I was going to write a review for Submachine 10.
But that’s impossible. With the newest release, it’s all or nothing. So I’ll focus on Submachine 10, but I guarantee you’ll hear about every other (main) game too in the following text.
It’s been ten years. I came across Submachine and really started following it right after Submachine 8 was released. So I haven’t been here from the beginning, but I’ve had more than enough time to become acquainted. Lost, even.
What makes Submachine special? What makes it different from other room escape games on the Internet? Why does it stand out?
The answer is simple; it’s all about the environment.
Take your basic room escape game. If you’re a game developer, you can make the puzzles as easy or as difficult as you want. You can control the number of items you put in the game.

A room escape game. But that’s it.
Submachine surpasses this. It offers more perspectives to please more than just the casual gamer. (And let’s be honest, you’re not a casual gamer if you tackle Submachine 10).
What does it offer? Submachine offers not just a game, but an environment. Turn the lights off and close the curtains in your room, put on your headphones, and you’ve instantly left Earth and ended up…below ground, it seems. The point is, you’re not sitting in your basement hunched over a computer screen. You’re IN Submachine. Submachine IS your world.
How does one accomplish this? How does one make a seemingly simple game concept (escape the room: Go!) turn into an elaborate journey?
Let’s see. First, let’s talk about what you see. In order to provide the opportunity for people to leave their reality and delve into their own thoughts, you have to produce art to which they can respond. Submachine IS art. Each screen, whether you look at detailed bricks and stone or gaze over a precipice into the Void, provides an individual painting. Add these together in a single game and you really understand what each location is about. Each location tells its own story. You can see the crumbling bricks in the Root and feel the first architects that designed it. It’s better than glazing over a rectangular wall clicking for pixels.
My point: Mateusz Skutnik provides the best eye-candy ever seen in a point n’ click. It looks good. It’s not a bunch of polygons thrown together in a beginner computer program. Skutnik successfully has built his own artstyle. It looks like reality, but you can still tell that it’s all Skutnik’s work. The amount of time spent into simply drawing each location, what with lighting, shading, and getting the colors and contrasts just right, pulls your eyes in immediately. If nothing else, his games are pretty. They’re almost real. You want to be there. It’s games like these where you want to BE IN THE GAME ITSELF that have attracted avid indie-gobblers for years (myself included). How would you want to stand under one of the beautiful arches in the Cardinal mosque? Wouldn’t you want to climb the twisting staircases of the Temple? What about crossing a bridge made of light?
So he has visuals down. But what about actual gameplay? We’ll come back to that. First we must attack the driving storyline that ties everything together.
Room escapes don’t really have much of a story. Sure, they have similarities if it’s a multiple-part series, but there’s not much of a story, usually. It’s nostly the genre name: escape the room. But Skutnik goes farther than that. It’s not satisfying to place the last item and say “yay I’m done.” *Proceeds to find more room escape games on the Internet*
No.
Skutnik provides us with a story that has been keeping people guessing for years. Is the Submachine underground? Is it in space? Is it nowhere? What time is it? Room escape games don’t give you this thought process. Usually it’s the same. You’re in a room. Get out. You’re done! Sure it’s a mental exercise, but it’s not a workout. Skutnik makes us question things we shouldn’t be questioning. Yes, we’re in a room. But where is this room? WHEN is this room? Didn’t I see another version of this room before? Why isn’t gravity working here? What the hell is this karma stuff I keep seeing? How did I get here?
Basic questions, shot to bits. Casual room escape games close the doors on us. “You’re in a room with one door”. Submachine takes out the doors by the hinges, and then proceeds to smash the walls down too, then removes the ceiling and the floor. It leaves you exposed. “Make this portal work. Then take it to six or seven different places, and THEN you might find a way out.” Another example: A casual room escape game makes it easy to guess why you’re here. Why are you locked in the room? Maybe you partied too hard and your friends locked you in, somehow. Maybe you’re writing it off as a “social experiment”, and that’s why you woke up in an unfamiliar room. Anyway, you’re not interested in that as you are just wanting to get out. Submachine thinks differently. In the beginning it might look like you just dropped in for a nice arcade game; suddenly you’re finding out you were sent by a “higher-up” to do his dirty work. Oh, and evidently you worked with mysterious blue polygons before. Is the higher-up good? Bad? Dead? Who knows? Who is right? Who is wrong? Who is human, even?
