Eien
Mateusz Skutnik and Jacek Witczynski take you on a strange odyssey in this point-and-click adventure that's heavy on puzzles and clues. Standing before a towering, strange structure with no door to be seen, getting inside is your first challenge... but what awaits you within?
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I actually found this game a little too straightforward. Only one puzzle bugged me for a few minutes, other than that it was a breeze. So even though the graphics hold a lot of depth I was disappointed at the length of this game, and I wouldn't give it a top grade. But really beautiful and atmospheric!
Reminded me of Kairo in many ways. Otherworldly geometric architecture, colored areas and mysterious symbols, devices and locations.
Reminded me of Worldgate in many ways. Stellar graphics, item collection and placement (typically of multiple identical/similar items).
Reminded me of Gotmail escapes in many ways. WHY THE PIXELHUNTING?????
This could've been great. I really liked the graphics, locations, music, atmosphere, 'puzzles', but I just couldn't get past the tedious, frustrating, and, worst of all, abundant pixel hunts. They disguise the fact that the 'puzzles' are in fact very shallow and mostly rely on boring searches of the entire game area. Once the clue is found, there's no need to decipher it, the entire puzzle is finding the clue.
I liked a lot of it.
But what I hated ruined the rest. 3/5, and that's being generous.
Beautiful little game here. I had trouble starting out, but after that I got through with minimal difficulty. Loved the atmosphere.
Stuck with no clues as to what to press in the red corricor.
Walkthrough
WHAT TO DO IF:
You are missing an item or a clue.
Find the most featureless, bland location in the game. Don't bother checking out those blinking lights, those suspicious markings, or those cavities in the wall. No, click on wherever seems least appropriate, aka 10x10pixel area of plain solid concrete. You will be magically teleported to a viewpoint that was marginally nearby, and your item or clue will be there. If this view seems pointless and doesn't yield anything, check your notes. Your character happens to have random epiphanies about codes in certain locations.
Repeat and rinse X50.
Congrats! You beat Eien!
DISCLAIMER: This walkthrough is intended to be a joke! Don't take it seriously.
Google account:
Remember the first grid puzzle, on the blue panel? Head back there. Now click ABOVE the panel, on featureless concrete. There will be a small cavity in the wall, press the button/lever on the left. You'll get a pattern which you need to copy onto the red grid.
This bit frustrated me as well.
Plugged the pattern into the panel in the red corridor, but nothing happens. And it still allows me to click on/off each light, meaning it doesn't think I entered it correctly. I know it's correct! Even tried it upside down. What esoteric bit of information am I missing here?
kurt,
I don't think it's you, it's a bug. I was in the same situation. I clicked every button to reverse the pattern, then checked around, then clicked every button to reverse it back, and magically a stairway appeared!
Jury's still out, but I'm not holding out much hope.
Kurt... none of the patterns 'lock' -
put what you think is the proper pattern and then leave the red corridor and look in another you were previously.
Personally, I'm missing the 3rd cylinder - can't find it anywhere.
David,
The patterns do lock - I'm stuck on the third puzzle, and just checked the first two and they're locked.
And David, Cylinder 3 is
Next to the right hand purple arch
No, I found the one by the arch - must be one of the other ones then.
Walkthrough
Walkway
- Pick up the pyramid towards the left.
- Go two screens forwards, then pick up the blue sphere.
- Look up, and press the stone buttons.
- Go back one screen and look at the panel to the left.
- Input the code you received from the stone buttons (13 means push the first and third buttons.)
- Click at the top of the panel, take the red sphere and push the switch to the left.
- Go back three screens.
Red Corridor
- Click on the new door and go forwards into the corridor.
- Pick up the red sphere.
- Go forwards again and put the symbol in your notes into the panel.
- Click at the top of the panel and take the cylinder.
- Go back four screens and climb the newly revealed stairs.
Blue Corridor
- Pick up the pyramid lying on the floor to the right.
- Click on the small panel at the far side of the left wall.
