Closure
Tyler Glaiel, the programming and musical composition half of the team behind Aether, has released this amazing platform-puzzle game with a unique look and gripping, oppressive atmosphere. Whether you're looking for fresh new gameplay, or you're interested in games with subtle emotional values, Closure is where it's at.
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I'm totally stuck about 7 or 8 levels in
the level where there is a cradle at the left with a light and a dark ball - you have to put the light ball in the cradle otherwise the moving light will disappear as you get close to it
any ideas?
Made it to level 10, but can't proceed past that, because I can't see any way to do it. It's not possible to solve.
Nothing like a bunch of easy levels followed by an impossible one. :(
Thumbs down, because even if level 10 is doable, the difficulty curve is like the freakin' Matterhorn at that point.
I would just like to quickly mention before I go off and play the game, the link provided to get Flash Player 10 leads to something else, which requires payment. This link: http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer leads to the free Flash 10 download. Might want to change the link.
[ The link should be fixed now. Thanks! -FunnyMan ]
Finally worked out level 10. It would have been nice if there was a clue there showing that you could
pick up moving balls
. I tried it before in earlier levels and it didn't work. Without that clue, level 10 is not possible.
Great game, superb atmosphere. I, too must complain about the controls, though. At times they work fine, but sometimes the jumpingis difficult to control so you can't move when you need to. Just sayin'.
Nice game! I like the concept, very interesting and fun, but when playing the game, the first thing that came to my mind was Matter Splatter Galaxy, from Super Mario Galaxy. Maybe they are not THAT simliar, but still... Oh, just see for yourself:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Q1ZYwUyHYnA
Wow, I like this. I think there is some similarity to Matter Splatter Galaxy, but this is a very neat game.
@ Mike R.:
remember that you can't jump while you're falling
@ Otto:
discovery is part of the game...as it is with most good puzzle games...too many seem to lead you by the hand lately, so this was a nice change
Does anyone know a mirror for this game?
For some reason Newgrounds is blocked by my school's content filter.
Stuck in level 24... Help?
Help on level 15? It's the one with spikey stands and arrows all across the top, and each stand lights up a stand below but makes you fall to your death.
Excellent atmosphere. I managed to beat the game (you get credits, so you'll know when you get there). If the actual mechanics of the game worked a little smoother (jumping in particular) then it would be less frustrating to play.
Overall, the story is told very subtly, and I found several of the puzzles were there just for puzzles' sake. Very well done concept.
I particularly like the use of orbs that cast light only when you are not near. Once I got the hang of them, they became very useful.
Now accepting hints on level 18 :-). Any tips on how to get the key down from the top level?
Elizabeth... also stuck where you are currently. Any help would be welcome.
On Level 18, you can walk over to the left, and drop the key over the edge, then get the light orb, stick it in the holder, pick up the key and carry it to the door, dropping it when you get there. No idea how to get back to the door with the orb, though.
Level 18
- you can drop the key over the left edge. When you then jump down with the light orb, it will be waiting for you! Just pick it up and take the same walk you did initially, following the light orb to the far right where the door is. Set down the key, follow the light orb a little further until you can remove the light orb from the lamp (somewhere on the stairs, when it is visible). Carry the orb back down to the door, use the key, you're out!
Help on 19? :-)
Elizabeth & Haydn:
you can actually drop it off into the darkness, it will still be there waiting for you when you fall. At least I think that's how I did it.
Me, I'm stuck on 22. Can't figure what to do at all.
The game is great but man, is it hard!
Thanks for another great review!
One thing though, I fixed the whole "seizure if you have the wrong version of flash" thing, now it just gives you a message telling you to upgrade.
[Edit: Oh, good. I felt silly mentioning it twice, but I saw how you had to beat the Newgrounds people over the head with it. -Psychotronic]
But good points, I'm definitely going to keep them in mind for the "next version" (which I am not using flash for, I need more power than that).
Platforming was tough to get right when people can shape the level in strange ways, and I'm going to work on that a lot for the next version.
Argh, I'm stuck on level 14. And I have a feeling that when someone tells me how to do it, I'll feel like an idiot.
How can you tell what level you're on?! I think it's level 10 I'm stuck on, but a numbering system would be nice.
yup.
lvl 22 is really hard.
don't really know what to do there...
help?
Close the game and re-launch; you can then see the number of your most recent level and/or scroll through previous levels with left and right arrows on intro screen.
Level 10:
Begin by placing the dark orb into the stand on the left. The moving lamp will come toward you.
Pick up the light orb quickly and walk over toward the lamp as it moves toward you.
As soon as the lamp is in the place where it moves up and down a few times in a row, put down the light orb, pick up the dark orb from the moving lamp, and replace it with the light orb. In this way you can walk above the lamp as it finishes its path toward the door with the light orb in its center.
It took me one or two tries to get the timing right, since you have to pick up and put down the light orb before removing the dark orb from the moving lamp. But I think when you are in the midst of switching out the orbs, it stays going up and down for some extra time? Not sure. I hope this helps!
Level 14:
Pick up light orb and place in first stand. Hop onto vertical wall and ride to top.
Jump to left top platform for key (it's in darkness to left). Get key over to the right top platform, in front of door.
Take light orb from right top stand, set in front of door. You need another light!
Simply jump down from top right platform to bottom right, where there's an extra orb. Place orb in bottom right stand, and the rest light up again!
Ride vertical wall up again, take new orb out of top right stand, illuminate door, and you're out.
I'm on 21 - any hints, emojk?
This is a very nice game. I am finding it intuitive and absorbing...what more could you ask for?
Level 21:
Pick up one orb, drop down to right and place in left lamp space. Wait for lamp to move along its entire path, from top right corner back up to top right corner.
When lamp is stopped again, take light orb from left lamp space and place immediately in right space. Use this second lamp to help you get back up to the other orb.
Quickly pick up this other orb, drop down to left, and drop orb right by the tree. Be ready!
The lamps will pass each other. Take the light orb from the one lamp, and place in the other. This will reverse the first lamp's direction, so you can pick up the key and ride this lamp across in front of the door.
Drop the key by the door. It is now unlocked. When you get to the right, again switch the orb into the other lamp space (the right one). Now ride this back in front of the door, and enter the door before the lamp disappears beneath you.
Requires some timing, but if you've watched the lamps go around a few times it should make sense. Good luck!
Okay...finally stuck.
I'm on the first level that has some kind of chandelier. But I cannot figure out where the key is.
Closure was cool and fun and interesting, until a really difficult level broke my flow (I think 10, judging by the hints above), and then my browser refused to reload it. Bah.
Ah, I'm on level 22.
Level 22:
Pick up dark orb. Jump to left, place in stand.
Jump down to where you can now see a light orb. Move the light orb until you can safely remove the dark one from the stand. Walk both dark and light orbs to left of screen.
Place light orb on ground near chair-looking thing. You want to be able to jump to the left, and get down to the little partial-stair to the far left. Take the dark orb with you.
When you go, the dark orb will illuminate a light orb, and the key! Pick up the key and jump back over to the right.
Place light orb in the stand. Pick up key and follow light to the right, to the door.
Unlock and leave!
Level 23:
This is a tricky one!
Take one of the light orbs from the middle and jump up to the left (there's a platform you can't see - has the locked door, a spiky stand, and a potted tree). Place orb in front of tree.
Go back for the other orb. Place it in the spiky stand. A stand and lamp will appear at far right.
Before you go to the new lamp, take the orb from in front of the tree. Drop down to your immediate right. Place the orb on the ground such that just a tiny piece of the left vertical wall is flickering. You need the ground to extend as far to the left as possible, so you can jump to it from the left, without the wall preventing you from getting back to the right. It might take a few tries to get the placement right.
Go up to the new lamp and stand. Take orb from stand, place in lamp. Go back down to where you just carefully placed the orb.
When lamp passes beneath you, go left for the key. Jump immediately back to the right before the lamp illuminates the walls and traps you.
Jump up to the right, drop key. Take orb from stand up to the right. Place this in front of the tree to illuminate that little slanted platform.
Take key up as far as you can - now you just walk the orb and key to the door til you can unlock and get out. Be careful not to fall back down where the other orb is. Voila!
Dang, Level 24 is tough.
Grab the orb.
Go right, to light up the middle light.
Return left, leave the orb up top left (not down the hole).
Return right, jumping down to the bottom right orb and the key.
Put the orb in the holder to light up the bottom left orb.
Remove orb from holder, use it to make your way back out in a staircase like fashion.
Bring the key back up to top left.
Drop the key down the hole.
Bring orb to top right.
Jump back down to bottom left, use the orb to make your way back out in a staircase like fashion.
Bring the key with you out, to top right.
Exit.
Smooth going until level 25. I think I might be on the right track with what I'm doing, but I end up stuck every time.
On level 25,
I think you have to use the moving lamp on the right to get orbs over to the left for the stands. Not sure how or what order to go in?
