Puzzles are at the core of Adventure gameplay, they provide challenges for you to overcome with brains rather than brawn. For Action Adventures, they offer a break from the hacky-slashy-stabby-shooty element of title.
Every week I’ll bring you a new puzzle, drawn from some of the best and worst adventure or puzzle games I’ve ever played. Every once in a while I’ll even leave you one of my own for you to solve. If you do, I’ll find a way to reward you!
No one’s offered a solution to the escape scenarios from a few weeks ago, so you can still get that done. For this week however, here are my solutions to them!
Base Scenario: “You wake up in a small room with concrete walls. Opposite the cot you were sleeping on is a door. A simple wooden door with a faux-golden handle—it’s locked. Under the cot is a toolbox. The toolbox has TWO tools of your choice, though they need to be real tools, so no laser swords. Which do you pick to escape?”
Solution: For this scenario, I use a hammer and a chisel and break the lock!
Variation 1: “Same scenario, but it’s a steel door. Increase the number of tools to THREE.”
Solution: For this one, I use the same method as before, but this time I add a can of compressed air to the mix. If you spray with the can upside down, it becomes freezing cold. With locks, it turns them brittle.
Variation 2: “Not only is the door closed, but boarded up as well. The door itself has 5 locks for five different keys. Increase number of tools to FOUR.”
Solution: I use an acetylene torch kit, the tanks, gloves and protective mask and I go to town on the door.
What do you think of my solutions, good or too farfetched? Give me your counter-solutions!
This week’s puzzle is from Daedalic Entertainment’s Memoria, my pleasant surprise in gaming. I’ve had a love-hate relationship with Daedalic ever since I played Deponia. I loved the first game but was tired of the overuse of moon-logic puzzles, and was continuously disappointed when I found that all the developer’s titles followed the same trend.
But Memoria was different. Not only were these puzzles the minority but the story it told was fantastic. It’s a very strong game all around.
The puzzle I’m mentioning is in one of Sadja’s sequences. Your guide, Rachwan, has betrayed you and left you to rot, but you don’t have much to worry because someone else caught him. Two Amazon warriors have him tied close to a waterfall. One of them is injured though and is lying on the grass. The other one, a younger and inexperienced warrior is keeping an eye on the situation when you stroll in. Despite his betrayal, you need Rachwan to guide you to your destination, but you can’t convince the Amazon to just let him go out of the kindness of her heart. So you need to use one of your spells to put a vision in her head, one that will convince her that letting him go is the right choice.
What I love about this puzzle is that it’s one of subtle hints. You have your spell, and you have a bunch of clues in the scene, you just have to be aware of them. The Amazon crest might offer some symbolism the warriors respect or revere, the rock paintings might give some imagery to go with your message. Even the running water of the waterfall can be of use to you. This is a puzzle that will take you long to finish if you don’t pay attention. It’s a clever puzzle where you need to be aware of your surroundings to find the right clues to build the correct vision.
Have you played Memoria or any The Dark Eye inspired games and adventures? Let me know in the comments what your thoughts are on this and other games!
