Do you really need to play twice?

[Pierce]

I just did it, confirmed it works.

[Usul]

I can confirm that this works.

I even interrupted my first playthrough in order to get a puzzle piece that I had missed (yep, the one near Solomon's trap at the end of chapter 7), lost my motivation & quit, reloaded my previous savegame, completed the path of the blood, then went for the last missing collectible before completing Chapter 1 & 8 the way it is described in this thread.

Worked just fine.

[adello25]

This worked like a charm!

Originally Posted by JFlinchy

I can confirm this works. You just need to do exactly as the instructions say and it's worked for me on 2 different systems.

1. Start New Game on Normal Difficulty
2. Make sure Campbell Survives Chapter 1. In other words, make sure he enters the elevator at the end of the first chapter.
3. Continue this play-through all the way to the end. It is highly advised you use this play-through to collect all the collectibles and the (optional) trophies for completing puzzles within the time limits.
4. After finishing your first play-through, you should be awarded Path of Blood trophy.

5. Wait for the credits to finish and return to main menu.
6. Using Flashback return to chapter 1. (I played on Normal difficulty.)
7. At the end of chapter 1, have Campbell die. Make sure he does not reach the elevator at the end.
8. Wait for chapter 2 to load as Michael and speak to one of the cops.
9. Quit to main menu.
10. Use Flashback to return to chapter 8 as Michael. (Again I used Normal difficulty.)
11. Play to the end.
12. The new cutscene should play, with the elevator being empty. Michael will enter and the trophy should pop after 10 seconds.

[Vikaris]

+1 confirmation.

[Mr Bubbles]

Worked a treat.

I even loaded a saved game to go back for a puzzle piece I missed, still worked without a problem.

Thanks for posting the tip.

[k1ll1ng5pr33]

This also worked for me

Thanks for the tip

[saintdave]

Another to confirm, worked perfectly. Thanks for the huge time saver!

[HAGARAN]

Works like a charm, thank god I don't have to sit through another playthrough. I wonder why Konami insists on investing on this franchise anyways.

[danvert611]

can confirm and i'm so happy. two playthroughs would of killed me lol. good find

[vladzealot]

i can also confirm this works.
i did the flashbacks on insane. idk if this is needed for the shortcut
but it helps save time with the insane trophies.
the only hard part for me on insane was the room in ch.8 where you deactivate the vest triggers.
by the time i talked to it i had like 2or3 seconds to solve it and died.
i ended up pausing it so i could see the numbers then i wrote it down and solved it.
example:
00:10-00:07-00:01-00:06=
10 7x1 6
10x1 7 6
1 10x7 6
1 7 10x6
1 7x6 10
1 6 7 10
i don't know if it goes as fast as the others but i wrote down the color puzzle too...
example:
(>) (>>) (x)

(x) (>) (x)

(>) (x) (>>)

it can be hard to see it but you can look at the 2nd & 3rd
puzzles before you have to solve them...

if anyone got it easy then congrats on your lightning reflexes