- Place the two red spheres into the indentations.
- You should receive two new notes.
- Back up and click on the panel to the left.
- Put in the code with the symbols at the top and push the button.
- Do the same with the rightmost panel, but with the code with the symbols at the bottom.
- Go back once and forwards two screens.
The Left Dial
- Pick up the blue sphere.
- Put the two blue spheres into the indents.
- Go forwards and press the blocks that stick out.
- Zoom in on the dials, and put the code you just obtained into the left dial. (The first symbol corresponds to the outer dial, the second to the second dial in and so on)
- Step back and take the left entrance.
- Pick up the pyramid and turn left.
- Go forwards, and then turn right.
- Pick up the pyramid and put two pyramids into the slots in the walls.
- Back up once and turn left.
- Put your two remaining pyramids into the slots.
- Back up and take the battery and the note.
- Return to the room with two dials.
The Right Dial
- Input your new code into the right dial.
- Back up and go right.
- Pick up the blue key ball, then go forwards.
- Turn left and take the battery.
- Click on the far right and take the note.
- Back up and input the code you just received into the panel.
- Back up and click on the beam of light.
Purple Room
- Go left and pick up the cylinder.
- Click on the edge of the cube to the left and take the battery.
- Back up twice.
- Enter the passage to the right.
- Click on the leftmost pillars and receive another note.
- Back up and zoom in on the purple arc.
- Click on the left side of the arc and take the battery.
- Use the two numbers on the left of the code you just obtained on the buttons. (1 is the top button, 10 the bottom.)
- Back up and zoom in on the right side of the arc.
- Take the cylinder, and put in the two rightmost numbers in the code.
- Back up once and go forwards.
The Lake
- Place the blue key ball on the pillar to the right.
- Go across the newly formed bridge.
- Click on the pillar to the left, and then the right of the pillar.
- Put the three cylinders into the slots.
- Go forward and take the battery.
- Back up two times.
- Go inside the room.
Stairwell
- Take the yellow key ball on the lowest step.
- Go right and take the note and battery.
- Back up and go up three flights of stairs.
- Put the code you just obtained into the keypad. The number that isn't written on the paper should be put in.
- Click on the right side of the screen.
- Click on the beam of light.
The Far Shore
- Turn right, and place the yellow key ball on the pedestal.
- Turn left twice and take the battery.
- Turn back to the beam of light and go forwards.
- Ignore the beam of light and go forwards again.
- Take the battery and purple pass badge.
- Back up and enter the beam of light.
Red Crystal Room
- Zoom in on the large cube.
- Turn left and take the red pass badge.
- Put the purple pass badge in the slot.
- Turn right twice and put the red pass badge in the slot.
- Turn left and put all the batteries into the slots - you should have eight.
- Watch the outro.
Does anyone know how to do the puzzle with the four buttons and letters a through f? I have the clue, but I can't figure out what it means.
@Mantus: I tried the same thing. It worked. I'd be surprised if that was intentional. Definitely a bug.
Never mind, there's a walkthrough now. Thanks Matt! :)
Atmosphere: 5/5
"Puzzles": 0/5
Pixel Hunting: -100/5
Not much to add to what anyone's said. I really came to thank thegreatescaper for the Kairo reference. That one's fun. Both of those games remind of me of NaissanceE, which I don't think has been reviewed here (although NaissanceE is more of a platforming/exploration game than a puzzle-solving one).
Never mind, there's a walkthrough now. Thanks Matt!
Thanks for the push, got me much further.
I opened both doors in the room with the 2 dials. Does that left block that won't stay down actually DO anything?
I've now reached a new blue wall at the top of some stairs (I have a clue with numbers & lines, I've tried the numbers but those don't work?) any chance of another push please?
Google account - you put the number that doesn't appear in the code into the panel.
At the end two top buttery sockets looked empty, even after inserting batteries. Same in the ending animation. Bug?
krt1994:
Probably. I didn't have all the batteries the first time around and just plugged in the ones I had. I went back to look for the others and when I got back, two had disappeared. I just restarted, but if they really disappear, this could be a game-breaking bug. Just a warning...
