Hope you had a great birthday , Mad. 👏🌹🎉

22. spiel (piles)

Oops 😬

That used to be me, for sure! I have done better this past year, although it's a work in progress.

Released in 2013 and criminally overlooked by me, who doesn't like a bit of platforming spelunking, courtesy of Ron Gilbert.

I don't know how I found it, but about 90 minutes in I am glad that I did.

Caves have been at the forefront of adventure gaming since the get-go (a colossal one comes to mind) so why wouldn't Mr. Gilbert use it as a setting? And why not make the cave the narrator?? A very sultry and droll one it is indeed.

Whilst it's a single person game, you control a party of three, each of them with their own special ability. You have to choose your three explorers from seven available at the very start, and off you go. I have yet to actively choose any ability, but have benefited more than once from the ability of one individual.

You progress through the cave scrolling left and right, and all three have to regularly work together. You can mouse-wheel between them, or utilise the little diagram bottom left; just choose the appropriate image and you switch control. Get one to pull one lever, another to pull a second, and run the third through the opening to be able to move on.

Usefully there are times when they all follow whichever character is active, eliminating the need to go back and gather them individually. At other times, generally whilst in the throes of solving a puzzle, you have to work them individually. Which is part of the problem solving fun.

You can't die in the cave, as the cave will tell you, which really means you can die but get to try again. My deaths so far have largely been as a result of missing a jump, or failing to run away quickly enough from a dynamite blast. As far as platforming goes it has been fairly gentle to date, the main difficulties being how to move forward. I suspect that might change as I move on.

You will pick up items, but each character can only carry one item at a time. It hasn't proved to be an issue to date, but I may have to make choices later on.

None of my characters have spoken to each other at this stage, and apart from the cave's narration, the only other spoken word has been courtesy of the gift shop attendant. Most of the sound has been ambient and soundtrack.

It has a quirky and colourful visual style, and despite the lack of dialogue has been sardonically amusing thus far. I have found a few comic book pages, which suggest a deeper understanding of things once I get to the end.

I look forward to what else this cave has in store.

Hi oldbroad -

She did mention that there have been other issues with the "Save Game" function and she is actively working on it. She then provided me with a "clean" save game which I used to continue. I guess since we now know the limitations, we should be able to play the game through !

Thanks Marian!

yes they are flotsam

. . .

All the blue gathered
Waiting for the day’s first call
Waves whisper softly

Thank you, BET 😑

Thank you flotsam (and Draclvr) 😬

Thanks, Marian!

Well done OldBroad, manXman, Remi and Flotsam

Yes indeed, "Life is good down under!"

This is an exercise in patience, one where your character knows as little as you do and has to work it out from first principles.

You play Abbi, who finds herself in a cellar communicating with an unseen voice through an intercom. With the lights back on, the machine on the desk beckons. It came from Bletchley Park, the voice tells you, and it was fed with books. Not the classics, but obscure and arcane bits of literary detritus. The aim was to "crack the code of reality." What you need to do (the voice says) is find the book at the heart of things before it's too late.

Too late for what you can find out yourself. I am still working it out.

I am an hour in but have played for about twice that, having restarted the game once I thought I understood what was going on. Or more to the point what I was doing. Which I am still a little unsure about.

Long story short, the machine is in essence an archive, one that operates on 4 digit codes. Your task, should you accept it, is to winkle out those codes and link them to book titles, eventually/hopefully leading to the elusive sought after book.

Entering a legitimate code will whisk you to that part of the archive, where further clues to further codes might be found. Or to clues as to where further codes might be found. Or the associations that might lead to those clues ... etc.

As well as a piece of the story within the story.

Oh, and did I mention the archive is corrupted? You need to manage that as well.

It might (and still does) all feel a bit bewildering at first, but rest assured Abbi is as bewildered as you. So, chat a bit and then start fiddling. And quickly become intrigued, which is the impetus that is drawing me on.

It's all point and click, but keyboard commands exist as well. The game keeps track of all sorts of things for you, most especially relevant associations, but my pen and pad remain at hand. It autosaves exclusively.

TR-49 is different to most things, and I confess to being hooked. I suspect I have a long way to go and am looking forward to it.[align:center][/align]