. Very tough. Any ideas?
Level 25: This requires a bit of timing and skill, and probably several tries :-)
1. Pick up light orb and place in first, lowest stand. Jump to the right, use light orb to get you across. Take orb from upper platform, set it to the far left on the bottom level, but not so far that it allows the vertical wall to block you from getting back to the far left.
2. This is the pattern as you go: Use lamp to transport an orb, leaving an orb down at the left end to help you get back to the right for the next one. You have extra work to do on this first orb, though. Pick up the orb that is up near the moving lamp, and place it in the lamp. Don't move - wait til you can drop directly down. Immediately pick up that orb, place in spiky stand, and jump to the left, using other orbs and the moving lamp to move quickly to the far left.
When the lamp comes up on the left side, take the orb from it, and set it on the ground.
3. Repeat for other orbs - always leave one on the ground at the left side of that bottom platform, so that you can pick it up and use it to get back to the right. Do this until you have three orbs on the ground, and one remaining on the right side.
4. Place final orb in the lamp, and ride it to the left. Don't take this one out of the lamp! But as soon as you get to the left, get busy! Distribute the orbs on the ground into the three remaining stands, so the very top platform is illuminated the whole way across.
5. When the moving lamp comes back down for its second pass, ride it up the far left side.
6. Walk across and get out :-)
25 is my favorite level so far!
First, you need to get all the orbs to the left corner of the screen
Get the enclosed orb when it isn't enclosed
Don't put the orbs into the staircase until last.
When it's time to put the orbs in the staircase, act fast!
Level 26:
1. Pick up orb. Walk to right, place orb in normal stand (not spiky one).
2. Jump to the right. Get orb from stand, walk right to light up next orb. Replace orb in stand. Pick up new orb and place in moving lamp.
3. As lamp moves away, jump to the left, move orb from regular stand to spiky stand. New stand will appear, illuminating a "C" of land at the bottom middle. Time this so that you fall down onto the lamp as it moves beneath you.
4. Lamp will take you to the left and up. Pick up the key immediately, as soon as you can see it. Then immediately jump to the right to get out over the wall before you're trapped. You want to end up on top of the little "C" of land illuminated by the stand in the bottom middle of screen.
5. Still with key, drop down into the "C" from the right. Put down key, pick up orb. Walk both across to the right to the moving lamp. Place orb in lamp, pick up key quickly, and ride up to the right.
6. Unlock the door and leave!
Level 25
Use the light to light the bottom of the four step holders.
Then jump across to the other side.
Move the light orb to the bottom of the right steps, and use another orb to light the moving orb
as you fall down move the light in there to the teleporting holder and jump back to the other side.
Using orbs move quickly to beat the moving orb to the other side and grab the orb in in and drop it on the floor.
Repeat until all but one of the orbs are on the left side
Then for a final time put an orb in the moving holder, and walk across with it.
When you get to the other side quickly using all the orbs you dropped fill the light holders then move to the far left to use the left wall as a lift when the moving orb gets there.
then walk to the door
Level 27
1. Take a deep breath, everything goes fast and must be perfect! Pick up orb, place in left stand first. Take it back, place in right stand. As stand starts to move, pick up key and get ready to run!
2. Leap quickly, drop key, pick up orb, place orb in spiky stand, pick up key, leap to the right, do same in next area: drop key, orb into spiky stand, pick up key, leap to right. You must get to the right side of the screen when the moving lamp is still over there!!
3. Grab orb out of moving lamp. Phew!
4. Now you have two orbs and a key. You're golden! Light up the door, unlock, and get the heck out.
I think level 28 is the hardest, because of the timing involved. Level 29 turned out to be a bit easy.
Level 30 is the end.
No save feature? :/ A poor choice....
There's more possible interpretations. Light is often symbolic of knowledge, of which there are many kinds.
One possible meaning is the Renaissance. For ages the church ruled supreme and only a few scholars had the most basic knowledge. Science was still immature, and shackled to the politics of nations that still were based in religion. You cannot use the laws of nature if you do not know them (falling thru blackness); nevertheless, they are there (the ground that is revealed). The false light spheres may represent superstition, which seems to afford power though it does not, or (in an ironic twist) theoretical science that we cannot presently use in our technology. After all, the dark light spheres show you the topography of the level--they just can't take you there.
Of course, I haven't "read" the whole of the story. I'm up to 15, and stuck.
I'm stuck on level 8 - how do I get both the light orb and the key through the 'No Drop Zone'?
Level 28
Pick up orb, place in the right stand. As it moves, follow it to the right.
Pick up free orb, walk to right. Pick up key. Place free orb in stand.
Take orb from left stand (the one that moved), and place on the ground so you can jump up and to the left, holding the key. End up where you started.
Take orb from stand and place in moving lamp (to your left). Pick up key and take it with you as you ride the lamp up on the left to the top of the screen.
Walk key and orb across to door (top center). Leave key there - but you need more light!
Take orb to top right, place in lamp. Ride lamp to the left til the platform disappears. You'll fall down safely onto land. Put orb into stand so the left land lights up again.
As lamp passes between the two land areas, use its light to jump across to the left.
Take orb from stand and place in lamp. Ride it up to the top again.
You're at the top with two orbs and a key. Take your orb to the far right, get the other orb, and walk them to the door. Key, and you're free!
Level 29
Pick up orb. Drop down to the left. Place orb in stand. Place dark orb in moving lamp.
Quickly jump up to the left, ride the moving lamp to where there's an orb in the middle-ish picture frame. Pick it up, drop it into the lamp to its immediate left. Continue to the left, wait for the new moving lamp to help you get the key at far left.
Now jump up and slightly to the left, and then aim to the right as you fall. You want to drop down to the level below you, and land where the light orb is. There's a dark orb in the stand so it's not all safe ground.
Switch the orbs - put the light one into the stand.
Take the key up and over to the right, landing in the lower middle area. You don't need to put the orb into the stand, just move it to the right to help you jump out and over to the right.
Take the orb from the stand over to the door, along with the key. You're out!
Wait.....is the character a guy or a girl? It seems to change depending on how much light you have.
@joeynow: Your analysis of the so-called Dark Ages and Middle Ages is faulty; you are subscribing to the popular myth, which is far from what the real state of education was in those days. This is one of my pet peeves. For one thing, the Renaissance did NOT engender much change at all re: expanding education to the majority, and also the number and variety of people who were educated before the Renaissance is far greater than you suppose. Not to mention that your assertion that "only a few scholars had the most basic knowledge" is flatly false. Every educated person in the Middle Ages knew that the world was round, to quash one still rampant myth among many.
Read some translations of medieval books and be astounded at the wisdom, wit and learning therein.
Heck, read the Wikipedia article "Science in the Middle Ages" and be astounded without having to leave the comfort of your computer chair. The myth of a stagnant 1000 years before the Renaissance where classical knowledge was lost or forcibly suppressed is the propaganda of the Enlightenment philosophes, and bears no more resemblance to reality than their successors the Romantics' idyll of the Middle Ages as a time of fat laughing monks, knights-errant and damsels in distress.
Meanwhile, the game, lol. It's very pretty to look at, but as Psychotronic noted, the hit detection is sometimes frustratingly off. I've only gotten into the upper teen levels but so far it seems to be about getting mildly creeped out, which is fine by me in a game. :D
quite an interesting concept.
To everyone interested in the game's meaning:
My interpretation of the game (which I didn't go into in any detail in the article) is really based on what I know, having finished it.
There are a lot of possible metaphorical interpretations of the basic game mechanic, and that's true of any game. But I think you'll find that the last few levels lead you towards a specific "reading" of the story, so to speak.
I'll be interested to see what people think once they've completed the game, which I know gets pretty tricky in those last few levels. I don't know for sure what Tyler intended, but I was much more interested in the game as a literal (but not physical) representation of what the main character is experiencing, rather than as a metaphor for anything.
Again, if you're a fan of the Adrian Lyne movie Jacob's Ladder, you'll know what I'm talking about. Or, to a lesser degree, if you know the short story An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.
Or, to look at it another way, if you're Catholic.
I love the idling animation..
Very cool. I agree, though, that the jumping mechanism is a bit sticky. Sometimes, it may appear as if nearby walls are blacked out, but the game still recognizes them and I would plummet to my death. Also, you can't jump if you're falling, so if the slope of the wall you're using to climb is too steep, you'll wind up "slipping", leaving you in a kind of perpetual downfall and you won't be able to jump out of it. But the challenging puzzles and fantastic atmosphere made me stick it out 'till the end, which I don't do all too often if I find myself getting frustrated. Thumbs up for sure.
It's not fair! I want to know why everyone hates level 10, but I can't get through level 9!
