Gold Door Escape
And now for something completely different. For each Weekday Escape we tend to favor room escape games filled with logic, shiny cool puzzles, polished graphics, intuitive controls, etc. But every once in a while, all that logical thinking provokes the pendulum to swing the other way. Then, all we crave are seriously surreal, effed up escape games that make absolutely no sense, but are a joy to play for their sheer bizarreness. Enter the Gold Door Escape by Detarou. You're traveling through another dimension...a dimension of lazy sumos and hungry cowardly ninjas...
Don't get me wrong, there are some pretty logical puzzles in Gold Door Escape, they are simply eclipsed by the madness that is going on in this strange place. A place where sumo wrestlers lounge near a lobby where an alien sits, just downstairs from someone in a pink dress who looks like they belong in The Shining, just down the hall from...but half the fun of Gold Door Escape is anticipating what's around the next corner, so I don't want to spoil the many surprises in store.
Despite the surreal images, Gold Door Escape plays a lot more logically than, say, any Minoto game you might care to name. It's the basic room escape convention of navigation by bars, picking up, examining, and using objects, and keeping an eagle-eye for any clues that might be scattered around on the walls, floors, underneath sumo wrestlers, etc. Inventory control is pretty basic, click once on an item to use it, double-click to pull it into close up. And considering that there are four endings (two of which kill you), a save feature would have been nice. Making up for the primitive control structure is the blessing of a changing cursor, indicating where the hotspots are.
For anyone who has ever read Japanese Manga or watched Anime they know that the Japanese have a rather casual attitude towards religious symbolism, especially Christian symbolism. Or, at least, you would know that if you read the original Japanese Manga, as American editors tend to downplay, blur, or change these things sometimes for the American market so as not to offend. Here, Taro uses some religious imagery in a bizarrely amusing way, but perhaps it is not for the faint of heart or those who are easily offended by the use of Christian iconography.
Despite skating the line of being sacrilegious (or, perhaps, because of it) Gold Door Escape is a rollicking good escape the room game. Most of the fun is had in anticipating the bizarre, hilarious, or surreal scenes that await the player as they make their way through the strangest building in existence. Fun, slightly scandalous, and surprisingly logical, Gold Door is the perfect mid-week escape, especially for anyone who appreciates the outlandishness to be found within.
Walkthrough Guide
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Walkthrough (my first, :D )
First Room
Tired Sumo View
1. Oh look, fat men. Looking closer, we notice the particularly lazy one in the middle is lying on something. He also seems to want something. We'll deal with him later
2. Go Forward, see a painting of Jesus? To the left, we see Jesus in his other profession- amateur bullrider. We'll come back
Drawer View
3.Go left, and check in the drawers,get a box that's screwed shut, and see a locked drawer
4. Look up and down around the drawers: find a cup and some pencils. Maybe we should count them.
5. Oh look, and open door with a PANDA! He'll be friendly and nice to me, right?
DON'T follow Panda. He's watched too many Indiana Jones movies and has set a trap on the floor
Open Door View
6. Click the open door. The silhouette is of... a hungry ninja?
7. He's not bothering us, we'll just take this bat and take note of the strange symbols behind him
Second Room
Bathroom View
8. Hm, I kinda need to use the restroom...
9. Or maybe I can wait. I will write down this helpful scribble on the door, though
Living Room View
10. Hm, that's a odd place for a perm
11. Maybe Mr./Mrs. Alien is reading that paper of equations on the table in front of him/her/it!
Stair View
12. Oh, look, a teddy bear... I bet it's very cuddly, especially if you're tired from wrestling
13. Well, up the stairs and to the left, there's a window to the right
14. It's a fishtank! I think we've seen a fish symbol somewhere before. I'll count them just in case...And there's another symbol equation!
15. Back to the left, there's a pink dress with a sign, with another equation! (Are you writing these down?)
16. I can keep going to the left, and look out over the balcony... Maybe I can lean EVEN FARTHER
Don't lean too far! You'll fall off!
17. Hm, what's the other direction from the top of the stairs?
18. A door that can't be budged, but it has a keypad! And those symbols look familiar. Time to solve.
a) From what we've seen: There were 5 fish, so the cross equals 5. There were 3 pencils, so the paper tells us which symbol equals 3
b)The symbol that equals 3 is on the Pink Dress Man's sign- so now we know which symbol equals 1
c) The bathroom door told us the L equals 9, and that L minus the cross is equal to the Y symbol, so 9-5= 4, Y symbol equals 4
d) From the equation above the ninja's head, we know that the cross minus the 3-symbol-thing equals a tapered stick symbol, so 5-3=2
e) Fishtank equation: Y symbol plus tapered stick symbol equals circle symbol, 4+2=6
f) Paper equation: Cross plus tapered stick = sideways G symbol, 5 + 2 = 7
19. Hm, by process of elimination, we now know what every symbol on the keypad stands for!
top: 7 4 6
middle:8 1 9
bottom:3 5 2
20. Now where's the combination? Have we seen a loose piece of paper anywhere?
21. The fat sumo in the first view! He was on top of one! Maybe he'll trade it for
The Teddy Bear!