Casual room escapes give you casual items. Here, have a screwdriver! (aka, look for screws). Your basic layman can solve this. Submachine is a bit more involved. Have a navigator! (wtf?) Figure it out! See you in Layer Eight! Here, have a location that stretches endlessly in all directions! Or one that loops back on itself! We’ll give you a compass, don’t worry ;) (depending on which cycle you’re in) It takes more than usual to wrap your head around what you are given. It’s not immediately apparent what a portal stabiliser or a power generator is used for. It’s not immediately obvious why you have a plasma ball, much less two or three. Submachine refuses to have games that you play when you’re just trying to distract yourself from your homework due tomorrow. Skutnik demands that his games offer more. There’s a story behind the staircases. There’s a myth between the rungs of the ladders. Figure it out. You, the Player, might be involved, here for a bigger reason.
All this for one goal: to stand out to people to crave a higher level of intelligence. These games require wit and real cognitive thinking, not just an eye for pixels on a screen. Submachine is smart, and therefore demands smart-ness from its players. Skutnik has successfully developed a series that makes players play it for the puzzles. NOT to get to the end, however satisfying that might feel. It’s the puzzles themselves, not the path to freedom. They don’t want to escape. After my first playthrough of Sub9 my most thought-upon question was: How is he going to top this? What is better than having me running around the same set of rooms in multiple realities? What is better than teleporting to different locations? What is better than trying to rebuild statues or restore relics of ancient civilizations? There’s always something new. Some new twist to the mechanic. Sure, it’s always items, but the items are always different. It’s not just looking behind a couch for a screwdriver.
So Skutnik has astounding visuals in Submachine, a story that craves answers to questions, and puzzles that want not so much to be solved as understood and marveled at. And he caters to a crowd by advertising more than moving your mouse around. He invites us to think, and we end up doing so. Sounds pretty mindless-less for a game, don’t you think? Everything is planned to offer a better gaming experience, for those who want it.
Also, might I mention the killer soundtrack composed by Thumpmonks in every game that EACH AND EVERY TIME fits its surroundings. I could go on and on about every track saved in my iTunes library that’s labeled “Artist: Thumpmonks” (around 100 tracks by this point), but I won’t. I can only say this: they’re needed just as much as anything else in these games if the player is to be properly immersed in their glory. A glory of broken realities, misunderstood scientists, and advanced technology. I’m listening to the Sub4 Lab ambient as I write this (which is probably adding to my overexcitement to be writing this and therefore is contributing to its possible incoherence of thoughts)
So all this writing and I haven’t really said anything about Submachine 10 explicitly (at least, I feel like it’s a lot of writing. I haven’t typed this much in a long time). The reason is that Submachine 10 is special: it embodies ALL the characteristics of Submachine displayed over the last ten years. Besides the obvious allusion to the inclusion of one location – at least – from each main game prior, The Exit is simply a culmination of all the concepts that have made Submachine special. Portals? Sure! Karma portals? Of course! Valves? Yes! Cryptic notes? Double yes! All the things that people have come to love about this series over the past decade are thrown in a large melting pot 473 screens large (from a source who has been scanning the Subnet for all eternity). Submachine 10 first and foremost is the perfect nostalgia trip, and its length and surprises around every corner make the trip more than a temporary high.
Some thoughts I had while playing:
“I can’t believe there are lab portals in this game!”
“There are karma portals too? No way!”
“Oh no, we did NOT just finally put something in that box in the wall of the Root.”
and possibly my favorite internal thought:
“WE”RE IN THE BASEMENT AGAIN, HOLY SH*T”
…

