So what are you escaping from this week? It's summer time, nobody wants to be at work (or cleaning out the fridge.) Lots of people are getting kids ready to go back to school, there are plenty of good excus umm I mean reasons to take a brief escape. Whatever yours is, here are a few tasty escape games served up for you. Check out the menu, we have Strawberry Café, Primera, and Ichima Game. Why choose? Indulge.
Akagane Room Escape - Strawberry Cafe - After 5 years, Strawberry Café is back with style. This game was actually released a few months ago but it appears to have been overlooked to a degree. It's definitely a sweet treat.
Pancake Ingredients Escape - Primera
- It doesn't take a lot to make pancakes but finding it in this kitchen might be a challenge. Primera certainly keeps their kitchen locked up tight! Find all the ingredients and you'll escape with a tasty breakfast.
Ichima Room Escape 16: Alivio - Sorry. I'm very sorry. I don't want to escape from this lovely place.
We love escape games, and our readers love talking about them and sharing hints! How about you? Let us know what you think, ask for clues, or help out other players in the comments below.
Alivo was great, except...
I eventually had to check a video walkthrough for the clock code, and I'm still not sure I understand it.
I can explain that one!
The hands move from their original positions to 12, 4, 7 and then 3, 5, 6.
Those are the digits 1-7 in order. Which shape corresponds to each digit?
This is amazing. Weekend in VR seems interesting.
Oh, of course.
For some reason I was trying to include the original positions as part of the code.
Primera seems to have a bug: the sound refuses to stay off. Is it just me? I tried reloading, didn't help.
Fun games, but just so you know, the banner on the main page links to Weekday Escape number 128, not this one.
Geez, either I'm a bit rusty with these escape games or the Akagane Strawberry escape was just a little counter-intuitive. Definitely consulted a walkthrough for that one.
First I couldn't figure out where to use the transparent piece of plastic.
On a code box, of all the places?!
Then I think I overthought the wardrobe/arrow puzzle. We had the end letter so I backtracked the arrows until I got back to the starting point.
eorang. Hmmm, I'll try orange. Nope. Maybe eorang? Okay, consult the walkthrough video...
Hey, how was I meant to know that a diagonal arrow pointed to a square THAT far away?!
(Imagine the standard 1-9 keypad. You'd think that going SE from the 1 would land you on the 5, not the 8!) It starts off nice and single 'steps' away, then randomly changes to 2 steps away for a straight move too -_-
Anyway, if you give up and don't want to go over to a video walkthrough, the answer is "spring". Try it in lower case, then upper case, then lower case again. It's a bit fiddly but what should happen once you click the flower button is that the book case/shelving slides open to reveal a tiny treasure chest.
So yeah, not my best. At least the little crown jewel things were pretty and everything ran pretty well, which is lightyears above what I can achieve in game development.
Side note: non-interactive items in an escape game annoy me. I don't know why; maybe I'm just used to the escape games that give me a little "oh nothing here" message to let me know I'm not missing a pixel hunt.
I'm also the kind of person who tries to use the screwdriver/blade that is ubiquitous in escape games to just make my own exit to the room. So it might be that.
I can explain those too! (...maybe.)
Wardrobe puzzle:
You missed a BIG clue there. Notice how the letters sit on two kinds of shelves? If you ignore the white shelving, the letters are grouped in pairs. Six pairs, in a rectangle two across and three down.
Back up a little, and there should be a clue staring right at you telling you which letters to use:
Squares on the red escape door have triangles pointing up or down.
which gives the letters
I G
N R
P S
Now you can proceed as before to solve the code.
Non-interactive items: This mainly causes difficulty in newer Strawberry Cafe escapes, which don't have any explanatory text at all. In exchange for the lack of a changing cursor, the escapes don't involve pixel hunts. (Which is difficult to get used to for a seasoned escaper - I still click every corner of every surface just in case.)
In this case, you'd have to trust the game maker that the objects and clues you need to escape are precisely the ones you can zoom in on. With this, there are only a few reasonable places you can squeeze in a piece of plastic.
the image links to 128! i was confused for a sec :)
any walkthroughs?
I can deliver! At least, here are the first two:
Akagane
(Trivia: Akagane commonly refers to copper, which this room doesn't have much of.)
Without a changing cursor, it can be hard to figure out which items are clickable. They're listed here in italics.
You start on a screen with three windows, each of which is a clickable hotspot.
Left Window
There's a single photo with SOS SEA printed over in what appears to be glorious Comic Sans. Also you can zoom in on the window frame to see a hole or receptacle.
Middle Window
There's a red button that does nothing yet, and on the window frame, there's a crown with sparkling jewels.
Right Window
There's just the hole in the window frame.
Turn left.
Left Picture Frame
There's a clue with arrows and a blue translucent square which you can click on. As you pick it up, you glimpse some symbols on it.
Select the translucent sheet from your inventory and examine it with About Item. Three white symbols, and they appear to be in some sort of... grid? Exit out of that view with the Close button in the top left.
Shelves, left
You can only zoom in on that one blue box with four buttons. Zoom in again on the box.
