Mateusz Skutnik’s Submachine series has kept puzzle and adventure game fans guessing for over five years. With its eerie atmosphere and mysterious narrative, each subsequent installment has only served to raise more questions and wild speculation amongst its fans. If you’ve been waiting patiently (or not so patiently) for another chapter, your loyalty is about to be rewarded. Submachine 7: The Core is finally here… and it’s waiting for you to unlock its secrets.

Use your mouse to interact with your environment and pick up items, which are stored in your inventory on the right. You can click once on an item you’re carrying to pick it up, and then again anywhere else on the screen you want to try using it. Investigate everywhere, sometimes more than once; if something has happened and you’ve made progress, it’s worth revisiting old areas to see if anything has changed, or if you can interact with something new. Since the game saves your progress automatically, you can take time out whenever you want to scrawl “What does it mean?!” over and over on your walls (it’s very therapeutic) before picking up right where you left off.

Analysis: I am going to be honest with you; until now, I had never played any of the Submachine games, and playing them all back to back to prepare myself for this review was a lot like wandering around inside a M.C. Escher painting with H.G. Wells and H.P. Lovecraft as travelling companions. (Hunter S Thompson might have been there too, flicking the back of my head every few minutes.) The series is baffling and intriguing, and has only gotten bigger and more complex as it’s gone on. To say it’s ambitious is putting it mildly, and the fact that Mateusz appears to have only gotten more creative with his brainchild with each chapter is really impressive.

It’s easy to see why the series has earned such a devoted following. Not only is it extremely well made, with subtle ambient noise and clean visuals, but its sparse narrative revealed in notes and snippets for years has fueled a lot of wild speculation. By now Mateusz has his series down to an art and exploring the game just for the sake of enjoying the gorgeous design is rewarding too. The biggest problem you might run into is that like most other games in the series, The Core is prone to giving you very little direction. You might spend a while flailing at switches or spinning valves, not realising that your monkey-like problem solving antics have actually triggered something in a different area even if there was little or no indication anything had changed. You’ll also have to keep your eyes open for small items, and be willing to examine all corners of each area; I spent a while going around in circles, not realising I’d actually missed an area transition next to another one.

Although it initially seems like a very small game, The Core quickly reveals itself to have a big environment for you to explore… provided, of course, you can figure out how to unlock it all. Players hoping for more brain-teasing puzzles such as those found in Submachine 3: The Loop might wish the Core found more balance between those and “use this item here” school of puzzling typically found in adventure games. The game is definitely challenging and requires you to keep your eyes peeled and be diligent in exploring your environment, sometimes more than once. Compared to most other games in the genre, making even a little progress in The Core (or even any game in the series) tends to feel like a big achievement, so go ahead… pat yourself on the back now and again. If you’ve come this far, you’ve certainly earned it.

If you’re hoping for a resolution and answers to all your questions, you might find the “To Be Continued” finale just another reason to camp outside Mateusz’s doorstep. Submachine 7: The Core still offers a lot more pieces of the puzzle, and provides a fantastic realm full of secrets to uncover them in. And, perhaps most important for an adventure game, the series as a whole actually feels like an adventure. So, I’ve got to ask… why are you even still reading this when there’s a whole new world out there for you to explore? Allons-y!

Author: Dora on jayisgames.com

Submachine 7: The Core has been on our Gaming Most-Wanted List of 2010 and for good reasons too: Submachine series is one of most beloved gaming brands ever developed for the great territory of internet. Each installment brings Mateusz’s patented imagination to life through simple yet appealing graphic, compelling and intriguing on-going story, haunting and memorable ambients, and best of all, the highly polished gameplay that puts almost every other PNC games to shame. Hypes for Sub_7 exploded through the roof comparable to extremely long wait of Sub_6, only to be made worst after the releases of critical darling’s Submachine Network Exploration Experience and Submachine: 32 Chambers. The wait was unbearable and in the end came possibly what everyone was hoping to be an incredible cap-off of the fabled Year of the Submachine.

Does Submachine 7: The Core delivers, meets, and exceeds our expectations? The most resounding answer sung by chorus of hungry players is YES. Yes, indeed. Best Submachine game ever? Read on.

GRAPHIC

Again, it seems unfair that I have to continue to do this section of review, especially since each Submachine game is eerily beautiful in their ways and that there’s almost no flaw to Mateusz’s art direction. But what so different about this game is that the art direction totally blew our expectations of what Submachine should looks like and how the location designs and structures should be built. All of sudden, the constricting areas of blocky rooms within screen was thrown away in favor of wide-open areas located within one giant location and the art style became extremely rich and imaginative as result of it.

