Major Cases

Silver Palace does not leave its story structure to interpretation. The game divides its own campaign into acts of three scenes, gives every scene a title, and records a time of day, a location and a one-line beat for each one. That structure sits in the Major Cases group of the Hero's Journey achievements, so the act breaks below are the writers' own rather than a fan reading.

This page lays the campaign out in order, from the cemetery in the prologue to the docks at the end of Act IV. Every scene carries its official title, the achievement that marks it, when and where it happens, and the beat verbatim, then the people and places it introduces so you can read outward from any point.

Quick Answer

The campaign runs in acts of three scenes each. This page covers the prologue and Acts I to IV, thirteen scenes, in the order the game tells them, from a cemetery to the last train out of the docks.

The evidence board during the Grimm case, which the campaign resolves in Act II, Scene III. Official Elementa beta footage.

How the game divides its own story

Every scene carries four fields, and none of them is filler.

The official title is what the game calls the scene. The achievement name is usually the sharper of the two, because it editorialises where the title stays flat. "Old Nightmares", "Blue Eryngos Beyond Reach" and "Point of No Return" all tell you how to feel about a scene the title describes neutrally.

Time of day and location repeat on purpose. The campaign moves between daytime, dusk, rainy evening, nighttime and morning, and it spends its only morning on "Informant", the one scene where the Detective gains ground instead of losing it. The Detective's Office comes up three times, and each time a case opens or closes there. A dark alley comes up twice, and both times the case turns against you, once when Rex takes the remains away and once when danger closes in. The cemetery, the coronation celebrations, the café, the Constabulary, the bank, the clinic, the Ballroom and the docks appear once each.

If you want the plot rather than the structure, the full story recap walks through what happens in each stretch. That recap groups the story under headings of its own, written from playing it, so its act numbers and the game's do not line up one to one. This page carries the game's divisions; the recap carries the narrative.

Prologue: "The Peak"

Daytime: in the cemetery. The Detective reminisces over their sibling, swearing to chase down the one behind it all.

The campaign opens on a grave, not a crime scene. The Detective, Hugin or Munin depending on which you pick, is already grieving a sibling and already certain someone is behind it. That makes the whole investigation a revenge plot wearing a detective story's clothes. "A Fall From the Peak" does double duty as a title. Something fell, and someone was at the top when it did.

For what the city was recovering from when this opens, see the Great Disaster and the Silvernia royal family tree.

Act I

Scene I: "The Return"

Dusk: at the coronation celebrations. Following a talk at the bar, the Detective agrees to work together with Lorin.

A coronation puts a new queen on the throne in the very first scene, and the achievement calls it "Post-Golden Age". An ending, not a beginning. The Detective agrees to the partnership that carries the rest of the campaign in a bar, which is Argos territory, and the partner is Lorin, chief inspector of the River Constabulary.

Scene II: "Case File"

Dusk: at the café. A curious case dredges up a painful chapter from the Detective's past...

The first case is a curious one, which is the term for the branching deduction cases covered in Curious Deductions. It also sets the pattern the campaign keeps to, where the Detective's own past keeps turning into evidence. The café has its own in-world advertising, transcribed as the Voicepipe Café pamphlet.

Scene III: "Assistant"

Daytime: the Detective's Office. Taking on a peculiar case, the Detective and their new assistant set off.

The assistant is Alf, and Act I closes with the office staffed. "First Day on the Job" is generous as an achievement name, because Alf is a trained maid from the Maid Institute, Society, and Services rather than an investigator. Her title page covers how she got there.

Act II

Scene I: "The Dead"

Rainy evening: a dark alley. Rex takes the remains away, and the investigation comes to a standstill.

Act II is the body, and it stalls because Rex removes the evidence. A superintendent, doing it in the open. That is why he reads as an antagonist long before you fight him, and the boss story covers his side of it. The alley puts this in Morgue Street.

Scene II: "Constabulary"

Daytime: the Constabulary. With the remains damaged, the Detective must seek the help of an old friend.