22. Now we have the combination. Let's open the door! Oh, sorry little man...
Third Room
23. Nothing like a nice synchronized dance practice to brighten your day.
24. But look in the crack in the wall back there... there's a little man hiding back there!
25. He's standing on something... I wonder if he's thirsty?
Fourth Room
26. Going out through the door on the other side of the room, there's a handle behind glass. That might be useful if I can break it. The bat doesn't work though
27. Going up the stairs, there's a snowy window.
28. And to the right... A large face is dripping water.
29. That looks like a refreshing drink! Let's get a cupful!
30. Oh, and look! A gold door. Maybe that's the one the title is talking about
Third Room (again)
31. Hey, maybe the man in the wall crack wants the water! Oh, doesn't look like it
32. But he moved out of the way! I'll use the bat to get that hammer.
33. Wait! I can break glass with a hammer! I wonder what pulling the lever in the Fourth Room will do?
First Room (again)
34. Who's someone we haven't visited again? That's right, bullrider Jesus
35. Oh, he's tired now. But he has a key!
36. Let's go unlock the the drawer. We get a saw.
37. We also see Jesus walk into the Panda room. If we follow him, we see that it's ok, he survived!
38. Hm, now we have a saw. Where's a piece of wood we can use this on?
Aha! The baseball bat!
39. We get a screwdriver. I know where we can use this- that box we picked up ages ago
40. A Key! And it's Golden! Bring it back to the Fourth Room and use it on the Golden Door. Congratulations! We're out!
Posted by: VoxPopuli42
|
March 9, 2011 1:39 AM
Gold Door Escape Walkthrough
General Information
There are four different endings to the game. In two endings you "die", in two endings you escape.
Don't forget to try and use objects on each other as well as on the surrounding areas.
Good luck!
Sumo Room
You begin facing a room full of lazy sumos, sprawled in various positions on the ground.
Notice that your cursor changes to a hand when you hover over the sumo sprawled on his back (to the right of the seated sumo). Click on the sumo for a close up.
He appears to be laying on a piece of paper, but you can't take it and he ain't moving. Back up.
Notice that there is some sort of passageway to the right of the sign on the wall. Click on that area to enter the passageway.
There's a picture of God on the mountaintop here which you can click on if you'd like. If you hover your cursor to the left of the picture a hand pointing to the left will appear. Click on the hand.
Okay, God is busy now, riding the heck out of that mechanical bull. Not much you can do for him now, so go left.
You will find yourself back in front of the picture. Back up.
Once you see the sumo wrestlers again, go left.
There's a tall dresser here, by a door. Click on the dresser for a close up.
Click on the top of the dresser for a closer close up and notice the three pencils.
Start opening the drawers. The top drawer contains a box that is screwed shut, take it.
The next three drawers are empty, and the bottom drawer seems to need a key.
Click to the left side of the dresser to see the space between it and the wall.
Take the glass from there and back up twice.
At this point, you can go through the door by the dresser but I wouldn't recommend it. Seriously.
Turn left.
You are now facing an open door. But look, do you see the shadow of someone lurking behind the door?
Click on the door to close it. A ninja!
Click on the ninja for a close up. Awww, he was just hungry.
Notice that the ninja has a baseball bat strapped to his back, take it.
On the wall behind the ninja is a strange mathematical formula. You have a symbol that looks sort of like a tree minus a symbol that looks sort of like a stylized 6 equals something that looks like an elongated comma. I'm sure this is an important clue!
Back up.
The Lobby
Go through the open doorway where the hungry ninja is hiding.
Oh look, a toilet! Click on the door for a close up, then click again to open it.
Whatever is going in there, I just don't want to know about it. But look, a clue on the inside of the door!
A symbol that looks like an L equals 9.
Back up and turn right.
Okay, here's the actual lobby. There's some sort of hair-pulling fight going on outside, but frankly I don't want to know about that either.
Let's look at the alien sitting there, apparently waiting for someone.
You can click on the alien for a close up, and click on his hat to make it fly, but that doesn't really help anything.
