Tomatea just can't stop locking players into rooms, which is great because those same players just can't seem to stop escaping. It's a mutually beneficial mania. In their latest point-and-clicker, the theme is the international board game favorite Ludo, although I don't remember ever seeing a Ludo set that featured such cute gummy bear-like pieces. You'll need to collect them all of course, but there'll be some puzzles in your way in Ludo Room Escape.
The game eliminates pixel-hunting by having the cursor highlight with a subtle sparkle over hotspots, and you can tell whether or not you have the clue to a given puzzle because the game will outright tell you so. These two factors make this a kinder, gentler denizen of the sometimes brutal world of Japanese escapes. You will still need some method (a screencapture, a notepad, an eidetic memory) to keep track of clues, however.
The game features the same soothing visuals and gentle music as the rest of Tomatea's oeuvre, and the emphasis on color remains just as strong in this one as in the previous After Rain, perhaps understandable given the theme of the four colors of the Ludo pieces. Otherwise the variety of puzzles is enough to make your head turn (maybe literally). And unlike its namesake, no one is going to come along when you're almost done, land on you, and send you back to start. Phew.
Walkthrough Guide
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Ludo Room Escape Walkthrough
Note: Like many escape games, this one is not strictly linear, so rather than a step-by-step walkthrough, this is a guide with solutions to the puzzles and item locations.
The view you start out with will be called "window view", and then moving right, "maze view", "bookshelf view", and "door view".
Item Locations:
Pegs
Available Without Puzzle Solving:
Maze View: on top of shelf
Maze View: inside of the container at the bottom right of the maze
Bookshelf view: next to lamp
Bookshelf view: on top of table
Bookshelf view: under table
Bookshelf view: next to clock
Bookshelf view: next to block castle
Bookshelf view: inside block castle
Door view: on floor on the right
Obtained From Puzzles (please see puzzle guide for solutions):
One Die with Red Cat on Top.
Maze View, Top Drawer
Maze View, Middle Drawer
Four Die With Green Hippo on Top
Left Picture With Dots in Door View:
Large Die With Yellow Bear on Top
Maze View, Bottom Drawer
Other Items:
All four sets of Ludo pieces are inside the castle like shelf on window view. The green set can be obtained just by pressing the button, the other three have puzzles.
Pull-cord: the left window in window view.
Metal tube: Take apart the pull-cord in the inventory.
String: Take apart the pull-cord in the inventory.
Screwdriver: Behind the right picture in door view (see puzzle guide).
Wrench: Inside the four die (see puzzle guide).
Stepladder: Use the wrench to unbolt it on door view, and then unfold it in inventory.
The key to escape is in the table on bookshelf view.
Puzzle Solutions:
Screwdriver Behind the Pictures:
Use the string on the contraption behind the left picture to hold the nook open and take the screwdriver.
Yellow Ludo Pieces:
Looking at window view, tilt your head to the left for the combination.
3801
Red Ludo Pieces:
In window view, pay attention to the sizes and colors of the pieces sitting on dice.
Red blue green yellow.
One Die with Red Cat:
You will need the screwdriver from behind the pictures to open it. Press the button to get another peg.
Maze View, Top Drawer
On the window view, zoom into the castle and change the color of the middle block on the left from dark to light by clicking on it, then tilt your head to the right to read the clue. (You must actually do this as the game will not let you solve the puzzle until you've obtained the clue.)
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Maze View, Middle Drawer
Zoomed into the drawers, click on the right to view a closed cabinet with a spinning disc puzzle inside. You will need the screwdriver to unlock the cabinet, and then rotate the discs to reveal a picture. When you've got it right it will say "solved". The completed picture is also a clue for the blue Ludo pieces. Screenshot.
Four Die With Green Hippo:
In bookshelf view, zoom into the lamp and use the metal tube (obtained from the pullcord from window view). Click the new switch and watch the pattern of lights. Then go to the four die in window view and move the green dots on the wheels such that they point in the same directions. Screenshot.
Bolted Step Ladder (door view)
Use the wrench from the four die with green hippo to remove the bolt.
Left Picture On Door View:
Use the step ladder under the left window in window view. Click on the windowshade to pull it down and take the paper clue. Unfold it in inventory to see the clue. Go to door view and zoom in on the left hand picture. Mentally rotate the clue once clockwise, and click the dots in the indicated order.
Large Die With Yellow Bear:
You will need the clue from Left Picture on Door View. Match the colors of the circles to that clue. Screenshot.
Blue Ludo Pieces:
Use the clue from the solution to the middle drawer of the maze view to color code the combination.
Yellow square, red triangle, green star, blue circle.
Maze View, Bottom Drawer:
You will need all four Ludo piece sets. Go to the table in bookshelf view and use the Ludo pieces on the board. Screenshot. Use this clue to color code the lock on the bottom drawer in the maze view.
Blue top, yellow right, red bottom, green left.
The Maze:
You will need all 16 pegs. Use them on the peg board to the right of the maze. Then rotate the pegs such that the maze allows the die at the upper left to travel to the lower right. Screenshot. Take the die from the cup.
The Key:
You will need the die from the maze. Put the die in the center of the Ludo board on the table in bookshelf view. Take the key from under the table and use it on the door. Congratulations!
Posted by: joye | March 17, 2012 1:36 PM