No-One Has to Die
Platform: Javascript/HTML5
The Fenix Corporation security team is dead, a fire has broken out, and there are people trapped on the top floor. You are safe, locked in the security vault, but it is up to you to direct the survivors as they make their way to the ground floor. Unfortunately, the TEMPEST computer planning the escape routes doesn't think everyone can make it out alive. There are tough choices ahead, and you'll be the one to decide. No-One Has to Die is a turn-based puzzle HTML5 visual novel by Stuart Madafiglio where sacrifice is the only way to get closer to solving the full mystery at hand.
In each level, you'll be presented with a grid floor plan of people, locations, and switches that can be interacted with, and fire that spreads every turn. Click the arrows to move people, and the arrow in the upper left to advance a turn. When a person is next to a switch, they can turn it on or off. When the switch is on, water will come from the faucet icon, spreading each turn it is on, preventing the spread of fire. People standing on squares filled with water or fire will die. There are doors that, when locked, will prevent the spread of fire or water. However, one door can be remotely locked on each level. The level is completed once the progress of both fire and water is halted. Most levels will require the sacrifice of one or more people to continue. Depending on your choices, new aspects of the plot will be revealed in each play through, though the menu screen will allow you to restart from different branches of the story.
With its emphasis on characterization, moral dilemma, and branching paths presenting parts of a larger, complex story, no-one has to die appears to have gotten direct inspiration from 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors and Virtue's Last Reward. Certainly, the raw number of plot twists herein could give those games a run for their money, and fans of cerebral jigsaw-puzzle stories will definitely be driven to replay the game until every scrap of information is uncovered. Admittedly, the fire/water puzzles feel perfunctory in comparison to the plot, making one wonder if the game would have been better served as a pure visual-novel. Still, No-One Has to Die is a yarn surely satisfying enough to make even the most meticulous players overlook the blatant inaccuracy contained in its title.
Walkthrough Guide
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No-one Has to Die walkthrough: The Full Story
The spoiler below contains an organized synopsis of NoHTD's entire backstory and story, intended to settle any confusion regarding the plot. Proceed with caution.
Fenix and TEMPEST
Fenix Corporation is a company interested in time travel. Using the sale and resale of cheap products as a front, they created the TEMPEST machine. The TEMPEST was a fully functional time machine, with the caveat that it transported one's consciousness rather than any physical object.
Transit forwards in time went as expected, with the caveat that the subject was essentially dead during the period their consciousness "skipped". Transit backwards, however, randomly pinged the subject's consciousness into another parallel but nearly identical universe.
Of course, since in those universes the same subject was being sent off in the same way, many consciousnesses from the same person flew to random universes, some universes receiving multiple copies of the same consciousness (which caused them to overwrite one another) and some universes never receiving a single one. In rare (and by rare I mean rare; this happened literally less than one time in a million, as you'll soon see) cases, a consciousness would land back in the same universe it came from.
The Phoenix Experiment
The TEMPEST's first test subject was Christina's mother, also named Christina. She was supposedly mentally sent back in time, but no consciousness of hers ever came back to inhabit her body, so as far as anyone could tell, Christina Sr. was dead.
Unsure of the reason for Christina Sr.'s death, Fenix conducted a huge investigation into what exactly had happened. Most notably, they conducted the "Phoenix Experiment". They purchased millions of cockatiels, taught them to say a phrase-- more specifically "Christina lives", in honor of Christina Sr.-- and sent them through the TEMPEST, which was set on back-in-time mode.
One of the cockatiels was special for two reasons. One: it inexplicably knew the phrase before any of the birds was taught it. Two: when it went through the TEMPEST, it survived as if nothing had happened, whereas all the others died.
The birds that died did so for the reasons explained for Christina Sr. above. The special bird survived because its consciousness, by miraculous chance, landed back in the universe it originated from; this was also how it knew the phrase too early. This was the evidence Fenix needed in order to realize how the TEMPEST truly worked (which I already explained up above).
Every-one Has to Die
Meanwhile, Christina Jr. (the Christina present in-game) received her mother's corpse, sans brain (presumably they cut it out to check for signs of her consciousness). She knew Fenix's work was a front for something, but had no idea what. Furious about what happened to her mother, Chrstina Jr. decided to put a permanent end to whatever experiments Fenix was conducting. She started the fire and shot the security guards, setting up the disaster the playable portion centers around.