Instead, click on the piece of paper on the table in front of the alien for a close up.
Wow, lots of clues here! Apparently fish equals that tree looking symbol.
Also, pencil equals that stylized 6 looking symbol.
And the tree symbol plus the stylized comma symbol equals something that looks like an almost complete circle with a notch in the upper left.
Back up.
Hover your cursor over the banister and a hand will appear, pointing upwards. Click on the hand.
Looks like someone lost a teddy bear. Take the teddy bear and click on the top of the stairs to finish going up.
Upstairs
At the top of the stairs we have two choices, go right or go left.
Hover your cursor to the right and click on the hand when it appears.
There's a metal door here, with a code lock.
There's also a muscle-bound guy here, pushing frantically on the door. Is he trying to open it? Keep it closed? Who knows?
Click on the code panel to the left of the door for a close up.
Oh look, not numbers but symbols. There's the tree looking thing, the stylized 6, the stylized comma, the circle with a notch in the upper left, and the L-shaped thing. There are also several other symbols.
Back up twice to the head of the stairs.
Now go left.
Okay, we have a large glass window to the right, and a mysterious figure in pink directly ahead. Suddenly I'm flashing back to The Shining...
Click on the glass to the right.
Look, fishies! Maybe it's a hint?
There is another of those mysterious equations in the tank as well. This time it looks like a backslash plus the elongated comma equals something that looks like a circle with a notch out of the top center.
There is also a yellow object showing behind the large rock in the center. Go ahead and click on it if you want, I'll wait.
Curiosity satisfied? Apparently Jesus is a centaur. Back up.
Now click on the person in the pink dress for a close up.
The placard they are holding up is yet another formula. Barred circle plus barred circle plus barred circle equals that stylized 6 symbol.
Click on the paper for an even closer close up and click on it again.
Who knew monks liked to cross-dress? Back up and hover your mouse to the left. Click on the hand that appears.
You appear to be in a balcony area. Hover your mouse to the left and another hand appears, click on it.
Yep, it's a balcony. Notice on the wall opposite is another equation. The L-shaped symbol minus the tree like symbol equals the backslash symbol.
If you hover your mouse near the equation you will get a hand pointing down. Do you really want to jump and end it all? I really wouldn't recommend it.
Back up four times to the head of the stairs, then back up four more times until you are back in the sumo room.
Moving a Sumo
When you enter the room you should be facing the open doorway, the one that conceals the hungry ninja.
Turn left to face the reclining sumos.
Click on that sumo that is lying on the paper clue for a close up.
Give him the teddy bear and he will roll over. Yay, we got the clue!
Click on the clue and you will get five numbers, 57381.
Back up and turn right to face the open doorway.
Go forward to the hall, right to the lobby, all the way up the stairs, and right again to the door with the code lock.
Time to solve an actual puzzle!
Opening the Metal Door
Let's talk math, shall we?
We know from one of the clues that fish equals the tree-like symbol, and that pencil equals the stylized 6 symbol.
We saw that there were five fish in the tank, so the tree-thing is five. We saw three pencils on the dresser, so the stylized 6 thing is 3.
Remember the first formula? Stylized tree - stylized 6 = elongated comma.
5 - 3 = 2, so the stylized comma is 2.
Remember the formula the cross-dressing monk was holding? Barred circle + barred circle + barred circle = stylized 6.
We know the stylized 6 is 3, so the barred circles should be 1.
From the toilet door we know that the L-shaped symbol is 9.
From the clue on the balcony we know that L-shaped symbol - tree symbol = backslash symbol.
9 - 5 = 4, so the backslash symbol is 4.
From the alien's paper we know that tree symbol + elongated comma = the circle with the notch cut out of the upper left.
5 + 2 = 7, so the circle with the left notch should be 7.
From the fish tank we know that backslash symbol + stylized comma symbol = circle with the upper center notch.
4 + 2 = 6, so the circle with the notch in the upper middle is 6.
Let's look at the keypad.
We now have 8 of the 9 numbers needed, so the only symbol we've not seen in any clue (looks like arrow lines around a black box) must be 8, the only number we've not seen yet.
Now we can assign numbers to the symbols on the keypad.
The top row, from left to right, is 7 4 6.
The middle row, from left to right, is 8 1 9.
The bottom row, from left to right, is 3 5 2.
You can also reference this screenshot to see the layout.
Now refer to the clue from the note we got from underneath the sumo, 57381.
That is the order you press the numbers on the keypad.
That would be: bottom row center, top row left, bottom row left, middle row left, middle row middle.
