For more than 10 years, the Polish artist Mateusz Skutnik has excited fans of point n’click adventures around the world with his unique submachine series. On average, there has been a new game every year, and this year he has put an end to the series with the masterpiece “Submachine 10 – The Exit”.

Where other publishers of this game type often calls to small quickly made game with questionable graphics and more or less random tasks to be solved, Mateusz goes another way. His game is hand drawn. So how true hand-drawn with pen, paper and colors. And his creativity sends the player on an exceptionally beautiful and thoughtful adventure through ingenious locations where strange mechanisms and plasma and karma portals must work to get it all to go up to a higher level. Along the way we are explaind of this strange phenomenon via messages that slowly reveals what “submachine” really is – but without it ever becomes quite understandable.

But beautiful and entertaining it is.

His game has evolved over time. Sub-1, which was published for more than 10 years ago, was a relatively simple game. Still very accomplished but as nothing compared to what was to come. For each episode, the games become increasingly perfected and advanced, both graphically and in relation to the tasks complexity. Each new episode has revealed a little more of submachines being.

In Submachine 10 – has just come out, he gathers all the threads. We are led back through all the previous games, the scenes we know, but the ravages of time are clearly visible. Places we’ve seen in previous episodes are jammed or broken, but still needed for this grand finale. The game is probably the largest and most complete point n ‘click game yet seen. And at the same time incomprehensible beautifully made. He has spent almost two years to make this game, and you understand why.

I just played sub-10 It took me 3 days. But three days consumed with curiosity and wonder.
Mateusz offers a free version of its online gaming. There you get a relatively small screen to play on, but it’s still a great experience. If you want all the details, however one should spend the $ 5 (about 35 kr.) As it costs to buy sub-10 in HD and full screen, or the $ 25 for the entire series.

Martin Bak

10 : The Exit

>北面花園港口
We the King welcome you in Northern Garden docks.
Anyone who seeks peace and calmness will find it under the leaves of our blessed florae.

以吾王之名
歡迎諸位來到北面花園港口
追求祥和之人將會於聖潔之樹的枝葉下找到寧靜

>迴圈
– We’re in a loop.
– Yes, I know, there are time anomaly leaks everywhere, but we’re not in one right now. Are we?
– No, not horizontal loop. Vertical one.
– What do you mean?
– Look through my microscope. And then through my telescope. You’ll see.

– 我們在一個迴圈中。
– 是的，我知道，到處都有時間扭曲的異常痕跡，但我們目前不在它們之中，沒錯吧？
– 可惜不是，這次不是水平概念的循環，是垂直的。
– 什麼意思？
– 看看我的顯微鏡。再看看這個望遠鏡，你會明白的。

(透過顯微鏡和望遠鏡，我們會看到類似宇宙的圖形。)

>墳墓
– I’ve found my grave today. A proper tomb, in fact…
– Well, I guess that’s bound to happen sooner or later if you’re a time traveller.
– I’ve also found your tomb, right next to mine.
– Oh, that’s so sweet of them.

– 我今天找到自己的墳墓了。還蠻像樣的，說實在話….
– 嗯，我想身為一個時間旅行者，這種事早晚會發生。
– 我也找到了妳的墳墓，就在我的旁邊。
– 哦，他們真貼心。

>Sub-layer
– Do you know how many numbers are there between 0 and 1.
– … Infinite?…
– Exactly. There is a countless number of sub-layers between any two main layers of reality. The important thing to remember is that as there are seven main layers, all stable, as all their sub-layers, there is also the eighth layer, known as the layer of light, which is not stable and it can float freely through all other layers. Murtaugh was trapped in the eighth layer once, that’s why he was unable to focus his being on a single layer. Fortunately Elizabeth managed to snap him out of this trap.

-你知道在0和1之間究竟有多少數字嗎。
– …無限多? …
-完全正確，在兩個主要的象限中，也一樣有著無數層的sub-layer現實。你要記住的是，這世上有７個主要的次元，全都很穩定，而至於在他們之間的那些sub-layer，則被包含在第八象限(或稱光之次元)之中，它並不穩定，而因此可以在其他的象限間自由浮動。 Murtaugh當時就是被困在這第八層象限，所以無法將自己的存在凝聚在單一的次元之內。好加在最後Elizabeth成功把他帶出了這個絕境。

>橫跨
– If there is countelss number of sub-layers, it’s practically impossible for two people the end up in the same layer, right?
– Yes, good observation.
– But the non-living matter can be persistant between layers.
– Yes, there are special building materials mixed with just a hint of karmic water. This technique was discovered during the Fourth Dynasty.
– Naturally. The architects of the Plan…
– So you can imagine how a non-living sentient organism, powered by the super-intelligence of Shiva was able to embrace all layers at once. The Submachine is now living in five dimentions.