“MAKE THAT TWO BASEMENTS”.
I know for me, anytime I hear a mention of Submachine, I flip out. It’s that kind of game. It doesn’t require the constant attention of mainstream media. That’s not in the formula for success. It’s not a game YouTubers play. It’s not a game discussed in multiple forums (just one!). It is discussed quite frequently, but the community is contained and comfortable, huddling around the red and blue candles in the Pyramid while major fandoms flow uncontained and rampant like red resin. The community is relatively small but it has proven to be one of the most concentrated and dedicated ones I have seen. I have had the pleasure of meeting about forty different people, maybe more, in the fan forum whose community actions have been the result of ten years of hard work from an indie developer. Art is produced. Stories are made. Jokes are made (both inside jokes and lame ones too). And of course, there’s always questions. Why does this thing exist? What purpose does this object serve? Each game gives a different personal experience for each player that we are able to share in a solid fanbase. Some people focus on the art. Some people want to figure out the grand purpose. Some people drop a note saying that they Submachine in their own reality. See an interesting-shaped arch or a complex control panel lately? That was Submachine’s work.
Submachine 10 brings all this together. It is made to serve its loyal players. Do you like solving puzzles? Sub10 is the ultimate test. Do you like marveling at new and interesting architecture? Gaze upon these ornate statues and twisting staircases. Did you like Submachine 3, or coordinates 245, 555, 690, or any other loops found in the Subverse? Let’s give you a few of those. You like fork? I give you fork. Also, have spoon. Do you want answers to the most confusing questions about Shiva, the Layers, and what happened to Mur and Liz? Yes you can, but you’re gonna have to work for it. If you are an avid fan, you simply cannot be let down by this game. It has everything you’ve wanted.
It’s a celebration, more than anything. A celebration both of the decade of development and of the path of the Player. It all ends here, and at the same time, it doesn’t. Besides that fact that more games are coming out, fans can re-experience the enjoyment and satisfaction that they have been experiencing since 2005. And Mateusz did it right. It’s apparent that he gave everything, left arm and all, to make this game the grand finale it deserves to be.
There’s not much more for me to say. I thought that I had more to talk about after playing the game that was, almost impossibly, three times as large as it’s prequel. Yet I’m still sitting here, trying to decode what exactly I played yesterday afternoon. I still have the headache. (A good one, don’t worry).
I feel like in a week I’ll have more to say regarding the nitty-gritty of the gameplay and all that. But it doesn’t really matter. Some people can call the game “too hard”, “too long”, or “too confusing” if they want. They can say that the puzzles were easy or difficult. They can obsess over all the possible uses for a “long stick”. In the end, it all gets wrapped up in a big package and sent with a bow on top. Inside the package is the way forward, but it’s only achieved by going backwards nine different times. It screws with you. But of course it’s what you wanted. It’s why you eagerly waited for the progress bar to inch forward. It’s why you had the internal struggle over whether or not you wanted to see teasers released. It’s why rabbits went extinct (!).
It’s a big present. Are you ready to open it up? Because it might open you up instead.

Author: Jatsko

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Le grand développeur de jeux polonais Mateusz Skutnik est allé faire un tour à Montaigut-le-Blanc (Puy-de-Dôme) pour les vacances. Il y a vu des ruelles en pente, des tas de bois pour l’hiver, un banc, des chardons, des vieilles portes, des vieilles pierres, et un paquet de toiles d’araignées. Comme il l’avait fait ces dernières années à Venise, Bologne ou Dubrovnik, il a soigneusement photographié en plan d’ensemble et en très gros plan toutes ces petites vieilleries qui donnent son âme au village.
Skutnik a reconstitué une balade virtuelle permettant de cliquer sur certains détails pour les agrandir, et a caché dans les recoins sombres 10 gnomes et un troll. Il s’agit de les retrouver. Prenez votre temps.

Camille Gevaudan.

~~~~

The great polish game developer Mateusz Skutnik came to visit Montaigut-le-Blanc (Puy-de-Dôme) for his holidays. There, he saw little streets, pile of woods for the winter, a bench, some thistles, old doors, old rocks and a bunch of spider webs. As he did it these past few years with Venise, Bologna or Dubrovnik, he carefully photographed in wide shot and close-up of all of these little old things that give the village a soul. Skutnik recreated a virtual stroll that allows us to click on certain details to enlarge them, and hid in the dark corner 10 gnomes and one troll. You’ll have to find them all. Take your time.
Translated by Diane Lemoine.