I can't even manage the first area in the game. Once I get past picking up the
pyramid and the sphere
none of the instructions in the walkthrough match what I'm seeing in the game. I can't find any kind of a code for the
stone buttons
, and there's no
panel
anywhere.
• October 2, 2014 2:20 PM replied to https://www.google.com/accounts/o8/id?id=AItOawnrLT_DgOiK7Leoj0eRHY69GNEFT33XtTU
google account wrote"
"Does that left block that won't stay down actually DO anything?"
I don't think it does, didn't notice anything happening the first time I pushed it. Spent way too much time looking for something to place on it. Never did find anything.
Played back through and didn't touch it. Didn't notice any difference in game play or ending.
Anyone else find any purpose for it? or is it just a red herring?
Whitney Stetson:
As you might have figured out, things are really hard to find in this game. Things don't look like what they are...usually they don't look like anything at all.
The panel is
where you found the blue sphere, on the bottom right hand side in the crevice. Clicking on the top side of this will get you to another place, where you can click a button on the upper left-hand side to get the clue to the red hall puzzle.
Bad news: it gets worse. Much worse. I don't know how anyone could just look at the screen and and see the clue to the
purple archway puzzle.
I thought that was the
buttons
.
argyblarg: I got the outro so I think they didn't disappear, only indication failed.
Loved it, pixel hunting and all. Great graphics, great atmosphere, and very straightforward (get this, do that).
Not, I'll admit, really a puzzler of a game (though the 2 number puzzles did require some thought - click the numbers/click the missing numbers). A bit more like a hidden object game in some ways, or maybe a hidden view game.
But it's certainly a lovely change from all the formula escape games we get nowadays.
As for pixel hunting...anyone else here been around long enough to remember Wogger - and how popular that was? Now, that was a pixel-hunt.
@thegreatescaper, thanks for the tip har har! Right on the money... I missed a thing and your advice was exactly what I needed.
thanks mat. awesome walkthrough :)
finally I complete one of these without a walkthrough (though I was stuck on the first part for a long time before realizing I needed to click on the top to find the clue, enjoyable
Reminisant of Submachine. Though cleaner, less hidden objects.
Maybe it is because of all the horror I have been watching lately, but it was almost creepy, however the music gave it a calm tone. Nice graphics.
This could easily take more twists and turns just by adding another element. A goal or a them. I like the straight forwardness where everything is pretty much just in front of you with no confusing turns right or left. If they added more turns it would have to be set up so if you forgot something it wasn't so far back, even to the point of if you are done with a room it locks you out.
I like it and as others have said it is simple.
I agree this is strongly reminiscent of Kairo, but hey, nothing wrong there - loved that one. But I can't get past the red corridor, only a few moves into the game. I've input the code correctly - I'm certain, but
no staircase seems to appear anywhere
.
Are rumours of a bug true? Or am I just looking in the wrong place (i.e. everywhere I can access)?
Okay...this is officially the most frustrating thing I've played in a long time. I'm still stuck on the first puzzle. I've collected the pyramid and the blue and red spheres, gathered the numerical clues and activated the symbol above the 4x5 button panel.
I've clicked the buttons in each row according to the numerical clue I have...
Row I - 2 and 4
Row II - 1 and 3
Row III - 2 and 3
Row IV - 1 and 4
Row V - 1 and 2
But, nothing happens. I've also tried just clicking the buttons on rows III and V, since those are the only rows actually numbered on the panel. Again, nothing.
If I back out a couple of clicks, there's a clickable point over toward that vertical slot off the right side of the walkway. Clicking over there takes me to a closer view, but I cannot find anything else to look at or click there. Whenever my cursor shows something clickable, it ends up being a "back" movement.
What am I missing here?