Place the sheet on the box, overlaying the symbols on the buttons.
The buttons should, with a little imagination, read O E S A. Now all you have to do is use a code...
The code from the photo is SOS SEA. Remove the sheet and press the buttons in order: Bottom Left, Top Left, Bottom Left twice, Top Right, Bottom Right.
The box opens up. Take the crown. Back up to the shelves.
Shelves, right
There's a safe with a flower-shaped button, and a can of coffee. Except there isn't actually any coffee in there. Open it and take a crown.
The safe appears to take a typed password, which we clearly don't have yet. Back up to the shelves.
Right Picture Frame
Another clue! Five flowers in a row: Red, Yellow, Yellow, Green, Red.
Back up and return to the original view.
Three Windows
Three windows, three crowns. They appear to be identical, so fill in the holes with the crowns in either order.
Press the red button, which gives you a satisfying chime and turns the crown above it... green? Or at least, just the jewel.
For the left window frame, it's red. For the right window frame, it's yellow.
Back up and turn right.
Exit Door
It has six triangles on it. But since this is an escape game and we're clearly not done, the door won't open.
Cabinet
It's locked with a heart-shaped lock with three buttons on it.
Combine two previously seen codes to get the order for the buttons.
The flower and crown codes combine to give the order Left, Right, Right, Middle, Left.
The cabinet opens. What treasures could lie insi- oh it's just a bunch of letters.
A Bunch of Letters
Looking closely, they come in six pairs, each pair separated vertically with a white divider.
Take the upper/lower letter according to the door code.
IG
NR
PS
Now use the left picture frame code to put them in order. It's a path through the letters that ends in G.
SPRING
Enter the code in the safe, all uppercase or all lowercase. (Actually, don't press Enter because that messes it up.) Press the flower button.
The shelf slides open.
Treasure!
Open the chest to get a key. Use the key to unlock the door. Click on the door to escape.
Pancake
Ooh yeah, after the visual simplicity of that last one it's nice to return to an escape game with eight combination locks on one screen. Just remember to examine every object when you pick it up.
The locks:
On the cabinet:
A: Orange, six symbols.
B: Pink, seven letters but three of them are fixed.
C: Pink-yellow-green, three flower colors.
D: Cyan-green-yellow, three polyominoes.
E: Black, four digits.
F: White vertical, three symbols.
At the door:
G: Green, three numbers (of flowers)
H: Grey grid, sequence of letters.
Turning around:
I: Red vertical, three cakes.
J: Green-red-yellow, three letters.
K: Black-right, binary sequence.
The clues:
Flower code:
Blue, white, red in yellow, pink, green vases. This unlocks C.
4,3,1 clicks.
Flour code:
There's really nothing else you can do with this box. If you can't even get the flour out, it must be HEALTHY, right? This unlocks B.
Whisk:
It's all there, black and white, clear as crystal! This unlocks K.
Washpan:
Not only do you have to solve the math puzzle, you have to read the math puzzle. This unlocks G.
2,1,3. (or 4,5,3 clicks.)
Lights, how do they even work?:
Turn out the lights and look at the window. This unlocks D.
Cyan: left-pointing T. Green: horizontal domino. Yellow: L triomino.
6,2,4 clicks.
Baking powder:
Just as healthy as the flour! This unlocks I.
3,6,4 clicks.
Milk:
I think this milk looks a little sad. At least its code unlocks F.
Frying pan:
Flick it like you'll flip it! This unlocks E.
Eggs:
Say, that's some nice weave pattern you got there. This unlocks A.
Butter:
I can't believe it's got vitamins A, D and E! This unlocks J.
E,A,D.
Sugar and Salt:
They're more important than they look. This unlocks H.
The code is SUGARSALT.
And that's it! Wait, the game is called Pancake Ingredients? Who's going to help cook the pancakes?
Wow, Alivio is like a marathon compared to those other two. You might have a risk of drowning in my spoiler tags.
Alivio
Just a little interface help: BGM OFF mutes the music but not the sound, and the squarish button with アイテム見る is your About Item button.
Front view:
Coffee Table
There's a globe on the table, with a display of four bulbs. (It's not quite a globe, but I don't want to call it a gimbal.) The second bulb is lit.
Spin the globe and it goes from star to flower, lamp, fern, but the lit bulb changes from second to fourth, first, third.
There's a leaf on the floor. Picking it up reveals that it has the letter L on it.
Dresser, but first there's a curtain-panel-screen-gate thingy
Another leaf near the middle which says A.
Also, there appears to be an arrow at the top, running from right to left.
And on top of it, beetle symbols(?) that point down, up, up, down, up, up, up, down along the length of the arrow.
Okay, now to the dresser proper.
Actually, let's deal with that mirror. The patterns on the sides are way too complicated, so just note down the four digits in the corners:
68
35
The lamp stand needs a code we don't have and the drawer needs a key we don't have.
Return to the original view and turn right.
Right view:
Over the counter
The picture frame has three shells: small, large and long.
On the counter
Check in the pink container for another leaf: "E". (I don't even know what these containers are.)