~~~~

El gran desarrollador de juegos polaco Mateusz Skutnik vino a visitar Montaigut-le-Blanc durante sus vacaciones. Allí vió calles eatrechas, una pila de madera para el invierno, una rama, algunos cardos, antiguas puertas y piedras y un puñado de telarañas. Tal y como hizo otros años en Venecia, Bolonia o en Dubrovnik, fotografió cuidadosamente de lejos y de cerca todos esos pequeños y antiguos detalles que le dan alma al pueblo. Skutnik ha recreado un paseo virtual que nos permite clicar ciertos detalles para ampliarlos y ha escondido en rincones oscuros 10 gnomos y un troll. Tendrás que encontrarlos a todos. Tómate tu tiempo.
Translated by Silvia Rodriguez.

So, guys, here’s the thing.
As you probably know, sometime ago I asked you to send me questions that you think should be addressed in the upcoming Submachine 10. Your response was swift, precise and… uhm… avalanche-like? Not sure if that’s the right expression. Anyway. I’ve collected 112 questions, and as you can imagine, I will not be able to answer them all in the upcoming game. Not even close. Maybe I should just write a book about Submachine. Like a dictionary, or digest.

I’m pretty sure I will cover some of those questions in Submachine 10, however I believe rest of them will have to wait for standalone Submachine games that will come later on. Those, while being stripped from the main storyline, will have plenty of room to discuss all those subjects in question. So, more Submachines, yay.

Here’s the full list of Submachine questions I’m supposed to tackle:

