crank once
The dark frieze	Draw on the Tray	The tray is not held by Suspend	Suspend the Tray first
The warmth-seeking vine	Anchor on the Stem	The stem has not reached the trellis saddle	Wait about twelve seconds after watering
The counterweight lift	Anchor on the Shoe	The car is not level and still at the landing	Wait for the car to dock
The stalled orrery	Sever on the Strap	The Brake is off	Leave the brake on
The stalled orrery	Orient on the Outer or Middle ring	The rings are still coupled	Orient only the Inner ring, or cut the Strap first
Pendulum maintenance bay	Orient on the Arm, Tether on the Eye	The brake is not held (it lets go about four seconds after you press it)	Handle the Brake, then cast both at once
The cold furnace ducts	Heat on the Pad	The inspection Panel is closed	Handle the Panel open
The drowned hall	Sever on the Links	Nothing supports the panels	Handle the Blocks, or Suspend the Frame
Float test basin	Supply liquid on the Basin	The basin is already full (six doses fill it)	Count your doses
The choked cistern	Orient on the Trellis	Its weight is not yet held	Suspend or Lighten the Trellis first
Door service antechamber	Brace on the Sill, Tether on the Eye	The door is shut	Handle the Door, cast while it is open

Watch for

The left mouse button recasts the slot you last used. A stray click while looking at bare stone is a wasted cast.
On a pad, R2 plus a face button casts; R1 plus a face button binds. Mixing them up casts.
Boost jump is refused in mid-air ("The upward impulse needs grounded footing."). Short traverse is refused when something solid stands in the way or there is no floor three metres ahead.
Spells that act on you never reach a fitting. With a fitting under the crosshair the reply ends "It acts on you, not on the ...". That cast still went through, so it is not waste.
Pressing a slot while its spell is recovering only says "... is recovering." and costs nothing, so you can press again quickly while waiting for the cooldown.

What breaks it

One cast that unravels, sheds or is refused, anywhere, from the first lesson to the 30th required room.
Restart from autosave does not undo it. Only loading a manual save made before the slip does.
Nothing to Hold, a cast into empty air, is itself a wasted cast.

Rooms involved

The choked cistern, The stalled orrery, Pendulum maintenance bay, The cold furnace ducts, Projection workshop, The warmth-seeking vine, The dark frieze, Door service antechamber.

Spells

Heat, Draw, Supply liquid, Chill, Suspend, Orient, Tether.