When the fire started, the TEMPEST's target time was automatically set to the current time, presumably as a security measure to hide what it had most recently been used for. The Visitor, who happened to be in the room to make a delivery, coordinated everyone's escapes, but had to sacrifice three lives in order for one person to make it. Whose life he spared varied between universes, many of which had the same outcome.
Whoever survived then wandered into the TEMPEST and was sent back to the fire's start, in another universe. Troy was unfortunate enough to go through the loop five times in a row, being the only one spared each time, to such a point that he declared himself the arsonist just so the Visitor would decide to spare someone besides him, thereby ending the cycle.
Lionel's survival was special; when he was spared, he let the Visitor out of the security room and invited him to enter the TEMPEST as well, adding a fifth person to the web of flying consciousnesses.
The End Is Near, The Final Timeline Has Appeared
In the final timeline, five randomly pinging consciousnesses managed to land in the same universe by chance (which isn't as unlikely as it sounds, considering the huge sample size). Thanks to the security codes the survivors had picked up before entering the TEMPEST, the Visitor managed to save everyone.
Christina Jr. wasn't satisfied, though. After obtaining information from Lionel about the TEMPEST's controls, she used the thing to go back again, once again landing in a universe where no sacrifices were made, then during the escape she modified the TEMPEST to send her back to the time her mother was sent back, knowing there was a chance she'd land in a timeline in which Christina Sr. was alive... and if she didn't, she would jump back again and again until she did.
(If it makes you feel any better about everything, once she finally found her mother again, Christina Jr. wouldn't have a reason to start the fire in the first place... which means that in that universe, no-one has to die.)
Posted by: SonicLover
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April 10, 2013 7:01 PM
No One Has to Die Full Walkthrough
Each spoiler contains that level's walkthrough for each side (left/right). Click the spoiler at the end of the solution you want for the next branch's solution.
Save Troy: Right
Turn 1: Lock Troy's door, Lionel moves up and switches water on.
Turn 2: Switch off. Steve dies.
Turn 3: Advance.
Save Christina: Left
Turn 1: Lock Christina's door. Flip switch.
Turn 2: Advance. Troy dies.
Turn 3: Flip switch.
Turn 4: Advance.
Turn 5: Advance.
Turn 6: Advance.
Turn 7: Advance.
Dead end. Advance until death.
Save Troy: Right
Turn 1: Lock Troy's door. Flip switch.
Turn 2: Advance. Christina dies.
Turn 3: Flip switch.
Turn 4: Advance.
Turn 5: Advance.
Turn 6: Advance.
Turn 7: Advance.
Save Lionel: Left
Turn 1: Lock Lionel's door. Flip switch.
Turn 2: Flip switch.
Turn 3: Troy dies.
Turn 4: Advance.
Lionel End
Save Troy: Right
Turn 1: Lock Troy's door.
Advance until complete.
Save Steve: Left
Turn 1: Lock Steve's door, Lionel moves up and switches water on.
Turn 2: Switch off. Troy dies.
Turn 3: Advance.
Save Steve: Left
Turn 1: Lock Christina's door. Flip switch.
Turn 2: Advance.
Turn 3: Advance.
Turn 4: Flip switch.
Save Steve:
Turn 1: Move Steve right. Lock his door.
Turn 2: Advance.
Turn 3: Advance. Christina dies.
Turn 4: Advance.
Turn 5: Advance.
Turn 6: Advance.
Steve End
Save Christina:
Turn 1: Move Steve up.
Turn 2: Move Steve up. Flip switch.
Turn 3: Flip switch.
Turn 4: Advance.
Christina End
Save Lionel: Right
Turn 1: Lock Christina's door. Flip switch.
Turn 2: Advance.
Turn 3: Flip switch.
Turn 4: Advance.
Turn 5: Advance.
Turn 6: Steve dies. Advance.
Turn 7: Advance.
Dead end. Advance until death.
Alternative Timeline
Save All
Turn 1: Lionel moves up. Lock both doors. Flip switch.
Turn 2: Flip switch.
Save All
Turn 1: Lock all doors.
Turn 2: Advance.
Turn 3: Advance.
Turn 4: Advance.
Save All
Turn 1: Move Steve right. Lock Steve, Troy, and Lionel's doors. Flip switch.
Turn 2: Flip switch.
Turn 3: Advance.
Turn 4: Advance.
Turn 5: Advance.
Turn 6: Advance.
Turn 7: Advance.
END
Posted by: Deusovi
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April 12, 2013 4:56 PM