Let's get this out of the way first; I have no idea what Sakudatu means. The start screen of the game shows "Saku" in Katakana, and "datsu" in Kanji. Beneath that it appears to read saku saku dasshutsu, again in Katakana and Kanji, and frankly my Japanese translation skills are slim to nonexistent. Sorry, did that appear totally out of left field? You'll have to excuse me, I just finished playing the latest room escape from Detarou, Sakudatu (or whatever) and I'm still feeling a little concussed...
Sakudatu is, of course, a (sort of) classic room escape, but only if you consider a classic escape a room filled with characters straight out of a Pirandello play, placed in situations that look like a Magritte painting that has been run through a blender. Quite frankly the word surreal doesn't even begin to cover anything that comes from the mind of Detarou, especially this little doozy of an escape that has one way out and three ways to die. It is up to the player to wander around the room, bask in the scenery, solve some actually logical puzzles and, if they are very careful about following instructions to the letter and employ a modicum of common sense they will make it out the other side alive and with their sanity intact. Maybe.
You move around this bizarre room with the standard bars and arrows at the edges of the screen, and items can be examined, picked up, or interacted with a click of the mouse. Detarou has even included the use of a changing cursor to indicate hot-spots which can be nice, because practically nothing else in this place makes any sort of sense. Despite the craziness going on in every nook and cranny of this odd-shaped room the puzzles themselves are pretty logical and heavily color-based. Considering, though, how easy it is to die it would have been nice to have some sort of save feature, especially for those who want to see how many endings they can find.
Anyone who has played a Detarou game knows that the imagery involved can be bizarre or inexplicable. However, unlike in Gold Door Escape you won't be bombarded with strange Christian iconography. In Sakudatu the imagery is more...personal. We're talking half-naked taiko drummers, what looks like the splash page of a yaoi doujinshi, and a very suggestive biker to name but a few of the bizarre characters populating this amazing location.
Is it entertaining? Most definitely yes. The puzzles are fun if a tad too easy and the madness going on all around merely enhances the escaping experience. If the bizarro world of Detarou is to your liking then you are in for one tasty treat with Sakudatu. Just do me a favor and, if you figure out what the title actually means, let me know, would you? It's going to keep me up nights otherwise, just like that biker...
Walkthrough Guide
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Sakudatu Walkthrough
General Information
If you get the changing cursor indicating a hotspot but you can't do anything, that usually means you need to use an inventory item there.
There are four endings, one good, the other three bad.
This walkthrough will contain directions for the colorblind.
Good luck!
Exploration
You begin facing a wall with a brown door. On the left is a small bureau with a weird spinning worm on it.
On the floor is a white piece of paper, click on it.
This is actually a small booklet. On the cover are the words "New Season". Beneath the picture of the house are three colored balls, from left to right yellow, blue, and red.
You can click on the right lower corner of the cover to open the book if you'd like. The rest of the text doesn't seem to matter.
What you see on the inside pages is an incomprehensible conversation in both Japanese and English.
Put down the booklet.
Click on the bureau for a close up. You see that there are three drawers, with the middle drawer needing a four digit code.
Open the top drawer and you will see the number 512 inside.
Open the bottom drawer and you will find a yellow ball. Take it. Underneath the ball is the number 722.
Back up.
Click on the brown door to open it.
Okay, that's not weird at all. There's a guy in a blue unitard hanging on the inside of the door. Click on the guy for a close up.
This guy has a very twitchy face, doesn't he? Maybe it will be important later. Back up.
Click on the inside of the closet for a close up.
You should now be in a close up of some cardboard boxes. There's something poking up from behind the boxes.
Click on the left box to move it and witness a bald biker licking a knife suggestively. Maybe he's hungry?
Back up.
Turn right.
Okay, now we're looking at something that could be the splash page for a yaoi doujinshi. Notice the construction materials and the toolbox to the left of the characters.
Click on the toolbox to get a hammer, nails, and some wood.
Turn right.
You are now looking down a wall with some sort of writing on it. There's a half-naked guy way down at the end.
There's also a red ball on the floor.
Click on the red ball to take it then click on the writing on the wall for a close up.
Hmmm, three boxes, and if you add the top and the bottom it equals the middle. A clue!
Back up and turn right.
Okay, so there's four semi-naked guys, taiko drumming the back wall. In front of them is a middle-aged couple apparently having lunch right in front of the shaking buns.
Click on the couple for a close up.
Hmmm, looks like soup for lunch. Click on the soup pot on the table for a close up and take the gray key.
Back up twice and turn right.
We have what looks like an alcove in the wall with a locked door, and a fish flopping on the floor. The alcove apparently needs a key.
