You have one (1) day. One is the number of days you have, and the number of days you have is one. You shall not have two days. One day to do what, you ask? Well, actually, you've got to find that out yourself. You've been knocked on the head and placed into a prison cell, and there's some kind of coronation going on in a little less than 24 hours. Maybe you should just point-and-click around and see if you can discover what's going on. Oh, you've died? Well, never mind. You only have one day, but you can have it over and over again as much as you like until you solve the various puzzles. It's a messy medieval groundhog day in Cellar Door Games new adventure game, I Have 1 Day.
Use your mouse to interact with the game. Click through dialogue and click on objects to interact with them or pick them up and add them to your inventory. You can use inventory items on other inventory items or on objects in the scene. In the lower right, you'll see two important buttons. One is the clock showing what hour you are at in the day. (You have 1 day, remember, so don't fritter it away.) To the left of that is your logbook. You'll keep notes there of what you did throughout the day. You can rewind to the beginning or end of a previous hour by clicking on the hour at the top of a page. Beneath the logbook is the controls for sound and the menu button. The sound controls are actually game-important, though I can't explain further without spoilers.
Your first priority is going to be figuring out who you are, why you are where you are, and what to do about it. Then you need to figure out what you need to get in order to do it, and finally, you have to figure out how to get it all done in the time period you have. The best ending requires absolutely perfect performance from start to finish with no wasted time. There is also a hilarious "just missed it" ending if you manage to right the major wrong but not in time to stop the villain from putting part of the evil plan into motion. All other endings are simply short descriptions of your death.
Analysis: The rhythm of the game, in terms of requiring players to use trial and error to collect information and make a plan that fits stringent time limits, is reminiscent of interactive fiction classic Varicella, only in a much briefer and more casual experience. Few people have the patience and note-taking skills to solve Varicella completely independently. I Have 1 Day is much easier to figure out, and the ability to rewind so precisely lessens the frustrations of mistakes.
Only one puzzle is what I consider unfair, in that it requires the player to do something that breaks the fourth wall in a way that I would have never thought to do on my own. I can't see many gamers solving that one on their own without doing the required step by coincidence. Other puzzles can be tricky but make logical sense, at least in hindsight. When in doubt, the adventure gamer standby of "click on everything and rub everything on everything" is your best friend. It will occasionally kill you, but usually your death reveals information to you, so messing up in this game is all part of the learning process.
The game has a lot of charm, from its super chunky pixel graphics (I especially love the way the wizards look when they laugh) to its writing, which is frequently gently self-mocking. I actually liked the "almost" ending the best, because of the forlorn/hilarious pictures that accompany the credits. Cheer up, almost ending! You may have one day, but you can have it again.
Walkthrough Guide
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I Have 1 Day Walkthrough
Perfect Ending:
12:00 to 2:00
Pick up the mop.
Use the mop on the loose brick.
Use the mop on the chamber pot.
Use the mop on the dirt.
Dig through the wet dirt.
Pick up an onion from the garden.
Pick up the scarecrow.
Use the scarecrow on yourself.
Click the bush to enter the prison.
Use the naked scarecrow on the bed.
Exit the prison through the hole.
Use the scarecrow's clothes on yourself.
Exit the prison grounds..
2:00 - 6:00
Use the mop on the fountain.
Talk to the beautiful job board lady and take either available job.
Go back to the prison.
6:00 - 7:00
Enter the prison via the bush.
Pick up the naked scarecrow from the bed.
Exit the prison via the hole and reenter via the door.
Get your belongings from the shelf.
Exit via the door and exit the prison grounds.
Go to Zanda's Magic Shop.
7:00 - 9:00
Enter the magic shop and talk to the wizard.
Give the wizard money, the bloody arrowhead, and the wet mop.
Exit the magic shop and go to the dragon's den.
9:00 - 12:00
After clicking through the dialogue, talk to the yellow wizard to be given a riddle.
Click on the yellow wizard again to solve the riddle.
Talk to yellow again for the next puzzle, which is a river crossing puzzle. To cross fastest, cross in this order:
You and red cross
You come back alone
Yellow and blue cross
Red comes back alone
You and red cross.
12:00 - 14:00
After the cutscene, use the naked scarecrow on the corpse.
Use the empty canteen on the litter box to get dragon urine.
Use the urine on yourself.
Use the onion on the dragon to get tears.
Exit the dragon den and go back to the magic shop.
14:00 - 16:00
Enter the shop and give the wizard the dragon tears.
Exit the shop and go to town.
16:00 - 19:00
Use the mute button under the logbook if you don't already have the game muted, and talk to beautiful job board lady.
Take the remaining job.
Go back to the magic shop.
19:00 - 20:00
Talk to the wizard and get the wand.
Use the gold pieces on the sign to get the defective haste scroll.
Exit the magic shop and go to the castle.
20:00 - 21:00
Use the scroll on the clock.
Talk to the guard so that he'll move aside.
Pass through the inner gate.
21:00 - 22:00
After the cutscene, use the wand on the black wizard.
Then use the wand on the prince.
Enjoy the credits.
Almost Ending:
To get the almost ending, arrive at the castle with the wand at 23:00 or 24:00. If you're following the walkthrough, you can choose to wait an hour or two at the castle gate before entering to do this.
Posted by: joye | April 15, 2011 10:35 PM
Walkthrough!
Hour 0
Grab the mop, and use it to pry the loose brick out of the wall.
Wet the mop in the chamber pot, and use it to wet the dirt behind the brick so you can dig through it.
Hour 1
Grab an onion from the onion patch, and the scarecrow.
Use the scarecrow on yourself to acquire his clothes, which you can wear as a disguise.
Click the bush to go back inside, and put the scarecrow in your bed.
Exit through the hole in the brick again, and click the gate to leave the area.
Go to the town square.
Hour 3
Wet your mop in the fountain.
Talk to the job board lady, and accept one job. It doesn't matter which.
Go back to the prison.
Hour 6
Go through the bush, into the cell, and get the scarecrow back.
Exit through the hole in the brick, and re enter the prison through the main door, on the left side of the screen, to get your belongings back (50 gold, your clothes, and your lucky arrowhead).
Exit the prison again, and go to Zanda's Magic Shop.
Hour 7
Talk to the wizard to learn about the counter curse.
Give the wizard your arrowhead, your gold, and your water-soaked mop.
Leave the shop and go to the swamp.
Hour 9
Talk to the wizards to begin the first riddle. The answer is:
The Yellow Wizard.
Talk to the wizards again to begin the second riddle. The fastest solution is:
You and Red across. You back. Blue and Yellow across. Red back. You and Red across.
Hour 12
Use the scarecrow on the dead guy to prop him up.
Use the canteen on the litter box to collect dragon urine.
Use the urine on yourself to make yourself smell like a dragon.
Use the onion on the dragon to collect pure dragon water.
Exit through the cave, and return to the Magic Shop.
Hour 14
Give the pure dragon water to the wizard.
Go to the town square.
Hour 16
Talk to the job board lady to try and get another job.
Mute the sound to stop the bell, then talk to the job lady again, and take the remaining job.
Exit the town and head back to the magic shop.
Hour 19
Retrieve the counterspell from the wizard.
Use your gold on the sign with the scroll to buy the defective haste spell.
Leave the shop and go to the inner gate.
Hour 20
Use the scroll on the clock to speed it up.
Go past the guard, and go to the castle.
Hour 21
Use the wand on the black wizard.
Use the wand on the prince.
You win!
Posted by: DasChels | April 15, 2011 10:47 PM