Imagine you're given the choice of two gifts: one is a large box wrapped with a bow and the other is a small key. Would your choice be automatic or would you be tempted to find out where that key leads? Keys are intriguing, aren't they? They promise to open doors or unlock treasures, to start engines or present answers. That's why we're excited when MyGames888 offers us a mere 3 Small Keys; we're already gearing up for the joy of exploration and discovery that makes playing an escape game so satisfying.
To begin, you're alone in a curious room, left to investigate the bare design and figure out what to do first. Point and click to navigate, following arrows on the sides of the screen to change direction. Finding a few clues helps you open a lock; finding keys and puzzling out their use will open even more. The inventory is standard—click objects to pick them up then highlight to use or doubleclick to examine in more detail. You'll encounter some clever puzzles and being very observant plays a big part in getting out.
As seen before in 3 Doors, when it comes to constructing imaginative and interesting escape games, MyGames888 has a distinct talent. Besides the lack of a changing cursor, I have little to criticize about 3 Small Keys—it was just too much of a pleasure to play. In fact, this might be a case where the additional help of cursor hints would take away from the mood and tone. No visual indicators for guidance can lead to frustration but it also gives potency to the feeling that you're here in this room, stuck, searching every inch for the means to escape!
Exploring this austere, quiet environment, free from any narrative, with little more than the echo of flowing water to fill the wide space, nothing to tell you why you're here or how you're going to leave, renders the atmosphere both peaceful and oppressive. It's an atmosphere that works extremely well in an escape game and makes the whole experience, which is disappointingly short, seem more grand. If 3 Small Keys was three times the size, we'd not hesitate to shower it in high acclaim, so let's enjoy this gift of an escape, no matter how small it is.
Walkthrough Guide
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3 Small Keys to Escape: a Walkthrough
Starting Out: Exploration
You begin facing a rusty door with a ROUND KEY already in your possession. Go ahead, give it a try...Locked, right? Figures.
Turn to the right. There, in the wall, is a pillar and it looks like something is on it. Zoom in for a closer look:
Click again on the black box until you can see its top.
It has three buttons: white circle, red square, blue triangle.
Mashing on them has no effect, though (unless you get lucky. Then, hurrahs for you!)
Back up twice. Let's look around more; maybe you'll find some clues.
Turn right again. Now you see a round pool in the floor:
Peeking closer, you can see a ladder leading down and the hint of something in the wall.
It's too deep to climb down right now, though.
Back up.
Turn to the right to see a the bust of a horse in the middle of a square pool. Try poking around here a bit.
Under the horse's muzzle is a small hole. Something goes here, but what?
Looking down into the waterway, you can see a metal object of some sort below the edge:
Reach down and get a HANDLE.
Then, back up.
Once again turn right. Here is another horse head, in a triangle pool of water.
By the way, have you noticed all these pools are connected?
Zooming closer under this horse's chin, you'll notice a small knob with a square bracket on it.
Back away then zoom in to examine the water faucet...yep, water is flowing but no spiget to turn it off.
Back up.
Turning right once more, we've almost gone full circle, and are now facing a pillar to the left of the rusty door. Zoom in to take a closer look:
Hey, there's a circle on the wall. Click it to see what happens...
...continuing to click gives you a pattern of shapes, from left to right. That might be something worth noting.
As nothing else happens here, back up and move right twice.
The Black Box and Entering the Round Pool
Examine the black box again:
Use the clues you found on the opposite pillar.
SOLUTION:
CIRCLE-TRIANGLE-CIRCLE-SQUARE-SQUARE
Press the buttons in the correct order and the box will automatically open:
get the SQUARE KEY.
You could try the square key on the door, yet something tells me that's not going to work. Instead, wasn't there someplace else that a square key might fit?
Before you walk away from the box, back up and note what you see:
DIAMOND 42
Back up and turn left three times until you're facing the horse head/water faucet:
Zoom closer to the knob on the podium, under the horse's muzzle.
Your square key fits perfectly there.
Insert the SQUARE KEY then flip it up.
The water is now turned off and the pools quickly drain.
Go left twice to see the now dry round pool/well:
Click the edge of the well to look down into it.
Click on the ladder to climb down part way.
Then use the bottom arrow to move down to the bottom of the well.
Now you're facing a grey box recessed into the wall. What do you have to open it?
Inside the Grey Box at the Bottom of the Well
To open this box, use the metal HANDLE that you picked up along the edge of the square pool.
It won't fit until you adjust the pegs on the back.
Move each over until they match the pattern on the grey door. Notice that how you're holding the handle in your hand is not exactly how you'll put it on the door.
SOLUTION:
Screenshot: Pegs on Handle
When you get the grey box open, take note of three things you'll see inside:
STAR 53 painted on the back.
On the shelf, there's A KNOB with a pentagon shape. Take it....
and then look inside the hole after you take the knob:
Something blue is stuck down that pipe but you can't reach it.
Back from the box then click the top arrow to move up the ladder. Then back up again.
Now, you need to do something to help dislodge the item in the pipe at the bottom of the well...
Go right until you're facing the faucet/triangle pool again.
Examine the SQUARE KEY on the podium under the horse's chin:
Flick it down to turn on the water.
Wait. Then flip it back down so the water drains out again.
Go left twice and back down to the bottom of the well.
The water caused a BLUE BALL to float up out of the hole in the grey box. Get it:
Examine it to take the TRIANGLE KEY from the blue ball.
Then, examine the triangle key and note what you see there.
Back all the way out and climb to the top of the well. It's as good a time as any to find out what this triangle key will do.
The Triangle Key and the Code for the Other Room
Turn around to face the rusty metal door:
As it turns out, the TRIANGLE KEY that you got out of the pipe in the box at the bottom of the well... Well, it will open that door. Yay!
Enter the next room and examine the keypad:
The code for this device is simple. Just enter the diamond, star and triangle numbers.
SOLUTION:
The diamond is found on the black box on the pillar.
The star is inside the grey box at the bottom of the well.
The triangle is on the key still in your inventory.
Still having trouble? Remember to look carefully at the shapes.
Putting it all together, you end up with this code:
425399
The correct code will lower the green glass tube and then you can take the...
PENTAGON KEY.
The Pentagon Key and How to Escape
Back out of the other room and turn back to face the horse bust in the middle of the square pool:
Zoom in to the little hole on the podium under the horse head.
Insert the pentagon-shaped KNOB from your inventory into the hole.
Now insert the PENTAGON KEY.
Flip the key to find out what happens.
Yikes! It broke off. Take it back!
Examine the broken bit of the PENTAGON KEY.
You snap off the rest of the key's stem, leaving a round indentation. Maybe you can make a makeshift new key?
Add the TRIANGLE KEY to the PENTAGON BIT. Perfect!
Put the new PENTAGON KEY back in the slot and flip it up.
The horse head podium will move back. But why? How will that help you escape?
Move around and examine your surroundings. There is a big clue in what you see:
That round key in your inventory is perhaps not so small. After all, this is called 3 Small Keys, not 4 small keys.
Insert the ROUND KEY into the round pool.
Note: the water must be turned off before you can do that.
Finally, return to the water faucet and turn the water back on...and wait.
After the water fills up the room, turn around twice and swim toward the opening on the far end of the room.
Click on the ladder to climb up it.
Congratulations, you have escaped!
Why, yes, you really are very cool.
Posted by: elle
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October 17, 2012 12:08 AM