I really loved this, although it was a lot easier than other offerings by Skutnik. I would advise people play with the sound on, a lot of the puzzles just let out a sound of the passage opening to let you know you did it, and not all of them lock :/ still an enjoyable way to pass a break though, very atmospheric! In a way that was kinda annoying, I never found out what anything was!
I escaped?
I'm glad you told me, because I wasn't quite sure there. I was wondering if it was just one more teleport. That would mean a part 2...like Submachine.
Pondering the beginning and end made me think
that it would have been appropriate to find yourself in the shower, realizing that it was all a dream. Of course, nobody under 35 is going to *that* reference.
I loved the graphics and music (I actually kept the sound on for the whole game, which is rare for me) but I also found the puzzles uninteresting and not enough story. And it WAS buggy; in at least two places I could not go forward and so tried lots of pixel hunting, but backing nearly all the way out and then going forward again (without any new finds or explorations)seemed to solve whatever it was.
(Really, I think I'm waiting for a few more Daymare Town installments.)
Thorzdad - following the whole procedure you mentioned should work. Step by step, as the note suggests.
I'm stuck the same as David. I have...
two cylinders, but can't find the third. And the walkthrough only seems to mention two of them....
Problem solved - I checked another site,and got a hint to find the third cylinder - or should I say, the first one....
(I didn't need help to 'solve' that area - so I didn't look at the walkthrough for that room...!)
Also, my laptop screen just isn't big enough to include the top of the game 'window'....
really love the graphics, love the sound, was looking forward to a nice game... but then everything got spoiled rapidly. needed to check the walkthrough once past the left entrance after the left dial already, and even then reading the WT i can't continue. i opened the left entrance, went left, landed in the green hall, went forward... and that's it. the WT says "go right", i can't. not there, not a step before, nowhere i can go right (or left, except the passage). argh! >_
halp?
really love the graphics, love the sound, was looking forward to a nice game... but then everything got spoiled rapidly. needed to check the walkthrough once past the left entrance after the left dial already, and even then reading the WT i can't continue. i opened the left entrance, went left, landed in the green hall, went forward... and that's it. the WT says "go right", i can't. not there, not a step before, nowhere i can go right (or left, except the passage). argh! >_
halp?
"- Go back one screen and look at the panel to the left."
Er, what panel on the left?
never mind. i had to minimize my netbook screen to 80% to see the whole height... and it cut the sides somehow. i found "right". and sorry for the double post before, got an error msg first ~
@Thorzdad - I had the same problem, and restarting seems to be the only way to take care of that. The only difference from the two playthroughs was I didn't get note from the stone buttons clues before messing with the button panel/pattern revealing button on the upper button panel, so that may be part of it.
Other than that, I'm just surprised at the disconnect between the puzzles. Even a color puzzle based on the rooms to force you to backtrack would have been welcome.
I also had a battery bug with this game-
Picked up 8, but only had 7 in my inventory. I inserted 7 then went back to look for one, didn't find it, when I returned to the red crystal room, two more were missing from the 7 I inserted. Frustrating to get to the end of a game and be stymied by a bug.
So pretty, so atmospheric, so utterly unplayable. Honestly, pixel hunting is the only game mechanic here. There aren't any puzzles; you just copy the code from each clue into each panel. There are several bugs, navigation is confusing even though the game goes in a straight line, and the game doesn't even fit on a normal screen. How does such an obviously competent designer manage to make something so un-entertaining?
Amen from the back row! You just saved me a lot of typing. I had a few issues with the game as well, and I was also a victim of the "bug" where I took the time to turn on all of those
dang red lights only to have the long blue staircase NOT appear for me. (A total restart "fixed" this random glitch.) Thank goodness it was near the beginning of the game, right?
Although the game WAS very linear, as you put it, I managed to get stuck for a good TEN minutes (an eternity in relation to these games)...but I think I was stuck there MOSTLY because of the walkthrough! The 5th entry in the "Purple Room" section says
"Click on the leftmost pillars and receive another note." OK- since I am trying to get THROUGH a barrier of water, I never thought I could go past the rivers of water on either SIDE of me!