The fractured architects will be one of most memorable places ever visited in any Submachine games, powered by insanely immense structure and its haunting erosions backed by beautiful lifeforms. Not only the art styles breath new life because of shift in art direction, it also bolster toward and from the story as well, making the designs of entire game an absolutely, creatively, and breathlessly jaw-dropping. The art and graphic alone also pushed the doors wide open for even truly spellbinding locations possibly waiting for us in Submachine 8 and eventually in SubNet.

Absolutely perfect.

Also… cutely glowing lifeforms. Who wouldn’t like them?

Score: 10 / 10

SOUND

An upgrade over what I deemed as “disappointing soundtracks” of Submachine 6. What we get is a true return-to-form ambients that made Submachine 1-5 truly haunting games to explore and play. The tunes may not be as heavily memorable as many of classics, but they still have tons of Submachine signatures all over with electronic noises, chirps, and beeps bringing the machines to life. The ambients are also transcendent, not only highlighting the atmosphere of each locations, but also lending emotional impacts to the in-game plot development that would send chills down to everyone’s spines. Also supplementing the ambients are well-thought-of sound effects, making each notable activities extremely realistic and satisfying.

Expertly made and applied ambients and sound effects had made this game one of best Submachine games to listen to while playing. It would guarantee to make your ears cry with joys.

Score: 10 / 10

PLOT

After the satisfying plot-heavy Submachine 6, many of us thought we will get sizable chunks of stories to chow down on. What we experienced through was a major revelation, the greatest since eye-opening plot of Submachine 4. Mateusz has truly nailed down on the evolving plot developments, making this game a true gem to read and marvel at. Almost every area brings something new to the developing Submachine lore and Submachine 7 stories might be the best since fan’s favorite Submachine 4. And to the delight of fans all over, the stories of entire Submachine series are brought to almost full circle and that is not even the end of it. It only the beginning of something truly amazing yet to be come in final three episodes. What made this story truly memorable is that it also lends strength to art direction and gameplay, making this game addicting to play and scavenge through for its tasty secrets.

Although, the main criticisms is that there are so much of stories to scrooge through, it could leave some players drunk and confused by wealth of revelations. Also, some players might be disappointed that the Core aren’t what they expected, but I found it to be well written enough for the Core itself to shatter player’s expectation of what the areas should be like. Heck, I thought the Core would be machine-heavy, but it wasn’t the case. The standout of entire plot is the relationship between Liz and Mur finally made clear as well as the development of Submachine itself, shattering the boundaries of what Submachine truly is once again.

Also, Submachine 7 totally killed some of my famous theories. Thanks a lot.

Truly fantastic.

Score: 9.9 / 10

GAMEPLAY

Submachine 7 has finally offer extremely enjoyable exploration and biting-hard puzzle-solving not seen since Submachine 2, 4, and 5. What made Submachine 7 one of best PNC games around is the craft and care put into many of puzzles that are very different from all other games. The Core is a tough one to crack and one that require lot of thoughts and deductions to solve and beat. It not hair-pulling hard, but it no cake-walk either. The difficulty is just about perfect where newcomer and avid veterans can find satisfying challenges to overcome.

My criticisms is that the secrets are so dang tough to find, but I guess it made the rewards at the end all the more satisfying. Also, few of puzzles are extremely hard, it took me a while to figure out the answer, but that’s a nice change of pace from other Submachine games since we do have hints available to nudge us into right direction. Also, some of areas are so large that it felt bit unnecessary to have one or two extra rooms to explore in and I feel worried that the next three games will become too ambitious for their own goods. That why we have SubNet to dump the ideas into.

Expertly balanced.

Score: 9.8 / 10

In the end, Submachine 7 constantly screwing with our expectations and wowing us with tons of plot developments and eerily beautiful art styles that will sure to spark off new wave of speculations about what Submachines truly are and what they’re made for. I have never seen the reactions quite like this since the famous Submachine 4 and for good reasons too.

Is it the best Submachine game ever?

YES and NO.

Wait, why?

The answer: Submachine 4.

Submachine 4 and Submachine 7 are so similar and so different in every way. Both games offer truly compelling gameplay backed by haunting arts and ambients. Both have addicting stories that blew the doors wide open, welcoming all sort of heated debates and speculations. What they’re so different is that both offers extremely different experiences, plot developments, locations to explore, and theories to create. Submachine 7 reminds me what Submachine 4 brought to the table all those years ago and that made Submachine 7 all so great to play. It not really fair for me to say Submachine 7 is better than Submachine 4, but it also not fair for me to say that Sub_4 is better than Sub_7. No, I will leave that debate to the fans.

