October 28, 2005
Submachine 1: the Basement
walkthrough below
video walkthrough (but it’s for the old version of the game…)
game description
by Jay at jayisgames.com:
Point-and-click fans, this next game has you written all over it. Submachine is a relatively easy game of the escape-the-room variety that will engage your puzzle-solving skills for about 10-15 minutes. And if you haven’t played this one already, you’re in for a simple treat.Several rooms hold as many puzzles and items to find for solving the mystery of the Submachine. Use your mouse to point and click your way through the game, and to pick up items that you find along the way. Drag and drop an item from your inventory to place it where it’s needed. Crisp and attractive graphics are pleasantly complemented by atmospheric sound and effects to enhance the overall experience. Created by Mateusz Skutnik (Murtaugh), Submachine is a straightforward and polished point-and-clicker that is accessible to most anyone. Click. For anyone having difficulty getting the game to load, keep trying. It seems that only a portion of the game will download before the server gives up sending it to you. If you close the window and try again, or reload the browser window, repeatedly, eventually the file will get completely cached and you will be able to play. I feel it’s worth the little effort to get it going, as it’s only about 1.5MB in size.
Your opinions:
Mattleecon18 at newgrounds.com:
That was the best Mystery game I ever played on newgrounds.
netpsycho at newgrounds.com:
I am a big fan of the Myst games so this was right up my alley. Visually nice, simple but not boring. The ambiant noises were impressive and realistic and the puzzles were very well made. I suggest that you work further on this because this was at a standard that you would expect from a professional game studio (despite the lack of 3d graphics)
Funk_Machine at newgrounds.com:
A beautifully eeire point and click. This is simply a very elegant and atmospheric game, superbly crafted and to the point. I found it slightly challanging but puzzling enough to keep me interested in solving the riddle. The atmosphere which you create is stunning especially since it is supported by the fx and music. It isn’t often enough that I play good puzzle adventures so this was very refreshing. For those interested in a challange, try and find the jewel of wisdom - a secret item only for the adventurous.
IceDragonX at newgrounds.com:
Excellent game, fantastic work. I loved it, I defintely want something longer and harder. The random element was fantastic and I like the creepy mist feeling like some one was going to jump out at you any minute. Very cool, the reward…was ok. I heard there was words of wisdom from other reviews. Perhaps I am missing something at the end? I feel the need to go through it a third time or something. I cant wait for the second part. By the way, what was the trap door on the ceiling of the very top room about? I thought that was the exit but apparently it served no purpose, but artistically. I liked the letter, but I thought it wasnt expanded on enough. I thought there would be more pages. DEFINTELY MAKE MORE!! I can’t wait!
BigAC at newgrounds.com:
Really well designed. It’s quick and fun as these things go, but nothing is totally obvious from go. Okay, the purpose of the spoon is immediately obvious, but that’s cool as hell anyway. So, the point is, I really appreaciate how well this game balances playability with challenge. Also, the music is perfect for the mood and the sound effects are fantastic, too. As for the look and feel, I used to do a construction job that sometimes sent me alone into subway corridors and block-sized, winding sub-cellars full of leaky pipes and electrical crap. I’m not saying I ever want to go back to that job, but this reminded me of that in a cool way. Great game.
Skutty on newgrounds.com:
I must admit this has to be the best game I’ve played on Newgrounds, the entire thing flowed really well and the room transition was done wonderfully. When you make a sequel I will be sure to play it.
Preator at newgrounds.com:
Pure Brilliance. I’ve waited a long time for a good puzzler, and man, did I get one. Great job! I loved how seemingly useless items like a coin can contain the key to success (especially that note about three arms)
BrimstoneVomit at newgrounds.com:
Considering I’ve come across many games of this sort, my good review points to the presence of originality. The ambience given is appropriate and diminished boredom should I have been stumped. The sequences weren’t as complicated or interesting as they could have, but they made sense and allowed easy intepretation of what to do or where to go next. The clues were mostly vague, but with enough time staring at a particular puzzle, the clue to it does get more and more apparent. Sound effects are done well. The physics feel organic and engaging, especially with the shifting between rooms. I find this a solid entry and recommend it to anyone that enjoys pictoral puzzle games.
THE_BOLSHEVIK at newgrounds.com:
I loved this game! It reminded me of the Myst ages, only in Flash form and without Rand Miller. The music really suited it well, and I always enjoy the ‘figure-it-out’ feeling these kind of games have. I am very impressed, and although I haven’t figured it all out yet (I’m probably missing that *one* thing!), I plan to keep playing until I do. Great game! Kudos!
