Waking up dazed and alone in a room with a gun is bad. Finding out the windows have been bricked up and the front door is locked is worse. And finding out that you're not alone after all? Well, that's not as comforting as you might think in Inculcation, a horror game with action elements that may have you questioning your own eyes.
For the most part, Inculcation plays like a standard point-and-click adventure, letting you navigate by clicking your way around the screen to move locations, manipulate your environment, and interact with your inventory. The gun you'll find isn't just there to be used as a paperweight, and you can fight back by firing quickly at enemies whenever you find one, clicking on the screen to aim and shoot. Three shots will bring one down, but the same is true for you; luckily, there are strange syringes laying around that can help restore your health. Because everyone knows ingesting mystery pharmaceuticals when you wake up in a hostile nightmare world is the sensible thing to do, naturally.
The puzzles in Inculcation are a little odd, but not unreasonably so. With the exception of one frustrating occasion where I was required to pick a lock by treating it like a game of Operation, typical puzzle-solving abounds. Well, you know, typical in a "Seriously? Is that a stomach? Seriously?" sort of way. At least instead of being expected to think like MacGyver with an abstract collection of items, you tend to wind up doing things like finding a light bulb for a lamp, or superglue to repair an item.
Mixing a relatively sedate genre like the point-and-click with an action game is a tricky thing to pull off, not because the two types are mutually exclusive, but because people who are fans of either one tend to expect certain things out of their gaming experiences. Action gamers will find Inculcation too slow and unvaried, and point-and-click fans may be put off by reflex-required shooting sequences. What Inculcation does do right is atmosphere. A creeping sense of wrongness that tightens the muscles across your shoulders. While for the most part the game prefers to go for the loud, startling scares, it also manages to unsettle you just as often with strange sounds and imagery.
Inculcation claims to be inspired by some of the giants of the survival horror genre such as Resident Evil and Silent Hill (and, I would argue, Killer 7), and fans of those games will likely recognise a tip of the hat or two to them as they progress. On its own merits, Inculcation is a flawed but satisfying creepy treat for an evening alone, best played with the lights off and the sound turned up. Just remember to check underneath the bed and inside all the closets first. Oh, but there's probably nothing there... right?
Walkthrough Guide
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Beat this game fairly in 42 minutes without a guide (Because there is none) and decided to write one for JIG. :) Enjoy! SPOILERS! CONTINUE AT YOUR OWN RISK!
=BEGINNING HOUSE=
1. When you awaken, click on the toolbox on the floor, to find a key and gun. Click anywhere to shoot the gun if needed to.
2. Click your key and drag it to the door and open it. Kill the brown creature by clicking on him 3 times. They are enemies, fast and strong. 3 strikes from them kills you, so BE CAREFUL!
3. Look for an opened door to the left leading to a bathtub. Kill the brown dude, then take the red hosepipe sticking out of the northwest wall. Remember that roman numeral and number on the tub.
4. Leave to the hallway and go downstairs. Click on the coathanger to find a broken key.
Take it and go to the 1st door on your left.
5. Kill the brown baddie, then click on the box closest to the fireplace to find string. Leave and take the 2nd door on the left.
6. Kill the brown creep, then pick up the super-glue on the table. Leave and take the farthest middle door.
7. In this room, kill those two dudes then click on the drawers to find a zip-loc bag. Look on the right side of the wall to find a switch which turns on the oven.
8. Open the oven. Click on the knob to the left to turn on the gas. Then place your red hosepipe, then the zip-loc bag, and finally the string. Wait a little, then take the gas bag. Leave.
9. Go back upstairs and use the super-glue on the broken key. This will fix the key. Then use the key to enter the door straight ahead.
10. Open the drawer on top for a lighter. Go back downstairs.
11. Go back to the room downstairs with the boxes. Look for a small fireplace. The note on the sofa indicated that there was a key up there. Place your gasbag, then use the lighter. *POP* Take the fallen key and go back upstairs.
12. Use the key to open the door on your left. Kill the stranger inside, then look on the right side of the mannequin for a big pin. Go back to the room where you found the lighter.
13. Inside, use your big pin on the lowest drawer. MAKE SURE THAT YOUR MOUSE'S POINTER IS NOT TOUCHING ANY GRAY SPOKES! You will be interrupted by some brown dude jumping out of the closet at you. Kill him, then resume the pin and spokes. You will get a clue here. And before you leave, take the coat-hangar and remember that the roman numerals and numbers are there as well.
14. Step outside and use the coat-hangar on the shaking door. Inside, look for a black key inside the toilet water. YUCK! But you have the black tipped key now. Go back to the room with the mannequin.
