Somewhere in England, 1928
As an investigation goes horribly wrong, William and Thomas must run for their lives. This CGDC #10 fourth-place finishing entry is a classic style point-and-click adventure game. Escape through the mansion before the monster catches up to you. Can you help the investigators escape before it's too late?
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Awesome game!! Love the style! The Cthulhu angle is a great idea, the sound effects between scenes add a lot as well. Only thing that could have made it better would have been a hotkey for toggling between action and look and if it was longer so I could play more. Good job!
Somewhere in England, 1928 Walkthrough
General information:
Always look around the room using magnifying glass, then use the hand icon to interact with items you find. The hand icon is also used to pick up objects in your inventory.
HALLWAY
-
Interact with rubble near the back to notice the wood
-
Use the hand icon to take the piece of wood
-
Interact with the rubble near the front to clear some of it revealing a large slab.
-
Use wood on slab.
-
Interact with hole to escape the hallway.
RED ROOM
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Interact with the lump on the carpet to reveal a rat and some wires.
-
Interact with the wires to put them together.
-
Interact with the bookcase. He will mention that three books stand out.
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Interact with the large book on the top shelf to get a recipe card.
-
Look at the recipe card. Read the fourth recipe to find a 4 digit code.
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Use your revolver on the drinks cabinet to open it.
-
Interact with the glasses on the bottom shelf to discover a metal panel.
-
Interact witht the panel. Use the numbers you discovered earlier to enter the code, then press the red button.
-
Exit through revealed dark corridor.
4 2 1 3
GREEN ROOM
-
Take the spanner off the floor.
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Inspect the note on the shelf above the toolbox.
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Use you handkerchief on the note to clean it.
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Read the note to discover something about a key and the sink.
-
Use the spanner on the pipe under the sink to remove it.
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Interact with the pipe to find a brass key.
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Use the brass key on the toolbox.
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Interact with the toolbox to find a red key.
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Use the red key to unlock the doors (darker green area) on the left wall.
PUPLE ROOM
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Interact with piping right next to Thomas to pick it up.
-
Interact with the rubble pile on the right to discover a gap in the pile
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Use the pipe on the gap to widen the gap.
-
Use the wood on the gap.
-
Interact with the gap to find a bottle of whiskey.
-
Use whiskey on handkerchief to make a molotov cocktail.
-
Interact with Thomas and ask if you haven't already, select help from the list. He'll mention he has a lighter
-
Ask Thomas about the molotov.
-
Pick up the molotov.
-
Use molotov with lighter.
Great game, wonderful style as well.
Like hyperkinetic mentioned however, a shortcut to switch between the action and the viewing tool would be a nice addition.
Judge Kerning's judgement of SOMEWHERE IN ENGLAND:
Niffy, niche, Nietzschean. The game that is and that isn't. The story that is and that isn't. It strives to be clever, terrifying, witty, and jarring all at the same time while also being mindful and relishable of its own limitations. This game is its own beast, proudly strutting its pixelated flair or lack thereof while blowing most of its competition out. Getting used to its dated system may demand an acquired taste, but its quirky story and characters will charm and bewilder.
THEME (3 out of 5)
You're in a giant mansion.
See a big tentacle monster set loose.
Run from big tentacle monster.
Escape from big tentacle monster.
On paper, the game isn't deserving of Most Thematically Interactive Experience award, but what built around its simple theme helped the game to really build on its theme. Understanding the plights of our heroes really drive up the tensions, making the game more faithful to the pure concept of escape even if it is hampered by some of its shortcomings.
IMMERSION + APPEAL (4 out of 5)
Saying no to our helpless heroes being chased by a big tentacle monster set within pixelated mansion would equals to having no soul. The fragility of characters and their witty remarks made them felt grounded and real. It helps that their ambiguous backstory elevates the simple story into captivating saga of escape, even if it is marred by tiny few yet glaring gameplay flaws.
CONCEPT + INNOVATION (4 out of 5)
It is a pure escape game, but an extremely well written, paced, and immersive one at that. The level-by-level system helps solidify the theme of escape, knowing that escaping from the monster is the one true goal. This system also helps to allow the story to grow, even little by little.
PLOT + COMPOSITION (4 out of 5)
Continuing the topic of story, what needs to be mentioned once more is how well written the game is and how dense and light it is with details. The characters are instantly likeable with witty (yet light) characterization and humanizing observations by our heroes. The amount of backstory (or little of it) are thoroughly interesting yet underutilized. It can't be helped that the game drops in and out of only the situation with big tentacle monster. There are enough layers in the game that warrant second playthrough yet light enough to allow the rest to be filled by imaginative roleplayers. This is exactly what games should be.
GAMEPLAY + TECHNICALITY (3 out of 5)
A bliss for any affectionate point-and-click fanatics, though it comes with a few baggage. The interface is a bit difficult to learn at first, but is a breeze to use after just a few exploratory clicks. Inventory system is nicely designed, though bit too lacking and underutilized at times. The cursor is extremely small and can leads to misses with hotspots several time, though the game thankfully doesn't demands nor requires any action-time-events nor frantic gimmick mini-games. What odd is that our main character often disappear and reappear whenever we click on hotspot (this can be explained away by not needing any fancy animations, though I disgress...) The only flaw that truly annoys is when clicking with ACTION command, the game always reverts back to OBSERVATION command. It is a hassle having to click on ACTION over and over.
