There are numerous bugs to be found when playing The Esoterica: Hollow Earth, the following are those which I personally encountered. If you take a look at the discussion boards, you will see that there are some players who have encountered other bugs that I did not, as I said, these are only the bugs that I encountered.

It should be noted that while none of the bugs I encountered were game breaking, there does seem to be a bug that prevents earning the Film Critic achievement, at least I think it's a bug, either that or poor design. So make sure to read up on that achievement before playing if you are trying to 100% The Esoterica: Hollow Earth.

Incomplete or broken voice acting.
Voice acting is present in the first half of the game only, once you reach a certain point (the cut scene where the professor gets abducted) is where the voice acting ends.

Broken conversations.
During the game there are many times where you have conversations with NPCs. When these occur, the first sentence is shown at the bottom of the screen which is also read out by a voice actor (at least in the first have of the game). Once you have read this sentence, you click the "next" button above the sentence to further the conversation, or end it.

In at least one instance, clicking the "next" button did nothing, it appeared as if the game had stopped responding. Thankfully clicking within the scene above, acted as though I had clicked the "next" button and the conversation continued and my game progressed as normal.

Dodgy hit boxes.
Items that have to be located within a hidden object scene have invisible hit boxes that if drawn correctly will detect when a specific item has been clicked on. In The Esoterica: Hollow Earth there were at least two instances where I encountered items with poorly drawn, or overly small hit boxes.

If you are sure you have located the correct item in a scene and the click is not registering, keep clicking around and on the item, if in doubt, check my video walkthrough to see if you definitely have the correct item, all hidden object scenes are time stamped to help you quickly find the scene you are playing.

Film critic achievement bug.
I'm not entirely sure if this is a bug or bad design, but during my first playthrough I did not skip any cut scenes and at the end of my game, the achievement did not pop. This first playthrough was not in one sitting, after reading this thread on the discussion boards, I wiped my local save file and I played through a second time in one sitting, not skipping any cut scenes and the Film Critic achievement popped.

Crashes.
I first tried to play this game many years ago on an i7 4700HQ, 16GB, R9 m265x laptop running Windows 8.1, when trying to play The Esoterica: Hollow Earth on this machine every 10-15 mins it would suffer a runtime error and crash to windows.



The next time I played The Esoterica: Hollow Earth, was in Feb 2020 on an i7 6700, 32GB, 980 Ti desktop running Windows 10 and at no time playing did the game suffer a runtime error or crash.

I do not know if the crash was OS related or due to running a mobile GPU, sadly I did not think to test the game on integrated graphics. That said, if you are running anything other than Windows 10 or are playing on a laptop, test the game works ok as soon as you buy it in case you suffer crashes so that you can refund the game.

The Esoterica: Hollow Earth has a total of 8 Steam achievements, 7 of which are missable. All achievements can be earned with a single playthrough taking around 2.5 to 3 hours.

A quick primer, before you get started...

1. The first note is the most important, if you are trying to 100% the achievements for The Esoterica: Hollow Earth, play the game and complete it IN ONE SITTING. Do not exit the game, play it from start to end without exiting.

The Film Critc achievement which requires you not to skip any cut scenes appears to be bugged. The first time I played through, I did not skip any scenes, but the achievement did not pop, this was in two sittings. After reading this thread I played through again a second time, this time in one sitting not skipping any cut scenes and this time the achievement popped.

2. There are no achievements relating to difficulty in The Esoterica: Hollow Earth, so select whichever suits your mood.

3. There is a tutorial and while there are no achievements directly relating to completing it, I would advise anyone trying to 100% The Esoterica: Hollow Earth, not to skip it.

4. Do not use the hint button ever, at any time, even if the tutorial tells you to. The hint button is the green crystal in the bottom right of the screen and there is an achievement earned if you do not use it at any point during your game, either in a hidden object scene or in the main game.

While the tutorial tells you to click it, I do not know if this is a one time pass that does not count towards the achievement, or not, I do not know, as such I did not click it and completed the tutorial hidden object scene without clicking it and if you are trying to 100% the achievements, I would advise you to do the same.

On top of the achievement earned for not using the hint button at any point during your game, there are also two other achievements earned for not using the hint button. One for completing one hidden object scene without hints and another earned for completing all 24 scenes in the game without using a hint in any.

5. There are two achievements relating to mini-game puzzles, one earned for completing a puzzle in less than 60 seconds and another earned for completing all 32 puzzles without skipping any of them.

6. There is an achievement that requires you to play The Esoterica: Hollow Earth for 1 hour straight. As advised earlier, if you are trying to 100% the achievements, play it in one sitting, you can pause if needed, or just leave running if you need to afk or take a break, just don't exit the game before you complete it.

7. There are collectables in The Esoterica: Hollow Earth that take the form of gold punch cards, there are 29 of them to collect, each adding a little to the background story. There are no achievements relating to collecting these cards and while I collected all of them in my video walkthrough, I have not time stamped the videos or posted screen caps of their locations as there are no achievements for them.

8. There is no "bonus chapter" in The Esoterica: Hollow Earth.

The achievements listed below are in order of which I earned them during my playthrough.