On level 18, I was in another window when I switched back to the game and caught my guy flinching as if scared of something I couldn't see, in the top-right. Has anyone been able to replicate this? And Jay, could you compile a partial walkthrough of the levels already walkthroughed in posts?
Level 19:
1. Put orb in very left, then follow moving orb to the right.
2. Pick up orb and put it in the free orb-catcher.
3. Take one of the orbs that lit up when you completed step 1) on the right, and wait. This will cause the orb-platform to move back to its original position.
4. Put the orb in again, and when the platform starts moving toward you, jump over the big hump to the other side.
5. I think... grab the left orb and put it in the middle, then jump to the left quickly and ride the elevator to the top.
6. Leap rightwards to the glowing place there and grab the orb.
7. Just transfer the key to the door with the 2 orbs you have now.
Level 21:
This level is all about timing. Read the guide first, then attempt.
Drop both orbs over the side.
Use one orb to activate the left receptacle, grab the next orb, and wait next to the right receptacle.
After the platform is about an inch down from turning the top-left corner, insert the orb and follow the newly made platform. BE CAREFUL! Near the boundary between the left 1/3rd and the middle 1/3rd, you will have to jump to the left.
Grab the key quickly, then follow the first-made platform right. As soon as you can, unlock the door and open it.
[Edit: Corrected level number. -Pam]
So my "level 20" was actually level 21, which has already been walkthroughed. Sorry about that.
And on level 22, I've noticed that if you stand in front of a lamp, your character is actually a female. Or a guy with a gigantic ponytail.
Also, when you enter doors, the character looks female. It's easy to miss since it doesn't last long. I can take a screenshot -
https://jayisgames.com/images/hs_pam_closure_femalecharacter.jpg
While I'm here, I don't get level 16. Help?
Elizabeth, your level 29 solution doesn't seem to work. How do I
ride the dark-orb platform upward? I always fall through.
@Cheddarius:
Yeah, that wasn't well-worded. It should be the other way around at the start. The rest is fine, though.
I got through 9 eventually. Except now I can't remember how. :/
Yeah, I'm having horrid lvl. 29 issues. Can someone make a video walkthrough of the level or something? D: The solution only serves to frustrate me trying to comprehend it in writing.
I'm stuck on level 13 - it's got two orbs, and a staircase type thing and a big no-drop zone. I can't get anywhere with it. Any clues?
aha, i've done it, stupdily simple really, just didn't have my logical head on!
ok, now i'm stuck on level 16, and i know it's going to be logical again, but i can't see it at all.
Ah I finally finished the game!:) brilliant brilliant...
It was really as good as Aether, and I liked the creeping sensation that reminded me of Edmund McMillen.
I think the story is quite simple: a girl goes into coma after a car accident, (burning car wreck in the first level) The last 15 of the levels contain elements wich remind us about a hospital, level 26 has got an enormous electrocardiogram.
The whole game is an attempt to get back into reality, the climax of
game in the last level with the beating heart and the operation room, she is going to 'awaken' from her coma.
Closure refers maybe to a near death experience, 'closure time for your life' (muwhahaha)? As the player we have to prevent the closure and survive and escape the Great Darkness. I believe those are judges in level 27, watching upon us mortals? Then, next in 28, we discover what happened, with all those words written in the background. The girl (she definitely has long black hair!) gets her memory back? I think it's all part of her life as well as the car accident. Maybe it means she is recovering, that the player is getting near the end. Level 29, 'I've had enough': She going back to the surface.
I don't know if I'm right, but that's how I understood the story underneath this abstract world of nothingness.
HELP! Level 15! I've died 100's of times.
Could the guy run any slower?????? It is like he's walking on the moon or something. Aether is much better.
TBH i think the ending to this game is a lot more sinister than pervioulsy though. the comment "i'v had enough" is not her wanting to leave IMO, if she wanted to leave then she would have had enough to start with.
instead i think the level with the portrates is her accepting what has happened after getting her memory back in the last level. she goes through it, she has had a car crash and is in a coma. then gives up.
the end bit is her going into a critical condition being sent to the ER, and leaving life.
the "judges" are all of her doctors, deciding weather to pull the plug or not depending on how she is doing, if she is doing well then she will complete the level in time, if you are starting to slow down you will fall and they will turn off the life support.
Complete Closure Walkthrough:
Level 1
Right arrow to walk right, up arrow to exit through door.
Level 2
Walk right until you drop; then walk left until you drop. Walk right, up arrow to jump, continue right to door. Up arrow to exit.
Level 3
Down arrow or space bar to pick up orb. Down arrow or space bar to drop orb into stand. Jump right to other top platform. Take orb from stand, walk right to door. Exit.
Level 4
Pick up orb, walk to second orb (will light up when you approach). Take turns walking orbs to the edge of light, so that you ultimately get both over to the door. Two orbs needed to illuminate door! Exit.
Level 5
Pick up orb. Walk right to light up second orb. Place first orb in front of fire hydrant, jump over partial wall to the right orb.
Pick up orb, place in stand. Walk above stand as it moves right. Take orb from stand to fully light up door. Exit.
Level 6
Place orb in stand. Wait for moving lamp to partially light up wall in front of you, jump on top of the wall as it forms. Do not jump into middle section - this is a DARK orb, which gets darker as you approach, so that you cannot stand on anything around it.
Take light orb from moving lamp when it stops. Walk right, drop down, walk right to door. Exit.
Level 7
Pick up orb, walk right to moving lamp. Place orb in lamp, ride lamp down.
Get key from left of new stand. Remove orb from stand so that moving lamp returns to original place (you won't be able to see it). Replace orb in stand after a minute, jump on top of wherever the lamp currently is and ride back to top. Take orb from lamp, take turns walking orb and key to door. Exit.
Level 8
Pick up orb, leaving key for now. Go left, drop down to lower level and place orb in lamp.
Ride over lamp as it moves. It will rise, and partially illuminate the key, which you should take quickly. Stay over lamp as it crosses to the right. It will end at the door. Exit.
Level 9
Place orb in stand. Walk with stand as it crosses to the right. Drop to lower moving platform as they pass each other.
Take orb from this stand and walk to the far right, where the key and a dark orb are lying. Replace light orb into stand, pick up key. As stand moves to the left with light orb, you will be able to drop down onto lowest platform with the key.
Switch orb from right stand to left stand. Quickly pick up key, follow stand to far left where the door waits to be unlocked. Exit.
Level 10
Place DARK orb into stand. Pick up light orb and walk right.
Drop light orb. Wait for moving lamp to go down, when it comes back up for second pass, quickly take the dark orb from it (yes, while it's moving). Quick switch - place light orb into moving lamp.
Walk above moving lamp to the right. Take orb from lamp to door, exit.
Level 11
Place orb in spiky stand [spiky stands disappear when you place an orb into them!]. You will drop down onto a moving lamp. Stay above it as it moves right, then up the vertical wall.
Jump left to lighted stand. Take orb, drop down into hole to the right. Place orb in spiky stand.
Drop down, take light orb from new stand. Walk right to door. Exit.
Level 12
Place light orb into moving lamp. Stay above moving lamp until about the center of the screen. Remove light orb from lamp somewhere along this middle platform. Both lamps will return to original starting point.
When the other lamp returns to its starting point, it will be near you on the platform. Place light orb into this moving lamp and follow it right and up. Swipe orb from lamp at the top of the vertical wall. Walk to door, exit.
Level 13
Place light orb into either stand or moving lamp.
Pick up dark orb and walk to the right.
Jump over first step as it begins to light up, place dark orb in stand on right.
Go up the stairs as the moving lamp lights them up. The lamp will stop at the top; so should you. There's a dark orb in the stand to your left, so be careful.
Tentatively move left - you want to jump over the wall, but it will disappear more and more as you approach the dark orb in the stand. Best way is to do a small jump onto the right side of the wall, you'll end up on a small segment, and from there jump over the dark orb to the left.
Take dark orb from stand; replace with light orb. Pick up key and jump down to original starting point with it. Remove orb from stand, wait for lamp to return. Replace orb into stand, grab key, follow lamp to the right. Exit.
Level 14
Pick up light orb, place in first stand you come to. Four stands will light up, and moving lamps will begin to climb in the middle of the screen. Ride the lamps to the top, jump off to the top left platform.
Use light orb from this stand to help you get key from left end of platform. Replace orb in stand.
Wait for lamps to get to the top again. Jump across to top right platform with key. Take orb from stand, walk orb and key over to the door.
Drop orb to the left of the door so you have room to jump down at far right onto platform below.
Take this orb and place into the bottom right stand. All stands light up, you now have a new orb in the top right!
Ride lamps to top, jump off to the top right platform. Get both light orbs to the door so it has enough light. Use key. Exit.
Level 15
This one will probably take a few tries. Walk right, past three arrows that point left. You should be at the spiky stand between arrows that both point away from it.
Stand to the right of the spiky stand. Be ready to immediately and forcefully jump to the right. Place orb in stand, and JUMP up and right.