15. Look at the table closely for a small jewelry box. The clue from the spokes and pin part were UP UP DOWN UP DOWN. Place the yellow lines so that the squares are pointing UP UP DOWN UP DOWN. Then use the key on the lock. Open the box.
16. Inside, pick up the ultra-violet bulb and go downstairs for the room with the lamp.
17. Once inside, place your bulb in the lamp to reveal a clue on the wall. Leave.
18. Click on the cell door on the right. Input the combination so that the roman numerals in order with its side numbers go first to third. Like I (the number), then II (the number), then III (the number).
19. Open the door and take the large silver key.
20. Look for any syringes if you took damage to recover yourself!
21. Turn around from the bottom of the staircase for the door. Use the big silver key. Done! WE'RE... OUTTA HERE!!!!!
=GARDEN=
Now you're outside. Kill those two dudes, then go to the neighbor's house right in front of you.
=NEIGHBOR's HOUSE=
1. Go upstairs and click on the door straight ahead.
2. Pick up the white sheet on the side of the bed. Note that the window is hexagonal, then leave.
3. Go back downstairs and go to the small closet below the staircase.
4. Get the 2nd white sheet, then click on the toolbox in the darkness for an allen key. Go back upstairs.
5. In that room with the big window. Open the window with the allen key, then tie the two white sheets together for a huge rope. Use it on the radiator. VOILA! Climb out the window now.
=THE STREETS AND THE FLATS=
1. Go to the left side of the gate to enter. Kill the two dudes in here, then enter the tunnel on the left.
2. Kill the dude here, then go left to the laundry areas.
3. Go closer to the laundry machines, then open the middle one. EWW! THAT's A STOMACH!!! Well take it and click on it for the electronic key fob. Leave the tunnel and use the fob on the metal door. Enter.
4. Go upstairs, use the fob on door 2. Enter.
5. Go to your first room on your right. Inside, pick up the slot lever. Note that the "300" on the urinal is in blue. Get a closer look at the slot machine. Take the money from the dispenser. Leave the ENTIRE building and go back to the tunnel with the laundry and more in it.
6. Use your money on the vending machine. Press the glowing yellow button and take the attachment that falls out. Go back to Flat 2.
7. Enter the room on the far right. Look at the balancing scales. Note that the measurements are 1.2kg.
8. Take the door on the far left. Kill the crazy dude in here, then open up the back of the bus. Inside, take the bolt-cutters and the screwdriver. Next, get the bag of plain flour inside the cabinets. Go to the scales on the table and place the flour on top. Press the - button until it is weighed at 1.2kg. Take the flour with you. Note that the license plate of the bus has "90" glowing in green. Go back to the hallway.
9. Use the bolt-cutters to snap the chains off the door. Inside, kill the crazy dude and note that the bus is glowing in red "120". Also note that "240" is in yellow. Go to the small desk and pry the plug off the outlet. Use the screwdriver to remove the fuse. Take it with you. Get inside the bus afterwards.
10. Inside, take the clock hand on the floor and click left to go upstairs. Go through the window in the back to a small room.
11. Inside, the plaque will note that the clock hand will be dropped if you can solve the puzzle. Easy. Drag those two statues to the center. If done, the clock hand should fall. Pick it up and leave the bus.
12. Now back to the room with the slot machine in the bathroom!
-Note, some weird hallucinations will happen with weird ghosts flying around. You will learn about it at the end.-
13. Inside, go to the outlet and place your fuse on the plug. Place on the lid. Then insert it into the outlet. Go to the slot machine afterwards.
14. Use the attachment and the lever to make a lever for the slot machine. Use the coin for the slot machine. A clock hand will fall from the dispenser. Take it and go back to the room with the huge scale.
15. Inside, replace the clock hand with the bag of flour. If it isn't 1.2kg, then you are SCREWED! Use all of the clock hands on the ornament. Those clues before should tell you how to do it. Place like (yellow clock hands goes to here and there.) If done right, a hole will appear. Go down and go to the control panel. Turn on the elevator. Leave.
16. The elevator, or the lift, is on the right of Flat 2's door. Once there, take it and go down. It's a red line on your map.
17. At the bottom you will see an orange glowing enemy carrying a great knife. You will also notice that you've ran out of ammo. To take this one down, look to your right for a statue. Behind it is a chain. Cut it when the dude gets to the gray line on the floor. This will knock him over. Pick up his blade and finish him. Take the door at the end.
CONGRATULATIONS! YOU'VE WON!! Ok this was the longest walkthrough ever. Enjoy the ending. Which kind of sucked.
Thanks for reading!
-Josh- :)
Posted by: Josh01
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January 22, 2010 8:23 PM