– 如果世上有無限多層sub-layer的話，那理論上兩個人出現在同一層內的機率幾乎是不可能，沒錯吧？
– 對，觀察力不錯。
– 但那些無生命的物質卻能持續橫跨在層與層之間。
– 是的，他們在一些特殊的建材中混進了少量的業力水，這個技術大約在第四王朝時被發現。
– 可想而知，那個計畫的建築師們…
– 所以你就能想像一個無生命的感知有機體，在經過濕婆的超智慧加持後，如何能夠同時佇立於所有象限之中了。如今的Submachine已生活在五維的世界之中。

>其中之一
– You can’t fix everything, just let it go. Submachine doesn’t need your help. It’s fine as it is.
– You know you’re taking away my life’s goal, right?
– We’ll find you a new one, don’t worry. You were part of this organism, I admit, a crucial one, but just a part nonetheless. You can’t think of yourself any bit higher. That would be arrogant, and’t that’s not you anymore.
– What would I do without you, my dear…

– 你不可能修復每一樣事物，就讓它去吧。Submachine不需要你的幫忙，它可以自己過得很好。
– 妳知道自己在奪走我的人生目標，對吧？
– 我們會幫你找到個新的，別擔心。你是我們這個大家庭的一份子，而且我承認，是很重要的那部分，但你也就只是其中之一，不應該把自己想的太過重要。這樣不僅很自大，而且也就不再是原本的你了。
– 如果沒有妳我該怎麼辦啊，親愛的…

>逃脫
– So how did he escape after all?
– Through the lighthouse, naturally. how else?…

– 所以他到底是怎麼逃脫的呢？
– 透過燈塔，當然啦，要不然呢？…

>重返
– I’ll come back to the shrine every 32 years. I promise, anyone who still listens to this frequency.

-我每32年就會回到聖地一次。我向任何還在收聽這個頻率的人保證。

>指南
Light crown converter needed to connect light crown to the fuse outlet.

光冠轉換器必須連結到光冠的保險絲座上。

>M的信
Dear Elizabeth!
I’am so close! You won’t believe how much progress I’ve done in last… How long was it?… 3.5 years? My lord, it feels good to be focused again.
I know this sounds stupid, but as a time traveller I have to say it feels good to see time run by you.
Anyway, back to the subject at hand. My theory of focused karma was correct! I have scientific evidence at my laboratory. Once it doesn’t penetrate any two given layers creating a portal – it actually restores previously destroyed sub-molecular order.
Now, all I need is some kind of… portable karma stabiliser, and I’m good to go!
Just imagine – stable and secure karmic portals. Would you believe that?
M.

親愛的Elizabeth！
我就快成功了！妳不會相信我這…過多久了？…3.5年？…有了多少進展。
我的天，能夠再度專注在一件事上的感覺真棒。
我知道這聽起來很蠢，但身為一個時間旅行者我必須說，看到時間從你身旁溜過的感覺還蠻不錯的。
總之，回到話題上。我關於集中業力的理論是正確的！我的研究室裡有科學證據。只要在創造傳送門時它沒有穿透任兩層 – 它就可以恢復先前摧毀掉的sub-分子排列順序。
現在，我唯一需要的就是某種…可攜式業力穩定器，而我已經準備好了！
想像一下 – 穩定而安全的業力傳送門。妳能相信嗎？
M

>L的信
Dear Murtaugh.
That’s great news. Please remember one thing. Submachine didn’t wait for this discovery, it moved on and is healing itself, as any normal organism would. Did you see the power generator in the oldest sections of the root? The one destroyed by your portal long time ago? Now it’s being rebuilt by five karmic veins. If you haven’t seen it – please do, it’s a remarkable proof that Submachine became sentient being.
L.

