It's a beautiful spring day (or so I imagine). You're walking along, a spring in your step, so carefree that you can't help but whistle a happy tune... but what's that? A pay phone is ringing. You look left, look right—no, there's no one else around. Is this a joke? You hesitate, then meander slowly over to the still-ringing telephone. You sense that perhaps you ought to keep on moving, that something is not quite right with this scenario, and for a moment your hand trembles above the receiver. But no, you're being silly. Maybe someone's dialed the wrong number? If so, you really ought to let them know. You pick it up....
A flash, a sense of falling. The world spins and your stomach wrenches. You stand there, stunned, eyes blinded by the brightness. And then, somehow, you understand... you're in the White Zone.
White Zone is an intriguingly different sort of room escape game; as you might have gathered, it does not take place in any sort of concrete space. There are no walls, no ceiling, no door; instead, the player is faced with a few pieces of furniture—two chairs, a television, and a dresser, to be exact—arranged in a circle, seemingly suspended within a white void. Some forgotten corner of the Matrix? Perhaps. The setting is ethereal, spare, almost dreamlike—do not, however, mistake its seeming simplicity for a lack of substance.
Indeed, it's amazing how much puzzle-y goodness is fit into such a sparsely-furnished environment. You can examine each piece of furniture from all sides, and you'll need to do so; as the game progresses you'll find yourself flitting back and forth between chair and dresser and television, each time uncovering a different clue or necessary item. Happily, the puzzles (with one very significant exception) are largely logical, dependent mainly upon observation of patterns and keen attention to detail, and should pose a healthy but not excessive challenge to most escapers.
I say "with one very significant exception" because, at least to me, the game's final puzzle was baffling. Not in the good way, either; even after I had lucked into the answer, I didn't really understand how one was supposed to arrive at that particular conclusion. I'm pretty sure I found all the relevant clues, too... still, there's certainly a good possibility that I'm just being dense, and that the answer is dancing a merry jig in front of my nose. In any event, I look forward to seeing what y'all come up with. ;)
Potential flaws aside, I greatly enjoyed White Zone for its solid puzzling and surreal aesthetic. It's refreshing to see such a unique interpretation of the term "room escape"!
Pick up the phone, it's for you:
Walkthrough Guide
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WALKTHROUGH
Answer the ringing phone and get transported to the white place. Press the red arrow to go forward and look at the TV.
Go to the left side of the TV and click on the little slot. Note the arrows.
Go to the chair beside the TV and look at its back. Click on the circular slot towards the top and note the symbol there.
Go to the chair beside the dresser and click the left rotational arrow once so you're looking at the side of the chair. Click the diamond shape where the back meets the seat and input the arrow sequence on it. If you did it right, a compartment will pop out. Grab the fuse thing inside it.
Go to the back of the chair beside the dresser and click on the circular slot towards the top. Note the symbol there.
Go to the front of the TV and view the knobs at the
upper right. Click on the button several times until it pops off.
Go to the back of the TV. Click on the black space below the gray thing in the center. Put the button from the front of the TV into the slot at the right to open the compartment. Put the fuse inside. Go around to the front of the TV and note what it says.
Click the space beneath the front of the TV near the right leg. Note the circles and numbers there.
They match up to the knobs and button on the front of the TV. If you've done everything right up to this point, the message from the TV screen should make a little more sense.
Look at the knobs on the front of the TV and rotate the top one until it comes off.
Assuming you've done everything up to this point, put the big knob you got from the TV in the matching slot on the back of one of the chairs and set it so that it matches the symbol you just covered up by putting it there. The TV now has another clue. Do the same thing you just did to get and place the first knob (don't forget to set the knob to the correct position!) and the TV will have a numerical clue.
72605
Go to the dresser and open the drawer. Note the pattern inside. Click towards the top of the drawer and note what you see:
it's a 1 with an exclamation mark above it.
Look at the clock on the dresser. The clue from inside the dresser is indicating something about the clock
Look at where the red dots were in the drawer pattern and compare that to the clock. You'll see 4 symbols in the corresponding places. Those symbols (#$%&) correspond to numbers on your keyboard (3457). Figure out what numbers both the short and long hands of the clock are indicating. This is different each time you play the game.
Go to the chair beside the TV and click the right rotational arrow once. The top of each of the chair's legs (that you can see in this view) have a place to input a digit, with either an "L" or an "S" above them. Use all the clues you got from the clock to input the correct numbers.
The "L" stands for "long", so input the number that corresponds to the keyboard symbol that the clock's long hand was pointing to (it's either 3, 4, 5, or 7). "S" stands for "short", so do the same for the short hand.
If you did things correctly, when you zoom out back to the side view of the chair, you should hear a sound.
If you did the last step correctly, a panel should have shown up in the arm of the chair beside the TV. Open it up and take the key. Use the key on the cabinet in the dresser. Dial the code from the tv on the phone and.....
YOU'RE FREE!!
Posted by: LSN
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September 17, 2008 2:51 PM