The sun is shining and the birds are singing, so naturally it's a beautiful day to lock yourself inside a room lacking any basic amenities whatsoever! In TomaTea's Blue Cage escape game, the door is once more locked, and you find yourself trapped in a place that looks like Snow White and the Smurfs had a fight on how to design a tea room. It's beautiful, sure, with its soft pastel colours and fairytale furniture, but nobody can live on quaint birdhouses and mosaic artwork alone, so you'll need to explore to find a way out. The tip of your cursor will light up with a faint glow if you can interact with something by clicking, and objects in your inventory can be examined and manipulated up close by clicking the little "i" icon that appears when you mouse over them. Doing so is important since this can often wind up revealing different uses for the items you've got. Clues for solving the puzzles you're faced with are hidden around the room, sometimes in plain sight, sometimes with more subtlety, so you'll need to think carefully about everything you're seen if you want to find a way out.
Blue Cage is a gorgeous little game with its whimsical design and presentation, but it might also be the first TomaTea game that had me scrambling for the mute option in the menu after just a few seconds, since the short chirping birds loop wears out its welcome quickly compared to the soundtracks we've had in the past. You'll still encounter the dreaded "I have no idea how to solve this!" message if you haven't seen the clue you need for a particular puzzle, but at the same time, Blue Cage still feels a bit more challenging than some of the developer's other titles by being less obviously linear by having more items to use scattered about right off the bat, so you have to think about your inventory and how it might relate to your environment as opposed to just going from puzzle to puzzle in a clear and obvious progression. It's a more careful balance between item puzzles and puzzle locks this time around, and has a surprising amount of sneaky complexity in some areas to boot that will force you to really scour every nook and cranny and get creative with your inventory. Once you've found your way out, maybe open a real door and step outside into the real world for a bit, too. Living birds are considerably sweeter on the ear than electronic ones, and they have more variety to their playlist, too.
Walkthrough Guide
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Walkthrough :-)
1. The Couch
check under the right cushion and get the green board.
2. The Board
or is it green?
3. The Drawers
Turn twice and zoom on the drawers.
4. The Colour Code
From the green board
5. The Book
Get the book and look at the cover
6. The Fence
Go to the bird house and find the fence indicated on the book
7. The Screwdriver
Examine the fence post and turn it into a screwdriver
8. The Chair
Examine the bottom of the chair and unscrew the bracket.
Take the bracket, screw and chair.
9. The Key
Put the chair down and look up. Use the book on the key.
10. The Book II
Read the book, the three symbols on the back page correspond to Taurus, Aries and Capricorn
11. The Drawers II
Turn twice and use the code on the bottom drawer.
Get the buttons.
12. The Bottom of the House
Turn left once and examine the bottom of the bird house.
Note the Pattern on it. You'll need it later.
Use the buttons on it and examine the result.
The result is a picross puzzle. Solve it to determine which buttons to press on the paintings.
Open the door behind the puzzle and flick the switch on the right to activate the buttons on the paintings
13. The Blue and Pink Painting
Press the top left button to unlock the middle drawer beneath it.
Open it to get the exacto knife
14. The Key II
Get on the chair again and use the exacto knife to cut down the key.
Take the Chair
15. The Black and Gold Painting
Press the bottom right button to switch on the black light.
Examine the key under the black light to get the key number code (9476)
16. The Drawers III
While you're here, use that code from the bird house (point 12) to open the top drawer.
Get the pencil and examine it
Ignore the shaded sections and get the pencil number code (1371)
Turn to the left and use the pencil number code on the top drawer
Get the bird
17. The Book III
Examine the page with numbers and zoom in.
Use the pencil and click the numbers in order to get the book code
18. The Drawers IV
Turn right
Use the book code on the bottom drawer to get the wind up key
19. The Bottom of the House II
Turn twice
Use the key number code to get the egg
Open the egg to get the button
20. The Bird House
Use the board on the bird house.
Use the bird on the board on the bird house
Open the book and look at the birds page. Note the 6 shapes of the bowties.
Click the arrows above the bird and enter the shape code (RMLRML)
Use the wind up key under the bird's wing, note the illuminated code (LLRLRL)
21. The Window
Click the panel on the left window
Use the button on the panel
Use the illuminated code on the buttons
Open the panel and look through.
22. The Chair II
Examine the Chair
Look at its bottom
Unscrew the leg
Examine the leg
Use the bracket on the leg
Use the screw on the bracket
Use the screwdriver on the screw - It's a hook
23. The End
Use the hook on the key
Posted by: Jonathan Kok
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June 10, 2014 8:31 PM