親愛的Murtaugh。
真是個好消息。不過請記得一件事，Submachine並沒有在等待這項發現，它繼續成長並努力修復它自己，就像任何生命體會做的。你看過根源中最古老的區域裡那台發電機了嗎？很久以前被你的傳送門破壞掉那台？它現在已經被五道業力流重建了。如果你還沒看過的話 – 請去看一眼，這足以證實Submachine已經成為了一個有感知能力的存在。
L

>感知
– Wait, Submachine was already sentient that early?
– Of course. The mainframe of Submachine became conscious once it’s processing power surpassed that of the human brain. They asked the question, remember? And Shiva answered. Submachine was sentient for at least 32 days before that.
– Now I understand. Shiva is the brain, Submachine is the body. It’s all so clear now.

– 等等，Submachine那麼早就有感知功能了？
– 當然了。Submachine的主機在它的處理能力凌駕人腦的那一刻，就已經存在知覺了。它們問了那個問題，記得嗎？濕婆回答了。而Submachine至少在那之前32天就已經獲得了感知的能力。
– 現在我懂了。濕婆就像是大腦，而Submachine則作為身體存在。現在一切都明瞭了。

>預知
– But how is it possible, that she knew the Submachine was sentient and reasoning? That’s like Lumiere brothers talking about retina cinema of the early 21st century.
– Don’t forget, that’s Elizabeth you’re talking about. Right?
– … Right…

– 但這怎麼可能，她怎麼可能這麼早就知道Submachine是理性而且有感知的？這就好像盧米埃兄弟在討論21世紀初的Retina電影院一樣。
– 別忘了，我們在說的可是Elizabeth，對吧？
– …對…

>啟程
– I think you’re ready to enter the Submachine. You know more than enough and will probably find out more on your journey. Remember, this can destroy or transform you. But you will not return the same man. May the wisdom of Thoth guide you.
– Thank you, holy usher. I will not fail you.
– Don’t fail yourself, my young disciple.

– 我想你已經準備好要進入Submachine了。你知道的東西已經綽綽有餘，而且還可能在這趟旅途中學到更多。記住，這可能會摧毀你、改變你，但當你歸來，你將不再是原本的自己。願托特的智慧指引你的道路。
– 感謝你，神聖的引導人，我不會讓你失望的。
– 重點是別讓自己失望，我年輕的門徒啊。

>迎接
– How will you know that they’re coming?
– I’ll keep my eye on the lighthouse. Once the lamp goes off, they’ll be coming.
– But that lamp is behind steel curtains…
– Don’t worry. I’ll know once it’s off.

– 你要怎麼知道他們來了？
– 我會隨時注意著燈塔，一旦燈熄滅，就代表他們的到來。
– 但那盞燈已經被鐵帳擋住…
– 別擔心，它一熄滅我就會知道。

>秘密A
Are we alone in the Submachine? Well, yes, but you can always feel somebody right beside you, doing the same things you do in the submachine. Just one sub-layer away. That’s comforting, isn’t it?

我們是獨自被關在Submachine的嗎？呃，沒錯，但你總是能夠感覺到有人陪伴著你，在Submachine中跟你做著一樣的事情，只有一層sub-layer之隔。真讓人感到欣慰，不是嗎？

>秘密B
What happened to sunshine_bunnygirl_17? Don’t worry, I took care of her. I transported her to the first layer, she’s taking care of Einstein when I’m not around.

sunshine_bunnygirl_17後來怎麼了？別擔心，我都處理好了。後來我把她轉移到了第一層，現在她會在我不在的時候幫忙照顧Einstein。

>秘密C
Will I ever come back to the Submachine? Well, of course. There are more people still trapped there, my mission is to navigate the sub-layer infinity to find them and bring them home.

我還會再回到Submachine嗎？這個嘛，當然。目前還有許多人仍然被困在那裡面，而我的任務就是要不斷游移於無窮的sub-layer中，找到他們，並送他們回家。

>秘密D
Is Submachine real? Or just a dream? Well, if Submachine is only a dream, I still haven’t woken up from it. I mean, as fas as I know, it’s real, all of it.