As for me, I believed that both games are truly excellent for same and different reasons and I am proud to say that Submachine 7 is the best game since Submachine 4 and that both games are the absolute best in entire series.

You truly outdid yourself once again, Mateusz.

Final Score: 9.8 / 10

One more thing: CUTELY GLOWING LIFEFORMS

well kind of nowhere, because I’m in the middle of sub7 development, this came out of my head. (just said that my head = nowhere, but I don’t mind).

Lazy sunday? Fear not! The new UPDATE from the submachine network is here! (third batch, second update).

enjoy!

play this game

reviews: PCWorld

As I remember, there was a note found in Submachine 4 mentioning 32 chambers filled with sand. Well, here they are in another short off-main-storyline installment of the Submachine series.

When you star at the right of the “submachine” there a green jade pick it up. Then go left.

Click on the brown box pick up “autumn plate”

Click on the brick wall with the drawing and go in the hole. (pick up the green jade) then go down and right.

In the big room go left and pick up the lever and the green jade.

Go up and pick up the winter plate (on the wall with all the symbols)

Then go right twice (the screen with the big haed. Put the lever into the wall on your right. Pull the lever up. Then go left twice and go down in the hole created by the lever.

Pick up the wooden stick. And go right. On top of the wall there is a wooden bowl pick it up. and go right. It’s written “Air wind and fire dig through sand” So go right and place all the cement box to air wind and fire (in that order) On the Wind one there is a jade on the sand. Pick it up. And on the Fire one click on the wooden box and pick up a round stone. Go left three times and go down once.

Pick un the jade and put the stick into the left wall (the round thing) Pick up the topaz and go down then right. (pick the Jade) and go right twice. You should be in front of a round “face” with a hole in the middle, Put the wooden bowl on the floor in front of the hole and click on the wall sand should come out of the mouth and fill up the bowl.

Pick up the bowl full of sand and go left once. Pour the sand into the goblet of the statue then go left (you should lose the bowl after that. Climb the rope at the top and a bit left you should be able to click to pick up the spring plate, after that go right. In the floor at the right of the wooden prison door there’s Topaz number 2 pick it up. Open the prison’s door (click and drag up) then go right.

On the wall there are two round clickable cement block. Click on the right one until the open spot is in the left and down quadrant (quadrant 3 on a diagram) After that click on the left one until the open spot is on the bottom. Go inside the “prison’s” door and pick up the “stone cone” then go down the ladder. Pick up the weight stone. Then go back up.

Go all the way back where you picked up the wooden bowl there’s a stick on the wall that you can push but it always go back up. Put the weight stone on it and go back where you came from. (now you can go all the way down)

Go down and left pick up the round stone. Go right pick up Jade 7.

Go left twice and click three time on the clickable cement block, go up and push down the white sqare. Go back down and click once on the clickable cement block go all the way back to the big face at the start of the game and put the 2 rounds stones in the eyes. (pick up Topaz three)

Go all the way back at the end and now the door with the three spikes should be open enter it and go left click on the wooden box (pick up topaz 4) There’s a wheel, put the stone cone in it and go right twice. on the wall there’s the plate 4. And completely on the right you can click on the wall to pick up jade 8. Go left climb the stairs. But the 8 Jadeites, the 4 plates in the wheel and turn very slowly each part of the wheel (starting by the plates, then the Jade then the topaz until it click) After that put the four topaz in and turn the middle of the wheel so it is straight.

written by Dave

Casual game Submachine: 32 Chambers takes you on a journey within stone walls, past ancient ruins, and through drifts of sand. With nothing but your wits and a few clickable objects, you navigate the chambers and solve puzzles to win this browser-based game. Its hand-drawn look and absorbing gameplay absorbed me so thoroughly, finishing the game made me blink as if leaving a cave.

Submachine: 32 Chambers begins in a stone-brick room with a Mesoamerican-looking glyph and a futuristic machine. If you’ve played any of the other Submachine games, you’ll recognize the apparatus as the teleporter that brought you there. Even if 32 Chambers is your first introduction to the Submachine games, you’ll immediately learn how it works: You mouse over objects and chamber edges, looking for items to pick up and directions to go. A veteran of these games would have little trouble finding out where to click to collect items, move switches, and travel from room to room. My strategy was to mouse over every pixel looking for clues (and to get a little disconcerted when I ran across the statue of Ixtab, the Mayan goddess of suicide).