The remains come back damaged, so the case needs a doctor rather than a constable. The old friend is Firtho, the Corner Clinic doctor and the Detective's childhood friend. "Black and White" sits over a scene about somebody tampering with evidence inside a police station, which is the joke.

Scene III: "All Becomes Clear"

Daytime: the Detective's Office. The notebook is found, and the Grimm case is cracked.

The unidentified body gets a name, and the name is Grimm, the journalist. A notebook cracks it, which fits a victim whose whole method was writing things down. What Grimm actually is goes further, and his Motive, The Flashbulb Mystery, argues that testimony is less reliable than a photograph.

Act III

Scene I: "Going Deeper"

Nighttime: by the bank. With a little help, the Detective apprehends the rich man, catching him in the act.

The investigation moves from a body to money, and the location moves to the bank in the Finance Quarter of Four Crowns Street, mapped in Silvernia's districts. "Tiresome Regulations" is the Detective's view of the paperwork. The help arrives from Bentham, whose day job sits inside the mining conglomerate's board office. What she is really doing is a separate question.

Scene II: "Trust"

Daytime: by the clinic. The Detective's mind is sent reeling, just what was that dream all about?

The clinic is Firtho's, and this is the first scene where the Detective's own head is the unreliable part of the case. The dream goes unexplained. Deduction in this game happens inside the Mind Palace, a space the Detective reasons in rather than a figure of speech.

Scene III: "Shattered Bonds"

Daytime: the Detective's Office. Ashley falls under suspicion, and bids farewell... the poor girl.

Act III ends by turning the investigation on a member of the household. Ashley is the character the game titles Cinderella. "Blue Eryngos Beyond Reach" names a flower, sea holly, and puts it out of reach. Her Motive is The Cinderella Mystery, and the Ashley theory covers what her departure sets up.

Act IV

Scene I: "Informant"

Morning: the Ballroom. The Detective follows a trail of clues, gaining information and a dance partner, too.

The only morning scene in the campaign, and the only ballroom. The dance partner is Red Rose, whose whole design turns on dancing, and who she is really is one of the cast's longest-running questions. The Epiphany The Red Shoes is the fairy tale behind her.

Scene II: "Lion's Den"

Nighttime: a dark alley. Heading deeper into the hideout, danger closes in on the Detective.

The second dark alley, and the second time one goes badly. The hideout belongs to the syndicates, covered in the syndicates and corporates rundown, and the alley puts it back in Morgue Street.

Scene III: "All Aboard"

Daytime: the docks. Mind hazy, they board the last train...

Act IV ends at the docks with the Detective's mind already going and a train they should probably not be on. "All Aboard" over the scene, "Point of No Return" over the achievement. Nobody can say you were not warned.

Where to read next

If you want the plot rather than the structure, the story recap covers it at length. To read outward instead, start from the lore hub, the Classical Curations documents the city writes about itself, or the detective board, which draws the same cast and cases as a network rather than a sequence.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is the Silver Palace story structured?

In acts, each split into three scenes, with a prologue before Act I. The divisions come from the game's own Major Cases achievements rather than from an outside reading, and every scene carries a title, a time of day, a location and a one-line beat.

What are the Major Cases in Silver Palace?

Major Cases is the game's name for the main campaign, one group inside the Hero's Journey achievement category. Every scene in it carries a title, an achievement, a time of day, a location and a one-line beat. The other Hero's Journey groups are Private Requests, Curious Deductions and City Errands, which cover the optional cases instead.

Where does the story recap fit?

The recap is a narrative summary written from playing the campaign, so it groups events under headings of its own and its act numbers do not match the game's. Use this page for the game's structure and the recap for what happens inside it.

What happens in Act I of Silver Palace?

The city crowns a new queen, the Detective returns to Silvernia, agrees over a drink to work with chief inspector Lorin, picks up a first curious case that reopens their own past, and takes on an assistant, Alf. Three scenes: "The Return", "Case File" and "Assistant".