Try to land on the platform by the door! Move orb from stand to door. Exit.
Level 16
Take orb to the right until the second orb lights up. Place first orb on the ground, far enough back that you'll be able to jump over the partial vertical wall.
Jump over and get the second orb. Walk far right to moving lamp, place orb inside. Follow orb left, up, then right, wait for lamp to stop.
Drop carefully down to where the lamp stopped, remove orb.
Place orb in the leftmost of the three lamps in your little section. Follow it left, up the same wall as before.
Watch for the key on your left! Grab it quickly and continue to follow the lamp to where it stops.
Take orb from lamp. Place in middle lamp. Grab key and follow lamp directly down and left. Drop carefully down to the door. Exit.
Level 17
Place orb in moving lamp. Follow it to the top of the screen.
Take orb from lamp, walk right to light up a new orb. Place first orb into stand.
Pick up second orb and drop down to key on the right.
Walk orb left, to the space between striped "no-drop" zones. Drop the orb here.
Go back for the key. Bring it to the same location and drop it.
Go back for the other orb. Take it from the stand, walk left, past the orb and key on the ground. Place the orb in the left most stand. An orb will light up above you.
Get key, drop it near the leftmost stand. Also get orb from between the no-drop zones.
Place this orb into the open stand, so that both are filled and the moving lamp starts to move again. Pick up the key and ride the lamp to the top of the screen.
Take orb from lamp and walk right. Take turns walking key and both orbs to the door at far right. Exit.
Level 18
Place orb into lamp. Follow it right (careful of one jump you must make early on), it will go far right and then come back a bit and go up some stairs.
Stay ahead of the lamp so that you can get above the last vertical wall and up to the top platform before you're closed in.
Take orb from lamp and walk far right for key. Walk both orb and key back to far left.
Tricky! Drop key over edge by standing at very edge facing left. Do not go with the key! ☺
Pick up orb and follow the key over the edge. It's waiting for you at the bottom! Place orb into moving lamp, pick up key and follow lamp to the right.
Drop key just to the right of the striped "no-drop" zone. Continue with lamp til it comes up to where you can remove the orb from it as it moves.
Take orb back to the right, light up door and pick up key. Exit.
Level 19
Pick up orb, and place it in the rightmost stand.
Follow moving stand over to the right, where it will stop.
Pick up orb from ground and place in remaining (middle) stand.
Take orb from rightmost stand and allow the now-dark moving stand to return to its place at far left.
After a few moments, place orb back into the stand you just took it from.
As moving stand crosses the center gap, use it to cross to the left platform again.
Take orb from stand, and place it in the stand to the left (not the moving stand, which will return and be the far-left stand in this area). This triggers moving lamps going up both sides of the screen.
Quickly jump onto left vertical wall, and ride the moving lamp to the top.
Jump onto left vertical wall. Take orb and walk right til you come to the small ledge. Jump up to the right onto the platform with the door. Leave orb near left edge of this platform.
Jump back down for key; move it up to the left, just below the ledge. Take orb from stand (other stands will go dark!) and move it slightly up to the left, so you can use the little ledge to jump up again. Pick up key, jump up to the right. Move the orb up here to the right in front of the door. Exit.
Level 20
This one takes some crazy coordination. Place orb into the moving lamp and immediately jump onto the first raised area to your right.
Quickly and constantly jump up and down, so that as the lamp moves up you can keep catching the platform above you. Don't move left or right, just go straight up the column you are in!
Follow lamp across top platforms, jumping over gaps, past door and to the right. You'll follow it straight down a series of platforms that is the same as what you just navigated on the left.
Lamp will help you go right to retrieve the key from the bottom right corner.
With key in hand, jump onto the same platform as where you started on the left so that you can follow the lamp straight up the platforms the same way. Again, don't move left or right, but jump quickly and constantly so you stay ahead of the lamp going up.
Follow lamp til it stops in front of the door. Exit.
Level 21
Pick up the orb on the right, and jump down to the right.
Place orb in left lamp space. Moving lamp will begin in upper right corner and make a complete circuit of the screen.
Wait for lamp to finish its circuit. Then take the orb from the lamp space in front of you, and place it immediately into the other lamp space on the right.
Follow this lamp to the left, use it to jump up to where the other orb rests. Pick up this orb, jump down to the left.
Holding the orb, wait for the moving lamps to pass one another here.
As empty lamp passes on its way back around, place the orb you are holding into the lamp. It will reverse directions and move to the right in front of the door.
Pick up the key and quickly follow this lamp to the door. You'll have to exit quickly before the lamp leaves the door area. Exit.
Level 22
Pick up dark orb. Jump left onto next platform and place dark orb into empty stand. A stand will move below you.
Drop down to your right to where the light orb is, near the door. Pick up the light orb.
Move the light orb right so that you can retrieve the dark orb from the stand. Walk the two orbs to the far left.
Place the light orb on the ground between the wheelchair and empty stand. Pick up dark orb.
With dark orb in hand, jump to the left and stand on stair-looking platform.
Drop dark orb over onto tiny edge of platform below you.
Jump to the top stair platform. The dark orb will light up and trigger a light orb to light as well. Oh, and there's a key!
Get key and return to right side of screen. Walk light orb and key across to the door at far right. Exit.
Level 23
This is a fun one!
Descend to where the two light orbs are. Pick one up and jump up to your left, up to where you see a potted tree and spiky stand.
Place orb in front of tree. Return for other orb.
Place second orb into spiky stand.
Pick up first orb from in front of the tree. Drop down into the pit just to your right. Place this orb such that the left vertical wall is just starting to flicker. You want as much platform extending to the left as possible, but don't want the vertical wall to block you.
Climb up to the top right where the light orb appeared.
Take orb from stand and place into moving lamp.
Climb down the big stairs to where you placed the light orb before (near the bed). Wait for the moving lamp to come around.
When you can see the key, quickly jump over for it, and jump back! Be careful not to take too long, since the lamp will stop and you'll be trapped by the vertical wall.
Jump up to your right onto the first big stair. Drop the key.
Take the orb from the stand on the next big stair. Place it on the small ledge to the left of where the key is waiting. It should light up a small part of the slanted platform across the gap.
Pick up the key and take it carefully to the small visible portion of slanted platform. Leave it there and go back to the light orb you just placed.
Take this orb up with you and take turns walking it and the key over to the door on the left. Exit.
Level 24
Pick up orb and walk to the right until the orb in the center is illuminated.
Bring orb back up to the left and drop it right at the edge of the no-drop zone.
Descend in step-wise fashion to the light orb and key at bottom right.
Pick up orb and place it in stand on the right. Left space will light up.
Take orb from stand and put it back about where it was. Pick up the key and jump back out in a step-wise fashion to the top left.
Move top left orb so that you can see the narrow channel leading down below. Drop key through this channel but don't go with it!
Take light orb now over to the top right. Drop it at the edge of the no-drop zone.
Descend in step-wise fashion down to the left. Move the light orb to where it will allow you to jump out as you did from the bottom right. Pick up the key and climb out to the top right. Move orb (careful not to drop it down the channel!) and key to door. Exit.
Level 25
Place orb in first stand to your right.
Jump over this to the right. Pick up orb and walk to the right, place the orb on the ground before the step.
Climb up to platform above you and pick up the orb from there. Come back down and place this orb as far left as you can in the bottom area, such that you can still go right and get up the stairs.
Take the orb from the top of the stairs and place it into the moving lamp on the right.
As the lamp moves down, drop straight down and pick up the light orb from the ground. Quickly place it into the spiky stand and follow the moving lamp to the left.
Follow the moving lamp all the way to the left. As it rises, take the orb from inside it and set it on the ground next to the one lighted stand.
In a similar way, return to the right and pick up the rightmost orb. Place it in the moving lamp, follow it to the left, take the orb and place it on the ground. Repeat for a third orb. You want to have a pile of three orbs on the ground on the left.
Return to the right. Place the final orb into the lamp and follow it to the left. This time, allow it to keep its orb and continue its path. It will go up the screen and then come back down.
While the moving lamp goes up, quickly take the three orbs on the ground and, one-by-one, place them into the empty stands on the large stairs. You must be back down on the ground level by the time the lamp gets back down there!
Ride the moving lamp up the far left side of the screen. Walk across to the door. Exit!
Level 26
Pick up orb and walk right. Drop into pit and place orb into left stand.
Jump over to second stand. Take orb from it and walk right, lighting up a new orb on the ground.
Place the first orb back into the stand. Pick up the new orb and place it into the moving lamp space.
Jump left to where first stand was. Take light orb from regular stand and place it into the spiky stand instead.
Fall down onto the moving lamp. Ride it to the left. As soon as you see the key, immediately pick it up and jump up to the right. Any hesitation will result in you not getting out of this pit and you'll die as the bottom disappears.
