Hey, brah! It's a zombie apocalypse, and you know what that means! It's time to paaaaaaaaaaar-tay! We'll hold the kegger and set up the water slide next to the inflatable bouncy fort. You run into an abandoned house, barricade yourself inside, and then realise your lack of supplies means you'll have to use your point-and-click skills to find a route to safety. What? You don't think that's fair? Sorry, couldn't hear you over this rockin' party. It's okay, developers Atomic Cicada have created a handy guide to just such a situation in I Remain. Those guys are prepared for everything.
Navigate your way through the house by clicking when a yellow arrow pops up on screen when you mouse over an area. You can pick items up or investigate the scene further simply by clicking on it. Once an item is in your inventory, you can sometimes make new items simply by clicking on one item, then on the item you want to combine it with. If you want to take a break because your real world concerns take precedence over pixelated survival, then I suppose you can save your game by clicking on the floppy disk icon in the upper left corner, which would let you load your save by clicking "Continue" on the title screen when you came back. Sometimes I doubt your commitment to the zombie apocalypse. No, don't apologise. It's too late for that. *sniff!*
Analysis: While it is a solid title, what I Remain needs most is an infusion of story, or at the very least some action. The game will probably take you less than half an hour to complete, if that, and most of that is spent going back and forth with no real sense of urgency or menace. After a while it stops feeling like you're holed up in fear of the living dead, and more like you're just tottering around the house performing pesky repairs, like a post-apocalyptic Bob Vila. You find notes left behind by someone with the curious tendency of writing down their every thought and action, but they're lacking in any real personality. Either the previous occupant was Keanu Reeves, or the game missed an opportunity to inject some real atmosphere into the experience.
As it stands, I Remain is a good but brief game that ends with a cliffhanger of sorts, indicating future installments of apocalyptic adventure. Atomic Cicada is more known for its cutesy puzzle games than anything else, and this tentative step into new territory feels like a step in the right direction. With a striking aesthetic and mostly logical, if occasionally overcomplicated, puzzles, it's a perfect way to get a li'l dead in your day.
Walkthrough Guide
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I Remain Walkthrough
Pick up hammer. Pick up nails. Combine in inventory to get "hammer and nails". Use hammer and nails on open front door.
Turn left. Take magnet from fridge.
Move forward into the living room. Click on the nearest window.
From the window, take the curtain, small clamp, and curtain rod.
In the living room, click on the desk to zoom in. Open the drawer closest to the fireplace to take the basement key.
Go back to kitchen. Use basement key on locked door. Go down into the basement.
Take the box of nails from the shelf above the stairs. Combine with hammer.
Go back into the living room, then down the hallway at the far end of the room. Use hammer and nails on window to board it up.
Go into the guest room (second door on the right hand wall). Take the bedsheet. Open the closet. Take the fuse.
Go back to the hall, then into the bathroom. (last door in the hallway) Take the extension cord, and the pot in the bathtub.
Go back to the kitchen. Open the fuse box next to the basement door. Place the fuse in the very bottom space. Take it back out after you hear a scream. Put it into the other, unmarked slot.
Go into the basement. Click on the corpse. Click on it again to take the bedroom key.
Use the pot on the water in the room to fill it. (You may have to try filling it in a few different spaces before it works.
Back at the main basement screen, move the cursor towards the bottom until a yellow arrow pointing down appears. Click to move under the stairs. Click on the tarp to pick it up. Combine the tarp, the bed sheet, and the curtain in your inventory.
Back at the main basement screen, click on the reddish pipe in the upper left-hand corner of the room. Use the small clamp on it.
Go back upstairs to the hallway with the three doors. Use the bedroom key on the first door to unlock it and go inside.
In the master bedroom, take the bedsheet and the drill from the floor, and the fishing hook from the top of the safe. Combine the bedsheet with the tied sheets in your inventory. Combine the fishing hook with the curtain rod to get the rod and hook.
In the hallway, use the rod and hook on the attic door in the ceiling. Go into the attic.
In the attic, click on the window twice until it tells you that you need to remove the bars.
Use the hammer on the gray brick wall in the far right corner of the room. Use the extension cord on the hole in the wall.
Go back down to the living room and zoom in on the fire place. Click on the extension cord to plug it into the outlet.
Go back into the attic and use the power drill on the window.
Use the combined sheets on the opened window to be able to climb out down to the van.
Inside the van, take the rubber boots from behind the first seat (you'll put them on automatically), and the sump pump parts from behind the other. Click the front of the vehicle to move forward. Take the fishing float from the dashboard. Combine the fishing float with the magnet in your inventory. Take the key from the right front seat.
Go back to the bathroom. Use the fishing float and magnet on the pipe in the floor. Pour the water from the pot into the pipe, and take the magnet with key that floats to the service. If you manage to mess up, you can go back into the basement and flush the water out of the pipe by clicking on the switch in the upper-right hand corner of the room next to the locked cabinet.