1. In Submachine 9, the Player see the graves of Mur and Liz. Are they actually dead?
2. Is the Player dead and the Submachine is some sort of purgatory?
3. What really is the submachine
4. who Mur and Liz really are
5. who are all the others that explored the maze of the network of places we have been
6. Was it all just a dream, an amazing place existing in the mind of the character we play as, or is this a story of someone traveling to a place we all want to visit, where travel is done by a machine, a portal and such?
7. What’s so important in the fifth layer
8. why don’t we ever see the main character
9. elaborate a bit more on the plan
10. How humans discovered the Subnet, the layers
11. why Murtaugh (and Liz?) were chosen
12. What was Shiva’s intention
13. why the structure prevailed after the deaths of Mur and Liz
14. Did the Player’s journey have some purpose?
15. How did the Player begin all this
16. where did he come from
17. Who is the player?
18. what time period is he living in compared to when Mur and Liz were alive?
19. I would like if it gets cleared up if there is time travel involved in the series and in what way.
20. why the karmic portals are destroying the subnet,
21. what implications this has for the submachines and the player
22. further explanantion to the time layer
23. how Thoth and Shiva are both involved
24. And where is Einstein?
25. Clearly even if the player can’t interact with Mur, Liz, or Einstein directly, they’ve interacted with each other directly at some point – how can they have done so but none of the other people in the subnet have encountered each other?
26. Where is sunshine_bunnygirl_17
27. how much more connection there was with Covert Front.
28. if there will be answers about the nature of the Submachine (location.. infinite? growing?…).
29. Where are the corpses of people lived in the submahine?
30. Is it possible the player was everyone of them in his/her past?
31. Who buried the lighthouse and why?
32. Did the events that the game discusses happen centuries ago or did the player participate in them?
33. Will we ever see an actual human character?
34. what happened to all the other, unnamed people who left notes throughout the Submachine?
35. Where did they all go?
36. Or were they ever really there?
37. Why did Mur and Liz die?
38. How could we talked with Mur, not so long time before his death?
39. Why we didn’t meet anyone in Submachine?
40. explain the links between different parts, so that we know if we are travelling in time and/or space/dimensions
41. if everything is happening in chronological order.
42. how Mur and Elizabeth came from that hostile situation between each other to that marvelous plot twist on sub9.
43. In sub6 , where we have to hack the system, did human create/build that place ??
44. I’d to know who and why created Wisdom gems  and what they really are
45. Are we alone?
46. Why are we
47. Kim był Mur i Elizabeth jak to się stalo, że się poznali, a może razem pracowali nad czymś?
48. czy tą grę da się ukończyc?
49. czy postać w którą się wcielamy kiedykolwiek wyjdzie z submachine?
50. Kto tym wszystkim steruje po smierci Mur?
51. Can we just see M’s face?
52. Or atleast is arm?
53. Einstein, how he is able to transport himself through portals and such, but where did he end off?
54. everything what has happened in the subnet is the reality, or the machine was done in order that the persons were living in a virtual reality because in the earth or the reality happened a collapse, for this way saying, the apocalypse?
55. How important the light is?
56. more about what happens when you create a portal inside a portal
57. things about the history of the submachine, at least the history that’s connected to humans somehow, knowing more about how the humans found the subnet (did someone create it and other people found it later on?
58. did humans just stumble upon it somehow and decided to add their own creations to it? how did that happen?
59. is there something outside the Submachine?
60. How Sub_1 fits in with the overall plot since it’s brief story
61. I finally want to know what those bells are exactly for!
62. Where is Kent? a submachine location or a place on Earth?
63. What’s the connection between submachine and Earth/The computer that surpassed human inteligence?
64. What’s the connection between the Kent waterfall and karma?
65. What is the rough timeline of the events in the series?
66. ow do the places we visit in the series fit within the structure of the Submachine, and how are they connected? For example: which layer(s) were we during Sub1-Sub6? Did we travel from the Outer Rim to the Core at the end of Sub1?
67. Who is Shiva/the Computer? Are they one and the same?
68. Where’s the Loop in respect to the 8 Layers?
69. Do Defense Systems and Subbots operate in all the Layers of Reality?
70. Does the Plan have anything to do with the cubic shape of each room?
71. Are the persons who wrote the notes in latest Submachines the former Basement Exploration Team?
72. How did he get to Subverse and Basement from Sub1?
73. Did he has some special purpose in Sub1-Sub4 except escape from the trap?
74. If Subbots do exist in subverse…Show them and tell about them at least in one note, please?
75. What connection do Sub0, SubFLF, SubFLF HD, Sub32 have with main series?
76. Who are protagonists of these side games? Their purposes?
77. What does “MAP” symbol mean? (Symbol we can see in all submachine games’ main menu)
78. Why does ikentt have karma flow/water?
79. Where is it located?
80. Why there were excursions in Winter Palace, South Garden and Lighthouse?
81. Does “our real world” exist at all in Submachine game universe?
82. Did we really make time travel in Sub2, or in some other game?
83. How is important the time in Submachine universe?
84. How many people organizations are there?
85. What is the company? (Sub4 Ship note)
86. What organization ordered to scientist who called this place as “Submerged Machine” to work with submachine?
87. What is Fourth Dynasty?
88. What happened with “Temple/Murtaugh/Shiva Cult” (Sub9)?
89. What happened with Lab workers? How did they ended there at all?
90. From what organization are guys from Sub8?
91. Who are guys from Sub9 secret notes?
92. Is there God? aka Shiva Or all is just technology? aka Computer (or something like this…)
93. explanation what happened in Sub2 intro and Sub2 outro…
94. If we/Payer have one-dimensional mind (Sub9 secret note), then why do we can’t meet any people in Submachines? What is the problem?
95. Way in the past you talked about the creator of the first Submachine, and how his creation went haywire. I would very much like to get to know how he reacted to it and felt about it all. He seems like such an important, yet underrepresented character.
96. What happened to Henry O’Toole when “Murtaugh’s” religion began gaining traction. Was he forgotten or did his works become widely acknowledged.
97. How do the people of the Subnet see their history, which eras do they revere and which do they condemn. Related to this, maybe we could finally get the sub-eras if not explained, at least listed.
98. Murtaugh is a surname, you’ve admitted as much. What was Murtaugh’s first name?
99. Are we alone in Submachine? Is there something there, lurking in the shadows, or are we just the only explorer traversing the subnet?
100. Will the Third Layer ever be repaired and brought whole again?
101. In Sub_9’s super secret bonus area, it was mentioned that Murtaugh was shown the future by Shiva that left him quite happy before he died. Perhaps this is what he saw? Perhaps we, the Players, will have our hands / cursors on this kind of conclusion?
102. Who happened to commission the Submachine network (if it can be called that)?
103. Why is there no life, inside the Submachine?
104. What was the need for the limited appearance of firearms in Submachine? (Think I remember seeing something akin to a machine gun, in one of the games? Not sure.)
105. What is the purpose of the cultural deities in Submachine?
106. What happened to the notes we have collected along the way, with the exception of Sub5 notes?
107. Who put the golden seals in Murtaugh and Elizabeth’s tombs?
108. What is the purpose of the four symbols we see in Sub2? We never used them in the game.
109. Where did Murtaugh obtain plans to draw the teleporter in the lighthouse
110. Who was the man that left mentioned in Sub7, and why did he leave, did he also have power like Murtaugh’s?
111. Why did Murtaugh teleport to the loop? What happened that caused him to enter the loop and not some random location in the outer rim, or is the loop the outer rim?
112. sub4 – What on earth is behind the metal plate? (beginning on the roof)