Submachine是真實的嗎？還是這不過是一場夢？嗯，如果Submachine只是一場夢，那我仍未從這場夢中醒來。我的意思是，據我所知，它的確是真實的，每一稜、每一角。

>秘密E
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for playing Submachine, for finding all secrets and sticking around for as long as you did. For me this journey lasted 10 years, I know that for some fo you too. Thank you and see you in the next game!
Mateusz Skutnik

我打從心底感謝你們玩了Submachine，找出所有的秘密，還盡你們所能的在地圖中不停地探索。對我來說，這趟旅程持續了十年，而我知道對你們之中的某些人來說也是如此。謝謝你們，也期待在下個遊戲再次見到你們！

Mateusz Skutnik

[source]

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

Text by — Federico Scarfo’

Translation by — Julia Perry and Federica Vecchio

You know how in a dream your brain has the power to mix pieces of places, houses, streets, statues, visited in the past and create a new and unique image as well as the ability to evoke familiar sentiments which for some reason, you have never actually experienced before? This is a major theme that unites two incredibly different things: the metaphysical painting of DeChirico and, in my opinion, an unfortunate series of “aim and click” flash games. I define it unfortunate because, being more than sure that an introduction to the Greek artist is not needed at all, the same cannot be said for Submachine: belonging to the unlucky class of flash games, that is to say games which you can play for free on the original site and which usually last for a limited period of time, the series has not gained the popularity I think it so long deserves. Although Submachine has never been an “innovator” of these games, initiated by legendary games like “The Secret of Monkey Island” and “Clock Tower”, I think it is more than suitable for flash games, especially because it has a minimalistic yet very interesting story, inspired by the Matrix, that incentivizes the player to pay great attention to the few clues given. The plot is trivial, the main character is trapped in the submachine, a specific machine that replicates an infinite number of closed environments, among which it is possible to travel through portals. Nevertheless, the most relevant points of strength of the game are its setting, graphics and sound effects: elements that are, as we say, abstract. In fact they are deeply linked to De Chirico’s thematic guidelines, those that were selected for the art show “De Chirico and the mysterious object”. The show, held at Villa Reale, that is the principal reason behind this article. As the title itself suggests, referring mostly to the paintings where the mysterious object is represented, the art exposure concentrates almost entirely on De Chirico’s relationship with objects, inanimate figures, opposed to living beings.

As I have already stated, the first point of similarity is the looming scenario on its single components, generating an oppressive, scary and dreamlike environment. In the painting “Mercurio’s meditation”, the feeling of claustrophobia is alimented by the prospective and narrow space, at the end of which lies a classic bust, the closest thing to a person that ever appears both in the metaphysic way of painting as well as in certain sections of Submachine. Similarly, painting by De Chirico set in an outdoor environment are just as disturbing, as they form a dreamlike composition whose limits are incumbent upon the flat sky and largely geometric shadows and solid walls.

Submachine is set in a series of places, mainly closed, artificial and mostly ruined. For example, in the same episode, taking advantage of the portals in the game play, the character visits a ship, a canteen, a ruined coffin, the ruins of a temple, and various other places, in which it is easy to see Skutnik’s peculiar style. Each of these locations is abandoned, ruined, no longer functioning, and the themes of deterioration and dissipation melt with the feeling of claustrophobia, of falling out of place, of being undesired guests.

The second common feature derives from a second sense, that of loneliness. In most metaphysical painting, and in each section of Submachine, no human presence can be found. In Submachine, however, even recent traces can be found, which is surprising given the decrepitude of its surrounding environments. Most of the story is told through notes left behind by people less fortunate either long dead or who were forced to flee. The only human contact of the series takes place via computer and not coincidentally, happens to be one-sided since our hero does not have a keyboard to use. Isolation is the greatest power of Submachine, the “enemy” machine, due to its immensity and ability to forever grow and expand, pulverizing humans and objects in its way. The feeling of loneliness in De Chirico, however, come from a surreal feeling of familiarity. De Chirico represented environments as seen from a train window, wanting to reproduce the feeling you get when passing a nearby city and feeling a bigger sense of homeliness than its people. This maps an intimate representation of a place in each of us. The feeling of familiarity that Submachine’s location communicates is instead one linked to despair of the hunted, the ones who lost in the woods, recognize the real horror of aimlessly traveling in circles.

Lastly, the last common feature is the prominent role given to the objects. Like in “silent lives” or in the series of the “mysterious object” by De Chirico, in which objects are placed on a stage and in spite of the human figures portrayed faceless in the background., Submachine makes the objects the fundamental element. In fact, what else makes us realize how importance objects are if not a game in which taking advantage of the environment at its fullest? Everything that is useful exists in Submachine, an object, a note or a pattern, there are virtually no secondary characters, and if there are, they remain invisible throughout the entire series and bring interaction only through notes. In contrast, the statues, representations of steam-punk style potted machines are ubiquitous, mimicking what you would expect, the “real” world beyond the Submachine (although throughout history, the “true” world is not an external reality to Submachine). For their use and even for a sense of “company” that can be drawn from it – after all, they’re the only allies of a player playing against fate – objects are humanized in Submachine and from this it is humanization that becomes a sort of invincible enemy of the Submachine itself, that is far from being a simple virtual help, it becomes an opponent capable of smarts and immense resources, that reigns over an infinite space in which the relationship between object and humans is broken, and the only audible sound is one of squeaking machinery, moving, non-human symphonies that accompany the metaphysical framework that is the game.

