Submachine 6: the Edge is now available in the HD format. Click here to purchase the game.

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.

Lately I was interviewed about the submachine series. Here are the results:

Submachine 8: the Plan

I just updated the Submachine Exploration Project to new version. Since I came up with a brand new architecture of this project, literally everything had to be redone. That took me entire month of January to finish. Now we’re sporting a brand new, fresh and shiny Subnet 3.0. Also added few new lcoations to the catalogue, so the experience is refreshened as well. Enjoy!

click here to buy this game

Following the foostseps of Submachine 8, now the Core goes big. The rest of the Submachines are set to follow that suit, however most of them will need complete renovation from scratch, because they’re just too old and rusty to be sold for anything. Stay tuned.

play this game

walkthrough: video | english | francaise

reviews: -ak- | jayisgames | DBlog | EzloSpirit

polish reviews: esensja | zagadka na dziś

Misterny Plan

Mocno wyczekiwany „The Plan” – ósma już część (nie licząc odprysków) cyklu „Submachine” Mateusza Skutnika (Pastel Games) – jest! Czy warto było czekać? Ba!

Cykl „Submachine” jest sztandarowym produktem firmy Pastel Games. Po pierwsze, sprawiło, że nazwisko Mateusza Skutnika (autora gier flashowych, ale przecież także twórcę komiksów) stało się rozpoznawalne na całym świecie. Po wtóre, pozwoliło wypłynąć na szerokie wody także innych twórcom, jak choćby Karolowi Konwerskiemu, który w Pastel Games odpowiada za scenariusze kilku równie wyczekiwanych i wysoko ocenianych cykli gier typu point and click / adventure.

Ósma odsłona nie wnosi wielkich – nomen omen – rewolucji. Otrzymujemy zestaw siedmiu światów, między którymi będziemy się przemieszczać w poszukiwaniu rozrzuconych to tu, to tam elementów przeróżnych układanek. Przykładowo: trzeba poruszyć dźwignią X, by otwarła się skrytka Y, w której schowano element Z, który jest potrzebny w lokacji… i tak dalej. Brzmi banalnie? Fabuła nie jest może specjalnie skomplikowana, ale tym, co „Submachine” wyróżnia spośród innych tego typu gier, jest specyficzny klimat. Począwszy od kolorystyki i tła muzycznego, poprzez tajemnicze karteczki-wiadomości znajdowane w trakcie wędrówek, po sam sposób przedstawiania światów i sposobu przemieszczania się pomiędzy nimi – dość powiedzieć, że grono fanów gry z całego świata na forach internetowych próbuje rozgryźć stojącą za wszystkim Tajemnicę.

Tym jednak, co odróżnia nieco „The Plan” od części poprzednich, jest możliwość jej zakupu – za całe dwa dolary (via PayPal) otrzymujemy wersję offline, fullscreen, HD wraz z pełną ścieżką muzyczną. Twórca gry deklaruje, że środki uzyskane z tego eksperymentu przeznaczone zostaną na rozwój kolejnej części, zapowiedzianej na rok 2013. Choć oczywiście nadal można grać za darmo, korzystając ze zwykłej przeglądarki z zainstalowaną wtyczką flash player, kupiłem – i nie żałuję.

autor: Wojciech Gołąbowski

Liz: You can create dimensional portals while being inside of such portals?

Murtaugh: Yes, I can.

Liz: And when you do, what happens then?

Murtaugh: …you change direction.

Liz: Direction of what?

Murtaugh: Of everything.

If that opening snippet of dialogue caused shivers to run up and down your spine then congratulations, you are at least somewhat familiar with one of the most well-known and revered, episodic, point-and-click adventures of all time, the Submachine series. You are also one lucky camper because after a delay of almost 2 years Mateusz Skutnik is back with his latest installment, Submachine 8: The Plan, jam packed with more mysteries while advancing (somewhat) the story of …well, whatever the heck is going on in the Submachine universe.

Yes, as advertised in the opening dialogue, Murtaugh is back and has created portals within portals, opening up a world of multi-layered madness. Navigation through each layer (using the customary changing cursor) depends upon your ability to visualize and move between levels to jump blind alleys and other obstacles. The changing cursor also indicates items that can be taken and used elsewhere which is pretty much the entire game dynamic.

Analysis: What’s to criticize?It’s a new Submachine!Seriously, though, Submachine 8: The Plan is a fantastic addition to the series with its multi-dimensional layout and continuation of the whole mythos. Each new dimension you jump to has its own beautiful graphic style, accompanied by the haunting music and incidental sounds that create such a chilling atmosphere.

The game comes in two “flavors”, a regular free flash game playable in your browser, and a special downloadable and gorgeous HD full-screen version that can be purchased from Pastel Games for $2. The only downside is that the free browser version will not save your progress, meaning a ragequit will cause you to have to start over from the beginning. A bonus for buying the HD version includes the soundtrack for the game consisting of 9 mp3 files for your listening enjoyment.

Creating more questions than answers, it is still fantastic to see this continuation of such a beloved series. Let’s just hope we don’t have to wait 2 more years for the next installment. Portals within portals? This changes everything.

author: grinnyp