„10 Gnomes in Montaigut-le-Blanc” jest bodaj pierwszą grą, którą Mateusz Skutnik zrealizował w wyniku osiągnięcia przyzwoitego (jak dotąd) wyniku swej akcji w serwisie Patreon.com. W dodatku dostępna jest za darmo (zip), w full HD (1920×1080), ukończona dwa miesiące przed początkowym planem.

Montaigut-le-Blanc to niewielka miejscowość w centralnej Francji, w regionie Owernia. Autor gry bawił tam i zdjęcia robił w lipcu zeszłego roku. Dla tych, którzy zachwycą się widokami na zdjęciach, podał również współrzędne geograficzne: 45.58619 / 3.08952.

Gra jest bardzo prosta, bazująca na pięknych, czarno-białych fotografiach ukazujących widok ogólny i coraz bliższe szczegóły pewnej kamienicy. Przejeżdżając kursorem po obrazku, znajdujemy miejsca aktywne (kursor zmienia kształt), w które kliknięcie pozwala na zbliżenie, podejrzenie szczegółów detalu – czasami jest to ujrzenie pod innym kątem, czasem obrót w miejscu, do tego dochodzi oczywiście także powrót do poprzedniej lokacji / poprzedniego kadru. Gdzieś tam, w szczelinach, dziurach, zakamarkach, schowało się tytułowe 10 gnomów… i nie tylko! Białe, brodate postaci nie zawsze są zadowolone z zakłócania ich spokoju – choć zwykle machają radośnie na nasz widok, czasem pogrożą pięścią.

Kliknięcie w krasnala zapala kolejną lampkę u dołu ekranu, przypominając, ile jeszcze przed nami… A czas upływa! Choć tym razem na przejście całości i wykrycie wszystkich brodaczy nie wyznaczono limitu minut, można wstrzymać upływający czas, by mimo potrzeby oderwania się od ekranu uzyskać lepszy wynik. Można także przełączyć się z domyślnego trybu fullscreen na tryb okienkowy i grę pomniejszyć (choć w ten sposób gracz sam sobie utrudnia zadanie), można włączać i wyłączać ambientową muzykę i dźwięki towarzyszące klikaniu. Czy wycieczka po Montaigut-le-Blanc składa się z mniejszej niż zazwyczaj ilości lokacji (z pewnością nie zerknąłem do wszystkich…), czy też zacząłem dochodzić do wprawy w łowach na małe białe stworki – dość powiedzieć, że „10 Gnomes in Montaigut-le-Blanc” jest pierwszą w swym cyklu, którą ukończyłem w przyzwoitym czasie za pierwszym podejściem.

Trzymamy kciuki za dalsze powodzenie akcji w serwisie Patreon.com i czekamy na kolejne obiecane gry.