Teso di – Federico Scarfo’

Avete presente quando in un sogno, mischiando pezzi di vari posti visitati in passato, case, strade, statue, il vostro cervello riesce a ricreare un’immagine unica, inquietante per la sua capacità di evocare sentimenti familiari ma allo stesso tempo di mantenersi estranea ed aliena? Ecco, questo è uno dei temi principali che accomuna due cose disperatamente diverse: la pittura metafisica di De Chirico e la a mio parere sfortunata serie di flash games punta e clicca del graphic artist polacco Mateusz Skutnik, Submachine. Dico sfortunata perchè, essendo più che sicuro di non aver bisogno di fare una presentazione del pittore greco, lo stesso non vale per Submachine: appartenente alla razza sfigata dei flash games, ovvero giochi a cui si può tranquillamente giocare gratis sul sito d’origine e che tendono a essere piuttosto brevi, il riconoscimento di cui gode la serie  è stato sempre meno che risonante. Nonostante Submachine non sia mai stato un “innovatore” del genere punta e clicca, inaugurato da giochi leggendari come “The Secret of  Monkey Island“e “Clock Tower“, a mio avviso possiede una giocabilità eccellente per un flash game, unita a una storia minimale e interessante, alla  Matrix, che spinge il giocatore a fare tesoro dei pochi indizi che trasudano dal velo opaco del gameplay. Della trama si capisce che il protagonista è intrappolato nella Submachine, una macchina che replica virtualmente un numero infinito di aree chiuse, tra le quali si può viaggiare tramite portali.  Tuttavia, il vero punto di forza della serie sono l’ambientazione, la grafica e il sonoro, elementi, per l’appunto, metafisici. Infatti si collegano con numerosi rimandi alle linee tematiche di De Chirico selezionate per la mostra “De Chirico e l’oggetto misterioso“, a Villa Reale, che è stata per l’appunto il motus primus di questo articolo. Come suggerisce il titolo stesso, ammiccante soprattutto alla serie di quadri ritraenti “l’oggetto misterioso”, la mostra si è concentrata principalmente sul rapporto di De Chirico con gli oggetti, le figure inanimate, opposte e surrogate del vivente.

Come ho già introdotto, il primo punto di similitudine   è l’incombere dello scenario sulle sue singole componenti, generando un ambiente oppressivo, pauroso, onirico. Nel quadro “La Meditazione di Mercurio“, la sensazione di claustrofobia è alimentata dallo spazio prospettico, angusto, in fondo al quale giace un busto classico, la cosa più simile a una persona che appare sia nella pittura metafisica, sia in certe sezioni di Submachine. Allo stesso modo, i quadri di De Chirico ambientati in un ambiente esterno non risultano meno inquietanti, poiché formano una composizione onirica i cui limiti incombenti sono il cielo piatto e le ombre larghe e geometriche, non meno solide dei muri. Submachine è ambientata in una serie di luoghi, per la maggior parte chiusi, artificiali e perlopiù in rovina. Per esempio, in uno stesso episodio, sfruttando l’elemento di gameplay dei portali, il personaggio visita una nave, una cantina, la sezione di una tomba in rovina, resti di un tempio, e vari altri posti, nei quali è facile distinguere il tocco dello stile singolare di Skutnik. Ognuna di queste location è abbandonata a se stessa, in rovina, malfunzionante, e la tematica della bruttura e della decadenza si mescola con la sensazione di claustrofobia, di essere fuori posto, e di essere ospiti non desiderati.