Jump right on to the little "C" of land surrounding the lighted stand in the bottom middle of the screen. Drop carefully to where the stand is.
Take the orb from the stand. Walk orb and key to the right of this area. Place orb into moving lamp on the right.
Grab key and ride lamp to the right and up. You'll need to move the orb from the lamp to the door to give enough light. Exit.
Level 27
Oh boy, this one takes some coordination!
Pick up the light orb and place it first into the left stand. A small area will light up with a new orb and two stands.
Now place orb into the stand on the right. It will move left, then back to the right across the whole screen. You need to move fast!
Pick up the key and leap up over the partial wall into the area with orb and two stands. Drop key, grab orb and place into spiky stand. Pick up key and leap into newly lighted area to your right.
Again, drop key, grab orb from regular stand and place into spiky stand. Pick up key and leap to the right.
You need to make it over here while the moving stand is still here! Drop the key immediately and grab the orb out of the moving stand. Phew, you can take a breath now!
[If you have trouble timing this, here's a tip: you can get through this faster if you drop the key right in front of the spiky stand each time; then, when you place the orb into the spiky stand and it disappears you can immediately grab the key again without moving.]
Move your two orbs and key over to the door. Exit.
Level 28
Place orb into rightmost stand. Follow it to the right platform.
Pick up new orb from ground and walk right. Drop it and pick up key from far right. Drop key between stands, and place new orb into empty stand on right.
Remove orb from left stand. Moving stand will leave and go back to left platform. Place orb on the ground so it gives you enough wall to jump onto and make it back to the left platform. Take the key with you!
Drop key. Move orb from stand into moving lamp space on your left. Grab the key and ride the lamp up the wall on the far left.
Walk orb and key to the right until you get to the door.
Take orb to the far right side of the screen. Place it into the moving lamp space.
Follow moving lamp left, and drop down onto lower right platform.
Place light orb into stand and wait for the moving lamp to come down around to the bottom.
Use moving lamp to help you cross to the left platform.
Take orb from stand and place into empty lamp space on your left (same as before). Ride this to the top of the screen on the left.
Take the orb from this moving lamp and walk to the lamp at far right. Walk both orbs back to the door. Pick up key. Exit.
Level 29
Pick up orb and walk left til you fall off the edge.
Walk right to see the dark orb on the ground. Drop light orb and place the dark orb into the stand.
Place light orb into moving lamp. Follow lamp up to the left as it moves.
Ride lamp up to middle section where a light orb is resting. Pick up orb and place it into moving lamp space to its left.
Follow this lamp to the left where the key is. Be careful to wait for it to pick up the key, since the area below is lighted in part by the dark orb in the stand. It'll disappear beneath you!
Drop into lower area. Take dark orb from stand, and place light orb into stand. Pick up key. Jump into next bottom space.
Drop key, move light orb to the right so you can jump over the next partial vertical wall. Don't place the orb in the stand - there's no point.
Pick up key and jump out to the right. Take light orb from the stand, walk it and the key over to the door. Exit.
Level 30
Just pick up the orb and walk to the right!
Congratulations, you're out!!
It seems to me like some of these levels can be exploited; there's a lot of stuff on the level that you don't need to use. For instance, here's how I did level 23 without using most of the stuff in Elizabeth's (excellent) walkthrough:
Go down and to the left to where the two orbs are
Move one orb all the way to the right of that area.
Take the other orb down and to the left, where the bed is, and drop it right next to the vertical wall that has the tiny gap at the bottom. Drop it as far left as you can.
Jump back up to the other orb (this is why you had to move it all the way to the right, so you can jump back up from there) and take it as far to the right (on the slope) as you can on the platform with the door. Drop it there. Make sure it doesn't fall down to where the bed is!
Go off the edge of the upper platform. The key is just within the left edge of the illuminated area. You may not be able to see it, but go to the left edge, hit "pickup," and you'll get it.
Now you can jump on top of the illuminated part of the vertical wall (that's why the top orb had to be all the way to the right) and back up to the top platform.
You have the key and an orb on the platform with the door; you know what to do.
Didn't use any of the toys they gave us; in fact I didn't even realize the
moving lamp on the upper right
was there.
But maybe part of the point is to discover solutions the designer didn't necessarily intend!
My solution for 24:
Take the orb over to the right; drop it just to the right of the hole in front of the door.
Drop down. Move the key to the left so you can still get it. Move the orb to the left; drop it so it's just barely into the curve, a couple of pixels above the flat part of the floor.
If you've placed it right you can climb up the curve, jump to the top of the wall there, and then jump up to where the door is.
I guess this is what Psychotronic means by glitching your way to the exit....
From the review:
"illness, coma, or any other dramatically altered state of consciousness can leave you cycling through psychological loops, struggling to make incremental breakthroughs which may or may not have any bearing on the real, physical world."
Sounds like it's coming from someone who's been there. Want to talk about it?
joye--
Oh. I'm very sorry about my causal misinterpretation of history. Having read a lot of science, I tend to get annoyed when people don't even try to be plausible. So I can sympathize with you, there. Incidentally, I'm writing something that calls for knowledge of the middle ages, which I haven't got. Care to talk by email?
In fact, the history bit was irrelevant. The key part of my interpretation was science, how it is a way of discovering the "ground" we must stand on.
Elizabeth--
Thanks for the walkthrough!
"But maybe part of the point is to discover solutions the designer didn't necessarily intend!"
This is true. Out of the nature of the game, I couldn't really prevent a lot of the alternate solutions we found, like on level 24. However, rather than trying to kill the level, we left those in for diligent players to find. I figure dropping it in the darkness is a very obscure thing to do, while the slots indicate a clear message that they might be useful for something. Both solutions are valid, yet one is more logical to figure out.
Now what I find funny, however, is your solution for level 21 is so so so much more complicated than the intended one. I'll let you figure that out though lol.
"while the slots indicate a clear message that they might be useful for something"
The funny thing is I'm not sure I even walked over far enough to see that there was a slot there. After the way I solved the previous level I figured that that was what I was intended to do.
Anyway, cool game, very original. (Haven't got to the end yet so I'm waiting to see what everyone's talking about there.) Thanks for making it!
Having said nice things about the game, level 27 is seriously irritating.
The difficulty isn't figuring out what to do, it's that the controls are so clunky that the main task is trying to get the orb into the right stand instead of accidentally picking up the key or something like that.
I realize this is probably deliberate -- otherwise you wouldn't have two stands right next to each other in the center -- but it still seems to me like what the TVTropes Wiki calls "Fake Difficulty."
In fact, level 27 is ruining the game for me, at least for the moment.
It seems as though you have to do everything as fast as possible in order to catch the orb at the rightmost point.
In my opinion this would be excessive even if the interface didn't gratuitously mess you up; for instance
I want to put the orb in the lefthand slot in the central area; but the game deposits it in the righthand slot even when my character has her back to that slot.
I think there should be a little room for error in a level like this anyway (this isn't a lightning-reflex platformer), but it's especially frustrating when the imprecise controls are getting in your way.
Wow. Incredible game... the atmosphere was amazing and i got several waves of chills on the last five or so levels of the game.
anyone else have opinions on the details of the background story? I think the coma was caused by a car accident, based on the leftmost middle 'painting' in level 29 seems to be of a car.
I think more needs to be said about the 'feel' and art of the game. Starogre (Jon Schubbe) has definitely captured the storyline and feel of the game without overdoing any gore or gimmicks. The gothic black and white art (well-intentioned and fitting) are perfect for this game and well detailed. The mix of plot (for those who care), smooth game play (for those who just want a puzzle - and a few tough ones), and art (for those that appreciate 'eye-candy') were ideally combined for this game.
I've awaken! hahaha..
just think hard, every level will then look simple. But one thing is it's time consuming.
had only stucked at level 18, but it wasn't that hard actually.
hope to see more puzzles like this.
Amazing game. I think the visual media helped me project myself into much the same mentality I'm in while reading a good book. At some point, I forget that I'm just a casual observer and feel the story as my reality. That being said, there were some truly bizarre moments for me during this game, particularly when it became time to leave this place. This shadowy world, despite its seeming dangers, was safe. The prospect of facing the dangers and the extraordinary pain (given the look of my body) of reality was more terrifying than anything I had faced so far. Made me want to just sit there in the pulsing light where nothing could ever hurt me, and never open the door. I suppose partly since awakening means an end here, it was rather more like accepting death than life. For all I know, it was.
My understanding of the story. (in spoilers)
Most of the plot is hinted at in the occasional wording in the background, and 6 photos in the last real puzzle.
The first photo depicts a car. The next one depicts what appears to be a tree branch. The third one depicts a serious vehicular accident.
The next one was very hard to make out, but is in fact an ambulance. The next one depicts the woman at the tree, but there is somthing unusual about her. The last one shows her hooked up to equipment in the emergency room.
