Goliath The Soothsayer
Do you agree with any of the following: A) The Mars Volta is tight, B) Room Escape games are tight, or C) Ouija boards are gateways for demonic forces? If so, you're in for a treat. A treat that will attempt to eat your soul.
Goliath the Soothsayer is an adventure game designed by Ben Leffler (of Exmortis series fame) to promote the upcoming Mars Volta release, The Bedlam In Goliath. The story is based on the experience of the band's sick guitarist, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez. The guy goes to Jerusalem for vacation and walks into a curiosity shop. Of course, when you walk into a curio shop in Jerusalem you're bound to leave with a demonically enchanted artifact, right?
In the fiction of the game an insurance salesman buys the same Ouija board that Omar did. You play the poor guy's brother, the game starts with you waking up in an attic. Salt barricades the locked door, and your first task is to make an escape. After you do the game opens up a little bit and the mystery of Goliath the Soothsayer starts to unravel. Gameplay involves the usual clicking around for items and figuring out logic puzzles. Occasionally, a scary thing will happen, and it is possible to lose your soul to demonic entities while playing.
Analysis: The game is very good but it suffers from a lack of feedback in several respects. The exploratory process of clicking around for clues often isn't conclusive enough. Good adventure games don't hold your hand, but this one doesn't even nudge, and odds are you'll find yourself resorting to FAQs or spoiler tabs in the comments section in order to complete it. The writing that accompanies the object mouse-overs is also a bit overwrought, though not to the extent where it uses words like "overwrought".
With all that said, the puzzles hang together with a nice metaphysical logic, so if you start thinking like a paranormal investigator, it might come around smoothly for you. The graphics and audio are well done, making it enticing to continue despite the rough edges. No matter what you think of the genre or Mars Volta's music, you gotta admit, Ouija boards just don't get enough love in the media these days. Lets give all those repressed demon spirits a holiday.
Walkthrough Guide
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Full walkthrough:
Click on the pocket of the coat, get prayer card.
Go to the other end of the attic. Get the rope from underneath the chest.
Open the middle drawer of the chest and get the crucifix.
Look on top of the chest. Use the rope with hook to combine the two items.
Go back to where you woke up in the attic. Use the combined rope and hook on the gap above the door.
Play around with the rope by moving left and right to "fish" for the doorknob from the other end. Once this is accomplished, and you hear a noise that signals that the door has been opened, click the doorknob to open the door.
Proceed down the stairs. Click the lightswitch on the left side of the screen.
Click on the hallway that leads to the master bedroom and bathroom. The bathroom is not necessary, but it gives you a hint for later. Enter the bathroom.
Turn on the faucet. It will cloud the mirror, telling you to look for what is not there, rather than what is there. This refers to the alarm clock in the bedroom...
Enter the bedroom.
Get the statue of Shiva on the left.
Click on the switch for the lamps. It is located in the middle of the power cord below the window.
Get the "Love" note on the right side of the bed. Get the alarm clock on the right side of the screen. A four-digit number can be read on it by looking at the spaces that are NOT lit up. This number is the password for the computer diary in the office.
Go back to the main hallway and enter the office. Get the "Murder" note on the rightmost printer. Turn on the computer and read the diary after inputting the password from the alarm clock. It is necessary to read this in order to finish the game, and it is important for the story and setting.
Go back to the main hallway. Enter the door on the right that closed by itself. Wait for the weird stuff to happen, then switch on the lamp on the right side of the room.
Get the Qur'an on the small table on the right.
Continue on downstairs. Turn up the lamp. Enter the loungeroom. Get the shofar and the Buddha statue (in the middle and next to the TV respectively).
Return to the hallway. Enter the linen closet. Get the Ema (prayer board) and the "Lust" note.
Notice that the closet lights up. Click on it. Get the key. Click on the safe. If you got all three notes, you notice that each word (Love, Lust, Murder) is written inside a shape (Heart, Square, Circle). On the safe, these shapes are inscribed in that order, so go ahead and input the numbers that correspond to the letters LOVELUSTMURDER. Those numbers are 56835878687337. Access is granted, and you get the Soothsayer.
Go back to the hallway and use the key on the locked door.
Two endings, take your pick:
Use the Soothsayer with the Ouija Divining Glass in the middle of the kitchen (bad idea!) or...
Go out to the backyard and click on the pre-dug hole.
Congratulations, you finished!
Posted by: DLand
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January 17, 2008 1:31 AM