The Light Asylum Rooms 1 & 2
"Welcome subject 7." With those chilling words begins a new room escape adventure series by talented Portuguese designer Fausto Fonseca. Welcome to the Light Asylum! At least, welcome to the first two rooms.
You are (apparently) a mental patient in a rather odd facility who would rather be, well, anywhere but there. A disembodied voice will inform you — via text — that you must escape five rooms, starting with this one. Oh, and failure means death. No pressure there. But, the voice goes on to reassure you, this is the easy room. Oh, goody. Of course then you have to worry about the next room.
Navigation through the space is easily accomplished with arrows appearing around the edges of the screen. There is no changing cursor, so you will have to click around some to find the hotspots for close ups. Find objects that will help you solve the logic puzzle that allows you to... well, not escape, but move on to the next room.
Rooms 1 and 2 are the first in a planned series of five rooms. As with other serialized mini-games (the Being One series comes to mind) you will learn more about what, precisely, is going on as you move deeper into the Asylum. And each room will get progressively harder as you go. Of course.
Analysis: Taken together, rooms 1 and 2 of The Light Asylum show a very promising start to what looks to be an entertaining, mind-stretching series. Although there is the obligatory searching for items, the core of escaping each room is a classic logic puzzle. Breaking the story down into little bite-sized chunks makes for fantastic casual gameplay, although if you really enjoy escaping the rooms you might get a little impatient waiting for the next one to appear.
Visually the Light Asylum is a treat. Stark white-on-white decor with only minimal splashes of color highlight the feeling of being institutionalized. Room 1 is a classic of bare, minimal design, most of the color being supplied by a smiley face picture that manages to be simultaneously cheerful and creepy. Despite the almost empty space there's a lot of things to find, so you'd better get busy. Room 2 has more clutter and a little more color and it is also a bit harder than the first room. The music in each room sounds a little... familiar, so fortunately there are two handy mute buttons; one for music, the other for incidental sounds. All that is missing is a save button, although one is not really needed. Experienced gamers should be out of the first room pretty quickly. The second room will take a little longer, but still pretty quick. One thing you won't find, however, is a changing cursor, so there will be some pixel hunting involved to locate the hot spots needed. Other than that, though, there's very little to complain about.
The Light Asylum Rooms 1 and 2 are a nice start, so here's hoping that the next three continue the trend of harder, trickier puzzles as we wind our way through this strange facility. According to the designer the next room should be available by Christmas, so there's something to look forward to (you know, besides presents and all).
Okay, room escape devotees. Time to fire up the little gray cells and get started. Put your thinking caps on, hunker down, and get ready to escape the Light Asylum (at least the first two rooms)!
Walkthrough Guide
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The Light Asylum Room 1 Walkthrough
General Information / Tips
You need to find 7 tiles and place it on the panel on the door (you got tile 5 already)
There are some tiles that is very hard to see, because the colours are quite similar
Walkthrough
You have already get IV tile in your inventory
Click door and notice the Roman numerals and places to put tiles
Turn right and click the sink
Get the key from the drain
Click the picture on the desk and then click to the left to look behind it
Get the IX tile
Click the desk drawers and then use the key to unlock the top one (get the VI tile)
Get the hammer from the bottom drawer
Back up to see the whole desk -- click under the opening where a chair would go
Get the pocket knife
Click the bed pillow -- move it to get the III tile
Click under the bed to get the VII tile
Click the vent over the bed
Use the knife on the screws (you don't have to open the knife)
Put the knife back in the inventory then click the unscrewed cover
Get the I tile
Click the floor halfway between the bottom bed rail and the corner around where the baseboard is to zoom in
Take the VIII tile from the corner
Turn right 2 times
Use the hammer on the mirror to get the II tile
Turn left and click the door puzzle
Note the XV numbers (15 in Roman numerals)
You want to place the tiles so each line (across, down, and diagonal) = 15
438
951
276
Or if you prefer
IV III VIII
IX V I
II VII VI
The door automatically opens. Click the arrow to see you need to wait for room 2
Posted by: orangeall
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November 4, 2009 9:11 AM
The Light Asylum Room 1 Walkthrough
All the tile numbers are roman numerals.
You begin with a tile already the number IV. Now you just have to find the other eight.
Examine the puzzle on the door. Notice that the number V tile is already in place. Guess we just have to find seven others, then. And doesn't that look like a math problem puzzle?
Turn right.
Click on the sink for a close up. Click again on the hole beneath the faucet for a second close up.
Take the key from the drain and back up.
Turn right to face the desk.
Click on the picture on the desk for a close up.
Click on the upper left corner of the picture to turn it around. Take the IX tile.
Back up then click on the desk drawers for a close up.
Unlock the top drawer with the key you found in the sink.
Take the VI tile and close the drawer.
Open the bottom drawer and take the hammer.
Back up then click in the space underneath the desk (it may take a few tries to find the hotspot).
Take the swiss army knife taped underneath the desk and back up.
Turn right.
Click on the pillow for a close up.
Click on the pillow again to move it and take the III tile.
Back up and click underneath the bed.
Take the VII tile and back up.
Notice the air vent above the bed?
Let's take a closer look.
Use the swiss army knife to remove the screws around the vent.
Remove the vent cover (return the knife to your inventory first) and take the I tile.
Back up.
Now click on the floorboard of the wall, between the end of the bed and the corner.
Now that the floorboard is in close up, you should see a slight irregularity on the baseboard, near the corner.
Click on the small white square, it is the VIII tile.
