Just how strange is the titular forest in Hottategoya's Escape from the Strange Forest do you wonder? For one thing, it's strangely disorientating. You're not so much stuck inside this forest as you are hovering above it like a bird, one who is only able to see a select portion of this labyrinth copse at any given time and who, on occasion, can swoop down to examine a detail of the grassy floor. For another, these stoically quiet evergreens will, for reasons unknown, change their formations and create new paths for you to wander along. Stranger still, hidden somewhere in its depths is a set of stairs that lead further down toward a door—it is through here you can escape, if you can decipher the secret code that is.
Despite the confusion taunting layout of this escape-the-room game, it's played by the same rules: click arrows that pop-up on the edges of the screen to move about and, when you find something that seems to stand out in this monochromatic world, you can click on it to zoom in for a better look or to pick it up. The three items you find here are not only useful, they are essential to your sanity. Helpful guides, they'll provide the clues you need to get your bearings, solve the puzzles and find your way out.
Until you reach the box containing your first clue, if you're easily panicked by enclosed spaces or have a phobia of being trapped in a maze, it could prove an extremely frustrating experience. Often those things that are most challenging, though, are the most rewarding and engaging. Escape from the Strange Forest takes all that is good about Hottategoya's triplex fashion of puzzle presentation and elevates it to an escape that is a refreshing take on the genre. By staying in the moment and paying heed to your map, you can find the open doorway at the end of the tunnel and another victory to notch into your surreal adventure belt.
Walkthrough Guide
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Escape from the Strange Forest Walkthrough
Begin: Find the Red Box
From the starting point (A-6), go...
east once
then south once.
Here you'll see a red box at the end of the path. Open it:
Get MAP 1 from inside.
Screenshot: Map 1
The receipt of this map is your first puzzle (not counting finding it in the first place). Use it to find your way to the next box.
Map 1: Finding the Green Box
Using MAP 1 you found in the red box, follow the directions to go from point 1 to point 8 in order.
Screenshot: Map 1
Note that the map wraps, so that path A connects to path A, path E to path E, and so on. A, B and C run north and south. D, E, and F run east and west.
DIRECTIONS:
Starting at the red box, move...
NORTH to B-1
NORTH to B-2
EAST to F-3
EAST to F-4
NORTH to A-5
NORTH to A-6
WEST to D-7
SOUTH to C-8
When you follow the directions correctly, you'll come to another dead end in the path. Here is a green box:
Open the green box to get MAP 2.
Screenshot: Map 2
This map provides the next puzzle; use the images to find you way around through the next part of the maze.
Map 2: Finding the Blue Box
Using MAP 2 from the green box, follow the images to travel through the forest maze until you reach the blue box.
Screenshot: Map 2
Note that the icons on MAP 2 represent the layout of certain locations within the forest, yet they're not always the proper orientation.
DIRECTIONS:
Open the spoilers for more explanation of the clues. Starting at the green box, move...
NORTH
Notice there are two trees missing at the top path. That matches the Top Right icon on the map exactly. So, follow the arrow...
EAST
Now the path runs only one direction and there is a tree it routes around, like in the Bottom Right icon on the map, except rotated 180 degrees. You'll need to go the opposite direction to match it...
WEST
The path here exactly matches the icon in the middle of MAP 2.
WEST
Here is just like the first part of the maze, matching the Top Right icon, except rotated 90 degrees to the left.
NORTH
This is a rotation of the Bottom Left icon...
EAST
Bottom Right icon, exactly.
EAST
Top Left icon, rotated to the left.
SOUTH
Top Right icon, rotated right...
SOUTH
Now you should be at the blue box.
When you correctly follow the clues in MAP 2, you'll arrive at the blue blox. Zoom in and open it:
Take out MAP 3.
Map 3: Escaping the Strange Forest
Use the map you found from the blue box to not only lead you out of the maze, but to help you gather important clues for the exit code.
Screenshot: Map 3
Just like with MAP 1, the letters indicate connecting paths, yet the paths also twist/reverse as you travel down them.
First, gather some clues...
DIRECTIONS:
Starting at the blue box, move around to each number, making a note of the design in the grass at each spot...
North, East twice, South twice and then West to #1 (moon).
East, North, East, North and East to #2 (star)
West three times to #3 (moon)
East, South, West three times, then South twice to #4 (x)
North three times to #5 (dot)
South, West, North, West, South, and East twice to #6 (moon)
Then, find the stairs which lead down to the exit door...
DIRECTIONS:
You can infer from the design, that the only path without a known factor at this point is the one straight up the middle of the map. So, starting at spot #6 on the map, go...
West, North, East twice, North, West, and then North all the way until you see stairs leading down.
Once you reach the stairway, go down and examine the door.
You need to push the four buttons in the same order as they're seen on the map.
SOLUTION:
Screenshot: Exit Code
moon, star, moon, x, dot, moon
When correct, you'll hear the door unlock.
Step back, open the door, and go through to the clearing!
Congratulations!
Posted by: elle
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April 24, 2013 3:42 PM