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400 Years

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4.5/5 (727 votes)

A great calamity is approaching, and you're the only one who can stop it. Unfortunately, you're a sentient stone idol who can do little more than use your patience and timelessness to let the world and time pass around you, watching the landscape change with time and the seasons (or your own actions) until a solution presents itself. Scriptwelder delivers a slow but beautiful bit of interactive art married with clever puzzling for a zen-like experience.

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Walkthrough Guide


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400 Years Walkthrough

  1. Stand up and head to the right. Don't be afraid of water... stone can't breathe, so just walk right through it!

  2. When you encounter the second pond with no slope to climb out the other side on, press and hold [spacebar] to advance time to winter so it freezes over.

  3. Continue heading right.

  4. Climb the first tree at the cliff.

  5. On top of the ledge, press and hold [spacebar] to advance time to wait for the second tree to grow large enough to climb... about ten years!

  6. Once you've climbed up, advance the time to fall.

  7. Head to the right and press [E] to pick up one of the chesnuts. Be careful not to advance time while carrying it since it will crumble to dust! (Don't worry, you can always advance to fall again and pick up another if this happens.)

  8. Continue to the right until you hit a wall, and press [E] again while standing close to it to plant the chestnut.

  9. Advance time until the newly planted tree is tall enough to climb. (Around ten to thirteen years or so.)

  10. Climb the tree, and once atop the cliff, advance the time to winter.

  11. Head to the right, crossing over the frozen water, and continue on.

  12. When you get to the cliff, just step off. Don't be scared, you're very sturdy.

  13. Making sure the season is still set to winter, continue to the right past the village and cross the frozen water.

  14. On the other side of the water, advance the time to fall.

  15. Press [E] while standing in it to pick some of the grain you find growing there. Once again, don't advance time or the grain will crumble to dust and you'll have to come back for more.

  16. Head to the left back towards the village and fall into the water you had just crossed.

  17. Walk along under the water to the left, through the tunnel, until you reach a tree.

  18. Climb the tree and head to the right until you fall back to the village.

  19. Press [E] when prompted to plant the grain, right at the spot you fell in.

  20. Head to the right and stand beside the water.

  21. Advance time for... a long time. Over the span of several decades, you will notice the village begin to improve, and eventually they will start building a bridge.

  22. When the bridge is completed (you can stop advancing time whenever you like to check on its progress) head to the right and cross it.

  23. Where you originally found the grain, you should now find a new settlement of villagers.

  24. Keep heading to the right until you encounter a small pond of water. If there is no bridge across it yet, advance time more years until the villagers build a bridge across that gap as well.

  25. Proceed to the right until you encounter another big body of water.

  26. Advance time while standing on the shore until it is winter and the water has frozen over.

  27. Head across the water while it's iced over, but stop roughly in the middle of the lake and advance time so the ice melts.

  28. If done correctly, you should fall through the ice and down a long, long tunnel underwater. If you missed, just climb out and try again.

  29. Walk all the way to the right, climbing the slope, until you reach a wall with stalactites and stalagmites growing from the ceiling and floor.

  30. Once more, advance time until the stalactites have grown up from the ground enough for you to climb over the wall. This will take a LONG TIME, easily over 70 years, so be patient.

  31. Climb over the wall and proceed to the right down into the water.

  32. Advance time to summer and continue walking through the water to the right. Eventually, you should encounter a net dangling from the surface. Use this to climb up to land. (The boat only both has its net down and is close to the left side of the screen where you want it in the summer.)

  33. Head to the left through the village until you encounter a wall.

  34. Advance time once more until the tree there grows tall enough to climb... don't worry if you can't see it right away, it's there.

  35. At the top of the wall once you can climb, advance time to fall.

  36. Pick up one of the chestnuts lying on the ground.

  37. Head back to the right.

  38. Keep walking right until you fall into the water you climbed up out of.

  39. The boat should now be parked on the right side of the shore opposite the village. Use its net to climb up and out.

  40. Walk up to the wall and plant your chestnut against it.

  41. Once more, advance time until your newly planted tree is tall enough to climb.

  42. Climb the tree and continue walking to the right.

  43. At the top of the tall, sooty mountain, you should find a hole. Climb all the way down it.

  44. When prompted, press [E] to block the lava, and then advance time to see the results.

43 Comments

I enjoyed it, but it is very slow-paced. If you know that going in, it is much more enjoyable. Also, I didn't find it much of a challenge to beat the game in the 400 years given. Hopefully a sequel will present less of a time margin. Good game overall, I think.

Reply

Gah. This looks like a lovely game, but it's totally unplayable on my laptop - waiting judders like a jigsaw.

Reply

I got to the end of the journey with about 200 years left, but couldn't find anything to do and lost anyway.