OVERALL (4 out of 5)
A little gem that tickles, prods, and intrigues any wandering souls who seek another gaming diamond in the rough.
Not the best of competition, but definitely in Top 3.
Sincerely,
Judge Kerning
Just in case you weren't aware, the actual judging of the competition is not handled like this. You are, of course, free to post your comments, analyses, and opinions of all the entries, but I would prefer if you would record your scores on the official judges scorecard instead of the comments, since they won't be counted here. Thank you!
Hello Jay,
I am aware that the actual judging and scoring are being done on different location and that the scores aren't being counted here. I am posting my reviews here because I feel every one of those developers deserve constructed feedback and help them understand how I score their games.
If it is recommended that I shouldn't be divulging the scores here, then I shall refrain from doing so. Also, I will be using spoiler tags to reduce the size of my reviews so thanks for the suggestion once again.
Sincerely,
Judge Kerning
Hi Alex, no worries, as long as you understand that. I do appreciate thoughtful and comprehensive feedback provided by the community to the participants of our competitions. Carry on! :)
A fun little game. Biggest problems are the typo-riddled ending room and the on again off again nature of the gun.
Both as Thomas and William, the description of the gun was that it was empty. But William uses it to (presumably) shoot open the lock on the drinks cabinet, and Thomas is aiming is gun at the end as if he plans to fire it. The thing with Tommy ain't no big thang, but I was stalled at the drinks cabinet for longer than anywhere else because I wasn't bothering to fire an unloaded gun...
Teridragon
You can use a revolver to bash a lock without it being loaded
My problem with the game is how I have to use the hand and line up the red dot with each item. Other than that, its a fine game. I'm kinda wanting to know what happens next? Do they kill the monster and escape? And what happens to William?
Thank you for the feedback, hotkeys are now fully armed and operational.
A good game. As a side; Harriot brings a new gun for Tommy at the end, and a sword for... where's William?
The game was good, I enjoyed it from start to end. The only thing that I noticed was that looking at the toolbox after I had removed the lock, still said it was locked with a sturdy padlock.
Other than that... a very fine entry.
Very interesting, and it nicely mates escape games with point-and-click. It reminds us all that there is such a thing as a 3rd person escape game.
I found each room to be very logical, and rather straightforward. I admit that it doesn't re-invent the wheel, but it was still a few nice minutes wasted.
Loved the way this was different - the pixelation, the interaction, the menus to do actions. I actually really like the red dot on the cursor - sometimes you never quite know which pixel the cursor is pointing to - this took out that issue. Wish it was longer and
it's sad William had to die to "escape" his life
My thoughts:
Hoooo boy.
Well it was fun. As a game it achieved the fact that it was enjoyable. A few things bugged me, namely the fact that whenever you interacted with something it would switch back to observation mode and that fading in and back out took a while. Minor stuff. I liked the game.
Yet, this is a story as much as it is a game. One I find quite laughable. Not because it's funny, but because it isn't there. We are tossed into a world with absolutely no idea what on earth is going on, and being confused at every quip, a bit frustrating at times.
Now that I read the theme description, I see a little bit more about this, but I'm still a little uneasy about the story. I would rather play a game with no story than a game with one that I don't get a grip on but am forced to.
By the end I was, "Okay, who are these people; what's with the big tentacle thing; why is that lady dressed all nice for supposedly being dead; why did she just go out and get a gun and sword, and why do they seem to be proficient at killing stuff?"
Maybe it was all explained in the first line of the blackscreen exposition thing, but that seems to instantly be skipped. No clue why. Probably my bad mouse.
I appreciated the story after reading the theme part, and I recognize you didn't have space, but it still was a bit distracting. William and Thomas were recognizable as characters, and that's at least something I got a hold of.
Overall, great game, meh story, good presentation. Keep it up!
Clunky interaction with the magnifying glass and the hand. Once I had decided to switch over the the hand, after one click it would automatically switch back to the magnifying glass which would mean I would have to re-click on the hand. The idea is interesting and could be developed. Not enthralled with the graphics either.
From what I was able to play I liked it. The simplistic graphics adds a nice touch, along with the background sounds.
The only problem is that the game keeps on freezing for me at the same point. Right after I press the four buttons and the red button in the code at the liquor cabinet, a caption comes up, "Hmmm" and game seems to freeze. I can move the cursor around but nothing happens. This happens repeatedly for me.
@oldguy07: Apologies for the bug, it should hopefully be fixed now.
I'm intrigued by the story, but grrrrrr the game froze on me when I tried to leave the second room. Also the controls are a little too clunky for my liking.
Just updated it again, that freeze bug should be gone now.
Thanks wallace_a.
I made it to the tentacle room, and once I made the bottle cocktail I could not do anything more. Again, the cursor moves and I can change it, but cannot interact with anything else on the screen.
Maybe it's just on my end.