Back up and turn right twice until you are facing the sink again.
Click on the mirror for a close up.
It's hammer time!
Use the hammer to break the mirror. Take the II tile and seven years bad luck!
Back up and turn left.
Time to face the puzzle.
Click on the door puzzle for a close up.
Notice the roman numerals for 15 around the outside?
This is one of those "each row, column, and diagonal should add up to 15" puzzles.
The 5 is already placed for you.
If you can't figure it out, here's a solution. Top row: 8 3 4, middle row 1 5 9, bottom row 6 7 2.
Once the tiles are properly placed the door will open.
Congratulations, you are out of room 1!
Posted by: grinnyp
|
November 4, 2009 2:02 PM
The Light Asylum Room 2 Walkthrough
This one will be a little tougher.
You will start with one queen coin, all you need to do is find seven more. Simple.
Notice that you still have the swiss army knife and hammer from room 1.
To the right of the door is what looks like a picture. Click on it to zoom in.
Oh look, one of those puzzles.
You need to turn all the red points green.
There are lots of different ways to do this.
Remember, each point affects the ones around it.
A quick and easy way to solve: make sure the puzzle is reset before you begin. Click on the very top point and it will turn green along with the "row" of four points below it.
Now click on each of the four green points on that row, one at a time. When you are done they will all be red, and the row below them will be green.
Now go to the next row down that you just turned green. Click on each of the four on that row and they will all be red when you are done.
Now go to the row below that are all green, and click each one until they turn red. At this point the top of the puzzle should be green, and the bottom point and the bottom row of four points should be red.
Now click the bottom point and everything should turn green.
Once everything is green click on "open".
Once you open the puzzle take the queen. Back up.
Turn right and you are facing a model ship in a glass case.
Click on the bottom right of the stand that the model is on to see that side of the stand. Take the key and back up.
Now click around the bottom left of the stand to see that side. Look, a keyhole!
Use the key you just picked up to open the little cubby.
Take the queen and back up.
You know, maybe there's something on the model ship.
Let's get destructive, shall we?
Break the glass case with the hammer.
Click on the ship for a close up and search from bow to stern. Maybe you will find a coin.
The coin can be found in the bow section. Look closely on the forward deck at the bow.
Take the coin from the model ship and back up.
Turn right.
You are now facing a door with a panel to the left and a cuckoo clock to the right. Click on the panel for a close up.
Hmm, there's no power to operate the panel. Back up.
Look below and to the left of the panel, there's something on the wall there. Click on it for a close up.
Oh goody, screws! Use the swiss army knife to remove the screws, then remove the panel.
Remove the burnt out fuse.
Well, we don't have anything to replace it with, so back up.
Turn right and you are facing a couple of shelves. Hey look, there's the smiley face picture again!
There's a gray object on the right of the bottom shelf, pick it up. Yay, power cable!
Click on the left set of books for a close up. Gee, Alice in Wonderland!
Pick up Alice in Wonderland and read it. Is that a time clue? Where have we seen a clock...
Move the cursor to the right of the book and an arrow appears. Click on the arrow to turn the page.
Wait, the end? But, look closely! There's a suspiciously round bulge on the bottom right corner of the right page.
Use the swiss army knife on the bulge and collect another coin.
Back up until you are facing the shelves again.
Now click on the box on the left of the bottom shelf.
Okay, we need a code to open that. Nevermind. Back up.
Click on the books on the right of the top shelf for a close up.
Hey, a book on ancient Glyphs and Signs! Now that's the ticket!
Pick up the book and read the pages.
Maybe this will help open the box?
The dials on the box represent the letters q-u-e-e-n.
The first dial is Egyptian (Q), the second dial is greek (U), the third dial is Malachim (E), the fourth dial is Phoenician (E), and the fifth dial is Theban.
Look up the corresponding symbols then back up.
Back up then click on the box.
Set the dials to spell the word "queen" using the various alphabets in the book above.
Take the queen coin and back up.
Turn left and look at the cuckoo clock.
Did you read Alice in Wonderland?
Set the clock to 5:45 and click on the button in the center of the clock face (over the dials).
Take the queen coin and back up.
So we now have seven queen coins, just one to go!
What's left?
Oh yeah, the mysterious panel that has no power, and the power box below it with the burnt out fuse.
Click on the electrical panel (the smaller one that is below and to the left of the main panel) for a close up.
We still need something to replace the fuse.
How about that power cable we picked up?
Well, that won't work.
We need something metal...
Use the swiss army knife on the power cable to expose the wiring.
Put the now naked wires in the fuse holder.
Once you have the electrical panel working back up then click on the large panel.
Click on the red button to open the panel and take the last queen coin.
Back up.
Turn right twice until you are facing the door.
Gee, a chessboard, and we have eight queen coins.
I guess we should place the coins on the chessboard in some pattern.
Maybe if we place them so that they can't take each other in a game of chess.
That would mean that each piece should not be in the same column, row, or diagonal as the other.
This is a classic puzzle known as the "Eight Queens Puzzle".
There are several different patterns to place the coins, here is one:
Picture each row of the chessboard from top to bottom being labeled A through H.
Picture each column of the chessboard from left to right being labeled 1 through 8.
Place the coins like this: A4, B2, C7, D3, E6, F8, G5, and H1.
Click on the chessboard for a close up and place the coins so that no queen shares a row, column, or diagonal.
If you place the pieces correctly the door opens and you are out!
Posted by: grinnyp
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November 4, 2009 2:05 PM