Turn right.
Another alcove, this one open, which contains a bomb. Let's not take the bomb right now, best to leave it alone.
Click on the console beneath the alcove for a close up.
Hmmm, the controls on this console appear to be a human face. Note the fact that it needs a key card. Also note that the instructions explicitly tell you not to touch the mark on the forehead. Let's take that advice, shall we?
Back up and turn right.
You should be back where you began, facing the bureau and the open closet.
Time to solve some puzzles!
The Worm Bureau
Click on the bureau for a close up.
Remember the numbers you found in the top and bottom drawers?
Remember that picture you found on the wall with the white boxes?
Perhaps you should combine the clues?
Add the numbers from the top and bottom drawers as the drawing indicated (722 + 512) and you get 1234, which is the code for the middle drawer.
Click on the middle drawer and enter the four digit code. Once the code is in click on the red button to the right to open the drawer.
You get a...is that a corndog with ketchup? Take it.
Back up twice.
The Hungry Biker
Remember that biker in the closet who was licking a knife?
Maybe he'd like the corndog.
Click on the closet for a close up and then click on the left box to move it.
Give the corndog to the biker and you will get his knife.
Back up.
The Locked Alcove
Turn left twice to face the locked alcove and the flopping fish.
Click on the alcove for a close up then use the key you got from the soup pot to unlock it.
And someone really has something against this poor iron chef.
Use the knife on the tied-up chef to free him.
Now that the chef is free he looks ready for action!
Hey, there's a red arrow on the wall, indicating that there is something above. If only we could reach it?
How about we give the hammer, nails, and wood to the chef and have him earn his keep.
Cool, he not only gave us a key card, he's building a ladder!
Once you have the key card turn right to face the bomb and the face console.
The Face Console
Click on the console for a close up.
Use the key card on the reader. The light will turn green.
You know if you click on parts of this face they twitch. Just be careful not to push the forehead!
Maybe there's a pattern here?
Remember the blue unitard guy from the closet?
If you studied the closet guy carefully you should have noticed that his face twitched in a sequence that repeated over and over.
You need to repeat that sequence here on the console face.
When I give directions for this, I'm referring to your left as opposed to the face's left.
Click the features in the following order: Left eye, nose, right eye, mouth, nose, right eye, nose.
When you have finished with the face sequence you will get a cut-scene involving the chef, his injuries, and a badly constructed ladder.
Once the ladder collapses you can click on the red arrow to go up.
You can also click on the chef to check out the look on his face.
Upstairs
Click on the red arrow to go upstairs.
You are now confronted with three colored doors: On the left blue, in the middle yellow, and on the right red.
Click on the blue (left) door twice to open it.
Inside this room is a machine with the words New Season and three circular slots. There is also a slot at the bottom of the machine.
Back up to the hallway.
Click on the yellow door twice to go in.
Look, a cheering crowd and a finish line!
But wait, there's a blue ball on the ground as well.
This might be a trap. Let's just take the blue ball and back up twice.
You can try the red door, but it's locked.
Click on the blue (left) door twice to go in, then click on the top of the machine.
Where have we seen the words New Season before?
Those were the words on the cover of the booklet we picked up in the beginning.
On that booklet were three colored balls, yellow, blue, and red (from left to right).
Let's reproduce that pattern on the machine.
For the colorblind: the yellow ball is in your inventory in the upper left slot. Place that ball in the far left circular slot.
The blue ball is in the lower right slot in your inventory. Place that ball in the middle slot.
The last ball remaining is the red ball. Place that in the right slot.
Once you've solved the top of the machine back up once, then click on the bottom of the machine.
A red key has fallen down in the lower slot. Take it and back up three times to the hallway.
Good End
Click on the red (right door) for a close up, then use the key on it.
Click on the open doorway and you are out! Good end!
Congratulations on not getting killed!
Bad End 1
Follow the walkthrough completely except for one thing: pick up the bomb in the alcove above the face console.
If you walk out of the red door with the bomb in your inventory you will blow up. Bad end.
Bad End 2
If you ignore the directions on the face console and push the forehead, you will hear a crash.
After the iron chef has built the ladder you will find the upstairs blocked with rubble. You're trapped for eternity!
Bad End 3
When you go through the yellow door and find the cheering crowd and the finish line (and the blue ball), you are faced with a choice.
Taking the ball and going back to the hall will take you back on track for the good end.
However, you can go forward by clicking on the finish line. Do that enough times and you will break through. And find the laughing panda. And die.
Posted by: grinnyp
|
May 25, 2011 2:34 AM