48 hours may seem like just a little while, but if you're Markus Persson of Minecraft fame it's apparently more than enough time to craft one big dungeon-crawling adventure. In Prelude of the Chambered, a first-person game of exploration and puzzles made for the August 2011 Ludum Dare, you find yourself in a cell. And because you are, presumably, not some sort of boring cell-lover, you want to escape, and if you keep your eyes peeled you might just find a whole lot of secrets and treasure along the way. Use the [WASD] or [arrow] keys to move around, the [1] to [8] number keys to cycle through your inventory, and the [spacebar] to interact. In the beginning you can't do much except for break down weakened walls, but as you explore you'll soon discover all sorts of useful items hidden around, and before you know it, you'll be punching floating greenish eyeball thingers in the face with the best of them. Just keep your wits about you; your health is counted next to the heart at the bottom of the screen, and if that runs out, it's game over, and green health restoring potions are few and far between.
For a game made in such a relatively small window of time, Prelude of the Chambered is both simple in execution and surprisingly big. There's no story, no goal other than the typical hard-wired instincts that drive all players (find bling, get out, punch stuff), and as far as aesthetics go you might say the game... has a, uh, great personality, since it can be hard at times to tell what you're looking at or where you're going. Combine that with a lack of a map and an unforgiving death system that means starting all over from the beginning, and some players may find it a somewhat difficult bite to swallow. Still, considering the development time Prelude of the Chambered is actually pretty remarkable; there's something vaguely Zelda-ish to uncovering new items to aid you in your quest (although sadly without the doo-doo-doo-doo-doo! new item sound effect), and figuring out the various puzzles presented to you in each new area is oddly satisfyingly. Despite its shortcomings, Prelude of the Chambered is a great way to pass a coffee break or two, and is probably right up your alley if you've ever wanted to run up and start wildly swinging punches at a misshapen green monster spitting balls of corrosive green goo in your face.
Thanks to Haikiba and Ixidorsbane for sending this one in!
Walkthrough Guide
(Please allow page to fully load for spoiler tags to be functional.)
Solution:
(I won't bother describing every corridor - just the tricky bits!)
The start:
Turn around and look for a section of wall that looks damaged. Punch it and it'll crumble away. There are lots of damaged walls in the game, often hiding goodies. Look out for them!
The four-switch room:
You can open the four doors at the far end of the room by punching boulders so that they come to rest on each of the four pressure plates. If you do it in a specific order, though (see below,) you can also get a potion and a pistol.
The bat boss:
Just stand in the doorway flailing your fist like a madman until all the bats wander into killing range.
The frost cave sliding puzzle:
Stand on the shore, one block up from the dooway, then go forward, left, right, then left so you get the trinket. Then turn around and go forward, right, and right again to get to the chest.
The eyeball boss:
Same as the bat boss, just stand in the doorway hammering space until he headbutts (eyebutts?) your fist to death.
The ghoul boss:
Best to use the pistol - you can either stay on the other side of the water from him and take pot-shots, but it's actually easier to dodge his attacks if you quickly swim over and fight him up close. Note that you have no more use for bullets after the Crypt is finished, so go all out.
The Temple:
The ghosts try to circle you, and will only hurt you if you walk into them. You need to lead them to the white blocks (gravestones?) which will vanish along with the ghost when they touch them. Behind each of the three blocks is a switch that opens the way forward.
The Ghost boss:
You can't hurt him with your attacks - you have to lead him back through the maze to the main temple, and make him touch the white block in the room just inside. When he touches it, he'll vanish and leave behind his key.
The Trinkets:
General hint:
There are exactly two in every location. Just look around and make sure you don't miss any breakable walls!)
Trinket 1:
The prison, in the cell next to yours, accessed via a broken wall in the tunnel behind.
Trinket 2:
The dungeon, behind a boulder near the start. You need to hit the boulder then step aside so it rebounds out into the corridor. This might take a couple of tries! (need the power glove)
Trinket 3:
The dungeon, behind a broken wall opposite the door leading to the first bat
Trinket 4:
The Ice Cave, across a little patch of ice in the first big room
Trinket 5:
The Ice Cave, in the room where you find the skates
Trinket 6:
The Island, behind the bars next to where you find the cutters (need the cutters)
Trinket 7:
The Prison, behind the bars in one of the other cells (need the cutters)
Trinket 8:
The Crypt, in the corridor opposite where you find the flippers
Trinket 9:
The Crypt, in a dead-end to the right of the entrance
Trinket 10:
The Island, hidden in a little tunnel next to the big cage, across the river (need the flippers)
Trinkets 11 and 12:
The Temple, behind broken walls to the left and right of the hole where you drop the boulder.
And the potions and pistols:
Potions:
The dungeon, in the corridor before the boss room (access by opening doors 1 and 2, but not 3 and 4)
The frost cave, behind a broken wall in a small room before you get to the room with the skates
The prison, in a chest in one of the cells (need the cutters)
The crypt, behind a broken wall on the right path after the water
Pistols
The dungeon, in the corridor before the boss room (access by opening doors 1, 2, and 3, but not 4)
The Frost Cave, in a chest behind some bars where the first trinket
The prison, in a chest in one of the cells (need the cutters)
The crypt, behind a broken wall in one of the dead ends (keep turning right from the entrance)
Posted by: David S
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August 24, 2011 12:21 PM
On the button puzzle:
There are four buttons, and six doors - the four that open in series to allow you into the bat boss's room, plus the two side doors. The first side door hides a potion, and the second holds a pistol and twenty rounds.
The best numbering of the buttons is to enter the button room, face the way you came in, then number the four buttons rotating clockwise. Thus.
Now, what does each button do? (Since it really doesn't matter, I'm going to assume that the side doors are closed until a button press opens (or re-closes) them.) Numbering the main doors 1-4 and the side doors 5 and 6 in order of appearance:
1: Open door 1.
2: Open doors 2 and 5.
3: Open doors 3 and 6, close door 5.
4: Open door 4, close door 6.
So, finally, assuming we want the extra items (if not then you can just activate all the buttons, in any order), the best solution is:
Activate buttons 1 and 2.
Retrieve potion.
Activate button 3.
Retrieve pistol/ammo.
Activate button 4.
This efficient solution might be useful for anyone attempting a 100% collection speedrun.
Posted by: Aexis
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August 24, 2011 2:39 PM
A map of the ghost maze, taken from the source code:
https://jayisgames.com/images/preludeofthechambered-map.png
Posted by: Cole | August 28, 2011 4:25 PM