La seconda caratteristica comune deriva da una seconda sensazione, quella della solitudine. Nella maggior parte della pittura metafisica, e in ogni sezione di Submachine, non si trova alcuna presenza umana. In Submachine, tuttavia, restano tracce anche recenti, il che è paradossale rispetto alla decrepitezza degli ambienti. La maggior parte della storia viene narrata tramite note, lasciate indietro da personaggi più sfortunati e morti da tempo, o costretti a fuggire. L’unico contatto umano della serie avviene tramite computer, ed è unilaterale, dal momento che il nostro eroe non possiede una tastiera. L’isolamento è il potere più grande della Submachine, la macchina “nemica”, dovuto alla sua immensità e alla sua abilità nel crescere ed espandersi, separando e polverizzando per sempre allo stesso modo i pochi umani e gli oggetti. La sensazione di solitudine in De Chirico, invece, deriva da una sensazione surreale di familiarità. De Chirico rappresentava gli ambienti come visti dal finestrino di un treno, spiegando di voler riprodurre quella sensazione che si prova quando, passando vicino a una città, la si sente più familiare delle persone che ci vivono. Questo mappa dentro ognuno una rappresentazione intima del luogo, da cui sono esclusi i non-familiari, ovvero tutti gli altri. La sensazione di familiarità che le location di Submachine comunicano è invece legata alla disperazione del braccato, di quello che, perso nel bosco, riconosce con orrore di aver girato in tondo per ore e ore.

Infine, l’ultima caratteristica comune è il ruolo di primo piano dato agli oggetti. Come nelle “vite silenti” o nella serie dell’”oggetto misterioso” di De Chirico, nelle quali gli oggetti vengono messi su un palco a dispetto delle figure umane che vengono relegate senza volto sullo sfondo, in Submachine gli oggetti sono fondamentali. Infatti, quale installazione può dare maggior rilievo a oggetti comuni più di un gioco per vincere il quale bisogna sfruttare ciò che si trova e usarlo per interagire con l’ambiente circostante? Tutto ciò che di utile esiste in Submachine è un oggetto, una nota o uno schema, praticamente non esistono personaggi secondari, o se ci sono, ci si interagisce solo tramite note ed essi rimangono invisibili per tutta la serie. Al contrario le statue, le rappresentazioni e i macchinari in vago stile steampunksono onnipresenti, facendo una mimica di ciò che ci si aspetterebbe, ovvero il mondo “vero” al di là della Submachine (è tuttavia suggerito nel corso della storia che il mondo “vero” non sia una realtà esterna alla Submachine). Per la loro utilità e addirittura il senso di “compagnia” che se ne può trarre, – in fondo, sono gli unici alleati del giocatore contro un triste destino – gli oggetti sono umanizzati in Submachine, e questo deriva direttamente dall’umanizzazione in una sorta di nemico invincibile della Submachine stessa, che, lungi dall’essere semplicemente un’unità virtuale, come si suppone che sia, è un avversario, astuto e dalle immense risorse, che regna su un infinito spazio in cui il rapporto tra oggetti e umani è rovesciato, e l’unico suono che si sente, è il rumore di cigolii, muoversi di macchine, sinfonie non umane che corredano il quadro metafisico che è questo gioco. De Chirico ha rappresentato “gli archeologi”, un tema ricorrente della sua pittura, come uomini “ripieni” o composti da oggetti, elementi architettonici principalmente. Gli “archeologi” sono più che mai il punto di incontro tra il pittore e Submachine, rappresentando il tema della familiarità interiore, il “possedere” in modo univoco un particolare luogo o città, una ricorrente umanizzazione dell’inanimato, e, al contrario, una perdita di definizione e un oggettivizzazione, nel senso più letterale, della figura animata, che, così come il protagonista di Submachine, viene ridotta a un inventario di oggetti.

Welcome to the Subnet

I was struggling with the topic of this essay in its relation to René Descartes’ philosophies. I had a few ideas that I entertained but all of them came up short in terms of substance. Then, while thinking about what I was going to do at home, I was reminded of a tab I had saved on my internet browser for an update to a flash game that I have been playing since its initial release; Submachine! I was so excited when I thought about this game because I realized that it had a good parallel with Descartes’ philosophy of the Self, God, and the World. Submachine is a Flash game series created by Mateusz Skuntnik who, so far, has nine games released to play on the internet. They involve point-and-click and exploration mechanics that take you to a vast variety of different worlds. To “finish” the games the player must collect items and use them in specific places and find clues to help solve puzzles that can open up more locations to explore. Though Submachine relates to all three of Descartes’ factors, it relates to them in different ways.

