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Elevator Color Code puzzle (TV room and elevator)

Updated 17 Oct 2026 · Game version: launch version (Oct 16, 2026)

The answer in one line

Switch on the TVs and note the color column, light the Black Candle and use it in the elevator, then ride to the floors in the order your colors give from top to bottom (blue = 3rd, white = 0, green = 2nd, red = 1st) and finish by pressing -1. The order is different in each game.

Not sure how to read your colors, or the elevator won't go down? The steps and a reading guide are below.

Our pencil sketch of this puzzle goes here.
We draw the sketch once the puzzle is checked in a playthrough.

Where the puzzle is

The TV room is behind the green door you open with the Copper Key. The elevator is the building's normal one; the code only works once the lit Black Candle is inside.

The color order is randomized: your TVs will not show the same column as a video or another guide. Read your own, using the guide under the steps.

Not sure you’re in the right place? Search for your room in Quick find tool.

What you need

  • Copper Key: from the cinematography camera puzzle, to open the TV room
  • Black Candle: on the desk in the TV room
  • Lighter: already in your inventory since the poster puzzle (where exactly it is picked up is not confirmed)
  • Old Book: on the 3rd-floor apartment floor; it holds the color legend and records your column

Exact spots for each one are on Items and collectibles.

Step by step

  1. Turn on the TVs and record the colors

    In the dark TV room keep interacting to switch the TVs on. Expect a Vorax ambush partway through. When they are all on, Julia writes the column of colors into the Old Book.

    Old Book page titled De Relictis showing a column of colored squares: blue, white, green, red, then a dark grey one
    Frame from “Tenebris Somnia - All Puzzles & Solutions Guide” by iampanax. Watch at 22:38

  2. Light the Black Candle

    Take the Black Candle from the desk and combine it with the Lighter in the inventory.

  3. Use the lit candle in the elevator

    Step into the elevator and use the burning candle there.

  4. Ride the floors in your color order

    Translate each color into a floor and visit them from the top of the column to the bottom. After every correct stop the elevator looks more decayed.

  5. Press -1

    With all four floors done, press -1. The elevator takes you down to floor -1.

    A grey, colorless lobby with a pool of blood by the glass wall and the elevator doors on the right
    Frame from “Tenebris Somnia - All Puzzles & Solutions Guide” by iampanax. Watch at 23:15

How to read your own clue

Where it appears. Once every TV in the dark room behind the green door is on, the screens form a vertical column of colored blocks. Julia copies that column into the Old Book, so you can check it later from the inventory instead of walking back.

What it means. The Old Book also holds the key that turns a color into an elevator floor:

ColorFloor
Blue3rd floor
White0 (ground floor)
Green2nd floor
Red1st floor

How to enter it. Read your column from top to bottom and ride to each floor in that order, with the lit Black Candle already used inside the elevator. When the four colored floors are done, press -1.

In iampanax’s run the column was blue, white, green, red, so the trip was 3 → 0 → 2 → 1, then -1. Yours will differ. His notes also end with a dark grey block under the four colors; it isn’t in the legend above, and in his run the next button he pressed was -1.

How to know it worked. Each correct stop makes the elevator look more corrupted. After the last one, pressing -1 sends you down to floor -1, the level where Iván’s childhood room is. If the car still looks normal after a stop, check that color against the table again.

If it doesn’t work

I copied the code from a video and the elevator won't go to -1.
The colors are randomized per game. Open the Old Book and read the column your own TVs produced.
The elevator just moves normally between floors.
The lit Black Candle has to be used inside the elevator first. Combine the candle with the Lighter, then use it in the car.
I think I pressed a wrong floor.
The videos we used don't show what a wrong stop does. A safe bet is to start the sequence again from the top of your column; this is not confirmed.

Sources

  1. Tenebris Somnia - All Puzzles & Solutions Guide by iampanax Timestamps used: 22:20–24:07
  2. Tenebris Somnia Full Game Walkthrough - All 4 Endings [No Commentary] by iampanax Timestamps used: 1:28:39
  3. Tenebris Somnia - Full Walkthrough (Good Ending) - No Commentary by X-Rey Timestamps used: 1:00:40

Spotted a step that’s wrong? Tell us and we’ll fix it and update the date.

indiewalkthrough isn’t affiliated with Andrés Borghi & Saibot Studios or New Blood Interactive.