The wooden box needs a beetle code.
Just to be clear, that will be Left, Right, Right, Left, Right, Right, Right, Left.
Press the black button when done. Take the oval key.
Under the counter
One of the panels under the counter looks different (second from the left), jiggle it until it comes off.
A coin machine which requires two coins, on top of which we have a thermometer. Take the thermometer and note that it has some strange figures along its edge.
Nowhere near the counter
In the plant pot we have a puzzle with four leaves (which we don't have yet) and a compass rose. Nope.
Turn right again.
Back view
Another mirror
Looks like it has the same patterns as the one over the dresser. Click on it to slide it aside, then enter the code from that other mirror. Pick up the square key.
Glass door
Could this be freedom? Maybe, but we don't have the code for the door yet.
Look down
There's an arrow on the floor. Nope, it's one of those panels that opens up to reveal a compartment... if only your fingers weren't too fat to do that.
Turn right again.
Left view
Let's start with the foreground pillars. First, a wooden panel with some strange figures.
Place the thermometer on the hook, revealing what appear to be corner markings: Lower-left, Upper-right, Upper-left, Lower-left, Upper-right, Lower-right, Upper-left.
Continuing along the foreground pillars, a clock with three hands. And they all have equal length.
Insert the square key on the upper right, and turn it.
The triangle moves to 12, 5 and back to 11.
The square moves to 7, 3 and back to 12.
The circle moves to 4, 6 and back to 1.
Moving on, a pink (and yellow?) box with what looks like a targeting reticule on it.
It looks like each corner is a different button. Open the box with the code from the thermometer:
Once again, that's LL, UR, UL, LL, UR, LR, UL (⌞ ⌝ ⌜ ⌞ ⌝ ⌟ ⌝).
Pick up a マイナスドライバー, which as we all know is just a screwdriver.
Don't forget to pick up the coin on the right.
Now back up twice and continue along the windows. There's a compass rose on the floor.
It has A where the red north arrow points, and E, F, L clockwise from that.
Next to the wall, we have a small round table.
Pick up the leaf on its left edge: "F".
We have a bunch of flowers in the dish. And leaves too. And it looks like a number code below that.
There are 8 yellow and 7 white petals and 9 leaves. So that's 10 minus 2, 3 and 1.
A panel opens up with four buttons, which light up when you touch them.
Remember the globe clue? The flower was the fourth bulb. Light it up.
Make your way back to the starting view. It's time for another lap around the room.
The same things again but only some of them and faster
Lamp code
Which numbers did the clock hands move to? The starting positions don't count.
Square: 7, 3. Circle: 4, 6. Triangle: 12, 5.
73|46|125. Reading the digits off in order:
Triangle-Triangle-Square-Circle-Triangle-Circle-Square (△△□○△○□).
Another set of four lights.
Lamp is 1. Turn on the left bulb.
Drawer
Use the oval key. There's a book with a conspicuous hidden panel on the left (which conceals a coin) and a keypad diagram on the right, something to do with the middle button.
Coin machine
Put both coins in, press button, get flip flops. Wait, where's the other one? This machine only dispenses one right beach sandal at a time?
Potted plant
Clockwise from north: AEFL. Yet another set of four bulbs.
Plant is 3.
Floor panel
Pry it open with your screwdriver. Star is 2. That should be all of them.
Go back to the globe, where the bulb display now reads
vacation. Pick up the t magnet.Door lock
Grab your newly-obtained t magnet and attach it on top of the l button. It's time to go on
vacation!Finally, some cool air! Why's there's an arrow pointing right? Oh no...
Outside
Turn right to visit the relaxing pool.
Pick up the bucket on the right, and use it to collect water from the pool.
Turn left for a relaxing seaside view.
Click on the wooden table to move it aside. Dump the bucket of water down the hole and retrieve your left beach sandal. (That's just horrible. Who would do this?)
Zoom in on the relaxing far side of the pool.
There's a chest with L->R on it. Clearly that means that the left sandal goes before the right...
and we have to decode the seashells in that order using the small-large-elongated code displayed on that picture frame.
Converted to Left/Middle/Right, that's RLMRLL MLLRMR.
Put the code in. Open up the chest and hit the large pink button.
What a relaxing addition to the relaxing vacation!
Click on the ship, and then on the blue doorway, and then on the doorway again, and then on the doorway again.
Enjoy the relaxing ending, and don't worry about leaving those unrelaxing flip flops behind.
Aw man, in trying to get fancy with the drawing characters I messed up that corner code.
It should be ⌞⌝ ⌜⌞⌝⌟ ⌜.
Problem with Strawberry Café one
the walkthrough says to take the shelf where the letters are but it won't let me taken them. what's up with this?
You're not supposed to take that sentence literally.
Ignore half the letters on that shelf, the other half form your code.
At this point I'm somewhat glad I indicated which items can't actually be picked up.
his case, you'd have to trust the game maker that the objects and clues you need to escape are precisely the ones you can zoom in on. With this, there are only a few reasonable places you can squeeze in a piece of plastic. http://www.acceptgames.com/
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