The Casting of Frank Stone guide: How to save every character
9.3.2024
By Phil Hornshaw, Contributor
Just note that this guide is full of spoilers, and we recommend you play through The Casting of Frank Stone once without knowing what to expect. Seeing how your actions affect the story is half the fun of a Supermassive game.
How to save everyone in The Casting of Frank Stone
Technically, there's actually no way to save every character in Frank Stone. A few people are fated to die throughout the course of the story no matter what you do. This guide will tell you how to save the five main viewpoint characters: Sam, Madi, Jaime, Linda, and Chris. Your efforts will unlock the Entity Displeased achievement as well.
You'll need to follow the steps in all five characters' sections to save everyone—some steps will save the lives of multiple characters, and steps in one character's story will often set up key moments in the others.
How to save Jaime
Jaime is the first character who can die, and one wrong call in Chapter 5 can take him out of the story permanently. For the most part, he's easy to save, but you need to try to make choices that strengthen his relationship with Chris by siding with her to avoid some deadly deviations.
Chapter 3: A Curiosity on Main Street - Get $20 from Bonnie
Bonnie will come into the garage while the characters discuss what happened to the camera. Choose the empathetic dialogue response, and then ask Bonnie for $20. You'll need the extra money soon.
Chapter 3 - Choose to go to the drugstore first
Walking down main street as Chris, you'll have the choice to either go to the drugstore or the curiosity shop; pick the drugstore.
Inside, choose the dialogue options that encourage Jaime to use his acting skills to haggle. He'll wind up using some of the money to purchase firecrackers, which you'll need later.
Chapter 5: The Phantom of Cedar Mill - Confront Frank Stone with the firecrackers, or flee
When Chris and Jaime first encounter the ghostly Frank Stone, there are two options to save Jaime's life. The most straightforward is to flee, but this will negatively affect Jaime's relationship with Chris. Confronting Frank Stone will get Jaime killed—unless he has the firecrackers. With them, you can make a successful skill check to save Jaime.
Chapter 13: Murder Mill - Use the camera to save Jaime
While playing as Linda in the furnace room, Frank Stone will knock Jaime down. Use the camera to keep Stone away from Jaime. Unfortunately, there's no way for you to save Bonnie.
Chapter 13 - Free Jaime from the hook, or go straight to Linda
When you're searching the storm drain as Sam, if Jaime is still alive and Chris has traveled back to 1980, you can find them both in some side tunnels to access some short scenes. Jump through this grate to get to Jaime.
If you find Jaime, you'll get the Escape Artist achievement. However, you'll then have to fight off Frank Stone with the camera. If you fail, Jaime will be killed. Otherwise, he'll survive the story.
How to save Chris
Midway through the story, Chris time travels from 1980 to 2024. She can survive the story in either time period. Throughout the story, you should try to make choices that side with Jaime and strengthen his relationship with Chris, since that can help them survive at key moments.
Chapter 10: In the House of Madness - Choose to go back, or stay
Choosing to go back through the horologium is the easier way to save Chris, but you'll need to complete a skill check to send her back successfully. Back in 1980, she'll survive to the end of the story. Alternatively, Chris can stay in 2024, but that requires a few other choices in Chapter 14 to ensure her survival.
Chapter 10 - Save Stan from getting crushed
If Chris stays in 2024, an exchange with Stan will result in him getting killed by the rings of the horologium unless you pass a skill check to save him. You'll need Stan to live now so he can die later.
Chapter 14: The Massacre of Gerant Manor - Choose to stay
With Chris in 2024, follow the steps to keep Madi, Linda, and Sam alive. After the others escape, Chris will return to the projector screen. Choose the option to leave, rather than pushing through the screen, and Chris will survive the story—but she'll end up at the campfire with the other characters.
How to save Sam
Sam can be severely injured in the early game in ways that'll make it harder for him to survive later, but he's really only in danger in the last two chapters.
Chapter 1: The Burning Man - Pull yourself off the hook
Sam can't die in Chapter 1, but winning all the various skill checks here will be important for the story later.
Chapter 13 - Defeat Frank Stone
You'll have several skill checks throughout this chapter that allow you to zap Frank Stone with the camera. These aren't too difficult, but they do require some quick reflexes. You'll need to defeat Frank at least twice in the storm drain and twice more in the room where you find Linda.
Chapter 14 - Fail to save Stan from getting consumed
Unlike most of the other characters in the game, you can't save Stan; somewhere along the line, he's going to buy it no matter what you do. Choosing when and how he dies is key to saving everyone else. When Stan is grabbed by Frank Stone as he comes through the screen, fail the skill check to pull Stan free.
You'll then get the chance for Sam to sacrifice himself or back away, and you'll need to choose to back away and let Stan get consumed by Frank.
Chapter 14 - Complete the skill checks
The rest of Sam's path through Chapter 14 is a series of skill checks as he evades Frank Stone. If you can succeed in all of them, Sam will get away, only to find his way to the campfire later.
How to save Linda
Like Sam, while Linda will face off against Frank Stone several times, she is only in danger of dying in Chapter 13 and Chapter 14, and her survival is most reliant on skill checks.
Chapter 13 - Defeat Frank Stone with the camera
Failing to zap Frank with the camera in the last room will allow him to kill Linda, but if you pass those skill checks, she'll survive the last stand.
Chapter 14 - Fix the generator fast
Follow Sam's steps to let Stan get consumed by Frank. Afterward, Linda and Madi will find a generator that needs repairing to fix a nearby elevator. Find the two generator pieces on tables in the room and repair it quickly by passing the skill checks, or Frank Stone will catch up to you.
Chapter 14 - Choose to help Madi
After making your way back to the elevator, Frank Stone will crash into the hallway, knocking Madi down. Choose to help her rather than running away and Stan will intervene, saving both Linda and Madi.
How to save Madi
Madi's story is greatly affected by an early choice that's not very obvious, and like the other characters, there are a lot of skill checks she has to pass in order to make it to the end of Chapter 14.
Chapter 8: Mystery Manor - Complete the skill check to vent the horologium
When you reach the horologium chamber with the spinning rings, you'll need to complete a puzzle to open it. Pass the skill check at the end to throw the final switch to keep Madi alive.
Chapter 12: Closing the Noose - Don't pick up the locket, or give it to Stan
When you reach the bedroom after escaping the horologium, you'll see a locket on a bedside table when you solve the puzzle to move on. Do not touch it, as this choice can lock you into a lethal ending for Madi. If you do pick up the locket, give it to Stan. Don't choose to let Madi keep it.
Chapter 14 - Reject Augustine's offer
After escaping in the elevator, you'll meet Augustine in the horologium. Reject her offer. If Madi is wearing the locket in this scene, Augustine will be able to hypnotize her and force her to comply, so make sure not to pick it up or to give it away to avoid that fate.
Chapter 14 - Complete the skill checks and choose to flee when Sam distracts Frank
The last part of Madi's story is a long escape scene from Frank Stone that requires clearing several skill checks. You'll need to win most of them to get away. At the end, Sam will appear and you'll have the choice to either flee or try to help. Choose to flee, as Sam says, or Frank will catch Madi and kill her.
If you complete all these steps, the last scene will see Madi making it to the campfire, where she'll find Sam, Linda, and Chris if she didn't travel back to 2024. They'll have survived, but unfortunately, they're now trapped in the Entity's trials.
That does it for our guide to saving every main character in The Casting of Frank Stone. Follow the above steps, and you'll pop that achievement in no time.
The Casting of Frank Stone is available on the Epic Game Store.