Luckily, the creepy statue was window dressing and not a clue about my progress. Despite the spikes that shoot out of the walls at the boundaries, there’s no way to lose at Submachine: 32 Chambers. You can leave the game and resume at auto-save points. The ThumpMonks’ eerie music adds to the mood, but sounds aren’t crucial for gameplay, so you can also play it muted to avoid disturbing your neighbors. If you decide to become more of a tourist than an explorer, you can avail yourself of the walkthrough link handily placed in the game itself.

The tenth installment in Submachine series, 32 Chambers has its own history. Despite the Mesoamerican look, 32 Chambers is not part of our work, but of Mateusz Skutnik’s vast “subnet” (submachine network) world. Polish architect-turned-graphic novelist Skutnik has been producing Submachine games since 2005, building up quite a following.

If you need a break–or a series of breaks–to challenge your mind, Submachine: 32 Chambers might be just the right little trip to plug into your day’s itinerary.

author: Laura Blackwell

written by Oqapo

Rozbijte teleport pomocí odkliknutí souřadnice. Seberte zelený kámen za teleportem. Běžte doleva. Rozsypte písek z “box glyph” a seberte desku v něm. Klikněte na “air glyph” a vlezte do šachty která se otevřela. V šachtě seberte druhý zelený kámen a projděte šachtou dolů.

Běžte doleva seberte “lever handle” a na kraji třetí zelený kámen. Běžte podle malby nahorů a seberte druhou desku. Potom běžte dolů a 2x doleva a “lever handle” strčte do díry a zmáčkněte na něj. Běžte zpět k malbě a jděte dolů, seberte opřenou tyč a běžte doprava.

Seberte nad dírou, na stojanu mísu. Běžte 2x doprava a tam naklikejte symbol s popiskem “air” o jedno doprava “wind” a seberte čtvrtý zelený kámen, a zase o jedno naklikejte “fire” a rozsypte “box glyph” a seberte z něj kamenou kouli. Běžte doleva 3x a dolů. Vložte tyč do díry a seberte první topas, seberte pátý zelený kámen a běžte dolů.

Běžte 3x doprava a pod kruh s oblyčejem dejte misku, a pootočte kruh. Seberte misku a běžte doleva. Dejte soše do poháru misku s pískem. Běžte doleva seberte šestý zelený kámen, a po laně šplhejte nahorů. Nad částí provazu který je vodorovně je třetí deska, seberte jí a běžte doprava.

Před bránou pod podlahou seberte druhý topas. Pomocí kliknutí a táhnutí otevřete bránu a běžte doprava. 3x pootočte s kolem které vypadá jako tři čtvrtiny a vstupte za bránu. Seberte jehlan a běžte zpátky ke kolům. Teď 3x pootočte kolo které vypadá jako polovina a běžte znova za bránu. Běžte doprava, dolů a seberte krychli a teď běžte k tyči ve zdi, která je u symbolů jinak známích “obrázků”. Tak do toho otvoru s tou tyčí dejte krychli pro zatížení. Bežte zpátky za bránu, a teď zjistíte že už tam písek neni.

3x otočte kolem, běžte zpátky a stáhněte páku, běžte zpět ke kolu a 1x ho otočte. Běžte doleva seberte kouli a běžte k velké hlavě (socha), dejte jí do očních důlků koule, a ona otevře tlamu a v ní třetí topas. Běžte zpět na bránu. Tam běžte 2x doprava a seberte sedmý zelený kámen na čele sochy. Běžte doleva a projděte otvorem. Běžte doprava klikněte na “tooth glyph” a seberte poslední zelený kámen a poslední desku. Běžte 2x doleva, dejte jehlan na placku a rozsypte písek “box glyph”. Seberte poslední topas, běžte doprava a po schodech nahorů. Tam dejte do toho velkého kruhu všechny zelené kameny, topasy a desky, a otočte zmáčknutím a táhnutím kruhem. Potom vás to teleportuje, a konec!

THERE IS NO DIARY PAGE

THERE IS NO MENU

THERE IS NO SPOON

THERE IS ONLY YOU

AND THE MACHINE

“All memories are lost in time, like tears in rain.”

Submachine is the title of a series of Flash games created by Polish game designer Mateusz Skutnik.

All of the games are point-and-click style puzzles and (excepting the two AU games) follow a continuous storyline. The general object of each game is to escape from an enclosed (and usually submerged) location that houses a mysterious machine. As the story progresses, the player finds more and more about the history of the “submachines” through clues left behind by a mysterious figure named Murtaugh. One of the well-known characteristics of the game is a complete and total lack of any other living being, even animals. This often leads to the games being filed under Nightmare Fuel, thoughYour Mileage May Vary.