Then we have the words. In the room full of words there are some indicated stronger than others. These are:
-
Voices
-
Light
-
Dark
-
Totaled
-
Coma
-
Car
-
Closure
-
Slumber
-
Critical
-
Overwhelm
-
people
-
plot
-
worry
-
tree
-
blackout
-
accident
-
thought
-
crash
-
hospital
From all of this I conclude the woman got in a serious car wreck by hitting a tree. She was taken to the hospital by ambulance in critical condition, comatose. The vehicle was totaled.
Some part of her was left behind. It is unclear to me if she died (braindead) and it was her ghost that was left behind, or if her soul or spirit came free in the accident. The title closure, along with a writing on the wall elsewhere that mentioned purgatory, implies to me that she is in fact dead.
Any which way, during the game she is traveling to her body in the ER. The significance of the room with the giant vital signs monitor and the room with the creepy statues or whatever, they are are beyond me.
Even when she reaches her body she does not seem to re-unite with it, which also implies the death theory.
On the other hand, the "you know who we are" and "We are just trying to help you" imply the separated soul or horrible dream (while comatose) theory.
The "Awaken" line strongly implies the theory that this is all just a "dream" while comatose.
Hmmm.....
[Edit: Spoiler tags have been corrected. Please use the Preview button before submitting a post to make sure spoiler tags are correct. -Pam]
My interpretation of the ending:
The "solve the puzzles to awaken from your coma" is a popular plot in games these days. I remember at least one room escape game that did the concept very well. I actually think the basic concept could be applied to even more games than it is; it's a great way to add plot and motivation.
I also thought that the protagonist being revealed to be a woman was supposed to be something you discover as you play. I found it fascinating because it highlights that most people still think of male as "default". The Samus Aran effect.
On the other hand, am I correct in thinking that she's naked in shoes? Look at her feet. They don't look like barefeet; they have a bit of a heel. Naked in shoes seems bizarre to me.
@joeynow: Well, I'm not a historian, I only have an amateur interest in it. However, if you would like to email me, please use karla at luckymail dot com.
Little tips for help:
Level 1 (Car accident):
Move light forward. open door.
Level 2 (Introduction):
Follow the words.
Up arrow to jump.
Level 3 (Closure) :
Space or down arrow to put bulb on standing device.
Lighten the way to door.
Level 4 (More Light):
Get stuck? - press K (kill), R (Restart) or Enter.
More light? - 2 bulbs.
Level 5 (Less Light):
Come on through - a little further from light.
Level 6 (Elevator):
Trap in the cell? - press K
Moving device - as Elevator.
Level 7 (Key away from Rest):
Moving device as elevator.
Level 8 (No Drop Zone):
Carry 2 items to door? - "Pls help yrself, moving device."
Level 9 (Invisible light?):
Jump from high to low - watch out for another bulb type.
Level 10 (Playing with two):
Each bulb type plays its function - exchange them on moving device.
Continue for more tips:
Level 11 (The cave):
Jump over the gap.
Level 12 (Hear me):
*Splash* of blood - be *quick* a little before the light goes/moves on.
Level 13 (Staircase):
show key? - put bulb on standing device, next to door.
switch to visible light? -
exchange bulb on standing device (area with key).
Level 14 (Lighten corners):
more light? - remove bulb from device, get another bulb.
Level 15 (Dead or Alive?):
Jump forward to live!
Level 16 (H for hospital?):
Drop person from upper edge to lower edge - right arrow button, follow immediately by left arrow button.
Level 17 (Flower pots):
Two bulbs to get key, two bulbs to open door.
Level 18 (First aid kits):
drop key first before grab for bulb.
remove bulb from device moving towards staircase.
Level 19 (Big Arrow):
lighten slope on left first before get key.
jump across light moving forward to person.
Level 20 (Spot the light)
light as guide.
Tips for last (It's getting tougher :):)
Level 21 (You know who we are?):
drop a bulb to get key.
create a dark spot between two lighten spots, jump over dark spot
with key.
follow the moving device leading to exit.
Level 22 (Chandeliers):
move two bulb types to far left (wheelchair behind).
take a bulb and jump over to staircase on left, drop bulb to show
key and another bulb type.
Level 23 (Lighten staircase):
grab key and jump over to lighten platform (lighten by a bulb).
move bulb and key to door, be cautious when moving both items
across the gap.
Level 24 (Spotlight in the mid):
place bulb near left edge of door, drop person at bottom platform
to get key, jump and at the same time release/ throw key at upper platform.
A little tricky here - adjust intensity of light until person can reach
to upper platform, get bulb to search for key.
Level 25 (Trying to help):
Sorry, cant remmbr the solution. :)
Level 26 (Cardiograph):
Look out for a bulb placed on surface, place bulb in jaw-like device.
Drop key first before the bulb.
Carry key, jump down from upper edge to lower edge (right arrow
button, follow immediately by left arrow button).
place bulb in another jaw-like device (near wheelchair),
immediately grab key.
Level 27 (Statues of Death):
place bulb to move device and immediately grab key.
place bulb at the right devices - spiky ones.
more light? - before moving device moves to left, immediately grab
bulb.
Level 28 (Mind of distress):
Place key near door. Place bulb on jaw-like device on far right.
Allow 2 bulbs moving upward at the same on jaw-like devices, one
on far left another far right.
Another bulb? - Drop person at lower platform, place bulb on
device. jump over to another side, place bulb on jaw-like device.
Level 29 (Enough - to EmergencyRoom) :
Short-term memory lost - this one do it by yrself ;D
Level 30 (Awaken):
find the way out from coma!
My computer must be too slow to play this one. It moves at a drunken snail's pace, and I just don't have the patience to putter along. :(
Try opening in pop-up window and closing down other apps...it will run faster if you have a real slow system.
Awesome idea, really interesting. It's good to see they built a full game around it, with those moving cradles and keys and all that, rather than just relying on the light gimmick only.
Too bad it plays darn slow at my system. I'll try it at work tomorrow (during break, heh ;)).
Creepy...
Great game. It's not too difficult to solve entirely alone. You'd get more out of it that way...
I think she's simply in a coma after the car crash. Her "soul" moves from the scene of the event, a strong psychic impact, towards the hospital where the physical body is. Subsequently there's the struggle to consciousness, and the frustration that may be experienced where the physical body appears to fail what the mind wants to do - awaken. I'd like to read a more positive outcome at the end game though.
Also, I think the better tips (before actually going to solving hints) should be:
"Take your time and try avoid solution hints. Leave the level you are stuck in and come back after an hour or two, or a day if need be. The game progress is automatically saved to the last level you are in unless you clean your browser's temporary memory/cache/cookies."
"Learn the tools available. There's the light orb, black light orb, and various stands that do different things, but are quite constant in what they tend to do."
"Explore the level, go as far as you can with a light and observe what placing lights on things do. Sometimes, hidden lights are all around the level, you need to illuminate them to reveal them, then they glow permanently."
"The unlit terrain doesn't affect you, but ONLY you. They still affect all other objects. Dropping a key into a 'void' may mean you can pick it up later if you can go there with a light. Dropping are black light somewhere and moving away may reveal something new."
"Place orbs in preference of normal light stands, mouths, then spiked light stands. Light stands usually have a matching pair that also illuminates when you light any one of them, with the spike stands swallowing the original light. Mouths always move in a set pattern. There are exceptions to these though."
"Black light orbs dim the nearer you are until they effectively give no light when you stand atop it, so there's no real point in carrying them around unless you want to place them somewhere."
What do you think is the point of having that silhouetted ponytail flapping around? It looks like a guy most of the time, and then you walk past something and there's this ponytail.
Any ideas?
I was playing shift 4, and in room 16
I saw the character from Closure holding an orb of light that revealed clouser. I then got the lightbulb and it lit up the picture showing the full word foreclouser. It also showed the character in front of a home with a sign "Evicted"
From what I can tell it has nothing to do with the story but it seems like an intresting way to view Closure
I don't know if anyone looks at this anymore since it's over a year old, but I thought I'd revisit Closure, and in the process discovered what Tyler called the "much much simpler" answer to Level 21!
Take the orb on the right over the left edge to get the key
Position the orb so you can jump back up to the first platform (finding a good position for the two orbs might take a few tries)
Once you're back up, walk the orb and the key over to the right edge so you can drop the key off and jump down with the orb
Place the orb in the lamp on the right (it should start to move underneath you), and follow it. Pick up the key along the way, jump over the partial wall, and quickly unlock and go through the door as it's illuminated
Other people probably realized it in the meantime, but I didn't see it posted here so I thought I'd share for anyone else who stumbles across this great game again.
Help- Level 22. I get over to the far left with the bright and dark orbs, get all the way over to the little 'lower step' with the dark orb but I can't get the next bright orb to light up so I can get the key. I inch over as far as I can to the left then if I go any further I fall and see the orb light up as I'm falling. Any suggestions?
