Do you enjoy escape-the-room games but feel as if you haven't been challenged lately? Are you feeling too familiar with the usual genre antics? Then it's time for something a bit different, a little difficult, and exceedingly engaging in SuzumeDr's escaping puzzler, Locked Around the Clock.
You begin with the typical escape game premise: you are locked in a room and need to get out. To do so, search about the room for any clues, puzzles, objects and contraptions that might contain the key to your freedom. When you do find something inspection-worthy, be sure to examine it from every angle, if possible, as there are many areas of interest in this game. Inventory use and navigation is, for the most part, intuitive yet some will bemoan the lack of a changing cursor as a few areas will feel too "clicky" or pixel-hunt prone.
The visuals, adherence to theme and riddling clues seem absolutely characteristic of SuzumeDr's style. As in Triangle and To Nothing, once you get the hang of how things work around this place, keeping in mind that all the puzzles are clock themed, you'll be able to click into the logic and appreciate the creative cunning behind each brain teaser even if they seem to initially make no sense and give you a rough time starting out. There is a payoff to sticking it out, though. If you do feel stumped, utilize the save function and take a break to recharge. Once you get a contraption to function, SuzumeDr's peppy presentation makes the effort feel all the more rewarding. So go ahead and get yourself Locked Around the Clock—it's a fun escape well worth your time.
Walkthrough Guide
(Please allow page to fully load for spoiler tags to be functional.)
Locked Around the Clock Walkthrough
The First Time Around
You'll start facing the door, which is of course locked. Beside it is a panel which doesn't do anything... and apparently needs a key or something, which you don't have.
To the left is a picture of a club that you can't do anything with, and below that is a chest of drawers. The first and third drawers down are locked, one with a key, the other with a code. The second and fourth drawers are empty.
Hang on. The second drawer's rim looks unusually thick on one side. Look to the left of the drawers and open the second drawer from there to get your first inventory item, a remote control. Examine it and turn it over (click near its lower right) to see that it's missing a battery.
Enough of this view; back away if necessary and turn right. You'll be facing a shelf with nine sections, as well as a wastebasket and two odd notches in the wall. The notches are insignificant for now, and there's nothing in or behind the wastebasket for now.
So let's check the cabinets. The upper-left shelf contains a cup containing a ruler, pen, and pencil, and there's a spade marked on it. The cup is hexagonal, and so is the pencil; I'm going to go out on a limb here and say they're related. Check the flat end of the pencil for a number; write it down as the "spade number".
The upper-middle shelf contains a U-shaped pipe with something stuck in it. You can look above it to see a pair of holes that lead to the pipe, but you can't do anything with them yet.
The upper-right shelf contains some sort of piston, and something to the right. Click to look on the right side and see a button; when you press it, the screen shakes. It must make the piston slam down or something.
The middle-left shelf's door is locked with a code you don't know yet. The middle shelf contains an alarm clock with Roman numerals (and no, you can't take the batteries from it for the remote; don't ask me why).
The middle-right shelf contains the area under that piston from the upper-right shelf; it looks like it slams down to cut something that fits in that rectangular notch.
The lower-middle shelf has a key you can't get do due to the glass protecting it. The lower-left and lower-right shelves contain irrelevant decorations.
We've had enough fun with the shelves, so turn right again. There's a closet, which is locked with a strange-looking padlock. Something with a very particular shape must go in there.
One more turn right and you'll be facing a cabinet with a TV on it. Underneath it are two drawers, a weird blue cylinder, and a cabinet that's locked with a four-digit code. One drawer contains a block of wood; the other is empty.
Turn right again and you're facing the door again. Alright, it's time to stop staring at these puzzles and start solving them!
The "In Japan" Drawer and the U-Shaped Tube
Let's take another look at the third drawer. "in JAPAN", three numbers, and "S-U-N". Try one of the letters and you'll find there are five choices: W, U, N, E, and S. Four of those are the four compass directions!
Now, the numbers. 7, 13, and 17 (the order can vary from game to game, but those are the numbers). Since this room is supposed to have a clock motif and the numbers don't go above 24, I'm going to guess they represent 24-hour times of day: 7 A.M., 1 P.M., and 5 P.M.
In the morning, the sun is to the east, and at late afternoon it's to the west. Since Japan is north of the Equator, the sun will be to its south at midday. That means 7 = E, 13 = S, and 17 = W.