Reply

@csmithpub Are you playing the game on Chrome? The version on Newgrounds warns that the game is known to lag on Chrome.

I don't know about anyone else, but I could use a walkthrough. I tried giving the natives wheat grain & they still don't seem to want to help me.

Reply

Hi Konrad, if you got to the end you should have

been able to find and climb down inside the volcano where you can prevent the eruption.

Reply

I don't know what to do. I'm stuck at

needing a helping hand, just past the hungry villagers who flee from me in terror.

Reply

Hi ray9na!

During the winter, venture across the big body of water to the left. Then wait until fall, and pick up the grain you'll find growing on the shore there. Go back to the right, following the underwater passage that should take you down, around, and up to the village again after climbing some trees, and plant the grain there when prompted. (Note that making time pass will turn the grain to dust while you're carrying it.) Then, park yourself by the edge of the water and wait. Wait a long time. The people will use the grain to feed themselves and grow and expand and eventually they will build a bridge across both the big body of water, and the little one you couldn't cross by yourself.

Hope that helps!

Reply

Thanks, Dora! It did indeed. :)

Reply

I really liked the ending, I thought it had a sense of nobility about it that matched the slow, patient journey I just went through. I think if I'd got to the end and our stoney hero punched an asteroid into space or faught something big it wouldn't have suited the atmosphere of the experience. But hey, that's just me. The one down side it that clearly there is another ending but this game doesn't lend itself to replaying.

Reply

Now I'm stuck in a different spot, and the years are ticking away.

It's after I fell in the middle of the water and climbed some stalactites and stalagmites. I'm at another village. I found a chestnut up and at the left side of the screen and planted it there, but before the tree grows tall enough, it gets cut down. I tried a few times, and it's year 217.

Reply

Hi again, Ray9na. :) You should be heading

all the way to the right. First, grab your chestnut. In the fall, the boat parks itself at the far right side of the water, so you can use the net to climb up and get to the other side of the shore without having to wait to make time pass. You'll find a place to plant the nut and grow your tree over there. Unfortunately, I don't think the trees on the left side of the screen are ever meant to grow tall enough to climb.

Reply

Dandy, I mostly agree with you.

I thought the ending had a quiet nobility that went with the sort of relentless timelessness of the game. My main problem was you just see a plane pass overhead... and that's it. That's all. I was hoping maybe for an extended scene where you could see, say, the villages you'd saved growing even bigger... and maybe even a little monument in one of them to you. After all, you're the thing that got them through the winter when they had no food. It just would have been more satisfying a wrap-up for me.

Reply

Thanks again, Dora. I now have gotten through the game.

Kind of a bittersweet ending.

Reply

There is an easter egg.

Using the final chestnuts a second time, you can climb the cliff that is past the right side of the volcano, another tree will automatically grow, giving access to

a mysterious grave stone.

Reply
silent george February 7, 2013 3:54 PM

Lovely and innovative. Not sure I've played a game on the geological timescale (although this cheats�no way stalactites/gmites grow that fast).

I agree with Dora Breckinridge, and I'd like to see a little more interaction with the villagers. Maybe if you sit still long enough, they build a little shrine or sacrifice virgins to you. Yeah, virgins!

I beat it in 128 yr, which is 1 year above the minimum. I think I wasted a year accidentally.

Reply

I particularly liked the fact that all the people are terrified of you.

It makes it the ending much more poignant. The little short-lived people never knew or appreciated that the scary walking stone head saved all of their lives.

Reply
shjack180 February 7, 2013 4:40 PM

I wish I could see all three or so endings, without having to play the game all the way through each time. Beautiful game, but sooo slow. Playing twice just to get one ending was enough for me.

Reply

I tried to get to that easter egg, but

I knew I needed to let the tree I planted at the foot of the cliff before the volcano grow first so that the chestnut wouldn't turn to dust in my hands while it grew, so after about 10 years I came back in the winter to find the villagers must have cut down the tree I needed to climb to get to the chestnuts, because it was just a stump.

As a result, I had no way of getting to the easter egg.

Reply

400 Years Walkthrough

  1. Stand up and head to the right. Don't be afraid of water... stone can't breathe, so just walk right through it!

  2. When you encounter the second pond with no slope to climb out the other side on, press and hold [spacebar] to advance time to winter so it freezes over.

  3. Continue heading right.

  4. Climb the first tree at the cliff.

  5. On top of the ledge, press and hold [spacebar] to advance time to wait for the second tree to grow large enough to climb... about ten years!

  6. Once you've climbed up, advance the time to fall.

  7. Head to the right and press [E] to pick up one of the chesnuts. Be careful not to advance time while carrying it since it will crumble to dust! (Don't worry, you can always advance to fall again and pick up another if this happens.)

