Apartment House Escape
Apartment House Escape is a bit...misnamed. Once you start playing you will realize that you are, in fact, attempting to break in rather than break out, a change of pace from the usual mid-week room escape. Welcome to Weekday Escape!
So basically you are trying to make your way into this lovely, terraced, gated apartment complex. Why? It's never actually stated. Instead you get some pretty bird's eye views of the complex from various angles (including close ups) and you must use the objects and clues that you find to solve your way into the place. Presuming, of course, that you can figure out precisely where you are trying to get in in the first place. Here's a hint: it's not the front door. So Apartment House Escape plays less like an escape and more like Breaking and Entering 101, if in real life common burglary involved lots of keys, color puzzles, logic puzzles, and a wicked rotating jigsaw. Well, being as I am completely law abiding, maybe it does. I certainly wouldn't know. Moving on...
So you begin at the beginning, the front of the complex where the parking lot is. You will discover that you can examine various areas of the terraces, yards, and even cars in the parking lot in close up simply by clicking on them. The right and left navigation arrows at the bottom of the screen actually move you around the outside of the complex, rather than turning you right or left, allowing you to view the place from both sides and the back. Nice looking place, really, and probably way out of my budget range. No wonder a person might want to break in.
Part of the fun of Apartment House Escape is the reverse of the usual escaping conventions, i.e. breaking in instead of breaking out. Even better is the nice mix of use of found objects tied up with some wicked fun (and occasionally just wicked) puzzles, a lot of them heavily color-based. It's a little disorienting to use the standard looking controls to navigate and find yourself moving in what would seem like a non-intuitive direction, using a right arrow to move to the side rather than turning 90 degrees away from the building.
The biggest flaw would not be the navigation system, though, as you get used to it pretty quickly. It is the unfortunate use of extremely wide clickable areas combined with a lack of a changing cursor, making it difficult at first to determine where you can click for the close-ups that you will need to complete the puzzles. A close up of a second floor terrace, for example, can be gotten to by clicking on that terrace, or below that terrace, or above that terrace, or even what looks like several feet to the right of that terrace, which can cause some confusion at first. The simplistic percussive music loop is also very short and can get extremely annoying extremely quickly. Fortunately there's a mute button. I suggest using it immediately. Inventory control also takes a bit of getting used to as well, since you have to click and drag items from the inventory rather than the usual highlight and click an area usually seen in a more standard room escape.
Despite the pixel hunting and the overly large clickable areas, Apartment House Escape is still a lot of escaping fun. Or breaking and entering fun. Heck, it's just a lot of amusing, logical puzzles, whether you have lost your keys and are just trying to get home or you have lost your job and are looking for a quick source of income from stolen property. Either way works.
Walkthrough Guide
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Apartment House Escape Walkthrough
General Information
There are a lot of color based puzzles, so this walkthrough will contain detailed directions for the colorblind.
The clickable areas are huge, so I'll try to describe where you can click directly for certain views.
Look carefully for keys (and other important areas) that are very small.
Remember to use an object in your inventory you have to click and drag it, not just click.
There is only one way in.
Good luck!
Exploration
You begin facing the front of the apartment complex. There are two cars in the parking lot, some sort of SUV on the left and a convertible on the right.
Click on the SUV for a close up.
Hmmm, that's a rather odd looking taillight on the SUV, isn't it?
For the colorblind: the taillight is three colors, from top to bottom yellow, white, and red.
Back up.
Now click on the convertible.
There's something odd about that trunk. Perhaps it's the question mark underneath the rather familiar looking logo.
Back up.
There are two gates on the right in front of the convertible. Click on either of them to see the entrance buzzer.
There's a lot of numbers there, and they are in two colors.
For the colorblind: the numbers are 9 (blue), 3 (black), 7 (blue), 4 (black), 8 (blue), 2 (black), 6 (blue), and 5 (black).
Back up.
On a second floor balcony (right in the middle of the complex) is what looks like a glass table with chairs around it underneath an awning. Click on the table for a close up.
You now have a close up of that glass table, and look, a clue! There are six locks in two panels to the left of the table. Each lock is a different color.
On the left, from top to bottom, is red, blue, and orange. On the right panel, from top to bottom, is green, yellow, and pink/purple.
Back up.
There's nothing more to see here now, so use the right arrow to go around to the right side of the building.
Click on the tiled roof for a close up. Note the small pattern in the tiles.
That is a 3 x 3 grid pattern. Top row: dark, light, dark. Middle row: light, dark, light. Bottom row: dark, light, dark.
Back up.
Look closely at the front of this side. You can see a third floor balcony with another of those glass tables on it. Click on that balcony for a close up.
Lying on the balcony, just to the right of the two green plants, is a red key. Take it.
Back up.
Down in the side back yard there is a single light green tree. Click on that tree for a close up.
Hmmm, there's a pink key here, impaled on the fencing. We might need tools to get that key.
Back up.
Use the right arrow to move to the back of the building.
Notice on the back balconies that there are tiled areas in the middle. Click on the tiled area in the middle of the upper (3rd floor) balcony for a close up.
Take the green key and back up.
Look closely at the back doors. The door on the bottom left looks different than the others. Click on that door for a close up.
We have on this door a keyhole (in a very odd place), two pink triangles, and a gap in the iron fencing. Looks like our point of entry!
Back up.
Use the right arrow to take you around to the left side of the building.
On a rooftop terrace in the back you will see another of those glass tables. Click on it for a close up.
Hmmm, not much to see here, but to the left of the table is a really dark tile, darker than all the others.
Back up.