(It really would only have taken a SECOND to give us this little morsel of incredibly important information, when typing out a walkthrough. Now, the walkthrough IS a good one, but considering this is such a UNIQUE bending-of-the-rules, navigation-wise, I was seriously left screaming at it's author when I finally discovered the solution on accident.) Yes,
"Click on the leftmost pillars and receive another note." makes TOTAL sense....NOW.... wouldn't it have been nicer to add: "Yes...THIS time the note is ACROSS the water, people." in typical, humorous JIG walkthrough fashion? Further, you might add: "After you find the incredibly necessary note and part the impassible waters...(the same waters that WERE passable...just LOWER DOWN on the SAME SCREEN, mind you)...
Just a humorous tip from a player once lost...
Yes, it's virtually hit-or-miss with this game, and the ONLY reason I can think of that Our King of Escape (Mr. Skutnik) has his golden name on THIS game....is that he has WAY too many projects on his plate right now and he just skimmed over this one when co-creating, and put out a sub-standard product in his rush. Sound logical? I am guessing he likely skipped over the crucial beta-testing phase.
Wait...hmmm...maybe WE were the beta-testers....?
VERY sneaky, Mr. Skutnik!
Did anybody else have a flashback from Submachine: 32 Chambers when
inserting the 8 batteries (jadettes) into the ROUND engine (Mayan calendar) resulting in the climactic ending?
Not bad for a simple set of puzzles to breeze through. I liked this one though I'm always partial to more story. The only real problem I had with gameplay was that the it seemed sticky about the order in which you solve some of the puzzles
Especially...
The first button-pusher puzzle which I had right the very first time, but apparently you have to push buttons in the precise order of the sequence on the page or it doesn't work). Also, I'd thought the narrow hallway with symbols on the left and right with ^ and v arrows would correspond with the "upper" page image and the "lower" page image but for some reason they're actually reversed? I'm still mystified by that. I also tried to rotate from the inside-out instead of outside-in haha, but it was obvious at least for that one that if it doesn't work one way then you try it the other way. :'D
@SDRanger:
It felt similar but there wasn't any maddeningly hard-to-line-up disk rotations this time. The disk spinning with symbols from earlier reminded me of 32 Chambers though (except at least it wasn't hard to line up properly).
(grrrr...one last comment from me and then I'll let it go.)
It’s a cryin’ shame that the puzzles in Eien all have exactly the same numbers, codes and solutions every time you play. I am thinking that it wouldn’t be TOO difficult to add the element of randomization to a lot of these puzzles…?…giving the game the quality of longevity! I’ve played Eien 4 times now over the past few days, and I have all the codes and solutions totally memorized. It IS a great game, but….…game…over. :(
Funny, I was also thinking it would be nice to replay but since I already knew the puzzles would be the same, I didn't bother. :'D
Stewart Lowther,
I had the same problem when I went above the panel and did that first, then I had to restart to make it work.
I really only could not find about two objects and had to use the walkthrough for it. Had I not played it during the day I would have been able to see them, although one was hidden in a place I likely never would have looked.
So... I suggest playing this with the sound on as well as in the lighting that you can best see dark video on your screen. At night it is darker and I do not have to brighten my screen as much so I see things as they should be seen on my screen.
I'm very sorry - it looks like my walkthrough has caused quite a bit of frustration!
I apologise for being vague in places. Also, the section near the start concerning the panel should read "right" and not "left". That was entirely my fault and I am truly sorry for any inconvenience I've caused.
Normally I am a great fan of Skutnik games, but this one has many problems. As others have said, the puzzles aren't really puzzles; the solution is obvious once you have the clue (note) in hand. The difficulty lies in pixel hunting for the clues, ways forward, little items you must collect. There are elements that draw your eyes, but are useless and irrelevant, but once you click on that random spot--
try the top of the screen, not necessarily in the center, but toward the corners
-- it all seems so obvious and silly.