I found the flavour suggested a different interpretation at first: I noticed the car accident, but assumed I was controlling a friend of the person injured in the crash. I noticed that when the light gets intense, you can see the shadow of a girl's ponytail behind the seemingly-male PC; I assumed this was
the ghost of the injured girl following the male around as he tried to come to terms with her death, and the way the world seemed completely black and empty without her around. Tried to reach "Closure", if you will.
The hospital and the EEG readout all seemed to fit with this. The messages on the wall were in two different fonts: the scratchy caps were something like the doctors who hadn't saved her, while the flowing script was her handwriting as she described her frustration with being trapped in the hospital and lost the will to live. It all seemed to fit.
It was only the message in the very final room that shook me away from that interpretation.
Very good game, anyway. Nice set of puzzles, pretty tricky in places, but doable enough that I could reach the end eventually.
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Game of the week
Walkthrough Guide
(Please allow page to fully load for spoiler tags to be functional.)
Complete Closure Walkthrough:
Level 1
Right arrow to walk right, up arrow to exit through door.
Level 2
Walk right until you drop; then walk left until you drop. Walk right, up arrow to jump, continue right to door. Up arrow to exit.
Level 3
Down arrow or space bar to pick up orb. Down arrow or space bar to drop orb into stand. Jump right to other top platform. Take orb from stand, walk right to door. Exit.
Level 4
Pick up orb, walk to second orb (will light up when you approach). Take turns walking orbs to the edge of light, so that you ultimately get both over to the door. Two orbs needed to illuminate door! Exit.
Level 5
Pick up orb. Walk right to light up second orb. Place first orb in front of fire hydrant, jump over partial wall to the right orb.
Pick up orb, place in stand. Walk above stand as it moves right. Take orb from stand to fully light up door. Exit.
Level 6
Place orb in stand. Wait for moving lamp to partially light up wall in front of you, jump on top of the wall as it forms. Do not jump into middle section - this is a DARK orb, which gets darker as you approach, so that you cannot stand on anything around it.
Take light orb from moving lamp when it stops. Walk right, drop down, walk right to door. Exit.
Level 7
Pick up orb, walk right to moving lamp. Place orb in lamp, ride lamp down.
Get key from left of new stand. Remove orb from stand so that moving lamp returns to original place (you won't be able to see it). Replace orb in stand after a minute, jump on top of wherever the lamp currently is and ride back to top. Take orb from lamp, take turns walking orb and key to door. Exit.
Level 8
Pick up orb, leaving key for now. Go left, drop down to lower level and place orb in lamp.
Ride over lamp as it moves. It will rise, and partially illuminate the key, which you should take quickly. Stay over lamp as it crosses to the right. It will end at the door. Exit.
Level 9
Place orb in stand. Walk with stand as it crosses to the right. Drop to lower moving platform as they pass each other.
Take orb from this stand and walk to the far right, where the key and a dark orb are lying. Replace light orb into stand, pick up key. As stand moves to the left with light orb, you will be able to drop down onto lowest platform with the key.
Switch orb from right stand to left stand. Quickly pick up key, follow stand to far left where the door waits to be unlocked. Exit.
Level 10
Place DARK orb into stand. Pick up light orb and walk right.
Drop light orb. Wait for moving lamp to go down, when it comes back up for second pass, quickly take the dark orb from it (yes, while it's moving). Quick switch - place light orb into moving lamp.
Walk above moving lamp to the right. Take orb from lamp to door, exit.
Level 11
Place orb in spiky stand [spiky stands disappear when you place an orb into them!]. You will drop down onto a moving lamp. Stay above it as it moves right, then up the vertical wall.
Jump left to lighted stand. Take orb, drop down into hole to the right. Place orb in spiky stand.
Drop down, take light orb from new stand. Walk right to door. Exit.
Level 12
Place light orb into moving lamp. Stay above moving lamp until about the center of the screen. Remove light orb from lamp somewhere along this middle platform. Both lamps will return to original starting point.
When the other lamp returns to its starting point, it will be near you on the platform. Place light orb into this moving lamp and follow it right and up. Swipe orb from lamp at the top of the vertical wall. Walk to door, exit.
Level 13
Place light orb into either stand or moving lamp.
Pick up dark orb and walk to the right.
Jump over first step as it begins to light up, place dark orb in stand on right.
Go up the stairs as the moving lamp lights them up. The lamp will stop at the top; so should you. There's a dark orb in the stand to your left, so be careful.
Tentatively move left - you want to jump over the wall, but it will disappear more and more as you approach the dark orb in the stand. Best way is to do a small jump onto the right side of the wall, you'll end up on a small segment, and from there jump over the dark orb to the left.
Take dark orb from stand; replace with light orb. Pick up key and jump down to original starting point with it. Remove orb from stand, wait for lamp to return. Replace orb into stand, grab key, follow lamp to the right. Exit.
Level 14
Pick up light orb, place in first stand you come to. Four stands will light up, and moving lamps will begin to climb in the middle of the screen. Ride the lamps to the top, jump off to the top left platform.
Use light orb from this stand to help you get key from left end of platform. Replace orb in stand.
Wait for lamps to get to the top again. Jump across to top right platform with key. Take orb from stand, walk orb and key over to the door.
Drop orb to the left of the door so you have room to jump down at far right onto platform below.
Take this orb and place into the bottom right stand. All stands light up, you now have a new orb in the top right!
Ride lamps to top, jump off to the top right platform. Get both light orbs to the door so it has enough light. Use key. Exit.
Level 15
This one will probably take a few tries. Walk right, past three arrows that point left. You should be at the spiky stand between arrows that both point away from it.
Stand to the right of the spiky stand. Be ready to immediately and forcefully jump to the right. Place orb in stand, and JUMP up and right.
Try to land on the platform by the door! Move orb from stand to door. Exit.
Level 16
Take orb to the right until the second orb lights up. Place first orb on the ground, far enough back that you'll be able to jump over the partial vertical wall.
Jump over and get the second orb. Walk far right to moving lamp, place orb inside. Follow orb left, up, then right, wait for lamp to stop.
Drop carefully down to where the lamp stopped, remove orb.
Place orb in the leftmost of the three lamps in your little section. Follow it left, up the same wall as before.
Watch for the key on your left! Grab it quickly and continue to follow the lamp to where it stops.
Take orb from lamp. Place in middle lamp. Grab key and follow lamp directly down and left. Drop carefully down to the door. Exit.
Level 17
Place orb in moving lamp. Follow it to the top of the screen.
Take orb from lamp, walk right to light up a new orb. Place first orb into stand.
Pick up second orb and drop down to key on the right.
Walk orb left, to the space between striped "no-drop" zones. Drop the orb here.
Go back for the key. Bring it to the same location and drop it.
Go back for the other orb. Take it from the stand, walk left, past the orb and key on the ground. Place the orb in the left most stand. An orb will light up above you.
Get key, drop it near the leftmost stand. Also get orb from between the no-drop zones.
Place this orb into the open stand, so that both are filled and the moving lamp starts to move again. Pick up the key and ride the lamp to the top of the screen.
Take orb from lamp and walk right. Take turns walking key and both orbs to the door at far right. Exit.
Level 18
Place orb into lamp. Follow it right (careful of one jump you must make early on), it will go far right and then come back a bit and go up some stairs.
Stay ahead of the lamp so that you can get above the last vertical wall and up to the top platform before you're closed in.
Take orb from lamp and walk far right for key. Walk both orb and key back to far left.
Tricky! Drop key over edge by standing at very edge facing left. Do not go with the key! ☺
Pick up orb and follow the key over the edge. It's waiting for you at the bottom! Place orb into moving lamp, pick up key and follow lamp to the right.
Drop key just to the right of the striped "no-drop" zone. Continue with lamp til it comes up to where you can remove the orb from it as it moves.
Take orb back to the right, light up door and pick up key. Exit.
Level 19
Pick up orb, and place it in the rightmost stand.
Follow moving stand over to the right, where it will stop.
Pick up orb from ground and place in remaining (middle) stand.
Take orb from rightmost stand and allow the now-dark moving stand to return to its place at far left.
After a few moments, place orb back into the stand you just took it from.
As moving stand crosses the center gap, use it to cross to the left platform again.
Take orb from stand, and place it in the stand to the left (not the moving stand, which will return and be the far-left stand in this area). This triggers moving lamps going up both sides of the screen.
Quickly jump onto left vertical wall, and ride the moving lamp to the top.
Jump onto left vertical wall. Take orb and walk right til you come to the small ledge. Jump up to the right onto the platform with the door. Leave orb near left edge of this platform.
Jump back down for key; move it up to the left, just below the ledge. Take orb from stand (other stands will go dark!) and move it slightly up to the left, so you can use the little ledge to jump up again. Pick up key, jump up to the right. Move the orb up here to the right in front of the door. Exit.