Click on the third floor balcony (above where the glass table is) for a close up.
Take the blue key that is sitting on the balcony rail.
Back up.
To the right, you can click into the front yard of the far left apartment building.
Nice yard, but notice the brown patch on the grass? Maybe Fido has been doing his business there. Or maybe someone has been digging...
Back up.
Use the right arrow once again and you will be back at the front of the complex.
Time to solve some puzzles!
The Red Key
Click on the second story balcony for a close up of the glass table and the door with all of the locks.
The red key should be the first key on the left in your inventory. Click and drag it down to the red lock (top left lock).
Once the key passes over the lock you should hear a click. Release the key and click on the now open lock.
This is one of the tougher puzzles, a rotating jigsaw puzzle. Click on each piece to rotate it until it forms a picture of the apartment complex.
Pay special attention to the sky, those clouds are easy to get wrong.
Here's a screenshot of the finished puzzle.
When the puzzle is completed a hammer will appear. Take the hammer.
Back up.
The Green Key
The green key should be the second from the left in your inventory. Click and drag it down to the green lock (top right lock).
Once you hear the click, release the key and click on the green lock.
This is a variation of a mini-sudoku puzzle called KenKen, or KenDoku.
The object, just like in sudoku, is the fill in the rows and columns with numbers (in this case, since it is a 4 x 4 grid, the numbers 1 through 4) without repeating in any row or column.
Notice the smaller blocks that have heavy lines around them? Each of these blocks holds a clue for the numbers that go in that particular area.
For instance, if you have a two cell block that has 3+ in it, you know that the two numbers need to add up to three, meaning that only 1 and 2 in some particular order goes into that block.
To get started, look for a single block with the number 4 in it. The number 4 goes there.
The L-shaped block with 9+ in it has only 3 cells, so it must be 4, 4, and 1 in some order.
The 3 cell block that has 12x in it means that those three numbers, multiplied by each other, must total 12. That can only be 2, 2, and 3.
Here's a screenshot of the finished puzzle.
Once the puzzle is complete a shovel will appear. Take the shovel.
Back up.
The Blue Key
The blue key is the third from the left in your inventory. Click and drag the blue key over the blue lock (left column middle).
Once you hear the click release the key and click on the blue lock.
This puzzle has three black bars, and each bar turns white, yellow, and red before going back to black.
Where have we seen those colors before?
The answer is the odd taillight of the SUV in the parking lot. From top to bottom, the colors in the taillight were yellow, white, and red.
For the colorblind: Click the top button three times, the middle button once, and the bottom button twice.
Once you solve the puzzle a pair of wire cutters appears, take them.
Back up.
Getting the Remaining Keys.
Back up from the close up of the locks.
Use the right arrow to go to the right side of the building.
Click on that tree in the back middle of the yard for a close up.
There's the pink key, caught in the railing.
Use the wire cutters on the railing (remember to click and drag) to release the pink key.
Take the pink key.
Back up and use the left arrow to go back to the front of the building.
Once at the front, use the left arrow again to move to the left side of the building.
First, click on that second floor balcony where the glass table is for a close up.
See the dark brick to the left of the table? Use the hammer on that brick (remember to click and drag).
Take the yellow key and back up.
Now click on the right front yard for a close up.
Use the shovel on the brown patch in the yard.
Take the orange key and back up.
Use the right arrow to go back to the front of the complex.
The Pink Key
Click on the second floor balcony where all the locks are for a close up.
Drag the pink key (to the right of the wire cutters) to the pink lock (right bottom lock).
Once you hear the click release the key and click on the lock.
This is a three letter puzzle. And the puzzle only repeats certain letters.
Have we seen anything that could be a clue for this?
The clue is in the convertible.
Specifically, the clue is the question mark on the convertible underneath the logo. What does that logo stand for?
That is a BMW logo. The clue is BMW.
Once you enter the clue a black key will appear, take it.
Back up.
The Yellow Key
Click on the yellow key (just to the right of the shovel in your inventory) and drag it to the yellow lock (right middle lock).
Once you hear the click release the key and click on the lock.
This is a 3 x 3 grid of buttons which change color.
They start out as lime green, then change to white, black, and back to green.
Have we seen any clue for this? Perhaps in the back? Maybe on the roof?
The clue is that 3 x 3 tile pattern on the balcony in the back.
Click on the buttons so that they repeat the pattern. Top row: black, white, black. Middle row: white, black, white. Bottom row: black, white, black.
For the colorblind. Top row click the top row left button twice, the middle top button once, the right top button twice. Middle row: left button once, middle button twice, right button once. Bottom row the same as the top row, twice, once, twice.
Once you enter the correct pattern you will get a red triangle.
Back up.
The Orange Key
Click and drag the orange key (just to the left of the wire cutters in your inventory) to the orange lock (left bottom lock).
Once you hear the click release the key and click on the lock.
This is a four digit code. Notice that the numbers are blue. That may be a clue!
The clue to this is that long number at the entrance gate in the front. Some of those numbers were blue.
The four digits to this clue are the four blue numbers, 9786.
Once you enter the clue correctly a red triangle will appear, take it.
Back up twice.
Getting Out (Or, Rather, Getting In)
Use the right (or left) arrows twice to go to the back of the complex.
Click on the lower left door, the one that is different.
Place the two red triangles into the pink triangle shapes on the door.
Click and drag the black key over the keyhole.
You've escaped! Escaped what? The cold? Poverty? Exposure? Oh well, you've escaped at any rate.
Posted by: grinnyp
|
April 6, 2011 4:53 AM