The puzzles within the game rely on acute observation, a willingness to hunt for objects hidden in the exact opposite of plain sight, and other such tasks. However, the puzzles are very cleverly made, and on completion one usually feels some degree of self-satisfaction.

Some of the tropes found within these games are:

• After The End – This is debatable, as the games haven’t revealed what happened to everybody else. Given some of the desperate-sounding letters in the more remote locations you visit, it wasn’t pleasant.
• Art Evolution
• Author Stand In – Mur, the mysterious figure that leaves you clues and interacts with you during the fourth game talks about having a pet black cat named Einstein-Mateusz has two black cats. Coincidence? …Quite possibly, yes (especially after The Edge).
• Beautiful Void – unless you find the structural decay, haunting minimalist music and utter lack of population unnerving (see Nightmare Fuel below).
• Big Brother Is Watching-There’s always a feeling that you are being watched by some unknown entity, especially after game #3.
• Bragging Rights Reward – Collect all twenty “secrets” in Sub 2 and you get… nothing. (Collecting the secrets in games 4 and 5, however, let you view extras.)
• Broken Pedestal – In Submachine 6: The Edge (huge spoilers), Mur abandons you in the Submachine after you disable its defences; you had no importance outside of enabling his invasion plan.

• Some of the notes left in Submachine 4: The Lab already hinted at this.
• In the SubNet Exploration Experience, if you visit the Loop from the third game (coordinates 555), you’ll find a “Submachine As Perpetual Maze theory” which ends with a short plea for help in escaping from the area, and you find it is written by the same character as in the above example.
• Submachine 6 also sees players engage with the computer elements of the machine.
• The SubNet Exploration Project is devoted largely to presenting many of the various fan theories as to what’s really going on.
• Claustrophobes might want to think twice as well.
• High Octane Nightmare Fuel – When you play Submachine Network Exploration Experience, type in 666 for the coordinates and see where you end up.
• The second game starts with you completing the first game on an arcade machine, and ends with you realizing your “escape” was just another game.
  • The “or was it?” part comes in when you realize what your inventory is at the beginning of the second game – the diary entry, as well as the Wisdom Gem you can find in the extended version of the first.
  • However, you no longer have the coin…
• In Network Exploration Experience, type in 815.

• Call Back – In Submachine 4 you visit various locations that are similar (but not identical) to areas of the previous games. In Submachine 5, you return to the lighthouse from Submachine 2, and collect the Wisdom Gem you left there.
• Cosmetic Award – In Submachine 2 collecting all the “secrets” (tiny spheres hidden around the world) yields … absolutely nothing. (In 4 and 5 they unlock a “Making of” section. 6 has five secret areas which yield extra information.)
• Early Installment Weirdness – If you had played the original Submachine without any knowledge of later episodes, you’d have probably guessed that the series would just be another set of escape-the-room series that happened to have a suitably creepy atmosphere. Then they introduced the stuff about teleportation, alternate dimensions, relics from forgotten civilizations, strange futuristic technology of an unknown source, etc., and the first game just seems sparse in comparison.
• Ghost City-You never encounter any people or animals whatsoever, and if This Troper remembers correctly, only one piece of vegetation.
• Leaning On The Fourth Wall – One of the notes you find in Submachine 4 (by someone who stumbled into the submachine network and can’t find their way out) reads suspiciously like a call for help on an escape game discussion board, complete with description of how far they’ve got and cute username.

• Master Computer – In Submachine 3, the “Loop” was a Matrix-style sort of computer in the sense that it separated people’s consciousness from reality, engaging them in puzzles to keep them from questioning their surroundings.

• Mind Screw – Becomes particularly prominent in the second installment.

• Nightmare Fuel – This walks hand-in-hand with Your Mileage May Vary, as stated above. People who have solitude issues should probably think a bit before playing this game.

• Nothing Is Scarier
• Ontological Mystery
• Or Was It A Dream – Not in the exact sense, but some well-placed comments about being part of “the loop” made for some interesting thoughts after having completed one of the games.

• Pixel Hunt – Quite often.
• Portal Network
• Red Herring – Quite a few in Submachine F L F.
• Shout Out – Submachine 2 opens woth the words “I didn’t wake up. And I do remember”, parodying the opening of “The Crimson Room”.

• The Wiki Rule – Submachine Wiki.
• Zeerust – You can tell that some of the abandoned technology is old both because of the dust and rust and also because much of it just looks dated otherwise.