Go back to the van and move to the front of the vehicle. Click in the switch by the steering wheel to turn on the headlights. Use the key on the glove compartment to open it. Take the rubber gloves inside.
Go back to the kitchen. Remove the fuse powering the attic from the fuse box, and place it back into the bottom slot to power the basement.
In the basement, click on the small square in the left-hand wall to zoom in. Use the sump pump parts on it.
Use the rubber gloves on the sump pump to turn it on.
With the water drained, move to the cabinet in the upper-right corner of the room. Use the power drill, which will automatically be plugged in, on the cabinet to open it. Take the binoculars and the fuse inside.
Back in the kitchen, use the new fuse on the last empty space in the fuse box to restore power to the attic. No more fuse swapping!
Go into the living room and use the key you found in the van on the locked drawer of the desk. Take the pen and paper from inside the desk drawer.
Go back inside the van. Move to the front of the van, then click on the windshield until you're looking out. If it's too dark, make sure you click the switch by the steering wheel to turn on the headlights!
Use the binoculars on the window, and the pen and paper to write down the safe combo.
Go back into the master bedroom and use the safe combo on the locked safe. Open it and take everything inside... including a spark plug.
Go back inside the van. Move to the front of the vehicle. Use the spark plugs on the console between the two front seats. Use the key on the steering wheel.
Sorry folks, would have had this up sooner but I'm a mite unwell right now. I hope this is clear to follow.
Posted by: Dora
|
January 25, 2010 3:22 PM
I Remain Walkthrough
I wrote a walkthrough for this. I wrote it so that at each point I list all the items you can have at that point and then go on to list what can be done to further your position with just those items. (So if you don't have everything, perhaps go explore some more - if you do, consider what you can do with what you have). I don't put a lot of details in about what is found exactly where, but this should, I hope, allow you to solve it yourself with minimum intervention. (There's a lot of nested spoiler tags).
Start
Do you have?
Hammer
Nails
Then:
You will need to board up the door before you can do anything else.
Combine the hammer and nails
Use the combined items on the door.
Do you have?
Magnet
Curtain
Clamp
Curtain rod
Basement key
Now do you have?
Nails
You can't go far into the basement, but you can open up the door.
Above the basement stairs
Then:
Try to get through the hallway now.
Board up that window!
Combine the hammer and nails again.
Click on the window with the hammer and nails.
Do you have?
Pot
Electrical cord
Sheet
Fuse
Then:
You want to be able to go downstairs.
Kill the zombie that's standing there.
Take a look at that fuse-box.
Give power to the basement.
Put the fuse in the bottom slot.
And take it out again!
Do you have?
Bedroom key
Water
Fill your pot.
From the water in the basement.
Tarp
Under the basement stairs
And now do you have?
Bedsheet
Drill
Hook
Then:
Take a look at what's in the hallway.
There's something on the roof.
Combine the hook and rod.
And then:
You need light up here.
Don't think candles, tinderboxes, or get hung up on that stupid unmovable lamp.
Don't even think "light". Think "power".
There were two empty spots in that fusebox.
Move the fuse from the basement to the empty (attic) slot.
Then:
You need to get through that window.
I wonder if the drill would help?
That wall is a little weak.
Use the hammer on the wall.
But the fireplace is still going.
Did you find the pipe that is responsible for that?
Stop the propane from getting to the fireplace.
Use the clamp.
Okay, let's attack those bars now.
We need power up here.
Feed the cord through the hole in the attic.
Plug it in.
Use the drill on the bars.
Now, to get down there....
Tie all your sheets together.
Do you have?
Boots
Sump pump parts
Float
Desk key
Now do you have?
Pen and paper
In the desk drawer
Then:
There's something in that pipe in the bathroom.
Shiny things are often...
Metal! And metal things are often...
Magnetic!
But you want to be able to get your magnet back.
Perhaps we can use this pipe against itself.
Attach the magnet to the float.
Pour your water down the pipe.
Do you have?
Van key
Now do you have?
Gloves
In the van. Where you couldn't get before.
Glove compartment
Then:
Let's get rid of this water.
Put power back to the basement.
From the fusebox.
Fix the pump.
Use the gloves on the pump.
Now:
That wire box in the basement.
Use the drill.
Do you have?
Binoculars
Extra fuse (now that you don't need it.)
Then:
Have you any idea where that combination code is?
You can see it from the van.
I know, there should be plenty of light, that lamp is shining right on it! Well, forget the lamp, you really can't move it.
There's another source of light nearby.
In the van.
Turn on the headlights.
Use the pen and paper on the code.
Do you have?
Spark plugs
Money
Bandages
Then:
Let's get out of here.
Put the plugs in the van.
And the key in the ignition.
Posted by: Parmeisan
|
January 25, 2010 3:25 PM