If you did it right, you'll crack open the drawer and get an air pump. What can we do with this? I've got an idea. Go to the U-shaped tube in the top-middle shelf, look at it, and stick the air pump in the right hole. A good puff of air will send the tube's blockage flying.
Look behind the wastebasket by the shelf; it landed there. Take the capsule, open it, and retrieve the battery inside.
The TV and the Middle-Left Shelf
Now that you've got a battery, put it in the remote. Then, use said remote on the TV. You can press the four white buttons on the remote to view four different channels.
Huh? Each channel is a sequence of Roman numerals. If you trace them as paths on the face of the alarm clock on the shelf, they'll spell out shapes. "XII XII" is a special case; it means a circle.
Once you've deduced the four shapes, copy them to their corresponding positions on the door on the middle-left shelf. You should then be able to open it, revealing some sort of blue hook-thing. That stretches at both ends.
Turn over the blue hook-thing (click near its lower left edge) to see a heart. Stretch it at both ends again to see two digits; record them as the "heart number".
Making a Key for the Closet Lock
Go back to that middle-right compartment in the shelf of nine. The block of wood fits in that nook neatly, and I'd say the piston is supposed to cut it.
Go to the upper-right compartment, then hit the button to make the piston do its job. Go back to the middle-right compartment and retrieve your newly cut wood block.
I think I've seen something that shape will fit into. Go to the closet and use the wood block on the lock. Open sesame!
Inside the Closet
Now that you've got the closet open, take a look inside. It contains a few things of interest. That thing on the floor is the lock you just cracked open, but it's not important. Do, however, note the weird hole up above it.
Pull the white lever on the left to see the club picture on the opposite wall raise, revealing a cord and another number. The problem is that the lever doesn't stay down. Record the number, though, as the "club number".
There's also that diamond-shaped hole in the lower right, but you need something to use with it. The last thing worth noting here is that purple box, which contains a somewhat frustrating puzzle.
Here's how it works: each button moves two of the hands. The yellow hand always moves two steps clockwise with each press of its color, while the other two moves one step each. Your goal is to get all three hands to point at the top at the same time.
Here's a good strategy: use the red-yellow or blue-yellow button until the red and blue hands overlap, then press both of those buttons alternatingly until yellow is at the goal and red and blue are still overlapping. Then simply use the red-blue button until everything falls into place.
Once you get it, something should pop out of the side of the box. Check it out; it's a... pulley?
The Pulley and the Four-Digit Puzzle
The pulley goes in those two notches above the nine-compartment shelf. When you put it in place, a piece of paper will pop out. Three card suits plus a bunch of green and white lines equals...? That's weird.
Let's start with the card suits. By now you should have learned two one-digit numbers and a two-digit number corresponding to the suits. Put them in the order given on the paper and enter them on the door below and to the right of the TV.
That's not the combination, but it'll help visualize the next step. You need to add and subtract segments from those digits according to the green and white lines to turn the four digits into four new digits. Green means add, white means remove. Don't over-think it.
Once you've got your four new digits, input them and hit the ENTER button to open the door.
Winch Witchery
Inside the four-digit door you'll find a button. Hit it to make the blue cylinder turn. A key will fall out of it, so nab it. The key goes to the top drawer under the spade picture; you'll find a crank handle inside.
The crank handle goes to the diamond-shaped hole in the closet, which makes a rod slide out under the lever. Use the blue hook-thing (the one you got the heart number from, remember?) to secure the lever to the rod so it'll stay down.
Go back to the club picture and grab the cord that was behind it. This is the final piece to a puzzle you've been solving this entire time. Go use it on the blue cylinder, the pulley, or the holes above the U-shaped tube and the rest will be the done in a cutscene.
Once you're done admiring your handiwork, slap the button next to the blue cylinder to winch up the nine-compartment shelf. Then you can take the key underneath.
Clocking Out
The key goes to the panel by the door... revealing a set of arrowheads and a number. If you experiment, you'll see how this works: you're given a series of numbers and have to choose a direction for each one until the panel decides whether you've passed or failed.
Obviously, the clock motif is present her as well. Here's the trick: put a : into the number to make it look like a time, visualize that time on an analog clock, and pick the arrowhead that most resembles it. For instance, suppose the number is 725. When an analog clock reads 7:25, the hour hand is pointing down and left, and the minute hand is pointing down and right. Together they look like the up-pointing arrow, so hit it.
Once you get a perfect score on Locked Around the Clock's final exam, the door will open and you'll be free to leave. Victory!
Posted by: SonicLover
|
December 5, 2012 1:57 AM