Here we are again: Gathered together by this intangible connection through the interwebs and, although not something we can put a finger on, it's no less real nor is it insubstantial. I think (and forgive me if I'm being too forward but) we have something special between us—you, me, everyone. It's not just like. We don't simply like these escape games. This is a considerably more poetic, personally resonating and meaningful thing. We're not on the fringe of society, either. Escape games got the Hollywood spotlight, albeit with a bit of parody, in a recent episode of The Big Bang Theory. But to explain too much explains away part of the coolness of it, eh? Still, I don't want to march in here without preamble and just toss out a few games and say: "Uh, here. Give them a try." That'd be far too...what. Dismissive. Abrupt. Unappreciative of our unique bond. Right? Right. So, now we're all in symbiotic accord on the matter, let's skip formalities and get on to it: Everybody, here is this week's Weekday Escape...
Escape from the Room Surrounded by Bookshelves 3 - Hottategoya's clean, sparse and expertly designed abodes are more than a feng shui How To guide—Such minimalism makes it possible to embed puzzle clues into the setting while maintaining an aesthetic balance. Its brevity disappoints if you're looking for more substantial sojourning, yet the fit-in-almost-any-time-slot compactness ensures accessibility. Those well-versed with Hottategoya's stylings won't be taken by surprise and those who haven't played a Hottategoya game before, or who dismissed this designer's work years ago... What's holding you back? A seamless UI, lovely graphics and logical puzzles top the list of reasons Hottategoya excels in the escape genre. While this particular example is perhaps not the best, time spent playing it is not wasted.
Girls Room No.5: Powder Brush - It's okay, FunkyLand. So you somehow missed the meme-dom of Sarah McMane's girl power poem, For My Daughter quoting Clementine Paddleford—"Never grow a wishbone, daughter, where your backbone ought to be"—(which has been so widely circulated this week, it's rather hard to miss but, well, just saying). It's okay, because we still love you enough to happily indulge in your every creation. Have I been too demure to simply say, "I have some issues with this particular series"? Maybe. But being objective, as a professional critic, I can confidently say Girls Room does not compare favorably to other FunkyLand inceptions, notably games like Alice House, based on a specific headstrong heroine's adventures, and any one of the Candy Rooms with their playful presentations of clues. Now that's aired out, I do have to say, this episode is so far my favorite of the series; too short and simple, yet it has a tad more spunk and pizzaz in its construction than the previous four.
Dark Dungeon Escape - The scenario of this particular Flash 512 escape may be dire, dank and dour, but the graphics are crisp and clear and actually rather lovely, not at all too dark to dampen the gaming experience. Even so, a few hard-to-find hotspots could potentially lengthen your stay despite otherwise straight-forward puzzles, which rely less often on logical deciphering and more on proper item usage. Still, that lends a classic adventure game feel to the typical escape-the-room objective. All you need to know to get started is this: See those three buttons about midway down the page, some Chinese lettering followed by the word "PLAY"? Click one, any one, and the game will load. After that, you'll know what to do.
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Walkthrough Guide
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Here's a walkthrough for Girls Room No. 5 since those are short and sweet - and probably the most straightforward to write one for!
Zoom in on the table in the middle of the room, then zoom in on the platter of cakes. Click on the round, red container in between the macarons. It's not a cake at all, it's a ring box! Grab the ring and zoom out once.
Now let's focus on the sofa behind the table. Click on the cushions to lift one of them up, collect brush number 1! Zoom in on the little house next to the cushions. It's locked, so let's leave it for now. Zoom out, and then zoom out to the whole room view.
Zoom in on the bed to the left. If you click near the pillows, it will zoom in to a compartment in the headboard. Put the ring in the little rectangle, and you can now open the compartment. Brush number 2! Zoom out once.
Above the bed is a purple panel with white squares and a frog head. If you zoom in on it, you can click on the white squares to change them to pink. We can't solve this yet. The only other place to click in the bed scene is little shelving unit to the right. There's a box on the top that needs a key to open. Zoom all the way out to the whole room view again.
Zoom in on the door to the right. There's a dresser on the left with a pink frog sitting on it. The frog is sitting in front of two pink drawers, one with L on it, one with N. If you zoom in on the display case, you can open the door. The only thing we can click here is the little house on the second shelf from the top. It wants a four digit code. There is also a balloon we can zoom in on. The frog has given us some info to solve a puzzle, so zoom on out and go to the bed again.
Zoom in on the frog panel above the bed. Since we saw the frog sitting by some drawers with letters, maybe we have to make those letters using the tiles. Turn all the tiles pink, and make a white L by making all the tiles in the first column and the bottom row white. The frog face above the panel will move. If you go back to the dresser the frog is sitting on, you'll see the frog has moved across to the left, so we can now open the N drawer. Pick up the key. Now go back to the frog panel and make a white N with a pink background (first and last column should be white, then just connect them with a diagonal line). Return to the dresser where you can now open the L drawer. Collect brush number 3!
The key we got is for the little house on the sofa, behind the table. Open it up, and you can collect the little sign stuck in the teacup. I bet that thing's sharp... We can use this to pop the balloon. When it pops, you'll notice something sparkly drop... zoom out and then zoom in on the ground. There's a number code, 7525!
Go back to the display cabinet next to the door. We need to use the number code on the little house on the second shelf. Now you can open up the roof. Grab brush number 4, as well as the little heart shaped key.
The box that needs the heart shaped key is in the bed scene, on the top of the shelving unit sitting on the right. Use the key on the box to open it up and collect the last brush. That gives you the final key you need to open the door. You're out!
Posted by: Squiddly
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March 26, 2015 10:59 PM