It's sort of pointless to go through the efforts of getting your clothes spiffy and fresh-smelling if you don't have anywhere to go once you've cleaned up. Why not treat yourself to a day of sophistication and refinement, enriching your senses as well as your cultural aptitude? Spend an afternoon browsing an art museum. This is exactly the plan for the day in Aries Escape: Episode No.14—except as this is an escape game, the day takes a turn when you're trapped inside a strange exhibit. Here, a new type of medium is on display: the puzzle as art. It's all quite interesting but...where is the door? If you're ever going to leave these two rooms, rather than turning into a new mummified display, Pas de Fuite, you need to look beyond the surface and hone your art interpretation skills. Following the arrows to navigate, and pointing-and-clicking on active zones, explore everything around you, keeping eyes peeled for hints and items to guide your way. Both the clean, clear design and changing cursor aid your progress, while a "save" button will let you discover both endings without having to play through twice.
Libertechno's design matches the setting perfectly, upping the quality of the graphics to be much more crisp and precise than some earlier installments of her escape game series. Employing the fine art of subterfuge, embedding clues into the pictures and decor, results in quite a few red herrings to distract the player from otherwise very straight-forward puzzles. There are no pixel hunts but you do need to know that certain areas do not become interactive until you've seen a needed clue or, in the case of the "perfect" ending, completed requisite actions. It's also possible to overlook important information or active areas if you forget to use the side arrows when zoomed in on fixed objects. Otherwise, there's little to complain about in this episode; all flows together seamlessly and the puzzles make sense. Clues are well-implemented into the theme and the elegance of the setting fits the mood perfectly. Maybe because it's so relaxing to browse art in a museum, you can't help but stroll casually through the museum, noting clues and amusing at the details as a cool observer rather than confounded captive. Escape comes naturally by course, the inevitable denouement of a creatively interactive art show.
Play Aries Escape: Episode No.14
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Walkthrough Guide
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Walkthrough? Walkthrough. I’ll assume you can navigate on your own – there aren’t really any hidden areas or pixel-hunts. The first five puzzles are self-contained, so you can do them in any order you like. For the others, solving one puzzle results in the clue for the next, so it’s hard to give hints without leading you by the nose. Shoutout to tullia for finding the last part of the Happy End.
Books
The Books picture looks like a bunch of stripes. But did you see that you can interact with it?
While looking at the Books picture, click to the left to see a switch. Flip the switch to activate the picture.
You need a set of numbers to complete the puzzle. It should be pretty obvious that the clue for this is…
The pile of books next door, clearly.
Just count the number of books of each colour, and enter the numbers into the picture.
627959. Take the note.
Leaf
Look closely at the picture. It has four leaf-shaped hollows in it. Where might we find something to fit those?
There are four plants in the room. Examine each one and you’ll see a leaf that doesn’t belong. Take them all!
Once you have all four, insert them into the Leaf picture. Take the R key.
Pipes
Clearly we have to get the water from the tap (top left) to the exit (bottom right). But it’s impossible to use every tile (just look at the tiles in the left-hand column and you’ll see that there’s no way they can all fit together).
However, the pipe does have to be watertight.
Numbering the columns 1-5, and the rows A-C, the tiles you don’t use are A2, A5 and C1. Once you know this, the solution pretty much forces itself on you. Take the stick.
Pink banners
No offence, but if you can’t solve this one then you may be on the wrong website. Each banner has a symbol, and behind each one is a number. Behind the middle banner is a box which invites you to match the symbols to the numbers.
So, um, match the symbols to the numbers. This may be the first puzzle I’ve ever done where the question is literally the solution!
728794. Take the boxcutter.
Anubis statue
Examine the statue. You can interact with the grey areas, of which there are four. Again, it’s pretty clear that the clue for this is…
...the portrait of Anubis next door. You need to make the colours of the statue match those on the painting.
Ears dark blue, headdress yellow, medallion green, eyes red. Take the second note.
Brick
Slide the pieces of the Bricks picture to the left. You need a 5-digit code to solve it.
You have two notes, both of which have bricks on them. Looks like this is the clue for the Bricks picture.
Combine the two notes to generate a vertical list of five numbers. (You can’t combine the two notes in-game, but you can rapidly double-click from one to the other.)