Level 20
This one takes some crazy coordination. Place orb into the moving lamp and immediately jump onto the first raised area to your right.
Quickly and constantly jump up and down, so that as the lamp moves up you can keep catching the platform above you. Don't move left or right, just go straight up the column you are in!
Follow lamp across top platforms, jumping over gaps, past door and to the right. You'll follow it straight down a series of platforms that is the same as what you just navigated on the left.
Lamp will help you go right to retrieve the key from the bottom right corner.
With key in hand, jump onto the same platform as where you started on the left so that you can follow the lamp straight up the platforms the same way. Again, don't move left or right, but jump quickly and constantly so you stay ahead of the lamp going up.
Follow lamp til it stops in front of the door. Exit.
Level 21
Pick up the orb on the right, and jump down to the right.
Place orb in left lamp space. Moving lamp will begin in upper right corner and make a complete circuit of the screen.
Wait for lamp to finish its circuit. Then take the orb from the lamp space in front of you, and place it immediately into the other lamp space on the right.
Follow this lamp to the left, use it to jump up to where the other orb rests. Pick up this orb, jump down to the left.
Holding the orb, wait for the moving lamps to pass one another here.
As empty lamp passes on its way back around, place the orb you are holding into the lamp. It will reverse directions and move to the right in front of the door.
Pick up the key and quickly follow this lamp to the door. You'll have to exit quickly before the lamp leaves the door area. Exit.
Level 22
Pick up dark orb. Jump left onto next platform and place dark orb into empty stand. A stand will move below you.
Drop down to your right to where the light orb is, near the door. Pick up the light orb.
Move the light orb right so that you can retrieve the dark orb from the stand. Walk the two orbs to the far left.
Place the light orb on the ground between the wheelchair and empty stand. Pick up dark orb.
With dark orb in hand, jump to the left and stand on stair-looking platform.
Drop dark orb over onto tiny edge of platform below you.
Jump to the top stair platform. The dark orb will light up and trigger a light orb to light as well. Oh, and there's a key!
Get key and return to right side of screen. Walk light orb and key across to the door at far right. Exit.
Level 23
This is a fun one!
Descend to where the two light orbs are. Pick one up and jump up to your left, up to where you see a potted tree and spiky stand.
Place orb in front of tree. Return for other orb.
Place second orb into spiky stand.
Pick up first orb from in front of the tree. Drop down into the pit just to your right. Place this orb such that the left vertical wall is just starting to flicker. You want as much platform extending to the left as possible, but don't want the vertical wall to block you.
Climb up to the top right where the light orb appeared.
Take orb from stand and place into moving lamp.
Climb down the big stairs to where you placed the light orb before (near the bed). Wait for the moving lamp to come around.
When you can see the key, quickly jump over for it, and jump back! Be careful not to take too long, since the lamp will stop and you'll be trapped by the vertical wall.
Jump up to your right onto the first big stair. Drop the key.
Take the orb from the stand on the next big stair. Place it on the small ledge to the left of where the key is waiting. It should light up a small part of the slanted platform across the gap.
Pick up the key and take it carefully to the small visible portion of slanted platform. Leave it there and go back to the light orb you just placed.
Take this orb up with you and take turns walking it and the key over to the door on the left. Exit.
Level 24
Pick up orb and walk to the right until the orb in the center is illuminated.
Bring orb back up to the left and drop it right at the edge of the no-drop zone.
Descend in step-wise fashion to the light orb and key at bottom right.
Pick up orb and place it in stand on the right. Left space will light up.
Take orb from stand and put it back about where it was. Pick up the key and jump back out in a step-wise fashion to the top left.
Move top left orb so that you can see the narrow channel leading down below. Drop key through this channel but don't go with it!
Take light orb now over to the top right. Drop it at the edge of the no-drop zone.
Descend in step-wise fashion down to the left. Move the light orb to where it will allow you to jump out as you did from the bottom right. Pick up the key and climb out to the top right. Move orb (careful not to drop it down the channel!) and key to door. Exit.
Level 25
Place orb in first stand to your right.
Jump over this to the right. Pick up orb and walk to the right, place the orb on the ground before the step.
Climb up to platform above you and pick up the orb from there. Come back down and place this orb as far left as you can in the bottom area, such that you can still go right and get up the stairs.
Take the orb from the top of the stairs and place it into the moving lamp on the right.
As the lamp moves down, drop straight down and pick up the light orb from the ground. Quickly place it into the spiky stand and follow the moving lamp to the left.
Follow the moving lamp all the way to the left. As it rises, take the orb from inside it and set it on the ground next to the one lighted stand.
In a similar way, return to the right and pick up the rightmost orb. Place it in the moving lamp, follow it to the left, take the orb and place it on the ground. Repeat for a third orb. You want to have a pile of three orbs on the ground on the left.
Return to the right. Place the final orb into the lamp and follow it to the left. This time, allow it to keep its orb and continue its path. It will go up the screen and then come back down.
While the moving lamp goes up, quickly take the three orbs on the ground and, one-by-one, place them into the empty stands on the large stairs. You must be back down on the ground level by the time the lamp gets back down there!
Ride the moving lamp up the far left side of the screen. Walk across to the door. Exit!
Level 26
Pick up orb and walk right. Drop into pit and place orb into left stand.
Jump over to second stand. Take orb from it and walk right, lighting up a new orb on the ground.
Place the first orb back into the stand. Pick up the new orb and place it into the moving lamp space.
Jump left to where first stand was. Take light orb from regular stand and place it into the spiky stand instead.
Fall down onto the moving lamp. Ride it to the left. As soon as you see the key, immediately pick it up and jump up to the right. Any hesitation will result in you not getting out of this pit and you'll die as the bottom disappears.
Jump right on to the little "C" of land surrounding the lighted stand in the bottom middle of the screen. Drop carefully to where the stand is.
Take the orb from the stand. Walk orb and key to the right of this area. Place orb into moving lamp on the right.
Grab key and ride lamp to the right and up. You'll need to move the orb from the lamp to the door to give enough light. Exit.
Level 27
Oh boy, this one takes some coordination!
Pick up the light orb and place it first into the left stand. A small area will light up with a new orb and two stands.
Now place orb into the stand on the right. It will move left, then back to the right across the whole screen. You need to move fast!
Pick up the key and leap up over the partial wall into the area with orb and two stands. Drop key, grab orb and place into spiky stand. Pick up key and leap into newly lighted area to your right.
Again, drop key, grab orb from regular stand and place into spiky stand. Pick up key and leap to the right.
You need to make it over here while the moving stand is still here! Drop the key immediately and grab the orb out of the moving stand. Phew, you can take a breath now!
[If you have trouble timing this, here's a tip: you can get through this faster if you drop the key right in front of the spiky stand each time; then, when you place the orb into the spiky stand and it disappears you can immediately grab the key again without moving.]
Move your two orbs and key over to the door. Exit.
Level 28
Place orb into rightmost stand. Follow it to the right platform.
Pick up new orb from ground and walk right. Drop it and pick up key from far right. Drop key between stands, and place new orb into empty stand on right.
Remove orb from left stand. Moving stand will leave and go back to left platform. Place orb on the ground so it gives you enough wall to jump onto and make it back to the left platform. Take the key with you!
Drop key. Move orb from stand into moving lamp space on your left. Grab the key and ride the lamp up the wall on the far left.
Walk orb and key to the right until you get to the door.
Take orb to the far right side of the screen. Place it into the moving lamp space.
Follow moving lamp left, and drop down onto lower right platform.
Place light orb into stand and wait for the moving lamp to come down around to the bottom.
Use moving lamp to help you cross to the left platform.
Take orb from stand and place into empty lamp space on your left (same as before). Ride this to the top of the screen on the left.
Take the orb from this moving lamp and walk to the lamp at far right. Walk both orbs back to the door. Pick up key. Exit.
Level 29
Pick up orb and walk left til you fall off the edge.
Walk right to see the dark orb on the ground. Drop light orb and place the dark orb into the stand.
Place light orb into moving lamp. Follow lamp up to the left as it moves.
Ride lamp up to middle section where a light orb is resting. Pick up orb and place it into moving lamp space to its left.
Follow this lamp to the left where the key is. Be careful to wait for it to pick up the key, since the area below is lighted in part by the dark orb in the stand. It'll disappear beneath you!
Drop into lower area. Take dark orb from stand, and place light orb into stand. Pick up key. Jump into next bottom space.
Drop key, move light orb to the right so you can jump over the next partial vertical wall. Don't place the orb in the stand - there's no point.
Pick up key and jump out to the right. Take light orb from the stand, walk it and the key over to the door. Exit.
Level 30
Just pick up the orb and walk to the right!
Congratulations, you're out!!
Posted by: Elizabeth | January 27, 2009 1:13 PM