DangerDoll at newgrounds.com:
This is a great game with a lot of class… I have not been able to beat it unfortunately (I was really never any good at games like this), but I am sure as hell going to keep trying. The animation is good and overall, the game requires a lot of thinking and mind work, which is something that we really need to see more of. Nice job and keep ‘em coming!
fRigid_fRog at newgrounds.com:
I just joined Newgrounds because I needed to say that this admission is wonderful. I’ve played several games like this, including Mystery of Time and Space. I have to say that I really liked playing this game and can’t wait for another one. Highly recommended.
Seawana at newgrounds.com:
Wow! This is a very cool escape game.I don’t usually love these kinds of games because I have more of an action game mentality. Even still, this one was so clean and stylish I had to play.I love the way you move between rooms. It’s so simple and quick it makes navigation a snap. Very nice.
Luke C:
It’s not often I contact authors about their games. but after playing and beating submachine I felt I must tell you that its an amazing game! I found it on newgrounds, and must say it is one of the best games on the website by far. It reminds me of other point and click games, the ‘crimson room’ in particular. The puzzles are very original and i had great fun solving them. Keep up the good work!
Emily at lazylaces.com:
Very nice game - music reminds me of Myst, puzzles are good (the order thing is clever, although when I played again to check out the blue door, I messed it up and was stuck with only three tiles).Question - is the Wisdom an extra item, or will it somehow be necessary for the second game? If it is necessary, you might want to be nice and make it so that you can’t finish without the item, as many people seem to have finished without even realizing another puzzle exists.Either way, excellent game, and I can’t wait to see the next one. Great work!
slappy at lazylaces.com:
COOL game.This (both original and extended) are my favourite games of this genre. Looking forward to SUB 2.Just one small critisism: the hover thing isn’t very logical - I never hovered my hand to turn on a radio! I think all puzzles should have some kinda logic. I was clicking the buttons but nothing happened.Games like the viridian room killed me coz, for me, there was very little logic. Anyone can make a game where you have to scan evey pixel on the screen to find something. The puzzle is working out how stuff interacts goes!
Very Bad Chatspeaker at lazylaces.com:
Lovely, highly addictive game with mysterious, slightly creepy music. The whole thing conveyed a sensation of bleakness and desolation, but my hypersensitive mind and overly vivid and uncontrolled imagination, after reading that probably relatively innocuous diary entry, proceeded to conjure up a tinge of an undercurrent of underlying darkness and horror. The utter loneliness of the whole thing, as well as the maze of sparsely furnished rooms, made me scream inwardly occasionally and shudder slightly. It was, despite the fact that I had the whole bare expanse of empty room space all to myself, highly claustrophobic in a way. Before I came upon this marvellous site, I blundered through the rooms aimlessly, alternately weeping for escape and contemplating closing the browser window and quitting the game. But I was hooked. I HAD to finish the game. Every time I exited, I was back in the next ten minutes, swearing under my breath one moment and praying the next for either succour or release. Neither came until I read your myriad hints, tips, (mini) walkthroughs and spoilers, although I sometimes found several of them quite incomprehensibe. Anyway, after I finally staggered, battered and shellshocked, out of the (red) door, I, being inexplicably masochistic all of a sudden, went back in, this time selecting the blue door as my means of egress. And I went on playing, again and again, ecstatic that I had found a point-and-click game that was, within my fairly wide scope of experience, almost, if not completely, unprecedented and unparalleled in sheer unattenuated genius. Goodness, I just reread what I wrote and found it unfathomable. It was similar to wandering through an impenetrable fog (a.k.a. playing Submachine Extended Version for my first time). I’m a fine one to talk about puzzling messages. And my sentence structure is deplorable. Argh.Oh, great, now I’m soliloquising. I think I’d better go off and write a poem in order to get all these sentiments out of my head. OUT, DAMN SPOT!But seriously, it was all inadvertent. I’m not, and I wasn’t, trying to use bombastic language to deliberately obfuscate. I’m very contrite.Anyway, all the pompous words I just spewed can be summarised and truncated to one (comparatively) succinct, concise and precise statement of fact: SUBMACHINE EXTENDED VERSION PWNX0R5 T3H M3T@PH0RIC@L 50XOR5! N0W P@Y 0B3I5@NC3 2 MURTAUGH!!!11!!!!1!1!
J C at freegamplayer.com:
positive I dun think this is ruining the game since I totally understand the frustration when u get stucked. For the spoon, u just put it on the generator to mess it up. After the machine goes down, the puzzle will show up. The diary and the lighthouse picture are just distration/useless. I think this is an interesting game since u can get the puzzle in any order u want (mine is DCAB), apart from the famous Blue/Green/Yellow Rooms that you must follow the order to get out of the rooms. Nice game!