TWO
NINE
FIVE
XIS
ONE
Wait, “XIS” isn’t a number. Why would SIX be spelled backwards?
Is it backwards though?
Nope, it’s upside down! Flip the digit 6 upside down to match.
Final code: 29591 (top to bottom). Take the L key.
Fountain
There are four buttons. Each one diverts water away from the five spouts in the centre to the big spouts at the side. I guess we have to divert them all, seeing as that’s the only thing you can do.
There isn’t really a way to give hints for this. There are only 16 possible combinations in any case, so it’s actually quicker to do this by brute force than by cunning!
Green – Red – Green – Green. Note the hint: 68 ↔ 34
Clock
Again, four buttons. Click each one in turn and note down which numbers appear. (I’m guessing you did that already.)
Well then, your work here is done! Note the numbers you saw:
159
↑
↓
27
Gears
Examine the picture. You can click to budge the picture in each of the four cardinal directions. We need some sort of up-down-left-right type of clue…
… or perhaps two?
Combine the left-right hint from the fountain with the up-down hint from the clock. The numbers give you the order in which to click each direction.
Up Down Right Right Up Left Down Left Up. Take the knob. Note its pentagonal shaft.
Robot
This sculpture doesn’t seem to do anything. It has a small pentagonal hole, which we can only assume is what we’re supposed to interact with.
Use the knob in the hole. (Stop sniggering at the back.) Take the yellow thing that appears.
Click to turn the knob. Note the sequence of coloured lights.
Yellow Red Red Blue Yellow Red Yellow Blue
Stool
Examine the stool. Click to the right to see the 3-colour code. The clue for this is from the robot.
Yellow Red Red Blue Yellow Red Yellow Blue. You should hear a click. Step back, re-examine the stool and open the top to get the black light.
Star
There are two locked cabinets, and you have two keys, labelled L and R. use the L key to open the left cabinet. Take the binoculars and the yellow thing. Open the right cabinet with the R key. Take another yellow thing and the prong. (Note the contents of the book while you’re here.)
The Star picture has slots in it. Use the yellow shapes on the picture to slot them into place…
… except that one of them doesn’t fit. Examine it. See that seam?
Use the boxcutter to cut along the seam. Click once more to separate the pieces. Insert them into the Star picture. Go to the other room to see that a door has now appeared.
The exit
Another 3-colour combination lock, this time with stars. You will have noticed by now that there are coloured stars dotted about the room. Note them all down, including the colour and number of stars. You may see a pattern emerging.
Let’s take an inventory of the coloured stars we’ve seen so far. Starting from the door and working clockwise:
5 red stars (Brick picture)
6 blue stars (R cabinet)
2 red stars (Night picture)
1 blue star (Carp picture)
4 green stars (Robot)
Note that there’s a different number of stars each time…
… and if they all have different numbers, then you can put them into a sequence. Now we just have to find the rest. Make a list of the things in the room we haven’t found a use for so far:
The Venus statue
The Buildings picture
The Light picture
The camera angle you get when you face the Clock and look up
For the Buildings picture:
Clearly we need those 3D glasses Venus is wearing. But we can’t reach. Anything you could use?
Did you try the stick? Close!
Combine the stick with the prong. I guess this is one of those thingers for opening high windows? Use it to get the glasses. Use the glasses on the Buildings picture to reveal 3 red stars.
For the Light picture:
We’re running out of inventory items, and there’s a clue in the name.
Use the black light to reveal 7 green stars.
Above the Clock:
There’s something up there, but it’s too far away to see.
Use the binoculars to see 8 blue stars. You’ve now seen clusters of coloured stars numbered 1-8. Time to escape!
Blue Red Red Green Red Blue Green Blue. And the door clicks open. You can walk out and escape if you like.
But wait!
This game has two endings. You may want to sweep the room again and see if anything has changed.
Click those buttons on the Clock again. These aren’t the same numbers as before!
835
742
Now we just need to find somewhere to use those numbers.
I wouldn’t call this a pixel hunt exactly, but you have to click somewhere you couldn’t click before.
Click the base of the Venus statue (gah! Thanks to tullia for finding this.) Enter the numbers, take the bookmark(?), and walk out the door like a champion.
Posted by: pheeze
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September 15, 2014 10:47 AM