Autor: Wojciech Gołąbowski

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Today I want to show you the power of what’s going on. That whole Patreon situation. How it liberates me to basically do my creations just for you, and not entire internet (as I don’t have to scratch and claw for ads anymore). Remember the predicted release date for new 10 Gnomes game? September? Scratch that, I made it already and you can play it right now. Not only I’m giving you this game two months before schedule, it’s in full HD, 1920×1080 and, naturally, free. All thanks to people supporting my art on Patreon.

Thank you again.

Some of the most ingenious inventions ever were devised by prisoners from around the world, partly because they have so much time on their hands, and partly because they have no other choice than to improvise. Hence, whether it’s alcohol made out of the most unlikely stuff or ingenious tools to help them escape, those who have nowhere else to go can really put their imagination to work.

Try to escape from a strange environment.

Escape from Jay is Games works along the same lines, only it features a fewer shanks and no soothing voice overs from iconic actors. In essence, however, your main goal is to get out of a weird room filled with old arcade machines, strange computers, and what appears to be some kind of alien hooked to a virtual reality headset. To do that, you must gather useful objects and use them in ingenious ways.
The story is quite simple and straightforward, although that may just be due to the fact that you don’t really find out too much about it along the way. A few notes give you a hint about what’s going on, but you are kept in the dark for the majority of the time. To make matters worse, there are so many questions that need answers, especially when you consider the fact that there is an arcade machine playing Pong by itself for the entire duration of the game.

Combine items to unlock the way further.

In order to continue the story, you have to find certain items that can be used in combination with others to achieve something. Hence, whether it’s a key that opens a certain door or a transistor that can restore a computer’s functionality, everything that can be picked up has a purpose. Not only that, but you can also combine other items with each other, or even use some of them multiple times, such as the knife.
Another great thing about the game is the visual aspect, because although the graphics may look simple and in 2D, the artwork is great and you can tell that the artist took his time coming up with it. The strange machinery and the nice choice of colors create a unique atmosphere, although the soundtrack contributes a lot to the feeling as well.

A beautiful adventure game with plenty to offer.

Although the experience is a bit too short, Escape from Jay is Games is certainly a nice concept, and you can have a lot of fun with it. In addition, the puzzles are ingenious enough to keep you guessing for a while.

Author: Alexandru Dulcianu

So I’ve been thinking.

Since the browser-based game market is dying, (at least for me), why shouldn’t I ditch it entirely. This process in my head actually started two years ago when I begun creating HD versions of Daymare Town and Submachine, which became games playable on PC and MAC desktops, with all it’s perks, like being able to create better immersion through full screen gameplay, addition of original soundtracks in separate mp3 files etc. I expect the process to let me also switch platforms, so I will no longer be constricted only to flash games. But more on that some other time.

This year the sentiment grows stronger, with the advent of my Patreon campaign and diminishing returns from ad-based browser-gaming. I don’t have to cater to countless online masses of anonymous players anymore. I just need to deliver to few thousands of you who genuinely like what I do to the extent of following me on social media. That’s all. That’s you guys – reading these words right now. And don’t worry. If you’ve been able to play my games in the past – you will be able to play them in their new form. Flash wasn’t compatible with handheld market anyway. And those games which were free will remain free. There will be an online, free version of Submachine 10: the Exit, alongside paid, fullscreen desktop version (free for all my patrons).

The first symptom of the inevitable switch from browser to desktop gaming will be newest episode of 10 Gnomes, as it’s the first game on my release list. On my Patreon page, one of the rewards is getting all games I create this year in HD for free. That will probably include Submachine 10, 10 Gnomes and Where is 2016? at the very least. And I noted that 10 Gnomes will not be scalable to full screen since it’s not vector graphics and will look bad when rescaled (pixelated). But then I thought to myself – wait, why am I thinking in terms of browser restrictions. Why not create just larger 10 Gnomes game. Like, already in HD and just let people download it for free instead of releasing it as a browser game. And that’s exactly what I’ll do, come August.

Take a look at the screen below. Click on it to see it in it’s full, 1920 x 1080 glory. Doesn’t it look nice?