  8. Continue to the right until you hit a wall, and press [E] again while standing close to it to plant the chestnut.

  9. Advance time until the newly planted tree is tall enough to climb. (Around ten to thirteen years or so.)

  10. Climb the tree, and once atop the cliff, advance the time to winter.

  11. Head to the right, crossing over the frozen water, and continue on.

  12. When you get to the cliff, just step off. Don't be scared, you're very sturdy.

  13. Making sure the season is still set to winter, continue to the right past the village and cross the frozen water.

  14. On the other side of the water, advance the time to fall.

  15. Press [E] while standing in it to pick some of the grain you find growing there. Once again, don't advance time or the grain will crumble to dust and you'll have to come back for more.

  16. Head to the left back towards the village and fall into the water you had just crossed.

  17. Walk along under the water to the left, through the tunnel, until you reach a tree.

  18. Climb the tree and head to the right until you fall back to the village.

  19. Press [E] when prompted to plant the grain, right at the spot you fell in.

  20. Head to the right and stand beside the water.

  21. Advance time for... a long time. Over the span of several decades, you will notice the village begin to improve, and eventually they will start building a bridge.

  22. When the bridge is completed (you can stop advancing time whenever you like to check on its progress) head to the right and cross it.

  23. Where you originally found the grain, you should now find a new settlement of villagers.

  24. Keep heading to the right until you encounter a small pond of water. If there is no bridge across it yet, advance time more years until the villagers build a bridge across that gap as well.

  25. Proceed to the right until you encounter another big body of water.

  26. Advance time while standing on the shore until it is winter and the water has frozen over.

  27. Head across the water while it's iced over, but stop roughly in the middle of the lake and advance time so the ice melts.

  28. If done correctly, you should fall through the ice and down a long, long tunnel underwater. If you missed, just climb out and try again.

  29. Walk all the way to the right, climbing the slope, until you reach a wall with stalactites and stalagmites growing from the ceiling and floor.

  30. Once more, advance time until the stalactites have grown up from the ground enough for you to climb over the wall. This will take a LONG TIME, easily over 70 years, so be patient.

  31. Climb over the wall and proceed to the right down into the water.

  32. Advance time to summer and continue walking through the water to the right. Eventually, you should encounter a net dangling from the surface. Use this to climb up to land. (The boat only both has its net down and is close to the left side of the screen where you want it in the summer.)

  33. Head to the left through the village until you encounter a wall.

  34. Advance time once more until the tree there grows tall enough to climb... don't worry if you can't see it right away, it's there.

  35. At the top of the wall once you can climb, advance time to fall.

  36. Pick up one of the chestnuts lying on the ground.

  37. Head back to the right.

  38. Keep walking right until you fall into the water you climbed up out of.

  39. The boat should now be parked on the right side of the shore opposite the village. Use its net to climb up and out.

  40. Walk up to the wall and plant your chestnut against it.

  41. Once more, advance time until your newly planted tree is tall enough to climb.

  42. Climb the tree and continue walking to the right.

  43. At the top of the tall, sooty mountain, you should find a hole. Climb all the way down it.

  44. When prompted, press [E] to block the lava, and then advance time to see the results.

Reply

Nice little game.
I think the idea could have been explored more thoroughly, and made into a longer game. It definitely has some potential.

Rygar:

Trees have a lifecircle, they grow up and die, and start growing again. Just wait a couple of years and the "cut-down" tree will start growing again

Reply

At the boat crossing, the boat appears on the right only in autumn, but my chestnut crumbles to dust at the start of autumn...

Reply

Quite cute.

Regarding the ending:

Even though minimal I thought it was touching on 2 things:
- the civilisation by 2013 had been able to advance to jet aeroplanes
- even an eruption that doesn't cause a "calamity" can still ground air travel, as we have seen recently

Reply

I`m curious. Has anyone seen what happens if you run out of time?

Reply
Pandragon February 8, 2013 2:09 PM

Thanks for the Easter Egg tip, Joe SpaceWizard Rheaume.

The game surely deserves a 5 from me for being experimental and a smooth execution at that!

Reply

If you run out of time

there's a big flash and an image of burning trees and it says "the world is destroyed by fire" or something like that.

Reply

Oh, actually it says

"Too late...the world has burned to ashes"

...I had some free time.
Also, I believe there are only 2 endings

saving the day or not

Reply

Thanks for finding out, elbottso. Also, I was trying to remember all afternoon what this game reminded me of: it's like Zelda: The Oracle of Seasons and the Oracle of Ages games. Except this game has the interesting mechanic of [spoiler] waiting for civilization to advance far enough to build bridges[/spoiler] to help you move forward.