Now press the big white button underneath the keypad.
Ooopsie! Sorry about that, dude.
Click on the open doorway to go through.
Finding the Gold Door
Okay, you've entered a room with...are those dancing Buddhist monks? Dancing Shinto priests? Whatever, they're certainly dancing.
To the left of the monks is a small notch in the wall, click on it.
How in the heck did that dude get himself wedged in there? And what is he standing on?
Back up and click on the door in front of you.
Hmmm, a switch of some sort, but it is behind really tough glass. Glass that you can't break with your baseball bat.
Turn left and you will see stairs. Click on the top of the stairs to go through the door up there.
Look, it's snowing outside!
Turn right.
Okay, that is the most disgusting thing I have seen in this game. A large green head in the ceiling, dripping snot on the floor.
But look, there's the gold door! Pity it's locked.
What now?
Time to escape!
Panda Ending
You may have already found this ending if you ignored my advice about going through the door by the large dresser down in the sumo room.
If not, make your way back to the sumo room, then turn until you are facing the dresser. Click on the door to open it and go through.
Look, a panda bear! Not really, it looks more like a guy in a panda bear suit, but he's heading for a door at the end of the hall. Is he showing you the way out?
If you click on the door the bear went through, he will laugh as you fall through the floor to a pool below and drown. Bummer.
Balcony Escape
Upstairs, near the cross-dressing monk, is the balcony where you find one of the math equations. When you hover your cursor near the equation a hand appears, pointing down.
Click on that hand if you despair of this game and want to end it all. Congratulations, you have jumped to your death.
Game over, man. Game over.
Regular Escape
Once you have found the gold door (and the giant, snotting green face), click on the puddle of snot below the face for a close up.
Once the puddle is in close up, use the glass on it to get a cup of snot. Yuck!
Back up, go left, then back up three times to the dancing monks.
Click on that notch in the wall where the guy is trapped for a close up.
Douse the poor guy with snot so that he is slippery enough to get out of the notch. You can now see that he was standing on a hammer.
The hammer is too far back for you to reach, so use the baseball bat to get it out of the notch.
Back up, then go forward through the door behind the dancing monks.
You should now be at the staircase and the switch with the tough glass. Use the hammer on the glass.
Once the glass is broken, flip the switch.
Back up seven times until you are back in the sumo room.
Turn left to face the sumos.
Now click on that notch in the wall that leads to the God picture.
Turn left from the picture and you will see that you have shut off the mechanical bull.
Good thing, too, God looks kind of worn out from the ride.
Click on God and he will give you a silver key.
Turn left, back up, then turn left again.
You should now be facing the dresser.
You should also see God stomping off through the doorway that leads to the evil panda.
Click on the dresser for a close up.
Click on the bottom drawer for a close up.
Use the silver key on the bottom drawer and get the saw.
Pull up the baseball bat from your inventory (double click on it) and use the saw on it.
Take the screwdriver that the manufacturer handily used as the core of the baseball bat.
Pull up the box from your inventory and use the screwdriver to remove the screw and open it.
Yay, you have the gold key!
Back up twice and turn left.
Go forward through the open door, right to the lobby, up the stairs, right to the metal door, through the metal door, past the dancing monks, up the stairs, and right to find the gold door and the snot monster.
Use the gold key on the door to open it, then click on the open doorway to get out.
Congratulations, you have escaped into a raging blizzard.
Heavenly Escape
Follow the regular escape until you are facing the dresser and you see God stomping through the door.
Follow God through the door, but don't go any further!
The Panda is laughing at God, who fell through the floor, but he rises up and floats through the ceiling.
Back up into the sumo room.
Now open the bottom drawer of the dresser, get the saw, saw the baseball bat, get the screwdriver, open the box, and get the gold key (see the regular escape).
Back up from the dresser and turn left.
Go into the hall, right to the lobby, up the stairs, right to the metal door, and through the metal door.
When you are at the dancing monks, check out the notch in the wall to the left.
Yep, God got himself stuck in the notch. It's snot time!
Go through the door behind the monks, left up the staircase, then right to the giant snot monster in the ceiling.
Get another cup of snot.
Go left, then back up three times to the dancing monks.
Click on the notch to the left.
Yes, you are going to have to lube up God with a cupful of snot to get him out of there.
Once he floats away, back up and go forward through the door, and left up the stairs.
And now God is outside, freezing to death. Joy.
Go right.
Use the gold key on the gold door, then go through the open doorway to escape.
God is happy and spring arrives.
Posted by: grinnyp
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March 9, 2011 2:25 AM