The murder in Act 2 is the one moment where Sovereign Tower feels genuinely cruel. A knight you have spent ten cycles getting attached to turns up dead, and the natural assumption is that it was scripted and there was never anything you could have done.
That assumption is only half right. The first death is scripted and you cannot stop it the first time it happens. What you can control is the timeline you keep. Investigate the murder, then use the Crypt Demon to rewind to the morning of that exact day. Get it right and a new dialogue option lets you talk the killer down before he acts again.
Heavy Act 2 spoilers from here on.
What we cover:
Sovereign Tower Murder: The Quick Answer
The order that works:
- Let the first murder happen. It cannot be prevented the first time.
- When the Crypt Demon offers an immediate rewind, refuse it. Taking it only unlocks a door-locking option that swaps in a random substitute victim and someone still dies.
- Send the murderer himself to investigate the murder.
- Hear his full account when he comes back.
- Rewind to the morning of the day the game marks as “before the murder”.
- In Alwena’s audience, talk to the murderer instead of locking up a room.
- Ask him about the voices and about being manipulated.
When the murder happens in Act 2
The murder lands in Act 2, around Cycle 10 or 11. You will not dodge it by playing carefully, which is why so many players hit it cold. The Steam achievement for your first casualty sits at 72.3%.
I will say the game handles it well. It hurts, and it is meant to.
How to prevent the murder in Sovereign Tower
1. Let it happen once. The first murder is not preventable. Nothing you pick in that first audience with Alwena changes the outcome.
2. Refuse the demon’s immediate offer. Right after the murder, the Crypt Demon offers to rewind on the spot. Do not take it. That shortcut only unlocks a door-locking option, and it swaps the victim for someone else at random, the timeline still loses a knight.
3. Let the murderer investigate. This sounds backwards, and it is the part people skip. Assign him to look into the death. He will fumble the investigation, then explain what actually happened. That confession is the flag the game wants.
4. Do not rewind yet. Sit through his story first. If you go straight to the crypts without it, the demon just taunts you about letting it happen again, and nothing changes.
5. Rewind to the morning. The demon will offer you a date labelled as before the murder. Take that exact date, and take the morning slot. Any earlier point in the timeline will not work.
6. Choose the new audience option. Alwena comes to you that morning and mentions noise coming from the rooms. Previously your only real move was to lock the victim’s room. Now there is a second option that lets you go speak to the murderer directly. Take it.
7. Ask about the voices. Press him on hearing voices and on being manipulated. He admits it. You can then tell the Crypt Demon you suspect him of being behind those voices.
Why your Crypt Demon rewind is not working
The morning detail is the whole thing. Go back to some vague point before the murder and it simply happens again, which is why people conclude the murderless path is a lie.
| What you do | What happens |
|---|---|
| Rewind without hearing his story | Demon mocks you, murder repeats |
| Rewind to a random earlier cycle | Murder repeats |
| Rewind to the marked date, evening | Wrong audience, option never appears |
| Rewind to the marked date, morning | Alwena’s audience, new dialogue unlocks |
The game actually warns you earlier that time travel changes who shows up for an audience that day, which reads like a reason to avoid precise rewinds. It is the opposite. That warning is the mechanic you are supposed to exploit.
What does not stop the murder
- Dismissal of the victim before the murder and a re-invite afterwards. They die in the next audience segment regardless.
- A different knight on the investigation. You get no follow-up dialogue at all.
- Repeated rewinds without new information. The demon has a line for that, and it is not a kind one.
Who is the murderer in Sovereign Tower?
The murderer is not fixed. The role can land on Gwendan, Ursula, or Gideon, and Angelica. The victim shifts too and different players have lost Gwendan, Rufus, or Arron. There is disagreement even among players who tested it directly on whether affinity decides it, and if so, in which direction. Some report the knight with the lowest affinity becomes the killer, others got the opposite result.
This means the investigation step is not optional flavor and it is the only reliable way to find out who it is in your specific save. In one documented run the culprit was Gwendan, fitting his Noble Soul, Fear of the Dark, Arrogant, and In Debt traits. Treat that as one possible outcome, not a prediction for your run.
Completing the investigation and confronting the murderer also unlocks the A Traitor achievement, whether or not you go on to save him.
Gwendan death sentence bug
This bug was observed specifically when Gwendan was the culprit. It is not yet confirmed whether the other possible murderers trigger the same issue.
A death sentence does not resolve cleanly. He keeps talking to you after the hearings. His aunt Gwendolen arrives to break the alliance over the execution, and the pawnbroker still turns up about his debts. You will find him alive in the Tower, with the usual choice to pay his debt or banish him.