? the tentacle
gets me every time i get to the molotov cocktail part?
@camille-martine:
I think it's meant to, have you tried interacting with everything once the screen comes back?
Jay, same problems different day. What on earth in my computer could be blocking SOME games, but not all? This game and a couple of others were loading yesterday with a white screen and I never saw an ad or got the game. Today, it's telling me Shockwave Flash is out of date, but I constantly upgrade everything, so I know that's not actually true.
I'm on a MBP running Lion, browser Chrome. Most of the games in the competition are fine. This one, however, has not opened at all for me since the competition began. I'll try cleaning out my cache, but since this happens so frequently, I'm wondering if there is just some setting somewhere that I'm not aware I switched on (or off) that dislikes a few (but not all) games.
Check to see if perhaps you have 2 Flash Players installed in Chrome. If you do, then it may be an older version that the game won't run with and you'll need to disable it. If you need more hand-holding than that, please email me privately.
The game has gotten stuck on me twice in the tentacle room too, like it did for oldguy7. Don't know if I feel like playing through the whole thing a third time.
I introed this game to my sister, just to get it freeze on me in the last screen as well (aka after the cocktail). Grr!
Oh, and my sister managed to get the Brass Key multiple times by interacting with the pipe again. Lol!
When does it freeze, exactly? Straight after you
combine the whiskey with the handkerchief?
I'm looking into it, but I can't seem to replicate it.
No technical problems; played on Opera; Shortkey is functionally; black mood (positive).
I played with Anesia OST in background... fits perfectly.
Hoping for something more! 4/5
wallace_a, that is exactly the point it freezes in the room for me.
I'll try what Jay suggests since I use Chrome.
This game is sort of a tribute to the "Arcane: The Stone Circle" series, isn't it?
No technical problems here.
Was very strongly reminded of the Chzo mythos -- the art style, the tentacle monster, the control system... it's a good series, don't get me wrong, but it felt more like an installment of that series than a game of its own to me.
Great game! The only iffy part was how the control always defaults to observe, and like with others, I do feel that an easier way to toggle between the two control types would have made the game experience more smooth. The game was very entertaining and I hope that there will be similar games like this in the future!!
Odd; the first time I played this the 'reluctance' part sounded more like Tommy and Will were gay, especially the 'that talk's illegal' line in the Purple Room. Replaying it and it feels like there was a re-write at some point between then and now.
I've just replayed and I'm still getting the whole 'are they in a relationship?' vibe that I got from my first play through.
But I'm sure there was a conversation or two I seemed to have missed, or maybe I'm just not that good at remembering.
Whew, just played again and was finally able to finish. I'm so glad this one placed in the competition. The story is definitely its strongest point - I love the characters and wish I could see more of them (especially Harriet, the blood-soaked machine gun-wielding flapper). Well done, developer.
Ummm...
That's it? Not even a reassuring tentacle monster death to make it feel worthwhile? Bummer!
Game also froze for me in the room after the toolbox with the key inside.
Just wouldn't let me select interact.
Also that interface? TERRIBLE and clunky.
Just say USE and LOOK.
Wha...What about
William?!?!?!?
I thought the game was really good but I want to know what happens to Will does he die
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Game of the week
Walkthrough Guide
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Somewhere in England, 1928 Walkthrough
General information:
Always look around the room using magnifying glass, then use the hand icon to interact with items you find. The hand icon is also used to pick up objects in your inventory.
HALLWAY
Interact with rubble near the back to notice the wood
Use the hand icon to take the piece of wood
Interact with the rubble near the front to clear some of it revealing a large slab.
Use wood on slab.
Interact with hole to escape the hallway.
RED ROOM
Interact with the lump on the carpet to reveal a rat and some wires.
Interact with the wires to put them together.
Interact with the bookcase. He will mention that three books stand out.
Interact with the large book on the top shelf to get a recipe card.
Look at the recipe card. Read the fourth recipe to find a 4 digit code.
4 2 1 3
Use your revolver on the drinks cabinet to open it.
Interact with the glasses on the bottom shelf to discover a metal panel.
Interact witht the panel. Use the numbers you discovered earlier to enter the code, then press the red button.
Exit through revealed dark corridor.
GREEN ROOM
Take the spanner off the floor.
Inspect the note on the shelf above the toolbox.
Use you handkerchief on the note to clean it.
Read the note to discover something about a key and the sink.
Use the spanner on the pipe under the sink to remove it.
Interact with the pipe to find a brass key.
Use the brass key on the toolbox.
Interact with the toolbox to find a red key.
Use the red key to unlock the doors (darker green area) on the left wall.
PUPLE ROOM
Interact with piping right next to Thomas to pick it up.
Interact with the rubble pile on the right to discover a gap in the pile
Use the pipe on the gap to widen the gap.
Use the wood on the gap.
Interact with the gap to find a bottle of whiskey.
Use whiskey on handkerchief to make a molotov cocktail.
Interact with Thomas and ask if you haven't already, select help from the list. He'll mention he has a lighter
Ask Thomas about the molotov.
Pick up the molotov.
Use molotov with lighter.
Posted by: Kimberly
|
September 4, 2012 10:46 PM