Reply
metalgeargander February 9, 2013 4:14 PM

Glad somebody made a game with this idea, it's like Das Rad: The Game

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-7y3B8DjGw

Reply

If you don't have the patience to get to the easter egg, here is what it says:

Here lies a traveler between worlds,
whose name is unknown.
May his curious soul find a way home,
like you have found his resting place.

Reply

@mirajai, thanks for posting that.

That tombstone inscription reminds me of nothing so much as Saint-Exup�ry's The Little Prince. Which is odd, because the time periods, location etc. would be all off?

So I wonder what the creator's intended reference was, if there was a particular one.

Reply
monkonator February 12, 2013 8:22 PM

for all wondering, the tombstone speaks of doctor who. He's a space and time traveler who has saved the earth and human race many times. Also, his real name is kept hidden for the series.

Reply
vonguyenloc318 February 14, 2013 9:50 PM

@monkonator, but the doctor really cant die. he just transforms into someone else. i don't think it was doctor who.

Reply

@Vonguy: Well, just because the Doctor doesn't die, doesn't mean he can't die. The Master died, just to spite the Doctor. Also, there is mention that there is a litmit to the number of regenerations.

However, the inscription is much more like Le Petit Prince. The Doctor no longer has a home, because his home has been destroyed. The Little Prince simply left his home because he was frustrated with the rose. He also has no name. And...(It's a spoiler for those who have not read this book but wish to)

And the little prince in the end commits assisted suicide, (with the help of the serpent) in order to travel back to his asteroid. He then physically disappears from this planet.

Doctor Who may be a crazy world, but Le Petit Prince is much more surrealistic, and I believe the tone of the game is much more in favor of surrealism.

Now I want to go make a game about Le Petit Prince.

I liked the idea behind this game, but time could have been portrayed by other indicators. The people could have moved around faster, etc. I did not like

spending five minutes, holding one key down, walking under water through an unvarying tunnel just to revisit the same place twice.

The waiting periods were fine. You expected to wait, and that was meant to convey that amount of time. But the walking was absolutely mindnumbing.

~Dartania Thorne

Reply

I tried to get the easter egg, but...

when I came back with the chestnut, the tree I planted was gone! There wasn't even a stump left!

Reply
Ewan Whosarmy March 21, 2013 7:36 PM

After the game finished, i just opened another tab and let the music carry on in the background. very relaxing!

Reply
rosemarysbaby6 May 12, 2013 5:13 AM

Interesting game! I'm glad I found this site :)

Reply

My interpretation of the Easter Egg is that it ties in directly with the story of the stone idol:

The tomb marks the grave of the idol's creator. The idol was made by an alien traveller, perhaps as a protector or guardian.

Reply

My only question is,

Who made the tombstone and buried the traveler? I guess it could have been the stone head, but he would have had a very hard time getting from there to where he was at the beginning.

Reply

I was just reading through the comments, and one of them said that the minimum number of years it takes to beat the game is 127 years, but I just beat it in 122 years. I spent a lot of time stabbing at the spacebar until I just got the right height to make it to the ledge.

Reply

The tombstone actually is a reference to "A small talk at the back of beyond" another game from Scriptwelder. Good to know the traveller made it.

Reply
makozapper April 12, 2014 3:20 PM

Oh it's from "a small talk at the back of beyond"? Huh.. I forgot about that game..
I never would have gotten that refrence ^-^, thanks for telling me.
It was nice to get some closure.. maybe that guy somehow managed to drag the computer along and turn it into the stone idol o.o

Reply

I can't play this game. It lags too much.

Reply

I love the sweetness of this game. Playing as such a quiet, contemplative hero is just unique from any experience I've ever had in a game before. And the ending is just beautiful to me. My interpretation isn't sad or mixed at all, to me, just really lovely:

At first, I thought I was going to have to sacrifice myself and be melted by the lava to save the world. And after falling in love with all those people in the villages, I was ready to do it and count that as a good ending.

But then... when I saw what really happened... I just started crying with relief and joy. All I could think was how comfortable that must be... for that kind of a creature... to have someplace quiet and warm to just... think. And to feel good, knowing that he'd saved everyone.

If I have an eternity myself, I hope it feels that beautiful and peaceful.

The plane, to me, is there to show that because of the stone idol's quest, the world has survived all the way from ancient times to the present day.

And in a deeper way, I think it's meant to make us wonder: who might have given us some of the gifts we have now, and we don't even know? Even our very lives?

Maybe thousands of years ago, some cave-person gave her life to save the life of one of my ancestors, and if not for her heroism, I would never have lived.

If that's so: thank you.

And I'm doing the same thing Ewan Whosarmy (great name, BTW!) said a couple years ago: I'm just letting the music play.

Reply

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