I might forgive all of this if the game had any charm. There's no story. The setting is oppressive (and not in a good way that makes you driven to solve puzzles and escape), the items you pick up, generic. It feels like a tutorial in the architecture of virtual space. The mechanisms of game play are there, but none of the story or puzzles. So sad.
I too ;-) can't get far with this game. There's no mystery about how to proceed. There's just no response from the game. Can't the bug be fixed for gosh sakes?
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Game of the week
Walkthrough Guide
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Walkthrough
Walkway
- Pick up the pyramid towards the left.
- Go two screens forwards, then pick up the blue sphere.
- Look up, and press the stone buttons.
- Go back one screen and look at the panel to the left.
- Input the code you received from the stone buttons (13 means push the first and third buttons.)
- Click at the top of the panel, take the red sphere and push the switch to the left.
- Go back three screens.
Red Corridor
- Click on the new door and go forwards into the corridor.
- Pick up the red sphere.
- Go forwards again and put the symbol in your notes into the panel.
- Click at the top of the panel and take the cylinder.
- Go back four screens and climb the newly revealed stairs.
Blue Corridor
- Pick up the pyramid lying on the floor to the right.
- Click on the small panel at the far side of the left wall.
- Place the two red spheres into the indentations.
- You should receive two new notes.
- Back up and click on the panel to the left.
- Put in the code with the symbols at the top and push the button.
- Do the same with the rightmost panel, but with the code with the symbols at the bottom.
- Go back once and forwards two screens.
The Left Dial
- Pick up the blue sphere.
- Put the two blue spheres into the indents.
- Go forwards and press the blocks that stick out.
- Zoom in on the dials, and put the code you just obtained into the left dial. (The first symbol corresponds to the outer dial, the second to the second dial in and so on)
- Step back and take the left entrance.
- Pick up the pyramid and turn left.
- Go forwards, and then turn right.
- Pick up the pyramid and put two pyramids into the slots in the walls.
- Back up once and turn left.
- Put your two remaining pyramids into the slots.
- Back up and take the battery and the note.
- Return to the room with two dials.
The Right Dial
- Input your new code into the right dial.
- Back up and go right.
- Pick up the blue key ball, then go forwards.
- Turn left and take the battery.
- Click on the far right and take the note.
- Back up and input the code you just received into the panel.
- Back up and click on the beam of light.
Purple Room
- Go left and pick up the cylinder.
- Click on the edge of the cube to the left and take the battery.
- Back up twice.
- Enter the passage to the right.
- Click on the leftmost pillars and receive another note.
- Back up and zoom in on the purple arc.
- Click on the left side of the arc and take the battery.
- Use the two numbers on the left of the code you just obtained on the buttons. (1 is the top button, 10 the bottom.)
- Back up and zoom in on the right side of the arc.
- Take the cylinder, and put in the two rightmost numbers in the code.
- Back up once and go forwards.
The Lake
- Place the blue key ball on the pillar to the right.
- Go across the newly formed bridge.
- Click on the pillar to the left, and then the right of the pillar.
- Put the three cylinders into the slots.
- Go forward and take the battery.
- Back up two times.
- Go inside the room.
Stairwell
- Take the yellow key ball on the lowest step.
- Go right and take the note and battery.
- Back up and go up three flights of stairs.
- Put the code you just obtained into the keypad. The number that isn't written on the paper should be put in.
- Click on the right side of the screen.
- Click on the beam of light.
The Far Shore
- Turn right, and place the yellow key ball on the pedestal.
- Turn left twice and take the battery.
- Turn back to the beam of light and go forwards.
- Ignore the beam of light and go forwards again.
- Take the battery and purple pass badge.
- Back up and enter the beam of light.
Red Crystal Room
- Zoom in on the large cube.
- Turn left and take the red pass badge.
- Put the purple pass badge in the slot.
- Turn right twice and put the red pass badge in the slot.
- Turn left and put all the batteries into the slots - you should have eight.
- Watch the outro.
Posted by: Matt Steel
|
October 2, 2014 1:01 PM