Video contains...
@ 3:19 = HOG #1 Bedroom, your house.
@ 4:50 = Puzzle #1 - Cross Stitch Puzzle, bedroom, your house
@ 8:29 = HOG #2 Bedroom, your house, 2nd time.
@ 9:45 = Puzzle #2 - Flute puzzle, fireplace room, your house.
@ 11:10 = Puzzle #3 - Unlocking the safe puzzle, fireplace room, your house.
@ 12:40 = Puzzle #4 - Elevator puzzle, fireplace room, your house.

Video contains...
@ 0:10 = HOG #3 Outside professor stones house.
@ 2:50 = HOG #4 Projector room, professor stones house.
@ 6:03 = Puzzle #5 Torn blueprint puzzle, fireplace room, professor stones house.
@ 8:16 = Puzzle #6 Lens focus puzzle, projector room, professor stones house.
@ 11:09 = HOG #5 Outside professor stones house, 2nd time.
@ 12:14 = Puzzle #7 Mineral puzzle, fireplace room, professor stones house.
@ 12:54 = HOG #6 Secret Hanger, professor stones house.

Video contains...
@ 0:37 = Puzzle #8 Stained glass puzzle, fireplace room, professor stones house.
@ 4:20 = HOG #7 Projector room, professor stones house.
@ 6:16 = HOG #8 Helicopter landing site.
@ 7:06 = Puzzle #9 Door lock cylinder/valve puzzle, helicopter landing site.
@ 13:20 = HOG #9 Helicopter landing site, 2nd time.

Video contains...
@ 0:03 = Puzzle #10 Engine part puzzle, on board the tunneling machine (Subterrene).
@ 2:53 = HOG #10 Projector room, professor stones house (one week earlier).
@ 3:55 = Puzzle #11 Schematic drawing puzzle, Projector room, professor stones house (one week earlier).
@ 11:04 = HOG #11 Secret Hanger, professor stones house (one week earlier)
@ 12:47 = HOG #12 Projector room, professor stones house (one week earlier), 2nd time.

Video contains...
@ 0:09 = HOG #13 Room up spiral staircase from Secret Hanger professor stones house (one week earlier).
@ 2:31 = HOG #14 Secret Hanger, professor stones house (one week earlier), 2nd time.
@ 3:18 = Puzzle #12 Helicopter destination puzzle, room up spiral staircase, from Secret Hanger professor stones house (one week earlier).
@ 5:06 = HOG #15 Room up spiral staircase from Secret Hanger professor stones house (one week earlier), 2nd time.
@ 5:45 = Puzzle #13 Matching number wall panel puzzle, Secret Hanger professor stones house (one week earlier).
@ 7:40 = HOG #16 = Prison cell.
@ 10:33 = Puzzle #14 Laser dot puzzle, Hallway outside your prison cell.

Video contains...
@ 0:03 = Puzzle #15 Matching skull puzzle, 2nd room on the left from the Prison hallway.
@ 1:46 = HOG #17 Prison cell, 2nd time.
@ 3:01 = Puzzle #16 Explosive recipe puzzle, Prison cell.
@ 5:38 = Puzzle #17 Secret compartment lock puzzle, room at the end of the Prison hallway.
@ 7:21 = Puzzle #19 Symbol rocks and disks puzzle, 2nd room on the left from the Prison hallway.
@ 9:30 = Puzzle #20 Colour wire puzzle, 1st room on the left from the Prison hallway.
@ 10:10 = HOG #18 1st room on the left from the Prison hallway.
@ 12:05 = HOG #19 Second prison cell, behind the locked door.

Video contains...
@ 1:30 = Puzzle #21 Slider puzzle, on board the crashed tunnelling machine.
@ 2:11 = HOG #20 Globe room.
@ 3:06 = Puzzle #22 Matching pairs puzzle, Globe room.
@ 3:32 = Puzzle #23 Zodiac sign puzzle, Globe room.
@ 4:27 = Puzzle #24 Bird disc puzzle, on board the crashed tunnelling machine.
@ 8:03 = HOG #21 First cave room with statue.
@ 10:36 = Puzzle #25 Catching fireflies puzzle, Second cave room with crystals.
@ 13:09 = Puzzle #26 Paint drop puzzle, Globe room.

Video contains...
@ 0:06 = Puzzle #27 Mozaic painting puzzle, Second cave room with crystals.
@ 5:22 = Puzzle #28 Moving ornament parts puzzle, Second cave room with crystals.
@ 8:31 = HOG #22 First cave room with statue, 2nd time.
@ 9:20 = Puzzle #29 Mask construction puzzle, Third cave room with river.
@ 11:45 = Puzzle #30 Three statues puzzle.

Video contains...
@ 0:01 = Puzzle #31 Matching blossoms puzzle, Path with statue head.
@ 1:50 = HOG #23 Globe room, 2nd time.
@ 3:13 = HOG #24 Coastal path.
@ 7:00 = Puzzle #32 Maze puzzle, Coastal path.

For anyone with problems viewing the embedded videos in this guide (such as those in China having to use a VPN to watch videos on YouTube) here's a link to the playlist...
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgrKGjfHCc0jX1fmoXkLyM7tUsJbapIbH

I hope you found this guide of help, all comments, suggestions and criticism (constructive) is gratefully received.

An A to Z list of my Steam achievement guides and walkthroughs can be found @
https://cs2bus.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1502405720
If you would like to get a notification in your activity feed when I post a new guide, just click the "follow anrkyuk" button on my profile guide list...
https://cs2bus.com/id/anrkyuk/myworkshopfiles/?section=guides