UltraFlame8460:
I found your Submachine game very interesting. At first I was close to quitting, but I don’t let a game go unanswered. So, to say the least, I tried it. Bravo!! I liked it very much indeed. You were very craft designing the clues however the last piece I feel was a give away. I was most interested by the 4 digit code which boggled me for some time, before I realized the number on the coin. The letter? Trying to throw your audience off a bit? It never did conclude I hope your making a conclusion of some sort. Overall, I thought the game was excellent, and I can see you could make a good name for yourself if you put it out there a little more. I don’t know how to describe the ending. It is something of an award. Definitely some comic relief and quite artistic. I’d say it is the best flash game I have played, and I hope that you continue to make more challenging ones. Try and stump me!!!!
Carly:
I played you game Submachine and I was hooked! It was so much fun! Some of the clues were pretty hard to interperet like the page from the diary which I didn’t use but I still found paradise at the end. I think you should have made a few levels though because the game went pretty fast and I would have enjoyed it more if there were more floors to find clues on. Thanks! You made an awesome game!
John:
I really enjoyed this version as well as the original. It is by far the best free down-loadable game. Keep up the good work and keep the new versions coming. A side note, I was playing the game without the sound. It is way better with sound. It adds to the charm of the game. Thanks.
~~~~
walkthrough
written by PinkMami at NewGrounds.com:
1. Go 3 rooms over to the left and up. Get the valve hidden behind the pipes. Also pull the switch.
2. Go back over 3 rooms where you started. Go up the ladder and pull the switch. Go back down. Then go one room over to the left and go down. Go down again. Pull the switch. There is also a diary page but you don’t need it. You could read it for laughs I guess. Go down again. Then go right.
3. You should be in a room with bells. Click the bells in this order:
4th bell - 1st bell - 2nd bell. Now the box below should open and get Tile D.
4. Go back one left. Then go up 2 ladders. Now left one and down one. Get the coin and go back up one and one right.
5. Go back one right. One down and right one. Now you shold be in a room with a radio. Hover over the button on the radio (the right button) and hold it until the shelf opens and get the spoon inside.
6. Now go left one room and up one. Then left again. Now go down 2 ladders and go to the left room. Click one the lock on the right of the box.
7. Now is the time to use the coin. Click on the coin and look at the number on the top. Those 4 numbers are what you will enter in the lock combination. Then click on the box and get the fuse. Then go out the door left.
8. Look at the top left of the room and look at the silver rectangle. Look at the 3 circles and remember what it looks like. For example it could be like this: (-) (l) (-).
9. Go up 2 rooms. Then one left. Now you should be in a room with a pipe and 3 tube-like things connecting them. Click on the bottom part of the tube that has circles like this: (-) (-) (-) Remember the circles before? Use the pattern you saw before and make sure the circles match the pattern. Now after that go back one room right.
10. Go up one and left one. Now you should be in a room with a long pipe going down. Drag the valve you got before and place it on the pipe. This is IMPORTANT! Make sure all the switches you came across are pulled! Now after you make sure they are, push the valve. You should hear some waterish steaming noise.
11. Go left one and down one. Now right one and down one. Now right one and you should be back at the room with the radio. Go down the ladder.
12. The pipe should be broken. There should also be a pearl on the floor. Get it and go back up. Then left. Now the fuse you got before (a white cylinder type thing with red lines), place the fuse in the empty spot. Now go up onw room then left one. Then go up one and right 2. There should be a generator. Pull the switch and it should have an electric surge.
13. Go back to the room with the radio. Now go up one and a piece of the tile should be spinning in a circle. Get it and leave. Now go back to the generator and here’s where the spoon comes in. Drag the spoon over to the electric surge and it should explode. Now wait for the small door at the bottom of the generator to open. There’s another tile.
14. Now go 4 rooms to the left. Now the pearl is gonna be usd. Drag the pearl over to the end of the rope on the clock and a small door should open on it. There’s the last piece. Now go back 2 rooms to the right and place each piece on.
15. There! Now a elevator should appear after the diamond spins. Go in and push the top button. Wait and push the bottom button and go now there should be 2 doors. One red and one blue. It doesn’t matter which door you go though because either way you still beat the game.
Filed by Mateusz Skutnik at 1:54 pm under Submachines
57 Comments


Magazyn Satyryczny Chichot nr 2; Październik 2005