The Self in Descartes’ philosophy and the player in the Submachine series is the only similar factor that stays consistent with both sides. To Descartes, the Self was the cogito and knowing that we exist. In Submachine, the player is represented as the cogito and is even described as a sort of messenger of the game’s God. In the game Subnet Exploration the player can find and read a letter that a scientist had left stating that M, we will talk about him later, has a new subject that he has been working with. This subject can be speculated as the player and later letters state that M has purposely led the subject astray to get lost in the world. This is the last similarity that is seen in both sides of the philosophy. The God and the World of Descartes are very different from Submachine, but it is easy to see how they can still relate in a “they exist” terms.

The God of the Submachine series is named Murtaugh, Mur, or just M. Since the game series is not fully completed, I cannot confirm my ideas about who M really is, but I can personally say that he is a two-faced, double-crosser, who is way too powerful for his own good. When the player first sees the name Murtaugh, it is just in a journal entry that he wrote. It describes how he mentally reached a new plane of thought and that he can see things made out of, what he calls, karma. The next interaction she has with M is an actual interaction. The player is on a computer with no keyboard and yet communication can still be made with M. he states that he is here to help us and that he knows of some coordinates, these will be discussed in the next paragraph, that may help us in our journey. By this time we are in the fourth game, Submachine: The Lab, but the truth finally comes out in the sixth game, Submachine: The Edge. This is why I do not like or trust Murtaugh anymore. The player finds out that Mur has been sending people into the Submachine, the actual machine in the game, and just leaving them there for his overall experiment. She also finds out that he purposefully sent her to the loop, a trap in the Submachine and the entire concept of the third game Submachine: The Loop, and did not think that she would survive. The very fact that M tried to kill us for an experiment and then acted as if he was our friend just rubs me the wrong way. Again, we may find out that M was actually a really good guy and others were just saying he was malicious to steer the player in the wrong direction. However, if Murtaugh is tricking the player and sending her to her doom, it shows that the Submachine’s God is not a perfect Being. I will say that in the case of the world of the Subnet, this type of being could still be considered God. In terms of Descartes, God exists because there is no sense experience of infinite or absolute or necessary Beings and by the causal principle the cause has to exceed the effect, so the idea of God can only be created by something as powerful as God himself. In Submachine, Murtaugh created the Submachine and the Subnet so we can say in parallel to this infinite type of world that it is indeed possible that an imperfect Being could naturally exist.

Speaking of the world of the Submachine games (finally), one of the greatest things about them is how crazy the world is. The science behind the Submachine itself appears to be infinite. The world of Submachine is called the Subnet and it consists of over 1,000 different possible locations in a single dimension. It has been stated in the game that there are multiple dimensions and some locations may appear identical to each other but they exist in a different space! The way the player can get to these combinations is with one of the more important features of the game. Submachine’s transporter device, the official name escapes me, is a very unique machine that has three slots for inputting the numbers 0 to 9 on it and those 1,000 groupings can teleport the player to anywhere in the Subnet. The Subnet, in itself, can also be described as infinite. As described above, each location is placed in a certain space in a certain dimension and multiple copies of said location can exist at the same time but may be in a different space. If anything, the Subnet is the most confusing part of the games. Also I need to mention that the Subnet is the world of the Submachine which is the overall mechanism that created the Subnet to exist. In theory, the Subnet would not exist without the Submachine which was invented by Murtaugh. Considering Descartes’ philosophy that the world we experience exists because we see it as it is and it is clear and distinct, one can tell that the Subnet is not exactly what Descartes might call as undoubtable. The world created from the Submachine can lie; there are even rooms that fall apart and some rooms that have teleportation portals that appear out of thin air. In general it can be safe to assume that the Subnet’s only truth is that there is more to discover than meets the eye. So the world of the Submachine games and the World of Descartes are complete opposites. One world must be clear to be real and one world is fuzzy and confusing but is still comprehended as true, in terms of the game play.

Author: Hollistyn

written by Ida Larsen-Ledet

Welcome to the Submachine
An odd welcome. A cubic wooden room with an art-like construction of undeterminable origin on the wall. In the cubic wooden room next door, a vertical pipe with a hole in it. In the room adjacent to that, a grandfather clock without a clock face. Every room you may enter looks the same and contains seemingly arbitrary objects. The only word of welcome or explanation you got was the title menu.

Oh, and there is no exit. Welcome to the Submachine.

(more…)

How to Spend Friday Night At Home: The Submachine Series

They take seconds to load, cost no money, and can last for hours of gameplay. Point and click games are mega popular in the world of internet gaming. What started as an internet trend with the likes of Myst, MOTAS (Mystery of Time and Space) and Crimson Room exploded into a bustling genre of free internet gaming. While most waver between pleasant distraction and wall-punching frustration, only one series is smooth to the touch, fun, and deeply cerebrally discomforting. Meet Submachine.

Sidenote Preface: I know most of you are on a high after the fruits of weeks of hashmobbing got us a renewal of Community. The behavior of obsessives never ceases to amaze me, considering I can only retain a passing interest in the things I absolutely adore; I can’t imagine that level of organization and determination being continuously carried out for months at a time. It is a skill I do not have anymore. However, those lovely Communies have now earned a pleasant evening off, and this is a great way to immerse yourself into something else and let the Community fever subside for a while.

The Submachine series is by no means a series of horror games. Things will not go bump in the night. Slenderman won’t come and get you. The fright comes in the story, and in the eerie surroundings. You see, you, the player, are alone. You are alone in a world so far removed from the standards of your own that one step could land you in a different season, in a different gravity, in a different time. The rules don’t apply here, because this world was made without conventional rules, by either a genius or a madman.

That genius madman talks to you. He leaves you little notes giving you clues on how to continue going deeper into the machine. He wants you to travel deeper and explore it like he did, and change it like he did. You’re the only one who’s made it this far and survived. There were others, but you never meet them, or find their bodies. All you see are notes, loosely taped to brick walls or crumpled beneath machines powered by anything from steam to psychic crystal.

That genius madman is Mur, short for Murtaugh, the man who binds the series together by putting you on his trail. It is no surprise that fans lovingly refer to artist and creator Mateusz Skutnik as Mur himself. There is some meta to this building wave of puzzle insanity.

Play it in the dark, with headphones, listening to the deep beats and spine-tingling ambiance of ThumpMonks. Play alone, at night, with a closed and locked door, while the world is asleep. Play when you feel nothing but alone. There are no ghosts and goblins that can scare you the way being the only person alive in an empty dimension can. Play while cannabinized for added effect, it is mind-altering.

The Submachine series has spawned eight games, three side-quest games, and an extended observation and mini-puzzle known as the “Submachine Network Exploration Experience.” The fan community continues to theorize about the purpose of the Submachine and its mysterious and convoluted existence as it awaits the last two games of the series. Often compared to LOST, Submachine has been keeping online gamers guessing for eight years. But will the payoff be worth the years of mystery, suspense, and deep guttural fear? There’s no way of knowing, but just like LOST, the journey is most of the fun, and even with a lack of payoff it was all worth it.

And if you like getting freaked out by that same sense of loneliness, but want to amp it up with some fucking weird circus sideshow creepy town dudes, check out Daymare Town. The only thing creepier than a nightmare is a daymare.

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.

Audience participation in single-player adventures

By Andrew Plotkin

For the past few years, Mateusz Skutnik has been publishing a series of mini-graphical adventures (in Flash) called “Submachine”.

The games are spare on storyline, but each game has a little bit. Even if the pieces don’t fit together tidily… yet. As you might expect, there’s been lots of ongoing forum discussion about the series.

Now the author has put up a new Submachine site: Submachine Network Exploration Experience. This is explicitly not a game; it’s a set of interlinked mini-worlds, slices of the other games. The only “puzzles” are exploring and discovering new coordinates to explore. (Earlier games introduced a coordinate-based teleporter system.) But — this is the cool part — each mini-world contains some printed notes: forum transcripts, giving different people’s theories of what’s going on and what various parts of the game mean.

This is a lovely way to include the player community in what is, mechanically, a series of solo adventures. It incorporates player contributions; it acknowledges that player response is part of the story, without throwing “canon” (whatever that means) out the window (whatever that means). The Exploration site is clearly expandable — the creator can add new mini-worlds whenever he wants. Or add new transcript notes. It’s not part of the series (there will be more Submachine games) but it’s part of the world.

You know my kinks, Watson, so you know this immediately reminded me of Myst Online. Cyan’s project was a hugely ambitious MMO, of course, whereas Submachine is one designer’s tightly-scoped project. But with SNEE (do I call it “SNEE”?) Mateusz Skutnik is tackling the same issues: ongoing story and the fan community. And, I must admit, he’s now a step farther than Cyan ever managed.

(I don’t recommend you start with the SNEE site — it won’t mean much if you haven’t played the earlier games. Start with Submachine 1: the basement. The whole series is accessible from the Submachine World web site.)